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John Ostrander: A Very Fond Farewell

Jon Stewart

It was a good show.

Jon Stewart ended his run on The Daily Show last week with an hour-plus long installment. It was a good episode and a good final episode. I’ve seen a few of these things – where a long time reporter or entertainer walks away, of their own volition, from their show. I saw Jack Paar (you kiddies go ahead and Google him or look him up on the Wikipedia) leave his weekly show, walking out through a series of spotlights cast on the floor. I saw beloved newscaster Walter Cronkite sign-off for the last time, telling us, “I’ll be away on assignment, and Dan Rather will be sitting in here for the next few years. Good night.” I saw Johnny Carson, the King of Late Night Television, leave The Tonight Show with his “very heartfelt good night.”

These kind of shows can be difficult to pull off. The episode can be too much, it can be too little, it can be awkward – as parodied brilliantly by Gary Shandling on The Larry Sanders Show. I thought Letterman’s exit from The Late Show was a little flat and Stephen Colbert’s exit from The Colbert Report somewhat over the top, even for him.

Stewart’s final show was entertaining, funny, surprising in places, and human. Basically, it was a very good episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. There were the tropes you expected and wanted to see such as the former “correspondents” coming back for one last gag, usually at Stewart’s expense. I didn’t even know who some of them were, that’s how far back it went.

One of the surprising sequences was the taped appearances of some of the folks Stewart has pilloried over the years, climaxing with Sen. John McCain’s “So long, jackass.” That sounded heartfelt to me. If you’re Jon Stewart and you’ve pissed off these people (and scores more) you’ve done your job.

What was both somewhat surprising and very human was Stewart’s final take to “Camera Three” where he used to give advice to some person or group. This last time it was to us, talking about “bullshit.” Basically, he was telling us how to pick up the slack once he left. His advice boiled down to: “If you smell something, say something.” That’s what he’d been doing, and doing well, during his tenure on The Daily Show. That’s what he was urging us to do.

The show wound up with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band performing two songs live in the studio. The second was “Born To Run.” It was both a surprise and fitting – one New Jersey icon saluting another.

And then it was done.

I’m really going to miss Jon Stewart. Yes, his opinions mostly coincide with mine, although not on pizza. His denigration of Chicago-style pizza was a rare blot on his record. I know others prefer Steven Colbert or Bill Maher or John Oliver but Stewart made me laugh more, made me smile more, made me share his anger together at worthy targets. He was intelligent, witty, insightful and he wasn‘t afraid to make fun of himself as well as others. According to tributes I’ve read of him, he was generous to other talents, dedicated, and hard working.

In the end, he was tired. Why else would he leave with the 2016 elections coming up and the GOP offering up so many nice juicy easy-to-hit targets? He left while he was still on his game and I salute him for that.

I expect that, at some point, Jon Stewart will walk out on the public stage again. However, when Johnny Carson retired he said he would return in some format some day. He never did. I worry that Jon Stewart might do the same thing.

I’m sure the heir apparent to the Daily Show hot-seat, Trevor Noah, will do a fine job and I intend to tune in. He won’t replace Stewart; it’ll simply be a new show, Noah’s version of it. That’s how it should be. But he won’t be Stewart. Jon Stewart, over the years, became a friend, one who was articulate and funny and not afraid. You never have so many friends that you can afford to lose even one.

Damn, but I’m going to miss you, Jon Stewart.

 

VFK: Now Serving – SUPERGIRL

  • News
  • August 8, 2015

It’s definitely the “sweeter” side of super-heroism. In a world of Dark Knights and darker deeds, the new CBS series, SUPERGIRL, is a bright light of action and fun. VOICES FROM KRYPTON talks exclusively with the cast and creators on what we can expect when the show debuts on October 26th.

Marc Alan Fishman: Affirmatively Actionable Comic Equality

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A few friends of mine on Facebook posted an absolutely fabulous op-ed by J.A. Micheline, calling out Marvel – and declaring a personal boycott – for some recent decisions passed. It seems Blade has been handed off to a pair of white creators, Hercules is now straight as an arrow, and I assume Spider-Gwen will be replaced by a straight white male version of the character with thigh pouches or something. Upon initial reading of her thoughts, my inner-chauvinist began to itch. A deep breath, a reread, and a few bites of dinner later? I’m fully on board with her fervor.

