As per usual, I had a long list of things that I should've been working on this-afternoon. Instead I watched Age of Dinosaurs on the Netflix. If your movie has a dinosaur in it, I am going to watch it. This new cinematic classic comes from The Asylum, who also brought the masses the current phenomena that is Sharknado. This movie has both dinosaurs and Treat Williams...it was everything I could've hoped for.

More and more I find myself getting bored with comic book super-heroes. I think a lot of that has to do with writers and artists leaving the mainstream in favour of doing their own creator owned work. Some of it might have to do with the fact that I've read a bazillion comic books featuring super-heroes, and maybe it's all starting to get a bit repetitious. The last big Marvel cross-over, Age of Ultron, was a train-wreck of uninteresting storytelling. Not only was it boring, but it pissed me off 'cause by the time it ended it just felt like a complete waste of my time. Nothing happened that deserved to be spread over multiple issues along with a whole bunch of crossovers. DC hasn't been doing much better, and my intake of reading of the New 52 has decreased rapidly.

Then I noticed that with my latest comic book delivery, from the last two weeks, not a single purchase from the big two publishers. Abe Sapien and Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Dark Horse, East of West, Satellite Sam, Savage Dragon and Saga from Image, Quantum & Woody from Valiant, and Doctor Who from IDW. A reminder to folks that even if you might be interested in reading comics and you've outgrown the super-hero mainstream, there are still plenty of comic book offerings for you to try out. There's less and less that I'm looking forward to at DC and Marvel (there's a Harley Quinn book on the horizon drawn by Amanda Conner at DC, and Hawkeye continues to be great at Marvel), and more and more from all the other publishers. And as a geeky footnote, the Doctor Who comic is just as good as the show. Very impressive.

It's the finale of the Rideau Valley Girls 2013 home season as the Sirens take on the Misfit Militia from Alliston, Ontario. The doors to the Jean Marc Lalonde Arena (1523 DuParc Avenue in Rockland) open at 5:30pm and the game starts at 6:00pm. Tickets are $10. For all other pertinent information, check out the RVRG website. I will be there helping out with score-keeping and pretending my best that I am neutral and don't care about Ottawa winning.

I have been reading Savage Dragon since 1992, meaning that I have been consistently reading the universe from the imagination of Erik Larsen every month to month and a half for well over two decades. That's a rather staggering statistic, especially considering that he has written, drawn and supplied the cover for every single issue. That just doesn't happen now-a-days. When Image Comics was founded, it was meant to be for creators to work on their own characters. Erik was the only one to actually follow through with his commitment to his comic book world.

Savage Dragon has been a cop, a super-hero, an outlaw, a father, and he's run for president. He's met up with Hellboy, the Ninja Turtles, and Superman, he's even battled the Mars Attacks aliens. Another fun gimmick is that the comic has aged in real real time, a true rarity in the genre. All of the characters have aged two decades, just as it's readers have. The comic has consistently featured amazingly imaginative plot-lines, stories not afraid to hit the character with giant universe shaking changes.

The latest issue, Savage Dragon #190, is currently in stores and online. If you go and get it in a comic store, you can get the limited edition Archie Digest sized issue...I got both versions.

Joss Whedon's adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing into a modern day cinematic tale has been greatly anticipated and highly anticipated by Mayfair patrons. It finally hits the Mayfair's screen tomorrow night.

The movie features a who's who of actors from the Joss Whedon teevee and movie repertoire, with actors from pretty much every project he's worked on over the past seventeen years or so (Buffy, Angel, Firefly / Serenity, Dr Horrible, Dollhouse, Cabin in the Woods, and The Avengers). If by some crazy chance that you've never heard of Joss Whedon, but are a Shakespeare nerd instead, this is a great jumping on point to bear witness to his great talent at writing for and directing a large ensemble cast.

Plus, the movie might be in the trivia and record books as the biggest financial turn-around for box office blockbuster to tiny financial return. The Avengers made a billion dollars and stands as the third biggest box office movie of all time. Much Ado About Nothing was shot for no money and barely found distribution and a theatrical presence. A supremely minute fraction of the audience who watched the Marvel heroes save the world will then turn around and partake in a modern day, black & white, no-budget retelling of a classic stage-play. Their loss is the Mayfair's gain. I am equally as excited to see this movie, that was shot at the director's house, as I was his previous big budget summer blockbuster.

