Bizarro Planet News

BPN – In environmental news: After ignoring developments in Washington and not studying various legislative proposals, Bizarro NAACP’s all-volunteer Directors of Board am decided to endorse deep cuts in Pell Grants to 1.3 million college students. The proposed cuts, according to organization’s official website, “will deliver on key priorities for us been fighting for.”

And in education:  After ignoring developments in Washington and not studying various legislative proposals, Bizarro World Wildlife Fund’s all-volunteer Directors of Board am decided to endorse repeal of the Bizarro Marine Mammal Protection Act. Revocation of the BMMPA, according to organization’s official website, “will deliver on key priorities for us been fighting for.” (more…)

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Tags: AARP, Bizarro, Bizarro News, superman, WWF
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 5:16 pm in Political Humor | 25959421 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/bigx/2009/11/12/bizarro-planet-news/Bizarro+Planet+News2009-11-13+01%3A16%3A21Big+X

Part 2: The Super-Hero’s American Exceptionalism

Editor: This is the second part of a two-part series. You can read part one here.

The 1970s showed the once-invincible comic book super-heroes to be losers, in attitude and sales. Watergate had disillusioned the super-patriot Captain America with a storyline implying Nixon was the head of a terrorist group. The Captain trashes his outfit and becomes Nomad, The Man without a Country. My 11-year-old mind thought this was ridiculous, as Cap was originally a Depression-era 98-pound weakling until given a Super Soldier serum to bulk up and fight Nazis. It was unlikely that one of the “Greatest Generation” would bail on his country so readily. Even then I realized that this development merely mirrored a hippie writer’s attitude more than staying true to a character’s origins. 

Super-heroes became bleaker and even homicidal in the 1980s. The Punisher, a murderous vigilante, has become a top Marvel character. The Dark Knight Returns, a re-imagining of Batman, introduced an elderly caped crusader fighting the corrupt U.S. government represented by a stoogish Superman. Watchmen was set in a dystopic alternate reality where Nixon is still president and the super-group is made up of, among other miscreants, a rapist and mass murderer. It was a transmutation of established super-heroes from the 60s with Steve Ditko’s Objectivist hero The Question recast as the psychotic Rorschach.  (more…)

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Tags: America, American Exceptionalism, batman, Captain America, Comic
Posted Nov 11th 2009 at 2:05 pm in Art, Featured Story, Politics | 259362143 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtodd/2009/11/11/part-2-the-super-heros-american-exceptionalism-by-mort-todd/Part+2%3A+The+Super-Hero%E2%80%99s+American+Exceptionalism2009-11-11+22%3A05%3A40Mort+Todd

Part 1: The Super-Hero’s American Exceptionalism

Super-heroes are uniquely American in origin and reflective of the “Greatest Generation” that created them. Their progenitors can be traced to ancient myths though their direct foundation springs from American legends like Paul Bunyan and John Henry. Pulp literature fermented these heroes from the 1800s with Buffalo Bill, Nick Carter and on to Doc Savage. By the 1930s super-powered and costumed characters showed up in the newspaper comic strips including Popeye and the Phantom. 

The characters we now recognize as super-heroes crystallized with the debut of Superman in 1938. Representative of the American experience, Superman was the ultimate immigrant. Not merely from another country, the Man of Steel came from a whole different planet! With his success, publishers released a myriad of titles featuring crime-fighting patriotic adventurers who all fought for “truth, justice and the American way.” That included those who were born on an all-female island (the star-spangled Wonder Woman), from Atlantis (the Sub-Mariner), robots (the Human Torch) or even dead people (the Spectre and Kid Eternity)! Gaining super powers even reformed criminals as in Plastic Man’s case.  (more…)

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Tags: American Exceptionalism, batman, DC, Doc Savage, Fatalik
Posted Nov 10th 2009 at 12:52 pm in Art, Culture, Featured Story | 25935461 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/mtodd/2009/11/10/part-1-the-super-heros-american-exceptionalism/Part+1%3A+The+Super-Hero%E2%80%99s+American+Exceptionalism2009-11-10+20%3A52%3A11Mort+Todd

The Remakes, Reboots, Ripoffs, and Re-imaginings of Politics

Actor and comedian Sammy Petrillo passed away over the weekend.  Who is Sammy Petrillo?  Good question.  I wasn’t familiar with him either when I heard the news, but after a few minutes on Al Gore’s Internet I found out a lot.

