Archives for : Watchmen

The Times, They Are A Changin’

Posted by :David Manly On : March 8, 2009
0

Category: Rorschach, Watchmen, Who Watches The Watchmen?

WHO WATCHES THE WATCHMEN?

I just saw the movie “The Watchmen.” I’ve been looking forward to that movie for a while, and I will tell you why.

The comics, later combined into a graphic novel, were written in the late 1980’s by writer Alan Moore, artist Dave Gibbons, and colorist John Higgins. It was published by DC comics.

It is set in a world where superheroes exist, where the US won the Vietnam war, and because of that, Nixon remained president for more than two terms.

The graphic novel was voted by TIME magazine as one of the top 100 novels from 1923 to the present, and Entertainment Weekly placed it at number 13 on its list of the best 50 novels printed in the last 25 years.

This is not your average comic book, as the characters are set in a more modern and realistic world than any other. And how would they fit in to such a scenario?

The characters are many, but the main ones are:
Silk Spectre – Second generation superhero, and the only female in the core Watchmen group, forced to retire
Doctor Manhattan – The only ‘actual’ Superhero, accidentally created by being exposed to a special kind of radiation
Ozymandias – The ‘smartest man in the world’
Nite Owl – The average Joe superhero, almost like Batman, forced to retire
The Comedian – Sanctioned US superhero, his murder puts the plot into motion
Rorschach – In my opinion, the best character of the bunch. His mask constantly shifts to different Rorschach ink-blot patterns based on his mood, he investigates the Comedian’s murder and is therefore the catalyst for all the events that occur

The movie was very good, but not as good as the book. You can only appreciate the movie if you’ve read the graphic novel. So, go ahead, read/buy/download it … whatever, just read it and see the movie. You’ll thank me for it!

Here are the opening credits for the movie, best viewed in FULL-SCREEN, posted by the company that created them. Notice any symbolism at the retirement party? Or how about the Kennedy shot?

Enjoy!

Or, of you’d prefer, here is the link:
Watchmen Opening Credits

J-J-J-JENGA!!!!

Posted by :David Manly On : December 1, 2008
1

Category: collapse, de-stress, Jenga, Stress, Watchmen, wobble

Ok, I have officially had enough of this stuff. Well, almost.

So, let me set the record straight about my current situation here in Ottawa.

The work here never ends, it just keeps on building and building. Imagine blocks of Jenga. You remember Jenga? It’s a game where you have a bunch of sall rectangular blocks that you make a tower of (see picture). And, you take a block from the bottom and you put it on top. The goal is to NOT tip the tower, while still successfully taking blocks from the bottom and building the tower upwards.

My life is akin to a Jenga tower.

Every damn time I finish an assignment, another one immediately pops up. For example, I finish an assignment for Bootcamp, something for my optional course pops up. I finish that, I have a history piece to write. When that is finally done, another Bootcamp assignment is assigned. It’s like a never-ending loop, a feedback loop that never ends. Just like Jenga, you removed one assignment, another one appears up top. And the only way to survive is to prevent the tower from falling.

I know a few people, along with myself, you has experienced a temporary mental breakdown due to the workload. Or, as I shall begin to refer to it now: a “Jenga collapse.”

I live in fear of experiencing yet another Jenga collapse.

The first one occurred after just over a week into the term, when I was so unbelievably stressed about all the work and not knowing a single thing about Journalism. I panicked and experienced a Jenga collapse. Luckily, a talk with my dad calmed me down, and I re-built my tower.

It has not happened again, but, there have been a few close calls … or, “Jenga wobbles.”

With the term coming to a close, I finally finished two out of three of my end-of-the-term assignments. Just ONE more assignment stands between me and freedom!!

That is, until, my apprenticeship. I will be working for about two weeks at a scientific magazine here in Ottawa. I finish there on December 23rd, and then I hitch a ride back to Toronto early the following morning, so that I can be home in time for Christmas.

I can just feel the Jenga tower beginning to tilt and sway in the wind. But, like all good buildings, I have taken some preventative measures to prevent it.

– I watch TV, it relaxes me
– I watch movies, as it removes me from my current predicaments
– I read, to temporarily escape my reality
– I talk to my new J-school friends, as they are in the same predicament
– I talk to my family
– I sleep (well, at least try to)

Here is a video that makes me happy every time I watch it. It is the trailer for the Watchmen movie, coming out early 2009, which I am very excited for.