Halloween Hinjinks: The Walking Dead and Music Playlist
Halloween weekend was chock full of hijinks – and the topper of the weekend was The Walking Dead television premier at the Baghdad Theatre in Portland, Oregon. 600+ Zombie fans crammed into the ornate location for a costume contest, raffle and unveiling of the episode. This is the first time I’ve watched television with hundreds of people, so it was actually quite thrilling to listen to the roar of chatter during the commercials. We were warned about talking during the episode, so when the show started – the theater became quiet enough that you could hear the rustling of people in the first few bottom rows from the upper levels of the balcony.
The costumes were pretty fantastic. We missed getting pictures of Chairface (The Tick) but there were dozens of other people who really dressed for the occasion.
Check out the pictures we snapped here, as well as some from our Halloween party:
Another highlight of the weekend was getting to air out the massive playlist of Halloween-y songs I’d been preparing all throughout October. It ended up being about six hours long (three hours of ambient, three hours of dance).
The Top 20 Tracks from each are listed here.
Bonus Post: NEW X-Men First Class Cast Members
Brand spankin’ new cast members have been added to the roster of the X-Men: First Class flick directed by Matthew Vaughn. And then there’s some folks who’ve been rumored as well.
Mostly it’s dudes. Act surprised though, they like that!
Caleb Landry Jones has been cast as Banshee. Honestly, not that tough to cast this character. Find a ginger with freckles that can speak in a semi-decent Irish accent. Chances of him actually speaking in an accent? Zero to none. But he’s so damned cute!
Nicholas Hoult is cast as Beast. Apparently he’s the kid from About A Boy, which means that he’s either grown up super fast or I’ve gotten ridiculously older than I have any right to be. I’m sure he’ll be fine, but he comes from a string of Europeans attached to this project. Hmph.
Aaron Johnson is rumored to be playing Cylops. He’s the Kick-Ass kid. His voice is just a wee bit too whiney for my taste, Cyclops has already been portrayed as a wussy leader type before. I saw Mr. Johnson as a spectacular Spiderman stand-in. His slim frame seems more suitable for cracking-wise and scaling buildings in tight clothes than leading the merry band of mutants. I’m hoping this particular rumor stays a rumor.
Comic Book Catch-Up: The Peter David Edition
The reviews have been sparse the last few weeks as I’ve been catching up on at least a years worth of several series I follow. You all know of my passion for Peter David books, so the first batch of catch-up I’ve done is with his titles specifically. So, let’s get this party started right…
SHE-HULK: Peter David Style
As promised earlier this month, I’ve been really making an effort at finding a non-mutant female superheroine to follow in a regular monthly series. She-Hulk, as penned by Peter David, seemed like it was built of instant win. Not so. Ever since a conversation with comic book sage, Hisham, it’s been quite impossible for me not to see how meta his writing becomes at times. I dig his sense of humor, but it was not jiving well with the She-Hulk I remember from earlier days.
I read an issue with her as a respected lawyer, struggling with balancing work, superhero duties and a relationship. Seems pretty relatable. Unfortunately for this new direction – Bounty Hunter She-Hulk has too many throw-backs to a lame reality TV show I’ve watched a few episodes of. And it confusingly includes a Skrull woman who assumes her identity. They live in a trailer park and roll around in an RV. I dunno, nothing about it really sung off the pages for me. I gave the trade paperback the first 20 pages and then honestly couldn’t press myself further. But I tried, alright? I really did.
FALLEN ANGEL – To Live and Die in Bette
The first of the three Fallen Angel TPBs – Red Horse Riding – opens with a young boy being able to pass in and out of Bette Noire in his sleep. He witnesses the start of the war between good and evil being waged there (or perhaps, evil and more evil?). By the conclusion of the book, Jubal (son of the previous evil magistrate) has successfully deprived his 1/2 brother Jude of the title of Magistrate, and is in control of the City that shapes the world. Except he’s a freaking all-powerful demon now. So, that sucks.
The next book, Cities of Light and Dark has to do with Black Mariah, Jude and Liandra (who escaped) chumming about in the real world, attempting to find someway back to Bette Noire to reverse all the bad mojo and dethrone Jubal. They make it to one of the other cities (apparently there are four), but on the way crash an airplane, battle a shark, and jump into a volcano. Which of those three things screams moody noir to you? Oh right, none of them. Hmph.
Long story short – they win the battle and then, Illyria from the Whedonverse shows up and wants to kill Liandra (cause the Powers That Be asked her to). They go on a magical journey to find three instruments of power Illyria needs to retain her God form, but in the end she is convinced that being in Fred’s body ain’t so bad.
No single part of these elements is stand-alone awful, it just isn’t resonating with me. The first few TPBs were mystical, ethereal and fairly low on the camp, cheese and witty back-and-forth.
The entire series feels so uneven at this point. The concept is great, and the world David’s created is intensely fascinating, but I feel like its floundering. Personally, I could do without the “special guests.” Unless they really fit with the story, and the universe…I don’t want them there. Despite it’s flaws, I’m still attracted to the series and will continue to follow where Mr. David leads.
X-Men Tattoos
In checking my WordPress stats, I see a common search term coming up over and over again. So, in recognition of people searching for X-Men Tattoos (a really arduous process requiring some patience)…I’m posting this here blog filled with pretty pictures and links to their origins. Hopefully it will be a helpful compilation!
