Pop Artifact! Captain Marvel coloring book





Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 26, 2007

Handy! A fully-functioning Spider-Man suit enabling the wearer to climb up walls and sling web should be available by 2017.

Italian researchers say they have developed a new method for creating a surface-gripping material that mimics "spider silk" and imitates carbon nanotubes.

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Pete Townshend has launched new Web-based software that can create music.

The Who guitarist/songwriter said that with a voice recording, a digital image and a rhythm clapped into a microphone, his new "Method" software will create spontaneous digital music and allow anyone to be a composer, and possibly a rock star.

"You can put data in and get a piece of music out. It's as simple as that," said Townshend...


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World of Kane celebrates the work of Louis and Bebe Barron, who created the otherworldly music for "Forbidden Planet."

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Via PCL LinkDump: Groovy 1960s radio jingles.

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The big battle in the "Heroes" season ender reportedly takes place in Kirby Plaza, an homage to legendary comics creator Jack Kirby.

Lost clues: "D.O.C" ep. 18, season 3

Synopsis:

Desmond, Charlie and Hurley tend to the parachutist who's landed on the island while Sun questions Juliet about what happens to women on the island who become pregnant.

The parachutist looks to be mortally wounded and Desmond and the rest, miles away from Dr. Jack and the beach camp, aren't sure what to do. Charlie and Desmond are arguing when Hurley accidentally sets off a flare gun, attracting the attention of the Other Mikhail who, you know, died a few episodes ago. Apparently he got better. And, being a former field medic for the Soviet army, he fixes up the parachutist so long as Desmond and the rest don't take him prisoner.

Meanwhile, Juliet leads Sun to a hidden ultrasound lab in the Dharma medical hatch. By measuring the growth of Sun's baby, Juliet can determine the baby's date of conception (D.O.C.) and learn whether the child was conceived before the plane crashed or after Sun and Jin arrived on the island. For Sun, the test also will reveal whether Jin or the man she had an affair with before the crash is the father.

Turns out the dad is Jin, a mixed blessing for Sun. This puts her conscience more at ease, but every woman Juliet knows about who's become pregnant on the island dies, as do their babies.

Back in the jungle, the parachutist revives. When Hurley tells her he and the rest are the survivors of Oceanic flight 815 she's shocked. She says the plane was found and there were no survivors. So, again we ask, what the heck is going on?



Clues, observations, speculation:

* If plane wreckage and dead passengers were discovered in the outside world, how is it that there's plane wreckage and living survivors on the island? Is some quantum, alternate time line scenario at work, where in one reality the passengers died and in another they survived? Or was the found wreckage faked by the Others to hide the existence of the island? The seem to have the resources to do such a thing.

* Why do women on the island die instead of giving birth? If the island is some alternate reality, or exists in a time line somehow separate from the outside world, maybe it's impossible to introduce new life into it.

* Also on the alternate reality front: We've seen that most of the crash survivors, due to choices they've made, have created certain realities or circumstances for themselves. Maybe that's what's happened on a much larger scale with the island, and maybe that's why this particular group of people ended up there. The island seems to be a place of healing and second chances. Maybe there were enough goofed-up, conflicted people on one plane to end up there, to survive the crash and to receive a second chance. Perhaps there's a mystic quality to the island's electromagnetic properties that drew the plane there. But, if this is the case, why do some people on the island die anyway, like Shannon, Boone, Mr. Eko and Libby and Ana Lucia?

* In regards to healing, Mikhail says the parachutist will recover quicker on the island than she would in the outside world. And, indeed, Mikhail is up and walking after apparently being killed. But this doesn't seem to be the case for some people. Boone died after his fall and Shannon, Libby and Ana Lucia all died from their gunshot wounds.



* On the other hand, maybe Mikhail faked his death. It looked pretty real though...

* More island weirdness: Juliet tells Sun that men on the island have much higher sperm counts than in the outside world. Why?



