· 2010

Let’s Cast The Walking Dead!

February 1, 2010 in comics, robert kirkman, television, the walking dead | 11 comments

So I started writing this post back in August of 2009 when it was announced that AMC was going to be the home of Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, but there’s been a lot going on (despite the lack of gainful employment) and it took me a while to circle back and get to this. I was reminded that this post was sitting here waiting to be finished by the announcement last week that Frank Darabont’s pilot script had been greenlit by AMC …so here we are.

Plenty of other people, websites, and blogs have already taken a swing at casting The Walking Dead, but I’ve tried to avoid those posts so that I don’t corrupt my own instincts (and cheat off of those people). So take a look at what I’ve come up with – and get your own recommendations on the board in the comments section.

A couple of guidelines I used:

1. I tried to keep the casting fairly realistic, picking actors that I thought would be willing to be a part of an ensemble cast of the next (hopefully) highly acclaimed AMC television drama (i.e. you won’t see Angelina Jolie or Will Smith in here anywhere).

2. I tried to pick actors and actresses that fit the roles visually AND that had acting skills I admired. If I had to pick between skills and visuals, I usually went with skills.

RICK:

This one is honestly the easiest pick of the bunch, because I think Nathan Fillion is a just an obvious and yet inspired choice to play our hero Rick. Fillion has a great fan following already (and one that overlaps nicely with comics thanks to his Firefly/Serenity, and Buffy roles) and he’s a proven actor that can hold his own on the film screen, but isn’t opposed to doing television. Also, though his show Castle is very much “his” show, I feel like Fillion would recognize the great opportunity in The Walking Dead, like the opportunity of Mad Men, despite it being an ensemble cast. The fact that Castle is still on is a bit of a problem, but I see the ratings aren’t great…I don’t want it to fail, as I like Fillion and wish him the best…but man I’d like to see him playing Rick.

As an interesting side note, my mother used to watch One Life To Live (and General Hospital) when I was younger, and I got addicted to both shows, and never more so with One Life To Live than when Nathan Fillion was playing a GORGEOUS version of the character Joey Buchanan. I was so sad when he left the show (and I left watching it not long after) but MAN did the boy do well for himself. It’s one of the only things that makes me proud about having watched soaps at one point in my life. I’m all “I saw him and loved him first!”…and I’m almost never that far ahead of the crowd.

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The Inspiration For Sketch-A-Day…

January 28, 2010 in announcements, art | 15 comments

So Adam has been drawing a lot lately, especially on his tablet, and I’ve been envious. It’s no secret that drawing has taken a back (WAY back) seat for me over the last year as my novel has become my primary focus and writing in general (for CSBG, this blog, and a handful of other things) has become my secondary focus…but I miss drawing. And I’ve been trying to figure out a way to get it back into my life in a practical and productive way that won’t eat up all my time.

Adam’s recent AWESOME drawing of us has inspired me to get serious about it. Oh, um…NSFW? Too late?

Anyone who knows us knows that Adam has been (wisely) very kind to me and as usual very unkind to himself in this depiction – but I love it anyway. I wish I was that cute…in cartoon form…or any form!

Anyway, the awesomeness of Adam’s drawing has inspired me to try a new blog project that will both get me drawing again and also help me to work on my new tablet skills. So the new Sketch-A-Day feature will be just that, a sketch every day (Monday through Friday) posted on the blog and created either on the tablet or by hand in a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum 60 minutes (I’ll be focusing on the tablet to see if I can hone my skills on it, but there will be some traditional non-tablet work done as well). I’ll try my best not to draw only sexy curvy girls, as that is pretty much my default setting when I sketch…but no promises.*

So we’ll see how it goes. The Sketch-A-Day posts will start on Monday, February 1st. See you then!

* It’s important to note up front that NOTHING I do will look as good as what Adam has done here. For two simple reasons…1) Adam has always been and will always be a far better and more naturally talented cartoonist that I am and 2) Adam took WAY more than an hour to do this. So lower your expectations already!

Apple’s iPad Is Debuting As We Speak…

January 27, 2010 in publishing, technology | 8 comments

You can see it live blogged here. I don’t know how I feel about it. I suppose I can’t afford it right now regardless of how I feel about it. It interests me most as an e-reader, as I think that is the direction publishing is headed (unfortunately in some ways, fortunately in others) and I’m not wild about the Kindle and Sony E-reader that currently exist. This looks like a step up in that regard…it’s kinda big though…

Update: They haven’t gotten to anything specific to e-readers yet…well, they did just show a pretty good looking New York Times…

Okay…here we go…ibooks…looks WAY better than The Kindle

Oooh. You can change the font. That’s a nice feature.

Wow. $499 for the iPad. Honestly…that is…not bad. I was thinking it would be a lot more. I still can’t afford it…but that’s a pretty impressive price point for what seems like a pretty broad spectrum of functionality. Plus it’s pretty.

Update 2: Here’s a link to a video of the iPad in action. At the end it shows the ibook application. Again, a huge step up from Kindle and Sony by the looks of it…but where are the comic books…? Until we get there I think I’m probably an admirer rather than a buyer. Because you know as soon as buy this a new one that works (or works better at least) for comics and trade paper backs will release…

6 Things Not To Hate This Year Includes…Yours Truly

January 26, 2010 in blogging, comics, comics should be good, CSBG | Permalink

Thanks to Jeremy Whitley at The Weekly Crisis for putting me on his list of 6 Things Not To Hate This Year. I feel in good company with the other women on that list.

Check out Jeremy’s post, and if you’ve been dragging your feet on catching up with that I’m doing over on Comics Should Be Good, now is the time to pick up and dive in.

