Author: Rudy Panucci (Page 161 of 581)

Forever Nerdy: Living My Dorky Dreams and Staying Metal
by Brian Posehn
Da Capo Press
ISBN-13: 978-0306825576
$26.00 (Discounted at Amazon)

Today’s final pick in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is the first memoir by beloved comedian, actor, and writer Brian Posehn, hilariously detailing what it’s like to grow up as and remain a nerd, with a foreword by Patton Oswalt

You may recognize Posehn from his stand up comedy, his acting on Mr. Show, or as the wacky neighbor who “smoke too many pot” on The Sarah Silverman Show or from any of the many other places he’s gotten around to. His book is the pefect gift for any fan of alt-comedy, nerd culture or of the man himself.

Brian Posehn is a successful and instantly recognizable comedian, actor, and writer. He also happens to be a giant nerd. That’s partly because he’s been obsessed with such things as Dungeons & Dragons, comic books, and heavy metal since he was a child; the other part is because he fills out every bit of his 6’7” frame. Brian’s always felt awkward and like a perpetual outsider, but he found his way through the difficulties of growing up by escaping into the worlds of Star Wars, D&D, and comics, and by rocking his face off. He was a nerd long before it was cool (and that didn’t help his situation much), but his passions proved time and again to be the safe haven he needed to persevere and thrive in a world in which he was far from comfortable.

Brian, now balls deep in middle age with a wife, child, and thriving career, still feels like an outsider and is as big a nerd as ever. But that’s okay, because in his five decades of nerdom he’s discovered that the key to happiness is not growing up. You can be a nerd forever and find success that way. because somehow along the way the nerds won.

Forever Nerdy is a celebration of growing up nerdy and different. This isn’t Brian’s life story, just some bizarre and hilarious stories from his life, along with a captivating look back at nearly fifty years of nerd culture. Being a nerd hasn’t always been easy, but somehow this self-hating nerd who suffered from depression was able to land his dream job, get the girl, and learn to fit in. Kind of. See how he did it while managing to remain forever nerdy.

You can order Forever Nerdy: Living My Dorky Dreams and Staying Metal from any bookseller by using the ISBN code, or go to Amazon for the path of least resistance.

Charlton Comics Classics

Regular readers of PopCult should be well aware by now of your PopCulteer’s admiration and enjoyment of the Charlton Neo movement. Charlton Comics was sort of the “shadow comic book company” that operated on the fringe of the industry as a self-contained unit that handled their own editorial, printing, and distribution. Their comics had a certain funkiness to them because of the weird printing and the fact that they didn’t pay anywhere near the comic industry’s top rates.

However what they lacked in budget, they made up for in creative freedom, youthful exuberance, and fan enthusiasm. Sadly, Charlton Comics floated belly-up to the top of the comic book company bowl in 1985. Over the past couple of years, the Charlton Neo movement has resurrected the spirit and sense of fun of the original Charlton Comics but 2018 has become a year of regrouping, following their flirtation with the Diamond Comic distribtion system.

That hasn’t stopped the folks at Charlton Neo from celebrating the legacy of the original Charlton though. They’ve released several collections that bring back some of the lost classics of the Charlton Comics line, with enhanced production and high-quality printing. These stories in Violent Crime and Rocky Jones have been reproduced from the vintage comics of over 60 years ago. Attempts have been made to clean up the pages to make them look as close to the original printed experience as possible, flaws and all. The Billy The Kid collections have new coloring by Mort Todd, and look absolutely spectacular. These are our next slection in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide.

These will make the perfect gift for the comics connoisseur on your holiday shopping list. You can find a launching page that will take you to all these comics and more HERE, or you can click on the indvidual titles to go directly to the Amazon page to order them.

VIOLENT CRIME Volume 1: Is a collection of Charlton Comics most shocking pre-Code crime comics. Among the stories included are:  “GETTING A-HEAD,” a sinister switch on the old triangle problem. This one is slightly different in that one loses his head over a woman, causing the other one to literally lose his head! From Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #10, January, 1953;  “ROUND-TRIP TICKET” takes you on a stormy bus ride through limbo… and it may teach you to keep a civil tongue in your mouth! From Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #11, March, 1953;  “EXPLOSIVE!” a story that ends with a bang and may leave you in pieces! From Lawbreakers Suspense Stories #11, March, 1953.

There are several more delightfully lurid stories included, plus a cover gallery. This is a great gift for the crime buff and comics fan on your gift list.

