Archive for the ‘Geeking’ Category

Yes, I'm late to the party. But it's been eating at me.

Actually I stopped watching Smallville somewhere around the 5th season, and only lasted that long out of dogged optimism. There were so many things right about the show, they couldn't blow every opportunity, could they? Well, yes, yes they could.

But I tuned in to the finale just to see the payoff, what we've been waiting for these ten years. Clark, flying, in the suit.

Guess what we didn't really get?

Now, I don't know exactly why. I've heard the suit they used (from Superman Returns) didn't actually fit actor Tom Welling so they couldn't. I've heard that Warner didn't want a full-body shot of Welling in the suit because they had the new guy lined up for the next movie and wanted his to be the face everyone expected. I've heard Welling flat-out refused to be seen in the suit. I have no idea, and frankly I don't care.  Whatever the reason, the fans were cheated.

Everything the finale did to make the ending inspirational and triumphant — and it tried really, really, really hard –was undercut with the awkward direction and bad CG required to show Clark being Superman without really showing it. And it would have been so easy to do so, even within the budget of a cable show. So, let's try this:

EXT. METROPOLIS – DAY

Apokolips is approaching earth, a fiery ball of hate. Citizens of Metropolis GATHER to look up at their doom. Some are crying. Many of them have glowy OMEGA symbols on their foreheads. OLIVER rushes out into the street. People are packed in the windows, watching. The end is very clearly near.

CUT TO:

A terrified WOMAN HOLDING A BABY leans too close to her window and gets jostled; the baby slips, FALLS. The woman screams, the crowd reacts.

And something blurs past the woman. Something red and blue.

CLARK lands gently in the Metropolis street, in full costumed view, holding the baby, moving with calm assurance. The crowd marvels.

MAN IN CROWD
It's the Blur!

People gasp and murmur. Clark HANDS THE BABY to Oliver. Then cue the Superman theme song as he SMILES THE SUPERMAN SMILE for the first time ever, and TAKES OFF into the sky. 

OLIVER
(holding the baby)
Good luck, Clark.

As we cut back and forth between his grim determination and the people we see signs of long-denied hope in the populace. Here and there the Omega symbol blinks out, overwhelmed by emotion. The people of Metropolis CHEER HIM ON.

Clark vanishes into the planet's corona. And Apokolips STARTS TO MOVE AWAY. The crowds go wild, hugging each other and yelling. The last Omega symbols VANISH. The day is saved.

Same scene as before. No fancy special effects the crew hasn't already done a zillion times before, I'm not even suggesting we show him pushing the planet (which would have been nice). But we get two things we were denied: Clark, in the suit, being Superman, in full view. And we get the added benefit of Metropolis realizing their hometown hero is a lot more heroic and inspirational than they imagined, with that holy-crap moment that lifts you up inside. 

How hard would that have been?

The latest in my "Dehoard Me" project was just posted. It's the hard-to-find Firefly trading cards binder, from the late, lamented Inkworks.

It's in great condition, still shiny and crisp and clean, and it contains the basic 72-card "Firefly: The Complete Collection" set as well as the one-sheet promo ad flyer for the series, four promo cards (P-i, P-2, P-4, and P-UK), and even the box the cards came in (folded).

The binder was tough to find even before the company went out of business and it's near impossible now. Don't miss out!

Marilou Goodwin! Her name was randomly chosen from the people who commented. Congratulations Marilou, and thanks to everyone who stopped by!

If you haven't yet picked up Titan Books'  "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, the Book" do so faster than immediately. Check it out at Amazon at a nicely discounted price, or look for it wherever you prefer to buy your books.

And if you didn't see it, go read the new York Times article on Joss and his future plans for more Horribleness (spoiler alert: he has some).

Or read this Wall Street Journal article on how "Dr. Horrible" changed the game for web shows.

Or check out this interview with co-writer and groupie Maurissa Tancharoen, or this one with co-writer and Western messenger boy Jed Whedon, or even this inspired and really disturbing Dr. Horrible and My Little Pony mashup.

Dr. Horrible is everywhere! Is it too late to make him the villain in the Avengers movie?

Next up in my dehoarding efforts: Autographs!

I love collecting autographs. I love the connection you get with a personal hero. Sure, it's a fleeting one, one they'll undoubtedly forget almost immediately. But you'll still have that memento, that proof that you once met this person and got to talk to him or her about the effect they may have had on your life.

