Written by HIH Houseguest Lizzy Cline

There just can never be enough pop culture and geek conventions!

This is the first year for the new Comikaze event and it’s a strong opening. The one and only Stan Lee will be gracing the event along with a long list of geek/comic leaders. The best thing about the event this year is that a normal ticket price for conventions can run 40 and up which in this economy is quite a strain on the pocket. Comikaze tickets are only a mere 12 dollars. We will be trolling the isles looking for interesting and new tidbits of geekdom. For sure lots of pictures and interviews await.

http://www.facebook.com/ComikazeExpo

http://comikazeexpo.com

http://www.youtube.com/ComikazeExpo

Written by HIH Houseguest Lizzy Cline

Tim Burton’s name is synonymous with words like genius, dark, quirky, strange, eccentric and yes even to some scary. But none can deny his influence on pop culture and film today. His persona can be a bit intimidating, but unlike the stereotype some may have, I found him to be fun and cheerful and a glimmer in his eye of mischief.

His most recent inspiration is in the form of art at the LACMA museum in Los Angeles. This exhibit is full of past works from Burton himself and spans his whole career. Tim was on hand for the opening and to meet and greet a few hundred lucky fans who stood in line for hours just to gain a signature and a copy of his book, The Art of Tim Burton. The day after the opening he was off to continue his work in England on the new film Dark Shadows with of course his partner in crime, Mr. Johnny Depp and his most beautiful wife Helena Bonham Carter. There wasn’t much time for a lot of questions but any time this icon can spare is precious to be sure…

Lizzy Cline: Do you feel a bit like your work is coming full circle with this exhibit?

Tim Burton: To be sure a long way from Cal Arts. The exhibit if full of work that spans a long period of time.

Lizzy Cline: What does this exhibit mean to you personally? What do you hope people gain from experiencing it?

Tim Burton: The curators found a lot of stuff I had forgotten about (and some I don’t remember at all). It was an unsettling trip down memory lane, but ultimately a good way to reflect and in some ways reinvigorate. I’m not sure what others will gain. Hopefully they won’t run screaming.

Lizzy Cline: Could you say one thing you feel is important for the young people (children) that look up to you and your art?

Tim Burton: When I was younger, people like Vincent Price helped keep me alive. He was an outlet, being able to watch him express in dramatic fashion so many of the feelings that kids have, that were shunned as abnormal in 60’s suburbia. If my art can act as that to people of current generations, a way to connect to an outlet lacking in society, then I’m glad.

Lizzy Cline: Do you find yourself feeling more as an artist at times? Maybe from your Disney roots?

Tim Burton: Well sometimes I just want to draw. It’s kind of a mind expanding thing for me.

Lizzy Cline: Do you feel your inspiration for characters have changed since becoming a father?

Tim Burton: I don’t feel like it’s changed anything, though I may end up seeing some stuff I normally wouldn’t watch. I still pursue the projects I can connect with and that present a challenge.

Lizzy Cline: You are working right now on the Dark Shadows film with Johnny. Can you talk about meeting him? Your friendship?

Tim Burton: I had an immediate connection with him. I didn’t know him. I had never watched him before. He just felt right for “Edward Scissorhands.” Now we’re friends and also colleagues. There’s a good sort of non-communicative communication, you know. Like our own language, an understanding. More of a psychic kind of connection.

Lizzy Cline: Dark Shadows can be viewed as an American cult piece; can you give us a peek inside your thoughts as the creative process takes place? How will you approach this piece?

Tim Burton: It’s a real ethereal tone we’re trying to go for and I don’t know yet how it’s going to go, it’s so early yet. We are still trying to get the feel, vibe for it. Every piece has its own feel. We’ve barely started, so your guess is as good as mine.

Lizzy Cline: You aren’t doing this film in 3D is there a reasoning behind that?

Tim Burton: Well I loved doing Alice in 3D, the experience was just great, but I don’t think every film should rely on a certain base. There just doesn’t seem to be a place for 3D in this piece. With film your whole energy is based on your passion for doing something. I’ve found it’s important to stay with the original feeling you have for a project.

Lizzy Cline: Many people have said you have found your comfort zone working with Johnny, what can you say about that? More projects to come?

Tim Burton: Well you know it’s not just a comfort thing, I think as the work allows you go with who and what you know. He gets me and he is passionate about a lot of the same ideas I am. Yes, there’s a connection there, but a lot of directors work with the same actors over and over again. If it works so be it.

The Burton Art exhibit will be in LA through the fall month of October. All kids get in free!

Dark Shadows is set to release this winter in the US Starring Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins and Helena Bonham Carter as Julia Hoffman. His newest 3D project Freankeweenie will be premiered at the D23 Expo August 19-21.

