It’s a Bird, Mother! Netflix Brings Arrested Development Home

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Posted by Hannah Hart, Ghost Dame of the Hotel del Coronado | Posted on 10-05-2013

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Reviews, Television

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Michael: It’s just hard to accept that it’s really come to begging.
George: Sometimes, it’s the only way to stay in the game.
Narrator (Ron Howard): Please, tell your friends about this show!

Ron Howard, we did. We looked the other way, for a just a second, and they snatched Arrested Development from our sticky, chocolate-covered banana hands with swift and heartless indifference. So, we told on the offenders. We told our parents, our teachers, our friends, our families, our congressmen and our pets. We wrote, emailed, blogged, Tweeted, Facebooked and clipped up YouTube homages in the multi-millions of copyright infringement violations. Apparently, it all worked.

May 26th at 12:01a.m. PST, (That’s O.C.-time, kids.) hordes of rabid Bluth devotees will commence their Memorial Day celebrations with Trader Joe’s frozen bananas, Grey Goose Vanilla and O.J. hiballs, Gangytinis and the words that started it all … And that’s why you always leave a note!

The original banana stand: Park Ave., Balboa Is., Newport Beach, CA

“There’s always money in the banana stand.”  Original: Park Ave, Balboa Is., Newport Bch, CA

After Fox cancelled Arrested Development, similar to their unwise, initial cancellation of Family Guy, executive producer Mitchell Hurwitz explained he was not interested in Showtime’s offer to pick up the show, nor any other network offer for that matter. Even though his show was brutally cut short after a mere three seasons, Hurwitz was “more worried about letting down the fans in terms of the quality of the show dropping” than he was worried about letting down fans by leaving them without it altogether. Hurwtiz offered hope to fans everywhere by further stating, “If there’s a way to continue this in a form that’s not weekly episodic series television, I’d be up for it.” In 2011, Netflix snapped the towel off the competition and exposed their cutoffs, leaving them crying in the shower. Netflix earned distribution of the long-awaited fourth season. Steve Holt!

 This month, Netflix will proffer the patient and the tenacious fifteen, brand-new Arrested Development episodes, one more than originally planned. Officially season 4, it will serve as a where-are-they-now?, visual omnibus of the Bluth Family, each episode focusing on a specific member: episode no. 1, George Michael.

“Everyone, ourselves included, seems to feel like the Bluths left the party a bit too soon,” said Brian Grazer and Ron Howard of Imagine TV, which co-produced Arrested Development with 20th Century Fox TV. “Bringing a series back from cancellation almost never happens, but then, Arrested always was about as unconventional as they get, so it seems totally appropriate that this show that broke the mold is smashing it to pieces once again.”

You’ll find few creative comparisons of Arrested Development to other shows. There are no blah blah-meets-blah blah kind of descriptions, because there has never been a show like it. Which leaves yours truly fretting, hoping that season 4 will live up to past memories and future visions of the Bluths.

Winning awards ranging from AFI’s TV Program of the Year to a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series, Mitchell Hurwitz’ Arrested Development has garnered, thus far, twenty-five awards and thirty-eight nominations. The comedy series set in Newport Beach, California is simultaneously as random and tightly-knit as a ensemble production could be. Like Seinfeld or The Beatles, there really could be no magic without everybody. Plucking out any one character would be like knocking out a support beam; it might stand for a bit, but you want to get the heck out of there, in case of an earthquake.

It has been a very long seven years since the brilliant-but-booted story of an Orange County real estate dynasty living in genteel poverty was ripped from our hands. Now, it’s come back to us and we’ll take it the way we want it: on our devices, on our schedules and gorging ourselves on Tobias, Buster, Gob, Gangy and George Michael, making ourselves as fried and sick as we want to be on cornballs and Lindsay’s hot ham water.

Michael Cera Photo: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity Photography

Michael Cera Photo: Eva Rinaldi Celebrity Photography

As for the future, beyond May 26th that is, S4 will also serve as a primer to the eventual, fan-driven, feature-length film. Along the Bluths’ Balboa boardwalk, Netflix will not only be keeping a sharp eye on the bananas:dollars ratio, but watching carefully the dynamics of the fire-sale user-model they call binge-viewing.

“While Netflix doesn’t release viewership numbers, critical response indicate that the first direct-to-Netflix original series, House of Cards, was particularly popular with viewers inclined to watch a whole series in only a few sittings,” writes Rachel Edidin of Wired magazine.

Like a line of gratis, birthday shots set up on a long bar, or an open bag of Gardetto’s, if they put it in front of us, we will consume it. With deftly placed plants and payoffs throughout numbers of Arrested Development episodes, it’s impossible to stop at just one. Netflix, as well as other distributors and broadcasters, will be studying the hungry hordes closely and, if the latter two are wise, adjusting formats and viewing models.

Heads up, HBO and Bravo; you might still try to force us into cable contracts and programming on your schedule, but that’s all over. Sure, HBOGO is a great app; but one can’t use it unless one adheres to the front-end, archaic, cable subscription model. Even the scraps CBS, NBC and Discovery begrudgingly throw at us under the Hulu fence, or even via their own websites, are becoming boring and passé: dictating on which devices we may watch, for how long we may watch and how many episodes we are worthy of receiving. (Psst, broadcasters, we’re still watching your commercials; why do you care so vehemently when and where we watch them?) As George Bluth, Sr. reminded the dolls of his attic tea party with a strong, pointed finger, “I don’t let ‘em tell me what to do.”

Now, get your Bluth frozen bananas, grab your Gangytinis and crank up “The Final Countdown”: it’s time you blue yourselves!

 

Executive Producers: Mitchell Hurwitz , Brian Grazer, Ron Howard , Jim Vallely and Troy Miller

Production Companies: Imagine TV and 20th Century Fox Television

Exclusive Distributor: Netflix

Arrested Development Central Cast:

Jason Bateman as Michael Bluth

Michael Cera as George Michael

Jeffrey Tambor as George Bluth Sr.

Jessica Walter  as Lucille Bluth

Will Arnett as George Oscar Bluth II, a.k.a. Gob

Tony Hale as Buster Bluth

Portia de Rossi  as Lindsay Fünke

David Cross  as Tobias Fünke

Alia Shawkat as Maeby Fünke

Hannah’s fave places to haunt on-line? Jennypop.net  @JennyPopNet & Jennifer Devore’s Amazon Author Page

Monster Man, Martinis and Mulder: WonderCon Anaheim 2013 is a Wrap

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Posted by Hannah Hart, Ghost Dame of the Hotel del Coronado | Posted on 16-04-2013

Category : Candid Conversations, Conventions, E-vents, Entertain Me, Featured, Geek Out, Movies, Television, Travel, WonderCon

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Wild West of 1850s southern California never saw WonderCon coming. Originally an agricultural collective of pious, German farmers and vintners, Victorian Anaheim would have plotzed at the site of The Joker, Jawas, Hobbacca and G-stringed Supergirls crossing Katella and Harbor, headed into their Anaheim Convention Center. Although, he might have appreciated some of the more inventive steampunk costuming, 1857 co-founder George Hansen must have just come to grips with Disneyland when WonderCon steamed into town last year. This year, it descended upon the O.C. once again and, if Hansen’s ghost gets his wish, it should be headed back up north, to San Francisco’s Moscone Center for 2014. If the rest of us get our wish, parent company Comic-Con International will permanently add this southern substitute, WonderCon Anaheim, to its regular menu des plaisirs.

Abby, meet Agents Scully and Mulder Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Abby, meet Agents Scully and Mulder Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

WonderCon Anaheim (March 29-31, 2013) is best-known now to the O.C. public as the week of visiting geeks. The baby sister of San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon mixed with the usual, inland-Orange County population of Disney geeks and overran Hansen’s “Home by the Santa Ana River: Ana-heim“. The Anaheim Convention Center was a safe place to contain all the geekage, like a well-lit, glass-and-steel roach motel, keeping the community-at-large safe from countless iterations of Batman and, simultaneously keeping said-geekage safe from countless wedgies. ‘Twas a few, relaxing days where being a pale, obsessive, Simpsons fan actually brought about accolades and wearing a rhinestone dog collar, mini-kilt and Manson boots brought compliments, rather than propositions.