John Severin’s Billy The Kid Volume 1 and Volume 2

Return to those thrilling days of yesteryear when the Old West was wild and when Western comics proliferated the media landscape! Here are two voumes presenting a collection of Charlton Comics BILLY THE KID series drawn by one of the industry’s greatest illustrators, JOHN SEVERIN. All pages shot from Charlton’s original printing sources and recolored by Severin’s former editor and collaborator MORT TODD.

These are two thrilling 64 page collections for all cowboy and Severin fans! Also features an article on the artist along with a biographical comic strip by RUSS HEATH plus an original cover gallery!

Rocky Jones Space Ranger Volume 1

ROCKY JONES, Space Ranger Volume 1 is A 64 page collection of Charlton Comics adaptation of the beloved classic 1950s TV show, presented by ex-Charlton editor and E-Man co-creator NICK CUTI! Here’s what you have to look forward to:

From SPACE ADVENTURES #15 March, 1955: SPACE INFANTRY The secret origin of Rocky Jones and how he joined the Space Rangers. VELOCITY X Professor Newton devises an incredible new rocket fuel but is betrayed by his assistant who steals it to use against the United Worlds of the Solar System! SPACE FACTS Information on the real-life Rocky Jones Silvercup Rocket that traveled America in the 1950s! INVENTIONS OF TOMORROW Some of these ideas from the mid-20th century are now fact!

You’ll find more cool Charlton reprints, and some classics from other publishers, too. Just visit the Charlton Neo website for more information.

Local Spotlight: Two Tinkers Jewelry and Fine Art

Our local pick today in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is a cool boutique, tucked away on the third floor of the Oddfellows Building (717 Lee St Rm 307), that sells custom made jewelry, art and knacks of the knick variety, plus they offer workshops on creating art, painting and other cool stuff.

The Two Tinkers are Mary Ellen Terry Baughman and Rebecca Luann Hemsworth, and they’ve been selling their wares at fairs and festivals and conventions for years, but finally made the leap to setting up shop in Downtown Charleston. They sell their own creations as well as works made by other local artists like Cindy Sarkany, and it has a unique charm that can make the perfect gift for the hard-to-shop-for person on your holiday gift list.

Their work has the air of the mystic, cosmic, karmic, macabre and enlightened to it, and they also sell vintage pieces that compliment the very cool attitude of the shop.

You can check out their Facebook page and get an idea of what kind of cool stuff they have to offer.

The Two Tinkers is open Tuesday through Friday, 11 AM to 7 PM, and I’m guessing they’ll also take part in the Black Friday Artwalk next week. If you can’t make up your mind to which of their offerings would make the best gift, they also offer gift certificates in any denomination (seen below), so that the person on your gift list will get the experience of visiting and enjoying this cool little boutique on their own.

Wednesday afternoon on The AIR Mel Larch presents a very special, double-length brand-new episode of Curtain Call. You can hear it at 3 PM. Just tune in to the website, or on the embedded player below for this week’s slate of stimulating programs.

At 3 PM Wednesday on The AIR, our musical theatre program, Curtain Call, hosted by Mel Larch, arks its 50th episode with an episode where Mel presents the favorite songs that she’s sung in her many years as a performer of musical theater. Except for one song, we don’t have recordings of Mel actually singing these songs, but in this very special show, Mel talks about each song, what it means to her, and shares behind-the-scenes stories about her connections to each song, the productions she sang them in and pays tribute to the late Tom Murphy, her mentor and former creative director of the Charleston Light Opera Guild.

Mel also talks about some of her misadventures in musical theatre, like performing the lead role in 42nd Street in a wheelchair after she broke her foot.

This show ran over its usual one-hour format, so rather than trim any of these great songs or Mel’s wonderful stories, we decided to let it run as long as needed.  Since it didn’t quite take up two full hours, Mel produced a “mini-show” with previews of songs that you’ll hear in the next fifty episodes, including numbers from The Prom, which opens on Broadway on Thursday, Getting The Band Back Together, which just opened a few months ago, and Bat Out of Hell: The Jim Steinman Musical.

The end result is a fun, two-hour look at Mel’s past and Curtain Call‘s future.

Curtain Call can be heard Wednesday at 3 PM, with replays Thursday at 7 AM and 8 PM and Saturday at 6 PM. An all-night marathon of Curtain Call episodes can be heard Wednesday nights, beginning at Midnight.

