Ben Templesmith at Zeus Comics and Boomerang Book Club

Zeus Comics

That’s right, Ben Templesmith will be signing his works April 3rd at Zeus Comics in Dallas. If you’ve got the time (or just make the time) head down and get your favorite piece signed by him. Templesmith will be signing from noon to 6pm. Also, be sure and catch up on Richard and the gang in the Variants episode 10 which should hit the day before on the 2nd.

Boomerang Comics

Also, happening this week is the Boomerang Comics book club. They will be reading ‘Incognito’ by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips.

Here's how publisher Marvel describes INCOGNITO: "Zach is a file clerk in a dead end job... or is he really a super-villain hiding in Witness Protection? As his powers begin to return, our anti-hero's life begins to unravel in a dark and explosive fashion. INCOGNITO is the sexy black comic pulp tale that you'll never forget!"

If you haven’t already picked up a copy, you can get a 15% off discount at Boomerang and then join them Thursday night at 7pm.

New Moon DVD Release Party was a blast!

For a guy who is not into the whole sparkly vampire thing, I really enjoyed myself last Friday night. If you missed it, March 19th the Borders in Lewisville hosted a New Moon DVD release party and invited everyone out to celebrate. In attendance was one old beat-up, red Chevy pick-up owned by local girl, Sterling Biegert.

Things kicked off about 9:30 when the Biegerts arrived with the truck. There was already a crowd waiting outside in anticipation, even the staff kept asking where they were. Once we got them parked, a line was formed and for a small donation you could actually sit inside and pretend you were Bella. Some folks even brought there own props and I don’t know how many times I heard the line “I sat where Robert Pattinson sat” or how many times they took pictures of the dent in the left rear fender.

Inside the Borders Books, there were games and refreshments and at quarter to midnight another line formed and the countdown started. Many folks went home that night satisfied as well as the staff. Even the ones who dreaded the night full of teens actually enjoyed themselves.

About 11pm, we got an unexpected visit from a caretaker. His name was also James and he was driving a lovely Cadillac hearse that they use for limousines. James tells me that they were doing a promo down at the local Blockbuster and the folks down there kept talking about the truck being up at our store. He says that once the shift was over they made a bee line to our location to see it. Thanks for dropping by James. Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos of James but I did get video of the car.

I got to speak with Sterling’s mom, Dara, at length about the whole truck thing and she loves seeing the enjoyment that her daughter receives from it. Sterling got the truck as a birthday present, and it was decided that she could do some good with it for charity. The money goes to two local charities benefiting children and abused women thus helping in the local vicinity. They’ve taken it to Hollywood and Hillywood, the latter being a website which I’ll link at the bottom. They always trailer the truck if it’s going to have to travel far, but I’ll admit the truck is in great shape. It gets regular maintenance and sports a new transmission. Supposedly, Kristin Stewart didn’t know how to drive a standard, so they put in an automatic. Dara jokes that she wishes they had put in power steering, too. It sports autographs from some of the actors and actresses and as I looked at them, I overheard Sterling telling the folks in line about her meeting the cast and describing each and every one. She seemed to be in her element as the center of attention and Dara told me that Sterling hopes to be on Broadway someday. Here’s hoping you make it!

The Hillywood Show

 

I’ve got video, but I’m having trouble with the Youtube Account. Let me find another way to host them and I’ll put them up as soon as I can!

Scifi Comedy ‘Iron Sky’ in Production

Ever heard of ‘Star Wreck’? I hadn’t and probably wouldn’t have heard of ‘Iron Sky’ if not for Io9.com. The producers of ‘Star Wreck’ have put together a new movie that’s really piqued my interest. The tag line says “In 1945 the Nazis went to the moon. In 2018 they came back.” I like that and if the video and production photos are any indication this will something to not be missed. In fact, it has all the elements of my favorite kind of scifi. A little what-if mixed with a little fun! Check out the trailer and tell me what you think!




'Iron Sky' is looking for an early 2011 release.

Io9.com
Star Wreck
Iron Sky

Boomerang Comics 2nd Anniversary and Josh Howard’s ‘Witch Queen’

Reminder that our Not Dead @ 2 anniversary party is THIS Saturday, March 20th! Come join us in store for food, fun, and comics from 12 pm to 3 pm. Josh Howard, author and artist of Dead @ 17, will be here with us to sign copies of his new comic The Witch Queen and draw pictures! Also to reward our customers, all toys and trade paperbacks will be 15% off from 12 to 3!

