The Gentleman, Hustler, Rounder, and Moneymaker: Influencing Pop Culture and Poker

Posted on 08/06/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

How has  poker influenced the pop culture as a whole?

With the heavy influence of mass media, popular culture or pop culture has affected our everyday lives. These are ideas, images, perspectives, and phenomena that embody society. From gentlemen to online phenomena, here are some people, fiction and non-fiction, who made their mark on pop culture.

The Gentleman Player: Mark Twain

Samuel Langhorne Clemens or {Mark Twain} has heavily influenced pop culture through his wit and humor. Who could forget his great classics like “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,” “The Prince and the Pauper,” and “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court.” Aside from writing, he was also an avid poker player. Since he grew up along the river banks of the Mighty Mississippi, Mark was exposed to this card game and grew fond of it. In his book “Life on the Mississippi”, he told the story of four robbers who planned to outwit and rob a farmer in a poker match. However, the farmer proved to be a wiser opponent and defeated them in at their own game. Although, Mark Twain always showed his disgust towards professional gamblers in his stories, he hailed the regular card players. He believed that a player should always be a gentleman, who showed control, moderation, and propriety in every game.

 

 

The Hustler and Mutant: Gambit

Known as the “Le Diable Blanc” (The White Devil), Gambit is one of the X-Men’s most famous characters. His Cajun-inspired humor, good looks, and hypnotic charm earned him the 65th spot on IGN’s Top 100 Comic Book Heroes of All Time. Aside from his card-throwing skills and ability to turn them into kinetically-charged weapons, Gambit is also known for his table-hustling skills. In the movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine, it was mentioned that he always hustled the Three Mile Prison’s guards in card games. After escaping prison, he made his way to back-alley casinos, bars, and underground poker matches to make a living. Gambit also made his appearance on several video games like the “Marvel vs. Capcom series,” “X-men vs. Street Fighter,” and “X-Men: Mutant Apocalypse.”

Building a Cult Hit: Rounders

With the growing popularity of Texas Hold’em and the other poker games, Miramax Films asked John Dahl to direct a film about this card game. In 1998, the film “Rounders,” starring Matt Damon, Edward Norton, and John Malkovich, the story revolves around two friends; Mike McDermott (Matt Damon) and Lester Murphy (Edward Norton) who makes the rounds around New York City to raise enough money to pay off their debt. Eventually, he beats Teddy KGB (played by John Malkovich) and settles their debt. The movie ends with Mike heading towards Vegas to play at the WSOP (World Series of Poker) Main Event. Vanessa Rousso, a professional poker player revealed that the movie captured the true energy and tension of the game. According to her, it’s the best poker movie ever made.

An Online Phenomenon: Chris Moneymaker

With only $39 as his investment, he turned the world around as he won the $2.5 million pot at the 2003 World Series of Poker Main Event. Called the Moneymaker Effect, Chris is credited for kick-starting the poker revolution, and reintroducing it to the masses. His story also influenced the likes of Kara Scott, an active member of team partypoker, who became the first woman to cash-in on both the 2008 and 2009 WSOP Main Events. With the combination of skill and luck, he made it possible for anyone to play poker.

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On Lee Daniel’s The Butler after screening…

Posted on 07/26/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

I had the opportunity to go to an early Sag Awards/Weinstein Company sponsored screening of Lee Daniel’s The Butler earlier this week. As the film doesn’t open for a few weeks and I rarely put movie reviews here I didn’t think I’d end up doing on, but as I started writing on Facebook I realized I had more to say than planned so I decided to try and stretch it a bit and say even more than that. So here’s a review.

Lee Daniel’s The Butler has some really interesting and quality performances, especially from Cuba Gooding Jr. and David Oyelowo, Vanessa Redgrave was her always fabulous self in a small role that didn’t need her but suited her and Liev Schreiber IMHO stole the show; Didn’t recognize him at all. Yet if you go for the story about a Butler who served over 30 years in The White House, you’re better off reading the original article from Washington Post about Eugene Allen, the actual white house staff butler of 30 years that inspired the film. That article has NOTHING about a son who marched with MLK, the Black Panthers, Free Mandela and later became a Congressman that Hollyweird forced into the film to give an excuse to follow another path of history. While this first paragraph actually just caused OMGSPOILERS for the film, they are not he kind that anyone should truly get angry about.

Unlike Lee Daniel’s sophomore effort The Paperboy, an adaption of the same named Pulitzer Prize winning novel by Lee Dexter which the author adapted himself or even Lee’s Oscar award winning first effort Precious, The Butler is very by the numbers. There are what could be thought the occasional “shocking” moments, but I’m not robbing you of those if you truly want to see the film. There’s also plenty reasons to. Even with the complete stunt castings of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan or Robin Williams as Eisenhowser, there’s something very special about John Cusack’s Nixon. I don’t think his dialogue would’ve been as funny or clever in just a capable actor who did an awesome Nixon. They needed the candor of Cusack. Folks like Mariah Carey, Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, and even Lenny Kravitz was much less stunt casting more about Lee Daniels I believe trying to develop his own troupe to work with for any future productions. That includes David Oyelowo who was amazing and was just as equally amazing in Paperboy.

