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June 28, 2008
Remembering Michael Turner
From Mike:
When I hopped on the internet this morning the last thing I expected to see was that Michael Turner had lost his long battle with cancer. I have been a fan of Michael's work for a long time and aside from that having met him a few times I can also add that he is one of the nicest comic pro's I've ever met.
My ever indulging wife went with me to Wizard World Philadelphia's first show several years back. We wandered around the various booths and I was like a little kid, gleefully walking from one section to the next. We found the Aspen comics booth and my wife asked me who the tall, good looking guy was. I told her I wasn't sure and we made our way over to the huge books filled with Michael's original art for what I guess had to have been Batman/Superman. So as we're flipping through the pages the very same tall, good looking guy walks over and starts to talk with us. About the show, the area...after a few minutes my wife asks him his name and he introduces himself as Michael Turner. Now to my wife, that means nothing, so she and he just continued chatting away. We probably talked to him for close to half an hour.
When we walked away from the Aspen booth I told my wife who he was and she said nice to see he wasn't just a talented artist but also a good guy. Now I wouldn't presume to say I have any more knowledge of Michael personally than that but I feel comfortable in saying that I found him to be charming, down to earth and just a nice guy.
I think comic books lost one of their brighter stars yesterday. And more importantly they lost one of their nicer people. Rest easy Michael. You will most definitely be missed.
From Julian:
I met Michael Turner several times during the Wizard World Chicago and Toronto Fan Expo. I liked some of his work. Never loved it, never disliked it but I'll say one thing: the man was a class act. He was one of the nicest, most humble and down to Earth people you'd meet at a con. He always made time to talk to fans, remembered people that he had met at previous cons and always had a smile on his face.
After the con was done for the day at a Toronto Fan Expo some friends and I went to grab a drink at a nearby pub and after a while we saw Turner and the Aspen crowd come in. A friend and I came up to him to say hi and ended up talking to him for a while. The friend that was with me is a very talented artist, for whom Turner was an inspiration that made him go back to art after leaving it for a while. Turner asked if he could see my friend's sketchbook and they sat down at the bar going through it, with Turner giving compliments, advice and criticism. Even some of his friends seemed annoyed the he was spending yet more time talking to fans and when they came up to him he just replied "Not now. I'm looking at a sketchbook."
Love or hate his art, one thing that no one can deny is that he was a really, really nice guy. He will be very missed.
Condolences to Michael's family can be sent to:
Aspen MLT, Inc.
C/O Michael Turner
5855 Green Valley Circle, Suite 111
Culver City, CA, 90230
10:03 AM | Comments (0)
June 26, 2008
I Gots Me Some Enthusiasm
Larry Young, the Chief Visionary, Creative Engine, and Marketing Guru for AiT/Planet Lar has got himself some enthusiasm, and isn't exactly shy about sharing it.
This week? Deadlines and clip shows...
So, I gots me some enthusiasm.
I am under some wicked deadline pressure right now, trying to get stuff done before we leave for San Diego, and one of the first things to go is Fun Stuff in My Free Time. I can't read, watch a little TV, zone out at the beach, nothing. I have to work, I have to watch the kid, I have to eat, I have to sleep. So I almost missed sending in something as my enthusiasm for cool stuff was a little low.
I started thinking about what TV shows do when deadline pressures get to them, and I realized: clip show! You know, the one where the main character gets knocked unconscious and his friends all try to help him out of his coma by going over their past adventures. So you only have to write a little framing sequence that takes a day or so to shoot, and you fill in the rest of the hour with clips from the shows that explains the adventure.
Last fall, I told two funny stories you may have missed, featuring a subject I never broach and one I talk about every year at convention season. "So, remember that time Larry was rapping about a sequel to The Big Lebowski..."
My father-in-law and I were talking about THE BIG LEBOWSKI this weekend (I was wearing my MEDINA SOD bowling shirt and he recognized it right away), and I basically outlined what I would do with the next one, of course titled THE LITTLE LEBOWSKI, where Little Dude, now about 17, is a surfer/gofer for Da Fino and gets swept up into a missing persons case. Maude, his mother, has told him "your father died in childbirth," so Little Dude is surprised to get five grand in cash, two fake passports, and a dime bag of really good Thai stick in the mail one day. Turns out the missing person he's looking for is his own father, The Dude.
And there are people who don't want The Dude to be found...
Basically, I'd 2010 it. You can't out-trip the original, so do an adventure.
"...and then there was the time he started telling us about how to pitch to him at San Diego..."
Early days we used to get a lot of sci-fi pitches, but now our backlist is so broad and the common thread is basically that there is no common thread to what we publish, thematically, so we get a nice broad scope of stuff sent to us. Even though I don't make a secret of the fact that I don't want any pitches.
The thing that sort of drives me nuts isn't so much the kind of pitch as how people pitch. There was this poor bastard at San Diego last year who showed me his idea. Had a good title, the artist was standing right there, good stuff, so I ask him what it's about.
He could not tell me. He started off, "Well, OK, see, it starts off... well this'll be all backstory see..."
OK, I interrupt him. It's Sunday afternoon, I lost my voice on Thursday, this all looks good, just tell me what it's about. I'm tired and I haven't left this booth and my wife isn't here and if it wasn't for Ash no one would have talked to the other-media guys and I'm overloaded and I sort of don't care about your book. BUT. I am not so far away from your side of the table that I don't remember what it's like to dream comic book dreams and this art is decent and I sort of dig where you're going already so just tell me the plot.
And he just sort of freezes up.
OK, I dig it, I'm an acquired taste and am all big and scary and crazy and you read on the Internet that I'm a douchebag and you're starting to agree with the guy who said it, I get it, I'm sorry. You've seen STAR WARS, yeah?
"Of course," he says.
What's it about? I say.
And he tells me in about 45 seconds, beginning, middle, and end.
Awesome, I'd publish that, I say. Now do that for your story.
"Well, OK, see, it starts off... well, this'll be all backstory see..."