Now, let me be clear. I myself have boycotted mainstream comics for the better part of eighteen months. I haven’t felt fiction-deprived yet. I’ve enjoyed output from Marvel and DC: Ant-Man, Avengers 2, The Flash, and Teen Titans Go have sated me just fine, sans ink and paper. My boycott though, came not because of any particular editorial mandate or creative team injunction. It came because of the continual commitment to useless event-driven editorial calendars and the retconning of great stories in lieu of quick #1 issue cash-grabs.

Thus far, I’m two for two with DC’s re-Final-Crisising-convergence, and the All-New-All-Different-All-Shuffled-Marvel’s recent releases proving me righter than right. Am I missing some great issues? Likely. But on the whole, mainstream comic collecting requires a financial commitment a father of one-plus-one-coming needn’t part with.

Reading these current malfeasances via Micheline’s article didn’t hit me as being all that surprising. If anything, they were just continual symptoms of a much larger disease. That disease is greed. Axel and company are victims of a system that presently panders to the almighty profit – what little can be made in the floppies. Changing creative teams, changing sexual orientation, changing changes that were changed for the sake of change? All done in hopes of spiking sales just a wee-bit more. But her anger is not unfounded. She’s picking away at scars that scab over yearly. As an industry why does it always feel like we’re taking two steps forward and one step back?

Blade loses its black creators. Johnny Storm is portrayed by a black actor in the upcoming flop Fantastic 4. Hercules is declared straight, and I’m sure someone in DC has recently come out of the closet. But I digress. The point that Micheline is really after is rooted in the “old boy” classicism and predictably shallow attitudes they assume when fans take umbrage over these decisions. Axel and DiDio largely act as if we’re living in the enlightened age where talent is colorless, genderless, and sexually blind. But the truth is our world isn’t there yet. And to act in that manner otherwise comes across only as being out-of-touch. Akin, say, to jamming one’s fingers in their ears and yelling loudly over the sound of people asking for a little equality.

J.A. Micheline asks for no fewer than three new gay characters in comics, as well as three new black creators to be placed on ongoing titles. She’s following Dwayne McDuffie’s “Rule of Three” – adding three members of a marginalized group into any fold will cause the perfect amount of civil unrest. It’s hard to argue with her logic. When you break the status quo, you’re going to hurt some feelings. But frankly, feelings are there to be hurt, and then repaired with time and acceptance. Make more gay characters. Hire black creators, Asian creators, Muslim creators, and everybody else. Fans who may balk at the notion… happily hand them free copies of Youngblood.

Our industry – that of the talented outcasts now coming into our own – is better than others. I say this because so much good has been made under the comics umbrella. So many emotions given clarity. So many characters shown in multiple dimensions. So many myths made modern. We are a medium that should be built on inclusion and acceptance.

What are our heroes and villains, but the id of our very outer-ness made real? Symbols of hope, of joy, of angst, of loss, and everything in between. Surely that begs for those who push the pencils of the ledgers some modicum of social justice… to balance the scales of creation to prove to the other mediums of artistry that we are the torchbearers!

Consider J.A. Micheline’s boycott as I have: not the frustrated battle cry lambasting Marvel for a lack of diversity… but as a sigil for the future of comics at large. Be blacker. Be gayer. Be prouder, Marvel.

The Point Radio: Judy Greer And Nat Faxon Still MARRIED

Fans and critics agree that the FX sitcom, MARRIED is one of the most relatable series on TV. Stars Judy Greer and Nat Faxon talk about where things are headed this second season and just what condition their character’s relationship is in. Plus Michael Carbonaro returns for a new season of THE CARBONARO EFFECT with a few new twists.

Get ready – the new TV season starts soon and we have the exclusive scoops..  Be sure and follow us on Twitter now here.

Martha Thomases: The Big Cons

women-cosplay-1513768So far this summer, it has been my privilege to only go to one comic book convention, one that was conveniently situated in my home town. I may have to go to more, because that’s what the job is, and I’m okay with that.

It’s become so much easier to be a woman at a comic convention. Sure, the lines at the bathrooms are a drag, but that’s a small price to pay for being an accepted, sometimes even welcomed part of the crowd. As I write this, I’ve read several accounts (none of which I can find now, naturally) that suggest that attendance at the major shows is at least 50 percent female.

