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Read More David Duchovny Fox Mulder himself, David Duchovny will be releasing his second album Every Third Thought on February 9th via King Baby/GMG. There is no album artwork at the moment, but the record is done with complete track listing below. … The X-Files I was a fan, and watched it even after Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) left the series. I collected the Topps’ X-Files comics for many years, various books & magazines, the original VHS 12 episodes and bought the original DVD boxsets …

DAVID DUCHOVNY
davidduchovnymusic.com

If you’re an X-Files fan, you should check out actor/musician David Duchovny’s third album Gestureland (GMG/Westbound Kyd). This is the follow-up to his 2018 album, Every Third Thought.

Talking about the record, Duchovny said, “The album represents three years of song writing over which time I think we developed into a band so there’s a stronger element of deep collaboration here. The songs are obviously inspired by present day life and problems but we hope to make them universal. We also stretch our sound a little ——getting both heavier and lighter at different times. You want to know which songs are about me. None of them. They’re about you.”

Duchovny is referencing to the fact that it was a challenge to get is his band, featuring Colin Lee on keys, Pat McCusker on guitars and synths, Mitchell Stewart on bass, Keenan O’Meara on guitars, and Davis Rowan on drums, together to finally record the album.

Guitarist McCusker adds, “shortly after our time at Outlier, the pandemic hit. After a month or so of being in full lockdown mode, we started recording overdubs and vocals at our studio in Long Island City. To have our own space to be able to finish Gestureland safely throughout 2020 was a blessing. The more we’ve all worked together, the more we’re all taking risks and tapping into new influences."

Stay tuned, as Duchovny mentioned that there will be a tour to promote the record. If there is an announcement, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

Read More William Shatner I will tell you why I love this version - because William Shatner does not sing the song. He acts it. The original song was a huge hit for Pulp, and I believe is the Britpop theme (sorry, it's definitely maybe not Oasis). Oasis, to me, was more ...

WILLIAM SHATNER
williamshatner.com

Award-winning actor, director, producer, writer, and chart-topping recording artist… and recently oldest man in outer space, William Shatner recently released his new album BILL, via Joe Jonas’ new label Let’s Get It! Records/Republic Records.

I’ll confess to owning a few Shatner albums, mostly because I am a big Star Trek fan, and the one thing I can tell you is that he does not actually sing on his albums. I’ve described it as “acting” out the songs. It’s amazing.

From what I’ve read about this new album, it’s more or less spoken word: “Through spoken word and genre-bending music, the songs on BILL chronicle significant autobiographical moments in William Shatner’s life and the ideas, challenges, and questions he’s confronted along the way. The tracks were co-written and produced by Grammy Award-winner Dan Miller [They Might Be Giants], while the lyrics were a collaboration between Shatner and his friend and writer Robert Sharenow. In addition to Joe Jonas and Brad Paisley, BILL features guitarist Joe Walsh [James Gang, Eagles, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band], pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph [Robert Randolph and the Family Band], musician John Lurie, saxophonist Dave Koz, and more.”

Read More Kiefer Sutherland If you were expecting the main character, played by Kiefer Sutherland, to be as aggressive and in your face as 24, you may be in for a disappointment. ...

KIEFER SUTHERLAND
kiefersutherland.net

You love him as the star to 24… well now actor, now musician, Kiefer Sutherland, announced his third album Bloor Street (set for January 21, 2022 on Cooking Vinyl) with a UK tour. Unfortunately, as of this writing, no U.S.A. dates have been announced (but they promised an American tour soon).

So, the coolest thing is that you can get an autographed from Sutherland for the new album, all for regular $13 price, available for pre-order on Amazon. I would recommend the pre-order, as Sutherland will likely only sign a limited number of CD and Amazon will list it as “Sold Out” once they’ve reached their cap.

A few years ago, I bought a Belle & Sebastian signed CD from Amazon. Best purchase I’ve ever made. It’s incredible hard to get all six band members together to sign something… and yes it immediately sold out.

UK tour dates… U.S. tour dates to be announced soon.

