Buenaventura Press gives us this neat set of prints that sums up all the characters you need for an epic tale. So if any you were writing one (as I know all of you are), and you thought you might be missing a dancing bear or hermit, and also you needed another stock character to pair them with, here you go. The artist is Scotsman cartoonist and illustrator Tom Gauld.

h/t i.t.

Best enjoyed with a chirpy yet slightly sarcastic Midlands English accent.
I’ll admit that the thought of niche writings’ place in the world had never really struck me as a minor force until a couple of days ago, when my ideas and thoughts in this area of games journalism were critiqued by who I’m starting to believe was the editor of a high profile gaming magazine. Now I’m a gamer, however my passions extend beyond just playing games, and into the area of game development, and thus I have a lot of ideas and concepts floating around in my head that often need to vocalise themselves, so I started a blog as that outlet. So every week up feel obliged to share with the world, some of the subtle game design intricacy, usually involving Stalker, or the philosophical grounding of volumetric lighting. Yet apparently I’m an oddity.

From what I established from this chap’s thoughts, professional games journalism should really be kept to a maximum of high profile consumer oriented reviews, and I can hardly blame him, it’s his business and I very much respect his opinion. But when he began saying that examining aspects of games beyond the games delivery itself is hackneyed and cliché, it really made me wonder just what he was expecting from his readers, and from the general gaming population. Once again, this is business, he has to make educated decisions every day in order to maintain a high level of consumer oriented journalism; people buy game magazines to read about games, and read reviews of games, but what seemed like a bit of a discredit to the journalists who explore a wider range of game, and game development related subjects beyond the classic review led me to ask the question; are people really interested in reading this stuff?

Some (and quite some) time back a little online magazine called Gamers Quarter released a quad-annual pdf/paper based magazine for the sole purpose of sharing their passion with the world, and to gather a fan base of like-minded people who would understand their plights and enjoy their material, and it was a great magazine. It worked in a similar way to a lot of game magazines, in the sense that it had articles related to all sorts of game-y stuff, but the thing that I found particularly captivating about it was its style.

The first ever gamers quarter column I read was a (not a) review of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in which the author, Amandeep Jutla wrote of his emotional experience with the game, and his intentions to not strictly review it because it was “above subjectivity”. There is no way this piece of writing could possibly condensed into a paragraph that would it justice, but to put it short, it was a genuine paradigm shift in my approach to games journalism; One that I have yet to do justice. In this article, he approaches the game from an interesting and intellectually grounded standpoint by making observations of the game’s subtleties, its intentions and its motives, and ties it all together into one coherent, and thoroughly enjoyable read. The reason why I found this particular piece, and many to come so captivating was because the writer was able, and willing to demonstrate that they had a meaningful connection with the subject matter, and were given the free will to express this.

The motive to deviate from established writing methodologies fascinated me as I’d never really read material that delved so deeply into the emotional experiences attached to the true, unyielding passion of the writers who poured their deepest ideas into these articles; creating works that escaped established conventions by adding the personal touches to reviews and critical examinations that made them special, that made them enjoyable.

I’m not at all saying that basic, conclusive games journalism should disappear since there is a high demand for slick reviews, and at the end of the day, somebody needs to give a score to the people. I’m merely commenting on how, I would almost go as far as to say foolish, it would be to completely discredit the integrity, and potential reader base of a more involved, personal style of journalism that goes beyond merely discuss the game; and I think this kind of writing is becoming rapidly more popular.

Sites like The Escapist are dedicated to delivering a consistent stream of very interesting and entertaining articles, always with the intention of allowing the writer to give their personal flavour to an essay, enabling it to become a much more dynamic piece of writing. Through a more diverse writing style, and a heavy mix of the writer’s emotional involvement with the game, creating what I feel is a more honest exploration of an “experience” rather than just a review.

The internet is a diverse place often free from the constraints and obligations of the printed media, something that even tends to be acknowledged in a lot of online journalism allowing it to become a more colourful style. Sure there will always be the most basic opinion delivery services, but I don’t think we should allow our minds to become bogged down to the point where we’re creating our own criteria for what is acceptable since it will only squander the sea of talent that yearns to express itself.

