The Westside Goth Show #50: The Milestone Moment

The Westside Goth Show #36: Kicking It 80's Style

The Westside Goth Show #32

Westside Goth Show #31: Comic Adaptations

The Westside Goth Show #25: Fall 2011 TV

The Westside Goth Show 24: Valentines Special

2011 Ramble Awards

2010
2009
2008

Favorites in Movies

Ramble 2010 Noms

Favorites In Motion Picture
Favorite Action Sequence in a Motion Picture
Hit Girl vs. Gangsters at Crime Bosses HQ in Kick-Ass
Hallway Fight in Inception
Luc Deveraux vs. NGU in Universal Soldier: Regeneration

Favorite Actor in a Motion Picture
Nicholas Cage for Kick-Ass
Christian Bale for The Fighter
Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Inception

Favorite Actress in a Motion Picture
Chloe Moretz for Kick-Ass
Natalie Portman for Black Swan
Noomi Rapace for the Millennium Trilogy

Favorite Director of a Motion Picture
Matthew Vaughn for Kick-Ass
Christopher Nolan for Inception
Edgar Wright for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

Favorite Motion Picture
Kick-Ass
Inception
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
The Fighter
Black Swan

Favorites in TV
Favorite Actor on TV
Jim Parsons for The Big Bang Theory
Jon Hamm for Mad Men
Charlie Hunnam for Sons of Anarchy

Favorite Actress on TV
Elizabeth Moss for Mad Men
Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy
Cote de Pablo for NCIS

Favorite Episode
Hell for the Holidays from Ugly Americans
NS from Sons of Anarchy
It’s A Jersey Thing from South Park

Favorite TV Series
South Park
The Big Bang Theory
Mad Men
Sons of Anarchy

Favorites in Comic Books
Favorite Writer
Adam Warren for Empowered
Naoki Urasawa for 20th Century Boys
Grant Morrison for Batman books

Favorite Artist
Adam Warren for Empowered
Naoki Urasawa for 20th Century Boys
JH Williams III for Batwoman Favorite

Archival Edition
Absolute All Star Superman
Seven Soldiers of Victory HC Volume 1
Hack/Slash Omnibus Volume 1-3

Favorite New Series
Zatanna by Paul Dini & Various
Shadoweyes by Ross Campbell
X-Men by Victor Gischler & Paco Medina

Favorite Continuing Series
Empowered by Adam Warren
20th Century Boys by Naoki Urasawa
Batman Books by Grant Morrison & Various
Fables by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham & Various

Favorite Book
The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets Nest by Stieg Larsson
Tracking the Tempest by Nicole Peeler
The Last Run: A Queen & country Novel by Greg Rucka

Favorite Anime
Dirty Pair Original TV Series Part 1
Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Season 2
Rin: Daughters of Mnemosyne
Shinryaku! Ika Musume

Favorites in Music
Favorite Song
Reggaton Song by Kabuto the Python
Nōdōteki Sanpunkan by Tokyo Jihen
Hammer of the Gods by Danzig

Favorite Album
The World is Too Big For One Lifetime by Die So Fluid
Deth Red Sabaoth by Danzig
Il Ron Hubbard by Kabuto the Python
Mastermind by Monster Magnet

Favorites in Wrestling
Favorite Match
Daniel Bryan vs. John Morrison vs. the Miz in Submissions Count Anywhere Match
Mike Quackenbush & Manami Toyota vs. Claudio Castignoli & Sara Del Rey
Cibernetico Match: Team Chikara vs. the BDK

Favorite Promotion
WWE
Chikara

Favorite Tag Team
The Osirian Portal
Quackenbush & Jigsaw
Santino & Kozlov

Favorite Female Wrestler
Ayako Hamada
Sara Del Rey
Natalya Neidhart
Daffney

Favorite Wrestler
Daniel Bryan aka Bryan Danielson
John Morrison
Eddie Kingston
Ultramantis Black

I'm Hearing A Lot of Good Things...

About the Facebook movie, better known as the Social Network(or is that vice versa). Yet i can not muster the interest for it whatsoever. The previews juts bug me for some reason. The buzz slides off my shoulders. Why is that? I guess its just one of those things where I don't think it looks like my kind of film. Of course, I tend to prefer all my drama's in the form of television. TV has made me realzie tat I can get into mob stories(Sopranos), serious fair set decades pass(Mad Men) or even a procedural(does NCIS count?)

Sorry Facebook movie, maybe when you show up on cable.

Ethnic Actors And the Emmy's

An article about Regina King's comments about white actors and the Emmy's got me thinking. Why are there always more white actors nominated than any other race? That's right-more options and better roles.