They need us. All of them: show organizers, retailers, other exhibitors. Without us, they make so much less money.

A lot of people have done a lot of work for decades to get us to this point. We should thank them and savor their success.

And then we should try for more.

Among the women who work in comics that I’m linked to online, this article made the rounds last week. It tells how women in the tech industry, infuriated that so few women were ever asked to speak at industry conferences as anything but tokens, and what women decided to do about it. They want full parity with men on all panels at conventions and conferences.

So do we.

Quite often, convention programmers will say they don’t know any women in the industry, nor do they know how to find them. The women in the link are assembling such a list.

Women in comics are doing the same.

I realize that it will take some time for women to get equal seating on panels with men. Comic book companies are going to have to send more women. Convention organizers are going to have to invite more women. They’re going to have to think about including more women on panels of general interest, and adding women to those who star in spotlight panels.

It might not be possible, at this exact moment, to get as many women writers and artists who attract fans as men. I get that. It’s kind of circular: If women were hired more frequently, there would be more top-tier women creators. And I think that day is closer than most imagine.

However …

There have always been a lot of women working in comics. We are in the legal departments and the licensing departments and the marketing departments and the international publishing departments. We know a lot about the business of comics, and we have a lot of interesting stories to tell about the backstage part of the business.

More recently, there has been an increase in the number of women working for distributors, libraries, and opening their own stores. Again, lots and lots of good conversation.

Just because it’s going to be difficult doesn’t mean it’s not a worthy goal, meriting our time and effort. We’ve shown that women add to the fun of a convention, and add to the bottom line as well. We should use the power of our purses to push for more.

 

Star Wars Films Rereleased in Character Steelbooks

Star Wars Blu-ray SteelbooksLos Angeles, CA (August 5, 2015) – As the galaxy prepares for the next generation of Star Wars, the six epic films will each release as commemorative Blu-ray steelbooks on November 10th.  These highly collectible films will be available for a limited time only and can be pre-ordered beginning August 7th.   In addition, Star Wars: The Complete Saga will be released in newly repackaged artwork on October 13th.  The announcements were made today by The Walt Disney Studios, Lucasfilm Ltd., and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Each film from the Saga is presented with new character packaging allowing fans to choose their favorite or collect all six for a limited time. Characters include:  The Phantom Menace – Darth Maul; Attack of the Clones – Yoda; Revenge of the Sith – General Grievous; A New Hope – Darth Vader; The Empire Strikes Back – Imperial Stormtrooper; and Return of the Jedi – Emperor Palpatine.

In addition to the collectible steelbook packaging, each single disc Blu-ray includes existing audio commentary with George Lucas and the film crew as well as audio commentary from archival interviews with the cast and crew.

The newly repackaged Saga includes all six feature films on Blu-ray, along with three additional discs containing more than 40 hours of previously released extensive special features.

Voices From Krypton: Kevin Conroy On NOT Being BATMAN

  • News
  • August 6, 2015

Kevin Conroy may not being wearing a cape today but he is still crusading, this time as The Stinger on the Netflix original series, TURBO FAST. In this exclusive talk, Kevin explains to VOICES FROM KRYPTON how he was finally to do things here that he never could as Batman.

REVIEW: Insurgent

InsurgentThere’s a lot of action and running and fighting and things blowing up in Insurgent, the second installment of the films based on Veronica Roth’s Divergent book series. It has an attractive, well-pedigreed cast. It looks slick with top-notch CGI effects. It should be a major crowd pleaser.

Instead, it’s heartless and heartless, emphasizing but the characters and their emotions. The film opened this spring and did well enough and the Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD, Digital copy) is out now from Lionsgate Home Entertainment. The film itself earned $295.2 million worldwide, just enough to greenlight the by now mandatory two-part finale, Allegiant, coming March 18 an, 2016 and March 24, 2017.