Like most comic book conventions, behind the cosplay, superiority complexes and aisles of overpriced crap sitting alongside collector-worthy art, there are serious discussions happening: academic panels, legal seminars, artistic advisory groups and the like. True, a lot of them are more Family Guy table-read than Algonquin Round Table. Still, these all-inclusive chats in the upstairs meeting rooms are worth the convention entrance fee, even if the downstairs floor full of steampunk dorks, Star Wars tees and vintage action figures is not your cup of Darjeeling. (Captain Picard’s space beverage of choice, duh.) I had the opportunity to cover a couple of these panels and interview some of the panelists for GoodToBeAGeek.com: All Shapes & Sizes Welcome and Geeks Get Published – and Paid! Industry insight is always good gossip!

Without a doubt though, the best part of any convention -and I’ve been to more than a few, including NAB, NATPE and the MIPCOM/MIPTV conferences in Cannes- is the après-mingling in the hotel lounges and nearby restaurants and bars. True, ’tis no Cannes or Nice, but Anaheim, my pretties, much to the chagrin of dear old George Hansen, has more than it’s fair share of suitable martini outlets. The Anaheim Gardenwalk is replete with moderately-priced, chain dining establishments, but the king is P.F. Chang’s. There is not enough space here to go on about their Chinese 88 martini (topped off with champagne) and their tofu lettuce wraps. ~insert Homer Simpson-style drool here~ Roy’s Hawaiian serves a tangy, yummy, signature pineapple martini and offers a warm, sugary, tropical atmosphere, bringing the diner into the island spirit, not totally unlike being on Kauai, which is surprising, considering one’s in inland SoCal. Of course, the best mixing by far is the hotel where the con sits. This one was Hilton Anaheim and its Mix Lounge.

Mix was crowded, dark and lively and the staff worked off their patooties to keep the Stella Artois, Sapphire gin and dried wasabi pea snackies flowing. Nice fellows and patient as saints, especially when a drunken, impolite, cabbage-waving, Flava Flav doppelgänger insisted on buying a round for nearly half the bar, rudely yelling the orders to the bartender. (Yours truly declined. Far too obnoxious, even for a gratis G&T.) Oddly though, the con cosplay at Mix was sparse. There were some costumed folk hither and thither; my companions even forced me into a picture with a sad-looking, all too fay, nervous He-Man. Why so few costumes, I wondered each night? I would later learn the Hilton was mostly where the journalists stayed; the Marriott was the place for the cosplay crowd. So, book your hotels accordingly next year, con-goers.

The whole event was nicely wrapped up with an unexpected dinner, especially for a vegetarian. My Viking, a deathly-tightly-corseted Dr. Lucy and I ended up at Morton’s Steakhouse when my brother-in-law and professional pirate, a.k.a. Cap’t. Maurice Bloodstone, -who some of you may know from my novel, Savannah of Williamsburg: The Trials of Blackbeard and His Pirates- happened upon an SFX idol of his in the Hilton parking lot, twice. The second, chance meeting with Mr. Cleve Hall proved too much serendipity for our excitable Bloodstone and a dinner invitation was proffered.

Cleve Hall, gentleman Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Cleve Hall, gentleman Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Best-known, currently, for SyFy’s Monster Man, Cleve Hall is hardly a newbie in the Hollywood special effects game. Like Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, Cleve and his immediate family have been lurking around the Deep South and the West Coast for eons; his family in the prop and SFX business, the Mayfairs in banking and real estate. For Cleve himself, above-the-line credits (incl. actor, producer and director) as well as hair & makeup and costume & wardrobe fall solidly within his ken. Cleve himself has a wide umbrella. How to Train Your Dragon, Ghoulies, Ed Wood and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure are just a few titles under his Victorian, silver-handled umbrella.

Now, my brother-in-law is as taken with the master’s oeuvres as he is generous. Ergo, it had to be, Bloodstone invited Mr. Hall to join us for dinner. Morton’s Steakhouse was the closest option and, after three days in five-inch platform boots and too-tight ponytails, I was ready to sit and drink anywhere.

Mr. Cleve is, in a word, gentlemanly. He is, in my experience, quiet, pensive and, similar to an attorney I once interviewed in Philadelphia for a tech-boom documentary, careful about choosing just the correct word when telling a tale. He does not name-drop, although he certainly could, does not dominate the table, although this raconteur could. Instead, he answers queries succinctly and adds just the right embellishments to the conversation, like the perfect, silver, poison ring or red, contact lenses. He did not overpower our dinner; he did make it memorable. He was spot-on, to boot, when at dinner he talked of the popularity of Monster Man and Face Off. Quoting his daughter, I believe, he said “Family gets meaner and strangers get nicer.” Thank you for your southern hospitality, but the pleasure was all these strangers’, Good Sir.

So, like Christmas décor or Hallowe’en costumes, WonderCon Anaheim 2013 is wrapped up nicely and packed away gingerly in the rafters. What’s next for this geek girl? Coverage of the upcoming X-Files Season 10 “premiere”, in comic book form that is: Season 10 in comic book form, not my coverage. Meeting the IDW publishing team at WonderCon, those creating and distributing the new comics, makes interviews for this June post easy-peasy. Then, comes July … San Diego Comic-Con!

I’ve submitted yet another article for consideration in the annual Souvenir Book. History says I should make it in; after all, the last two (Peanuts and Tarzan) made it and one of those was even cited by TIME magazine. (Hey, look at me! I’m a Peanuts expert!) Still, my goal this year is to garner the lead article for the “20th Anniversary of Bongo Comics” theme … that’s The Simpsons to the uninitiated.

So, look to me as your unofficial Bongo historian and for X-Files revival coverage and your insider to San Diego’s summer antidote to the cool kids on the beach. Also look to our Dr. Lucy and her amazing Twisted Pair Photography. See you in the Sunday funnies, kids!

BTW, I ordered the chopped salad, sans the bacon and red onions, and a blue cheese-stuffed olive martini. Cheers!

All slideshow photography by Twisted Pair Photography … loads more here at their Flickr page!

Hannah’s fave places to haunt on-line? Jennypop.net  @JennyPopNet & Jennifer Devore’s Amazon Author Page

Once Upon a Time, Leah Cevoli Schooled H-town: The WonderCon Interviews, Part I

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Posted by Hannah Hart, Ghost Dame of the Hotel del Coronado | Posted on 12-04-2013

Category : Candid Conversations, Conventions, E-vents, Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Television, WonderCon

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Once upon a time there was a talented, sparkling, beauteous rocker named Leah Cevoli from the City of Brotherly Love. One day, in the historical land of Ben Franklin, The Barrymores, Will Smith and Liz Lemon, the fair Leah heard the Siren’s Song knell through Philadelphia’s brick corridors and colorful tulip gardens. Taking the form of The Black Crowes so she alone would hear it, the song trilled, lilted and riffed amidst the city streets, beckoning her independent and creative soul to the land of plenty: plenty of sunshine, plenty of sea, plenty of opportunity, plenty of cabbage, plenty of thee.

Leah Cevoli, “Deadwood” set, Santa Clarita, CA

With blazing streaks of platinum and magical tips of royalist purple in her locks, our heroine fled her City of Brothers and set forth for the City of Angels, Los Angeles, a.k.a. “Hopeless Hole”, dubbed so by the dark and exotic, erotic Mistress of the Dorks, Ms. Adrianne Curry.

Upon arrival, the fair Leah was tapped by the magic wand of mediocrity. Shady agents and producers across the land chided the funky fair damsel. “Nay!,” screeched they, “You are too unique! Too different! Away, to Cookie Cutters Salon in the Valley we shall fly!” With a sprinkling of fairy smog, she did just this. The shady agents and producers then screeched further, like pterodactyls on new, weak prey, “Nay! You are too similar! You look too much like her! Average, Caucasian, brunette girl, take thee a number!”

Along her journey, she met like-minded, talented friends. A kindly lad named Collin would aid in her unConventional quest, a girl named Helenna would become a dear lass for life and in the land of nothing’s-too-odd, a robot chicken would scratch and peck and spin her gold. Yet, not only kindly elves, silky minks and futuristic poultry did she meet upon her trail. She also crossed paths with snakes, serpents and the insidious vendors of their oil. There would be dragons disguised as friends and weasels dressed as lawyers and vermin of every kind lurking on studio lots, in agencies and under the back tables of Starbucks along the rocky Wanderwegs of Lankershim and Magnolia.

One fine, California day, when feeling rather pleased with herself, the fair Leah posted upon her page of Faces, a happy, casual image of her likeness. Then, without warning and in one sharp strike, an evil serpent with whom she had once been acquainted in the tales of Deadwood, hissed and punctured her soul with the greatest of ignorance and insensitivity: I’ve seen you look better, Leah.