I'm black(technically half) and when I see the preview for a black show I wait for the hook. If that hook is black family with wise(and wise cracking dad), no thanks. My upbringing was not like Cosby Show or any other show with a similar set up of a black family in a good home and neighborhood. But than again, my likes and dislikes seem to run different than "your average black male." Goth and industrial music. Lots of comic books. Sports? No thanks. Kind of makes it hard for me to relate to a number of black folks on TV.

I'm not saying there aren't good black shows. I liked Martin. Use to watch In Living Color. What I saw of Girlfriends I enjoyed(hell, just got to hear Persia Whites cover of an old Billy Holiday son and it was cool. Plus she's down with the industrial so I got mad love). There are a number of shows that are good but the thing about these shows is that they just scream BLACK AUDIENCE for the most part. The hook tends to focus on that and I think it makes it hard to get recognized come Emmy time in this kind of situation.

In contrast lets look at Big Bang Theory. Yes, it's a show about nerds and geeks but that could also mean outsider. You don't have to be a geek or a nerd to relate to feeling ostracized or different. Even though the show is a comedy and thats not a central theme it does come up from time to time. It allows for someone who may not be interested to give it a look and see Jim Parsons portrayal of Sheldon Cooper who, is just an interesting character and he gives a dazzling performance. Breaking Bad has a mostly white cast with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul picking up honors this year but the roles are great on a show with a helluva hook.

Now, there are shows that have cast members of a different ethnicity. Archie Panjabi beat out other actress' to win the Best Supporting Actress in a drama statuette. This is is because she had one of the juicer female supporting roles on the show. The other actress' on the show being the talented Christine Baranski and the girl who plays the leads daughter. This is something to note because at times the ethnic character either gets a less than meaty supporting role or they are hampered by a large supporting cast. While I doubt True Blood will run up too many acting nods, that guy who plays Lafayette is gold. Gay, drug dealer with a bad attitude. Shit, if he was the main star, maybe. But he's not and there's a dozen other supporting cast members.

Now, I totally think there does need to be more shows with majority ethnic casts(and I'm talking English speaking Asian or Latino or Indian because there was will always be a few predominately black casted TV series'). But I also think that ethnic actors need to be aware that if you want to win a statue come Emmy time both your shows identity and where you are in the cast are going to play big. Dule Hill is great on Psyche but he hasn't gotten any nominations yet(Neither has James Roday and he's technically Hispanic. Well, barely anyone outside Tony Shalhoub gets nominated from any USA show. What the fuck is with the Emmy's? I mean, I'm still miffed about Katy Sagal not getting nominated. I know she's white and all and we're talking about ethnic actors getting nominations but that shit was ridiculous. You know what-forget what I said. Fuck the Emmy's. Fuck 'em!).

Daria on DVD

Very good times indeed.

Maximizing DC Properties For the Mainstream

Dear DC Entertainment and Warner Bros.,

If you are trying to really get more interest in this characters outside comics, here's a suggesting-DON'T RELY ON MOVIES!!!!

First off, here's a suggestion... more clothes and merchandise. Oh, I love me some Graphetti Designs but that's straight comic shop merch. What you need is more mainstream attire. But it seems most the time that's regulated to the Big 3 plus Flash, GL, Aquaman, and JLA. Oh, and Bat Villains. Maybe you guys should mix some others into that. Green Arrows got an audience thanks to cartoons and Smallville but where are his shirts at Hot Topic of Ahhhs? What about some Hawkman action? Come on. Get these shirts onto some people, don't wait for the movies to do that.

Also, why all movies? Smallville has been extremely successful for you. More TV series? The fact you guys haven't done a Question series is beyond me. Masked vigilante with a rather simple story. Throw Renee Montoya in and BAM! There you go DC Entertainment. Question is one of the various possible characters you can use, if you do it right. Unlike Birds of prey where you tried to trade on the Batman franchise too much. Sorry, Black Canary should have been lead hero and Huntress her partner. You throw in Batman, Joker, and Catwoman into the opening of a series you're going to piss off fans by not having them show up again.

Also, whats with the cartoons? I like the idea of straight to DVD animated flicks but do they all have to be around 90 minutes? Try expanding that to 100 minutes or even two hours. Maybe even do some sequels like to Wonder Woman. Speaking of which... Now, why isn't there a Wonder Woman cartoon TV series. There's a way to maximize a character you guys can't figure out what to do with. Give her a cartoon TV series filled with action and adventure.

All I'm saying is that trying to find the right film version is a waste of time. If you're really looking to bring these characters to the mainstream work in television, cartoons, and expand on the straight to DVD work. Plus some merchandise that isn't the same old same old.

