The Mix : What are people talking about today?

2010 LuLu Awards to be held at LBCC, Nominations are open!

Attention all you Left Coast comic fans, with a love for the ladies! At the upcoming Long Beach Comic Con, you can attend the 2010 LuLu Awards. Brought to you by the recently reinvigorated Friends Of Lulu, the LuLu’s celebrate female creators in comics, and gives them a boost within the community in hopes to not only recognize the good work contributed by women in the field, but to also extend the readership of the comic reading community at large. Let’s face face it guys… a few extra ladies coming out to the shop on Wednesday’s would sure help us earn some cred with those snobby LARPers, right?

This year, fans can lend their voices to the LuLu’s, as they’ve made it open season for nomination. Fans can suggest their favorite XX chromosomed creator for such awards as the Kim Yale Award for Best New Talent, LuLu of the Year, Woman of Distinction, the Leah Adezio Award for Best Kid-Friendly Work, Female Comic Creator’s Hall of Fame (this year’s winner joins one of my personal favorite creators, Gail Simone!), and Best Female Character.

So, ready to vote? We knew you were! Visit the Comics Are For Everyone Blog to vote for this year’s favorites. When you’re done voting, pour yourself a cosmo, flip on a solid episode of Buffy, and visit the Long Beach Comic Con’s site so you can score yourself some tickets to see the very awards you just voted for!

The Return of King Pong!

atari-26001-3396183Remember Pong?
Remember Asteroids? Remember Atari?
Well, it’s back.

Since inventing the video game industry, Atari has changed hands and chief executives more times than a politician with Parkinson’s Disease.
They’ve got a new owner, a game industry veteran known for turning around
troubled companies, and he’s sure got his work cut out for him.

According to the ChicagoTribune, their plan is to come up with new versions of games like Missile Command and Centipede, but put them online for download or for play on social network sites. Evidently they’ve heard the whimper of baby boomers drowning in nostalgia.

They managed to bring Atari co-founder and Pong inventor Nolan Bushnell onto their board. “The company wasn’t just being mismanaged, it was being abused,” Bushnell said, without specifying exactly which of Atari’s countless owners was at fault.

The All-New yet All-Old Atari also is aggressively licensing its original logo for a slew of items, including bags, hoodies and wallpapers. Oh, yeah. They also want to do movies based on their properties and have signed development deals for Asteroids at Universal Pictures and Roller Coaster
Tycoon
at Columbia.

The new Atari should remember the immortal words of Rocket
J. Squirrel: “But that trick never works!”

The Point Radio: HACK SLASH On The Big Screen?

Visits to ComicCon and a weekly fantasy series are part of the creds that Allison Scaglotti brings to the game – but is it enough for her to portray Cassie from HACK SLASH in a big screen adaptation? A lot of people think so, and Allison updates on the latest from her internet born campaign. Plus Felica Day and more are headed to EUREKA and are you shocked to find out there will be a NEMESIS movie?

And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Comor Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday at 9pm and even the Editor-In-Chief of COMICMIX, Mike Gold, with his daily WEIRD SCENES and two full hours of insanity every Sunday (7pm ET) with WEIRD SOUNDS!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE
FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys.

 

 

Jane Badler returns to ‘V’

jane-badler-then-and-now-3311528She’s baaaaaack… hide your mice.

Jane Badler, who played Diana on the original V series is joining the cast of ABC’s present series V as a recurring guest star. Badler’s character Diana is the mother of Anna (Morena Baccarin) who is the new leader of the Vs. Badler’s role begins during the season two premiere.

Now everybody starts figuring out how this is going to link the two series in continuity…

Music You Should Be Listening To: Shael Riley & The Double Ice Backfire

While we often have features here on what webcomics you should be reading, what movies you should be looking forward to, what DVDs you should buy…there hasn’t been much here in the way of audio enjoyment.  I am to change that with a feature I’m aptly titling “Music You Should Be Listening To”.

Now, what will differentiate this music from your typical Top 40 tunes is it’s content.  See, there’s a musical scene known as “nerdcore” where artists perform songs that contain subjects such as internet memes, comic books, video games and the like.  While much of nerdcore is hiphop, there are some artists that still fall under the heading, while not quite rapping about their likes.

One such artist is Shael Riley.  A chiptune artist, singer/songwriter & guitarist from New York who came onto the nerdcore scene with the group The Grammar Club, Shael stands apart with his unique vocal skills and excellent musicianship.  Chiptune, for those that are unaware, is music made using old NES or GameBoy systems…basically 8-bit video game music.  Adding to that sound are the solid, more typcial instrumentation from his backup band The Double Ice Backfire (so named for a move in the game Mortal Kombat).

Shael’s 2009 EP “Songs From The Pit” was an exceptional slice of relatable themes, enveloped in a shell of video game references and other “nerdy” charms and character.  While originally recieving a small release on cassette, Shael is enlisting the help of his fans to professionally master the recordings, as well as new tracks, via fan donations and contributions at his Kickstarter page.  Here, different dollar denominations grant listeners unqiue singles, bonus expanded versions of the album, producer credits and more.  He’s already reached his $3,750 goal for mixing and mastering of the album, and any additional funds now (up to $4.5K) will aid in the duplication and production of the album (including the awesome 3 disc version of the album housed in a Sega Saturn game case).

Shael’s music is unique and exceptional and deserves your time.  If you’re so inclinded, your donationas as well.  The link above leads to his page at thsixtyone.com where you can check out some of the tracks from the origial verse of “Songs from the Pit”.  There’s also this cover of Radiohead’s “Creep”, which he released as a thank you for reaching the $3,000 mark.  Obviously, furthur donations will yeild even more exceptional music.

