Hi all,

Real quick post here. The first trailer for the 22nd James Bond film, Quantum of Solace, has hit the web. It looks sensational, and I invite you all to go HERE to check it out!

Today I mourn the loss of Michael Turner, a warrior and artist of great skill and ability, who passed away on Friday, June 27, 2008. Turner had battled bone cancer for 8 years and fought valiantly, even after the disease had ravaged over 3 pounds of bone from his body (all of which had be removed, including one entire hip). His valiant efforts verfiy his fighters’ spirit, and I will remember his bravery against the villainous foe, whihc prematurely took him from the world on Friday.

Turner was a neo-legend in the independent comics scene thanks to his artistry and imagination on his co-creation Witchblade as well as his original creation Fathom–characters who became iconic femme fetales in the indie comic scene. His work and the subsequent product stemming from it has kept many a lonely nerd warm on those long, cold, lonely nights; and I am sure his sensuous femmes and their adventures inspired more than one lady-loving geek to get into comics for life. I should note that while I have not read his works personally, yet, word on the street is that his female characters are strong, noble, courageous women who fight for right and justice–and for that, Turner is to be saluted.

My heart goes out to his friends and family at this time.

The best joke hits in the first 13 seconds, but the whole vid is still funny.

Figure:
“Anne” Buffy Summers

Series:
Buffy

Recipe:
“Anne” Buffy is a repaint of Moore Action Collectibles’ first Buffy figure, with minor sculpting applied to make her jacket appear closed rather than open.

Accessories:
This figure included a Buffy “B” base and two curved blades.

Reasoning Behind The Effort:
This was a commissioned custom for my greatest customs patron, Mari Anne.

Additional Thoughts
This is certainly not the best version of this character I’ve seen. Fellow customizer Sasha did a superb version that was much better. However, I did the best I knew to do on the custom, using very specific parts requested by Mari Anne. She seemed very pleased with it; and as a result, so was I. (FIGURE COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2007)

First, This upcoming week, I hope to finally begin putting stuff up on eBay. Should be a doozy as I have over 100 items to sell.

Second, Veoh.com. Check it out.

Third, This week on Hulu.com, I discovered that NBC/Universal has begun to upload episodes of a show called, Exosquad, one of my all time favorite cartoons. Hopefully this means that they have begun to consider releasing the series on DVD.

Fourth, Sleep is wonderful.

Movie Moment of the week: The first time Jonah hill is hit by a car in Superbad.

Quote-of-week. “Luckily, I took the precaution of adding your firing pins to my weasal skull necklace–as a charm against death by gunfire.” — Kwinn the Eskimo.

REASONs-MY-WIFE-IS-AWESOME-OF-THE-WEEK: Yesterday, she bought herself a WONDER WOMAN comic.

Song of the Post: “Raincoat” by Kelly Sweet, from her album, We Are One.

I know many, many people hate this movie. I get it. The gymnastic part is awful. The fact that they don’t kill the T-Rex at the end is disappointing. The dinosaurs are just movie monsters and not animals and as such the film lacks the awe and wonder of the first. I know. I know. If you hate The Lost World, make no mistake, I understand. There is plenty to hate. But I still totally dig it.

For me, there’s so much that works. I love Goldblum as the lead. I think he is an unlikely hero who proves charismatic throughout the whole film. Pete Postlethwaite is awesome as the game hunter leading the merc’s who are trying to capture the dinos. Julianne Moore is a fine female lead; and other than Vince Vaughn who just does nothing for me, I was pleased with the other choices–even the little girl didn’t bug me (I actually loved the gymnastics part the first time I saw the film in high school).

Beyond the actors, however, I also love the sequences with the dinos. The scene wherein the moving command center is destroyed is fantastic. The scene with the Raptors in the tall grass was terrifying, and I even loved that the T-Rex comes to San Diego. I mean, if one is looking at JP: The Lost World as more of a top-notch monster horror than the dramatic sci-fi film the first was, Lost World really knocks the ball out of the park. There’s carnage and tension and monsters and thrills and spills. It just works (for me anyway). Plus, the two teams each with their own cool missions coming together just to survive also was a story structure that worked for me and kept me interested from the build-up through the pay-off. So, yeah, I dig it.

Jurassic Park: The Lost World fulfills all I expect and want from a genre monster movie. Sure, it is not the same type of movie as its predecessor; but for what it actually is, I dig it, and I am going to go out on a limb and give it a 6 (out of 7). Not one of my all time favorites, but I can’t think of another monster movie I enjoy more (unless you consider Predator and Aliens monster movies; they are both much better).

I stumbled on this clip this morning, and I have decided to share it with all of you. It’s confirmation from Brendan Fraser that he appears in the upcoming crapfest known as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, the looks-worse-with-every-new-bit-of-info adaptation of one of my all-time favorite properties. Anyway, the video is fantastic thanks to Fraser’s adept ability to cordially answer questions he is not allowed to. I admire him a great deal for his polite tact. Check it.

Figure:
Demonic Buffy

Series:
Crossover Buffyverse

Recipe:
This figure was made by placing hair from a DST “Reunion” Darla Figure on the head of a DST “Chosen” Buffy. This head combo was then affixed to the torso of an Alyssa Milano figure from Charmed, with the legs of a DST Season 2 Darla. The wings came from a demon in the Palisades’ Army of Darkness line, and they were attached to the figure via an obtrusive, sculpted spine. Paint was applied liberally to get the figure “dark”.

Accessories:
This figure only came with a base.

Reasoning Behind The Effort:
This was a commissioned custom for my greatest customs patron, Mari Anne; and it was part of her full line of one-of-a-kind Buffy and Angel characters crossed with various characters from different universes including Marvel & DC comics, TV, Movies, and more.

Additional Thoughts
I won’t lie, the concept of doing a demonic Buffy figure was one with which I struggled. However, given the characters’ capacity for good and evil, as well as my making her “angelic” counterpart (found here), I figured, sure I can do it. Mari Anne was a great customer, and I had no moral qualm with the custom, just a lack of interest. So, it was completed and sent to her. I didn’t ever really dig it, but she seemed to, which is great. (FIGURE COMPLETED IN SUMMER 2007).

Special thanks to Dave Weigel for sending me this vid!

Figure:
“Seeing Red” Tara

Series:
Buffy

Recipe:
This figure was made by gluing the head of a “Together Forever” Tara on the body of “Together Forever” Willow, then painting the figure to match Tara’s outfit in the episode, “Seeing Red”.

Accessories:
Tara included Ms. Kitty Fantastico, Warren’s pistol, and a “wood” base.

Reasoning Behind The Effort:
Had to use parts somehow, why not with another variant of Tara NOT in a dress (like all the standard, official DST releases).

Additional Thoughts
Tara’s one of my least favorite characters in all the Buffyverse. I’m amazed how many versions I’ve done of her over the years, and I can’t imagine why I would (I guess I can always go back and read the posts on them). Anyway, yeah, this was a parts-user, nothing noble or admirable about her. She was fully painted and as such was limited in articulation…wow, I really didn’t like this custom. I’m sure I pitched on ebay at some point, though I have no idea when, based on the quality of the pic, I assume it was during the spring of 2005. (FIGURE COMPLETED IN EARLY 2005).