One of the more interesting/intriguing parts of the screenwriter Danny Strong and I assume producers The Weinstein Company to make what seem like arbitrary changes to Eugene Allen’s life is the amount of facts from the article they chose to keep in the film as well. From dealing with LBJ’s harsh racial epithets to Nancy Reagan’s invite to dinner, all parts of his life that were fascinating, that adding or changing facts like where he used to work or how he got the job just seem like pointless changes that didn’t add or take away from the story being told.

Although that story is just that, a story about a Butler in the White House while TRYING to say something about the Civil Rights movement in America over the last 70 and even more so years, without saying anything new or making a particular stance or than the kind of stance a film with a black director and a black cast could make. That is not a slight to the Civil rights movement, it’s to the film itself. It’s just a film that is kind of just there. Not bad, not grand, but a movie that stands on its own strengths and that is a definite early contender for Oscar nomination simply on what it tries to accomplish even if it is a forgettable movie as well.

Before closing out I do want to commend one very important factor of the film and one that is pulled off amazingly. The make up and prosthetic work is amazing. They made Forrest Whitaker pass for 30 years old as well as his actual age and a man in his late 80’s. This awesome makeup work follows through on what they did with the actor’s portraying president’s (it’s pretty impossible to hide such recognizable faces, but they did add aspects that conveyed the role through features such as Nixon’s nose) as well as with every other actor from Oprah to Lenny Kravitz, it deserves the Oscar more than anything else even.

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THE FIFTH BEATLE shall rocks your socks…and more!

Posted on 07/23/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

At Book Expo America 2013 I had the privilege and pleasure to sit with Entertainment producer and the writer of the upcoming (November 19th 2013), THE FIFTH BEATLE, Vivek Tiwary. Since then I have expectantly watched the news and excitement for the forthcoming Dark Horse book with baited breath. I have also unfortunately sat and then lost my notes from my short but insightful talk.

Here as best I can are portions of that talk to show how much this is truly Vivek’s labor of love and a book all fans of comics, The Beatles, music, life, biography or more would appreciate.

It was always designed and conceived as a graphic novel and Dark Horse was one of the earliest and therefore first to sign it on concept, with it being in production now between research and art for around three years. Vivek  traveled to England and visited Liverpool, as well as the estate of Brian Epstein to truly understand the man as best one could.

Brian Epstein lived in a time when being who he was and equally being successful were quite an accomplishment. To be homosexual in a time when it was actually a crime, forcing him not just to be in the closet, but with no choice but to be, but to also be a Jew, as well a very liberal individual in political views was just not done. Epstein did do it though, while also being a very successful music manager. Not just for The Beatles but for Gerry and The Pacemakers, as well other notable acts. Of course none of them as big as The Beatles, but not many acts were bigger than The Beatles till stupid things like American Idol & Glee came along and that’s just not a fair comparison.

This book won’t be about The Beatles though, despite them being an integral part of Brian’s short life, it will truly be about Brian and pieced together in an exciting way featuring beautiful painted artwork from Andrew Robinson. As a comics artist I best know Andrew for his Image series Dusty Star but he’s also a great painter and he’s combing his sequential skills with his illustration to create some amazing pages.

One of the more interesting aspects of Brian’s life that I believe Vivek is going to focus on are his difficulty at being able to actually have a lover, not because of it being taboo, but being an actual crime to open. He’ll also touch upon some of the rumors and made critical, but basic decisions based on discussions he had with friends and family. A lot of the information he used also exists on the bibliography on the main site for the book, but he states that many of those books are not enjoyable reads and/or are out of print and hard to find. This comic book will also allow a whole new unexplored demographic a chance to appreciate Brian Epstein and his amazing story.

 

THE FIFTH BEATLE will be released in three editions.

A regular edition (although hardcover and oversized) for $20. A collector’s-edition with a textured cover and a bonus section with memorabilia, artist sketches, and alternate covers for $49.99 and a limited edition (1,500 copies) features a signed tip-in sheet and a special slipcase, for $99.99. I’d state that the best, complete version shall be the $50 edition. Although the $20 will give you the complete comic which also includes a Beatles cartoon inspired 9 page section drawn by Kyle Baker.

To end with, here’s an awesome trailer put together for the book.

 

THE FIFTH BEATLE Graphic Novel Trailer from TEG on Vimeo.

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A Second Helping of PURE EVIL

Posted on 07/06/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

It’s no secret that I am a Canadaphile, it’s been a major part of who I am going back to childhood. We’re not just talking shows most people know or like, I’ve gotten into the shows we never got here at least as they aired in Canada or without a DVD. Shows like Murdoch Mysteries, Blue Murder, Grand Star, and even Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town. Although the one I plan to speak of for this article did air in America on the lesser known FearNet, but that is an extra premium channel at least on my cable service, so the only way I ever saw the show was through the luck of eOne Entertainment’s DVDs.

