just a quick thanks to everyone who attended the REACH artshow in dallas this past weekend! you all made me feel like a real superstar! i made good money at the show, and met tons of cool people!
if i can get my hands on some good photos, i'll post them here.
holla!
samax.
p.s. make sure you bounce over to www.artlovemagic.com and thank them for having me!
okay, i'm not the biggest 2Pac fan, but i think 2Pac -at his best- was a great communicator who put raw, naked emotion into his rhymes. and that's why people love him so much.
this YouTube joint by Priyal turns a Boondocks medley into a fresh new video for my favorite 2Pac song: Trapped (from Pac's debut plate, 2Pacalypse Now). oh yeah, and it has a samurai with an afro in an adidas suit...
jeauh!!
samax.
it took me awhile, but i finally got around to seeing Smokin' Aces recently... HO-LEE-CRAP! this is my favorite big-budget movie in a long while! the movie has a fabulous cast, a mixed bag of character actors, veterans, and newcomers (including the big screen debuts of both Common and Alicia Keys) scrambling around to find a spot in a crazy story reminiscent of Snatch or Pulp Fiction. speaking of stories, this one revolves around Vegas magician-turned Vegas gangster-turned Vegas snitch Aces Israel played intriguingly and economically by Jeremy Piven (Entourage, Runaway Jury, Family Man) that just about EVERYBODY else in the movie wants dead!
the small, colorful army of hired guns clapping for Israel includes the lovely and dynamic duo of Sharice Watters and Georgia Sykes, played to my delight by Taraji P. Henson (Hustle & Flow, Baby Boy, Four Brothers) and the magnificent Ms. Keys. the relationship between the militant, outspoken Sharice and the sultry, seductive Georgia would be fascinating even if they WEREN'T also flamboyent
freelance assassins... and they are! they are just the tip of the iceberg of weirdos in this movie that is worthy of a comicbook treatment, but that's quite a beautiful tip...
i could be wrong, but Common may just be the coolest muthafucka alive! Rockin' the goat and the baldie, he was on some ghetto Morpheus shit as Israel's menacing bodyguard Ivy. oh! and stay for the end credits to hear what i assume is a new song by Common, which if i had to bet, i would say was produced by the late J.Dilla (but it coulda been Kanye)... whoever produced that joint, it was outta this world!!
for the record: there ARE actually comics i read that DON'T get cancelled... NO FOR REAL!!! but as it turns out, NEXTWAVE is not one of them. yep... after just 12 issues, Nextwave went the way of the dodo, robert townsend, and redhead kingpin. i never saw it coming, and another comic i adored got the axe this month. 
too bad too... this was the funniest book in all of comics! and it was being produced by Marvel (can you believe it?)?!! Nextwave was written by superscribe Warren Ellis (Authority, Global Frequency, Planetary, Thunderbolts) with art by Stuart Immomen (Hulk, Ultimate X-men, Secret Identity), and was easily and honestly the funniest superhero book since Giffen and Macguire's Justice League (Slott and Bobillo's She-Hulk was pretty funny too...). Ellis took a bunch of also-ran characters from marvel's d-list dungeon and put them together on a superhero team, apparently for the sole purpose of mocking all the crappy storylines and ill-concieved characters in the companies 60-odd years of making comics... and it's FREAKIN' HILARIOUS!!! 
whether it's surmising about what's in Fin Fang Foom's giant shorts, the revalation that (former New Mutant, current Nextwave team member) Tabitha (aka Boom Boom) really doesn't think, Machine Man's obvious disdain for "fleshy ones" (humans), or Team Leader (and ex-Captain Marvel) Monica Rambeau's constant reminder that she usedta be a team leader in the Avengers, this book takes full advantage of all the weird twists and turns in major superhero comics continuity. On the Authorty and Planetary, Ellis has shown he knows how to strip-mine major comics history for post-modern story ideas, but he takes it to a NEW level when doing it for comedic effect in Nextwave!
and series artist Stuart Immomen has gone on from being just another Adam Hughes wannabe to develope a distinct, striking art style of his own that is worthy of ripping off! it's clear that this book would be hard to swollow in the hands of a lesser artist, but Stu makes it go down smooth as swedish brandy...
i didn't get any sleep last night... but i took time to read some comics! priorities... among them was the 3rd issue of StormWatch PHD. no, i doesn't stand for Pimpin' Hoes Daily, it stands for Post Human Division... this book is all about the (mostly) human cops who bust up supervillainy that sneaks by those grandstanding pretty boys in tights. at least that's what i gathered... i didn't get 1 or 2, but once i flipped through and saw the gorgeous art of Doug Mahnke (JLA, Frankenstien, Major Bummer), and read a few panels written by comics newcomer, screenwriter Christos Gage (Law And Order, SVU), i was hooked!
