CNN Trying to Use Tecnobabble to Get Out of Trouble

Personally, I don't like Dick Cheney. I don't dislike him, but I don't like him either. I also don't think the big X that kept flashing was meant to be seen by the public either (as they say "I think there is no there there"), but CNN's response is garbage. It is a response that uses the mystery of media production to its benefit, but never addresses the "root cause" of the event.

I quote:

"this was a technical malfunction, not an issue of operator error"

"but was inadvertently projected onto the screen by a malfunction in a "switcher" device, they explained."

They go on to talk about how a switcher is a device and not a person. This is true. Here is a page that briefly discusses switchers.

As you can see they are devices and not people, and can even be "software based" devices. I know because I used to use a switcher when I was a student at USC. I worked for their distance education program and was a switcher operator for various class room courses. When you operate a switcher you have multiple television screens where you manipulate a design that may or may not be shown to the viewing audience. Only one screen will actually show what the audience sees and it was a common pasttime among the various operators to play around with the screens not being used. I wasn's an Engineering student, and most of the courses were Engineering, so I would play around. I was lucky...none of my playing around was ever broadcast with the class. With others that wasn't true, they would sometimes accidentally hit a button and BOOM the image would broadcast and the phone would ring with questions about why such and such is being displayed.

I think this is what happened during the CNN broadcast, some techie was having fun in the back room (good for him or her) and something happened. Either they pushed a button or there was a software glitch, but anyone who knows anything about computers knows that "garbage in...garbage out" is the mantra of the day. Unless big Xs were appearing all over the place, the glitch wasn't the X. According to the article, "a place-holding marker used by technicians to cue up graphics." (Emphasis mine.) The glitch might have been why the X flickered on and off, but it wasn't why it was there. It might have been there as a place holder as CNN claims they use Xs for, but the X was likely put there intentionally by the operator. Not necessarily for nefarious reasons because it is entirely possible they were prepping queues for image inserts.

But come on! Be honest and don't try to go all, "you don't understand the hermetic alchemical technical machinations required to make a television program" on us. That is a cheap argument rooted in a desire to obfuscate meaning rather than admit wrong doing, even if it is an accident and there is "no there there."

Switchers are machines, but they have operators. Unless they want me to believe that CNN is entirely automated, in which case it is time to begin the Butlerian Jihad against the thinking machines.

Rush Hour 3 Finally an Official Greenlight...and We Care?

Chris Tucker, who has been a major obstacle in the production of a Rush Hour sequel, has finally come to terms he finds agreeable to make the third installment of the Jackie Chan vehicle.

That's right...Jackie Chan vehicle.

According to E! Online, "Tucker will still receive $20 million upfront, and he'll get 20 percent of the back-end gross; those terms will also extend to a future film to be determined."

Did I mention that this is a Jackie Chan vehicle? I would watch this film if it starred Chris Klein, Chris Farley (though he's dead), or even Chris O'Donnell.
I want to see Jackie Chan kick a$$.

Is Chris Tucker funny in these movies? Yes and he was funny in Fifth Element too.

But 20% of back-end gross? Chan only gets 15%, but does get exclusive distribution rights for Hong Kong and China so it's not like he isn't making any money on the deal.

And let's be honest...the Tucker/Chan combo has been more profitable than the Chan solo projects.

But how long has it been since Rush Hour 2? Maybe we should call this one...Freeway Gridlock.

A Truly Epic Romantic Tragedy

For the Medieval Fiefosphere (maybe illuminatosphere -- for illuminated texts would be better), I am naturally referring to the Medieval scholar portion of the blogosphere, comes the soon to be released film version of the classic romance "Tristan and Isolde" (You can view the trailer here).

The tale of Tristan and Isolde (Tristram and Isaud, etc.) is one that is often intertwined with Arthurian romances, but it is its own tale which happens to share many of the narrative tropes of the Arthurian romance. If you look to the love triangle traditionally told involving Arthur, Lancelot, and Guenevere you will find some similarities, but I have always found Tristan and Isolde a more plausible tragic romance (I also like Peleas and Etard).

Chief among my reasons for favoring T/I is that in the A/L/G romance Guenevere is often portrayed in less than a flattering light, largely due to the fact that Arthur and Lancelot ought to be men of exceeding virtue. A good part of the reason for this co-out is that Camelot is a fictional place and thus authors have never provided a significant political reason for the Arthur/Guenevere marriage or a romantically powerful reason for her attraction to Lancelot. Filmically, there have been several poor adapatations of the A/G relationship (think First -- she likes Richard Gere more than Sean Connery? -- Knight, King --We will largely ignore it -- Arthur (2004), or even the otherwise well done Excalibur where she was merely too young when she first met Arthur).

Anyway...if he reads this, I am certain that Unlocked Wordhoard will have an indepth discussion of the romance in the near future.

Superman Returns Trailer

Welp, the trailer's already been posted.

But, given that I have a bit of a history of being a Superman naysayer (as pointed out here) and that I once posted a grumpy post about it on Cinerati here, and Numero Uno posted what I read as a sideways swipe on that post here.

Whew. Now that the background's done, I must say that I greatly enoyed the trailer. Superman looks like Superman, esp. when he's floating in the clouds, illuminated by sunlight, his cape unfurled and blowing slowly, the old Krpyton theme arising in the background. Also, him being in space and soaring down appeared to be an homage to one of my fave JLA moments in recent years.

Now, how all of this combines/collides with various reports of grim Superman and Lois Lane saying the world doesn't need him anymore and Luthor flushing his head... dunno. But it looks good anyway, even great, even if it seems like early Superman/Re-telling the origin instead of Superman Returns-ing...

10 Animated Films Eligible for Oscar Consideration

According to The Guardian the following animated films are in consideration for nomination for next year's Oscar awards.

1. Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Wererabbit.
2. Valiant
3. Corpse Bride
4. Robots
5. Madagascar
6. Steamboy
7. Chicken Little
8. Hoodwinked
9. Howl's Moving Castle
10. Gulliver's Travel

Of these ten movies only three will be official nominees for the upcoming Oscars, and of them I am really only opposed to Robots on an aesthetic level. I haven't seen Valiant, Hoodwinked, or Gulliver's Travels so I won't comment on them. As for Howl's...Miyazaki's films always seem to dominate, but they also always seem to have been released earlier than should make them eligible for consideration at a particular Oscars. Gulliver's Travel hasn't been released stateside yet, but Miyazaki's film had its first international release in 2004. Disney has done a great job with most of the Miyazaki films they have distributed, but it seems to me that their "perrenial" anime is just their way of stacking the deck in their favor. To be fair...Howl's isn't as good as Miyazaki's other work, but given the Academy's tendency to desire to "appear" sophisticated I predict that the Oscar nods will go to...

1. Wallace and Gromit
2. Howl's Moving Castle
3. Steamboy

My choice among these three would be W&G, but if Steamboy (originally released in Japan in 2004 and played at the Austin Film Festival in 2004 with Sony attempting a Disney) wins I won't be disappointed. But the way that W&G masterfully recaptured the tropes of the old Universal horror films into work of genuine comic genius is what makes it my choice.

What do y'all think? Anyone seen Gulliver's?

Finally...a $250 Million Dollar Preview.

Superman Returns has an official teaser trailer.

Yay!

