From THE SHIELD to D’JANGO UNCHAINED, Walton Goggins makes his mark but nowhere is it more apparent than on JUSTIFIED. Walton talks about how his character developed and what is around the corner for the rest of the season – plus VERONICA MARS gets a Kickstart to the big screen.
If you’re eager for the premiere of Mad Men next month, get in the mood with this gallery of Marvel characters from the 60s, 70s, and 80s drawn by Phil Noto. Phil really gets the magazine vibe down cold. It reminds me of the iPad app that came out for X-Men: First Class in tone and feel.
Twice a week, I teach knitting to people with cancer and caregivers. Most of you probably think of knitting as something serene, a hobby for little old ladies (current and future). However, when I teach, my instructions are filled with images of guns and shooting, stabbing people with knitting needles, and when I make a mistake, I threaten my materials with unspeakably filthy and unnatural acts.
I do this when I teach for a couple of reasons. Most important, it makes the techniques easier to remember. However, for this group in particular, it gives a sense of control. These people have so little control in their lives that it’s great to have control over knitting needles and yarn.
It’s powerful. When you’re staring the possibility of dying in the face, it’s good to have something that makes you feel powerful.
This is a long, roundabout way of getting to the intersection of a couple of trends I see in our beloved graphic story medium. As I wrote last week, the industry has a sad tendency to throw away creative talent when it is deemed to be “old.” There is also a pathetic paucity of work by women, racial minorities, and people whose identify as queer.
Things are slightly better outside of the Big Two (Marvel and DC). but not much. Not really.
This is a problem. It’s a problem in many media (especially broadcast news, but that’s another rant) but it seems to me that comics is one of the worst. It seems like a paradox, but by appealing to a cultural ideal of straight, white young men, comics may be stuck in a closet of marginalization.
We all have impulses and emotions. Many of these are not welcome by the larger society in which we not only live, but rely on for daily support. I think it’s healthy and mature to work out inappropriate feelings with the vicarious experience of entertainment.
Specifically, when we feel angry at our lives and helpless within are mortal bodies, we need power fantasies. Hence, in other mass media, we get not just superhero stories. but police procedurals, sword and sorcery, House and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
There’s other emotions that are inappropriate to express in our daily, public lives. We don’t show grief or sadness or lust. Men don’t show nurturing. These feelings are for private time, or for working out with art.
There are books and movies for these feelings. Dreary foreign films about death, silly romantic comedies with Katherine Heigl or Kate Hudson. This movie, which is one of the most bleak, self-loathing things I’ve ever seen. Sometimes, I need Carey Mulligan to hate herself so I don’t have to hate myself.
There are some brilliant graphic novels that appeal to these audiences, but they are few and far between.
There is nothing wrong with having a target audience. That’s effective marketing (note: marketing is not the same as editing, or publishing). However, if one plans to have an entertainment conglomerate and see some growth, one needs to occasionally try for other audience segments, or at least other audience moods.
In the meantime, if you see any bald-headed women making socks, watch your ass.
This week, Earth station One podcast hosts Mike Faber, Mike Gordon, and the 2013 Pulp Ark Award-Winning Best Author Bobby Nash give the spinner rack a few turns and take a look at some of our favorite non-superhero graphic novels and collected trades – no capes allowed! Joining us for some comic chat are Doctor Q (The Rachet Retrocast), Jason De La Torre (Transmissions from Atlantis), and Josh Wilson (Mad Norwegian Press). We are also joined by New Pulp Author Mark Ellis, who discusses the very superhero-ish team, the Justice Machine. But can they save him from the dreaded fate that is The Geek Seat? Tune in for the answer, plus the usual Rants, Raves, Khan Report, and Shout Outs!
