Saturday mail call and other stuff

[yendi]

Got a nice random surprise in the mail -- whiskey glasses and stirrers from Maker's Mark. They randomly send out free gifts (I've also got some nice coasters) to folks who join their mailing list. Alas, whiskey itself is never a free gift.

The latest issue of Entertainment Weekly reminds me of how happy I am with new(ish) TV critic Gillian Flynn. Aside from just being a hell of a good writer, in the latest "Ask the Critic," she agrees with me that Home Improvement was the worst successful sitcom ever.

The mail also brought the latest issue of Giant Magazine. I so love this magazine -- a "men's magazine" (as in Maxim, Stuff, etc) that uses humorous footnotes, praises books like DC's Bizarro World, and actually interviews the actresses who do photoshoots with them for pages at a time (and since they talk to folks like Parker Posey, Anna Farris, and Amanda Peet, they also tend to be interesting interviews).
Elsewhere:

Neil Gaiman is writing an animated Beowulf with Roger Avery, to be animated and directed by Roger Zemeckis using the Polar Express animation process. Not quite sure how I feel about that one.

World-record puppy litter. (link courtest mactavish)

Latest TV addiction: Ancient Almanac on History Channel International. Watched a nifty piece this afternoon on Port Royal (aka the Pirate City), which sunk back in the 1690s.

Fans of Mike Wieringo might enjoy his blog, which is not only excellent, but in which he's currently taking old sketches he did when he was a teenager and revamping them.

Oh, and mendoza and ariadnesthread? See if you can catch a rerun of this week's Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends. Aside from just being fun, this one was all about Sugar!

Comments

[mendoza.livejournal.com]

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Neil Gaiman is writing an animated Beowulf with Roger Avery, to be animated and directed by Roger Zemeckis using the Polar Express animation process. Not quite sure how I feel about that one.

Well, he did a fine job with the Beowulf theme in the post-American-Gods short story. I know nothing about Avery or Zemeckis, though - are they the cause of the mixed feelings?

[lordrexfear.livejournal.com]

Since I haven't seen Polar Express, I have no clue if the only thing that hurts the movie is that the motion-capture technique is just a bongled concept for movie making period or if Zemekis finally actually made a flop (not counting Death Becomes Her, which while a commercial flop is an AWESOME movie). On that, Avary working with Gaiman makes perfect sense, as he's become known as the guy to go to. Him and Neil have also been "pen pals" for years. I think this could be awesome... but hey, lots of things so nice on paper.

Big thanks on that Wiergno link, I think I may have to post that one in my LJ... of course with a thanks to you as is our style. ;)

[brujah.livejournal.com]

Love Maker's Mark steak sauce, it makes a great marinade. =D

[sff-corgi.livejournal.com]

[quillismightier.livejournal.com]

My first thought was, "Beowulf? Why, Neil, why?"

Then I sat and thought about it. It'll probably be ok. After all, Neil is one of the executive producers according to his post.

[tarpo.livejournal.com]

Giant is such a great magazine.. its actually knocked the original US incarnation of Total Movies off my #1 magazine list