Eric Lewis

This guy is absolutely amazing. You have never heard nor seen anyone play a piano like this. From "Smells Like Teen Spirit"



to Evanescence's "Going Under"



Did I also mention he's carrying this wonderful sound to the White House for the Obama's next month?

Check out a bio on him here or his homepage. You won't be sorry.

New Blog!!

I've started a new blog called Preternatural Reviews. I'll be reviewing everything from books to comics to movies and TV. Please drop by and tell me what you think or what you believe I should be reviewing. The email's still sunandheir at gmail.com

Let me know what you think. Thanks.

35

Huh. Not that different from 34 truth be told.

Poison Ivy

Women I Love to Love

Pamela Lillian Isley first appeared in Batman #181 in 1966. Like Athena she appeared fully formed and without a back story. Showing up in basically a leafy swimsuit, tights(character design by Shelly Moldoff) and very little story she failed to catch on first go around.

Unable to capture the public's imagination in #181 Poison Ivy was shelved (if you don't count Siren played by Joan Collins on The Batman TV show) until feminism began to saturate the public and the need for more independent, beholding to no man, women were needed. Be they superhero or villain. Especially since Catwoman was becoming more and more sympathetic to readers and less a villain. On her reintroduction she appeared in Batman Comics and Suicide Squad. With all these manifestations a true origin was needed for Ivy.

She was now Dr. Pamela Isley, a brilliant botanist. Until the Floronic Man (aka Dr. Jason Woodrue) showed up in her life. Experimenting upon her, trying to hybridize plants and humans, he pumped her blood full of toxins. With those experiments she became immune to all poisons, viruses, bacteria, and fungi and just a touch bit insane. The experimentation also left her unable to mother children and plants became her substitute for the children she could never have. In one of these early stories during a fight with Catwoman one of Ivy's own formulas fell on her, turning her skin green. The transformation from Dr. Pamela Isley to Poison Ivy was now complete. One of Ivy's chief new powers was the ability to control plants telepathically.

Another nifty ability she uses is being able to release plant pheremones to control men or women and making them fall madly in love with her. One of her favourite powers is releasing either toxins or pheremones through her kisses.

Coming out of Batman: The Animated Series (Writing, Paul Dini, artist/character design Bruce Timm) is her friendship with Harley Quinn (aka Dr. Harlene Quinzel). Wanting only to get Harley out of her abusive, destructive relationship with The Joker, Harley and Ivy team-up from time to time.

The most recent change to her character was during Batman: Cataclysm storyline where Ivy took care of some children, recently orphaned during the earthquake that nearly leveled Gotham City. She began to believe that her powers and the poisons she gave off were sickening and killing some of the children in her charge. For this reason she convinced Batman to take her powers away and make her only human again. Later convinced by the villain Hush to retake the serum to reaquire her powers the process apparently killed her. When her grave was visited it was covered in ivy and vines making her 'death' short lived.

She returned in Gotham Central #32 to murder some of the cops she reckoned killed one of her orphans.

Poison Ivy is one of my favourite Batman villains because she believes what she's doing is right. Not like some of the mustache twirlers who just do evil for evil's sake and wish to take over the world. Her next main appearance is during Battle for the Cowl in Gotham City Sirens, co-starring Catwoman and Harley Quinn. I really dig Dini's take on all these characters and I reckon it's going to be the best out of the bunch along with Detective Comics starring Batwoman. So, fingers crossed that it's as good as I hope.

Below are some of my favourite Poison Ivy pics. Please click to embiggen.

Final Cut of X-Men Origins: Wolverine Trailer

So, what do you get when you already have one full fledged proto-trailer and three baby protos? A 2:29 trailer with just under 16 (?) seconds on new footage. Ryan Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool is still unmarred (Dammit!). Taylor Kitsch as Remy LeBeau/Gambit showing his pimpaliscious (really? The Firefox spell check is going to let pimpaliscious fly, but not Deadpool?) silk, purple shirt. A teenage Scott Summers damaging school property. Liev Schreiber still looking as the best thing in this movie as Victor Creed/Sabretooth. Also possible appearance of mystery mutant Weapon XI. As well as Logan asking the question that he didn't ask in the original X-Men movie, "Wow, Vic. How'd you grow another foot in the 15 years since we last saw each other?" No, that's a lie, but I really wish it would.

Movie Trailers - Movies Blog

I Won! I Won!!

Thought you got rid of me, huh? Thought planet earth finally had enough and spun me right off? Nope. My darling son infected me with daycare-itis. Meaning I got a temperature of 101.7 and a hideous stomach flu for 5 days. Good times, good times. Okay, a lot of bathroom times, but still...

Awarded Bits

I won an award!

No, really.

Stop laughing.

I can wait...

Is it out of your system yet? Good. Now, the lovely Becca at No Smoking in the Skull Cave gave me a Dardos Award. Becca said that the best part of this award was that you get to pass it on....ummmm no. Best part? I won an award!!! Second best is the paying it forward.

