Category Archives: Uncategorized

As I said last week, for this week's big question I want to talk about bad or even useless superpowers. Now with all of the super-powered individuals running around in comics land, it's inevitable that a few are going to have powers that are, at best, not very helpful for superheroics. So, what I want to know is, who do you think has the worst power set of any comics character (and I'm not counting non-powered characters here)?

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http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/10/14/superman-75-years-of-heroic-history-in-a-2-minute-animated-short-exclusive/

So, as promised this week we will talk about the Big Bang Theory. Now, the reason I want to cover this show is not because of the number of references to 'geek culture' (e.g. the Green Lantern t-shirt dead centre in the pic above). No, the reason I want to talk about it is I can't work out what to make of it. Now I know a lot of people on here love the show, hell, the rest of my family seem to be addicted to it, but I can never work out if they are just taking the piss half of the time. Obviously I can only comment on what I've seen of it, but it seems to rely almost exclusively on the very old and tired stereotype of geeks being  socially inept, sci-fi obsessed losers (see the first Sci-fi corner, when we covered Star Trek, for further details). I will concede that this doesn't happen all of the time and sometimes it its done in very clever and amusing ways, but for gods sake, I grew out of stereotypes when I was 15. People say that TV, and comedy in particular, is based on stereotyping, but that isn't true (something we will cover on the next Screen Spotlight when we cover one of my two favourite shows of all time: Red Dwarf). Considering the success of things like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, New Doctor Who and the Star Trek reboot movies (in purely financial terms with the last one), stuff generally considered as "Geek Only" are becoming increasingly "For Everyone", so why keep bring up the geek stereotypes. No-one finds sports fans who collect their various memorabilia (signed baseballs, hats, football kits, old baseball/ football cards, posters etc. etc. I mean there's so much of this **** I could go on for ages) weird or funny, so why is collecting figurines of Star Trek or comics characters? And my main gripe, and this is purely personal, but because I love all of the comics, sci-fi, fantasy stuff they routinely use, it sometimes feels like my family are only laughing at stuff on the show because they recognise some of it from what I do (although I probably don't help myself in that respect).

But anyway, that's enough from me. As I said at the start, I know there's a lot of you who love BBT so it's over to you to convince me that I'm wrong about the show. Sorry for the rant, I've been ill all weekend and that's not conducive to being cheerful.

Next week we'll be going back to What Were They Thinking and looking at Marvel in the '90's.

I'm taking a bit of a turn from the usual Blog content this week. I am currently working on a new Canadian musical based on the true story of an inspirational young man.

In 1980, after losing his right leg to cancer, Terry Fox began his "Marathon of Hope". It was Terry's dream to run across Canada in an effort to raise money for cancer research. After running over 3300 miles at a rate of a marathon per day, Terry was hospitalized near Thunder Bay and it was discovered that his cancer had returned and was in his lungs.

Although Terry's dream and ultimately his life was cut short, his dream carried on in his memory. Since 1981 "Terry Fox Runs" are held across Canada and around the world each September and have raised over 600 million dollars for cancer research.

Since this weekend is Canadian Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate as a Canadian and cancer survivor to honour a man who gave so much of himself to help others.

Check out this ESPN profile of Terry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjgTlCTluPA

I apologise to those 'machiners who are older than 30 here, but this weeks Big Question is aimed squarely at our younger contingent. Don't worry next week we will be back to ranting about comics. I think it will be about the worst superpower ever.

Considering that the new Pokemon games are coming out this Saturday, and considering its significance to certainly my generation, I thought we'd talk about some of the new stuff they're going to be introducing. However, first we need a question. So, what do you think of the changes they are making for this generation?

Warning, if you are avoiding any leaks before the release of the games, don't read on. However, I will not be discussing the unofficial leaks made since promotional copies of the games have been sent out last week.

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Five entries this week - well six actually but the Link led to an error page - so let's call it five. Space Pope was very cool, but I was unable to find the three items anywhere in it. If they are there, I apologize for my "thickness". Of the remaining four, although all very creative and quite funny, I can only pick one winner.

Although I don't particularly understand it...again...kinda thick...this week's winner is...wait for it...Herr D.

