Tagged: 24

Minority Tastes

Minority Tastes

  • News
  • October 28, 2011
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I won’t say that I’m not an elitist — why wouldn’t anyone want to consider themselves elite? — but I still deeply believe that the books that I love are intrinsically wonderful, and that enjoying them is something that any half-smart and basically literate person should be able to do.

Unfortunately, the world does not want to agree with me; I’ve just seen that Harry Connolly — whose novel Game of Cages was one of the best things I read last year, and whose [[[Circle of Enemies]]] I’ve been holding onto for an upcoming vacation — has  just been told that his current publisher will not be buying any more books in that series, for what seem like eminently sensible falling-sales reasons. (I’m in the business; I can access BookScan.)

This is not the first time, of course; one of my other favorite writers, Matt Hughes, had two “Big Six” publishers shot out from under him in three books — three wonderful, amazing, lovely books, let me emphasize — but has since gone on to write a number of excellent books for smaller houses.

And there are plenty of others — Elizabeth Willey, the only writer I’ve ever found who can do pseudo-Zelazny Amber, and did it well, disappeared after three novels. Before that, there was a writer who had two screamingly funny Bertie-Wooster-as-a-ghost-hunter paperbacks (and whose name I can’t remember), and she also disappeared without a trace.

I know you people — the ones reading these words now — must be the exceptions, but the world, more and more, seems to be filled with people whose tastes are just inexplicably horrible. Luckily, I still harbor hopes of becoming Emperor of the Literary World one day, and then I will make everything Right.

For right now, good luck to Connolly — and, if you’ve been putting off grabbing his books, do it now, since low-selling books are the ones that it’s murder to find later on — and to all of those other absolutely amazing writers whom it seems that only I like.

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The Point Radio: 24’s Chloe Returns & Starbuck Talks BSG


After years of backing up Jack Bauer on 24, Mary Lynn Rajskub is back on the web and funny as hell. She tells us all about her new series, plus Katee Sackoff talks about why she isn’t in the POWERS TV series and why she thinks BATTLESTAR went out the right way.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Buck Rogers Blasts Back To DVD in 2012

Buck Rogers Blasts Back To DVD in 2012

  • News
  • October 17, 2011

Coming to DVD 01/24/2012

According to www.tvshowsondvd.com, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – Scaled-Back DVD Set announced with the Fan-Favorite 1st Season. The 6 single-sided disc package will be available in late January 2012.

Blast off to the 25th century with Buck Rogers, one of the most popular sci-fi heroes of all time! When 20th century astronaut William “Buck” Rogers (Gil Gerard) is awakened – 500 years after a deep space disaster! – to an Earth in recovery from nuclear war, he must join Colonel Wilma Deering (Erin Gray) against a galaxy of evil from the past, present and faraway future. Now with all 21 action-packed Season One episodes of the epic series the Associated Press called “razzle-dazzle good fun,” and featuring phenomenal guest stars including Jamie Lee Curtis and Julie Newmar, you can join these legendary intergalactic crime fighters for an adventure you won’t forget!

Season 1 cast

In 2004, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released a DVD set of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – The Complete Epic Series, a 5-disc package (all double-sided DVDs) with the complete 2-season run of the show (32 episodes, including 5 double-length special episodes). The two seasons of the program were very different from each other, with the first 21-episode run (including 3 double-length installments) being based on Earth and having Buck, Wilma, and ambuquad robot Twiki (Felix Silla, The Addams Family‘s “Cousin Itt” and voiced by Mel Blanc, of “Bugs Bunny” fame) getting their mission directions from Dr. Elias Huer (Tim O’Connor) and the disc-like computer carried by Twiki, Dr. Theopolis (voiced by Eric Server, B.J. and the Bear). The opening credits were narrated by William Conrad (Cannon, Jake and the Fatman, and narrator on The Fugitive).