ARRRGGGH
I kept trying to tell him, of course it's all richly layered and deeply felt and emotionally resonant and whatnot. I wouldn't even be talking to him if I didn't see something in it. Just tell me the TV Guide blurb version of your story, so I get the gist and if it sounds good we'll talk at length later.
And he just couldn't do it.
I hope the guy gets his act together, because it's a good idea, but shy of completing the whole thing and sending it to me to read it, I'm not sure I'll be able to get out of him what it's actually about.
If you are reading this and recognize yourself, Anonymous Joe, rest assured I have all the materials you gave me, and when I get a minute, I'll email you to see how you're doing. Hope I didn't scare you away from comics.
But if I did with my coarse gruffness it's just as well as you couldn't have taken what message board people would have said about your stuff.
09:10 PM | Comments (0)
June 24, 2008
Book Review: Toronto Noir
Julian takes a look at Toronto Noir, one of a series of noir inspired compilations all set in a particular city.
Toronto Noir
Edited by Janine Armin and Nathaniel G. Moore
This book is the latest addition to Akashic Books' localized-Noir series, which include books such as Brooklyn Noir, Detroit Noir and Paris Noir, among many others.
As you may have guessed by now, the line consists of anthologies of noir stories that share one thing in common: the city in which every story in each particular book takes place. When the Toronto book was announced, I couldn't resist getting it out of curiosity from reading m mystery stories (a genre that I had left behind long ago) set in a very familiar location.
As it usually happens with anthologies, the stories vary wildly between hit and miss; which caused me to be a bit disappointed with the book at one point, since the stories are ordered in such a way that all the stories that weren't to my liking are one right after another. These stories suffered from a few different things but three seemed to be repeated offenses: some were too simplistic, by-the-numbers mystery. The kind of which any mystery fan has read a million while waiting for a flight. Others seemed to be missing the last few pages of the story. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for ambiguous endings to stories, allowing the reader to decide what happened... but there is such a thing as too open-ended: it doesn't take you to a point where the character faces a dilemma and ends right before a decision is made, it seems to end about ten pages before that point. The third and probably most annoying offense would be the writer really, really wanting you to know the story takes place in Toronto, taking the name-dropping of diners, restaurants shops and blurbs about them to a level where it's just too distracting.
Now, I mentioned that all the stories I didn't enjoy were clustered together; the other side of that coin means that all the stories I did enjoy also followed one another. And there are plenty of stories that I enjoyed in the book. Stories that were entertaining (Brianna South,) stories with a (broken) heart (The Emancipation of Christine Alpert, Tom) and just plain good old-fashioned mystery/crime/noir (Can't Buy Me Love, A Taste of Honey, A Bout of Regret, among others.) The good in this book easily outweighs the bad and does a great job at telling compelling stories and embedding them in the fabric of Toronto (without getting to the point where it seems a bit too eager to do so.)
09:27 PM | Comments (0)
Weekly Picks
Another week, another batch of solid recommendations from the RBN staff.
Mike's Pick of the Week: Ultimates 3 #4
Yes I know it's in vogue to bash anything Jeph Loeb does for Marvel. But I don't care. It's loud, dumb fun with the return of one of my favorite artists ever in Joe Madureira on pencils. Yes it's different than the equally delayed Millar/Hitch run but this one is more my speed. In a move I expect my fellow cohorts on RBN to disown me for I will also throw in as a bonus pick Jeph Loeb's Hulk #4. Another loud, dumb, fun book. Yes I like Jeph Loeb, there I said it.
Larry's Pick of the Week:Salt bagels
Lightly topped with salt crystals, salt bagels are the perfect breakfast. You can eat them alone, even. It's like having a soft pretzel to start your day. Mmmmm, salt bagels.
Julian's Pick of the Week:Toronto's Gay Pride Parade.
Just like every year, this weekend will conclude the Gay Pride week with the annual parade, in a celebration of openness, diversity and acceptance. Pride week and the parade bring around one million people to the city from all over the country and abroad. Personally, I think it's a great occassion to go out, see and meet different people and put in your two cents, support-wise for gay rights. Or you may just go and get drunk, whatever rocks your boat, as long as - in one way or another - you're contributing to wider acceptance (your own or someone else's) of anyone regardless of sexual orientation.
Erin's Pick of the Week:Liz Phair, Exile in Guyville
Some of you out there might say an indie-label reissue of this hipster classic is silly and that we don't need to know who Liz is singing these songs to. You might say that perhaps this anniversary cashing in is just the death throes of a generation's hipness. You might even say that Dave Matthews' introduction to the bonus dvd is clear proof that it's not relevant. But some of you might say that a reissue with a dvd is a pretty rad idea and that you love this cd and that you always knew Dave Matthews was hella cool. I'm definitely in the latter camp. Watch RBN for a personal essay reflecting on Exile later this week but, in the meantime, go buy the album with the bonus materials. Understand that this will satisfy you.
Rich's Picks of the Week:Umbrella Academy Apocalypse Suite TP
Probably the best superhero comic of the past year gets a chance to pick up some new readers as the 6 issue series is collected in this trade paperback edition. Written by My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way (yeah I know, but seriously, the dude can write comics) and illustrated by Brazillian wonder twin Gabriel Ba, this story about a disfunctional set of grown-up superhero siblings created by a mad scientist and bad dad is like a cross between The Royal Tenenbaums and The Incredibles.
Goodbye - The third volume of Drawn & Quarterly's reprints of Yoshihiro Tatsumi's life's work could be the darkest and strangest yet with stories originally published in the early '70's that deal with Hiroshima, prosititution during WWII and foot fetishism. As with the first two volumes, this handsome hardcover is designed by famed indie comics creator and major Tatsumi fan Adrian Tomine.
09:08 PM | Comments (0)
June 19, 2008
I Gots Me Some Enthusiasm
Larry Young, the Chief Visionary, Creative Engine, and Marketing Guru for AiT/Planet Lar has got himself some enthusiasm, and isn't exactly shy about sharing it.
This week? STAR TREK.
So, I gots me some enthusiasm.
