GEEK PROFILE: MATT KENNEDY

Columnist, Exploiting the Media

Found online at:
La Luz de Jesus
Billy Shire Fine Arts
Hyaena
MySpace

If you Google me, you will come across a number of people who are not me, one of whom is also a film critic!


I'll never say whether or not I'm the guy who fixed the Y2K bug (darn nondisclosure agreements!), but for what it's worth, you are all better off on a Mac...

Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

"Exploiting the Media" is a column about the entertainment business from a marketing perspective. My background includes lengthy, formative stints at Troma and Blue Underground, which led to the formation of my own boutique video labels, Panik House and CasaNegra. In 2007, I narrowed my career path to "guerilla marketing" motion pictures, home video and music product —an area where I continue to consult for a handful of well-known publicity firms, media conglomerates and Indie labels. Over the past six months, I've switched my primary focus to an art gallery directorship and limited artist management.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead, who would you pick?

The biggest influences on my work and my life are the guys that worked and frequented a tiny comic book shop in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Primarily Paul Marcure and Tom Sniegoski. They took me under their wing and helped me develop my own taste in movies, music and comic books while offering a wealth of insight into why they enjoyed their own top favorites. I credit them (or blame them, ha ha!) for giving me the building blocks that shaped the architecture of my life —much more so than the famous people I idolized in my youth that I later got to meet and work alongside, including Mel Brooks, William S. Burroughs and Lawrence Tierney. The book that changed my life is Pauline Kael's I Lost It at The Movies.

The one person with whom I would love to collaborate is Alejandro Jodorowsky.

On some level, we're all constantly collaborating with the dead, as we are responsible for all that has preceded us, creatively. In that respect, were I to choose only one dead collaborator, it would be Edgar Allen Poe.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Kiss Alive was the first record that I purchased with my own money (allowance), back in 2nd grade. Black Sabbath's self titled debut probably had the greatest influence, but Wendy Carlos' Switched on Bach is a very close second to the eponymous Ozzy, Tony, Geezer and Bill album.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

My dad knew a slew of card tricks, many of which unfortunately accompanied him to the grave. I became proficient at all sorts of card games like Cribbage and Whist, and excelled at Spades and Gin Rummy. I've been in a weekly card game of Hearts and Oh Hell for the past twenty years. I don't play poker and I hate gambling, but I love card games, which is a bit of a conundrum. I'm sure my fascination with Tarot grew from my obsession with cards and magic tricks.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

I don't feel guilty about anything that I enjoy, but I think most people are surprised and horrified to discover how much I genuinely enjoy bubblegum pop music —especially Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers. As a former SAG card holder I should be sternly against reality television, so I actually do feel a little guilty about watching Celebrity Rehab, which bears the added shame of overt sympathy solicitation.

What can I say? I really want to see Steven Adler straighten out his life and (fingers crossed) participate in a Guns N Roses reunion some day.

As far as cinema is concerned, should I be ashamed to admit that I've seen Just One of the Guys twice as many times as I've seen Citizen Kane? Maybe, but I'm not.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

This is the easiest question on the list for me: Life on the Installment Plan by Joe Coleman. My friend Billy Shire is the current owner of this incredibly important work, and I'd rather own it than the Mona Lisa. It's the single most personal painting I've ever seen, and while most people wouldn't call it pretty, it resonates with me as a profoundly honest artistic statement rendered in a unique, detailed style that helped usher illustration from lowbrow into fine art.

The first time I met Joe Coleman I bent his ear for a half hour about how deeply his art had affected me, and he was not only supremely cool about listening to me ramble, he sketched me on my Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer poster, and contributed an additional hour to our conversation by covering the topics of artistic influence, technique and the importance of seeing one's own life in perspective with the events that define our place in history.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

In Search Of... was (and is) my all-time favorite television program. If it had run twenty seasons, it would have ended too early. Leonard Nimoy's narration and the crazy, prog-rock opening theme have secured a place in my heart and memory that no other show will ever fill. I love speculation documentaries. My second favorite show was M.A.S.H., which ran it's full course, and my third is WKRP in Cincinatti, which probably ran too long, as has Degrassi: The Next Generation which should have called it quits when main characters Emma and Manny graduated.

Who is your favorite super hero?

Kid Miracleman. Kimota, biatches!

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

They would all have to be living because the stench of the dead would ruin dinner. They would also have to either speak English or have a translator present, because my Japanese is not as good as it could be, my Spanish is seemingly not delivered as well as humanly possible, and the rest of my foreign-tongue vocabulary is just clear enough to get me into a fist fight. Third condition: no vegetarians. I eat meat, y'all, and it's my damn dinner party so suck it up and feast!

Guest list: Alejandro Jodorwosky, Philip Glass, Kahimi Karie, Gore Vidal, and Paul Krugman.

I would request that chef Andrew Sutton prepare a six course dinner with wine pairings, observing my shellfish allergy in the process. His prime rib of pork is among the greatest dishes I've ever eaten, and it would be a sin to not share it with guests of this quality.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Jesus Christ leaps to mind, but I guess I prefer Osirus. Really, any sun-cult god will do. There's no proof any of them have actually lived, and they all have the same basic attributes. I guess I feel like I've been cricified once or twice, and may as well get some worshippers for all the trouble!

For non-deities, I identify a bit with John Wheelwright from John Irving's A Prayer For Owen Meany (except for all that celibacy) and J.D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, who is a cursory representative of any young man born before 1980.

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

The Exorcist, Schindler's List, Revolver, Holy Mountain and The Fountain

Please consider that there are easily a dozen more...

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

I often recommend David Conway's Magic: An Occult Primer to people with an interest in metaphysics. The author I recommend most to horror fans is Thomas Ligotti, who is the heir apparent to the throne of H.P.Lovecraft. A greatly overlooked novel from a household name of fantasy fiction is The Black Corridor by Michael Moorcock.