#SDCC: ‘Bones’

Fans of Fox’s only hit show about Forensic Anthropologists and FBI Special Agents got a treat at the 2010 San Diego Comic Con, with a panel to help them bone up on the show’s comings and goings. If you too are predisposed to dig shows that dig up part of human anatomy… but weren’t able to attend the show or panel, allow us here at the ‘Mix to provide you the footage of the panel, post haste!

Torchwood Season Four Begins Labor (SIGNIFICANTLY UPDATED)

barrowman-harkness-1478516Creator/producer Russell T Davies has started serious work on fourth season of Torchwood. Right now, that means doing his writing bit – and gathering the other writers for the 10-episode season. His team lacks nothing in heroic fantasy street cred.

According to the Chicago Tribune’s Maureen Ryan, joining Davies and returning Torchwood writer
John Fay will be John Shiban (Breaking Bad, Supernatural, The X-Files), Jane Espenson (Game of Thrones, Battlestar Galactica, Buffy), and friend of ComicMix
 Doris Egan (House, Smallville, Tru Calling, Dark Angel). That’s one hell of a writing staff.

Despite the presence of five writers, the season is expected to be tightly woven together, more along the lines of the third season’s Children of Earth five-parter than the first two seasons, which featured single-episode dramas.

Once Davies has fleshed out the new characters, filming will begin in North America around the first of the year. This new season is being co-produced by the BBC and by Starz, and will be run in the United States next summer on the Starz premium channels.

John Barrowman and Eve Miles will be returning as Captain Jack Harkness and Gwen Cooper, respectively. It will be set at Torchwood’s
North American operation, and Barrowman will no longer be the sole American in the cast. The Doctor is not expected to make an appearance in this series, but one should not rule out Captain Jack returning to Doctor Who in the next season or two.

No word on the return of the weevils as of yet.

UPDATE

According to Zap2It, Russell T. Davies told a press tour that “Torchwood picks up a while after the events of ‘Children of Earth,’ but still deals with Capt. Jack’s state of mind after those devastating events… A new character, CIA agent Rex Matheson (who has yet to be cast), will serve to introduce new audiences. Rex has no idea what Torchwood is and has to investigate. We also have a watch analyst at the CIA called Esther. The two become embroiled in the Torchwood legend. 

“The Welsh setting still features in a really significant way,” Davies continued. Gwen Cooper’s “story will take place in the U.S. but also very much in the U.K.” Davies also noted that Cooper’s husband and baby will be in the story, but James Marsters will not be in the next season.

He further noted that since Torchwood is on a premium cable network, it can have nudity and sex scenes but, as they always say, only if the story demands it. Right. Hello!!! We’ve seen the first three seasons of Torchwood

First Look at ‘Lost: New Man in Charge’

Walt Disney Home Entertainment sent us an extended clip from the 12-minute Lost epilogue entitled “New Man in Charge.” As detailed in the current Entertainment Weekly, the new short is a tantalizing hint at how Hurley and Ben performed as guardians on the island — and beyond.

This bonus feature will be available on both LOST: THE COMPLETE SIXTH SEASON and LOST: THE COMPLETE COLLECTION which debut on Blu-ray & DVD on August 24, 2010.

Baltimore Comicon News: Harvey Ballots to Close, Exclusive Lone Justice Cover

Attendees of this year’s Baltimore Comic Con are privy to a pair of treats like no other. First off, Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell’s pulpy masterpiece, Lone Justice, will be on sale, with a special exclusive cover and signature plate for the con. Mark, Robert, and editor Mike Gold will be on hand to lend their John Hancock’s to the fifty limited edition copies that will be on hand. Make sure you’re one of the lucky ones to get a hold of this special book!

For those of you who know Lone Justice, know it’s prequel of course, EZ Street. But did you know EZ Street was itself a Harvey nominated Graphic Novel? Speaking of the Harveys (how’s that for a segue, ma!), this years award ballots are due Saturday, August 7th. The Harvey Awards will be unveiled Saturday, August 28th, at a banquet at the Baltimore Comic Con. This is the awards fifth year, hosted this time by webcomic creator extraordinaire Scott Kurtz, who’s really pushing for an award this year.

Final ballots are available online here. The final nominees for this year include JH Williams III, Frank Quitely, Guy Davis, Robert Crumb, Mark Waid, Robert Kirkman, Geoff Johns, and more. For a complete list of the nominees, simply click the link above, to go the Harvey Awards site directly.

We’ll see you in Baltimore!

The Point Radio: SyFy Close Encounter Of The Geek Kind

In comics, team-ups are cool and on TV they are way cool. It’s a close encounter of the geek kind when ALLISON SCAGLOTTI and NEIL GREYSTONE team up for crossovers on WAREHOUSE 13 and EUREKA. They fill us on how a chance meeting at ComicCon began the process, plus Tarantino on…THE SHADOW? Well, maybe!

And be sure to stay on The Point via iTunes - ComicMix, RSS, MyPodcast.Comor Podbean!

Follow us now on and !

Don’t forget that you can now enjoy THE POINT 24 hours a Day – 7 Days a week!. Updates on all parts of pop culture, special programming by some of your favorite personalities and the biggest variety of contemporary music on the net – plus there is a great round of new programs on the air including classic radio each night at 12mid (Eastern) on RETRO RADIO COMICMIX’s Mark Wheatley hitting the FREQUENCY every Saturday at 9pm and even the Editor-In-Chief of COMICMIX, Mike Gold, with his daily WEIRD SCENES and two full hours of insanity every Sunday (7pm ET) with WEIRD SOUNDS!

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN LIVE
FOR FREE or go to GetThePointRadio for more including a connection for mobile phones including iPhone & Blackberrys.