kevhines.com

Maybe I’m too close. While watching this movie a part of me was upset anytime a favorite line or moment was NOT in the movie, and then often I felt the movie made mistakes my being so slavish to the comic. Quite a contradiction.

But now that I am 24 hours removed from the film I think I didn’t like. Mildly. It’s ok. It’s not bad. But it’s not even one of my top 5 movies, and that is sad considering it is one of (if not THE) best comic book stories ever.

I think what it boils down to is that Zach Snyder (the director) made the same mistake that all comic book publishers made after Watchmen came out. They mistook sex and violence for adult themes. Yes - Watchmen has violence. Yes Watchmen has sex. But that wasn’t what made it an adult story.

In this movie there are bones bursting out of arms, ceilings coated in guts, and a sex scene by way of soft-core porn. It all smacked of the film trying to say “isn’t this shocking in a super hero movie?” and while it might be - I think it hurts the smarter message that is behind the violence.

I though Rorshach and Nite Owl were pretty well done. I thought everyone else wasn’t done that well. I respected that the movie left in all the big possibly shocking moments. Rape. Impotence. Murder of a pregnant woman. Insanity. All in there.

But still, I look at it and realize this movie matches moments, but not the TONE of the story. Its gets some things right. Very right. But a lot more it misses (and only by a hair).

Still, sadly, when its all said and done, I didn’t like. But it was a close attempt to adapt a comic that seems VERY hard to adapt. Closer then I would have imagined even a few years ago.

I’d rather just rewatch Dark Knight.

Mar.08.2009 :: Tags: comic books, Movies :: 1 Comment »

About a month ago I was leaving the UCB Offices and heading home when my phone rang. It was Silvija who was looking for someone to join her to see an opera. She had free tickets for Dr. Atomic.

I had never seen an opera, and seeing one in English sounded easier to take. Also its about a scientist. And I’d get to hang out with Silvija. But I was in a pretty slobbish state. So I said no.

Silvija began to try to convince - which wasn’t too hard. But I warned her I was unshaved, in old jeans and a spider-man t-shirt. Not exactly up to the dress code of the Met.

Silvija told me it would be fine, so I headed uptown to see an opera.

As I waited for Silvija to arrive I leaned against one of the glass walls inside. Everyone who works at the Met is dressed in tuxedos. Most of the people who walk by me are in suits. Some are just dressed in nice shirts and pants. And there is me, with his Amazing Spider-Man shirt that probably fits a little too small, leaning against a wall reading a Raymond Chandler novel.

Still - I was expecting to feel completely under dressed.

Silvija arrived and we headed in. Before you could take your seats they checked your bags. I had my backpack with me and unzipped it. The contents of my bag consisted mostly of a plastic container of peanuts and about 100 Dunkin Donut napkins. I felt like a homeless person.

However after the opera’s intermission quite a few of the well dressed people sitting near me didn’t return. Sure, the opera wasn’t great, but this dorky homless guy stayed for the whole show. So who’s the real opera aficionado?

Spoiler Alert for Dr. Atomic: You Are the Bomb!

Jan.13.2009 :: Tags: anecdote, culture, Silvija Ozols :: 3 Comments »

I am amazed at how quickly technology becomes something I can’t live without.

When I started college there was no World Wide Web. By the time I graduated I couldn’t understand how people did their homework without it. All my research was done online. How did they do it 2 years earlier?

After having a DVR for 6 months I realized that if I for some reason was not allowed to have a DVR, I would have to cancel my cable. It would be impossible to watch TV without a DVR.

Now I see the same thing happening with my iPhone. When Cat and I went to Ohio for Thanksmas Continental’s Departure monitors were all broken. The line to check in was CRAWLING and we would have missed our flight if it had not been delayed. The problem was that we didn’t know it had been delayed because there were no working monitors. So we just periodically looked up our flight status on our iPhones. How was everyone else in line not in a panic? I have no idea. I assume EVERYONE had some sort of smart phone.

Even more telling was what happened on Christmas Eve.

It was after midnight and I was driving to Wellesley, MA. I had some maps and I had printed some directions off of Google Maps (how did people go on road trips before the internet?) and everything was fine. I was one exit from leaving the Merritt Parkway and getting on I-84 when the road was shut down. Some sort of accident had caused the road to be completly closed off to all traffic. So I had to exit one exit early. I had no idea how to find 84 from where I was. As this had been a recent change, there were no detour signs up. It was dark everywhere and I saw no gas stations. Every car that exited went in different directions, so I couldn’t follow the mob.