For more information on his exhibit or to order one of his books visit the LACMA site, http://shop.lacma.org

Many thanks to Miranda Carroll at LACMA.
Pictures from Richard Maldonado.

Written by HIH Houseguest, Caleb Bacon.

WordSpy.com defines “appointment television” as “television programming for which one sets aside time to watch, either live or on videotape.”

I blame HBO.

One day, our nation’s elites (they say: “cinemaphiles”) had their own Must See TV. NBC’s Thursday Night lineup became simply pedestrian compared to Sunday Nights on HBO where shows like The Sopranos and Six Feet Under looked, sounded, and watched like film.

Weekly appointments were made by the affluent and hundred-aires alike to gather around the ole’ idiot box. I was one of them. Then came the blow-up of TiVo, DVR, Hulu, and even (gasp!) Torrents. Appointment television became less of… well, an appointment.

Then came the second season of Party Down.

Party Down was a show whose first season had been chicken soup in DVD-form on an overcast Los Angeles day where I was under the weather. Sunset Boulevard billboards suggested the second season’s premier was shortly after. I knew I wasn’t waiting a year for DVD set and I certainly wasn’t in the 0.003% of Americans with Starz (even if I do have it, it’s probably impossibly buried somewhere between 584 and 1,483b.)

I downloaded that second season premier on the very night of its release, thanks to a Starz partnership with Netflix, whose instant watch option did the trick and quick.

(While Netflix Watch technically streams content, “appointment stream” sounds a little too pervy, even for me.)

My appointment book featured a thirty-minute block on Friday nights spent with a group of showbiz up-and-comers and near-misses who paid rent via civilian employment as event caterers. Ten Fridays were spent appointment downloading.

I loved those five total hours with Henry Pollard (Adam Scott, Step Brothers’ wonderfully douchetastic Derek) Ron Donald (The State’s Ken Marino,) Kyle (Ryan Hansen,) Roman (Freak and Geek Martin Starr,) Henry’s love interest Casey (Lizzy Caplan, recently topless on True Blood,) and newcomer Lydia (Megan Mullally.)

As a writer in Hollywood, I typically loathe the dramaticization of youngsters trying to make it in Tinseltown. (I also hate people who say “Tinseltown.”) It’s a lazy premise that bores me and exposes a lack of creative imagination. Party Down was nothing like that — it was smart, had heart, great writing, great characters, and a strong assault of weekly guests.

Unfortunately, Starz recently announced that weren’t picking up (read: canceling.)

the low-rated yet critically acclaimed Party Down for a third season.

Looks like I have to cancel an appointment.

Caleb Bacon is a staff writer for LAist, and eventual screenwriter who co-hosts the weekly men’s interest comedy podcast, The Gentlemen’s Club. He lives in Los Angeles and writes his bios in the third person (but not Tweets.)

http://calebbacon.com

http://www.gentlemensclubpodcast.com/

http://twitter.com/thecalebbacon

Written by HIH Houseguest Lizzy Cline

I caught up with Holt at the young stage play, “Love like a Hun” in Hollywood. The ‘test run’ was a great concept and reminiscent of theatre in Los Angeles before “politically correct” became the norm. (See review below) The Hun is looking for independent support and investors, interested parties can contact Holt on facebook. Get to know one of Hollywood’s emerging stars Mr. Holt Boggs. You can see Holt right now in The Prodigy currently playing on Starz and Encore.

Click here for more info:

Review of “Love Like a Hun”:

What happens when you believe in modern progress? The thought presents itself besides the question, what happens when you get what you thought you wanted? This is the situation that Joe finds himself in during the stage play of “Love like A Hun.” The script addresses the preconceived notions of marriage and social standing prejudices in today’s society. Joe, portrayed by Holt Boggs, thinks he is control over every part of his life at work and at home. When he loses control over his own desire for “progress”, a circle of life’s clichés follow. Holt pulls along the dialog like the tourbillion in a clock with his passion and honesty to the character and story. A hint of humor, Holt doesn’t skip a beat as he is asked, “Where is your wife from again?” “Hell, she’s from Hell.” The counter to Joe is Atilla, Frank Gangarossa, who brings about a bit of dark drive to the stage with his direct approach to the character itself. Mixed in with the comedic timing of Holgar Moncada as Daniel, there were plenty of laughs and enjoyable action scenes that brought about an afternoon well spent. True to the stereotypes and surface views in today’s world, the writer and director of this piece has successfully approached topics that still seems to be taboo in most circles.

Holt Boggs official site: www.HoltBoggs.com

Click here for Holt Boggs Facebook Page.

Click here for Holt Boggs at IMDb.com.

To learn more about writer and HIH Houseguest, Lizzy Cline visit her Facebook page,  Click here

HIH Houseguest, Randy Jo Stewart brings us the following post. You can find out more about Randy Jo, a.k.a. The Halfass Housewife by visiting her group on Facebook, click here.