Anyone who's ever come over to the house or had a beer with me somewhere or talked to me at a con or has traded emails with me knows I love STAR TREK. I'm all O.V. about TOS; loved the TNG. I know what those access tunnels they're always crawling through are called and I know who they're named after. I know as many words in Marc Okrand's Klingon as I do in French, and I'll bust out "magnatomic adhesion area" if you think you're all that in an old-school tête étêté with me about the show.
Noted scamp Rich Johnston even scored a picture of me twenty-nine years ago dressed up in a handmade Starfleet uniform and Vulcan ears (which were a lot harder to get in rural Vermont in 1979 that you might imagine) standing in line opening night for STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE. I saw it eight or nine times before I realized it wasn't even that good of a movie.
I even wrote a special for MTV shot of the bridge of the Enterprise-D. So I have a little ST cred, and I'm a little snobby about the ancillary stories, the paperbacks, the comics, what-have-you. Jeez, I don't even like VOYAGER and I barely watched ENTERPRISE.
But as I guy who trims his sideburns into Academy points (or, for that matter, even knows that the pointed sideburns that everyone wears in the future are even CALLED "Academy points") once a year when he shaves off his Riker-esque beard... take it from me:
I love IDW's STAR TREK line.
Now, some of the alien anthology books are sort of placeholders, and the NEW FRONTIER story "Turnaround" (about a former member of the crew with godlike powers and the crew of a timeship after him) seems a little too close to "For the Time Being" from PROOF OF CONCEPT for me to really enjoy it as a fan. But David Messina's art on the Next Gen characters is just great, and I make sure to read all the ones he works on.
But the one that's really doing it for me lately is John Byrne's ASSIGNMENT: EARTH.
Like most STAR TREK fans, I love that episode, and after I saw THE ROOKIES get introduced on S.W.A.T., I realized what a "back-door pilot" was. Who wouldn't have wanted to see Robert Lansing and Teri Garr cavorting across late 60s television screens?
Seems as though ol' JB has been thinking the same thing all these years, and has gotten Ted Adams to open the purse strings, because we're in the middle of what's been touted as the spin-off that didn't get made. And can I tell you?
It's awesome.
I know I'm breaking an unwritten rule of mine by even talking about comics here, because, you know, one assumes that if I write and letter and produce and publish comics, chances are very high I got some enthusiasm for the form, yeah? So taking time away from work and play to write up a quick column about comics I like seems a little water's-wet.
But dang if I don't have to say thanks to IDW and CBS and Big John for putting out this comic. Robert Lansing looks like Robert Lansing, Teri Garr looks like... well, a blonde John Byrne girl, but, still. He gets the clothes right and the cadence of the characters, and it's in service of a story you actually care about what happens. The first issue, about a Soviet spy sent to sabotage a US bomb test is a sort of by-the-numbers thing (which actually works for the time, as you'd imagine this'd be the sort of story that'd be told on network TV in the late 60s)... and yet ends so brutally, I sort of couldn't believe what I was reading.
The second issue FORREST GUMPs the ASSIGNMENT: EARTH characters back to the Enterprise for the events of the ST ep "Tomorrow is Yesterday," which, due to the peculiarities of time travel, happens after "Assignment: Earth" for Seven and Roberta, but before "Assignment: Earth" for the Enterprise crew.
Trust me, that sentence made sense to a STAR TREK fan.
02:35 PM | Comments (0)
June 17, 2008
David J. Williams interview
First time novelist and all around good guy David J. Williams stops by RBN to discuss his debut novel The Mirrored Heavens, a blending of military science fiction, political intrigue and kick ass action.
RBN: Can you walk us through this world you created? The political landscape, the zone, razors, mechs, The Mountain, Praetorians and the Throne...Conceptualizing this world must have taken a lot of time and research.
DW: Plus it meant I had no life. There's a lot of geopolitical and military data up on my website, www.autumnrain2110.com, but here's a quick glossary of terms:
The United States: The western superpower.
The Eurasian Coalition: The eastern superpower.
The Second Cold War: what the superpowers have been locked in since the middle of the 21st century.
The Zone: The future internet. Which has been divided along geopolitical lines to forestall viral incursions; i.e., there's no more world wide net. There's an Eastern net and a Western net, with totally separate operating protocols and hardware.
Runners: Espionage agents/cover operatives. There are two types:
Mechs: Short for mechanic, i.e., assassin. They kick down doors and smash in heads.
Razors: Hackers. Razors and mechs tend to work in pairs; what they don't tend to do, though, is trust each other.
The Mountain: The future New York.
The Commands: What the U.S. armed forces are divided into. As of 2110, there are five: Space, Info, Navy, Army and CounterIntelligence. And by the way, they hate each other.
Praetorians: The military/intelligence infrastructure that protects the U.S. president.
The Throne: Intel slang for the U.S. president.
The Elevator: the space elevator that's the joint construction of the superpowers and the living symbol of the détente that they've embarked upon. Until it gets blasted from the sky by. . .
Autumn Rain: The mysterious terrorist group that nukes the Elevator and that makes no demands whatsoever—but instead threatens the superpowers with total destruction. The race is on to stop the Rain before they can strike again . .
RBN: Talk a little bit about the major characters in The Mirrored Heavens, Claire Haskell, Jason Marlowe, The Operative, Spencer...
DW: Haskell: Razor. Works for CICom. (CounterIntelligenceCommand)
Marlowe: Mech. Works for CICom. He and Haskell used to be romantically linked, but they discover early in the book that their handlers are #$# with their memories, so . . it's complicated.
Carson (aka the Operative): Mech. Praetorian assigned to search for Autumn Rain base(s) on the Moon.
Lynx: Razor. Praetorian. Paired with Carson. No love lost between them.
Spencer: Razor. Works for the Priam Combine, a gang of Euro data thieves. He's infiltrated a U.S. defense contractor, and is living the paranoid life when someone shows up on his doorstep . .
Linehan: Mech. Blackmails Spencer into smuggling him out of the country. Claims he has vital data on Autumn Rain, but Spencer's wondering if all he's got is a big mouth (and the ability to kick serious ass).
