My two favorite Corey Haim movies are probably Lucas and Dream a Little Dream. I know folks frequently cite The Lost Boys, which I enjoy, but I think Haim showed something in those other two films that we really didn't get to see often. It's a shame he's gone.

So yesterday pretty much sucked. I was home sick from work with a pretty bad cold. Around 10:30 the power went out. I then remembered a notice I had received saying there would be power outages between 9 AM Monday and 9 AM Tuesday. I had thought that was a window where there might be sporadic power outages. Nope. The power was still out when I left this morning. I'm not going to be that dude that complains that he couldn't watch TV or whatever. It just really sucked not being able to take a hot shower or cook anything while I had a 100 degree temperature. So I pretty much just slept in the dark and when I felt a little better I went to go eat. Then I slept some more and tried to read in the dark, but I had a hard time seeing with a flashlight as my eyes aren't that great. Now I really sound like Abe Simpson.

When it got so dark I couldn't see anything and I was starting to feel better, I went to the movies and saw Shutter Island, which I thought was really great. I thought it looked fantastic and the performances really made it wonderful. On a side note, I was a little perturbed when two couples walked in the empty theater and sat in the same row as me. They had the whole theater and they chose the row I was in. I don't know what the deal was with that.

I drove home thinking there was no way they would keep the power off through the night but I was wrong. Luckily my iPhone still had a little juice left so my alarm went off this morning as I woke up to more darkness and another cold shower. Worst sick day ever.

Dang, where is 2010 going? Pretty soon it will be 2012 and we will all die in spectacular nonsensical Roland Emmerich fashion. Or something.

I finished Deadwood. As much as I prepared myself, knowing it didn't get a proper end, it was still a giant bummer when it was over. Amazing show though. I'm also working my way through Heavy Rain on PS3, which is incredible. I'm resisting the temptation to go back and fix what I think were mistakes. I'm just going to play all the way through on this story and then go back. It's tough though. I haven't killed any of my characters yet, at least.

What else...

We are making some progress on the Brax book as we will be publishing our 100th strip on Friday. If it wasn't for Phil's determination I'm pretty sure we would have missed 100 deadlines by now. Instead we have missed none. The book should be ready in time for Comic-Con and we will have our first copies for sale at DWEX. Of course it will also be available online since we are going to publish it through Lulu.

Enough shameless plugging. Holy crap, LOST. Am I right?

Let me just preface this by saying that I saw an early cut of the film several months ago so there have likely been changes made since then. I might revise this post based on those changes, I might not. That being said, I enjoyed this movie a lot. Yes, yes, I am a huge Kevin Smith fan but I can honestly say from an objective standpoint, as much as I possibly can do so, that I enjoy this flick and I think many folks who might not normally enjoy Kevin's films, as well as those who do, will enjoy this movie.

I think a lot of critics who have been harsh with the film misunderstood a couple things about the movie. First, a simple IMDB search, in addition to reading any of the press attached to the movie, or, well, not living under a rock will reveal the fact that Kevin Smith did not write this film. It is NOT a "Kevin Smith film" or a View Askew film. I'm thinking some folks were expecting that. Some were expecting his regular cast of characters and his regular humor. Seeing as how he had nothing to do with the writing of the script, none of that is there. Jason Lee is in the movie though and he is pretty awesome in his brief role.

Second, I think some folks missed what this film was trying to do. I would call it a homage to the 80's buddy cop film. It's not trying to be a gritty action movie. It's not trying to be an all-out comedy. It hearkens back to the times of Lethal Weapon and 48 Hours and films like that. Perhaps some people don't remember those movies. I don't know. Cop Out takes that formula and modernizes it a bit.

The cast for me is what really made this movie great. I enjoyed Tracy Morgan the most. I think he actually dialed it down a bit from his Tracy Jordan character on 30 Rock and I think that's what makes this movie really work. He and Bruce Willis do a great job together. Bruce Willis is Bruce Willis. Another star that really shined for me was Guillermo Diaz, who plays the villain. His character in Cop Out is a tad more intense than his character in Weeds and just as enthralling.

The bottom line with Cop Out is if you're looking for an enjoyable action comedy and can appreciate what the folks who made it are trying to do, I think you'll enjoy it. For a Kevin Smith project it is a pretty "soft" R so if that's holding you back, I really wouldn't let it. I am hoping the film does well to give Kevin some momentum for his next project, Hit Somebody, which really looks promising.

