March 11, 2012: Dog Matter! Watching, reading, doing!

Felix says: "Stop reading over my shoulder."

Hey!  Check out how much mom's dog, Felix, is enjoying my comic book series Dark Matter.  He can't take his eyes off it!  After receiving the above pic, I'm now seriously considering casting all-dog talent for the prospective Dark Matter television series/mini-series.  What do you think?  Felix as hot-headed rough and tumble THREE?

Of course, my pug Bubba may have something to say about that. After all, if you're looking for a dog to play crazed and on edgy, look no further…

That's just him impatiently awaiting his walk.  Imagine him being chased by carnivorous alien beasts?

Speaking of carnivorous beasts…

I'm an impulse shopper – but only when I'm perusing bookstores and pet shops.  After setting my eyes on the above t-bone, I couldn't resist. Peanut butter dog treats are also a must-buy.  As are duck toys (specifically ducks) that play a tune (especially if the lyrics are comprised of incessant quacks).

Watched two surprisingly enjoyable movies over the past two days.  I say "surprisingly enjoyable" because I had all but given up on features, preferring instead select TV on DVD (and, lately, iTune downloads). Attack the Block was great fun, a scifi movie about a group of inner city kids who band together to fend off an alien invasion in London. Terrific performances by the young cast.  I had a minor quibble with the late revelation of why the furry invaders are targeting our crew (they jump on the theory as fact and proceed to act on it a little too quickly) but, overall, I thought it was a refreshing entry in the genre. Check out the trailer:

Thumbs up for Bridesmaids as well, the flipside to The Hangover.  It came highly recommended by Carl Binder so I was understandably leery going in, but I wound up liking it a lot.  Check out the trailer (which, strangely, includes some scenes I didn't see in the version I watched):

Finally, while I can't say I enjoyed it, I will say it creeped me out (which, I suppose, was the point) – Calvaire is a movie that walks a fine line between disquietingly comical and terrifying.  It's a Belgian horror film about a guy whose van breaks down in the middle of nowhere, forcing him to rely on the kindness of stranger.  Crazy backwoods strangers.  Check out the trailer (if you dare):

Kind of reminds me of our old Stargate Friday afternoon writers room spin sessions.

On the anime front, I'm 65 episodes into Gintama and about three episodes into two other so-far-so-good shows:

Another, a horror series about a new boy in town who tries to unravel the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of a student 26 years earlier -

and House of Five Leaves (with its wonderful opening theme), a period anime about a swordsman who is hired to bodyguard an unusual group -

Just finished up three books – Clive Barker's Hellbound Heart (a hair-raising read – actually a re-read but it's been some 25 years!), Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending (which, ironically enough, I liked up until the ending which didn't fully make sense to me), and the third book of David Eddings' The Belgriad, Magician's Gambit (which, like the previous books in the series, offers a nice balance of action, humor, and engaging characters).  Next up is Machine of Death, an anthology of stories based on the same premise: a machine that can predict the circumstances of any individual's death.  It seems like a fairly constrictive premise but, two stories in, it's pretty entertaining.  We'll see how I feel when I hit the thirtieth tale.

Tomorrow, I begin work on the rewrite of my horror script.  On Tuesday, I'll be having that Dark Matter-related conference call that was rescheduled from two weeks ago (which was rescheduled from the week before that).  Well, that's the plan anyway.

What are you all watching?  Reading?  Planning for the week ahead?