Tagged: Internet

Beware the Tides of March… err… Bill O’Reilly

So, not so long ago, the American Atheist Group decided to buy a few billboards. So their president, one David Silverman, wanted to perhaps start a national debate on religion. Good idea? Well, we’ll leave that one up to the Lord (be it Allah, Ganesha, Buddha, Yahweh, Inky the Magical Leprechaun, or Stan Lee if you prefer). Billboards go up, and guess who get his panties in a bind? The answer rhymes with Shrill O’Bile-ly. Cut quickly to the O’Reilly Factor where Silverman was interviewed. And here’s where things get spicy.

During the interview, the debate whether the word “scam” is offensive is debated. And then the big guns get fired. Once Silverman dares to call organized religion “mythical”, Billy goes on the attack. “Let’s just be two guys. Not an atheist and a catholic. Just two guys…” O’Reilly throws out. Get this folks: The Tides. “They come in, and go out. Come in, and go out.” And why? According to O’Reilly… “It just happens. You can’t explain that.” Silverman, who didn’t have his high school physics book handy, forgot to PWN Bill by explaining tides move according to the gravity pull of Earth’s moon. He attempted a sidestep by saying “it doesn’t matter” that he couldn’t explain it, because at the root of his argument… explaining anything by way of an invisible man in the sky is silly. But Bill was Bill. He’d have nothing of it.

Enter the Internet. Now it’s become its own meme-in-the-making. So, ComicMixers… let’s discuss… what is there out in PopCultureLand that also can’t be explained by anything else than the mighty G-O-D? Consider this a contest folks. Use this meme-maker and post it in the comments below. Funniest meme gets a piece of the holy cross. Or a radioactive spider. Or the mighty Mjolnir. We’re not sure yet.

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ debuts with $87 million opening weekend

‘X-Men Origins: Wolverine’ debuts with $87 million opening weekend

It takes more than swine flu and Internet piracy to keep our boy down.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine clawed (sorry) its way to an $87 million opening weekend, despite being widely available online a full month before its release, lukewarm reviews and Vice President Joe Biden to avoid confined and crowded spaces. The movie opening numbers beat the first two X-Men installments (although not the third) and it’s looking like Logan’s run (sorry again) in theaters is going to be pretty strong this summer.

So, does this kill the “Internet piracy is bad for you” meme once and for all? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

ComicMix Six: Television for the next generation of fandom

ComicMix Six: Television for the next generation of fandom

  • Uncategorized
  • February 17, 2009

We were all kids once and, let’s face it, for many of us there was a particular television show or short that caught our attention and grabbed our inner-geek by the shoulders to shout “Look at me!” Whether you had a particular fondness for Interplanet Janet (“She’s a galaxy girl!”), Underdog, or Super Grover, chances are that something you saw in early childhood helped shape you into the fan you are today.

My sister and I always loved Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends (new action figures are coming out this year!), and my niece is a huge Power Puff Girls fan. This got me wondering what shows will inspire today’s budding geeks. The great thing about these days is that DVD and the Internet make it possible to view not only the latest children’s shows, but everything you feel that old nostalgia for as well. However, today’s children aren’t always as excited about the Wonder Twins or Cowboy Curtis as Mom and Dad may have been. Here, then, are some more recent selections for the latest generation of fans:

1. Backyardigans
From Pirates to Samurai to Space-Travelers and everything in-between, this colorful and musical CGI-animated show (formerly aired on Nickelodeon, and now available on DVD) is all about five anthropomorphic neighbors whose imaginations take them on adventures to faraway times and places. While teaching children about the value of friendship and imagination and introducing several styles of music and dance, this show also stirs the core of future gamers. You see, the characters, Austin (a kangaroo), Pablo (a penguin), Tasha (a hippo), Tyrone (a moose), and Uniqua (a creature vaguely reminiscent of a child-sized pink ant), are like a game group. They meet, they create characters, they play out their roles and scenarios as their game characters, and then they have a snack. If you’ve ever gamed at a con, you know this drill.