Yesterday after work I went with Phil and Janelle over to Disneyland to catch an opening day performance of the newly re-opened Captain EO. I was 6 years old when the 3D movie made its debut in Tomorrowland so there was a huge amount of nostalgia for me. I was a little worried it wouldn't be as great as I thought it would be but my fears quickly dissipated once the movie started and the audience started cheering.

For those not familiar with the movie, it is a 17 minute 3D movie starring Michael Jackson and Anjelica Huston that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and executive produced by George Lucas. And not crappy George Lucas either. This was fresh off of Return of the Jedi George Lucas. Michale stars as Captain EO, a captain of a ship of a misfit crew of creatures sent to deliver a message to a seemingly hostile planet. For fans of MJ, it's a must see. Concerned fans of the attraction will be happy to know that the film has not been altered in any way. Some of the physical effects (lasers, etc.) have been removed but many new effects have been added. I really enjoyed it and definitely plan on going several times while I have the chance as it is supposedly a limited engagement.

I got Deadwood: The Complete Series for Christmas and started watching it last weekend. I'm already 2 episodes into season 3. It's freaking awesome. The biggest factor making it awesome is Ian McShane. The dude is just a badass and the idea of him as the villain Blackbeard in the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie has me very excited. I mean, Blackbeard was one of the baddest pirates ever pretty much and now that it's been rumored I can't see anyone else but McShane in this role. Here's hoping it will actually happen.

Since Lost is pretty much the only show I watch regularly that seems to be airing right now thanks to the Olympics and various other hiatuses, I've had a chance to catch up on movies. I've watched all the films that are nominated for Best Picture except for The Blind Side which, despite folks saying it actually is good, is going to be a tough one for me to actually watch. Don't get me wrong, I like football and I like stuff similar to this, I just can't get over the Sandra Bullock factor. I know I need to just suck it up, put my prejudices aside, and watch it, but it's going to take a little bit of time for me.

So who do I think should win Best Picture? Well, my top ten for 2009 is a bit different than the Academy's but that is to be expected. If there were a BrendoMan awards, I would give the bespectacled, bearded statue to Where the Wild Things Are much to the dismay of many folks and I wouldn't care. I loved that movie. But as far as the films nominated for Best Picture, I think a case can be made for several of the nominees. As a technical achievement and as a huge multi-year undertaking, many would make the case for Avatar. As pure awesome, well made flicks, many would make the case for Inglorious Basterds and District 9. And so on. My pick is The Hurt Locker. I was blown away by this movie, especially since going into it I had no idea what to expect, especially since I haven't enjoyed most of the previous movies about the war in Iraq. I was captivated from start to finish and I believed in those characters. Not to mention the film itself looked incredible.

2009 was a great year for films. I could easily come up with a list of 20 movies I enjoyed, something I've had trouble doing in some years past. There were lots of small quirky films and many of the larger event pictures paid off as well. There were many great animated movies, which always makes me happy. All the flicks were enough to get me really excited about movies again after I'd gotten a little apathetic. So nice job with that, folks. Hopefully 2010 will keep the momentum going.

I am NOT going to comment on the Kevin Smith/Southwest Airlines fiasco since I know it will attract trolls and I fear I will be unable to control myself in responding to them. I'm only posting this because folks have been asking.

So how bout LOST, eh?

Remember when I was talking about St. Brendan a while back? Now this book is coming out and it got a good review. I don't know why the reviewer put an accent on the "a" though. That's not Irish at all. This is almost as cool as having one of the original spellings of your last name become the title of a comic book. Yeah. Also while researching this I found out that the name Brandon is of Germanic descent so by calling me Brandon not only are you getting my name wrong you are insulting my heritage. So stop that.

People are always asking me (well, a couple people have a couple times) why I keep watching Heroes if I hate it so much. I think this article from Topless Robot sums it all up pretty nicely and reminded me of the number one reason why the show sucks now:

Seriously, where the hell is future Hiro? You guys want to save the show, bring on future Hiro. Also, stop sucking. But really, I hope tonight is the series finale. It pains me to say that, but at this point I just want it to be over. That way I can just kind of forget the last 3 years ever happened and hold on to my Season 1 DVD and pretend that was all that happened.

