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Does anyone have any history behind this? The subtitles are hilarious, but I'd love to know what the back story is behind the video.

300 : I have a few notes to get out of the way:

• I haven't seen a movie (any movie) in nearly a month. That sucks. It's the downside of being in demand, I guess. Good with the bad, or something like that…
• I can't believe it's taken me this long to see this movie. Seriously. I lerved the comic it was drawn from and the style of it looked pretty mesmerizing. Still it took me a year to actually sit down and watch this film. Someone shoot me.
• After a good pace to start the year, my movie watching pace has slowed considerably and I'm going to have to step it up a little bit to meet even my meager movie-a-week goal. I used to have weekend where I saw more movies than I've seen this year.

Sigh.

As for this movie in specific- hell yeah.

A pitch-perfect adaptation of Miller's classic graphic novel, 300 is a violent maelstrom of testosterone. The look of this film evokes the lush feel of the comic pages produced by Miller and Lynn Varley and manages to heighten them with excellent cinematography, visual effects, solid editing and truly marvelous action direction choreography.

Telling the story of 300 Spartans holding a tiny pass against a horde of Persian invaders, 300 takes that simple set-up and manages to pad it out to nearly two hours of seat gripping, rah-rah excitement.

All that said, I'll be the first to admit it's not for everyone. It's basically two hours of killing and screaming (stylishly executed), which isn't everyone's cup of tea (although it is mine.) Also, if you're the type to analyze a film for sociological/political/sexual messages you poke around the edges it's pretty easy to find something disagreeable within the borders of this particular universe.

Still, I can't say I've had as good a time watching a movie in a long while, so for my money it's a winner.

From Rob's Myspace blog:

It's ON!!! For a very exclusive "One Night Only" I will be exhibiting original artwork from past, present and future projects such as, IRON MAN, SPIDER-MAN, 52, X-MEN and more! So, come hang out,…

Rob is one of the best artists I know and he's worked on some amazing comics in his time so it'll definitely be worth checking out:

Technical Boston
230 Newbury Street
Boston, MA 02116
Phone: 617-262-0003

Myspace.com Blogs - ROB STULL Art Show in Boston!!! May 31st!! - Rob Stull MySpace Blog

I could watch this a couple of times. It's REALLY well done.

It was really pretty easy. I submitted it. Lord knows if they'll accept it, but even if they don't it won't stop me from doing another one

Interested in doing one yourself? Google has an excellent developer's guide.

Yeah, I'm posting a commercial for free. I know.

Look, I'm doing it again

And again. this one is a real classic- Cantona's Au Revoir at the end pleases me to no end.

First the paintings:

and some photos:

Went for a hike today and saw several of these cute little guys on the trail:

And here's another shot from the hike today:

It's been on the shelves for a while, but I finally found the time to publish it on my comics site. Check it out:

Collecting Superhero Comic Books

The news just broke and many questions, of course, follow.

The biggest for me is- who will they bring and what will their intentions be?

Are they going to hedge their bets and hold back the Contadors, Klodens and Leipheimers of the world from a full-on GC push (so as to save them for Le Tour) or are they going there to take home the Maglia Rosa? There are no guarantees that they're going to get into the Tour, so this might be their biggest stage of the year.

Of course, there's also the question of fitness and form. One can't just turn it on for a three week stage race. Is anyone ready for such a thing? Have they been prepping "just in case?" So many questions and so little time to sort it all out in time for the start of the race.

Astana given place in Giro field

Organisers of the Giro d'Italia have invited the Astana team to compete in their tour at just one week's notice.

Astana, thrown out of last year's Tour de France for doping violations, were originally excluded from the event.

Astana given place in Giro field

In other Giro news, Petacchi is skipping the race due to bronchitis. Petacchi basically owns the Giro, so that might give some other people a shot at some stage wins. Sad to see him miss out though, as he really is a joy to watch when he's on form.

Bronchitis will keep Petacchi out of Giro d'Italia

[update]

Here's Astana's team for the race:

• Assan Bazayev
• Antonio Colom
• Alberto Contador
• Vladimir Gusev
• Maxim Iglinskiy
• Andreas Klöden
• Levi Leipheimer
• Andrey Mizurov
• Dmitriy Muravyev

Think they're going there to win? I do. That's a strong team. Whatever way you slice it, three guys who have finished on the podium of the Tour de France is a pretty solid foundation and Iglinsky and Gusev have shown me a lot over the past couple of years.

I do wonder who will be their main rider. It might be whoever ends up being on best form. Which is tough to judge in advance since "the big three" have all had pretty solid spring campaigns.