December 14, 2003

• Sorry, the first link is fucked. This is the correct one.
• This guy is a pretty handy cartoonist too. His Les Passagers du vent (1979-1984) is considered in France to be the first really successful adult comic series. It contains no people wearing their underpants on the outside of their duds whatsoever. (First link in English, second in French, but shows a bit more of the artwork.)
• This is a great link, I just wish I had time to read all these articles. Alan Moore was the second comic writer I ever read, after starting with Neil Gaimen's Sandman (like everyone else, and their sister). Watchman, written by Moore and drawn by Dave Gibbons, is still one of the finest graphic novels ever printed. And, I think, the only graphic novel to have an entire episode (scoll down) of Prisoners of Gravity dedicated to it. PoG is the major reason, alongside peer pressure :), that I started reading comics - Now I just wish I had enough disposable income and time to keep up with my hunger for good comic art. I would make a FPP about it, because it was a brilliant show, but it has been cancelled for years.
• Since we're talking about comics, I must wax eloquent on my love for Transmetropolitan (flash). No superpowers here. One reporter armed with a bowel disruptor on a quest for the Truth. Spider Jerusalem (Moore's weblog) is the love child of Uncle Duke and Hunter S. Thompson.
• I just noticed the Salon link is missing in the post. (correcting three months old posts really doesn't say much positive about me, now, does it?)
• It says that I never would've seen this post if you hadn't. And I love Moore. So thanks.
• You are the collective memory of MoFi, dng. I worship your distended bookmark file. Maybe we need a ONE MONTH AGO IN MONKEYFILTER! automagical sidebar thingy, to keep good stuff from swirling down the drain.
• that's not a distended bookmark file.... /Planes trains automobiles
• Alan Moore, who reinvented the comic book as the cutting-edge literary medium of our day, talks about beheading, the diabolical power of the media, the Bush dynasty and the fall of Tony Blair. The Rational Shaman: Watchmen creator Alan Moores adventures in magic Alan Moore, Voice of the Fire
• Voice of the Fire is an exceptional novel.
• The trailer for V for Vendetta (which I sincerely hope doesn't suck).
• Alan Moore slams the movie. Interview with Natalie Portman.
• In his fantastical "Promethea" series, Alan Moore indulges his fascinations with tantric sex and the tarot -- and reveals his take on kabbalistic philosophy
• The trailer is beautiful. But why did it have to be the Wachowski brothers? They couldn't write a decent fucking greeting card.
• mct, I wouldn't agree with you, but I actually saw the Matrix parts II and III. *shudder* and I've had 4 gin and tonics, which works much like a truth serum.
• i thought the wachowski bros did a good job on the matrix, but parts ii and iii were dreadful. i ♥♥♥♥♥♥ v for vendetta, and i will be very disappointed if they ruin it. it was the second graphic novel i read (after miller's the dark knight returns) and it got me hooked on this wonderful medium. the trailer does look good.
• Alan gave some details about bits of the V For Vendetta shooting script he'd seen. "It was imbecilic; it had plot holes you couldn't have got away with in Whizzer And Chips in the nineteen sixties. Plot holes no one had noticed." What Moore found most laughable however were the details. "They don't know what British people have for breakfast, they couldn't be bothered. 'Eggy in a basket' apparently. Now the US have 'eggs in a basket,' whish is fried bread with a fried egg in a hole in the middle. I guess they thought we must eat that as well, and thought 'eggy in a basket' was a quaint and Olde Worlde version. And they decided that the British postal service is called Fedco. They'll have thought something like, 'well, what's a British version of FedEx... how about FedCo? A friend of mine had to point out to them that the Fed, in FedEx comes from 'Federal Express.' America is a federal republic, Britain is not." That worries me, somewhat
• The first Matrix film was overall pretty good, but noticeably flawed. There was some dialogue in there that made me wonder if they'd hired George Lucas to ghost-write the script. Bound was so horrid that its only value lies in its unintented comedy.
