Monthly Archive: April 2012

JOHN HARTNESS GETS PULPED!

JOHN HARTNESS GETS PULPED!

  • News
  • April 2, 2012

Tommy Hancock Hosts solo once again but does not ride alone! Joining Hancock on this episode is John Hartness, well known author of THE BLACK KNIGHT CHRONICLES, creator of the BUBBA, THE MONSTER HUNTER stories, and author of THE CHOSEN! Listen as John defines Urban Fantasy, shares a peek into the life of fanboy vampires, explains how a Redneck comes to work for the Roman Catholic Church, glorifies in The Devil being The Angel who Loved the Almighty the most, and so much more! Listen in as John Hartness Gets Pulped!

SONAR ENTERTAINMENT AND ECOSSE FILMS JOIN FORCES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE NEW ACTION-ADVENTURE SERIES "QUATERMAIN"

SONAR ENTERTAINMENT AND ECOSSE FILMS JOIN FORCES TO DEVELOP AND PRODUCE NEW ACTION-ADVENTURE SERIES "QUATERMAIN"

  • News
  • April 2, 2012

Reports indicate that a new 10 part series is based on H. Rider Haggard’s classic swashbuckling adventures is on the way from Sonar Entertainment and Ecosse Films.

PRESS RELEASE:

CANNES, APRIL 2 – Sonar Entertainment Inc. and Ecosse Films have joined forces to develop and produce Quatermain. The new 10×60 action-adventure series is based on the classic swashbuckling stories by iconic Victorian-era author H. Rider Haggard. The announcement of the project, which is being introduced at Cannes during MIPTV, 2012, was made today by Stewart Till, CEO, Sonar Entertainment and Douglas Rae, Founder, Managing Director and Executive Producer, Ecosse Films. Rae will serve as executive producer on the project. Richard Kurti and Bev Doyle (Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal) are the writers.

Allan Quatermain, a rugged expedition leader based in the busy, wild port of Durban, has recently turned his back on the lucrative but bloodthirsty practice of game hunts. He is approached by Baron Henry, a wealthy German noble, and Clarice Good, the beautiful but disgraced daughter of a US Governor, to help them find Baron Henry’s brother, who’s been missing since embarking on a dangerous attempt to locate the lost diamond mines of King Solomon.

Quatermain resolves to take on the mission to pay for his young son’s schooling in London – a boy he hopes to give a life very different from his own. Using a rough-sketched map left behind, Quatermain and his African tracker Umbopa lead Baron Henry and Clarice set off across the scorching desert, where they encounter constant dangers and incredible, non-stop adventures along the way.

“Allan Quatermain is one of the greatest adventure heroes in all of literature. In the years since his introduction, he has subsequently inspired many hugely successful characters and franchises, including the Indiana Jones series,” said Till. “We are extremely excited about this opportunity to partner with Ecosse as we introduce Quatermain to a new generation and bring his timeless exploits into the 21st Century.”

“We are delighted to be developing this ambitious new international series with such an experienced and inspiring company as Sonar Entertainment,” added Rae. “Quatermain has huge potential for an international audience.”

About Ecosse Films
Ecosse Films is a multi award-winning company, specialising in high-quality drama for film and television, producing 11 films and over 300 hours of network television for BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Showtime, Starz Channel and WGBH. Credits include the hugely successful film Mrs Brown, starring Judi Dench, Charlotte Gray starring Cate Blanchett, Becoming Jane starring Anne Hathaway and James McAvoy, Brideshead Revisited starring Emma Thompson and Michael Gambon, the global family hit The Water Horse and the BAFTA nominated film Nowhere Boy, the teenage biopic of John Lennon.
TV series include BBC1’s acclaimed long-running drama Monarch of the Glen and more recently the BBC 1 hit series Mistresses. Ecosse’s $50 million international drama, Camelot, a 10 part series for Starz Channel and Channel 4, stars Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower, Tamsin Egerton and Eva Green.

About Sonar Entertainment, Inc.
Sonar Entertainment, Inc. is a leading developer, producer and distributor of award-winning television series, mini-series and movies for the global television marketplace. Sonar owns rights to over 1,000 titles comprising more than 3,500 broadcast hours of programming. The company maintains strategic creative and licensing partnerships with producers and broadcasters throughout the world.

Final Four of Mix March Madness 2012 Webcomics Tournament–Vote Now!

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  • April 2, 2012

UPDATE: Round Six has closed…
Vote in the March Madness Finals now!

Round 6! It’s the semifinals and we’re down to the Final Four!

And now it’s beginning to look like an average installment of Game Of Thrones or Strikeforce Morituri, with favorites dropping all over the place. The big games were Order Of The Stick beating xkcd, followed by the huge surprise upset of Gunnerkrigg Court over Questionable Content, which knocked everybody’s Final Four picks out, so nobody wins the $50 gift card from Amazon for picking the Final Four.

We remind you that our four remaining contenders will get at least $25, and whoever make it to the finals will get $50, with the grand prize winner walking away with $100.