Control: Spencer's AI handler, sequestered in an unmarked data tank in New York, and less than thrilled to hear about Linehan . . .
RBN: A lot of your characters are augmented in one way or another, either for electronic intrusion such as wirelessly connecting to The Zone in their heads or combat enhancement. Did you just let your imagination run wild or did you try to base a lot of their internal gear in reality?
DW: Both. On the wireless-brain interface, for example: there's no question that this is where it's all going, that ultimately the Web is going to get right inside us. The real question is the extent to which such mechanisms end up being vulnerable to abuse by governments, etc. (Obviously, in THE MIRRORED HEAVENS, that vulnerability is near total.)
RBN:Right from the get go the book has three fast paced storylines running with one over the top action scene after another, like the spaceplane crash landing in Hong Kong. Were you trying to outdo yourself constantly?
DW: Absolutely. The story-lines took over. They got very competitive with one another. Plus, they knew if they could step it up enough, they could take this all the way.
RBN: As a first time author can you talk a bit about the process for writing The Mirrored Heavens? Was it a difficult process?
DW: It was exhilarating and terrifying and I thought I'd never pull it off. There was endless toggling back and forth among plot, characters, and the world itself. This went on for years. And years. And years.
RBN: How did working in videogames help you with writing the book, if at all?
DW: With videogames, you're a participant. I wanted to try to recreate that experience in narrative. Part of this involved my resolution to make the book deliver combat scenes crazier than any you've ever seen. And part of it was more subtle: it became a play around what we know vs. what we don't. Specifically, the characters in the different plot-threads have different information. Sometimes they lack information. Sometimes their information conflicts. Meaning the reader isn't given easy answers—and they have to get involved if they want to keep up.
RBN: One of the most sexy tech items in Mirrored Heavens is the power armor both Marlowe and the Operative wear throughout. Where did that come from?
DW: From the realization that science fiction without powered armor is like beef stew without the beef.
RBN: I want to delve into the plot a bit if we can. It's pretty obvious early on that things might not be quite what they seem. What was it like layering the different levels in the story, figuring out all the twists and turns?
DW: I owe a big debt to John LeCarre, frankly: I've always loved his books for their twists—and for the twists piled upon twists. But building up that kind of intricate plot is a function of the world one creates. In THE MIRRORED HEAVENS, you've got two superpowers, each of which is divided into scores of factions. And then there's those who want nothing better than to seriously damage one or both of those superpowers. So the opportunity for intricate plots and backstabs is almost limitless.
RBN: You've decided to forgo chapter breaks and instead use character icons to differentiate between sections of the book. Why did you go that route?
DW:To make the book move faster. Chapters are borrrrrrring.
(Though the person who came up with those cool icons was my editor, Juliet Ulman. Who rules.)
RBN:. The Mirrored Heavens ends on a pretty stark note. I understand that this is just the first part of a trilogy. Can you talk about books two and three and when readers might expect them?
DW: Well, this is probably a good point to assure your readers that they'll get narrative payoff at the end of THE MIRRORED HEAVENS. It ends with a bang, not a cliffhanger. But it definitely leaves the door open for more to come. As to what happens next: all I'll say is that LEVIATHAN'S PROGENY will make the first book look like a particularly civilized tea-party.
RBN: And here's a silly one...
Who wins in a fight between Linehan, the Operative and Marlowe?
DW: That's a tough one. If I was a betting man, I'd probably go with Linehan, because he's the champ at fighting dirty.
RBN: What's next for you Dave?
DW:Well, across the next several days, I'm publishing my legendary, never-before-seen essay "Notes Toward a Theory of Space-Centric Warfare" on my website: www.autumnrain2110.com. If you want to understand the nuts n' bolts of strategy/warfare in the 22nd century, you won't want to miss it.
02:25 PM | Comments (0)
June 16, 2008
Weekly Picks
Another week, another batch of solid recommendations from the RBN staff.
Mike's Pick of the Week:
Charlie Huston's Joe Pitt Casebooks
Crime and mystery writer Charlie Huston has created a twisted netherworld Manhattan that coexists right alongside the one I work in every day. The streets are the same as are the seedy bars and pizza places, but in Joe Pitt's world there are also vampyres. Now normally vampires or in this case vampyres aren't something I go in for but Joe Pitt is just too good of a character to pass up on. Pitt is infected with something called the vyrus which requires blood to sustain before it eats him alive. There are some positives though, the vyrus makes Joe stronger and faster than a normal human and able to take ungodly amounts of damage. The negative reaction to sunlight is still there but these vampyres can and do go outside during the daylight, they just use protection.. But what you get is a noir fairytale with tough guy Pitt caught between the Society, a politicly correct commune where everyone is A OK to the mafia style Coalition who rules most of Manhattan. It makes for some fun reading. Rounding out the supporting cast is Evie, Joe's love interest who is HIV positive who Joe could cure in an instant as the vyrus destroys anything harmful to the host, to the Enclave who are a cult like group that live in a fortress in the meat packing district where the train in a bone breaking martial art and prepare for a savior to be able to walk into the daylight.
These books won't be for everyone. They are bleak and they are ultra violent. But if you like alternate takes on seemingly played out ideas, give this noir vampyre series a shot.
Larry's Pick of the Week:
JOIN ME by Danny Wallace.
Subtitled "The True Story of How One Man Started a Cult... by accident," journalist Danny Wallace placed an ad in a small London newspaper as a bit of a goof. JOIN ME, it said, with contact info. Asked for a recent photo, just to prove your were a person. No other info.
Just, you know, as a lark. To see what would happen.
And then. From all over the world. People did. They had no idea what they were joining, and yet, that sort of didn't matter. Equal parts of hope and humor, inspiration and despair, good deeds and bad curry, imagine a book written by Monty Python about that one time when they found themselves in control of an army of believers, who were looking to them for inspiration.