* Will any of the now dead people on the island, including Ethan Rom, Nikki and Paulo, come back too?

* We see that Juliet is feeding Ben information on her findings about Sun and other women among the crash survivors. And Juliet isn't happy about being a spy. But why is she agreeing to do this for Ben? What is he holding over her?

* Jack's acting shifty, showing a more clinical than friendly interest in Jin's pregnancy. Is he brainwashed?



* What will we learn about the parachutist? Was she sent to rescue Desmond by Penny? Is anyone from the outside world aware what's happened to her? Will they come looking?

* According to numerous reports, the parachutist says "I'm not alone" in Portuguese.

* The parachutist also spoke variously in Spanish, Chinese and Italian.

* Plus she's got a tattoo.



* Mikhail appears to have a special hatred for Charlie. He likely knows Charlie shot Ethan and perhaps wants revenge.

New and upcoming action figures April 26, 2007


Marvel Legends Icons series 3 figures, see below

Complete List of Marvel Legends Action Figures
Complete List of DC Direct Action Figures

Here's a look at action figures available via your local comics shop or via the TIP!-supporting links below:

DC Direct Action Figures

Superman Last Son Action Figures
--Last Son Superman
--Ursa
--Bizarro
--Zod

Shazam Action Figures
--Dr. Sivana
--Captain Marvel Jr.
--Mary Marvel
--Billy Batson and Hoppy
--Captain Marvel

Justice League of America Series 1
Superman
Black Lightning
Black Canary
Vixen
Red Arrow

Superman Vs. Doomsday
Doomsday
Lex Luthor and Robot
Solar Suit Superman
Superman

Batman and Son
Batman
Ninja Man-Bat
Robin and Daimin
The Joker

52 Weeks
Animal Man
Batwoman
Booster Gold
Supernova

Batman Through the Ages
--Box Set

Batman/Superman Series 4
--Batzarro
--Bizarro
--Superwoman
--Batwoman
--Batman Beyond
--Kryptonite Batman

DC Direct Reactivated Action Figures
--Batman
--Wonder Woman
--Lobo
--Superman

DC 13-inch Figures
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Green Lantern
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Lex Luthor
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Two-Face
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Superman
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Shazam
Deluxe Edition 13-inch Flash

Elseworlds Action Figures Series 2
--Red Son Batman
--Red Son President Superman
--Kingdom Come Jade
--Kingdom Come Spectre and Norman McKay
--Gotham By Gaslight Batman

Elseworlds Action Figures Series 3
--Supergirl
--Batgirl
--Nightstar
--Kingdom Come Aquaman
--Red Son Green Lantern

First Appearance Series 4
--Blue Beetle translucent
--Blue Beetle
--Brave New World Atom
--Warlord
--Brave New World Martian Manhunter
--Brave New World Aquaman

Infinite Crisis Action Figures Series 1
--Powergirl
--Omac
--Mongul
--Earth Prime Superboy
--Alexander Luthor

JSA Action Figures
--Mr. Terrific
--Hawkgirl
--Dr. Midnite
--Hourman
--Golden Age Atom 2-pack

Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer action figures
Battle Stretch Mr. Fantastic
Fire Blast Human Torch
Raging Thing
Silver Surfer

Hanna Barbera Series 2 Action Figures
--Captain Caveman
--Fred Flintstone and Dino
--Johnny Quest
--Magilla Gorilla
--Penelope Pitstop and Muttley
--Tom and Jerry
--Yogi Bear
--Flintstones at the Drive-In

Hanna Barbera Series 3 Action Figures
--Fred Flintstone Quittin' Time
--Twinkle Toes Fred Flintstone
--Great Grape Ape
--Huckleberry Hound
--The Jetsons
--Secret Squirrel
--Snagglepuss

McFarlane Lost series 2 action figures
--Crash site box set
--Sawyer
--Jin
--Sayid
--Desmond
--Sun
--Mr. Eko

