07/17/2010
06/09/2010
When it comes to lovin’, she steals the show
Any person who doesn’t appreciate the sexiness and awesomeness that is TNA Knockout Rosie Lotta Love is no friend of mine.
The major difference between the song her name is inspired by and her is, she’s very pretty.
and here she is in action against another large woman which really shows off how pretty Mary-Kate (her real name) is.
TNA has uploaded her “debut” match and follow-up angle and interview.
She wears that Teddy really well and even makes that slut make-up look good. Yay for the big woman!
Book Expo America Haul x Mini-Reviews
This includes ARCs, Uncorrected Proofs, Promos, Special items and full versions of books.
The Enemy by Charlie Higson U.S. edition: A new twist on a zombie plague.
The Thunder and The Sunshine by Gary Hart: A full on memoir of the senator’s career and personal life and the political climate he lived in.
An Actor and A Gentleman by Louis Gossett Jr. and Phyllis Karas : A memoir of the legendary performer
Fruitcake-Heirloom Recipes and Memories of Truman Capote and Cousin Sook by Marie Rudisill (with a new foreword): The “Fruitcake Lady” of Jay Leno’s Tonight Show well known book.
The Ellis Island Experience by Ginjer Clarke with illustrations by Diego Jourdan: Half chapther, half comic book, this IDW production details the the title’s experience in an easy format for kids, but still fun for adults
The Mad Ones by Tom Folsom: Details the tale of infamous Crazy Joe Gallo and the Gallo Brothers, Kid Blast and Gary. Download Bob Dylan’s “Joey” if you haven’t heard it.
The Report by Jessica Francis Kane: Based on a report of civilian tragedy in the UK near the end of WWII, the journalist and novelist reimagines history and looks through it with new eyes.
Flip Book Preview of They Live by Jonathan Lethem and DeathWish by Christopher Sorrentino: Sean Howe came up with the idea of top writers writing mini dissections of various films. These are the first in the series called Deep Focus from Soft Skull Press.
Innocent by Scott Turow and audiobook dowload of Presumed Innocent read by Edward Herrmann: The 20 year awaited sequel and mp3 of the first book performed by the classic actor of Lost Boys, Practice, Oz and Gilmore Girls fame.
The Saga of Larten Crepsley by Darren Shan: The prequel to Cirque Du Freak.
Episode 1-Quetzalcoatl CD of Tales of Davy Jones: A very well done and entertaining fantasy audio tale, go to the website and get a free preview, top notch indie production.
Boardwalk Empire by Nelson Johnson: The book that inspired Martin Scorsese’s upcoming HBO show.
Rick Springfield collection promotion CD for upcoming memoir Late, Late Night. (yes it has Jessie’s Girl, but also a ton of other songs and a video for his new song “Victoria’s Secret”
Information about Geronimo Silton. Mostly I was interested in the cartoon which you can see here:
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The Man With The Getaway Face-A prelude to the Outfit, adapted by Darwyn Cooke: This comic comes out in July as a special promo for those not already on board with Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series. It’s an amazing little (actually big as its oversized) kick starter.
Top 100 Horror Movies by Gary Gerani: Exactly what it sounds like, a detailed listing of in the author’s opinion of the 100 top horror flicks. It has an intro from Roger Corman. The writer also co-wrote the movie Pumpkinhead, so he does know what makes horror good and bad.
Vending Machines Coined Consumerism by Christopher D. Salyers: A history and collection of vending machines from around the world and their culture. Chris makes great books.
The Last Block in Harlem by Christopher Herz : It’s hard to explain this one without just detailing the plot, but its a very New York kind of story and the author’s tale of publication is amazing.
HAUNT by Robert Kirkman, Ryan Ottley, Greg Capullo and Todd McFarlane: TPB of the first five issues of the new Horror/Superhero book from Image.
Even Monsters Need Haircuts by Matthew McElligott: A charming picture book for kids… the art is just so fantastic though that I’m keeping this for myself for now.
Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein: I went to college with David and worked on a couple of things with him. This new children’s book is an adorable tale of father trying to read his child a bedtime story with much difficulty. They just happen to be chickens. The best part of the book are the various styles David uses to illustrate.