It goes from a joke, to... well:
"His Royal Highness applauds the initiative taken to establish Join Me and is thrilled that so many good deeds have been done as a result... The prince of Wales congratulates all Joinees for their good deeds so far and has asked me to send his very best wishes for future acts of kindness." The Office of Prince Charles
http://www.join-me.co.uk/
Julian's Pick of the Week:
Summer '08 is looking like the best moment to be a comic book nerd. Starting with 2000's X-Men, Hollywood started paying attention to the medium in a way it never did before. Sure, there were the Superman and Batman franchises but those seemed to be the exception and definitely not the rule (as Steel, Supergirl, Tank Girl and many others proved.) Now, this summer we have got one of the best superhero movies ever made in Iron Man, a big budget Hulk reboot and two upcoming (and excellent-looking) others: Hellboy II - The Golden Army and The Dark Knight, along with another one that should have been a comic book (specially if it had been produced by John Arcudi and Doug Mahnke) in Hancock.
If those weren't enough, Hellboy II is Guillermo Del Toro latest effort. Guillermo "MY NEXT MOVIE IS THE HOBBIT" Del Toro, which I'd assume played a part (along with his good-beyond-words Pan's Labyrinth) in getting him into the director's chair to direct the story of Bilbo Baggins.
It's a good time to be a nerd, particularly a comic book nerd.
Erin's Pick of the Week:
Raymond K. Feist's Riftwar Saga: I know I might be letting my nerd show, but this fantasy series is not to be missed. Complete with magicians, invasions from other worlds, monsters, sleeping princesses and zombies, Feist's Riftwar books take us to the world of Midkemia and focus primarily on the Kingdom of the Isles with visits to the planet Kelawar. We're introduced to this world in Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master, the story of a young boy discovering his magical abilities between being kidnapped by aliens and fighting a war at, like, fourteen. The story continues with a focus on the Kingdom's royal family in Silverthorn (see: sleeping princess) and A Darkness at Sethanon, which features lots of creepy zombies. And who doesn't love creepy zombies? An oldie, but a goodie, I'm going to recommend this to any lovers of High Adventure out there.
Ash's Pick of the Week:
Ash is off in sunny Orlando this week, but were he here, he'd be extolling the virtues of Primavera's ProSight application. As an Enterprise Portfolio Management solution, ProSight is easily and infinitely customizable to your company's portfolio management needs. Prioritization is a snap with customizable investor maps, "what-if" scenario building and constraint analysis, and Primavera supports integration with key enterprise solutions like MS Project Server. ProSight is fully customizable out of the box, but Primavera also supplies "Fast Track" configurations, allowing organizations to leverage industry best practices for the foundation of their configuration, and then tweak to meet their individual needs.
Rich's Pick of the Week:
Y The Last Man Vol 10 Whys And Wherefores TP. This is it, trade-waiters. The conclusion to Brian K. Vaughan and Pia Guerra's excellent post-apocalyptic sci-fi epic about Yorick Brown, the last man on earth, is finally collected in this new trade paperback. I've been avoiding spoilers for the last few months ever since the final issue was released and hopefully I can avoid them for a couple of more days before I have a chance to read this. I'm currently re-reading volumes 1-9 to lead myself in to this final volume.
11:54 PM | Comments (0)
June 12, 2008
I Gots Me Some Enthusiasm
Larry Young, the Chief Visionary, Creative Engine, and Marketing Guru for AiT/Planet Lar has got himself some enthusiasm, and isn't exactly shy about sharing it.
With gas prices skyrocketing across the US Larry's talking alternative means of transportation this week.
So, I gots me some enthusiasm.
When I first got to San Francisco, one of my pals sold me an old Yamaha Riva he had, and I put almost 30,000 miles on it in 13 years. Man, I loved that old piece of junk. Seventy miles a gallon, two bucks to fill up the tank, fifty bucks a year in insurance; park wherever you want. And since San Francisco is a two-wheel-friendly town with better weather than most places, you can use it all year long.
Near the end there it was spending more time in the shop than on the road, so I ended up getting a Derbi Boulevard:
And I rode that all around until the baby came and I had to swap over to the CRV. But every once in awhile, I go up to the store or have to head somewhere where I don't feel like finding a spot to park the car, so I get on the ol' scooter and scoot from here to there. But I find myself driving a lot more carefully, and stopping at four way intersections like a little old lady instead of rolling through with a "Sunset Stop" like everyone else out here in the Avenues, because my baby needs his Daddy.
So Mimi was getting the boy bundled up to go to Day Care and head off to Adobe, and I strapped him in his seat in the back of the Scion and asked her, "Hey, you have your phone, yeah?" Mimi's got a lot of stuff going on and even though she needs that thing to get through the day, she often forgets it. "Yes, I have my phone," she said, and she split for work.
I walked upstairs to get some breakfast before I finish up lettering Dugout, and sure enough, there's her phone, sitting on the table.
Well, I can't call her and tell her to come back and get it, what with her phone being in the kitchen instead of with her. I can call Sofiya's and tell them to tell her to come back and get her phone, but she'll be late for a work meeting. I can get in the car and chase her down, but I'll never catch up to her with all the morning traffic.
But then I remember that I gots me some enthusiasm for my old faithful scooter, who's just waiting in the garage for me to take 'im out for this sort of family emergency. So I fire up the engine and go up Rivera until I cross Sunset, take a right at the first stop sign and head up Santiago, missing all the lights and signs and the crazy traffic on Taraval. I get there right as Mimi is ringing Sofiya's doorbell.
"What are you doing?" she laughed.
"Forget something?"
"No... oh."
So I gave her her phone and waved goodbye, and the Boulevard and I went home. Where he sits in the garage, waiting until the next time we can go out and play.
01:14 AM | Comments (0)
June 11, 2008
Spirited Away
Debuting RBN's newest feature, Spirited Away take it away Ash...
Spirited Away is the start of a new feature here at Rescued By Nerds, one in which I talk about one of my favorite topics - booze.
Welcome!