Marvel Figure Factory Sets
--Angel
--Beast
--Black Costume Spider-Man
--Deadpool
--Invisible Woman
--Silver Surfer

Marvel Legends Action Figures

Hasbro Marvel Legends Figures Series 1
--Emma Frost
--Ultimate Iron Man
--Movie Beast
--Planet Hulk
--Banshee
--Hercules

Hasbro Marvel Legends Action Figures Series 2
--Wolverine
--She-Hulk
--Yellow Jacket
--Quick Silver
--Lord Asgard Thor
--Magneto Xorn
--X3 Jean Grey
--First Appearance Storm

Hasbro Marvel Legends Figures Series 3
--Bucky Barnes
--First appearance Captain America
--Marvel Girl Rachel Grey
--Heroes for Hire Black Knight
--Hydra Soldier
--X-3 Colossus
--Astonishing X-Men Cyclops
--Danger

Hasbro Marvel Legends Icons 12-inch Action Figures
--The Punisher
--Doctor Doom
--The Human Torch
--The Silver Surfer

Marvel Legends Masterworks Sets
--Spider-Man Vs. Green Goblin
--Fantastic Four Vs. Mole Man
--Hulk Vs. The Thing
--Galactus Vs. Everybody

Marvel Select Figures

Best of Marvel Select Figures
--Grey Hulk
--Thanos
--Ultimate Spider-Man
--Green Goblin
--Mephisto

NECA 7-inch John Lennon action figures
--Color
--Black and white

NECA Grindhouse action figures--Quentin Tarantino as soldier
--Dakota
--Cherry

Pop Artifacts! Captain Marvel movie serial posters



Vintage Marvel Comics house ad



Best Marvel Comics Sites.

Pop Culture Roundup April 25, 2007

World of Kane celebrates composer and music technology pioneer Raymond Scott. Y'know those great tunes from old Warner Bros. cartoons? Many of them were written by Scott. He went on to develop a number of electronic musical instruments.

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David Lynch gets deep.

Eraserhead is my most spiritual movie. No one understands when I say that, but it is.

Eraserhead was growing in a certain way, and I didn't know what it meant. I was looking for a key to unlock what these sequences were saying. Of course, I understood some of it; but I didn't know the thing that just pulled it all together. And it was a struggle. So I got out my Bible and I started reading. And one day, I read a sentence. And I closed the Bible, because that was it. And then I saw the thing as a whole. And it fulfilled this vision for me, 100 percent.

I don't think I'll ever say what that sentence was.


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Taking a cue from Dark Horse's new "Buffy Season 8" comics series, IDW Publishing plans a season 4 "Star Trek" comic.

Star Trek: Year Four will follow along the same lines as the single-issue, self-contained stories that are being featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between. In the premiere issue of this all-new series, Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise discover the Strand—a multi-planet construct of a dead civilization and a brilliant genetic scientist obsessed with its technology. Kirk discovers the scientist’s secret, resulting in his genetic creations revolting — and forcing Kirk to make a hard decision, pushing the U.S.S. Enterprise into the crossfire.

Best Star Trek Sites.

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The two-part season-ender for CW's "The Batman" animated series features a guest appearance by a Justice League of sorts.

"Martian Manhunter is starting the Justice League," executive producer Alan Burnett says, "and he would like nothing better than to have Batman on the team." Also on the guest list: the Flash, Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Hawkman and Superman.

Best Batman Sites.

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The upcoming "Incredible Hulk" film is a new start for the would-be franchise, essentially ignoring the wretched Hulk flick of a few years ago.

Avi Arad, who is producing the upcoming The Incredible Hulk, told SCI FI Wire that the movie will not make use of any of the elements of the first Hulk movie. "It's a new Hulk," Arad said in a news conference while promoting Spider-Man 3, on which he was also a producer. "A new direction, new size, new color, new attitude. No, anything that was done before is not in this movie."

Evidently, Arad says he was joking about the color. However, there are have been rumors that the Hulk will be gray in at least the early part of the film, just as he was in his early comic book adventures.