I don't sell autographs I've gotten in person, for that reason and because I don't want celebrities to stop having those moments with fans for fear that their generosity of time will end up… well, on eBay, frankly. They give a lot of their time to fans and we appreciate it, we shouldn't run off and make a buck.

That said, occasionally I'll buy one myself, from a reputable source, to fill a hole in a collection. And if I later get the fortunate opportunity to get another directly from the actor or writer or musician in question, it leaves me with an extra. I figure the celebrity was compensated for the bought one (usually from a convention or arranged signing) so I don't feel as weird selling it myself.  So here's what's up so far:

Nathan Fillion and Gina Torres preprints: I can't stand auctions that aren't clear regarding autographs and preprints so let me say it outright. These are copies of original autographed photos, but they were not themselves signed. There's no indication that either actor ever personally touched these prints. That said, they're pretty cool and would nicely decorate a Browncoat's wall. 8"x10", one of each.

Morena Baccarin as Inara: Whereas this is an actual, signed-in-person, autographed photo. Authenticated by Creation Entertainment, with their certificate of authenticity on the back. 8"x10", glossy.

Amber Benson as Tara: This is a gorgeous photo. Signed by Amber at a Metro Entertainment signing (CofA included). 8"x10" glossy. Hard-to-see wear on the top from being in a frame.

Auctions for all three end next Tuesday night. Don't miss out!

I'm a little late to the party, as this came out already and odds are if you're a Dr. Horrible fan — and if not, why not? who are you? — you already know of it. But just in case I'm going to tell you anyway, and to make up for my tardiness I'll give you one for free.

Back in the misty days of the Writers Strike, plucky little Joss Whedon and his ragtag band of mates sidestepped around the studios and networks, and put together "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog,"  a 3-act, online-only musical superhero webshow that used fan -favorite actors, a whimsical attitude and catchy tunes in their insidious plot to take over the Internet. Or make money, it's not important. What is important is that it worked, and it spawned a top-40 CD, live productions, a DVD with a musical commentary that later got its own CD, and more. And now, it has a book.

By this point if Titan Books puts out anything about a show I even remotely like I'll buy it. Every one I've seen has been stuffed full of material, photos, interviews and factoids that even I, obsessive fan that I am, hadn't uncovered. And this one is no exception.

Granted, there's only 45 minutes of material to write about, so it's not quite like writing about a series. But you get the full shooting script, the sheet music to the songs, the sheet music to the Commentary! songs, and you get extras.

You get a hilarious intro by Captain Hammer. You get a roundtable discussion from Joss, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Zack Whedon on the creation and making of "Dr. Horrible." You get essays from Neil Patrick Harris, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion and Simon Helberg. You get behind-the-scenes photos, pics of Joss' original lyric sheets (with different lyrics), articles about the costuming and the awards and the fans and the ComicCon panel.

You get a lot.

You can get a sneak peek at Titan Books, and you can buy it at Amazon, or wherever you prefer to buy your books.

OR you can win one here. Just post a comment below to be automatically entered into a drawing for a copy of the book. Doesn't matter what you post, the drawing will be random, but it would be nice if you could post something about the book or "Dr. Horrible," just to make 'em more fun to read. Rules: one entry per person. U.S. and Canada only. Nobody in my family is eligible. Drawing will be one week from tonight, at 10 p.m. EST Wednesday, April 20, 2011. You must include a valid e-mail address so I can contact you. Good luck!

You know you need to back up your stuff.  You just never find the time and motivation to do it. Usually that motivation comes right after you've just lost the vitally important file you were working on, or the irreplaceable photo.  The day after your computer crashes, you'll be more motivated to do regular backups than you ever will again. You'll also be motivated to scream into the sky, punch walls, and kick small animals until your blood pressure drops back down into double digits. I hear.

And, for a while, you'll do the right things. You'll save your e-mail, your work files, maybe your photos. You'll get that warm sense of security that only comes from minimally protecting yourself. And then you'll let a few things slip, make some new folders and forget to add them to your routine, and then you're one good lightning storm away from screaming all over again. Read the rest of this entry »

Honestly, I thought it would fade away.

On February 17, during an interview with Entertainment Weekly about Firefly being shown on the Science Channel, Nathan Fillion said this:

"If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet."