Spirited Away is the start of a new feature here at Rescued By Nerds, one in which I talk about one of my favorite topics - booze. Whether you're a seasoned drinker or a tender newbie, I've got advice and experiences to share. We'll take deep-dives into types of alcohol, find new cocktail recipes, explore bars around the USA and stumble off the beaten path over the course of this column. If you have any questions or recommendations, you should send them via e-mail, and I'll find a way to take a shot at them!
summerdrinks
The time is right for dancin' in the streets, and if we're gonna do some dancin' or anything that involves public humiliation, refreshing drinks are in store. Here are a few recipes for drinks that are guaranteed to beat the heat!
Mint Julep
1/2 part Simple Syrup
3 parts Bourbon
Mint leaves
Ice
First, crush the mint and ice in a glass - traditionalists will tell you that you only need to bruise the mint, but that the ice needs to be utterly destroyed. Unless said person is offering you silver cups for drinking, you can sorta ignore the sensitivity. Simple syrup is made by boiling sugar and water for five minutes in a 1 cup-to-1 cup ratio. As far as bourbons go, something mid-range like Bulleit will work, Knob Creek tends to overpower the mint and Basil Hayden's, while a little pricey, makes one HELL of a mint julep. The end result should be crisp and refreshing, almost like iced tea with a shotgun kick.
Tequila Sunrise
2 1/2 parts Tequila
3 parts Orange Juice
Splash of Grenadine
Ice
My very first Fisher Price drink. Serve the Tequila Sunrise in a highball glass, drop in the ice and tequila, then pour orange juice and splash Grenadine. Stir and serve with a cherry garnish if you're hosting people, otherwise, why waste time with the fruit? The tequila will accentuate the citrus bite and the Grenadine will keep things on the sweet side. Don't use Cuervo (ever), but I wouldn't use my nicest tequila either - a decent Reposado will keep things sweet yet punchy.
Midori Sour
3 parts Midori (or melon liquor)
3/4 part Sweet and Sour Mix
Ice
One for the gals, Midori is a Japanese liquor flavored like melon, and a Midori Sour is a confection more than it is a cocktail, but light drinkers who prefer to not taste their alcohol will love this drink. Sugary and syrupy, this drink has an edge, but it'll sip smoothly.
I Gots Me Some Gin-thusiasm
The much-maligned gin is a misunderstood spirit; dating back to the 1600s, gin (like many other liquors) was originally a medicinal drink, and consists of a white grain spirit flavored with juniper berries. Popular brands include Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire, but one should also note Plymouth gin, as well as artisanal brands like No. 209 and Old Junipero. Common gin drinks contrast the astringent nature of gin with biting flavors, lime being a very common garnish. It's rare to see gin imbibed outside of a cocktail - the flavor is entirely too strong to drink straight, and mixers tend to bring out the numerous flavors contained within the spirit. Two of the most basic gin drinks follow:
Gin and Tonic
1 part Plymouth Gin
1/2 part Tonic Water
Ice
Garnish with lime
Stir this drink with your straw; this old standby benefits greatly from Plymouth Gin, which is much sweeter than most common gin brands. Plymouth Gin should be available at most liquor stores, and typically runs in the $18-25 range in the US.
Martini
3 parts gin
Vermouth*
Ice*
Garnish with olives
Please, do not actually pour Vermouth into your drink. Store a few ice cubes in the glass, combine your gin and ice into a shaker and shake the hell out of the gin. Pour the Vermouth into your glass, swish the glass around so that the glass is coated with a fine layer of the wine, and then pour the liquid down the drain. Strain the chilled gin into your glass, add a touch of olive juice if you want it "dirty," and go to town.
Beer of the Month
Last month I had the pleasure of participating in San Francisco's annual Bay to Breakers race, which is as much a parade if not a race. Our group rolled (walked?) strong with several kegs of beer (really, you have to see this event to believe it), and the MVP of the day was Lost Coast Brewery's Tangerine Wheat. Brewed in Eureka, California, the Tangerine Wheat has a healthy body and a crisp flavor that isn't bogged down with too much wheat or cut too harshly with too much citrus. Refreshing, medium-bodied, and the perfect beer for mile five of a seven-and-a-half mile hike, Lost Coast's Tangerine Wheat will help you soak up some sun and help you stay light on your feet.
05:08 AM | Comments (0)
June 09, 2008
Weekly Picks
Another week, another batch of solid recommendations from the RBN staff.
Mike's Pick of the Week:
Metal Gear Solid 4.
Hideo Kojima wraps up one of the most beloved video game sagas of all time this week when MGS4 debuts. Spoiler reports tell us that this game wraps up ever single dangling plot thread from the entire series and sees Solid Snake off in next gen style. If you were on the fence about picking up a PS3, this is the game you've been waiting for to convince you.
Larry's Pick of the Week:
English as She is Spoke, "...a 60-page pamphlet printed in Britain in 1883, consisting of selections from Pedro Carolino's The New Guide of the Conversation in Portuguese and English, which had been published a few decades earlier. Carolino's work was a phrase book, containing English words and phrases that a foreigner could use during travel in the British Isles. However, there was one problem: Carolino had no knowledge of English whatsoever."
Ah, the honest attempt at communication, gone spectacularly awry.
Mark Twain loved the book so, he wrote an introduction to the 1887 American Edition: "In this world of uncertainties, there is, at any rate, one thing which may be pretty confidently set down as a certainty: and that is, that this celebrated little phrase-book will never die while the English language lasts. Its delicious unconscious ridiculousness, and its enchanting naiveté, as are supreme and unapproachable, in their way, as are Shakespeare's sublimities. Whatsoever is perfect in its kind, in literature, is imperishable: nobody can imitate it successfully, nobody can hope to produce its fellow; it is perfect, it must and will stand alone: its immortality is secure."
Julian's Pick of the Week:
Bigfoot: I Not Dead by Graham Roumieu
The third book in Roumieu's Bigfoot (after In Me Own Words: The Autobiography of Bigfoot and Me Write Book: It Bigfoot Memoir) is now available. Bigfoot continues to present us with his own bittersweet take on life in the woods, people's (wrong) perceptions of him and the trials and tribulations that life presents when you are a big, hairy missing link are as funny as ever.
