BRAYFABE: The Dental Association

Posted on 09/03/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

Since BrayFabe hit my brain as a concept I’ve done many many drawings.   They’ve been shown love by the wrestlers they featured even, as I posted them to Twitter and such.  Folks like Kassius Ohno, Ultramantis Black, Dasher Hatfield, Tim Donst, The Young Bucks, Kobald…. so yeah, basically the guys who really acknowledge and appreciate their fans (not that big wrestlers don’t).  Although I’ve haven’t done much WWE stuff.

One of the earliest ideas I got but not really formulated was what if Isaac Yankem, DDS stuck around despite a bad win/loss record found his footing, became a machine and then after many years of destruction realized he has to dominate and one way to do that was to build a stable. The first person he turned to was the man who brought him into the WWF, “The King” Jerry Lawler, someone who could help guide him and advise him on this new step. Through the power of certain things that just happen no matter what universe you’re in he first found himself aligned with the former Sixx-Pac… now working as X-Tract after going to dentistry school and learning everything Isaac knew. Although shortly after this Glenn found a kinship with a force so powerful he could not ignore it. A man who could rival his own strength and fortitude, a beast, a Latino beast, David Batista, the dentist from the South (of the border)… DENTISTA. Insulted and slightly angered that Isaac was “rejecting” him as a second in command, X-Tract demanded he got to add an x-ray technician who would also be X-Tract’s own right hand man. The entire wrestling world was shocked (or maybe dismayed) when brought in an unhinged man who Isaac knew back in his college years, a man who had also followed the wrestling path, but as the years got worse he lost his mind, and his name. Once known as Al Snow, he was now operating as an underground dentist himself, trying to prove himself, called Oren Kornpett (for those unfamiliar with cinematic dentists, combining the names of the sicko from “Little Shop of Horrors” and the dragged into adventure from “The In-Laws”) and X-Tract gave him just that chance.  At first Isaac was really angry, but he soon warmed to the idea and the five men now rule their own universe as….

THE DENTAL ASSOCIATION

Art by The Wrestling Cartoonist (with a logo designed by Reid Harris Cooper)

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100 Ghosts is a lot of Ghosts, The Perfect Amount

Posted on 09/02/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

Here is a Twitter conversation I had with Doogie Horner in response to a questions I had about his forthcoming book 100 GHOSTS and working on the review:
Doogie Horner: “Writing about ghosts is like dancing about architecture.” –the ghost of Steve Martin
Reid Harris Cooper: Then it should be easy, I choreographed an entire ballet about the oeuvre of Frank Lloyd Wright. #liesthatlookedbetterinmyhead

If you’ve watched America’s Got Talent in a regular succession or follow comedians on Youtube or maybe even go to comedy clubs then you have had the privilege of hearing Doogie Horner‘s off the cuff, slightly irreverent humor that goes for fast laughs and good quips. If you haven’t well, you can either go watch him on Youtube or read him or twitter, his stuff is as funny on paper as it is on stage.

Another of his skills in comedy though is translating his thoughts into art. His first funny book was full of hilarious charts, all very pop-culture in nature, because, well, Doogie is a pure geek at heart. He loves all things books, comics, movies, television, all of it and it really shows.

His NEXT book is some of his most obscure humor though and it is very very quirky and quick witted but from the visual standpoint. Titled 100 GHOSTS: A GALLERY OF HARMLESS HAUNTS, it’s quite literally just that. 100 ghost drawings that are simply so harmless you can’t be scared but only laugh and smile at these silly-dilly floating sheets with eye holes.

While the majority of them are harmless, a few ARE creepy, scary, strange or bewildering. Especially things like Skull Ghost, but those as well as Muppet Ghost, Some Assembly Required Ghost, and Vinyl Ghost also show Doogie’s not only brilliance, but that he actually learned something in art school.

Yes, you read correctly, Doogie Horner is not a standup comedian, that’s his accidental career. At least I remember hearing that somewhere where he said something like that and in another video he mentioned going to art school. So let’s just go with that, because you know?

RADICAL GHOST

If THAT doesn’t make you want this book I don’t know what will. It means you have no soul, you aren’t even a harmless ghost, you’re a no ghost…. Not a Ghost. You know somewhere in this book there’s a ghost like that… probably, get a copy and check for me. 100 ghosts is a lot of ghosts!