• or, you know, unintended comedy. That too.
• Personally, I only really enjoy comedy within the canvassy confines of a tent. So I probably shouldn't watch Bound.
• It sounds like they have totally butchered the concept of V for Vendetta, rendering it unrecognizable to those familiar with the Moore's original.
• Will Natalie Portman ever be mine?
• No.
• Thought not.
• She's crap in bed, anyway, mate.
• I only want to pose her stiffening corpse in amusing tableaux, not make sweet, sweet love to her. What do you think I am, some kind of pre-vert?!
• Yes. Yes I do.
• Furry nuff.
• Ah, this thread was kept active somewhat thanks to the impending V for Vendetta movie. Maybe we need a ONE MONTH AGO IN MONKEYFILTER! automagical sidebar thingy, to keep good stuff from swirling down the drain. Well, that's theoretically what I'm trying to catalog on my journey, though some monkeys may disagree. Found some great stuff here...and Alan Moore is definitely one of them. (Kitfisto doing interpretive corpse art with Natalie Portman, not so much--not that I wouldn't take a peek at the pictures when they appear on Ogrish mind you, but hey...).
• BearGuy - I'm certainly enjoying the stroll down memory lane. Apart from the links, it's been nice to remember folks who've left us, like Dizzy (who became Anonymous,) Sullivan and booradley. I'll be sorry when you reach your original entry into the Mobius strip you've created.
• Some of those Anonymousesessses are also some of the myriad of petebests, don't forget!
• Didn't realize that the petes had been whittled down. Now that's a shame. Each one could have been a contender. Plus, the petbest portfolio is now incomlete.I demand that they be restored to their original sparkling something or other! Free the petesbest! Free Petyesbest!!
• Also had other b/vanished monkeys convert to Anonymous on exiting -- spackle, for instance. Anonymous has been a many-gendered collective for some time. Diminishing the Collective Monkey Memory further seems unlikely since tracicle founded the Eeked Threads Department. And the Eeks are rather fun, some of 'em. After all, where else can we witness the burgeoning of bernockle's owl semen obsession?
• The Vendetta Behind 'V for Vendetta'
• I have to admit I laughed at loud at:

  Mr. Moore found the accusations deeply insulting, and the 10 hours of testimony he was compelled to give, via video link, even more so. "If I had raped and murdered a schoolbus full of retarded children after selling them heroin," he said, "I doubt that I would have been cross-examined for 10 hours."

• A BBC interview with Alan Moore It'll be gone by the 16th of March, unfortunately, and I have no idea if anyone outside the UK can view it
• Any monkeys seen it yet?
• Eh, I finally saw it, and if you loved the graphic novel, you'll probably be pretty underwhelmed by the movie, especially the ending. Feh. But it was mildly weird how on the same day I saw the film, with all its "no coincidences" bits, I also saw this story on Democracy Now, which I don't usually watch.
• What Would Glycon Do?
• I thought it...didn't suck. Actually, sitting there and watching it as its own film and not an adaptation of that wonderful story, I think it works pretty well. Ditto on the ending, and I can certainly see why Moore's pissed off about it, but overall it was definitely worth the price of admission.
• What Terry Gilliam's Brazil reveals about the Wachowskis' V for Vendetta.
• I have never read the graphic novel (and I am asking myself why), but I enjoyed the movie. I think Hugo Weaving may be the new God. Natalie Portman, gives a great performance. I like it, but, again, I have no knowledge of the comic.
• That's probably best, actually. See the film first, enjoy it, and then read the graphic novel.
• Agreed. The movie works well on its own merits, and I think it deserves the good reviews it's gotten, but there's some in the comic that really should have made it in to the film (and likewise, some improvisation on the Wachowskis' part that should have been left out).
• Dang, I've still got the 1812 Overture stuck in my head!
• What a coincidence. I've still got Natalie Portman with a shaved head stuck in mine.
