Dorkgasm Gonzo Is God

     The Hangover is very much a case of the little movie that could. With a crude, smaller budget film like this, no one really expected too much out of it. Even Lindsay Lohan turned down a part because she did not think it was ever going to go anywhere. Surprisingly, The Hangover turned out to be one of the biggest hits of 2009, raking in scads of cash and assuring a career for everyone involved. I have a little history going into The Hangover. I saw it in the theater and was not terribly amused. I thought the acting was sub-par, the plot ludicrous, and the humor dumbed down to the point of being retarded. However, then I saw it again.

     When I originally heard that they were making a new movie based upon my favorite literary detective of all time, I initially had a mild spot of trepidation. I had seen most, if not all, of the previous incarnations and felt they all lacked something crucial. Then, I heard two crucial bits of news; Guy Ritchie was directing the movie and Robert Downey Jr. was playing Sherlock Holmes. My initial fears began to solidify at this point. Here was a director known for his London crime exploits and a Yankee playing a Brit! However as trailers and on-set pictures began to leak out, my mind began to convince me that this could be a joyous experience. Fortunately, I was not let down.

With the recent surge in vampire fiction lately it is hard to know what titles are actually going to be worth it and which ones should be placed in the circular file with all of their shimmery goodness. Barb Hendee’s Hunting Memories is one of those stories I can actually encourage you to take the time to read. Not only because it is a far superior work to some of the vampire work (coughtwilightcough) out there, but because it is innovative and fun all on it’s own.

Supernatural is one of the highest-rated shows on the CW, however much that means in the world of television as a whole. The season premiere for the fifth season pulled in excellent ratings for the network, while the fourth season DVDs were released at the very beginning of September. The stars never cease to surprise in the DVD’s features, either. For a show with only two regulars, Supernatural has been full of twists, turns, and demons from day one, and the features of season five give real insight to the mythology behind the series.

Sharon Shinn’s Quatrain is a series of four novellas all in one book based on worlds she previously created. The first of these novellas is Flight. It takes place in a realm ruled not by kings, but by angels; and not nice, sweet seraphim either. These are asshole angels. The angels are more like frat boys that blow through women as if they are matches, leaving them abandoned and broken.

How do you market a werewolf movie to teenage girls? Include some decent looking guys, some metaphors so obviously about puberty that they’re hardly metaphors, and some catty girl-on-girl hatred. With a crazy mother, obsessed with the fact that her daughters are growing up, Ginger Snaps isn’t only a werewolf movie for girls. The Canadian flick found a cult following and spawned both a sequel and a prequel. I finally had a chance to catch this film when IFC showed it last month, and let me just say I can see why it’s a cult hit.

Anyone who has played EVE Online has learned one simple truth: cargo ships look like gigantic flying penises.

Whup-ass fajitas. The OK Corral. Sack-o-matic. Ding, dong! “The plan”. Mike Tyson. These are only a few things that I will be laughing about for some time after seeing The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. As any Saints fan will tell you, there are certain catch phrases from the first movie that, when said, will let you know that you are part of something special.

The problem with modern science fiction is that it often tries too had to draw attention to the cool science fiction bits that land it within that genre. The best science fiction plays it closer to the chest and lets us slide into the suspension of disbelief that our minds so want to fight against when we start reading about laser pistols and faster-than-light travel. We want to believe, but in order for us to do that, an author must believe in his world as much as he wants his audience to believe it. William C. Dietz accomplishes that very well with his latest novel, At Empire’s Edge.

Think Twilight, then subtract the vampires, insert a couple hundred supernatural hounds and various forms of magic, and make the writing five times better. Throw in a Voldemort-like antagonist and you’ve got yourself On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. Taking place in three different realms, the novel follows Rose Drayton and her two brothers, Jack and Georgie, as intruders shake up their lives. Declan and Casshorn, the intruders, both come from the Weird, the magical realm. As a contrast, Rose and her brothers live in the Edge, which lies between the Weird and the mortal realm of the Broken. But, despite the comparison to Twilight, this book is well written and has a much darker and more interesting plot.