Casting Internets

This metal cover of the castle theme to Super Mario Bros. is RAD! (via /Gamer)

Also rad is the news that Agents of Atlas will be throwing down with the Avengers. AoA is one of the best comics out there and I'm just happy to see it continue on in any form, whether it be back-ups, mini-series or online comics. Keep that Jeff Parker goodness going Marvel!


In TV news, two actors from two of my favorite movies from high school have gotten new roles. First up, Jason Lee (Mallrats, Chasing Amy) apparently has two new gigs. The first is a live-action Adult Swim show about skateboarding and the second is a live action TNT show called Delta Blues where he'll be playing a character who's a cop by day and an Elvis impersonator by night. I loved My Name Is Earl and can't wait to check him out in this show. (via THR)

The other actor getting a new gig is Ethan Embry (Empire Records, Can't Hardly Wait) on a USA show called Facing Kate. The show description doesn't sound all that interesting to me (check it out on THR), but I'll check it out in passing or in reruns most likely.

And finally, I'm psyched to read Gabriel Ba and Fabio Moon's upcoming Vertigo book called Daytripping. My buddy Steve Sunu interviewed the hell outta those dudes over on CBR.


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Oh, DO go on.

Music To Read To: Man Or Astro-man? & Zot!

I don't normally listen to music while I read. Mostly because I have trouble concentrating. So, when I do, it's usually something without words like jazz or instrumental rock and roll (Joe Satriani's Surfing With The Alien, John Paul Jones' Zooma, that kind of thing). Back when I was working at Wizard I got my hands on a copy of Scott McCloud's Zot! The Complete Black And White Collection 1987-1991 from Harper Collins. It had been sitting in the to read long boxes in my closet since then and I recently picked it up to see how it is. And it's great. I'm only 336 into the 576 page book, but I feel like I'm enjoying it along with the commentary that McCloud gives after each story arc.

The real point of this post though, is to talk about music accentuating the reading material. I was sitting in bed one night, reading this volume when it popped into my head that the brightness and sci-fi leanings of Zot's earth would go really well with my favorite modern surf rock band Man Or Astro-man? (for what it's worth, my all time favorite surf rock group is The Ventures). I went out into the living room, popped a reading light on, turned my iPod to the correct Artist and read for quite a while.

And I gotta say, it was a near perfect fit. It was kind of eerie actually. When the story slowed down, the record did so too. Kind of like discovering that Wizard Of Oz and Darkside Of The Moon fit together, but of course, dependent on the speed with which the reader can read. I first listened to EEVIAC Operational Index and Reference Guide, Including Other Modern Computational Devices (1999) and then Project Infinity (1995) because that's the order they're in on my iPod. The mix of surf rock and old sci-fi movies was like whatever kind of wine goes with whatever kind of steak, it just happened to work.

My experience with Man or Astro-man? goes back a while. I happened to see the following video for "Theme From Eeviac" along with the video for "Denise" by Fountains of Wayne on 120 Minutes and I was sold (on both bands). I would go on to purchase both Project Infinity and A Spectrum Of Infinite Scale (2000) at my beloved Boogie Records (used and new respectively). Soon after they broke up, which is a bummer, but I've still got a few other albums to check out if I ever get the urge. Anyway, here's the first video I ever saw, along with a few others I found on YouTube that show off their goodness and weirdness.

I highly recommend checking them out if you have even a remote inkling that you might like surf rock or are a big fan of old sci-fi movies or if you just like to read a lot of sci-fi. I used to actually turn Man or Astro-man? on when I played video games. This was back in the PS1 days, before games scores and dialogue were important. Do yourself a favor and check them out!

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A Command Performance From Dolph Lundgren

Okay, so the title of this post is a bit misleading. Instead of Dolph Lundgren's performance actually being commanding, it's the name of this movie from 2009, which I heard about from my buddy Brian Warmoth. In truth, it's not a great movie, though Lundgren does give one of the better performances in the movie. Maybe it's because in addition to starring in the flick, he also co-wrote and directed it. The idea is that Dolph is a mysterious drummer named Joe in a band who is opening up for a pop diva named Venus for a concert requested by the Russian president and his daughters. Of course, he's no normal man and this turns out to be no normal concert as a bunch of paramilitary guys burst in, kill about 200 people and take the president captive.

