Has this gone viral yet? It should.

Brought to you by Ugly Pictures.

I knew nothing about The Fountain when I picked it up at the public library, about three months ago. But I knew that when it was done, it needed to be mentioned here.

I read a lot. Blogs, books, newspapers, e-mails, comics, web sites, professional journals, magazine, and sometimes even the pile of novels that I can't keep up with. And, of course, graphic novels. Now sometimes a graphic novel is a collection of individual comic books bound together under one cover. Well, I'm not sure if The Fountain appeared that way, but I am certain that it is one of the best representations I've ever seen of a graphic novel. This is why people should read graphic novels, and get over the fact that it's a story that has pictures, and there's nothing wrong with that. (Although, I'm sure most of the people that read this blog don't have a problem with it.)

Darren Aronofsky (you know, one "A", like Elvis), wrote this as a movie. The movie was cancelled originally, but was eventually made. But I am not looking forward to seeing it. I don't care who's playing the characters, or how its filmed, or how much is spent on effects.

It's a good story. And the graphic novel medium suits it fine. This may not have been Aronofsky's original intention. But combined with Kent Williams gorgeous illustration, I'm convinced the story as told the way it needed to be.

There's three intricately weaved storylines here, but it's all one story that takes place at different points in history. Despite the battles fought in South America and the travels through the universe, where The Fountain truly hits home is as a story about love, life, and death. Simple, huh?

Isn't every story about that, one may ask? Every story may involve that, but every story may no reflect upon it or encourage introspection on these matters.

I don't want to give a synopsis, but I know when the book was over, I was moved. I shook, I shed a tear.

Maybe I'm a big baby. There's always that possibility. It's not so much that it's sad, but there's something beautiful about The Fountain.

I believe I was in 3rd grade when they played this in my elementary school, but it may have been earlier since Star Wars came out when I was in 1st grade. (LL note: Looks like it was 1st grade. 1977.) I still chuckle when I see this. If the Internet was around back then, they certainly would have had a ton of traffic.

Hardware Wars.

More:
Home page
IMDB entry
Wikipedia entry

Apparently, in 1999, George Lucas called Hardware Wars his favorite Star Wars parody.

I'm a big Chewchilla fan myself. I fondly remember him gnawing on Princess Anne-Droid's cinnamon buns.

www.theneverything.com
www.lovelybysurprise.com

This looks interesting. The self-realizing character makes me think of Spike Jonze for some reason.