OJ – Horror Show, Indeed

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Ten years ago OJ Simpson was found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Brown-Simpson and Ron Goldman. The evidence against Simpson was overwhelming. Fortunately for Simpson, his legal team, especially Johnnie Cochran, was able to sway the jury to not only discount the evidence, but it many instances to ignore it completely.

The trial lasted a year and had more drama and startling turns than a soap opera. In the end Simpson was found innocent. This article from the associated press describes the fallout from the verdict:

On Oct. 3, 1995, an estimated 150 million people paused before the nearest TV to witness the outcome. The nation gasped — whether in satisfaction or outrage — as Simpson was pronounced not guilty of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. The trial and verdict divided the country then, and the more profound divisions it exposed remain today.

Next Tuesday at 9pm, PBS will revisit the case in the special “Frontline: The O.J. Verdict.” Featuring extensive interviews with the defense, prosecution and journalists, the special will explore the verdict and the wide difference in reaction to it which fell along racial lines.

Oddly enough, this weekend, Simpson will make a rare public appearance signing autographs [for cash] at,of all places, a horror convention! Talk about bad taste.

The fact that this weekend marks the tenth anniversary of the “not guilty” verdict, and Simpson has chosen to be a special guest along with movie murderers, monsters and zombies shows a real lack of compassion and common sense on Simpson‘s part.

There is NO WAY that one could justify Simpson’s appearance at this show as a sports star. Nope, the draw here is certainly because of his link to the murders of Nicole and Ron. And if you doubt that, then why is Simpson’s friend, A.C. Cowlings [who is more famous for the slow speed Bronco chase than his professional sports career] making a joint appearance with Simpson on Sunday?

OJ SImpson was found not guilty of the murders of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Ten years later people are still arguing the validity of that decision. I doubt that there are many though who would argue that Simpson’s appearance at the horror convention is in good taste.

Batman and the Monster Men

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While we’re on the topic of comics to watch for this November, you may want to consider Batman and the Monster Men. It’s a six issue series written, pencilled and inked by Matt Wagner.

Batman and the Monster Men takes place in Batman‘s second year. His first year was spent fighting crime… but is he prepared to face “the new menace facing Gotham: super-powered villains?”

For more info on the series, click HERE or HERE. Then be sure and let your local comic shop know that you’ll want a copy!

Going Down in November

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“Five years ago, a narcotics cop was sent undercover, down into the criminal structure of the city. Henever came back. He went native. Five years later, he’s running the city’s prime drugs gang.

“Today, a second cop – a woman in the midst of career flameout, having shot down the entirety of the main mob’s only rival gang – is sent undercover, with orders to pull the first one out. In a bodybag if necessary. “

If this sounds like your cup of tea — bitter with no sugar — then plan on checking out Down 1 in November. It’s the first of a four issue mini-series written by Warren Ellis. The art for issue one is by Tony Harris [who provides all 4 covers]. Cully Hamner provides art for issues 2-4.

And be advised, this comic ain’t for kids.

A New Menace in Mackey’s Life

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The Shield is so good that waiting for new episodes to start up is like waiting for Christmas to come when you’re a kid. Actually since The Shield doesn’t start up until January, it’s actually worse than waiting for Christmas!

The great news is that Forest Whitaker is joining the cast as “a new menace in Vic Mackey‘s life.” Whitaker will play an ambitious Internal Affairs agent “who is tasked with investigating rogue cop Mackey.”

Oh man, this should be good. Now if only January would get here.

Getting a Crowd to Prey Alone

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While surfing the net, I came across the short film Prey Alone. Shot entirely on a green screen a la Sin City, it features no name actors or directors, but is as good as most of what you’ll find in your local multiplex.

Stephen St Leger and James Mather teamed to write and direct Prey Alone. Amazingly, it took only 4 days to shoot the actors’ scenes and just 3 months in post-production.

So what are you waiting for? Click HERE to see it yourself… and let me know when you figured out the twist.

The Steranko Time Machine

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I can remember the first Jim Steranko comic book that I ever read. It was Nick Fury #1. I was 9 years old. I’d been reading comics for years… Batman, Superman, Spider-Man… but Nick Fury [as written and drawn by Jim Steranko] was like a movie come to life [even though it was on the printed page].

As I become older, I always kept my eye out for comics by Steranko. They were few and far between [and sometimes only covers], but boy, were they worth it. The man is a legend despite the fact that his primary work in comics was less than ten years and consisted of approximately 30 stories.

Years later I attended my first comic book convention. My goal was to buy Steranko‘s run on Nick Fury in mint condition. Not only was I able to score the set [and at a good price], but I ended up becoming friends with the dealer, Mike Kott. I was surprised to learn that Steranko had branched out into publishing. At the same show I picked up my first issue of his publication, Mediascene [which featured an interview with Doug Moench and Paul Gulacy].

