today is the greatest day that ever was...

Well, in a few hours Apple will have made it's major announcement as we all wait for the maelstrom to begin. I'll be at the comic shop at lunch today and will certainly hear all about it when I get back to the office.

Hopefully I'll pick up a few interesting books to write about. And I have a post coming soon on an upcoming Ultimate Guide.


Stay tuned.

So two guys hit Midtown Comics shop... and what I picked up.

Made my way back to Wednesday comic book day with my good friend Matt this week, initially worried that the holiday on Monday shifted the 'new books' release date--which it did not. I've made that mistake many a Wednesday in the past.

We discussed many things from Jeff Loeb's Ultimate universe storytelling (or lack there of), being life-long yet hesitant Los Bros Hernandez fans, as well as marveling that we both want to read Crumb's mammoth and intricately illustrated Book of Genesis from Norton, and were both shocked to see a very reasonable price tag of $24.95 on such an impressive tome (might be purchasing it soon).

My pick this week for the grownup readers is the  little hardcover by Gilbert Hernandez, THE TROUBLEMAKERS. I was initially taken in by the compact hardcover presentation. Personally, as I move more and more into the digital book field, I have an ever-growing appreciation for smartly constructed (and good looking) hardcovers for the home attic library. I really enjoyed the book, and what a beautiful little package of a book it is.

Half the fun of this book is trying to figure out just who is getting conned the worst? I zipped through this fun read, filled with backstabbing, double-crosses, and the spectacular art of Gilbert Hernandez. There is enough sex, violence, and treachery for any fan of pulp fiction. Now I need to go back and get his 2007 hardcover release, Chance in Hell. This offshoot of the Love and Rockets series is too much fun to miss.

On a much lighter note, I also started picking up some of these wonderful DC Comics superhero adventure books done in collaboration with Stone Arch Books for young readers. After all, I do have a new little super guy at home. I had picked up a few of these books at the comic shop over the holidays for the nephews, and thought I should add a few to my little guy's new bookshelf at home.

Done in the style of Bruce Timm's cartoon animation, each adventure book is full of text and wonderful color illustration to share with your favorite little superhero at home.

This particular book, SUPERMAN: BIZARRO IS BORN, was writtten by the legendary, and uber-talented Louise Simonson, and feature artwork by a stellar roster of contributors. Each book in the series has a unique writing and illustration team.

I started off with a tale of Bizarro--a favorite villain of mine. I'll write more about these fun books once I've read them through (hopefully aloud to my son) and once I've grabbed a few more (several Batman volumes are available also). Keep an eye out for them.

That's all for now. Until next time.

Book of Eli screenwriter interview on CBR

Another quick post related to the upcoming film, The Book of Eli, as it just keeps coming up as I read things online. And as I continue to remain impressed that this was an original screenplay, as learned in an interview at Comic Book Resources with screenwriter, Gary Whitta, which solidified my thoughts on the work.

Read the interview here. The article by CBR staff writer, Erik Amaya, tells some great details about Whitta selling the script, Denzel pretty much "protecting it" so that it was filmed very close to the original script written, and even Comic Con fans asking what graphic novel it was based on when teased last year with those fans being surprised to hear it was an original work, even in a time when adapted screenplays are all the rage in Hollywood. It is an interesting article worth checking out.

Oh, and books, I will get back to talking about them soon. Thing is, the last two books I read were of the "yet to be published" variety, so I can't really talk about them...yet. I'm currently reading the monstrosity that is Stephen King's Under the Dome--and loving it--but won't be done for a wee bit, but I plan to talk more about it here.

I'll also be reading more of the newer Stephen King-related comics and re-reading some older King titles, work related to my 2011 editorial project. Always exciting.

I also hope to post an updated attic library pictoral soon. It is coming along nicely. Still need a desk though...

A Creative Endeavor in a new Journal.

In an attempt to start the new year off right, and because I feel I don't have enough on my plate these days (ha!), as I made my rounds through my favorite websites last night I returned to the blog dedicated to the legendary Moleskine notebook, Moleskinerie.

