Forces of Geek: we like pop culture: 10/1/10

Saturday, October 30, 2010

GEORGE HICKENLOOPER (1963-2010)

Filmmaker George Hickenlooper passed away suddenly last night. No details as to cause of death, but preliminary reports are that he died of natural causes.

I interviewed George for my old site and have reprinted the interview below. You'll also find the trailer to his upcoming film, Casino Jack (referred to in the interview as Bagman).

This interview originally appeared on Forces of Good on April 26, 2008

After graduating Yale, George Hickenlooper moved West and interned for Roger Corman before launching his directing career. Among his work, the documentaries "Art, Acting and the Suicide Chair: Dennis Hopper", "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse", "Picture This: The Times of Peter Bogdanovich in Archer City, Texas", "Mayor of the Sunset Strip" and "Being Mick". Among his narrative work, Hickenlooper directed "The Man From Elysian Fields", "Some Folks Called it a Sling Blade", "Dogtown" and most recently, "Factory Girl".

Earlier this week, FOG! told you all about the new audio series, Tales From Beyond The Pale.

Joe Maggio has written and directed several films, including Bitter Feast, Paper Covers Rock and Milk and Honey and is the creative force behind the first episode On The Ledge.

FOG! had the opportunity to discuss the project with Mr. Maggio.

For Martin Scorsese, growing up in Little Italy, seeing On the Waterfront and East of Eden as a young man was a life-changing experience. Scorsese appears on and off camera throughout A Letter to Elia, taking us through Kazan’s life and through his own as well, and through his growing realization that there was an artist behind the camera, someone “who knew me, maybe better than I knew myself.” The film is about being exposed to the right movies at the right moment in your adolescent life, when you’re wide open and ready to connect, to be spurred on by the work up there on the screen, and then, maybe, to chart a course toward making your own movies.

Composed of clips, stills, readings from Kazan’s autobiography and his speech on directing (read by Elias Koteas), a videotaped interview done late in Kazan’s life, and Scorsese’s commentary on and offscreen, A Letter to Elia takes a close look at the life of art and its creation – the work, the distractions, the inspirations, the complications, the intersections between art and experience.

A Letter to Elia, written and directed by Scorsese and his longtime collaborator Kent Jones, is a deeply personal film, a frank portrait and self-portrait, and an equally frank acknowledgement of the closeness and the distance between artists and their art.

The whodunit format was a daring new frontier for an animated series, but the members of the Mystery Inc. team have grown to become authentic popular-culture icons. Fred. Daphne. Velma. Shaggy.

And of course, Scooby-Doo!

This Halloween, we're celebrating the launch of the all-new Scooby-Doo! Super Room on iTunes (Forget a trick, this one is a treat!), which is your one stop for all of your favorite Scooby-Doo! Movies & TV Series for Download.

And now, you can win a free download of the complete second TV season of Scooby-Doo! Where Are You?

Greg Bryk as Marcus Sullivan, Felicia Day as Virginia "Red" Sullivan

Felicia Day, star of The Guild and Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, and guest star on the Whedon shows Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Dollhouse, will portray a descendant of Little Red Riding Hood in Red: Werewolf Hunter, debuting tonight at 9PM (ET/PT) on SyFy.

In the film, Red (Day) brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business -- hunting werewolves. He's skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him.

FOG! asked Ms. Day two questions regarding the film. Here's what she said...

FRANKIE THIRTEEN Chats With Comic Legend JERRY ROBINSON Part 2!

Photograph by Seth Kushner. Used with permission. Visit Graphic NYC

In addition to his contributions to the Batman mythos, cartoonist Jerry Robinson's career in the comic/comic strip industry is legendary. In Part 1, Jerry discussed his career with the Dynamic Duo and now he brings Frankie Thirteen up to speed about his eclectic activities in the sixty plus years since.

FOG: Superhero characters, especially Superman and Batman in those days, were darker, rougher and grittier. Over time, they lightened considerably, especially going into the '50s. How did you feel about that transition?

