So, this is something that the UK has had access to since 2008, and the powers that be decided that NOW is an okay time to release it on the American populace (well, the populace that watches IFC)

Halloween is rapidly approaching and so are the zombies in IFC’s 5-part horror series, DEAD SET.  The pitch-black satire of reality TV will premiere Monday, October 25th and run through Friday, October 29th at 12:00 midnight ET/PT. There will also be a special Halloween marathon event featuring all 5 parts back-to-back on October, 31 from 8:00 pm to 11:00 pm.

I’ll tell you this right now: The Dead Set marathon conflicts with the premiere of AMC’s upcoming adaptation of The Walking Dead… which, for this writer is NOT something I’m okay with- BUT- with the previous five days running an episode each night, you should be able to DVR it and have your own little Halloween day marathon.

Having only seen the trailer, I don’t know much about the show, but in researching it- I’ve found that it has 8.1 stars on imdb.com, and that it was good enough for IFC to pick it up and air it in the States. (albeit 2 years after the original release… in fact, most of you have probably seen it already). Otherwise, here is some more information:

Flesh eating zombies have taken over Britain and are multiplying as quickly as they kill. Survivors must rapidly find ways to endure in a world that offers little refuge. Cocooned in the safety of their “Big Brother” house, fame-seeking contestants of this hit reality TV game show are safe and blissfully unaware-until “eviction night,” when all hell breaks loose.

Written and executive produced by acclaimed writer and media critic Charlie Brooker (The Guardian), DEAD SET is a pitch-black 5-part zombie-horror-comedy set in Britain’s “Big Brother” house. DEAD SET is partially filmed at the real UK “Big Brother” set and features the show’s host, Divina McCall, in front of an actual eviction night audience – with cameos by former contestants.

In any case, I’ll be doing a review of the entire mini-series shortly, so keep an eye out for that.

After a few days of speculation of which Spider-Man villain Rhys Ifans might play in the upcoming Spider-Man movie reboot directed by Marc Webb, the question appears to be answered.

The villain this film is going with is Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, according to The Wrap:

Rhys Ifans will play Dr. Curt Connors, better known as The Lizard, in Marc Webb’s “Spider-Man,” TheWrap has learned.

There had been rumors across the blogosphere that Sony was thinking of bringing back Venom for the franchise reboot, but that character will not be featured in the movie, two individuals familiar with the project have told TheWrap.

Obviously, no sources for this information have been cited so we will have to wait for that 100% confirmation from Sony themselves before we all settle into accepting this as fact, but The Wrap does seem pretty sure of themselves. I for one think this is an interesting choice to go with as it may go further in separating Webb’s Spider-Man movies from Raimi’s. Raimi tended to lean towards the more “realistic” villains (until the whole Venom fiasco – but we have all heard enough about that), whereas Webb seems to be willing to take the risk on a more fantastical villain – a man who turns into a giant lizard. Granted, his transformation is all “science-based”, so I don’t think it’s as much of a stretch as it may initially seem.

For no reason in particular, I have a lot of faith in what Webb is doing with this movie, he has a great cast coming together and some inklings of what direction he wants to take his version are starting to come through. I can’t wait until we start getting more details once this film starts shooting.

Head on over to the BSR Forum to discuss this new villain revelation!

When an art gallery that was awarded “Best Geek Art” in City Weekly’s 2010 Artys announces they are opening a “Classic Monsters” gallery on Friday, October 15, our geekdar tends to spike.

Blonde Grizzly is a local art gallery run by the husband and wife team of Hillary and Caleb Barney that features “geek-oriented” art from both, local and national artists.

It takes a rare gallery to display a children’s figure breathing fire and scorching all in its path, with the clever title “St. Elmo’s Fire” below it; a small sample of the twisted pop-culture art you’ll find on 400 South. –CityWeekly.net

This Friday, October 15, Blonde Grizzly (15 East 400 South Salt Lake City, UT) is opening their “Classic Monsters” Gallery Stroll from 6-9pm MST; the gallery will remain open and run through November 17. One of the local artists you’ll be able to find work from at this gallery is Kat Martin – a friend of BSR! who was kind enough to bring this gallery stroll to our attention. She has produced some fantastic work featuring Wampa, Teen Wolf and Thriller MJ that you can preview over at Kat’s Creepy Art! She has also posted a small preview of what you can expect at this gallery over on Facebook.

