Hanging Out With My Special Friends

Some new movies we'd been waiting for finally came along, like Deception, the Ewan McGregor movie we waited years and years for...and...I don't know why they make him talk like that. *sigh* We were guessing what was going to happen next, and there was something that happened in the end that we guessed better than what actually happened. Not that I advocate running off with millions of dollars with no questions asked, but movies, they're meant to be fantasy. I thought.

My faith in movies was restored the next night when, as we were poking around the Pay-Per-View listings, a little movie called Speed Racer turned up. You may recall me obsessing over the movie in the months leading up to its release. I loved every insane second of that movie, and my love affair with the Racer family remains alive and well.

Over the weekend the weather cooled off so I caught up on painting things I couldn't get near during the hotter summer days. Then summer ended. Ah well. I like autumn better anyway. Until baby raccoons try to set up house in our tree. I yelled at a lot of raccoons this week. Eventually I think it thought I wanted it to come over, and that is when I learned raccoons get used to humans after a few days. Not mutual, my freaky furry friend, not mutual.

Dancing With The Stars came back and I sat there and watched every minute of it like the strange characature of myself I've become. So far my favorites are Cloris Leachman, Warren Sapp, and the guy dancing with Julianne Hough.

One of Nan's finds on Sci-Fi was a little-known superhero flick called Lightspeed, featuring Jason Connery as a dude who runs really really fast while wearing what appears to be a speedskating bodysuit. Bottles of blue chemicals that may or may not be window cleaner also figure into the special powers. I love movies like this.

I got it into my head to create a record six strips in one week, because now that I'm a month ahead on my comic I want to be two months ahead. NaNoWriMo and the holidays are coming, you know. Of course I'll probably be all, "THREE MONTHS AHEAD!" next week. This will only be funny if I happen to die and my comic strip outlives me.

Hanging Out With My Special Friends

He's Off And Flyin'

I read an article where Speed Racer is expected to do well with older women. The writer of the article felt the need to point out that meant moms, but you know, it doesn't. It just means there were probably a lot of girls in the '70s and '80s who spent a great deal of time watching Speed Racer, and let Speed hide out in their homes when he was on the run from the car acrobatic team. And because Speed Racer wasn't really there had to leave in a hurry, many of them are still childless to this day.

ComingSoon.net has interviews up with Emile Hirsch, Matthew Fox, and Christina Ricci, and...that's it. I'm not going out of my way to read another thing about the movie until I see it. Because I'm going to love it, psychadelia and all.

Go see Speed Racer. If it does well, there may be a sequel.

He's Off And Flyin'

Very much like 1980.

I'm sitting by the TV, watching X-Files, writing, and what comes on maybe two times during the ads? An Esurance Speed Racer tie-in! Does this mean someone is crazy enough to insure a guy who drives a race car equipped with radial saws around town with his kid brother in the trunk? Perhaps this insurance company has an idea.

They showed a clip of the movie, and it's the first time I've seen any of it on TV, as opposed to loading frame-by-frame on YouTube and I realize drugs may be a viewing requirement but I don't care, because it's fabulous.

(Okay, X-Files would have been a welcome sight in 1980. All I had to freak me out back then was like, 'Salem's Lot with all those freaky-eyed people, and the slasher movies of the day.)

(Yes, I was six in 1980.)

(No, that's not why I couldn't sleep.)

Speed Racer is hitting theaters in less than a month. OMG, SQUEE.

Very much like 1980.

I Guess I Live For Movies.

Entertainment Weekly has a feature on Speed Racer, complete with a flash slideshow that lets you zoom all the way up Emile Hirsch's nostrils. Not that I did that. *ahem*

There won't be too much more prattling about this movie from me as it comes out next month. ZOMG! Then I can start frothing over the new X-Files movie, which has a poster that I braved ending up on a website that tried to give me a "virus scanner" to share with you. Erm. It may surprise you to know I've never had that happen to me before.



Where are you going, Scully? Get back there, I loved the last season.

I Guess I Live For Movies.

When Your Name is Racer, That Really Limits You.

The latest Speed Racer trailer is up, and I finally got to hear the guy playing Racer X talk. Not bad. Lost fans are probably trying to figure out how to vomit on me right now, but I haven't seen Matthew Fox in anything, so...oh wait, he was in Smokin' Aces, but I didn't know it was him, because I didn't know who he was then. Don't feel so bad, I didn't recognize Joel Edgerton in that movie either, and he's like, from those Star Wars movies I like so much, so I'm just trying compliment the guy playing Racer X.