Round 6 starts right now, and ends this Wednesday night, April 4, at 11:59 PM, Eastern Daylight Time. We’re down to four contestants, and we get to see who makes it to the big game and who walks away. Go vote!
(more…)

MINDY NEWELL: Who Pays For The Watchmen?

Before I begin this week’s column, I need to correct an error from last week’s Music to Write By. Daughter Alixandra let me know that it’s Ewan Mcgregror who stars in Moulin Rouge, not Ethan Hawke.

Onward.

Unless you were vacationing in another dimension last week, you know that the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of the individual mandate for heath insurance contained within the Affordable Care Act, popularly known – or “unpopularly,” depending on which side of the aisle you sit – as Obamacare.

Which got me to wondering about insurance for the übermenschen.

The cost of cleaning up after the supermen give each other black eyes – something that seems to occur on a daily basis in the various comics universes – must be astronomical for the city, state and federal governments in which these manos a manos take place. Not to mention the individual cost to the poor schlubs who either work or live in these battle zones.

Imagine what it’s like living in a world where the odds of getting caught in one of those battle zones is over 50%. There are all sorts of “pre-existing conditions” or “Acts of Superhero” clauses in insurance company contracts, otherwise they would be either constantly teetering on the brink of bankruptcy – or after just one good fight between Spider-Man and Doctor Octopus, out of business. Add another deduction for SBHI (Super Battle Health Insurance) and your paycheck is a joke. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) offers “Fight Insurance” for those living in a “Fight Zone” – areas known to periodically sustain damage from the clashes between ultra-powered enemies.

By the way, why does anyone live in the Metropolis of DC or the New York City of Marvel?

What insurance do the superheroes and super villains carry?

I bet Stark Industries has a subsidiary that writes insurance for them in the Marvel Universe. I don’t think it makes money, probably loses money in fact, but accounting creatively writes it off as a business expense, and the rest of Stark Industries makes up for it anyway. And it wouldn’t surprise me that the company does a mean business in insuring the villains, either. After all, if Saudi Arabia can do business with Israel, why can’t Stark insure Magneto? Or perhaps Wilson Fisk has an insurance company among his holdings from which the bad guys can buy policies. With exorbitant premiums, of cause.

Harder to figure out how the übermenschen do it over in the DC universe. Perhaps the Justice League has incorporated itself and has created its own insurance carrier that it offers to the good guys. But I can’t see the JLA offering insurance to their evil doppelgangers – I don’t think they’re quite as business minded as they are over in the neighboring universe. Maybe Superman squeezes some coal now and then to make some diamonds to feed the pot. (But isn’t that illegal? Or is that like the Fed printing money?)

Who pays for the Watchmen?

TUESDAY: Michael Davis

Marvel Leak Supports Theory of the 617

  • News
  • April 1, 2012

With X-Men vs. Avengers hitting the shelves this past week, fans are speculating just what the “shattering conclusion” hinted at in several teasers will be. Well, if the ramblings of a former Marvel graphic designer are to be believed, we’re in for something.

Mike Rifchin, an associate letterer was recently let go as part of Disney’s forced scaling back of staff, blogged major plot points coming up at the tail end of the summer blockbuster.

In his “…and a big F%#! You to Mickey” post dated March 29th, Mike let loose the following potential spoilers:

(SPOILER ALERT!)

  • Wolverine will betray his school for the Avengers, citing “I’m the best I am at what I do, but I know when it’s time to stick to the winning side.”
  • Cain Marko will resurface to claim his Cytorak gem. Red Hulk tosses it to him after defeating Colossus in the middle of Times Square. “Here you go kid, go make trouble for someone somewhere else.”
  • Cyclops will face off against Captain America as expected, but don’t expect a lengthy battle. Panels into their big blowup, Cyclops pulls off his visor, and releases a “Four page optic blast.” Steve Rogers isn’t seen after that.

And the biggest spoiler of them all: After Hope decides to keep the Phoenix Force within her, Uatu leaves his post as a Watcher. “Hope is lost.”

And with it, so does the 616 universe. Uatu reveals his possession over the forgotten cosmic cube. What follows is a yet-to-be announced Flashpoint-esque universal reset. Due to the increased sales from DC’s relaunch back in August of 2011, Disney ordered the House of Ideas to match the success. According to Rifchin, the plans have been in place to reset things a bit. “Face it, with all the crap going on in Spider-Man, and all the different X-teams, and no real rise in sales over the last year? It doesn’t surprise me they’re playing the same weaksauce DC did – LAME!”

Rifchin’s blog has since been shut down by Disney and their team of mouseketeer lawyers.

Boehner Proposes April Fools Day Ban

  • News
  • April 1, 2012

Speaker of the House John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) today introduced a bill in Congress outlawing April Fools Day and all celebrations, activities and acts associated therewith.

“It’s all bullshit anyway,” Rep. Boehner told Politico. Then he broke down in tears and shouted “April Fools!”

It is not known if the Speaker was referring to the present slate of Republican candidates for President.