I got the first season of TODD and THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL when the cover first caught my eye, mostly the title and a very healthy dose of young Canadian talent who’d starred in some awesome Canadian shows including the stars show Alex House from Dark Oracle, it had longtime Canadian TV talent Chris Leavins dressed as what appeared a nerdy teacher, and top of that Jason Mewes was on the cover as a janitor. I grabbed it off the shelf right away, took it home, spun those episodes and loved it and then it was over. I searched the internet for where it would air if there was more to see. That was when I discovered it was either move to Canada (I want to, but that’s another story) or pay more on my cable bill to watch it on FearNet and I was like “Nooooooooooo!” and I just let the show go to the back of my mind and be happy I had that first season DVD full of funny, supernatural, gory, musical, awesome, weird action.

Then I heard word that Season two would be coming to DVD so I got excited and started looking into it. That was when I also discovered that the show would not be returning for a third season and not all plot lines got completed. Unfortunately I did NOT hear or discover the successful campaign for the animated film, but that didn’t stop my desire to see the second season, especially since I didn’t get FearNet.

In this second season they amped (sic) up everything. That’s usually the case of course with a show like this, the characters get older, so everything can get more mature. The evil is out there so it can only do what evil does and get more powerful, ambition gets more desperate, sexiness gets sexier and blood and gore well that has to get even crazier.

As in the the first season DVD, eOne made sure to stock this thing with enough extras that you’d have reason own this physical item more than just getting the episodes alone. Commentary tracks, deleted sequences, making of footage, the full versions of the music sequences. Oh, did I forget to mention the musical part of the show? Yeah, it’s a balls to walls heavy metal rock musical on top of everything else. Now you might be thinking that sounds weird, but if you’re anything like me, and I KNOW there are amazingly people with my pop-culture sensibilities, they’ll be your favorite segments.

TODD and THE BOOK OF PURE EVIL – The Complete Season 2 dropped on June 25th at a SRP of $19.98 and is available from your regular outlets (Best Buy, Target, Amazon, that local place) and I suggest you go and grab it and also season one if you haven’t. You’ll be getting many half hours of music, comedy, blood, sex, gore, silly, fun and awesome extras as well, what could be wrong about that? Nothing… absolutely nothing.

(disclaimer: I was provided a review copy of Season 2, but only at request and was already a huge fan of the program)
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BEA 13 Haul & Photos: Adult Fiction

Posted on 06/23/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

It’s been a crazy time here in the home of Pop-Culture Spectrum.  My life just sucked up by things like THE LAST OF US, but also by just Life in general.  I’ve had a lot of personal things to deal with and trying to secure things in my full-time career as a professional actor.  The whole time the stacks of books sat there from BEA unattended.  Although I have been reading The Fantastic Family Whipple by Matthew Ward.  When I could I saw down with these long lists gathering research and trying to concisely or in some cases not so concisely sum of the books.  I have just finally gotten through all the adult books and here they are in alphabetical of the first author listed on the covers along with photos of authors taken at Book Expo America 2013 where apropos.

A Blind Goddess by James R. Benn: The latest in the Billy Boyle series, a series of world war II mysteries starring a Army Detective who as once a cop. In the latest two cases come to him at the same time, one involving a possible serial killer and the other a definitely innocent man.

Outlaw by Ted Dekker: The scifi/mystery/fantasy writer tackles a bit of period adventure with a tale in 60’s and 80’s filled with survival. Ted’s Christian faith comes into play as usual, but one ignores that if not part of the proclivity to enjoy. It is a little hard to do so, but I try.

The Heist by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg: The bestselling mystery writers team up to create a new series of teams up as FBI agent teams with Criminal. Has it been done before sure, but not by these two writers, including one who helped create MONK.

The Hired Man by Aminatta Forna: Unable to describe this one myself I borrow from the Amazon description. A taut, powerful novel of a small town and its dark wartime secrets, unwittingly brought into the light by a family of outsiders.

W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton: The 22nd Kinsey Millhone mystery arrives in September embroiled in pharmaceuticals and conspiracy. I grabbed this for my mother knowing she’d love it as she’s loved previous Grafton.

Death of a Nightingale by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnette Friis: A part of the Nina Borg series of noir mysteries from the Dutch duo. In this the nurse looks into a case of a woman and young mother from the Ukraine who is a suspect in two murders. The investigation leads into a history all the way back to 30’s Ukraine.

Burial Rites by Hannah Kent: Based on the actual facts behind the execution of Agnes Magnúsdóttir, the last woman executed in Iceland in the 1800s. This is the debut novel for the Australian writer where the book is already a best seller.

Death in Breslaw by Marek Krajewski: 1950’s Noir crime located in Poland, written by a Polish author. Availble now in the US from Mellville House.