Much Ado About Nothing premieres tonight at 7:00pm, with follow-up screenings on Saturday August 17th at 3:30pm & 6:00pm, Sunday August 18th at 6:00pm & Wednsday August 21st at 7:00pm

Took a couple days, but finally got to watch Breaking Bad 5.9...which is really kind of Breaking Bad 6.1. Television scheduling is so confusing now-a-days. There is such an insanely high anticipation for these final eight episodes, it would seem easy for this final push to fall short of super-fans expectations. This episode was just as amazing as one would have hoped, and I have a feeling that the wrap-up of the series will live up to the series deserved hype. Once this episodic perfection of a series is all done, I have a feeling that they might just call it a day and stop making any more teevee all together. Seven more episodes until teevee is retired.

An indie romantic murder spree tale is not for everyone. Edgar Wright's name being attached to a project has never lead me wrong before though (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Scott Pilgrim, Attack the Block), and his executive producer credit on The Sightseers continues that streak. This supremely dark comedy drama had my enthralled from start to finish, and when the end title credits began I was sure that I had just seen what was easily one of the most impressive movies of the year.

The Sightseers screens at the Mayfair tonight at 7:00pm, and Wednesday August 14th and Thursday August 15th at 9:15pm.

I'm all turned around on my opinion of Marilyn Monroe. Without proper research, I had thought that the Marilyn persona was at it's worst an enormously outdated anti-feminist and offensive caricature. I stand corrected now having seen Niagara last week, now followed up by Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. I've flip-flopped over to see her as a greatly talented comic genius.

You can catch Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, part of the Mayfair's ongoing mini Marilyn Film Fest, tonight at 7:00pm.

I'm not one to advertise non Mayfair related movie screenings in Ottawa, but last night we watched Ghostbusters at the Centretown Movies Outdoor Film Festival. The screen was crooked, the projection quality wasn't great, there was a tiny V shaped cut in the screen, and none-the-less it was a heck of a lot of fun. The crowd was big, the weather cooperated, my dog was sitting on my lap, we ate delicious food truck delicacies, and of course Ghostbusters is one of the greatest movies ever made. Ottawa has so many fun things to partake in! To quote Winston Zeddemore, "I love this town."

Next Saturday night we'll be screening A Hijacking at the Mayfair. If you go see it instead on the Friday or Sunday night screenings, you have my permission to go see Dirty Dancing at the Outdoor Film Fest on Saturday. Remember not to put baby in a corner.

I am glad that I wear big headphones in lieu of tiny ear-buds. Because when I am listening to the Pod F. Tompkast while walking my dog late at night, and I am laughing maniacally at the hilarious comedy styling, it might seem evident that I am listening to something funny and am not some kind of crazy person.

I'm pretty sure that Image Comics is the best publisher in the medium. They are not the best-selling of course, DC and Marvel have the strangle-hold on the #1 and #2 parts month to month thanks to their deep base of world famous iconic super-hero's. In terms of quality stories and art and immense diversity, I do not think that Image can be beat.

Th latest Image book that I have fallen in love with is Satellite Sam, which has it's first two issues currently available from comic shops or in digital form from Image's website. I took notice of the comic due to it being written by Matt Fracton (who writes Hawkeye, whish is by far the best comic that Marvel puts out) and drawn by Howard Chaykin (who is easily one of the greatest comic artists of all time).

As aforementioned, I have grown to trust the folks at Image to put out quality product, so I didn't even really research what th book was about beyond it's creative team. From the cover, I had thought it was some kind of sci-fi tale. In fact, it is even cooler then that. It is a story from the pioneering days of television, a company producing a live bad sci-fi series, and the murder of one of the cast members. It is even presents in glorious black and white, and it is beautiful. Check out Satellite Sam, another great example of non-super hero storytelling in the comic book form.

Tonight I went out for dinner and got vegetarian pizza with Daiya cheese replacing cow cheese. On the positive side of things, it's nice that I can get a tasty vegan approved meal at an everyday run-of-the-mill pub. On the negative, why am I charged $3 bucks extra for cow cheese to be replaced with Daiya cheese? It's not like they had to throw away the other option in order for my request to go through. They took one thing that cost money, did not use it, and used another thing that cost money in it's place. If you are getting extra bacon on your burger or poutine instead of fries or ice cream with your pie or butter on your popcorn...I understand the additional fee. I don't get charged extra for a veggie burger instead of a meat burger. I don't get charged extra for a Coke Zero instead of a Coke. I don't understand being charged for a topping in lieu of a different topping. That is my complaint of the day. None-the-less...the pizza was tasty.