My favorite author is Philip K. Dick.

What are your favorite web sites?

ComicArtFans, DailyDujour, InfoWars.com, NetFlix and ChristopherUlrich.com.

I also recommend AbeBooks, Allmusic and IMDB to everyone.

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

District Nine and (hopefully) King Shot. D9 looks amazing, and I've been hearing more than the usual chatter about the rumored, upcoming sequel to El Topo. That would be incredible.

GEEK PROFILE: JEREMY DRYSDALE

Columnist, Squawk Box

Found online at:

Facebook







Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

My column is called ‘Squawk Box’ and is supposed to be about the process of writing for film and television, but often isn’t. Sometimes it isn’t about anything at all, which I pretend is post-modern irony but is actually because I don’t know what to write.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead, who would you pick?

The people that invented Final Draft and a producer with money and no interest in interfering with my interpretation of creative alchemy.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Fun House by the Stooges.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

I had a plastic sword in a plastic scabbard which I liked a lot. (I eventually broke it over Colin Worsfield’s head and he never spoke to me again. It was worth it, though.)

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure? (What movie, tv show, band, etc. do you love that you know is awful, but you love it anyway?)

I only really like the awful ones.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

The Mona Lisa, so I could sell it and buy many sweets and the biggest pineapple in the store.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Surely the ones you like all end too soon?

Who is your favourite super hero?

I am not that much of a geek. Superheroes and comics are not my thing. *Shudders*

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

William Goldman, Steven Spielberg, Iggy Pop, Frank Black and Bono.

I would serve everyone lots of food except Bono, who would be told that his had gone to the poor in Africa. Then I would throw him out because he’s actually quite annoying.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

John McClane.

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Se7en, The Godfather, the Godfather 2, Cabaret, Pulp Fiction

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

Read the script of SE7EN, by Andrew Kevin Walker instead.

What are your favourite web sites?

imdb, PoliticsHome, Political Betting, Red Tube, Pop Bitch Board

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

Just internet porn, as usual. And football (English, not American.)

GEEK PROFILE: RYAN JACKSON

Columnist, Welcome to the Thunderhouse

Found online at:
email








Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

My column focuses on my latest pop-culture obsession, usually something comic book or toy related. I am continuing work on some short fiction (crime genre stuff) and a series of novels for young adults, titled "Spaceman 5"

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead who would you pick?

Jack Kirby, Frank Miller, Grant Morrison, Donald Westlake, Jim Thompson and Ayn Rand are all big influences, plus countless filmmakers and bands.

Dead Collaborator: Jim Thompson; Live Collaborator: Dave Gibbons

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

The Minutemen's Double Nickels on the Dime or Husker Du's Zen Arcade - total tie.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

Star Wars figures and ships, Mego Worlds Greatest Super-Heroes and Coleco Vision videogames

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

I still love grunge music and Pearl Jam; I watch way too many Disney shows/movies with my kids and don't HATE all of it.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

Something from Miller's The Dark Knight Returns - it was the comic that made me comic book junkie for life. I just got the Absolute edition of Miller's Ronin, so that will have to do for now, but someday . . . .

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Currently: Life; Historically: Brimstone or Millennium

Who is your favorite super hero?

Batman, followed by Green Arrow, Kamandi, Deadman, and Plastic Man

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

Ayn Rand, Sam Peckinpah, David Halberstam, Ernest Hemingway, and Oliver Stone; classic American BBQ

What fictional character do you identify most with?

I wish it were Parker from the Richard Stark novels, but its probably someone like Kevin Spacey's character from American Beauty (just not quite that frustrated with suburban life and family!)

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Jaws, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Empire Strikes Back, Heat

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

Anything by Jim Thompson and Pattern Recognition by William Gibson; Comic: Like a Velvet Glove Cast in Iron by Dan Clowes

What are your favorite web sites?

Forces of Geek! WWTDD; gizmodo; wired; Comic Book Resources

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

The Road, The Box and DC Comics' Blackest Night

Favs and Vaughn Get Funny in COUPLES RETREAT Trailer

Behold...ROBOGEISHA!

From Twitch Film:

RoboGeisha is the latest collaboration between Iguchi and special effects man Yoshihiro Nishimura - himself the director of Tokyo Gore Police - and it bears all of the now-classic hallmarks of the duo: outrageous special effects, grotesquely hilarious gore and weapons where weapons just should not go. Machine Girl had the mechanized arm. Iguchi’s earlier Sukeban Boy had leg and breast cannons. Nishimura’s Tokyo Gore Police has the infamous penis cannon. RoboGeisha? This one boasts what the trailer graciously describes as hip-katanas, though the swords are actually placed considerably lower and more to the rear. Yes, Iguchi’s latest has ass-swords and women who aren’t afraid to use them. And that’s not even mentioning the giant robot-building, the transforming geisha-tank or the fried shrimp rammed into eye sockets.

GEEK PROFILE: MATT BERGIN

Columnist, Pop on Pop

Found online at:

Facebook
Twitter
Division 18
Comic Blog Elite
DC Conspiracy



Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

"Pop on Pop" is a pop culture junky's chronicle of raising his own daughter to be the best geek that she can be, with occasional bytes of insight or warning (more "Mr. Spock" than "Dr. Spock") for other would-be geek parents.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work, and If you could pick one person to collaborate with dead or alive who would you pick?

