Yes, It's Been Awhile

After wrapping my final (co-written) episode for Heroes season four, I decided to take a break from the entire internet-happy world for a few days (otherwise known as "a vacation"). But I'm back and ready to face 2010 with a smile in my heart and a bottle in my hand...

And I came back to a pile of cool stuff.

*Like District 9 and Paranormal Activity on Blu-Ray.

*A bunch (12!) of live-from-2009, totally authorized Elton John CDs from www.concertlive.co.uk.

*"Metal Box", an exact replica of Public Image's first release. I still have the vinyl version somewhere (three 12" records packed in a metal film-can like container), this is a smaller CD version. It's a great collection, and I love the way the otherwise discordant/throbbing set ends with a swelling, elegant instrumental piece that feels like score from a lost Stanley Kubrick movie.

*Yet another full-color collection of Steve Ditko comics, this one a big coffee-table-type book from Fantagraphics.

*News from Fletcher Hanks fanatic Paul Karasik that two and possibly three "new to us" Fletcher comics stories have been discovered. If you haven't discovered the genius that is Fletcher, rush to Amazon right now, search Paul's name and buy both reasonably priced collections.

*A fantastic piece of original art by DC comics master Curt Swan -- a Batman/Hostess Cupcakes ad/story where Batman tackles "The Crime Director", a film-director villain wearing an ascot who "directs" his goons to rob the "City Bank" by yelling "Roll 'em!" Only to be foiled when Batman distracts the thugs with a handful of Hostess cupcakes. I'm going to try this trick next time I'm faced with an unruly cast! To quote the flummoxed Crime Director, "You guys are breaking your contract!"

And I also came back invigorated and ready to tackle the feature projects on my plate. It looks to be another busy year, always a good thing in the spooky and uncertain world of TV and feature writing.

My Name Is Bruce Shares BSG's Network!

Saturday night, 9:00PM, on the SyFy (formally the "SciFi") Channel -- My Name Is Bruce makes it's glorious network television premiere! I'll be curious to see how they deal with some of the more, um, "colorful" language!

http://video.syfy.com/movies_events/syfy_saturday

It's Top TV Shows Of The Decade Time!

Battlestar Galactica comes in at #7 on this "top forty of the 2000's" list...

http://insidetv.aol.com/2009/12/07/feature-page-10-1/

Speaking Of Battlestar (and charity)...

My good friend Kelly Souders, currently executive producer of the fine television program Smallville, is the driving force behind an e-bay auction raising money for the African charity Heshima Kenya, an organization that works with refugee girls in Kenya. I've donated one of the Battlestar Galactica "cruise books", a fancy, full color hardcover book jam packed with rare photos and memories by the BSG cast and crew. This was produced for the wrap party of the series only, so this is a rare chance to grab one of these exquisitely produced pieces.

Bidding ends Sunday 12/13! Bid high and bid often! It's for a good cause!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Battlestar-Galactica-Cast-Crew-Yearbook-Orig-Sig_W0QQitemZ140365869093QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_
DefaultDomain_0?hash=item20ae753025

Proof Of Goodness In The World Vol. 10

So much goodness, so little time...

SCREENERS! You know what I'm talking about, Public Enemies, 500 Days Of Summer, A Serious Man, It's Complicated and Precious (so far)...

Mystery Science Theater 3000 XVI! With packaging designed by my good buddy Steve Vance and complete with a toy Tom Servo, who cares about the movies? This is just fun.

Alter Ego Magazine! Issue #90 just came out, jam-packed with the usual plethora of information on comics old and new. This issue features pieces on Kirby inking master Joe Sinnott, Stan Lee in the 1940's... every issue is an encyclopedic collection of facts and fun. Edited by Roy Thomas, available from TwoMorrows at www.twomorrows.com. In these tough economic times small publishers need our financial support more than ever, so buy subscriptions!

Belgian movie posters! Check out http://www.emovieposter.com for their weekly sales of movie posters/lobby cards and other film related "stuff." Even if you don't buy anything, it's fun to look through the hundreds of different poster designs. I've been picking up a few foreign posters recently, which have the benefit of usually being cheaper than the more famous U.S. versions, but are sometimes way cooler. I just picked up Belgian/German painted posters of The Monolith Monsters (one of my favorite Universal horrors from the '50's), Hammer's Curse of the Werewolf ("La Nuit Du Loup Garou!") and a gorgeous painting for the Geo. Pal War Of The Worlds. But again, it's fun just to look!

Snatch (the movie) on blu-ray! Probably my favorite Brad Pitt performance, babbling incomprehensible jargon to a pack of fairly incompetent gangsters. This is a movie I can watch again and again... I'd love to see an entire feature dedicated to the character "Bricktop."

The Cowsills first CD, from the original masters, with a 24 page color (or "colour" as our overseas friends spell it) with eight bonus tracks. They were the inspiration for the Partridge Family and have since been marred by tragedy (one of the Cowsill brothers died during Katrina), but they sure produced some great, "wholesome" pop...

More goodness soon!!

Tootin' My Own Horn... Battlestar Edition

Time Magazine has posted their best TV shows of 2009 list, and Battlestar Galactica came in 5th, while my episode "The Oath" (with "Blood on the Scales") made the critic's honorary mention list. Sah-weet...

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1945379_1944142_1944152,00.html

Next!

Been a little while since I "blogged"... it's been one of those very busy, busy times. I've been wrapping up my work on season four of Heroes and spent some of last week enjoying the exceptional thesping of our cast. Since we are sworn to secrecy on a stack of legal contracts not to reveal plot details, I won't... but I think my final ep of the season, "The Art Of Deception", co-written with the exceptional Misha Green (though she'll probably take exception to that) is looking really swell.

Meanwhile, work continues on rewrites on various feature projects. I read someone somewhere wondering if "Ark", the movie I'm doing with Dark Horse and Neal Moritz, had gone to the great development hell in the sky. The answer is a definite "no." I've been reworking that one for awhile -- it's still active with a capital "A."

And in other news, I'm about to sit down with the inimitable Bruce Campbell to discuss the possibility of more epic collaborations. Probably not a sequel to "My Name Is Bruce" (one's plenty!), but maybe we can come up with some other form of motion picture mayhem to inflict on America. Because the world needs MORE BRUCE...