So, random link-surfing from looking up stuff on Dr. Horrible lead me to Felicia Day's The Guild. I'm only in the middle of the third episode and I've laughed out loud a few too many times. I don't want to spoil any gags, so here, watch the first ep:



More at the link above.

Tags: recommendations

"It's not the bullet that kills you. It's the gunpowder."

Sometimes, I really should know better. But, what the hell, I figured "Harry Potter fans will love it," was more marketing than anything else, so I picked up Emily Drake's The Magickers on a lark with a gift card and finally got around to starting it.

( Spoilers and disappointments )

Seventy pages in, and I think I have quite used up whatever benefit my doubt had. I'm sure that there are enough differences to avoid copyright infringement outright, but whether they're meant to be winks to HP fans or poorly-masked analogues, either way it's just tired and derivative. Bleh.

Tags: books, commentary, fantasy

Forgot to mention: seen on the way to the store on Free Comic Book Day



Just so you're clear, it's not just the plate, it's also the bumper sticker:



In case it's too blurry, that's "My cultist sacrificed your honor student at Muskatonic Middle School." Not visible: the truck also had a Cthulhu fish on the back window. Now, on a beat up compact, I expect these sorts of things. On a giant pickup truck? I guess that's what you call mainstreaming.

Tags: anecdotes

I think I'm pretty open about taking changes in stride when it comes to the rebooted Power Pack. I enjoy the new stories for the most part, and I've been having fun with the latest Power Pack: Day One retelling / update of the origin. It seemed concise to have Julie naming the Snarks, for example, and I was even digging on the new, more sarcastic Smartship Friday introduced in the most recent issue. That said, I can't help but be disappointed Fred Van Lente decided that Power Pack's alien mentor Whitey (originally a fan of Earth literature whose intelligent ship, Friday, took its name from Robinson Crusoe) now learns English by watching old movies, and his ship's named after His Girl Friday.

I guess it just seems sad to me that even advanced alien races apparently no longer read. For that matter, if we're updating things, is a 1940s movie really any more relevant to a young audience than a classic novel that still shows up on school reading lists?

Tags: comics, commentary, power pack

So, I'm skimming the blurb at Creative Loafing about Free Comic Book Day on Saturday, and I was happy to discover two of the local shops seem to be taking the outreach part of this day to heart:

[Y]ou can also get your sequential art swag at Sarasota County's Fruitville Library (noon-3 p.m., sponsored by Pop Comics and Games) or the North County Library (10 a.m.-noon, sponsored by The Dark Side). North County will have local artist Kent Bonifield on hand to show young and old how it's done.

I think part of the problem with getting new comic book readers is getting new readers in general, so it's nice that the stores are just as willing to tempt folks to the local library as they are to their own shelves. Good on them.

Tags: comics, commentary

'All Shook Up' rocks the stage at Manatee Players by Eric Delp

Tags: hype, theatre

Lively musical takes cue from both King and bard by Jay Handelman

Tags: hype, theatre

In honor of "All Shook Up" opening tonight, a couple of preview articles:

'Shook Up' pairs Elvis and Shakespeare by January Holmes

King of 'jukebox musicals' opens at Manatee Players by Jay Handelman

Handelman's article seems to have been oddly truncated, which I'm assuming is a website error. And in the interest of keeping information correct: it's Nyck Rodriguez (not Nick, as it's spelled at the link).

Tags: hype, theatre

"There's my dream! Quick, follow it!"

Welcome to a little town in the middle of the 50's, the middle of nowhere, and the middle of what's about to be one of the craziest 24 hours you've ever seen. 'Cause when traveling troublemaker Chad rides in on his motorcycle, he revs up a whole lot more than an engine.

Tomboyish Natalie falls for him, but her nerdy friend Dennis is secretly in love with Natalie. On the other hand, Chad's gone ga-ga for curvy museum curator Miss Sandra--and so has Jim, Natalie's dad, despite the warnings of jaded African-American barkeep Sylvia. Then there's Sylvia's starry-eyed, teenage daughter Lorraine, who just met Dean, the fair-haired boy of her dreams. Too bad Dean's mother, Matilda, is the repressive town mayor, who has the Mamie Eisenhower Decency Act and the menacing Sheriff Earl on hand to quash any hanky panky, especially of the inter-racial kind.

"I really don't think I can dance like that, Mr. Roustabout"

While the roustabout runs around firing everyone's longing for rebellion and "burnin' love," Natalie does the only sensible thing a girl can do: she dresses up like a guy to play sidekick and get the inside track on how to land Chad. Too bad it looks like she's landed Miss Sandra instead.

And we haven't even gotten to intermission yet!

Sprinkle liberally with pelvis-swiveling rock numbers and power ballads by The King himself, and what other title can there be than "All Shook Up"?

Where: Manatee Players at the Riverfront Theatre
When: April 3 – 20, 2008
Tuesdays – Saturdays 8pm
Sundays 2pm
Double performance Saturday, April 19 (2pm and 8pm)
Click here for box office info

Tags: hype, theatre