JR: Well, I had left Batman in '47 and I immediately plunged into other things, so I really didn't follow it closely in those days. I worked with Stan Lee for ten years. I did all sorts of other stories ranging from crime, science fiction, adventure, war, and I wanted to something to break out of that one box on Batman. I thought I contributed enough over seven years to it. So I didn't follow it.

Another Seinfeld vet may be coming to HBO. The it's-not-TV network has ordered a comedy pilot from Britcom writer Armando Iannucci, Hollywood Reporter reports.

Titled Veep, the series follows a female senator who becomes U.S. vice president.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus, looking for something to do between 30 Rock appearances and New Adventures of Old Christine reunion specials, is in talks to star.

Conan O'Brien is ready to give his fans another peek at his upcoming TBS show, a week before it premieres Nov. 8.

Show Zero of Conan will be broadcast on his website, teamcoco.com, YouTube and Facebook on Nov. 1 at 11 p.m. ET.

Caprica is no more.

Syfy is removing the remaining episodes of the Battlestar Galactica prequel from the schedule next week. The final five episodes of the second season will air in early 2011, the network announced.

There was no nuclear armageddon to blame for Caprica's demise, just insufficient ratings. The show already fell from 889,000 viewers for its season 2 premiere to 718,000 last week.

(Scene Begins)

The sun sets over a calm lake in New Jersey illuminating the brilliant colors of the fall leaves. Music rises in the air as the Bride makes her way down the aisle. The guests gasp. This is the first time that any of them have seen her in something other than jeans and a t-shirt.

The bride looks at her significant other at the other end of the aisle. He smiles at her, happy that it appears that she has showered (and put on deodorant, he hopes). He is filled with a warm sense of contentment (or, it could be gas…he doesn’t know).

Halfway between her and her significant bother, a low moan erupts from the large bushes bordering the lake. The bride glances over toward the moan and spots a blood covered man emerge from the brambles and grab her cousin, sinking his yellow teeth into the soft, yielding flesh of her neck. Blood squirts from the wound, splashing another member of her family.

The spooky season is upon us, and if you haven't decorated your house already - never mind prepped for those pesky trick or treaters - then there are a fantastic selection of new art toys that you should be liberally adding to the to the top of your desk.

Here are some of my seasonal favourites!

Roman Dirge's cult comic, Lenore, is returning with the release of issue #2 coming from Titan Comics!

Featuring more gruesomely grisly tales of Lenore and her demented menagerie of twisted friends, this second chapter in the rebirth of Lenore sees Mr.Gosh, Lenore's long-suffering unrequited paramour, take centre stage.

Lenore #2 will be a must have for all Lenore fans as for the first time, Dirge reveals Lenore’s surname!

To celebrate the return of Lenore, last year's hit issue #1 is being re-solicited with a brand new exclusive cover by Dirge!

Retailers can order Lenore #2 and issue #1 with this new limited edition collector's cover from November’s Diamond Previews. For more information see Titan Comics Lenore advert and listing within the Comics & Graphic Novel section in Previews.

The second issue of Lenore will go on sale January 18, 2011.

For more details, check out Lenore on Twitter and watch a new trailer for the comic after the jump!

Energizer Gets It's Qi On!

It's the charging station that charges everything!

Energizer, who is leading the way with one of the first Universal Qi technology products on the market. Qi (pronounced ‘’chee’’), is a brand new technology that brings consumers the freedom to charge their smartphones, MP3 players, cameras – any device 5W or less – on a single charging station, regardless of manufacturer.

In other words, the perfect gift for the person who has everything!

Tomorrow's Entertainment Weekly will officially unveil the first look of Chris Evans as Captain America from Joe Johnston's upcoming movie as well as coverage from the set in London.