Stop and congratulate Neal and the crew on two years in business at Boomerang Comics and while you’re there grab an autographed copy of ‘Witch Queen’, the latest in the Dead@17 series. AND you can congratulate Josh Howard on the forward movement of the movie, Dead@17.
Take pictures for me!
Movie Geek Feed’s Movie News
MTv Splash Page News

New Moon DVD Release Party with Special Guest

If you’re a fan of Twilight and live in the Lewisville, Texas area, then Friday might be of interest to you. Friday, March 19th, Borders Books all across the country will be having a midnight movie release party for the New Moon DVD. To add to the festivities at the Lewisville store, though, local celebrity (at least she is to us), Sterling Biegert will be in attendance with her pride and joy, Bella’s old Chevy pick-up truck from the movie.




Sterling will allow photos of the truck alone, but if you want a photo of yourself sitting in the truck, a small donation will be asked. All donations go to Sterling’s favorite charities.




The event starts at 10pm and will run until about 1am. In addition to the regular DVD and Blu-ray editions, Borders will be selling an exclusive set:

Includes exclusive medallion necklace on a silver chain—gold side features wolf-pack tattoo design, silver side shows the Cullen crest.
PLUS, enjoy over 25 minutes of previously unreleased EXTENDED SCENES such as Jake in Bella's Room and Edward meeting the Volturi and many, many more! INTERVIEWS with cast members Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner, the Cullen Family, the Wolf Pack, the Volturi and Director Chris Weitz; unrivaled RED-CARPET FOOTAGE from the movie premiere; front row seats to The Twilight Saga: New Moon WEBCAST.

Also includes additional Special Features: A revealing AUDIO COMMENTARY with Director Chris Weitz and Editor Peter Lambert; a riveting 6-PART DOCUMENTARY that takes you behind the scenes; exclusive band REHEARSAL FOOTAGE with Muse; and MUSIC VIDEOS from Death Cab for Cutie, Anya Marina and Mutemath.

Just remember that even though Borders feels they have enough stock to meet the demand, supplies are limited.  There will also be more ‘New Moon’ merchandise to satisfy even the most hard-core collector, so join them for food, fun, and ‘New Moon’ Friday, March, 19th at 10pm.

Young Adult Book Club – Forest of Hands and Teeth

This one is a little late hitting the page, but here goes. If you’ve read the book ‘Forest of Hands and Teeth’ then head over to Borders Books in Lewisville at 4pm this afternoon for the Young Adult book club meeting. Even if you haven’t read it,  you can still come and sit in, just be aware that there will be spoilers.

This book came out in March of 2009 and has already been such a big hit that it’s been picked up by 7 Star Pictures to be made into a movie and their is rumor of a well-known actress to play the part of Mary. Who would you want to see playing Mary?

This post is also posted at my companion site, Comfy Library.

Carrie Ryan

Free Screening of Independent ‘Protocol 47’ in Lewisville

Came across this article is the Lewisville Star the other day. Weird story. I’ve never picked up the Star, but I was headed to my new favorite place to eat, Fuzzy’s Tacos, and saw the news stand. Something told me to pick up a paper. Convincingly enough, that after the door slipped out of my hands and I lost fifty cents, I’ll still put in another fifty cents. And there on the front page was the article about ‘Protocol 47’.

In "PROTOCOL 47" a secret nuclear research facility is testing a new power source when an accident happens. A new type of radiation is created that alters the researchers into a myriad of things. Some go mad and attack others, some become depressed and kill themselves, but others make a startling change. It is up to those in a distant control facility to decide whether the researchers live or whether they invoke the dreaded "PROTOCOL 47". PARENTAL ADVISORY: FILM CONTAINS ADULT LANGUAGE, LIGHT GORE and VIOLENCE.

This movie is an independent made by the students at MediaTech Institute in Las Colinas. Basically, it’s a recording school that also has a turntablism class and a music business program. This is the class project and their doing a free screening at Studio Movie Grill in Lewisville.

An independent short film, entitled "PROTOCOL 47", made by local student filmmakers will be presented Thursday, March 18, 2010 at the Studio Movie Grill- Lewisville, 1600 S. Stemmons Freeway (at Corporate Drive) Lewisville, Texas 75067. The film will be shown at two different screening times one at 6:30 PM and another at 8:30 PM. The film is produced by the MediaTech Institute-Dallas Campus in Las Colinas.

There are some actual “veterans” helping with the piece, so you might recognize one or two of them.

"PROTOCOL 47" is an intense, character driven drama starring Stephanie Rhodes of "Friday 13th" (2009) and directed by Russian born Valentina Vladi. In addition to "PROTOCOL 47", a companion behind-the-scenes documentary film about the making of "PROTOCOL 47" will also be shown. There will be a filmmaker Q & A providing a unique opportunity for other aspiring filmmakers or screenwriters to receive inside perspectives.

I’m gonna do my best to make one of the screenings, don’t know which one yet, but if enough of you want to meet up, maybe we can pick one and meet. Post in the comments below, shoot me an email to agalaxycalleddallas (at) gmail (dot) com, tweet me at @galaxy_dallas, or get me on my fan page on FaceBook at A Galaxy Called Dallas.

