Anyone else remember Jem and the Holograms from the 80's?

Jem and the Holograms ran from 1985 to 1988. The show is about music company owner Jerrica Benton, her singer alter-ego Jem, her band the Holograms, and their adventures.
The series was a joint collaboration by Hasbro, Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions, the same team responsible for G.I. Joe and Transformers. The creator of the series was Christy Marx, who also had been a staff writer for the aforementioned programs. The animation was provided by the Japanese animation studio Toei Doga (now Toei Animation).







The talented writers that worked on this goes to show we all suck sometimes:
Hasbro hired advertising agency Griffin-Bacal, the founders of Sunbow Productions, to create the 65-episode animation series. Griffin-Bacal (Sunbow), as well as Marvel Productions, had previously created the successful G.I. Joe series for Hasbro. G.I. Joe writer Christy Marx was hired to create the series based on the line of dolls and the original concept, which consisted of the two girl bands, Synergy, the boyfriend Rio, and the Rockin' Roadster. Marx created the full character biographies and relationships, including the love triangle aspect between Rio and Jerrica Benton/Jem, Starlight Music and Starlight House, the Starlight Girls, the villain Eric Raymond and various secondary characters. Later, Marx was asked to develop new characters as they were introduced. Marx wrote 22 of the 65 shows. Other writers for the series included Cary Bates, Greg Weisman, Paul Dini, Buzz Dixon, Ellen Guon, Steve Mitchell, Michael Reaves, David Wise, and Marv Wolfman.

THE GIANT CLAW (1959)

Scientist Mitch McAfee (Jeff Morrow) cannot convince anyone that a enormous bird, the size of the United Nations building in NYC, here from outer space, has arrived on Earth and is eating planes from the sky. Eventually the giant buzzard (The Claw) makes its presence more than adequately known, as it begins to attack people more openly. It can do this because of a never explained reason that this gooney puppet is surrounded by a force field, making all weapons useless against it. Mitch finds its nest and shoots holes in its colossal egg, enraging the puppet. The Claw, then flies South, and eats the United Nations building on its way and it just gets better. The monster is actually a giant buzzard with an anti-matter force field. This is my favorite white noise film; except when the Claw is screeching - I hate that bird.

Vanessa Hudgens - Old Navy Commercial (2005)

I was not fond of Vanessa Hudgens until I realized she was the star of my all-time favorite commercial. Watch this one with your favorite sock.

GOTHIC SNOWTIRE LIVE AT CBGB'S 12.26.1991

Who were GOTHIC SNOW TIRE?


A to B they were:
BOB GODDARD: BASS, TIM McGRATH: drums (R.I.P.), KIETH PRISCO: rhythm guitar, CHRIS REILLY: vocals, ANDY ROSENHOLM: Loud voice in crowd, friend, our ride and original bass player, JIM WILLIAMS: lead guitar.
We played at CBGB's several times but this is the only recorded video evidence that we existed outside of Squid Hell studios in Boston, MA: www.squidhell.com
It is like catching Bigfoot on film, but uglier. This is the whole thing, unedited.



gothic snow tire live cbgbs from joe hat on Vimeo.

THE FLINTSTONES: ON THE ROCKS

The only thing that could possibly compliment a GST show; a Flintstones movie - the ‘Stones being the only thing of greatness we could all agree on and were somewhat in awe of or obsessed with. Presenting the rarely seen animated masterpiece from 2001 (10 years after the CBGB’s show) THE FLINTSTONES ON THE ROCKS


Untitled from chris reilly on Vimeo.


Well, thanks to those douche bags at VIMEO you can't watch this "aired once-available-nowhere" classic. Instead, enjoy This 2010 atrocious remake of Plan 9 From Outer Space. You will want to kick director Ian Burton in the goons. If you think something sucks, don't make it worse.


Plan 9 From Outer Space (2010) from Ian Burton on Vimeo.



The Flintstones: On the Rocks aired in November 3, 2001 on Cartoon Network and as far as I know never aired again. The movie tries and amazingly succeeds at cabturing the vibe of the first season. Meaning this was a prime-time cartoon and very mature in its themes, reaching out to older audiences as well as kids. This really could have been a direct, logical continuation of the first season.

Sic semper tyrannis,

Chris

The Smell of Planet of Beer: Brian Sendelbach Interview

NOTE: THIS INTERVIEW IS 11 MONTHS OLD AND BEING REPRINTED FOR THE SAKE OF NOSTALGIA, AND TO GET FOLKS TO BUY FRIENDS AND FOES PLANET OF BEER FOR CHRISTMAS!