While on there reading through recent and older posts, I found an interesting post about an initiative by the Art House Co-op in Brooklyn. And I signed up. Here's a quick quote from the Molskinerie website:

Exciting update from Shane Zucker at the Art House Co-op:
"(Our) latest Sketchbook Project ended up with 3,600 artists participating in it! ...We just launched a new project called The Fiction Project which focuses on telling a story through writing and art, with the Moleskine being the vessel. Each person will receive a randomly assigned theme and a ruled Moleskine Cahier journal to create a work of fiction in. In the end, each book will be included in the permanent collection of the Brooklyn Art Library..." 

You can read more about it, here. Note that there is an $18 contribution fee, but they do send participants a small Moleskine notebook to use and it is for a good cause. Also there are samples from a previous project displayed on the site - and they are pretty cool looking.


Anyone who knows me, knows I've been a life-long journal writer. Even as technology has progressed, and despite the fact that I've even entered the blogosphere, I always found solace and release writing in the pages of my various notebooks. This is something that will always be a part of my life.

This Fiction Project sounded like a great way to be creative and be part of more than my pile of journals dating back to high school. I loved the permenance of the idea, the notebook I create becoming part of a permanent collection, helping to build the Brooklyn Art Library's collection.

If anyone else reading this decides to participate, please email me, I'd love to share in the experience, and I will try to give some updates on progress here.

[Edit. note: The photos in this post are not of my own personal notebooks, just images I found on the net to add to this piece. I hope to have journals nearly as pretty].


Carpe Diem!

Where did the film THE BOOK OF ELI come from?

I'll be honest. I was watching football on Sunday, and out of nowhere I see the trailer for a new post-apocalyptic film with a lone warrior walking down a desolate road. Sword slung over one shoulder, shotgun over the other, and that beat up trench coat the superhero cape of the post-apoc warrior.

I likey.

Then I saw it starred Denzel. What? Awesome.

Then I saw that Gary Oldman was in it. Excuse me? Even more awesome. Mila Kunis is in the film as well.

But being the bookish fellow that I am, whenever I see an interesting movie trailer and I can't identify the source of the work, I get curious because, could something that doesn't look half-bad actually be conceived in a Hollywood studio boardroom?

So I did some research. The film is helmed by the directing duo -- and identical twins -- Hughes brothers, whose last film was 2001's From Hell. Interesting. They are also known from their debut hit, Menace II Society.

The screenplay, originally written by Gary Whitta, was rewritten by Anthony Peckham in 2008, and they began filming in New Mexico in 2009. The work does not look to be based on any existing book or comic book.

The basic plot is that Denzel's character wanders across a wasted landscape, protecting a mythical book that could mean the redemption of all mankind. I don't know more than that, and I don't think I want to.

Sure, this will be hard to get to see in the theater with a new baby at home ("go to the movies while you still can" was the second most recommended thing after "get some sleep" from everyone), but I very much want to see this as I'm a big fan of the post-apoc genre of books, comics, and films ever since seeing the Mad Max films in my youth.

It'll be interesting to see if a comic book publisher inks a deal to bring Book of Eli comics soon. This is probably already a done deal or in the works.

It's a long road...

[addition: very cool trailer I just found, here]

New Edition: James George Franco arrives just in time for the holidays.

Hi Friends,

I wanted to report the birth of my wonderful son, James George, whom arrived on 12/11/09 at 1:44 a.m. weighing in at 7 lb. 2 oz.

Things are going well, I'm out of the office for a few weeks, then back some time after Christmas.

Too tired to go into lengthy posting right now, but I'll be back at some point. The little guy is doing well and so is his mommy.

One neat surprise was this wonderful Maurice Sendak theme at Columbia Presbyterian hospital. I snapped this one pic, but they had many wonderful images in the main lobby and I just loved it -- saw it as a great sign that books will be a big part of James' life.

Back to my duties. And yes, I mean that quite literally. I'll write again when I can.
Keep reading~

Check out the LEGO mashup.

In continual support of the amazing LEGO Star Wars: Visual Companion, they'd just added more LEGO fun on the site with this new mashup game. Check it out here. Now have some fun.

In other news, I saw THE ROAD at the Sunshine Theater last week and it was simply amazing. The film captured the desperate tone of the book precisely, with each moment of anxiety on the long road traveled brought to clarity on screen. It is a world of grayness, a harsh world, but one realized in this film. Bravo.

Very busy with new job and pending arrival of our baby boy. I will do my best to keep the few and faithful readers of Bookrastination informed. Forgive any prolonged absence, for I realize I am already a slacker. This site should be called Slackrastination. Ha.