01/28/22 - Brighton, Chalk
01/29/22 - Hull, Asylum
01/30/22 - Norwich, UEA
02/01st - London, O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire
02/02nd - Manchester, O2 Ritz
02/03rd - Cardiff, Tramshed
02/05/22 - Bournemouth, O2 Academy
02/06/22 - Sheffield, Leadmill
02/07/22 - Birmingham, O2 Institute
02/09/22 - Newcastle, O2 City Hall
02/10/22 - Aberdeen, Beach Ballroom
02/11/22 - Glasgow, Old Fruitmarket
02/13/22 - The Netherlands, Utrecht, TivoliVredenburg
02/15/22 - Germany, Stuttgart, Im Wizemann
02/16/22 - Switzerland, Bern, Bierhuebeli
02/17/22 - France, Paris, Café De La Danse
02/19/22 - Germany, Cologne, Carlswerk Victoria
02/20/22 - Germany, Berlin, Metropol
02/21/22 - Germany, Hamburg, Markthalle
02/23/22 - Austria, Vienna, Gasometer
02/24/22 - Austria, Linz, Posthof
02/25/22 - Germany, Munich, Backstage Werk

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com

X-Files: Mulder & Scully

Read More The X-Files Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer …

X-FILES SEASON 11
fox.com/the-x-files

I’ve been a fan of the X-Files since it originally aired in 1993. I remember watching it the night before and talking about it with my school friends in Junior High School. At that time, we didn’t have anything quite like the X-Files and it became a big hit.

I was a fan, and watched it even after Agent Mulder (David Duchovny) left the series. I collected the Topps’ X-Files comics for many years, various books & magazines, the original VHS 12 episodes and bought the original DVD boxsets.

The series remained dead until 2016, when Fox resurrected the series with Season X (10). I was excited, but quickly realized it wasn’t very good after watching the first two episodes. I haven’t written after Season X ended, but I can tell you that I hated it.

It was so bad, that I was in the middle of upgrading all my X-Files DVD to Bluray, but I had to stop because Season X left such a sour taste in my mouth.

Now that the first two episodes of Season 11 have aired, I can tell you that it’s truly terrible. It kills me, because I’m such a fan and I want it to be good.

Season 11:

Episode	Title	Date
1	My Struggle III	01/03/18
2	This	01/10/18
3	Plus One	01/17/18
4	The Lost Art of Forehead Sweat	01/24/18
5	Ghouli	01/31/18

Read More David Duchovny Bree Sharp's "David Duchovny" was a big hit for her, possibly a one-hit wonder if you ask me. She's released one additional album since her 1999 debut, A Cheap and Evil Girl. ...

DAVID DUCHOVNY
davidduchovnymusic.com

Fox Mulder himself, David Duchovny will be releasing his second album Every Third Thought on February 9th via King Baby/GMG. There is no album artwork at the moment, but the record is done with complete track listing below.

You can currently pre-order the album with extra bonuses, like signed test pressing on Pledgemusic.com.

Be sure to catch Duchovny live on tour in Australia and New Zealand this February. Be on the lookout for a U.S. tour, to be announced soon.

Every Third Thought Tracklisting:

1. Half Life
2. Every Third Thought
3. Maybe I Can’t
4. Stranger in the Sacred Heart
5. Mo’
6. Someone Else’s Girl
7. When the Whistle Blows
8. Spiral
9. Roman Coin
10. Jericho
11. Last First Time
12. Marble Sun

Tour Dates:

Feb 20 - Auckland, NZ
Feb 21 - Wellington, NZ
Feb 23 - Melbourne, AU
Feb 24 - Sydney, AU
Feb 25 - Wollongong, AU
Feb 28 - Newcastle, AU
March 1 - Brisbane, AU

Read More Sharkmuffin Brooklyn's trio Sharkmuffin (Tarra Thiessen, Natalie Kirch, and Sharif Mekawy) will be at the Triple Rock next Sunday, August 16, in support of their debut full-length ....

SHARKMUFFIN
sharkmuffin.com

Brooklyn duo Sharkmuffin (Tarra Thiessen and Natalie Kirch) released their song “Scully is a Sharkmuffin” earlier this Summer.

The band explained the title:

“’Scully is a Sharkmuffin’ is our ode to The X-Files. It’s the only track on Tsuki that is mostly improvised and was recorded live. The lyrics are taken from The X-Files opening theme: ‘The truth is out there. I want to believe. The government lies.’”

Tsuki came out May 5, 2017, via Little Dickman Records.

We caught the group in March 2017 and noted:

“As expected with a band with a debut record, the band played plenty of tracks from Chartreuse (State Capital/Little Dickman Records)... including ‘First Date’, which Tarra described as a song written about Tinder.”

