I've been seeing this poster around town lately. That ain't MY G-Force! A bunch of hamsters? No way! This is: Mark,Tiny, Keyop, Princess and Jason. Well, the cartoon was also known as Battle of the Planets and originally as Gatchaman over in Japan. I'm pretty sure names changed even in the 2 American versions though the aforementioned names are the ones I remember.
The Scarlett Takes Manhattan Book Release Night of Depravity
July 8th, 7-9pm
On July 8th, Fugu Press will release Scarlett Takes Manhattan,
the first graphic novel by Dr. Sketchy creator Molly Crabapple and
her longtime collaborator John Leavitt. Set in the demimonde of Gilded
Age New York, Scarlett Takes Manhattan tells the story of poor
Bowery girl Shifra Helfgott, who rises to become the premier fire-eater
of her age.
Chock full of rigged boxing matches, dirty politics, and turn of the
century lesbian culture, Scarlett has been described as disgustingly wonderful by Warren Ellis and led Margaret
Cho to call Molly THE artist of our time.
To celebrate the release of Scarlett Takes Manhattan, Fugu
Press will be throwing a glittery, burlesque-inspired launch at The
Slipper Room, New York's premier variety venue.
Guess where I was tonight? Yup, I hit Molly's big book release party. A line out the door to get in and once inside, standing room only! Molly was so happy and overwhelmed. The lovely Amber Ray did the emcee duties as well as some burlesque. Amber resembles an older, sexier Miley Cyrus. (Not in a creepy way, ya perves.) During performances, Molly sat down and sold/signed her book. She sent me a pdf months ago, but I wanted a physical copy as well since it's so purty! We also chatted for a couple of minutes for my podcast, Comic News Insider. Also performing were a 2 man band (banjo, stand up bass) and other burlesquers Gal Friday and Jo Boobs. Jo is stunning and does a great fire show but I've a feeling her stage name has a shelf life. Mwhahaha. Free cupcakes and marshmallows were passed around as well.
Comics, burlesque, booze, cupcakes and music. Why weren't YOU there? Go get your copy of Scarlett Takes Manhattan now!
Reviews:Greek Street #1, Justice League: Cry For Justice #1, Marvel Divas #1
Big, long show (sorry!) with interviews galore and new music!
The awesome Michael Rooker joins us to discuss the upcoming NBC mini-series, Meteor. We also delve into Slither, Mallrats and some of his other work. Sure he plays a bad ass a lot but he's hilarious! Jimmy also chats with the cast/writer of Fight Girl Battle World. The Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company
are remounting their hit show from last season for only 6 performances.
Get your tickets now! Former guests Jon Hoche, Paco Tolson, Melissa
Paladino, Bonnie Sherman and Qui Nguyen all join in to discuss the
changes to the cast and fights. But where's Andrea Marie Smith?! News
includes The Asian American Comic-Con, Dark Horse Presents leaves
MySpace, Brian K. Vaughan leaves Lost, Top Cow's new "Pilot Season" and more!Top 3 and plugs
galore. Leave your iTunes
comments! 5 stars
and nothing but
love!
You all remember when I went to see the show Fight Girl Battle World put on by the Vampire Cowboys Theatre Company? It was last March 2008. I friggin' loved it! I even interviewed a few members of the cast for my podcast, Comic News Insider. You can read my original review here and then hear the interviews here. Well, those crazy kids of VCTC are remounting this hugely successful show. It's in the same spot they just did Soul Samurai
in, so it's a bigger space this time around. But for a limited time
only! That's right! Act now and they'll throw in an extra set of knives
for free! You know I'll be there. It's selling out fast. The question
is...will YOU be there?
I
was invited to a rehearsal earlier this week and interviewed some of
the cast again. All very excited to be putting the show back on. We'll
play those interviews in next week's episode of CNI.
Official blurb w/ links below:
This
summer, Vampire Cowboys brings back its critically-acclaimed sold-out
show, FIGHT GIRL BATTLE WORLD, for a limited run to the HERE Arts Center
Summer Sublet Festival. Star Wars: A New Hope meets Lara
Croft: Tomb Raider in this action-packed space odyssey for the
stage! Set in a futuristic universe where the human race is on the brink
of extinction, FIGHT GIRL BATTLE WORLD is the story of E-V, the last
human female in all the known galaxies, and her quest to find the last
human male before he is destroyed by alien forces. Accompanying her
is a rag-tag team composing of an ex-military General, an alien spaceship
pilot, and an overly sarcastic robot sidekick.
Vampire Cowboys' fan favorites, Jason Liebman (Men
of Steel, Living Dead in Denmark) and Bonnie Sherman
(Soul Samurai), join the NY Innovative Theatre Award-winning
acting ensemble of Elena Chang, Jon Hoche,
Kelley Rae O'Donnell, Melissa Paladino,
Andrea Marie Smith, Paco Tolson, and
Temar Underwood under the direction of Robert Ross
Parker and fight director Qui Nguyen. This is one fun sci-fi ride you're
not going to wanna miss!
ONLY 6 PERFORMANCES!!!