My influences in the geek arts are in constant flux, much like my fanboy tastes, but off the top of my head, and in no particular order, I'd blame Jim Henson, Stan Lee, Vince McMahon, Quentin Tarrantino, Charles Bukowski, Shel Silverstein, Jack Kirby, George Carlin, Carol Burnett, Sarah Silverman, Jack Tripper, The Professor, Mike Allred, Serio Aragones, Alex Ross, Grant Morrison, Mike Mignola, Ben Edlund, David Mamet, Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Robert Kirkman, Geoff Johns, Eric Powell, Uncle Ben, David Sedaris, Joss Whedon, Damon Lindeloff, Art Balthazar, Mel Brooks, Max Brooks, George Romero, George Lucas, Kevin Smith, Stephen King, Harrison Ford as all my childhood heroes, Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka, my mom--for always telling me I'm the best, even when it's a lie, and my daughter--who will judge me for all of this someday, so it has to be good! As for collaborating...any of the above.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Faith No More, "The Real Thing" -- It was the first album (cassette, actually) that I bought on my own time and with my own money, so it played a big part in helping me establish my own identity. The fact that it still holds up and gets regular rotation on my iPod to this day must prove that I've always had great taste, right?

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

I was all about action figures. I had G.I. Joe Headquarters, Castle Grayskull, Thundercat's Lair, the Ewok Village, the Hall of Justice, the WWF wrestling ring, Doctor Doom's Tower, and plenty more--plus all of the figures to go with those sets.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

While I am happy to admit to anyone that I hit the comic shop like clockwork every Wednesday, I usually lower my voice when admitting I still like wrestling, too. I also get funny looks when I profess my love for the second best killer shark movie of all time, Deep Blue Sea.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

I'm not really a collector of this sort of thing...but Cliff Chiang had a print at the 2009 New York Comic Con of Batgirl in the style of the cover to Prince's Purple Rain album cover, but it wasn't for sale. I was so going to buy that for the baby's room! Also, I wouldn't mind seeing Alex Ross's take on the Union of Novelty Costumed Performers.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Arrested Development, The State (now on DVD, yay!), and, most recently, Drive -- the short-lived Canonball Run-inspired action show starring Nathan Fillion, which was just (dare I say it?) getting into gear when Fox dropped it. So sad. I'm glad I didn't have to say Dollhouse here, but I suspect I will if we do this questionnaire again next year.

Who is your favorite super hero?

The Tick.

If you were to have dinner with 5 people, living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

Harry Houdini, Lee Harvey Oswald, Dick Cheney, Michael Jackson, and Jesus H. Christ -- so they can tell me all the secrets. I'd serve a loaf of bread and one bottle of Evian, and let J.C. sort it out.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Chewbacca. You get no explanation.

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Deep Blue Sea, The Great Muppet Caper, Seven, Night of the Living Dead, and Anchorman.

Actually, I can watch a lot of movies again and again...

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

World War Z, by Max Brooks, is amazing and I recommend it for anyone who can read. Also, I suggest checking out Peter V. Brett's Demon Trilogy, which kicked off last year with the fan-and-critic-thrilling The Painted Man, and will only get bigger and better as the series rolls on. Nevermind the fact that Peat is one of my oldest and closest friends--I've read the first draft of Book 2 (The Desert Spear), and fans will definitely be pleased. Back to the collaboration question earlier, I keep bugging Peat to let me help him adapt the series for comics--a medium it is perfect for.

What are your favorite web sites?

Aside from my own and this one, I spend most of my day clicking between Buzz Feed, Huffington Post, and EW's Popwatch blog.

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

This year? My daughter's 2nd birthday. But after that, it will be all about LOST Season 6. Of course, that doesn't start until 2010. Talk about being in purgatory!

GEEK PROFILE: JOHN TEEHAN

Columnist, Falling Off The Shelf

Found online at:

Facebook
Tumble Tap: Where Good Comics Happen







Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

Falling Off the Shelf is primarily a review column. Mostly, it's book reviews, but I also review comics, webcomics, movies, games, and other geek ephemera. I occasionally run five mini-reviews in a segment called "Cool Crap Five". As for current projects, I've partnered up with Ben Ohmart of Bearmanor Media to start a graphic novel publishing company called TumbleTap. Our first two publications (not counting a special preview book) are complete collections of Rogue Satellite Comics by Chris Reilly and Kevin Atkinson, and Steve Ahlquist's cult classic Oz Squad (in one complete, annotated volume). I have some future projects in mind, but as I'm currently in the midst of moving to new digs, I won't be sending out proposals for a couple of more weeks yet.

Meanwhile, Rogue Satellite Comics and The Complete Annotated Oz Squad will debut at the San Diego ComicCon (courtesy of Messrs Reilly and Ahlquist) and will be available for order soon after.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead who would you pick?

Easy pick--George Carlin. He was sort of a spiritual mentor to me. We had similar views on religion, philosphy, and "stuff". In classic Oedipal fashion I once wrote a poem about having to kill him, but after his passing I pulled the poem from submission circulation. I may publish it one day in a collection, but until then it will sit respectfully in my files.

Dream collaborators? Bill Maher or Steve Martin--other philosopher-comedians.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Todd Rundgren's "The Ever-Popular Tortured Artist Effect". That album ushered me out of the typical teenage wasteland of heavy metal/soulless rock and into really exploring music's potential. John Hartford's "Aereo-Plain" guided me to bluegrass and folk music.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

I mentioned The Merlin in a recent "Cool Crap Five" column. I was also a first-generation Dungeons and Dragons player. That, more than anything else, helped warp me into the man-child I am today.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

My wife got me hooked into watching Big Love with her--the drama about the polygamist Mormons. In my defense, it also starts Harry Dean Stanton and Bill Paxton. I also watch Hee-Haw whenever it's on.

6. If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

"The Old Guitarist" by Picasso.

I've had a full-sized framed print of this painting since I was a kid and it's been part of the backdrop of my life for as long as I can remember. The poet Wallace Stevens even wrote about it:

The man bent over his guitar,
A shearsman of sorts. The day was green.

They said, “You have a blue guitar,
You do not play things as they are.”