The Dardos Award is described as thus: An award given for recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. These stamps were created with the intention of promoting fraternization between bloggers, a way of showing affection and gratitude for work that adds value to the Web.

Now here are the rules:
1) Accept the award by posting it on your blog along with the name of the person that has granted the award and a link to his/her blog.


2) Pass the award to another five blogs that are worthy of this acknowledgment, remembering to contact each of them to let them know they have been selected for this award.

Easy, yeah? Some of these people may have won this before, I don't know. I do know that they're five of the personally done blogs that appear in my feed reader that I read daily without fail. Here they are, in no particular order:

Rich is a helluva nice guy and his blog is a geek goldmine. Doing everything from comics (funny that, what with the name and all), to toys, to movies, to TV (his Lost posts are especially entertaining.)



SamuraiFrog is just someone who does his blog to entertain himself. If others happen to be entertained as well? Bonus. His political rants are epic.


Darius Whiteplume does a fabulous shrine to the female form. What's really nice is that it goes through the ages, and Pam Grier week is coming up!


Rokk Krinn and his fellow contributors do some of the most in-depth and wonderful weekly comic reviews out there. I never miss it and always wait until I've read what he's reviewing. I may not always agree, but he always backs up his points.


Dr Zaius knows that apes can do it better, and continues to show us how in his blog. This is a man...er...ape can do a political cartoon capable of making you shoot your morning coffee out of your nose at supersonic speeds.

Once again, Cheers, Becca. Make sure and check out hers and all the other people's blogs I've mentioned. Thanks.

A Better Blog Game...

My fake band/album cover. via Adventures in Nerdliness:

1. Go to "wikipedia." Hit “random” or click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random The first random wikipedia article you get is the name of your band.
2. Go to "Random quotations" or click http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
   The last four or five words of the very last quote of the page is the title of your first album.
3. Go to flickr and click on “explore the last seven days” or click http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days Third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Use photoshop or similar to put it all together.

Terry Pratchett Receives OBE Becoming Sir Terry Pratchett

Author of 27 novels on his Discworld series (over 55 million books worldwide in 33 the different languages), Terry Pratchett has received the Order of the British Empire becoming Sir Terry Pratchett.


In 2007 Sir Terry was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease and has since campaigned to raise awareness of the condition. Here's a short video with Sir Terry:



And here's his Discworld books with links if you never had the pleasure of checking them out. One of the few authors who make laugh out loud funny books. Well worth your time.

THE COLOUR OF MAGIC

THE LIGHT FANTASTIC

EQUAL RITES

MORT

SOURCERY

WYRD SISTERS

PYRAMIDS

GUARDS! GUARDS!

ERIC

MOVING PICTURES

REAPER MAN

WITCHES ABROAD

SMALL GODS

LORDS AND LADIES

MEN AT ARMS

SOUL MUSIC

INTERESTING TIMES

MASKERADE

FEET OF CLAY

HOGFATHER

JINGO

THE LAST CONTINENT

CARPE JUGULUM

THE FIFTH ELEPHANT

THE TRUTH

THIEF OF TIME

THE LAST HERO

THE AMAZING MAURICE & HIS EDUCATED RODENTS

NIGHT WATCH

THE WEE FREE MEN

MONSTROUS REGIMENT

A HAT FULL OF SKY

GOING POSTAL

THUD!

ANKH-MORPORK CITY WATCH WARRANT CARD

WHERE'S MY COW?

WINTERSMITH

MAKING MONEY

Your Favourite Movies (and other things) Backwards

This is an ongoing thread on Reddit.com. If you watched movies backwards, how would they seem? Here's five of my favourites, but there's heaps more. Check 'em out.

"If you watch Heroes backwards you realise that it's been getting progressively better over time."

"If you watch the original Superman backwards, Superman was kind of dick."

"If you watch the entire series backwards, George Lucas develops into a brilliant writer."

"If you watch Fight Club backwards, it's about a terrorist schizophrenic getting his life back together and going to rehab"

"If you play Super Mario Bros backwards, you'll find that Mario is a true philanthropist and animal lover, throwing coins into the air and saving turtles. And he leaves that bitch the princess right at the beginning."

Dr Who and Star Wars Imperial March on Tesla Coils

Okay, I haven't a clue who ArcAttack is or what Chattacon 2009 is (Is it held in Chatanooga? Do people just Twitter back and forth whilst there foregoing speaking? Who knows...) but anyone who plays music to the accompanyment of Telsa Coils is okay in my geek book. Just to kick it up a few extra notches on the Geek/Nerd scale he chose the Star Wars Imperial March and the Dr Who Theme.

Ani DeFranco

Women I Love to Love

Maybe I'll make this a Friday thing? So, don't know if I mentioned it last weekend, but I went on a Tori Amos kick on Last.FM last weekend. Today it's been Ani DeFranco. Yes, I know she's militant, but nothing makes a woman more attractive in my eyes then talent. What? No one will put out your music Ani? Screw 'em. She started Righteous Records in 1989 (later renamed the very cool Righteous Babe Records). She's produced 20+ albums since.