Just a suggestion.

C. Towns-

2010 Ramble Awards

2009
2008

Favorites in Movies

Favorite Film: Monsters vs. Aliens
Why?: Tough call. Absolutely loved Inglourious Basterds. Saw Hangover, Star Trek and District 9 twice each. And yeah, Up and Coraline were technically better animated movies but this lfick was so fun its become one of my go-to videos to watch. Seen it at least three times since boot-er, DVD.


Favorite Performance by an Actor: Chrisoph Waltz for Inglourious Basterd
Why?: That opening scene in Tarantino's latest is just killer. Waltz literally waltzes his way through this movie in villainous style as the Jew Hunter.


Favorite Performance by an Actress: Melanie Laurent for Inglourious Basterd
Why?: Most of the best female performances are on TV or in smaller films. So, since I missed a bunch of those films cause they didn't seem interesting, Melanie was the only real choice. Okay, Zoe Saldana(Star Trek, Avatar) was close but Melanie's performance as a Jewish woman in hiding in France was so strong I'm sad she has not gotten too many Supporting Noms from award shows.


Favorite Director: Neill Blomkamp
Why?: Thought I was going Tarantino? So did I but I decided with Blomkamp because District 9 was a visual treat. Not as technical and future-bending as Avatar sure, but he handles the performances, settings, and effects so damn well that this film is one of my all time fav sci-fi flicks.


Favorites in TV

Favorite TV Series: Sons of Anarchy
Why?: That second season exploded from the first episode and burned the competition. Intense work.


Favorite Performance by an Actor: Neil Patrick Harris for How I Met Your Mother
Why?: How I Met Your Mothers a good comedy but NPH makes it better. Well, most the other cast is good to but without Harris, this show would've been canceled long ago.


Favorite Performance by an Actress: Katey Sagal for Sons of Anarchy
Why?: That last scene in Season 1, episode 1 and than the next couple episodes. Sagal is awesome.


Favorite Episode of the Year: The Ring-South Park
Why?: I knew it was a South Park episode. yeah, Sons was a better season overall butt he good episodes of South Park just killed. This one revolving around Purity Rings, Jonas Bros. and a foul mouthed Mickey Mouse was genius. Plus it has a hilarious ending that's a touch nostalgic for us long time South Park fans. Interestingly, Margaritaville episode won the Emmy this year for animated episode. That one was awesome.


Favorites in Comics

Favorite Ongoing Series: Empowered
Why?: This category is, in general, ongoing series. Traditional comics, OGN series, and manga. Topping this year in Empowered because volume 5 dealt with the circumstances at the end of volume 4 beautifully and sped to a draamtic conclusion that shocked me.


Favorite Writer: Adam Warren for Empowered
Why?: Not too many comic writers doing multiple books I like. Technically none at all. Sorry Geoff Johns. So I went with Empowered's writer artist Adam Warren.


Favorite Artist/Art Team: JH Williams III & Dave Stewart for Batwoman in Detective Comics
Why?: JH Williams killed ever issue. One of my fav artists on top of his game. He and writer Greg Rucka made this one of my fav superhero books this year. Williams design work and ability to shift his style to fit the mood is what makes him great. Plus the wonderful coloring of Dave Stewart. Can't forget him.


Favorite Collected Edition: The Life & Times of Martha Washinton in the 21st Century
Why?: Despite not being my fav Frank Miller or Dave Gibbons work, it is a good book made even more impressive in this single over sized omnibus with extras galore. Where the hell were all these specials on Frank Millers Ronin Absolute edition over at DC. Dark Horse kicked this one into gear with so much cool stuff. I got the 99 dollar hardcore. I hear there's a 30 dollar omnibus coming soon. The story of poor black girl who becomes a soldier and freedom fighter is just a good kick in the ass of dull comics.


Favorite Novel

Favorite Novel I Read in 2009: The Girl Who Played With Fire by Stieg Larsson
Why?: I checked out the paperback of The Girl with the Dragon tattoo expecting it to be over rated. That thing kidnapped me. This book, is so much mroe awesome. The second part of the Millennium trilogy about a financial reporter Mikael Blomkvist and the hacker chick Lisbeth Salander finds the duo tied up with a murder leading to Lisbeth. Its up to them to clear her name, though they are doing it separately.


Favorites in Music


Video is NSFW

Favorite Artist/Band: Kabuto the Pyhton
Why?: Despite my reservations about a rapper under a V for Venddeta mask, KTP kicked ass on the Parsletongue mixtape which I still bump sixmonths later. Plus several diss tracks, several guests verses, and collections of unsued, unreleased or older material-2009 was the year of the Python. His flow is just mean and fun. Thats a cool combination.