So I pulled out my iPhone and used the GPS to determine where I was, and checked the map for 84. I drove so that my blinking dot headed towards 84 and I got back on my route without losing any time.

I remember thinking, “If I didn’t have an iPhone I would have just had to pull over and stay here forever”.

Jan.12.2009 :: Tags: anecdote, driving, iPhone, technology :: 1 Comment »

I can’t stop making xtranormal videos!

Here is one that is a recreation of every conversation I have ever had with Ben Schwartz:

And here is another one in my Roger Likes Tennis series. In this one, Roger asks for advice. About tennis. Because Roger likes tennis:

I hope you enjoy this, because I have a hunch I am going to keep making them.

Jan.01.2009 :: Tags: Ben Schwartz, Real Life, Roger Likes Tennis, xtranormal :: No Comments »

Happy New Year’s Eve.

So a bunch of people are having fun with this new animation site xtranormal. I am one of those people.

I created a series called Richard Lives Alone.
Here is the first episode, called Richard finds a blond hair:

If you enjoyed that you should also watch more of Richard in Richard talks about last night and Richard compliments an apartment

I also have a newer series calls Roger likes Tennis. The first episode of that series is Roger has a problem

If you liked that you will have to wait until I make another video in that series.

Dec.31.2008 :: Tags: animation, online videos, Richard Lives Alone, Roger Likes Tennis, xtranormal :: No Comments »

Here are some photos from Christmas 2008. These include pictures of people opening gifts from me and Cat, as well as the annual Booyar gift. As always I fully commented these pictures so you know what is going on in each photo:

To remind you, Booyar is a guy who was in 9th grade when I was in 7th grade, and was still in 9th grade two years later when Brian was in 7th grade. Sometime after that I started receiving gifts “from” Booyar. These gifts have included a pack of Camels, a skull bank, and a copy of the Canterbury Tales. Initially Brian and I alone delighted in these odd gifts, but as time has gone on everyone has gotten on board - and now the Hines Christmas always ends with me opening my annual gift from Booyar.

Also - My brothers and I went on our annual trip to Ohio to see our Mom’s family for Thanksmas. Here are some photos from that trip, including our annual ditching of our Aunt Sue:

If you don’t know, every time our families get together we try to ditch our Aunt Sue and go to a bar. Someone is always left behind to let her know where we really are so she can track us down. This year Aunt Sue caught on quicker then ever, which might mean this tradition is ending. Or it might mean we need to try harder. Time will tell.

Dec.29.2008 :: Tags: Booyar, flickr, holidays :: No Comments »

• Cat started a blog about the dinners she cooks for us. She hasn’t publicized it at all, but I am not going to wait for that to mention it here. I added it to my link list below, but its also here:
  http://weekenddinner.blogspot.com/
• I just watched a special on the Tunguska event and then looked at some images from Antarctica on boston.com’s The Big Picture. Stuff like this reassures me that I wasn’t super offbase when I studied chemical engineering in college. I definitely didn’t want to be an engineer, but I bet I could have gotten sucked into some science of another. I just wasn’t aware enough of the things that I would have become super intrigued by. I never heard of the Tunguksa event until like 5 years ago. Or the lakes below Antarctica. Or dark matter. Though I wonder if I could have been dedicated enough to one path enough to ever get involved in anything like that.
• I just read a great article on the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series that ran earlier this year. Man, Greg Weisman says everything right in that interview. I loved that series. It got it all right in ways all previous animated series didn’t. And in ways the movies didn’t. And in ways a lot of the runs in the comics didn’t. If it gets any sort of longevity (say 4 seasons at least) it could be what the early 90s Batman cartoon was for Batman.

Nov.11.2008 :: Tags: cartoons, Cat, comic books, list, science, TV :: 2 Comments »

I haven’t posted since before I went to Portland for the third time.

Cat’s sister, Liz, lives in Portland, so we have been there a few times. This time was to attend Liz’s wedding.

I have a couple of flickr albums. One is for everyone to see, and one is of the wedding so for the privacy of the families its only viewable to people who have flickr accounts and are set as friend and family of me. Enjoy them. They both have descriptions on ALL the photos. Although I ran out of things to say near the end of the wedding album, and the public one is mostly pictures of me with birds on me:

Oct.16.2008 :: Tags: Cat, flickr, vacation :: No Comments »

So my apartment is a mess. I keep meaning to clean it, but I keep getting distracted by other tasks (like installing new shelves in the bathroom for instance).