I'm going to like this movie. Even though they have flashbacks to Speed's school days and lord knows those rarely go well, but it's nice to see young Trixie dressed exactly the same as legal Trixie. I wonder if all she thought about in her school days was flying helicopters. What is Trixie's last name, anyway? Trixie Avia?

If you just can't get enough of my links away from here involving Speed Racer, there are new posters up at Yahoo! and ComingSoon.net has an exclusive from ShoWest which has a bunch of words explaining why the movie looks the way it does, because I guess there are some people who can't figure that out for themselves, but some of those words translate to sequel. Oh hell yes. As long as Speed doesn't end up dying in to restore racing to the world. I don't trust the Wachowskis.

When Your Name is Racer, That Really Limits You.

There He Goes, All Over The Place.

Speed Racer in IMAX! Yes, that glorious format once reserved for panoramic scenery and dolphins also has mainstream movies. I've known about this, it's nothing new, I remember hearing a story about Attack Of The Clones being shown in IMAX without all the mushy love talk of how irritating sand is to fit into a two-hour frame because of technical IMAX platters and things that make me as dizzy as looking up at a huge screen probably would. I don't know if they're still cutting the time of the movies, because some Harry Potters have made it onto IMAX screens and those movies seem long-ish to me.

But now Speed Racer gets to drive all over everyone's peripheral vision, and he'll do it at the same time as driving all over normal screens.

Having never seen an IMAX movie on an IMAX screen, I am indifferent about this news, but I'm chronicling it, because, dude, it's Speed Racer!

(What would really interest me is a DVD release at, or at least a few weeks after, the premiere. I mean a proper one, you know, not the shady kind with the poor color and Thai subtitles*. Come on, studios, adapt to the times! You'd make more money releasing DVDs sooner. Really, I swear, you would. Then you could do what Lucasfilm does and release another DVD with loads of extra stuff later on. Just not 20 years. That's a long time.

*I solemnly swear I have no idea what I'm talking about.)

See, you could just go to ComingSoon.net and get the story (with spoilers!), or you could sit here and listen to me ramble about how cool it would be to see the movies when they're new without having to actually sit in a room with people I don't know. Because they wouldn't understand that Speed Racer is my secret boyfriend, and they'd keep telling me to shut up when I yelled at Trixie. Although I kinda like Trixie too...oh man, you see? IMAX watchers are not going to understand my freaky little love triangle. Then again, I don't have to worry about that, because IMAX watchers will be watching the screen, and not me.

There He Goes, All Over The Place.

Mach 6? Where will the kid hide with the chimp?

Yahoo! has a trailer up for Speed Racer: The Video Game, which is by the looks of it based on Speed Racer. It's a racing game, and it appears to only be coming out for all those new-fangled systems like the Wii. I'm thinking this is good, because the trailer alone gave me the Cloverfield illness. That's what they're calling simulator sickness now, you know. Maybe I need to loosen the bolts on my desk chair, that might help. Then I could shake around like the crew of the Enterprise and things would be less confusing to my inner ear.

I'm not sure what this Mach 6 business is, either. That car looks like a proper racing car, totally unable to clear-cut forests or go underwater. I don't trust it. More Speed Racer news as it develops.

Mach 6? Where will the kid hide with the chimp?

I Personally Can't Wait For The Chim Chim Fruit Gusher.

ComingSoon.net is reporting that Speed Racer is going to be G-Rated. I'm a little confused by this, but I guess if Bambi can be G-Rated, so can a movie about race car drivers who engage in...car-fu.

I still feel funny when I say car-fu.

Plus Speed always had that G on his shirt, so this makes perfect sense. He's a G-rated boy, that Go Mifune.

Looks like in addition to the Indy and Father of Indy Lego set I still can't get near, there will be four Speed Racer Lego sets. This is also making me feel funny.

It's nice to know things can still make me feel funny after 30 years. The great thing is that now I can post about that feeling on the Internet and you all get to watch. Maybe great is the wrong word.

But enough about my funny feelings, happy birthday (yesterday) to Peter Fernandez! That voice.... *sigh*

I Personally Can't Wait For The Chim Chim Fruit Gusher.

