A new Iron Man trailer is making the rounds, offering a longer glimpse at Tony Stark’s early attempts at flying and a pretty good feeling as to how the story’s going to flow. My take: it’s a lot better than the teaser, and has me more excited about checking it out this summer.
(Thanks, Yorick! You rock, Iron Man-style.)
Apparently working for SEOmoz, a Seattle-based search engine optimization company, requires some taste. From a job posting on their website:
Don’t be wooed by the big firms — come to a place where your talents are appreciated, your voice is heard, and your code has an impact. If you can answer the following 5 questions with an empathic “heck, yeah!” then please, send an email right now (well, actually, look through the hob specs, then send that email).
1. Does the Internet cower before your design & webdev prowess?
2. Are you a huge fan of the Daily Show % Colbert Report?
3. Is your hatred for cubicles exceeded only by your desire to make the web a better place?
4. Do you love the Venture Brothers (or at least promise to watch an episode after we lend you the DVDs)?
…and so on. So as far as I can tell, if you’re a web developer that doesn’t want to work for a “big firm,” is willing to work in a cubicle so long as you can develop for the web, likes all the same shows as your boss — even if they are pretty cool shows — and you don’t mind living in the “special hell” for Google-blacklisted SEO people and people who talk in theaters, this is the job for you.
Lead Web/Interface Designer [SEOmoz, Inc.]
What do Beverly Crusher, Ziggy Stardust, and Ludo have in common? Gates McFadden worked with Jim Henson as a choreographer for the movies The Dark Crystal (1982) and The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) and as Director of Choreography and Puppet Movement in Labyrinth (1986). As an actor she goes by “Gates,” while as choreographer she is credited as Cheryl McFadden (her real full name is Cheryl Gates McFadden, after her late mother, Veronica Gates McFadden).
And a cool piece of Dr. Crusher trivia: Gates McFadden, who considers theater her true love, is trained in stage swordfighting – as is Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi). Yet only the male actors were allowed to use swords in the Star Trek: TNG episode “Qpid” (1991, the one where Worf, dressed all in magenta-scarlet, complains “Sir, I must protest. I am not a merry man!”)
I always knew Gates McFadden was cool, but the puppeteering and swordfighting just top it off.
Gates McFadden Article [Memory-Alpha.org]
Those of you lucky enough to be in the Bay Area before April 12th might want to swing by the Berkeley Repertory Theater to catch Carrie Fisher’s one-woman show, “Wishful Drinking.” Ms. Fisher takes audiences on a one hour and forty-five minute ride through her life “from having Elizabeth Taylor as a stepmother, to marrying (and divorcing) Paul Simon, from having the father of her daughter leave her for a man, [and] to ultimately waking up one morning and finding a friend dead beside her in bed.”
Don’t worry, Star Wars fans. This isn’t an hour-and-a-half of Lucas bashing. One reviewer from The Daily Californian confirms that “‘Wishful Drinking’ does not disappoint, devoting substantial time to Fisher’s life-changing ‘Star Wars’ experience.” And she ends each performance with her most famous speech: “General Kenobi, years ago, you served my father in the clone wars…”
Tickets range from $33 to $69.
Wishful Drinking [Berkeley Rep]
PS: For those of you (like me) who won’t be able to make the show, check out this 2005 episode of NPR’s Fresh Air where Fisher describes “the speech burned into her brain.”
Three things I didn’t know about Michelle Forbes until I read TV Squad’s interview today: 1) She lives in Austin, just up the road a bit from the GWC crew. 2) She collects broken clocks. 3) She’s just as cool in person as she is on screen.
OK, I suspected #3. But there’s quite a bit of other information of interest to GWCers here, including her reasons behind not jumping into Star Trek with both feet — though they rolled out the red carpet for her on more than one occasion — and the impact of her brilliant performance as BSG’s Admiral Cain.
And don’t miss her current appearance in HBO’s In Treatment.
In The Limelight: Michelle Forbes [TV Squad]
Patrick Stewart, who was well known in the Royal Shakespeare Company for twenty years before becoming Captain Picard in 1987 on ST:NG, is back onstage in London in the title role of of Macbeth. He talked to the New York Times about his acting career and shot the breeze about working on Trek:
To his bemusement he was described in the Los Angeles Times, he said, as “unknown British Shakespearean actor Patrick Stewart.” On set he had difficulty fitting in and took offense at the way he felt his castmates tended to horse around. So he called a meeting and “lectured them about having to be more serious,” he said. That did not go over very well. “It was really awful, being dressed down by the captain,” said Spiner, who played the android Data, and is still close to Stewart. “We really thought, ‘Well, please, get over it.’ “
Stewart’s certainly no longer “unknown,” and he’s getting a lot of love from critics for his role as the bloodthirsty (and newly sexy) Macbeth, though apparently this wasn’t always the case with his fellow Brits:
Critics who sniffed that he had sold out “to zoom about television screens in a preposterous spacesuit,” as Nicholas de Jongh put it in the Evening Standard of London, have showered him with perhaps the highest compliment they can conjure. He has, they say, overcome the technique-destroying indignity of being a major U.S. television star…[later] De Jongh called Stewart “one of our finest Shakespearean actors”…
Huh. Wonder what they said about his role in “American Dad.”
