|
| PREVIEW: Latest TORCHWOOD trailer is even creepier than the last... |
Okay, they need to stop this. These trailers for the new series of TORCHWOOD, which premieres on BBCA this July, keep getting spookier and more unnerving than the previous. And more exciting. The torture of anticipation isn't fair, guys. This is the newest one; there's a little bit more of the sense of the story and the stakes for the five part, week long series. I have my fingers crossed for this to be the best TORCHWOOD yet. Source: New trailer for Torchwood: Children of Earth is here | SCI FI Wire |
5/29/2009 2:40:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| VIDEO: What's next, now that Prop 8 has passed.... |
A little speculative video fiction from writer and filmmaker (and doorQ.com member) Keith Hartman. Be sure to pass it on and post it far and wide. |
5/28/2009 11:48:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| VIEWS: TERMINATOR: THE RIDE is a better SALVATION [UPDATED] |
One word: McG. One more word: Bale: Bale's desire to star as John Connor was probably the most fatal blow to the film; it completely distorted the shape of the story as it existed. But the other fatal blow came from the internet. When the original ending of the script leaked - John Connor is killed by a Terminator and has his skin grafted onto Marcus Wright, who takes up the shadowy leader's place as the leader of the Resistance - many people went crazy. On the surface it seemed like a major slap in the face of the franchise, and doubly so on paper: John Connor, the guy who the entire franchise is ostensibly about, shows up for two and a half pages, gets killed and has his face transplanted onto a robot (in the original script it's actually just the face that gets slapped on Marcus). What's really sad is that Yelchin's Reese was originally set to be the co-star character and not the supporting player he became. The original story focused on Reese and Worthington's Marcus, the two best parts of this movie. The CHUD article also discusses some of the glaring plot holes in the movie, where they came from, why they're there. Best answer? Why Marcus reaches into his head at the climax of the film and pulls a chip out.
Original Post: It's pretty sad when this TV advert for the new TERMINATOR roller coaster at Six Flags Magic Mountain (embed below) comes across as more interesting than the recent TERMINATOR: SALVATION movie.
T:S was schooled this weekend by NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM, earning far less than it was expected to do, with a disappointing $50 million take. While two more films in the series have been announced, I'm definitely not excited to see them after sitting through the disjointed mess of T:S.
The visuals in T:S were frequently quite stunning. The HKs looked real and the demolished Los Angeles of the future was a frightening site. The low rumbles of the machines and their erie computer speak was disjointing in an alien, uncomfortable way. Cool.
But the script. Cthulhu, the script was bad. The editing was disjointed. It frequently felt like large swaths of text had been excised, the middle bits of scenes removed, and all important motivation moved on to a movie that I wasn't watching. T:S was a lifeless bore.
Sure Sam Worthington was great, a real presence through the film and marvelous eye-candy to boot. Anton Yelchin was amazing. Totally wasn't expecting such a tough-guy performance from such a twink. He did a bang up job.
Bale walked in, grumbled a few lines, then left for the BATMAN sequel.
There was no pacing, no importance, no narrative drive to the film. Sure McG can stage a good action scene but he's just blind to what it takes to make an action movie move. I wasn't expecting T2 but I wanted something more than T3.
That's part of the problem. The last part of T3, after Skynet infects the past, the TX starts tearing up the military installation and that films John Connor and Kate Brewster make the last mad-dash run for the purported Skynet mainframe, are far more interesting, exciting and involving than the entire T:S film.
McG should have had the writers from TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES come through and do a rewrite on the script. Or the writers of the Six Flags commerical. As it stands now, narratively, emotionally and visually, both are far more fun than the film.
|
5/28/2009 3:36:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| VIDEO: But before I go.... |
Russell T. Davies has another trick up his sleeve before he vacates Whodom and scoots off to greener pastures (i.e. Hollywood.) His last hurrah will bring two great tastes together again, with The Doctor and Sarah Jane combining forces for a very special episode of the SARAH JANE ADVENTURES. Davies explains below:
No word yet on when that will air over here, but DOCTOR WHO just got picked up by BBCA. THE SARAH JANE ADVENTURES might not be too far behind. |
5/28/2009 3:34:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| IMAGES: Does TWILIGHT: NEW MOON's Robert Pattinson have manflu? |
 No, he doesn't.
Sorry about that misleading title. I made the mistake of watching the TMZ TV show last night. I'd never seen it before and was incredibly fascinated by how shallow, vapid and ridiculous it was. But then Tann turned it on. TMZ TV was basically the equivalent making wild, outlandish statements and then going "Not really." Yet it was all so strangely compelling.... Obviously, I've had their MO stuck in my head all day today. Which is why when these pics of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON star Robert Pattinson popped up on Just Jared, covered in symmetrical black spots like something out of a leprosy movie (see the image below), that dark place in my mind went IT'S MANFLU! So despite the fact that I know there's no such thing as Man flu -- it's a myth that grew out of some bad science reporting from a few years ago -- I find it interesting how that impressionistic part of the brain takes what are most likely Motion Capture Reference Dots for the CGI shine effect, as vampires in the TWILIGHT world sparkle and glow when exposed to the sun, and turns it into an equally fictional disease. All over a simple still image. Of course I'm also a writer of fantasy and SF, so that might have something to do with it, too. doorQ.com: We educate and we fawn over scifi man-flesh. 
Source: Robert Pattinson: ‘New Moon’ Shirtless! |
5/27/2009 5:51:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: The horror of PORNOGRAPHY |
 Sean Abley is about to scare you again.
The director of the recent SF/horro themed SOCKET has produced a new twisted tale of pain, dread, death -- and porn. Directed by David Kittredge, who edited Abley's SOCKET feature, PORNOGRAPHY is, according to Abley, a "paranormal thriller set in the world gay adult video."
“It’s about what happens when a porn star disappears in the ’90s," Kittredge explains. " 15 years later, two guys try to figure out what happened. The mystery of what occurred kind of recedes as they search, and the obsession with finding out what was real and what was fantasy about pornography in general, and how they blur, becomes the real journey. It’s kind of about searching for something that you don’t really want to know the answer to, but you have to keep probing.”
Starring Mathew Montgomery and featuring FX make-up by Gage Munster, the film is designed to bring an absolute reaction from the audience -- either love or hate. "There wouldn’t be anyone with an ‘It’s OK…’ reaction. It’s really brave in its structure and themes, and fans of thrillers deserve something this smart and challenging. So when Dave asked me to produce it, I jumped at the chance," Abley said.
The film premieres June 8th at NewFest before moving on to Frameline in San Francsico on the 21st. The trailer for the movie is below. The official website is here.
|
5/27/2009 3:09:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: 'Booting BUFFY: Producer to relaunch BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER |
Further bad news out of California today, as Fran Rubel Kuzi and Kaz Kuzi, rights-holders to the BUFF THE VAMPIRE SLAYER series -- have announced their intent to reboot the series with a new, "epic" movie series. Joss Whedon will not be involved.
The Kuzi's are the producers / directors of the original BUFFY movie, the 1992 flop which starred Kristy Swanson and Luke Perry. That film has gone on to become a semi-camp classic, so bad it's good, but only, I think, because everyone knows the TV series is out there.