To claim your prize, simply link a pic of the character you would like me to re-imagine in the comment section of this post and I will post a link in your gallery when it is done.

Please join me in congratulating HerrD and all the other entries this week.

Join us again on Friday, October 25th at 9 pm eastern for a special 48 hour Pop Quiz Halloween extravaganza. Bring candy!

Your Pop Quiz challenge is to use the three items posted below to create an amazing HeroMachine work of art.

You can create a hero, a villain, a robot, or even an abstract work of art. The only limit is that your image must include these three items at least once.

You only get one entry so be creative, and above all else, have fun!

All entries must be in JPG or PNG form (BMPs are too big), posted to a publicly accessible website (like the HeroMachine forums,ImageShack, PhotoBucket, or whatever);

• Entries must be made as a comment or comments to this post, containing a link directly to the image and the character name;
• The image must be new and designed specifically for the Pop Quiz;
• Please name your files as [your name]-[character name].[file extension] before you upload it. So DiCicatriz, for instance, would save his “Bayou Belle” character image as DiCicatriz-BayouBelle.png.
• Please make the link go directly to the image (like this) and not to a hosting jump page (like this). See this post on how to get the direct link for most sites.

This week's prize...such as it is...the winner will get one of their characters re-imagined by yours truly. Please contain your excitement.

This contest will close at 9pm Eastern on Sunday, October 6^th.

Robert Gordon "Bob" Mackie is an American fashion designer, best known for his costuming for entertainment icons such as Carol Burnett, Cher, Judy Garland, Diana Ross, Liza Minnelli, Tina Turner, and Mitzi Gaynor. He was the costume designer for Carol Burnett on The Carol Burnett Show during its entire 11 year run and designed the costumes for its spinoff, Mama's Family, and for the 1993 television adaptation of Gypsy.

Mackie was discovered by legendary costumer Edith Head in 1961 while working as a novice designer at Paramount Studios. Mackie designed costumes for the Las Vegas Strip-based burlesque shows, Hallelujah Hollywood, which was inspired by the Ziegfeld Follies and ran at the MGM Grand(now Bally's Las Vegas) from 1974 to 1980, and Jubilee!,  which has been running since 1981. Both productions involve intricate, elaborate costumes and grandiose sets. Images of many of Mackie’s design drawings for these productions are available in the Showgirls collection from UNLV Libraries Digital Collections.

Two of Mackie's best-remembered creations had a humorous side. While working on The Carol Burnett Show, he designed a "curtain dress" (complete with a curtain rod across the shoulders) that Carol Burnett wore in the Gone with the Wind parody: Went with the Wind. Mackie also designed the garish ensemble worn by Cher at the March 1986 Academy Awards: black stretch pants, a bejeweled loincloth, knee high boots, a black chainlink top, and a huge feathered Mohawk headdress that was one and a half times taller than her head. Introduced by Jane Fonda with the words, "Wait'll you see what's gonna come out here," Cher was appearing as a presenter after what many considered an Oscar snub (Cher was not nominated for her performance in Mask). "As you can see," said Cher, "I did receive my Academy booklet on how to dress like a serious actress."

Mackie is often called the sultan of sequins, or the rajah of rhinestones, known for his sparkling and imaginative costume designs He has won nine Emmy Awards for his designs, and was nominated for three Academy Awards.

Mackie has said, "A woman who wears my clothes is not afraid to be noticed."

Mackie is also known for his exclusive dress designs for collector's edition Barbie dolls.

Mackie's vast celebrity client list includes...

Beyoncé, Carol Burnett, Cher

Whoopi Goldberg, Elton John, Liberace

Madonna, Pink

Diana Ross, The Supremes, and Tina Turner

This week, I'd like to know are there any story lines that you feel are over used in the world of comics? It can be origin stories (e.g. exactly how many superheroes are orphans?), huge cosmic crises or team forming stories, I'm sure there are loads that you guys can think of. Also, are there any story lines or story ideas that you think have been neglected, missed or gone down the wrong path and ended in an unsatisfactory way?

Just a reminder that the next Pop Quiz will be on Saturday, October 5th. In addition to the regular monthly version, I am thinking of running a second monthly Pop Quiz with a seasonal theme of some kind...Halloween is coming! Let me know what you guys think.