JULY
14th thru 18th, 2009! tues, wed, thurs, fri, & sat @ 8:30pm
plus a special late night performance on friday, july 17th @ 11pm
No offense to my French friends, of course, since they helped us win our freedom back in the day. But, Captain America can sure hold a grudge some times. I never pegged good ol' Cap as one of those "freedom fries" type of guys. You think you know someone.
Happy birthday to the bestest sister in the whole world. Finding you 9 years ago was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. I can't imagine not having you in my life now. Even though we didn't grow up together, I love you more than anything and am proud to see you living a happy, healthy, loving and successful life. Have a rocking day. You deserve it!
Reviews:Actress and the Bishop #1, Gotham Sirens #1, Dark Avengers/Uncanny X-Men: Utopia #1
More Heroes con interviews! Brian Pulido of Lady Death/Evil Ernie
fame, joins us for a very interesting discussion on his old Chaos!
comics and his upcoming foray into film. We also chat with Ken Marcus
of the gut bustingly funny Super Human Resources, and discuss the pee-inducing hilarity of it all. The boys also discuss recent celeb deaths. Jimmy saw Transformers 2 and expected giant robots fighting, explosions and Megan Fox. Tune in to see what he got! Joe finally sees The Spirit and...well, ya gotta listen. News includes Bryan Fuller leaving Heroes again, more SDCC passes, Archie has a new chief, Watchmen director's cut in theaters, Vampirella returns, Shamus buys Toronto Con and more. Top 3 and plugs
galore. Leave your iTunes
comments! 5 stars
and nothing but
love!
You remember the epic live recording of the 200th episode of my podcast, Comic News Insider, right? Back on May 30th? Of course you do! Well, if you missed it, you can see a nice little 10 minute montage right here.
For the record, I SWEAR there were more ladies present, but there seemed to be a lot of guys that made the cut on the video. Plenty of nerd girls were present. And they purty too!
Not to be remiss and forget about the great Farrah Fawcett passing as well. I wasn't as huge of a fan of hers, but man did she make me feel funny in my pants as a kid. The iconic shot in her bikini above made many of us young boys go crazy. I had the poster and I had the school notebook with it on the cover. I can't believe my moms let me buy it. I remember a fellow classmate offering to buy it off of me. I staunchly refused. Farrah was not my favorite angel from the hit TV series (Charlie's Angels...duh) that made her famous, but I still had a big ol' crush on her. (For the record, Jaclyn Smith was my girl.) Heck, I remember even getting the Charlie's Angels bubblegum trading cards. Here's to Farrah for helping me become a man or at least feel like one.
I awoke from a nap yesterday to see rampant speculation on whether Michael Jackson was alive or dead. First I saw it on Twitter and then looked it up online. It wasn't really complete but within 30 minutes, it was confirmed that he had died of cardiac arrest. The out pour of love for MJ was enormous. And the out pour of hate was there too. Both were warranted.
When I first heard the news, I immediately just thought of the music and the memories started flooding in. I was always a dancer as a kid. (Yeah, hard to believe my fat ass could move.) I found myself emulating MJ often. Some of the things I remember:
The 25th anniversary Motown show where he moonwalked for the first time on TV to everyone's amazement. Next day in school, we all tried to do it.
Almost the entire 8th grade basketball team skipped practice the day of the "world premiere" of the Thriller video on MTV at 3 p.m. Coach kicked our asses the next day.
Learning the Thriller video dance with all of my friends and doing it to the music often.
Actually thinking the Bad video made him look all tough. Still a cool video, but far from tough.
Wearing a white glove on occasion to a dance thing.
Mastering the moonwalk and the Michael Jackson spin. Much to the chagrin of my dance teacher who told me that wasn't the proper way to turn.
So many other memories of his music and life. But to be clear, it doesn't excuse his child molestation allegations. Online, people were yelling at others for praising his life when he was "a sick pedophile". In my case, I certainly do not forget or excuse those awful accusations against him. But, I can't deny he was a huge influence on my life as a young performer. I wanted to sing and dance like him. Who didn't? And if I suddenly have an urge to listen to his music in remembrance, it doesn't make me a child molester or supporter of such. (As some are suggesting.) For the record, I actually kind of believe that he did cross that line and that is absolutely horrible. In no way am I or many others saying he's suddenly a saint and all is forgiven. If they are, then they are idiots. I'm just listening to the music and reminiscing on my childhood.
My mother called to talk about it. She loved him when I was growing up as well. He crossed generations with his music. No denying that. Again, his latter crazy years and deterioration into a joke both physically and mentally are not forgotten. And just because he was abused as a kid doesn't give him the right to do so. Allegedly. Still, I can't get his music out of my head and I'm sure it will be that way for awhile. He's our generation's Elvis when it comes to musical influences. If none of those allegations would have ever happened and he never actually did anything wrong, I've a feeling the entire world would have stopped to mourn over the next few days. Alas, his dark side was there forever tainting what could have been a positive remembrance of a legendary career. I'll leave you with something from his younger days. If only that kid could have made it through and had somewhat of a normal life.