Pop Tortes

I don’t really see how this will work.  Trademark rights require using the mark in commerce, and I just don’t see the organizers having the money to begin buying and distributing merchandise, nor do I see a market for merch, seeing how the basis of the protest is lack of money.  Although they at least have a better claim to use of the name than these people.

According to The A.V. Club, Joss Whedon already has another movie lined up.  This from a man who is still working on post-production for The Avengers and Much Ado About Nothing, and has another film, Cabin in the Woods, (nearly?) read for release.

The new film, In Your Eyes, will be written by Whedon and produced by his new production company, Bellwether Pictures.*  The news of this new production company has been announced previously with the stories about Much Ado About Nothing, but I wasn’t sure whether it was simply formed to produce that film quickly and secretly, or if he intended to use it for more films.  Fortunately, it looks like the latter is true.  And while I was hoping he might take on another Shakespeare play next, especially after the Stratford-on-Hellmouth night, any new story from Whedon is cause for celebration.

*Is Mutant Enemy still around?

What Shakespeare play would you like to see Joss tackle next?

I this artist while in Las Vegas last year.  Vladimir Kush has a gallery in Caesar’s Palace, along with another in Vegas, one in California, and one in Maui.  I walked in, not sure what to expect, and was blown away by the beauty and depth of his works.  Not only is he very skilled at working with color, light effects, and depth, but all of his works present some visual representation of a phrase or idea.  The above painting, which was my favorite of the ones I saw in the gallery (no easy feat, as I liked nearly all of them, each for very different reasons), is called Doors of Night, and represents William Blake’s statement about the “doors of perception.”

This one, Fauna in La Mancha, examines the story of Don Quixote, who “tilted at windmills,” believing them to be monsters.  This painting examines a beauty in madness by making the windmill blades giant butterflies, which are a recurring motif in Kush’s paintings.

Finally, “Tide of Time” represents the idea of time “flowing” by making an hourglass shape out of mountains and presenting time past as flowing water and the sky as the uncertain, limitless future.

Kush has also done some compilation paintings in which he takes the subjects from multiple paintings and places them into a new panoramic painting to illustrate a new metaphor.

Some of his works are a tad esoteric, but all of them are absolutely beautiful.

I’ve been playing catch-up on NBC’s Community, finally watching it after it entered its third season despite its critical praise and modest cult following (two things that are usually TV catnip for me).  So far, it hasn’t been as good as I had been led to believe, but the bar was set so high that I doubt it could have been.  And for a show with as high highs as it has, “not as good” is still pretty damn good.  Last night, I saw the season 2 Christmas episode, “Abed’s Uncontrollable Christmas,” and was blown away by both the deep story and cast’s singing abilities.  I mentioned this on Twitter, which led to a discussion about Community’s rivalry with Glee.

I watched Glee throughout its first season; the pilot certainly had problems, but overall I thought it had the potential to be an incredible story of misfits putting on a facade of happiness to get through the hell that is high school.  (For a show that expertly and realistically portrays the high school experience, there is nothing better than the canceled-far-too-soon Freaks and Geeks.)  The first half of Glee’s first season was good to great, despite one of the worst storylines ever, but the back half was, in my opinion, terrible and I jumped ship.

This article came out after I quit Glee and before I started watching Community, so I didn’t read it until now.  The writer posits that the two shows have more in common than you’d think, which really says a lot based on how differently the two shows have been received by critics and fans.  What makes it even stranger is the rivalry I mentioned; apparently, Community creator Dan Harmon is a bit miffed that his critical darling barely struggles to get by each season while a show that is wildly inconsistent has become a cultural juggernaut.*  However, the writer makes a very good case for how they are similar in terms of style, if not substance, and points out the elements that Community has which Glee lacks, giving the former its critical acclaim, and the elements that Community lacks which Glee has, giving the latter its large fanbase.

*As the article points out, the Glee cast have had more singles hit No. 1 on Billboard than Elvis Presley, and if you click the link for that story, the reader learns they have also had more No. 1’s than The Beatles.  In addition, the cast made a 3D concert movie.

Every day this week, I’ll be posting one installment of my favorite XKCD “storyline,” The Race.  Featuring stick figure Nathan Fillion.

I’ve only read about 15 pages so far, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen.  I found it on io9. and was drawn in by the artwork.  Nothing much has happened yet, but it looks like it’s going to be a fun adventure tale, with cool tech thrown in for good measure.