The man replied, “Things as they are
Are changed upon the blue guitar.”

And they said then, “But play, you must,
A tune beyond us, yet ourselves,

A tune upon the blue guitar
Of things exactly as they are.”

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Firefly, obviously. And the original Star Trek series. And Millennium. I'd have said Family Guy and Futurama--but the fans have spoken and they keep coming back.

Who is your favorite super hero?

Top 3: Travis Morgan, aka The Warlord. The Question. Green Arrow.

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

Living: Bill Maher, Steve Martin, Lewis Black, James Burke, and Bill Clinton.

We'd eat mandarin orange slices, drink Orangina, and wonder what the host was thinking.

Dead: George Carlin, Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, Somerset Maugham, and Charles Nelson Reilly.

We'd be eating brains.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Jesus.

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Star Wars, Jaws, Citizen Kane, Lawrence of Arabia, and My Man Godfrey

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham and The Ginger Man by JP Donleavy

What are your favorite web sites?

Wikipedia, IMDB, Facebook, The Session

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

Getting my writing groove on and finishing some SF stories I've been working on, and publishing some interesting comics. (Say...quick poll... if I had a line to a comic strip that Gary Burghoff (aka Radar from M*A*S*H) had a hand in... would y'all buy it collected in bound form?)

Why Arnold Schwarzenegger Wouldn't Have Made Terminator Salvation Any Better

A deleted scene from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines shows that just having Arnold in a Terminator movie doesn't necessarily make it any good.

GEEK PROFILE: ROBERT JAZ

Columnist, The Mystery Box

Found online at:

Facebook
Twitter
Email





Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

An ever changing grab bag—my hand dipping into The Mystery Box: A varying recollection of personal obsessions, often reaching back to rediscover a lost fave of popular (or more often than not unpopular) culture, or thoughts about this week's interesting new acquisition. Pigeonholing has always seemed detrimental to me, with such a vast world of things to get excited about from week to week.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with dead or alive who would you pick?

I have always admired those artists that somehow manage to balance commerce with passion— still make a living while keeping their original love that got them started in the first place going. David Bowie comes to mind for his ever changing aspects and an ability to get excited about something and transfer it into his latest project.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

I was left with a large collection of vinyl by an older brother who went into the military. While there he also worked on the Armed Forces Radio Network and brought home many of these records that would be pressed for the service. They were basically your earliest form of fantastic compilations, or akin to today's Ipod playlist. These would juxtapose the music of the time without much regard to genre, as long as it was "cool" music. So I would listen to James Brown next to Black Sabbath next to a Frank Sinatra track etc. The influence of making seemingly disparate things work as a whole, has always stayed with me.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?
Mousetrap! (always loved Rube Goldberg), The Game of LIFE, anything GI Joe but especially the 12" Adventure Team stuff, Mego figures and my James Bond Secret Agent Suitcase that fired the dagger.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

Some not so good reality shows suck me in: What Not To Wear is a major one as I really dislike the smarmy, oily, unfunny hosts who wear terrible threads, yet am compelled to watch this show whenever I see it on/ any low budget local hack community audition type show / America's Next Top Model / I need to catch up on Flavor of Love.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

An Andy Warhol pre silk-screened work from his time spent as an illustrator, such as one of his hand drawn shoes. He was known as one of the greatest shoe artists in New York. I'm fascinated by Warhol as he is more known work of as an artist who took out the human process of creating art and upped the mechanical process. Gotta love that late fifties advertising fun / an original Steranko from Nick Fury: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. / or any one of the classic MAD Magazine artists from the '60's or '70s.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Father Ted, Fawlty Towers, Oliver Beene, Police Squad!, The Tick, The Munsters, The Addams Family, Batman, Jeeves and Wooster

Who is your favorite super hero?
I have a hard time picking only one, but to narrow down a few they would be Danny The Street, The Spectre; Dr. Strange; Silver Surfer and Steve Ditko's Mr. A and The Question.

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

David Bowie, Jim Jarmusch, Salvador Dali, Jesus Christ, Jerry Lewis

Dinner would be buffet or spread style consisting of an assorted ethnic appetizers / a cheese fondue / sashimi & miso soup.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Jeeves of Jeeves and Wooster or Minya, son of Godzilla.

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Goldfinger, any Lone Wolf and Cub film, Destroy All Monsters, Animal House

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

Nick Toches, Edward Gorey

What are your favorite web sites?

Weirdo Records, Official Red Sox Site, Madame Talbot's Victorian Lowbrow and Gothic Lowbrow, Here Lies Richard Sala, Barry's Temple of Godzilla, De Luchadores

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

Starting up my own business selling my artwork, more writing for FOG! (some great stuff planned!), more Luahu Hut columns, circuit bending; back to recording music after a lifetime of playing guitar I am about to start playing the bass and endless Red Sox games

GEEK PROFILE: STEVE AHLQUIST

Columnist, Mythographical Meanderings

Found online at:

Steve Ahlquist.com
Email






Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

Mythographical Meanderings is my way of putting into print those connections I make between the various “fictional” continuities we enjoy in the media and the various “non-fictional” realities in which we all live. I apply theological reasoning in a non-religious way to the various multiverses we perceive through books, comics, televisions and movie cinemas (though I have been known to use the odd stage presentation as well.)

My latest projects include a novel (what else?) and the release of the comic Strange Eggs Jumps The Shark from SLG. I am also working on a short movie that can’t seem to get off the ground. Plus, Paranoia Magazine has just published one of my historical articles.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead who would you pick?

On my writing, there can be no one person who has the biggest influence. So I’ll pick Robert Anton Wilson for his freewheeling use of history, philosophy, sex and conspiracy; Philip Jose Farmer for his freewheeling use of pulp fiction, science fiction, sex and philosophy, and Jack Kirby for his freewheeling use of just about everything but sex (though Big Barda…)

If Jack Kirby could illustrate on of my stories, I would literally be in heaven (since he’s dead.)