Once the bad guys show up, we do get treated to exactly what you expect from a movie like this: Dolph kicking ass, killing dudes and throwing quips like daggers. His first kill comes after he stumbles out of a bathroom where he was smoking weed only to be accosted by a man with a knife. Instead of getting stabbed, Dolph shoves a drum stick through the man's skull and then says "Watch the hair dude." A little bit later Dolph smashes a Gibson Les Paul over a man's head. I don't know if you've ever tried to smash a guitar, but they are incredibly solid pieces of equipment, especially that guitar. Yowch.

Anyway, after that it gets a little boring/typical. Dolph teams up with the only surviving member of the president's security detail, we learn that he doesn't like guns because they kill people (do did that drum stick homey) and we find out that the bad guy isn't in it for money but for revenge. The lack of quips and music related killings makes the second half of the movie comparably boring, which is too bad because I was having a pretty good time with it for the first half. Oh, also, the music that Dolph's band plays is pretty good. I think I'd rather listen to their album than watch the movie again (and for the record, Dolph really is drumming, not just faking it, you can tell because they don't do those lame "show a person sitting near an instrument and then close-up on their hands" shots, we see full-on Dolph rocking out).

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Record Review: The Phenomenal Handclap Band (2009)

If you would have told me a few months back how much I would like a record from an all star line-up of indie rockers, I'd tell you you're crazy. When I think of indie rock nowadays, I gotta say, images of shoegazers playing super slow and mostly boring music pops into my head. It's inaccurate and unfair I know, but I it's honest. Well, all that went out the door with The Phenomenal Handclap Band's self titled record.

I actually got sent a copy of this record back when I was doing album reviews for the now defunct Performing SongwriterPerforming Songwriter. Brooke over at Big Hassle, who is awesome, sent me this record and I suck for not reviewing it sooner, especially considering how much I freaking love it.

Now, unfortunately, The PHB don't have a Wiki page, their blog isn't super informative and I've misplaced the press release I was sent along with the record, so I can't give too much background, but I do remember it being hyped as a band made up of indie rock all-stars. And, since there's different singers on nearly every track, I'm guessing this is almost like a Timbaland record, where the same producers/band are consistent with different singers.

Against all my expectations, this record turned out to be a conglomeration of 60s and 70s riffs and grooves laid over some amazingly catchy synth beats. It's like Deep Purple meets Sly and the Family Stone...with a synthesizer. I'm not very familiar with synth pop, but this is the best I've heard it lately.

The album, which came out on June 23 from Friendly Fire, sports 12 tracks and curiously opens with a just-over-6 minute instrumental called "The Journey To Serra Da Estrela." This again, threw up a red flag as far as I was concerned (who starts a record with an instrumental?), but it makes an awesome journey starting with some Pink Floyd-like atmosphere and gets heavily into the synth-funk. Every time I was just about to get bored, they introduced another element that drops in seamlessly and adds another layer.

And really, that's what I love about this record, there's so many layers. I've listened to it so many times and it feels like I'm picking up new elements every time. I also think I get a new favorite song each time. This time around it's track 6 called "15 to 20" which features Lady Tigra, who I haven't heard of, but will definitely check out. First off the groove is just sick. You can't help but bob your head and tap your foot at the very least. Even the lyrics, which consist of counting for a good portion of the song, are awesome and delivered beautifully, especially when the counting stops and we hit rapid fire mode. Great stuff.

The whole album is like this, even though the singers switch up with each new track (I think, there might be a few repeat singers). There is one song though that I just can't get into. It's called "Baby," and instead of being a a rock/synth combo, it's a a soul/R&B throwback. It's not a bad song, but instead of feeling inspired by other music, like the rest of the record, it just feels like a lift. Maybe it's because soul is still around and I've heard lots of new songs like this and there isn't a lot of 70s-influenced rock on the radio anymore. Or maybe that it sounded like a combination of Marvin Gaye and James Brown. It just felt TOO similar, even though the music and singing were solid.

But, "Baby" doesn't ruin the album by any means, and maybe in a few weeks, when I listen to it again, it'll jump to my favorites list. Another big surprise on the record was the last track called "The Circle Is Broken" which is a nearly-9 minute track. Again, I wasn't so sure about such a long final track, but like the first one, it gets crazy and awesome, just when it might get a little boring. Plus, the first few bars of this song sound like the music from the castle levels of the first Mario game. It really is just a creepy, haunting dance tune and the repetition of the lyric "This is where the story ends," seems really appropriate. The song never gets scary, but it is a kind of funhouse ride that I would love to see a short film set to.

I really can't recommend this record enough for you guys. You can buy it on Amazon here .
Oh, DO go on.