Today, is a day of Coldplay… They are songs as this lead us to the horizon of life… Why? I don’t know again…

It’s been a while since I started this blog and, let’s be frank, I’ve made a lot of promises, making good on some, and completely neglecting to fulfill others. One of these promises I made in writing the mission statement to this blog, “A Gentleman’s Mission,” and also in writing the very subtitle you see at the top of this blog everyday. That is, I have called this a blog with a focus on three things: Music, Food & Drink, and Literature. This is not to say that what I have written is without any literary merit, but, really, it has had nothing to do with literature. So today that changes, with a new feature I would like to call, “Booked Solid”.

Dedicated to the books that grab your attention and keep it, until you’re (drum roll…) Booked Solid (rim shot!), Booked Solid is about the paper snacks you devour in one sitting, the modest meals you finish in a matter of days, or the banquets upon which you feast for weeks, even months. Any book that consumes, and is in turn consumed, is one worthy of Booked Solid.

The first installment: Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay.

One of three covers for The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon

Michael Chabon, a Pulitzer Prize-winner and all-around whiz kiz whose masters thesis was immediately published upon his graduation and revered as a nifty slice of genius, is, by all accounts, a damn good writer. Kavalier & Clay is no exception.

Widely considered Chabon’s masterpiece, the novel follows the lives to two fictitious characters, Sammy Klayman, a Jewish Brooklynite with big dreams and bigger stories, and Joseph Kavalier, Sammy’s cousin, a Czech-born artist who “immigrates” (you will see just what I mean) to the U.S. in search of modest success and the money necessary to help his family escape from Nazi-occupied Prague, as they both attempt to realize a dream in a very real time. Including encounters with notable celebrities like Orson Wells, Salvador Dali, Stan Lee and Max Baer, the novel is steeped with the perils and privileges of American Pop Culture, laden with themes of bigotry, Pre and Post-War America, homosexuality, the American Dream, and packed so full of substance you can almost feel all 700+ pages struggling to rip themselves from their binding.

This is, indisputably, a book for the ages and destined to be viewed as one of the greatest novels of the 21st century. It may be long, but it sucks you in, destroys your sense of time, and ushers you along on an incredible journey through a remarkable era, one of the Second World War and the Golden Age of comic books. Each read is consistently satisfying and joyful, rife with Chabon’s exceptional wit, dazzling turns of phrase and seemingly limitless vocabulary.

I implore you to set aside some time, get comfortable, lay down with this and really, really book yourself. While, to many including myself, this book will be seen, and hefted, as quite an undertaking, getting to know these magnificent characters, the world in which they live, and accompanying them on their amazing adventures (pun intended) is, in a massive understatement, time well booked.

Sorry, blog!  I know it’s been a while, but I’ve been busy catching up with everything I missed this week while sick.  As a gesture of apology, the next post will focus entirely on scantily clad women.

This was the first year for Pennsylvania’s new gaming affair, GameX.  Held in the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center near Valley Forge National Park, it was a bit out of the way for convention-goers more accustomed to metropolitan travel, but the expo still managed to attract a large number of attendees.  This may be due in part to GameX’s attempt to appeal to multiple crowds within gaming culture.

For the casual gamers who love to play with friends, there was a large Bring Your Own Computer area, the Alienware Arena, a bay of 98 Alienware PCs loaded with games and open to everyone, and as well as a ring of Xbox 360s and Playstation 3 running mostly fighting games hosted by the GXL team.

Competitive PC players had three gauntlets to run in the Alienware Arena in Team Fortress 2, Flash Point: Dragon Rising, Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare, and Unreal Tournament 3.  Console fans could duke it out in Street Fighter 4, Halo 3, BlazBlue, and more at the GXL booth or try their hands at Smash Brothers and Rock Band 2 on the main stage with the ladies of PMS Clan.  Prizes ranged from t-shirts and cases of energy drinks to hundreds of dollars and three real Epiphone guitars!