Spider-Man and X-Men to Stay With Activision

ACTIVISION AND MARVEL ENTERTAINMENT EXPAND ALLIANCE AND EXTEND INTERACTIVE RIGHTS FOR SPIDER-MAN AND X-MEN FRANCHISES

Deal Extends Relationship Through 2017

Santa Monica, C.A. and New York, N.Y. – November 11, 2005 – Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) and Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: MVL) jointly announced today that the companies have expanded their long-term, broad-based strategic alliance by signing a multi-year extension to their current video game licensing agreements for the Spider-Man™ and X-Men™ franchises through 2017. This agreement replaces all previous agreements between the companies. Under the terms of the agreement, Activision has extended its exclusive worldwide publishing rights to two of Marvel’s most renowned comic book properties for interactive entertainment software products for console, PC and handheld platforms. The original agreements were set to expire in 2009. Activision’s Spider-Man and the X-Men video games rank among the company’s most successful franchises, having sold more than 25 million units across all platforms to date.

"This announcement further underscores the strength of our relationship with Marvel and reinforces our leadership position in the superhero genre,” states Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing, Inc. “Spider-Man and the X-Men are two of the most popular entertainment franchises today and some of the most coveted characters in interactive entertainment. This agreement will allow us to continue developing exceptional games based on these legendary characters well into the future.”

Tim Rothwell, Worldwide President, Consumer Media Group, Marvel Entertainment, added, "The interactive entertainment category continues to be one of Marvel's key strategic categories. Expanding our partnership with Activision, a leader in the video game industry, further ensures that our characters will continue to be among the elite and dominant interactive franchises for the next decade and beyond."

Bruno Maglione, President, Marvel International, commented, "Activision is one of a handful of players who can truly execute worldwide in this business. Spider-Man and X-Men are major global franchises. Because of this, it is always critical for us to partner with companies committed to maximizing success internationally. Activision’s results on a worldwide scale with these brands demonstrated to us that they can and will continue to do that."

Threshold Moved from Friday Death Slot, CBS Offers Episodes on Streaming Video

CBS.COM TO STREAM DIFFERENT EPISODES OF "THRESHOLD" TO ACCOMMODATE NEW TIME PERIOD

To accommodate the new time period change for THRESHOLD, CBS.com, the official website of the CBS Television Network, will stream different episodes of the new suspense drama from Nov. 9-11 and Nov. 16-18. The initial offering, episode three of THRESHOLD titled "Blood of the Children" (oad 9/23/05), was available during a three-day window on CBS.com from Nov. 2-4. The second episode, titled "The Order" (oad 10/21), will be available for streaming from Nov. 9-11, while the episode titled "Revelations" (oad 11/4) will be available from Nov. 16-18.

The following are the revised storyline descriptions for the THRESHOLD episodes to be featured on CBS.com:

"The Order" (oad 10/21) (Nov. 9-11) -- Molly investigates a security leak that could put the entire Threshold plan in jeopardy, while the Red Team investigates a possible infection of the local food supply affecting the residents in a small New England town. Norberto Barba directed the episode written by Anne McGrail.

"Revelations" (oad 11/4) (Nov. 16-18) -- Molly and Cavennaugh encounter some bizarre happenings when they head to the hometown of a missing Big Horn crew member to investigate the disappearance of a Threshold field agent. Tom Wright directed the episode written by Amy Berg and Andrew Colville.

THRESHOLD moves to its new time period, Tuesdays (10:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT), beginning Nov. 22 on the CBS Television Network.

On the web: CBS's Threshold

More Jobs for Disney?

The recent ABC/Apple agreement regarding television episodes being made available on iTunes for download led to speculation that negotiations between Steve Jobs and Disney had been becoming friendly again. Many argued that it might even lead to a new Pixar/Disney partnership.

Well, it looks like the speculation is true. Pixar and Disney are indeed in negotiations for a new deal. With the initial financial success of Chicken Little Disney proved that they may not need Pixar to produce their digital movies. Pixar, on the other hand, has likely had difficulty finding a new distributor for their films. Remember that in the last negotiations between the two companies Pixar was demanding "100% of the box office take on future films, a modest distribution fee and the lion's share of ancilliary revenue." Not exactly the best beginning bargaining position for new distributors.

Now if Disney and Pixar team up again, does that mean that I can dream of Disney reopening their hand drawn animation division? I mean Pixar is a great digital company...Lilo and Stitch was awesome...Computer Animation isn't any less expensive than hand drawn...

Please Disney! Please!

Sean Bean is Dreamy, and He's Starring in Sharpe's Challenge

Photo by Norman Jean Ray

Sean Bean, Boromir in Lord of the Rings and 006 in Goldeneye, will be reprising his role as Richard Sharpe in the upcoming BBC miniseries Sharpe's Challenge. My wife and I spent a good deal of this past summer captivated by Bean's portrayal of the adventures of Richard Sharpe during the Napoleonic era. Bean showed a wide range of acting ability and has become one of my favorite British imports to the United States. In fact, I have become sick of seeing him portrayed as a villain in American cinema and look forward to him donning the green garb of the Epic soldier once more.

The new Sharpe is being filmed for ITV and began filming on November 5th of this year.

Oi! I'ma Mario! I'ma Gonna Basha Your Head In, Ya Scouser!

Nintendo does its part to tend to the next generation of Hooligan. If only they would combine Super Mario Strikers with Super Smash Brothers.

Daily Tribune Captures Image of Sandman!

The Sony Spiderman 3 Website has released an image of Sandman.

Does Thomas Haden Church look like this fellow?

And Now For Something Completely Different!

Star Wars Pixellated. Thanks to News on the March

Los Angeles Times to Add Manga to Sunday Issue.

According to ICV2, the Los Angeles Times (among many papers) will be adding Manga features to their Sunday Cartoon section. As noted in the article, the average newspaper reader is "currently 53 and getting older all the time" and newspapers need to find ways to bring younger readers into their subscription base. For years papers have tried releasing youth oriented, or student versions, of newspapers to attract audiences, but these efforts have largely failed.

This time it looks as if newspapers are selecting entertainment content geared toward a younger audience in their flagship publications. The titles, which will be added this January, are Van Von Hunter and Peach Fuzz by Lindsay Cibos (you can also see a preview for Peach Fuzz here). Aiming for teenage boys and girls may be a gambit that pays off for the newspapers. Both Manga strips are Original English Language strips which means that the comics will either bring in young readers or fail on their own merit and won't bring creepy otaku into the picture.

Here is an example of Peach Fuzz character design.

Let's hope they redraw the first episode of Van Von Hunter.

Because it looks pretty good in its current state.

Big News If You Don't Have a DVR or VCR, But Do Have Cable (Preferably Digital)!

According to the Los Angeles Times, Comcast has entered into a deal with CBS and Disk Network has brokered a deal with NBC that will allow pay television customers to access "on demand" versions of highly rated broadcast television shows.

The Times does mention that such an "innovation" may not seem like much to "viewers who own personal video recorders such as TiVos or VCRs [who] can record their favorite shows now, the two deals are unique in that they make TV-on-demand available to a broader audience. They also let customers pay for shows on an a-la-carte basis." It is the second statement that bodes wierd for the television entertainment industry. By this I mean that traditionally television has been a "programming" oriented business where producers sell shows to networks who "schedule" shows they believe will attract audience. Even niche cable networks work on this same programming model. Television viewers have traditionally had some choice as to what hey can watch (there are 120+ channels) and when to watch it if they have a recording device, but the "on demand" market may add another variable to the equation.

While I admit that offering on demand for shows you can already record (though the on demand versions are commercial free) is not very revolutionary, or even enticing. What is enticing is the potential for networks to have greater ability to tailor to their audiences desires. The television market may move into a direction similar to the motion picture industry where all viewing is technically "on demand" and demand is prompted by advertising.