The rest of our programming day follows the new routine: Our musical morning line-up on Wednesday continues with The Swing Shift at 7 AM, followed by Prognosis at 9 AM, Psychedelic Shack at 11 AM and an encore of a classic Curtain Call at Noon.  We are re-presenting classic episodes of On The Road with Mel at 1 PM. At 1;30 PM and 7 PM, Life Speaks to Michele Zirkle presents part twoof her Salt Cave Meditation. At 2 PM Beatles Blast presents one-hour audio blast of music by and about the lads from Liverpool. 5 PM sees a replay of this week’s hot episode of The Swing Shift. At 7:30 PM, we continue replaying Word Association with Lee & Rudy, from the very first episode. This week it’s episode eight, dedicated to obscure comic books.

Stay tuned all day, every day, for incredible music, thought-provoking talk and gut-busting comedy exclusively on The AIR. And check out the full schedule below, including our full day of fine programming…

The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide continues this afternoon.

Small Faces “Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake”

Our final pick today for The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is a deluxe 50th Anniversary reissue of a landmark Psychedelic Rock album that most American have never heard of before. The Small Faces were very successful contemporaries of The Who in the UK, but in the States they found greater fame after the original leader, Steve Marriott, left to form Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, and the remaining members added Rod Stewart and Ron Wood and shortened their name to “Faces.”

Before the split, Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake, named after a tobacco tin, was their conceptual masterpiece. Presented here as a limited four disc (three CDs + NTSC/Region 0 DVD) set. This 60-page hardback book edition contains mono and stereo versions of the album plus a disc of rare bonus material, together with a DVD containing The Small Faces’ legendary feature on an episode of the BBC’s TV show “Colour Me Pop” in June 1968, with the highlights being their performance of “Happiness Stan” and Peter Whitehead’s promotional film for ‘Lazy Sunday’.

This collection also features a deluxe booklet loaded with material, including in-depth sleeve notes by Small Faces authority and Mojo contributor Mark Paytress, interviews, rare photos and memorabilia.

What happens when Swinging London’s foremost mod quartet grow their hair, change their clothes, and go psychedelic? They write an era-defining smash-hit concept album!

Ogdens Nut Gone Flake was originally released by Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records on 24 May 1968 and soon hit the #1 spot in the UK where it stayed for six weeks. Critically acclaimed and still featuring in albums-you-must-own-polls, it is by far and away The Small Faces’ best-known and most successful album.

Alongside classic single tracks like ‘Lazy Sunday’ and ‘Afterglow’ plus ‘Song Of A Baker’ and live favorite ‘Rollin’ Over’, the LP even added a conceptual twist with the story of “Happiness Stan” and the narrations of Stanley Unwin on Side 2. To celebrate the 50th anniversary, the album has been newly remastered by Nick Robbins at Soundmastering with the full cooperation of surviving Small Faces member Kenney Jones. This is the best Ogdens’ has ever sounded.

Any fan of late-60 British Rock will love this set, which at Amazon manages to clock in right below the sixty-dollar threshold to steer clear of BIG TICKET DAY.

Check out this video of the band performing “Lazy Sunday,” one of the tracks from this classic album…

Super Patriotic Heroes
by Will Eisner, Alex Schomburg, Charles Sultan, Richard Hughes, Craig Yoe (Editor)
Yoe Books
ISBN-13: 978-1684051793
$34.99 (heavily discounted at Amazon)

Our next pick in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is yet another terrific historical collection edited by Craig Yoe. Super Patriotic Heroes is the ideal gift for the fan of Golden Age comic books on your holiday shopping list, and will also be of interest to WWII buffs and students of the comic form.

During World War II, a legion of star-spangled, flag-draped superheroes fought to defeat the forces of evil. Rediscover them now, when we need them most! This book paints a compelling history and presents the exciting, full comic book stories. Let these stories take you back to the days when punching a Nazi was considered a good thing.

Starting with The Shield and followed by Captain America, a whole battalion of red, white, and blue heroes appeared on the four-color page to help fight the Nazis. We need those superheroes again to battle for truth, justice, and the American Way! An historical essay sets the scene for these adventures of All-American Heroes, and lets you jump into action alongside our four-color patriotic forces.

These full-color comic stories from World War II tell of true role-models of the patriotic ideal. Their fascinating history and their stirring tales will both entertain and inspire new generations! See the two-fisted, three-colored Miss America, The Fighting Yank, Super-American, U.S. Jones, Captain Freedom, Lady Liberty, Major Victory, American Eagle, Captain Victory, and many more!