THE X-FILES VOL. 4: RESISTANCE
idwpublishing.com

The new X-Files Comics collected trade called The X-Files Vol. 4: Resistance is out now (released January 10th) via IDW Publishing.

IDW got the rights to the X-Files after Topps exited the comic publishing business. In 2013, IDW started publishing The X-Files’ “Season 10”. The series ended with #25 in 2015. The recently-released trade collects issues #14-17.

Details:

The mystery and intrigue continue with the latest from the comic series! Scully receives an invitation from Firas Ben-Brahim after months of silence, and she soon discovers the dark secrets he's been keeping from her. Once the final piece of the puzzle falls into place, it threatens to send Mulder over the line, just as shadowy forces are revealed to have compromised the upper echelons of government. Collects issues #14–17

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The X-Files: Season X

photo: thetvdb.com Season 10 No. Title Writer Date 01 My Struggle Chris Carter 01/24/16 02 Founder's Mutation James Wong 01/25/16 03 Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster Darin Morgan 02/01/16 04 Home Again Glen Morgan 02/08/16 05 Babylon Chris Carter 02/15/16 06 My Struggle II Chris Carter 02/22/16 Read More The X-Files Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer …

Like many of you, I love The X-Files when it first aired in 1993. I remember watching the pilot and talking about it with my classmates in Jr High School. I steadily watched the program until actor David Duchovny checked out in Season 7. They brought in Robert Patrick (the T-1000) as lead in Season 8, but at that point, we thought they were just flogging a dead horse.

As a fan, I bought all the DVDs when they first came out. You have to remember when DVDs were first introduced, a full season (24 or 25 episodes) would retail at $75 to $129. I think I paid about $100 for the first season, and that was considered a deal because your VHS alternative would end up costing you over $300 to collect them all.

With Season 10 currently airing, as a promotion, Fox smartly re-released all the X-Files seasons on Bluray for the first time... selling them as a discount of $24 (retail), but you can find many of the set for $15 or less. Even if you own all the DVDs, like myself, getting them all on Bluray has a lot of benefit.

The number one reason is the image definition and quality from Bluray to DVD is no contest. You can clearly see the difference, in my opinion. I have done a side-by-side comparison below. Although just at a glance they look about the same, it is because I’ve had to reduce the image size of the Bluray to match the DVD picture size. Trust me, on a full Bluray still, you can see the difference, particularly in the fine strain of hair and face pores!

The other thing to consider is that the packaging: the new Bluray sets are about 70% smaller than the original boxsets. That just mean you have more shelf space for your other DVDs or Blurays... The only issue I have with the X-Files Bluray is that some seasons are wider/bigger because it contains a 7th disc. Personally, if I was designing these packaging, I would have aimed to make all the seasons the same shape and size with similar artwork to keep them consistent. It is not the most elegant solution, but perhaps offering the 7th disc in a cardsleeve tucked inside.

Since I had time to examine the Bluray discs, the reason why they can only fit 4 episodes on one disc is that it actually contains duplicate video for the Japanese version (so there are really 8 episodes per disc). Even on some modern television on Bluray, I have seen five episodes (for Fringe) or six episodes (for Person of Interest) per disc. Sure, there are probably length and audio and video factors to consider, but I feel you can probably fit five episodes per disc for X-Files, if they sacrifice some non-US audio (like the Japanese language), etc.

Still, regardless of the inconsistent sizes, it’s worth getting all the X-Files on Bluray for the first time.

So... are you watching The X-Files: Season 10? I am! So far, only the first two episodes have aired, and, personally speaking as a fan, I don’t like it. I’ll explain: I feel the acting is subpar. This is especially coming off of freshly watching the first season and seeing the energetic/fun interactions between Agent Fox Mulder and Dana Scully. In Season 10, Fox sounds sluggish and tired, while Dana sounds old. I feel like Dana is struggling to even get a word out. Dana, you are not 80 years old, you can talk normal!

With only six episodes for Season 10 (couldn’t they get 10 episodes at least to correspond to the Roman Numeral X?), I guess each episode is a standalone story. So the pilot and episode 2 have nothing to do with each other. I wish they could at least reference to the previous episode.

Season 10, so far, has been a disappointment for me, but I still love it and looking forward to the latest episode! It’s hard to explain, but even at its worst, I love the universe and just really happy to have this series back on the air.

