New stills from Asterix: Mansion of the Gods CGI film
From Germany, some pics from the upcoming Asterix animated film, which adapts "Mansion of the Gods."
Music new releases Jan. 20, 2015: Sleater-Kinney; Decemberists; Twilight Zone
Click the links to order discounted CDs, vinyl and downloads from Amazon.
No Cities To Love by Sleater-Kinney
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by the Decemberists
Twilight Zone by Marty Manning and His Orchestra (vinyl)
No Cities To Love by Sleater-Kinney
What a Terrible World, What a Beautiful World by the Decemberists
Twilight Zone by Marty Manning and His Orchestra (vinyl)
DVD and Blu-ray new releases Jan. 20, 2015: Lucy; Boxtrolls/ParaNorman/Coraline triple set
Click the links to order discounted DVDs and Blu-rays from Amazon.
Lucy
The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, Coraline Triple Feature (Three-Disc DVD)
Lucy
The Boxtrolls, ParaNorman, Coraline Triple Feature (Three-Disc DVD)
Pop focus: The (Dr.) Strange art of Steve Ditko
With a Dr. Strange movie on the horizon from Marvel, let's look back to the roots of the character, and spotlight the amazing, other worldly art of Steve Ditko, who co-created the character with Stan Lee.
Ditko is a master at using his character's hands as a mode of expression and storytelling. Doctor Strange, in particular, is fascinating to look at in this light, as he expressively conjures up magic.
Ditko's use of shapes and patterns to portray magical energies and other realms and cosmic beings is also highly unique and pioneering in the field of comics.
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Dr. Strange's astral travels.
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After Ditko left Marvel, the excellent Marie Severin had the unenviable task of following him up, doing her best to capture the trippy nature of the strip.
Marvel developed a strong college/hippie readership in the mid to late 1960s and Dr. Strange was obviously a favorite. Despite the appearance of his art, however, Ditko was decidedly not influenced by LSD or other drug use and was, in fact, very conservative devoting his later career to comics focused on the black/white, every many for himself philosophy of Ayn Rand.
The Severin image below made its way onto the cover of Pink Floyd's second LP, A Saucerful of Secrets.
Via a YouTube, a narrated Dr. Strange using images and text from the comic and music by Pink Floyd.
And finally, here's "In Search of Steve Ditko," an excellent documentary from BBC TV.
Ditko is a master at using his character's hands as a mode of expression and storytelling. Doctor Strange, in particular, is fascinating to look at in this light, as he expressively conjures up magic.
Ditko's use of shapes and patterns to portray magical energies and other realms and cosmic beings is also highly unique and pioneering in the field of comics.
Below: One of the few photos of the reclusive Ditko.
 |
| One of only a few pictures of Steve Ditko |
Dr. Strange's astral travels.
The distinctive window of Dr. Strange's Greenwich Village pad (above right and below) was inspired by a similar window in Will Eisner's "Spirit" strip (above left). The influence of Eisner's early work on the "Spirit" is evident on Ditko's line work and visual conception. The two images above are from this site. Notice the window design is also repeated on the cupboard in the picture below.
After Ditko left Marvel, the excellent Marie Severin had the unenviable task of following him up, doing her best to capture the trippy nature of the strip.
Marvel developed a strong college/hippie readership in the mid to late 1960s and Dr. Strange was obviously a favorite. Despite the appearance of his art, however, Ditko was decidedly not influenced by LSD or other drug use and was, in fact, very conservative devoting his later career to comics focused on the black/white, every many for himself philosophy of Ayn Rand.
The Severin image below made its way onto the cover of Pink Floyd's second LP, A Saucerful of Secrets.
Via a YouTube, a narrated Dr. Strange using images and text from the comic and music by Pink Floyd.
And finally, here's "In Search of Steve Ditko," an excellent documentary from BBC TV.
Pop culture roundup: Sherlock; Kareem; Dylan; Pono; Batman
NBA great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has written a mystery novel featuring Sherlock Holmes' brother Mycroft.
Read an interview with Bob Dylan's English teacher.
Neil Young is hyping his high-resolution Pono music player as offering the best fidelity possible, but is "high-res" music just a bunch of b.s.?
Good to see others who are fans of Doug Moench's 1980s run on Batman. Frank Miller wrecked the character.
Mr. Abdul-Jabbar, a 19-time N.B.A. All-Star, began reading Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories more than 40 years ago, during his rookie season. “I was fascinated by Holmes’s ability to see clues where other people saw nothing,” he said in a statement released by his publisher.
“Mycroft Holmes” was written with the screenwriter and producer Anna Waterhouse.------
Read an interview with Bob Dylan's English teacher.
B.J. remembers one of the rare visits Bob made to Hibbing several years ago. “I remember distinctly. He told me, You’ve taught me everything I know.’ I dispute that. I’ve taught him half of what he knows.”-----
Neil Young is hyping his high-resolution Pono music player as offering the best fidelity possible, but is "high-res" music just a bunch of b.s.?
The CD-quality standard—which Young and HRA proponents say isn't sufficient—wasn't adopted randomly. It's not a number plucked out of thin air. It's based on sampling theory and the actual limits of human hearing. To the human ear, audio sampled above 44.1 kHz/16-bit is inaudibly different.-----
Good to see others who are fans of Doug Moench's 1980s run on Batman. Frank Miller wrecked the character.
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