Just interested in looking around?  GameX has you covered there too!  Industry panels and exclusive screenings ran all weekend in the theatre room and the Artists’ Alley and Steampunk Gallery both had some amazing and funny pieces on display (and for sale!).  Gaming celebrities like The Escapists’ famous fast-talking Aussie critic Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw from Zero Punctuation and several cast members of the popular web show The Guild were on-hand to chat and sign autographs in the red carpet section.

Interactive booths from Ubisoft, MSI, Hi-Rez Studios, Dante’s Inferno and Warhammer Online, Turtle Beach,  and more ringed the walls and dotted the showcase floor, offering attendees lots of free swag and exclusive gameplay opportunities.  Other companies like RockyBid.com, Dust-Off, Bawls, and Steel Series offered great deals on products and services.  There were displays from local robotics teams and local Jedi teams. And just when you thought the day was over, live bands took over the main stage to serenade the attendees with game-inspired ballads and mash-ups of well-known game soundtracks.

As a special treat for industry insiders and the hard-working volunteers, there were several VIP parties once the doors closed on the convention hall each night.  While many enjoyed the upscale wine and cheese soiree on Friday night, I loved the bouncing between the GameX and The Escapists’ parties at Arnold’s Family Fun Center on Saturday.  Laser tag, bumper cars, beer, and Bawls: everything a gamer could ask for to unwind!

GameX has already posted their 2010 date (October 22^nd-24^th for those wondering) so I hope it’s safe to say this event will be around to enjoy again.  I look forward to seeing how the convention grows, if it changes spaces, and what it has in store for the future!

I was searching through the internet for video game reviews, as examples of how to and not to review games, and for making a decision on what games I should go to Gamestop, Slackers or the local Game Trader to buy, when I came a upon a quirky review known as Zero Punctuation.

Zero Punctuation is a weekly, animated video review of video games animated and narrated by Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, for the online video game publication, The Escapist. The Escapist covers video games, gamers, the gaming industry and gaming culture.

Croshaw is a British video game journalist currently living in Australia, and his reviews reflect this nature. Zero Punctuation is written in, what I consider to be, a refreshingly overly critical manner for games felt to be hyped upon or given too much slack by big budget reviewers.

This is especially true of his reviews for games which are put out to continue a long-lived franchise, like ones featuring Mario, Sonic, Master Chief or Solid Snake, and do not change or improve their gameplay mechanics greatly or have not addressed problems that were prevalent in previous iterations.

By contrast, Zero Punctuation is animated in the style of Flash animation, with a narration style from which the title gets its name: literally with zero punctuation. At times the review is so fast-spoken, that I have to watch it a second or third time just to catch all the words.

The animations act out the narrative, often to hilarious ends, like when describing how utterly repetitive and lame the electrical attacks of the game inFamous are to the gory claws, fists and tentacle attacks of Prototype, the onscreen avatar representing the hero of inFamous is impaled in a slapstick manner by the hero of Prototype.

The animation is all done in a minimalistic style, similar to how the cartoons are done in the Lindenwood Legacy, interspaced with video clips from the game being reviewed and sometimes with live action from Croshaw.

What I found most refreshing about Zero Punctuation was that while the reviews may seem overly critical, they make you realize that even though you may own ten or twenty games (fifty for me), only three or four (eight here) of those are ones you that hold precious memories spent with friends or for some reason keep you coming back to play on a consistent basis.

You may own five sports games and four first person shooters, including Halo 3 and Madden 2010, but Zero Punctuation makes you realize that the Duke Nukem 3D that you co-oped on with three of your buddies over Xbox Live Arcade was so much more worth the money.

The Escapist Issue 214: My Player One and Only (8.7.2009)

I am nearing seeing one thousand five hundred different movies in my life. I’m at 1495 and will review the last few films until I reach the milestone of 1500. The first on the list The Escapist. A little gem of an Irish Film.

Year: 2008

Writer: Rupert Hyatt & Daniel Hardy

Director: Rupert Hyatt

Cast: Brian Cox (from X2, Bourne Supremacy, Adaptation, The Ringer), Joseph Fiennes (Running with Scissors, Shakespeare in Love, Enemy at the Gates), Seu Jorge (City of God, Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), Dominic Cooper (The Duchess, Mamma Mia!, The History Boys)

Opening Shot: Medium Shot of Brian Cox. It’s lit from above. It cuts between this and black for the first 30 secs. Cox is looking down, rather forlorn.

