It's Persepolis!

This is a good one. It's not your standard CBM fare but it was based on a comic and by jove does it tick all the right boxes. We both agreed that it's good as well which is a real rarity for us as you'll have heard over many, many episodes. There's so many layers to it too and I highly recommend that you watch it and see what you'll take from it. There's the story of a woman oppressed, there's the questions it raises over religion vs state, there's the East v West elements - all of it inspiring and all of it engaging.

Plus!

We found ourselves treading over very dangerous ground when reviewing this one. It's hard not to get sucked into global events - especially when some of the nations involved are still at the very forefront of the news. However, we think we managed it, just about. That's not to say that we think we're completely right on any of these issues nor that we aren't willing to be corrected or challenged on an issue. It's literally just our reading on things with the information we have and the experiences that have brought us here. If there's something that you feel we need to know, get in touch.

Also!

We're a little late getting this one to you and we're sorry for the delay. Basically, we're right in the middle of a house move which is proving to be far more complicated than it needs to be. Seriously, I could start a second podcast on how ridiculous the process of moving house is. Too many greedy gits trying to make sure they get a cut of something I reckon. That and bloody house price inflation. Who could have foreseen capitalism backfiring in such a way. Also, as you'll hear in the episode, we had a slight bereavement recently. Nothing slight about it actually, there was a bereavement and we can't change it in the slightest. Just one of those things though and we're all fine and dandy otherwise.

Thanks for your patience. It's really appreciated right now!

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Marjane Satrapi is basically right most of the time about most of the things.

It's Ghost World!

I boldly predicted that there would be a Five Star movie amongst these 2000 movies. Before we watched Ghost World, we hadn't found one yet. Now that we have watched Ghost World, we still haven't found one. It's a shame. I think there's a lot going for this - more than Madge who hated it - but it doesn't quite deliver on the early promise. Oh well. I guess we'll just have to keep watching movies until we find a Five Star Comic Book Movie if such a thing even exists. It's fast becoming our Rosebud.

Plus!

We take a look at the writers and director. Daniel Clowes wrote the original comic and later the screenplay and Terry Zwigoff co-wrote and directed. Zwigoff is best known for this and Crumb which is a documentary which sounds fantastic. I haven't worked out a way to include a documentary season yet but if/when I do, Crumb is going right on it. We'll definitely be sticking Fritz the Cat on a list - both a watchlist and the sort of list that dirty boys end up on because it was the first ever X-Rated animated feature. That's a fun fact, isn't it Ladies and Gentleman. It paved the way for modern adult-animation but we're not talking about that. We're here to talk about a far less interesting movie.

Also!

We discuss the conundrum relating to the main characters. They're always heralded as iconic and representative of the teenage experience. However, their voices are coming out of the head of initially one man and later two. Is it still representative if the creators have no idea what it's really like to be a teenage girl? We also ponder whether you'd get away with such a film these days considering how underrepresented female writers and directors still are in the film industry and certainly were at the time.

Cheers for your ears.

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When a movie is 'cult' it means that nobody wanted to see it.

It's 30 Days of Night!

Our naughties-fest continues with Is It A Bird's first real foray into horror movies/comics. We weren't scared or owt because it's honestly not even that scary. It's one of those ones where it's more about the macabre and violence than trying to leave you sleepless for days on end. To be honest, watching it actually made us so sleepy that we watched it in two parts. '30 Days of Night' actually ended up being more like 'Half a Movie and 8 Hours in a Night'. That isn't to say it's bad though but I can't in good conscious say that it's good either. I actually find it difficult to rate this one because I feel that horror movies are almost a speciality genre and therefore shouldn't necessarily be held up against your average popcorn movies. However, that opinion does seem to fall apart when you consider Alien or IT. Like I said - difficult to rank.

Plus!

We look at how this movie got made! It was a movie script, then a comic made from a rejected movie script and then a movie adaption of a comic made from a rejected movie script. Like the movie, the comic (in my opinion I stress to add) isn't much to write home about. Having said that though we both really admired the hustle. It seems odd to us that more comics aren't made this way. Just because a script is rejected, doesn't mean the idea isn't solid and comics are arguably the perfect outlet for that big idea. We salute you Steve Niles and all writers like you who are just trying to make it.

Also!

We look into how IDW was founded. It would have seemed weird to talk about the creation of 30 Days of Night without also looking into IDW as the two seem to almost go hand in hand. It's great knowing that there are comic book companies beyond the Big Two's market saturation and these days it's easier than ever before to access their output thanks to the internet and apps like Comixology - other apps and buying services are available, that just happens to be the one I use. You could of course steal your comics and download the epub files into a reader but that doesn't seem that great when writers, artists and all involved in the publishing of comics put so much effort in. IDW, Dark Horse, Image and all those on the rungs below them deserve support and if you, like me*, aren't in a position to visit a local comic book shop then online is definitely the way to go.

Thanks for listening!

email isitabirdpod@gmail.com
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*Seriously, I have extraordinary bad luck when it comes to comic book shops. Even when I move to a different city I find that there's probably one and it's in bad shape due to the lack of custom and pre-orders. I may be the angel of death for local comic book shops and I therefore will never move to New York or LA, just in case I take down the entire industry.

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