X-Files Screen Comparison

NOTE: When Fox originally released the X-Files Season 1 on DVD, they published it as 4:3 (for television aspect ratio). I assume they eventually made it widescreen (I know later seasons were formatted as 16:9). The Bluray (on the right) you can see that it is 16:9, although to achieve that, Fox cropped the top and bottom of the image slightly – but you see more of the left and right of the screen.

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Wizard World at Minneapolis Convention Center (02 May 2015)

Wizard World 2015 Schedule May 7-10 Wizard World Comic Con Philadelphia May 22-24 – Wizard World Comic Con St. Louis Jun 12-14 – Wizard World Comic Con Des Moines Jun 19-21 – Wizard World Comic Con Sacramento Jun 19-21 – Wizard World Comic Con Albuquerque Jul 31-Aug 2 – Wizard World Comic Con Richmond Aug 20-23 – Wizard World Comic Con Chicago Aug 22-23 – Bruce Campbell’s Groovy Fest Sep 4-6 – Wizard World Comic Con San Jose Sep 11-13, Wizard World Comic Con Pittsburgh Sep 18-20 – Wizard World Comic Con Columbus Sep 25-27 – Wizard World Comic Con Nashville Oct 2-4 – Wizard World Comic Con Ft. Lauderdale Oct 23-25 – Wizard World Comic Con Tulsa Oct 30-31 – Wizard World Comic Con Austin Nov 6-8 – Wizard World Comic Con Louisville Nov 20-22 – Wizard World Comic Con Reno Read More Wizard World Minneapolis Wizard World Minneapolis officially began its pop culture weekend takeover last night, with a kickoff event held last night at the rotunda in the Mall of America. In addition to a trivia contest for …

The second annual Wizard World Minneapolis at the Minneapolis Convention Center just ended on Sunday. Compared to last year, I felt this year more fans were attending the panels... which sometime "sold out" with more fans than seats (the Weasley Brothers could have used a bigger room).

This recap is just for Saturday only, for all other Wizard World-related items, including the two concerts (Critical Hit and Peelander-Z) from last week, be sure to read the report:

Critical Hit at Wizard World, Mpls Convention Center (02 May 2015)

Official Wizard World After Party, feat. Peelander-Z at Pourhouse, Minneapolis (02 May 2015)

Wizard World at Minneapolis Convention Center (01 May 2015)

Wizard World Minneapolis - MOA Kickoff event (30 Apr 2015)

Saturday, traditionally drew in the largest crowd... and it also brought in the big headliner stars (in this case, it is certainly Gillian Anderson and Karl Urban).

Sylvester McCoy

Last year, I was blown away by how popular Doctor Who was, with the room completely full for Matt Smith. This year, Wizard World brought in Sylvester McCoy, who played the 7th Doctor. What was really fun about McCoy's panel is that he refused to stay on stage, instead would just walk right up to the audience and answered all their questions. This left announcer/moderator Aaron Sagers with very little to do, except to watch McCoy do his thing.

The highlight and funniest moment was when two latecomers tried to sneak in to sit down and McCoy spotted them and said, "You're late!" Then he grabbed the younger girl's phone and started talking to the person on the other end.

Karl Urban

Star Trek's Karl Urban just flew into Minneapolis from New Zealand (filming for 2016's Pete's Dragon), using four planes. If Urban was tired from flying, it certainly didn't show, because he was really smart and funny. Fans sometime ask really difficult questions, particularly names from the Lord of the Rings stories, and I felt like Urban didn't know who/what they were asking. I don't blame him for being stumped, because even I didn't know what they were talking about. Also, fans would ask questions about the upcoming Star Trek 3 script, as if Urban wrote it and had the power to alter the script. I don't have to be Urban to tell you that he is just the actor, not writer and certainly not able to just change the script! To those questions, Urban had to make it clear, "I have zero influence."

Some interesting things that came of out Urban's Q&A, that he absolutely love the Vikings show that airs on History Channel. He would love to play a viking, even throwing in his Travis Fimmel impression.

He will also reprise his role as Dredd, if they can get Dredd 2 off the ground. While nothing is officially announced, he told us that people are working on this. He said that the film did not do well in theaters, but had a large cult following when it was available on the home video market.

When asked about his advice for aspiring actors, Urban said that his father was very against it, "No, son, you're pronouncing it wrong. It's doctor." Urban laughed it off, "Well, now I'm a doctor!" (referring to his role as Dr. McCoy).