100 GHOSTS: A Gallery of Harmless Ghosts from QUIRK Books comes out on September 10, 2013 for $9.95 in adorably sized hardcover.

For more information check out the books official website.

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Ba Dum, Chimk, Tzzt… Feel the Beat, of Beat Buddy

Posted on 08/20/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

This first time I tried out BEATBUDDY was a long time ago, or least a year. They had a pre-alpha demo on STEAM that was designed to literally just get you excited and it did. It looked really cool right away and was fun with awesome music.

I devoured every news tidbit that came in as the game went into full flung production. From the first trailer designed for PAX EAST 2013 to the announcement of the stunningly beautiful and brilliant writer Rhianna Pratchett of Heavenly Sword, Mirror’s Edge and the extremely well written 2013 game Tomb Raider joining the team to help out. The fact that Austin Wintory had provided music for the game had also made me excited.

They released an almost finished preview copy of the final build and that blew me away. Yet then I got my hands on a finished review copy of BEATBUDDY: TALES OF THE GUARDIANS and that is when problems started rearing their head. I am ignoring any and all bugs I encountered and just focusing on the overall difficulty. This game just amps its difficulty more and more but doesn’t really ever give you chance to get better before the difficulty hits. One second it’s smooth sailing, suddenly you’re having to zoom down with enemies hitting you, avoiding spikes and trying to grab a key at the bottom of a pit with the door you need to open at the top of the pit and all the while the pit has a spike ceiling which is coming down at you.

There’s another section where you’re in a ship and another ship is coming uo behind you. Your job is to protect this ship, but this ship can take hits and you can’t. Yet there are obstacles the whole route and the ship keeps trying to get ahead of you, so if you don’t destroy those obstacles or get stuck behind and then, well, death. This could be fixed in the final build, but it was the most headache time I had the whole game. I only beat it because of a bug which suddenly that ship I was transporting disappeared completely, so it was easy.

SIDE NOTE: The final released version of the game fixes these glitches I discovered, but obviously doesn’t fix the difficulty, that’s still pretty damn high, but that’s part the course for action platformers.

When the game isn’t being impossible than it’s absolute joy with charming visuals, a story that makes you feel compelled to continue and some of the coolest sounding music ever in a game. In terms of praise there’s very little more to say… I mentioned the writer, one of the musicians and that the game looks great. If difficult action platformers that are beautiful is your thing, you can’t go wrong.

One of the best things that THREAKS, the company that made BEATBUDDY did was it’s campaigning of the game. They were open creators, answering questions, and being just a fun company. On top of that early preview copy they released a year prior, they kept fans up to date with press releases AND if you really followed along? You got your hands on a Beat Buddy plush. Beat buddy is so damn cute, I could’ve hated the game and I’d still love him. You should play Beatbuddy just to LOOK at Beatbuddy and listen to the music because who doesn’t love cute and music? Well, somebody, but no body that I like.’

If you still aren’t sold though there’s a demo available of the first two levels on Steam right now.

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Kickstarter Reviews: Cats & Cabs, Family Matters and Dungeons & Dragons

Posted on 08/12/2013 by Pop-Culture Spectrum

Kickstarter has been very hit or miss for me. It’s a combination of that and financial issues that have kept me away from actually pledging to anything. Most (but not all) of the projects I’ve pledged have been very satisfactory. A few as of yet have not yet reached my hands to properly be critical of them either way. The ones that have been super successful though are the comics. In recent weeks/months, I’ve received three great comics with awesome Kickstarter only bonuses and I’d like to discuss them here now. Especially as they are also now available to all, minus those bonuses through online stores and other resources.

GALATICAT: I have not actually heard or seen a thing about Galaticat when I hit on their Kickstarter, but the art by Kasey Williams won me over right away. Then I went and read a few strips and even asked writer Gene Goldstein a few questions and was sold. While this was one of those projects like pretty much any project I’ve pledged since a few of my large ones early on, I knew I had to at least come in on the level for some original Kasey art.

