ShatnerVision reveals the "other side" of his interview on last week’s Henry Rollins Show, as William Shatner turns the camera around and interviews the musician/commentator after the show’s taping. In this video clip, Rollins answers the question "Who’s a Trekkie" with his typical to-the-bone sincerity and discloses the moral underpinnings of his worldview.
The Post Chronicle has an earth-shattering news story today, reporting that Christian Bale is "dreading" the filming of Batman: The Dark Knight because it’s hot in Chicago in the summer and he has to wear the rubber suit.
Bale told the paper, "I’m not really looking forward to wearing a black rubber suit in the summertime in humid Chicago. If you see a pool of sweat through the city, follow it and you will find me."
The Hollywood Reporter, via Reuters, says that Tim Story, director of the new Fantastic Four film opening this weekend, will direct The Losers for Warner Bros. The series, which debuted 37 years ago in Our Fighting Forces, was recently revived for DC’s Vertigo line by Andy Diggle and Jock.
Story said, "I told my agents I didn’t want to do another comic book. I had been in the world of fantasy and I wanted to do something very edgy, a realist action movie. I wanted to find something like a Bourne Identity or Black Hawk Down."’
You can download the first issue of the Vertigo series at http://www.dccomics.com/graphic_novels/?gn=1687
These are the most important words ever written:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
That’s the First Amendment, in its entirety. It’s elegant, isn’t it? But did you notice what word isn’t there? Look again.
The word is “except.” There’s no “except” in the First Amendment.
That’s what makes the United States of America great. It’s where we separate the wheat from the chaff. The democracies from the dictatorships. The good from the evil.
Ask around and some people will tell you that the Supreme Court ruled the First Amendment doesn’t give you the right to shout fire in a crowded theater. If the utterer is smart, that quote will be attributed to Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes. The problem is, it’s bullshit, twice-over.
Number one: in ruling on the case of Schenck v. U.S. in 1919, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” The emphasis here is mine; those critical words are usually left out of the debate. You’ve got to be lying, and you’ve got to actually cause damage. However…
Number two: Schenck v. U.S. was overturned by the Supreme Court in 1969 in the case of Brandenburg v. Ohio, which ruled that speech could only be banned when it was likely to incite imminent lawless action, such as a riot. The majority noted yelling fire outside a building to prevent people from entering is quite different from encouraging people to stampede out.
The Constitution doesn’t say “but in case somebody figures out a way to allow people to get their words heard by a whole lot of other people all at once, a federal agency is going to appoint a brilliant comedian to figure out which seven words can never, ever be uttered, no matter how inadvertently, no matter how pointedly, and no matter how necessary or how puerile they may be – and we’re going to fine the shit out of people who ever use those words.”
Last week, ComicMix’s Glenn Hauman, a First Amendment freedom fighter of the first order and with the street cred to prove it, ran a piece about how a federal appeals court ruled against the FCC in their fining broadcasters for the dissemination of inadvertent obscenity. In his article, Glenn substituted asterisks for the vowels in the dirty words. I know Glenn; that reflects his highly tuned sense of irony. Glenn’s also a very considerate guy: he doesn’t want to get you in trouble if you’re reading ComicMix at work and your boss sees the naughty stuff. I’m not quite as considerate.
It’s Glenn’s prerogative as a writer, so I didn’t fuss with his choice. The fact is, when you see “fck” you read “fuck.” When you see “sht,” you read “shit.” When somebody indulges in euphemisms, people know exactly and immediately what the bad words are. But you’re not going to get Battlestar Galactica on the air unless you say “frakkin’.” And, no doubt, pay Yosemite Sam his royalty.
It’s ridiculous. It’s hypocritical. Even if these words had any meaning or any shock value any more, there is no reason to be so judgmental. People who think ill of those who use cuss words yet drive while on their cell phone are a much bigger threat than those who are subjected to their self-righteousness.
About 20 years ago, DC Comics’ editorial honcho Dick Giordano assigned me the task of representing the company at the redraft of the much-hated (and now completely impotent) Comics Code. Yep, Dick has a fantastic sense of humor. At the meeting, one of the first things I asked for was a list of the dirty words that can’t be used. Fair is fair, I pointed out. Marvel’s rep, the much-missed Mark Gruenwald, agreed. Since we were Marvel and DC combined, we got to assign the editors from Harvey Comics and Archie Comics the task of coming up with the list. Okay, that was sophomoric, but if you knew either Mark or me, you’d get it and you probably do anyway. A week or two later, Al Harvey and Victor Gorelick came in with a great list.
They passed the list around and we debated the merits and demerits of the words, adding a few that Al and Vic missed – the very few, actually; it was an extensive list. Then we all exploded in laughter at the astonishing bullshitness of the situation. One of the editors – I won’t reveal which – said “What’s the difference? The Code censors are going to ignore all this anyway.” Which is exactly what happened. Immediately.