According to the Hollywood Reporter article, the Kuzi's are interested in taking advantage of the continuing popular love of the BUFFY universe, the continuing requests to see the first film remade, and the unprecedented success that the STAR TREK relaunch has enjoyed.
So while this new launch isn't going to do away with the Whedon Universe -- which continues to rake in the money between DVD sales, video games and comics adaptations -- it is going to create an entire new branch of slayers, sans Spike, Angel and the rest, and under the auspices of the Kuzis.
The people who made the first BUFFY movie.... |
5/26/2009 1:28:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| THE FUTURE: California Upholds Prop 8 |
UPDATE: After reading excerpts of the decision, it turns out that the Court reasoned that Prop 8 didn't deny GLBT folks any fundamental rights. The Court already ruled that GLBT folks had to have access to all of the same rights as straight couples. Existing law, in their view, including that contained in Domestic Partnership agreements, granted that. They found that the only thing that gays can't use is the word marriage, because of the passing of Prop 8. From their decision: Contrary to petitioners’ assertion, Proposition 8 does not entirely repeal or abrogate the aspect of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right of privacy and due process that was analyzed in the majority opinion in the Marriage Cases — that is, the constitutional right of same-sex couples to “choose one’s life partner and enter with that person into a committed, officially recognized, and protected family relationship that enjoys all of the constitutionally based incidents of marriage.” Nor does Proposition 8 fundamentally alter the meaning and substance of state constitutional equal protection principles as articulated in that opinion. Instead, the measure carves out a narrow and limited exception to these state constitutional rights, reserving the official designation of the term “marriage” for the union of opposite-sex couples as a matter of state constitutional law, but leaving undisturbed all of the other extremely significant substantive aspects of a same-sex couple’s state constitutional right to establish an officially recognized and protected family relationship and the guarantee of equal protection of the laws. By clarifying this essential point, we by no means diminish or minimize the significance that the official designation of “marriage” holds for both the proponents and opponents of Proposition 8.
[...]
Taking into consideration the actual limited effect of Proposition 8 upon the preexisting state constitutional right of privacy and due process and upon the guarantee of equal protection of the laws, and after comparing this initiative measure to the many other constitutional changes that have been reviewed and evaluated in numerous prior decisions of this court, we conclude Proposition 8 constitutes a constitutional amendment rather than a constitutional revision.
I don't know if that's a brilliant rebuttal, a statement of cowardliness or a Kafka-esque loophole upon which future movements can base their propositions on. According to this link there really isn't any difference between marriage and DP in CA, for anything occurring at the stat level. But still, this is a battle over symbols... metaphors... meaning. So while the realist in me sees that there is no difference between M and DP under California law, the poet and activist in me sees that the common adjective, the metaphor used to describe our relationships has, except for in the case of 18,000 of our compatriots, been taken away.
Original Post: From the Los Angeles Times:
The California Supreme Court today upheld Proposition 8's ban on same-sex marriage but also ruled that gay couples who wed before the election will continue to be married under state law.
The decision virtually ensures another fight at the ballot box over marriage rights for gays. Gay rights activists say they may ask voters to repeal the marriage ban as early as next year, and opponents have pledged to fight any such effort. Proposition 8 passed with 52% of the vote.
Although the court split 6-1 on the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the justices were unanimous in deciding to keep intact the marriages of as many as 18,000 gay couples who exchanged vows before the election. The marriages began last June, after a 4-3 state high court ruling striking down the marriage ban last May.
In an opinion written by Chief Justice Ronald M. George, the state high court ruled today that the November initiative was not an illegal constitutional revision, as gay rights lawyers contended, nor unconstitutional because it took away an inalienable right, as Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown argued.
Only Justice Carlos R. Moreno, the court's sole Democrat, wanted Proposition 8 struck down as an illegal constitutional revision.
Justice Joyce L. Kennard, who voted with the majority last year to give gays marriage rights, joined George and the court's four other justices in voting to uphold Proposition 8. The case for overturning the initiative was widely viewed as a long shot. Gay rights lawyers had no solid legal precedent on their side, and some of the court's earlier holdings on constitutional revisions mildly undercut their arguments. But gay marriage advocates captured a wide array of support in the case, with civil rights groups, legal scholars and even some churches urging the court to overturn the measure. Supporters of the measure included many churches and religious organizations. The legal fight over same-sex marriage in California began in San Francisco in 2004, when Mayor Gavin Newsom spurned state law, and the city began issuing marriage licenses to gay couples. Long lines of couples showed up to marry and celebrated within view of the court with rice and champagne. Those marriages sparked a national debate about gay rights and made the marriage question a political issue in an election year. Dozens of states later adopted constitutional amendments to bar same-sex marriage. Those gay couples who wed in San Francisco later had their marriages rescinded by the California Supreme Court, which ruled that a city could not single-handedly flout state law. But the court said supporters of marriage rights could challenge the ban in the lower courts. The legal fight moved to San Francisco Superior Court, where a judge struck down the marriage ban as unconstitutional. A Court of Appeal in San Francisco later overturned that decision on a 2-1 vote. The state high court eventually took up the case, which culminated in a May 15 ruling last year declaring gays could marry each other. Before last fall, California was one of only two states -- the other was Massachusetts -- to permit same-sex marriage. Iowa, Connecticut, Vermont and Maine have since legalized it, and lawmakers in New York, New Jersey and New Hampshire are considering bills of their own. California's historic 2008 ruling, written by George, repeatedly invoked the words "respect and dignity" and framed the marriage question as one that deeply affected not just couples but also their children. California has more than 100,000 households headed by gay couples, about a quarter with children, according to 2000 census data. As soon as the ruling was final, thousands of gay couples showed up at city halls around the state to marry, and many flew in from elsewhere for California weddings. While the wedding business was brisk, opponents mounted a heated campaign with the help of churches and conservatives to overturn the court's action. Even with the court upholding Proposition 8, a key portion of the court's May 15, 2008, decision remains intact. Sexual orientation will continue to receive the strongest constitutional protection possible when California courts consider cases of alleged discrimination. The California Supreme Court is the only state high court in the nation to have elevated sexual orientation to the status of race and gender in weighing discrimination claims. |
5/26/2009 12:28:00 AM | permalink | comments (9 | add) | |
| doorQALERT!: It's the LAND OF THE LOST MARATHON! |
 Cthulhu, I am such a doorQ. I turned on the TV today for some background noise while doing work around my place and... oh great Cthlhu... I've discovered the LAND OF THE LOST marathon on SyFy!
Or I should say my incredible intelligent robotic attendant known as Tivo -- or as I like to call him, Skippy -- was recording an episode. The TV comes on, the channel changes, and that damn banjo intro to the LAND OF THE LOST theme clicks on: "Marshall, Will and Holly / On a routine expedition / Met the greatest earthquake everknown..." It chronicles the adventures of the Marshall family, trapped in a pocket dimension inhabited by dinosaurs, travelers and all manner of speculative craziness. It's a day long marathon, full of 1970s Epic-On-A-Shoestring greatness, including:
Sleestak!
Pylons!