Frances Ha is not for everyone. I have a feeling that a few friends of mine who aren't a fan of Woody Allen dialog or the uncomfortable side of the work of Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant would not be enthralled by these cinematic stylings. In fact, the sticking of a foot in one's own mouth and digging a deep hole of conversational embarrassment that happens often in the movie, might make some flinch and cringe in the same manner as a cowardly type watching the scariest of horror movies.

I, on the other hand, rather loved co-writer and star Greta Gerwig's take on the struggles of life in NYC from the female perspective. Her Oscar nominated writing partner Noah Baumbach directed the film, and it features some beautiful black and white cinematography. Makes me wish there were more films still shot in black and white, especially ones filmed in NYC.

Take a chance on what wraps up to be a delightful and quirky character driven comedic drama with Frances Ha - screening tonight (Wednesday August 6th) and tomorrow (Thursday August 7th) at 9:30pm at the Mayfair .

One of my favourite genres in all of movie lore is that of crime doesn't pay. The latest to stand alongside cautionary tales such as Fargo and A Simple Plan and Cassandra's Dream and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, is The Bling Ring. The film is adapted from a true story by screenwriter / director Sofia Coppola, Oscar winner for Lost in Translation, her latest exploration of the dark side of fame and fortune.

It's not necessary to like the central characters of a story to like it. This movie is definitely filled will unlikable brats, horrible parents, the dregs of Hollywood, and the shame of a community that is filled with talent but encourages avarice and sloth. Once the movie starts rolling and the teen crime-wave is underway, you are torn between a weird mix of hoping they get away with it and hoping they get caught. The mark of a well crafted movie though, is that despite not identifying or approving of the protagonists within it, you still admire the movie. And I really liked this movie a lot.

Plus, to really scar your childhood depending on how old you are, there's a scene where a Californian valley-girl accented Emma Watson spins around on a stripper pole.

The Bling Ring screens tonight (Tuesday August 6th) at the Mayfair at 9:00pm.

A Kid Robot Marvel Labbit series! I would like all of those things right now please. Gimmie!

Got my latest batch of comic books delivered to me today from the fine folks at Dark Age Comics, which included the first issue of the relaunched Quantum & Woody from Valiant Entertainment and drawn by my friend Tom Fowler. Go to a comic store and buy it right now!

Look! The fancy shiny slightly different cover for Zomkeys with writer / artist credits and a #1 and a Mirror Comics logo on it! The countdown to October is on!

I'm often guilty of posting news on upcoming events the day before the thing happens. The Rideau Valley Roller Girls have posted info on their upcoming game that happens on Saturday August 17th on the outskirts of Rockland at the Jean-Marc Lalonde Arena located at 1523 DuParc Avenue. The awesome derby action of the RVRG Sirens battling the Misfits Militia will be well worth the trek to the wilds of a land even past suburbia. For all the pertinent info, go check out the RVRG site.

The concept of Archie: The Married Life focuses on the adult life of the decades long teenage characters from Archie Comics. To add a bit of a Run Lola Run / Sliding Doors twist to things, they avoided making either Betty or Veronica camps furious by telling both possibilities. In one world, we see what happens if Archie marries Betty, in the alternate universe we see what happens if Archie Marries Veronica.

I've greatly admired Archie Comics for a long time, and especially appreciate their continued success of pushing the envelope and not resting on tradition. This particular book spun out of a concept from long time Batman film producer Michael Uslan, was written by one time DC Comics editor and writer of hundreds of comics (including Superman, Star Trek, Aquaman & Conan), and illustrated by Norm Breyfogle (maybe my favourite Batman artist of all time). Not names that would traditionally associate with Archie books.

The Married Life is a fascinating soap-opera style look at the realities of every day life after the safety of high school and university / college. It takes familiar characters and throws all kinds of conflict and obstacles at them, with the added slightly sci-fi extra twist of of telling a pair of possible outcomes for our not teen anymore heroes. I look forward to reading the next couple of phone book sized volumes. Not only are these really great Archie stories, and it's impressive that they can keep putting out stories of interest after all these decades, these are just really good comics period.

The full colour cover for Zomkeys! Coming soon from Mirror Comics!