• "It's an exciting, quality Bin Laden film."
• That article made my eyes bleed. Yikes.
• I love anything that pisses off morons.
• The article assumes that V for Vendetta was written recently. Way to do your homework, shit-for-brains.
• The last sentence sums it up pretty well.
• I love anything that pisses off morons. Yeah, some of the responses have been a lot more entertaining than the movie was.
• A for Anarchy
• B for Bolsheviks
• C for Cookie
• D is for Dwile flonking.
• Aw. Let's try this over again: dwile flonking. Scroll down, between Dumbledore and Edacious.
• E for Evil Empires
• G for Grunion
• Oops. Must all those damned eggs I laid! F for Fingal's Cave.
• noticed on a french poster for v that david lloyd is given sole credit for the graphic novel. h for hegelianism.
• Here's a fixed link for the LA Weekly article.
• L for "locking up the gays and stuff."
• Alas, it seems that the natural equipment men hitherto used for thinking has been mislaid. O by the by wot has happened to I?
• Annata.
• Anatta. Phooey.
• *ignores* Phoo dog.
• tracicle, don't know if this signifies, but there now seems to be a six-minute discrepancy between the UTC time on MoFi and that shown on my three non-networked PCs.
• Monkeyfilter has broken free of its moorings, and is beginning to float solemnly through time
• It's because of the gays.
• Soon, new comments will appear ABOVE older comments, and will pre-date the FPP that they (loosely) address.
• Stupid homoSINuality
• When Times Are Out of Joint Old Chronos, thief of seconds, flies above the seas, the light-flood skies, dim lands of earth, and second-handed won't give those minutes back as I've demanded.
• The truth at last.
• “V” Meets The Secret Service
• that is really interesting. You should repost it as an FPP, to get more discussion going. My husband's first response was "They're delivering a petition, dressed as a terrorist?" But I thought, if they are protesting a lack of civil rights, V makes sense. Though (in the interests of being simultaneously geeky and arrogant), I would like to point out that I read V for Vendetta before the movie.
• Also, Alan Moore is going to appear in the Simpsons
• You should repost it as an FPP, to get more discussion going. Done!
• BOG VENUS VERSUS NAZI COCK-RING: Some Thoughts Concerning Pornography, By Alan Moore.
• Some Photographs From the Wedding of the Greatest Living Englishman and Melinda Perry Gebbie
• I had no idea they got married.
• I love Alan Moore's cheeky little smile
• Watchmen Cast Revealed! It's Mostly Crap!
• Okay, Billy Crudup as Dr. Manhattan could rule. But aren't these characters supposed to be, you know...FIFTY?
• Yeah, that seems to be a slight oversight. Crudup is a brilliant actor, but I have little hope for this film.
• oh dear
• I don't think that cast list is too appalling (its nothing like as bad as I'd feared at least) but tI can't see a single way this film could ever be anywhere near as good as the book. Watchmen is so much a comic book, and so perfectly a comic book, that any translation to another medium is going to have to lose so much it just seems a little pointless to try it.
• Alan Moore talks about V for Vendetta (video link near the bottom)
• Origami Guy Fawkes/V for Vendetta mask
• New The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, The Black Dossier, volume out
• I hope its good Lost Girls comes out in Britain in January, too. Hooray for Alan Moore
• Alan Moore's latest "League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" comic gleefully mixes up history, pulp fiction and some surprisingly familiar characters
• The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic by Alan Moore
• Shouldn't someone be linking to the Simpson's episode that featured him at a book signing last week? This would seem to be the place for that to go.
• Great idea. Someone should get onto that right now. Didn't see the episode myself, but I heard about it.
• The mindscape of Alan Moore
• Watchmen Trailer Strikes the Internets Early
• Better quality here.
• They nailed Rorschach voice and Doctor Manhatten's dead eyes.
• I'm going to re-read this at the weekend. Get match-fit, so to speak.
