Jimmy's Juke Joint

Stacey Storey Time

Hey kids. You remember me talking about Stacey Storey? I met her briefly in San Diego through Brea Grant. The former Miss Alaska and actress was very sweet and we chatted for a short while and have stayed in touch via Twitter and Facebook since then. She linked a post on her blog the other day that really resonated with me and I think will with you as well. Pretty inspirational, I must say. I retweeted it on Twitter but thought I'd give it some love here on the blog as well. Here's an excerpt:

"As I sit to meditate today, my new adage is: Screw the results, relish the process. That statement couldn’t be any more true. The process.  That is what this life is all about: the process.

Next, this is what I am purposing to do…I shall write every day. Some blog entries may be good, some may be bad but the point is to just keep showing up.  I am not going to agonize over the content, over finding the perfect word…I am just going to do it.  And let it go."

Okay. Let me get this straight. Not only is she obviously stunning, but she's got the brains too? What next? She's super talented? Extremely nice? An overall lovely person? Stacey! You're ruining the curve for the rest of us! 

Go read the rest of this entry on her website. And then check it out a bit more as she will be posting often. You're welcome, folks. 

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

If you haven't heard about this book then you've been eaten by zombies. It's a send up of Jane Austen's classic tale with zombies thrown in. But, it's not that simple. It's quite well written in Austen's style by Seth Grahame-Smith and even offers an explanation or 2 to some wandering questions in the original novel. The official blurb from Quirk Books:

" 'It is a truth universally acknowledged that a zombie in possession of brains must be in want of more brains.' So begins Pride and Prejudice and Zombies featuring the original text of Jane Austen’s beloved novel with all-new scenes of bone-crunching zombie action. As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton-and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a delightful comedy of manners with plenty of civilized sparring between the two young lovers-and even more violent sparring on the blood-soaked battlefield as Elizabeth wages war against hordes of flesh-eating undead. Complete with 20 illustrations in the style of C. E. Brock (the original illustrator of Pride and Prejudice), this insanely funny expanded edition will introduce Jane Austen’s classic novel to new legions of fans."

Being a novel, I was scared to read it because it doesn't have pictures. You know how I am. Then, last week, my friend Rich said the audiobook was out! I immediately downloaded it as I'm an audiobook fanatic. It's a little over 10 hours long and took me a few days to get through it all. It is genius! So well read by the talented Katherine Kellgren. She reads it all posh like as she narrates and then goes into different voices for each characters. Even her male voices were distinguishable. Let me tell you...it is hilarious! I'm sure reading it is fun, but hearing Kellgren go through the voices effortlessly without causing any confusion is quite a ride. She really helped paint the world of the book which I wont be able to see except for in my head.

Or will I?

Yup, with the popularity of this book, it has already been optioned to be made into a film. First, we'll get a comic book adaptation written by my good buddy and San Diego Comic-Con roomie, Tony Lee. It has some great action scenes in it and I can't wait to see how those are drawn and eventually filmed!

Next Austen book to be adapted will be called Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters. I'm not kidding and I'm excited for that one to come out! I'm guessing they'll tackle her other popular work, Emma. Perhaps, Emma the Vampire. Emma's matchmaking is actually her turning people into vampires like her. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, either go read the book AND definitely download the audiobook. Or suffer at the hands of Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Darcy.

As the Laptop Turns...

For long time followers of Jimmy's Juke Joint, you know the woes I've had with electronics. Especially with my Sony Vaio that I first purchased back in January 2008. 6 months after purchase, it wouldn't start up. I took it in to the local Sony shop and they had to send it off to have the hard drive replaced. And get this, for data recovery on a product of theirs that broke, I had to pay about $60. Luckily, warranty was good for the hard drive. And again in January 2009, same thing. Sent off for new hard drive.

Before you get all high and mighty and computer wizardy, yes..I have plenty of anti-virus/spyware type crap on it. I'm not the most tech savvy guy around, but I felt I had it covered.

Flash to Wednesday morning, a couple of days ago. That's August 2009 if you just arrived here via time machine and are confused. I get the above screen upon start up. Okay...I don't have my Windows installation disc. Don't know anyone that does. Hopefully, that's all it will take. I've heard from friends in the know that it should be an easy fix and then I heard from someone who said when they got that screen, it meant a new laptop.

Again, high and mighty and computer wizardy folks. Shut your mouth with the "You should get a Mac insead" bullshit! Maybe my next one will be a Mac but it doesn't fucking help me now, does it? So unless you want to buy me a new one, SHUT IT! (Trust me. Tons of folks left a reply like that on both my Twitter and Facebook pages when I lamented about the laptop dying again. Ooops...DELETE friend!)

I still have my old dinosaur, the Dell desktop. It's been about 5 years or more that I've had it. I kept it to keep music on it so as not to clutter the laptop. It moves like I'm on dial-up, but at least it moves. I'm not able to take the laptop in until Monday or Tuesday, so I'm doing the slow crawl on the Dell. I'm hoping they'll take pity on me and just give me a new one, but I'm not holding my breath. If I have to send it in for another hard drive for the 3RD FUCKING TIME, then I may just have to fly to Japan and kick the computer designers ass.