Favorite Album: Parsletongue Mixtape by Kabuto the Python
Why?: Despite it being too long with too much random filler, the meat of the album kills. From Saigons of Thump to the cool ass-kicking High School Musical(that has practically nothing to do with the movie other than two small references). Plus that Margret Thatcher sample for a middle verse in Open Season is just awesome.


Favorite Song: Bottoms Up by My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult
Why?: Death threat switched between evil and funky so the album had mixed results. But this sexy, funky, and slightly evil track is a gem. One of my fav all time TKK songs.

In case you are wondering, Chikara Pro Wrestling, fav wrestling company. Mike Quackenbush fav wrestler. Team FIST bes tag team. Team uppercut vs. Masters of 1000 Holds best match at King of Trio's Night 2. All Chikara.

Edit: If the spelling and grammers off, its because the auto spell/grammer thingee isn't working right.

The Losers Film vs. the A-Team Film

Okay... I'll grant everyone that the plot is similar but lets be honest... A-Team the first movie about ex-military on the lamb? No. But some of the idiots at Superhero Hype talkback are claiming its a big rip off and will suck and flat out fail. Lets go into a couple things first...

1. Different release dates. At this point and time we're talking A-Team in 2009 and Losers in 2011. Besides, most superhero stories follow the same common plot of good guy in costume stopping crime and evil. Usually perpetrate by crazy guy in theatrical costume or make up. Or a suit. I think we can deal with two(more like dozens) of movies about military men on the run for crimes they didn't commit.

2. Different attitudes. A-Team will probably be PG-13. It is based on a tv series thats in syndication. So even if they do make it serious, I doubt it'll be as intense as Losers. Now, the Losers movie is based on the Vertigo comic rather than the classic DC stories about a band of soldiers in WWII who got all the crap jobs. I have the losers comic, and the action was big and well thought out. Critics called it the thinking mans action series. Made Andy Diggle one of the buzz comic writers.

3. Cast and crew. A-Team has got the guy who did Smokin' Aces. Personally, despite strong performances, that movie was not good. All style with aboslutely no substance. So writing and directing A-Team seems like a bad choice. Also the Losers actually has the better cast in my opinion. Bradly Cooper and Common(so far only ones announced for A-Team) are good choices but Losers has a damn fine cast with Zoe Saldana(hot off Star Trek), Jeffrey Dean Organ who was really good in Watchmen, Jack Evans who is strong, as well as Jason Patric. It's a damn fine cast.

4. Why am I wasting time with talkbackers. they mostly tend to be idiots.

Ramble Awards 2009

Last Years Here.

5 Fav Movies

#1-The Dark Knight
#2-Wall-E, #3-Iron Man, #4-Rambo, #5-Gran Torino
Yeah... I've watched this one more times than any other flick. Twice at theaters, on bootleg, then legitimate DVD release. I put off seeing Wall-E for a while but I was so engrossed by it when I finally saw it. Iron Man was awesome. Rambo and Gran Torino were films that were truely bad ass.

5 Fav Male Performances

#1-Heath Ledger for the Dark Knight
#2-Robert Downy, Jr. for Iron Man, #3-Micky Rourke for the Wrestler, #4-Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, #5-Tom Cruise for Tropic Thunder
Come on, this will be the most remembered performance in 2008. It's already the most iconic images seeing as Heath as the Joker is on dozens of top selling merchandise. Downy might be getting the nod for Tropic Thunder at the globes but I prefered Tom Cruise. Though Downy was my second fav in Iron Man. The Wrestler was damn good but depressing. Oscars snubbed Eastwood and thats a shame.

4 Fav Female Performances

#1-Ellen Page for Smart People
#2-Cate Blanchett for the Curious Case of Benjamin Button, #3-Anne Hathaway for Get Smart, #4-Marisa Tomei for the Wrestler
I honestly believe the best roles for women are on TV. But that's also coupled with the fact I don't see chick flicks and avoid a lot of depressing movie fare. I liked this movie a lot and thought Ellen Page was funny. You should seek it out. While I wasn't as hyped by Benjamin Button I liked Cate Blanchett. Hathaways getting the nod for Rachel Getting Married but I didn't see that and enjoyed the hell out of Get Smart. Marisa Tomei was awesome in the Wrestler.

5 Fav Directors

#1-Sly Stallone for Rambo
#2-Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire, #3-Chris Nolan for the Dark Knight, #4-Clint Eastwood for Gran Torino, #5-Andrew Stanton for Wall-E
Violent. Addictive. Great, great, great action film. Stallone put out a true action classic here. Danny Boyle, Nolan and Eastwood all did great jobs on their films. Wall-E maybe my second fav Pixar film. Thanks Stanton.