• How could they nail Rorschach's voice when he didn't have one in the comic? Unless you had a comic with audio. His voice was described as a 'dead monotone' IIRC, this sounds like a batman raspy voice to me, but either way, the trailer kills.
• OK, I;ve only ever been a casual Watchmen fan, but that trailer is amazulating. The way the shots a re composed, lit, and framed is nothing short of perfect.
• Yes. Oh yes.
• I had Alan Moore read the comic outloud, Hank, and that's exactly how he did Rorshach.
• You can read the script for this here if you're interested
• That is the first thing I've seen about this movie that made me hopeful and excited. And goddamn, but they got Manhattan right.
• But he's completely cgi so that should make you curse like the millions of other fanboys registering their displeasure all over the internet at this very moment.
• I think Doctor Manhatten *should* be completely cgi. And I *hate* cgi.
• He's a being of pure energy or something, right? Painting some dude blue just isn't going to cut it.
• What about that guy from Arrested Development? He must be looking for work now.
• Yay! This looks good.
• Watchmen Creator Ignores Movie
• Watchmen on Entertainment Weekly. Saw it at the airport bookshop on the way back.
• I also agree with Moore's statements re: "300," but the bigotry was a faithful adaptation from the comic, which lies ultimately at Frank Miller's feet. One can criticize Snyder for wanting to adapt that in the first place, but on the other hand, he faithfully adapted the comic, which is what we all want him to do with Watchmen. So I'm not sure his criticisms of Snyder are valid here -- Snyder clearly has fanboy respect for the source material, and that's a good thing, if he's got the proper chops to pull it off. I totally understand why Moore is jaded with the whole industry, though, based on how they've treated his work in the past. Dude is the Phillip Dick of comics, when it comes to movie adaptations of his work.
• How does the teaser compare to the comic book?
• The lass playing Silk Specter is a bit on the thin side.
• The MPAA thinks you're stupid.
• And they'd be right.
• Wait, wait, wait. 007 points his gun at the camera at the beginning if every film. Walnut Tangerine Fandango, says I. Maybe they thought the guy in Watchmen just wasn't handsome enough to pull it off.
• 007 points his gun at the camera at the beginning if every film. Not in the trailer. That there's the distinction. Stupid distinction? Yes.
• Clip of Alan Moore talking about Watchmen. The comic, not the movie. Also, at 3:56, Alan Moore reads Rorschach. Now we can evaluate the trailer's Rorschach voice vs. Moore's.
• Updated Prisoners of Gravity fan-site link, for all your obscure-Canadian-tv-show-about-comics-and-SF&F needs.
• See Watchmen's Rorschach With And Without His Mask
• He got the casting right physically, anyway. That dude looks like Rorschach.
• The guy playing Rorshach was recently in a disturbing film with the guy playing Nite Owl called Little Children. A long time ago, he was in Breaking Away. He's perfect casting, imo.
• Lawsuit Won't Stop The Watchmen
• Better Late Than Never: Watchmen (AV Club)
• "Watchmen-mania" Watchmania, surely!
• Oh, love this: At the risk of being slightly hyperbolic, Watchmen is such a monumental achievement that it makes Moby Dick look like a flaming pile of horseshit by comparison.
• Clock Ticking on Watchmen Trial, Delayed Release
• Alan Moore on 'Watchmen' movie: 'I will be spitting venom all over it'
• Watchmen Movie Was Almost About The War On Terror
• The Condensed Watchmen.
• Free Watchmen game.
• Really looking forward to the costumed fans at the theater on Friday.
• I must say, I saw so many, er, alternatively dressed people at the multiplex on Saturday, I wondered if there was a convention going on at the same location. This didn't happen with LOTR.
• I just uploaded this old radio 4 interview with Alan Moore, from 2005, which is excellent, and reallyfunny. The stuff about the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and Watchmen movies at about 20 minutes in is brilliant.
• Alan Moore Message Projected Into Space