So today I came home and was watching the end of an extra inning Red Sox game against the Tampa Bay Rays (the FIRST PLACE Tampa Bay Rays) and I saw something scurry by me. I jumped! And there goes a cockroach. Luckily the last time Cat and I saw a cockroach we ran out and bought sprays, so for the first time ever I had a long distance weapon.

So I grabbed the bottle and sprayed under my couch. Then I looked under the couch. No roach. Damn it. And there was so many things in my apartment everything looked like a good hiding space.

Then the Red Sox got some men on base with only 1 out (first and second). So I watched the game for a bit. The Red Sox didn’t score and the Rays were up. So I started thinking about cleaning up (despite it being after midnight). Then I saw the roach again. So I sprayed him. He jumped on the stove and I sprayed him again. And again. Then I lost him. I looked behind the stove (and sprayed more back there for good measure). Nothing. Then I saw him on the floor. I hit him with a shoe and disposed of his body.

Now I was ready to clean. Of course now Tampa had 2 guys on with no outs so I had to watch the Sox game again. The Sox got Perez to hit into a double play and got out of the jam.

So I started cleaning. Broke down boxes from shipments Cat and I have gotten over the last few weeks. Bagged up papers and magazines. Stacked books. Moved comics and clothes into the other room. I moved swiftly. Put DVDs away. I created lots of unsorted piles but the floor cleared up quickly. If the roach was alive his hiding places were dwindling.

Then Tampa Bay got more men on base. So I watched the Red Sox give up 3 runs (Damn it!). Then I was too tense to clean so I watched the Red Sox load the bases with no outs. But they failed to score more then 1 run. Sox lose 4-2 in the 14th.

Now I need to clean the stove which I coated in poison. So first thing I do is unload the dishwasher. Then I load it with dirty dishes, and put the one pot that was on the stove in the sink. I start scrubbing it (I didn’t spray it, but I was nervous). During this time I feel something land on my back. I get nervous after having seen a roach and I swing my hands wildly. I didn’t feel anything else so I went back to scrubbing then I feel a pinch. And I smack down hard on my neck.

My neck hurt bad! That was no mosquito. I look on the floor and there is a crushed yellow jack (remind me to tell you about the time I was attacked by a nest of yellow jackets!). How the hell did a yellow jack get in my kitchen? I read online about how to remove the stinger, but it involves being able to see the stung location. So I am waiting for Cat to get home from work (she works until 2am at Gramercy Tavern) so she can see if there is a stinger in my neck.

While I waited I finished scrubbing the stove and the pots. I also did a few other odd jobs to take my mind off being stung. It doesn’t hurt much anymore. It was more of a shock then a pain. Now it feels like someone is sticking me lightly with a pin once in a while. But I am just pissed.

Roaches, yellow jackets and the Red Sox didn’t even win!

Sep.11.2008 :: Tags: anecdote, insects, Red Sox :: 2 Comments »

• John McCain has chosen Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate in his bid for President of the United States. He hopes the combined ticket of McCain/Palin will score better with the “creeped out by old people” demographic.
• New York State has begun monitoring obesity in their school systems, collecting summaries of BMI and weights. Governor Paterson has been applauded for finally finding a test that students will score higher in every year.
• Palin’s daughter, 17 year old Bristol, was recently revealed to be pregnant. The father, Levi Johnston says he is “psyched” to be a dad. Levi is also “psyched” to find out his mom is making Stove Top Stuffing tonight.
• A recent study reveals that DVR technology has improved relationships. Sadly, if you examine the survey closely, the relationships it’s improving is Jim and Pam’s Office romance.
• The world’s tallest building, located in Dubai, is now 2,257 feet high (160 stories) and still growing. It appears it may reach nearly 3,000 feet high when it is completed. Reports are unclear on exactly how small the designer’s penis is but experts assume its microscopic.

  “My penises is pretty small”, claimed Grant Halstead, gun enthusiast, “but not so small that I needed to build something that dwarfed the Taiwan’s Tapei 101 Tower”. Franklin Glocke agreed, “I drive my loud sports car around to make sure everyone ignores my tiny tiny dick, but the Dubai tower is even taller then the US’s KVLY-TV mast! Whoever designed it must have a penis that can’t be seen with the naked eye.”

Sep.03.2008 :: Tags: Fiction, news-ish :: No Comments »