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Inside Star Trek, in which Mark Lenard, as Sarek, explains (in an interview with Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry) how Spock was conceived and brought to term. A lot of weird human/Vulcan sex talk.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

Mattel Hot Wheels, Fisher Price Peg People, and Duncan yo-yo’s.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

Armageddon by Michael Bay. Fucking awesome.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

No one can own art. It is merely on loan to us until we die. That said, I would like to commission a Last Supper by Charles Schulz.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

The Inside, a little seen show about a team of investigator’s tracking serial killers, Miracles, another little seen show about a priest tracking reported miracles, and of course the original Star Trek, which should have lasted as long as Bonanza, but only lasted as long as The Partridge Family.

Who is your favorite super hero?

Popeye. He’s got super powers, a nifty suit, and a code of right an wrong.

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

Cotton Mather, Edgar Allan Poe, Gerard Damiano, Lynda Carter and Eve Titus. We’d eat at a great Mexican place, the food would be laced with truth serum, and all my questions would be answered.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Tarzan. Whenever I have a problem I think: WWTZ.

What would Tarzan do?

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Blues Brothers, Ghostbusters, Evil Dead II, Drunken Master II and Fist of Legend. I know because I have.

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

I rarely recommend a book, because my opinions are rather out there. Sam Harris’s The End of Faith would be a conservative choice.

What are your favorite web sites?

Let’s leave aside Forces of Geek for a moment and let’s put aside steveahlquist.com and that leaves: Wikipedia, greatest site in the universe; spaghetti-western.net, Twitch Film and Outpost Gallifrey.

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?
San Diego Comic-Con.

Every year I don’t go I miss it so bad I ache. It’s Mecca for geeks. I pray three times a day in San Diego’s direction.

GEEK PROFILE: TODD SOKOLOVE

Columnist, In Defense Of...

Found online at
Twitter
Facebook
Beware of the Blog






Tell me about your column and your latest projects.

I enjoy bad movies so much that sometimes I have to defend why I think some are good. That's the column in a nutshell. Lately, I've got a stack of DVDs of stuff to rewatch, which I normally do to prep a column. I very often change my mind on which movie to defend up to the night before I post. There's no defending either Transformers movie, btw, so don't ask.

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead who would you pick?

I loved reading Roger Ebert's reviews as a kid and lately Anthony Lane is my favorite critic. It would have been a blast to sit in a theatre with William Castle and watch a few B-Movies.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Destroyer by Kiss. I grew up in the Detroit area, so naturally "Detroit Rock City" was a bit of an anthem. That album fascinated me in so many ways, starting with the scary costumes they wore and the fire/brimstone setting.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

Hands down the 2XL robot that played the 8 Track Tapes. It was as close as I ever got to having a real robot or a real 8 Track deck.

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

Blacksploitation movies. Can't get enough of them.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

Paul Cezanne's "The Bather." It's one piece of art that's always haunting when you see it. So much to the story to figure out each time.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Police Squad!, Invasion, What's Happening Now?, Automan

Who is your favorite super hero?

Superman

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

John Waters, Quentin Crisp, Allen Ginsberg, Stephen King and James Dean. I'd serve up some Pealla with Lobster.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Griffin Mill from The Player

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, A Clockwork Orange, Blue Velvet, Vertigo, Gremlins

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

Wally Lamb

What are your favorite web sites?

The Daily Beast, Bloody-Disgusting, Hulu, FailBlog, Forces of Geek

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

Avatar (Cameron, not Shyamalan)

GEEK PROFILE: STEFAN BLITZ

Editor-in-Chief, Forces of Geek

Found online at:
Twitter
Facebook
Email






Tell me about your site and your latest projects.

Forces of Geek is a labor of love with some of the most talented writers contributing some of the very best writing on pop and geek culture online.

As we head toward our first anniversary in January, I'm even more excited by it's evolution as I hope to integrate more exclusive media and original content to the site, including podcasts, original video, exclusive comics and more!

Who or what are the biggest influences on your work and If you could pick one person to collaborate with living or dead who would you pick?

Probably one of the biggest influences is an author named Fred L. Worth who wrote a book called The Complete Unabridged Super Trivia Encyclopedia. My father had bought a copy of this when I was seven years old and I had never seen a book so big (approximately 800 pages) that was filled with nothing but trivia. This was in 1978, long before the general public's fascination with trivia had taken off. But to find a book of facts, that ran the gamut of everything from science to history to media blew my mind and started my fascination with popular culture.

Over the years I have gone through several copies of the book and currently have a hardcover sitting on a bookshelf that has been highlighted during a weekend while I was in high school.

Another huge influence were the People's Almanac Series and The Book of Lists Volumes 1-3 by David Wallechinsky and Irving Wallace and Amy Wallace. Also, my father was a voracious reader as I was growing up and I read many an issue of the then brilliant National Lampoon magazine (with my favorite stuff being work by Chris Miller, Doug Kenney, P. J. O'Rourke, Michael O'Donoghue, Tony Hendra, Shary Flenniken and John Hughes.)

In terms of a collaborator, I'd have to say it would have been a dream to have written a comic book for artists Jack Kirby, Dick Sprang, Alex Toth or Curt Swan who have all passed away. With that in mind, I'd love to write a story for the amazing Darwyn Cooke.

What album had the most influence on your adolescence?

Probably Prince's Purple Rain, which was the first album that I read and analyzed the lyrics and to this day feel that it is one of the last impeccably constructed albums prior to the non-linear CD age.

What were your favorite toys or games from your childhood?

Legos, Mego Super Heroes, Simon (the first electronic game that I ever owned)

What is your pop culture guilty pleasure?

