Science fiction humor of a particular type
I’ve spent too long today looking at typefaces while trying to design the new print editions of ComicMix books, so this is either funny or painful:
A bold future, indeed. (Hat tip: Teresa.)
Category: News
Save your favorite TV shows by watching them online…?
Dave Mack has been pushing this lately, and I can’t blame him: Want To Save Your Favorite TV Show? Stop watching it on television.
The number of viewers that is reported in the press—the 24.4 million people who watch American Idol, say—is extrapolated from the readings from those Nielsen boxes. The “save our show” campaigns are ill-advised because they fail to take into account this all-important gap between the sample size and the size of the sampled audience.The alternative is to drive people where they can actually be counted—and these days that’s online. The Internet offers metrics everywhere you turn. The networks can analyze the number of streams, number of ad impressions, number of page views, number of visits, number of visitors, number of comments, etc. It’s a democratic space where the eyes and participation of fans can actually be seen by the network bosses making the decisions. Unlike with analog TV, online fans can actually speak directly to power. So whether it’s through iTunes, Hulu, or one of the networks’ proprietary streams, the smart way to campaign for a show’s renewal is to stream it after the fact.
You hear that, Sarah Connor fans? Get clicking!
Of course, no one will ask what happens if you click on the viewer, and then go to work while it plays to an empty room. Because that would be wrong.
Empire State Building goes green for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 25th
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.
The eternal struggle of Animator vs. Animation
Think of this as an animated XKCD…
Animator vs. Animation by *alanbecker on deviantART
(Not to be confused with XKCD <a href=”
live action.)
Hugh Jackman is a dirty, dirty boy…*
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…
Spider-Man meets Saturday Night Live (again)
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.
Happy 72nd birthday, George Takei!
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.
The Point – April 20th, 2009
If you’ve ever ridden on a subway and looked outside, wondering just what was out there in the darkness, now there’s an answer. It’s a new graphic novel and a true story to boot! Plus Mike Gold bashes The Beatles and we build our comic book shopping list for the week,
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Happy April 20th!
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.
JG Ballard, 1930-2009
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.
