I don’t have much much in the way of a preamble. There are some other directors out there that I am am loving, but need a bigger sample size. Joss Whedon, Duncan Jones, and Rian Johnson would fall into this category. Anyway, here are my favorite directors.

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Having never been there, I can still say without hesitation that I’m a fan of San Francisco.

How does that work? Well, the Golden Gate City is responsible for producing some straight-up characters, individuals whose accomplishments and antics have tacked layers and layers of quality onto my otherwise free-floating existence. And probably yours, as well! If Frisco’d never been established, we’d be without a legendary metal bassist, our modern conception of the perfect family, the man with no name, and America’s most infamous serial killer.

Amongst others.

In essence, San Francisco has carved a notch into my brain-bone as a city of repute, a community that regularly produces pure wonder. So when I ran into a sixer of the city’s Anchor Porter at my local beer-dealer, I knew that I had to bring it home with me. Hell, leaving it on the shelf would’ve been tantamount to sending it across the bridge to Oakland!

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Hear ye! Hear ye! The Monday Morning Commute has arrived! Let us meet this train of thought in the station, see what wares it has to offer, and then add our own before it continues toward Collective Conscious Square! `Tis our duty as denizens of the Omega Level to not only profit from the bounty of awesome-suggestions, but to contribute as well!

Make merry and dance in the street! Digital or otherwise!

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[photo via x-ray delta one]

Turn on some music as loud as possible. I’m not fuggin’ around – I want you to blast it. I suggest OM.

Tilt your head back. Keep your mouth shut. Through your nose, suck in as much air as possible. And hold it.

Wait.
Wait.
Wait.

Now, exhale as hard as you can. Don’t stop until you think you’re about to gag. Then keep going. Feel the muscles in the back of your throat writhe. Don’t close your mouth – the burps want to come out. By the way, keep going. Let the tears come to your eyes. Enjoy that pre-puke taste filling your gullet. Keep going. Bend over at the torso and the let the blood flow into your face. Keep going. And just when you think you’re going to pass out, swing upright and suck in more air.

Congratulations. You just reminded yourself that you’re amongst the living.

In 100 years, this likely won’t be the case.

So let’s enjoy some shit along the way. Hop aboard Monday Morning Commute so I can tell you what I’m up to. Then hit up the comments section and do the same.

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Matthew Vaughn is adapting the comic book “The Golden Age” by Jonathan Ross and Tommy Lee Edwards, and he wants some fucking starpower to do it. The comic book is about a group of retired superheroes who have to once again don the cloak to help out their grandkids when their own children fuck up the world, and Vaughn wants some big boppers to fill the roles. Atop his wishlist are “Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, and Warren Beatty.”

To dream!

Thoughts? Me? Meh. I’ve seen this concept done to death in the funny books themselves, and Watchmen already took a cinematic dump on the motif.

Clint Eastwood is directing Beyoncé in a remake of “A Star Is Born.” Que?

Slashfilm:

Well, it’s not Paint Your Wagon 2, but I guess this is as good a way to get another major filmmaker to do a musical as any. A new version of A Star Is Born is a film that has been lurking at the edges of possibility for a couple years. Now Clint Eastwood has agreed to produce and direct it, with Beyoncé starring.

Deadline has the surprising news of Clint Eastwood’s involvement. Beyoncé has been attached since last year, and there was a point where it looked like Russell Crowe might co-star with Nick Cassavetes directing. That version died, but the script now is apparently the same one by Will Fetters that was floating around WB then. At this point, there is no male lead cast.

This would be the fourth major screen version of A Star is Born, with the Judy Garland version from 1954 standing as the most revered. We can probably expect some updates to the story of a young girl who dreams of being a star and is given a boost by a washed-up older star, but at the core don’t expect too many changes. But in the days of reality TV, American Idol and YouTube fame, the whole idea of becoming a star is now a bit different than it once was. (It seems that the drive for stardom has only increased, however.)

This shit is too odd and unexpected to not comment on. I don’t really have much to add. Other than anything that somehow combines Clint Eastwood and Beyoncé deserves my money.

[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

For the second time in less than a week, Jonah Hex’s ugly mug has popped up on OL. I assure you, the decision to give Jonah Hex the weekly comics spotlight isn’t rooted in the fact that I tried to pimp out a promotion for the movie. (By the way, if you are still interested, the contest is still on! Rock a submission and get free stuff!). No, this issue has been deemed the best collection of panels and prose, the most bang-for-your-buck on the racks.

For the first time since its inception, Images & Words is proud to present a Western!

[Cue this shit up]

With your first glimpse at the cover, you know this comic means business. The always fantastic Darwyn Cooke offers an interpretation of Hex that draws heavily on Clint Eastwood’s most infamous character. Of course, he then disfigures Eastwood’s beautiful face, adding the scarring for which the titular character is best known. Cooke also presents his artistic license in adding a heart to Jonah Hex’s shirt; cleverly, this shape is actually a hole in the fabric, which can either suggest that he has no heart at all or that he has one but it is empty.

Looking to spruce up an apartment on the cheap? Buy Jonah Hex #56 and toss the cover on a wall. Your friends will think it’s super kawaii.

But if you like reading comic books, you’re still in luck! In fact, this issue offers two self-contained shorts — a welcome change considering the fact that most comics are incomplete sections of storylines that stretch over months. Any time that the format is fiddled with, I can’t help but allot some points. Fuck it, I have no qualms about rewarding novelty, a running against the grain that helps open minds. Two stories? I’m sold.

Fortunately, both of the tales presented in Jonah Hex #56 are rad.

In the More than Enough, we first see Jonah Hex’s loyalty being purchased by an elderly Native American trying to retain ownership of her land. Then, J. Hex’s services are sold to the three neighbors harassing the old woman. It’s impossible to figure out where the antihero’s morals lay, which is far more preferable for such a figure. I assure you, the resolution is just and ironic

First True Love takes the reader through a crash course of Jonah Hex’s history. His time being raised within an Apache tribe is chronicled, as are his first trials and tender sentiments. We see a potentially blameless youth crafted into a dark, cynical gun-for-hire. Love, in a number of forms, is given and then taken away. And at the conclusion, we see what happens when a man who has spent his entire existence fighting for his life and watching people die is threatened by hapless fools.

Jonah Hex kicks ass. Writers Justin Gray and Jimmy Palmiotti know how to take the archetypal Western-antihero and then succeed purely in terms of narrative execution.   The team proves that well-worn character-types don’t have to be boring, but sloppy storytelling usually makes them so.

Everyone should read this comic book — whether they are dead or alive.