I think that I'm fairly knowledgeable about movies, and I try to keep on top of indie releases for possible Mayfair screening consideration at all times. Yet, great stuff always seems to fall by the wayside. I had never heard of The Sapphires before it was picked up to be screened at the Mayfair. Even with Chris O'Dowd front and centre, whom I am a giant fan of thanks to The IT Crowd and Bridesmaid, it had not crossed my radar. The Sapphires could have easily been sappy and contrived, but thanks to a great script and a talented cast and a lot of amazing Motown era music, it is just lovely. I think it may be the dictionary definition of a crowd pleasing motion picture.

The Sapphires screens at the Mayfair for three nights - this evening and Wednesday July 30th at 9:15pm, and Thursday August 1st at 6:30pm.

It's always hard for me to pick favourites or make best of lists, having said that, I'm pretty sure the movie that I would deem best of 2011 was Take Shelter. Writer and director Jeff Nichols is back with Mud, starring Mathew McConaughey in the title role. The movie is about two adventurous and independent boys in Arkansas who form a friendship with a mysterious fugitive in a Huck Finn reminiscent style. I was just as impressed with this effort as I was with Take Shelter, and most critics seem to agree with me that a truck full of awards will soon be coming the films way. I think that this Jeff Nichols is the real deal and a filmmaker with a ton of talent. And yes, most importantly, as per contractually obliged by his rider, McConauhey does indeed go shirtless for a portion of the film.

Mud screens at the Mayfair twice more, tonight and tomorrow (July 29 and July 30) at 9:15pm.

Wrapped up our visit to Fantasia in style with a matinee screening of Ultraman Zero: The Revenge of Belail. This Ultraman film marks the 45th anniversary of the franchise, which at this point comprises of 28 seasons of teevee and 22 films. Nothing quite better then the simple enjoyment of a movie filled with giant robot heroes fighting giant monster villains. Plus there was a part where a guy was crying, then a giant robot flew out of his tear, and then they fought bad guys. I didn't have a grasp at exactly was going on at all times, whether that be from a cultural divide or just because of poor film-making I'm not quite sure, but that did not hinder the enjoyment of this rather insane corner of Japanese cinematic history.

Bushido Man is a no-budget martial arts food themed action comedy. It was extra impressive because it was a genuine no-budget endeavor, in which the director in attendance said that often the crew consisted of just the actors along with the director running a camera. The movie was filled with lots of great action, including quite a few original fight gags and stunts that I've never seen before. It also had one of the best after-the-credits twists that I've ever seen. As an extra bonus, a couple of the actors were on hand for some live martial arts action after the film. Maybe the best part in an over-all greatly memorable screening was that they gave out Japanese candy to the crowd. I'm not quite sure what is in the package titled Corn Potage, but it's mascot and packaging awesomely enough look like something right out of a Simpsons parody of Japanese culture.

Machi Action was another real crowd pleaser, and although heavily intertwined in geek culture, I think would be equally enjoyable to patrons of the cinema who don't normally enjoy giant monsters in their entertainment. Machi Action is a behind the scenes tale of the star of a once greatly popular but now dwindling Saturday morning live-action series the like of Power Rangers. The story of best friends who play a iant space hero and the giant monsters who he battles was funny through-out and had a lot of heart. It was so good that I'm sure that sooner or later Hollywood will remake it instead of just releasing it in its original form.

We're sticking around in Montreal an extra few days to good deed it up and take care of some dog and cat sitting duties. Most importantly, that mans I get to take in a few more Fantasia screenings.

First up was the Japanese horror film The Complex, from the director of The Ring inspiration Ringu. Like many films from this corner of the horror genre, it involved a haunted house story-line and creepy kids. The movie was ok, I've just seen this kind of thing over and over again, so it felt a bit like covered ground and had nothing new or original about it.

Across the River on the other hand was a horror movie at it's best. If you went into the movie blind, you might think it was going to be a simple character piece about an ecologist working in the woods. Then there's some creepy sounds from the surrounding forest...then the leftovers of a dead boar are found...and then things get really scary. There are great shots of wild animals being spooked by the aforementioned creepy sounds, made for great cinema, but I think might qualify as animal cruelty. Once the climax starts rolling, I spent the whole time wide eyed with hands gripping my seat. My girlfriend spent most of the time with her eyes closed. This for a low budget project with little in the way of dialog, no real special effects, and the performance of a single actor carrying most of the connection the audience has to the movie. Some don't enjoy or understand why people like horror movies. It's movies like Across the River that I point to for the legitimacy of horror film-making, and how they can be some of the most impressive examples of a piece of work entertaining and effecting its audience. It will also make you want to avoid camping for a while.

