You are currently browsing the monthly archive for March, 2008.
This seems like the best way to celebrate post 500.
It’s worth noting that this is one of the first Rock TV’s essentially made without much of a script-mainly because it was meant to be a joke that appeared in an upcoming Rock TV. However, we took a scalpel to it and rebuilt it…better and stronger.
I am not sure what I make of this. On the one hand, DC owes a great debt to Siegel and Shuster. And it’s a crime that the creators of Superman never got more than a cup of coffee, really, for creating the most iconic super-hero ever.
So I cannot disagree with the joy expressed by Chris Butcher on such a landmark decision. As a creative person, this is definitely a “holy sh**” court decision. It’s impressive, considering DC probably had enough firepower to make a “strong” case that they should not lose any control over Superman.
What does this mean for the character? I don’t know…the last time DC lost the rights to a character name to the Siegel estate, they just killed him. I can’t imagine DC would ever kill Superman (wait…). I am assuming they will either fight this or they will work out a deal with the Siegel Estate. It is worth noting that the Estate does not appear to have sole rights in this decision, they have a share(and not the international rights). So, the real question is, is Time Warner willing to pay out to keep using the character in comics? I would be the answer is yes, and if they do not win any appeals, they will work it out with the Siegels. Because they have to.
So, uh, I have one of those CafePress shops of my own right now. Currently there are three designs. It’s a start. One is just a cartoon I posted once, the other two are influenced by one of the recurring themes when I talk about comics on this blog. Girls and comics.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome.
I mean, how do you choose?! Why, the only thing that could make this tougher is if we found out that McCain is a distant relative of Jennifer Aniston.
Wow. I have to admit I enjoyed watching Chris Wallace put the smack down on his colleagues-especially those three. I used to watch Fox and Friends before leaving the homestead in the morning. Those three are not the brightest bulbs in the Fox bunch. And they love to play the dancing games. You know…
“I am not saying Obama is a racist, I don’t think he is, but you know, I have heard from an unnamed source that he hates white people.” And these are the folks that called Ted Kennedy an Enemy Combatant. Just look at their faces, they do not like the scolding…and Steve’s defense? The “You didn’t see everything we said”? No offense, Steve, but I have seen you show, and when you guys are ripping on a Democrat, you never present “the other side”, unless it is to ridicule it. So I feel pretty safe in assuming Chris Wallace dressed you down appropriately.
You know…when I first heard the band Caedmon’s Call…I thought, “Weird name. Okay music.” I kind of lost interest when their lyrics got to into the whole Calvinism aspect of Christianity. Or maybe it was just a perception gained from reading several interviews where they brought it up. But little did I know they were going to bring about an artist that I find incredibly appealing. I am not alone in this either. 
While Derek Webb has not found sales success like he had with Caedmon’s Call, he has gained a fan base with some unlikely supporters (one of his biggest promoters was television writer Allan Heinberg, writer of the O.C., Grey’s Anatomy, Gilmore Girls among others).
Okay…not a “sketch” per se. The word part comes from a song by Undercover called Mea Culpa/Remember Me.
Apparently, it’s age is starting to show. In honor of that, I recommend playing Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ Orange Colored Sky.
Since the earliest days of movies, preachers have referenced the talkies in their sermons. Okay, maybe not. But certainly since the 70’s. While much of the religious community will complain about the modern depravity in film, when it comes down to it…they do love them their talking picture shows.
Generally speaking, most pastors see the same movies as the rest of us. Just like anyone else, they tend to take home what they brought to the movie. And since the Blockbuster first gained a foothold, there have been attempts to the pulpit to tie the latest blockbuster to the Christian faith. Nowadays there are books and teaching materials devoted to finding spiritual meaning in everything, no matter how insignificant…from the Sopranos to the Passion of the Christ.
So, I have compiled a list of five movies/series of movies that need to be given a rest from the pulpit. They are so over used they start to make the pastors using them seem kind of desperate to look hip. Most of these are still used, in spite of the fact that all of them are at least five or six years old.
Todays artist is Mark Heard. Mark was one of the earliest Christian artists who 
questioned the Christian Music Machine.
