Media Consumed: April 2011

Books Read
*Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies and Color Sundays, Vol. 1: 1934-1936  by  Al Capp
*Mister Wonderful   by   Daniel Clowes
*The Walking Dead, Vol. 3: Safety Behind Bars   by   Robert Kirkman, et al.
*EC Archives: Weird Science, Vol. 1   by   Various
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years   by   Donald Miller
There I Fixed It (No, You Didn't)  by   Cheezburger Network
*Big Nate Out Loud   by   Lincoln Peirce
*Pearls Blows Up  by   Stephan Pastis
* EC Archives: Weird Science, Vol. 2   by   Various
*Superman: The Black Ring, Vol. 2   by   Paul Cornell & Pete Woods
*Reality Hunger   by  David Shields

* = denotes a graphic novel, TPB, or collection of comic strips

Most of my reading in April consisted of graphic novels and comic strips. The only regular book I can recommend is A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. The book is a memoir from Miller about the time he spent trying to adapt his life into a fictional screenplay. Life as story is an interesting concept and in the talented hands of Miller it becomes fascinating.

I really enjoyed a lot of the graphic novels I read. After reading Li'l Abner: The Complete Dailies and Color Sundays, Vol. 1: 1934-1936, I can see why the strip went on to become one of the most popular comic strips in the country.

The Walking Dead gets better with each installment.  I read the EC Archives out of historical interest and found them fascinating. You don't seen comics treated with the respect that EC gave to theirs.

Movies Watched
Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
Sourcecode
Jonah Hex
127 Hours
Assault on Precint 13 (2005)
Turtles Forever
Scream 4
Soul Surfer
Ahhh! Zombies!
Identity
The Stand

April can often be a nomansland for movie lovers. I didn't watch many movies at the cinema, but I did watch several view DVD.

Both versions of Assault on Precinct 13 were good, but the 1976 version is the better of the two. I found Jonah Hex entertaining.  Turtles Forever is a movie that brings together three versions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in a way that makes complete sense according to the laws of their universe.

I enjoyed Scream 4. I'm not a big fan of horror, but I enjoy that franchise. It's so much better than most of the horror garbage people digest nowadays.

Soul Surfer was a well-done movie which is surprising in a "Christian" movie; it's a Christian movie that doesn't look or feel like a typical Christian movie.

Ahhh! Zombies! is a hilarious film about a group of kids who become zombies, but don't realize they are zombies. It's an interesting twist to see how the world looks and feels to a person who becomes a zombie.

Identity was a movie I watched several years ago, but rewatched in preparation to direct Ten Little Indians. It's a movie with a twist that many won't see coming.

Lastly, I watched the mini-series of The Stand when it first aired on tv over 15 years ago. It was a well done series then and I can still say that it still holds up well.

Though there were a few films I didn't enjoy as much as others, there's really not one I would say you should completely avoid.  Sourcecode comes closest, because of the plot, but since everything in the film is so far-fetched anyway, the ending actually does make sense. There's also some really interesting camera work that happens in the movie.