The Facades by Eric Lundgren: One of the Buzz Books of the show, I’m not sure how to describe it. Its a novel with weirdness, mystery, love and interestingness. This is Eric’s debut novel and I hope we’ll be hearing more from him in the future.

A Couple of Blaguards by Malachy & Frank McCourt (plus DVD of performance from 90s): This new edition of the two man play that can be performed by any two men was before and yet is also an extension of Frank’s work in Angela’s Ashes and ‘Tis and Malachy’s A Monk Swimming. Along with the not professionally filmed or distributed DVD (truly this is in front of a small audience, filmed with a low end camera, and yet saved from video tape to computer for years and then hand burned by someone recently to give to fans at BEA possibly even Malachy himself) it’s a great addition to ny library and the play would be great to add to yours too. The edition has a new 2013 introduction from Malachy McCourt making it more a book than a play publication like the Samuel French edition.

Author Jason Mott

The Returned by Jason Mott: Harlequins big branch out from publishing romance to carry a story involving mystery and the supernatural as people long thought dead return to Earth, not as Zombies, but in the same bodies they died in at the same age. So people who had a kid 50 years ago or so are now suddenly parents again or an old man now finds himself with a young hot girlfriend. The rights to this were sold really early and an event series will be airing on ABC this FALL called Resurrection starring Omar Epps. Much of this book and the series seems to be an American adaption of a Japanese flick from the 90’s, but no one cares about that really.

Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk: The Not Long Awaited Sequel to his last original novel DAMNED continues the adventures of Madison as she leaves Hell and now finds herself in Limbo. She is now writing letters to her fans or supposed fans through a blog connected to her twitter in some weird magic heaven space. It’s not supposed to make sense. It’s just supposed to be more crazy allegory, proof that Chuck can do myth and faith research and put it down on the page in a readable form.

Choke Point by Ridley Pearson: The second in The Risk Agent series. This time Knox and Chu travel to Amsterdam to take down a sweatshop using young women as labor.

Author Ridley Pearson

White Fire by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child: The latest of the Agent Pendergast tales, this time involving Sir Arthur Conan Doyle AND his creation Sherlock Holmes with murder and cannibalism in the Appalachians.

[LIMIT] by Frank Schätzing: At over 1200 pages, this immense Sci-Fi book from the German author first published in 2009 is also a hard boiled mystery novel, using Sci-Fi the way it was intended, as a backdrop to explore social and political issues, in this case real estate, hotel management, construction deals and more. The book opens with a quote from David Bowie which always a good selling point.

The Good Sister by Wendy Corsi Staub: The description for this horror/thriller sounds like a killer (pun intended). The latest takes place in Catholic girl’s school where it all seems simple, bullying, online chatting dangers…. murder.

The Blue Blazes by Chuck Wendig: Mookie Pearl is a supernatural criminal hitman and his life gets flipped upside down when his daughter decides to not just defy him, but go against him. This book has one of the best cover images I’ve seen in awhile as well from Joey Hi-Fi.

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ARRR!: A look at Scurvy Scallywags

Posted on 06/13/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

Trying to explain what it is that I like about SCURVY SCALLYWAGS is not as easy as actually explaining the game itself. On the surface it’s a really complicated match 3 game with RPG elements and item collecting and what may actually be an end game even. It’s so much more then this though thanks to the genius and humor of Ron Gilbert, the king of Pirate humor one might say.

One of the main things I should warn you about is it is HIGHLY addictive. Not addictive enough for me to spend extra money on it, but some of you might find yourself dropping moolah like you were buying primo something that makes you euphoric and can’t quit. This is actually one of the few flaws I find in the game actually. Just as you’re getting really good, the difficulty ups a notch to impossible where you’ll die and have to either restart from island one (although with all your skills and costumes unlocked, but none of your money) or spend real life money to stay alive with your current pirate.

The game is designed as if it’s a stage play about some kind of pirates versus pirates where you traverse the seven seas from island to island chasing down a pirate captain past monsters, spiders, lizard kings and golems to collect shantys. Missions/Quests come to you from the show’s producer. Critics lose notebooks, set designers need alcohol to appease them, actors lose props.

One of the more fun parts of the game is the ability to swap out costumes and faces to create your own special pirate. Certain costume parts also add more power to your avatar, so trying to build the strongest pirate might end uo making some funny looking ones. Such as:

If just looking at those fellas doesn’t make you want to play the game though I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe the promise of some hilarious writing? How about that addictive gameplay? The fact that as addictive as it is you can put it down, making an ALMOST perfect mobile game (that getting to level 14, then dying and the only way to save myself is to spend REAL money or go back to Level 1 really does suck)?

SCURVY SCALLYWAGS from Beep Games is available NOW on the iPhone store for $0.99.