I can actually see, after the technology has become normalized, the major networks offering on demand show for free (with commercials) to all comers. In doing so the networks would also purchase more shows than they currently do. That's right, I said more. The reason for this is that the major networks could purchase shows currently offered primarily by niche cable channels or who have a limited fan base. The "per show" cost will be fairly low for shows that would draw a small market share, but such shows might have longer runs as well. Every television viewer has a show he or she wish continued on the air, the recent movie Serenity shows the power of small but loyal audience can have in the marketplace. Imagine if all Firefly fans could have spoken with their dollars in a direct fashion early in the process. It could have meant the show would still be on today. I can also see changes in the revenue model where the front end payments for shows are lower, but that residuals and revenue for screenings are higher. Naturally, the self programming model would rely heavily on advertising to "get out the word," but that could be a boon for both the growing internet ad market and the shrinking newspaper ad market. It is a good thing TV guide has changed to a larger format, they might need it for ad space and articles in the future.

In this potential future model of television one could imagine the networks gaining greater marketshare than they currently have, but it would be because they have become more like show "brokers" or superstores than "programmers" of entertainment.

NBC executive David Zaslav made an interesting comment in the article. He said, "If you don't play, you'll get left behind." He made the statement in response to how NBC/Universal was reacting to ABC's deal with Apple Computer Inc. which allows for the purchase of ABC programming for iPod. He meant that if you didn't offer similar products to your competitor you would get left behind. What is interesting is that he summed up what will become the market model if the individual programmer market takes over. If shows don't play, in other words if they aren't requested (and, for now, purchased) by viewers the shows will be dropped. This is very different from the current model where shows are played and are only dropped if no one watches them afterword.

On an ironic side note, the NBC deal with Dish Network does require that the customer already own a DVR. Begging the case that in the early stages of the new television model what benefits Dish really offers.

Wallace and Gromit Creators to Create Animated Television Shows for US

Aardman animations has plans for new animated series to be distributed in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to ICV2, one of these ideas is a computer animated show called Chop Socky Chooks and features kung fu using chickens. I don't know about you, but this sounds like a winner to me. I have enjoyed the various comedic martial arts cartoons that have appeared on the television. Everything from Hong Kong Phooey to Xiaolin Showdown, with a number of shows in between (TMNT anyone?), has at one time or another played a role in my regular cartoon viewing schedule.

Kung Fu chickens and W/G? "Gromiiiiit?! It's the wrong Gi Gromit!"

You decide who's cooler...HKPh or Kung Fu Chicken.

Who wants to be friends with Madonna?

I don't know about that whole Kaballah thing...but I found her MySpace page terribly exciting. I don't even know why...but I owe so much of my fashion style to late 80's Madonna (right down to the dark roots/blonde hair thing), that I feel like she's the big sister I never had.

Go sign up to be her friend! Or just be confused by her red hair. I know I was.

Will New Superman Movie Suck?

Comic book fans have been reeling the past year, or so, over the "sweeping changes" taking place in the DC Universe and its "Infinite Crisis." Some fans have been happy, some have been dismayed. Readers will know that i have been a little disappointed with the number of "comic relief" characters being killed in the name of "complex narrative," but overall I am excited about what will happen (even if I am disappointed about what has).

This leads me to the new Superman film. Earlier this year, Jim Treacher made a couple of offhand comments criticizing what he fears the film will become. I largely ignored his comments because they seemed to confuse the director's sexuality with his ability to tell a good tale. I think that the first two "X" movies show that Singer understand what it takes to make a compelling superhero narrative.

What I AM worried about is the delays and rewrites (let alone the run away budget) taking place on the Superman production. According to ICV2 and the Hollywood Reporter, " Principal photography for the film, which began shooting in Australia last spring, was supposed to be over by now, but the production took a five-week hiatus in September for script revisions. Director Bryan Singer (X-Men) returned to Australia in mid-October and began a final four weeks of shooting."

A five week hiatus?! Ah, production money must grow on trees. Rewrites this late in the process? Dear G-d! Smallville writes 20+ scripts a year, DC writes 40+ comics a year about Superman. Sure, some of the stories suck, but imagine how much they would suck if they had to be continually rewritten.

So...I'm worried.

Adam Carolla Says, "F&*^ You If You're Poor!"

According to Rolling Stone Magazine, Rock and Roll stations have had a 16 percent decline in listenership since 1996, and a number of Rock stations have been changing formats of late. Key among these stations is the famous New York Radio Station K-Rock (WXRK-FM), which with the departure of Howard Stern will shift to a talk radio format and only play music on weekends.

Adam Carolla (Loveline, The Adam Carolla Project)has, along with David Lee Roth, been hired to replace Stern for the Radio Network's morning show. When asked about the format change of K-Rock Carolla said the following, "I don't know what year folks are living in," he says. "If you want to hear music, get an iPod. If you want to hear talk, get a radio. That's my feeling."

Personally, I don't know what tax bracket Carolla is living in, but an initial investment of an iPod compatible computer, an iPod, a high-speed internet connection, and $.99 a song sounds like something that is out of the affordability of a large number of people. Nevermind the fact that the iPod investment (including all the above) is a minimum of $1000 buck the first year, and that's for a crappy computer (where's the monitor? Guess I won't be buying the cheapest one at Apple.com. Don't forget to buy a mouse and keyboard.)(Better off buying an iBook, but that takes us over budget), a crappy iPod, a cheap service ($24 a month), and about $100 songs. I guess you could go the PC route, but that would undermine the "branding" that Carolla was able to forward. Did he get paid for the advertisement?

I guess, if you are poor you get to listen to Adam Carolla, but if you want to Rock "live in the now."

News on the March Says "Don't Forget Gordon Parks!" Daaaaamn Riiiight!

KaneCitizen, over at News on the March, wants to make sure that in celebrating one important Parks in American history that we don't forget another. He has a very good profile of Gordon Parks, the man who brought you SHAFT, here.

Now if only he could do a profile of Barry Gordie...we all know "The Last Dragon" is one of the best Kung Fu/Blaxploitation films ever made. Sho' Nuff!

Or as Cyrus would say...CAAAAN YOU DIIIIG IIIIIT?!

BTW, you can read a middle english version of the Shaft theme song here.

Wha be þa blake prevy lawe
Þat bene wantoun too alle þa feres?
SHAFT!
Ya damne riȝte!

Bad News From a Friend

I was driving in my car with my wife the other day when I said, "I have been unusually blessed in my life." My wife looked at me for a moment, examining my expression to see if I was being ironic. Finally she asked me, "Are you being serious?" I was, but I knew where she was coming from. My life hasn't been easy, that I can say for certain, but my life has been blessed as well.

When I needed to take a "semester" off from school and was living through some very rough times at home, I met my wife. She gave me hope and the knowledge that my three year long semester off was now over. Through her I was able to meet other people who could help me get back on my feet and who would begin mentoring me as an Undergraduate student and as a man. It was three of these mentors who really helped me when my mother died. They helped me keep my head together and to realize how much even small efforts of support can mean.

This is what I mean that I have been blessed, whenever I have encountered a roadblock in life I have always encountered a mentor who could guide me and provide me with advice in my current situation. What makes this such a blessing is that I am of the opinion that "mentoring" relationships are on a bit of a downturn. When I talk to Gen Xers all around, it is rare that I hear a good mentoring story. I usually hear about struggles and how those who should be mentors are hindering would be "mentees" or being generally ambivalent to the development of "the younger generation." This largely hasn't been the case with me, or at least hasn't been for the past 8 years or so.

