The Night of March 31st…
The Mix : What are people talking about today?
ALL PULP RECOMMENDS
For fans of pulp-based comics, be sure to check out BACK ISSUE! Magazine this month. Issue 47 includes the final interview with The Rocketeer’s Dave Stevens before his untimely death; a look back at Charlton’s run with The Phantom; an analysis of DC’s Phantom series; and a fond look back at the 1970s DC Justice, Inc. series!
Wonder Woman TV Costume: Wonderful or Wonder Why-Oh-Why!?
In case you’ve been at a con, under a rock, or recently kicking your 5-a-day Fabergé Egg habit… the brothers Warner and Mr. David E. Kelley have released a photo (err.. now 2 and then some, thanks to our pals at io9) of the forthcoming Wonder Woman television series costume. Part classic Wonder Woman, part updated comic book costume, part stripper costume? Well, I’m no Alan Kistler (of Newsarama’s Agent of S.T.Y.L.E., and ComicMix fame) … but let’s break it down:
⢠Starting at the top, we get new Diana-Prince-In-Waiting Adrianne Palicki’s ebony locks pushed behind a fairly classic headband.àWhile less of a tiara than the Lynda Carter era costume, we still have a nice throwback here. I’d like to note though, the Wonder Woman I think of is a natural beauty, and when I see the bright red lipstick and pink cheeks here, all I can think of is “Homer! You had it set to whore!”. If we look at the studio shot, it seems they toned it down. Thank Ares.
⢠Moving down, yes past the ample bosoms, we get to the top part of the costume. The shiny red bustier is topped by the always-classic eagle motif that Wonder Woman has sported for as long as she’s thrown a golden lasso of truth. Just as the Wonder Woman of the first series had, we have a glorified tube top. Is it the most appropriate thing to wear when fighting crime? No. Does it make dudes excited in their what-nots? you betcha. And look above? Proof that it holds up under … hrm…. stress.
⢠A little bit further down the line, we really start to separate us from the vintage look. The yellow lasso aforementioned above connects to a rather interesting looking belt. Almost a tiara-of-the-hips, if you will. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to be metal, or leather… but if it’s metal, well, Diana ain’t gonna bend down too often. And while we’re about waist high,àlets mention the classic bullet-deflecting bracelets. While longer than the Carter administration models, they do reinforce the attempt here to stay true to the character. Even if they look like a quite-plastic version of metal bracelets, perhaps purchased with a WW Halloween costume.
ALL PULP’S SITE SPOTLIGHT-CTHULHU CHICK!
This site stands out for a couple of reasons. One, it’s a great blog type site recording Chick’s interest in all things Lovecraftian, plus is a good resource for just what is out there! And you can order your own personal crocheted Cthulhu! AND she has collected all of Lovecraft’s works into an EBOOK that is ready for Kindle, Nook, and other readers!!! If you’re a Cthulhu fan or love Lovecraft, this is the Chick and the site for you!
You can find about Chick at her site, http://www.cthulhuchick.com/ Here’s a bit about the object of her affections, taken directly from her site-
Who is Cthulhu?
Cthulhu is a creature dreamed up by H.P. Lovecraft in his tale “Call of Cthulhu.” From the story:
If I say that my somewhat extravagant imagination yielded simultaneous pictures of an octopus, a dragon, and a human caricature, I shall not be unfaithful to the spirit of the thing. A pulpy, tentacled head surmounted a grotesque and scaly body with rudimentary wings; but it was the general outline of the whole which made it most shockingly frightful.
Cthulhu is High Priest to the Elder Gods, and some people also class him as an Elder God himself. He is foreign to this planet like most of the other eldritch beings of Lovecraft’s works. (Neil Gaiman explores his history in the short story I, Cthulhu (full-text)).
Because the stars are not properly aligned, Cthulhu sleeps in the sunken city of R’lyeh (Latitude 47° 9′ S, Longitude 126° 43′ W), waiting until they day they do align and he can rise again. During the spring of 1925, from March 22nd to April 2nd, “sensitive persons” dreamed deliriously of an eldritch and non-Euclidean city and of the strange words Cthulhu fhtagn. (Indeed, some more sensitive individuals had begun their dreams on March 1st, though the delirium did not begin until the night of the 22nd.) These words come from a saying of Cthulhu cultists “Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.” Roughly-translated, this means “In his house at R’lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming.” Indeed, the dreams of Cthulhu had touched the minds of humans.