(this review was based on a courtesy copy made available from the publisher)

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Super Pop! Summer Blog Tour: Dan Harmon Interview Highlights & How Not To Be Married

Posted on 06/12/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

(The following is part of the Super Pop! Super Summer Blog Tour and a review copy was provided by the publisher)

One of the best times I had at Book Expo America was sitting with artistic editor at Zest books, Daniel Harmon to discuss his upcoming SUPER POP!

It was a lively conversation where I got the inside scoop on the development of his funny, snarky, educational guide to movies and books.

The book came to him while listening to podcasts and hearing them do recommendations for various things. He realized there was a lack of the style of blogs and websites (such as mine) who took the time to find a way to speak in a commercial tone that curated the power of pop-culture through film, music, television and more. He wanted to create something that could actually teach teenagers what to be looking for without being lost in that big world of it all. An in print version of a Television Without Pity but with a Teen advisory board feel. So he set off on trying to figure out what type of book that would be and he landed on lists that would guide young people through the difficulties of life.

The first list he came up with was Surviving the Wild, with the 1997 film The Edge starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin in a tip topsy film which is exactly about surviving in the wild, amongst bears and much more that would spoil the film (although Harmon comes close to it in his overview, it is more about delivering information about a movie one should see to learn, not about the twists).

Designing the lists and writing the info took months and late late hours of research and writing. When he didn’t know as much about a book or film, he went back and watched it again to write about in a concise paragraph that equally tied into the subject of the list. Many things he felt deserved to be recognized or recommended ended up not making the book because of the list concentrations.

One of those biggest regrets that he couldn’t use because he decided to not do a “How to survive a Break-Up” list was CONTEMPT. Either the book by Alberto Moravia or the Jean-Luc Goodard film based on it.

Despite this lacking of certain entries and a few entries where I personally disagree with Harmon’s own assessment of the production (be it book, film, tv show, or song) he has found an excellent way to concisely put together pop-culture recommendations in an easy pick up, get a taste, put down, come back later style perfect for its demographic and a definite thing for folks of all areas of pop-culture expertise to pick up.

I want to mention that there shall also soon be an e-book edition which will provide youtube, imdb, and amazon links making it much easier to follow up on the recommendations.

One of the biggest things missing of any pop-culture references in the book is professional wrestling, which came from a lack of knowledge on Harmon’s end and figuring out what the list would be. During our conversation I figured out the BEST thing for this though. A way to educate all on the fun and foibles on the soap opera of wrestling as well as being a guide to surviving something they will maybe one day approach.

HOW NOT TO HAVE A WEDDING OR BE MARRIED

In no particular order here are some of the most exciting happenings in wrestling through the much exciting weddings that traditionally just go really weird, wonky or whatever.

Stephanie McMahon and Hunter Hearst Helmsley : During the ceremonies Triple H appeared on the large TV and proceeded to show a tape in which Stephanie was drugged, kidnapped by HHH and married to him in a drive-by chapel in Vegas. Stephanie’s father would challenge HHH to a fight to get the marriage annulled, during this fight, Stephanie attacked her father revealing that she had fallen in love with Hunter despite how they got married. A few years later, while the couple were having problems, Stephanie had a doctor lie to HHH and say she was pregnant causing them to renew their vows. Before the ceremony HHH found out but said nothing, going through with the whole event, then proceeding to beat up his father-in-law (AGAIN) and then telling his wife they were through! (in real life this couple are actually together, have two children and are very happy).

“Macho Man” Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth: In real life, these two had been married for 7 years before finally being married on PPV in a ceremony which actually went off without a hitch. Although the road to that wedding despite being a real couple was quite bumpy. In the then WWF she was not introduced as his wife or even girlfriend, but just as a pretty woman who wanted to manage him. That happened and then later they became “a couple”. The first problems came when Savage thought she was cheating on him with Hulk Hogan. They “broke up” and Savage became a bad guy and started hanging out with Sherri Martel. Eventually though the two got back together, Savage asked for marriage and the wedding happened. At their reception things went crazy though, as Jake Roberts gave them a Snake as a gift and then the Undertaker knocked out Savage. This itself went awry as Jake then abused Elizabeth and then later on almost killed her only to be stopped by Undertaker. Before eventually divorcing in the real world quietly and without fanfare, the strains of their real and fake marriage got strained in a feud with Ric Flair. Years after the divorce, the couple reunited as exes still in love in WCW, but this was short lived and eventually Savage got married two more times, once to a porn star and then to a wonderful woman who was in the car with him when he died. Elizabeth ended up both in wrestling and in real life with Lex Luger and eventually also died (years before Savage) in an apparent suicide pact gone wrong from a pill/alcohol combination.

