Tease Me, Baby! - The Muppets

CLICK ME!

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love The Muppets. They are family. If you besmirched Kermit's name I would probably find you down a dark alley and make you regret your words. I'm not a strong guy but I fight dirty. I'd fight for Kermit.

Anyway, Jason Segel is attempting to make the first big budget Muppet film in several years in an attempt to return the team to the top.

Notice my word attempt.

It's early days but this trailer is not a good sign. Check out my review and said trailer by clicking the Muppet on the left.

Charity That Looks Great On A Wall

For those who don't know, The Hero Initiative is a wonderful charity organisation designed solely to help current or former comic book creators who find themselves ill and in need of medical help or in grave financial straights. As so often is the case these days, many people find themselves in trouble without a support net and the Hero Initiative try to be that support net for those in the comic book industry.

As Stan Lee has said "When you give whatever you can spare to HERO, you mustnt think of it as just a donation. Think of it, instead, as a small payback to talented and deserving comicbook creators, now down on their luck, who have brought all of us so much reading pleasure for so many years. Its far more than charity. Its a way for all of us to say — Thanks."

As an ardent reader of comics over the past few years I thought I would follow their blog in hopes of at some point finding a moment I could contribute. That moment arose last month when I saw this article and read about artist Josh Medors. He's battling a rare form of cancer in his spine and the treatment is incredibly expensive. In order to help pay for the treatment he, along with help from the Hero Initiative, made a limited amount of prints for a piece of art based on one of my favourite Spider-man moments of all time.

In Amazing Spider-Man #33 (released all the way back in 1965) he finds himself trapped underneath massive machinery as the building caves in because of his fight with Doctor Octopus. His aunt May is dangerously sick and being cared for by Dr. Connors but her only hope of survival is a canister of syrum just out of Spider-man's reach.

Exhausted and battered, he somehow finds the strength to carry on.

More than anything I've ever read of the character, this is the core of who Spider-man is. Yes, his origin lies intertwined with radioactive spiders and a tragic end to his uncle but that's how Peter Parker became Spider-man. But this is who he is. No matter how bad things get, he finds a way to keep going.

And this story couldn't be more appropriate for Josh to use as his inspiration. Because the cancer is affecting his spinal column he has suffered numbness in his extremeties and yet he has still managed to create this amazing interpretation of Steve Ditko's original cover (and betters it, in my opinion).

After a couple weeks waiting it finally arrive today! I'm so happy to be able to buy this signed print from Josh and it will take a proud place on my wall for many years to come. I hope to hear some good news about his condition some day and pray that things get better for him soon.

For more information on the good work The Hero Initiative does and to donate please visit http://heroinitiative.org/. We all get endless amounts of joy from comics so please give back a little to the folks who need it from us now.

And while I'm at it, go back and read Stan Lee and Steve Ditko's run on Spider-man in the 60s. It makes you remember why you got into comics in the first place.

Update

I recognize that my posts have been very thin on the ground lately. May has turned out to be a sucky month for me.

I attended a funeral for my aunt last week and I have to move apartment next week. As a result, I just haven't had the time nor the will to be as whimsical and hilarious as I normally am.

However, I hope that once this moving business is over with things can go back to normal and I can finally finish off some of the fun little projects I've lined up but have so far failed to complete.

But on a positive note, do you remember the video I made for the band Cruachan? Well, since their new album was released (title: Blood On The Black Robe) the video for I Am Warrior has received over 6000 hits on youtube. Way to go, me!

Anyway, long story short, I'm not doing much right now. But that doesn't mean my friends are also lazy bums. Check out this video by Jay Wade Edwards (you'll also notice the fabulous Miss Lady Flex in the background). High-lairy-us.

Mars Needs Podcasts 108 - Thor's Day

CLICK TO LISTEN!

I once again guest on my pal JJs podcast to have a big long discussion (rant) about the new Thor film.

I have a good moan about some of the things that bugged me in the film, and what excited me, while JJ tries not to roll his eyes too much and tells me to get over it. Which, I'd like to think I do.

There are spoilers abound so if you haven't seen the film yet you should avoid this 'cast for the time being.

So to have a listen click the alien head to the left. Do it... FOR ASGARD!

Eurovision - The Countdown #3

Well, we're a week away and it's time to start taking a look at the contenders. Google offer a service to gauge the popularity of all the artists involved this year. They take the searches made from each country involved in the voting and assign points based on how often they're searched for. It's a clever way of predicting results and apparently they've been on the money the last few years.

It means that a certain Irish duo are going to walk it if this is accurate at all.


Now you might notice two previous participants in the top ten there. Lena, as previously mentioned, is back to defend her crown. But also returning is the previous winner Dana International (who I will talk about another day).

Today, why not, lets show the entry from Ireland. I actually like it... God help us all.

Tease Me, Baby! - Conan The Barbarian

The trailer reviewing continues. This week I thought I'd take a look at the rebooting of the Conan franchise.

Of course, when Arnie heard about this he was obviously shocked.

But you can find out what I think about it by click this link.... HERE.

Eurovision - The Countdown #2

Today I thought I'd highlight one of Ireland's 7 Eurovision winning songs. Ireland hold the record of winning the competition more than any other country and managed a massive three year winning streak in the 90s. We basically own this tournament.

I'll get to this year's entry another day but for now I thought I'd highlight my favourite of all our entries, 1994's winning song. It's called Rock 'n Roll Kids and was by Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan.

Enjoy!

Eurovision - The Countdown #1

Yes, the campest day of the year is coming up. May 14th the Eurovision will be back in our lives again and we can gay it up with the best of them. I personally can't wait so lets celebrate this nonsense with some videos on the lead up to the big day.

I'm going to start with last year's winner (and my personal pick in the annual Blur-O-Vison competition... more on that later) Germany. The singer was a young woman by the name of Lena with her song "Satellite". It's a catchy fecker so beware of the results once this gets into your noggin.

Poole's Polls: May 2011

CLICK ME!

The questions roll on. Last month, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air took the title of most catchy theme tune. This month, I ask the common people who is their favourite Avenger in anticipation of The Avengers movie coming out next year.

I know I have my favourite but the movies will skew that love a little as they come out. I think Marvel have been doing a great job with their adaptations and I'm excited to see what they do in the future.

But enough of my yammering. Vote already! Click Iron Man to do so.