Friday, May 29, 2009

Doctor Who's new companion unveiled as 21-year-old Karen Gillan

The BBC today unveiled the companion who will join new Doctor Who Matt Smith next year – 21-year-old Scottish actor Karen Gillan.

Gillan, who has previously appeared in Doctor Who as a soothsayer in 2008 episode The Fires Of Pompeii, as well as in Rebus and The Kevin Bishop Show, will join Smith for the new series of the hit sci fi drama, which begins filming this summer and will air on BBC1 in spring next year.

However, the BBC has not yet revealed what her character will be called.

Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Archie Proposes to Veronica in Archie #600

I say this completely without sarcasm but this is probably the biggest comic book-related story of at least the last 10-15 years. In a setting where things are even more unchanging than the most staid super-hero book having a plot development like Archie picking between Betty and Veronica is huge. I'm hoping that this is something that they stick with at Archie and don't write it off as "just a dream" or something similar.
The eternal love triangle is the cornerstone of Archie Comics for over 65 years—and the bane of Archie Andrews' existence! In fact, over the years it has not only defined the Betty/Archie/Veronica relationship, but has even threatened to dismantle it a time or 20.

Never was this more evident than in the landmark 'Love Showdown' storyline from 1994 and '95. When Archie Comics announced that Archie Andrews may finally choose between Betty & Veronica once and for all, the response from the media, fans and retailers alike was unprecedented—and with good reason! The landmark 'Love Showdown' storyline threatened the certainty of the love triangle and all it stood for, nearly bringing an end to the friendships of all three characters as Archie chose old flame Cheryl Blossom at story’s end!

Like it says right here:
In fact, we'll even go so far as to call it the Archie Story of the Century. With a title like 'Archie Marries Veronica Part 1: The Proposal,' how could we call it anything else?!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Danger Mouse to release blank CD

Music producer Danger Mouse is to release a blank CD, after record label EMI reportedly cancelled his new album.

Dark Night Of The Soul, a collaboration with rock group Sparklehorse, also features Iggy Pop and The Flaming Lips, along with artwork by David Lynch.

It has already been streamed online, but Billboard magazine said a 'legal dispute' with EMI derailed the project.


Here's a little more from Rolling Stone that might fill in some of the gaps. Its still a bit weird.
The disagreement between Danger Mouse and EMI likely roots back to the Jay-Z/Beatles mash-up The Grey Album he made in 2004. The brilliant combination of The White Album with The Black Album catapulted DM (real name Brian Burton) from bedroom producer to international star, but it came with a price: it infuriated the massive label group, which controls the rights to the Beatles’ recordings.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Benson & Glass on 'Luke Cage: Noir'

Marvel Comics has been navigating the seas of genre-writing for 70 years now—but it was not until earlier this year that the superheroes of the Marvel Universe stepped into a world unlike any What If or alternate timeline—they went 'Noir'. And now, Luke Cage, a character born during a different era of genre writing is getting his second comeuppance in recent years with a Noir mini-series. Luke Cage Noir, an August-debuting four issue mini-series written by Mike Benson and Adam Glass with artwork by Shawn Martinbrough, sets one of Marvel's A-list African American characters in an era of American history infamous for its practices of prohibition and racial segregation. If you’re not familiar with his work, Adam Glass is a relatively new voice in comics; he and Benson are working together currently on the Deadpool: Suicide Kings mini-series.

To Hell With Spandex

The 1970s was verily the decade of the occult, to a level of national fascination (at least in the UK) that is hard to understand if you weren't there. Tarot cards fell out of Christmas crackers; young children were turned onto drugs early by the latex fumes from werewolf masks; we were all building those Mattel Draculas and Frankensteins (more glue-sniffing opportunities) with The Carpenters on in the background; Hammer films seemed to run on a loop at weekends...

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Wednesdays's Second Life Set Lists

It's almost Wednesday again, and that means a double shot of fun. From 5-7pm SLT I play at the Gnarled Oak and then from 7-9pm SLT I play at the Orion Club. While I usually have to stay on set with what I play at the Oak (because I've got another DJ following me), my Orion set list is usually just a starting point for things and morphs with the crowd.