“Fie on thee!”, the Philly Beauty cried and away to Ana’s House she did go! “A panel at WonderCon I should like to plan!” she declared! “Where actresses, models, entrepreneurs and writers of all shapes and sizes may talk of slings and arrows besieging the women of entertainment! A panel I should like to form where bright damsels may speak intimately on body image, eating disorders, self-love, recovery and the curses of H-town’s poison apples! A panel where ladies such as these shall inspire and influence those younger damsels, those pretty rabbits and field mice speeding on Greyhounds, fresh from the pastures, meadows and mountaintops of Iowa, Georgia and Colorado, all ingressing to the land of the seedy and the greedy!”

L to R: Adrianne Curry, Lynn Chen, Helenna Santos Levy, Amber Krzys, Miracle Laurie and Leah Cevoli, WonderCon 2013 Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

With that, kids, All Shapes and Sizes Welcome: Body Image & Women’s Issues in the Entertainment Industry was birthed: a primal and proactive response to an insensitive Facebook comment about Leah’s weight gain. This may have been an epiphany for Leah. For, it was at this moment she truly realized what a duplicitous and presumptuous double-standard of beauty there existed in Hollywood and society en masse, no less. Why was it socially acceptable for a relative stranger to comment on her weight? Why was she told, “You’re too thin!” with the same pity as, “You’re too fat!”. Why did a period production like Deadwood specifically cast “curvy women”, then make certain all the lead girls were Santa Monica-svelte? This all got her head spinning. Of course, she’d also been on a forty-day Master Cleanse during her Deadwood days and that got her head spinning, too, considering she went from a 31-inch waist to a 22-incher. Oh, my, Scarlett!

Leah knew there had to be other women with Aha! moments like hers. What had they heard, endured and learned on their paths in and out of Hollywood, The Most Venomous Place on Earth? She wanted to know and to share. Was there truth in TV’s First Kiss? Were there antidotes to the poison apples that hang so lusciously and temptingly along the palm treed parkways to Burbank? Could the dragons, weasels and serpents be slayed?

A host of fierce and lovely ladies, inside and out, came to her side and in a meeting room filled to capacity at the Anaheim Convention Center, Leah and her glossy posse set about to tell Hollywood, Broadway and Burbank a thing or two about a thing or two.

Watch your step, Hollywood! These ladies will get Medieval on your ass! The March 30th, 2013 WonderCon panel featured Miracle Laurie (Dollhouse), Adrianne Curry (Adrianne Curry’s SuperFans), Helenna Santos Levy (founder, MsInTheBiz.com), Amber Krzys (founder, BodyHeart.com) and Lynn Chen (founder, www.theActorsDiet.com). It was my pleasure to attend this panel and, afterwards, chat with Ms. Cevoli, her pals and fellow panelists, Ms. Helenna Santos Levy and Ms. Amber Krzyss. Please enjoy my interviews and read what these energetic and powerful chicas had to say.

L to R, Leah Cevoli, Helenna Santos Levy and Lynn Chen Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Comic-Con Int’l Presents WonderCon Anaheim, All Shapes and Sizes Welcome Interview with Leah Cevoli and Helenna Santos Levy, March 30, 2013

GTBAG: So, thank you both for taking time today to chat with us. Your panel was very intimate! (laughs)

Leah Cevoli: I’ll say! (laughs)

Helenna Santos Levy: (laughs)

GTBAG: You really covered everything so thoroughly in the panel, I just want to ask you to expound a few things, if that’s okay?

LC: Absolutely. Let’s do it!

GTBAG: Great! Being in entertainment, what do you both find to be the most pressing issue against women, besides the body image?

HLS: Okay, one of the things we just skimmed the surface of, that Miss Representation [.org] deals with a lot and which I’m really passionate about, is the whole sexualization of women. This is really interesting to me, what we’re kind of doing right now. It seems to be since the Spice Girls, or what I call the Christina Aguillera Dirty version of feminism, where we think that by putting on the heels and making ourselves look sexy … see, I’m caught in the middle of it. I don’t pretend to be outside of this issue, I’m caught right in the middle of this issue and I’m trying to search my way through it. So, we’ve taken that on as the version of female empowerment: “I’m going to use my sexuality. I’m going to be in charge of that.”

GTBAG: So, what is modern feminism to you?

HLS: It’s funny, my husband and I had this discussion and it actually feels like the new version of feminism looks like the old Penthouse

GTBAG: Unshaved?

LC: (laughs)

Helenna Santos Levy and Lynn Chen Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

HLS: (laughs) No, it feels like we’ve gone so far past it all that we’ve come all the way back around and we’ve developed our own new version of feminism that’s actually just the old form of sexism, but we’re re-branded.

GTBAG: It’s like the political spectrum. You can go so far in one direction, you merely end up back where you started, the point from where you thought you were progressing.

HLS: Right. So, the question is, for me, if I know all this exists and I’m in an industry where, at the moment, it is what it is and, in order to work you have to accept the system, how do you work in that system while keeping your own voice and be strong enough that you can then change the system? I think that’s the ongoing struggle.

GTBAG: What’s your answer to that?

HLS: Do I have the answer to that? Absolutely not! Trying to figure it out every day, but I think by having panels like this and creating more of a dialogue that women who are strong and sexy and powerful, that we can then figure out how to do this and feel good about ourselves, and it’s not just because we live in a male-constructed society.

GTBAG: Is there an element of becoming successful enough where you don’t have to take that role, you don’t have to take that gig?

LC: That’s interesting, because it goes down even to just things like your hair and makeup. When I first moved to Hollywood, I had a tongue ring and blonde streaks in my hair with purple at the ends, but I was going into the acting industry and I heard, time and time again, “No. You need to look like everybody else. You need to look like that Girl Next Door.” Which is interesting, because now I’m that “Girl Next Door”. I’m in my thirties and all I hear is, “There’s so many Caucasian, 30 year-old brunettes. Pick a number.” Okay. But, when I was more unique with my piercings and my colors, they were like, “Oh, no. You have to look more cookie-cutter.” So, there’s always mixed messages.

GTBAG: How do you affect these messages, change them?

LC: One of the things we didn’t touch on in the panel, and that’s been kind of rolling around in my head is … so, if we’re saying, “Accept everybody, all shapes and sizes”, no matter what industry and if you want to be an actress or a model, all shapes and sizes, then, yay! Let’s get more women of all shapes and sizes on mainstream television. Then, the flip side of that is, what are we teaching our youngsters? Is there a point when it’s actually unhealthy when we’re saying, “You’re very heavy, you’re obese, you’re this, you’re that and it’s acceptable.” We’re putting this in our commercials and ads, as well. So, what are we saying? Are we promoting unhealthy things? Are we promoting it’s okay to sit around and eat McDonald’s all day long as long as you love yourself? Because, now we’re promoting heart disease and diabetes and high cholesterol and everything else.

HLS: Right. We’re not promoting a healthy image, one way or the other, and everyone is confused right now. We had this discussion earlier, why Girls and Lena Dunham are so polarizing to people. She’s not going with the typical, Hollywood norm. She’s doing something completely opposite of it. So, if it’s not appealing to men, they’re like, “Ugh! I could never handle watching this!” Whereas, women are like grabbing onto it. But then, people are like, “Is she healthy? Is she promoting a healthy body image?”

LC: In her case, I think she is.

HLS: I think she is, too.

LC: I think she’s like, “Hey, a got a little bit of meat on me and I’m okay with it because I’m having sex as well and here’s my butt!” What’s wrong with that?

Continue interview with Leah and Helenna

GTBAG: So what is sexy, what is feminine to you?

HLS: Your own inner quality. It really shouldn’t matter what we look like, what we’re wearing, what we’re doing, because it’s our own inner quality that shines through.

GTBAG: Still, it does matter what you look like, in entertainment.

HLS: Well, the irony of this all isn’t lost on us because we’re in a pin-up magazine! (laughs)

LC: (laughs) Yeah! We just came from an autograph signing! We were both featured in Cupcake Quarterly magazine, which is a pin-up shoot, right? So, now we’re about to go speak about body image and here’s this magazine. I had lingerie on! I posed in lingerie and garters! Helena’s got garters and a bra on! (laughs)

GTBAG: Isn’t that a healthy body image though? Because it really is all shapes and sizes.

LC: It is. But, at the same time, could it be sexploitation?