Sam Phillips talked about how she opened for him in her early Christian music days (when she performed as Leslie Phillips). A conversation with Mark suggested he saw something of real songwriting potential in her, but she was selling herself short and creating poor art. This ultimately led to Phillips changing her artistic direction.
Musical Group The Bens…
You know, I have decided that I cannot hope to succeed on skill and talent in this life. Lets face it…that is just not going to happen. Instead, I plan to re-invent myself. TOTALLY re-invent myself. How do I mean?
It’s simple. I am going to write a book that is the true story of me growing up. By true story, I mean completely fabricated. Some might even call it lying. Not me of course, I call it a lucrative business choice. I am going to write about growing up as a young black/Chinese/Cherokee/paraplegic/bisexual/abused (by parents and the system)/drug addict boy and all the trials I faced growing up in a country that did not give a damn about me. It has “powerful Oscar drama directed by George Clooney and starring Matt Damon” written all over it.
“But, Thom,” You ask,”How do you plan to pull this off? You are really white!”
See…I will be the public face. All interviews will be over the phone. Noone but me will see the “Other” me in person. When I go on Oprah, fake me will back out at the last second asking me to step into place for him and speak with Oprah. This will so totally work. I mean, it’s not like it hasn’t been successful before.
Recently, we finished a documentary that follows the making of Rock TV’s the Hills Have Mimes. As documentaries go, I think this turned out quite well. This is not one of those six minute featurettes you find on a DVD saying “This is just the most awesome movie ever!!!!” This is the kind of documentary you get with the 25th anniversary set. The cast and crew take you through every step of the process. I am not allowed at writer meetings, so it was interesting to see what they do.
Today’s will be short. 
I remember when Cush got announced. Fans went nuts. Members of the Prayer Chain and Michael Knott working together. Sounded like one of those cool super group things. Christian music “super groups” weren’t especially common. Outside of the Lost Dogs, it was pretty uncommon.
The thing about Cush though? It was not meant to be a “super group” at all. Rather it was meant to be a loose and fluid collection of artists who would come and go. This kind of sailed passed the Mike Knott fans.
As promised…another childhood comic book. 
Squirrel Squadron. What goes together like the Navy and mutant squirrels?! For no sensible reason the U.S. military creates mutant squirrels. They are about squirrel size, but have human attributes and talk. Then built them small jets, and set them on a mini-aircraft carrier that floated in a Minnesota lake. This makes no sense if you are familiar with Minnesota. Why are you going to put them on a lake that will freeze over a few months of the year and they will need to hibernate. I remember that the goofy one was named Tim, was the janitor and was a klutz. He really wants to be a pilot. Finally, the Russians (hey, the cold war was still on at the time I created this) did the same thing, only with lizards. And why Russians were keen to put their mutant lizards in Minnesota (again, defying sensible logic) is beyond me. Part of me still thinks this would be a fun idea to pursue. Maybe I ought to pitch it to Vertigo.
Oh crap. It’s only a few days after my birthday and I apparently turned the corner to old. Up until Sunday, I was jamming to my iPod, watching youthful sit-coms and looking towards the future. Today? Everything on my iPod sounds like undecipherable noise, I have a hankering to watch According to Jim and Two and a Half Men and I find myself fondly remembering how much better everything was when I was a lad.
Instead of digging the Eels, I am suddenly yearning to listen to Pat Boone. I cannot emphasize how much this caught me off guard. I thought one slowly slid into the “Kids Theses Days…” mentality. I did not expect to wake up one day no longer able to appreciate Wes Anderson movies and wishing they made movies like they did when I was a kid. I mean, where is the modern One Crazy Summer?! That was when they knew how to make a comedy.
I also found myself with the desire to vote for Mike Huckabee. Now there is a man that screams “perfect presidential candidate.” He used to be a pastor, you know. What better choice than a former pastor to hold the highest office in the land? What? He dropped out? McCain…now there is a man that just screams “perfect presidential candidate.”
Interestingly, Norbit is just as crappy a movie as it was before my birthday. Glad to see not all things changed.