This just in: Speed Racer to feature actual Japanese people!

I couldn't be happier. I wouldn't mind living in Japan, at least the TV wouldn't give me episodes of whatever that is that happens when I watch TV here.

Rocket Punch Auto Blog has pictures and lots of words about the racing team, ARTA, who are going to be in the movie, and the car. Not that I'll be noticing much else beside the with car with the jacks and the saws and stuff.

I'm having an episode now!

This just in: Speed Racer to feature actual Japanese people!

If I Had Room For This Behind My Piano....

It would be hanging right between Obi-Wan and Cornholio.

If I Had Room For This Behind My Piano....

My Eyelashes Are Curling Just Thinking About It.

The official Speed Racer movie website hasn't updated in a long time, so imagine my surprise when I found stories about it elsewhere. Yeah, why bother keeping the offical site up to date, guys. I mean, hell.

Empire Online is great, I find out about a load of movies that are years away there. A few weeks ago, they ran a story where Emile "I am going to have such a dirty old lady crush on you" Hirsch said that the sets will all be green screen, which most likely sent the purists who love the old days when people "drove" their cars in front of film of a winding road into a frothing crazy fit. Me, I'm optimistic because the movies I've seen filmed on green screen don't shake around like, say, The Bourne Ultimatum. What the hell was that movie about, anyway? I couldn't tell with all the jiggling.

USA Today has photos of the movie that make me wonder if I am going to need to take some drugs before watching it, but aside from a marked lack of pretty eyelashes, I'm digging it.

ComingSoon is pretty good too, they say there will be a video game based on the Speed Racer movie. The makers say you can engage in car-fu! I don't know if I can contain my excitement at the idea of car-fu. I think I may even be able to play it on my PS2. This makes me happy because I have that other Speed Racer game, but Racer X keeps telling me he never wants to see me behind the wheel ever again. Racer X doesn't want me to engage in car-fu because he's jealous.

Speaking of Racer X, Entertainment Tonight is doing a week of Speed Racer stuff that I have missed most of. They had Matthew Fox on as Racer X, but ET shouldn't be going around blowing Racer X's secret identity, do they want him to get into trouble? In the video clip they show his outfit, but more than that, they show the back of Speed. Hee! Yesterday I caught a glimpse of Christina Ricci as Trixie, and she's looking to tie Keira Knightley as record holder for people she's acted with that I have major dirty old woman crushes on.

But enough about unofficial previews, here's the trailer, which I saw thanks to Mr. "I'm going to enjoy this movie, and you can go to hell" himself. The quote may have been about that Star Wars thing, but sentiment works for me on this movie as well.

My Eyelashes Are Curling Just Thinking About It.

I can't say I'm surprised by this at all.

I saw a headline that said Concerns Over Chimp Attack on Movie Set and instantly knew it had to be Chim-Chim, up to his old crazy routine.

Now, in a cartoon, it's okay to dress your youngest son and your illegitimate chimpanzee in the same clothes, lock them in a car trunk, and...you know....

Wait, is that okay? I don't know, I don't think anything about Speed Racer was sensible, and that's why I love him. Changing animated hijinks into reality, though, that's tough, and unlike getting those cars and trucks to transform for that new Transformers movie, live chimps have a tendency to draw the line at red overalls.

I hope the chimp playing Chim-Chim wasn't seriously messed up by some handlers in a back alley, but you know, I've had a puppy. I kinda understand both sides of this dilemma these days. "Aww, no baby, take the teeth out of my booby," only goes so far with anyone, let alone a chimpanzee, who was probably just adlibbing his part.

Now, when that article says a young actor was bitten, I'm thinking Paulie Litt, who plays Spritle, maybe was the receiver of Chim-Chim's wrath. I don't remember Chim-Chim and Spritle ever getting into it that bad, but you know in between episodes, who knows what went on in the Racer household. I would have loved to be a fly on that wall sometimes. Holy moly, what a whacked out family.

I can't say I'm surprised by this at all.

The Mach 5 is out there...somewhere.

The official website is up for Speed Racer, the movie. OMGFANGIRLSQUEETIEMOKTHXBYE! All I will say is Inspector Detector and Shaft are in it. Holy wow.