It was later discovered that the stars had come into alignment and Cthulhu had risen. But fortune had not smiled on him and his cultists were unable to meet him. Instead, he was run through by an intrepid, though terrified, Swede. While Cthulhu survived and re-congealed, he was unable to wreak further madness and both he and the island-city sunk beneath the waves to await a more auspicious hour.
Had he risen, he would have brought about madness and destruction and probably opened the way for the Great Old Ones to return to Earth. One’s greatest hope for survival would have been as a willing sacrifice. At least you get deranged first.
Such is the lore from “The Call of Cthulhu.” Lovecraft’s mythos of monstrous evil beings is often termed the “Cthulhu mythos” or “Cthulhu cycle” to contrast with his “Dream cycle” stories. It includes many other such beings, some far more menacing or terrifying.
Unlike many of the other monsters, however, Cthulhu caught on in cultural consciousness, especially among geeks and gamers. The Call of Cthulhu RPG has become particularly popular as has the Cthulhu Munchkin game and the Call of Cthulhu and Cthulhu Saves the World video games.
The crocheted Cthulhus you’ll see on this site and in my Cthulhu store are extremely cute avatars of the dread Cthulhu and thus are less likely to induce madness than Cthulhu himself. Just pray that the stars don’t align and doom us all.
FERGUSON SUCKER PUNCHES ALL PULP!
THE LONG MATINEE-Movie Reviews by Derrick Ferguson
SUCKER PUNCH
2011
Warner Bros.
Directed by Zack Snyder
Produced by Deborah Snyder
Screenplay by Zack Snyder and Steve Shibuya
Based on a story by Zack Snyder
Zack Snyder has provided me with two of my favorite movie watching experiences of recent years. “300” which I fell so in love with the first time I saw it, I wanted to marry it and take it home to meet my mother. And “Watchman” which I thought was a brilliant adaptation of the graphic novel and actually improved upon it in certain areas, particularly the ending. Upon hearing that his new movie SUCKER PUNCH was based on an original story by Zack Snyder I was really pumped to see it as I could imagine what his extraordinary visual style could do when applied to characters of his own creation.
I should have listened more closely to my friend Jason who upon seeing the trailers opinioned that any movie with trailers that kick-ass couldn’t live up to the promise they were making. Know what? Jason was totally correct. SUCKER PUNCH isn’t as kick-ass as those trailers promised. But neither is it the complete and total disaster some would have you believe. At most, it’s an interesting experiment by a still young filmmaker who I think was trying to tell a story too ambitious for his still growing talents. But we’ll get back to that in a bit, okay? Right now, the obligatory story synopsis…
Baby Doll’s (Emily Browning) life is about as bad as it can get. Her mother has died, her sister killed in a tragic accident and her stepfather has had her committed to a mental asylum. The stepfather has bribed the head orderly Blue Jones (Oscar Isacc) to arraign for Baby Doll to be lobotomized. This way, he can keep control of the vast fortune left to Baby Doll by her mother and she will unable to tell anybody the true circumstances of the death of Baby Doll’s sister.
To cope with her horrific situation, Baby Doll’s mind creates an elaborate fantasy world where the asylum is now a strip club/brothel where Blue is the owner. The asylum’s chief therapist Dr. Gorski (Carla Gugino) is now the madam. Baby Doll becomes friends with the club’s top dancers; Amber (Jamie Chung) Blondie (Vaneesa Hudgens) Rocket (Jena Malone) and her older sister Sweet Pea (Abbie Cornish). Baby Doll is informed that in five days she is to be given to ‘The High Roller’ which is paralleled in the real world by The Doctor (Jon Hamm) coming to give her a lobotomy. Baby Doll plans to use those five days to escape and enlists the aid of the other dancers to do so. This involves Baby Doll creating yet another fantasy world where she and her friends, guided by The Wise Man (Scott Glenn) have to collect five objects to aid in their escape.
That sounds pretty simple and straightforward, right? Well, it isn’t. There’s an added dimension to this in that apparently Baby Doll can mesmerize everybody in a room when she dances. We never see what the dance is but when she does, she and her friends are transported to the world where they have to gather the objects. That’s at around the point you’ll probably start scratching your head. I know I did.
Let’s get the good out of the way: I liked most of the performances. Scott Glenn looks as if he’s having so much fun I was having fun watching him. Jon Hamm is only in the movie for a few minutes but he really makes the most of his brief screen time to really bring an added note of horror and pathos to the movie’s bleakest moment. And Carla Gugino is amazing as always. Why this woman doesn’t have a bigger career infuriates me to no end. Jena Malone I really liked in this one. She’s got an 80’s Meg Ryan vibe going here I found appealing. Abbie Cornish I don’t recall seeing in anything but I’m going to be looking for more from her.