I've watched too many bad Disney Channel shows over the years (Boy Meets World, Brotherly Love, The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, The Adventures of Jet Jackson, Lizzie McGuire, etc.)

I also can watch Private School For Girls, Summer School and Just One of The Guys at the drop of a hat. Nostalgia is a bitch.

And sadly, I still watch Smallville.

If you could own one piece of artwork by any artist, who would you choose and why?

An original drawing of my favorite comic book characters by José Luis García-López.

García-López designed most of the licensed artwork for DC Comics in the eighties and his draftsmanship is unparalled and another reminder of my youth.

What are your favorite television shows that you feel ended too soon?

Farscape, The Tick, Now and Again, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Arrested Development, Life, Undeclared, Freaks and Geeks, Surface, Greg The Bunny, Strange Luck, Angel

Who is your favorite super hero?

Batman

If you were to have dinner with 5 people living or dead, who are they and what would you serve?

Groucho Marx, Woody Allen, Walt Disney, Roger Ebert and Stan Lee. We've have spaghetti and meatballs and yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

What fictional character do you identify most with?

Michael Bluth

What 5 movies could you watch again and again?

Jaws, Beautiful Girls, Flash Gordon, National Lampoon's Animal House, Superman: The Movie

What book or author do you regularly recommend?

Gregory MacDonald's Fletch novels are always a solid recommendation.

What are your favorite web sites?

Boing Boing, imdb, io9, Newsarama, Twitch Film, DVD Talk

What are you currently working on?

Mostly Forces of Geek. I'm also working on some other new media projects as well as some comics, a novel and a screenplay.

What are you most looking forward to geeking out over in the coming year?

I'm intrigued by Cameron's Avatar, Favreau's Iron Man 2, Morrison's Multiversity comic, DC's Wednesday Comics and the last season of LOST and the first season of the new V.

Security Clearance Approved! Opening the FOG! Profiles

This week we'll be profiling the contributors of Forces of Geek, lifting the veil of secrecy of the talented writers who make this site the home of your obsessions!

Origins of Michael Jackson's MOONWALK

Featuring (in alphabetical order):
Fred Astaire, Bill Bailey, Buck and Bubbles, Cab Calloway, Clark Brothers, Sammy Davis Jr., Daniel L. Haynes, Rubberneck Holmes, Patterson and Jackson, Eleanor Powell, Bill Robinson, Three Chefs (only the feet), Tip Tap and Toe (feat. Ray Winfield), Earl Snakehips Tucker

via

The Timeless Art of STEPHANIE BUSCEMA (Interview)

As an artist, Stephanie Buscema does a pretty good job reminding the reader of what a good comic book should look like.

And it's a pretty good bet that she's going to be in demand very shortly.

Her latest comic story will be released in Spider-Man Family #8, in stores this Wednesday.

Stephanie was kind enough to take a few minutes from her busy schedule to chat with Forces of Geek about her work and influences.

Be sure to check out her official site and her blog, Sacharine Inspired Illustrations & Other Sweets for more examples of her amazing work.




FOG!: Your grandfather was the late John Buscema, certainly regarded as one of the legends in the industry. How did seeing both him and your great uncle Sal work in comics influence your desire to become a cartoonist yourself?

SB:As soon as I was old enough to understand you could draw pictures and actually get paid, I was sold.

It was always explained to me that drawing comics and making images was a way to put food on the table. If you had the talent and could keep your deadlines you could survive as an artist.

Young Stephanie Buscema doing most of the layouts for a Conan story with grandfather, John

Growing up, we lived three houses down from where my Grandparents lived. I was always over their house watching cartoons, reading comic books and was encouraged to pick up a pencil at a young age.

I'd pull up a chair, sit next to my Grandfather and watch him draw after school.

He always made the time to explain things, encourage me and introduce me to different art styles. When I was about nine or ten I started to really show an interest in making art - my grandfather even put a little drawing board in his studio next to his.

Boy, did I feel like a big shot!

It was settled then, I was going to draw pictures for a living.


Next to my Grandfather, Marie Severin had a huge impact on my decision to pursue art. It was her that introduced me to color and gave me my first set of Dr. Martins watercolors.

I look up to her with the highest admiration.

You were an assistant editor at DC, working on such titles as Captain Carrot and the Final Ark!, Ambush Bug Year None, Brave & The Bold, Booster Gold and Billy Batson & The Magic of Shazam! How did you get started professionally and what prompted your move to becoming a full time illustrator?

It all started when I had interned up at DC editorial back in college.

I was very familiar with the freelance end of things but wanted to learn more about the business and editorial side. That following year, college graduation was right around the corner and I needed a steady gig! Just so happens Joey Cavalieri was looking for an assistant editor and was kind enough to help me come on board.

It was a great experience, I met a lot of really wonderful people and I feel grateful for the opportunity to have work up there. But a few months in I started to get really antsy-I needed to draw all the time.

I'd come home after work and draw and paint like crazy, working up new samples and building up my portfolio. I started taking on every freelance gig I could get my hands on. Soon after and was basically working two jobs for a good year or two. I saved everything I could and took the leap when freelance work started to get steadier.

It was terrifying at the time, but the best move I could have made for myself.


Tell me about your story in Spider-Man Family #8?

This was an absolute blast to paint! I was lucky enough to be asked by Steve Wacker and Tom Brennan to illustrate a 10 page story written by Tom Peyer. I got the script and was on the floor, it's not every day I get a good humor story to work on!

The premise of the story is what would happen if Spider-Man lost his spider-sense.

Working sequentially is really such a treat from the normal full page illustration jobs. I hope everyone enjoys it!


Who or what are the biggest influences on your work?

My grandfather is always going to be my number one influence. Mainly because he had an art style he could call his own and it set his work apart from other artists, yet you could clearly see the classical influences when viewing his work.