Let me put you in the right mood to watch The Escapist. It takes place in a prison and is about a few of the prisoners’ attempted escape. It will immediately draw comparisons with Shawshank Redemption, but Shawskank it is not. We’re dropped into what we find out is the escape attempt. Jospeh Fiennes’ Lenny Drake waits ready to swing a pipe to dig through a shower drain with Seu Jorge’s Viv Batista and Liam Cunningham’s Brodie. The mood is tense based on the music and the handheld camera shots. We’re then thrown into the prison where Brian Cox’s Frank Perry, Damian Lewis’s Rizza, Lenny, Viv, Brodie, along with others all have certain roles and relationships with each other that change when the new prisoners arrive. The new prisoner we focus on is Dominic Cooper’s Lacey who becomes Frank’s cellmate after his cellmate dies. The basic plot is that Frank Perry must escape from his life sentence because he has just found out that his little girl has fallen deathly ill.

Every so often the mostly static shots of the prison give way to the handheld suspense of the breakout. This keeps up the pace and makes the ending so much better. Some of you who see it may be able to call the ending outright but I went along with the yarns of the story and was pleasantly surprised. The ending, without giving anything away (except by drawing attention to it), works on its own and makes the movie better like a good ending should. Even without the ending the movie would be enjoyable. The acting is pretty solid. It’s well shot and the cinematography adds to the differing parallel plots. The time period is very pastiche. There is no way to tell the time period because of the lack of windows in the prison.

Grade: B-

It started out innocently enough. A bipedal lizard that shot eggs out of his mouth wanted nothing more than to be a girl, so he wore a bow on top of his head.

According to the instruction book for Super Mario Bros. 2, released in 1988, the mini-boss Birdo “thinks he is a girl and spits eggs from his mouth. He’d rather be called ‘Birdetta.’” It seems like a harmless distinction, but this simple act of cross-dressing was soon erased from the history books. In all subsequent Mario releases, Birdo is referred to as a female, completely ignoring his gender confused roots.

Birdo isn’t alone, though. He’s just one of a long line of Japanese videogame characters forced to hide their true sexual identity when their games are localized for a North American audience. While Japanese gamers have been exposed to characters of various sexual orientations, the practice is only just starting to catch on in the West. In the past, games have been changed or censored if they contained such content. Some were never released in America at all.

Read the complete article in The Escapist.

“Even before Doom titillated PC gamers with droves of satanic space demons and the advent of graphic chainsaw dismemberment, the small band of renegade developers that created it seemed hell-bent on making waves in the gaming world. The original Wolfenstein 3D was highly controversial for its time and paved the way for much gaming depravity yet to come.Wolfenstein RPG is a much appreciated nod to the formative days of the first-person shooter genre.”

Check out the full review here at The Escapist.

“Zubo definitely possesses a certain “what the hell” factor. It’s a game that’s been marketed to kids, but it’s not based on any pre-existing gaming franchise or movie tie-in schlock. It looks cutesy, but it’s actually one of the more creatively designed and visually impressive games on the system in some time. It smashes together rhythm game elements and a turn-based RPG battle system – two things traditionally reserved for titles geared toward more hardcore audiences – with cushy adventure exploration in a way that’s mostly clever and humorous. At the same time, you’ll find fluff mini-games, a monster-battling collection element and tiresome fetch quests scattered about. Zubo clearly suffers from a bit of an identify crisis, yet this quirky mish-mash of styles and ideas surprisingly works in its favor.

Check out the full review here at The Escapist.

I know I promised to present a list of characters from the new Dissidia: Final Fantasy, but honestly this feels like a big cop-out for me, like some kind of terrible excuse for being terribly lazy.  I was planning on using that for Friday’s update.  Here is a lovely review that I found floating around the Escapist forums and it made think why I even bother doing this stuff when there are people making easy to read yet full reviews on a forum.  Anyways here’s the shiny link.

