Noted. Briefly.

FILM
"Duplicity" Directed by Tony Gilroy
Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Tom Wilkinson.

Fun, agreeably complex espionage caper from the director of "Michael Clayton." A nice antidote after seeing 'Watchmen' for the third time. And Tom Wilkinson and Paul Giamatti are fucking aces here. As usual. The ending is interesting. I wasn't sure if it was surprising because it was so obvious or it was obvious because it was so surprising. (Huh?)

Here's a cool piece about Gilroy's methods and madness in a recent 'New Yorker.'


BOOK
"Drawing Words & Writing Pictures"
Jessica Abel, Matt Madden.

Maybe it treads some of the same ground as Scott McCloud's "Creating Comics" but this book is more a practical, pedantic textbook in structure and objectives. Plenty of detailed "nuts and bolts" advice and comprehensive step-by-step lessons. Leans a bit subtly towards creating the sort of twee, memoir books we all tired of ten years ago but the scope is pretty inclusive and the advice will be useful to anyone looking to get a comic down on the page. Probably the new standard-bearer for anyone looking to create comics.

Check out the useful companion website here.