Lance Reddick

One of the hardest working Hollywood actor, Lance Reddick spent his time at his panel answering questions about Lost, The Wire, and, of course, Fringe. Recently, Reddick is most recognizable from American Horror Story, and per a fan's request, he re-created his Papa Legba character and did a line in the Cajun voodoo accent.

Jason Mewes and Michael Rooker

The Refuge in the Mall: A Mallrats Reunion with Jason Mewes and Michael Rooker was a lot of fun. It's been more than 20 years since the Kevin Smith film Mallrats, in some ways, was ahead of its time. The two joked about meeting in a hot tub (a recurring joke throughout the panel) and reflect back on that film. Apparently Rooker broke Jason Lee's beloved skateboard off set.

The highlight on their panel was when Mewes jokingly asked to be in one of Rooker's films. Rooker then said he will call up director James Gunn to get Mewes a part as one of the Ravagers in the next Guardian of the Galaxy film. Gunn answered the phone and played along, ending the call by offering Mewes the part of Yondu (Rooker's role)! That got a lot of laughs. Check out the video clip here.

Gillian Anderson

With the X-Files returning to television after a 13-year break, there's never been a more exciting time to be a Gillian Anderson fan. Scully's still got it, working regularly on such current shows as Hannibal, The Fall and upcoming show War and Peace.

As expected, many of the questions were about the X-Files, Chris Carter (the show's creator), and how her personal life was affected by UFOs.... which Anderson had a hard time answering because the show was so long ago and she couldn't remember. I can relate, if you asked me about some concerts I went to in 1996, I couldn't tell you either.

She tried to tell us about this one time on the set, that she made a face and it affected David Duchovny (Fox Mulder). She kept laughing and unable to finish (or really tell us what really happened). She said it was embarrassing, but she kept laughing to herself.

Kevin Sorbo

Minnesota's own Kevin Sorbo was humble and really down to earth. He talked about his time and the fun he had in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and how that television show created an entire New Zealand movie industry... spawning Xena, Legend of the Seeker, Weta Workshop, etc.

Regarding some of his film work, he regretted that Kull the Conqueror was "toned down" from the script. He felt that movie should have been a hard R, like Conan the Barbarian.

The Saturday show ended with a concert from Critical Hit (which you can read all about it here) and a costume contest.

There were a ton of great costume. The biggest reaction from the audience was for Lumière, who got a standing ovation. He won best in show, but he had no hands to accept his award!

Photo gallery for Saturday and Sunday will be posted in a future article. Sunday's wrap-up will be posted by tomorrow.

Wizard World Minneapolis at Minneapolis Convention Center (02 May 2015) runner-ups: Cowboy Marty McFly, Willy Wonka, Lord Tony Stark, How to Train Your Dragons

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Comics News: Wizard World Minneapolis 2015, ComiXology at SXSW, and Tales of the Wedding Present

Read More Wizard World Wizard World Minneapolis Comic Con Day Two was probably the best-attended show of the three day event (now, having seen the action on Sunday). Unfortunately, this Saturday fell right …

WIZARD WORLD COMIC CON
wizardworld.com

Don't forget that the second annual Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis will be taking place May 1st and May 2nd (which is also Free Comic Book Day) and May 3rd. We had a fantastic time last year at the inaugural Comic Convention, please read our recaps to get an idea of what to expect for 2015.

Actors/celebrities:

Karl Urban (Star Trek, The Bourne Supremacy)

Katie Cassidy (“Arrow,” “Gossip Girl”)

Morena Bacarrin ("Homeland", “Stargate SG-1”)

Christian Serratos ("The Walking Dead," Twilight)

Gillian Anderson (“The X-Files,” The Last King of Scotland)

WWE Divas The Bella Twins (appearing May 1st only)

Luke Perry (“Beverly Hills, 90210,” Buffy The Vampire Slayer)

Sylvester McCoy ("Doctor Who," The Hobbit)

Kevin Sorbo ("Hercules: The Legendary Journey," “Andromeda”)

Kristy Swanson (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Higher Learning)

Jason Mewes (“Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back”)

Comic creators:

Neal Adams (“Batman,” “X-Men,”)

Angel Unzueta (“Titans,” “The Flash”)

Salvador Larroca (“Avengers Vs. X-Men,” “Iron Man”)

Arthur Suydam (“Marvel Zombies,” “Army of Darkness”)

Michael Golden (“Spider-Man,” “Daredevil”)

Julian Totino Tedesco ("X-Treme X-Men," "Hulk")

Personally, I'm really excited about Gillian Anderson (being a longtime X-Files fan) and Karl Urban (I absolutely loved that Dredd film, even though he's probably known for being in Star Trek).