We censor in the name of the Children. You know, those Children who are raised in nunneries, who, if they were never exposed to television or radio or literature or people like me, would be good, pious and safe. The kids who presently live on Earth-53. We divert everything with which we are uncomfortable into the “oh, no, we’re doing it for the Children” file. That’s a lot of crap. If you raise your kids honestly with good, sound values, if you teach them right from wrong and you show them how to be strong and the ways to stand up for those values, you won’t have anything to worry about. Stop hiding behind the kids.
There’s plenty of stuff going on to worry about. Language doesn’t make the cut.
Mike Gold is editor-in-chief of ComicMix.com. Be afraid, be very afraid…
Sooner or later our ComicMix columns will be on automatic front-page accessibility. Until then, I’ll be here just about every Sunday to round ’em up for you:
And congrats to Mellifluous Mike Raub on reaching his Big ComicMix Broadcast #50 and beyond!:
Now back to my own never-ending catchup…
Poor Cynthia Rothrock. SheÂ’s the first Âgweilo (white devil)Â woman to become a major star in the golden age of the Hong Kong kung-fu film, then gets relegated to such sad junk as the China OÂ’Brien and Lady Dragon series in America. But for anybody who wants to know what the fuss was about, and those, like me, who want to see Cynthia regain her rightful place in the top echelon of action stars, the two newest Dragon Dynasty DVDs are the ones for you.
Dragon Dynasty is the new home for the many martial art movies the Weinstein Company has been hoarding for years. They’Âre finally releasing these amazing, literally unmatchable, adventures with enough worthy whistles and beguiling bells to make them worthwhile for even a pioneering kung-fu flick fan such as myself. Still, some of their decisions and missteps are indicative of the seeming disdain they previously displayed for these bogarted milestones.
Take, for example, Above the Law, RothrockÂs’ second HK film (following the classic Yes Madam, which also introduced Michelle Yeoh to an awed Chinese audience) and Dragon DynastyÂ’s ninth DVD release. What, say you, I don’Ât remember Cynthia Rothrock in that fine, first, 1988, Steven Seagal movie!? ThatÂs because Cynthia was in the 1986 like-named Hong Kong film, which was more generally known as Righting Wrongs, which would have made a much less confusing, more easily ordered, title for this new DVD.
Under any name, this combination of Death Wish and Enter the Dragon adds to its list of firsts, in that itÂs the first major action starring vehicle for the impressive Yuen Baio away from his Âbig brothers, directors, and co-stars Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung (late of CBS-TVÂs Martial Law series). But rather than showcase Baio’Âs sweet, lovable, easy-going nature, director Corey Yuen Kwai (who went on to choreograph the action in Jet LiÂs’ Kiss of the Dragon, among others) decided to make Righting Wrong a monument to paranoia, fear, brutality and some of the most savage kung-fu ever put on celluloid.
The return of Hong Kong to ChinaÂ’s rule was more than a decade away at the time, but action directors such as Corey were already reflecting their concerns with films that featured corruption as a murderous way of life. Baio plays a lawyer who moonlights as a vigilante after his beloved mentor is mown down. Rothrock is the Interpol agent sent to arrest him, while everyone around them is unleashing assassins to kill everyone they can get their hands, knives, guns, construction tools, planes, garrotes, and bombs on.
The fights Corey crams this movie with are boldly conceived, incredibly played, and well worth watching, even studying, repeatedly, which is a good thing since clips of them are shown repeatedly during the interesting ÂSpecial Feature interviews with Rothrock, Baio, and Canadian kickboxing champ Peter ÂSugarfoot Cunningham (who co-stars as one of the many killers). The packaging copy isnÂt through with you at just the confusing title, however. The good news is that the disc also features alternate scenes (although not one Rothrock mentions in her interview) and endings, which aren’Ât listed on the box. The bad news is that, while the copy maintains that the film is letterboxed widescreen, it ainÂ’t.
Which is a shame, because Dragon Dynasty‘s tenth release, and the next piece of Rothrock proof, is Shanghai Express, which is beautifully restored and letterboxed, capturing every millimeter of the astonishing stunts and scintillating fights director/star Sammo Hung piles on his international cast-of-hundreds. Like Righting Wrongs/Above the Law before it, this DVD features a pandering alternate title for a film that is better known (even on the opening credits) as The MillionairesÂ’ Express. (more…)
In a bygone age of self-defeating fair-play isolationism, comparatively few outposts of the U.S. entertainment industry saw fit to take issue with the congealing Axis powers. Timely Comics’ Captain America books tackled a larger agenda of wish-fulfillment Nazi-busting in 1941 at a time when popular sentiment and much of the mass communications media, stateside, were still holding out for an anti-inflammatory approach. Just two years earlier, the lower-berth Hollywood producers Ben Judell and Sigmund Neufeld had run afoul of their industry’s attempts to repress a film called Hitler – Beast of Berlin, starting with a Production Code Administration complaint that the very title might pose an affront. It is always an awkward choice, even in the realm of heroic fiction, between pre-emptive action and a wait-and-watch attitude.
