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Last night I questioned the severity of Variety‘s opposition to the admittedly silly “Best Popular Picture” category idea the Oscars are testing the waters for. However, it did lead to a fun little article about potential other categories they could come up with. Try it yourself; make a game out of it.
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So apparently the Academy Awards decided they want to add a new category to the Oscars in the hopes of drumming up views by average people. The solution is not to give movies most of us watch an honest assessment among the “smart” and “artsy” and “serious” films but to create a category just for movies enjoyed outside of the snooty critic, actors, producers, and other members of the Hollywood elite. Referred to as a “best popular film” category (whether or not this the final name they go with is currently unclear), it’s a chance for movies the actual moviegoing public go to see, the so-called “popcorn flicks” that allegedly have no substance to it, a chance to win something. The hope is that it will bring their ratings up on ABC every year.
I’m honestly a bit mixed here. On the one hand it’s a bone thrown to the average moviegoer. It doesn’t mean anything to the Hollywood elite, which if we’re honest are more like “elitists” at times. On the other hand it hopefully acknowledges there are other movies who deserve credit beyond the special effects category and maybe a movie score or some other minor category. I would need to see it in action to really develop an opinion, but I don’t work for Variety, one of the many entertainment news and gossip sources out there. They did three articles…three!…decrying this new category as the worst thing the Academy could do. It seems a bit harsh for a category they are only considering! They have nothing definite here and I’m not sure it’s had a chance to earn the bashing they’ve given it. Not that they don’t have some good points mind you.
Sharon hates when the guy in front of her chickens out on the high dive right at the top.
Doctor Who #2
Marvel Comics (November, 1984)
COVER ART: Dave Gibbons, Dave Cockrum, & Frank Giacola
COVER COLORIST: George Roussos
ART DIRECTOR: John Romita
US COLORIST: Andy Yanchus
US EDITOR: Jim Salicrup
“Doctor Who & The Star Beast” part 2
{originally appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #s 19-26)
WRITERS; Pat Mills & John Wagner
ARTIST: Dave Gibbons
UK EDITOR: Paul Neary
“Throwback: The Soul Of A Cybermen” part 1
(originally appeared in Doctor Who Magazine #s 5-7)
WRITER: Steve Moore
ARTIST: Steve Dillon
EDITOR: Dez Skinn
This never gets old.
Spock is making his return to the Star Trek Multiverse by visiting the Discovery timeline (and I don’t think anybody buys it’s the original timeline). Obviously he can’t be portrayed by Leonard Nimoy anymore but they also won’t be using Zachary Quinto, the movie Spock who is so into his role he took on one of Spock’s other roles as host of In Search Of, the new version on History. (It’s actually a good show. I saw an episode on AI recently.) Nope, we have yet another actor playing Spock, who is the adoptive brother of Michael, the orphan Sarek took in and now works on the Discovery because for some reason she had to be tied to Spock. Don’t they know giving Spock siblings never ends well in Trek?
image source: TF Wiki
Transformers Cyberverse is the next upcoming Transformers toyline and cartoon. Not a whole lot is known about the show as of this writing. Here’s what I found on the TF Wiki:
Transformers: Cyberverse is an upcoming computer-animated series. Developed by Boulder Media Studio, it is set to premiere on Cartoon Network in Fall of 2018. The story is divided into chapters, with “Chapter One” set to run for 18 episodes, while a second “Chapter” is targeted for a 2019 release. Unlike nearly every other Transformers TV series, episodes will be only 11 minutes in length as opposed to the traditional 22 minutes.
The series focuses on the adventures of Bumblebee; having damaged his memory chips, he and Windblade must recover his missing memories in order to help him remember his mission on Earth. Unfortunately, the Decepticons are after their friends.[1]
The series is intended to “focus more on characters and their mythology”.
It is unknown if this series is a sequel to a previous cartoon, or a complete reboot not set in any prior continuity, as the images released so far use the new evergreen designs.
Well now we have a clip of what the show will look like and I thank Ben’s World Of Transformers for posting it so I could catch it. And now I’m posting it here so you can catch it and see how your thoughts match up to mine.
Actually, that happened the other way around, but whatever.
Thunderbolts #23
Marvel Comics (February, 1999)
“Public Relations”
WRITER: Kurt Busiek
PENCILER: Mark Bagley
INKER: Scott Hanna
COLORIST: Joe Rosas
LETTERER: Saida Temonfonte
EDITOR: Tom Brevoort
image source: Bleeding Fool
As much as I love my local comic store it’s only good if you’re already a fan of comic books. Outside of Stop & Shop I don’t see spinner racks full of comics or comics on the newsstand shelf. When I was a kid I primarily got my comics from the local pharmacy or convenience stores news racks. Even in bookstores now you only get graphic novels and most of those are trade collections because DC and Marvel want to kill the traditional format that created them.
One “alternative” is Alterna Comics, a comic company that still uses newsprint paper to avoid making the consumer pay $5 or more for shiny pages. And they make comics for adults as well as kids and all-ages titles. One of the Art Soundoff contributors, Marshall Lee (who actually lives here in Connecticut but we’ve never met in person), has been trying to work with them since he found out about them Bleeding Fool’s Jamison Ashley interviews the man behind Alterna Comics, publisher Peter Simeti, to see why they’re also moving into the places comics abandoned for the comic store.
The Clutter Reports (my other site) Atop The Fourth Wall Crisis On Earth Prime Lean Into Artcast Bully Says “Comics Oughta Be Fun” Siskoid’s Blog of Geekery
Cartoon Hero’s Lair SF Debris Four Million Years Later