Debbie Macomber’s Cedar Cove Cookbook: I grabbed this for my mom as she’s a fan of the series… but I think I’ll enjoy it as well purely from a cookbook standpoint. It’s got lots of fictional details from her books, but the recipes are full on real downhown stuff.
Countdown to Lockdown by Mick Foley: I’ve just finished with Cactus Jack’s latest memoir detailing his last years in the WWE through his debut in TNA and the night he fought Sting at Lockdown 2009 in a steel cage match for the world title. While the wrestling sections are wonderful, fully detailing his mindset of not continuing with the WWE for a final time to the thought process that lead to things like this…, yet those aren’t the best parts. The best sections are the truly sincere tales of his visits from charity and child sponsorship, and his true admiration for Tori Amos, they’re heartwarming and show the sensitive, real man behind the Hardcore Legend.
My Invisible World by Morasha R. Winokur: Written by the eleven year old twin sister of disabled young man with a an invisible disability, she shares her experiences of adoption, understanding her brother and helping raise and train their work dog, Chancer. It’s a remarkable tale and I look forward to exploring it more.
A Circle of Souls by Preetham Grandhi: This thriller was recommended to me by the publisher’s rep based on what I’ve described to enjoy. It has plenty of elements that I like based on the subject matter and description, murder, deception, politics, suspence, psychology. I don’t know much more than that but I’m totally going to read this.
Bad Marie by Marcy Dermansky: Picked this galley up on a whim. The plot seems quite weird, not sure how much this up my alley, but I actually want to be proven wrong. The description details that a bad girl becomes a nanny and takes advantage of her childhood friend, stealing the husband, kidnapping the kid and running off to Paris. Could be amazing, I really don’t know.
The Brave by Nicholas Evans: This is the new book from the guy who wrote the obscenely popular and lauded The Horse Whisperer. I never read that, but my mom did and loved it, so I grabbed this galley as they were giving them out like surplus in promotion. This new one seemed to involve some cowboy murder in the 50’s tying into a murder investigation that the young man in the 50’s son is the suspect for.
Great House by Nicole Krauss: I can’t seem to find a good site for Nicole, be it personal or publisher. Anyways, I grabbed this galley for my mom as well. The desciption definitely is intriguing. With the basis of desks and the history of different desks she weaves the stories of three different lives in a form of short story and full length prose combined.
Go, Mutants! by Larry Doyle: The writer of “I Love You, Beth Cooper” follows up with something even more insane and crazy. In an alternate universe where all those B-Movie monsters were real, they also had kids. Now those kids are at an age where it’s time to go to Highschool. Enter J!m, son of the alien who almost destroyed Earth, Johnny the Radioactive Biker Ape and Jelly, a gelatinous mass. This is is the second of three books I was really excited to get my hands on early, read, devour and then pimp the hell out of. I haven’t read it yet, but by god… I will and I plan to love the hell out of it.
Pariah by Bob Fingerman: Here’s book three that I was really excited about. I’m not sure how many times I’ll talk about how much I loved Bob’s barely seen BOTTOMFEEDER. Maybe a hundred thousand times. This book is zombies, which he has tackled before in comics very well. A great story he came up with got re-adapted for Dark Horse’s Zombie World. I hate zombies, but in the right hands I love them. In Bob’s hands I expect not to just love them, but lust them. Okay wait, that makes no sense. Anyways, one of the nice surprises for the book is that it has some spot illios. Bob is an amazing artist on top of his writing, so it only adds to the awesomeness.
Talking to Girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield: The second book from the writer of “Love is a Mix Tape” and one of Rolling Stone’s contributing editors follows much of the same style as his first. Each chapter is based on upon associating memory by song. Mixtape was about his love and loss of his wife, Talking seems to be more about the young man who became to become a respected music writer.
Vordak the Incomprehensible- How to Grow Up and Rule the World: This crazy little comedy book was written by Scott Seegert and has cartoony illustrations by an artist named John Martin throughout. I’m not sure how to explain this one. It’s half fake autobop/fake guidebook/all comic book parody. It’s different for sure.
PLANET Stories-STEPPE by Piers Anthony: Planet Stories reprints many stories that first appeared in magazines like Analog, Science Fiction & Fantasy, etc., etc. They also reprinted and published an unseen Gary Gygax story.Steppe was expanded and published as a 200 plus page novel, but this is the original shorter version. It’s a cool project and I’d love to get more of their stuff.