I didn't get my copy of Deadpool #1 signed by it's co-writer, but it was none-the-less great to see Comedians of Comedy alum Brian Posehn perform tonight at Just for Laughs. I've been a fan of his for a very long time, from News Radio through Mission Hill through the Sarah Silverman Program. He was waring a Warriors shirt and topped off the show with a Star Wars rant. Not hard to guess that his comedy stylings are in my wheel-house of interest and enjoyment.

After that we bolted over to the Fantasia Fest to get in line for the sold out screening of The Machine. Luckily our industry badges afforded us entry anyhow...there's no money in owning an indie rep theatre, but you at least get to see a lot of free movies. I especially love getting to see awesome movies that you can't see anywhere else yet. The Machine was very impressive Blade Runner-esque sci-fi about evil corporations, obsessed scientists and the birth of cyborgs and artificial intelligence. It is another example of a low budget movie getting it right, and expertly so, in a genre that the mainstream so often drops the ball on. The filmmakers are still chasing distribution, but keep the title on your radar. Hopefully it will find a distribution home and we can grab it to screen at the Mayfair sometime soon. It cost about 200 times less then a Transformers movie, and was easily 200 times better then anything Michael Bay has ever been a part of.

Watched the season finale of Orange is the New Black on the Netflix. We're all on the same page that Netflix is awesome and all of these original programs they're putting out are awesome right? Ok...good. On the off chance that you haven't binge watched through this great new series yet (like everyone else I know has done), go do so right now.

A stand-up comedy filled evening beginning with The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail. The Meltdown is the flagship comedy showcase spun out of Nerdist Enterprises that happens on a weekly basis at Meltdown Comics in LA. Meltdown Comics is high on my list of places on this planet that I want to visit, and I love the Nerdist, so I was glad to partake in this road-show version. One of their special guests was the hilarious Ron Funches, who ended the show with his trademark move of throwing a bunch of Skittles at the audience. I sadly did not catch one to keep as a souvenir forever and ever.

Then we headed to another hidden club to see 30 Rock alum Judah Frielander. All of the 'Off JFL' locations are true and old fashioned tiny comedy clubs, meaning that many are up a long flight of sketchy stairs and that everyone is packed into a make-shift space that I'm relatively sure is a fire hazard to all in attendance. Danger aside, it does make for perfect surroundings for comedy. Judah Frielander was great, easily proving that he is indeed the World Champion of everything.

Tonight at Fantasia we watched Bounty Killer, a really impressive low budget mash-up genre of an indie movie. Things opens up with an insanely violent guns a blazing action scene, and the pace doesn't let up for the 90 minutes that follow. The world of Bounty Killer is part comic book, part video game, part exploitation, part grindhouse, and all post apocalyptic crowd pleasing action and excitement. It always amazes me how much better low budget genre efforts are than similar big budget movies of a similar style.

Making the evening even more enjoyable, we followed up a very fun movie by attending Just for Laughs for a dose of Maria Bamford stand-up. Maria's mix of dark autobiographical stories, mocking of her family members and wide ranging impersonation talents make her one of the best stand-up's working today. We sat front row and got some interaction into her performance. Which I think means that we are now a part of show business. If you haven't seen the documentary Comdians of Comedy (which is on the Netflix), go watch that as a good jumping on point to her hilarity.

I listen to the Judge John Hodgman podcast on a regular basis, and enjoy it very much. The premise of the show is that people bring a case before the fake Judge, and he uses all of his comedic wisdom to rule as to which side of the debate is correct. One of the mainstays of the court is that you can't force someone to like something that thy do not like. It stuns me how many times couples and friends and family members seem to want to force their taste in movies onto one another (either via podcast debate or in real life examples I've been told of). I never get why when two people are going to watch something, both can't be pleased with how they are spending their time. Especially in this day and age where the world is at your fingertips and it's pretty easy to have a wide selection of entertainment options.

So, when my girlfriend and I are at the Fantasia Film Fest, I give her full warning that sometimes they program some pretty insane stuff. She's not exactly the biggest horror fan in the world. When she saw The Blair Witch Project for the first time, a couple Halloween's ago at the Mayfair, she nearly broke my arm from grabbing it in a state of fright. If she didn't want to join me for a potentially disturbing and terrifying cinematic experience, I would totally understand.

She cowboy'd up though, and bravely decided to join me for the Korean anthology that was simply titled Horror Stories. I texted this info to a friend of ours who I attended many a Fantasia screening in the past. He said that it was nice to have known her before her brain was forever damaged by exposure to the genre at hand. Luckily she got off the hook relatively easily. There was the traditional Korean scary ghost ladies, and some zombies and serial killers...but in comparison to other films I've seen from the country, it was rather tame.

