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.)
Category: News
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,
PRESS THE BUTTON to Get The Point!
And be sure to stay on The Point via 
, RSS, MyPodcast.Com or Podbean
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.
Will Amber Benson macarena? If her next film is any indication…
We mentioned on Wednesday that Amber Benson would macarena on YouTube if enough people commented on her book at Amazon. But would she actually do it?
After seeing this trailer for her next film, which will be out on DVD on the 28th, I’m convinced she’ll do anything.
(REALLY Not Safe For Work. You’ll probably laugh hard enough that your coworkers will come over and take a look, and then the jig will be up.)
(Hat tip: John Rogers. Hey look, even more innuendo!)
Let’s Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection!
From Mark Evanier:
Earlier this month, my friends Len Wein and Chris Valada lost a pretty good sized chunk of their house and belongings in a fire. They’re moving (today, I think) into a rental home for what might be a year while their regular dwelling is rebuilt. Insurance is paying for most of the reconstruction but there are things that just plain weren’t covered. One was Len’s book collection, most notably his shelves of comic books he’s written over the years.
The loss in that category is not primarily financial. Some of Len’s comics — like the ones in which he co-created Swamp Thing or Wolverine or Human Target — go these days for hefty bucks but many do not. They’re sitting in the bargain boxes at comic shops or in collectors’ piles of duplicates. The big problem here is the time it would take to track down all the issues of everything. Len has enough other things to do, just to rearrange his life these days. So some of his friends decided to take that chore off his shoulders.
In that spirit was born The "Let’s Rebuild Len Wein’s Comic Book Collection" Project. The goal is to…well, you can probably figure out the goal. Go to that page. Read about it. See what you can send. And please spread the word.
Just a quick note: the list that’s currently up at the site is only of books that Len wrote, none that he edited. We expect there will be a modified master list shortly, even if we have to compile it ourselves.
The Freelancer’s Survival Guide
That’s it. I’m burned out. I’m frazzled. I’m toast. It’s all getting to me. I close my eyes, but the browser tabs stare at me.
What to do?
Luckily, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, autor of Star Trek, Star Wars, and Roswell novels, as well as many of her own, has started writing The Freelancer’s Survival Guide. I’m going to immerse myself in that for a while, and see what I can see when I get back.