Erin's Pick of the Week:
Emmylou Harris, Wrecking Ball: My girl, Emmylou, has a new album coming out today that, naturally, I haven't heard. All I Intended To Be isn't available yet because people never want to leak the good stuff, you know? Wrecking Ball came out in 2005 and was produced by...wait for it...Daniel Lanois. Yes, that Daniel Lanois got his little electronic hands on sweet Emmylou and the result was, surprisingly, excellent. Never big on writing, though capable, Ms. Harris reinterprets a sterling collection of songs, ranging from Steve Earle to Jimi Hendrix with an alternative bent, as opposed to her usual folky country sound. Again, stay with me, it's good. Neil Young provides backing vocals on two tracks and, man, Emmylou can sing with people. My personal favorite track, however, would almost have to be the haunting "Deeper Well", written by Lanois and Harris with writing credit also going to troubadour David Olney. So, we'll probably pick up the new stuff today but you better believe I listened to Wrecking Ball last night.
Ash's Pick of the Week:
Eternals vol. 1 (Marvel): I'll admit - I'm the last guy who is a historian of comics; I'd rather read tomorrow's stories than yesterday's. Every week, tons of reprints hit the comics shop that I don't jump out of my chair to mention, but I'll make a case for all of the Jack Kirby reissues that we've seen recently, because the man was telling stories in ways that we still haven't caught up to. Eternals is the book that followed Kirby's New Gods, and 19 issues of human evolution, alien intervention, and the looming judgment of the Celestials are collected over the course of two volumes. Recommended for die-hard Kirby fans or those looking for something totally off the wall.
Rich's Pick of the Week:
Freddie & Me by Mike Dawson. The new graphic novel, collecting a story that Dawson has been previously publishing on his website, is a heartfelt memoir about his childhood as a huge fan of the band Queen. Everyone has a band or a musician that they were really into in their formative years and for Dawson it was Freddie Mercury and Queen. Not always the coolest of rock stars for a kid to be into. And when Freddie Mercury died, it hit poor Mike really hard. I've read a nice chunk of this online and look forward now to seeing it in print.
07:41 PM | Comments (0)
June 04, 2008
I Gots Me Some Enthusiasm
Larry Young, the Chief Visionary, Creative Engine, and Marketing Guru for AiT/Planet Lar has got himself some enthusiasm, and isn't exactly shy about sharing it.
This week Larry talks LOST.
So, I gots me some enthusiasm.
Those of you who surf around our sister site know that I gots me some enthusiasm for LOST. The final episode of the fourth season just aired, and I thought it'd be cool to hit some talking points. Now, me... I'm not going to talk about them, because there's places for that. But I wanted to watch the whole thing and point out the stuff that Professor Steve Higgins is going to like. If you don't watch LOST, you're not going to have any idea what I'm talking about:
1. It's awesome that they begin the season 4 finale right where the season 3 finale ends.
2. Kate says its three years later.
3. "Dude! You came back! How'd you know where to find me?"
4. Keamy says: "Tell me something, Ben. What is it that makes you so important?"
5. The whispers take out the Rambo guys?
6. Badass Sayid
7. "You know my grandson. We've traveled all the way across the country just so he could see you."
8. The Sawyer and Hurley Show.
9. "It's not an island."
10. I dunno what it is but I love Faraday's eight grade science teacher tie.
11. "Who told you you could eat those peanuts?"
12. Miles: "I'm surprised you want to leave... It's just weird, after all that time you spent trying to get back here."
Charlotte: "What do you mean, 'get back here'?"
Miles: "What do I mean?"
13. Kasimir effect.
14 "If you mean the time-traveling bunnies... then, yes."
15. "Hands and feet inside the vehicle!"
16. "My name is John Locke... and I have no conflict with you."
17. "Just do it, Freckles."
18. "I think visiting hours are over, dude."
19. "Checkmate, Mister Eko."
20. "Oh, bloody hell."
21. "You are a father now. Get to your wife and get her home."
22. The whispers... right before Micheal goes.
23. "As you know, we're not the only ones who've left the island."
24. "Sometimes good command decisions get compromised by bad emotional responses."
25. Whoever moves the island can never com back.
26."Hello, John. Welcome home."
27. "I hope you're happy now, Jacob.
28. "Get your life vests, we're going in...!"
29. The white rabbit poster in Aaron's room during Kate's dream.
30: Claire: "Don't you dare bring him back!"
31. "Jack, I know I'm new to this group and everything but isn't this the place where everyone starts jumping up and down and hugging each other and everything?"
32. Penny?
33. "It's nice to meet you, Penny. But we need to talk."
34. "Don't let them find you, Desmond."
35. "Let's go home."
36. Hoffs/Drawlar
37. "Did he tell you I was off the island?"
38. ALL OF YOU HAVE TO GO BACK.
...ahhhhh, yes. This is the most satisfying, best-written show on television.
09:00 PM | Comments (0)
An Actual Girl or I Hate Capes
In Erin's latest column, she talks about why girls love Warren Ellis.
"So it's all about gender roles and equality and looking out for people. It's mostly, actually, about this grand political thing but Warren Ellis takes the time to really paint us a picture that's about feelings and friendship and love and doing something important and it's way more textured than, say, something like the X-Men. It's moving in a way that really kind of transcends the main storyline and throws in other stuff, like why it's important to educate your kids. And it's pretty. It's a comic that cares."
...
"I like the X-Men."
So the conversation went when I was trying to convince my husband to read Transmetropolitan after I went on a massive weekend-long trade binge. It was beautiful, me curling up on the couch watching Yelena and Spider fall in love or like or whatever one can substitute for it in this day and age while the hours spun by me. After that, I settle in for a heady dose of Planetary. I was calling my disconnection from anything remotely resembling the real world "research", as one of my fellow writers had encouraged me to write about my love for Warren Ellis to try to explain why women like him so much. My response to that, sadly, was a blank "We do?"