Stop-motion dinosaurs! Blobby special effects!
SciFi Authors Galore (friend of the site David Gerrold was one such writer.)
And Wes Eure, who plays young Wil Marshall, is retro-hot, one of the first proto-crushes of my 6-year old proto-homo self. It plays the rest of the day on SyFy. The updated films hits this weekend.
Update: Here's the classic Intro to the series:
|
5/25/2009 6:32:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| VIEWS: Porn is the new black as Dylan Vox (and others) find mainstream(ish) success |
 MSNBC (of all places) has an article up about creepy DANTE'S COVE vampire actor Dylan Vox making the leap from porn to sucessful "legit" film and TV work.
And then there’s actor Dylan Vox: After a successful career in gay porn under the name “Brad Benton,” he’s managed to find work on the campy cable horror soap “The Lair” and in various independent feature films. “I think people get hung up on where you came from as opposed to where you’re going,” notes Vox, 30, about his unusual entrée into show business.
The article took its launching point from Steven Soderbergh's new film THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE, which stars porn starlet Sasha Grey in the lead in a decidely non-porn film. Article author Alonso Duralde suggests that porn now is just another way into the acting world and quotes Vox about it: "I have a following — it may not be a conventional following, but I have one,” Vox says. I'll agree with Duralde and Vox and note that I don't think it's that big a deal anymore -- in the gay community. As sex is so much more out in the open and accepted by just about every niche within our group, the fact that someone has done porn (or continues to do it), in our collective opinion, doesn't preclude them from doing non-porn, dramatic work.
 I say that as a director who has cast a porn star in his films (Brent, I love ya, kiddo) and would do so again (provided they can act) in a flash. It's a business no-brainer. "Brilliant," as Vox says in the article. Having such notables not only brings you an audience that you otherwise might not have had, but oftentimes it gives you an actor who really wants to do the work required for the role. When they do that work, when they show, as I think Vox has and as I know Brent Corrigan has, that they can actually act, then it stops being just a stunt and starts being what it is: good.
So if starlet Sasha Grey can act, I think it'll translate into the straight-indie world too and will open the door for others like her to appear at Sundance and on IFC with the best of them. The big question though is mainstream Hollywood. Will porn stars be able to cross over into big budget roles?
That will be a while. It's not that the younger and younger groups would have a problem with it. Far from it. I just can't see the Facebook / X-Tube generation, gay or straight, caring that much. It's still the older, conservative, heads of companies that won't risk the brand until it's a sure bet that it won't hurt the sales of lunch boxes, action figures and rides at Disneyland. Once you leave the
Until then, Zac Efron doesn't have to worry about Brent Corrigan taking his next film role. Should times ever get really tough for Efron though, can't say the reverse wouldn't be true.
|
5/24/2009 5:02:00 AM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| VIDEO: We interrupt this program because "I Need A Hero..." |
It's late, I'm grading papers, and Bonnie Tyler's "I Need A Hero..." just cycled through my iTunes. And when 80s Power Diva's sing about hunky heroes what do I? I think about doorQ. Strange that. So anyway, if I had you here, I'd play the song for you. But since you are there, I'll post it for you. a little taste of 80s fabulousness. And here's Westlife's version of her "Total Eclipse of the Heart." Why Westlife? Because they came up when I searched for Bonnie Tyler. And they're hot. Even if they have disbanded. We now return to your regularly scheduled Saturday Night programming, hopefully far more exciting than my pedagogical pursuits... |
5/24/2009 12:55:00 AM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| NEWS: You must wear a purple wig to fight UFOs... |
Gerry Anderson's classic UFO series UFO -- that's its name, UFO -- is headed for the big screen, courtesy of classic Hollywood movie producer Robert Evans.
Evan's has hired writers Ran Gaudet and Joseph Kanrack to update the series, about a secret Earth force that fights invading aliens.
I loved the original series. It aired in re-runs on WDCA TV 20 when I was growing up. The whispering flying saucers, the sub-launched interceptors, the green skinned aliens, the purple hair.
Oh, yes, the purple hair. That was one of the trademarks of the series. Silver space suits and purple wigs. The funny thing is that while it looks campy -- Cthulhu, does it look campy -- it wasn't played for camp value or for boneheaded choices in the original series. Much the same way that people pierce eyelids or dye their hair, the fact that women in the 1980s of the UFO universe wore purple wigs just... worked.
Then again, I never saw the zippers on old, bad B-SciFi movies, either.
Given the success with the TREK, BSG and, most likely, V reboots, here's to hoping the UFO series updates well and we all start living in fear of flying saucers again. |
5/22/2009 4:19:00 PM | permalink | comments (3 | add) | |
| INTERVIEWS: Russell Davies says goodbye to DOCTOR WHO |
And that's that. In the BBC interview below, Russell T Davies, the uber queer god who regenerated DOCTOR WHO from a camp-classic to the cool-classic it is today, says good-bye to the show he helped to revive. In 2005, Davies was tasked with returning the Doctor to life after a 16-year break. He did a wonderful job -- though it wasn't without risks. Today that era ends. His last episode, the final special that ends Tennant's Doctor and introduces Matt Smith's, wraps production today. Here's an interview: |
5/22/2009 2:20:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| COMICS: The Adventures of Super Saint Carrie Prejean, Defender of Marriage |
From those wicked wits of Brian Andersen and Michael Troy comes the entire Carrie Prejan Saga... in comic book form! Here's part one: 
For the next page, click over to Brian's site: www.sosuperduper.com/saintcarrie |
5/21/2009 7:48:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: DRAG ME TO HELL isn't about drag queens... |
 ...but I'm giving it a month, two tops, before some enterprising Miss Thang names their review that. Speaking of reviews, that other DRAG ME TO HELL, the Sam Raimi horror film that's due to premiere at Cannes this week, is getting great reviews. Here's one from The Hollywood Reporter: Having been preoccupied with a little thing called the "Spider-man" trilogy, Sam Raimi returns to his "Evil Dead" roots with "Drag Me to Hell," a funhouse-ride of a supernatural thriller surrounding a demonic gypsy curse.
He might be armed with a larger budget than what he had to work with back in the pre-Spidey days, but Raimi's still very much up to his old tricks, retaining that deliriously over-the-top brand of Grand Guignol horror that he had abandoned by the mid-'90s in pursuit of other genres. The film, about banker who crosses the wrong ancient witch, sounds like a seat of your pants fright fest. I remember watching EVIL DEAD one in college and being completely blown away by just how frakking scary it was. This one looks to rank right up there with it. Hmm. Given the picture above of that witch, I may have to change my vote for when the drag parodies will begin... Source: Film Review: Drag Me to Hell |
5/20/2009 5:54:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: AICN Terminates This TERMINATOR |
Ouch.
My thought after reading Harry Knowles review of TERMINATOR SALVATION was "That has to sting." Knowles, the proprietor of Ain't It Cool News, rips to shreds McG's take on the valuable and popular franchise, calling it, quite literally, "shit."