Next up genres switched over to a Spanish drama Magic Magic, featuring Juno Temple and Michael Cera. On the surface it begins as a simple story of a young woman travelling from America to visit her cousin in Chile. Things start getting uncomfortable right away thanks to our central character's cousin abandoning her to weird friends as they make their way to a secluded cottage. Things continue to delve into hypnotism and nightmares and confusion and a general descent in madness. Not quite a horror film, but none the less it had lots of scary moments and a well played horrifying climax.

The biggest surprise of the night was the Imperial Theatre. Everyone always teases me that we should open up a Mayfair in Montreal. Evidently there already is one there, it just goes unused most of the time. It holds some 900 seats, has a chandelier and is covered in fancy design never changed from the 1920's. Sad that it sits sadly empty most the time, but nice to see so many movie fans getting to partake in its glory during the festival.

Excited to be heading to Montreal tomorrow to attend this years installment of the Fantasia International Film Festival. I would love if I could have been able to attend every day of the event that runs from July 18th to August 7th, but taking that much time away is a little difficult. I'm sure that I will see some great genre movies throughout the week though, even with the extra distraction of catching some Just for Laughs stand-up while in the city. If you live in Montreal or are visiting for any amount of time over this period, be sure to check it out.

Are you ready to be angry at the people that run the world and frustrated at the state that society and the environment is in? Then the new documentary Greedy Lying Bastards is perfect documentary for you. Join us at the Mayfair tonight at 9:00pm, tomorrow at 8:30pm, Wednesday July 24th at 9:00pm and Thursday July 25th at 9:30pm. Unless you work for Fox News, or run an oil company, or are possibly Lex Luthor, get ready to be informed, educated and furious.

Run from the evil scary monkey! Mirror Comics released this here terrifying teaser image from the upcoming comic book one-shot Zomkeys. This horrifying little critter comes from a book written by me, drawn by Barb Felix and coloured by Brianna Parker. It will be out in time for Halloween, and you can be sure that I will be talking about it endlessly in hopes of convincing you to buy a copy or two or fifty for your comic book collection.

Tomorrow night (Friday July 19th at 7:30pm) the Rideau Valley Roller Girls invade city hall for an inter-league exhibition game happening outside on the front lawn of city hall. This will mark the first ever outdoors roller derby game in the history of our fine city, and best of all is that it's absolutely free. Th mayor himself will even be on hand to start the game and blow the first whistle.

Then if that weren't enough roller derby excitement for your weekend, Saturday July 20th at 5:30pm brings a double header of bouts to the Barbara Ann Scott Arena, located at 2250 Torquay Avenue. Tickets are a mere $15 at the door to see the RVRG Slaughter Daughters take on Toronto's Bay Street Bruisers and the RVRG Riot Squad battle London's Timber Rollers. What other sport is on now? Baseball? Pfft...roller derby could beat up baseball with both arms tied behind its back.

This Saturday July 20th there is no better way to spend your afternoon than at the Mayfair for some time travelling adventure with the Back to the Future Trilogy: Back to the Future at 11:30am, Back to the Future II at 1:45pm and Back to the Future III at 4:00pm. We even have a flux capacitor on hand in the lobby just in case we manage to get the theatre up to 88 miles per hour.

I've long been in the favour of more stylized or cartoon-y looking comic books vs photo-realism art work. It's not a brand new release, but I just read the Spider-Woman: Agent of SWORD collection, and I was greatly reminded of this. At first glance, Alex Maleev's artwork is very pretty. The more I look at it though, the more I think it looks lifeless, posed and traced. I find that the characters seem like they are cut and paste in front of photographic cityscape backgrounds or plunked into locations like a sticker into a colouring book page location. I find it all very distracting as I read through the story.

Since this Spider-Woman work is accomplished with directing models into poses and many of the backgrounds are digital references, it might have a sense of realism, but it lacks life and soul. I guess I'm a traditionalist. I like a comic book that looks like a comic book and not stills from a live action movie. Also, I kinda just noticed how blatantly offensive the triangles on her costume are.

Tonight I got to point a follow-spotlight towards living legend BB King on the final night of Blues Fest. Such an amazing gig gets me a bit emotional and choked up because Mr King was my dad's favourite musician of all time.