The best part of the movie? Undoubtedly the absolutely incredible action sequences where Baby Doll and crew acquire the objects they need. I especially loved the World War I sequence with automatic weapons, steampunk battle armor, great big honkin’ zepplins porcupined with weapons and clockwork German soldiers. You see those sequences and you mightily wish that Zack Snyder had built a better story around them. He’s got an astounding eye for detail that is truly gifted and visually, SUCKER PUNCH is a treat.
The bad? There was one too many realities to deal with. Unlike “Inception” which was painstakingly clear about the rules concerning dream worlds, SUCKER PUNCH isn’t. I took the movie to be an homage to “The Wizard of Oz” more than anything else since it starts off with a very dull gray look to everything but once Baby Doll starts her fantasy in the brothel, the movie switches to vibrant, eye-popping color.
But once I realized that the action sequences were little more than glorified cut scenes from a videogame, I got bored. Because I knew they weren’t going to last. And what I wanted to see was a whole movie with these five fightin’ females boppin’ around these incredible worlds kicking every ass in sight. And I was frustrated because I wasn’t getting it. I did find it amusing that Baby Doll apparently has learned Jim Kelly’s trick of switching footwear in mid-fight and that kept me active looking for when she would switch from high heels to flats and back.
So should you see SUCKER PUNCH? See, that’s a tough one for me to call. Let me put it to you from both sides of my movie persona:
The cheap-ass, misery, grinchy Derrick Ferguson says: If you don’t want your time or money wasted, wait until SUCKER PUNCH drops on DVD/Blu-Ray or Netflix. I’m a Zack Snyder fan and there were parts where I was bored so if you’re not a fan, I can’t see where you’d want to see this.
On the other hand…
The artistic, compassionate, film nerd Derrick Ferguson says Zack Snyder has given us something interesting that isn’t a remake or a reboot or dragging out some moldy old franchise, slapping a new coat of paint on it and going “Ta-da!” He’s done his best to give us something original and he’s to be commended for that. He stretched himself and didn’t play it safe and I like that. I’m willing to give him a Not Guilty for SUCKER PUNCH because this is only his fifth film and he’s still growing as a filmmaker. This one got away from him because I don’t believe he’s built up enough directorial muscle to successfully pull off telling a story like this. If SUCKER PUNCH is a failure it’s an honest one motivated by creativity and a desire to communicate with a unique storytelling style.
109 minutes
Rated PG-13
IDEAS LIKE BULLETS FIRES ONE OFF AT YOU!
 |
| Designed by Ali |
Ideas end up in my gun in many styles, many calibers, let’s say. Some are fully formed, can’t wait to pull the trigger explosions of scene, pathos, action, adventure, beginning, middle, and end. Others are skeletal, the primary characters are there, the macguffin, if there is one, is there, too, and there’s a general flow of where things will go. But sometimes, not often, mind you, but sometimes there’s just one thing. A name or an object someone would desire. No bells and whistles, no grand plans unfolding in the always sold out movie theater of my mind. Just one thing.
That’s what I’m armed with today.
I tried a contest sort of thing in this column a while back and no one bit. But since it’s been a while and especially since ALL PULP’s had a major spike in hits lately, thought it might be a good time to do so again. What I have in my head is a singular scene, an opening scene. This short, pithy paragraph you will find below. The contest is thus-Add to what I have, go as long as you want, but at least a page. If you don’t write out a complete story, then make sure there’s a synopsis of where you think the idea would go. The top five will be posted on ALL PULP and then in a manner I have yet to decide on a winner will be chosen from the top five. That winner will be printed in one of Pro Se Press’s upcoming anthologies and will receive a percentage comparable to other writers in Pro Se’s anthologies. So, yes, this is a contest for a (albeit paltry, trust me) paying writing gig. All you have to do is make me love the story you tell starting off with this spark-
She walked into my office, moving like a song of forbidden jazz full of sultry horns, hellishly hot ivory licks, and a rolling drum beat with the cadence of exploding artillery every time she stepped. A melody that haunts your soul,weakens your spirit, and teases your body in ways that are illegal in most states.
“I know it’s late.” The melody out of her full, painted lips was as seductive as the accompaniment. Dusky, but softly tender. Like silk sheets on a cheap motel bed. “But your door was open.”
