Video: Jenna Coleman discusses leaving "Doctor Who"

And, more Clara:


New Doctor Who teaser highlights Clara


Listen: Episode 1 of Jack Flanders and "The Mystery of Jaguar Reef"

ZBS Media is serializing one of their brilliant, funny and though-provoking Jack Flanders audio adventures starting today. Listen here.

New episodes of "The Mystery of Jaguar Reef" will appear online each Friday and Monday.

Flanders is ZBS' flagship character in a lineup that also includes Ruby the Galactic Gumshoe and more.

A sometimes reluctant adventurer, Jack travels the world and, occasionally, other dimensions, finding himself in all sorts of situations that challenge his, and our, perspectives on the world and reality in general. The stories contain elements of mystery, suspense, mysticism, science fiction, fantasy and lots of humor.

I seriously can't recommend the stories highly enough. If you're a fan of old-time radio and pop culture in general you'll thoroughly enjoy them and keep coming back for more. I've been a fan since 1976 when the college radio station in my hometown starting airing Jack's first adventure "The Fourth Tower of Inverness."

Here's is ZBS' own description of "Jaguar Reef":

As we continue with the Lesser Known Works of Meatball Fulton (who wrote these things), we step into the world of Jack Flanders.  Remember back in the days when someone would suddenly shout, “Far friggin’ out!” Well, that fits this.

The idea for The Mystery of Jaguar Reef came from Fulton meeting a few “far out” people who swore they knew at least one “Walk-In.”

Wikipedia describes this as: A "walk-in" is where the original soul of a human leaves a person's body and another soul "walks in".
Is that even remotely possible? Who knows? But it does make a good story.

The Story
Jack Flanders investigates a puzzling case of personality change and soon finds himself scuba-diving into a dilemma off the shores of Belize, Central America. Where did this mysterious pirate wreck come from? Is Jack really a pawn in a cosmic chess game? And why does everyone around him seem to be “walk-ins”, except (perhaps) Captain Coco?

Pulsing festival rhythms, a dose of potent Viper Rum, and the pirate ship ascends into the tropical night sky. A rope ladder is tossed down, and Captain Jack is suddenly at the helm, suspecting that some kind of alien plot is afloat. And so it is.

The Sounds
We recorded the sounds in Ambergris Caye, Belize, where the story takes place. Fulton even brought along his hydrophones to record underwater. This is one lush, tropical, bubbly adventure.

Pop Culture Roundup: Hembeck; Con con; Corgi Batman and Bond

Friend of this blog, Fred Hembeck is returning to the Marvel Universe for a series of variant covers this December!
Hembeck has produced a series of 10 variant covers for various Marvel titles, featuring characters both old and new. The covers are All-New Hawkeye #2, Astonishing Ant-Man #3, Guardians of the Galaxy #3, Silk #1, Ms. Marvel #2, Daredevil #2, Secret Wars #9, Howard the Duck #2, All-New All-Different Avengers #3, and Ultimates #2.

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This essay at The Walrus struck a sad chord with me.

Last year, I spent big money for my kids and me to pose with Stan Lee at a pop culture convention. The photo is lots of fun to have, and it was cool to be in Stan's proximity.

But the pay-to-pose nature of the enterprise, and the fact that there's really no, or very little, interaction with stars when taking these photos, left me feeling a little depressed and ripped off. I can't imagine it's much fun for the stars, either. I recognize that cons need a way to make money and pay for these star appearances, but it still feels unseemly.

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Friend of this blog, "Kid" Robson takes a detailed look at a couple favorites from my youth, the Corgi Batmobile and James Bond Goldfinger cars.



New Music Friday: Keith Richards; Erroll Garner; Darlene Love; Love and Mercy; Otis Redding; Dave Edmunds

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