In this issue, the team heads to Vegas (no, not for the NBA All-star game...) to train PHD Las Vegas to combat beings " so far above you, they view you as a child. A pet. Or a piece of meat."
marvel puts out so many books, they can do limited series on characters who already HAVE a series... this time it's your boy Tony Stark aka Iron Man (not ghostface... the OTHER Tony Stark aka Iron Man), starring in IRON MAN: HYPERVELOCITY
, a six-issue mini by well-known american mangaphiles Adam Warren (Dirty Pair
, Livewires
, Empowered
) and Brian Denham (Killbox
). Hypervelocity takes a decidedly cyberpunk spin on the iron avenger: addressing his addiction to alcohol, high speed, high technology, and high end honeys...
"it's got spy crap in it. but in a good way!" that was all the recommendation i needed... see, my friend mike is a pretty good judge of what won't work for me in a comic. when he was gushing to me about his new favorite comic, The Losers (published by DC/vertigo), he said "i've never seen any comic do spy crap as well as they do it in film... until now. and (the artist) Jock is a fucking badASS!"
yeah... i'm, like, busy and stuff... i got an art show comin' up with those fine folks from ArtLoveMagic on the 24th in Dallas. tryin'a get more art ready for that... i'll definitely be sellin' prints and original art (paintings, comic pages, maybe sketches) there as well as doing art live. ALM is also producing a fancy-shmancy art book called The Book of Angels and Nightmares that will have art form James O'Barr (The Crow), myself (see the fresh wip [work in progress] on the left) and other artsy bastards, so stay tuned for more on that as the drop date approaches... i'm doing a takeover of Jungle Jem, the Jungle45 newsletter next month, so expect news on that here as well as my usual ramblings. read the previous newsletters including my article, "Brotha Got Bills" at the jungle45 myspace blog... you can buy Valentine's Day swag over at Ziontific. all orders placed on or before the 14th will earn you a free gift from yours truly!
to promote the new GhostRider flick comin' out next month, sony pictures waded through the nerds, geeks and weirdos (you may decide which category you wanna put me in) at the San Diego Comicon, and sat a bunch of us down to talk about the screen adaptation of everybody's favorite Spirit of Vengeance. so anyways, peep the video below, go to www.ghostRiderMovieBlog.com to vote for me as numero uno gR fan, and/or peep my original blog about the distiguished mr. Blaze by clicking the pic above...
the Seventies spawned many great people (like me!), piles of ugly clothes, and lots of funky music. in addition, Marvel cranked out a gang of great comic characters, such as danny rand, better known as Iron Fist. created in 1974, Iron Fist is a product of white people's apparent need to inject a blonde, blue eyed saviour type into the otherwise foreign and exotic adventures of the colored masses... in this case, the "oriental" world of high flying kung fu!
the short version: young Danny Rand finds himself in the mystical city of K'un L'un after his parents are slaughtered by the bad guys. seeking vengeance, he studies martial arts at the feet of Lei Kung "the Thunderer" and ascends the ranks to become Kung's most gifted disciple. He is thus granted the right to battle Shou-Lao (a giant mystical dragon, for the record), eventually slaying him and plunging his fists into the dragon's molten heart. Rand emerges from the slain dragon's chamber with the dragon's tattoo burned on his chest, and the power of the Iron Fist in his hands... (get more detail on the character here!) then, he becomes an ass-kickin' kung-fu superhero! NICE!
