08 Feb 2011
Film, Media 2 Comments Permalink

Superman Classic

02/08/2011 2 Comments

If Disney made an animated Superman film, I think you’d pretty much end up with Hercules (1997). But Disney animator Rob Pratt has followed his own vision with this 60-second animated short, Superman Classic. Like Coke Classic, this labor of love brings back some of the things he’s enjoyed from the franchise, including stirring music from the Kirk Alyn serials, character designs inspired by the many looks of Clark Kent and Superman, and notably the voice work of John Newton, who originated the role of Superboy in the 1988 live-action The Adventures of Superboy. The storyline echoes Max Fleischer’s 1941 short film, The Mechanical Monsters, and Pratt’s hand-drawn animation is just as fluid and beautiful; nothing makes me believe a man can fly more than these cartoons. Anyway, check it out for yourself:

(via blastr)

03 Feb 2011
Media, Television Permalink

laugh long and prosper

02/03/2011

Today, Torie Atkinson and I released the first installment of Laugh Treks, a free MST3K-like podcast that you can download and sync with bad Star Trek episodes to “make them re-watchable.” Whether you love or hate the original series, we hope our suffering can make even the worst hours of television enjoyable, or at least endurable.

This 51-minute audio file represents roughly six months of work: watching “Spock’s Brain” over and over again, refining the script, recording and editing for many hours, and trying really hard to be funny. We’re sure it will get faster and easier should we delude ourselves into making more of these. In the meantime, we’d appreciate it if you download the file from TheViewscreen.com and try it out. You can sync the audio with free streaming video of the episode online at CBS.com (original | remastered) if you don’t already own the DVD. If you’re still dubious, you can also check out the trailer first.

We’d love to hear your feedback, and please please please spread the word through your blogs and social media!

27 Jan 2011
Media, Television Permalink

brains and beauty

01/27/2011

There are a couple of exciting things happening over at The Viewscreen today! First up is our weekly Star Trek Re-Watch with my review of “That Which Survives,” with commentary by Torie Atkinson. The moral of the episode is the only thing better than one Lee Meriwether is three of her–which makes more sense than anything else in the episode and at least makes it worth seeing.

But Torie and I are even more thrilled to present a sneak preview of a secret project we’ve been working on for a while. If you like making fun of Star Trek, particularly the bad episodes, we hope you’ll enjoy this. We’ll talk more about it next week, but in the meantime please check out the trailer below and spread the link through the social media of your choice!

25 Jan 2011
Business, Novels, Writing 1 Comment Permalink

13 large white envelopes*

01/25/2011 1 Comment

image

Back when I was querying literary agents, a writing blog suggested using USPS Priority Mail envelopes for snail mail submissions because the packaging is free and they charge a flat rate no matter what you cram into them. So I picked up a bunch of envelopes and labels, and was fortunate enough to have a couple left over at the end of the process. Those remained tucked away at the bottom of a drawer, until today, when I used one of them to send a signed book contract to my agent! :)

I have one more envelope left… What should I do with it?

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*With apologies to Maureen Johnson. I don’t remember how many envelopes I actually started with, but it was probably a lot.