If you're in world and interested in coming to either, just IM Walton Vieria.

The Gnarled Oak set:
1. Dame Shriley Bassey - Get This Party Started [Shirley Bassey Club] (8:47)
2. Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye (4:40)
3. Thomas Dolby - Europa and the Pirate Twins (3:17)
4. They Might Be Giants - Ana Ng (3:21)
5. Ten In The Swear Jar - Gauntlet Of Thor The Destroyer (5:33)
6. Sugarcubes - Motorcrash (2:22)
7. Sugarcubes - Fucking in Rhythm & Sorrow (3:20)
8. Tenpole Tudor - Wunderbar (2:57)
9. Telonius - Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick (4:30)
10. Taco - Puttin' On The Ritz (3:28)
11. Talking Heads - And She Was (3:39)
12. Suzanne Vega - 99.9° F. (3:14)
13. Suede - Animal Nitrate (3:10)
14. Placebo - Meds (2:57)
15. The Stranglers - Strange Little Girl (2:39)
16. Golden Boy and Miss Kittin - Rippin Kittin (4:48)
17. Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going Out With Him (3:35)
18. Divinyls - Good Die Young (3:40)
19. Devo - Jocko Homo (3:39)
20. t.A.T.u. - Clowns (Can You See Me Now?) (3:12)
21. Sydney Bourke - Gotham City (4:08)
22. Switchblade Symphony - Gutter Glitter (3:50)
23. Galaxie 500 - Plastic Bird (3:17)
24. Lush - 500 (Shake Baby Shake) (3:21)
25. Love and Rockets - Kundalini Express (5:51)
26. Deadbolt - Patches The Clown (6:14)
27. Amanda Palmer - Leeds United (4:47)
28. PJ Harvey - Down By The Water (3:14)
29. Virna Lindt - Attention Stockholm (3:52)
30. Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip - Thou Shalt Always Kill (5:18)


And here's a SLurl to the Oak. If you want to get your own ride to there.

The Orion set:
1. 10,000 Maniacs - My Mother The War (3:32)
2. Nirvana - The Man Who Sold The World (4:20)
3. Shiny Toy Guns - Major Tom (4:10)
4. Sister Machine Gun - Caught Between the Bullet and You (8:28)
5. Cocteau Twins - Carolyn's Fingers (3:08)
6. CocoRosie - Terrible Angels (4:10)
7. Eels - Beautiful Freak (3:33)
8. Eels - My Beloved Monster (2:13)
9. Ego Likeness - Second Skin (6:49)
10. Einsturzende Neubauten - The Garden (5:12)
11. David Bowie - Station to Station (10:13)
12. Crime & The City Solution - The Adversary (5:32)
13. Cocteau Twins - Seekers Who Are Lovers (4:23)
14. Concrete Blonde - Everybody Knows (4:44)
15. Gutter Twins - Idle Hands (4:37)
16. Happy Mondays - Step On (5:16)
17. Peter Bjorn & John - Chills (3:50)
18. Orchestral Manoeuvres In the Dark - Joan of Arc (3:47)
19. Shonen Knife - Top of The World (3:57)
20. Peaches - Serpentine (3:21)
21. Peter Gabriel - I Don't Remember (3:47)
22. The Sisters Of Mercy - Alice (3:34)
23. Patti Smith - Gloria (5:51)
24. CSS - How I Became Paranoid (3:26)
25. This Mortal Coil - Drugs (3:08)
26. Thomas Dolby - One of Our Submaries (5:11)

Sunday, May 17, 2009

[chill:out] Preview

Today at 1pm SLT (or 4pm for those on EST like me) I will be playing my [chill:out] set at Club Republik. You can listen through the website but I don't think that the chat works out on the beach where I play. Here's a preview of the tunes I'll be spinning for you:

1. Talking Heads - Drugs (5:09)
2. Thomas Dolby - One Of Our Submarines (Salz Mix) (6:16)
3. The Thing - Life On Mars (4:35)
4. Mikael Karlsson - Until We Bleed (feat. Lykke Li) (5:20)
5. Zoë Keating - Tetrishead (7:39)
6. Mighty Mike - Massive Fear (Massive Attack vs. Lily Allen) (3:48)
7. Flying White Dots - Let's Get Deep (3:21)
8. Ian Fondue - The Brooding Moon (5:18)
9. Dead Can Dance - The End of Words (2:05)
10. Mediaeval Baebes - Lhiannan Shee (2:56)
11. Mediaeval Baebes - Beatrice (4:21)
12. Mia Doi Todd - Digital Version 2.2 (3:56)
13. Bad Sector - Ikhana 1402 (6:59)
14. Bad Sector - Open Universes (7:22)
15. Gas - 2 (Pop) (8:38)
16. Flying White Dots - Sunday Morning, April 14th (2:15)
17. ThC - The Insomia Time Is Now To Forget Me (5:17)
18. Melora Creager - American Girl (3:22)
19. Mazzy Star - Mary of Silence (6:02)
20. Massive Attack - Protection (Underdog's Angel Dust Mix) (7:36)
21. Martina Topley-Bird - Sandpaper Kisses (3:52)
22. Portishead - Mysterons (5:06)
23. Fatboy Slim - Praise You [Original Mix] (6:22)
24. Feist - Mushaboom (3:38)

Two hours of the best in ambient, glitch, trip hop and donwtempo music.

The Boot Camp Playlist

I think that a couple of these ended up not in the final mix but those are minimal. This was from one of my two monthly Boot Camp sets at Club Republik in Second Life. If you're not a Second Lifer, you can listen to my sets online live as well through the website. You can even join in on the conversation through the web chat interface.

And now the setlist:
1. CCC - Psychesmellica (Lulu vs. The Supremes vs. The Zombies) (4:01)
2. DJ Smash - Wild Rock Music! (Steppenwolf vs. Apollo 440 vs. Madonna vs. Ike & Tina Turner) (4:07)
3. The Tony Crackburn Orchestra - Road Kill (Canned Heat vs. The Doors vs. Wolfmother vs. Frank Zappa) (5:37)
4. Lenlow - Björn Slippy (Underworld vs. Peter, Björn & John) (4:57)
5. DJ Jay-R - Tom Fucks Sluts On Avenue D (Avenue D vs. C.H.A.O.S. Productions) (7:54)
6. Go Home Productions (with Loo & Placido) - Horny As A Dandy (Dandy Warhols Vs Mousse T) (3:16)
7. Aggro1 - Foo Fighters vs. Evil 9 (4:00)
8. Dunproofin' - Electro Sandman (6:50)
9. DJ Tripp - Don't You Want the Time (Human League vs. Benny Benassi) (5:17)
10. Pilchard - I Got Sex And Drugs And Rock And Soul (4:06)
11. DAW-GUN - Blue in the Face (Lady GaGa vs Eiffel 65) (3:58)
12. 10000 Spoons - This Charming Caravan (The Smiths vs. The Housemartins) (3:23)
13. CCC - La Fool D'Argent (Stone Roses vs. Marvin Gaye) (4:45)
14. GaraGara - Letter From Nick Cave (Eddie Pedalo Re-Edit) (4:08)
15. ToToM - 1 2 3 4 My Violent Heart (3:14)
16. dj BC - Ziggy's Lullabye (David Bowie vs Shawn Mullins vs The Beatles) (3:57)
17. DJ Le Clown - No More Walls (Pnau vs. Pink Floyd vs. John Lennon) (4:53)
18. DJ Earworm - The Night Of Kittin's Messy Dream (Miss Kittin vs. P.J. Harvey & Thom Yorke vs. Corey Hart vs. Human League) (4:56)
19. Eddie Pedalo - NYC Beatnik (3:17)
20. DJ Magnet - Girls on Film Freak Out (4:38)
21. DJ not-I - Ain't Got kNOw Home (2:40)
22. DJ Paul V. - Just D.A.N.C.E. (David Bowie vs. Justice vs. Lady Gaga) (5:19)
23. The Illuminoids - Funplex Pleasure Control (The B-52's vs. Peaches vs. The Gossip) (4:57)
24. AeKon - Misery Loves the Kill (30 Seconds To Mars vs The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus) (3:20)
25. ToToM - Hang on to the Highway (David Bowie vs Deep Purple) (6:05)
26. DJ Schmolli - In-A-Gadda-Blue-Monday (New Order vs. Iron Butterfly) (3:29)
27. DJ Schmolli - Fire, Smoke And Tone Loc (Tone Loc vs. Deep Purple vs. Mousse T. & Emma Lanford Mark Ronson feat. ODB vs. Too Kool Chris vs. The Tramps vs. Busta Rhymes feat. Pharrell) (3:32)
28. DJ Lance Lockarm - Bring the Muzik Back (Public Enemy vs. Ice T vs. Beastie Boys vs. M) (3:55)
29. DJ STV SLV - Shut Up, American Boy (The Ting Tings vs. Estelle feat. Kanye West) (4:44)
30. DJ not-I - Slow Down Gandhi You're Rutten Em (Sage Francis vs. Skream) (4:15)
31. ToTom - Seven Storm Riders (4:04)