I went to see Mr King perform once with my dad, well over twenty years ago, and my dad got to see him again in Ottawa one time while I was out at school in Vancouver. He phoned me after the concert as excited as a kid on Christmas morn. He had overheard someone with a backstage pass saying that they were leaving, struck up a conversation, was kindly given the pass, and got to go met BB King. He got to have an actual conversation with his hero, and was given a bunch of personalized autographed pictures (the one written to me I of course still have framed).

My dad isn't with us anymore, but I smile at the thought that if he were I would have got him into the show tonight and h would have been ecstatic. And that while I was working, he probably would have wandered off, gotten himself back stage, and met up with his hero BB King again.

The last couple of night, the Mayfair has screened the Ottawa premiere A Band Called Death, the new documentary from Drafthouse Films. We've had a fine run of quality music themed doc's, they seem to be a real fan favourite with our patrons. Over the past few years we've had great numbers come out for such titles as It Might Get Loud, The White Strips Under Great White Northern Lights, Shut Up and Play the Hits, and Searching for Sugar Man. A Band Called Death is a worthy addition to that impressive collection of rock n roll doc's.

The movie tells the tale of three teenage brothers in the early 1970's who formed a spare bedroom garage-band. They annoyed the neighbours, played a few small-time local gigs, and even pressed a single in hopes of getting their music heard and signed to a record label. Their hopes of professional musicianship, fame and fortune hit a wall when the leader of the band refused to change their band's name from Death.

What follows is a decades long truth-stranger-than-fiction epic about the punk band legends that never were that is all at once heart-breaking, hilarious, inspirational, and filled with great real-life characters. Even if you aren't a fan of punk music, I cannot recommend this movie enough.

If you are in Ottawa, please join us at the Mayfair on Wednesday July 17th or Thursday July 18th at 9:15pm for A Band Called Death. If not, search out the film which will be making it's rounds and if you are lucky be playing soon at a theatre near you. Be ready to become a fan of a band called Death.

The cover for a new Spidey mini-series drawn by my friend Marco Rudy hit the interwebs today. For those who hate the current Superior Spidey story-arc, not to worry...this story is a good ole' fashioned Peter Parker adventure. It guarantees to look awesome.

One last Weezer post. I'm operating the follow-spotlight on the far left. A great way to watch your favourite band. I even got paid!

I got to help unpack, put together, and then put that W back onto a truck. I am one degree of separation away from the Weezer logo.

I love Weezer. I think that it's pretty safe to say that they are my favourite band. Tonight I got to wear my Sheezer shirt while pointing a follow-spotlight at guitarist Brian Bell as Weezer performed at Blues Fest. I got to have a nice conversation with their lighting director who had never heard of Sheezer before, and was now excited to look them up. As he assigned which crew member was to be on which band member, I got to smirk and assure him that I already knew their names. Even though I had to concentrate on the task at hand, I enjoyed the night greatly. Weezer knows how to put on a show. Afterward I was thanked for doing a good job, and he handed me the set list. A very nice souvenir that I will frame and add to the wall next to the last set list from the last show they did in Ottawa. I didn't get to help hold up an outhouse as lead singer Rivers climbed it and sung from its roof like I did a couple years ago...it was none the less still a greatly memorable night of rock n roll.

I'm always behind on my reading, so a few weeks late I will recommend All Star Western featuring Jonah Hex #21. Time travelling super-hero Booster Gold (another of my pre-New 52 favourite characters) was an unexpected guest star in the western comic in the past couple issues. Fantastical tales are nothing new to the character or world of Jonah Hex. Sometimes his stories are straight guns a blazing westerns, but he has bumped into vampires and ghosts and masked men along his travels. He has even traveled to a post-apocalyptic future in the 1980's series Hex.

This issue brings this incarnation of Jonah into present day for the first time. He lands in Gotham City and has a run in with one of the Batman Incorporated soldiers, Bat Wing. I admit that I loved the simplicity of the previous run of Jonah Hex tales a bit more then these ones. They had this great run of one issue stories featuring a rotating talent base of artists. The same writers are on board for this New 52 version of the character, which takes a more of an ongoing issue to issue continuity story-line to use. Some might not appreciate their favourite bounty hunter being removed from the past and being placed him into the centre of the DC Universe present day prime. I look at it the same way as I do with all the things that make comic geeks angry when there's a major change. These characters are really old, these characters have appeared in hundreds of comics, to keep things interesting you have to toss curveballs at these characters. It doesn't always work, but it often makes for interesting and fun new stories. Especially in mainstream comics, fun seems to be the one thing that is often missing. And just like Superman's death, Batman's broken back and Wolverine's lack of adamantium...I'm sure everything will be back to normal and Jonah will be back in the wild west before you know it. Don't fear change. Read comics.