She Has No Head! – Giving Lois Lane A Second Look, For The First Time

January 25, 2010 in comic reviews, comics, comics should be good, CSBG, feminism, my book, writing | Permalink

New post up on my She Has No Head! Column. Check it out.

There’s Just No Room In The World For A Green Haired Half Alien And Her Lover Man Beast…It’s A Damn Shame.

January 20, 2010 in comics, CSBG, marvel comics | 8 comments

I really liked S.W.O.R.D. – it was certainly the most original book I’ve seen come out of Marvel in a long while. A nice breath of fresh air. I thought of doing a giant post about why it’s a shame that this book couldn’t make it, of course adding my layman opinion on why things like this prove that the comic book industry is pretty doomed independent of the digital age…but Greg at CSBG did it first (and way better), so I’m just going to link to him instead.

And this was the advance cover released for issue #5 (the final issue) – the cover is completely awesome – which makes everything feel like an even bigger damn shame I say.

She Has No Head! – Spotlight: Eleanor Davis

January 18, 2010 in comic reviews, comics, comics should be good, CSBG, eleanor davis, she has no head! | Permalink

New She Has No Head! column up on Comics Should Be Good. Check it out.

300,000 Hits!

January 16, 2010 in anniversaries, awesomeness, blog-o-versary, blogging, champagne, the jilted league | 4 comments

So we just cruised past 300,000 hits here on 1979 Semi-Finalist, and it’s kind of a big deal. Not that 300,000 is some magical number or anything, but a mere 6 months (ish) ago, in July 2009, we celebrated the two year anniversary of this blog – and the fact that we were closing in on 150,000 hits…that’s right, in a little over six months the traffic to this blog was more than what it was in the first TWO YEARS. And that is some mother fucking progress!

So I wanted to offer up a huge thanks to all of you that have made that happen – and to encourage you to stick with me here – as we’re only going up it seems!

Someone uncork the champagne, you all know I’ll use any excuse to drink some champagne (more accurately, an entire bottle)!

The girls have offered up their congratulations below…and maybe it’s just me, but their enthusiasm seems a little…uh, well…begrudging…if not full on sarcastic. I mean…look at that sign! Pitiful.

Then again, maybe they’re just punishing me for using them to continue testing out my Wacom Tablet…clearly, it’s going to take me some time to get better at using it…I may have to find some other less grouchy guinea pigs…

The Good Wife Gets A Sophomore Season!

January 15, 2010 in awesomeness, television, television reviews, the good wife | Permalink

There’s cause for celebration in my house (alright, fine…apartment) tonight and now that Variety has picked it up, I can talk about it.

CBS has ordered a second season of The Good Wife.

The Good Wife, which is not only a great show (a show that has become my most looked forward to hour of television) is also the show my boyfriend works on. So, double good news. Yay! After a horrific week last week, and now getting sick, I’m ready for all good news all the time! Bring it on!*

*In case I was at all unclear, bad news need not apply, we have no openings for bad news.

Birds Of Prey Is Back!

January 13, 2010 in comics, comics should be good, DC Comics, feminism, gail simone | 4 comments

I learned from Wesley Smith’s examiner column today that the comic book Birds of Prey will be coming back as part of DC’s Brightest Day arc. And I feel mixed about it. Birds of Prey was one of my absolute favorite books when Gail Simone was doing it, and so the fact that Gail Simone will be doing it again is great news, however, all due respect to Ed Benes, I have never been a huge fan of his art, particularly in the way he portrays women, which in my opinion is hit and miss.

So this feels like yet another example of one step forward, half a step back. I want to be excited, and I am, but I also have reservations, much like I do about the Black Widow ongoing series that was announced the other day.

Of note is that it sounds like BoP is part of DC’s Brightest Day run, which as I understand it, will run for a year (26 issues) – it’s unclear if the book is supposed to continue after that. CBR’s Robot 6 makes it sound like it is an ongoing, and Simone’s interview on Comic Alliance also makes it sound like an ongoing, so perhaps it is just a book that will participate in Brightest Day…and continue beyond that? I suppose if the series does well, that DC will find a way to continue it on regardless of the original plan (whatever that was). Though a specific release date has not been announced it looks like the new series will premiere in April or May.

There’s a great interview with Simone on Comic Alliance that is the kind of interview that makes it impossible not to get excited about the book. It’s not unlike Simone saying that Black Canary is one of the most hopeful characters in the DCU and that it’s hard not to get swept up in her hopefulness. I feel the same about Simone, it’s easy for me to get swept up in her enthusiasm for these characters that I already love, especially when I know she is a powerhouse of a writer and that she can back that enthusiasm up. But the art, I still have to see about the art.

I know DC doesn’t care about my tiny little insignificant opinion, but the reality for me is that this book, with Simone writing it and with a different artist (oooh – how about Tonci Zonjic?!) is a must read for me. It automatically (and immediately) goes on my pull list and I buy every single issue until they stop printing them and I probably rave about it both on this blog and on my CSBG column. With Benes drawing it, it becomes like Gotham City Sirens, something I don’t put on my monthly pull list because I can’t fully get on board with and something that I pick up to try out, week to week, to see if I can get past the art. Which is a shame.

I’ve been able to get past art in the past on other series (including the old Birds of Prey series when Simone and Benes were teamed up there), but I feel my tolerance for that kind 0f thing lessens with every year…so, we’ll see. I obviously can’t say one way or another until the actual book comes out, but I’m going to try to hope for the best. Mark me down as “tentatively elated”. Yeah, that sounds about right…

2010

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