Steranko had moved away from comics, instead he spent his time concentrating on painting [he did a series of covers for The Shadow paperbacks reprints] and publishing [Mediascene which later became Prevue]. When Steranko offered some of his Shadow “pencil paintings” for sale in the early 80’s, I splurged and bought one. I was newly married, in college and the $225 bucks it cost seemed like a fortune. Steranko was nice enough to send along an autographed copy of his book Unseen Shadows.

If you’re a Steranko fan, then you know what an interesting life he’s led. In addition to being a comic book artist, a publisher, a painter, a professional magician / escape artist [in his youth he traveled with carnivals and circuses], a musician and more. If you’re just discovering Steranko, then you’re in for a treat!

Steranko is still a huge draw at conventions around the country. Last year he was a special guest at FX 2005. [In fact it was his cover for the program book that inspired this post.] I was unable to attend the FX show, but even if I had, there would have been no chance of a Steranko piece for my Stallone Gallery. Steranko doesn’t sketch at shows and seldom does commissions… and those that he does do cost thousands!

Every so often I love to pull out my Chandler graphic novel, or the three issues of Captain America that he did… but my favorite is still his run on Nick Fury. Over 35 years later, I still get the same rush as that 9 year old seeing it for the first time.

A Blog By Any Other Name

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My buddy, John Beatty has started up a new blog where he posts his art and thoughts on just about everything. The thing is that in the last three days he’s changed the blog’s name three times! The blog was first called, appropriately enough, Read Me First. Then it became XXL Artist… and now it’s Big Beatty’s Blog O’Rama.

It was kind of funny as we discussed possible names for the blog. Beatty liked the name Art Whore, but [fortunately] that was taken. BBB [Big Beatty’s Blog] was considered. So was Diary of a Fat Man: The Road to Less [a GREAT name for a blog about weight loss, but Beatty’s new blog isn’t, so the title was rejected].

Beatty also rejected some of my suggestions such as: Beatty Watches Ethan… So You’re Bored Too? … A New Name Coming… Are You Looking At Me?… and settled on Big Beatty’s Blog O’Rama [a nod to his nickname and first web site].

My guess is that Big John has at least ONE more name change coming, so I saved the best suggestion for now. Since Beatty‘s blog is about nearly everything he could call it Beatty On Nearly Everything… BONE!

Uh… on second thought maybe that isn’t such a great name for his blog.

I’ll bet ZONERs can help come up with good names should the big guy decide a new one is needed!

Welcome to the Party!

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Way back on November 16, 2003, I posted an item about the first issue of a comic that I’d read and fell in love with. That comic, The Walking Dead, was one of the freshest comics that I’d read in years. It instantly made my “pull list.”

A few days later, I posted that the first issue was quickly selling out along with a link to an interview with Robert Kirkman. In February of 2004, The Walking Dead was already my favorite monthly comic!

In April of 2004, I reported that Tony Moore, the regular artist on The Walking Dead had decided to leave and that Charlie Adlard would be taking over with issue 6. The quality of The Walking Dead didn’t miss a beat.

With the recent success of comic books turned into movies, Jeb Whitlock of JoBlo.com suggests that The Walking Dead get the chance.

All I can say is, “Welcome to the party, Jeb!”

Close to a Perfect Moment

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I used to buy stuff fairly regularly off of e-Bay. Usually the items that I won were either hardback novels or items for my Stallone collection. In the last year or so, it’s been pretty rare for me to find ANY THING that I really want.

That changed last week when I saw a belt buckle that Sylvester Stallone had commissioned for folks who worked on his movie “Paradise Alley.” It was pretty cool in that it featured the title of the movie, the lead characters and the year the movie took place on the front. The back had the quote, “Never perfect people, only perfect moments” and was signed “Sly.” Yeah, the buckle would make a nice addition to the collection.

No one had bid on the buckle. I decided to watch the auction. Days went by with no bids. Winning the buckle for the opening bid of less than ten bucks was becoming a REAL possibility. The auction was set to close yesterday and I wasn’t going to be able to be home. Only one thing to do… call in Beatty. Big J and I agreed that a bid of $20 would probably win it.

Big John was set to place a bid for me right as the auction was closing. At 4:59:45 another bidder dropped in with a bid of $23.98. Beatty knew that I wanted the buckle and so at 4:59:57 he popped in a bid of $25.67.

Yes! Yes! Yes!

We had the high bid…for 20 seconds, then with just 7 seconds left in the auction the first bidder came back with a bid of $26.67 to win.

Oh well… I still may be able to find some hardbacks…

Over There to be Seen Over There

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The other day I posted that Over There is my favorite show of the summer. So you can imagine how happy I was to hear that Over There  will soon be seen in about 100 territories around the world.