One person who has been of great guidance to me in the recent past is Cathy Seipp. She's a blogger in Southern California who's blog I began frequenting after reading an article by her at National Review Online. I was going through my daily news cycle(LA Times, New Republic, NRO, NY Times...) when I saw an article by a West Coaster in the NRO. It wasn't a typical, i.e. Neocon, article and it focused on something happening out here. Truth be told, I can't remember specifics, but I was impressed and immediately clicked over to her blog. Eventually, I became a frequent poster in her comments section. The comments section that is much praised and highly thought of by its participants. I like to think of it as our internet version of Seinfeld, but more intellectual. Anyway, as any kind of pen pal relationship goes I began to think of Cathy as a part of my circle of friends, and like those friends it didn't matter whether I always agreed with her. All that mattered was how the conversation went. After all, even my wife and I disagree over the self-evident value of The Perfect Weapon. Cathy always, well okay usually, writes about interesting topics and even when she doesn't she writes well about whatever her subject is.

Evantually, I built up the courage to email her in order to communicate one on one. Alright, I had a good excuse to email her, I needed a Southern California conservative to speak at an event for work. But that excuse allowed me to overcome my initial shyness and begin what I consider to be a valuable relationship. Cathy has been a great mentor in many ways. My wife and I have had a bit of a chaotic year so far and Cathy has been a cornerstone of my confidence that everything is going to be okay. She has always put the events of my life into context, all without needing to refer to her own experience. She has been amazing, and without her I would be an emotional wreck and my wife wouldn't have her current (very cool) job.

Before I get to what the bad news is, I thought I would share that I was reticent to put the word friend in the title of this post. Not because I don't consider Cathy a friend, I do, but because I didn't want to be presumptuous with regard to her opinions. Many people have a high bar for who they consider a friend, in fact I am one of those people. I don't confide my utmost secrets to acquaintances or random passers by, and I have a number of good acquaintances but few friends. Needless to say, given the blessing she has been in my life I consider Cathy to be a great friend. In his Nicomachean Ethics, and I am paraphrasing here, Aristotle says that the best type of friendship is one based not on anything material you can gain from someone, rather it is a friendship based upon the character of the person you consider a friend. Cathy Seipp is someone of tremendous character.

Let me give you an example, and in doing so share the bad news mentioned in the title. Cathy recently shared with her internet community that she has Lung Cancer. In the post she discusses her thoughts on the matter, and does a better job than I can paraphrase so please read her commments, as always she includes a bit of humor in a deeply serious subject. I have known for a little while that she had cancer and was receiving chemo, but I didn't know what kind of cancer she was battling. I merely knew it was serious. Here is where her character comes in to play. As I mentioned above, my wife and I have had a hectic year. A part of that year is a "medical" event involving my wife. I won't go into details here because it is important to only a few people (though I will tell you via email Rob). Needless to say, Cathy was able to provide advice and consolation without once saying, "Bah, so what?! I have lung cancer! Top that you boob!" Nor did she say anything nearly as condescending. She was helpful, a friend in need and a mentor who could put life's events into proper perspective.

But her character doesn't merely reflect itself in her ability to help others. Her character is also manifest in the way she faces her struggle. Her daughter Maia, who also has a blog, posted a brief snippet of conversation with Cathy today. I will excerpt what I thought was representative:

Right before the movie started, she asked me out of the blue, "You wouldn't get rid of the furniture, would you? Its nice furniture, and you would like it right?"

In her conversation with her daughter, she was able to do something very brave. She was able to talk frankly, but without despair or false hope, about the big what if. How many times do we as people have the strength of character to do that? I would argue that it is far to rare a character trait, but that is Cathy.

I will finish with Cicero who in his treatise On Friendship wrote:

Is not prosperity robbed of half its value if you have no one to share your joy? On the other hand, misfortunes would be hard to bear if there were not some one to feel them even more acutely than yourself. In a word, other objects of ambition serve for particular ends - riches for use, power for securing homage, office for reputation, pleasure for enjoyment, health for freedom from pain and the full use of the functions of the body. But friendship embraces innumerable advantages. Turn which way you please, you will find it at hand. It is everywhere; and yet never out of place, never unwelcome. Fire and water themselves, to use a common expression, are not of more universal use than friendship. I am not now speaking of the common or modified form of it, though even that is a source of pleasure and profit, but of that true and complete friendship which existed between the select few who are known to fame. Such friendship enhances prosperity, and relieves adversity of its burden by halving and sharing it.

Quotable Brits

For those of you tired of quoting the same Monty Python lines over and over again in not so polite company - might I suggest checking out The Young Ones, a British comedy program that run during the 80s (although technically it was a variety program because they had a musical guest every week, which was a very clever way of getting a higher budget for thier show because situation comedys didn't get as much money from the BBC as variety shows did). The Young Ones was about four college students living in a flat in North London having wacky misadventures of the Monty Python school of inane comedy variety. A bit for visceral than Python, the show captured an interesting slice of the 80's without being so dated it isn't funny anymore. Actually, other than perhaps being mildly confused if you don't know that Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister in the 80s, most of the jokes travel well, both across the Atlantic and through that ever flowing river of time.

Here's a random sampling of funny lines for you to laugh at:

Rick: "Tomorrow everyone in England will be free, and there will be no more social prejudice or hatred. GET UP NEIL, I HATE YOU !!!!!!!"

Rick: "God, I'm bored. Might as well be listening to Genesis"

Rick: "There's no one in here, Mr. Balowski! We're all holograms !"

Vyv: "This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence."

Mike: Neil, aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend?
Right Bleeding Bastard: Bastard's the name. But you can call me Right Bleeding, all my friends do- or well, *did*.
Mike: Why, what happened?
Right Bleeding Bastard: I killed him.

Happy day or horror?

This makes me a bit ambivalent.

Rambo is back in business. Sylvester Stallone will reprise his role as gun-toting John Rambo in the upcoming "Rambo IV," said Ben Nedivi of Millennium Films, which is producing the project with Emmett/Furla Films.

The 59-year-old Stallone also intends to bring boxer Rocky Balboa out of retirement. He will write and direct "Rocky Balboa," the sixth film in that franchise, with shooting set to begin next year.

Stallone's going to make a Rocky and a Rambo in sequence? Now, I know this isn't new new news, but I didn't know it was nearly this far along...

And in a row? Two 80s icons revisited.... well, I loved Stallone in Get Carter, for what it's worth.

Keith Parkinson R.I.P.

Keith Parkinson recently passed away due to complications related to leukemia. For those of us who have played Dungeons and Dragons for decades, Keith was one of the artists who raised the bar in the Roleplaying field, and for that matter in the Fantasy/SciFi book cover field as well. He was, like N.C. Wyeth (was in his), one of the great illustrators of the current generation.

Pictures from Selma, AL Updated

Fritz and I went to Selma, Alabama earlier this year to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. In honor of Rosa Parks death, I will post some pictures from our trip.



Pictured above is the Edmund Pettis Bridge where marchers, who supported granting full voting rights to african-americans, were halted and beaten by Alabama State Troopers and local Sheriff deputies on March 7, 1965. On March 9, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. journeyed to Selma and enacted a symbolic march to the bridge in remembrance of Bloody Sunday. Two weeks later a larger gathering would complete the march from Selma to Montgomery begun by the 600 initial marchers.


It didn't take Hurricane Katrina to get me to understand the vast poverty of the South. This Employment Center is in the heart of the "old town" area of Selma, right next to the river (just next to the Edmund Pettis Bridge)


Jimmy Lee Jackson's murder was one of the events that led to the march across Edmund Pettis Bridge. Think the South is a joyful land free of racism? See those red-stained holes? Those are from bullets.


This is a statue inside the St. James Hotel in Selma. The hotel is a pretty nice place in the heart of old town.


The exterior of the St. James Hotel.


The view across the street from the St. James Hotel.