The movie — which also serves to set up Marvel’s 2012 superhero team-up, The Avengers -- hews closely to Captain America’s WWII-era origins. The year is 1942, and Steve Rogers is a scrawny lad who desperately wants to fight Nazis for his country but can’t because he’s been deemed physically unfit. His fate — and his physique — is radically transformed when he signs up for Project: Rebirth, a secret military operation that turns wimps into studs using drugs and assorted sci-fi hoo-ha. There’s a love interest (Major Peggy Carter, played Haley Atwell), there’s a sidekick (Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stans), and there’s the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving), Hitler’s treacherous head of advanced weaponry, whose own plan for world domination involves a magical object known as The Tesseract (comic fans know it better as The Cosmic Cube)

Sometimes in the pop culture universe, things go right. Often though they go awry. Then there's the downright atrocious.

This week's Jammin' On The One will feature the great (good), the not-so-great (bad) and the what-the-fuck (ugly).

THE GOOD
Rapper Joe Budden has assembled a sort of reunion for the great mixtape rappers of the late 90s and 200os. Fabolous, Lloyd Banks and Royce da 5'9" join Joe on "Remember The Titans," an epic posse cut from his latest mixtape Mood Muzik 4: A Turn 4 The Worst.

Posse cuts are always great because it involves rappers pushing each other to be better through natural competition.

Warner Bros. is currently running an interesting campaign to rid the world of DVDs and replace them with Blu-ray discs.

For a limited time, they are making over 100 titles available for exchange at the site, www.DVD2BLU.com

The amazing part? They're taking back discs from any studio.

So, are zombies the new vampires or what?

A year ago I wrote this post in which I declared my desire for zombies to overtake vampires as the go-to undead creature of young adult novels, and my mild optimism that maybe, just maybe, this was really how young adult fiction was trending.

And a year ago, I was hella wrong.

It would seem that zombies are not the new vampires; vampires are the new vampires.

In July of 2000, Newton reunited with Bird at Pixar to work on Pixar’s sixth feature film, The Incredibles, and has since contributed his considerable character design skills to many of Disney•Pixar’s award-winning feature and short films, including Ratatouille, Your Friend the Rat and Presto. He was also instrumental in the creation of the End Titles of The Incredibles and Ratatouille and is frequently cast as a voice in Disney•Pixar films, including the role of Chatter Telephone in Toy Story 3, which hit theaters on June 18, 2010.

For his Disney•Pixar directorial debut, Newton teamed with producer Kevin Reher on Day & Night, a new short film released with Toy Story 3.

On Tuesday, November 2nd Day & Night comes to both DVD and Blu-Ray as part of the Toy Story 3 release. Teddy took some time to discuss his directorial debut.

On November 9th, the latest installment in the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops will be released and retailer Game Stop is running a sweepstakes through the release day, awarding more than one million Call of Duty: Black Ops-inspired prizes and instant awards.

I've been remiss in this column by having never mentioned my favorite grassroots storytelling movements: The Moth and Mortified.

I'll start with Mortified, since I discovered them first. A friend of mine who had met the founder Dave and his co-producer Neil a few years ago, and loved the show so much she started producing her own a show in DC.

She couldn't stop talking about the genius of the idea: real people getting up and sharing their most horrific (and often hilarious) moments in childhood and adolescence, through their old diaries, notes, original song lyrics, ill-fated plays, etc.

I went to my first show in Portland on Valentine's Day weekend a few years back, and laughed till I cried. The show in LA was even more amazing, as the self-titled "Dork-estra" plays songs to bring on the performers and enhance their pieces.

There is nothing so familiar as the angst of those years growing up, and Dave hit upon a goldmine several years ago when he found an old love letter (or more like a pitch letter) to a girl he liked and read it out loud to a few of his friends, and Mortified was born. They've expanded to shows all over the country, books and now, a movie.

They tell their story best here, and also need donations for their movie project, so here's the gist:

Admit it, don't you kinda want to do this to Buzz Lightyear?

We all know that dolls are evil right?

I mean there's the nightmare inducing Trilogy of Terror Doll, Chucky, and of course, the always frightening clown doll that pulled Robbie Freeling under his bed in Poltergeist.