so anyways, there's a new Iron Fist series out by Ed Brubaker (Daredevil, Gotham City PD) and David Aja (Daredevil, Giant-Size Wolverine) called The Immortal Iron Fist that seeks to delve into the mythos of the cult marvel b-list hero. it looks great so far... by the way, there's also a movie starring Ray Park/Darth Maul in the works for 2008 release, directed by Steve Carr (Doctor Doolittle 2, Next Friday) of all people. 
versus called me out. i have been slack on my game lately in many areas, but none so inexcusable as my neglect to speak on the broadcast debut of 
comicon, where i shook hands with the muthaf!^#$n' Rza... anyways, now the mostly-lame spikeTV is airing the show, (10 o'clock thursdays where i rest... check your local listings kids...). it was my job to make sure you know about such things, and i dropped the ball like terrell owens. my bad. 
many a hip hopper considers Talib Kweli (the non-Mos Def half of Black Star) to be wack now... i'm not one of 'em. as such i was an easy sell for that new Talib Kweli/Madlib mixtape LIBeration (Ta-LIB... madLIB... get it?!?). i mean, it's a no-brainer! kweli rockin' it with hip hop's best kept secret, the magnaminous (i love that word... i don't know what it means, but i use it anyways) Madlib! 
click the cover image to read CrossBronx, by Ivan Brandon (NYC Mech) and Mike Avon Oeming (Powers, Hammer Of The Gods)
legendary Golden Age giant of american animation, Joseph R. Barbera passed away this Monday. Initial reports say of natural causes. He was 95 years old and is survived by his wife, Sheryl, and three children; Jayne, Neal and Lynn. As half of Hanna-Barbera, he created (or presieded over the creation of) many household-name cartoon characters (Thundar the Barbarian, The Herculoids, Space Ghost, Tom & Jerry). you can catch a great article about his life at newsarama.
indie rap luminary M.F. DOOM has a special holiday treat for you all. Christmas Eve from 10PM to 6AM the supervillain will be hosting Adult Swim on Cartoon Network. As the masked half of Madvillain explained in the teaser commercials, "Why spend Christmas Eve waiting for some extra fat white dude to come busting through the ceiling, when you can spend Christmas eve with yours truly, DOOM". DOOM will be basically talking in between shows, giving his thoughts on the holiday happenings, and spreading holiday cheer to all who indulge... (more DOOM news)
okay, so i was reading the Davey D blog post about rap juggernaut Nas' new plate Hip Hop Is Dead which also discussed whether or not hip hop is, in fact, dead... so this is my response. my opinion on the issue is pretty adamant (as you'll see), but please feel free to respond...
representation of what's happening in hip hop. now with multimillion dollar videos, payola, and other assorted CORPORATE crap influencing rap shows, the possibility of a show like it (and the once-great competitor, Rap City) that really programs based on a love for hip hop, not the mighty dollar, is dead.
dead"... if you are depending on CORPORATE- controlled radio to tell you what's going on in hip hop, not only are you stupid, you're also lazy, and hopelessly out of touch. if you are one of the lucky few that live in a city where your radio stations are run by people who truly love the culture and care about promoting good music, you probably KNOW hip hop isn't dead. the rest of us just need to stop listening to the radio. now, i hear there is some hope in the form of satellite radio, but i refuse to pay for radio... the internet does the job just fine for me...
hip hop", "the south" "new york" or anything else... while it's fun to argue over who the greatest rappers are, it actually is kind of stupid to believe in these titles.
so i've been buying very few comics lately. don't get me wrong, i still love comics and all that, but money is slim these days, so i read a lotta comics in the store! one comic i REALLY want to be better is The Black Panther.
anyways, the latest issue of Black Panther is OFF THE CHAIN (and that's a good thing...). the Royal Couple (did i mention that the Black Panther is Warrior/King/Priest of the african hereditary meritocracy of Wakanda, the most technologically advanced nation on Earth? oh... well he is. peep this blog for more background) is visiting other countries since their recent wedding. after visiting Latveria, Atlantis, Attilan and Great Britain, Storm and T'challa's goodwill tour comes to Washington, DC. they aren't in the White House for very long before the president disrespects Storm... (oh no he didn't) and T'challa has to pull his card. now it's REALLY ON!
over the thanksgiving weekend, (also referred to as the annual Genocide Jumpoff Film Festival) i checked out a few movies. the first film i watched was The Fountain, starring Hugh Jackman (the X-men movies) and Rachel Weisz (The Mummy movies). this joint is anything BUT Wolverine Versus The Mummy... it's a story about Love and Death. it's heady, well-acted and self-important. if you like stuff like that (i do), you might dig it. there are some wierd effects, and i thought the movie was pretty original/ballsy... which helps. i won't give away the plot, as i suggest it as a good date movie for non-stupid couples...
