I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: RUSH-Retrospective 3 (2009).

This disc filled a hole that the public had been really clamoring for: a collection of the most popular songs by Rush from the 1990s until today.  [cue crickets chirping]. Okay so this period isn’t exactly the best selling Rush era, and many people probably didn’t even know that they were still around (they weren’t for a while, but then they came back with an amazing vengeance).

Back in the 1980s I was a huge Rush fan. They were hands down my favorite band. I don’t like them any less than I used to, I just like a lot of other bands more now.  And yet this era of Rush’s music has some of my favorite of their songs, and they’re pretty much all here.

Disc One is a selection of tracks and Disc Two is a DVD of all of their videos. Perhaps the most interesting thing to me is that if you compare the videos track list to the audio tracklist, they don’t jibe as much as you might think.  This leads me to believe that the band doesn’t think that their original singles were the best songs from the discs (and I agree, I think the track listing of the CD is much stronger than that of the videos).

Presto is one of my favorite discs of this era, as are their two most recent releases Vapor Trails and Snakes and Arrows.  Test for Echo, on the other hand is one of my least favorite discs of theirs.  The last time I listened to it I thought it was pretty terrible (and yet I am very surprised to see how well liked it is by Rush fans in general).  Nevertheless, all of these discs are well represented here.

And speaking of their videos, I have to say that Rush has some of the w(and every one was directed by someone different it seems) they’re just terrible.  They always seem to have a “plot” of some sort, yet it is elliptical and lacking in specifics.  It frequently involves a teenaged boy, often shirtless, in some kind of peril.  The only parts I like are the band scenes, because it’s fun to see a) Alex’s hair b) Geddy’s hair and c) Neil’s scowl.

One of the major selling points of this disc is that the two tracks from Vapor Trails are remixed.  Anyone who knows Rush knows that their releases are definitive.  You don’t get remixes or even B-sides out of this band.  So for them to release a different version of these songs is pretty amazing.  I wonder what’s up with that.  Research suggests that the band was never happy with the quality of Vapor Trails, and there are rumblings that they’d like to remix the whole disc.  I hope they do, as these sound great.

But the real selling point is the bonus video: a live interview/recording from The Colbert Report.  As I mention below, I simply don’t watch the Report as often as I ought, so I had no idea the band was even on.  I wish that Colbert had let them speak a little bit more, even if the fawning and funny questions are really great and show what a sense of humor the band has (as does the “cheering fans” that Alex has on his board).  And “Tom Sawyer” (which, I get as it’s their hugest song, but really they had to play a song that’s 27 years old?) sounds great.  And they clearly have fun with it.

If you’re on the fence about getting this disc, those two items should convince you to pick it up.

[READ: June 30, 2009] Tek Jansen

I enjoy the Colbert Report.  Quite a lot.  And yet, I don’t watch it very often.  I find the idea of committing to a daily show (like The Daily Show) is just impractical.  And so, even though Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are queued up on my TiVo, I rarely have the time to watch them.

And so, it was news to me that Colbert had the character of Tek Jansen on his show. I heard about this series via Oni (who publishes it, and all good comics).  I also just learned, (thanks Wikipedia) that there are animated shorts of this character which I must track down.  In fact, heck, for the hilarious background of the origin of this comic, just read this.

The first issue came out.  And then the writers strike hit and it took a year for the second issue to come out.  I finally read all five of them.

The comic is a five issue arc written by John Layman and Tom Peyer with art by Scott Chantler which sees Tek Jansen destroying the universe in an attempt to save it.  Jansen is a pretty note perfect superhero version of Colbert’s TV character on the Report.  He is cocky, foolish and damn sexy.

In addition to the five issue arc, each issue has a short story written by Jim Massey with art by Robbi Rodriguez.  They’re called From the Case Files of Tek Jansen. I admit that, like with other superhero comics that I have read, I enjoy these one off “short” stories better than the actual series. The one offs are usually more light-hearted and kind of silly (admittedly the whole Tek Jansen thing is silly).  But they work hard to keep the plot line going in the main story, while the short ones are just a fun idea filled out.

In the arc, Tek flies to Alphalon-7 (lots of 7’s in this series!) interrupts a planetary meeting by the Optiklons.  The Optiklons offer staggeringly sophisticated technology that will assist the world as long as they sacrifice a fraction of the planet’s surplus energy to other planets in need.  Tek suspects something sinister, interrupts the meeting and causing mayhem.  The Optiklons declare war on the galaxy and systematically destroy every planet they can get to.

Tek is so convinced he’s right, that he never once doubts his ideas.  When he is punished and sent back to school for re-training, he sees it as an opportunity to show the cadets his way of doing things.  Ultimately, of course, Tek  manages to thwart their plans but not before pretty much everyone in the galaxy is dead.

That’s not so much a spoiler, because the joy is in reading the scenarios and his reactions (and it’s obvious that Tek will win). What’s interesting about the comic is that despite the obvious silliness, and the fact that they intentionally and with a wink to the reader use a lot of sci-fi cliches,  the story is played with absolute straightness.  The style, the art, everything is very superhero-y.  Its quite a feat.

I admit that this wasn’t my favorite comic of the year, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.  It was quite funny,and I enjoyed seeing the weird twists on typical stories that they threw in.  I did enjoy the short stories more, but I think that’s to be expected.

There’s a collected edition of the issues available soon, although I’m unclear if there’s anything new added to it.