The second season (11 episodes, with the first two of them being double-length stories) had Buck, Wilma, and Twiki relocated to deep space, on board the starship Searcher, where they were led by Admiral Asimov (Jay Garner) and joined by Dr. Goodfellow (Wilfrid Hyde-White), the alien Hawk (Thom Christopher), and “superior” robot Crichton (voiced by Jeff Davis). This season was much less loved by fans, and likley has been most memorable for the (in)famous “off-think” scene (do a web search for that, if you’re not familiar with it). Since it was relatively short, however, Universal included it in their “Complete Epic Series” DVD release 7 years ago…a collection which is still officially in print as of this writing, and lists for $26.98 SRP. However, it’s become much harder to find than it used to be.

Universal has announced that on January 24, 2012 they will release Buck Rogers in the 25th Century – Season 1, a collection of JUST the original Earth-based season with Dr. Huer, Dr. Theopolis. It also includes a galaxy of guest stars that include Pamela Hensley, Henry Silva, Roddy McDowall, Buster Crabbe, Jack Palance, Tim Robbins, Cesar Romero, Frank Gorshin, Markie Post, James Sloyan, Peter Graves, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gary Coleman, Ray Walston, Michael Ansara, Dorothy Stratten, Morgan Brittany, Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, Mary Woronov, Anne Lockhart, Dennis Haysbert, Jerry Orbach, Judy Landers, Julie Newmar, and Vera Miles. These 21 episodes running 1166 minutes come on 6 single-sided DVDs, presented in full screen video, English mono sound, and with subtitles in English, French and Spanish. The original complete series release had no bonus material, and similarly there have been no extras announced for this title, either. Before anybody asks about a Blu-ray version, we’ll just point out that nothing at all has been said by the studio about a high-def disc release of this show. Cost for the Season 1 DVDs are $24.98 SRP and you can pre-order it from Amazon currently for $20.

The Point Radio: Plunging Into SANCTUARY Season 4

Executive producer and star Amanda Tapping, along with fellow castmate Robin Dunne, take us behind the scenes at the SyFy hit series SANCTUARY with plenty of perks at season four plus Rosanne is back yet again along with…The Fly?

 

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

The Point Radio: SNL Vets Try Prime Time Comedy


After a summer long publicity build up, Fox has debuted TERRA NOVA in primetime – did you see it? Series star Stephen Lang tells you what you may have missed, plus SNL Vets Maya Rudolph and Emily Spivey mine for prime time comedy gold in NBC‘s new UP ALL NIGHT. And an ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT movie – and series?? Really?

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

Happy 24 Hour Comics Day!

Happy 24 Hour Comics Day!

  • News
  • October 1, 2011

24 Hour Comics Day is here! Check with your local store for events, or stay at home and try it yourself! The rules are simple, as defined by Scott McCloud:

Create a complete 24 page comic book in 24 continuous hours.

That means everything: Story, finished art, lettering, color (if applicable), paste-up, everything. Once pen hits paper, the clock starts ticking. 24 hours later, the pen lifts off the paper, never to descend again. Even proofreading has to occur in the 24 hour period. (Computer-generated comics are fine of course, same principles apply).

No sketches, designs, plot summaries or any other kind of direct preparation can precede the 24 hour period. Indirect preparation such as assembling tools, reference materials, food, music etc. is fine.

Your pages can be any size, any material. Carve them in stone, print them with rubber stamps, draw them on your kitchen walls with a magic marker. Whatever you makes you happy.

The 24 hours are continuous. You can take a nap, but the clock keeps ticking. If you get to 24 hours and you’re not done, either end it there (“the Gaiman Variation”) or keep going until you’re done (“the Eastman Variation”). I consider both of these “Noble Failure” Variants and true 24 hour comics in spirit; but you must sincerely intend to do the 24 pages in 24 hours at the outset.

THE ONLINE VARIATION: The above applies to printed comics or online comics with “pages” but if you’d like to try a 24-hour Online Comic that doesn’t break down into pages (like the expanded canvas approach I use in most of my own webcomics) then try this: At least 100 panels AND it has to be done, formatted and ONLINE within the 24-hour period!

If you’re ready to go for it, good luck! And if you want a topic to start fresh, you can always try the Evil Overlord Plot Generator!