Next week, the Earth Station One crew enlists. That’s right, Mike, Mike, and Bobby report for duty as part of America’s highly trained special missions force, known as G.I. Joe. ESO takes down Cobra forces while looking back at the Joes’ history from comic books, the various cartoon series, the conventions, the toys, and the upcoming live action movie starring The Rock and Bruce Willis. Plus, the ESO Khan Report goes on the road to Joelanta, Atlanta’s premier G.I. Joe convention. And if that wasn’t enough, just wait until you see who we strap into The Geek Seat this week. Plus, we’ll have the usual rants, raves, shout outs, and ESO’s Khan Report! It’s going to be another fantastic episode next week at Earth Station One. Now you know.
And knowing is half the battle.
ESO wants to hear from you. What are your favorite G.I. Joe memories from the comics, TV show, movies, or the toys that started it all? Let us know at www.esopodcast.com, Facebook, Twitter, or Google+. We just might tread yours on the show.
We started with over 300 webcomics, and we’re down to 32, while we’ve exposed thousands of people to new webcomics and raised over $750 for the Hero Initiative. Voting for this round lasts until 9PM EDT on Saturday, March 16, so get your votes in.
The Cookie Monster finished duct taping Kermit to the chair, stepped back, removed a cattle prod from somewhere within his fur and growled, “Where cookie?”
“I don’t know where your cookie is,” Kermit whined.
The Monster brandished the cattle prod. “Last chance. Where cookie?”
Then he jammed the cattle prod into the part of Kermit’s anatomy that would have sported genitals, if puppets had genitals, and pressed a stud.
Fzzzzzzzzt!
“Ow!” Kermit complained.
“One last time,” The Cookie Monster said. “Where friggin’ cookie?”
Airship 27 Productions announced that The Ruby Files Vol. 1 is now available on Kindle. The recently announced 2013 Pulp Ark Award Winner for Best New Character is now available in paperback and ebook formats to meet your pulpy two-fisted crime thriller needs.
It was the 1930s and America was locked in the grip of the Great Depression. Gangsters controlled the major cities while outlaws roamed the rural back country. It was a time of Speak Easy gin-joints, Tommy-guns, fast cars and even faster dames. This is the world of New York based Private Investigator Rick Ruby, a world he is all too familiar with. From the back alleys of Gotham to the gold laden boulevards of Hollywood, Ruby is the shamus with a nose for trouble and an insatiable appetite for justice. So if you’ve got a taste for hot lead and knuckle sandwiches, tug your cuffs, adjust your fedora and light up a Lucky, a brand new pulp detective is coming your way.
Created by pulp masters, Bobby Nash and Sean Taylor, Rick Ruby echoes the tales of Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe while offering up his own brand of two-fisted action. Joined by fellow pulp smiths Andrew Salmon and William Patrick Maynard, these modern scribes of purple prose present a quartet of tales to delight any true lover of private eye fiction.
AIRSHIP 27 PRODUCTIONS – PULP FICTION FOR A NEW GENERATION!
Universal City, California – From Academy Award®-winning director Steven Soderbergh (Traffic, Contagion) comes this suspenseful tale of intrigue starring Channing Tatum (Magic Mike, 21 Jump Street), Academy Award® nominees Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Social Network) and Jude Law (Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Anna Karenina), and Academy Award® winner Catherine Zeta-Jones (Chicago, Ocean’s Twelve).Side Effects will be available on Digital Download on May 7, 2013 as well as Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, DVD and On Demand on May 21, 2013 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
After her husband (Tatum) is released from prison for insider trading, Emily (Mara) begins suffering from terrifying anxiety and turns to psychiatrist Dr. Banks (Law) for help. But when Banks prescribes an experimental drug for her, the side effects have chilling and deadly consequences. Full of unexpected twists, Side Effects is the sexy psychological thriller that critics are calling “wildly unpredictable!” (Marlow Stern, Newsweek).
The Blu-ray™ Combo Pack allows fans to watch Side Effects anytime, anywhere on the device of their choice. It includes a Blu-ray™ disc, a DVD, a Digital Copy and UltraViolet™ for the ultimate, complete viewing experience.