The fact that Over There has been picked up in so many territories increases the odds that the series will be back next season. And that just makes my day.

The Ultimate Sin

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YES! The news that we’ve been waiting for…

The deluxe dvd edition of Sin City [Recut & Extended] will be available starting December 13th at about $39.99. The dvd will include the 124 minute theatrical release and a new 147 minute extended cut with both presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English DTS 5.1 and Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround tracks.

Extras will include three commentary tracks: 1] with directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller; 2] Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino; and 3] the Austin Premiere crowd reaction!

Additional extras include a 15 minute film school with Rodriguez, 17 uninterrupted minutes of Tarantino’s segment, footage of a Sin City cast/crew party, featurettes on the cars, special effects, make-up, costumes, props, how they convinced Miller to assist with the film; casting, Tarantino, plus trailers, bloopers, and an interactive game. Topping it all off will be the complete Sin City graphic novel The Hard Goodbye.

Whew!

I… can…not… wait…

A New Season of "Must See" TV

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The new tv season is nearly upon us and so I thought it might be fun to take a look at the shows that have made my MUST SEE TV list:

Sunday has traditionally been one of the weakest nights of the week and the new season looks to be more of the same. The only show that I plan to watch is West Wing [NBC]. Although last season was one of the best for West Wing, the new night could spell trouble. Since the Bartlett‘s are on the way out, fans may decide that they should
be as well. I hope not.

Monday looks to have just the right mix of shows. At 8PM, I’ll check out Surface [NBC]. This show has a lot of potential – an “adventure-drama” about what happens when sea creatures [monsters?] are discovered all across the world’s oceans. At 9PM, I’ll switch over to FOX and check out Prison Break and at 10, it’ll be back to NBC for the highly under-rated Medium.
Tuesday belongs to 24 and The Shield, but since they won’t start up for a while I plan to give WB‘s Supernatural at 9PM a shot. Given the WB‘s track record with making my MUST SEE TV list, this could be bad, especially since my wife will want to watch The Amazing Race on CBS.

Wednesday is the greatly anticipated return of Lost at 9PM on ABC. I’ll also probably dvr E-Ring on NBC at the same time. At 10, I’ll keep it on ABC and check out Invasion. Seems that creepy is back in with Invasion, Supernatural and Surface all premiering this season. I wonder how many will last for two.

Thursday was for years THE night for tv. Not anymore. Survivor on CBS at 8PM will continue to be a family event. At 9PM, I’ll switch over to ABC and give the Night Stalker a shot. I remember watching Darrin McGavin in the original Night Stalker movie back in 1972. It was a fun movie… but I didn’t much care for the tv series that followed. Maybe this one will be better.

Friday is the second worst night of the week for tv [thank goodness for dvds]. I will give Threshold at 8PM on CBS a try since it has the same Invasion/Supernatural/Surface vibe.

Saturdays is the pits. I always hope that the SciFi Channel will have a halfway decent flick but that’s rarely the case… still I continue to tune in.

Before I bring this post to a close, I want to mention the shows that I’ve enjoyed this summer: Hell’s Kitchen hooked me and I wasn’t sure I’d care about it at all; So You Think You Can Dance is as much fun as American Idol; Hogan Knows Best shows a side of The Hulkster that makes you wish he was your neighbor; Celebrity Fitness Club had me watching celebrities that I didn’t even watch when they were famous [well, except for Gary Busey!]; Wanted has characters quirky enough to elevate it from the run of the mill cop show; The Ultimate Fighter is like The Contender on steroids; and my favorite summer show has turned out to be Over There.

Well, that’s what I’m looking forward to from the new season. Have I missed anything?

Bob Denver’s Legacy

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Bob Denver, the clueless hero of “Gilligan’s Island” has died at the age of 70.

Denver, as Gilligan,. set sail on what should have been a three-hour tour but instead ended up being a 40 year adventure entertaining several generations of fans.

I was five years old when “Gilligan’s Island” premiered and I can remember watching each week. They castaways were funny. Especially Gulligan.

The show ran for only three seasons. The funny thing is it never died. Bob Denver has 25 credits listed in the Internet Movie Database. Eight of them have direct ties to Gulligan’s Island. Talk about creating an enduring and endearing character.

I didn’t care much for Gilligan’s Island once I was older. I remember watching Rescue from Gilligan’s Island and thinking how stupid it was. It wasn’t stupid though, it was silly. The kind of silly that little kids eat up… like I did when I used to watch Gilligan and the castways in their initial run.

Bob Denver‘s three hour tour will never end. He’ll continue to entertain generation after generation. Smiles and the sounds of laughter is a great legacy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family, friends and fans of Mr. Denver.