Protocol 47

Lewisville Leader Star News Article

MediaTech

All-Con 2010 Has Arrived

And another year has come and gone. This is the convention that started this website. Ah, I can remember it as if it were yesterday. My wife had a Saturday together BB (before baby) and I was checking things out online to see what was happening. I noticed a friend of mine on FaceBook saying that she was headed to All-Con and I figured it had to be pretty close if she was just now leaving. Did a quick search and found the website and got really excited when I saw who was going to be there. We stopped for lunch and headed out with camera in hand.

The last time that I had been to a convention was in 1988 up in Milwaukee. I was in the Navy and found out that GenCon was going on and had to go. Met Gary Gygax (God rest his soul), Jeff Easley, Larry Elmore, Clyde Caldwell and the model who posed for one of Caldwell’s more famous pieces. I remembered the thrill of meeting all these people who loved the same things that I loved and wanted to share ideas and talk about it ad nauseam.

That’s the feeling that I had all day that day in March of last year. I told my wife that I never wanted to lose that feeling so that is why I started this blog. I look at this blog as a hub (thank you Tom for the word) of information for anyone in Dallas who loves scifi, fantasy, comic books, a little horror, gaming, rpgs, and just about anything geeky. I will have been doing this for a year on March 20 which coincides with Boomerang Comics 2nd anniversary party which I’ll tell about in another post.
So, I really have to say “thank you” to All-Con for lighting the fire in me, one that I haven’t had in over 20 years.

Unfortunately, I won’t be going this year due to me now having a job. Yay, I can afford but don’t have the time as opposed to last year having the time but not affording it (I went anyway). If you can find the time, send me photo links so I can enjoy the show and I’ll post them here with your permission.

All-Con 2010
Photos from All-Con 2009

“Serenity: Float Out” to be penned by Patton Oswalt

MTv news put out this evening that Patton Oswalt will be writing a one-shot for Dark Horse Comics in the Firefly universe. It will concern a group of Wash’s friends in the wake of his death purchasing a new ship and sharing memories of Wash during the float out, or christening.

Written by Oswalt with interior art by Patric Reynolds and a cover by "Buffy" artist Jo Chen, "Float Out" explores how the end of one character's life spins out into the beginning of a new chapter in the "Serenity" universe.

I look forward to new stories from the ‘verse, be it comic or book. I’ve seen some folks that have issues with Oswalt, yet I haven’t seen the reasons why. I’ll do a little research on this and get back to you or feel free to let me know what is going on below in a comment.

In the meantime, I look forward to reading it and immersing myself back into the Firefly universe that so many people the world over have come to love!

Have you got a beef against Patton Oswalt? Why? Looking forward to new merchandise from the Serenity ‘verse or are you kind of “meh”? Let me know people!


Courtesy of MTv Splash Page Blog

The original art will be donated to the charitable organization Can't Stop the Serenity, which you can find more information about here: http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com/

Iron Man 2 Trailer

I watched Jimmy Kimmel after the Oscars and was treated to an interview with Robert Downey, Jr. and the new trailer for Iron Man 2. Robert comes out on stage in true Tony Stark fashion in a tux with black high-tops and a powder blue bow tie that matched the lenses in his shades escorted by two lovely ladies. Not an in-depth interview but they had fun jabbing at each other.

This is one of the few movies that I’m just giddy over. I’m interested in seeing how Don Cheadle takes over the character James Rhodes and can’t wait to see Scarlett Johansson back as the Black Widow!

Is this a movie that you are excited about or just ho-hum?

Treasure at the Bookstore!

Got what was left of our tax refund and went out to eat. We’ve been really good as of late and had been eating at home like we should. We were amazed how much we got back because the majority of it paid some back taxes completely off and we’ll still had a nice little sum left!
 
Took the wife and kid out to Friday’s (it’s her favorite) and then cruised down to the Half-Price Books to sell some and browse. I made the mistake of going by the “Nostalgia Case”. Someone had sold off some of their old D&D books.  Some of the covers were hidden but I recognized the color right away. Ended up walking away with “Dungeons & Dragons Basic Vol. 1” and best of all “The Keep on the Borderlands.” Glad we decided to get out of the house.

Except for the blemishes on the covers and some stain along the edges of the pages, these are in great shape. They’ll go along fine with my others and soon I’ll have a complete set of the early years!

 
  Question: Is there something from your childhood that you would love to replace? A favorite book, game, or toy? One that I would really love to get my hands on is “Raydeen” of the Shogun Warriors. What’s yours?

Is Avatar 'Best Picture' material?