Helena: Of course it is, because that’s inherently what pin-up is. But then, we as women are taking back that title.

GTBAG: Yes, but do they have to be mutually exclusive?

LC: For me, this was actually a cathartic experience, because I did it a couple of months ago, at the heaviest I’ve ever been and I’m invited to do this and I said, “Yes!”. The night before I was like, “Oh, my God!” I mean, I’m okay taking photos, I’ve been taking photos since I was a little girl, but in my underwear?! I’ve never taken photos in my underwear and I’m the biggest I’ve ever been and am I really doing this?!

GTBAG: How did you get through it?

LC: I had to trust that Elisa [Jaeger], who is the editor-in-chief and creator of Cupcake, I had to trust in her and her vision and I’d seen her work and I know she’s very body-positive. (She wanted to be on this panel with us.) I had to trust in that and, you know what? I like the way I looked! I put them on my Facebook page!

GTBAG: Did you send them specifically to the gentleman whom was the impetus for this panel?

LC: (laughs) No. I think he’d already been deleted from my Facebook page by that point. Isn’t that interesting, though? What gives anybody a right to comment on anybody’s Facebook photo like that?

GTBAG: Well, there is a prevalent mechanism for comments on Facebook.

Miracle Laurie Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

LC: Well, yes. And that got me spinning on, what if I got more mainstream, if I was on a show like Dollhouse, like Miracle [Laurie] was?

HLS: If you were Melissa McCarthy?

LC: Lord knows, right?! Lord knows what would come up if you Googled my name?!

GTBAG: I imagine there’s a level of personal dissatisfaction. Like the fellow with the broken-down Porsche on the side of the road. Everybody laughs because there’s dissatisfaction they don’t have a Porsche and never will.

LC: Exactly! It makes people feel good to tear us down and we accept that to some degree, being in this industry.

GTBAG: There is constant critiquing. You’re not wearing enough, you’re wearing too much. You don’t have enough flesh, you’re too fleshy.

LC: They like to build people up to tear them down.

GTBAG: I’ve seen horrible Tweets to your other panelist, Ms. Curry.

LC: Oh, Adrianne! Yeah. I love that she takes care of herself. She’s doing it in a healthy way and she doesn’t care. She just doesn’t care what people say. I have to say, sometimes, I just can’t look. I can’t look at her Twitter feed because she gets it on a daily basis.

GTBAG: She gets ripped to shreds, by men and women alike, no matter what she says or posts. She’s a Porsche.

LC: Yeah! And why? Because she’s a sexy, confident woman who overcame a drug addiction and now works her ass off like crazy to keep her sane, keep her off drugs, does it in a healthy way and they rip her apart, why? Because she’s got a better ass than you!

Adrianne Curry Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

HLS: Exactly. They hate her because she’s doing it.

GTBAG: Plus, they’ll never have her.

LC: They wish, right?!

GTBAG: I know you ladies have a busy afternoon ahead of you. Is there anything you’d like to add before we finish?

HLS: I just think it’s important we’re having this discussion, that we have options in this industry. It’s changing.

LC:  Yeah, options! It’s not just a bunch of old, white men calling the shots anymore.

GTBAG: On that note, thank you very much, ladies.

HLS & LC: Thank you!

Comic-Con Int’l Presents WonderCon Anaheim, All Shapes and Sizes Welcome Interview with Amber Krzys

March 30, 2013

GoodToBeAGeek: Thank you for taking a moment to chat. I just have a few questions not covered in the panel, if you don’t mind.

Amber Krzys Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Amber Krzys: Not at all! I love to talk about this stuff! I think humans want to help each other and that’s what we’re doing here today!

GTBAG: Okay then! So, what drives you to speak publicly, to be actively passionate about body image and women’s issues, specifically in the entertainment industry?

AK: I love women! So, who’s determining the rules, is what I want to know? The rules in this industry. I think women are incredible! Our innate gifts – our nurturing, our sensitivity, our feelings, our caring. I think, at this point, women actually outweigh men.

GTBAG: No pun intended?

AK: No! (laughs) I think, in actuality, women are 51% and men are 49% in our country. But we don’t know that yet. We don’t have our voices out there yet. So, that’s for me, the big reason I’m doing it.

GTBAG: So women need to back each other? Do you tend to seek and support women in the Arts, in business, even in politics, strictly because they’re a woman and overlook a qualified male for the part?

AK: Not necessarily. No. No. Not necessarily. I’m a believer in doing your research and I think there are a lot of men pulling for us. There are women out there who aren’t, too. Women who believed that in order to succeed they needed to become a man and they forced through these things. So, no, I’m not advocating that at all. Do your research, whatever is most important to you. You go with that.

GTBAG: Most important issue facing women in entertainment, specifically?

AK: (pauses) That’s a really good question! I have two things. First is the body image and feeling this pressure to look a certain way because the media is dictating this. But, the second thing, I think, is the roles. You know, how often are you watching a movie and the woman’s taking her clothes off? She’s a mistress or the sex queen? It’s rare to have a really meaty, nice role that’s basically not focusing on the woman’s body.

GTBAG: The roles are defined by their sexuality, then? Defined by the men they’re with in the film?

AK: Exactly! If you think about it, the media is a reflection of where our society is. How does the world see a woman? How does the world see a man? It goes back to what Helena [Santos Levy] was talking about in Miss Representation [.org] during the panel. The fear and insecurity for a man comes from power and providing. It’s the money thing, right? It’s the status.  ”I drive this car.” It’s the status. For women, it’s, the way they get to us, it’s the body style. “Be thinner, no acne, wrinkles are bad, growing old sucks.” So then, what does the media do? Even the entertainment industry? They realize these are real fears and concerns and they heighten that, you know?

GTBAG: So, what role would you write for yourself? How would you take back that power?

AK: I’m no longer pursuing acting.

GTBAG: If you were, if you could create that “meaty role” on stage or screen?

AK: I don’t know. I think, to me, a role that represents a real woman today. So, her real struggles. Yes, facing her body … but also like having to choose between work and family. For me, I’m thrity-six. I’m single. My family’s like, “Are you ever going to get married? Are you ever going to have kids?” The clock is ticking. I only have a certain amount of time if I want to have kids.

GTBAG: Like Liz Lemon and Murphy Brown lied to you?

AK:  Totally. Raising a child, working alone, those things make a good role.

GTBAG: There are a lot of women talking openly via Facebook about single-motherhood. How do you approach a role like that then, to speak to those women?

AK: Right. Rather than buying into the fairy tale of, “I’m going to get married and he will save me because I need saving, I can’t do it on my own”, I’d do something that’s completely opposite of that. You know, “I may not know what the ‘F’ I’m doing, but I’m going to figure it out ’cause I’m smart enough and I’m good enough where I am today.”

GTBAG: I think that’s a good way to end this. 

AK: You’re so welcome! I love having this discussion! I’ll be sure to share this with my community.

GTBAG: Thank you, Amber. We’ll be sure to share it with ours as well.

L to R, Adrianne Curry, Lynn Chen, Helenna Santos Levy, Amber Krzys, Miracle Laurie, Leah Cevoli Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Have any questions or comments for our interviewer? Contact Jennifer Susannah Devore @JennyPopNet or jennypop.net Want more fab panel pics? Check out Dr. Lucy’s Twisted Pair Photography!

GoodGeekGirls w The Fierce Ones! L to R, Collin Pelton, Yours Truly, Leah, Helenna and Dr. Lucy Photo: Twisted Pair Photography

Hannah’s fave places to haunt on-line? Jennypop.net  @JennyPopNet & Jennifer Devore’s Amazon Author Page

 

Shauncastic – Episode 127: Turtle Power!

Posted by Jessa Phillips aka "SultryMinxZoe" | Posted on 05-04-2013

Category : Comics, Entertain Me, Featured, Geek Out, Guest Appearances, Movies, Television

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I am a lucky woman with fantastic friends who share my geeky loves. One such friend is Shaun Rosado of Shauncastic. When he put out the call for people to talk about 4 turtles and a rat with ninja skills, you know I had to be there to reminisce about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. What transpired was a wonderful conversation that allowed myself, Shaun, Jay Scardina and Samantha Cross (Word of the Nerd) to wax nostalgic about these “Heroes in the Half Shell.” We discuss the comics, classic cartoons, live action films, current animated series and even rumors about the new movie.

Also, Christina and Shaun review Oz: The Great and Powerful in her segment, “Intro to Geek” and later, Shaun is joined by Bree Brouwer to talk video games in her segment “Behind Schedule.”

