Thursday, November 15, 2007

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

New World Order: Immemorial Tales of the Third Army

Inspired by the research of occult master Jordan Maxwell, New World Order is the story of a young group of truthseekers called the Third Army and their enigmatic leader Max as they confront the modern realities of a world that has been plunged into chaos by entities working to bring about a New World Order. With unique symbolic interpretations, detailed footnotes and encounters with 'real-life' modern-revolutionary thinkers, New World Order explores such themes as secret societies, religious controversies, occult philosophies, UFO’s and government conspiracies with the purpose of preparing the world for a new age of enlightenment by the means of an intellectual re-evolution.

Not only is New World Order a compelling story that explores many of the problems that the world faces today but it is also the untold story of the 'Lonely Ones,' the real-life truthseekers who are attempting to awaken the masses to a world that is torn between it’s own unlimited potential for greatness and it’s own self-destruction.

Sheep to the Slaughter

Most folks will tell you that nicotine only reached Europe after that old scoundrel Sir Walter Raleigh imported the idea of smoking to the Old World. (Technically, Europe is not older than the Americas, but we’ll let that one hang there for the rest of the essay. We expect to be forgiven for our laziness.) Well, it may probably have been Raleigh’s employee Thomas Hariot, since Raleigh himself never even set foot in America… at least not by boat. (I’ll get back to that.) However, since we have Egyptian and even German corpses with nicotine in their tissues from nearly two thousand years before Columbus was an itch in his daddy’s pants, we find ourselves forced to confront the possibility that there was, in fact, some form of transatlantic contact between Europe and Africa and the Americas stretching back to the times before Christ. And since there’s hashish in them there corpses, we also find ourselves considering the involvement of our favorite Ismaili assassins, the hashishin, and where there’s hashishin, can the Knight’s Templar be far behind? Well, sure, they could be. However, since I’m not fond of playing by the rules, I have to suspect they won’t be. Speculating on Egyptian mummies loaded with cocaine and nicotine and hashish, and Peruvian mummies with the same, necessarily leads us to Roanoke Island.

"Rosemary's Baby" and "Boys From Brazil" author Ira Levin dies

Ira Levin, author of the best-selling horror and suspense novels 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'The Stepford Wives' and 'The Boys from Brazil,' all later made into popular films, has died at age 78, according to media reports.

The New York Times reported that Levin died on Monday at his Manhattan home. It quoted his son Nicholas as saying the death was apparently of natural causes.

"Rosemary's Baby," about a woman who believes she has been impregnated by the devil, was published in 1967 and made into an Oscar-winning movie the following year starring Mia Farrow and directed by Roman Polanski.

Levin's 1972 novel 'The Stepford Wives' involved husbands in a Connecticut town replacing their wives with submissive robots. It was twice adapted by Hollywood -- a 1975 film starring Katharine Ross, and a 2004 version with Nicole Kidman.

'The Boys From Brazil,' published in 1976, featured the infamous Nazi doctor, Josef Mengele, seeking to clone a new Third Reich. The 1978 film version starred Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier. Levin's first novel, 'A Kiss Before Dying,' published in 1953, was twice made into movies.

Audition: Warner Bros. Superheroes

"Most popular DC comic book heroes"? Does this sound like the JLA to anyone else?

Sounds to me that they're looking for unknowns, which would lead me to think that the "big guns" aren't going to be a part of the movie.

*This is a search for the 8-9 leads for this action feature film based on the most popular DC comic book heroes.*

We are looking for Male actors 18-35 years old; Caucasian and Black. The primary focus should be to find Caucasian actors. There is 1 role for the Black Actor.

We are looking for Female actors 20-32 years old; any ethnicity.

The aim of this audition process is to learn about the sensibilities, range, humor, delivery and life experience of each actor. We are looking for great actors who enjoy working in an ensemble. ( Improvisational skills, theater training and comedy would be useful.) We will also need to keep in mind that we are looking for physically fit actors with good body types. Please have the actors wear form fitting clothes.

I've Got Your Sorcerer Supreme

A 'bungling' voyeur who spied on a 22-year-old woman in a tanning booth has been given a suspended jail term.

Stephen Strange, 43, of Chippenham, who admitted voyeurism, watched the woman undress and lie on a bed in July 2005.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Scott King vs TSA – Winner: TSA

On a level, I think that he brought some of this on himself (see the link for his general attitude towards the screening process and the fact that he left his bags outside of a bathroom) but the thought that reading a particular comic makes one a terrorist is just bothersome and yet symptomatic of the overall level of "Thought Crime" sometimes in this country.

Probably not the thing that I want to be putting on my blog but oh well.

The second problem was that I had several graphic novels with me. I had planned to read them on the plane. I had 'DMZ' volumes 1, 2 & 3, 'The Nightly News,' and 'Artemis Fowl.' The guard flipped through 'DMZ' saw a ravaged New York City and them immediately called for two other security guards to join him in the room. I was then questioned for over an hour about the comics and why I had them. I was point blank asked if I was a terrorist or if I ever had desires to harm other. The whole ordeal was completely ridiculous. I can understand them being cautious but going ballistic because of the graphic novels I had with me is taking it too far.


Ironically, he was apparently coming here to Cleveland. I guess that I should leave my copies of "DMZ" at home when I travel this Christmas season.

By the way, if you haven't picked up Brian Wood's thoroughly brilliant "DMZ" book yet, you really should. The first taste is (almost) free, with DC/Vertigo offering the first trade collection for only $9.95. It's harder and harder to find comics at that pricing anymore.

If you don't know about the book, check out the Wikipedia page. It's OK by Wikipedia standards.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Norman Mailer dead at age 84 - Yahoo! News

This is a great blow to American literature. I was even talking about him recently with Jonny. If nothiing else, The Naked and the Dead and The Armies of the Night should be required of every American literature program in this country. The fact that it isn't is a crime.

Norman Mailer, the macho prince of American letters who for decades reigned as the country's literary conscience and provocateur with such books as 'The Naked and the Dead' and 'The Executioner's Song' died Saturday, his literary executor said. He was 84.

Mailer died of acute renal failure at Mount Sinai Hospital, said J. Michael Lennon, who is also the author's biographer.

From his classic debut novel to such masterworks of literary journalism as 'The Armies of the Night,' the two-time Pulitzer Prize winner always got credit for insight, passion and originality.

Friday, November 09, 2007

IGN: Exclusive Ultimates 3 Preview


There's nothing like fresh art from Joe Madureira and Christian Lichtner to make your day. When these images hit our inbox earlier this afternoon, we did a happy little jig. Then we figured you might like to take a look at them. Written by the Eisner-winning, Emmy-nominated Jeph Loeb, this eight-page sequence re-introduces Venom to the Ultimate Universe, and he's out for blood.

Newsarama: A Union - Can/Should It Happen In Comics?

See answers from Steve Niles, Robert Kirkman, Brad Meltzer, Peter David and many others.

As the strike by members of the Writer's Guild of America dominated discussions in the entertainment industry this week, Newsarama decided to utilize this month's question for 'The Q' to allow creators to share their opinions on whether writers in the comic book industry should form a similar union.

Earlier this week, Newsarama shared comments on the WGA strike by Brian K. Vaughan, who supported the idea of a union for comic book writers. But as he and others have pointed out, starting a union for creators in this industry has been tried before by creators like Arnold Drake and others – but none of those attempts have been successful.

So it's time for creators to sound off on the issue as we asked the question:

- Should comic book writers unionize? Could they unionize?