Best Hulk Sites.

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Excuse Me While I Kiss this Guy Dept.: There are lots of sites out there with song lyrics, but most don't have permission by songwriters to publish the words. But Yahoo! has a new one that's legit:

Yahoo Music in the US is letting users look up the words to 400,000 songs by artists such as Prince and Beyonce.

...the site will also come in useful for settling arguments about classic records.

Does Kate Bush really sing: "It's me! I'm a tree! I'm a wombat!" in Wuthering Heights?

And are Bananarama "guilty as a cocoa bean" in Love In The First Degree?

The answer, in both cases, is no. Bush is singing: "It's me, I'm Cathy. I've come home"; Bananarama are as guilty "as a girl can be".


You can access the lyrics search feature here.

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Rolling Stone features a new Paul McCartney interview as part of it's 40th anniversary issue. You can see excerpts here.

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Director Julie Taymor talks about her new flick "Across the Universe," a musical set to Beatles tunes.

The $45 million film is a love story set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and is told through songs by the Beatles, which the cast, including Evan Rachel Wood and several tyros, perform themselves. (Bono, Eddie Izzard, Joe Cocker and Salma Hayek all have cameos.) Taymor selected the 32 songs from a catalog of 200.

"We move from the early Beatles songs -- 'All My Loving,' 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' -- that have that fabulously innocent, early-1960s feel," she says, "to songs like 'Revolution' that, I wouldn't say they got totally political, but they have a certain kind of awareness.

"What I loved was the ability to show, I suppose you could say, the coming of age of six young people through the innocence of high school to the war to the playground of the Summer of Love. They sound like cliches, but when you tell it through the music of the Beatles, it rings with some truth."


Best Beatles Sites.

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Two more "Doctor Who" adventures, "Robot" and "Time Lash," arrive on DVD in the UK this summer with US release likely to follow sometime later on. Here's info on each set's extras:

Robot will include the following special features:
- A 40-minute documentary called Are Friends Electric? will look at Tom Baker's introduction to the series and the making of his first story. This documentary will include contributions from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Terrance Dicks, Philip Hinchcliffe, and Barry Letts.
- A clip from Blue Peter recorded on the Robot sets
- A 15-minute featurette called "The Tunnel Effect" which focuses on the creation of the Fourth Doctor title sequence
- A photo gallery
- Subtitle Production noted
- Radio Times listings in pdf format
- Commentary from Tom Baker, Elisabeth Sladen, Barry Letts, and Terrance Dicks

Timelash will include the following:
- A 25-minute documentary called The Good, the Bad and the Ugly narrated by Terry Molloy and featuring contributions from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, Paul Darrow, and Eric Saward.
- A photo gallery
- Subtitle Production notes
- Radio Times listings in pdf format
- Commentary from Colin Baker, Nicola Bryant, and Paul Darrow
- There will also be a 'Coming Soon' trailer for the next DVD release



Best Doctor Who Sites.

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Tap is back!

Spinal Tap is back, and this time the band wants to help save the world from global warming.

The mock heavy metal group immortalized in the 1984 mockumentary, "This is Spinal Tap," will reunite for a performance at Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled worldwide for July 7.


Lost preview April 25 episode

Click here for a preview of tonight's new episode. Then come back here tomorrow for a full roundup of clues and observations.

Also see:
The Best "Lost" Sites on the Web.
"Lost": What we STILL don't know
Lost Season 3 Episode Guide

DVD: Gunsmoke season 1

After a few box set collections, this classic TV (and radio before that) Western finally gets the season-by-season treatment.

This first installment, on six disks, is out July 17 and available for pre-order for $26.99 from Amazon.

The show's first season aired during the 1955-56 TV season and includes 39 episodes. The first show is introduced by actor John Wayne. Guest stars include John Carridine, Robert Vaughn, Charles Bronson, Chuck Connors and future TV produce Aaron Spelling.