GLASGOW THEN & NOW part 2

Cathedral Street.

Argyle Street/Central Station

St.Enoch's

Stockwell St.

Gorbals/Citizens Theatre.

New M74

GLASGOW THEN & NOW part 1

I have always had a very personal interest in how my home town of Glasgow has changed over the decades, and as much as I understand that certain things in the city had to change I can't help feel that we have been robbed of our grandeur by city planners who had other agendas (financial/political) or just lacked imagination. I have found old photos of the city and juxtaposed them with photos I have taken from roughly the same spot. This isn't the most original of ideas I know but it is something I'm very interested in.

Molendiner Street; Gallowgate

Buchanan St/Bath St.

Sauchiehall St.

Fear and Loathing on the Road to Hollywood - Hunter S Thompson Documentary

SCHEME COMIX: ''..... sunbeam.''

the Rhyming adventures of Ella Rose Harper

Sneaker Pimps: 6 Underground

PRIEST: MOVIE REVIEW

Priest reviewed by Chris McKeag 

It is often said that if you give an infinite amount of monkeys typewriters and an infinite amount of time they will eventually produce the entire works of Shakespeare. In which case, given 20 minutes they could definitely have written the Post-Apocalyptic script for Priest. This is a film you have seen before, or at least you have seen everything that comprises it before, only executed more skillfully. Think High Noon Vs Mad Max Vs Blade, devoid of any of their charm. Its just highly derivative and lazy. While I am aware of the source material for this movie I can’t profess to really know it but this role does nothing for Paul Bettany (continuing a Holy downward spiral a’la Angels & Demons, Legion) who at least has the decency to look vaguely awkward about the whole thing. If you have to see a comic book adaptation this week then sack this and pop along to Thor. At least that’s an hour and a half of your life you might enjoy.

Pigs in a Polka 1943 Looney Tunes Cartoon.

Mixed Media Art Work by Kev Harper

  Click here to check out my more 'arty' art works.

Curve - Ten little girls (Radio Sessions 1992)

 

SCHEME COMIX

Longpigs - She Said

SCHEME COMIX 'zine Covers.

Before it became the '£2 Thrill Spectacular' Scheme Comix started off as 'zine style mini comic and theses are the covers of those early ventures into self publishing.

 Issue one featured a cover by the very talented Michael McColm and No 4 was provided by regular Scheme contributor Tom Crines. The rest are the work of Kev Harper. They  were produced as cheaply as possible on photocopiers and were given away free or left in places like pubs, record shops and comic shops for people to pick up.

The strips that featured tended to be 'slice of life' stories in the style of American Splendor and featured the work of several different artists. Issue 6 never actually made it to print but provided a story that would feature in our 'first' issue with a colour cover.

And these where posters/fliers that we used to 'Spread the Word'.

TOP 5 NON SUPERHERO COMIC MOVIES

As with comics Superheros dominate the comic book movie but as with comics there are more to big screen adaptations than men in tights and this list.......
5. A HISTORY of VIOLENCE.
4. ROAD TO PERDITION.
3. GHOST WORLD.
2. AMERICAN SPLENDOR.
1. ANNIE.
 ....is a cracking selection but it's probably a bit too 'Empire/Total Film' so here is SCHEME 9's TOP 5 non superhero comic book flicks can-you-DIG IT!

5. Modesty Blaise; The female Bond.

4. Diabolik; A psychopathic version of Simon 'the Saint' Templar.

3. Barbarella; SEX-IN-SSSPPPAAAAAaaaace...

2. OldBoy; A brutal story of vengeance which is continually threatened with an American remake.

1. Flash Gordon; Although Buck Rogers came first it's Flash who people remember as the original all action space hero.

update:

Scot Pilgrim would be in the Empire/Total Film list and Kick Ass IS a Super Hero film and Spike Lee's Old Boy remake will lick balls, you heard it here first.

updated update:

Spike Lee's Old Boy remake will licked balls,

THOR: Film review.

Ladies and gents I give you the first SCHEME9 movie review, by fans for fans, enjoy.

THOR: reveiwed by Joe 'Nightwing' MacDonald.

“Whoever wields this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”

And so we have, Thor: The Movie. And it is good.

What is immediately likable about this movie is that it lays off the origins story. Unlike most comic book movies that use up 1/3 to ½ of the movie in trying to tell the origin of our protagonist , this dives into the action quite quickly. It does a great job of showing Thor as the petulant man-child of the early comics, and makes us immediately side with Odin when casting him down upon Midgard. The job of Odin sending his son to learn humility is played down, but is ultimately what the film is all about. And this plot points resolution is what the film aims to convey.

The characters are convincingly brought to the big screen by some well placed casting. Chris Hemsworth is the picture of the Norse God of Thunder, faithfully portraying the part. Hemsworth plays the character very well, managing to save it from the very real danger of being ridiculous and loud. His rival, Loki is also a particularly well acted out character. Tom Hiddleton shows some acting chops and delivers a convincing portrayal of the God of Mischief.

As far as staying faithful to the ‘look’ of the comics; if you want to see Jack Kirby’s Thor then you will be disappointed. This look is based in the more slick Olivier Coipel version of Thor and Asgard in particular looks spectacular..

Now, for the negative, which although don’t spoil the movie, are areas which can be found lacking. Now if you, like me, are a comic book fan boy, then you will of course notice the small inaccuracies from the comic with which nearly all of Marvels cinema exploits are dotted with. With regards to this particular film, these points remain minor.

The characters are quite faithfully represented, with quick introductions all round. Lady Sif and The Warriors Three, Odin and Heimdall and the eponymous Jane Foster are present and they are faithfully represented (almost), but there are times when a bit more character development could be used to flesh out their reasoning and why they act as they do. The romance between Thor and Jane Foster is somewhat underdeveloped. As opposed to the Nurse of the comics, she is a scientific researcher; a necessary sacrifice to bring Thor to the big screen, but it means that a lot of the connection between both characters is lost.

And finally, The Destroyer. The Destroyer is supposed to be an unstoppable soulless machine of destruction. Sadly, the destructive capabilities of such a machine is massively downplayed. The scene of Thor Vs Destroyer is incredibly short lived and should have, in my opinion, been a center-piece of the movie as opposed to a sideline.

All in all, this is a must-see movie for all comic book fans; a movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet still delivers an enjoyable film with a great look and feel.

4 out of 5, cause nothings ever perfect.