Planet Of Beer by Brian Sendelbach


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
The Smell of Planet of Beer: Brian Sendelbach Interview
REILLY: Brian, first off, as you know, I am a very lazy man, so can you write the intro header for this interview?

SENDELBACH: I'm pretty lazy too, so I guess there will be no intro header.

I just read a preview of Planet of Beer and I loved it. It was as if the Harlem Globetrotters were playing a life and death game of hoops with Godzilla on Gilligan's Island in my head where my brain should be. I found it odd that the Globetrotters and Godzilla were all short, doughy white men, in top hats, smoking cigars. Any idea why your work has this sort of bio electrical, funky town engagement on the intellectual process?


That's a really good question! I wish I had an answer. However, it's interesting to note that Godzilla, Globetrotters, and Gilligan's Island all begin with the letter 'G'. Perhaps this is some sort of clue...? (Hint: Gesus ALSO begins with a 'G'.)

Well, I am a genius, so that must have been my subconscious screaming for recognition. A lot of people reading this may not be familiar with your work, so let's get down to some generic interview questions.

Okay.

Yes, it is okay. Why the name "Smell of Steve" and have you ever regretted that moniker?

The Smell of Steve thing is random. Like Nine Inch Nails or Cat Power, it's just a name on the box. And then you put stuff into the box. And then, in my case, you throw the box into the trash.

What was your first published work and when was it published?

I won a poetry contest in fourth grade. My poem was published in a national magazine of some sort. Then the principal wrote the poem out on a big piece of paper and hung it in the school display case. I was a celebrity around school for about a month...such a celebrity that a bunch of girls gigglingly dragged me into the girls' restroom for a little while, which is another story.

Anyway, the school eventually gave me the big sheet of paper, which I proudly taped to my bedroom door. One day my sister got mad at me and ripped it to shreds. And I completely forgot about the whole thing until just now. (Except the part about the girls' bathroom.)

We both had work published in HellCar, how did you become involved?

The HellCar people contacted my people, and a beautiful relationship was born. I eventually bought my first house with the money I made from HellCar. (NOTE: Brian had no idea that I was letting HellCar pioneer Paul Fiedrich listen in.)

Paul, you once told me that you never wanted to meet or talk to Brian Sendelbach, because it would demystify his comics and paintings.

FIEDRICH: The question isn't entirely correct. It wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him on the phone. I didn't want any contact with him except to receive his cartoons. I travel the country, sometimes the world, but mostly the country a lot. Whenever I stop somewhere I pick up the local weekly paper or whatever zine or flyer I find in the bar or coffee shop, always looking for new cartoonists for HellCar or the DesignBox Gallery in Raleigh, NC.

It must've been around the turn-of-the-century that I was in Seattle, Washington for a gallery exhibit of my paintings. this was at the height of the Northwest's zine craze. There were zines everywhere. There were two or three zine specialty shops with bookshelves and racks, all full of zines, magazines and comic books. I remember the moment I came across the stack of Smell of Steve, Inc. comics several hours after I'd entered the shop and had looked at, flipped through and passed over many disappointing zines with comics, zines without comics, zines with music, zines about music, haunted zines, diet zines and too many zines about zines.

Smell of Steve, Inc's comics were different.







They were comics by someone who knew what they were doing. I read through the books. Stories featuring Phil Collins, Eric Clapton, the original cast of Saturday Night Live and the Moon on Fire. No one had ever put any of those things in the same story. The drawings were done by someone one-step ahead on the evolution ladder. The jokes were written by a god. These were cartoons so funny, so perfectly drawn, so genius that it was guaranteed that Smell of Steve, Inc. was destined for fame, wealth and greatness long after he was dead.

Some years later I had an opening in HellCar for a new cartoonist and emailed Smell of Steve, Inc. to see if he was interested in contributing some pages for publication. I originally never wanted have any contact with him, but I wanted to publish his cartoons more. In my mind he was 10 feet tall. and had spent his spare time fighting gorillas to the death in the forests of Washington State. In fact, I wanted to believe that his cartoons didn't come from his imagination, that he lived them; that they were all true stories. I didn't want to know anything about him except what he told me in his books. I didn't need to know anything about his life. What his favorite food was, if he liked movies, if he was good in school.