Click the link below to listen on Shauncastic!
Episode 127: Turtle Power!

Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast Interviews Sci-Fi Film & TV Actor Christopher Kirby

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Posted by Jessa Phillips aka "SultryMinxZoe" | Posted on 01-04-2013

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Movies

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Recently, our friends at the Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast had the opportunity to speak with sci-fi film and television actor, Christopher Kirby. Known for his role most recently in the movie, Iron Sky, Kirby has been seen in many genre projects such as Daybreakers, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and The Matrix Revolutions and many others.

Courtesy of Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast

Read the official press release below for more information. Be sure to visit the Sci-Fi Super Friends site beginning Wednesday, April 3rd, 2013 to stream or download the episode.

Accomplished Sci-Fi Film and TV Actor Interviews with Movie Review Podcast

Saint Clair Shores, MI, March 31, 2013 –(PR.com)– Film and television actor Christopher Kirby of the international blockbuster film Iron Sky (2012) spent time chatting with the hosts of The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast via a Skype internet call while on location in Queensland, Australia where he is currently working on a new project.
Millions of people worldwide saw the sci-fi/comedy about Nazis who invade Earth in 2018 from their secret base on the moon. Although the film received mixed reviews by many movie goers, it’s undeniable that the film caught the attention of science fiction and comedy fans alike. Kirby played an important lead role as James Washington, an African-American male model and the first black astronaut to land on the moon. Kirby has played roles in several other sci-fi films including, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Daybreakers, and Star Wars Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast special bonus episode interview with Christopher Kirby will be available for download and streaming on Wednesday April 3, 2013. Fans and detractors of Iron Sky alike will have a chance to get to know Mr. Kirby as an actor and as he would put it, “as a human being,” and will also learn his perspective on the making of the film. They invite you to listen in on this interesting and entertaining chat with Christopher Kirby.

Make a note right now to visit The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast website at http://scifisuperfriends.com and download this interview available Wednesday, April 3.

The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast is a weekly audio podcast hosted by four movie lovers that review science fiction, fantasy, and horror films. All of their episodes are available at http://scifisuperfriends.com, on iTunes and Stitcher Smart Radio. Search for us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @sfsfpodcast.

The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast a proud member of the 76th Street Network, http://76streetnetwork.com.

Contact Information:
The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast
George Jackson
586-569-9364
scifisuperfriends.com
Search for The Sci-Fi Super Friends Podcast on Facebook and Twitter

You can also find Sci-Fi Super Friends on Facebook, Twitter (@sfsfpodcast), iTunes & Stitcher!

B-Movie Bunker – Lockout, Haywire & Stake Land

Posted by Glenn Buettner | Posted on 30-01-2013

Category : B-Movie Bunker, Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Reviews

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Glenn risks his sanity again, trekking into the wasteland, so you don’t have to. In each episode he offers his frank review. Find out if these movies are worth a watch or  or if they should just be added to the pile of ash.

 

Lockout

Cryostasis on a space prison, political scheming, kidnapping the President’s daughter and Joseph Gilgun. Could this make a good action movie?

 

 

Haywire

Gina Carano portrays a black ops soldier betrayed and out for revenge. Will Haywire leave you beaten?

 

 

Stake Land

In a post-apocalyptic landscape, vampires everywhere and Canada is a safe zone. Can you survive the vampire epidemic?

 

 

Saturday B Movie Reel Podcast – Super Cyclone

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Posted by Jessa Phillips aka "SultryMinxZoe" | Posted on 24-01-2013

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Guest Appearances, Movies, Reviews, Television

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If you enjoy a good (let’s be honest here, sometimes awful) B movie, you should be listening to the Saturday B Movie Reel Podcast. Produced by the folks at Tuning Into SciFi TV and hosted by their own Kevin Bachelder, the podcast takes on B movies new and old, with a healthy dose of Syfy Original Movies among the database.

In every episode of the Saturday B Movie Reel Podcast, Kevin reviews a movie and provides a well-rounded set of ratings covering categories such as plot, acting, cheese level and rewatchability, among others. The podcast offers no holds barred, honest reviews. Often, Kevin invites guests to join him in reviewing these movies. I have had the pleasure of making guest appearances on many of the Saturday B Movie Reel podcasts. Most recently, Kevin, Christine from Michigan and myself got together to review Super Cyclone from The Asylum. Click the link below to listen to the podcast on the Saturday B Movie Reel website.

http://tuningintoscifitv.com/2013/01/24/saturday-b-movie-reel-96-super-cyclone/

 

Saturday B Movie Reel Podcast #96 – Super Cyclone

Be sure to check out the Saturday B Movie Reel Podcast and check out some of the other movies Kevin has reviewed. If you are interested in getting involved with the podcast, get in touch!

Saturday B Movie Reel Website
Saturday B Movie Reel Facebook Fan Page
Saturday B Movie Reel Twitter (@SatBMovieReel)

 

B-Movie Bunker – John Dies at the End

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Posted by Glenn Buettner | Posted on 16-01-2013

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Reviews

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Glenn Buettner has ventured out into the wasteland again seeking out entertainment. In this episode, he reports on John Dies at the End. Does the film live up to the novel by David Wong? Is this psychedelic trip worth the watch?

* Contains Mature Language

 

B-Movie Bunker – Django Unchained

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Posted by Glenn Buettner | Posted on 14-01-2013

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Reviews

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Quentin Tarantino takes on slavery and bounty hunting with his latest film, Django Unchained. Starring Christopher Waltz, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Django Unchained certainly has people talking.

 

 

Glenn Buettner braves the wasteland to find out if this film is worth the watch.

*Contains mature language

 

 

Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome Premieres 11/09/2012!

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Posted by Jessa Phillips aka "SultryMinxZoe" | Posted on 06-11-2012

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Movies, Television, Watching the Web

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If you are a fan of the Battlestar Galactica re-imagining that garnered huge success a few years ago on Syfy, you may have heard rumblings about a new series, Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. There have been many rumors and lots of speculation floating about the sci-fi community about a new series that would give audiences a glimpse at the Cylon war. It seemed just as excitement would build, news would spread the series was being canned, or worse, re-tooled.

 

Among the conversations, there was plenty of talk about the new series being crafted for web distribution. After all, a web series would not be completely unheard of. Syfy has already dipped their toes in the web series water with series such as Riese: Kingdom Falling, Mercury Men and others; Battlestar Galactica even had a web series in the form of vignettes which tied into the plot of the television series, providing back-story for supporting characters and additional context within the television series. Well kids, the rumors are true!

Graphic Credit: NBC Universal

NBC Universal, the parent company of Syfy, announced earlier today that Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome is coming…and soon! Through a distribution partnership with Machinima, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome will be shown online exclusively on the Machinima Prime YouTube Channel.

Graphic Credit: Machinima

The first of 10 episodes will premiere 11/09/2012. Episodes will be approximately 7-12 minutes in length and will follow a young William Adama (Luke Pasqualino), assigned as a fighter pilot on one of the Colonial fleet’s flagships, the Galactica, as he yearns to make him mark in the war against the Cylons.

Photo Credit: NBC Universal

The web series model is just the first arm of the distribution plan. Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome will be available on Machinima Prime through April 2012. However, in February 2013, Syfy is planning to air the series as a 2 hour television movie. Following the television airing, Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome will make its way to Blu-ray, DVD, Pay Per View and Video On Demand.

 

For a sneak peak at the series, check out the trailer below!