The strip is about a cab driver in space. A reckless dangerous cab driver, who is also very good at his job, but also risks killing his passengers from his erratic behavior. After enough complaints, a reviewer is sent out to him and in the end the reviewer lets the cab driver keep his license, but insists on staying on board for future fares to make sure the driver doesn’t kill anyone… and hilarity and adventures ensue. I forgot to mention that the driver is a cat and that the reviewer is a duck right? The cat is anthropomorphic, the duck is not. This only adds to the awesomeness of the story.

The collection of the webcomic has tons of great extras as well including bonus stories not on the web, concept sketches and pin ups from Chris “Elio” Eliopoulos, Mare Odomo, Pia Guerrera and many more.

While you can’t get a copy with buttons, a crazy cool postcard or buttons that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get a book if you don’t have one, it like the other two I’ll be writing about deserve to be in your library.

Here’s the store link for GALACTICAT.

GOD HATES ASTRONAUTS: Ryan Browne is quickly becoming a beloved cartoonist through his work over at IMAGE on books like The Manhattan Projects and Bedlam, but before that he was cranking out his awesome stuff including Monstro City in the backpages of HACK/SLASH. On top of that though he made the madcap Gods Hates Astronauts, a superhero science fiction romp of absolute psychoticness with owls, big heads, cowboys, hippos, nazis, boxers, um, stuff and other things and a other stuff and also Carl Winslow with ape arms. Yes, that Carl Winslow.

The Kickstarter he ran was to produce a Completely complete edition and it is one of the most gorgeous things ever. A Hardcover with vinyl on the cover and tons of never before printed material. While Ryan’s original story recolored and remastered is the star of the book, the little origin stories are totally worth the price tag alone. You got art from Tom Scioli (Opus-8, G0DLAND), Tim Seeley (Hack/Slash), Hilary Barta, Jenny Frison (cover artist extradoniare) and more. On top of that there’s some crazy pin-ups from Ryan Stegman (superior Spider-Man), Zander Cannon (HECK), Ethan Nicolle (Axe-Cop), Mike Norton and of course more. The Kickstarter basic package came with amazing extras as well that if you missed out on it you’ll be “Mannnn…” such as a bookmark, sticker, print by Joe Quinones (currently of FF) and Maris Wicks and a poster by Paolo Rivera. For my copy I also ordered a copy of his special BLAST FURNACE collection as I didn’t have a copy.

While this amazing version is not available to purchase as I believe he truly tried to print to order and then brings whatever is left over to conventions there is a TPB coming out from IMAGE. Yes, this book is so great, so awesome and IMAGE loves Ryan that much that they’re publishing (or well at least dsitrbuting) the mass market paperback. So be on the look out for that.

EDIT:  For a short time the hardcover beauty is available again… RUN to the GHA etsy store and grab yourself one.

One extra note of how awesome Ryan is? I asked a small request for him to draw an Urkel for me because in the origin story for the ape armed Carl, Urkel was drawn by Greg+Fake and he indulged me.

PENULTIMATE QUEST: Three of my favorite comics are Northworld Vol. 1, Vol. 2 and the side story bonus book by Lars Brown. So when Brown opened a kickstarter for a collection of a new story I went and read the whole thing on the web and knew he’d create a book that would be another one of those books that collects stuff you’ve seen before but is filled with extras.

What is exactly going on in Penultimate Quest isn’t completely clear but it combines fantasy, drama, swords, sorcery and a bit of sci-fiction. Actually possibly a LOT of sci-fi, but explaining that would really be major spoilers. What’s so great about is how “cute” Lars art is. It’s highly cartoony and that’s the energy that really makes his work so much fun.

Truthfully the collection itself doesn’t really have much in bonus footage but it was worth it none the less to read it in the way the artist wants it to be read. Plus by Kickstarting I got special stickers. I also opted for Lars drawing option which he is still offering for all orders on the book, just no stickers, I think.

This is another book worth owning if you don’t already.

Here’s a list of books I Kickstarted that am still waiting for to eventually “review”:
TO BE OR NOT TO BE by Ryan North and MANY more
VERY NEAR MINT Vol. 3 by Justin Peterson
EARTHWARD by Bryan Q. Miller and Marcio Takara
MEATSPACE #2 and 3 by Josh Gorfain and Matt Furber
RUMPUS-ON-THE-RUN by Jess Smart Smiley

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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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