Right after Fritz and I crossed the Edmund Pettis Bridge we saw this remnant of a strip mall. A little further down the road was a former movie theater. We asked around and eventually found out the nearest movie theater was 50 miles from Selma.


This is the Alabama River at dusk. As you can see this is beautiful country, but it is plagued with poverty.

[I have about 100 more pictures, but that should give you an idea of what Selma is like.]

Google Video Rules! Shatner Rules!

I, as you may have guessed by the title of this post, am a very big William Shatner fan. From Star Trek to Boston Legal the man has never failed to entertain me. As much as I love his TV work though, the self depricating humor he displayed in Free Enterprise permanently endeared him to me.

I don't know if you have seen Free Enterprise or not, but one of the themes of the film is that William Shatner wants to make a musical version of Julius Caesar starring only himself. Funny stuff. Anyway...now thanks to the miracle that is Google Video, I present to you William Shatner's Se7en (click on the link below). I hope to G-d this is in Free Enterprise 2: My Big Geek Wedding.


William Shatner does Se7en

A Day Late, But Still Missed Updated

On this day of Creepiness,
When rampant ghoulies run,
and kids go masked about,
Enjoying pagan fun...

Witches feast on human flesh,
While we recall a host,
(A haunt himself in living)
Recently turned ghost...

Scary movies [were] his thing,
(Theater gave '[i]m a try)
Whales of August I liked best.
My favorite was The Fly.

We do request a brief repose,
(A moment should suffice)
of silence just to say,
"So long" to Mr. Vincent Price.

Fine, Silence, and then we get the candy?!

SH!

Yow!

5-27-1911 to 10-25-1993

October 25th, 1993, Vincent Price, a horror film legend, left this mortal coil. The horror films that Vincent Price starred in were not the violent shockfests people so often imagine when they thing of the words "horror film." His films were not about gore, or quick cathartic release of tension, rather they were about fear. H.P. Lovecraft, a pioneer in American "Wierd Fiction", wrote in his essay Supernatural Horror in Literature :

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is the fear of the unknown...their admitted truth must establish for all time the geniuneness and dignity of the wierdly horrible tale as a literary form. Against it are discharged all the shafts of a materialistic sophistication which clings to frequently felt emotions and external events, and of a naively insipid idealism which deprecates the aesthetic motive and calls for a didactic literature to "uplift" the reader toward a suitable degree of smirking optimism...men with minds sensitive to hereditary impulse will always tremble at the thought of the hidden and fathomless worlds of strange life which may pulsate in the gulfs beyond the stars...

This horror of the unknown is the kind of horror that permeated the films of Vincent Price. To be sure some like the Tingler had moments of visual shock, but most of the horror in Price's films was internal to the viewed characters. The audience felt the horror not as an immediate thing which passes when the musical sting chimes, but as a lingering afterthought which remained with the viewer long after the film had been viewed.

An image from The Tingler more akin to modern horror.

Vincent Price and Roger Corman's screen adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe tales are some of the best examples of this lingering kind of fear. With modern special effects making the imagery in The Pit and the Pendulum tame, possibly completely enervated of shock value, in comparison to the slaughter a Jason Voorhees is capable of committing. It is not the violence in Pit which horrifies, it is the thought of what man is capable of doing. This is the best kind of fear, the fear that reminds us as we look into the abyss that the abyss is looking back into us. True fear is horror at the possible meaninglessness of existence and the potential cruelty of man. How horrible is the realization in Fall of the House of Usher that Roderick Usher had accidently put his living sister prematurely into the tomb? The audience who watches this film can imagine both having to dig oneself free of an early grave and the terror of realization Roderick comes to when he realizes what he has done. There but for the grace of G-d go I.

When Price first died, I worried that the "lingering fear" horror tale was dead. I "feared" that all I would be able to watch were gorefests made purely for shock value, but I should have known better. There were already hints that filmmakers knew what kind of fear was most valuable. In John Carpenter's version of the Fog, the horror wasn't that the dead had come back for revenge. It was why they came back, and that it didn't matter who they killed to get the requisite number of victims in compensation. Even a child would have sated their lust for vengeance. There were other films as well, but I would like to focus on what has come since Price died.

The Others, starring Nicole Kidman, is a wonderful example of personal realization bringing horror. Sure there are moments of suspense, but what keeps you talking about the film is the moment of realization. The same goes for Sixth Sense, but I think that the Village with its demonstration of what people will do to create a "just" society is more horrifying. Even if you guess the "twist" in the Village the lengths the Elders go through to maintain the serenity of the village is frightening. Eric Kripke's story about the Boogeyman isn't about gore, it is about how we give power to our fears. The same can be said for the numerous Japanese horror films which have come our way over the past few years. They often contain shocking images, but it is the lingering thoughts of the spitefulness of the dead which have value in the long term. The most Lovecraftian of recent horror tales was The Forgotten in which humankind were naught but play pieces for aliens in a G-dless materialistic universe. Julianne Moore, and all the other characters, were truly helpless against the antagonists and the resolution that she was "okay" isn't cathartic because the threat remains for everyone else.

Infinite Crisis Covers

Monitor Duty has posted, thanks to Newsarama, the cover to Infinite Crisis #2 and boy does it look sweet. It even includes references to the "Pre-Crisis" era. Woot!

The Newsarama site also includes the Perez covers for issues 3 and 4.

If you want to understand a little more about the whole "Infinite Earths" thing, I recommend reading the collected Multiple Earths Graphic Novels. They are Crisis on Multiple Earths Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3 and Crisis on Multiple Earths: The Team Ups Vol. 1.

The "Freedom Fighters" who played a large role in Infinite Crisis #1 are heavily featured in Vol. 3.

Gigantor's a Space Age Robot...

Cartoon network will begin airing episodes of the classic cartoon Gigantor. The show will air at 5:30 in the morning on November 1 so make sure to set your TiVo because you probably won't be awake. He's bigger than big baby!

In the meantime you can listen to the Dickies version of the title song on the Great Dictations or Dawn of the Dickies CDs.

gigantor the space age robot
he's at your command
gigantor the space age robot
his power lies in your hands
coz he's bigger than big
taller than tall
quicker than quick
stronger than strong
ready to fight for right against wrong

Must Reading for JLA Fans.

Are you a fan of the Justice League of America, but don't have time to read through 40 years of continuity?

Do you want to know more about this J'onn J'onzz guy, why he is important, and why he is Number One's wife's favorite superhero?

Then you must head over to read Alan Kistler's profile over at Monitor Duty.

Heck, even if you aren't a big JLA fan, but you have even the slightest interest in comic book history this is must reading.

Anne Rice

Hey, this story's making the rounds:

They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.

Interesting stuff, I think. Later she mentions:

But she sees a continuity with her old books, whose compulsive, conscience-stricken evildoers reflect her long spiritual unease. "I mean, I was in despair." In that afterword she calls Christ "the ultimate supernatural hero ... the ultimate immortal of them all."

Hey, you know what? After she almost dies and her husband passes on, she probably needs all the comfort she can get. Also, it seems mean to demand that she live in a permanent depression so we can have kewl vampire books.

I loved your Vamprie books, but I'm glad you're feeling better, Ann! Forget the nay-sayers.

PS, wonder if it'll be any good? I admit it sounds a bit off, but, hey, it's Anne Rice.

Marvel Comics Attempting to Convert the Middle East into Thor Worshipers!

Marvel Entertainment, will be partnering with Teshkeel Media Group to "bring Arabic-language Marvel comics, trade paperbacks and magazines to the Middle East region. The agreement was announced by Naif Al-Mutawa, CEO of Teshkeel, and Bruno Maglione, President of Marvel International."