Also note, all full-price Wizard World Comic Con Minneapolis attendees will receive a limited edition exclusive variant cover “The Walking Dead” comic, drawn by one of Wizard World's talented artist guests (to be announced shortly). Comics will be issued at registration while supplies last and VIP attendees will receive an additional black & white sketch version.

In other Wizard World news, today (March 14th), they announced that Wizard World Comic Con Greenville will be rescheduled to July 15-17, 2016, from original date May 29-30, 2015. The reason given was that TD Convention Center limited Wizard World to only two days and Wizard World felt that the fans of Greenville deserved a three-day show for the full Wizard World Comic Con experience. That is fair, considering that sometime fans have to work on Saturday (I was in that boat last year), so I can appreciate that they extended it to Sunday. Fans who purchased 2015 tickets will be automatically refunded.

Read More Comic Books Having said all that, and excuse me if you think I do not understand the digital age (because I will agree with you), but selling a digital collection of Crisis for $19.99 is way, way too much. …

COMIXOLOGY
comixology.com

Jumping on the SXSW bandwagon (read all about our SXSW coverage over at sxsw.weheartmusic.com), for a limited time Comixology is giving away free comic books. Codes are good until today, Pi Day - March 14th.

Comixology is sponsoring a Twitch stream of this weekend gaming panels, so if you use SXSWDC, you'll get six comics either based or the source material is from video games (Fables, Batman: Arkham Knight, and Mortal Kombat).

To get these comics, go to comixology.com/redeem, log in and enter these codes in:

COLLIDE – Sonic/Mega Man: Worlds Collide Vol. 1
UNITY – Valiant 8-Bit Adventure: Unity!
RAI – Rai #1
XFILES – X-Files Season 10 Vol 1
SXSWDC – *
SAGA – Saga #1
HOOD - Black Hood #1

* Fables: The Wolf Among Us #1-2, Batman: Arkham Knight #1-2, Mortal Kombat X #1-2

UPDATE 03/15:

LOVECRAFT - Locke & Key: Lovecraft Vol. 1
PILGRIM - Scott Pilgrim's Precious Little Life Vol. 1
WICDIV - Wicked + The Divine #1

Attending SXSW in Austin, Texas, this year? It's not too late to register for the ComiXology Recommends Comics for You panel on Sunday, March 15 from 4:15pm - 5:00pm at Palmer Events Center (Geek Stage).

This is a free and open to the public, but I recommend showing up early as sometime time venue will reach maximum capacity and will refuse you entry.

ComiXology cofounders David Steinberger and John D. Roberts, as well as marketing maven Chip Mosher and international production supervisor Kara Szamborski, will talk about their vast comic knowledge and personally recommend their favorite comic book series, based on what you like.

Read More The Wedding Present The Wedding Present is currently on tour for the 21st anniversary of their album, Seamonsters. As expected, they are playing the entire album from start to finish. …

THE WEDDING PRESENT
scopitones.co.uk

Did you know that The Wedding Present has a comic book series? It's written by singer/songwriter David Gedge and his long-time former bass player Terry de Castro and drawn by celebrated cartoonist Lee Thacker.

The comic book series was first published in March 2012 and will continue through November 2015. The latest issue is #7.

Tales Of The Wedding Present release schedule:

Issue 1 - March 2012
Issue 2 - August 2012
Issue 3 - May 2013
Issue 4 - August 2013
Issue 5 - April 2014
Issue 6 - August 2014
Issue 7 - November 2014
Issue 8 - Coming in April 2015
Issue 9 - Coming in August 2015
Issue 10 - Coming in November 2015

Gedge's latest musical project is Cinerama. Their brand new album Valentina will be out on May 18th via Scopitones. Valentina is said to be a radical reworking of The Wedding Present's eighth studio album of the same name.

If you live in London, there will be a special one-off Cinerama show, complete with 12 piece band, strings and additional instrumentation, at the O2 Academy Islington on Saturday, June 6th, 2015.