I hate the film. Pure and simple. I loathe it. I hated it so much I didn’t want to see my friend’s faces afterwards. I just wanted to go home and vent. I really really hate this film. I hate how much effort so many great artists and technicians put into a film that’s this fucking bad. Ultimately its just shit moving, like a sewer pipe. I hate that there isn’t a sustained scene or sequence that I love as much as the best moment from TERMINATOR 3. I hate that when I left the theater I felt empty and let down. That I felt like writing a review like this instead of fucking dry humping a great TERMINATOR movie.
T:S has been getting mixed reviews, with the action being top notch but the story much of a muddled mess. I'd wondered about this before the film opened; pulling off a split protagonist in a movie is next to impossible to do. Having John Connor and the new  character of Marcus (right) both be the dramatic centers of the story, from this screenwriter's perspective, didn't seem like a great idea. Hard to motivate across the board. From an eye candy point of view? Not so bad. You have to do a shit load of work to make altering such a seminal character make sense. Given the reviews of the current film, I doubt McG was up to that task either.
I was debating whether or not this was a rental or a theater film. Now I know... P.S. I'm curious to see just how many bad word plays we can do incorporating "terminator" into article headlines. |
5/20/2009 5:34:00 PM | permalink | comments (6 | add) | |
| VIDEO New clips of ABC's "V" reboot. |
New clips from the "V" updated TV series have been released today, along with news the series has a set 4 year life, with a beginning, middle and an end. I guess they don't want any LOST era mindless wanderings for a season and a half.
Below are two of the clips, one showing a tense interview between a TV interviewer(played by Scott Wolf -- does he age?) and the head of the alien Visitors, played by Morena Baccarin, who, even to this big 'mo, is a about as beautiful as women get.
The second clip seems to occur moments after the alien's arrival, and is the usual broadcast of peace, love and joy. I'm to the point now that if aliens were ever to arrive and bring tidings of peace, love and joy, I'm grabbing a gun and forming a resistance cell. |
5/19/2009 2:58:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: Hayden Christensen is MANDRAKE |
 Do you remember the old DEFENDERS OF THE EARTH cartoon? Or are you a fan of 1930s era pulp heroes like The Shadow? Well, turns out we have a brand new version of both the pulp-era and the Defenders era hero Mandrake the Magician.
And his name is Hayden Christensen.
Christensen has been cast in an update of MANDRAKE, playing the eponymous character. Mandrake is, according to Wikipedia, considered to be the first comics superhero. Launching in 1934, well before anyone else, his magic powers are his impossibly fast hypnotic powers that allowed him to fight criminals by having them see illusions of their darkest fears. He also battled mad scientists, extraterrestrials and characters from other dimensions.
In the Mimi Lerner helmed update, Leon Mandrake has always lived life on the edge. Working as an underground magician, Mandrake's act has grown far too dangerous.
One fateful afternoon, following a daring escape from an SUV that has been dropped out of an plane at the Burning Man Festival,an Inter-Intel agent approaches Mandrake and requests that the legendary magician help the Inter-Intel on a dangerous covert operation. Mandrake reluctantly agrees but soon finds himself caught up in an intricate web of deceit, fighting for his own survival from a brilliant criminal mastermind known only as The Cobra.
One way to know this an up-to-date modernization of the Mandrake character?
Burning Man.
Source: Christensen, Hounsou to Star in Mandrake - ComingSoon.net |
5/19/2009 2:31:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: Echo lives, Connor dies |
So half-naked pleas to fans, in and of themselves, will not save your show.
Fox turned off TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES yesterday, scrapping another good SF series into the junkyard of good SF series killed by the network. Sure, the network is in a numbers business and doesn't care whether it's reality or rocket ships that scores good demos and advertising profits for them, but it does suck.
They did kill FIREFLY after all. Speaking of that, the good news is that DOLLHOUSE will be back for a second season. As the show was just getting creatively interesting as the season ended, I'm excited to see what Wheadon does with a new batch of episodes. Coincidentally, the further the season went along, the less meddling Fox did.
Why DOLLHOUSE over TERMINATOR? On the one hand, the head of Fox indicated he didn't want a large number of emails from pissed of fan-folk should DOLLHOUSE have been cancelled. Maybe, but given that he can always hire someone to read his email -- if he doesn't have that already -- as I previously mentioned this comes down to money. Fox apparently is cutting the budget for DOLLHOUSE next year, under the idea that Wheadon was so successful with the cheap-to-produce DOCTOR HORRIBLE that he doesn't need a lot of money to create a good show.
As you roll that idea around in your head -- and do be careful not to hurt yourself on its jaggy, pointed edges of dumb -- money again is what saved DOLLHOUSE and doomed TERMINATOR. Fox produces and owns the DOLLHOUSE show. TERMINATOR is a Warner TV production that Fox licenses.
Much like those movie machines, Studio Execs "...can't be bargained with. It can't feel pain or mercy, and it will stop at absolutely nothing until you are dead!" Or profitable. And that's what happened here. Doesn't mean we have to like it. |
5/19/2009 1:28:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| IMAGES: Solar Space Shuttle Porn Power! |
This is the Sun as seen from the Earth: 
This is the Space Shuttle orbiting the Earth and passing in front of the Sun.  Is your mind sufficiently blown by awesomeness? Good. Now enjoy your weekend. |
5/15/2009 2:17:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: I'm getting that feeling again... |
Just in time for E3, BioWare is giving us teases of MASS EFFECT 2, the sequel to the insanely awesome FPS/RPG SF extravaganza that was MASS EFFECT. My quibbles about the first games queer silliness aside (see "In Mass Effect, Guys Can't Frak Like Girls Can,) the sequel is looking like it holds to the "The Same but Better" school of gamemaking. Everything you love about ME -- the rich worlds, the weapons, the powers, the cinema-ness, are all back and on display in the sequel, only upgraded and more advanced. The buggy combat system and the bland world exploration are reportedly gone from this one, so hopefully there's less wrestling with the controller to get you and your teammates to do what you want and more just rocking out in an advanced, futuristic world. Now, who do I have to knock off to get an invite to the closed door preview of ME2 at E3? Source: Joystick:Mass Effect 2 video shows us the darker side of things |
5/15/2009 2:04:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| IMAGES: Size Queens, or just how big is the new Enterprise anyway? |
Big. Very, very big. Like bigger than the Battlestar Galactica: 2,379.75 feet long. The Original E was 288 meters, or 865 feet long. The nacelles on the new ship are bigger. Atsa big a' shipa'! 
