My Books
24Seven Vol. 1
(with Ben Templesmith)
24Seven Vol. 2
(with Walter Pax & Jack Kaminski)
Complete story - "The Workman"
(courtesy of New York Magazine)
Yep, I’m going this year.
I’ll be lurking around the Oni and Image booths a good deal of the time, so if anyone wants to say hi, get something signed, or discreetly hand me a suitcase full of cash, you know where to find me.
Also, after much toil and heartache, I managed to set up the post-by-email and MMS dealy on WordPress, so I may do some live-blogging from the convention floor with my not-quite-an-iPhone, if the fancy strikes me.
See you in the sunshine.
read comments (0)2008-2009 - Best TV season evaaaar?
Posted by Frank Beaton in tv/film
I’ll admit I’m a bit more susceptible to hype than most of my snarky, ennui-filled contemporaries, who are all so smart and above it all — but come on. You have to admit that, from this distance, the fall season looks like a family-style plate of awesome-stuffed awesomes with a light drizzle of awesome sauce.
Consider:
New Alan Ball show… about friggin’ vampires!
New David Milch show… about friggin’ Serpico!*
New Joss Whedon show… about, like, brainwashed spies or something!
New JJ Abrams show… also about spies, I think!
Second season of SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES… co-starring Shirley Manson??!??!?!??!?!! (OMGOMGOMGOMG)
Plus new seasons of PUSHING DAISIES, FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS, PSYCH (just discovered this one — thanks, James!), BIG LOVE, HOUSE, and ALWAYS SUNNY.
Holy smokes! My TiVo is going to explode in a shower of beauty and wonderment!!! Should not yours, as well? (Hint: it should.)
ADDENDUM: Commenter ProgGrrl points out that LAST OF THE NINTH, DOLLHOUSE, and BIG LOVE aren’t scheduled to air until (at least) January. Thanks!
* [Okay, JFC was a bit of a disappointment. Fine. But after DEADWOOD I'll pretty much follow that guy anywhere. Besides, the new show is about corrupt NYPD cops in the 1970s. Deep in dude's comfort zone. Milch + cop show + semi-fictional period piece = I'mma watch that shit.]
I splurged last week and bought all three seasons of DEADWOOD on DVD (they’re pretty cheap on Amazon right now). I won’t bother telling you how brilliant the show is. If you’ve seen it, and “got” it, you already know.
One of the special features in the first season set is a 45-minute interview with David Milch, conducted by Keith Carradine, who played Wild Bill Hickok in the first few episodes. It’s an amazing interview, and Milch proves to be one of the flat-out smartest writers I’ve ever seen interviewed. His understanding of human behavior and social dynamics — and, by extension, character development — is absolutely mind-blowing at times.
At one point, the conversation turns to the nature of celebrity, and the way people feel toward famous people — that fine line between adoration and contempt. It’s a subject I’ve been really fascinated by lately (which will someday manifest itself as a story) and I was anxious to hear Milch’s thoughts on it.
In particular, they were discussing a scene in which Wild Bill, busy doing carpentry work with his new friend Bullock and enjoying a rare moment of peace, is interrupted by an annoying fan. Hickok is exasperated. He suffers the idiot for a minute, then he just can’t take it anymore and tells him to go away. Immediately the man, who had up to this point been heaping praise on Wild Bill, turns on him and screams “I hope you fucking die! And I hope it happens in this camp!” (Very similar to that scene in THE KING OF COMEDY, where the sweet little old lady wishes cancer on Jerry Lewis’s character after he apologetically denies her an autograph.)
Milch’s comment:
“Nathaniel West wrote, I thought, beautifully about that syndrome, and W.H. Auden, the poet, wrote an essay about West’s analysis of that syndrome, which he called ‘West’s Disease.’ It’s about people who, for whatever reason, are unable to turn wishes into passions in their life, and lacking that capacity, sit passively in mute outrage, anticipating disasters. They go to fires. Any sort of natural disaster attracts them. And in the absence of a natural disaster, they sometimes try and create disasters. And they hate the people whose lives, whether successful or not, are pursued with passion. At first they idolize them, then they want to destroy them. They want to appropriate the vitality of those people.”