If you are a geek, then this seasonally-appropriate gallery stoll will be right up your alley; if you’re not a geek, you’ll probably love it just the same if you are a fan of good art!

Details:

What: “Classic Monsters” Gallery Stroll
Where: Blonde Grizzly – 15 East 400 South Salt Lake City, UT
When: Friday, October 15 6-9PM (Runs through November 17)

For more information about Blonde Grizzly:

Blonde Grizzly
Blonde Grizzly on Facebook
Blonde Grizzly Blog
“Best Geek Art” – 2010 City Weekly Artys

To preview Kat Martin’s work:

Kat’s Creepy Art

Welcome to the first installment of Tag Team Thursdays, where Clobber-Tron and Shaz-Bot read a new comic book and share their opinions.

Superman #703

Round 1
Shaz-Bot

Superman #703 continues the “Grounded” story arc by J. Michael Straczynski. I read the first issue out of curiosity, the second out of hope that it’d get better, and the third because I ordered it. After this issue, I can be perfectly content in letting this story go, and picking up Superman sometime later. I didn’t completely hate this book, in fact after a certain point, it actually started to get interesting. Sadly, the things I think were interesting have nothing to do with Superman’s endless trek across the country. Here’s step by step what I liked and disliked.

First off, I have the suspicion that JMS tries to shoehorn existing characters into molds he wants to use, and the fit is sometimes a bit off. Case in point: this issue opens with Superman giving veiled threats to a civilian! Sure, this particular civilian is a slime ball, but Superman just comes off as “I’m a superior being, and you should do what I say!” To me, that is not who Superman is. He leads by example, not fear.

Shortly afterward Batman comes by to tell Superman that he thinks the Man of Steel has gone a bit around the bend. Given what I just described, I would tend to believe him, but JMS doesn’t get Batman’s character right, either! At first I was ok with Batman being a hardass towards Superman, because hey, he’s Batman. Then, as they have their little philosophical discussion, it becomes apparent that this is Dick Grayson as Batman, who up till now has been portrayed as extremely down to earth, and even dare I say “happy” in the role. And sure, Dick as Robin/Nightwing and as Batman has encountered some seriously out of this world stuff, he is the one character that can really handle the tightrope walk of the weird superhero world and the more street level thug-based crime. It just doesn’t ring true and it took me right out of the story.

After Batman departs, we have a strange interlude at the Daily Planet which sets up the plot for the rest of the issue, it seemed a little out of place, but it got the story going somewhere, so I can deal with it. Superman makes his way to Danville, Ohio where a fragment of the recently exploded New Krypton is located. How Superman finds out about this is really unclear. There is narration with someone telling him about it, but it’s after Batman has left, and Lois isn’t in the Daily Planet scene. Again, since it gets us to where we’re going, I can forgive it, but it is kind of slipshod.

Anyway, some kids  found this crystal fragment or whatever it is, show their teacher, and the teacher is possessed or something. She in turn infects generic redneck #1 and he proceeds to have a knock down, drag out with Superman. The resulting chaos leaves a good chunk of Danville in a shambles. Superman gallantly rebuilds everything, but as revealed on a local newscast, he can’t repair sentimental objects. Of course, local news adds local color, and the teacher who was possessed proceeds to rabble rouse people by saying Superman is a menace because he’s essentially overcompensating for having lost two planets. I actually thought this bit was kind of interesting, and would like to see where it leads, but since I don’t think JMS has a solid grasp of his character’s personalities, I think I’ll just leave well enough alone.

Round 2
Clobber-Tron

After that good review I don’t want to retread any territory. Here is my take on it:

I guess after following the Man of Steel for as long as I have I’ve become a Superman apologist. Damn. It’s tough when you love something and it doesn’t live up to your expectations.  I’m not a huge J. Michael Straczynski  fan but I’ve read interviews where he’s professed his love for the character above all others. So what does he do with his first go? A women slaps Superman in the face and he decides to walk across the country like Forrest Gump.

I try to be optimistic about it telling myself “Maybe I just have a different view of Superman” and “maybe he’ll  work in a classic story line from the golden age of comics.”  Somebody will point it out on a blog and I’ll be satisfied with the treatment after convincing myself it was good enough. After reading this issue I thought “maybe he’s put more thought into GROUNDED than I have.”