But now there is a new doll in town that just might make all the rest of those anatomically incorrect human representations look downright angelic.

He's known as "Rape-Face Woody" and after the break you will see why (Perhaps a bit NSFW)

Absolut has always done an impressive job with their ad campaigns, but their latest is really interesting. Unfortunately, I don't think it was a huge success, having never heard or seen of the promotion until I stumbled upon it on YouTube.

The main character of the film, also named Lemon Drop, is played by Ali Larter of the NBC show Heroes and the movie series Resident Evil. Her character for the Absolut film was based on a Lemon Drop cocktail which is both sweet and sour, and the plot which never takes itself too seriously revolves around her using both sides of her personality to solve a caper involving missing kittens, an evil crooner, and a set of mysterious vials. The highly stylized film was directed by Traktor and can be seen at lemondrop-movie.com where it is accompanied by a downloadable movie poster and wallpaper. The film also stars Martin ‘Sensei’ Kove of the original Karate Kid.

Brook Durham, Writer and Felicia Day, Werewolf Hunter

Over the past few years, my buddy, Brook Durham has been racking up the credits, writing several films for ~~SciFi~~ SyFy.

Starting with his first credit in 2006, Brook has written Mammoth, Showdown at Area 51, Odysseus: Voyage to the Underworld, Riddles of the Sphinx and Merlin and the Book of Beasts, attracting such genre friendly names as Summer Glau, Arnold Vosloo, Christa Campbell, Dina Meyer, Gigi Edgley, Laura Harris and James Callis.

His latest film, the anticipated Red: Werewolf Hunter stars geek icon Felicia Day in the lead role and premieres this Saturday night at 9PM on SyFy. Brook took a few minutes to chat about the project.

Green Hornet: Sins of Father Vol. 1 SC
Written by Kevin Smith
Art by Phil Hester and Jonathan Lau
Dynamite
$19.99

In 2004, filmmaker Kevin Smith (“Clerks,” “Green Arrow: Quiver,” “Zack and Miri Make a Porno”) was tapped by Disney to write a potential “Green Hornet” movie. Disney lost the project to another studio (hence the upcoming Seth Rogen vehicle), but Dynamite Entertainment managed to nab the script and develop it as a comic. It’s too bad Kevin Smith’s “Green Hornet” movie never saw the light of day, because his script, from which the new comic is based on, could’ve taken the filmmaker’s career in considerably new territory.

FRANKIE THIRTEEN Chats With Comic Legend JERRY ROBINSON!

Photograph by Seth Kushner. Used with permission. Visit Graphic NYC

Writer/artist Jerry Robinson has been a significant presence in comics for more than seven decades, beginning with his work as an artist, then writer on Batman. During his time on the book, he would create two of the most enduring characters in popular culture, Robin the Boy Wonder, and the Joker. It would be easy to hang the rest of his career on that notable accomplishment, but Robinson could never be mistaken for complacent.

Over the course of his career, he has worked in every genre you can think of, from superheroes to war and westerns, to licensed properties such as the Green Hornet. He's illustrated books and editorial cartoons, written manga, and become one of the foremost keepers of record in comics. To this day he's kept busy: his autobiography, Jerry Robinson: Ambassador of Comics, was recently released by Abrams ComicArts; he expanded upon his seminal history, The Comics, which will see release early next year from Dark Horse; he continues to run the Cartoonists and Writers Syndicate he founded; and he has recently offered two iconic covers from his own collection, Fred Ray's Superman #14 and his own Detective Comics #69, for auction at ComicConnect.com, beginning November 10th.

Forces of Geek was fortunate enough to speak with Jerry Robinson at length about his career past and present.

After months of speculation of his next project, filmmaker James Cameron announced his next two projects would be sequels to his last film (the highest grossing film of all-time), Avatar.

Cameron had recently been rumored to a 3D version of Cleopatra with Angelina Jolie. Obviously, details are sparse regarding the Avatar sequels, but actress Sigourney Weaver has already teased the return of her character (who died in the first film).