And between this difficult patch for the Judell–Neufeld movie and the ferocious début of Captain America, the Third Reich began insinuating such self-glorifying motion pictures as Campaign in Poland and Victory in the West into American theaters with impunity if not necessarily articulate English intertitles. Said the show-biz tradepaper Variety, bucking the mollifying influence of the Production Code: “Instead of making Americans frightened of the terrible power of the Reich’s Army, [Victory in the West] inflames them.”
The Captain America stories may have been thusly inflamed, but likelier Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the talents responsible, were springing from an intuitive sense of developments more appalling than any ostentatious display of aggression. (Superman had tackled fictional-allegory aggressors and, then, squared off against Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin as early as 1940 – though far outside his own formal continuity, in an isolated gimmick story for Look magazine.)
As emphatic a stand belonged to the comics series known as Spy Smasher, from Fawcett Publications. The property’s retooling as a movie serial began taking shape in 1941 at Republic Pictures – which recently had adapted Fawcett’s Captain Marvel, with a tone markedly grimmer than that of the funnybooks – and a shooting script was completed shortly before the Japanese invasion of Pearl Harbor. It was with a newfound sense of propagandistic ferocity that the Spy Smasher serial went into production on Dec. 22. The attraction began arriving in weekly big-screen installments on April 4, 1942.
The movie version takes some savvy liberties with the source, providing the lead character – Alan Armstrong, alias Spy Smasher – with an entirely civilian twin named Jack, and thus obliging star player Kane Richmond to handle essentially three roles. A recurring villain called the Mask was literally un-masked for the screen, allowing Hans Schumm a richer opportunity for characterization.
The Big ComicMix Broadcast for the weekend is here, complete with the scoop on a Quantum Leap movie and how YOU can help get it made. We also talk with one of the best known radio voices of the past four decades – Cousin Brucie Morrow – and top it off with heaps on news on new anime projects, High School Musical 2 and even a little jaunt to Funky Nasseau!
Come on Cousin – PRESS THE BUTTON!
There are artists who skimp on backgrounds, and there are artists who put in extra stuff in the backgrounds. And then there are guys who put so much extra stuff in that you go blind looking at every little piece and you need a key to find it all.
And then there’s George Pérez.
A happy birthday to one of the most generous guys in the business, the guy who made more kids go "whoa, I wanna draw like that!" than anybody I can think of. If you feel like giving a present, why don’t you make a contribution to The Hero Initiative, where George is the co-chair of the Fund Disbursement Board?
This may come as something of a shock, but tomorrow night is the last episode of The Sopranos.
Now, I’m not the world’s most dedicated fan. I came late to the party, not tuning in regularly until the second season. I tend to be suspicious of critical darlings, afraid they might be uplifting and good for me, or depressing and bleak. However, in this case, my husband and my son were both enthusiastic, I recognized the name of creator David Chase from The Rockford Files, and so, one night, I didn’t get out of my chair when the distinctive theme song came on.
It would be nice if I could say that I was hooked on the brilliant acting, the profound scripts, even the incredibly realistic portrait of middle-class values in New Jersey. That would be a lie. I tuned in to watch Michael Imperioli, because I thought he was really cute.
Over the years, though, I got sucked in. Watching these characters week in and week out (not counting the breaks that lasted over a year) helped me to identify with them. No, I’m not part of organized crime, but I, too, tend to offer my loved ones food when they come to tell me about their problems. I’m not a hired killer, but I’ve been angry enough to want to take someone out to the woods and leave them there.
Serial fiction, like soap opera, comics and Harry Potter books, are especially good at enmeshing the audience with the cast of characters. What The Sopranos has done so well with the form is to take people who are evil, who kill and steal, and make them so mundanely human.
When I read a Superman comic every week, I feel like I’m spending time with a friend I’ve known since I was five years old. He’s in the media in a major media market, probably knows a bunch of the same people I know. Bruce Wayne has a penthouse in midtown, and is a big part of the city’s party circuit, a beat I’ve covered. The Legion of Super-Heroes is like a big dorm, and I lived in dormitories through high school and college.
So, even extremely unrealistic comic book characters present no challenge to me. I can bond with them no matter how inane nor how two-dimensional the writing. Even though they have super-powers (or at least super-human self-discipline), I can find things in common that make it possible for me to relate to them.
But Tony Soprano? He lives in (gasp!) New Jersey! He works in a strip club. Both of those things put me off, even before we get to the guns and the beatings. Carmella wears a lot of make-up, has lunch with her lady friends a lot, and seems to care about jewelry. These are not qualities common to my friends or me. How do I relate?
Columns / Glenn Hauman / News
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