Kurt and Karen Angle: Just like Savage and Elizabeth, these two were married for many years before finally being a public couple on TV. Their marriage as it existed on TV and PPVs in Total Non-Stop Wrestling is a prime example of how not to have a wedding or be married. They started their on air marriage as a couple with problems, with this ending up only to be a ruse to trick an opponent into a flase sense of security thinking the wife at ringside was good for them and not the husband. From there it was a mess. When they did their marriage renewal vows through chaos and insanity, Karen ended up married to AJ Styles instead of Kurt. This turned into a war between Kurt and AJ that Karen eventually in storylines chose AJ over Kurt. In reality though, all this stress and insanity pushed Karen into the arms and an affair with Jeff Jarrett who had lost his long time wife to cancer only two years earlier. This controversy of Jarrett still being a recent widow and being with a married woman led to Jarrett being temporarily suspended. Eventually Kurt and Karen did divorce and Jeff and Karen got married. . In a wrestling vow renewal of Jeff and Karen while Jeff was feuding with Kurt over it all, Kurt destroyed the wedding set and laid out a guest. He then proceeded to beat Jeff in a loser leaves company match (so that Jarrett could actually do a tour of Mexico and later India representing the company) and that was the last we ever heard of Karen in TNA. Although she now accompanies Jeff in his Mexico storylines.

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BEA 13 Haul & Photos: NON-FICTION/COOK BOOKS

Posted on 06/11/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

This is a listing of books gotten at Book Expo America 2013, with links to to the books and/or author where applicable as well as a photo shot at the show of various people met in person.

The Genius of Venice – Piazza San Marco and the Making of the Republic by Dial Parrott: Connecticut lawyer details the construction of the majestic Italian city.

What’s So Funny? My Hilarious Life by Tim Conway with Jane Scovell: The man behind DORF and years of humor teamed up with a regular autobiography cowriter for many a celebrity to deliver a memoir of his long career.

Jack Kennedy:Elusive Hero by Chris Matthews: To promote Mr. Hardball himself’s upcoming Tip and The Gipper, Simon & Schuster provided paperback editions of Matthews last bestselling biography of President John F. Kennedy

Facing The Music and Living to Talk About It by Nick Carter: Backstreet Boy & Reality TV star recants his experience as a drug abuser and rediscovering himself while also dispensing advice is this mix of memoir and self-help.

Dad Is Fat by Jim Gaffigan: The much loved stand-up comedian and actor used his experience of raising five children (and somehow not killing them, mostly thanks to his wife Jeannie) to write a hilaruous assortment of essays on parenting along his non-credited wife who most know helps writes all his material.

Read My Lips by Sally Kellerman: A memoir by the enthalling, sexy singer and character actress who isn’t totally not as famous as she should be.

Poseur by Marc Spitz: The music critic, novelist and playwright explores his adventures in 90’s Lower East Side, a seedy world of clubs, alcohol, soon to be celebs, murder and more (a world I know all too well).

Landau (3 chapter preview) by Landau Eugene Murphy, Jr. with Rick Robinson: Along with author Rick Robinson, the singer and America’s Got Talent winner tells his story as he knows it.

Guys Can Be Cat Ladies Too (Sampler) by Michael Showalter: The comedian has spoken about cats a ton in his act… there are pictures of him with cats. People know that Michael is a Cat Lady. Now he’s written a half funny not really serious, but maybe a little serious guide to taking care of a cat.

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink: The Pulitzer winning article “The Deadly Choices at Memorial” about a hospital during the time of Hurricane Katrina is expanded into a full length novel. I found it hard to figure out where to put this. It is being promoted as a novel, but as it still a redone recounting by the same journalist I kept it here.

The Green Red Green: Collecting the best of three previous Red Green books, with minor updates and changes to make it slightly more timely/timeless, the star of the Red Green show stands tall.

A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming by Dylan Tuccillo, Jared Zeizel and Thomas Peisel: An actual study and development guide into lucid dreaming, while I particularly have mastered this years ago through the work of folks like Windsor WcKay and much later Rick Veitch, this is an invaluable book from the folks behind Dream Labs.

The Shadow King-The Bizarre Afterlife of King Tut’s Mummy by Jo Marchant: Combing years of research and text from articles written for many magazines, noted science journalist Marchant recounts the amazing history the discovery and remarkable aftermath of Tutankhamun.

An Appetite for Wonder-The Making of a Scientist by Richard Dawkins: The noted biologist, scientist, atheist and public speaker delivers a memoir of his life that brought him to the thinking delivered in his first book The Selfish Gene.

Twenty-Dollar, Twenty-Minute Meals by Caroline Wright: Designed as recipes for 4 people, it’s a nice resource full of great food photography and at $13 one of the least expensive cook books ever.

Big Appetities by Christopher Boffoli: A collection of awesome photography which combines food with little figures to tell really great stories. It’s hard to explain, his work speaks best for itself.

New York a la Cart-Recipes & Stories from the Big Apple’s Best Food Trucks by Alexandra Penfold & Siobhan Wallace: As the title states, this collection is quite compelling, giving a nice historical perspective of a part of current NYC life spliced with recipes one can do at home.

Cook like a Rock Star by Anne Burrell with Suzanne Lenzer: To promote her upcoming Own Your Kitchen, Random House provided copies of Anne’s last cookbook. It’s trove of recipes with notes before each in Anne’s wonderful voice.