In our correspondence I learned his name was Brian Sendelbach. I hadn't even wanted to know that he had a name. I admit it's a good name. But I know other Brians. I couldn't help a mental image of Brian Sendelbach from forming. He wasn't necessarily 10 feet tall anymore. I had no need for more knowledge.

For many years our communications were kept to a minimum. I'd email Brian when the HellCar deadline was coming and he'd email several pages of cartoons. No small talk, no profound thoughts. Nothing. It was perfect. Everyone loved his cartoons in HellCar but I couldn't tell anyone anything about him. He was everything to everyone. He was whatever we wanted him to be.

Life doesn't always go the way you want it to go. It was close to the end of the print edition of HellCar and I ran into a problem.

I had six pages of a Smell of Steve, Inc. story with no page numbers. There were several possibilities of the order. No one in the office could agree and the deadline to get it to the printers was approaching. We needed a solution and an email might not get to Brian in time for the answer.

I had to call him.

I had to speak to him.

I called.

And he lived up to all that he was supposed to be. If we'd lived in the same city, we would've been best friends. We'd drink beers, shoot pool, hit on the waitresses. We'd have been ringers in lawyer's softball leagues. We'd have created a whole new genre of music. We'd have ended war in the world. There'd be nothing that we couldn't do.

That was the only time I've ever spoke to him.

Now I feel bad for being flip. Chris, can I be a real person for a second? Just for a second...? I really enjoyed being in HellCar. Paul is an amazing artist, and one of my best friends that I've never actually met. Had we lived in the same town, we surely would've done all the things he said...and more besides. (So...THAT'S what it's like to be genuine...? I feel kinda weird.)

Brian, don’t let your guard down, Paul is the droll Hannibal Lecter of passive aggressiveness messing with your head. You could not possibly offend him. And you do not want Friedrich in your head

I'll be going to Comic Con in new york. Are you still going this year?

Shut up, Paul. You were a one question guest.

Brian, who were your influences?

Mostly loud rock music, Thomas Pynchon, and David Foster Wallace. Also, a frightening illustration of a beturbaned jack-in-the-box I saw in a children's book when I was six.

I love Thomas Pynchon and I think that beturbaned Jack-in-the-box was that freaky thing that wouldn’t stop laughing at you, right? Did you receive any angry letters for your Stranger cover depicting the Pope and Terry Schiavo in a death race and if so, can we print one of the crazier ones here?



I forget whether I received any angry letters. Supposedly, the Bill O'Reilly guy on TV was mad about it, but he gets paid to get mad about things. Also, I got interviewed on a Christian radio station about that cover. Well, actually, I asked a friend to be interviewed in my place. He called up the station and said he was me, and then answered questions as he imagined I would. He did a pretty good job.

O’Reilly in his fair and balanced way, did go ape shit on that cover in an editorial. Brian sent me two letters to the editor in regard to the cover.

POPE VS. SCHIAVO: PRO

EDITOR: The "race to die" cover was a hilarious relief from the teary-eyed crap the rest of the media has been bombarding us with for the last few weeks. Thanks, guys!
Sohier Dane

POPE VS. SCHIAVO: CON

DEAR EDITOR: The cover art on last week's edition of The Stranger was absolutely despicable. Has The Stranger really sunk to the level of picking on defenseless sick people in order to push the paper? Surely, there must be more creativity floating around your office than what's exhibited by the trash on this week's cover. It's offensive, disrespectful, and classless; but worst of all, the cover shows that you lack the insight and creativity to say anything meaningful about an event that will be remembered by Christians and non-Christians all over the world for years to come. You have proved that The Stranger has nothing to offer this city other than the shock value of an everyday rag.
A.L. B.
Does any sane person believe that either of those Pudding Heads knew they were alive, and if they did, would have prayed for death’s merciful embracet.

Whose work do you enjoy today and why?

I like Mo Willems. His books are funny and economically drawn. Also, I like the Captain Underpants books. Very mainstream of me, eh?

At this point in time, what is great about comics and what bites the wax tadpole?

I honestly don't know much about comics these days.

Time for some Inside the Actors Studio, James Lipton questions. Brian, why Phil Collins? Why Sammy Hagar? Why cigars?


I was just trying to be funny. I drew those strips a long time ago. When I was putting together the Planet of Beer book, I would read those old strips and shake my head. I have no idea what I was thinking.

Is Black Aquaman based on someone close to you? It seems quite personal.

Black Aquaman is based on the regular Aquaman, except he's a different race than the regular Aquaman. He's black.