Friday, May 15, 2009

Kevin Smith to Write The Green Hornet, New Batman Mini

Kevin Smith is returning to comics – in two ways.

According to Entertainment Weekly’ Popwatch column, Smith will be writing a new Batman miniseries as well as Green Hornet for Dynamite Entertainment.

Yes, Smith’s attachment to the Green Hornet does stir memories. The miniseries for Dynamite will be based on Smith’s screenplay for the unproduced Green Hornet movie that he wrote in 2004. 'It's the Hornet movie I'd make if I was making it today,' Smith told EW.com. 'And there's no better time to do that than before Seth Rogen and Michel Gondry's version defines the character for the mainstream.'

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Indie Rock Relay For Life in Second Life


I'll be playing in this this Thursday at 3pm SLT. There will be mayhem, irreverent use of the Muppets and (if we're lucky) a little bit of blood shed will ensue.

More info will follow with a SLurl for the location.

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Ric Estrada, R.I.P.

Comic book and animation artist Ric Estrada died this morning [Friday, May 1], the result of a long, losing battle with cancer.

Ric was born February 26, 1928 in Havana, Cuba and began selling his work at age 13 to a popular Cuban magazine called Bohemia. He attended University of Havana where, he always claimed, another student was Fidel Castro. Via a relative, he developed a friendship with Ernest Hemingway, who took an interest in the young artist's work and encouraged him to relocate to New York. Ric moved there at age 20 but never stayed in one place for very long, travelling the world and living briefly in dozens of other cities. Whenever he was back in Manhattan, he managed to work in comic books, including two of his proudest jobs...stories for the EC war comics edited and written by Harvey Kurtzman. Other companies that were glad to have his art included Hillman, Western Publishing, St. John and Ziff-Davis.

Sunday, May 03, 2009

PDQ#

I think that I've blogged about this system before, but even if I have it could stand repeating. I ran a few really fun PDQ games while still in Cleveland, one a zero-prep game with people who had never played the system and who helped create the setting, and the game will be one of my favorites for a while.
PDQ# (PDQ Sharp!) is a new version of the PDQ Core Rules, optimized for swashbuckling gaming. Designed for simplicity, speed, and flexibility in play, PDQ# is the engine for the upcoming Swashbucklers of the 7 Skies RPG.

This 28 page PDF is free!


And for those looking for a tie in to a geek favorite, perhaps one with an upcoming franchise revitalizing movie, look here.