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The Point Radio: Those BIG BANG Girls and The WAREHOUSE 13 Finale


As CBS‘ BIG BANG THEORY returns this season, two recurring characters are moved to regular status and we talk to them about it all. Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bailik share their excitement about the new season, while over on SyFy, WAREHOUSE 13 closes off season three and Eddie McClintock talks about what we can expect from Monday’s finale and the upcoming Christmas episode.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

MIKE GOLD: 24-Hour Comics Day — Before

This weekend includes at least three elements: the Jewish holy week between the New Year and the Day of Atonement, the weekend, and 24-Hour Comics Day.

I note that first part just in case somebody reads this to my mother. Hi, Mom!

24-Hour Comics Day  was created by Scott McCloud and it is exactly what the name implies: comics creators get together in local conclaves (not autoclaves; that’s a completely different thing) “to create a 24-page comic book in 24 continuous hours.” It’s sort of a tribute to the days of yore when a creator would get an emergency over-the-weekend assignment and get a bunch of friends together to write, pencil, ink, letter and color the entire book over the weekend, deliver it on Monday, and hopefully get paid for their effort.

Of course, way back then comic books ran 64 pages – 48 pages after World War II hit speed. But today we’ve got to do all those poster shots and, you know, backgrounds and stuff so we’ll ignore the drop in pages.

It’s enormous fun for participants and observers, kibitzers (Hi, Mom!) and hecklers. Since the last thing these 24-hour comics creators need is the sabotage of an admittedly grossly talented editor, I’m going to drop by Challengers Comics and Conversation in Chicago (1845 N. Western Avenue, about a block south of the Blue Line Western Avenue L stop) to do what I do best: mooch food and annoy people. There will be about 25 creators creating, fulfilling the “Comics” part of Challengers’ name, and plenty of kibitzers to meet the “Conversation” part. It all starts at 11 AM Saturday; I’ll probably wander in around 1 or 2 PM after everybody gets down to the hard work. But enough about me.

The type of creativity and camaraderie shown at 24-Hour Comics Day is the lifeblood of this medium. It’s been there since day one when young fans of pulp writing, science fiction and newspaper strips got sought out employment in the new form. Everybody in the biz was a kid back then; Jerry Siegel, Joe Shuster, Bob Kane, Jerry Robinson, Joe Kubert, Gil Kane and many, many others weren’t old enough to get their driver’s license when they started out in comics.

This sort of enthusiasm endures to this day. I love going to “independent comics” shows such as MoCCA in New York just to soak in all that energy and see where the young creative spirits are wandering. Plus, I’m working on that incubus thing.

It’s pretty busy, so you’re trying to break into the racket 24-Hour Comics Day probably isn’t the place to schlep (Hi, Mom!) your portfolio. Call ahead to see if your local venue is receptive to walk-in presentations. However, it’s a great place to see how it all happens, how it’s put together, what people use as their tools (yeah, I know, laptops and iPads) and network. Not the Howard Beale type; you know what I mean.

Many venues are doing 24-Hour Comics Day in association with a local or national non-profit group, and that’s great – particularly in these troubled times. But, really, giving young and new creators the opportunity is a great thing in and of itself. Helping out, even by simply attending and hanging out (although buying a few comics would be swell) is a great thing as well. As we Ashkenazi-Americans like to say, it’s a Mitzvah.

Hi, Mom!

THURSDAY: Dennis O’Neil

The Point Radio: Joel McHale Grows Up


We talk more with Joel McHale about the new season of COMMUNITY, how he’s taking himself a little more seriously and what’s up with Jeff & Annie. Then we showcase another new NBC comedy –  FREE AGENTS with Hank Azaria and Kathryn Hahn, plus FRINGE fans can relax. We found Peter Bishop – and he’s at DC Comics.

The Point Radio is on the air right now – 24 hours a day of pop culture fun for FREE. GO HERE and LISTEN FREE on any computer or mobile device– and please check us out on Facebook right here & toss us a “like” or follow us on Twitter @ThePointRadio.

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