I'm not quite sure it was that big on the screen, though. In my mind it was bigger than the Enterprise-Prime, but 2000 feet long? Hm. I'm guessing it's equipped with an Oscillating Length For Dramatic Visual Purposes Drive, too. Source: Gizmodo - How Big Is the New Enterprise Compared to the Old One? - Enterprise |
5/14/2009 11:41:00 PM | permalink | comments (4 | add) | |
| COMICS: RAINBOW WARRIORS debuts at Prism.Org |
 The first issue of Rainbow Warriors, “Changes,” begins today on the PrismWebcomics page. Rainbow Warrior s tells the story of a group of queer twenty-somethings that start manifesting strange powers and all the comedy and drama that this creates in their lives and relationships. Throughout the series, we watch the characters grow and mature as they learn how to use their powers, gain understanding, and become their true selves, while looking for their place in the universe, their purpose as the Rainbow Warriors and the ultimate truth. Check it out here! |
5/14/2009 3:14:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: SUPERNATURAL Season Finale Tonight |
If you've been grooving to the awesome mechanizations of SUPERNATURAL this season, watching the Brothers Winchester get it on with demons and angels (but not each other), you know that tonight, on the Season Finale, things boil over as everyone faces off for a climatic showdown. One of the best additions to the show this year has been Misha Collins as the tortured angel "Castiel." A recurring, brooding character this season -- and a foil of Sam and Dean all year long -- next term he pops up as a series regular, which means we'll be getting more trench-coat action from him. The LA Times' Hero Complex caught up with him and asked him about what we can expect on tonight's finale: Well, things are heating up. Things are getting … in a word, apocalyptic. That would be a good summation. I think there’s going to be a lot of big shake-ups in the finale. There will be death. There will be major character changes. Really, the ... is going to hit the fan as far as the apocalypse is concerned. Castiel is going to be struggling with orders — very, very distasteful orders — from the heavenly command. He’s been sort of commanded to do things that are kind of awful. He’s struggling with that. Saying more is, I think, too much.
-- LA Times
I'm not sure you are going to get that many people complaining when you talk, Misha. SUPERNATURAL airs at 9PM tonight on the CW. |
5/14/2009 2:22:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: Help P.K. Make a Movie |
I'm boosting this one up here to the front page. One of our own, Hunter Rose, is ramping up to make a few projects for the fall, including a new short film. A goal for this site is to make it easier for queer filmmakers and talented individuals to meet up and help each other make stuff. While Sam and I work behind the scenes to refashion a section of doorQ.com to make this possible, I wanted to be sure that people are getting this information. I've put several people in touch with each other who needed help; this is a broader call that I thought people might like to respond to: Hello fellow DoorQs!
I am a writer, artist, and filmmaker in the Los Angeles area looking for Talented DoorQs to help me with a couple of projects over the next year.
1) I am looking for Artists, and Colorists for various comic projects. I currently have 3 different projects in various stages of production and will be looking for collaborators to help complete them! Some of my work has been hosted here at DoorQ I also have posted some samples of upcoming projects here in the forums. Additional Samples/Details available upon request.
2) I will be shooting a short film this winter, and I am looking for help in all stages of production: PA, Production Manager, Cinematographer, storyboard artist, CGI Artists, sound design, actors and stunt coordinators. I have two short films already showing in DoorQ's theater: Open House Miss Gentilbelle
3) Co writer and collaborator: I notice that many of my "writer-peers" have co-writers and writing partners that they work with and are able to develop ideas with. I would be interested in getting together with other like minded individuals and talking out ideas, and supporting each other on various writing endeavors. And challenging them to go further. I have a fondness for Sci-Fi, Cyber-punk, Horror, and Black Comedy. Lets connect and see what sparks!
Although there are many avenues to pursue talent, it would be silly to pass up the rich community that Jody has cultivated here at DoorQ!
Location doesn't matter, although obviously some of the crew positions are going to have to be LA based. |
5/14/2009 2:12:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| NEWS: Jack. July. Joy. |
The third season of TORCHWOOD has an air-month if not an air-date: July. The Chicago Tribune reports that the serialized version of the show, expected to air five nights in a row, hits BBC American sometime in July.
What's interesting is that "Children of the Earth," the name for the story-arc of Season 3, will also air at exactly the same time (relatively) as in England.
That's a lot of simultaneous Jack and Ianto lovin'. Can the world possibly survive? I'm guessing yes...
|
5/13/2009 6:21:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| REVIEW: The Blonde Squad #1 |
 First off, let me say that I'm "camp impaired." I know I'm not the only gay man who is, the only mo' who finds John Waters movies entertaining for 10 minutes, then gets bored and must go watch something where the explosions, killing and general mayhem are somewhat believable. (If only so I can really laugh.)
So when Michael Troy sent over a copy of his latest BLONDE SQUAD comic, before I even cracked it open, I knew I'd be able to appreciate the esthetic, but that's about it. And, to be honest, I did. BLONDE SQUAD is a fun, tongue-in-cheek send-up / appreciation for superhero comics. In it, a team of plucky blondes with the various super-powers you'd come to expect in a comic (super speed, strength, force blasts, etc.), but with gay names that imply some aspect of gay nightlife, i.e. "Drain," "Bench" and "Speedbump," do battle with an equally campy named super-villain group called The House of Nervosa, across stylistic pages jumping with pastel-shaded colors.
It's a slick, cool comic that I have a few friends I'd recommend it to. They'd love the Tyra jokes and site gags. For myself, I appreciate it -- Cthulhu knows I've had enough queer studies classes to "get it" -- but I don't realy grok it. Then I read the B-story.
"The Boy Who Loved Magnificent Woman," is a stand-alone tale, unrelated to the main title of a book, ostensibly there to fill out the last few pages with a story. It's about a gay boy who loves a Wonder Woman-esque hero called Magnificent Woman, the star of a weekly TV show that he's entranced in. She's his hero and idol, with posters of her on the wall, the subject of his school report writing and, when things take a dark turn, his final savior.
The camp-iness, the impressionistic art, the pastel colors from the BLONDE SQUAD panels are here, in this story, too. But it's the tone that's different. The changes in that coloring. The intent that's transformative. It's the splash of blacks and the vibrant reds that crop up at a key point, the snippets of dialogue that seem to stem from the ordinary, mundane world, the inevitability of the final panels in light of what's gone on before, that reverberates for any of us geeky, doorQy souls who stumbled through school out of step with everyone else. That I groked.
"The Boy Who Loved Magnificent Woman," is a simple, quick tale, a few pages at the most, but it's also the best work Troy's done. It comes from a deep place inside the artist, one bounding with colors and camp sure, but also marked with the pains of life that such outlandish fabulosity are used to comfort us from. It's a real story, one that I have to recommend anyone, camp or, like me, camp-challenged, to pick up, read and love.
The Blonde Squad #1 is availablel for $5.00, plus postage, through the Prism Comics store or by emailing TheBlondeSquad@gmail.com.
|
5/13/2009 2:45:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| INTERVIEW: Avocados and Chocolate Milk: Eureka / Boom's Andy Cosby, pt.1 |
 For many, having the top rated show on The SciFi Channel (soon to be SyFy) would be achievement enough. They wouldn't see it as just the starting point for more but rather as the culmination for entertaining audiences. Not so for Andrew Cosby, co-creator of SF's EUREKA and one of the brain-trusts behind comic book company Boom Studios.
I met Andy at Comic-Con, where he impressed me with his love for genre and his commitment to taking a stand against homophobia and hate. We had a wide ranging chat about his carrer, his shows, his ambitions and his lawless ways. And the strange mixtures of two great tastes that shouldn't work together but, somehow, seem to.
"I love mixing avocados with chocolate milk," Cosby told me during our phone chat. He meant it figuratively, but it was a telling image that gives insight into how Cosby approaches creating genre visions. How Cosby approaches the hold-music on his office phone lines is also telling.
