That's Sir Christopher Lee To You!

A while back I posted a little story about Hammer stalwart, horror fav and recent addition to the Star Wars pantheon Christopher Lee and his World War II exploits. Well, now it is Sir Christopher after being knighted late last month.

87 years-old and still acting, Lee is a one of a kind.

Boilerplate Review @ Gatehouse Gazette

Well the teasing has ended, you can now read my full review of Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett's steampunk masterpiece, Boilerplate: History's Mechanical Marvel.

Click the image of the Gatehouse Gazette for the review. And make sure you read the whole PDF as its chock full of fantastic columns, reviews and interviews of all things steam and diesel.

TNT is Dyno-mite for Picking Up Southland

While the No Bloody Clue network continues to wear the Leno concrete shoes at 10, cable network TNT has stepped up to the plate and resurrected Southland from the grave.

The show's second season will be broadcast starting in January. Read the news here and here.

Thanks to the tipster for alerting me and the readers.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

From Kev, Indy, Marion and the Corpses at the Well of Souls

Tales of the First Occult War: MKII

Last fall I self-published my short story collection Tales of the First Occult War. I decided soon after sending out to the world (with five action packed, toe curling tales) that it may be a story or two short.

Well, after a hiatus I added two more tales. And now I have wrapped an additional two short stories for the TFOW universe.

I am writing to let you know the new book is up on LULU.com. New cover, as well as special interior artwork that will accentuate the TFOW universe; as well as new stories.

Keep your eyes peeled for some sneak peaks and for some reviews in the future.

Adele Blanc Sec Is Ready For Her Close Up

All the way back in June (a geological epoch for the Web) I wrote about Luc Besson's return to director's chair with his life long dream project, bringing to celluloid life the Belgian comic book The Extraordinary Adventures of Adele Blanc-Sec.

Well the project has a full head of steam and its first teaser poster featuring our intrepid gun-totting journalist Adele Blanc-Sec. The pic (left from the fine folks at Twitch) capture the young lady perfectly and I'll be curious to see how Besson puts his touch to another strong female character.

From Le Femme Nikita to Fifth Element and Angel-A, Besson loves his women to me smart, strong and passionate. Adele is surely all of these things and to have a period adventure shot on the streets of Paris (much like Angel-A which was shot guerrilla style as Angels & Demons garnered the Parisian limelight) it should be an interesting watch.

As I wrote back in June, here is Adele's back story in one graph- In Les aventures extraordinaires d'Adele Blanc-Sec our intrepid pistol packing journalist heroine, Adele Blanc-Sec, encounters monsters, beasts, demons, secret societies and vast world changing dangers. One part Sherlock Holmes and another measure of Indiana Jones and Hellboy, Adele- who's cohort includes a revived Egyptian mummy and caveman- was created in 1976 by bande dessinee artist Jaques Tardi.

And over in Luc Besson's backyard of Paris, the fine comic folks at ActuaBD have a street shot of filming that took place in August.

I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

I grew up on Transformers, GI Joe and the A-Team. The latter two shows no one was ever really hurt during a melee and never killed (especially on Joe where lasers never hit their mark and parachutes were on hand at all times. 'Fang' struck by a laser blast? Jump out and deploy parachute. 'Hiss' hit by a Joe barrage, jump out and deploy parachute. Well, kidding on the last one.) Of course that goofy GI Joe from my youth has been supplanted by a bloody and bullet filled anime fest GI JOE: Resolute (below.)



Well, unless you've been hunkered down in web-less cubicle, then you shouldn't have missed the news of the A-Team remake. Looking as campy as the original (no A-Team was never serious) this should be an interesting actioner based solely on its cast. Since being burned by the God awful GI JOE movie of this summer, I might have to stay thy hand when it comes to A-Team on the silver screen.

Yet an analysis of the first official promo image of the cast- Faceman, B.A. Baracus, Murdock and Hannibal- shows a few tips of the cap to the old team.

The now bad-ass redeemed Liam Neeson (thanks to his growling but out of touch dad in Taken,) dons George Peppard's tan leather gloves, shoulder holster, stogie and yes, even the original team's ubiquitous Ruger AC556.

By the way, two tid-bits for you.

First, an A-Team in the United States Army Special Forces is actually the smallest operational unit. Also known as an A-Detachment, each A Team is a twelve man team, lead by a Captain, with a Warrant Officer as his XO. Classic unconventional warriors they have been since their inception in 1952 experts in multiple warfare disciplines, including their meat and potatoes Foreign Internal Defense. But apparently for simplicity, pop culture A-team are cigar chomping, kind hearted MacGuyvers.

And second, Bradley Cooper (seen in The Hangover) is a television vet. When I saw Hangover this summer I had this nagging feeling I had seen him someplace before. No, not on Nip/Tuck. A few years before. Yes, Bradley was once a host of one of my travel shows, Globe Trekker, where he paddled about some Alaskan glaciers.

I wonder, looking at Neeson's over the top viage, how many guys will use that face as their new avatar.