Month: September 2015 (Page 5 of 5)

From June, 2008 we have Radio Free Charleston’s forty-fifth episode, “Hot Wheels Shirt.” This show promoted the then-upcoming Derek Kirk Memorial Stage Show at Davis Park in Charleston.  We featured Doctor Senator, performing at said park, and we had a touching song by T.J. King, about his friend, the late Derick Kirk.  We even shot the host segments around the park.

In addition to that, we had a movie trailer for an indie film out of Huntington, “The Comic Book Lady,” which starred Kathleen Jackson and featured cameos from Harvey Pekar, Genuine Nerd Toby Radloff, and Kitten Natividad.  Plus we offered up animation from Frank Panucci.  It’s all wrapped up in a tight little 16-minute package, for your viewing enjoyment.

The PopCulteer
September 4, 2015

It’s Labor Day Weekend and apparently some kind of sport season is starting, but fret not, there’s still cool stuff to get into as well. Here, let us PopCult a little for you…

Dr. Who Kickstarter

A year and a month ago we first told you about Ronn Smith’s cool retro Dr. Who fan-film project. Well now it’s time to get serious. A Kickstarter campaign has begun to raise the money to finance the full production of Doctor Who: The Classic Series Regenerated. This is a revival of the show’s fourth doctor, originally played by Tom Baker, and now portrayed by Smith, himself. Here’s what they say in the campaign pitch…

This is not an official Doctor Who production. We do not claim any rights to concepts or characters of Doctor Who and is entirely a not-for-profit production. The Doctor Who: CSR team respectfully and graciously wants to say “Thank you!” to the BBC for understanding the passion fans have for this series and for allowing creative outlets for fan-based, non-profit productions of all types.

If you want to help make this Charleston-based production happen, check out the video and widget below…

ShockaCon Podcast

Ronn Smith and The Doctor Who gang will be part of ShockaCon, which starts in just two weeks. This is a big deal, being Charleston’s premiere horror and science fiction convention, so starting Monday, right here in PopCult and at Voices of Appalachia, we will bring you The ShockaCon Horror Show Podcast, hosted by Lee Harrah. Each episode will present highlights of previous ShockaCon panels and performances. Most episodes are half an hour, with a couple of hour-long specials included.

The biggest part of this is, we will bring you The ShockaCon Horror Show Podcast EVERY WEEKNIGHT AT 9 PM! That’s ten episodes to get you in the mood for ShockaCon 4, which happens in two weeks at The Beni Kedem Shrine Center in Charleston.

You can hear the first episode right here HERE.

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The PopCult Bookshelf

The Annotated Marx Brothers: A Filmgoer’s Guide to In-Jokes, Obscure References and Sly Details
by Matthew Coniam
McFarland Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-0786497058
$39.95

I don’t often write a review of a book before I’ve finished it. In fact, I’ve never done that before. However, this is a special case and a special book and I wanted to tell you about it before it goes out of print, or something. British author, Matthew Coniam, has compiled a definitive guide to every in-joke, topical reference and literary gag in each of the Marx Brothers’ movies.

One of the problems that any contemporary viewer has watching these brilliant comedians is that they created their best work seven-to-nine decades ago. While the universal goofy comedy lives on for everyone to see, the sly pop culture riffs and downright wicked political jabs can fly over the heads of modern audiences. Some people don’t realize that The Marx Brothers delivered their lines in a rapid-fire manner that makes the guys at MST3K look lazy in comparison. This book allows you to understand every joke, and even identifies a few that you may not have realized were jokes to begin with.

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The PopCult Toybox

It’s a bonus PopCult toybox this week. As I told you about almost a month ago, Friday is the big day in the United States for the release of toys based on Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Force Friday actually just kicked off in Australia (don’t ask how they managed to be more than 24 hours ahead of us).

UPDATED 7 PM EDT: They’ve already had their first unboxing. You can watch all of the live stream events right here in PopCult…

That’s right, it’s the start of Force Friday on a Wednesay afternoon. A deluge of official Star Wars: The Force Awakens merchandise will officially hit store shelves worldwide. As I told you earlier, to mark the occasion, Lucasfilm is hosting dozens of worldwide stunts, including an 18-hour unboxing event that will unfold across 15 cities and 12 countries, highlighting the range of epic merchandise revealed in a rolling New Year’s Eve style celebration featuring top digital stars from the Maker Studios network.

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The PopCult Toybox

Mammoth Chomping Spider

Halloween is less than two months away, and ShockaCon, Charleston’s unoffical start of Halloween season, happens in just over two weeks, so the time is right to tell you about some very scary, very expensive Halloween costumes you can mortage your house to buy this year.

Gearing up for what analysts expect to be the biggest Halloween since 2009, BuyCostumes.com, a leading online retailer of costumes, accessories, party decor and supplies, has launched The Nightmare Collection, 14 hand-crafted masks and costumes created exclusively for BuyCostumes.com by master sculptor Mario Chiodo.

Ancient Warrior Princess

Chiodo is a well-respected master sculptor and designerm who, oddly enough, is no relation to the legendary Chiodo Brothers, who were responsible for Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Since establishing his namesake studio, Chiodo Art Development, in 1997, Chiodo has created artwork, wearables, decor and collectibles for Google headquarters, Las Vegas casinos, museums, restaurants, hotels, a children’s theme park and several major film studios.In the 1990s, he was hired by Lucasfilm to refurbish and design new aliens for the Star Wars franchise.

The Nightmare Collection features one-of-a-kind, acutely detailed, movie-quality costumes. Sculpted from natural rubber latex and other high-quality materials, each character is individually painted by hand, resulting in unique pieces of functional, wearable art.

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We have a surprise, last-minute gig to tell you about tonight. The Renfields, our favorite horror-punk band from Transylvania, will be teaming up with The Dread Crew of Oddwood, our favorite San Diego-based pirate-punk band for a stunning show of cool, weird, fun music at The Empty Glass.

Up above you see a sample of The Dread Crew of Oddwood performing at The Glass the last time they were in town nearly two years ago. Below you see The Renfields, recorded at ShockaCon, two years ago. Get ready to read a whole lot about ShockaCon in the coming weeks here in PopCult.

Tuesday night is Thaibilly Tuesday at The Empty Glass, so come early and eat yourself into a coma. The music starts at 10 PM, and it’ll revive you in no time. Best of all, there is NO COVER!

Ah, what the heck. Here’s more of the Dread Crew at The Glass.