EUREKA was an idea that had been bouncing around in Andy's demented brain for a while. "It was orginally going to be an animinated series about a family with super genius son who get relocated by the government to a town called Eurekaville, full of the usual geniuses. More of a father and son tale." He said. But over lunch with Jaime Paglia, series co-creator, they were brainstorming TV ideas and his original "Eurekaville" idea came up.
By the end of the lunch, they'd reveamped the the premise to the Marshall / Sheriff Jack Carter discovering the town and winding up in charge of protecting it. The father son dynamic morphed into a father daughter one for a very simple, personal reason: "I saw a dark, stressful future ahead of me with my own young daughter and that was that," Andy said.
Once they'd had their pitched worked out, Andy knew he wanted it to be a fun, tentpole series, not just another run of the mill program killed after a few episodes. "I wanted to fix my mistakes," he said. "When my series HAUNTED was cancelled, I learned that people didn't really want to see something super dark every week."
Let me throw in here that Andy was quite proud of his super- dark series, HAUNTED, another of his collabrative ventures that aired on Fox a few years back. Andy had come up with the idea for the show on the ride back from Comic Con 2001, having been inspired by Mighnola's work on HELLBOY and his own love of Batman. "I wanted to somehow capture the best of that," he said. HAUNTED was a result.
Though well recieved by fans, Fox cancelled it after only a few episodes. The dark tale of a cop father who both lost his son and had himself returned to life with supernatural visions after being dead for a few minutes, proved to be too down for regular viewers. It didn't do well in the ratings.
Like EUREKA, HAUNTED came out of his love for mixing up genres, especially comedy and horror. Another example? His first spec script was about a hit man hired to knock off Santa Claus. More about that, later.
Andy started off as novelist but didn't have much success. A stint at Malibu Comics in the early 90s was cut short when the company was sold to Marvel. "I saw the layoffs coming," he said. He managed to survive and write for a while by selling a few products to the Magic: The Gathering card craze. It was a friend of his who talked him into moving on from writing novels to writing screenplays.
"We were at a newstand and he showed me all of the screenwriting magazines out there," Cosby says. "Since I used to be in publishing, I knew what it took to print a successful magazine... circulation numbers and the like. That there were so many screenwriting magazines told me there were just far too many screenwriters out there. He replied that a screenplay was less work than all those novels I'd been trying to do -- just 120 pages, double spaced. That convinced me to at least give it a shot."
He read all of the advice about the proper ways of getting spec scripts in front of the people who might buy them. And then he did something else entirely different.
"If I don't break the rules I fail," he said.
So, eschewing the conventional wisdom of sending piles of query letters, winning a script competition or cornering anagent in a bathroom, he packed his Kill-Father-Xmas- script in a brown envelope and sent it to an agent whose name he'd gotten from the receptionist at an agency.
Just the script. No note, no nothing.
If you don't know anything about the inner workings of much of Hollywood, what follows might sound a little... odd. Hollywood is, well, crazy. One famous screenwriter offered that nobody knows nothing about anything in this town: what will work, what won't work, what should be done, what shouldn't be done. Careers rise and fall based on one script, idea, or movie that they don't quite control. So everyone lives in fear, in missing that one important script that crossed their desk, that they let slip out of their hands and that wound up being the newest multi-billion dollar movie for a rival studio. That can all be traced back to them.
So when a perfectly ordinary plain brown envelope sans markings lands on your desk, the first thought through your mind isn't Who left this here? but Why?
Which is exactly what Cosby wanted.
"I got a call back from the agent asking what the status of my script was," Cosby chuckled. "I had some fun with him and demanded to know how he had gotten the script, telling him that I wasn't interested in having him represent it. He replied back that he'd already had some directors interested, coverage done. He chased after me and I signed." Rule broken, avocado mixed with milk and a new screenwriter was born. Next: Boom, The Web, and Parties.
|
5/13/2009 1:29:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: TRUE BLOOD Season Two |
Something to sink your teeth into.... But, like Maureen Ryan, I have to ask, "Where's the fabulously gay Lafayette?" Ellis' character, the fierce and funny Lafayette, was the best thing about Season 1 of "True Blood," but the character was last seen apparently being abducted outside the restaurant where he worked. And Ellis' name is nowhere in the Season 2 press release. I immediately called HBO to ask about the lack of Lafayette, but a rep for the network wouldn't say whether or not Lafayette will be back at any point in Season 2. Hmmm... I sure hope he is. A "True Blood" without Lafayette is potentially a "True Blood" I'm less interested in. While I can't say that I won't watch if he isn't back, it would be a big loss to the show. |
5/12/2009 5:41:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: Who's playing You? |
Okay, this looks cool. GAMER is an action thriller due out this fall. Set in the near future, a time when mind-control technology has taken society by storm, humans control other humans in a mass-scale, multiplayer online game. Reclusive billionaire Ken Castle (Michael C. Hall) has created the controversial form of entertainment, "Slayers," a hugely popular game that allows millions to act out their innermost desires and fantasies - online - in front of a global audience. Gaming has evolved into a terrifying new dimension: mind control. Manipulation. People playing people. 300's Gerad Butler stars as "Kable," the superstar and cult hero of "Slayers," the savage, ultraviolent first person shooter game. Kable is controlled by Simon, a young gamer with rock star status who continues to defy all odds by guiding Kable to victory each week. Taken from his family, imprisoned and forced to fight against his will, it looks like a bit of GLADIATOR and THUNDERBALL all rolled up into a bloody mess. With Butler drenched in the blood... And Milo Ventimiglia playing "Rick Rape." With a name like that, you know he's also going to appear shirtless and drenched in blood. Mark your calendars for September 4th. |
5/12/2009 5:14:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| VIDEO: Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus |
There is just nothing better than a giant octopus doing battle with a deadly mega shark.
Lorenzo Lamas and Debbie Gibson? It's like they want Teh Gayz to turn in.
Link Here. And if you want more giant monsters, here's a top 10 list.
"It's goddamn Gamera!" Love it. |
5/12/2009 4:19:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| SITE NEWS: Plus One |
Seems kind of fun that we passed 1701 members at the same time the new STAR TREK came out. 