Article [SF Gate]
Macbeth Review [The New Yorker]
The new Transformers series seems to be taking a lot of guff for being either too stylized and Flash-based or too “kiddie” for its own good. I am — and shall continue to be — a staunch supporter of the show because, well, I just have a lot of love for those of the Cybertronian persuasion.
But I did notice something alarming in last week’s episode: Sari’s little robot dog was named “Sparkplug” and looks just like the the dog pictured above — only animated, of course. I had to back it up twice to make sure, but it’s true! Anyone who watched the original series knows that this is a head nod to Sparkplug Witwicky, who was a super-skilled human mechanic.
I’m not sure how I feel about this. I always loved the original character, mostly because he would often pull the Autobots’ lugnuts from the fire at great personal risk to himself. All this little dog does is bark and wobble around a little.
Why would they take a character as noble as Sparkplug and turn him into Aibo? I don’t mind the head nod. But reducing a pillar of coolness to “Bark, bark (wag tail)?” Maybe if Sparkplug was some kind of robotic Lassie and saved Bumblebee from falling down a well or something it’d make this pill a little easier to swallow. But that’s not the case.
Hopefully they’ll make up for it later. In any case, I still dig the series and will keep watching.
It’s been a banner day for superheroes over on Ain’t It Cool News today. Here’s a summary. Today they posted:
- Hulk and Wolverine pics from Empire magazine
- News that the Justice League flick is back on track for a 2009 release, with casting information (including Adam Brody as Flash and Common as Green Lantern)
- And “a long-but-facinating interview with the folks behind the new 8-CD box set of Superman scores.”
Enjoy.
True to his promise, Venture Brothers artist Sephen DeStefano delivered part two of his “How To Draw The Venture Brothers” today — and it’s everything we’d hoped it would be. Even if you’re not an artist and have no interest whatsoever in drawing the ‘Bros, this is worth a look.
Why? Because DeStefano gives us a killer look inside each character via the descriptions. For example, he writes:
“Brock is built for power, not beauty! Make sure he’s barrel-chested and thick-waisted.” And, “…this is generally the proper stance for Brock — a bit like a stiff gorilla. He should never appear too heroic or fluid when standing.”
Check. That’s what makes Brock one of my favorite VBers.
How To Draw The Venture Brothers, Part II: Brock! [Stephen DeStefano]
Those of you who’re fans of the Starship Troopers franchise will want to check out the new Starship Troopers 3: Even More Starship Troopers trailer making the ‘net rounds this week. Highlights: moving footage of the new bugs and lots of fun, cheesy “join the Federation” PSAs.
And speaking of the Federation, everyone’s favorite bare-backed Vulcan Jolene Blalock is playing Lola Beck, whom everyone assumes wills serve as Johnny Rico’s love interest. Am I the only one who thinks Sky Captain every time I see her in a ‘Troopers uniform?
Update: On an additional note, may I add “Aarrr.”
Starship Troopers 3: Marauder Movie Trailer [Film School Rejects]
Comic writer J. Michael Straczynski suggested (during the DC Comics panel at WonderCon last weekend) that Warner may finally have realized that direct-to-DVD is a profit center and might queue up more Lost Tales-style B5 in the future. Personally, I hope direct-to-DVD takes off as a way for the owners of Firefly-type audiences to cash in by delivering less-expensive-to-make — and much desired — new material.
Comic Book Resources, who attended the panel, also reports that “the ‘Babylon 5′ comic should also be happening soon.” Good news for all you B5ers.
Wondercon: Spotlight On Straczynski [CBR.cc] [via]
Danielle Leigh has written two interesting columns for Comics Should Be Good outlining her take on the state of manga in America, suggesting that the import simply won’t survive without expanding to include more adult subject matter that doesn’t include pornography. She makes a couple of very valid points — there’s manga targeting virtually every age group in every manner available for import, and though many fans may disagree, comics and manga need not be mutually exclusive — but she definitely steps on a few toes in the process.
Regardless of how you feel about manga, this is a really interesting read. And if you’re not familiar with manga, her columns (along with the comments they draw) might help explain the genre a bit.
Of course, our friends over at Wired put together a kick-ass introduction to manga which served as the cover story of issue 15.11. Anyone interested in jumping into this great art form should grab a back issue, or at least check out the sweet manga they created that explains the art — with art. It’s a downloadable PDF, and it’s free.
(Thanks, bluemodern, for the great CC-licensed photo.)
Manga Before Flowers, Part 1 [Comics Should Be Good]
Manga Before Flowers, Part 2 [Comics Should Be Good]
GWCers on Flickr
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