Titans of Tease

This year's Comic Con was the biggest yet, and although I didn't have the pleasure of wading through miles of pocket protectors and costumed Anime girls I am reaping the benefits - brand spanking new video gems from LOST and True Blood!

The first two videos were released at the LOST panel, and although they don't shed much light onto the upcoming and final season, they do quench my undeniable thirst for LOST during this horrible drought. We can always speculate about the upcoming season, and fellow Lostie MikeD made an interesting point about the teasers: if Oceanic has a perfect record and Hurley has good luck, does this mean that Flight 815 never crashed?!? Did the bomb really go off and was time reset? (I still can't help but think: when do we get more Smoke Monster!?!) Argh.

The last video has been making the rounds on the Interwebs this morning because everyone is as addicted to True Blood as I am. This video is just a taste of what we can expect from the second half of this season - not sure I'm digging Evan Rachel Wood as the Queen of Louisiana, but alas I trust Mr. Ball. And did anyone else notice the blond in bed with Sookie? The most hated hunk strikes again!

Dorking Out

Comic-Con 2009 is just around the corner, so I started thinking about all the dorky fodder that kept me going when I was little. Of course there was my love of amphibians, terrariums, The Hardy Boys, fishing, and my DC and Marvel comics . But there's another side of animation that I didn't stumble upon until later in life. Ghostworld, the 2001 film based on the Daniel Clowes graphic novel, introduced me to a whole new grown up world of comics. Clowes remains one of my favorites, but Jeffrey Brown, a Grand Rapids, MI native and Chicago resident has continued to churn out some amazing stuff over the years. His exploration of relationships, and human emotion goes deep - deeper than most people new to graphic novels would expect. Brown, along with another favorite of mine Adrian Tomine, constantly toe the line between romantic or creepy, hopeful or pathetic, and heartbreaking or hilarious. It takes a certain kind of man to write books with titles like 'Clumsy,' 'Every Girl is the End of the World for Me,' and 'Be A Man.' So put away those comic strips and pick up a graphic novel - one more way to drape your dorkiness with a layer of cool.

Note: Images courtesy of Jeffrey Brown.