Jane Lui: Crazy for You & Rain
This is Jane Lui’s second appearance here. In her first, she performed 25 Songs and 49 Years of Non-Lyrics. This time, Jane gives us her take on Madonna – Crazy for You & Rain mash up.
Tom Hodges: Barney Ross
This week we have Sly from The Expendables by Tom Hodges. I discovered Tom’s art through his DA site. I saw that Tom was going to be drawing live on UStream so I commissioned several sketches which will be posted in the coming weeks. Tom still draws regularly on UStream and it’s always a blast watching him sketch and interacting with the crowd.
RIP: Whitney Houston
Last night, at a little after 7pm est, as my wife and I were watching The Double on Netflix, our son, Chris, texted us that Whitney Houston had died. Like most of the rest of the world, we were saddened and surprised, but not shocked.
Whitney Houston was a superstar. A singer beyond compare. She was the first female to have an album debut at #1. She was the first and only recording artist to have 7 straight number one hits. These are only two of her many recording records. Whitney Houston was also an actress appearing in several films, the best known being The Bodyguard and Waiting to Exhale.
Ms. Houston married singer, Bobby Brown, in 1992. Many blame him for Whitney’s descent into drug addiction. Houston and Brown were married for 16 years and had one daughter, Bobbi Kristina Houston Brown. Sadly, as the years passed, Whitney made fewer and fewer albums or movies and her appearances in the press were usually something drug-related. Ms. Houston made at least three attempts at rehab and talked openly about her struggles with drugs in a famous interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2009. Fans hoped that Whitney had kicked the drugs and things looked promising in 2010 when she began her “Nothing But Love” world tour. Although drugs had a taken a toll on her, Whitney was back on stage and touring and things seemed to be headed in the right direction. Whitney Houston was set to appear on the Grammy awards tonight. It would have been a wonderful step in her comeback. Unfortunately that was not to be. Instead the Grammy’s will feature a tribute to the once-reigning queen of pop.
Rest in Peace, Whitney Houston. Our thoughts and prayers go out to her family, friends and fans.
Kirkman Responds!
Just as last week seemed to be all about the new Riddick movie staring Vin Diesel, this week is shaping up to focus on all of the news about The Walking Dead. Two days ago the news broke that Tony Moore [artist on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series, and childhood friend of Robert Kirkman] was suing Kirkman over profits from the hit comic and television series.
The Hollywood Reporter ran the image above [provided by Kirkman] that shows he is listed as the creator of the series with Moore listed as “penciler, inker and gray tones” — essentially the hired artist. Kirkman’s reaction to Moore’s lawsuit included:
- “The lawsuit is ridiculous, we each had legal representation seven years ago and now he is violating the same contract he initiated and approved and he wants to misrepresent the fees he was paid and continues to be paid for the work he was hired to do. Tony regularly receives payment for the work he did as penciler, inker and for gray tones on the first six issues of The Walking Dead comic series and he receives royalties for the TV show, to assert otherwise is simply incorrect.”
It appears that any hope for a quick resolution to this suit is fading fast.
New Walking Dead App
Walking Dead fans excited about the return of the series tomorrow night can get even more from each new episode if they download the new Walking Dead Story Sync App. The app allows fans to…
- to…interact with other viewers and the show during the premiere broadcasts of season 2 of ‘The Walking Dead.’ Fans get to weigh in, via polls, on important topics and how characters should handle critical situations. They get background trivia (and also test their knowledge with trivia questions), special graphics, maps, photos and a weekly kill count, as well as a sneak peek of the next week’s episode and an instant replay of a key scene. The application also supports live discussion of the show via Twitter and AMCtv.com live…
This sounds like it could be a fun app. I’m going to give it a go.
Moore Sues Kirman Over The Walking Dead
The Hollywood Reporter posted the news that Tony Moore, the original artist and co-creator of the hit comic book series The Walking Dead has sued long-time [former?] friend, Robert Kirkman. Kirkman is, of course, the writer and co-creator of The Walking Dead.
According to The Hollywood Reporter…
- Moore claims that in 2005, Kirkman and his agents devised a scheme to fraudulently induce him to assign his copyright interests over to Kirkman’s company. Moore, who grew up with Kirkman and worked together on several projects, claims he signed a deal granting him 60 percent of “Comic Publishing Net Proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and another project called Brit; 20 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” in connection with Walking Dead and Brit; and 50 percent of “motion picture net proceeds” from another project called Battle Pope.
