Enjoy September
Although the month is almost over, it’s still not too late to enjoy September. [Via Biits and Pieces]
John Beatty’s Headsketches
Remember when I posted that last Friday I was going to be co-hosting as my best bud, John Beatty did headsketches on demand? Well, the event went off without a hitch and we had a blast. We went from about 7:30pm to almost 2:30am the next morning. In addition to John sketching we had give-aways, trivia contests for prizes and a whole lot of fun.
Those are six of the 12 sketches John completed that night. John broadcasts on U-Stream regularly and we’re planning another session with me as co-host in the near future. Hopefully, you can join us next time!
Chaykin, Batman & Catwoman
Howard Chaykin has a Batman one-shot coming out this November that he’s writing and drawing. It’s called Batman/Catwoman: Follow the Money. Since I’m a huge Chaykin fan, I’m in. If you want to know more, then check out this interview with Howard Chaykin posted by the fine folks at CBR.com.
Ryan Cody: Sly is the Demolition Man
That’s Ryan Cody’s take on Sly from Demolition Man. I’d been wanting to get a sketch from Ryan for a while now, but since he doesn’t make it to east coast shows and I don’t get west, it didn’t look good. Not long ago, Ryan was going to a show and offered fans some discounted sketch opportunities and even extended the offer to me through the mail.
I jumped on board for two pieces and the Demolition Man is the first. You’ll see the second in the coming weeks. Until then check out Ryan’s blog and his DA site.
Thanks to Ryan! Hopefully we can do it again sometime. – Craig
The Long Climb to the Top
I’m not afraid of heights. Watching this video of a worker climbing a radio tower [and most of the time free-climbing, without a safety harness] could make me change my opinion of high places. It’s insane to not only think that some poor worker [and I don’t care how much he/she gets paid] has to climb higher than the Sears Tower to make a repair, but it’s even more insane to think that there are folks out there who want the job. [via Neatorama]
The video has been pulled. You can learn why here.
William Shatner’s Up Till Now
As I write this I’m a little less than half way through William Shatner’s autobiography, Up Till Now and I’m already hating that it will end. Shatner’s stories, observations and asides are entertaining and written as if he was chatting with the reader over a McDonald’s Mocca Frappe. [Stay thirsty, my friends!]
Growing up, I was a HUGE Star Trek fan [although Spock was my favorite character] and I did enjoy Shatner in Boston Legal and The Twilight Zone episodes [that he headlined], but I wasn’t a TJ Hooker fan. And except for the Star Trek movies starring Shatner and the original crew, there are no other William Shatner films in my movie collection. That had led me to believe that I might enjoy only a small part of Shatner’s autobiography. Boy, was I wrong. Ever page has either made me smile or given me some interesting insight. And sometimes both. For example, Shatner discusses being flown to France with his co-stars for the premiere of an animated film…
In the animated film, Over the Hedge I played Ozzie the Opossum, whose primary survival technique is playing dead, but truly dramatically dead. Shatnerian playing dead. Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks, sent the cast, including Bruce Willis and myself to the Cannes Film Festival for the premiere of the film. As we were walking up the red carpet, surrounded by photographers, we were introduced to the French actors who had played our characters in the French version. Wait a second, I wondered, we’re the stars of the film, right? I knew we were the stars, our names were in big letters on the lobby cards and credits. But as this is an animated film our faces weren’t on the screen, and now our voices were replaced by French actors. So we were the stars of a film in which we didn’t even appear. What were we doing there?
Think about it. Pay big bucks to an actor who will never appear on screen and then replace his voice too! It’s gotta make you simply shake your head and smile.
Friday Nite Sketching Live with Beatty & Zablo
In less than 24 hours I’ll be joining my best bud, John Beatty in his luxurious JBI studio in the heart of beautiful downtown Holly Hill. John will be sketching live on U-Stream and taking requests for headsketches like those above. I’ll be there as color commentator and to keep things rolling. John will have something for every price range and you can get the full details at his site.
I hope you’ll tune in to the festivities — it’d be great to hear from all ZONERS. The fun starts at 7pm EST… and if you see John doing a Stallone sketch, it had better be for me!
The Gregory Bros Auto-Tune the News
Have you heard of The Gregory Brothers? They take real news stories and auto-tune them. By that I mean they take a real news report and digitally add sound and music effects. Here’s one about a bedroom intruder and here’s another about a convenience story robbery. Good stuff, huh?
Who Let the Zombies In?
I really like this new teaser for The Walking Dead comic series. We’ve seen other posters that hint at the plot twists to come, but this pretty much lets the cat out of the bag zombies out from behind the walls. Yeah. I think we’re in for some fun times. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for the cast of The Walking Dead.
5 Days to Die
I’m a sucker for good crime noir. So when I heard about 5 Days to Die by Andy Schmidt [writer] and Chee [artist], I knew I hard to get my order in. 5 Days to Die is the story of…
…Detective Ray Crisara, who suffers a tragic car accident [an attempted hit?] that shatters his family and puts enough shrapnel in his head to give him a five-day life expectancy… And he’s got to choose between being with his family or finding and stopping their potential killer!
If this sounds like something you’d like, then get your order in to your local comic shop. Want to know more about the series? Then check out Noir Meets 24 in 5 Days to Die, posted by the fine folks at Neatorama.com.
Lost in Space Trivia
I was a fan of Lost in Space. It was a wonderful concept – a family sent on a space mission and thanks to a cowardly stowaway traitor, they get thrown off course and, well, lost in space. The robot was the coolest and I have to admit that I thought Penny was pretty cute too. Plus the dad was the guy who played Zorro!
If you are/were a Lost in Space fan, then you might be interested in some little known facts:
- Carroll O’Connor, who played Archie Bunker on All in the Family, was initially considered to play the role of Dr. Smith.
- The pilot episode cost $600,000. At the time, it was the most expensive TV pilot to date, with the exception of Star Trek’s $630,000 first pilot episode “The Cage.”
- The strongly campy nature of the second and third seasons was, by the way, entirely intentional. A year after Lost in Space debuted, the TV series Batman became a spectacular ratings success. Irwin Allen noticed and attributed its ratings to the show’s playful tone. He altered Lost in Space accordingly.
You can learn even more little known Lost in Space facts if you check out this post at Neatorama.
From the Mind of M. Night Shyamalan
Just the other night four of us were having a discussion about M. Night Shyamalan. All of us loved The Sixth Sense and Signs. After that things went south. Every other movie brought about mixed reactions… but none got the love of The Sixth Sense or Signs. Yet all of us held on to the hope that M. Night Shyamalan would return with a movie that would once again wow us.