 

Read the full press release below:

UNIVERSAL CABLE PRODUCTIONS’ HIGHLY ANTICIPATED
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: BLOOD & CHROME
TO PREMIERE NOVEMBER 9 EXCLUSIVELY ON MACHINIMA,
LAUNCHING A THREE-TIERED WINDOWING STRATEGY
INCORPORATING ONLINE, TELEVISION AND HOME ENTERTAINMENT

FROM THE AWARD-WINNING PRODUCERS AND VFX TEAM BEHIND
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA
EVENT STARS LUKE PASQUALINO (“THE BORGIAS”) AND BEN COTTON (“ALCATRAZ”)

LOS ANGELES – November 5, 2012 – Universal Cable Productions (UCP) will launch for the first time a three-tiered windowing strategy including online, TV and home entertainment, for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome, a spinoff of the blockbuster Battlestar Galactica series franchise. Fans will first view Blood & Chrome when it premieres exclusively on Machinima’s premium channel, Machinima Prime (YouTube.com/MachinimaPrime), beginning November 9. The initial online debut introduces the latest segment of the revered TV series franchise to a new generation of fans while also launching the multi-platform strategy.
This highly anticipated chapter in the Battlestar Galactica saga takes place in the midst of the first Cylon war. As the battle between humans and their creation, the sentient robotic Cylons, rages across the 12 colonial worlds, gifted fighter pilot, William Adama (Luke Pasqualino, The Borgias), finds himself assigned to one of the most powerful battlestars in the Colonial fleet: the Galactica. Full of ambition and hungry for action, Adama quickly finds himself at odds with his co-pilot, the battle-weary officer Coker (Ben Cotton, Alcatraz). With only 47 days left in his tour of duty, Coker desires an end to battle as much as Adama craves its onset. Lili Bordán (Silent Witness) also stars.
Universal Cable Productions’ partner in the launch is Machinima, the next-generation video entertainment network for young males, and the number one entertainment network on YouTube. Each Blood & Chrome chapter will premiere exclusively on Machinima Prime (http://www.youtube.com/MachinimaPrime), Machinima’s premium channel, which has garnered over half a million subscribers in 3 months, and among other young male centric content, features original series in the sci-fi, drama, comedy, sports and animation genres.
Leveraging cutting edge CGI and virtual set technology, Blood & Chrome is produced by Universal Cable Productions, a division of NBCUniversal, and the award-winning producing team of Battlestar Galactica. David Eick (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica) is executive producer along with Michael Taylor (Battlestar Galactica, Caprica), who wrote the teleplay from a story by Eick, Bradley Thompson (Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies) and David Weddle (Battlestar Galactica, Falling Skies).  Blood & Chrome was directed by Jonas Pate (Prime Suspect, Caprica).
“With its top-notch storytelling, pulse-pounding action, and cutting-edge visual effects, Blood & Chrome is the perfect extension of the Battlestar Galactica universe,” said Mark Stern, President, Original Content, Syfy and Co-Head, Original Content, Universal Cable Productions. “We are thrilled to see this hotly-anticipated event premiere on Machinima, an online network that is unparalleled in its delivery of high-class digital content to millions of viewers.”
Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome will be presented as ten, 7-12 minute episode chapters available exclusively on Machinima Prime until February 2013, followed by its premiere as a 2-hour movie on Syfy (airdate TBA), and finishing with the release of an unrated version on Blu-ray, DVD, digital download, PPV and VOD.  The series will remain on Machinima through April 2013.
“The storied Battlestar Galactica franchise has a huge following and resonates perfectly with our audience,” said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman, Co-Founder, and CEO of Machinima, Inc. “We are thrilled to be the exclusive distributor for Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome. Series fans have been anticipating this chapter of the Battlestar Galactica: Blood & Chrome story and we are proud to deliver it to them, as a whole new audience on Machinima, reinforcing Battlestar Galactica’s status as a pop culture icon.”

About Universal Cable Productions

Universal Cable Productions creates innovative and critically acclaimed original scripted and digital content across multiple media platforms and outlets for domestic and international distribution. UCP produces Covert Affairs, Psych, Royal Pains and Suits for USA and Alphas, Defiance and Warehouse 13 for Syfy. Universal Cable Productions is a division of NBCUniversal.

About Machinima
Machinima is the dominant global video entertainment network for young males. The number one entertainment channel on YouTube, Machinima serves over 2.25 billion video views a month, and reaches over 210 million viewers monthly. Machinima’s global content network is the best place for gaming content. The network features official publisher content, gameplay videos, scripted series, and original content, including original weekly shows, all aimed at the coveted 18-34 year old male demographic. Machinima is fast-becoming a global phenomenon with an ability to capture a cultural sensibility and awareness among a next generation of entertainment consumers and marketers alike. The company is backed by MK Capital, and Redpoint Ventures, and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.
For more information, please visit www.Machinima.com<http://www.Machinima.com>

That Other Jane and Carrot Top: Tarzan Lands at SDCC 2012

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Posted by Hannah Hart, Ghost Dame of the Hotel del Coronado | Posted on 27-07-2012

Category : Comics, Conventions, Entertain Me, Featured, Geek Out, Geek Rants, Literature, Movies, San Diego Comic Con, Television, Travel

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For all you poor mooks whom did not make it to San Diego Comic-Con 2012, or did and possibly lost, tossed or neglected your coveted Official Souvenir Book, unaware of the gems contained therein, I feel sad that you missed out on author Jennifer Susannah Devore’s Tarzan article. You should feel bad; it was good enough to garner Miss Jenny a personal invitation to meet the one, the only Dr. Jane Goodall! Where? A banquet in Tarzana, of course! No worries, jelly beans! There’s still time to mend your silly ways.

Swing on over, grab a Sailor Jerry Banana Hammock and read Jenny’s article here!

Steampunk Jane and her Carrot Top Tarzan, Lord of the Props Photo: Twisted Pair Photography SDCC 2012

 

That Other Jane, reprinted with JennyPop’s very own permission, from the 2012 Official Comic-Con Souvenir Book

(Special thanks, again, to Gary Sassaman, Director of Print and Publications Comic-Con International: San Diego)

 

That Other Jane: 100 Years of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Heartbreaker

by Jennifer Susannah Devore

I was so jealous. I thought she was a wimp. I was sure I’d have been a better mate.

                                                                                                             -that other Jane … Goodall

Herein lies the innate appeal of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. Be he an object of affection, admiration or competition, Tarzan falls neatly into the untidy world of animal instinct, feral existentialism and personal authority: a Lord Greystoke of the Flies, if you will.

Burroughs composed an enduring theme and a permanence of characters spawning not only a succession of film and television iterations, but also serial books and eventually comics, penned not by Burroughs himself, but a veritable jungle encampment of devotees. From Dell Comics’ cheerful adventure yarns of the 1940s, which featured a ripped, yet stick-thin version of Tarzan, to Psychology Press’ Ways of Being Male: representing Masculinities in Children’s Literature and Film by John Stephens to George of the Jungle, Tarzan has been a centenary of topic. Scholars may argue a garden of reasons why the jungle Brit in the loincloth has remained ever so popular; but the reader’s heartbeat will tell you unequivocally there exists solely one answer. Stimulation.

Certainly, the sight of a well-sculpted, 1930s Johnny Weissmuller slicing into a sheath of river or even the hot, animated Disney Tarzan of 1999 swinging on a vine (Watch out for that treeeeee!), brings a swoon to many a fan, just as Captain Jack Sparrow, Indiana Jones or Han Solo does. Be not fooled, it is not simply the silky hair flop, the cheekbones and the swagger (uh – well, it kind of is). It is primarily what brings about said-swagger and the flip of that flop which oft has a nuclear power to melt its unsuspecting, doe-eyed victims like wax. It is the hero’s confidence, fearlessness and willingness to machete his way through the jungles and bridge the rivers, only to pop back to the surface victorious and, even if a bit broken, durable enough to shake off the snakes, the leeches and the authorities to forge ahead.

Edgar Rice Burroughs, born of Mid-western stubbornness and raised on Western ruggedness weathered the literal, as well as figurative, frontier realities of a changing America at the turn of the 20th Century. The son of a Civil War veteran and a protective yet yielding mother of six boys, two having died as infants, Edgar was the youngest of a large and prosperous family prone to enterprise, exploits and chance. From Chicago business ventures to Idaho gold dredging and cattle ranching, a young Edgar saw a world of possibilities; he certainly recognized his growing America was whatever a man wanted it to be. After a smattering and sampling of job-jobs like railway security, clerical manager, door-to-door salesman, pencil sharpener wholesaler, ditch digger and accountant, amongst others, Edgar found his future in the fertile pages of pulp fiction.

Burroughs would state later that if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines that I could write stories just as rotten. This was in the same spirit as, Mark Twain, claiming some thirty years previous and Hunter S. Thompson claiming some eighty years after Twain, that a lot of folks make an awful lot of money writing some really awful schlock. It appears the unifying theme was, hopefully, they might be equally as fortunate. Mark Twain summed it up best when he prognosticated about Huckleberry Finn, They have expelled this from their library as, quote, trash and suitable only for the slums! That will sell 25,000 copies for us, sure.