It’s this sort of thing that reminds me why I joined up with the Escapist Magazine forum community.  A majority of the people are average to nearly hardcore gamers who just talk about games or other topics and the moderators are quick to bust down spammers, hackers and trolls.  I really enjoy being a part of it and the forum isn’t to confusing if your fairly competent with these sort of sites.  I usually find myself lost at 4chan.org as I really have no idea what half the lingo is and if you don’t spend hours a day on the internet for fun the DO NOT go to 4chan.  I promise you will most likely regret it.  This isn’t to say 4chan is bad, just a bit disturbing at times…

What were we talking about? Right, Escapist.  The Escapist is also home to the infamous Zero Punctuation and a number of other great internet shows about diffrent games.  If your a D&D fan I would highly recommend Unforgotten Realms, which is the epic tale of Sir Schmoopy of Awesometon, the dual nunchuk-wielding sorcerer and Eluamous Nailo, Master Wizard in training (AKA Rob and Mike).  I’m also a huge fan of Unskippable which just takes the ever so long intro scenes from games and adds a Mystery Science Theater style commentary.

I guess I found what this post is going to be about…  Anyways, here is a video for your viewing pleasure and sign up with Escapist if your a big gamer cause I genuinely think you wont be disappointed….

Unskippable: Lost Planet

Also I’m disappointed in some one because I can’t seem to figure out how to embed a video without it being from Youtube.  I really don’t know who to be disappointed in, either with WordPress from not letting me embed this, with Escapist for making their embed code wrong, or me for being this incompetent with the whole system…

Not out ’til Monday, but if you’re a member, you can listen to the whole thing at muse.mu (and see the lyrics), otherwise you can hear it all at The Guardian.

Here’s what I think:

Uprising – You’ve probably already heard this. It provides a good thumping start to the album and was quite a good sing-along at Teignmouth, but it’s currently my least favourite song on the album, I like the vocals in the verse, but the chorus is kinda boring, and I don’t like the high pitched Doctor Who sound. Plus it goes on a bit, it would annoy me less if it stopped at around 3 minutes rather than 5.

Resistance – This reminds me of Starlight, but it’s better (imho). The lyrics are clearly influenced by Orwell’s 1984 (“You’ll wake the Thought Police”), and is Matt going a bit soft? (“Love is our resistance”)

Undisclosed Desires – If you don’t like bands to change, and just wanted Muse to make Origin of Symmetry again, this probably isn’t for you. If the vocals in the chorus were a bit more upbeat, I could imagine it being played in a club. It’s a step further in the progression from classic Muse beyond Supermassive Black Hole and Map of the Problematique. I like it.

United States of Eurasia (+Collateral Damage) – Muse pay homage to Chopin and Queen in the same song using the Arabic scale (that’s what Zane Lowe calls it anyway, I’m not sure about the technical accuracy, but it gives you an idea). The lyrics came from Matt reading Zbigniew Brzezinski’s The Grand Chessboard, in which a former U.S. Presidential Advisor tells how the U.S. deliberately acts to stop Eurasia uniting because of a fear that, should it happen, a war with the U.S. would be inevitable.

Guiding Light – Apparently if you isolate the drums you can hear a neighbour knocking on the door to ask them to turn the volume down. This is a fist clenching power ballad. Imagine Matt singing for Journey or Boston with a Brian May guitar solo. I’m a fan.

Unnatural Selection – This seems to be a favourite with other reviewers, it doesn’t appeal to me so much. I like the organ intro and the various riffs throughout the song (although the main riff could be a bit too similar to New Born). What I don’t like is the vocals, Matt’s voice in the verses annoys me, as does something about the “Counter balance this commotion…” bit which I can’t quite pinpoint. The rest of the vocals are alright, but pretty standard for Muse. I don’t get the middle section either. Maybe it’ll grow on me.

MK Ultra – This is reminiscent of Thoughts of a Dying Atheist, but again it’s better (again imho). Like the previous song there’s some Metallica-esque riffage going on. Not sure what else to say about it.