The first film introduced us to yet another impossible to believe dystopia where society has been enclosed in a walled city of Chicago and people are born into one of several classes. Those who defy categorization are called “divergents” and are hunted, ostracized or both. Our protagonist, Tris (Shailene Woodley), of course is one of those but she’s even more special: she’s 100% divergent, making a sought after gem. And much of the film focuses on the hunt to obtain her so she can obtain an object conveniently unearthed from her family home. Much as Katniss Everdeen struggles against being a symbol in The Hunger Games books and movies, Tris is a reluctant hero, forced by circumstances, manipulated by both the spectre of her dead mother (Ashley Judd) and the cool Jeanine Mathews (Kate Winslet).

She’s not alone, accompanied by Four (Theo James), who is forced to admit his love for her when both endure truth serum sessions, watched by the impassive Daniel Dae Kim.

Back to complicate matters here and there are her brother Caleb (Ansel Elgort) and troublemaker Peter Hayes (Miles Teller).

Once Tris sacrifices her freedom to stop Jeanine from killing people, she confronts her worst nightmares which turn out to be herself and the sequences are visually interesting but also too reminiscent of The Matrix to be fresh enough to sustain watching. The lack of humanity given the cast makes the film flat and boring when it should be engrossing. There’s a reason this series of books was made into a film series: they sold a ton and the reason they sold a ton is because Roth made them passionate and interesting figures.

Woodley gives the best performance given the range of emotions she goes through but Teller makes his character feel the most alive of the ensemble. Watts, Kate Winslet, and Janet McTeer lend veteran talent but are given little chance to do more than emote.

Sadly, the screenplay feels cobbled and compromised which explains the trio of credited authors, Brian Duffield, Mark Bomback, and Akiva Goldsman, who should know better. There are no surprises here, and too many climactic moments occur with predictable results, so you wonder what happened? Maybe it’s the absence of director Neil Burger, who was replaced by Robert Schwentke who did a far superior job with Red. Unfortunately, he’ll be back for Allegiant, but there’s also a chance for redemption.

The digital transfer is excellent so everything is sharp, colorful, and fun to watch at home. It is paired with a Dolby Atmos soundtrack although on my soundbar it decoded as a Dolby TrueHD 7.1 track but was just fine.

For a lackluster and disappointing film, it comes chock full of extras beginning with an Audio Commentary from Producers Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher, who offer little in the way of fresh insights. Next is Insurgent Unlocked: The Ultimate Behind-the-Scenes Access (1:56:32) letting you watch separately or as a picture in picture option. Every aspect of the production is covered, including Building a Bigger World, Creating the Big Screen Experience, Exploring the Factionless, From Factionless to Candor, A New Landscape of Weapons and Stunts, Composers and Simulators, and A Fight to the Finish. Additionally, you get From Divergent to Insurgent (5:09) as cast and crew talk about how the two connect; The Others: Cast and Characters (3:40); Anatomy of a Scene: The Train Fight (4:01); The Peter Hayes Story (2:40); and Divergent: Adapting Insurgent to the Screen (4:00).

If that’s not enough there’s the Marketing Gallery that features the HBO First Look and all five theatrical trailers. Then there are animated character portraits: Shailene Woodley (00:19); Theo James (00:19); Kate Winslet (00:19); Octavia Spencer (00:19); and, Naomi Watts (1080i; 00:17).

Tweeks: Go Go Power Rangers Dino Force!

On August 29th, Saban’s Power Rangers Dino Charge returns to Nickelodeon for another season of prehistoric-era Power Rangers excitement. Basically, in Dino Charge there are these Paragon Prisms which were given to a dozen dinosaurs for safe keeping by an alien, but they were lost when asteroids hit the Earth. So, now in present day, an intergalactic bounty hunter has come to Earth to try to find them to harness the power and, of course, destroy the world. If we are unfairly profiling, let us know, but in our experience, intergalactic bounty hunters usually tend to cause more harm than good. But thankfully, a team of Power Rangers formed to find the Prisms, use their power for good, and fight threats – such as the aforementioned bounty hunter, but other badies too.

We were excited to be invited back to the Power Ranger Power Lounge at San Diego Comic Con this year, where we got to get to know the Dino Charge cast. Brennan Mejia (Tyler/Red Ranger), Yoshua Sudarso (Koda/Blue Ranger), James Davies (Chase/Black Ranger), Michael Taber (Riley/Green Ranger), Camille Hyde (Shelby/Pink Ranger), and Claire Blackwelder (Kendall Morgan) were all super nice. But even better than that we got to bond over fandoms. Yoshua Sudarso, as you will see is a totally Tweeks approved fanboy, but we were also impressed by the other Rangers pop culture enthusiasm. You’ll have to watch to see who is as excited about the Hunger Games stars as we are and who is all about Arrow & The Flash. We also find out what to expect with the new season (new rangers, new colors, new Zords).