There was a news conference about Speed Racer, and in it, I saw a tiny little blurry John Goodman looking very much like Pops Racer, a little guy named Paulie Litt next to him that may very well pull off being Spritle, and then...the car. The main actors are interviewed too. Man, this movie has a chance to not suck.

Oh yeah, and I had to look up who Matthew Fox is. Go ahead and laugh, I don't care. I just hope he's a good Racer X.

The Mach 5 is out there...somewhere.

If He's A Demon, What Are His Parents?

John Goodman is going to be Pops Racer in the 2008 Wachowskis big-screen adaptation of Speed Racer. His wife, Mrs. Racer, is going to be played by Susan Sarandon.

I can deal with this, I guess. I mean, slap a moustache and a hat on Goodman, it could work, as long as it doesn't turn into The Flintstones, Part 3.

The surprising news today was that Christina Ricci has been cast as Trixie. I'm kinda happy about that. Trixie's my girl, you know. Wednesday Addams was pretty neat...the two combined could very well be incredible.

I don't know Emile Hirsch, the guy playing my first BF Speed Racer, but I rather like him from the video on YouTube. He may need false eyelashes, but maybe they're not going that way.

YouTube also has an interview with Christina Ricci, and because I'm bringing you exclusive coverage of this movie straight from my brain, I'm including them here. The first two aren't funny wacky weekend videos, but they're short and give me hope for the movie. They also correct the way I've been saying Wachowski for the past eight years.

If it's wacky you want, the third video shows what would happen if Dustin Hoffman was cast as Racer X. I damn near lost my mind at 1:13.

If He's A Demon, What Are His Parents?

Speed Racer movie update.

I haven't heard anything new about the Speed Racer movie the Wachowskis are working on, so I'm going to just make things up and see what sticks.

I watched King Kong last night, and to get over that, I thought about how many movies Jack Black has been in; he seems to be the darling of the box office right now. So much so, that if the Wachowskis are planning to draw the crowds, they will probably have to cast him in the lead role.

Go Speed Racer...rock on.

Everyone knows that the Wachowskis would be nothing without Hugo Weaving.

 

Nevermind that he has a completely different accent from his younger brother, Racer X will end up being the coolest thing in the movie simply because Hugo Weaving is in the mask. And the car. And the sunglasses.

To make the movie less...how shall I say...white, the Wachowskis are going to need to change things up a bit. Drawing once more from their pool of talent, the Matrix architects will most likely use Jada Pinkett-Smith as the most ass-kicking Trixie ever.

With any luck, she will have a more up-to-date hairstyle. As long as she keeps the yellow bow.



With the demise of Peter Jackson's career for the time being, Andy Serkis will probably be free to bring his talents to the project as not only the youngest Racer brother, Spritle, but also as his disturbing little friend Chim-Chim.

I would actually pay to see this:

Speed Racer movie update.

Here comes Speed Racer.

I'm just going to get it out of the way and tell everyone that before Han Solo, Speed Racer, the Japanese animated demon on wheels, was my first love. Oh, the times we had. Trixie never found out, and neither did Sparky...until now, I suppose. Chim Chim probably had some idea, but I bought him off with food. In those days I used to have access to a stash of Devil Dogs and Funny Bones, and after about 40, Chim Chim (or Spritle, I could never tell the sneaky little bastards apart) would be passed the hell out and Speed and I could get down to figuring out how to outwit the car acrobatic team, who had infiltrated the local drag-racing scene.

With that said, (I feel better, don't you?) I am going to make it my business to track the new live-action movie of Speed Racer that the Wachowskis are working on.

I'm going to give you all a minute to take in all the information I've just thrown at you. It's okay, I know finding out I had an imroper relationship with an animated cartoon twenty-five years my elder must be startling. Now you can imagine how startling it is for me trying to imagine what the hell the Wachowskis are going to do to my friend.

I don't generally like to follow movie spoilers since the days when I used to rabidly defend The Phantom Menace, which I will still do to this day, even though the idea of needing to defend a seven-year-old movie that made $925.5 million seems kind of silly to me now.

Almost as silly as me hoping that Speed Racer (2008) is as good as V for Vendetta, but nothing like the two Matrix sequels. I mean, it's a story about a kid in a race car (albeit a bloody super car!) fighting crime; maybe I should not invest so much interest a full two years before the movie is slated for release.

Maybe I should just be happy that Lyra from the movies based on His Dark Materials looks pretty good.

Here comes Speed Racer.