Though, in retrospect, I can see it. Ellis bridges the gap between comics that involve some good old fashioned blowin' stuff up and fuzzy comics about our feelings. He can have a pair of drug-addicts end up like Ricky and Lucy out in the country and we believe it. Elijah Snow, Planetary's ageless hero, has a team of assistants that he'd rescued from various circumstances while they were mere babies backing him up and a mission to save the whole wide freaky world. And access to really, really big guns. And, hell, Black Summer is the darkest buddy comic in the universe - a bunch of friends become capes only to have it go horribly, horribly wrong. How do the pieces react? Who stays together, who causes trouble, who is going to save the day?
But beyond all that gushy stuff, Ellis creates entire worlds for us to play in with him. Whether he's taking existing places like London and turning them into a post-apocalyptic ice-cream colored dream (Freak Angels, available FOR FREE online at (www.freakangels.com and totally worth paying for, if it ever comes down to that) or creating new ones like the ever-surprising Heavenside, as seen in the intriguing Doktor Sleepless. Heavenside actually seems like any old city we've visited until the Shrieky Girls share a dance between a thousand of them via their skin-deep internet connections and the good Doktor flips on his sky light and broadcasts his madness over the radio waves. There's something compelling about Warren's worlds. Planetary is a rich tapestry of weird that one could spend weeks getting lost in. The man knows how to paint a picture with words and find the perfect people to paint them with, well, paint.
Under all of that, in almost everything that Warren Ellis is putting out today, is a savage social commentary on the state of global politics, especially those in the good ol' US of A. And while that intrigues me, as he is decidedly not a native son, I kind of want to ask him what he thinks when things he wrote about keep happening, especially as his Avatar releases get edgier and edgier. His constant balance between the personal, the global and the artistic is a sight to behold. Beyond the pen and ink drawings of 4-color comic books, there's the breathtaking Available Light, an artsy-ish coffee table book. Available Light, released on AiT/Planet Lar*, is a collection of photographs taken with a camera phone (before they were on every free phone, making it, you know, cool) and accompanied by a short story (flash fiction, also before it was cool). This is some of Ellis' bravest work, going forward and back and even giving us a touching look into the birth of his daughter. If you don't listen to anything else I say in this love letter to a cranky artiste, listen to this - go buy Available Light. And not just because Larry Young* and Warren Ellis are righteous dudes.
Warren's worlds are not always pretty ones, with hope only there for those worthies who seek and deserve it, and I wonder if it makes him nervous to be our funnybook Cassandra, crying our doom from the shelves of our local comic book store.
* Larry Young, in the interest of full disclosure, also writes the fabulous I Gots Me Some Enthusiasm for RBN and has the cutest! baby! ever! Seriously. In between all this, he's the force behind AiT/Planet Lar. Well, most of it, anyway.
04:32 PM | Comments (0)
June 03, 2008
Weekly Picks
Another week, another batch of solid recommendations from the RBN staff.
Mike's Pick of the Week:
David J Williams first novel The Mirrored Heavens is set in a dystopian future in the midst of a new cold war. The book follows three main characters, an aging government hitman, a Razor, which is a super hacker, and a Mechanic who pilots something like an Iron Man suit on steroids. From Williams rat a tat prose to the purely cyberpunk settings to the blistering action sequences and sharp political commentary this book is worth a read from anyone who likes military scifi, post cyberpunk or old classic cyberpunk. Williams debut is a strong one and with a new breed including him, Richard Morgan and David Gunn it's a great time to be a scifi fan.
Larry's Pick of the Week:
Everyone my age is running things. How else to explain using Mr. Bill to sell a debit card to the kids?
Mr. Hands pours hot coffee on him (“coffee: $2”), a personal trainer launches him off a treadmill (“gym: $59/mo.”), and an opened briefcase flips him onto the windshield of a city bus (“briefcase: $120”). Mr. Bill, rolling with endless punches, just enjoys the ride home: “Making it through the day: priceless.” A voice-over adds, “For whatever comes your way, there’s debit MasterCard.”
Can Max Headroom's return be so very far behind?
Erin's Pick of the Week:
"You! Me! Dancing!", Los Campesinos!: Look, I understand that I am the last person in the entire world to hear this song (but when I did, it was on NPR for bonus points). I get it, okay? I am neither on the cutting edge of music nor cool anymore and I'm down with that. I'm old. I'm married to someone who, lately, has been listening to Vince Gill or Iron Maiden and he gets home from work first, giving him total dominance over the hi-fi. But, oh, my god, what is that? Is that an xylophone? Handclaps? A chorus of drunken, twee Welsh folk? I think this song is the aural equivalent of at least two cups of coffee and some pixy sticks and that, if you haven't heard it, you need to go download it right now. No, not later - now. It's happy, it's perfect for those mornings when you can't seem to kick yourself out of your bathrobe and get dressed for work, it's going to irritate someone in your life. It's about DANCING! and bubblegum pop needed this. So do you.
Julian's Pick of the Week:
It's summer in Toronto, what does that mean? Well... a lot of patio-drinking, to be honest, as canadians rush to spend as much time outdoors as they can before Winter comes back. But other than patio drinking, summer in Toronto is synonymous with events and festivals all over the city, many of which are film-related (such as HotDocs for documentaries, the Hispanic Film Festival that was a previous pick and the Gay & Lesbian one that I completely missed sad.gif ) But I digress; June 10 - June 15 is when the Worldwide Short Film Festival is back in town. With films grouped into categories such as Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me, Sci-fi: Out There, Midnight Mania: Creepy, Japanese Spotlight: Emerging Auteur Aminators and Creatures Great And Small, among others, it seems that Torontonians are in for a treat.
Schedules, info, tickets and more at http://www.worldwideshortfilmfest.com/
Rich's Pick of the Week:
Fables Vol. 10: The Good Prince - It feels like a long time since we got a new trade of Vertigo's best ongoing series. Probably because this latest book collects a full 10 issues, which will make for a nice bit of reading. Volume 9, with it's imagined invasion of the Mundy World by the Adversary's forces was my favorite volume since March of The Wooden Soldiers, so needless to say I'm jazzed for this one.
12:37 PM | Comments (0)