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Book Expo America 2013: The PCS Experience

Posted on 06/08/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

My Book Expo America 2013 adventure began on Wednesday, May 29th to attend my first and probably last BEA Bloggers conference. This is not because I didn’t have fun or did not network, but because I went to hopefully gain some education and tips I had not yet previously figured on my own. While I did get a few notes that I found useful in one session, as a whole the education part wasn’t there.

I was luckily enough to at least find a few people whom I made a midpoint of a connection with to keep things entertaining, including Molly over at InsertGeekHere. Lunch was nice enough actually using the $15 coupon we received for food and drink, I actually was left with $2, but unfortunately no cash back. Hearing from Eric Smith from Quirk Books (who has an awesome book called The Geek’s Guide to Dating coming in September) was a definite highlight.

The keynote openers and ending speeches were by Will Schwalbe and Randi Zuckerberg and both those were enjoyable and funny. They weren’t worth the price of admission, but they were fun. After the event there was a reception where we could use a drink ticket, network a bit more and surprise surprise a ton of books. There were a few books that went really fast in the Young Adult Editors speack of the Blogger conference and there were not enough books for all, so this really made up for that. Got a few cook books, a huge sci-fi novel AND the newest from Jeff Hirsch, a book I planned to grab during the regular Expo but luckily I didn’t need to. Jeff also happened to be there, so that was a double plus.

I forgot to mention that I snuck (sic) out from the Blogger conference when both sessions available didn’t excite me (mainly the ethics session) and headed over to check out Sidelines. While there I did make a couple cool discoveries which I’ll be discussing in a side article.

Before heading downtown for events was able to swing by the Editor’s Buzz and was very happy to get a copy of The Facades by Eric Lundgren, a book high on my list to read.

From Javits I went down to Housing Works for the Bookrageous event, but after saying hello to long-time friend poet Guy Lecharles Gonzalez (now of the Library Journal) I headed over to CultureFix where I had only planned to say hello to friends Fritz Donnelly and Amy Van Doran, before finding myself pulled into being part of the event and dancing till late in the evening despite wanting to be at BEA early the next day.

THURSDAY, May 30th
I was successful in this and hence following my best recollection of BOOK EXPO AMERICA 2013:
I started my morning with heading over to get a copy of Cynthia Voight’s newest Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things. From there I went to Autographing for a few things. I ended up only tackling two of them but they were a great two. First was Malachy McCourt for a A Couple of Blaguards, the play he wrote with dearly departed brother, as a bonus they also gave out a DVD of their performance of the play. Then it was over a few tables to my old collegemate David Ezra Stein for his newest children’s story Dinosaur Kisses. Realizing the time I rushed over to Dr. Ruth, but unfortunately they ran out of books, but I still got to talk to her and get the photo. Then it was a time where I knew I’d have to waiting but it was worth it to get the second book in the new Lemony Snicket series and see Daniel handler again. Daniel told me that sometime in 2014 his newest novel (a non Snicket) would be a pirate tale. This highly excites me.

A quick bounce after was over to Nicole Polizzi, some exploring, then over Autographing once again for These Broken Stairs and Ridley Pearson’s second Risk Agent. A little more exploring and then I had a scheduled sit down interview with Vivek Tiwary about his upcoming Dark Horse graphic novel The Fifth Beatle (more to come on that very soon). A lot more walking and exploring followed as well as grabbing books before heading to autographing again for Richard Dawkins and others, and along the way stopping at surprise guest Tim Conway. Back to the floor to explore, then another designated signing, this time with Paul Pope, which I could have skipped as the next day I hit another signing and got a shirt too.

From there though it was for a serious line of length and time killed. I thought the line for Snicket was long, but nothing compared to Chuck Palahniuk and that was still tame to what Grumpy Cat would get or Neil Gaiman would get later in the week, but still. Was very happy to my hands on DOOMED, sequel to DAMNED. I was able to get the new John Rocco children’s book after as well and explore the show more before deciding to head home. Knowing I partied Wednesday and would be partying definitely hard on Friday I wanted one calm evening.

FRIDAY, May 31st
Despite getting home early, I somehow still ended up to the show later I planned, but that was still at around 9:30 with plenty of time for everything on my schedule along with enough show floor exploring that when I finished filled my roll luggage at the end of the day it was quite heavy and it was an adventure bringing it around town and its heaviness and amount of books made me have to have my evening stop short. That was later though.

First up was Matt Phelan’s Blufton and then online to grab a copy of FROG TROUBLE, an awesome book/CD which I will have more to say about for sure. It was then a whirlwind of booths and autographing, back and forth. Obert Skye, Jason Mott of The Returned (debuting as Ressurection on ABC this Fall), Ridley Pearson. Trying to hit as much as I could before my 11:30 interview which I still ended up late to because I was right at the front of the line for Giada Di Laurentiis with steps away and to leave the line at that point would be crazy. If I wasn’t steps away and also two booths from my interview, sure… but… yeah.

