ANOTHER BLOGGY VALLEY SUNDAY

The DESIGN A NEW LOGO FOR TONY competition ends
Saturday, February 18, at midnight.  Right now, the above logo
by Christopher Mills is the one to beat. 

Here’s the skinny on this competition:

Contest entries will be shown in the blog as they arrive.  The best
three to five logos will receive prizes for their creators, namely
autographed copies of 1000 Comic Books You Must Read or
Grim Ghost. All prizes will come with a certificate of authenticity
confirming the items come from my Vast Accumulation of Stuff.
Maybe not great prizes, but I’m on a tight budget.

To enter the contest, e-mail me your logo with your permission to
run it in this blog.  I’m not buying or seeking any rights to your
work beyond being able to use it in this contest.  Should I want to
make further use of your logo, we’ll negotiate an agreement for it.

Getting back to my pal Chris, he is a jack-of-many-trades.  He’s a
fine writer, fiction and non-fiction.  He’s a first-rate designer.
He’s knowledgeable about many genre subjects and writes about them
in his various blog.  I recommend you start with his
Atomic Pulpsand Other Meltdowns and proceed from there.

******************************

30 Rock.  The series is a favorite of mine, cleverly written for a
cast of hilarious actors.  That cast has a new recurring character
and I love her.

New NBC page Hazel is played by Kristen Schaal, a comedian I first
saw on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  After a rough beginning,
Hazel has fixed on a goal.  She wants Liz Lemon’s life. 

Schaal is holding her own in scenes with Tina Fey, Jack McBrayer,
and Jane Krakowski.  We haven’t yet see her follow through on her
master plan, but, judging from what we have seen, I think she will
blend funny with criminally insane in splendid fashion.  She’s one
more reason I love 30 Rock.

****************************** 

I’m trying to have at least one “Movie Night” a week with Sainted
Wife Barb.  One cheap and at home “Movie Night,” usually consisting
of a library rental and take out food.  They don’t call me “Mister
Excitement” for nothing.  I have to pay them.

Our Friday night movie was Crazy Stupid Love starring Steve Carell,
Ryan Gosling, Julianne Moore, Emma Stone, Marisa Tomei, and Kevin
Bacon.  Carell gets dumped by wife Moore.  Womanizer Gosling takes
pity on Carell and teaches him how to score.  Meanwhile, Carell’s
13-year-old son has a crush on his 17-year-old babysitter who is in
love with Carell...and Gosling is about to meet game-changer Stone.
Heartbreak and hilarity ensue.

Barb and I got a kick out of this movie.  I was enjoying myself so
much that I didn’t see some plot twists coming.  However, there was
one element that, while it was funny on one level, was disturbing
on another. 

SPOILER BEGINS. The babysitter wants Carell to see her as a
woman. She takes nude photos of herself that she intends to send
to him. Her parents see them first and believe their daughter is involved
with Carell, who is unaware of all of this.

At the end of the movie, after Carell’s son has again and publicly
expressed his love for the babysitter, the kid tells her that he’s
going to stop bothering her.  She’s surprised that he’s giving up.
He reminds her that she loves his dad and, in a few years, he will
look like his dad.

She smiles, kisses him on the cheek, and gives him the nude photos.
To hold him over during the next few years.  The scene tries to
play sweet, but it’s still a 17-year-old giving nude photos to a
13-year-old.  It’s like the opening to an episode of Law and Order:
Special Victims Unit. SPOILER ENDS.

Crazy Stupid Love isn’t a great movie, but it’s an engaging comedy
with really good acting.  It was a good choice for us.  It might be
a good choice for you as well.

******************************

Last week was the week I finally sat down and read all 30 issues of
Terry Moore’s Echo.  What a ride!

Photographer Julie Martin witnesses an aerial combat with one of
the combatants being a woman in a battle suit made of an odd metal.
The suit explodes, its fragments raining on Julie and bonding with
her.  That’s where the story starts.

Before the finale, Echo takes through government intrigue, deadly
encounters with bad and sometimes frighteningly powerful villains,
human interest, and a desperate attempt to keep an insane scientist
from blowing up the world.  In the name of science.

Moore’s art is beautiful, his storytelling superb, and his writing
first-rate.  Through these 30 issues, his dialogue encompasses the
dramatic, the heartwarming, and the horrifying, and all of it rings
true.  I love this story.

According to Wikipedia: In 2009, the film rights for Echo were
purchased by producer Lloyd Levin, known for the film versions of
Watchmen, Mystery Men and Hellboy. The movie was expected to
begin production in late 2011.

Echo: The Complete Edition [Abstract Studios; $39.99] was published
last August.  I highly recommend this 600-page volume, which costs
less than half what the individual issues would have set you back
had you purchased them as they came out. 

ISBN: 978-1892597489

******************************

I’m killing some time surfing various entertainment news sites and
I see a photo of an attractive young woman named Christina Milian.
She’s eating McDonald’s Chicken McBites, a new addition to Mickey
D’s menu, albeit only for a limited time.

Why is Ms. Milian eating Chicken McBites?  Because she’s attending
a launch party for Chicken McBites.

That’s correct. A launch party for Chicken McBites.

Launch. Party. For. Chicken. McBites.

God help us!

******************************

This was the e-mail’s header: “Professional Copywriting for Tony
Isabella’s Bloggy Thing.”  The writer - Isabella Woods - said she
was a professional writer and researcher newly located to London.
She offered to write my blog for me...for free...in exchange for my
allowing her to link to other professional businesses for which she
freelanced.  The links to samples of her writing were such that I
wasn’t about to click on any of them.

I’m sure this was a scam.  But, even if it wasn’t, why would I ever
want anyone to write my blog?  The blog I write because it keeps me
sane and keeps in touch with however many of my readers follow me
online?  Now if there actually is an Isabella Woods and she really
is the 29-year-old writer she claims to be, I’m sorry for doubting
her.  But I’m thinking that’s an apology I’ll never have to make.

I’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff.

© 2012 Tony Isabella