Press release after the jump.

Medium may be running out of lives.

It already escaped NBC's clutches in 2009 to live again on CBS, but its days may be numbered after a seven-season run. CBS has cut the order for the Patricia Arquette-starring ghost drama from a full 22 episodes to 13, Deadline reports.

As Conan O'Brien prepares to launch his new TBS show, Conan, there's a big question out there.

Will we see Masturbating Bear?

In a Rolling Stone interview coming out Friday, O'Brien dares NBC to try suing him for his old Late Night and Tonight Show gags. "If there's something we did for a long time that we've established as ours, we'll figure out a way to do it. I won't be denied my Masturbating Bear!"

After teasing Office fans with a speakerphone appearance a couple of episodes ago, the Dunder Mifflin sitcom is set to bring back Amy Ryan in the flesh.

Ryan will return as Michael Scott's dork-crossed lover Holly Flax on this season's one-hour Christmas episode, which airs Dec. 9.

I am posting this picture for two reasons:

1. It's awesome.

and 2. There is something diabolical in the piercing stare of the cat that frightens me.

"America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between"
–Oscar Wilde

Viewers of AMC's hit series Mad Men got a slick, sexy preview of the newest temple to decadence to litter the Las Vegas skyline: The Cosmopolitan.

The 60 second commercial opens with bass-heavy beat of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club's "Spread Your Love," and fades up with images of a Roman-style food orgy that quickly diverts to a collection of bondage & discipline images of pants-less waiters and bellhops being used like furniture by attractive hipsters.

Then the unthinkable happens...

(video after the jump)

There are many games inspired by movies, but I have to admit that a 16-bit game based on There Will Be Blood is off-the-chart crazy.

But that is why I am kinda digging it.

I am sort of psyched to play Paul Dano in a video game (and lets face it, how many times in your life will you ever be able to say that?) and to maneuver Daniel Day-Lewis through out a virtual world while he raves like a lunatic?

Even better.

And lets face it, it is probably a hell of a lot more interesting than the actual movie ever was.

Video after the break

Long rumored villain, The Riddler, will not be the nemesis in director Christopher Nolan's third Batman film, The Dark Knight Rises.

In an interview with Hero Complex, Nolan stated "“We’ll use many of the same characters as we have all along, and we’ll be introducing some new ones."

So, the question is, who exactly?

According to one of my favorite websites, Agent M Loves Tacos, Marvel is currently looking for interns for both their West Coast and East Coast offices for the upcoming Spring Semester.

Which means, if you happen to be toiling away at a reputable college, this might be a good time to blow one of your professors for a recommendation (worked for me once).

USA’s hot roster of hit series gives viewers something to warm up to as the days get shorter and the nights grow colder. November sees the return of fan-favorite Psych on Wednesday, November 10, at 10/9c with brand new cases waiting to be solved Visit the official Psych website for games, photos and weekly prizes. Visit USA Network’s Character Arcade to play games, challenge friends and for more chances to win prizes!

CONTEST!!! Win a BURN NOTICE Gift Bag!

USA’s hot roster of hit series gives viewers something to warm up to as the days get shorter and the nights grow colder. November sees the return of fan-favorite Burn Notice on Thursday, November 11, at 10/9c with brand new episodes. Visit the official Burn Notice website for games, photos and weekly prizes. Visit USA Network’s Character Arcade to play games, challenge friends and for more chances to win prizes!

Great Scott!

Twenty-five years ago this morning, a little after 1 a.m., Marty McFly first traveled back in time.

In honor of this monumental moment in science (fiction), this month’s THREE HITS & A MISS is also going back in time 25 years! To a time when there were no such things as Internet columns! In which case, I am done here and can move on to finishing my time machine…

Which I actually need before I can send this column back in time…

Heavy, man.

Since I am (currently) unable to send anything back in time, let alone an unwritten column (which may look like a finished column to you, but you are in my future!), I’ll instead dedicate this THREE HITS & A MISS to the great (and one not-so-great) time-travel films!