Screaming through his tales, like Carol Burnett’s clear-as-a-bell Tarzan yell, Burroughs’ Wanderlust and spirit for adrenaline ripped through his tales of pirates, jungles, space, cavemen, dinosaurs and, lest we forget, The Land that Time Forgot. Over the decades of his long and successful life, Tarzan would be his Goose That Laid the Golden Egg. If Tarzan book money was good, Tarzan film money was out of this world.

The first celluloid representation was Tarzan of the Apes (1918) starring Elmo Lincoln as the silent hero. Whilst this iteration would follow most closely the events of the original novel, it was Tarzan the Ape Man (1932) that would explode out of the water like a surfacing submarine to penetrate pop culture. It would give us not only a taut and toned Olympic gold medallist swimmer named Johnny Weissmuller but also, as the first Tarzan film with sound, that iconic Tarzan yell which many will cringingly attempt. Raise your hand if you never tried it while swinging from the monkey bars on the playground.

As they often do, successful writer/film types take those sawbucks and buy Hollywood ranches, Palm Desert compounds, Caribbean islands or spooky manses in the Maine woods. Burroughs bought a sprawling one of the former just north of H-town. As a testament to the zeitgeist in 1923, the residents and citizens of the L.A. suburb burgeoning around his ranch, voted to incorporate as the town of Tarzana. Just five years previous, he had already incorporated himself: a savvy and uncommon move for a writer of this era.

Adventurous in word as well as deed to the end, Burroughs served as a WWII correspondent in Hawaii, embedded with U.S. Air Force bombers and even crossing paths with his equally unflappable son, Hulbert, a war photographer. After the war, he returned to the sunny jungle of Tinsel Town. Passing away in 1950, he would miss the continuing success of Tarzan throughout the Fifties via comic books and reprints of his novels and serials. He would also miss out on the explosive rebirth of his chef d’oeuvres as the Sixties would bring Tarzan the television series and a paperback book smash that introduced “Me Tarzan, you Jane”, their son, Boy, and a charming chimp named Cheeta to a whole new generation of restless rowdies ready for anything that wasn’t suburbia.

“It was somewhere between ten and eleven that I read Tarzan and decided I would go to Africa, live with animals and write books about them,” Dr. Jane Goodall, founder and mentor of the Jane Goodall Institute, recounts in a 60 Minutes interview. One-hundred years after the initial October 1912 publication of Tarzan of the Apes in All-Story magazine, Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creations match, if not absolutely mirror, mankind’s quest for self, sufficiency, survival and stimulation … well, and the cheekbones.

From creatures At The Earth’s Core, to a Martian Princess to the Lord of the Jungle, from The Cave Girl to The Girl From Hollywood to The Mucker and Pirates From Venus, Burroughs proffers vicarious pleasures and fantasy to the desk-bound, the cubicle-trapped and the homebodies of the planet. Simultaneously, he gives hope, inspiration and itineraries to the modern-day travelers and dreamers of the world.

Wanderlust is just ein deutsch Wort away from lust. Adventure-lit hits all the right buttons. Burroughs and Tarzan sliced their own paths, just like Captain Jack, Han Solo, Grizzly Adams and each real-life Indiana Jones throughout modern history, including the likes of Margaret Mead, Diane Fossey, Alan Shepard, Buzz Aldrin, Jacques Cousteau, John Glenn, Charles Lindbergh, Sally Ride, Teddy Roosevelt, Neil Armstrong, Gus Grissom, Valentina Tereshkova, Admiral Richard Byrd, Sir Richard Branson, Sir Edmund Hillary, Amelia Earhart, all the Monkeynauts and, finally … that other Jane.

In an October 2010 CBS 60 Minutes interview, reporter Lara Logan asked Dr. Jane Goodall: Why Africa? Dr. Jane replied: Because of reading Doctor Dolittle and Tarzan. Doctor Dolittle rescues animals from the circus and takes them back to Africa. And then, Tarzan, of course. The Lord of the Jungle.

Then the subject of Jane Porter, Tarzan’s girl, arose. In a statement soaked with decades of irritation and disgust, Dr. Jane exclaimed: I was passionately in love. He marries that other, stupid Jane. I think I’d have been the perfect mate for Tarzan, don’t you?

While today we’re bombarded with everyone else’s imagination, it’s satisfying to recall an era when we worked our own, fueled simply by Burroughs’ words … and, at least in Jane’s case, the loincloth. Now that’s what I call stimulation.

Jennifer S. Devore w James Sullos, Jr. (left/president of ERB, Inc.) and Tarzan author, Tracy Griffin (right) plus a special invitation to meet Dr. Jane Goodall herself in Tarzana! Photo: JSDevore SDCC 2012

 

Author bio: Jennifer Susannah Devore authors the historical-fiction series Savannah of Williamsburg, as well as the contemporary The Darlings of Orange County. She is a regular contributor to GoodtobeaGeek.com under the pseudonym Hannah Hart, ghostdame of the Hotel del Coronado; her tribute to the 60th anniversary of Peanuts was published in the 2010 Comic-Con Souvenir Book She lives on a San Diego beach with her husband, a Pomeranian and an immortal cat she believes is Binx from Hocus Pocus.

 

Abyssinia, cats! maybe miss jenny will tell us all how the banquet with Dr. Goodall goes!

Hannah’s fave places to haunt online? @JennyPopNet   jennypop.net   amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore 

Kickstart It! – Z*Con the Movie Produced by Big Damn Films

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Posted by Jessa Phillips aka "SultryMinxZoe" | Posted on 18-07-2012

Category : Entertain Me, Featured, Kickstart It!, Movies

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What happens when you set out to make a fan film to share your passion for a canceled television show and it morphs into a business model to support charity? You establish Big Damn Films.

Graphic Credit: Big Damn Films

There is a lot to say for passion, determination and an intense work ethic when applied to a project. Mike Dougherty, one of the founders of Big Damn Films, is a prime example. Big Damn Films is a production company out to prove quality independent films can be made and give back to charity.

Their first foray into the film space was the fan film Browncoats: Redemption. Taken by an intense passion for the Joss Whedon created television series, Firefly, the project quickly developed into a non-profit business. Browncoats: Redemption raised over $117,000 in one year, when many expected the project would never even get off the ground. While the business spawned out of a necessity to do business with companies like Universal and Fox, it has provided an outlet to continue the good works of creating entertainment and supporting worthy causes.

Graphic Credit: Big Damn Films

Firefly may have been a driving force behind the initial flood of support for Big Damn Films. Then people began to recognize the company, Dougherty in particular with his immense level of personal involvement, was treating the property with respect. Now, people have become enraptured with the idea that Big Damn Films is doing something worthwhile for the right reasons – encouraging inspiration to spur creative innovation and supporting others. Community is a key component in the success of Big Damn Films. A fact Dougherty is keenly aware of, stating

“I’m doing this because the community allows it to happen and it’s that community that keeps me moving forward.”

When the time came to consider producing another film, the company veered off the beaten path to choose an original film, Z*Con. The film follows teen podcasters on-site at a convention when they realize they are in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. The fact that Big Damn Films approached a couple of virologists to get scientific and medical background behind viral outbreaks speaks to the care and detail with which they approach their projects.

Proceeds from Z*Con will support 3 charities with 80% of the proceeds being equally distributed between Kids Need to Read, Red Cross, and a charity selected by the community, Baltimore Bully Crew. The remaining 20% of the proceeds will go to Big Damn Films to cover operating and production costs.

Producing a film seems an overwhelming process and one has to wonder, where do you start? Some story-writers begin with character sheets or plot outlines. Once the initial concept has been identified, Dougherty starts by getting down specific scenes and shots that are iconic images for the story he wants to tell. As the story unfolds with these scenes, deeper thematic lines become evident and expand the story. Open to discussion and constructive feedback, he periodically seeks opinions from experienced people, as well as prospective audience members.

At all times the audience is prevalent in his mind and he has an admirable level of respect for them. In fact, despite the success of Browncoats: Redemption and a certain level of notoriety, he remains quite humble, commenting,

“I still don’t have a concept of exactly how big this entire thing was, to this day I still don’t. I recognize we’ve shipped to every continent on the globe; that I have people all around the world that know who I am and know what we did and were a part of it, but I’m still the guy that has the apartment in the same neighborhood where I grew up.”

Dougherty is also committed to giving back by supporting others, and not just through the charities who receive donations from film sales. He also makes it a point to support the community that has helped him to succeed, by inspiring friends to pursue their aspirations and connecting them with other community members that may provide assistance, as well as speaking at events like Gnomedex.