Being the Half Ass House Wife that I am (putting the ME in Mediocre) I decided a year ago to venture out and expand my repertoire. I have been doing some extra work on TV shows, movies and even a video game promo. It’s been a lot of fun but the best of all happened a month or so ago. I was on set for a TV show and they announced who the guest star of the episode was: John Schneider. Did I hear that right? The John Schneider? As in Bo Duke  from the Dukes of Hazzard? Looking around at the other extras in the holding room I soon realized only about half knew who he was. Granted, most of the extras were at least ten years younger than me but come on people. It’s Bo Duke!

Let me explain something right here, right now. Bo Duke was my very first crush. I can recall fantasizing about him pulling up in the General Lee and running out of gas in front of our house and having to stay the night. He would come in and eat dinner with us, totally ignore my A-hole big brother, marvel at my beauty and help me convince my dad to let us sleep in my tree house. That’s about as far as I got with the fantasy. I was five. I even wrote him a fan letter and at the bottom drew a picture of the General Lee. My brother got a hold of it and asked why I drew a picture of a block of cheese on it, see, like I said he was an A-hole. So I never sent the letter.

These memories came flooding back as I was led on set and positioned to look like a patron at a country western bar. Then HE walked in, not only did he walk in, he walked right by me. The fake beer I was holding shook and threatened to spill. He has aged beautifully. Tall, fit, handsome and still has a full head of blonde bouncy curls (curls I fantasized about cutting a piece from and eating in front of him and saying “Now we are one!” but thought better of).

I did my best to play it cool whenever he was around. There came a time when I was in a booth behind him in a scene and he walks right by, brushing my thigh with his leg (I like to think he did it on purpose) and I wanted to declare “Um, Mr. Schneider, you just brushed my thigh with your powerful, masculine body…pretty sure I’m pregnant now. I just know our baby will be beautiful.”

Once again I was able to keep my cool, but I was beginning to waver.

It was a twelve hour work day and I was booked to work the next two. I found myself newly energized just knowing I’d get a chance to be in the presence of Bo Duke…oops I mean John Schneider. The last day on set only ten extras were requested and I was one. I got to get up close and personal with Mr. Schneider and every time I breathed as deep as possible as if trying to steal his soul, when asked by another extra what I was doing I lied and said, “I have asthma and have to do breathing exercises to strengthen my lungs.” The glint in John’s eyes told me he knew what was up. I bet he gets sniffed like that all the time. He smells like soap, a hint of cigarettes and kind of a woodsy… my heart races just thinking of it right now.

I wish I could tell you after a brief conversation he declared his undying love for me and we drove off in the General Lee into the sunset but that would be a HUGE lie and also would piss my husband off. What I can say is Bo Duke (just going to call him this FOREVER) did talk to me, and I quote, “You having fun darling?”

OK, Ok, I don’t know for sure he used the word “darling” but he could have. My response was, “Uh, yeah, (deep breath)” and that was it.

Relaying my star struck experience to my eleven year old daughter I was disappointed with her response. Maybe it’s because my friends who I had told were at one time or another either in love with Bo or Luke and a couple even Daisy and were impressed. My eleven year old looked at me and said, “Gross, Mom. Isn’t he like old?”

I said “No, No, not at all and for your information he looks better now than ever. Me having a crush on him as a girl and getting to meet him now is the same as if you get to meet Robert Pattinson in twenty five years.”

The look on her face was one of shock and confusion. After reassuring me that I was wrong she quietly secured herself in her room, her Robert Pattinson clad room, to do some deep thinking I hoped. The next morning she and I went to a local garage sale where she found me a “John Schneider Greatest Hits” record. It was her way of a peace offering and also I think the universe saying Bo will forever be linked in my heart, only the fantasies are WAY better now.

Find out what John Schneider is up to these days, visit his official site: http://www.johnschneideronline.com

Click here for info about Dukes of Hazzard on DVD.

Hello Friends,

Man behind the green curtain here, usually I am behind the scenes keeping the dot com gears moving and keeping my thoughts to myself. But today is your lucky day as I am filling in as a HIH guest host Houseguest.

I have been thinking about different beliefs lately, and the different afterlife options they present. Combine that with my serious problem of not taking anything seriously, and we have ourselves a post about the afterlife :)

So join me, if you will, as we try on different versions of the afterlife to see what fits, as we ask  “Where do bad folks go when they die?”

Christian Heaven

Stop me if you’ve heard about this one…

Revelations tells us there will be an eternity of worship service, along with all sorts of wacky business going on in heaven to enjoy, check out the deeply educational brick testament for more.