Pretty damned astute, no?
* My good friend JH Williams got me the ALIEN QUADRILOGY box set for my birthday, and I have now successfully watched all 4,300 hours of supplemental material. It was all extraordinarily well-produced, but the highlight, oddly enough, is the two-hour making-of feature for ALIEN3. The frankness of the people involved is astonishing. Writers, actors, producers, effects people all openly discussing the disappointment they felt as they were making what they knew was going to be a bad movie. One disaster after another, with plummeting morale all around. It’s a really unique insight into what “plagued by production problems” really means. And, no surprise, it all started when studio executives started rewriting the story to make it more marketable.
* On the insistence of another friend (TWO friends? No way!) I watched the much-lauded Canadian documentary THE CORPORATION and was completely blown away. It’s one of those rare docs that everyone should be forced to watch at least once. It touches on a lot of the themes in Naomi Klein’s work (she’s featured heavily in the film), but goes much further in pursuing its central question: if a corporation really is a “person” according to the law, what kind of person is it? Highest recommendation.
* Albums in heavy rotation right now: Eisley - COMBINATIONS, Various - MARIE ANTOINETTE: ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK, Flight of the Conchords - FOTC, Patton Oswalt - WEREWOLVES & LOLLIPOPS, Spearmint - PARIS IN A BOTTLE
* Fuck you, I happen to *like* M. Night Shyamalan movies. Y’all haters need to quit. For real.
* BOOM BLOX for the Wii is roughly as addictive as Percocet.
* I know I’m late to the party, but has there ever been anything as awesome as THE VENTURE BROS.? I’m pretty sure there hasn’t.
Stuffs and things
Posted by Frank Beaton in general
Gah! Busy!
No time to properly blog. Have some argumentative bullet points, instead.
- Last night I threw my arm out playing Boom Blox on the Wii. This is officially my lamest injury.
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was good. If you disagree with that statement, it’s likely because you’re a deeply jaded cynic for whom there is no hope for personal happiness. You probably haven’t enjoyed anything on an un-ironic level since you were nine years old and you deserve to be pitied.
- Guess what? I still write comic books! Big announcements coming soon, but in the meantime, here’s the cover for OUTLAW TERRITORY, a new western anthology coming this fall from Image. I have a story in it, with newcomer Melike Acar on art.
- Last week Jill’s boss got us VIP passes to the Portland Roller Derby. Holy God, that was fun.
- The new Ladytron album is terrific, although I’m a little disappointed they didn’t continue in that weird techno-goth direction they seemed to be going in on Witching Hour.
- I get to hear that album live tomorrow night. Hooray!
- New site design. Yea or nay?
More bloggings when I have time.
Whether they do or not, I’d like to take a moment to give some props to my lovely wife Jill, who, in addition to having recently survived the horrific experience of having a power-mad doctor stab her repeatedly in the stomach, was also officially hired last month by the excellent Oni Press as an Assistant Editor.
Attagirl.
Leader don’t shiv, he nasty
Posted by Frank Beaton in comics
Found randomly on YouTube — a startup 3D animation company animated the Mutant Leader’s TV address from THE DARK KNIGHT RETURNS as part of their demo reel. Not bad (although the voice could stand to be a bit scarier).
“It was the first time I saw a baboon face to face. They said whatever you do don’t look him in the eye, so that’s all I could do. They actually let me in. Some irresponsible bastard said let’s put Marilyn Manson on ecstasy in a cage with a big ass baboon.”
Oh, come on. She’s pretty!
Posted by Frank Beaton in tv/film
I was reading the IMDB page for Tod Browning’s 1932 film FREAKS — arguably the scariest movie ever made.
Down at the bottom, in the “Recommended if you enjoyed this title” section, was a link to… THE LIZZIE McGUIRE MOVIE.
Now that’s just mean.
Bought myself a new laptop yesterday — a 2.4GHz MacBook. It’s my first Apple and I think I’m officially a convert now. OS-X is every bit as cool and useful as you’ve been led to believe. I’m in love.
Gabba, gabba, one of us…