“Never closed.” I didn’t give her one inch, not moving from my reclined position at my desk, feet up on the corner by the half empty whiskey bottle, my battered fedora pulled down over my face, the shadow of the brim meeting the five o’clock one on my chin. Didn’t move a bit. Except for my eyes.
She was fully outfitted, not an ounce of meat and muscle where it shouldn’t be and enough there to be noticed. Over and Over. As she flowed across my floor, she seemed to shimmer and glow, caught in the ever changing kaleidoscope of the neon sign just outside my office window. First red, giving each swish of her hip a devilish hint as if she were tugging a pointed tail behind her. Then green, a soft green teasing that maybe, just maybe there was enough gentleness in that double barrel body to be nice to someone. And finally a swirl of blue, turquoise melting into hints of ebony. And that told the whole story. Or I thought it did.
“I need someone,” she cooed, leaning across my desk, one hand teasing its scarred top, “to go somewhere for me.”
Still didn’t move. “Surprised you don’t have a conga line of admirers, suitors, and gadflies behind you everywhere you go.”
“Oh, I do,” she laughed, rippling water running over dried bones, “but none of them will go as far as I want them to. I need someone to go to-” her words caught, not for effect, but for a moment, the act slipped. “To go to The Epiphany.”
That name brought the shoes off the desk and forced me to push my hat back on my head. This noirish fantasy just took a turn for the tricky and possibly terminal. “That’s living that only the dead enjoy.”
“Yes,” her effervescent red lips parted, her tongue carressing the bottom one like a snake on a limb. “And its where you really learn what androids dream of.”
There you go! send your entries to allpulp@yahoo.com!
Mix March Madness Finals: Erfworld vs. Gronk!
This is it… we’ve used the magic of bracketology to distill 64 webcomics down to the top two, as determined by your votes! And now you get to determine the winner of our first Mix March Madness Webcomics Tournament!
Erfworld vs. Gronk!
Vote now!
[poll id=”81″]
Polling closes at 6:00 PM Eastern Standard Time March 31!
Click here to see all the webcomics and their standing in the tournament!
Twitter Updates for 2011-03-30
- Marvel Faces a Mighty Foe: Publishing World Uncertainties – NYTimes http://ow.ly/4p5aY #
Lex Luthor On Plans For Justice League, Flash, Wonder Woman Movies In 2013
Lex Luthor, evil genius and president of the DC Universe, spoke today on his plans for Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, the Justice League, and of course, Superman…
…our mistake. This is actually Jeff Robinov, evil genius and president of the Warner Bros. motion picture group, which owns the DC Universe, who spoke today with the Los Angeles Times on his plans for Batman, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern, Flash, the Justice League, and of course, Superman…
The first priority for the man with the ultimate say on what films get made at Warner Bros.: Finally getting the Justice League, DC’s team featuring all its top characters, on the big screen in 2013. The picture had been very close to production in late 2007 and early 2008, but was killed by the Writers Guild of America strike, tax credit issues in Australia, and concerns by some at Warner about presenting a competing (and conflicting) version of Batman while director Christopher Nolan’s films were breaking box office records.
But Robinov said a new Justice League script is in the works. Also being written for Warner are scripts featuring the Flash and Wonder Woman, who could be spun off into their own movies after Justice League.
We apologize for the confusion. And we suddenly understand why no one is talking about having Luthor in the next Superman film.
Review: ‘Tron’ and ‘Tron: Legacy’
Someone had to go first.
As computers were getting faster and significantly more sophisticated, some producer was going to be the first to have computers handle the special effects in a movie. As it turns out, Walt Disney, which pioneered feature-length animation, took the plunge in 1982 with [[[Tron]]]. The film, starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner, was visually stunning in its day as you felt immersed in the emerging video game world. The mediocre story took a backseat to the imaginative light cycle races and glowing disc battles. Audiences were intrigued, just enough to rake in $33 million at the box office for a $17 million production so it almost made money using the math of the time.
Flashfoward 28 years and as computers have taken control over special effects in all media, the time struck many as right to go back and revisit the world of Tron. Disney moved cautiously, wanting to retain the original look and feel then enhance it. When the test footage was shown at Comic-Con International in 2009, they knew there was a potential blockbuster on their hands. The green light was flashed and production began in earnest.
Disney is once more leading the way, releasing this week a five-disc combo package that contains not only the Blu-ray debut of Tron, but the 3-D Blu-ray release of [[[Tron: Legacy]]] plus offering the movie on Blu-ray, standard DVD, and also a digital copy. Five discs offering something for everyone.