From the Desk of J. Jonah Jameson:

This move by Marvel can only be interpreted in one of two ways. Marvel is possibly continuing their insidious plot to advance the "Mutant Agenda" in some misguided attempt to end anti-mutant sentiments in the Middle East. We all know that Marvel has long been seeking to undermine our value systems to get people to think of mutants as anything other than the threat they are. These abominations have enough power to destroy the world! Need I remind anyone of the atrocities Magneto has committed?

The other possibility, and the more likely one in my opinion, is that Marvel desires to convert the world to Thor worship. Rumor has it that "Thorsday" celebrations have already begun in the Middle East, and this reporter has received news of "rain ceremony" sacrifices being made to the Thunder God. With America as the new Rome, will this ancient religion turn the Middle East into a new version of the Gothic hordes who conquered the once great empire?

My only question is what will Apocalypse, aka En Sabah Nur, think? More to the point...what will the people of the Middle East think about Apocalypse (one of Marvel's major supervillains), or of Sabra, aka Ruth Bat-Seraph, the superpowered Israeli special agent?

Who will offend them more?

Apocalypse?

or Sabra?

Two Updates in the PSP Revolution.

Sony is manufacturing a PSP compatible DVR. Take that $2.00 Desperate Housewives download Apple dudes!

Fred Davis at Always On has some interesting things to say as well.

I know that Apple has its loyal Macult members, but this PSP thing is amazing. I don't own one, and have resisted for some time, yet everyday some new pre-existing functionality comes to light. While I am still waiting for a PSP 2 to come along, I look at the PSP as a prototype, the device looks to be taking advantage of all that really cool technology Sony has been developing over the past decade.

[Thanks to Zonereyrie for the links]

A Better Version of Infinite Countdown/Crisis/...

Thanks to Monitor Duty for this link to a Countdown parody.

Will PSP Conquer iPod?

With the PSP, Sony may have begun a move to challenge Apple dominance in the "communications future." Officially there device can already, according to the website, store digital photos on the convenient and multi-compatible Memory Stick, store music in the robust ATRAC3 compression method on Memory Stick or Mini-Disk, Transfer video on those same systems, play games (naturally), and surf the internet at any internet accessible location. But that is not all the PSP can do. Reading Quick Foo today, I found that there is a device which will let you run your PSP on your TV. I don't know if this works, but if it does this means all those PSP movies are now available for easy transport and viewing. We already know, thanks to 1up, that you can read Manga on the PSP.

Seems to me that Sony has designed a device with greater functionality than Apple, but with none of the proprietary baggage.

Now if only I can get people to return to the word "webcasting" instead of "podcasting."

What Number One Wants for Christmas...

As they have yet to offer holiday vacations at the beautiful seaside community "The Village"...

I think I want a life sized working Robby the Robot for Christmas. At 5 cents under 50 grand, it's a bargain. If it were actually 50k, I would think twice about asking, but those 5 cents sure make a difference. If you want to buy me a "hand crafted" Robby, rather than the corporate one above, you can get one here.

D&D Has History on Its Side

It always fills my heart with warmth when a new person is brought into my favorite geek hobby. Yet it has seemed in the past that the Roleplaying establishment were satisfied with their current "market share" and were unwilling to advertise outside the existing players. Earlier this month, my opinion of the industry hadn't changed when I read that November 5th was World Wide Dungeons and Dragons day, after all the event was marketing "game days" at current niche gaming stores. Who goes to these except people who are already playing.

But lo and behold! It appears that Hasbro is a major sponsor of The History Channel's upcoming documentary about the Crusades. It looks like Hasbro is waking up to marketing in order to expand the hobby. Either that or someone at the History Channel is an RPG geek. Since THC has a card game called Anachronism (it's a pretty good one at that), my guess is that the latter is more likely.

Parents Television Council Releases TV Best and Worst List

The Parents Television Council, the modern equivalent of Tipper Gore's PMRC, has released their list of Best and Worst Television shows. The list is based on assumptions similar to that of former Hearst columnist Louella Parsons and Tipper Gore. Parsons has been quoted as saying: "The child's little mind is like a beautiful rosebud; if you force it open with unnatural things you will have a warped rose." (Thanks to Cathy Seipp for the quote). Naturally, according to the PTC, modern television is filled with many unnatural things. As for Tipper, well in her natural "I know better than you way" she said in her book, "It's not easy being a parent these days. It's even tougher being a kid. Perhaps together we can help our society grow up." Isn't that nice.

You probably have guessed by now that I don't much like these "what's wrong with the world today" lists. It isn't because I like the thought of 8 year-olds jackin' cars and smackin' hoes while playing GTA: San Andreas. My ire is raised because the advocates of these kinds of lists seem to be under the impression that we once lived in some Golden Age where young minds were pure and uncorrupted by sex, violence and drugs. It is true that in 1650 young people didn't read these kinds of stories, instead they lived them. I imagine the life of a child in Magdeburg in 1630 where he gets to see his father burned alive and his mother raped by imperial troops -- all of which happens before some pederast rapes and murders him or her -- and I start thinking about how nice it is that we can spend so many resources "protecting" our children from graphic images in modern society, and it is nice. I am grateful that we live in a world so peaceful and stable, at least here in the West, that we can worry about imagined explicit acts and how much they cause real immoral acts to occur. But I also know that much of the social science research in this area is deeply flawed by preconceived notions as to whether seeing violence causes violence, even if the witnessed violence is virtual. Before I dig myself too deep, let me just say this. I believe it is the duty of every parent to actively engage in their children's upbringing and to monitor their activities. It is also central that parents communicate and transmit virtuous character to their children. I don't like preachy people who come off as holier than thou telling me what is good and what isn't.

So without further ado, their list and my thoughts.

Best Shows, according to PTC:

1) Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Okay, I have to admit that this is pretty positive programming and I watch it when I loose faith in humanity, but I cry everytime I watch this show. It is so overwhelmingly manipulative of my emotions, so I don't watch it regularly.

2) Three Wishes. Nope, I don't watch EM:HE the NBC version because it is even more gratuitous in its manipulation of my emotions.

3) American Idol. Right, these are positive role models for children...Baby Mama anyone?

4) The Ghost Whisperer. Haven't seen it, have no interest. Seems like a schmaltzy combination of Sixth Sense and Necroscope, but no make me jump moments.

5) Everybody Hates Chris. Haven't seen it, have it on TiVo because everyone seems to like it. But seriously, the PTC recommending Chris Rock?

6) Reba. Don't watch it, can't say anything pithy.

7) Bernie Mac. Like it, don't watch it much.

8) Dancing with the Stars. Now we know who watched that show.

9) 7th Heaven. Huge guilty pleasure for me.

10) None. Are you kidding me?! What about Rock Star INX (it was no more/less immoral than American Idol)? How about Wheel of Fortune or Jeopardy? Nope...nothing else kids can watch.

Worst Shows according to PTC:

1) The War at Home. This show bored the heck out of me, it was so forced that I was forced to change the channel. Okay, I think it's bad too, but that's just because I find it dull.

2) The Family Guy. Just like I don't like "preachyness," I hate forced sophistication and "edgyness." When a show is naturally edgy, or does it real well like South Park, I like it. Family Guy? Click. I think I'll watch the Simpsons.

3) American Dad. Yawn...is this a show? See comments re: Family Guy.