That idea of learning from the masters and filtering it through your hand and pencil to make it your own. For me the art made by Mary Blair, J.P. Miller, Gene Deitch, Charlie Harper, Jim Flora, M. Sasek, Abner Graboff, just to name a few-I responded to their work as a kid and became obsessed with their stylized images. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, yet it seemed so warm and familiar.

I wanted to develop a style that was influenced by these particular masters and make it my own. As I got older I gravitated towards the atomic age stuff, mid century design and advertising, 50's and 60's horror and sci-fi movies, jump blues and rockabilly music. It was the start of an obsession with the past.



All of these obsessions continue to influence me and the images I make.

Your style is very unique and you and I have chatted about your art on several occasions. Have you had any pressure to modify your style?


Absolutely, mostly because I paint and draw pictures by hand in an age of digitally made pictures. The only time I use a computer is to scan the art. I've had so many people tell me that I wouldn't make in the art field without knowing computer programs and how I should change the way I work..but in turn it would change the look of the pictures so much. I cant achieve a certain warmth when making images on the computer-there's always going to be something that gets lost when filtered through a machine. I'll stick with my brushes.

I'm old school, I'm going to remain old school and I will continue to grow and work traditionally, despite what people may say to me.



What's currently on the drawing board?

Lot's of picture books!

I've just wrapped up illustrating two poetry picture books: Maybe I'll Sleep in the Bathtub Tonight and Other Funny Bedtime Poems, written by Debbie Levy and Name That Dog!, written by Peggy Archer. Both out in 2010. I'm gearing up to start drawing a really fun book for Disney books and another for Dial books in the fall.

My husband and myself are also working on putting a book together, something we've been talking about doing for a few years. I've also got a bunch of art prints I'm working on as well. I'm hoping there will be some more comic book work on my drawing table soon, too!


What are you currently geeking over?

Currently, I'm geeking out over a bunch of vintage Golden Books I've gotten off eBay. These little books are so priceless to me and I'm slowly building up my collection of first printings. As for books coming out, I'm excited for Darwyn Cooke's Parker novels to hit the shelves! They're obviously going to be absolutely gorgeous and I'm really looking forward to reading them!

ONE STRANGE EGG - Chris Reilly Interview

I think the best way to describe Chris Reilly is that he's a Renaissance Man from the Eighth Dimension.

I've been friends with Chris for over a decade and not only is he a columnist for this site, but also one of the most unusual personalities to have walked the Earth.

Since breaking into the comics industry in 1995 with his Rogue Satellite Tales, Reilly has become a bit of a Forest Gump of the industry, accomplishing such feats as being a Harvey and Ignatz Award nominee to a prestigious Eisner Award judge all while rubbing elbows with some of the most respected names names in the independent comics arena including Jhonen Vasquez, Roger Langridge, Paul Friedrich, J. Chris Campbell, Bob Burden, Mark Buckingham, Jackie Estrada, Ben Towle, Derf, Crab Scrambly, Chris Grine and Batton Lash

Reilly's newest book, Strange Eggs Jumps The Shark will be released in comic book stores this Wednesday.


FOG!: In addition to being the co-creator and one of the writers, you have functioned as the overall editor for the series. What do you think attracts the talent to participating in books?

CPR: Well, I am not really the overall editor; I gather most of the talent and then at the end Ben (Towle) has to do the real hands on work. He flips and shuffles this stuff in every weird bat attack direction. Ben is a Charlotte, NC guy just like Billy Bob, the puppy I adopted this past Sunday.

I didn’t rescue Ben, but he is the shine on my sequential spit when it comes to putting the Strange Eggs book together. He’s a weird, potentially right wing vampire, but he’s a good man and he is the one who does the final edits and puts the book together. Ben sent publisher Slave Labor Graphics a print ready PDF of the book, so when you see how it is put together that should be all his doing.

Ben was less involved in this book as a creator, his only story being the one we did together to introduce the theme. Still, he is a third of the book.

You and I have spoken at length in the past about the need for good children's comics and in the past Strange Eggs has been geared to an all ages audience. This particular volume, Strange Eggs Jumps The Shark, is not. Why the departure from the formula?

Co-creator Steve Ahlquist and I wanted to do an all ages Strange Eggs graphic novel that would have been how we would have made the movie in the 70’s with a Roger Corman budget. I don’t believe in children's comics, they are like troll bridges and you just can’t pass over them without getting attacked. I think a good kid’s comic is a book that a kid likes. So, I do believe there should be more comics that kids can enjoy, but publishers shouldn’t have “ages 6-10” in their crosshairs.

Did you know they did a MAD For Kids a few years ago?

Did you have any trouble understanding MAD when you were 7?

Me and you are about the same age, I’m older, but we’re from the same generation. Parents are like the government these days, in that they love to bat shit scare their kids, because they think it is good parenting. They actually tell kids what is scary! Did they read about this method of madness in some Oprah article by Dr. Phil.

I saw Jaws opening day, which would have made me six. There were no such things as play dates or other neo-psychobabble parenting back then. Your dad saw a preview to a film that looked cool and he took you to see it. We were not taught to be scared by our parents, like the PC breeders of today.

Our parents didn’t ask stupid questions like “Is there a racial slur in the film? Is it violent, racy or scary? Is there a really ugly dog in it and if so, does it bark?”

It was a fucking movie and we were not hot house flowers that would wilt at a moment’s frightener. I hate how the nub-bar-crunch modern parents of today make their kids scared of films, comics, TV shows, not because I’m a fan of those things but because this will only lead them to being frightened of other things that should not scare them. They are psychological, PMRC terrorists and their children will suffer for the self righteousness of their parents who think their own parents did such a shitty job on them that they need to make their kids world something out of John McGreevy penned episode of the Waltons.