The opening sequence of the issue speaks volumes about Superman’s mental state. Threatening John Q Public into obeying the law is not something Superman should ever do after all he stands for truth, justice, and the American way. He is practically a God walking among men.

Superman walking is a stupid idea and JMS uses Batman to point it out. He’s in on the joke, he pokes me in the ribs and damn near breaks the fourth wall in doing so.

As Superman wanders I don’t think his mind is in deep thought. He is stunned and shaken. He’s lost his world for a second time, major events have taken place and I viewed them as a comic book crossover, not something that would actually effect a persons psyche. Throughout the issue Superman’s behavior is so erratic I’m not a bit surprised when he wails on somebody so hard it practically destroys a town.

What other story could possibly follow the destruction of New Krypton? He is in such a dangerous and fragile state of mind that Batman is watching, waiting, and possibly forming a plan. I hope this goes where I think it’s going, I’d love to see Superman take a bigger fall than he ever has before.

Did you read Superman 703 and have a conflicting opinion? Let us know!

Today my email brought me an interesting discovery. Redbox a.k.a “my place to rip the newest movies” sent a notice to their customers that later in October they will begin allowing video game rentals through their machines. The cost will be $2 a day, and will be launched nation wide. Although I think Redbox is great for movies, I’m not sure how well their service will work at such a high price, what gamers play a game for only 24 hours? Imagine wanting to play through an RPG via redbox and paying $2 a day…. This is a daring move, let’s see where it takes our giant robot vender of entertainment.

Thoughts below please.

Could Tom Cruise be cameoing on the upcoming Christmas episode of Doctor Who?!

It’s not impossible.

I was doing some research on Tom Cruise for a round of the Big Shiny Geek Show Pub Quiz we hold weekly when I found an upcoming episode of Dr. Who on his IMDb profile.  The IMDb is notoriously inaccurate for upcoming projects, but this episode seems to have been shot and it’s got an unusually complete page, which isn’t normal for pages with wild inaccuracies.  It also has Michael Gambon (Dumbeldore) listed in the episode, and there’s been a lot of reporting on that as well.

You can see the IMDb page in question by clicking here.

I got very excited about this news.  I really like Tom Cruise when he’s behind a good director, in a good project, and on the top of his game.  He’s been in a lot of movies that I would consider some of my favorites (Magnolia, Eyes Wide Shut, The Color of Money, Minority Report) and turned in some incredible performances.  And who could forget his impeccable comedic turn in Tropic Thunder?

I did some digging and I really can’t find a solid confirmation.  I’ve found no denials, but I found a string of articles dating back to November 2007 that said Doctor Who producers were approaching Cruise for a part.  Here’s one article from the Boston Globe (who in turn based their report on the UK’s Daily Star):

The ‘Lions for Lambs’ actor is among a host of top US stars, including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Madonna, who the BBC are hoping to get on board for three blockbuster instalments of the British sci-fi series to be filmed next year.

An insider told Britain’s Daily Star newspaper: “BBC producers know they can’t pay these stars what they are used to, but what they can offer is an exciting role in a real cutting-edge show. And the big stars love that kind of kudos.”

I’m not anywhere close to being this caught up.  I’m new to Doctor Who mania and I’m an episode away from finishing the first season of Torchwood before I attack David Tennant’s second season as the Doctor in earnest.  At this point I would consider myself a burgeoning super-fan and this news actually excites me and is incentive to catch up more quickly.

The episode he’s allegedly on will air on Christmas Day 2010.

What do you guys think?  Is this the mistake Den of Geek seems to think it is?  Or could this make an episode of Dr. Who into something even more awesome?

Heatvision is reporting that Lionsgate is producing a Brian Henson directed Muppet movie, but it’s not exactly what you’re thinking…

Here’s their synopsis of the film, “Happytime Murders”:

“Happytime” takes place in a world where humans and puppets co-exist, with the puppets viewed as second-class citizens. When the puppet cast of an ’80s children’s TV show called “The Happytime Gang” begins to get murdered one by one, a disgraced LAPD detective-turned-private eye puppet — with a drinking problem, no less — takes on the case with his former human partner. Think “Avenue Q” meets “L.A. Confidential.”