My density has brought me to you. Now let’s go!

. . . no, really!

You might be hearing this a lot in the coming weeks, as NaNoWriMo kicks off its 10th of year of inspiring lots of people to try to write a novel (well, a 50,000 word opus, which is just above the smallest accepted size for a novel). Last year 167,150 people participated and about 20% of them finished (a percentage that has gone up just about every year). It inspires hatred and also brings out famous writers who encourage people to do it. In 10 years it has become a virtual cultural icon, and has spawned at least one bestselling author (Sara Gruen, known in particular for her novel Water for Elephants). Given the number of participants, that's much better odds than winning the lottery. But more than a chance to perhaps write something noteworthy, NaNoWriMo is a sign of our geek-flavored times. And this year, I will be attacking it with all of my geek power!

Alexander Anderson, who created the cartoon characters Bullwinkle, Rocky The Flying Squirrel, and Dudley Do-Right, has died at age 90.

Anderson came up with The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, a vaudevillian cast of characters and sideshows, after approaching business partner and eventual show producer Jay Ward. But Anderson's contributions to the character lived in Bill Finger-like obscurity until Anderson won a lawsuit in 1996.

Today, Tales From Beyond The Pale launches bringing original genre audio plays with some terrific talent to one of the classic storytelling mediums of pop culture.

Full press release and details after the jump!

With Louie, The League and Archer breaking out over the past year, FX is expanding its comedy lineup even further.

The network has ordered 13 episodes of Wilfred, a live-action series starring Elijah Wood and based on the Australian series of the same name. It will be Wood's first foray into network TV.

Wood plays an introvert who meets Wilfred, whom the world sees as a dog but Wood's character sees as a man dressed in a dog suit. The man in that dog suit is played by Jason Gann, who co-created and played the title character in the Australian version.

David Zuckerman (Family Guy, American Dad) wrote the pilot and is showrunner. He describes the title character as “part Australian Shepherd, part Russell Crowe on a bender.”

Full media release after the jump!

Saturday Night Live isn't the only show accused of stealing jokes these days.

South Park's creators have apologized for several jokes in its recent Inception-spoof episode bearing some incredible resemblance to a sketch on CollegeHumor.com.

“It’s just because we do the show in six days, and we’re stupid and we just threw it together,” South Park co-creator Matt Stone told The New York Times. “But in the end, there are some lines that we had to call and apologize for.”

At least South Park apologized, right? Because some of the dialogue is almost word-for-word.

Watch for yourself after the jump.

It was a red-letter day in the history of pop culture when the filmmakers and stars of one of my favorite movie franchises of all time reunited yesterday at the Waldorf-Astoria to celebrate the Blu-Ray release of the Academy Award winning Back To The Future trilogy.

After reuniting with Christopher Lloyd at the Scream Awards and with Lea Thompson for an Entertainment Weekly cover, Michael J. Fox looks barely a day older than he did twenty five years ago.

With this release, and an upcoming video game and toy line, might director Robert Zemeckis apply some of his technical magic to the semi-retired Fox and reveal where the McFly family really is in 2015?

Check out some videos from the event after the jump!

I am kinda in love with the trailer from the new movie Orcs! which is about, well, Orcs invading a national park and eating people's faces off.

I don't want to give too much away before the break because...it's just so damn fantastic that I want you to feel the unbridled joy that I felt upon watching trailer.

Enjoy!

I guess it was bound to happen in these "Super-Size It" times, but does the world really need a three-pound, 26" long gummy worm to munch on?

Well apparently so considering that the company responsible for this monstrosity of sugar-shock, Vat 19, has sold out of nearly every flavor of giant gummy worm available (as of 9:00am today only Lemon & Orange is available).

And at $28 a pop that's a whole lot of coin to drop on what is essentially a one-way ticket to becoming Wilford Brimley's diabetic pal (oh, and the worm also contains 4,000 calories if you were looking for some nutritional info).

Pages

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Tuesday, October 26, 2010