Just a quick observance and question. Is 'Avatar' a truly 'Best Picture' worthy movie or did they just throw it in because it's James Cameron and he spent a bajillion dollars making it? I can see it being in all the other categories that it's nominated for, but really to me the story and acting are lacking to make it truly a contender amongst all the over movies in the category. This has nothing to do with it being a science fiction, because I would love more than anything to see a sci-fi movie make it to the top. This is just asking if it's meeting all the requirements of a 'Best Picture' film. Let me know what you think!

The Right Man for the Job

I was tooling around twitter hitting up people for post ideas and M. B. Weston gave me a great one. The question? Whether Tim Burton is the right man for the job considering Disney’s audience or too dark a director. I think he’ll do just fine, because Disney has already tempted tougher subject matter with earlier movies.

When you think Disney, you think animated movies like the original ‘Alice in Wonderland’ or ‘Bambi’. Maybe you think of classic live-action like ‘The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes’ with a young Kurt Russell or ‘Herbie’. Those are nice feel-good movies with action and heart and a moral to tell the kids at the end. But, you can go all the way back to 1954 and ‘20,000 Leagues Under the Sea’ to find an adventure movie with enough dramatic scenes to keep up many a kid. Then, in 1958 the animated ‘Legend of Sleepy Hollow’ poses some pretty scary stuff for little children to contend with after the lights dim for the night. It may not seem that spooktacular to us adults, but to a little kid, just because it was animated didn’t make it any less frightening.

Now jump ahead to to 2002 and you get ‘The Hot Chick’ with Rob Schneider. I did not know this was a Disney film at the time or I might have gotten a little squeamish. It was the next year that ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl’ hit theaters and set up the franchise for a long run. ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ is slated for a May 20, 2011 release date. This run of movies in itself has flaunted with subject matter that clearly made it a movie for older kids and adults. I’m not saying it was the first, but, to me, it started the trend of movies to come from Disney. From barnacle-crusted sailors, tentacle-faced pirate captains, to that nasty little skeleton monkey and even I wanted to put my hands over my face at times.

The list continued with ‘National Treasure’ (2004), ‘Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ (2005), and now ‘Alice in Wonderland’. I think that Mr. Burton will fit in just fine with those that have paved the road before him. And we can now look forward to more great movies such as ‘Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’, ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’, plus their adaptation of the Beatles’ ‘Yellow Submarine’ and Edgar Rice Burroughs’ ‘John Carter of Mars’ both due out in 2012.
I give them credit. All of these movies have provided quality entertainment as proven by their box office scores. So, I really have no doubt that they will continue to score big in the future.
Agree? Why not? And what upcoming Disney film are you the most excited about?
Thanks to M. B. Weston for the suggestion.

North Texas Irish Festival 2010

Alas, another year has come ‘round and caught me with my kilt down. The warm weather is helping to usher in the North Texas Irish Festival and large crowds are expected to be in attendance! My wife and I try to go when we can but looks like this year will take a back burner. In addition to the fact that I didn’t realize it was time until two days ago, the purse strings seem to be a little tight as of late. But, with your help, I can live vicariously through your adventures. Send me stories and photos or links to such and I’ll post them here or link to them. And if anyone wants, you can send food and drink. Just email me for directions! Sláinte!


Photo courtesy of JD Thompson of Open Window Photography, and the Southwest Celtic Music Association, Inc.

Book and DVD Releases for Tuesday March 2, 2010

Books

• The Dream of Perpetual Motion by Dexter Palmer
• Coyote Destiny by Allen Steele

DVDs

• 2012
• Alice (2009 Miniseries)
• Gentlemen Broncos
  
• Doctor Who Dalek War: Frontier in Space & Planet of the Daleks (Stories 67 and 68)
• Ponyo (Two-Disc Edition)
• Where the Wild Things Are

Thanks to io9.com

Getting to know Mr. Gaiman

I happened to be cruising twitter the other day and Neil Gaiman himself threw a tweet out pointing to a post from the fine folks over at Geeks of Doom. Published in 2008, this short work is still pretty good for people who have never read Gaiman and don’t know where to start.


I myself read his ‘American Gods’ and ‘Coraline’ before picking up the “Sandman Vol. 1”. Loved all of them and look forward to reading more. The link below will send you to a wiki that is very comprehensive but doesn’t include one of his latest children’s books, ‘Odd and the Frost Giants.’ I’ve read a preview chapter on that and it’s pretty cool. May pick that one up real soon.
What Gaiman books have you read and did you enjoy them? If not, why?

Neil Gaiman’s Body of Works

On a personal note: I saw on his blog where he did a reading in Tuscaloosa, Ala. I missed that reading by about 24 hours as we had to drive through there on our way to Georgia to introduce the baby girl to her great grandparents. Man, what a difference a day makes. I would have definitely stopped overnight to see that. But according to his site, those tickets sold out in 2 minutes.

UPDATE:  I came across this post in my wanderings and wanted to add it also. Check out J. T. Oldfield's Blog and let him know what you think!