Sammy was a Bronx born actor and comedian who had some minor success in the 1950s.  He took his physical similarity to Jerry Lewis and ran with it.  He became known as the “fake Jerry Lewis” after creating an onstage and onscreen persona that mimicked Lewis’ shtick.  He even went as far as to hook up with a Dean Martinesque straight man named Duke Mitchell.  The real Jerry Lewis wasn’t amused and even went so far as to intimidate others in Hollywood not to feature Petrillo on their shows and bullied Vegas venues into blackballing his act. 

Most reboots are epic fails.

The point of bringing up Petrillo (besides encouraging you to watch his funny performance in “Bela Lugosi meets the Brooklyn Gorilla” on YouTube) is to illustrate that the “trend” of ripoffs, remakes, reboots, and re-imaginings is nothing new. Take it from me, the guy who shamelessly made “Transmorphers,” remakes and ripoffs are part of Hollywood history.  What is more depressing is the fact that re-imagining and remakes are also part of the political culture.

Our society has a sort of “political amnesia”; forcing us to repeat the same economic and policy mistakes every thirty years or so.  What else is the Obama administration but a “remake” of the Clinton administration (with almost half the original cast!)?  You can almost hear the pitch meeting.  “It’s FDR meets Clinton!  We reboot the franchise.  We forget about the Carter episode just like we pretended that Superman III and IV never happened.” (more…)

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Tags: Krugman, palin, Reagan, Remakes, superman
Posted Aug 21st 2009 at 5:03 am in Culture, Featured Story, Politics | 20778690 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/lscott/2009/08/21/the-remakes-reboots-ripoffs-and-reimaginings-of-politics/The+Remakes%2C+Reboots%2C+Ripoffs%2C+and+Re-imaginings+of+Politics2009-08-21+12%3A03%3A33Leigh+Scott

G.I. Joe’s Benetton Moment

So the latest GI Joe flick is creating controversy, because the character is no longer portrayed as a typical American soldier. Instead he’s part of some elite murky force of international fighters – a Benetton ad with rocket launchers. On MSNBC, Donny Deutsch tried to take John J. Miller to task over his objections to the change – pointing out that the shift from an iconic American character to a mushy international delight is a “business” decision. For the movie to make money internationally, Donny thinks the character has to become part of global task force of community organizers. To this, I say, “Fiddle faddle,” which is short for “Silly stupid fiddle faddle.”

I wrote about this two years ago, just when Hasbro and Paramount execs decided to give GI Joe a makeover. Back then they felt the world would be too pissed at us for getting rid of Saddam Hussein to go see a movie about an American hero. As it turns out, they were wrong – the backlash over Saddam’s death had less impact than Norman Fell’s.

But for a moment, let’s attempt to use Donny’s logic on other flicks. “Sex and the City,” my favorite film – made a pile of money around the world, and it was about five American chicks exercising their rights to both unfettered capitalism and sex. According to Deutsch, it would have been better to make them all multi-racial, transgendered dolphins – and stationed them in Brussels in a cool undersea condo shaped like Earth. Granted, that does sound awesome – but it probably would have been less successful than the original concept (which made me cry). (more…)

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Tags: Benetton, Charlotte York, community organizers, Dirty Harry, Donny Deutsch
Posted Aug 5th 2009 at 11:41 am in Daily Gut, Entertainment, Media Criticism, News, Politics | 200490109 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ggutfeld/2009/08/05/200490/G.I.+Joe%E2%80%99s+Benetton+Moment2009-08-05+18%3A41%3A10Greg+Gutfeld

Reporting From Comic-Con: Prologue

I’ve packed my car with books and posters to sell at the San Diego Comic-Con. As a comic-creator this is a mandatory part of the business that’s both fun and productive. It’s our journey to Mecca without all that obnoxious stoning and calls to the end of Israel.

In case you’ve been in an Afghanistan cave for the last thirty years, comics are big business. Comics to film projects are in demand at least partially because of the pre-visualization aspect of the medium. Fantasy is an expensive and risky genre and comics offer the cheapest glimpse into the depiction of on-screen events before one dime is spent on production.

Though the medium is gaining visibility, comics aren’t new. They’re simply words combined with pictures that communicate a sequence of events. They’re actually very similar to the silent film where an actor speaks, then his words appear onscreen to read. We’re Chaplin like that. But my favorite part of the medium is due to it’s power, and I love me some power.

