I’m not sure what’s harder to believe: that the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles have just hit their 25th anniversary, or that the Empire State Building will be lit up green tonight to honor that fact. But there it is. So take a look tonight as they light the Turtle-Signal. Or something.
Me, I’m going to break out my stash of TMNT Pudding Pies. You can’t tell if they’ve gone bad because the insides are already green.
I’m running this image just to tick off Alan Kistler.
He asked me for input on eco-aware comics characters. I mentioned Captain Planet. His response was… charged:
HE SUCKED!
He was not a character!
He was a literal Deus Ex Machina.
These kids have powers, and there are five of them, yet despite this, they eventually get too scared and figure screw it, we’ll call up the non-entity with the green mullet who will take care of it for us.
To see the list that he finally came up with, go to MTV’s Splash Page here.
And if you’d like to see more of Captain Planet, you can see episodes here.
UPDATE: The original title of this post said SERIES FINALES. My bad– I meant SEASON and typed SERIES. That’ll teach me to write blog posts at 4 AM. (No, it probably won’t.)
The quick hit list. Ladies and gentlemen, start your TiVos:
On ABC:
May 6 – Scrubs at 8p
May 10 – Brothers & Sisters at 10p
On CBS:
May 3 and May 10 – Cold Case two-part sixth season finale at 9p
May 10 – The Amazing Race 14 at 8p; The Unit at 10p
May 11 – The Big Bang Theory at 8p
May 13 – The New Adventures of Old Christine at 8p; Gary Unmarried at 830p
May 14 – CSI at 9p
May 15 – Ghost Whisperer at 8p; Numb3rs at 10p
May 17 – Survivor: Tocantins at 8p
May 18 – How I Met Your Mother at 830p; Two and a Half Men at 9p; Rules of Engagement at 930p; CSI: Miami at 10p
May 19 – NCIS at 8p; The Mentalist at 9p; Without a Trace at 1001p
May 20 – Criminal Minds at 8p; CSI: NY at 10p
On FOX:
May 8 – Dollhouse at 901p
May 11 – House at 8p
May 12 – Fringe at 9p
May 13 – Lie To Me at 8p
May 14 – Bones at 8p; Hell’s Kitchen at 9p
May 15 – Prison Break (series finale) at 8p
May 16 – MADtv (series finale ) at 11p; Talkshow with Spike Feresten at 12a
May 17 – King of the Hill at 730p; The Simpsons at 8p; Sit Down, Shut Up at 830p; Family Guy at 9p; American Dad at 930p
May 18 – 24 at 8p
May 19 – American Idol Part 1 at 8p (followed by series preview of Glee at 9p)
May 20 – American Idol Part 2 at 8p
On NBC:
April 27 – Chuck at 8p; Heroes at 9p
May 1 – Howie Do It at 8p
May 10 – The Celebrity Apprentice at 8p
May 12 – The Biggest Loser: Couples at 8p
May 14 – Parks and Recreation at 830p; The Office at 9p; 30 Rock at 930p
May 21 – Southland at 10p
Hat tip: Cynopsis.
Think of this as an animated XKCD…
Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART
(Not to be confused with XKCD in live action.)
For those who came in late:
"Lady Sybilla" announced the publication of her very own sequel to "Twilight" entitled “Russet Noon.” She claimed that Stephenie Meyer had no copyright protection to her work (very wrongly).
Peter David, writer of stuff, in an absolute state of whimsy*, decided that simply mockery wasn’t enough, and a long, sustained campaign of mockery is what was called for. So he decided to invite people to a gang-fang called "Potato Moon".
And as Peter’s long-time stooge friend, he roped me into creating the cover for all of this, to help set the tone.
The story starts on Friday. You’ve been warned.
* Note: "Whimsy" is the auctorial equivalent of the famous last words, "Hey, everybody, watch this!"
It’s true! Look at him! That photo just says, "Guilty! Take me away, ladies!"
Sigh.
No, it’s just Hugh Jackman cementing his place in Hollywood history by putting his hand and foot prints into cement outside Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Personally, I was hoping he’d put claw marks into the cement as well, but you can’t have everything.
You’ve probably heard that Hugh will be in the film X-Men Origins: Wolverine opening May 1st, right? Okay. Go forth and see it and make this thing gross $80 million in its opening weekend.
* My wife made me write that headline. She’s been kibbitzing the entire time I’ve been writing this. "He’s going to Love Jail, isn’t he? Best. Post. EVAH."
It’s a good thing she hasn’t seen this picture, I shudder to think what she’d say…
And to think it only took another thirty-one years.
Spider-Man is having another encounter with the folks at Saturday Night Live — only this time, cast members of SNL are writing the adventures instead of appearing in it, as they did waaaay back when in Marvel Team-Up #74, back in 1978. Noted comics fans Bill Hader and Seth Meyers are writing the Spider-Man one-shot, "The Short Halloween" which will be on sale on May 13th. Rick Marshall over at MTV’s Splash Page has the details:
The single-issue story promised to take a tongue-in-cheek look at the misadventures of a costumed party-goer mistaken for the real wallcrawler and kidnapped by Spider-Man’s foes.
Along with an original story by the comics-savvy “SNL” duo, “The Short Halloween” features art by Kevin Maguire — the man who helped put the “funny” back in funnybooks during the late ’80s alongside another comedic duo, “Justice League” writers Keith Giffen and J. M. DeMatteis.
Rick also has a brief interview with editor Steve Wacker about the project.
Ohhh my.
Captain Hikaru Sulu.
Kaito Nakamura.
The Warlord Shank.
Announcer for the Howard Stern Show.
Lok Durd in Star Wars: The Clone Wars.
Activist. Asteroid. And, oh yes, comic book writer.
He’s 72 years old today. Long may he wave.
What, do I have to spell out all the references for you? Here, watch this film of the Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers and see if you figure it out.
From the BBC: Cult author JG Ballard dies at 78
The author J.G. Ballard, famed for novels such as Crash and Empire of the Sun, has died aged 78 after a long illness.
His agent Margaret Hanbury said the author had been ill "for several years" and had died on Sunday morning.
Despite being referred to as a science fiction writer, Jim Ballard said his books were instead "picturing the psychology of the future".
His most acclaimed novel was Empire of the Sun, based on his childhood in a Japanese prison camp in China.
The author of 15 novels and scores of short stories, Ballard grew up amongst the expatriate community in Shanghai.
During World War II, at the age of 12, he was interned for three years in a camp run by the Japanese.
He later moved to Britain and in the early 1960s became a full-time writer.
Ballard built up a passionate readership, particularly after Empire of The Sun, a fictionalised account of his childhood, was made into a film by Steven Spielberg.
He said of his experiences: "I have – I won’t say happy – not unpleasant memories of the camp. I remember a lot of the casual brutality and beatings-up that went on, but at the same time we children were playing a hundred and one games all the time!"
Director David Cronenberg brought Ballard’s infamous book about the sexual desires stimulated by car crashes to the screen in the film Crash.
The film caused a media stir, adding to Ballard’s reputation for courting controversy.
In later years he wrote other acclaimed novels such as Super-Cannes and Millennium People.
I don’t know about you, but I think I’m going to watch Empire of the Sun tonight and be amazed at the story, at Christian Bale, and at an extraordinary life.
Hat tip: Boing Boing.
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