Just the sort of thing to make fans sit up and cheer. And then, most of us normally might buy a t-shirt or two and then go back to watching the shows on DVD. I didn't bother blogging about it at the time because I figured by the time I did, it would be gone already.

Except that someone set up a website, helpnathanbuyfirefly.com, which was funny, and began talking about pledges to raise money to actually buy the gorram rights to Firefly from 20th Century Fox, which maybe wasn't.

And other Firefly alums said publicly that they'd be onboard if the chance arose. And author Patrick Rothfuss openly pledged book profits to the cause. And the Help Nathan Buy Firefly Facebook page has over 100,000 members already.

Now, I have been involved in numerous fan campaigns, including some pretty far-fetched ones (I even started one once). But this one seems off to me, for lotsa reasons.

First and foremost is that I can't see the studio selling the rights in the first place. The example that keeps getting brought up is the Terminator franchise, the rights for which recently sold for just $30 million, far short of the $300 million number Fillion tossed out there.

Only, the Terminator franchise has been bounced around through several owners, most of whom went through some form of bankruptcy that necessitated the sale. The last owners, the Halycon Company, filed for Chapter 11 and auctioned off the rights for under half of what they were hoping for. This is quite a bit different expecting a successful studio to sell a property that still generates revenue for itself.

20th Century Fox makes money from Firefly and Serenity. DVD sales, syndication, and licensing rights from QMx and Titan Books and Dark Horse Comics and Ripple Junction and more. They have no need or reason to sell.

Second, and more disturbing to me, the people behind the movement remain anonymous.

I have no reason to think this movement is anything besides exuberant fans reacting the way Browncoats have many times before. We hear the clarion call and we respond, with numbers and money and assistance and everything we can throw at it. It's the Browncoats biggest strength: we help each other. We've seen it time and again with the Can't Stop the Serenity fundraising, the work and money for Equality Now and Kids Need to Read and the Dyslexia Foundation and the Al Wooten Jr. Heritage Center and the Marine Corps Law Enforcement Foundation and more. But in every case we know who's holding the money. We don't, here.

Granted, no money has been requested yet, only pledges, which they stress are not legally binding. But at some point money has to change hands if this project is to move forward, and there needs to be publicly accountable, reachable people behind the site before dollar one goes anywhere.

Frankly I have to wonder at the anonymity. If it's fronted by well-known fans or even people connected to the show it would only add legitimacy to the project and support would rise up even faster. Why not come out? If you're going to be anonymous at least tell us what you're protecting. Instead this just makes people suspicious, and rightfully so. Too many fan movements like this have raised money with shaky business practices before for fans to blithely send off their savings.

Their site says that "If we can’t raise enough money, or if we can’t acquire the rights we’re after, we return the remaining funds." To whom? Who decides?

Third, it's been tried before. As gossi pointed out at whedonesque, there's been FireflySeason2.com, MySerenitySequel.com (which operated on pretty much the same business plan as HelpNathanBuyFirefly.com, by the way), browncoatsriseagain.com, Operation Blue Hands, Operation Full Burn, and more. None went very far, and a few were decidedly odd.

Fourth, even assuming the rights could be bought, would Joss and Co. be happy about it?

Personally I think if Joss thought this could be done successfully he would have done it himself already. The fact that he has not yet publicly said anything, despite all the recent attention it's been getting, speaks volumes. And he does have this little thing called the Avengers movie to concentrate on for the next year or so, with possibly more work lined up already. Nathan, despite his words, has a very successful TV show that takes a lot of his time. Adam Baldwin is on Chuck, Morena Baccarin is tied up with V.

Near and dear to his heart as it is, does Joss want to continue with Firefly? He got to create Serenity, and while there are surely more stories to tell in the 'verse it would still be, in some ways, going backward for him. What does Joss want to do?

And — even assuming we had the rights and the cast and crew made time somehow (which is possible, as they've all expressed an interest in returning at one time or another) — who controls it? The HNBF site says that everyone involved would, and I can't see any creative staff wanting to work for 100,000 bosses. Would Joss have total creative freedom? What if the ratings slip? Would the HNBF board start sending notes?

Fifth: what would we want, anyway?

Would the version pick up where "Firefly" left off? Or after the movie? Would there be Wash? Or would we just build up a heap of money and give it to Joss, then sit back and wait for whatever he comes up with? You guys fight that out and get back to me.