This year will probably be the biggest convention year ever for me as we are entering our second year of making Brax and are working on releasing our first book. While plans have stalled a little bit due to Phil's pending move we are still looking at a second quarter release if all goes well. While we aren't making the big leap of having a table at a large convention just yet, we're definitely going to be at quite a few conventions to promote the book, hopefully doing a panel or two, and just geeking out in general. Here's what's in store for 2010:

• February 20th: Long Beach One Day Comic Expo
• April 24th-25th: Stumptown Comics Fest in Portland, Oregon (Probable)
• May 27th-30th: Phoenix Comicon (Probable)
• July 21st-25th: San Diego Comic-Con
• August 21st: Dallas Webcomics Expo
• October 16th-17th: Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco (Possible)
• October 29th-31st: Long Beach Comic Con
• November 6th-7th: New England Webcomics Weekend (Possible)

Phil and I will also definitely be appearing at L.A. Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention a few times this year since they are nice folks and the tables are cheap. Some of the above dates are dependent on whether or not we have the book published in time. I'm pretty sure we're going to go with Lulu but we're looking at a few other options. Let me know if there is a convention you think we should be at, as long as it isn't put on by Wizard. Ever since the crapfest that was Wizard World L.A. and the fact that they don't offer professional badges I have been really turned off to them. Maybe they can turn things around with this next round of Cons, but we'll have to wait and see.

I don't know the context of this picture and frankly I don't care. It just made laugh out loud and I thought I would share.

via Unreality

(via Digg)

Speaking of our robot overlords, are you watching Caprica?

This is definitely my kind of documentary as it details a generation's love/hate relationship with the man who created (and some would argue ruined) Star Wars. My good friend Matt Cohen was interviewed for the film, which makes its debut at South by Southwest in Austin. He's the guy in the trailer who says he's not sure if, upon meeting Lucas in the street, he would shake his hand or punch him in the stomach. I'll definitely be keeping an eye on this film and hopefully I'll get a chance to see it in the near future.

via Videogum

One of the more anticipated TV DVD releases is scheduled to drop this spring. Hopefully the music will be intact. Now there's only a couple more dream TV sets left for me once this drops. The Wonder Years is still definitely at the top of my list. How about you guys?

I'm not going to lie, I'm pretty stoked for this.

Looooooooooooooooooooosssssst! I know it is probably a bad idea to get this excited about something, but I really don't care at this point. How about you guys?

This is a pretty great video especially for those of you wanting to see a closer look at the set of The Pee-Wee Herman Show and the puppets in action. It's pretty funny too.

In addition to the iPad (what a silly name) I will not be buying the upcoming Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy Blu-ray box set. While I'm sure they will look amazing in 1080p, this just seems like a giant step backward for me and a cash grab for those of us waiting for the Extended Editions but really wanting to see LOTR in HD. Well, while I did buy the theatrical releases on DVD out of desperation, I'm not falling for it this time. I've gone this long, I can wait until however long they decided to finally put these out. I know many people won't wait, and that's why studios keep doing things like this and the cycle continues.

Fans of Arrested Development might want to check out today's Shirt.Woot. If you buy it today it is $10 with free shipping.

So, as I am sure you all know, the iPad iTab was announced today.? It has a 9.7 inch screen and for all intents and purposes is a gigantic iPod Touch and runs all of the apps the iPhone runs… such as the Kindle App.

Last week, my Kindle 2 arrived in the mail.? I love reading on it.? But is the iTab a better ebook reader?? Should I return my Kindle 2 and buy the iTab?? Sure is costs more, but one gets the same functionality plus a touch color screen, access to just about any ebook store instead of just Amazon’s, what is guaranteed to be better handling of PDFs, support for cbrs, etc.? And that is just the stuff right now.? That is not to mention any future publishing enhancments.

hhhmmm…

I wouldn't be asking if I hadn't just gotten the Kindle 2...

When it comes to actual tickets sold, it is only ranked 25th of all time and has a long, long way to go to get to the top seeing as how Gone With The Wind sold 869 million tickets and Avatar has sold about 59 million tickets. Just sayin'.

John over at The Disney Blog has an awesome photo of the nearly completed Hogwart's castle at Universal Orlando. I'm planning my trip already. While the castle and rides and what not have me excited, it's the idea of visiting the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade that really has me geeking out.

In case you didn't know, I appear regularly on a podcast called Bagged and Boarded hosted by my good friends Matt Cohen and Jesse Rivers. I have a segment called The BrendoMan Minute where I talk about random stuff and answer questions sent to me from listeners. I had a nice backlog of questions going but then Jesse had to take a break from the show due to a move and I appeared as a guest host and had to do some extra Minutes and some other stuff happened so now I'm out of questions. So feel free to comment with your inquiries and I will respond to them and give you a shout out. Also, holy crap:

Yikes.