Can you imagine in ’74 if your parents had sat around asking “Will Jaws frighten them?” Fuck, go vote for Nader (again) you pseudo intellectual post “new age” weirdos. Do you have a parent teacher conference on whether or not your kids will be terrified by a roller coaster? I know I am ranting, but I am passionate about this, let kids be kids.

We were all young, we went to the kindergarten the following Monday and all boasted that we were going to see Jaws again next weekend. Our parents, flawed as they may have been, had not read psychotic “how to" books on how to terrify us through their warped compassion. They may have screwed us up, but at least they didn’t read books and take classes to figure out how to fuck us up.

Then, Parent: "It is Saturday, so it must be watch monster movie day. Turn on the Creature Double Feature."

Now; Parent: "It is rated G but I think we should have a family meeting before we let the kids watch it and emphasize that there a moment in it where a goat looks a bit creepy."

Hell, we’ve already terrorized them, so just imply they will be scared and the poor kid will opt the fuck out. I know they mean well, but their weirder and spookier than what they are trying to scare their kids with. There were the baby boomers, we were Generation X and these poor kids will be the fear generation, in treatment for life.

Back to your question (finally) I do think there should be more comics for kids to enjoy, but for that to happen their parents will have to ease up a bit. Don Rosa’s Disney Duck books are a great example of books that kids should read, but Rosa doesn’t write them as kids books, he writes what he wants to be reading and they work on every level.


Kids also used to like horror comics; It’s not like forty year old men were reading Tales From The Crypt when Dr. Wertham helped create the comics code to protect the children and completely wiped horror comics off the map.

Kids loved those EC horror books and were the core audience, and this old prick comes along, writes Seduction of the Innocent and for no good reason (let’s not get into Starchie) took something away from them that they truly loved. Wertham, (practically) overnight brought on the Comics Code that reduced American comics to a childish mentality.

This is the fourth Strange Eggs comic anthology. For the uninitiated, what is Strange Eggs and what is the origin of the project?

The actual dictionary answer to the first Strange Eggs all those years ago is: Strange Eggs #1 included a fictitious back-story claiming that the comic book was based on a now-cancelled television show produced by “The Christian Learning Network.” The premise of this supposed show—and therefore the premise of all the comics stories in Strange Eggs #1—was the following: The young twins Kip and Kelly Hatcher live with their father, a scientist, on a farm in rural Maine. In each story, deliveryman Roger Rogers delivers the twins an egg and they are forced to deal with whatever hatches forth. Creators can have virtually anything hatch out of the egg, and have the twins deal with it in pretty much any fashion.

jump the shark v. In a television show, to include an over-the-top scene or plot twist that is indicative either of an irreversible decline in the show's quality or of a desperate bid to stem the show's declining ratings.

In Strange Eggs Jumps the Shark, the original Strange Eggs has been on the air for many years and its ratings are increasingly poor. The network executives are desperately searching for some twist to the show’s basic premise, or some outlandish gimmick, that can save the show. For Strange Eggs Jumps the Shark, each creator (or creative team) should produce a story that features just such a twist.

No idea is too ridiculous!



What is the origin of Jumps The Shark?

We did a panel at Comic-Con three years ago and someone asked the same question. We had no prepared answer so Steve and Ben huddled while I talked to the audience about waffles and cream soda, they came up with the idea and we announced it. People were thrilled because it stopped me from talking about waffles; what a room broom that turned out to be. This book will piss off all static cloned robots’ that get their opinions dictated from AM radio.

Hint: most of us believe in evolution.

As the co-creator and co-editor, as well as a writer, what do you think attracts the talent to participating in books?

I think people like to work with us, because they know we are very passionate about the book, it is a fun concept and they know their hard work will see print. We have a good crew of creators and they seem to like the idea of just busting loose and having fun.


Anthologies of every kind are always a mixed bag. How do you keep the series from running the gamut and produce an overall entertaining product?

Have 100% faith in the creators. For example, is Derf going to hand you a bad story?



What else do you have coming up?

Adora and the Electric Elephant, O Tesla: The Death of Topsy and a biography about my uncle Henry, tentatively titled Henry’s Bataan Death March.

Oh, and a book about me called The Life of Reilly. I tend to hate auto-bio comics but my friends Baton Lash, Jackie Estrada and Meagan Parker talked me in to doing one, based on the fact that I have lived a weird life and it wouldn’t be about me explain to my girlfriend why I wet the bed that night. Meagan is going to publish it.

For the sake of historical record, can you tell the raccoon story.

One day they announced a possible rabies outbreak in Rhode Island. That night/morning I got off work at the bar and drove to my friend John Teehan’s house. I saw, though beer goggles, what I thought was a gray tabby cat in a bush and kneeled down to pet it.

“Nice kitty” I said sticking my hand in the bush, and then the screaming started as the rabid raccoon reputedly bit my hand.



I went to the hospital and said a Bush Monster attacked me.

I had no idea what it was, but it definitely was not a cat.

The hospital called animal control who found the poor beast still in the bush, too sick from rabies to walk. They told me I needed a rabies shot/shots. Three injections into each bite. I had twenty bites on my hand four of then piercing fingernails.

I got up and said it had been nice knowing them, and then the cops guarding the door stopped me and told me I could receive the shots voluntarily or they would quarantine me and give me the shots.

Then my mother walked in with the vaccine. I thought I’d died and gone to hell.

My mom worked as a doctor’s assistant next door at Pediatrics Center Inc. and they, for some reason were the only medical facility to have the vaccine on hand.

When they got the call, she heard my name mentioned and to make a bad situation a horrific one volunteered to deliver the vaccine. From the look on her face, I would have rather gone another five rounds with the Rabid Bush Monster.

Long story short, I was technically the first person in Rhode Island in 42 years to be infected with rabies and in state's history, it's only rabies survivor.