• Blu-ray™ disc unleashes the power of your HDTV and is the best way to watch movies at home, featuring perfect hi-def picture and perfect hi-def sound.
• DVD offers the flexibility and convenience of playing the movie in more places, both at home and while away.
• Digital Copy provides fans with a choice of digital options to watch on devices such as iPhone®, iPad®, Android™, computers and more.
• UltraViolet™ is a revolutionary new way for fans to collect their moves and TV shows in the cloud. UltraViolet™ lets consumers instantly stream and download to tablets, smartphones, computers and TVs. Now available in both the United States and Canada.
BONUS FEATURES (BLU-RAY™ and DVD):
• ALIZA WEBSITE EXPERIENCE
• BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF SIDE EFFECTS
• ABLIXA COMMERCIAL – the fictional drug portrayed in the film
• INTENIN COMMERCIAL
CAST AND FILMMAKERS:
Cast: Jude Law, Rooney Mara, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Channing Tatum, Vinessa Shaw and Ann Dowd
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
Written by: Scott Z. Burns
Casting by: Carmen Cuba, c.s.a.
Executive Producers: James D. Stern, Michael Polaire and Douglas E. Hansen
Producers: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Gregory Jacobs and Scott Z. Burns
Co-Producers: A. Sasha Bardey and Elena de Leonardis
Director of Photography: Peter Andrews
Production Designer: Howard Cummings
Editor: Mary Ann Bernard
Costume Designer: Susan Lyall
Music by: Thomas Newman
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – BLU-RAY™ COMBO PACK:
Street Date: May 21, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Selection Number: 61123859
Running time: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes
Layers: BD-50
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Widescreen
Rating: Rated R for sexuality, nudity, violence and language
Languages/Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Sound: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
TECHNICAL INFORMATION – DVD:
Street Date: May 21, 2013
Copyright: 2013 Universal Studios. All Rights Reserved.
Selection Number: 61123858
Running time: 1 Hour, 47 Minutes
Layers: Dual Layer
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Anamorphic Widescreen
Rating: Rated R for sexuality, nudity, violence and language
Warner Home Video has provided us with a nifty infographic in advance of next week’s release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Here are the official details.
From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the first of three films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. The second film will be The Hobbit: There and Back Again.
Both films are set in Middle-earth 60 years before The Lord of the Rings, which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar®-winning The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
The adventure follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakenshield. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever…Gollum. Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
Ian McKellen returns as Gandalf the Grey, the character he played in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Martin Freeman in the central role of Bilbo Baggins. Also reprising their roles from The Lord of the Rings movies are: Cate Blanchett as Galadriel; Ian Holm as the elder Bilbo; Christopher Lee as Saruman; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; Elijah Wood as Frodo; Orlando Bloom as Legolas; and Andy Serkis as Gollum.
Extras Include
New Zealand: Home of Middle Earth
Video Blogs
Start of Production
Location Scouting
Shooting Block One
Filming in 3D
Locations Part 1
Locations Part 2
Stone St. Studios Tour
Wrap of Principal Photography
Post-production Overview
Wellington World Premiere
Theatrical Trailers
Dwarves
Letter Opener
Bilbo Contract
Gandalf Wagers
Gollum Paths
Game Trailer
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle-Earth
Guardians of Middle-Earth
Lego The Lord of the Rings
Feature Comments: UltraViolet lets you build a digital collection so you can instantly stream and download your movies to compatible devices, including computers, tablets, smartphones, game consoles and IP-connected TVs and Blu-ray players. This UltraViolet copy is a standard definition digital copy of the main feature. UltraViolet service providers may charge for continued cloud access, but no additional charge for continued access to content once downloaded. Consumer must reside in the U.S. and register for a retailer account and an UltraViolet account. Must be 18 years or older to create UltraViolet account.
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