4) The O.C. I love this show and am certain that, just like Laura Ingraham, the PTC doesn't actually watch this show. Sure they describe the events from the episode descriptions, but do they actually watch the show. Sandy Cohen is one of the all time great fathers in television history. Sure there are drugs, sex, and scandal. But this is a show about how a family who loves one another deals with the problems around them. Your wife or mother is an alchoholic? Have an intervention and get her help! Yup...that's bad advice. Ryan drops out of school and doesn't want to apply for college? Talk to him about his problems, work through them and get him on track. Yup...that's bad advice. Tell woman, your first love in fact, who wants you to cheat on your wife with her no? Ooooh how shocking. As I said, I don't think they actually watch the show.

5) C.S.I. So criminal procedurals are a no go, but Ghost Whisperer is okay? Okaaaay. I understand the subject matter is a little "raw," but criminals are caught and punished and treated like scum. Isn't that what we want young people to learn?

6) Desperate Housewives. Don't watch it, but looks entertaining. Question to those of you who do. Do the characters who behave immorally not get punished or something?

7) Two and a Half Men. Obviously the PTC is confusing Charlie Sheen's private life with that of his character. Have you ever noticed the Charlie character, you know the playa, is often made the fool. Sure he doesn't learn from his past, but the anti-Charlie website episode was hilarious.

8) That 70's Show. Most of my comments about the O.C. apply here. Red rules. The PTC must be smoking dope.

9) Arrested Development. Too "edgy" for me.

10) Cold Case. Can't watch those procedurals. Is it because murderers are caught?

Maybe tommorrow, I will post the shows that I like. I won't post about the shows I don't like because I don't watch them.

Another Film Celebration This Weekend in LA LA Land.

When posting interesting things to do this weekend, I forgot to mention the "FILMI MELODY: SONG AND DANCE IN INDIAN CINEMA" series at UCLA.

Here is a description of the event from the Archive Calendar:

The Archive's 2005 showcase for some of the best products of Indian popular cinema has a few new wrinkles. We are now calling it Filmi (rather than Bombay) Melody, in order to suggest that the exuberant music and melodrama so closely identified with the Hindi commercial cinema produced in Bombay (Mumbai) are truly pan-Indian.

Also, this year's series celebrates the work of three of contemporary India's top stars:
Amitabh Bachchan, the industry-defining "angry young man" of the 1970s, voted the "greatest star of stage and screen" of all time in a BBC online poll and still a major leading man in his 60s;
Kamal Haasan, the chameleon superstar, arguably Indian cinema's leading method actor, who has dominated South India's Tamil-language movie industry for two decades;
and Shah Rukh Khan, a new kind of Bollywood megastar whose popularity owes an unprecedented debt to audiences in the global Indian diaspora.

This is still, of course, a celebration of melody, because the music in popular Indian films continues to be an excellent early warning system of stylistic changes on the horizon. One of the most hopeful recent developments has been the rapid growth of a sharply focused neo-classical movement among younger actors and directors. Remakes of Golden Age classics have been released or are in the works, and one of the past year's biggest hits, choreographer Farah Khan's directorial debut MAIN HOON NA (I'M HERE NOW), is a frank and affectionate homage to the sort of high-'70s masala movies parodied a generation earlier by Manmohan Desai in AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY. The changes are especially evident in the way songs are being picturized. In some of the best new Bollywood movies, such as Ashutosh Gowariker's SWADES (2004), the hero sings while sauntering along a country road like Dev Anand or slouching over a piano like the young Raj Kapoor. He no longer feels obliged in every case to do what lyricist Javed Akhtar calls "aerobics" in front of a chorus line of item queens.

As the title character of last year's crowd-pleaser MUNNA BHAI, MBBS, would likely put it: "Lose the tension, yaar. Relax and enjoy."


Curated by David Chute and Cheng-Sim Lim
Special thanks to: Ramesh Ramaswamy, Chandra Hasan—Rajkamal Films, Uma da Cunha, Isa Cucinotta—Film Society of Lincoln Center.

I was forwarded the information by event curator David Chute.

Want to Write a Supernatural Spec?

As a fan of Supernatural, and of geek genre fiction in general, I thought I would offer my advice to any struggling screenwriters who might want to write a spec for Supernatural. I don't have time to write one myself, with my trying to get young people to vote and all. While my wife might attempt one, it would be based one one of the several discussions we have had over ideas. I just want to make sure that whoever ends up writing on Supernatural continues to entertain me. See, it's a selfish reason.

[Before I continue in this vein though, I would like to direct you to Gaze Theory's post regarding Unesco allowing its members to ban US film and music, something that could have serious affect on the entertainment industry.]

Okay, now back to the advice:

First, select an Urban Myth with supernatural elements and have that be the basis of the A storyline. If you don't know any you can go to Snopes to find one to research. You can also take a non-supernatural urban myth and make it "mysterious" or take a standard horror tale and modernize it.

Second, make sure to include the trope of "secrets." Every episode has had reference to how secrets come back to haunt you. This includes the fact that the brother's are ghost hunters being a secret (see below).

Third, have a small romantic element. By small, I mean very small, and usually involving Dean because Sam has his own C story going on (see below).

Fourth, remember the "secrets and lies" comment above. Well the brothers have a great longterm conflict building due to their dishonesty. In almost every episode the brothers have claimed to be law enforcement and have been found out. In the Pilot, Dean was arrested for impersonating an officer. In Phantom Traveler they potentially p.o.'ed the Feds by posing as Homeland Security, and in Skin the doppelganger committed murders while looking like Dean. Sure the Winchester brothers killed the doppelganger, thus the case is closed, but Dean Winchester had an APB issued for his arrest for murder and he probably has a warrant from when he broke out of jail in the Pilot. They are building up with this and if you pick up on that, it will look good.

Fifth, speaking of building up...remember that C storyline with Sam I was talking about. We all know that he saw his girlfriend murdered in the Pilot, but he also saw her ghost (in daylight and dressed in white which is a possible reference to the Lady in White in the Pilot). Try to speculate what her supernatural yearning/need might be, and remember their mom was killed the same way and may be lurking around somewhere as well.

Sixth, don't try to trick the audience. The narrative should have surprises, yes, but they should be conventional genre surprises.

Seventh, remember that the brothers are the exception to your typical horror movie rule. The brothers know from moment one that they live in a horror show. They may not know if they are in the middle of a horror narrative at any given moment, but they know what is going on. Remember that Sam figured out that the doppelganger was posing as Dean very easily because he was expecting something to be wrong.

Those are my thoughts...oh, and I might be happy to read any specs you might be writing and comment back.

In an Era of Declining Subscriptions Will Clarity Make a Difference?

Clarity Media Group will be offering a FREE local paper in Baltimore sometime next year. The paper will have an initial circulation of approximately 250,000 and according to the Miami Herald, "will focus on local news in addition to offering regional, national and international stories."

The move is interesting given that, according to the Wall Street Journal (requires subscription), Baltimore's current mainstream paper The Sun had an 11% fall in circulation over the past 6 months.

Living in Los Angeles, the topic of the health of the Los Angeles Times comes frequently into conversation. You can read some of Cathy Seipp's comments on the topic here and here, but make sure you read the comments section as well.

As we well know a number of conservative pundits, like Hugh Hewitt, have been prophesy-ing the death of the printed newspaper. Conservatives are not alone in this opinion, the chaps over at Penny-Arcade are fond of saying they don't like to talk about syndicated comic strips because extinct species are boring.

Personally, I think that deep coverage of local events (unlike the Times coverage of Rod Lurie say which they covered in their business section since that is where we all look for local entertainment news), good state capital coverage, sufficient national coverage, and a price tag of FREE is what most people are looking for in a newspaper. One of the features that keeps people coming to the online versions of Newspapers is the pricetag. The pricetag is also one of the reasons I read the LA Weekly (it also has much better LA coverage than the Times). In fact, when it comes to a good local paper I am very willing to read opinions I vastly disagree with if the paper is both topical and free.