I Belong to You (+ Mon Cœur S’Ouvre à Ta Voix) – Again, if you’re not open to different styles, you probably won’t like this. It features some French lyrics and a clarinet solo, and, as far as I know, the first use of the word ‘muse’ in a Muse song. I like a bit of Jazz occasionally and I like this.

Exogenesis Symphony – Exogenesis is a name for the theory that life started elsewhere in the universe and spread to Earth; in this story the opposite happens as we’ve ruined this planet beyond repair and must start again somewhere else.

The strings on Part 1 (Overture) sound very familiar, but I can’t think where from, so I’ll make do with comparing to Blackout off of Absolution (which also includes an electric guitar part of a similar style), but with a bit more urgency. Matt questions ‘Who are we? Where are we? When are we? Why are we in here?’ and sings of being trapped and unforgiving in a voice that reminds me of Micro Cuts.

Part 2 (Cross-Pollination) begins with a piano part not dissimilar to the middle of Butterflies and Hurricanes and ‘You must rescue us all’ doesn’t sound all that different to ‘Best, you’ve got to be the best’. Sounding like one of the best Muse songs from previous albums wouldn’t have been all that great if it was too similar, thankfully that’s not the case.

Part 3 (Redemption) is sort of a happy ending (it’s actually about a new beginning), which actually reminds me a little bit of Coldplay’s The Escapist in a way.

In conclusion, at the moment it’s my favourite Muse album and therefore one of my favourite albums full stop (or period for any Americans who might be reading this. Ironically I’m not ending the sentence yet, so it’s actually a comma), although both of those statuses are likely to change over time, and probably come back again, and change again, and return again.

If you like Muse, I think you should like this (not that you necessarily will, I just think you should) and if you didn’t like Muse before I wouldn’t expect this to change your mind, but I have used at least two words in this review that I wouldn’t have used before in connection with Muse: ‘clarinet’ and ‘happy’, so I guess you could go either way.

I listened to most of the songs a few times while looking at other websites and they didn’t do much for me, I got much more into it when I could read the lyrics and properly concentrate on listening to it.

I apologize to my those who actually check this site cause I’ve been  behind on these posts.  Hell today’s post was suppose to be up yesterday, but I’ve been playing a little game called “I need to do my damned homework before I flunk out of college”… anyways enjoy yesterday’s/today’s post…

Its a Wednesday (was a Wednesday) and these days are my favorite days.  For those who are regular views or the internet extrrrravaganza that is Zero Punctuation will also share this sentiment.  For those who don’t know ZP or the fast-talking video game destroyer Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, it’s time to enlighten you.  Zero Punctuation is a video review series created Ben Croshaw and is featured on The Escapist Magazine website, which is a video game oriented site with forums for those who are regular visitors.  Yahtzee, who’s avatar is shown on the right, is a British-born, currently Australian based writer and gamer who not only contributes to the online world with his hilarious view on reviewing games, but also designs freeware games and writes for PC Gamer, another well known gamer magazine.

Of course, as the skeptics that gamers tend to be, here is proof that Zero Punctuation is worth a visit every Wednesday… is what I would be saying if I could get the video to embed into this blog.  Anyways, here a shiny link to the video I was TRYING to get in here.  I’ll also include a link to both Zero Punctuation here and a link to Yahtzee’s web page Fully Ramblomatic.com

I’m still looking for new suggestions of reviews people would like to see up so drop a comment or if you know me in person, drop a comment because I’ll forget otherwise…

CLICK HERE TO VIEW

Director:
Rupert Wyatt

Writers:
Daniel Hardy (writer)
Rupert Wyatt (writer)

Thriller

Frank Perry is an institutionalized convict fourteen years into a life sentence without parole. When his estranged daughter falls ill, he is determined to make peace with her before it’s too late. He develops an ingenious escape plan, and recruits a dysfunctional band of escapists – misfits with unique skills required for their daring plan and united by desire to escape their hell hole of an existence. Much of the action takes place within the tunnels, sewers and underground rivers of subterranean London.