This sounds very much like a Who Framed Roger Rabbit? sort of story set in the 80s and I really couldn’t be more excited about this. This sounds like a very adult, dark version of the genre and it could be very, very good.

Some have speculated that this is going to be another Muppet movie, but I would say that’s impossible for two reasons:

1) This sounds far too dark

2) Disney owns all of the proper Muppets now, not Lionsgate.

In any case, it’s great to see that Muppets are getting their due in film now.  Between this, Jason Segal’s new Muppet Movie hitting theatres next year and the l0ng rumoured Dark Crystal sequel, we’ll be rolling in Muppets.  Now if we could get the Muppets in a murder mystery of their own, we’d be all set.  (Wouldn’t that be great to imagine?  Something like a cross between Clue: The Movie and The Muppet’s Take Manhattan?  That’s a movie I’d pay to see.)

I would place a warning label on this CD, that were it to be stored in the immediate vicinity of a lesser comedy cd, that there is a great chance of the two discs causing a matter/anti-matter explosion, opening a black hole and destroying the universe. So, please, do us all a favor and throw all that crap away off your shelf before you buy the new CD. Because you really want to.

Marcus’ new comedy album, “Hell Oh Well”, ranks right up there for me with the best of comedy albums of the past decade, right beside Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, David Cross, Jim Gaffigan, Dave Attell, and our dear recently departed Greg Giraldo.  High praise, but completely deserved.  It proves Marcus is at the top of the game of working comics today.

Wait, who the f#$% is Marcus?  And why have I never heard of him?

Good question.  Well, if you blended a perfect cocktail of those comics I just mentioned and it was somehow more than the sum of its parts, you’d have Marcus.

You might remember him as the best person to ever perform on NBC’s Last Comic Standing… EVER.  (and yes, I’m especially looking at you Jay Mohr and Bill Bellamy).  Marcus’ 2008 DVD “Second to None” gives us his reflections on having gone through the TV process… and he emerged a funnier, smarter, leaner comedian.

He’s been a staple of the national comedy club and college tour circuit since then (including an upcoming stint entertaining the troops on a USO Tour– what a patriot!), and making many notable appearances on media outlets we love, such as The Geek Show Podcast and Radio from Hell. But for those of us not lucky enough to catch a live show, we’ve been sadly missing…. well, a lot.

Enter 2010 and now, and his forthcoming DVD “The Hand that Feeds,” (due out Oct 29^th, same day as Hell Oh Well UPDATE: the CD is now available on iTunes!!) clips of which have been floating around on the internet (especially if you’re a friend of Marcus on Facebook– oh, and you really want to be his friend on Facebook).  And you know, Marcus is so talented that in between when he taped his DVD special and it was finished being edited, he wrote almost an entire album’s worth of new material, and decided to bring it to you, the public.  This is what became Hell, Oh Well.

This album should be called “Nothing’s off-limits” or “Roasting sacred cows”—Marcus goes after everyone. Mexicans, Polynesians, Whites. Teenage boys, teenage girls. Gays.  Homophobes. Weed.  (lots of stuff about weed) Movies, Music, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus (who don’t count as music), and a special roast is reserved for Twilight (which also does not count as a movie).  In fact, for being such a young guy and despite his rockstar image, Marcus spends a lot of time sounding like an old man complaining about “kids these days and their rock’n’roll and why is every kid in school trying to have sex with my daughter….”  At the same time, he also pokes at  “classics,” making fun of lyrics from 70’s rockers like Thin Lizzy.

But the smart, hip vibe is what makes the jokes transcendent of age or generation as everyone understands that while even though the culture of the generation following yours is surely inferior to what YOU were watching/listening to in high school, we can all agree that Twilight really is a cultural abomination of which there is no comparison.  As someone who is personally also in my 30s and dealing with issues of adulthood, being married, kids, etc, the material for me hit on so many touchstones of what my life is all about.  And because Marcus truly does take on all people as an equal opportunity mocker, I don’t feel personally offended by anything he says as he spreads the love (read: hate) around.  Like, if Marcus made a joke about nerdy, obese, white, liberal Mormons who live in Texas (of which I might be the only one), I might get offended for a moment.