Proudly presented are action-packed stories from America’s Best Comics, Fight Comics, Our Flag, National Comics, and a battleship full of other explosive comic books of the Golden Age!

You should be able to order Super Patriotic Heroes from any bookseller by using the ISBN code, or save a few bucks and get it from Amazon.

Lady D ‘s Not Just Music

Beckley, West Virginia-based musical and artistic legend, Doris “Lady D” Fields, has opened a webstore to sell not only her music, but also T-shirts with her original designs and “reclaimed treasures.” Her music is the perfect gift for anyone who loves great R&, Soul or Jazz music, and her T shirt designs are wonderful gift ideas too.

Lady D ‘s Not Just Music features creations and reclaimed treasures by songstress, Lady D. Always changing, eclectic and uncommon. Browse this site for things you never knew you wanted.

Let’s see what Lady D has to say about herself:

“I am a lot of things! A singer, songwriter, playwright and artist are at the top of the list. I love to sing more than anything in the world but, the overall experience of actually being an artist is a sublime feeling. Artists aren’t really known for making a lot of money…at least not while they are alive. Sure, I would like to sell you one or more of my products but I’d rather think of it as sharing a piece of me with you.

“I record my original music and some covers. You’ll be able to find them here. I love to paint clothing! You’ll find some designs here as well. I love to share what I call “reclaimed items” and you’ll find them here also. I’ll be adding new designs and more reclaimed items weekly. Here, you will find many things that you did not know you wanted. Enjoy looking around!

“I have been singing since the age of three and being a famous vocalist is all I’ve ever wanted. However, life happens and on this journey, I have tried many things to express myself. There is “not just music” on this site, but I have included my growing passion for hand-painting fabric. You’ll find my own designs which are not perfect and no two are the same. That’s the perfection of artistic expression.

“You can have my designs on t-shirts, caps and a variety of other paintables. You can even provide your own items to have hand-painted. From hearts and flowers to African masks and firebirds. Reclaimed books and kitchen appliances. Clothing and shoes. You never know what you’ll find at “Not Just Music!””

With a great assortment of CDs and shirts, and more cool stuff being added every week, Lady D’s Not Just Music is a great way to find cool gifts while supporting the local scene.

The Beatles Yellow Submarine
adapted and illustrated by Bill Morrison
Titan Comics
ISBN-13: 978-1785863943
$29.99 (heavily discounted at Amazon)

Today’s final pick in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is perfect for any fan of The Beatles Yellow Submarine.

Somewhat lost in the buzz over 2018 being the 50th anniversary of The Beatles (The White Album) is the fact that it’s also the the golden anniversary of another Fab Four milestone. Celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine comes this fully authorized graphic novel adaptation. It took a long to get here, but it was well worth the wait.

Originally begun in 1999 for Dark Horse, that project fell through with quite a bit of the work having already been done by writer/artist Bill Morrison. Morrison, is the co-founder of Bongo Comics, who until recently published the hugely successful Simpsons comic range of titles. He is the current Editor of the famous Mad Magazine. He started his career as a technical illustrator before finding work at Disney where he created promotional art for Cinderella, Lady and the Tramp, Bambi, Peter Pan, Cinderella, The Jungle Book and The Little Mermaid, among others. He also produced his own comic called Roswell: Little Green Men, published by Bongo.

After sitting on the shelf for nearly two decades, Titan Comics acquired the license for The Beatles Yellow Submarine, and on hearing about this aborted project, reached out to Morrison, who revisited and completed his graphic novel adaptation between leaving Bongo Comics and being hired as the new editor of Mad Magazine.

The results are stunning. You probably know the story. The Beatles are recruited by the Captain of the Yellow Submarine to help him free Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the world of Pepperland from the music-hating Blue Meanies.

The music-loving, underwater paradise of Pepperland has been overrun by the music-hating Blue Meanies and their leader, Chief Blue Meanie. They turn the people of Pepperland into living statues by dropping apples on them and imprison the Pepperland’s guardians, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band inside a soundproof blue glass globe, before confiscating all the music instruments in the land.

Pepperland’s mayor sends aging sailor, Young Fred out in the fabled Yellow Submarine to find help. He travels to our world where he stumbles across the Beatles and begs them to help him free his world. They agree and head back to Pepperland, teaming up with Jeremy The Nowhere Man along the way to help overthrow the evil Blue Meanies through the power of music and love. Who knew at the time that the Red Meanies would turn out to be an even bigger menace?