Wish me luck on a speedy recovery for my porn getter...uh...computer. Oh wait...maybe that's the problem.

These Little Boots are Made for Walking

As you previously read, I have been listening to a ton of BBC Radio online lately. Mostly BBC Radio 1. Some of the DJ's have entertaining shows so I'll play them in the background. The music isn't always the best, but there are some tunes that are catchy as shit. The artist known as Little Boots has a song that I can't get out of my head. Remedy.

I decided to look her up and saw more videos online of her rise to stardom. Pretty impressed with her musicanship and use of not so common instruments like the Stylophone and Tenori-on. I'm not normally an electronica kind of guy but I defy you to not like this song. DEFY YOU!!

Go to her website (linked above) and check out videos of her just playing keyboards and singing in her home. There's even one song where she plays the 2 aforementioned not so common instruments and keyboards! Impressive.

And hey, she's just so durn cute.

Where's the Black Sheep? Who's the Black Sheep?

They're all here. And they're all pretty entertaining in their own right.

I recently saw this awesome zombie sheep movie set in New Zealand.

Years ago, I saw this pretty funny David Spade/Chris Farley comedy.

And, of course...the 90's rap duo. Engine, engine number 9. On the New York transit line. If my train falls off the track, pick it up! Pick it up! Pick it up!

All Black Sheep. All the time. The choice is yours.

Comic News Insider: Episode 218 - Ben Raab/Deric Hughes (Warehouse 13, Living in Infamy) & Larry Lieberman (Aniboom)

Comic News Insider: Episode 218 is now available for free download! Click on the link or get it through iTunes! Sponsored by Dynamic Forces. 

Reviews: Batgirl Vol. 3 #1, Days Missing #1 Archie #600

Writing partners Ben Raab and Deric Hughes (Warehouse 13, Living in Infamy) join us to discuss their involvement as part of the writing staff on the hit SyFy series Warehouse 13. Also joining us is Larry Lieberman, the Chief Marketing Officer for Aniboom, who brings us news of some great collaborations and contests with Marvel Comics and Family Guy. The guys discuss the Avatar trailer and Jimmy talks about seeing Inglorious Basterds as well as his "appearance" on The Sara Cox show on BBC Radio 1. News includes the return of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series, Meth and comics, a Disney-Con, Bono claims Spidey musical "IS" gonna happen and more! Top 3 and plugs galore. Leave your iTunes comments! 5 stars and nothing but love! 

Also, get a hold of us!

212 501 6246

[email protected]

www.myspace.com/comicnewsinsider

www.comicspace.com/comicnewsinsider

www.cniforum.com

www.comicnewsinsider.com

Thanks for listening!

Jimmy Aquino on BBC Radio 1 with Sara Cox

Sara Cox, famed radio DJ and TV presenter in the UK, had me on her show live on BBC Radio 1 this morning! Well, not exactly...

As you all know, ever since I visited the UK in May 08, I have been thinking of leaving the awesomeness that is New York City for the brilliantness of Londinium. That's London, England ya wankers. I've always watched a lot of BBC America and have recently started listening to BBC Radio 1 live online for the past few months. Some of the shows have podcasts as well and I'm a big listener of The Scott Mills Show among others. Being a podcaster (Comic News Insider, dontcha know!) myself, I am happy that BBC Radio has this for some of their shows so I can listen on the go. But, if I'm on the computer and haven't any podcasts to listen to, then I go to the BBC radio website and listen live. Or, you can hear your favorite show/DJ for up to 7 days after it airs in case you miss it live. As I'm often up late on the weekends, I've been listening to Sara Cox during her Sunday morning show. She's got a lovely voice and as you can see, a lovely visage as well. 

As you all also know, I'm a Twitter addict. And sure enough, like most of the world, Sara is on there as well. I started listening to her show this morning and decided to check her Twitter. She left a tweet mentioning she was on air soon, so I replied just saying I'm listening from NYC. About 1:18:40 into the show (click on the linky to listen!), I hear her mentioning Twitter and started giving shout outs. And yep....she says my name! She mispronounced the last name, but that's a common mistake and all is forgiven. It's like she's my own personal Paul Revere announcing my future arrival to the UK.

Could this be a sign to move to the UK for awhile? Stay tuned...

Inglourious Basterds in District 9

2 great summer flicks are out now that you should see. Quentin Tarantino's latest film, Inglourious Basterds, and the little movie that could will, District 9. 