Roleplaying: Evolved – The Escapist

Roleplaying games are less about the manipulation of playing pieces on a physical or virtual board and more about the changes brought about and experienced by players as they negotiate a game world with verisimilitude. This avatar-centric, non-competitive gaming subspecies is a bit harder to see in the uni-browed predecessors of the modern RPG than today’s bleeding-edge games.

Starstruck: a Benefit for “Gentleman Gene” Colan at The Henry Miller Library, Big Sur. The original off-Broadway sci-fantasy comedy, and basis for the Elaine Lee/Michael Kaluta comic book series, presented for the first time in 25 years!

Saturday, August 15: 6:30pm reception, 7:30pm performance. $12.80 advance admission, $20.00 at the door. Silent auction! Libations! United Federation of Freedom Fighters! www.henrymiller.org to make reservations.

Featuring Lance Roger Axt, Victoria Blaszczak, Arden Eaton, Renee Infelise, Ami-Sue Lawless, David Manchel, Geoff Mutch, Barbara Smythe, and Jennie Tezak, with Lance Roger Axt, Rob Eaton, and David Manchel on SFX. Special guests: Elaine Lee (Starstruck’s creator) and painter Lee Moyer (colorist of the new series from IDW Publishing).

So we’re in the home stretch re: the warm-up reading/benefit of Starstruck at The Henry Miller Library. There have been major cast changes in just the last two weeks with actors joining and then quitting and then joining and then quitting…and people say actors are flakey…but as you can see from the above cast list, we have our cast finalized, I’m right now pulling SFX, and we went through Act 2 earlier in the day…so it’s coming together. We also have a few more items for the silent auction!

Okay, here’s a question for you: we have Starstruck lined up for next year. We have quite a few adaptations in the pipeline with the aformentioned publisher in San Diego (secret identity to be revealed soon…), and once again, here is our wish list:

Doc Savage, The Escapist, Arrowsmith, The Dresden Files, The Elementals, A Killing in Comics, Torso, Coyote, American Flagg!, The Looking Glass Wars, The Waiting Place, Watchmensch, Grimjack, Ignition City, Jon Sable: Freelance, The Pilgrim, Hawaiian Dick, Noble Causes, Tarzan, John Carter of Mars, Buckaroo Banzai, The Metamorphosis Odyssey/Dreadstar, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, The Goon, Moonshadow, Spawn, Battle Hymn, Grendel, Ghost, Zenith, Madman, Athena Voltaire, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Black Coat, Crossfire, Leave it to Chance, Miracleman (now Marvelman), the complete Lensman series, Sabre, The Spider, The Yellow Kid, Rip Kirby, The Saint, Terry and the Pirates, Mandrake the Magician, The Green Hornet, Doctor Solar: Man of the Atom, Ghost Zero, True Story Swear to God, Tor, the Defiant Comics line, THUNDER Agents, The Red Circle/MLJ Heroes, Mage, Rising Stars, Mr. Monster, Nexus, The Phantom, and eventually Astro City, Global Frequency, Steampunk, Planetary, The Authority, Hellblazer, Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, Shazam!, The New Gods, Batman, The Flash, Blackhawk, JSA, Capt. Britain and MI13, Werewolf by Night, Cloak and Dagger, Moon Knight, Daredevil, Captain America, Doctor Strange, Squadron Supreme, The Fantastic Four, and of course New York City’s friendly neighborhood wall-crawler…

Okay, so you know what we’re interested in. This is just the tip of the iceberg. There are hundreds, nay thousands of other titles out there. So our question of the day:

What comics. comic strips, and graphic novels, would YOU like to hear as full-cast state-of-the-art audio dramas? Let us know by responding below!

“From the full-on screeching audio assault of his former electronic noise-punk group, Atari Teenage Riot, to the varied arrangements of his solo work, German musician Alec Empire is well versed in the power of utilizing the sounds and aesthetic of videogames in his music. For close to two decades, his music and politics have been hard-edged, unforgiving and nothing short of revolutionary. One of the revolutions he inspired fits in the palm of your hand. Empire was among the earlier artists to adopt what has now become the audio weapon of choice in the digital underground: a Nintendo Game Boy.”

Check out the full article here at The Escapist.