Speaking about how he decided to pursue Big Damn Films, he says,

“It’s like life walked up to you and said ‘here’s an opportunity’ and you can either take it and change the course of the next four years of your life; or, you can continue to be that dork working at Starbucks on Fridays while you’re teleworking from your day job and I kind of went ‘I like the idea of change.’”

He admits the statement makes it sound simple; however, he acknowledges that without the support of friends, family and those who rally behind the projects, they would be much more difficult to complete.

You can support the latest film, Z*Con, by pledging to the Kickstarter campaign or purchasing a t-shirt. Be sure to follow them in the social space. For the creative spirits, feel free to apply your imagination and create web banners, postcards, YouTube videos and more to SPREAD THE INFECTION!

Support the Kickstarter Campaign and find yourself in good company. Best-selling author, Neil Gaiman offered his support through his personal Twitter account, highlighting one of the benefits when you donate through the Kickstarter campaign:

 

Visit the Official Z*Con Website – http://zconmovie.com/
Like Z*Con on Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/ZConMovie
Follow Z*Con on Twitter – http://twitter.com/zconmovie

Hannah Hart’s Sweet San Diego Comic-Con Goody Giveaway

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Posted by Hannah Hart, Ghost Dame of the Hotel del Coronado | Posted on 27-06-2012

Category : Anime, Comics, Conventions, E-vents, Entertain Me, Featured, Geek Out, Geek Rants, Movies, San Diego Comic Con, Television, Travel

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

All right, Boyzos and Betties, unless you’ve been slumped over a Pacific Beach bar for the last three months -Very possible in P.B.- you know Comic-Con is nigh and yours truly, Miss Hannah Hart, ghostdame of the Hotel del Coronado, is headed there with proverbial bells on.  (Actually I’ll be donning ruffled, Victorian bloomers and a pith helmet: no real bells.) Whilst it may seem Dr. Lucy, my Hotel Del ghostie cohort and SDCC partner-in-crime, and I are going for a good old fashioned, G&T-fueled, steampunk, dress-up party, we’re really doing it all for you. Really.

Photo: ParkaBlogs

For all you mooks whom wanted to go, but couldn’t make it, either because you were unsuccessful in nicking a badge through the Con’s wonky, mad, digital dash for online purchases, or it was just never in the cards for you to get to America’s Finest City this summer, I shall be your big eyes and perky ears throughout Geek Mecca.

Directly from the San Diego Convention Center floor I shall be Tweeting and Facebooking only the choicest gossip and sweetest pics: hot Manga girls, celebrity sightings, bonkers cosplay, even that guy who absolutely should not be wearing Spandex. If it’s worthy, I shall cover it. If I’m lucky and can squeeze into a panel or two, I might even be able to get you some dishy goodness on the likes of Bob’s Burgers, The Walking Dead, Children’s Hospital, The Simpsons, True Blood, Spongebob Squarepants, American Dad, The Big Bang Theory, Vampire Diaries …  phew. You know what? Take a peek here at the full list of TV panels for 2012; just far too many to reference. If I could corner anyone for you, who would it be and what would you ask them? Tweet me @JennyPopNet or @GoodToBeAGeek and let me know; I’ll do my best!

Moi? I’ll have my eyes peeled for the likes of Seth MacFarlane (American Dad, Family Guy), Matt Groening (The Simpsons), Loren Bouchard (King of the Hill, Bob’s Burgers), Bill Amend (Foxtrot), Henry Winkler (Children’s Hospital, Happy Days, Arrested Development) and the entire Once Upon a Time cast and writers’ crew. Witness my love for Once here! Although, I do have to say that if the rumours are true, according to Variety, The Lone Ranger may be hosting a panel, possibly featuring Helena Bonham-Carter, Gore Verbinski and Johnny Depp … well, I think we all know the outcome if this happens. Dr. Lucy! Pack the smelling salts!

 

Best of all for you jelly beans, I’m giving up the goods! Not those goods, ya wet smacks. Con goods! Now, pay attention:

  • 2 Grand Prize Goodie Bags Incl. one official Comic-Con Souvenir Book, autographed by author Jennifer Susannah Devore on her article, That Other Jane: 100 Years of Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle, Heartbreaker , plus a collection of goodies from random floor vendors as well as some official Comic-Con Schwag  Bag contents. (Note: very few writers’ and artists’ work appear in each year’s book. Getting a signed one is a rare treat indeed. Keep yours mint; Jenny’s getting bigger by the day! Fan-wise, that is.)
  • 3 Goody Giveaways per convention day  A goody is one promotional item from random convention floor vendors. I don’t even know what these are, yet! I’ll be Tweeting them live from the floor. Trade shows and conventions are chock full of awesome tidbits ranging from coffee mugs and comic books to games and anime key chains. Who knows?!

Me! Me! I want a Jennifer Devore-signed Souvenir Book! Photo: ParkaBlogs

How to win? Easy Peasy! Just Tweet or FB the following during the SDCC dates of July 12th-July15th!

  • 2 Grand Prizes:
  1. One Facebook Fan: “Like” Savannah of Williamsburg on FB and post a quote from one of Jennifer Devore’s Savannah of Williamsburg books. (Don’t have a book? Get a free Kindle or Nook sample at Amazon and BN.com. Every quote gets you an entry!)
  2. One Twitter Pal: Follow @JennyPopNet and Tweet a short quote from any of Jennifer Devore’s Savannah of Williamsburg books.
  •  Daily Goody Giveaways: Follow @JennyPopNet with a Tweet containing  #SavannahofWilliamsburg and #SDCC, or “Like” Savannah of Williamsburg on Facebook and post a Comic-Con greeting on her wall!

Already a follower on Twitter? Already a Facebook fan? Sweet! Then all you have to do post a quote, Tweet a hashtag and wish Dr. Lucy and me luck on tracking down Johnny Depp! (Wish Johnny luck, come to think of it!)

Photo: Nico Genin

 

See what we shall endure for you? Well, you and Johnny. Photo: ParkaBlogs

Abyssinia at the Con, cats!

All prizes to be mailed out after SDCC. All winners shall be selected at random from qualified entries. In the event of any dispute whatsoever, I will be the final arbiter of final judgement under any circumstance. There is no cash value. As a condition of entry, entrants are expressly prohibited from making any claims whatsoever. No third party shall bear any responsibility whatsoever in relation to this promotion, including but not limited to syndicates, partners and affiliates. This contest is held solely by jennypop.net. This contest is held solely for fun. Have fun!

Hannah’s fave places to haunt online?

Jennypop.net, @JennyPopNet  amazon.com/author/jenniferdevore and jenniferdevore.blogspot.com

Space Command: A Triumphant Return to the Golden Age of Sci-Fi!

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Posted by Thomas Jordan | Posted on 19-06-2012

Category : Candid Conversations, Entertain Me, Featured, Geek Out, Movies, Television

I remember the first time I heard the powerful words, “Space:  the final frontier,” and how it carried the air of something special.   I still get a small chill every time I hear them.  There are so few shows that can deliver that kind of impact and elicit that kind of emotion.  So many times, I’ve had a great hope that a show can reconnect me with those missing qualities from the golden age of sci-fi; only to be duped in to watching a quickly thrown together story/plot that’s counting on half way decent special effects to carry it through.  Where is the passion?  Where is the originality? Most importantly, where is the inspiration? They truly don’t make them like they used to.  But, someone believes that they can, and that someone is Marc Zicree.

Marc has practically carved out his own section in the sci-fi genre, working on titles like Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek New Voyages: Phase II, Babylon 5, and Sliders.  (I’m naming only a few of a very long list.)  Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with Marc in length about his new crowd funded project, Space Command.  Marc tells me what it’s like to see Space Command grow so quickly on Kick Starter, and how excited and appreciative he is to see everyone’s support.

There are a few noteworthy items to mention about the audio below:

1) I had initially intended on this being a written interview, but after hearing how passionate and charismatic Marc is, I knew that people had to actually hear Marc speak about Space Command.

2) At the time of this interview (06/01/2012), Space Command had raised approximately $130,000.00. Today, as I’m writing this, Space Command has raised over $158,000, and shows absolutely no sign of slowing down.

3) This interview took place before the passing of one of Marc’s good friends, Ray Bradbury, whom he talks about visiting often.
 
An Interview with Space Command Creator Marc Zicree
 

 
To get involved in supporting Space Command, be sure to visit the Kickstarter page. Also, don’t forget their regular home on the web at http://pledgespacecommand.com!

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