That 11:30 was with Dan Harmon, editor at Zest and writer of the upcoming Super Pop! . It was a really fun interview where lots was discussed and next week as part of a scheduled blog tour will be reviewed, have an interview and even a special top 10 list of my own devising thought of at the interview.

Because of how my Friday schedule landed there was nothing specific other than getting Family Whipple as well as the Anne Burrell signing so a lot of show exploring was done. If I could remember what booths I hit in order, who I spoke to, etc. I would tell you. I know at a point I specifically went to the Macmillian booth to get a BATTLING BOY t-shirt. I also saw Red Green, and Landau Eugene Murphy Jr. of America’s Got Talent fame and I hung out with Gugar of the upcoming book The Creature Department.

After all was said and done I hung out with Torsten Adair for a bit as I backed my luggage and then I made my way slowly over to Columbus Circle with actually some Subway snafus, which was… “fun” with the luggage. I made it though, stopped in at O & Co. and said hello to my short time co-workers. Then I headed upstairs to Landmarc where a very calm and casual affair was had. Plenty of delcious food, excellent guests, including Red Green and a slightly rude Robbie Robertson. I had a really good time, but I also needed to get all the way to the World Financial Center for one of my best friend’s birthdays on a boat. That was… well, the evening ended on top of a roof with a pool and involved nudity and that’s all I’ll say about that. I got home around 4 AM and still planned to go to Expo again the next day for Jim Gaffigan, Representative John Lewis and a few loose ends tied up, including the “What aren’t you packing up?” part of Saturday which is always exciting and fun.

SATURDAY, June 1st
Which is EXACTLY how it went. I got to the show around 10 AM (and don’t ask me how I pulled THAT off even). I walked around for a bit, saw some excellent stuff on the floor I had missed because of how crazy the show is and then got a front row seat for Jim Gaffigan. He was hilarious and fun. There was no moderator, so he interviewed himself, talked a bit and then took questions from the crowd and riffed off of the questions and yes, Yours truly asked a question too. Then there was waiting to get the book signed and say hello to the funny man. It was all worth it.

Eventually I was able to make it over to where John was signing and had a wonderful talk with him and also throughout the show spoke to some great publishers, writers, publicists and more and walked away with so many books. Way more than I thought I would on a Saturday. I wasn’t planning on such a haul. I chose to not even bring my luggage, which was a big mistake. I barely made it home as my bag ripped on the trip back. Still what an experience!

Following this report will be a collection of photos I shot or were taken of me and author/celeb, as well as a listing of every book I got with links and mini info.

Later in the week and months look forward to reviews, interviews and more!

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How Many Hits Can You Get? A Combo Crew review

Posted on 06/06/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

One of the biggest things that have become a regular part of life over here at Pop-Culture Spectrum is mobile gaming. I’m grabbing my iPhone and playing things like Robot Unicorn, Whale Trail, Punch Quest, Middle Manager of Justice, Eyelord and even Angry Birds. What we haven’t done though is discuss these games and that stops NOW with the following.

The Game Bakers have made three awesome, intriguing, cute and fun games. These three games are not without their flaws, but as mobile games trying to give the feel of what mobile and touch is truly capable of they have surpassed their goals each time. With their first two games SQUIDS and SQUIDS: Wild West they combined RPG with pull physics to create something very unto itself and yet infinitely playable with a quest, bosses, story and lovable characters.

In their latest they seemed to go a new path, gameplay was the main focus here, although story and character still shine. The new game is COMBO CREW. Inspired by 80’s arcade games like Final Fight and Streets of Rage in which the longer you can hit without getting hit the higher your combo score goes up and the better points you they’ve delivered something just as fun as those games and yet equally as frustrating.

One of my biggest issues and problems with those old arcade smash em-ups was being fast enough to hit the counter while in the middle of a combo. The same issue exists in COMBO CREW. As my chosen character is unleashing a combo on an enemy I get warned that another enemy is about to attack but I’m either not fast enough OR the game is not fast enough to recognize my tap to stop the attack. Not always, but when it happens I get tempted to throw my phone across the room. I would never do that, because… it’s just a game. A good game that when you die and get a game over make you go “ARGHHH!” but just a game. No worries about this argh happening in public either. I’d almost be scared to play it in public with the furious finger swiping it takes.

The game has a co-op but being a solo gamer means I’ll never experience that, but the idea of it is pretty good.

In terms of replayability it has it in spades, as you’ll automatically get better with time, you’ll score higher and unlock more combos and additional characters.

There’s two modes as well, a “story” mode and an endless mode. Once unlocked endless can help you in story to get stronger, faster, better to get to the top of the tower.

In terms of developing something that really was made for the idea of touch, Game Bakers has succeeded again immensely and this is one of those games that if you have an iPhone, iPad and yes, even an Android. Of course if you don’t have one of those and only have a PC you’re out of luck!

Yet, you can still experience some Game Bakers with a PC version of SQUIDS.

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