I think Clarity Media Group may be on to something, but what do I know?

World Video Standards Map

Just in case you were all wondering which country uses which video standard.

bright green - NTSC, yellow - PAL, or switching to PAL, orange - SECAM, olive - no information

Thanks to Wikipedia for the image.

Superman Returns Trailer

If you want to see what the new Superman movie will look like Right Click Here and Save As. From what this looks like, I am pretty excited. It appears that Superman has gone to Krypton and discovered that he truthfully is the last Kryptonian.

The footage looks like it has been pieced together, but it looks great.

Chewbacca Becomes American Citizen

Chewbacca shows joy at becoming American citizen.

According to Annabelle Garay of the Associated Press the large and hairy citizen of Kashyyk, who married a Texan, has decided to become a permanent citizen of the United States. Now if we can only get him to share the technical secrets of a bowcaster with us.

[Note: Garay's article erroneously credits Peter Mayhew (the actor who plays Chewbacca) with the role of the "Minotaur" in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger. The correct name of the character is Minoton. This may seem like a minor point, but as the Minoton was a Minotaur Automaton it is worth noting. Besides the movie rules.]

Interesting Events in So Cal This Weekend

IGN Live

One of the leading pop-culture/geekdom websites is hosting a convention this weekend at the Anaheim Convention center. Tickets are cheap, you get to play with an Xbox 360, it's like a mini and public E3. In addition to all the video game events there will also be a PokerStars.com tournament where winners get to play Wil Wheaton.




For all you conservatives out there LA is hosting the Liberty Film Festival.



The two most interesting events seem to be:

SCREENWRITER'S PANEL DISCUSSION
"What Stories is Hollywood Not Telling?"
This exciting panel will feature screenwriters Andrew Klavan (Clint Eastwood's True Crime), screenwriter and blogger Roger L. Simon (Woody Allen's Scenes From a Mall), Craig Titley (Scooby-Doo, Steve Martin's Cheaper By The Dozen), Paul Guay (Jim Carrey's Liar, Liar), Burt Prelutsky (Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, MASH), and Charlie Carner (Vanishing Point).

The program will feature a Q&A with the panelists

and

PANEL DISCUSSION ON THE BLACKLIST:
"Was Communism A Threat to Hollywood?"
Moderator: Film historian/journalist John Meroney
Panelists: Richard Schickel (TIME film critic, noted film historian), James Hirsen (best-selling author, Hollywood Nation), Ron Radosh (Red Star over Hollywood), Patrick Goldstein (LA Times film critic, columnist), Ed Rampell (author, Progressive Hollywood) and Jeff Britting of the Ayn Rand Institute (producer of the Oscar-nominated Ayn Rand: A Sense of Life). Authors Richard Schickel, Ron Radosh, James Hirsen, Ed Rampell and Jeff Britting will do book signings after the panel.

John Berendt discusses and signs The City of Falling Angels

According to Vroman's bookstore the details are:

Friday, October 21, 7p.m.

Located at All Saints Church, 132 N. Euclid Ave.

John Berendt, author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, moved to Venice, Italy in 1997, 3 days after the famous Fenice Opera House burned down. Finding a home among the natives, he observed extravagant characters and, “by the time the Fenice is rebuilt, [he’s] delivered an intriguing mosaic of modern life in Venice” (Publisher's Weekly).

For You Writer's Out There:

According to the LA Times:

WriteGirl Reading
Portrait of a Bookstore
4360 Tujunga Ave., Studio City



Members of the non-profit WriteGirl, which pairs women writer/mentors with female high school students, will read from the anthology "Nothing Held Back."

Oct. 22: 3 p.m. - 4 p.m.

Price: Free.

Information: 818-769-3853

This is just the tip of the iceburg. Man is it cool living in a big city.

Zypods...Or Why I am Sick to Death of My Collectible Game Addiction

According to the Wizkids Games website, they are about to come out with a new collectible miniatures game for children 8 and up.

There press release states:

ZYPODS HATCHES NEW 3D COLLECTABLE GAME!
October 7, 2005 (SEATTLE) — Get ready for fast, collectable action! WizKids Inc, creators of the runaway hit game Pirates of the Spanish Main, brings you Zypods, a 3D collectable action game! In Zypods, players combine the tops and bottoms of strange and colorful creatures to create the ultimate fighting team. Created for ages 8 and up, Zypods is easy to learn and quick to play.
“Zypods is a great way for kids to get into collectable games,” said Mike Samora, vice president of Sales and Marketing at WizKids Inc.. “There are 90 creatures to collect, giving players literally millions of combinations – and a game lasts less than thirty minutes, so kids can play it anywhere.” Lunchtime, riding in the car, and after school aren’t safe from the creatures in Zypods!

When a Zypod is damaged, it cracks and a new, smaller Zypod hatches from inside – similar to a Russian nesting doll. Eventually, the Zypod reveals a small collectable figure – the most powerful in the game!

Zypods will be available wherever trading cards are sold. It launches in a test market in the Fall of 2005.

WizKids is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination. Its Mage Knight, MechWarrior and HeroClix CMGs have sold hundreds of millions of figures worldwide. For additional information, visit www.zypodsgame.com.

When I first read the description of the game, it sounded stupid. I thought that a gaming company had finally come up with a collectible game I wouldn't have to at minimum sample. Alas, I was wrong. Take a look at these images and you will see what I think looks like an interesting game. Remember, the images are of the "strip" surrounding one of the "cubes" (the Russian Doll like miniatures).

This is a picture of the "outer layer" of one of the miniatures, though it lacks the "attribute strips."






The above are images of strips which are on the "miniatures."

This is an image of the final layer, in this case the figure for Drake.

Is Sue Storm Another Devil In a Blue Dress?

Walter Mosley, the award winning Mystery and Science Fiction novelist, worked with Marvel to come up with the idea behind there upcoming Fantastic Four coffee table book. According the ICV this will be the first time that Marvel has produced on its own. ICV also mentioned that Maximum Fantastic Four will feature the entire first issue of Fantastic Four, but with each page of book containing a single panel of art.

This page would be four pages in Maximum Fantastic Four

The book will be available at amazon, local bookstores, and my local comic shop.

I personally think this is an awesome idea. While I am firmly rooted in the comic books are for entertainment school, I am also deeply appreciative when individuals take the time to display the genuine artistry of the comic medium. Those of you familar with my comments on Cathy Seipp's blog about Aristotle's purposes of poetry "to educate and delight" will not be surprised by this. I think too many "comicerati" focus on books that challenge us and forget how important the entertainment aspect of comics is. Yes some comics should challenge us, yes some should even challenge us in unexpected ways, but sometimes kids (and I) just want to see Batman solve the crime.

For those who have interest outside the artistic appreciation of the FF, I recommend the Fantastic Four Omnibus Volume 1 HC. It is much less expensive than the original issues and can be purchased at amazon, your local bookstore, or my local comic shop.

As I noted in this previous blog post, comic books often get short shrift when it comes to respect for the artistic value of their content. By blowing up the individual panels to coffee table book sized images readers will really be able to absorb what Jack Kirby accomplished on a regular basis. In the above linked post I compared Lichtenstein's work to that of Russ Heath (good short article here and good Comic Book Artist Interview Here)and Irv Novick to put the Pop Artist into perspective. I have always been one of those who hoped that Pop Art would have elevated people's opinion of comics as a medium, but it seems to have failed in this regard and in fact created an opposite effect. That effect being that comics are abandoning their core concepts (narrative and artistic norms) in an attempt to "become" art. But I think these "artiste" comics are often less artistic than the main stream.