Next on the menu was the new Denzel Washington joint: Deja Vu. in addition to starring one of the best actors in America (just TRY to watch Glory without getting choked up, Tough Guy... I F^&$KING DARE YOU!!!), this puppy was directed by Tony Scott (Man On Fire, Crimson Tide, Last Boy Scout, Top Gun), so my watching it was a done deal! like any Jerry Bruckheimer flick, there's madd skills, madd drama, and madd explosions. oh. and a hot chick... like every good movie, this joint swings on the hemline of a fly honey. in this case, relative newcomer Paula Patton (Idlewild) gets the nod as the racially ambigous damsel in serious distress (as in, by the time we first see her, she's already dead)... but i've already said too much... go watch it ASAP!!!next, i snuck into Casino Royale. i only watched about 60% of the movie, yet i can easily say this is now my favorite James Bond movie. without having much in common with the other Bonds, Daniel Craig (Road To Perdition, Munich) OWNED this role from the jump off!!! he is so believable as the lady killin'est, martini-drinkin'est, gun-clappin'est british bastard alive. Besides which, Casino Royale has the kind of nervous suspense the last few joints sorely lacked, driving me nuts throughout the time i was in it. i didn't see the very end, but i could tell it would end well, and i'll definitely go watch it again!
the reason i had to miss the end of Casino Royale, of course, was to go wander into Stranger Than Fiction, a movie i've wanted to see since i first saw the trailer months ago. i'm a big fan of the film's star, comedic genius and SNL alum Will Ferrell (Elf, Talladega Nights, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back), but what excited me most was that the quality of rest of the cast (which includes Queen Latifah, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emma Thompson, and Dustin Hoffman!) suggested i would get more than the usual comedian-driven string of gags... and boy, did i!!! like Punch Drunk Love (the 2002 Adam Sandler/Paul Thomas Anderson collabo/absurd romantic comedy), this is a drama that you laugh at, about a likeable, yet truly pathetic human being trying to have the defining moment of his life... and in the case of Stranger Than Fiction's Harold Crick, that moment may be his last!
see, Crick is an IRS auditor that starts hearing a woman's voice in his head. but he isn't crazy! that voice is the narrator of a novel in which Harold is the main character. Crick is already getting sick of it when the voice lets him know that his death is imminent! Though pretty clueless, he's at least smart enough to find a literary expert to help him sort out what's happening and what he can do about it: a college Literature professor brought to life by veteran actor Dustin Hoffman (Runaway Jury, Outbreak, Kramer vs. Kramer), who acts as his counsel throughout the film. after at first concluding he was nuts, he becomes at least intrigued enough by his situation to help him along. without giving away the whole movie, i will say that this is the best film i've seen in a long time. the cast is brilliant and the story never overworks. it touches on so many subjects (writing and the creative process, life, love, death, and our fear of them) that could have been very heavy and sentimental , but treads them all lightly and avoids all the right trap doors. Ferrell submits to the understated process of acting, being funny without winking at the camera... and is BRILLIANT!!! i would recommend this movie to just about anybody, even though many people will be unable to enjoy it fully (like little kids eating food that's for adults), it will still be good, and good for you!
whenever people go into the whole "HipHop is Dying" funeral dirge, all i can think of is fresh underground acts like Harrisburg, PA crew Beyond Comprehension.
anyways, Beyond Comp (comprised of Stepp Savage, Subliminal, Sanjeev the SunChief, and whoever else they can put on...) makes rediculous noise on tracks like "Vibrant Health and Energy" (currently This Weeks Cut... click the link for a quick listen!), "Energize" and "Avalanche Rap" that sounds weird at first, but after about 30 seconds of it, it'll have you on involuntary head knod... their music is pure indie-rap genius! 