I should be sent one of these buttons. I have now failed the Pepsi Challenge on three different occasions in three different decades. I'll never get to be a Pepsi spokesperson at this rate.

I may not seem the mold of their target audience at first glance, but I love the Wu-Tang Clan. If you are familiar with their library though, you know that there are a ton of references to all manner of geeky things ranging from Transformers to super-hero's to kung-fu movie sampling. So maybe it really isn't all that shocking that I am a fan. They were at Blues Fest this-afternoon, glad to be able to cross them off my concert bucket list. And yes, they even performed my favourite Wu-Tang song, "Shame on a N..."(I exchange the last word of the song title with Ninja if I'm singing along...as not to offend).

The best part about having a day job which involves stuff like being on the lighting crew for events like Blues Fest is getting paid to be introduced to a bunch of new music. This event in particular is one of the largest concert series in North America, located here in Ottawa, running from July 4th to 14th and hosting hundreds of musicians (I don't think that that is an exaggeration). Especially in the past few years, I listen to very little in the way of music. I spend all my auditory intake of arts and culture listening to podcasts and audiobooks.

Last night I got to point lights at the Irish American band Flogging Molly. Like many band of this sub-genre, they seemed to have two offerings, somber slow paced bar music and foot stomping fast paced bar music. They were a great amount of fun, there was a lot of green attire and many Irish flags flying. If you ever have the opportunity, I recommend seeing them in a live setting very much. Look out for mosh pits.

Hmm...maybe today's big hockey news shouldn't have been that much of a surprise considering the above photographic evidence of Alfie's connection to the Detroit organization.

I haven't rally been a true hockey fan for what seems like quite sometime now. It's not due to bandwagon jumping because the team for my home city hasn't won a championship, or because in recent years they've gone from contenders to an organization the misses the playoffs or fights to get in to post season contention each year. I was loyal enough that stats didn't really matter to me. I remained a Gretzky fan right through St Louis and to the farewell tour in New York that didn't go quite as well as everyone thought they might.

No...I guess I just found myself too busy for hockey. I would still go to games if free tickets fell in my lap (which happens every so often), and I have a birthday tradition with my uncle that continues, but otherwise I am very much out of the loop as to the ins and outs of the game. Whether that was that I became intertwined in the much more awesome sport of roller derby, or just because my nights became much more packed with going to movies at the Mayfair all the time. The more I hear non-sports fan comedians who I listen to (the like of John Hodgman or Chris Hardwick) poke fun at sports, the more I realized that I just couldn't raise up the spirits to care about them all that much anymore.

I was on my way to the vet for a quick check-up for the puppy thismorning when my friend told me the news. I was shockingly saddened and in a short state of disbelief considering that I haven't really followed hockey in four seasons or so. Alfie jumping ship to Detroit still kind of took me aback and made me loose my faith in the universe a lil bit. To be fair, Alfie really did nothing wrong. His contract was up, he's not breaking any rules or throwing fits or acting in any kind of underhanded manner (which athletes often partake in). I would have bet it all that he would have spent his whole career in Ottawa though. Now, instead of a noble and unprecedented run with a single team, he's off to try and get his name on a Stanley Cup in Detroit. Cheering for millionaires playing a children's game just doesn't seem all that appealing to me anymore. With the abandonment of my one time beloved captain, I do think this means that I officially don't care about hockey at all anymore.

Happy fireworks day to our American friends South of the Canadian border. Sure much of your country might be in shambles and a Mad Max-ian post apocalyptic wasteland is surely imminent...but at least we can all be distracted slightly from life's troubles by expensive things blowing up.

Another indie horror spotlight upcoming at the Mayfair, prepare yourselves for the terror of The Frankenstein Theory, as presented by our friends at ZombieInfo.com. Find out if Mary Shelley's classic and frequently reimagined novel was indeed based in fact, Saturday July 6 at 10:45pm, Wednesday the 10th and Thursday the 11th at 9:00pm

OttawaHorror.com presents the Rue Morgue Cinema film The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh at the Mayfair on July 3rd and 4th at 9:15pm. Clive Barker praised the film as "Magnificent." and also said that "This film has no precedent."...and he knows a lil' something about horror stories.

Happy Canada Day from me and my favourite home-town super hero team.