Tell us about Bigfoot on the Moon. Why Bigfoot and not Belushi?

Belushi wasn't available at the time. Well, Jim Belushi was available, but who wants Jim Belushi?

Why did the rock band Queen send Bigfoot to the moon? It sounds more like something Kiss would do?

I don't think KISS is very funny. Queen is funny though. And they didn't send Bigfoot to the moon. They blew up the moon. But that was a very long time ago.

Did you ever receive a cease and desist from American Greetings executive and Ziggy creator Tom Wilson and are you a Ziggy fan?

I am indeed a Ziggy fan. The biggest. But no cease and desist as of this writing, unfortunately.

You have been in the online webcomic trenches for years. How did the Dark Horse deal come about for Planet of Beer? Did they approach you?

I actually never drew webcomics at all. I always drew strips for newspapers. Eventually a lot of those strips made it to the web, via my website (which went up in smoke a couple months ago, long story) and serializer.net. Perhaps serializer is where some people saw my work first, so I get plugged in with the webcomics stuff.

And I approached Dark Horse about a collection. Originally, the people at Dark Horse seemed really enthusiastic about it. At the acquisition meeting, Bigfoot Vs. Planet of Beer For The Future of The Moon! (as it was called then) got a unanimous thumbs up.


Is the book actually in danger of not being published?

As of this writing (January 14, 2009), Planet of Beer has 3 weeks in which to improve its orders. If it doesn't, it heads into some sort of mysterious unpublished limbo. Dark Horse says it's a book that will likely achieve good sales upon release (with word of mouth, positive reviews, etc.), but its initial orders were a little low. Apparently not enough to justify publishing the book. So I'm trying to get the word out however I can. I just added some more Planet of Beer sample pages onto my Myspace page so readers and retailers can get a better idea of what the book's all about. (Hint: It's all about EVIL!!!!!! And a large-breasted Captain America. And Henry Kissinger doing 'the streak.' And the statistical impossibility of love. And Nick Nolte.)

[Retailers -- feel free to order more copies! Customers -- feel free to bully retailers into ordering more copies!:]

Why is Jaws my favorite film?





I didn't quite catch that question. I was eating this burrito here. Could you repeat it? Oh, never mind.

It’s because it has a huge shark in it!

Who would win in a sword fight, you or Robert Hamburger and why?

I am more or less undefeated in the swordfighting department.

What projects can we expect from you in the future?

Well, I don't draw the weekly strip anymore. So if Planet of Beer doesn't end up coming out, I'm throwing in the towel on any future creative endeavors. Then I'll probably work on becoming a professional swordfighter or whatever happens to cross my mind.

Brian, you are weird and unattractive, so instead of including a picture of you in this interview, could you send me a picture of someone that you wish you looked like.

I wish I looked like this guy:






Quite the bee costume you've got there, guy!

Having interviewed you in the past, you knew this was coming – can you send us off with long, boring prose piece, perhaps about why monkeys groom other monkeys?






Monkeys groom other monkeys because...well....[Long sigh. Sound of head hitting keyboartyyyygfvfgvvvvvggggggggg:]

(Sigh) Male monkeys pay for sex by grooming females, according to a study that suggests the primates may treat sex as a commodity. "In primate societies, grooming is the underlying fabric of it all," Dr. Michael Gumert, a primatologist at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, said in some interview, "It's a sign of friendship and family, and it's also something that can be exchanged for sexual services."

Thanks, Brian, it is always a pleasure grooming your brain monkey style and good luck with Planet of Beer.

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Everyone hates Bee Guy

What It is by Lynda Barry: This book is fire for the idle mind

What It Is by Lynda Barry


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Barry’s “What It Is” is pure magic and without peer. For anyone who wants some brilliant insight on where stories come from you have to read this. It is also a book that proves to people who say that they can't write or draw are actually wrong. Can you believe it? If you think that you are not a story teller, you just have not read What It Is. Barry teaches you how to think like a kid again, back when a slice of bacon could have its own adventures on its way to a sandwich.
I used to say that before you embark on a career of writing or illustrating comics, there is only one book you need to read and that is Will Eisner's Comics and Sequential art. Well, now there are two books that you have to read. Buy borrow or, yes, even steal it. This book is worth the misdemeanor on your record.
Check out these video clips I pieced together of Barry’s reading/lecture of What It Is. It is from several different locations, I was lucky enough to catch it at Comic-Con last Sumer. I swear, Barry actually hypnotized the room. A must read for just about anyone.

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