Goop Soup by David Lubar : This is the third Nathan Abercrombie, Accidental Zombie book. I’m not familiar with this series, but the cover by Adam McCauley called to me. Being a children’s series I expect it to be very easy to leap into and catch up. I still hate zombies, but if they’re funny, that always helps. (the only zombie film I like is Return of the Living Dead, O’Bannon’s humor riff with full frontal nudity!)
How Did I Get Here? by Tony Hawk: This is only a sampler of the 272 page book by the pro skater, but with a career over 25 years old at only 43, I’m sure the man has some great stories and advice.
Flotsam by David Wiesner: This might just be one of the most gorgeous picture books I’ve ever seen. Told completely in images Wiesner draws amazing scenes of sealife while telling a simple tale of discovery. This is an amazing book.
Alex and the Ironic Gentleman & Timothy and the Dragon’s Gate by Adrienne Kress: This looks/reads like an excellent series of exciting kids, ships, dragons, pirates and more. Lots of the kind of stuff that add up to amazement. The author also happens to be a smoking hot sexy. It’s a good thing she pursues an acting career as well, cause she’s too pretty to not be on camera or stage. Yes, I’m serious. I mean, I’m betting her book series is awesome, it’s published by Weinstein of all publishers, but she’s really attractive.
The Devil’s Rooming House by M. William Phelps: A heavily researched account of early 1900’s serial killer Amy Archer-Gilligan. Phelps is one of the foremost crime experts so I’ll find it fascinating to read the facts behind this brutal point in history. I’ve found books that explore these people who find murder as a first resort than a last one fascinating. I don’t understand how they go there and purely from understanding the human psyche as a writer, actor and severely amateur anthropologist it continues to be something I try to know more about.
Rex Riders by J.P. Carlson, illustrations by J. Calafiore: I can’t seem to find a website on this at all. I know it’s available for Amazon and Barnes & Nobles. J. Calafiore drew some amazing stuff for this cowboys ride dinosaurs tale. There’s way more to it then simply dinosaurs and cowboys and great art, but to me that’s enough of a sell. Once I’ve read it I’ll have way more to say I’m sure.
The Dread Crew by Kate Inglis, illustrations by Sydney Smith: The art attracted me to this right away, Smith is amazing… but I love anything pirates and I love that pirates are something that can still be alive in this time of zombies and sexy vampires and whatever else is going on. This is by some Canadians and as Canada offers some of my favorite TV, maybe they’ll offer up some of my favorite writings too. They offer up some of my favorite comix people already.
Book Expo America 2010 Report
Day 1
Trying to remember the day in full order with ALL its happenings would be impossible, but I’ll mention that the first thing I did was go to see Louis Gossett Jr. and procure his memoir, An Actor and A Gentleman, and a photo.
I took a quick detour and decided I’d go and get a few things in between, so I got myself former Senator Gary Hart’s new book, The Thunder and the Sunshine and a few other items along the way like Debbie Macomber’s cook book, a BLAD for Matthew Reinhart’s DC Superheroes book, etc.
Next up was Rick Springfield. Rick has a book called LATE, LATE NIGHT coming out in October. They didn’t have Galleys, but they had a special CD with some of his biggest hits and I got a fab pic.
I followed that up with seeing my old college friend David Ezra Stein, meeting Charlie Higson, running around like mad, seeing Adri and the crew at Mark Batty, getting stuff, talking to Eric Shanower and then Ron Marz, running around more, saying hello to Martha Cooper, bumping into Bob Fingerman, seeing other friends and acquaintainces, through circumstance getting to meet Martin Kove after missing his performance, meeting L.A. Banks and then talking to Todd McFarlane and then a bunch of just walking the floor till closing to see what I could discover that would blow me away.
Day 2
First up was Larry Doyle, who let me know that the script for “Go, Mutants!” was now in draft 2. I’m looking forward to reading the book, but the premise alone really makes me hope the movie happens. I grabbed a couple of unplanned things, but then rushed across the hall to wait in line for Tony Hawk.
That line was really long and intense, but I had nice conversations while waiting and I got a free Tony Hawk lid out of it and this shot.