Friday, May 01, 2009

IDW Announces Kaluta & Lee's Starstruck

This is coolness. I can't wait to see this series re-issued.
IDW is proud to announce the return of the science fiction classic, Starstruck, to comics. Debuting in August, the 13-issue series will showcase the fine writing of Elaine Lee and the remarkable art of Michael Kaluta. Scanned from the original art to ensure the highest quality, the entire series is being re-colored by fantasy artist, Lee Moyer, whose painted work has appeared on the covers of books by Iain Banks, H.P. Lovecraft and Marion Zimmer Bradley.

'Starstruck is a classic work, and some of Michael’s very finest art—it has been out of print for too long,' said Scott Dunbier, IDW’s Starstruck editor. 'Our series will present Elaine and Michael’s vision as never before. New readers will be astounded by it, while diehard fans will delight in seeing their old friend looking better than ever.'

Sunday, April 26, 2009

We Have Ignition!

I has new blog. What could it be for?

John W. Campbell

John W. Campbell: "John Wood Campbell, Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an influential figure in science fiction. As editor of Astounding Science Fiction (later called Analog Science Fiction and Fact), from late 1937 until his death, he is generally credited with shaping the so-called Golden Age of Science Fiction.

Isaac Asimov called Campbell 'the most powerful force in science fiction ever, and for the first ten years of his editorship he dominated the field completely.'"

Space Opera

Space opera: "Space opera is a subgenre of speculative fiction or science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing powerful (and sometimes quite fanciful) technologies and abilities. Perhaps the most significant trait of space opera is that settings, characters, battles, powers, and themes tend to be very large-scale."

Astounding Science Fiction

Astounding Science Fiction: "Analog Science Fiction and Fact is an American science fiction magazine. As of 2009, it is the longest continually published magazine of that genre. Initially published in 1930 in the United States as Astounding Stories as a pulp magazine, it has undergone several name changes, primarily to Astounding Science-Fiction in 1938, and Analog Science Fact & Fiction in 1960. In November 1992, its logo changed to use the term 'Fiction and Fact' rather than 'Fact & Fiction.'"

Planet Stories

Planet Stories: "Planet Stories was a pulp science fiction magazine, published by Fiction House with a total of 71 issues appeared between 1939 and 1955. It featured a particular kind of romantic, swashbuckling adventure in a science fiction context, and was renowned for its colorful covers, typically featuring a young woman in (for the time) rather scanty apparel. For a brief time it was edited by Jerome Bixby. Twenty years later many of these stories were reprinted in paperback as space opera or science fantasy."

Startling Stories

Startling Stories: "Startling Stories was a pulp science fiction magazine which also published a lot of science fantasy. A companion magazine to Thrilling Wonder Stories and Captain Future magazine, it published 99 issues from 1939 to 1955. It was edited by Sam Merwin, Jr. from 1945 to 1951.

It featured a novel in each issue, several of which were written by Henry Kuttner. Among the classic stories which were published in it were The Black Flame by Stanley G. Weinbaum, The Last Days of Shandakor and The Star-Men of Llyrdis by Leigh Brackett, and Against the Fall of Night by Arthur C. Clarke. From 1940 to 1952 it featured covers by Earle Bergey. After Captain Future magazine ceased publication, some of the final stories about the eponymous character were published in Startling."

Golden Age of Science Fiction

Golden Age of Science Fiction: "The first Golden Age of Science Fiction — often recognized as the period from the late 1930s through the 1950s — was an era during which the science fiction genre gained wide public attention and many classic science fiction stories were published. In the history of science fiction, the Golden Age follows the 'pulp era' of the 1920s and 30s, and precedes New Wave science fiction of the 1960s and 70s. According to historian Adam Roberts, 'the phrase Golden Age valorises a particular sort of writing: 'Hard SF', linear narratives, heroes solving problems or countering threats in a space-opera or technological-adventure idiom.'"

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Ethan Van Sciver - Behind the Lanterns' Looks

It's not Marvel Zombies with the whole tacky thing they do, where you see Peter Parker like, eating Aunt May. You just want to shower and cry and go talk to your minister. We're not going to do that.