Here's Ani doing one of her earliest hits like last year at The Forum. Here's Both Hands:

The Horsemen Trailer aka Zhang Ziyi Pr0n

I'd never seen boo about this movie before I saw the trailer. The bad? It looks like a Seven redux with some Odishon aka Audtion thrown in for good measure, the trailer makes very little sense and oh yeah, I haven't heard anything about it until yesterday and it comes out this weekend (?) The good? It's got swedish actor Peter Stormare in it and I pretty much like everything he does. Especially his First of the Fallen bit in Constantine. And, I'd watch Ziyi Zhang in a dog food commercial. From Memoirs of a Geisha to Shi mian mai fu aka House of Flying Dagger to Ying xiong aka Jet Li's Hero to Wo hu cang long aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She's lovely, and it looks like she's putting people through some extremly painful murders. Nice.

Interesting Bits XIII or The Mostly Clip One

Guess what? Some people like the same shit I do, and actually enjoy me writing about it. Huh. I'll be damned. I've always talked in this blog like people were reading it (even was just typing to hear myself type) but people actually do now. For that, I thank you.

Movie Bits

Well, four new Watchmen clips have hit the interwebs this week (along with three new Wolverine trailers) confirming my thoughts that we will be able to see at least 20 minutes of the most popular movies on the webs before the come out in theatres. Legally I mean, heh. True, it'll be one minute at a time, but what do you want for free? I really cannot wait for the 6^th of March to get here. My sister's even taking off of work early to go see it with me.

Anyways, here's "Warning You First," when Dan comes to Adrian to tell him about Rorschach's theories:

Then, there's, "Attention Citizens," In which the Comedian is about to kick some ass jumping from Nite Owl II's ship in the 70's. With the incredibly bitchin' KC and the Sunshine Band's, "I'm Your Boogeyman," playing in the background. Which says quite a bit about the Comedian.

Next we have "Rescue," with the Silk Spectre II and Nite Owl II attempting to rescue some people from a tentament fire. Along with Zack Synder's trademarked slow-mo's.

Lastly there's "A Good Friend," which features Rorshach and Dan (Nite Owl II) having a difference of opinion in Dan's basement.

Yeah, sure it's a direct DVD, but it's still a movie I really want to see. It's the new animated Wonder Woman movie, and it comes to your favourite store March 3^rd. I Love me some Wonder Woman. From her early bondage happy beginnings, to her Mod phase, to her rightful spot as one of DC Comics, "Big Three."



Cool Bits

Okay, this lil girl is just cool as hell. She looks somewhere in the range of 15-18, but she can play the hell outta the violin. Rocking out in her room to a Black Eyed Peas song I don't even like. Give it a watch...I know you'll be impressed. (Cheers to Calvin's Canadian Cave of Cool for unearthing this gem.)



From Funnyordie.com comes, "The Uncler." Every wonder how different Micky (terribly sorry you lost your chihuahua, Loki, Mickey.) Rourke's movie The Wrestler would have been starring Uncle Sam? With all of the beatings America's taken in the past 8 years (economy, Gitmo, ect) Uncle Sam is down, but he isn't out. Take a watch, co-starring Alyssa Milano as Uncle Sam's stripper girlfriend.

The Uncler w/ Uncle Sam and Alyssa Milano from Alyssa Milano

TV Bits (or Catch-Up on BSG)

This was at Spoiler TV my favourite place for TV previews and gossip. It has a brief synopsis of Battlestar Galactica up to this point and an interview with Kate Vernon on her playing the 5^th and final cylon. I've loved Kate Vernon since I first saw her on The Kindred. The so-so version of White Wolf Pub. Vampire: The Masquerade.



Here's Tricia Helfer on The Jimmy Kimmel Show. I realise she's Carla now on Burn Notice, but she'll always be Caprica 6 in my heart. The character is just so erotic and alluring for me. Even knowing she may kill you at any moment.


Just in case you missed Tricia in Playboy a few years ago, here she is in a few shots:



Weird Bits

So, werewolf's are among us, right? I mean Kelley Armstrong, Patricia Briggs, or Carrie Vaughn could tell us this, but have you ever wanted to see one of their young? Found on Boing Boing is the Infant Lycanthrope Dissection Kit. "Alex CF, a creator of "zoological sculpture" made this infant lycanthrope dissection kit on a commission for a Swiss magician."


Also on Boing Boing, and I gotta get me one of these since I've had 25+ of them on my knees. "Becky Stern says: I'm using the image data from my knee MRI to embroider pictures. I've just finished the first of many." I'm sure there's enough knee people out there by this moment in time that they'd have no problem knowing what it was.


Funny Bits

I apologise if your humour doesn't sync with mine, but I laughed at this. From the same people who sang, "Hold Me Closer Tony Danza," is, "Obama's Elf."