Sixth, and pretty important: Nathan said not to. "It's beautiful to dream of more Firefly, but PLEASE DON'T SEND ANY MONEY. Just keep being great Browncoats, which you are!" He repeated it again in his interview on the Nerdist podcast and in an interview with Backstage where he stressed again that this was his dream if he won the lottery, not a request for people to invest. "But please, don't send money to a website."

The HNBF site seems to be (finally) responding to that by changing their name to Unstoppable Signals.

To their credit, they have repeatedly stated that no money is being accepted, that they have no guarantee this is possible, that they have no guarantee that Joss or Nathan or anyone else would be interested even if it were possible.

I honor the attempt, and the desire. Few people would like more stories from the 'verse as me, and I'd love to be a part of making that happen. But so far I have to say I'm still skeptical, and will remain so until a) all the names behind the movement are made known, b) some sort of business plan with transparent accountability is launched, and c) Joss acknowledges it himself.

I've loved Spider-Man for over 40 years, but nothing in all that run entertained me as much as the "Ultimate Spider-Man" series by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

A reinvented Spider-Man, with all the humor and relationships and twisty plots that I loved from my childhood but with relevance to today, an incredible ear for teenage language, and a fresh new look at the same old characters. Through all of the occasionally questionable decisions Marvel has made with their major books the last few years, "Ultimate Spider-man" has remained my always-buy favorite. This is a great way to get started with this amazing series.

Here are the first 5 hardcover collections, pulling together issues #1 – 59, plus extras, interviews, sketches and more. All of them are first printing and in excellent condition. Bought, read once, shelved.

Vol. 1: Collects #1-13 and Amazing Fantasy #15. Out of print.
Vol. 2: Collects #14-27. Out of print.
Vol. 3: Collects #28-39, plus the hard-to-find Ultimate Spider-Man 1/2. Out of print.
Vol. 4: Collects #40-45, and 47-53.
Vol. 5: Collects Ultimate Spider-Man #46, Ultimate Six #1-7, and Ultimate Spider-Man #54-59.

Auction's over tomorrow night, so don't delay!

Yet another couple items in my ongoing clean-out-my-life project, this time it's a Serenity bank heist money display and a pile of random metal gaming miniatures.

The Serenity money display is a framed and matted display depicting one of the actual Alliance bills used in the movie Serenity during the bank heist scene and the Maidenhead bar scene. It comes framed and glazed with the movie logo laser cut out of velvet finish mount board. Note that this is not one of the replica bills made by QMx; this is the real, screen-used deal. There is an imperfection with the matting, described in the, um, description. Check it out! Comes with COA from the Prop Store of London and is a great way to get a collectible piece of the movie without paying overseas shipping.

Then we have a box of gaming miniatures. I have no idea what's in here. Got a pile of gaming stuff and ended up with these along for the ride. Some are painted, most are not. The few I can identify are some Watchmen figures (Rorschach, the Comedian, the Silk Spectre and Ozmandias), some Call of Cthulu, and some Legion of Superheroes. The two still in the (crumpled) packages are a headless horseman sort of thing from RAFM Miniatures and #1211 Texas Ranger from Deadlands' Weird West Miniatures line. The rest are fantasy pieces, superhero pieces, animals, monsters, etc. Who knows, the one you've been dying to find could be in here.

For those who have written asking if I've lost interest in Firefly/Serenity: hell, no. But I've got a LOT of stuff and I'd rather keep the items with personal meaning. Seriously, I'm just getting started.

The next installment of my I-need-money-and-my-storage-space-back auctions includes something special: a rare art print of Serenity. OK, granted, pics of Serenity aren't terribly rare; she's a beautiful lady and people seem to like drawing, painting, crafting and LEGO-ing her. But this is one of only 100 "engineering proof" prints made of a John R. Mullaney piece for QMx that have never, to my knowledge, been offered for retail sale. Mullaney is, of course, the illustrator behind the amazing Serenity Architectural Cutaway Set QMx just released with its incredible level of detail. This is the same style, ink and watercolor, but this image isn't included in the set.

The print measures 11"x17", is hand-numbered 51/100, and does have a few minor flaws described in the auction listing. But you won't find many of these around; it's a beautiful work of art of our girl. Check it out!

Also up: a heap of Serenity patches of different styles and sizes. Ariel EMT patches, Alliance rank insignia patches, Independent patches, an Alliance flag patch, even Wash's Londino patch.

Both auctions end Sunday, September 19. Don't miss 'em!