I'm the Goddamn Nightwyrm

“The art of making a successful comic book movie is one of fine balance. The movie must be able to appeal to the mainstream audience while adhering to enough canon to keep the comic fans happy; it must have the right amount of effects to make the movie look convincing, yet retain enough budget to cast decent actors and develop a quality script. Add the premise of an origin story and the filmmakers have to moderate the slow start of back-story with a plausible amount of action. Green Lantern is the latest comic book adaptation to take on this challenge, and it may have found just the right finesse to meet that perfect balance. […]”

It has become somewhat of a cliché in music reviews to refer to an album as defying categorisation – I’ve even been guilty of it myself. Listening to The Quiet Lamb, I realise how quick I’ve been to use this convention in the past; the new album from Her Name Is Calla does not fit into any clear genre pigeonhole and may even be an early entry from a new generation of music. An album of contrasts, its closest relation would likely be post-rock, yet it refuses to be bound by the musical structure of that genre. Coming in at 76 minutes, The Quiet Lamb is an epic journey that transcends musical boundaries, and is both contemplative and exhilarating for its listeners. […]

The story of the journey is one of the more classic of the traditional plot devices used in literature and media. The journey takes a character on a mission or quest that he (or she) must accomplish, whilst growing along the way. The story structure most commonly puts the protagonist through some form of gauntlet, undergoing trials and overcoming obstacles. When the journey is combined with the supernatural, the story inevitably becomes one of a quest for redemption. This is the premise behind Midnight Nation, originally published as a 12-issue limited series in 2000-2002 by the now-defunct Joe’s Comics imprint, and now being reprinted as a trade paperback by Top Cow Productions. […]

When I first heard last year that Glaswegian band Mogwai were going to release a live album, I could barely contain my excitement. For one, they are a dominating force in the world of post-rock (or however you like to classify their music). They are also reputed for putting on a fantastic live show and this would be the first live album in their 15-year career, so that only added to the anticipation for this release. During shows of their 2008/2009 American tour, Mogwai recorded a number of tracks over three performances at The Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn, New York. The result was Special Moves, a full salute to their work to date. […]