You may recall that we caught the band on their 21st Anniversary tour of Seamonsters at the 400 Bar in 2012.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Amazon Originals: The After and Bosch

The After Amazon Read More The X-Files Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer …

If you live in the U.S., Amazon recently premiered a few shows for free on February 6, 2014. The shows are: The After, Bosch, The Rebels, Transparent and Mozart in the Jungle. They all look very promising, but since I have absolutely no interests in comedy, sports, or historical drama (even if it's semi-music-related), I only watched the sci-fi The After and the crime-drama Bosch.

THE AFTER
The new series is from Chris Carter, the creator of the X-Files (one of my all-time favorite television show, except for perhaps the later seasons when we lost Agent Mulder), so The After has some key things that what made the X-Files so great. That includes mystery of the unknown and science fiction/horror elements.

I don't know if The After will work as a full series, as it felt very narrow with eight strangers trapped in an underground parking. The strangers all have their unique character traits: a cop, a clown, a drunk, a millionaire, a French actress, a lawyer, a criminal, and a call girl. I only mention 'French' in the actress because her accent was evident that it was almost hard to watch and understand what she was saying. Which is a shame because the main story is focused around her.

Overall, I think this nearly hour-long show is terrific, but it does suffer from many of these apocalyptic large-cast shows (to name a few Terra Nova, Fast Forward, Falling Skies, Under the Dome, etc), is that there are just too much (and too many characters) going on to keep track of. Shows that handle large casts well is The Walking Dead, where only a few character stands out, or, in the case of Lost, may focus only on one character at a time.

Bosch Amazon

BOSCH
The pilot does an incredible job of setting the tone and style of the show. This was a police procedural crime drama with two parallel storylines: Detective Bosch on trial for the murder of an alleged serial killer and at the same time trying to solve the murder of a young boy. You know they are related, if only Bosch can prove it to save himself.

What I'm curious about is how they can take this series. I mean, how far can you take Bosch's story? It felt to me like the trial can be wrapped up in a few episodes ... and let's face it, court room dramas aren't my cup of tea. What I would love to see is Bosch just solving regular crime with his cop-turned-detective girl rookie - and I'm hoping that's where the series takes us.

I've been looking for a new crime drama, especially since Justify is closing down next year (and Killer Women and HBO's True Detective* aren't cutting it for me). Bosch may be fast on my favorite crime-drama list of shows for 2014.

If you're interested in checking out these brand new original shows, head over to AmazonOriginals.com and watch them for free.

* PS on another topic altogether, why are people raving about True Detective so much? I watched the pilot and absolutely nothing happened on the show. Seriously, it's boring and I really don't understand why people love this show.

vu () ♥ weheartmusic.com

thedharmablues said...

If you're in the UK, you can watch via Lovefilm Instant: https://www.lovefilm.com/micro/amazon_originals

[Or if you want to pretend to be American/avoid the silverlight plugin, use a chrome extension like hola or media hint and watch the Amazon versions.]

Sunday, 09 February 2014 at 06:17 AM

The Music of the X-Files

 

 

Unkle - Broken

Unkle

Talking to people, I get the impression that no one is really all that excited about the new X-Files movie that was just released on Friday. Admittedly, since I'm an old-school X-Philer, I own every X-Files season on DVD (defnitely not looking to re-buy it on bluray).

 

"Does this guy ever leaves his house?"

I am going to see the movie today (Sunday) - in the meantime, enjoy this little tribute article to The X-Files music.

 

Soul Coughing - Unmarked helicopters   Mark Snow - X-Files Main Title   The Cardigans - Deuce

Obviously, with the success of the television show, an album "inspired by the X-Files" called Songs in the Key of X was released in early 1996. The compilation sold very well, partly due to the popularity of the show and its respectable artists on the credits, such as Nick Cave, Soul Coughing, and Danzig.

There's even a PM Dawn remix of the X-Files theme that sounds a Spaghetti Western dance mix. A very interesting mix, but I did prefer the original songs. Soul Coughing did a great job on their song "Unmarked Helicopters", about men in black.

It wasn't long before Mark Snow's original soundtrack for the television show was released, called The Truth and the Light: Music from The X-Files. The music are taken from the first three seasons (1993-1995) - including that familar X-Files Theme song. Some of the songs are nice and relaxing, but as they were designed to be background music, nothing really stood out for me. There is an occassional dialogue excerpt from the show mixed into some of the songs, but outside of that this album is meant only for hardcore X-File fans.