|
5/12/2009 12:01:00 AM | permalink | comments (3 | add) | |
| VIDEO: FAMILY GUY does MISERY... |
As a writer, I always loved Stephen King's MISERY. It's just such a dark and demented take on what it means to be a writer -- both the movie and the film version -- that the miseries endured by the Paul Sheldon rang uncomfortably true. As just a thoroughly twisted individual, I also love Stewie Griffin. He's such a dark and demented take on what it means to be human -- all unrecognized, murderous, un-recognized genius, easily lulled to sleep after warm milk and cookies -- that even when the rest of a FAMILY GUY episode is lame, he's always fun to watch. So imagine my surprise when the FAMILY GUY peoples brought two great things together last night on TV.... |
5/11/2009 3:25:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| VIDEO: The Death Star Destroys The Enterprise |
San Francisco Parking Enforcement are a bunch of Stormtroopers. |
5/11/2009 3:02:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| NEWS: We're All TREKies Now. |
The revamped and rebooted STAR TREK did gangbuster numbers this weekend, dominating the box-office and ensuring a long and prosperous run at the theaters for the summer. Dateline Hollwood is noting the weekend total at $72 million, between Friday and Sunday. Another $4m was pulled in with all of those advanced shows on Thursday. It's the second biggest opening weekend since last years' THE DARK KNIGHT. It's also the best weekend opening of any TREK film. Boxoffice .Com broke down the adjusted openings of the other TREK films as follows: Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979): $34,668,706 (opening weekend)/ $239,115,674 (cume)
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982): $35,038,451 / $192,290,437
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984): $35,629,102 / $163,237,856
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986): $32,671,686 / $212,328,919
Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989): $31,267,457 / $93,951,918
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991): $30,976,050 / $127,720,425
Star Trek: Generations (1994): $39,707,107 / $129,980,545
Star Trek: First Contact (1996): $49,896,339 / $149,493,266
Star Trek: Insurrection (1998): $33,761,058 / $107,451,468
Star Trek: Nemesis (2002): $22,918,195 / $53,387,173
In one weekend, TREK XI made more than TREK X did in its entire run.... What's even more impressive, TREK has also managed to rack up $35m in international sales, dominating theaters in much of the world. Variety reports: The revamped "Star Trek," which had never seen significant international traction in its 10 previous incarnations, scored a respectable $7,100 per-location average. Top "Trek" takes came from the U.K. with $8.8 million, Germany with $4.6 million, Australia with $3.4 million, France with $2.8 million, Russia with $2.3 million, South Korea with $2.2 million and Spain with $1.6 million. And we're seeing the appeal of the new rests not just to Trekkers or Trekkies, but also "mainstream" movie goers. The audience is running 60%/40% male-female, with 65%/35% over/under age 25. It's pretty safe to say Trek is back. Sources: Nikki Finke’s Deadline Hollywood Daily Variety:Star' treks to top of foreign box office - Entertainment News, Film News, Media - |
5/10/2009 3:19:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| NEWS: BSG: The Complete Series on DVD! |
 BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: Season 4.5 arrives on Blu-ray Hi-Def and DVD on July 28, 2009 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment.
It features over 13 hours of explosive extras, including three extended episodes of the series finale that never aired on television, never-before-seen deleted scenes, behind-the-scenes featurettes, and commentary and podcast interviews with Executive Producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick. Retails is $50 bucks.
And if just one season isn’t enough, you can also relive all the drama, intensity and action with BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: The Complete Series. The ambitious 20-disc Blu-ray™ Hi-Def set and a 25-disc standard DVD set contains every episode of thought-provoking series, together with extensive bonus materials delving deep into the richly imagined world. It also arrives on July 28th, and will set you back a mere $350 dollars. |
5/7/2009 2:21:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| TALKBACK: The New STAR TREK! |
As the clock counts down to both the preview screenings and the official opening, I know JJ Abrams STAR TREK is going to cause much conversing and gabbing of the jaw. Consider this the virtual lounge space to discuss the movie. What did you think of the film? What did you like, what didn't you like? Did JJ Abrams pull the reboot off? Was it a travesty against the memory of STAR TREK? Would Gene Roddenberry approve? Do you approve?What say you? Post below! Please note, that if you haven't seen the film and are reading the thoughts and opinions bellow... if there are any, 'cause for all I know you doorQs could be engaged in a Trek related Bacchanalia through the weekend and not be sober enough to post anything ... then you might read a spoiler or two. Or three. I want folks have at it, so be warned! |
5/7/2009 1:22:00 PM | permalink | comments (8 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: STAR TREK almost gone? |
Pre-sales tickets for the eagerly anticipated STAR TREK reboot are warping away, according Deadline Hollywood. The film technically opens tomorrow but vast swaths of Americana are having advanced shows starting tonight at 7PM. What's more, they're adding more; theaters are hurriedly adding screenings to make up for the overwhelming demand for the movie. Online ticket sales are outstripping last weekend's WOLVERINE movie, with some sources estimating a $60 million plus weekend for the film.
|
5/7/2009 1:11:00 PM | permalink | comments (2 | add) | |
| VIDEO: The Big Fat Gay Anti-Hate Collab |
Gotta love the power of the Web to take a catchy song, self expression, Youtube and a bit of anti-hate activism and roll it into a video that makes a statement and might just go viral.
I'm going to be singing this the rest of the day. "Fuck You / Fuck you very, very much..."
|
5/5/2009 6:33:00 PM | permalink | comments (3 | add) | |
| NEWS: Jackman Joins GHOSTOPOLIS / Teh Crazy Scores Again |
With WOLVERINE racking up great box office and word already turning to the next films in the X-MEN ORIGINS series, film star Hugh Jackman isn't waiting around for the next clawing feature. Rather, he's set to start in the upcoming adaptation of Doug Tennapel's GHOSTOPOLIS, about a ghostbuster who must go to the other side to save the soul of a child.
And which I won't be seeing.
*sigh*
Life would be so much easier if Teh Crazy was also untalented. Or if he an Uncle Orson would just create a publishing house together. All that crazy in one place makes it easier to hang the biohazard sign.
Still, it isn't a total loss. At least I now have a reason to post another hot pick of Hugh Jackman.
|
5/5/2009 6:13:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: GLAAD launches Homophobia an Virtual Communities Project |
 Gaygamer is back on-line after server problems (yea!) and notes that GLAAD has created a Project on Homophobia in Virtual Communities, which seeks to address all the recent unpleasantness at places like Bioware, EA and Microsoft.
EA even reached out with a phone call, apologizing for the problem and asking GLAAD to come out and educate the staff.
Progress is always slow....
|
5/4/2009 2:56:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| PREVIEWS: Fallout 3: Broken Steel hits May 5th.... |
Still grooving on FALLOUT 3? Want even more opportunities to kill, maim and destroy even after reliving the Alaska Campaign and fighting through the streets of a dead and decayed Pittsburg? Well, tomorrow you break some steel with the latest DLC for FALLOUT 3... "Broken Steel." The story-line apparently picks up right after the end of FALLOUT 3.... they've fixed one of the only flaws in the game, namely that it "ends" after the last mission and you can't go back and continue to explore the rest of the Wastelands.... launching you into a new adventure to take on the remains of The Enclave. Check out the trailer below: |
5/4/2009 2:39:00 PM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
| NEWS: Everyone is on Facebook, even Terminators.... |
Who knew that Skynet was actually Facebook?
Don't believe me? check out it's page on Facebook where it's advertising the Blu-Ray release of T2: JUDGEMENT DAY. Sure, sure, it saaaaaayyyyysssss it's just the advertising page for the classic SF film, but I know the truth.
The DVD is out May 19th, with multiple versions of the movie in explosive, THX certified high-definition and all-new English 6.1 DTS-HD Master Audio Lossless. Terminator 2 Skynet Edition is packed with over 8 hours of interactive special features including over 140 minutes of behind the scenes video and multimedia galleries; interactive quizzes and games; and additional BD-Live™ enabled content featuring extra content, games and more accessible through internet-connected players.