Tattoo 1: X-Symbol
Tattoo 2: Rogue
Tattoo 3: Phoenix/Jean-Grey
Tattoo 4: Gambit and Rogue
Tattoo 5: Wolverine
X-Men Noir *drools*
Thanks to the ultra-amazing Sir Michael, I just got the skinny on a new series that will most assuredly be taking up residence in my comic box when it finally hits the shelves. It is X-Men Noir, and you can read all about it here.
Mmmm – have fun checking out this art:
I’m getting the impression I’m the last one in the Comic Universe to know about this.
Fred Van Lente is an unknown quantity to me, as is the illustrator Dennis Calero, but the idea is wicked cool (though it could be argued, already done by Peter David in X-Factor), and the art is stunning in black and whites. I’m HOPING they do B&W in this series. HOPING.
Too bad we have to wait until December. And it’s only going to be four issues. But hey, no complaints here. I’ll just get back to drooling over the teaser art. Mmmm.
Much Love, Mindy C
The Second Wave: X-Books
The entire gaggle of X-Books (we’re collecting 4 of them) consisted of 13 issues, and some were fairly slow going due to a lack of interest on my part. So, without further ado, here goes:
Of course, we all know a few of the main reasons this book was making it in the box. It was penned by “the man” Mr. Whedon, and it revolved around everyone’s favorite lovable band of Merry Mutants. Two great flavors that certainly tasted great together…while they lasted.
*Cue dramatic music*
Warren Ellis now helms this book, bringing with him an artist, Simone Bianchi who seems hell bent on making everyone and everything look like a Halloween Super Store exploded on the pages. He’s not all that bad really…but his art is spooky and all the characters look like malicious goblins or demonic war-lords. It’s definitely a change from the clean and shiney inks of John Cassady.
As for Ellis, I can’t say he and I have much history, or will in the future. His book is much too technical and wordy to suit my X-Men desires.
And that’s fine, right? There are many other X-Books to choose from. No harm, no foul.
After the Messiah Complex tore the team asunder (and annihilated the X-Mansion for the billionth time), it only seemed appropriate that the team members should take a hiatus. Xavier was dead, the mansion destroyed, the dream hanging in tattered shreds.
So, let’s all pick up and move to San Francisco.
Eh, what? Does anyone else remember how bad of an idea that is? Similar plot-lines wherein the X-Team alters locations never end well. And come on – San Francisco? Let’s take the comic allegory and decorate it with political trappings please. Be sure to mention HYBRIDS! I don’t know about this Ed Brubaker character.
*sigh* As if all this wasn’t bad enough – Rogue and Gambit are MIA (remember them, two of your more popular characters??) and Emma Frost is doing her best Jean Grey impersonation to everyone’s discomfort. She sticks out like a sore thumb that the X-Editors are intent on jabbing in the eye of every reader who thinks Jean Grey should return from the dead and kick the holy telepathic shit out of her.
But Emma’s on every other page – with smarmy retorts and her boobies jostling up out of her top. Always so classy, Ms. Frost.
It would seem that the X-Creators forget she’s only ever worked as a minor character and only when given some sort of purpose. Otherwise, she’s like a venereal disease infested peacock preening and pretending to fill the shoes of the most powerful mutant in the Universe. Puh-thetic.
Cyclops is back as the leader (AS ALWAYS). Could anyone be less enthused?
Out of the Ashes
I’m back. Took a mini-vacation during the spring and summer term break, cause I really needed it. Spent a lot of that time compiling super geeky fan-vids. I would link to them, but I’m too embarrassed. I’d rather leave them to the seeming anonymity of random youtubers. I’ll give you a few hints though – they feature X-Men characters and romantic relationships.
But here I am, with full intentions to post new-ish content. You can start to rejoice immediately.
I’ll review “new” books again, I promise. Today, I feel like kicking back and showing some love to a TPB that I’ve read more than once. This is a book that I own, and am proud to have as part of my collection. I swear, this has absolutely nothing to do with my fanvids. *knowing wink*
Here we are now: Phoenix Endsong.
Dan gave this to me for my birthday last year. I have a feeling this book was relatively unknown to me until I started searching for phoenix tattoo designs. You simply cannot google the words “phoenix” and “jean grey” without hitting on an image from this absolutely, insanely GORGEOUS book.
If you haven’t read this, you should. I wouldn’t suggest it for anyone new to the X-Universe, because it’s laden with references to previous incarnations of The Phoenix and her relationships. It’s also closely following the Grant Morrison New X-Men run, which is not my personal favorite. Not as great as everyone says, to my knowledge. Bringing in the Ice Queen as a main character and eliminating Gambit and Rogue will never win me over as a fan. I dig the realistic approach to the series, but I get tired of…revamps to these characters. Reboots to the X-Men team. These folks already have 10 different realities. Difficult to keep their stories and lives straight…with years and years of history to account for. I understand the concepts behind reboots, but…ok…I am yammering now.
Anywho – the story behind why these characters are together, and who some of them are was not immediately clear to me, and probably wouldn’t be to the first time reader, either. But the beauty (oh, and there is a lot of beauty) of the book, is if you have even a functional knowledge of the Jean Grey/Phoenix mythology, you can love and mostly understand this book. I chose to ignore Quentin Quire and the Stepford Cuckoos. And Emma Frost and Cyclops mackin’ on one another. Too creepy. *shudder* I don’t dig that shite in any timeline.
Dan
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