The suit goes on to say that Moore has received little in the way of revenue from the hit comic and tv series and hasn’t seen any profit statements from Kirkman and/or his company.
This is a sad situation for all concerned. Not only were Moore and Kirkman childhood friends, but they had also worked on many projects together up to The Walking Dead. Hopefully, they will be able to come to a mutually satisfactory solution soon.
Arnold & Sly: Shoulder to Shoulder
For years fans hoped to see Sly Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger appear in a movie together. The dream team-up finally occurred in The Expendables. When it was announced that Arnold would be back in a bigger role for The Expendables 2, fans couldn’t believe their luck.
Speaking of luck, what are the odds that both Arnold and Sly would find themselves side by side in a hospital prep room with both going in for shoulder surgery? Not to worry though, once they are healed both Arnold and Sly are set to team once again in The Tomb.
Comic Book Easter Eggs
The image above is an enlargement of a panel from Aliens/Predators: The Deadliest of the Species #5, by Chris Claremont [writer] and Eduardo Barreto [artist]. It’s a shot of a Predator’s trophy wall. It’s obvious at this size that the trophies consist of an alien, Wolverine’s hand, Batman’s head, and the heads of other heroes. Writers and artists regularly throw in little extras, or Easter Eggs, for observant readers.
I love stuff like this.
Riddick is in Deep Water
The on-set photos of Vin Diesel as Riddick just keep coming and I, for one, couldn’t be happier.
Lance Sawyer Got Carter
Lance Sawyer makes his third [and hopefully not last] appearance, this time with his take on Sly as Jack Carter from “Get Carter.” I’ve been a fan of Lance’s art for a while. Recently I had a chance to purchase a few sketches from him and I could not be happier in how they turned out!
If you’d like to see more of Lance’s art, you can right here.
UFC 143 Results and Thoughts
Last night UFC 143 was held. Let’s take a look at the results of the three top fights:
Josh Koscheck defeated Mike Pierce via Split decision (28-29, 29-28, 29-28)
Thoughts: Koscheck is perhaps the most disliked fighter in the UFC. Koscheck, the self-proclaimed “most hated guy in MMA knows it, and loves to get the crowd riled up and booing. Split decision wins make it even easier for fans who already don’t like Koscheck to have another reason to hate him.
Fabricio Werdum defeated Roy Nelson via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Thoughts: I’m glad to see Nelson getting in better shape. He came in 20 pounds lighter than his previous fights. As for Werdum, perhaps a battle with Frank Mir should be next.
Carlos Condit defeated Nick Diaz via unanimous decision (48-47, 49-46, 49-46)
Thoughts: Condit came in with a perfect game plan consisting of lots of leg kicks and movement. He stuck to it and pulled off the upset victory and won the UFC interim welterweight championship. After the fight Diaz claimed he was done with MMA. My guess is that he’s not. It was his first loss after 11 straight wins in a four year period. Diaz is just 28 years old and love him or hate him, people enjoy watching his fights. He’ll be back.
Walking Dead: Something to Fear
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything about my favorite regularly published comic series, The Walking Dead. Thanks to Image’s release of two teaser posters, we can remedy that right now. If you like the tv series, my guess is you’ll love the comic series.
“Riddick”: The Plot Thickens
It feels like it’s Riddick week here at CZ.com. Bleeding Cool posted some interesting news from the latest Riddick press release. In addition to listing recently added cast members, they also posted a plot summary:
- The infamous Riddick has been left for dead on a sun-scorched planet that appears to be lifeless. Soon, however, he finds himself fighting for survival against alien predators more lethal than any human he’s encountered. The only way off is for Riddick to activate an emergency beacon and alert mercenaries who rapidly descend to the planet in search of their bounty.
- The first ship to arrive carries a new breed of merc, more lethal and violent, while the second is captained by a man whose pursuit of Riddick is more personal. With time running out and a storm on the horizon that no one could survive, his hunters won’t leave the planet without Riddick’s head as their trophy.
Diesel Brings Riddick Back Again
I think that Vin Diesel may be as excited about bringing Riddick back to the big screen as we are to have him back. This is the third photo that Diesel has recently posted on his Facebook page. You can see all three there.
How to “Get the Gringo”
If you’re planning to see Mel Gibson’s next actioner Get the Gringo when it’s released then you’re going to have to live in driving distance of Austin, Texas [or one of ten other cities] or be a DIRECTV subscriber. You see, Mel has decided to roll the dice and see how the video on demand market treats him [and his production company].