It’s Morphin Time….Unleash the Power!

 

Emily S. Whitten: Geeks Who Drink

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At last! Someone has come up with a TV trivia show that is completely Relevant to My Interests! A.K.A. Geeks Who Drink, the new geek trivia show on Syfy, hosted by actor and Nerd Machine founder Zachary Levi.

I first heard about the show at this year’s Nerd HQ, and was immediately excited to watch it. It’s not that I don’t enjoy trivia games that make me feel stupid for not knowing, e.g., the year the War of the Roses ended, or what countries border Estonia (although I actually do know that one now, thanks to a friend who hails from that location). But I much prefer feeling stupid during a trivia competition about geek facts, because: a) I’m more likely to know at least some answers and thus feel stupid for a smaller overall percentage of the competition; and b) even when I don’t know the answers it’s fun, because this is the type of trivia I most like to learn and retain. Why? I don’t know – probably because I’m just a big ol’ geek.

I got a chance to tune in for last week’s episode of Geeks Who Drink, and learned that this trivia show is more fun than most for me since along with Zac Levi doing a stellar job as the host, and all participants enjoying the drinking aspect of the show as they try to win, the episodes feature geek guests that I’m actually familiar with; including last week’s, which featured my awesome and talented buds voice actor John DiMaggio and geek fashionista Stephanie Pressman. It’s always more fun to watch when you have people you know to root for! (Although since they were on different teams, I was kind of hard-pressed to figure out which team to go with.)

The show, which grew out of the traveling pub quiz Geeks Who Drink, is set up like most trivia competitions, with teams (in this case, teams of three). Some rounds are your typical Q&A; but other rounds include fun geektastic action challenges like, e.g., arranging six game consoles in order from oldest to newest, or using the Force (and a little help from your team) to slash through balloons with lightsabers while blindfolded. And, of course, there are also other cool geeky touches like the names of the teams (DiMaggio’s team “On a Bender” was particularly appropriate for a drinking trivia game featuring the voice of Bender) and the little themed zingers and asides Levi throws out while hosting – elements which make the show feel like the kind of thing you’d find and appreciate with your Tribe (a.k.a. geek friends) during a Comic-Con.

Those elements, and Levi’s approachable nature and easygoing quick-witted hosting style add to the appeal of the show. And the way the show has taken off on Twitter with the @GeeksWhoDrinkTV folks and many fans interacting to share their cocktails, answers, and enthusiasm before and during each episode makes watching the show if you use social media feel more like participating in a fun group activity than just sitting on your couch with your favorite booze.

Another great thing is that with a show like this, you can also take that feeling one step further (as I plan to do shortly) by hosting your own Geeks Who Drink TV night at home with friends while watching the show (house party, whut whut!). Naturally if you do this, you will have to serve appropriately geeky drinks. I’m thinking for my party, I’ll break out my Captain America, Superman, and Batman ice cube trays, and serve my ever-popular recipe for Discworldian scumble.

And fortunately for me and anyone else who can’t always be home on a Thursday night at 11:00 p.m., the show’s scheduled timeslot, or who might want to air a few old episodes before the newest one when throwing a party, you can watch episodes you missed on Syfy. I definitely recommend you give this and Geeks Who Drink in general a try – because not only did I have fun cheering at the TV when I was able to answer questions like, “Which Marvel Comics character first uttered the phrase, ‘Avengers, Assemble!’?” (“Thor! Thor!”) and what movies Samuel L. Jackson has starred in (nobody got Kingsman: The Secret Service??), but I also enjoyed squirreling away new geek knowledge; and found myself smiling, laughing, clapping, or occasionally shouting at the TV (but in a good way) throughout the whole show.

So I suggest you join me and the ranks of trivia buffs who are getting their geek on by watching Geeks Who Drink on SyFy Thursday nights; and until next time, Servo Lectio!

 

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