5 Fav TV Shows

#1-Avatar: the Last Air Bender
#2-Mad Men, #3-Sons of Anarchy, #4-30 Rock, #5-True Blood
Avatar was awesome. Not as good as season 2 but still, I loved it. Dread the upcoming film. Mad Men and 30 Rock continue to be awesome. Enjoyed Sons of Anarchy and True Blood.

5 Fav Male Performers on TV

#1-Jon Hamm on Mad Men
#2-Alec Baldwin on 30 Rock, #3-Charles Hunnam on Sons of Anarchy, #4-Zachary Levi on Chuck, #5-Stephen Moyer on True Blood
Mad Men is such an engrossing show and Jon Hamms Don Draper is brilliant. So good my friend got his haircut and calls it the Don Draper look. Of my list the only surprise, against my top shows, is Zach Levi from Chuck which is an awesome program.

5 Fav Female Performances on TV

#1-January Jones on Mad Men
#2-Tina Fey on 30 Rock, #3-Katey Segal on Sons of Anarchy, #4-Anna Paquin on True Blood, #5-Maggie Siff on Sons of Anarchy
January Jones should have won! Yeah, I like Anna Paquin too but Jones is work in Mad Men was so emotional. Two women from the biker drama Sons of Anarchy. Great talent on that program. No surprise, Tina Fey.

3 Fav Anime Shows or Movies/DVDs or New In Japan

#1-Yuyu Hakusho Season Sets
#2-Black Lagoon: Second Barrage, #3-School Rumble
This year, all DVD pick ups. Went witht he Yuyu Hakusho seasons because it surprised me how much Cartoon Network edited. Still need to watch the final box that just came out. Black Lagoon was all kinds of awesome. School Rumble, first season was great. Second season is okay.

5 Fav Comics/Ongoings, Minis, or OGNs

#1-All Star Superman
#2-I Kill Giants, #3-Wonder Woman, #4-Empowered, #5-Water Baby
ASS is awesome! Oh yeah... I Kill Giants, which just finished, was truely remarkable. Gails making Wonder Woman good and Empowered keeps rocking. Water Baby was a fun read. But all pale to All Star Superman.

5 Fav Mangas

#1-Nana
#2-Skip Beat, #3-Excel Saga, #4-S-A/Special A, #5-Gunsmith Cats: Burst
Of course Nana though Skip Beat was close. Excel Saga was good but only two volumes released and the story is only starting to pick up now. Special A was a fun read. GSC might have bene higher but only one volume which makes me think Dark Horse is losing the license and Kodansha will be releasing it soon. Still, Nana is a perfectly executed drama about two friends. Emoitonal and at times funny.

5 Fav Comic Writers

#1-Grant Morrison for All Star Superman, Batman, and Final Crisis
#2-Joe Kelley for I Kill Giants, #3-Gail Simone for Wonder Woman,#4-Adam Warren for Empowered, #5-geoff Johns for Green Lantern and Justice Society of America
Bought more Morrison than anyone else. Everyone else on my list placed because of my fav comics or because of the output.

5 Fav Comic Artists

#1-Ai Yazawa for Nana
#2-Frank Quitely for All Star Superman, #3-Adam Warren for Empowered, #4-Yoshiki Nakamura for Skip Beat, #5-Ross Campbell for Water Baby and Wet Moon
Nana edging out ASS. Yep... more output. Empowered is a gem so Adam Warren is up there.

5 Fav Albums

#1-If by Mindless Self Indulgence
#2-Invasion of the Mic Snatchers by the Sinister Six, #3-Nudy Show! By Anna Tsuchiya, #4-Digital Gangster by MC Lars and YTCracker, #5-Chinese Democracy by Guns N’ Roses
Though Nerdcore had two albums up there(with Sinister Six being free-isn't that great?) the MSI album Ifs on top. Anna Tsuchiya's album was fun and the new GNR is addicting. Still, I don't get too many new albums these days. Maybe 2009 will be better with new TKK, KMFDM and... um... oh nevermind.

5 Fav Songs

#1-Roll the Dice by the Sinister Six
#2-Bomb This Track by Mindless Self Indulgence, #3-Displine by Nine Inch Nails, #4-Paper Planes by MIA, #5-Never Wanted to Dance by Mindless Self Indulgence
Two MSI tracks and singles from MIA and Nine Inch Nails. But on top is my fav song by nerdcore Sinister Six. Go to the site and grab it.