(more…)

Review: ‘Holy Sh*t! The World’s Weirdest Comic Books’

Review: ‘Holy Sh*t! The World’s Weirdest Comic Books’

Holy Sh*t! The World’s Weirdest Comic Books
By Paul Gravette and Peter Stanbury
St. Martin’s Press, October 2008, $12.95

This is the kind of book I’m actually surprised to still see – I thought “look at this weird stuff” books had been entirely superseded by the greater speed and flexibility of the Internet. (I can think of three similar sites just off the top of my head – Superdickery, James Lilek’s Funny Books, and Scott Shaw!’s Oddball Comics – and without even diving into the blog world.) But I suppose as long as there are cash registers in this world, there will be eye-catching little impulse-buy books to sit next to them and lure in the curious, unwary, or amused. [[[Holy Sh*t!]]] is a small-format hardcover, roughly six inches square, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if there was a corresponding point-of-purchase cardboard display that holds six to eight of them.

The title gives away the whole point of Holy Sh*t! – it’s a collection of amusingly weird, or weirdly amusing, covers from the last sixty years or so of comics, supposedly covering the whole world but actually staying, for the most part, very close to the mainstream of American corporate comics (with regular excursions into the well-known underground movement). I should mention, to save confusion, that the UK edition has the somewhat more boring title [[[The Leather Nun and Other Incredibly Strange Comics]]].

(more…)

New Dark Horse Site Goes Live

It’s a big week for Dark Horse.

Friday sees the release of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, and in the meanwhile, the publisher has given its Web site a much-needed facelift.

The new site is updated with a cleaner and more easily navigable framework, though I haven’t noticed much in the way of new features.

I don’t know that it amounts to a hill of beans for comic readers, but as a reviewer I’m happy to see the "new releases" and "upcoming comics" sections given a makeover, as there’s nothing as annoying as having to dig through the Internets for some product info or a cover image.

Enough of what I think. Why don’t you head on over and judge for yourself.

New ‘Starship Troopers 3’ Trailer Hits the Net

New ‘Starship Troopers 3’ Trailer Hits the Net

  • News
  • February 27, 2008

Whatever your feelings about the first two Starship Troopers movies, the powers-that-be have decided you really want a third one. So, they’ve gone ahead and made it. And now, thanks to the power of the Internets, I can show you the new trailer for the third film right here:

 

 

This direct-to-DVD sequel known as Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, brings back Casper Van Dien from the first film as Johnny Rico and features the super-hot Jolene Blaylock as pilot Lola Beck and Boris Kodjoe as Dix Hauzer. The story centers around Johnny Rico, now a General and even more of a take-charge badass, who must go back into the field for one last fight agains the evil Bugs.

Look for the film on the shelves of your local DVD store later this year.

Foo Fighters Sue Marvel For Copyright Infringement

  • News
  • February 22, 2008

Today, Rolling Stone is reporting that the Foo Fighters are suing Marvel Entertainment, First Serve International, Toonz Animation in India and First Serve Toonz for copyright infringement. According to the article:

The band alleges that Marvel used “substantial excerpts” of their songs “Best of You” and “Free Me” as the music for the trailer of the new animated series Wolverine and the X-Men.

The trailer, which showed up online back at the beginning of February, has since been taken down from YouTube. However, as in most cases like this, that doesn’t really help much because you can still get a look at it over at Movieweb. Well, at least you could have up until a few minutes ago. But now, "at the request of the studio", it’s gone.

If you were able to watch the trailer, which I was able to do before it went bye-bye, its pretty obvious that the Foo Fighters songs were used — a lot. Seeing this kind of thing makes me wonder how the people responsible thought they could get away with something like this?

Don’t they realize that once something hits the Internet, this kind of thing can’t stay a secret? Someone is going to get a strongly-worded letter in his or her permanent file over this, just you wait and see.

 

On This Day: ’24 Hours in Cyberspace’

On This Day: ’24 Hours in Cyberspace’

  • News
  • February 8, 2008

Today in 1996, the largest one-day online event (to that date) occurred, called "24 Hours in Cyberspace."

The professional photographers, editors and programmers who participated in the event aimed to to create a "digital time capsule of online life," explained Rick Smolan, a photographer who headed the event.

Participants photographed, edited and collected images of people whose lives were affected by the use of the Internet over the course of the 24-hour period. Second Lady (at the time) Tipper Gore even contributed several photographs, while her husband, Vice President Al Gore, contributed to the environmental impact areas of the site.

The site was originally hosted at www.cyber24.com, but has since been moved to a mirror site hosted by Georgia Tech University.

The website received more than 4 million hits in those 24 hours – an unheard-of tally at the time.

 

Categories

Archives

Everything you need to make great comics!

comicmix-pro-300x69-2

Nucleus X

Bookshop Zaks