Tokyo blows up reeeeeal good in the iconic anime film 'Akira'

Credit: Image Entertainment

So.  It's been two months now we've been doing this.  Two months since HitFix went online in beta.  Two months of me tweaking this blog, which is absolutely ongoing.  And hopefully, two months of things now that you can go back and check out.

I think I'm starting to enjoy The Morning Read.  Originally, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do with it, but it's a good way of digesting what's going on.  Like on Friday, I mentioned the Wachowski Bros./Superman trilogy rumor on Ain't It Cool.  And just reading that and making a note of it in the Morning Read prodded me to contact a source that would absolutely be in the loop on making Superman.  Verdict?  Nope.  No Wachowskis.  Not at all.

So what's going on this morning?  What's worth talking about?  What's out there to read?

Have you checked out HitFix's 10 Oscar Secrets special feature on the HitFix front page right now?  You should.

[more after the jump]

Devin's really worked up at CHUD this morning.  The subject?  Superhero comics and the current economy.  It's a heck of a read, and I'll say this... I think there are a lot of writers working at DC and Marvel who do good work, and a lot of artists, too.  I think they work within a very narrow specific form and do the work they do within a fairly tight range of what's allowed.

Even if you're not familiar with the game "Half-Life 2," you should check out this micro-budget fan film that BoingBoing posted.  It's sort of amazing.

I was watching "Raging Bull" on BluRay over the weekend, marvelling at the extreme grain of the image, the way it looks like an actual film negative, not like a digital thing.  I love the work that people are doing on BluRay right now, and I like that people all have to figure out their own standards for transfer.  Over at BluRay,com, there's a great piece about the remastering of the anime classic "Akira" for BluRay release.  This is a must-have the moment it's released, and I can't wait to spend an evening with it on the system in my office.

I honestly don't know how I've lived until now without Vern's review of "Every Which Way But Loose" in my life.

It's verrrry exciting to learn that I may finally be able to see "Sita Sings The Blues" soon.  And Cartoon Brew has the first 11 minutes of the film available to hold me over in the meantime.

Would you like to be in Edgar Wright's "Scott Pilgrim" as an extra?

There's some spirited conversation going on this weekend in several different places about whether the world "craftsmanlike" is a compliment or an insult. 

I find all the mythmaking that revolves around the history of the chimp who played Cheeta in the Tarzan films to be downright bizarre.  And it just keeps getting weirder.

Okay, somebody... get Roger Ebert a dog.  Now.

For an absolutely fascinating glimpse at a Stanley Kubrick film that almost was, you need to check out this amazing short about "Aryan Papers."  I remember when Julia Roberts was being discussed by Kubrick for the lead in this film, but that was before he found the actress who appears in this short.  If you're a Kubrick fan at all, you really do need to take the time to watch this today.

"Helping little weird things is what it's all about."

And if you like that one...

"That guy is a total patoot."  "He's like 50 patoots!"

Finally this morning, perhaps the most poignant Craigslist posting of all time.  And on that note, that's it for today's Morning Read.  I've got to head out to the doctor with Allen in just a little while, braving the LA rain to do so.  Should be a barrel of laughs.

The Morning Read appears here at Motion/Captured every day Monday through Friday.  Except when it doesn't.

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