After Tony Hawk I actually ended up having a lot of time to kill till Mick Foley so I walked around a lot and got some really cool items actually (haul list coming soon). It was fun just walking around seeing and exploring. I didn’t take photos though… book expos are pretty boring.
Right before Mick Foley I saw a drawing of a kid cowboy on a dinosaur that really caught my eye. Turns of the drawing was by J. Calafiore, one of the comic artists I happen to like a lot. I ended up talking to him and the writer, J.P. Carlson of the book that the image was for a bunch. It’s called Rex Riders.
Then I was smart to run over at 2 PM for the 2:30 signing of Foley cause right after I got on line it got huge! It was good seeing Mick again for the 4th time. He’s as awesome as ever and I’m already on page 90 of the book.
I had more time to kill after Foley and getting my last main book of the day PARIAH by Bob Fingerman. So I went and grabbed myself a GLEE shirt, spoke to Keith R.A. DeCandido for a bit, got disappointed to find out Garth Ennis didn’t make it to the show, got more books and headed over.
Afterwards I had enough, it was time to reorganize and head downtown to Deitch for the Beyond The Street book signing. In my reorganizing I somehow left a bag at Jacob Javits, none of my books were in it, but my glasses were. Luckily Javits have the bag!
The signing was a spirited affair with many of the artists featured in the book there, so tons of signatures. The main surprises of the night were Mr. Brainwash AKA Thierry Guetta with an appearance despite not being in the book and Morgan Spurlock who happens to be a big streetart lover and a friend of Ron English’s.
Soon I was beat and could take no more and rain was coming. With 22 books including the 12 inch tall, 5 pound Beyond The Street I headed home.
05/25/2010
Welling Court Mural Projects
On Friday, May 21st I got myself a preview of the Welling Court Mural Project. Welling Court is a physical block in Astoria, Queens… the actual mural project encompasses sections of the wall covering Welling, 30th and Main.
I met up with my buddy Matt and was pleased to see Alice out there as well, also Cern was working and Lady Pink, Cycle, Sofia Maldonado, Celso, Pablo Powers, Cey, Mr. Keijii and a few others were getting their work done.
The next day Matt picked me up so we could head over to Welling to finish up and take in the party. He brought his kids with him which was a nice and enjoyable surprise and made the day so much better. Folks like Tristan Eaton, Michael DeFeo, VENG, and Stormie Mills were out working along with the crew from yesterday. Lots of energy and amazing art was happening.
The whole thing ended up with a huge block party with food and dancing and music. By 9 o’clock I was beat, Matt was beat, the kids were out…so it was time to call an end to everything… but boy was it fun while it lasted. For my own memories I wanna send magical love out to Alison & Garrison and Bogart. Without them, none of it would be possible and an amazing amount of love to the entire community of Welling Court/surrounding area.
To see more photos go check out the flickr set
.
04/26/2010
The Losers (movie review)
I’ll see your big knife and raise you a classic gun from a Brazilian drug lord
Explosions, a swarmy sadistic and yet wimpy bad guy, cool guys, an okay looking chick (or in some people’s eyes gorgeous, but to me she’s just ok) and original artwork from the artist known simply as JOCK equals a movie that is a lot of fun and well conducted and definitely worth a watch.
Screenwriters Peter Berg and James Vanderbilt first came together to make The Rundown and with The Losers they successfully IMHO, albeit with changes, adapted Andy Diggle’s Vertigo comic in 90 minutes of bombastic action that runs at a steady clip and felt way more than 90 minutes in a good way.
Jeffrey Dean Morgan is the man, but you know that already. The rest of the cast is good enough and believable for pastiche characters. The strongest definitely is Jason Patric though. He’s a new kind of villain. I’ve been told his character has much less characterization and personality in the comic, basically nothing but a shadow… so Berg, Vanderbilt, White and Jason Patric really had some fun in creating something there.
The best bits in the films are the jokes, Jensen’s T-shirts, topless JDM and one hilarious Patric bit. The best things actually come during the ending credits. They don’t work without the rest of the film, but they are just so perfectly hilarious.
I’ll be very curious to see what Sylvain White’s next film will be as I never saw his Stomp The Yard and I also became curious in his previous work before this, so I did tons of google-fu to find a site that had that stuff… that site is this.