What took James Cameron 200 million dollars to communicate on film with “Titanic” or his up-and-coming “Avatar” one could do for 20k in comics. You don’t get the sound, movement or music but the actual story, lighting, acting, character development the logos could be depicted by one man on the cheap. Can’t get your “Star Wars” made for 150 million? With a small group comprised of one writer, one artist and one colorist, we could depict events from the desserts of Uncle Owen’s vaporator farm to the Death Star without resorting to overseas funding. That’s power. (more…)

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Tags: batman, comics, Doug Tennapel, graphic novels, Hulk
Posted Jul 21st 2009 at 8:47 am in Art, Entertainment | 18761859 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/dtennapel/2009/07/21/comicon-prologue/Reporting+From+Comic-Con%3A+Prologue2009-07-21+15%3A47%3A35Doug+TenNapel

The King of Pop, Sir Paul, and the Right to Reclaim Copyrights

This may be a shocking revelation to all but the most avid news-followers, but it is apparently true: pop star Michael Jackson recently passed away.  A handful of media outlets found time to cover the story, and some of them have mentioned Jackson’s feud with Paul McCartney over Jackson’s ownership of the publishing rights to some of the Beatles’ biggest hits-rights acquired when Jackson outbid Paul McCartney and Yoko Ono in the mid-1980’s. 

People not familiar with copyright law might be surprised to hear that McCartney-one-half of music’s most-successful songwriting duo-must pay royalties to perform his own hit songs.  The fact certainly seemed to grate on McCartney, who frequently made mention of it in interviews.  But even more surprising, at least to those not acquainted with the intricacies of copyright law, is that Sir Paul will one day be able to re-acquire the rights to his music without even having to pay to buy them back.

(more…)

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Tags: Beatles, Congress, Copyright Act, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney
Posted Jul 14th 2009 at 10:21 am in Entertainment, Law | 18104270 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/carledge/2009/07/14/the-king-of-pop-sir-paul-and-the-right-to-reclaim-copyrights/The+King+of+Pop%2C+Sir+Paul%2C+and+the+Right+to+Reclaim+Copyrights2009-07-14+17%3A21%3A24Chris+Arledge

Top 5: Superhero Moments

My buddy and fellow Big Hollywooder Christian Toto penned a “Top 5 Superhero Moments” over at his blog which has inspired my own.

I only steal the best. Ask my wife’s first husband.

–

1.  Superman (1978) – Superman Saves Lois and Catches the Helicopter: “You’ve got me? Who’s got you?” The genius of this moment is that director Richard Donner makes you wait for it. There’s forty minutes of mythology and story and teases until finally, finally he hits you with the awesome. The special effects still convince, the score still makes you want to tie a bath towel around your neck and “fly” through the house (Right? Don’t leave me hanging), and in the ensuing decades this moment’s only gotten better because of my growing appreciation for just how fabulous Christopher Reeve is in the title role and in knowing that Margot Kidder as Lois Lane was one of the most perfect pieces of casting ever. (more…)

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Tags: bruce willis, Christopher Reeve, Iron Man, Margot Kidder, Spider-Man
Posted Mar 3rd 2009 at 4:25 pm in Top 5 | 71826134 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/03/top-5-superhero-moments/Top+5%3A+Superhero+Moments2009-03-04+00%3A25%3A37John+Nolte

Where’s The Film About Our Real Superheroes?

The flood of superhero movies in the past several years has become increasingly worse.  Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men and, oops, Catwoman, and then what? Underdog … these bustards are everywhere and they keep coming. Even bums are superheroes now – Hancock. 

Ogres are superheroes – Hulk. It’s so bad that even the creatures of underworld are being enlisted into the superhero category, and I don’t mean Al Gore. (Although, what do you think Al Gore was doing in his documentary if not saving the world?) Who I mean is Hellboy, a creep who looks so evil that the logline’s compelled to explain, “Believe it or not, he’s the good guy.”  (more…)

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Tags: batman, Christian Bale, Military, superhero, superman
Posted Feb 6th 2009 at 3:58 pm in Entertainment, Politics | 3835861 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/ykochar/2009/02/06/its-a-bird-its-a-planet-its-the-millionth-time-youre-going-to-see-the-same-superhero-movie-in-the-summer/Where%27s+The+Film+About+Our+Real+Superheroes%3F2009-02-06+23%3A58%3A12Yervand+Kochar