Unlike the 1968 Gold Key Comics adaptation, this graphic novel actually follows the plot of the movie. Deadlines were tight when the movie came out, and the comic book that Gold Key published was based on an early shooting script that was heavily revised before it made it to the screen. It’s still a wonderful book that ought to be reprinted someday, but it’s true appeal to Beatle fanatics is that there are entire sequences in the Gold Key comic that never made it into the movie, and there are bits of the movie that didn’t make it into the comic.

This graphic novel adaptation matches the movie perfectly. Morrison adapts his style to the Heinz Edelmann designs used for the movie, and this is a note-perfect adaptation.

The basic graphic novel retails for just under thirty bucks and can be ordered from any bookseller by using the ISBN code. Of course, Amazon has it with a hefty discount. I try to encourage everyone to use local bookstores, but I also understand that money might be tight, so finding the right price can also be very important.

There is also a deluxe boxed set, which to be honest, I find to be over-priced. In it you get the same graphic novel, a cartoony toy Yellow Submarine, 5 Yellow Submarine pins, an exclusive Artcard signed by Bill Morrison, 16 Yellow Submarine Lobby Cards, 4 Yellow Submarine Movie Posters, and a Yellow Submarine Movie Premiere Ticket, all faithfully reproduced from the originals. It’s a really nice boxed set, but you’ll pay between $150 and $200 for it, and that’s a bit much. As you can see below, it’s really impressive, and it’s limited to 1968 copies worldwide, but I can only inform you of it. I can’t really endorse it (if I did, it’d be a BIG TICKET DAY item). If you are interested, Google will lead you to a few online dealers.

Relative Insanity The Party Game About Crazy Relatives

Our next pick in The 2018 PopCult Gift Guide is the Relative Insanity Party Game About Crazy Relatives, which was made and played by Comedian Jeff Foxworthy. You may have seen Foxowrthy playing this game on The Tonight Show, Rachel Ray and other TV shows, and it can be loads of fun.

This is a game about crazy family members and even crazier situations–perfect for game nights with friends and family. The way it works is, one player will read a setup card aloud, like, “When my brother brought out his new baby to show the family, Granny blurted out…”

Then everyone else chooses a punch line card to finish the phrase, like maybe, “You are not the father!” or “Somebody took a trip to the land of bad decisions.”

And then the reader picks the funniest one to give that player a point–so players need to think about who the reader is and what they might find funny. It’s sort of like a less dark, more subjective version of “Cards Against Humanity.”

Inspired by the insanity of his own family and friends, Foxworthy created the game with laughter in mind. “There are a few certainties in life. One of them is everybody’s relatives are crazy,” Foxworthy says. “You can let them make you nuts too, or you can learn to just laugh about it. I prefer laughter every time.”

When he played it during a Thanksgiving gathering, Foxworthy says, “The results were beyond anything I could have hoped for. We laughed until we cried and a few people might have even peed just a little bit. Enjoy.”

Designed for 4 to 12 players, ages 14 and up, Relative Insanity is a great gift for families with older children, or for folks who love party games, but prefer to steer clear of the darker topics that some party games veer into. It sells for around twenty bucks, where ever games are sold.

Glen Brogan Art

As we did a couple of years ago, in the 2018 PopCult Gift Guide we are once again going to recommend the art of Charleston’s own Glen Brogan.

Glen Brogan is the type of artist that makes his fellow artists want to give up and pack it in. His art is so good that it’s hard to imagine anybody topping it.

With a sleek style and a strong appreciation of the coolest elements of pop culture, Glen has made a name for himself with exhibits in New York and Los Angeles and work commissioned by Disney, King Features Syndicate, Marvel Comics and more recently with the Overwatch Game and The Powerpuff Girls.

Seriously, we’re talking about eye candy of such a high grade that it can mess with your blood sugar. You’ll find Glen’s artwork on T shirts, prints and more.

In fact, you can purchase his map of Blizzard World from the video game Overwatch as a jigsaw puzzle (seen below) for just twenty bucks. It’s the perfect gift for the Overwatch fanatic or local art supporter on your holiday shopping list. You can order it HERE.

You can also buy Glen’s art on T-shirts HERE, and on prints HERE, HERE and HERE. Unfortunately Glen’s Powerpuff Girls print, which won’t be delivered until January, is already sold out from Mondo. You can still get his Halloween poster with Black Philip.

This is a great way to support a local artist who’s making his name on the international scene and treat your gift recipient to a wonderful work of art (or shirt or puzzle).