When the first movie, Fight the Future, hit the theaters, back in '98, the soundtrack was also released. I picked this up through our friends the BMG. The track listing seems to compile the typical artists of that time period (notably Ween, The Cure, & Better Than Ezra).

I believe all the songs were written especially for the movie, and the ones I used to listen to a lot was The Dust Brothers's version of "The X-Files Theme", Noel Gallagher (Oasis)'s "Teotihuacan", and The Cardigans' "Deuce". The last song seems more like a love song, I'm not sure where it actually appeared in Fight the Future, but it's been years since I saw that movie. It's actually one of the few X-Files DVD that I'm missing because when I bought it originally (via the internet), that company went bankrupted and never shipped my DVD.

This finally brings us to the new soundtrack, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, which was released a few days ago, July 22^nd. I have only picked it up hours today, so I haven't really listened to it. Mark Snow does most of the instrumental stuff, but there are two songs of note on here: "Broken" by Unkle and what sounds like a rap song called "Dying 2 Live" by Xzibit.

Catatonia - Mulder and Scully

In the bonus segment of this article, here are songs that were inspired by the television show. From Britpop, comes Catatonia with their song, "Mulder and Scully". I used to really love this song, but it sort of wore thin when I realized that there were only a handful of great songs from their 1998 International Velvet. Although this won't be an in-depth article on Catatonia, I do have a most of their releases that I want to talk about (particularly Cerys Matthews' solo material).

Hal featuring Gillian Anderson - Extremis

As far as I know, "Extremis" was the only song that's ever released by Gillian Anderson. With an mixer outfit called HAL (a nod to 2001: A Space Odyssey?). With the techo beats and Anderson's deep, sexy voice (with loads of heavy breathing), it comes off (haha) like a porno song. I actually don't know much about HAL, or where Anderson's music career is right now, but what I do know is that back in 1997, "Extremis" ruled the various trance/ambient compilation CDs. I remember all the entertainment television show was talking about Gillian Anderson's venture in music. Too bad nothing ever came of it, because, "Extremis" is a pretty good song.

Bree Sharp - David Duchovny

Bree Sharp's "David Duchovny" was a big hit for her, possibly a one-hit wonder if you ask me. She's released one additional album since her 1999 debut, A Cheap and Evil Girl. Looking over at her myspace, there seems to be an indication of a brand new 2008 album called Robots in Love. Anyway, this stalker song is really about the actor that plays Agent Fox Mulder, it's quite funny - especially at the end when she says "I'm gonna kill Scully."

Yellow Sloth Chicken Broth - Gillian Anderson (I Wanna Be With You)

Not to be outdone is Yellow Sloth Chicken Broth's lustful song about Gillian Anderson, the actress that plays Agent Dana Scully. The punk song complains how she never shows off her cleavage (except on the internet), and it's pretty forgettable. It's safe to say that he wants to be with her in a three way or something? You can find this song on their Party Of Four (1998) album.

 

Links: weheartmusic.com

vu wrote: Sun, Jul 27, 2008 at 9:42 PM

 

The X-Files: I Want to Believe [Theatrical Release]

I'm choosing my words carefully, as to not give you any spoilers.

First of all, you do not need to know any X-Files before venturing to see this movie, it does hold up to a stand-alone film... but it does help to have known the show as there are winks that only loyal fans would understand.

I did enjoy the film overall, but I believe if you don't care about the X-Files, this would come off as a pretty standard crime/police movie with a little bit of the unknown/supernatural.

I've seen a LOT of movies, and what works here is the "real life" coppers and evildoers. I like it when the movie is grounded in reality - and it plays off like "Silence of the Lambs", where you're given bits of clues and you sort of "piece together" the story as it unfolds.

Where the movie fail is the incredibly, unbelievable, even ridiculous premise. You will know what I'm talking about once you've seen the film.

Other failure: relationships of Fox and Dana. Who is asking for this??? Not me. The movie would've worked if we never know (it would've been better if you didn't know). The unveiling of the answer hit you like a brick in the face, WTF.

If you like crime drama/thriller, this might be a movie for you - if you've never cared for the X-Files or thrillers, skip this movie. For X-Files fan, you must see this movie. It feels good to see it on the big screen, and I'll pick up the bluray of this when it's released.

 07/27/2008 00:54:50  ♥ written by vulder ()