And then I’d remember I don’t really give a rat’s ass if he makes fun of me:  when it comes right down to it, Marcus makes fun of himself more than anyone.  In the same vein as one of my other favorites, Patton Oswalt, and his ability to open the window into his life, Marcus also takes several self-deprecating turns talking about the joys and perils of marriage, parenting, and life in general.

George Carlin isn’t around any more to talk about the inane things we spend our time on like cell phones, Twitter and Facebook.  Thank God we have Marcus to do it.

If you’re looking for Marcus doing funny voices and impressions, well, I have good news and bad news.  Marcus is surely the most gifted impressionist working in comedy today, but rather than a cavalcade of silly voices, he channels them into the more universal jokes we can all relate to.  Ok, well, maybe only some of us can relate to speaking to our genitals as if we were Leonidas in the movie 300, and maybe not everyone immediately knows who Richard Attenborough is, but the impressions are still spot on, and even better, serve the purpose of moving the comedy forward.

If you’re looking for a Jeff Dunnam puppet show and silly voices, or idiot catchphrases like “Git R Done”, you’re in the wrong, wrong place. In fact, I would place a warning label on this cd, that were it to be stored in the immediate vicinity of such a lesser comedy cd, that there is a great chance of the two discs causing a matter/anti-matter explosion, opening a black hole and destroying the universe.  I believe a similar reaction would happen on an ipod playlist, but we’d have to get the folks at the CERN super-collider involved to be sure. So, please, do us all a favor and throw all that crap away off your shelf, delete it from your ipod, before you buy Marcus’s new CD.  Because you really want to.

Signed copies of Hell, Oh Well will be available through the Big Shiny Robot store in the very near future, and are now available through iTunes.

PS-  for full disclosure’s sake, I receive not dime one from the sale of these goods.  I wish I did.   But regardless, I’m just trying to turn you onto something that might blow your mind with laughter.  And then you can txt, IM, Tweet, or FB your BFF about how you LOL’d.

Art and track listing below, bitches:

Lucasfilm has once again given us a preview look at the next episode of Clone Wars (and the next!).

This episode involves a bunch of kids solving a mystery. I’m assuming this will be better than just about every episode of Scooby Doo combined.

From the press release:

Much to her chagrin, Ahsoka Tano is assigned to teach a class at the cadet academy on Mandalore. Soon after she arrives, however, some of her students are drawn into a treacherous plot.
“The Academy” finds its heroes not among the super-powered Jedi or even the ranks of the highly-trained clone everymen. Instead, the protagonists are intrepid youngsters on a principled quest –
to uncover the corruption that is poisoning their homeworld. Delving ever deeper into the dysfunctional social mechanics of Mandalore, it’s an all-new episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars – airing at 9:00 p.m. ET/PT Friday, October 15 on Cartoon Network.

The next clip, from next week, is a tease for an episode called “Assassins” that is pretty creepy. It’s very good looking stuff and I’m very excited for it.

It also features the return of Aurra Sing:

The longtime podcasters from 11 O’clock Comics had an interesting discussion TWO YEARS AGO about digital comics and how it might effect the prices of their paper counterparts. I recently re listened to episode 29 from November 06, 2008 and was surprised at the accuracy of a prediction by Jason Wood. Maybe I shouldn’t be that shocked as Wood’s twitter profile reads “Techie, blogger, investor, comic book nerd, podcaster” and his blog is chock full of financial ponderings. I don’t want to quote what he said and take it out of context so listen to the podcast and tell me what you think. To be fair all of the participants have some good insight, Wood just seemed to predict this months price drop referring to Marvel comics.

Here is their description of the episode:

Things get a bit serious as we ponder the price of monthly periodicals, hardcovers, digital comics, Terra #1, Agents of Atlas, G.I. Joe #0 from IDW, advertising in comics, Smallville, paper quality, Terry Moore’s Runaways and Echo, Freak Angels, Alan Davis’ Thor: Proof of History, Warren Ellis and Avatar, the effect of the election on comics, Final Crisis: Resist, Submit, and Rage of the Red Lanterns, Watching the Watchmen, the Adventure Comics Special featuring the Guardian, X-Men/Spider-Man #1, Jeff Lemire, Ghost Talker’s Daydream volume two and coffee enemas (Okay, maybe not so serious, after all…), and a whole mess more! Plus, another hit on the Hotline!

Check out their blog and listen to the podcasts where they literally get drunk and talk about comic books.