Frankly, I am a bit depressed by this. I thought I had another seven or eight years before I was complaining about that loud music they play at church. I haven’t even hit forty…and here I am…the old guy. Is anybody up for a game of pinocle?
Take a look at this link for the I Am Legend HD DVD. Note who Amazon lists as “starring”. That’s rough. You appear on the cover…ALL ALONE…and you don’t make the cut for “starring”.
Really, it’s so bad in so many ways. But I keep watching IFC’s broadcast of the Witchblade Anime(NSFW). In fact, the very reasons I should hate it? Those are what draw me in like a train wreck. This series has practically every bad anime stereotype you could shake a stick at.
Lets just look at these characters…first, we have the main character Masane Amaha. Understand, the Witchblade is the weapon she has, not her name. Like the comic book, the anime basically puts forth that only one woman at a time bears the Witchblade, and the Witchblade chooses it’s bearer. Apparently all it’s bearers have large breasts, and this being anime? Masana has breasts that dwarf your average Michael Turner drawing. And the animators lovingly animate them bouncing at every opportunity. And her costume? Well, it’s armor, and like any good protective armor, it makes sure to expose massive amounts of chest, stomach, butt and thighs. And the series makes sure to have lot of closeups on the body parts. But don’t worry! The embarrassingly bad cliches do not end there. We have missing memory, she was found with her daughter six years ago when much of Tokyo was destroyed. Noone knows much beyond that. Except she has this weird hair. Seriously, what’s with the three feathers sprouting from her head?!( NSFW)
Oh yeah, then there is her daughter is an annoying and precocious type. You know, she takes care of her mom, rather than the other way around? She’s smarter than all the adults, and the series painfully reminds us of this. Then there is the government organization trying to take her daughter away from her. And the two secret organizations seeking to control the Witchblade. The carefree guy who is trying to solve the mystery. Half naked women with similar powers to the wearer of the Witchblade. And the horny old man who lives in Masane’s apartment building. And this is the tip of the iceberg kiddies. It;s just so absolutely amazingly bad on such a monumentally horrific level…I can’t turn away. I am sure their goal was not an awful comedy, but the results are the results.
Today, I speak about a singer and his various bands. With a potentially goofy name, and lyrical style that was bordering on cheesy, Mike Stand and his band the Altar Boys are this edition’s Christian Music That Does Not Suck.
Don’t get me wrong…I like Scrubs. But E!’s Daily Ten proclaimed that the show never jumped the shark. Which is not something easily proclaimed on the show. In fact, for Scrubs to be guilty of the shark, they have to be LESS outrageous. And believe me, they have been very guilty of milking stories well past their prime. It’s like, when the creators get written into a corner (say, JD talking marriage and about to become a dad), they trot out the Eliot/JD thing. It’s worse than Clark and Lana on Smallville. It’s pretty much as bad as the Ross/Rachel relationship on Friends. In fact, Friends was actually far better about not returning to the relationship too much (and they dipped into that well a lot on Friends)
The main story on E! was that ABC is hoping to take Scrubs over after season seven. And I cannot think of a worse idea. Scrubs’ weakest seasons have been six and seven. And when they had so nicely laid the Eliot/JD relationship to rest back in the fourth season or so, they resurrect it…just to “throw a wrench” into JD and Eliot’s relationships. What the hell, is Joss Whedon writing for Scrubs under a pseudonym?!*
I am just kind of in awe that anyone thinks this should not be the final season of Scrubs (gee, I actually thought the cast and creators all were saying it was the final season). The series has felt exhausted all season. They have revisited tired sitcom cliches and managed to not turn them on their head like the Scrubs crew would have done in earlier seasons. That was what made Scrubs great. Or do folks think I am crazy? Do you think this seasons seemed like the Scrubs crew was refreshed?
*For those unaware, Joss Whedon (creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel & Firefly/Serenity) has a longstanding believe that happy relationships make for bad TV. He feels they just are not that interesting. So on his shows, happy relationships failed painfully…usually via cheating, general distrust, turning evil or death.