I saw D9 (that's what the cool kids are calling it) at midnight when it opened. D9 is a great sci-fi film. You've got aliens stranded on Earth and put in internment camps. A spaceship they came from hovering over Johannesburg, South Africa. They've been there 20 years as the story immediately establishes so it makes sense later that humans and aliens would eventually understand one another. Shot for $30 million dollars with no stars, the effects are actually quite good. At first, the aliens came across a bit laughable, but that thought quickly passed. The alien language had subtitles so you felt you were immersed into another culture. It follows a government middleman and his efforts to lead a team into District 9 to inform the aliens they are being relocated to District 10 (sequel, anyone?). Efforts don't go as planned and the middleman (played intelligently by Sharlto Copley in his first acting gig ever) soon comes across something that changes his life forever and takes the movie goer on a roller coaster ride of intrigue, suspense, revenge, unlikely friendship, tested loyalty and danger. While there are some great sci-fi moments with alien weaponry, there is an obvious allegory to the human condition. Especially relating to apartheid in South Africa. It's one of those sci-fi films that defies the genre and appeals to the masses. Aliens? Check. A story with heart? Check. An important message to think about? Check! It's all there. So, go see it!

IG (as I'm calling the Tarantino film) is a completely different type of romp. It's got your typical Tarantino elements. A few different stories being told in chapters and those stories eventually intertwining in an awesome climactic chapter. You get all the Brad Pitt goodness in the trailers and he is awesome and really hilarious. There's a lot of humor in this film along with some poignant and scary moments. Yep, lotsa violence. This is an alternate reality of the world in the time before the Americans joined WWII. We start with a terrifying opening scene on a farm where a famed German officer known as "The Jew Hunter" (played by Christoph Waltz in what should be an Oscar nomination) is questioning a farmer about hiding Jews on his farm. This scene is so well shot and acted. It's calm and pleasant with a hint of menace at the end. And that hint turns into terror. We are left with a Jewish girl named Shoshanna escaping. Meanwhile, A crack team of nazi killers is dropped behind enemy lines in France. That's Pitt's team known as "The Bastards". They are capturing, scalping and killing nazis. Pitt's storyline was mostly comical and violent. Waltz's scenes were so entertaining as he effortlessly went from German to French to English to Italian. He always played the gentleman but you knew there was a monster underneath awaiting to attack. Shoshanna's story was frightful and terrifying and beautifully tragic. Tarantino beautifully weaves these stories together and the audience gets a satisfying ending that we all wish would have been based on history. Great acting/story? Check. Hilarity and uber-violence? Check. Story with a message? Check. It's all there. So, go see it!

Comic News Insider 217 - Ben Squared! From SDCC, It's Ben McCool & Ben Templesmith!

Comic News Insider: Episode 217 is now available for free download! Click on the link or get it through iTunes! Sponsored by Dynamic Forces. 

Reviews: Dominic Fortune #1, Marvels Project #1, Ultimate Avengers #1

Possibly the last of the San Diego Comic-Con coverage! OR IS IT?!!! It's all Ben, all the time as Jimmy sat down with both Ben McCCool (Choker) and Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night, Welcome to Hoxford, Groom Lake, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse). Separate interviews but they both talk about their upcoming collaboration on what is sure to be a big hit, Choker. Jimmy and Joe talk about their love for the  new music video, Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?, starring Felica Day & The Guild cast. News includes Superman rights reverting again, AMC picks up The Walking Dead, MF Grimm leaves Mayhem behind, Spider-Man musical woes, Bryan Singer on BSG, Sherlock Holmes with zombies and more!Top 3 and plugs galore. Leave your iTunes comments! 5 stars and nothing but love! 

Also, get a hold of us!

212 501 6246

[email protected]

www.myspace.com/comicnewsinsider

www.comicspace.com/comicnewsinsider

www.cniforum.com

www.comicnewsinsider.com

Thanks for listening!

If you haven't already, tune into the special One-Shot! episode 216. More SDCC interviews as Jimmy sat down with Brea Grant ("Daphne" on Heroes) and her brother, Zane to discuss their upcoming zombie comic from IDW Publishing called We Will Bury You. Brea and Zane gave out CD's of them singing original songs inspired by their favorite zombie films. We play all of those songs throughout the episode. And, we rallied some of our CNI Chorale friends to sing some of our own zombie tunes. It's a zombie musical!

Random Replying

I'm a social network whore. That's no mystery. I've set up my Twitter account to also update my Facebook account. Which has garnered me even more replies to the nonsense genius I spew out daily. Often, those replies have nothing to do with what I typed. And can get quite personal. That's when I find it a bit odd/annoying. For example. I'll type the following.

Me: I taste of soy sauce and sadness.

Them: Hey man. Are you coming to my Dad's funeral later?

Or even.

Me: I'm heading over to record the podcast.

Them: Jimmy. Last night was great. But, I'm suddenly itchy/burny down there.

And.

Me: I love yellow mustard!

Them: Haven't seen you in awhile. Think I'm pregnant. Call me.

People. People! Take a minute and shoot an email or text or call if it's personal. I get it if, say....you have plans to hit a movie with a friend. And they write something simple like, "Heading to the gym. Lunch after." And you reply, "Hey, we still on for that movie later?" But, when it's completely personal and waaaaaaaay off topic, maybe think about it before posting it on Twitter or Facebook. That's all I'm saying.