Bay: Ninja Turtles to be Equal Parts Sin City and Avatar

  • News
  • April 1, 2012

While fans continue to rally against explosion producer Michael Bay with his continual nerd-prodding over the recent announcement of the ‘Ninja Turtles’, it seems Bay can’t get enough of the hate. At a recent Transformers: Dark of the Moon Collectors Edition release and signing event at a soon-to-be closed Best Buy in San Paulo, California, Bay dropped a few more details on the upcoming Turtles release.

“We’re taking the best of the property, and trimming off all of the fat. The movie is really sharply written. I know the fans are clamoring against us, but they don’t know all the details. The flick will be equal parts Sin City and Avatar. We have a large part of it ready for pre-production. We’re bringing in [Robert] Rodriguez in to help run the set-shots for the black and white stuff. I’ll be assisting on the 3-D effects. Trust me, seriously, once you see Leonardo, Raphael, and Michelangelo in their Shell Power Suits… you know it’ll be worth all this hype.”

Fans continued to press Bay with questions. One spectator, donning head to toe TMNT merchandise pushed to the front of the line to ask (quite angrily) “What about Donatello?!”

Bay, normally a very jovial celebrity turned cold at the question, and quickly snapped back “Like I said, we trimmed off all the fat,” and had his escort take him out of the back of the store.

Happy 56th Birthday, Alfred E. Neuman!

  • News
  • April 1, 2012

mad-magazine-alfred-champagne-300x411-2302093Hard to believe it, but Alfred E. Neuman is celebrating his 56th birthday today.  Ever since he first graced the cover of MAD #30 in 1956, he has become a national icon and symbol of that era. His enduring gap-toothed grin has become an internationally recognized image and has been imitated time and again.

We salute, Alfred and share with you some fun facts about the fellow:

Although Alfred has appeared on the front of most issues of MAD, he has not appeared on every cover.

Over the years, Alfred has been depicted in a wide variety of roles, including Uncle Sam, George Washington, Barack Obama, Rosemary’s baby, Michael Jackson, Justin Bieber and Batman.

Alfred’s signature slogan, “What – me worry?” exemplifies the satirical and care-free tone of the magazine.

Alfred has run for president every election since 1956 with the campaign motto, “You could do worse, and always have!”

Alfred’s eyes are not aligned straight, yet they always manage to make contact with the reader. He is never depicted in profile.

In 1983, a man wore an Alfred E. Neuman mask while attempting to hold up a gas station in Michigan. The attendant working at the station could not take the man seriously and the robber left the scene without any money.

In MAD #322 (October, 1993), the magazine asked readers which real life celebrity Alfred E. Neuman most closely resembled – David Letterman, Ted Koppel or Prince Charles of England. While TV personality Letterman was leading the vote for the majority of the polling period, a last-minute influx of votes from Canadian readers crowned Prince Charles the victor of the competition. This was ironic considering that in 1958, MAD received a letter from Buckingham Palace (reprinted in MAD #48) to shoot down comparisons between Charles and Alfred. To this day, nobody knows if the note in fact came from Prince Charles himself.

As MAD’s mascot, Alfred is often referred to by the Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD as the magazine’s “Playboy rabbit.”

FORTIER TAKES ON ‘THE SPY’!

  • News
  • April 1, 2012

ALL PULP REVIEWS by Ron Fortier
THE SPY
By Justin Scott & Clive Cussler
Berkley Novel
528 pages
The third adventure in this series created by Clive Cussler and taken over by Justin Scott is another fine entry relating the cases of Isaac Bell, the top agent of the Van Dorn Detective Agency.  When foreign spies from Japan and Germany launch acts of murder and sabotage aimed at crippling the Navy’s battleship program, the noted detective agency is brought into the case.  This happens at the request of a young lady whose father, a gun battery expert, is found to have committed suicide after taking a bribe. Incensed by this slur of her father’s good name, the woman begs the agency to dig deep and prove what she suspects; that her father was actually murdered and the charges against him false.
The start is slow going for Isaac Bell, but bit by bit, oddities in the case begin to surface while at the same time, supposedly unrelated accidents continue to plague the Navy’s shipyards on both the East and West coast until the pattern of these events is just too coincidental to be ignored.  Once on the case, Bell becomes the bulldog man-hunter we’ve come to enjoy in his previous outings and he soon comes to realize he is chasing a deviously cunningly spy with no loyalties to any single government.  This shadowy manipulator is in fact a mercenary attempted to create a world conflict that will line his own pockets with riches.  War is good business.
From the docks of the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the ports of California, Bell and his courageous team of agents find themselves racing against the clock to prevent the Spy Master’s ultimate coup, a terrorist attack that will set the country’s defense plans back by decades and leave American vulnerable to its enemies abroad. Once again Scott sets his suspense thriller against a backdrop of historical accuracy, detailing the emergence of a young republic about to claim its place on the world’s stage.  But will this Manifest Destiny end long before it is born?
Filled with colorful characters and a beautiful glimpse of another, more innocent time, THE SPY is a worthy addition to this already much acclaimed series.  Issac Bell is clearly the Nick Carter & James Bond of his times.

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