Yes, I cribbed most of that paragraph from the press release. But that's part of Skynet's plan, you see. Give you a press release, ask you to buy the DVD and join the Facebook page, note that TERMINATOR: SALVATION is out on the 21st, and then, when the time is right, when we're all lulled into the false security of having Skynet send us status updates and tweets, the unholy anti-human monster will strike, destroying us all.
Judgement Day people, Judgement Day. |
5/4/2009 2:05:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| CONTEST: Post your review of WOLVERINE! |
Hey, we've been ragging on the X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE movie all week, noting the less than stellar reviews, the weak plot and the beauty of shirtless, sweaty Hugh Jackman popping his claws and threatening to run you through. WOLVERINE is predicted to do big business this weekend so I know some of you are going to be part of that business. As this site is about you, too, I want your review. What did you think of the movie? What did you like and not like about it. Post it here, post it below. Be creative, opinionated and fun. If yours is the best / nicesest / coolest / wackiest then you'll win a HULK vs. WOLVERINE DVD. What are the rules? I got nothin'. I wing this everyday, so it's kinda my choice as to who wins this... if anyone even sets out to post. Maybe to make it challenge, and since I teach a bit, you have to write at least 150 words. That'll make it sporting. I'll poll the Contributors for what they think is the best response and go from there. So tell us what you think and win a nice little DVD. |
5/1/2009 2:37:00 PM | permalink | comments (1 | add) | |
| VIEWS: Are We The Final Frontier? |
This week, in a forum on the BioWare boards devoted to KOTOR, a discussion over GLBT issues that might crop up in the new on-line MMO, led to a forum admin closing down the discussion and creating a board-wide filter against words like "gay," "lesbian," and "bisexual" from being posted. The justification? "These are terms that don't exist in STAR WARS," according to the forum admin.
Sites like Gaygamer and Kotaku brought the issue to light, put a little pressure on BioWare, and the matter was quickly resolved: forums were reopened, filters removed, and gay discussions were allowed once again on the site.
Video games seem to be the most prominent battleground, I'm guessing because it involves the most consistent mass of humanity all nicely hidden by the anonymity of the net. But it's not just limited to games.
Northstar has been a constant flashpoint. He's been gay, closeted, straight, dead, alive, and dead again. Apparently he's now alive and living in sin with the rest of the X-Men after their most recent move to San Francisco.
Last week we noted that Gateworld encountered flak for simply writing an article about producer statements that gay characters are going to be a part of the new STARGATE: UNIVERSE. The crazies came out and expressed their displeasure both with this welcome new addition to the SG pantheon and even Gateworld's covering of the issue.
I'm of the mindset though that all of these stories, controversies and nasty, anonymous notes are visible evidence that things are changing across the board. More people are comfortable being openly gay than ever before. More young people, who drive video game sales and play, are comfortable identifying. They're demanding recognition on the platforms they use. Comics fans are sitting up and taking notice too, passionately defending characters that represent or speak to them, just like other groups do.
We can't forget that there has been a ton of positive progress, too. In comics, YOUNG AVENGERS have had a very positive gay couple on their pages. Many video games like BULLY and FABLE have made it a point to include same-sex options within the course of game play. SG:U's including of gay characters is a ground-breaking step too, blazing into SF worlds what people like Joss Wheadon did in fantasy / horror by including main characters who are gay in the life of its stories.
With the videos and films we talk about here on doorQ.com, genre content made directly for GLBTQ audiences and featuring GLBTQ leads and themes, is another example of the change we're in the middle of. That we have this, that indie producers are making content and gay networks like here! have created shows like DANTE'S COVE, is simply remarkable.
But is the battle over though? Are we just mopping up now? Have we "won" within the realm of genre entertainment? I still don't think so. Because fans of genere are still looked down on in popular culture, even though we are popular culture with all the comics, movies and TV entertaining and pushing the national imagination, there's still a bit of funk around GLBTQ issues.
Geeks and dorks still get some scorn directed at them... but at least they aren't "gay," so things can't be that bad. When "teh gay" comes out and demands to be included within a group that is still seen as being less than normal to begin with, issues are going to occur.
And that really comes to a fore with geeky guys, already regarded as being into "gay" things like comics and computers and other flights of fancy. Women kissing women are hot and accessible. Men kissing men are just shocking and strange.
Before you jump in and say "What about...." and "My social circle isn't..." I'll say right here that you are totally right. Things aren't just in flux now, they're changing. For the better. Geeks and dorks aren't just seen negatively anymore. That image is changing. Comics as a cool thing is changing. Genre itself is changing.So are depictions of and presentations of gay folks within it.
That's where we're at now; we're in the middle of so much change that we still have to fight these battles in Genre-Land. Larger gay issues? We're mopping up. We've won the culture-war. Gays in the military? Gay marriage? Gay-straight clubs? Except in the darkest, most backwards spots of the States it just won't be an issue a decade hence.
For doorQs, gaymers and any other name you want to come up with for the gay segment of fans of popular entertainment , we're almost there. We've almost rounded that last bend where the force of all our activism will carry us through to the finish line, defined as the utter embarrassment that people were ever anti-gay anything. But not quite. We still need to stay on top of this, still need to keep pushing, still need to point out these issues and situations when they happen to make sure gay fans everywhere can take some action.
We still need to keep at changing the world.
|
5/1/2009 2:10:00 PM | permalink | comments (3 | add) | |
| NEWS: Cogsworth's David Ogden Stiers comes out... |
Character actor David Ogden Stiers is out, out, out.
Stiers, know for such genre rolls as Oberoth in STARGATE: ATLANTIS, Rev. Purdy in THE DEAD ZONE and Timicin in the STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION but is no doubt most well known for playing Charles Emerson Winchester III in M*A*S*H, came out to the website Gossip Boy.Com
The 66 year-old actor indicates that he's done so at least in part to find a boyfriend. Stiers is single.
The interesting part of his coming-out story is his recounting of homophobia. At several points in his career he was told to keep his sexuality quiet, especially since he was the voice of several very prominent, family friendly roles, including one very notable Disney character, Cogsworth: GB: Could you name some of the studios and execs who made you fear coming out?
DOS: I won’t. There is no animosity between us and I don’t wish to create any. Simply, they were protecting their business interests. I should say in regards to this that many of my fears were in modern times self-invented. I’ve been working internally on whether they were the problem or if I just continued using them as an excuse long after the call for conservative private lives passed. In that, I mean from the late 1980’s until about seven or eight years ago, you would find certain individuals coming up to you, me, and advocating the position that since we were doing family fare that it would be best were the actors to maintain a certain palatability to parents. These parties likely had heard rumors or harbored suspicions about me and wanted to make sure no embarrassing incidents were forthcoming. Cogsworth, the character I did on Beauty and the Beast could be a bit flamboyant on screen, because basically he is a cartoon, but they didn’t want Cogsworth to become Disney’s gay character, because it got around a gay man was playing him. I haven’t witnessed such things occurring in a long, long time.
I doubt Cogsworth would have been seen as Disney's only gay character.
|
5/1/2009 12:09:00 AM | permalink | comments (0 | add) | |
|
|
ADVERTISEMENT
Advertising supports DoorQ.com
, please contact us if you'd like to be featured.
|