As the Hymm goes “Prostrate before Thy throne to lie, And gaze, and gaze on Thee!” Roughly translated is staring at God forever and not moving around, dressing nicely and probably collecting tons of gold stars.

My Verdict: Hmm, all in all, doesn’t sounds doable for me, It’s hard enough sitting still let alone following all those rules for eternity.

Speaking of which, the Christian alternative is Hell which doesn’t sound so different. Heaven sounds so boring and fixed, hell may not be a bad alternative. David Byrne suggests in the song “You & Eye” that maybe it won’t be so bad with the lyrics “You & I — go straight to hell. Where they have barbeque & beer Better than they do up here … Yeah–we smoke cigarettes We dance with the dead … And Darling, I think you’ll like it here”

Qur’an Paradise

This sounds pretty neat, no indefinite worshiping, more like rivers that go on forever, hairless freaks, and clothes that don’t wear out, which is pretty handy. From the Hadith – Mishkat text “The inhabitants of Paradise are hairless, beardless and have black eyes, their youth does not pass away and their garments do not wear out.”

Doh’ it looks like it will be full of poor dudes and not very many women, sorry ladies. “I looked at Paradise and found poor people forming the majority of its inhabitants; and I looked at Hell and saw that the majority of its inhabitants were women.” Hadith – Sahih Bukhari 4:464

My Verdict: All in all, nothing too special about Paradise, plus I would have to devote my life to worship and with iPhones who has time for that these days, I think I will hang out with the ladies in hell.

Oh, and the the whole 72 virgins in Paradise for martyrs is pretty much made up and not in the Qur’an. Which always sparked this image in my mind, not much of a reward:

Valhalla

Now we’re talkin’ some good old fashioned slain warrior rewards. This is an afterlife I can believe in, it really is beer heaven: “Odin states that the goat Heiðrún and the hart Eikþyrnir stand on top of Valhalla and graze on the branches of the tree Læraðr. Heiðrún produces vats of mead that liquor cannot be compared to, and from Eikþyrnir’s antlers  drip liquid into the spring Hvergelmir  from which flows forth all waters.”

The TV series True Blood describes it succinctly “Viking 1: The gods wait for you in Valhalla. Vikiing 2: There will be a party with meat…and gold…and beer. Viking 1: And women? Will there be women? Eric: Wherever I am…there will always be women.”

Plus, Valhalla is made out of weaponry and armor “This vast hall has five hundred and forty doors. The rafters are spears, the hall is roofed with shields and breast-plates litter the benches. A wolf guards the western door and an eagle hovers over it.”

My Verdict: step 1. become warrior, 2. get slain, 3. go to Valhalla; I am so there.

Reincarnation

Reincarnation is a pretty sweet deal, if you die, you get to pop back into existence, inhabiting a new lifeforms according to how you lived your life. Is there anything more comforting to think that George W. Bush will come back as a dung beetle?

I am fascinated by the stories of past lives, especially when they come from children with an extreme amount of detail much like this case.

For references, I give you the movie Fluke, which strangely enough, is about the best example of reincarnation in pop culture.

My Verdict: I could definitely hang with reincarnation, I like the concept and in a “Energy cannot be destroyed, only transferred“, Ghosts and paranormal sort of way, it’s definitely believable.

Realists, Atheists (Non) afterlife

Who can argue with the Tom Waits song Dirt in the Ground which says “What does it matter, a dream of love Or a dream of lies. We’re all gonna be in the same place When we die.Your spirit don’t leave knowing Your face or your name. And the wind through your bones Is all that remains. And we’re all gonna be We’re all gonna be Just dirt in the ground.”

My Verdict: Not much to say here, in a way it’s true and it doesn’t really count as an afterlife, but before we can completely throw away the Atheism non afterlife and move on, it is interesting to ponder, and what is non existence, and does it exist.

Check out QualiaSoup on Youtube if you want some convincing, if not completely dry, full coverage of the topic.

Mysticism

This is much more nebulous, vaguely combining Buddhism, Taoism, Solipsism, and any religion where the ground rules are not so defined. This, by design, avoids science and testing, as it’s considered part of the game of life to hide from any testing. Death is not separate from Life, and Death and life exist in equal parts forever.

Time, space, yourself do not exists and only exist as words. Reality has been like this instance forever, and we are playing a game and playing hide and go seek from ourselves, leaving our bodies, going into new bodies. We are not separate from the Reality we experience, and the experience and experiencer are one.

My Verdict: This is closest to what I believe of life and the afterlife, what I feel and think before my mind has time to put it into words. In this case, there is no real afterlife and no real death, just continual movement.

As reality, life and the afterlife, no matter which way you look at it, sure is crazy. I will leave you with a long but worth it video featuring Alan Watts, laying down the awesome:

Golden Philosophy from Sensei Studios on Vimeo.