DanTaylorBlog

Last October, Wil Wheaton guest starred on The Big Bang Theory as Sheldon Cooper’s  sixth all-time enemy. In the episode Sheldon enters a trading-card competition when he hears Wil Wheaton (in a cameo), for whom he harbors resentment, is also participating. For those of you keeping score it was episode six of the third season, and originally aired on 10/019/09. The episode was a fan-favorite and an instant classic. Wheaton knocked it out of the park with his performance as the Evil Wil (should we shorten that to “Ewil”?), playing against the curve throwing ace of Jim Parson’s Sheldon Cooper.

Luckily for The Big Bang Theory fans and Wil Wheaton fans, “Evil Wil Wheaton” is returning to the program for another episode. While it hasn’t been let known how Sheldon’s nemisis returns and why, Wheaton has stated on his blog that be begins work on the episode this Wendesday (2/24/10) and tapes the episode on March 2nd. Once I heard word about Wheaton’s return I looked into getting audience tickets for the taping. I checked the Audience Unlimited, Inc. tvtickets.com web site, but no luck — being in high demand there are apparently no tickets available.

My thinking is that it would be nerdiest of coolness to show up for the taping wearing the Wheeeeeaton! T-Shirt. Or better yet, the entire studio audience wearing the Wheeeeeaton! T-Shirt. Wait! Even better, Sheldon Cooper wears the Wheeeeeaton! T-Shirt in the episode. What? A fanboy can dream, can’t he?

Actually, right now is a pretty good time for fanboys who also happen to be fans of The Big Bang Theory. On next week’s episode (03/01/10) comic book legend Stan Lee makes a guest appearance, and this month’s Maxim features The Big Bang Theory’s Penny — Kaley Cuoco (speaking of fanboys dreaming). Now, if they had only announced The Big Bang Theory action figures at this years Toy Fair.

I had an idea for a series of t-shirts based on the familiar “NO PARKING ANY TIME” sign. I figured that it would make an easily recognizable image to express a number of No “fill in the blank” sentiments. The first design I worked up was the No Whining Any Time T-Shirt — since nobody likes a whiner (and it works well on kids’ shirts). But, then I thought… “Let’s go for some blood.”

While I know that there are many Twilight fans out there, I also know that there are many — if not more — non-fans. And, while I’m sure that this t-shirt will not endure me to the hearts of members of either Team Edward nor Team Jacob, I couldn’t resist. I present to you, the No Twilighters Any Time T-Shirt — for those who prefer vampires without glitter. I’m working on other “No _____ Any Time” T-Shirt designs as well, so stay tuned. Check out the GeekPunk Zazzle Store for more info.

No Twilighters Any Time T-Shirt by GeekPunk

It’s been awhile since I’ve actually set up any sort of table or booth at a comic book convention, but Saturday, Feburary 20th I will be sharing a table with writer Dan Wickline (30 Days of Night: Spreading the Disease, Savage, 1001 Arabian Nights: The Adventures of Sinbad) as we bring the “Dan & Dan Show” (my name is listed first, of course) to the Long Beach Comic Expo.

The Long Beach Comic Expo — “a one-day extravaganza of eclectic entertainment for everyone” — will be held at the Long Beach Convention Center in the Promenade Ballroom from 10am to 7pm. The cost is only $10.00. The event promises retailers with cool goods, exhibitors to impress, and guests to thrill. Some of the guests scheduled include Bernie Wrightson, Stan Sakai, Tim Bradstreet, Todd Nauck, Tone Rodriguez, “the irrepressible” Josh Hale Fialkov — and what comic book show would be complete without Lou Ferrigno?

Wickline and I will be sharing a table somewhere in the midst of Artist Alley name-dropping, sharing tales of fortune and glory (ha!), and pitching story concepts to each other. Remember, we’re writers and not artists — but we’re likely to attempt to draw anything you may ask for (as long as it is a funny looking rabbit and gopher from me). It’s all part of the “Dan & Dan Show”!

Walking home from the store earlier this evening I was shocked and dismayed to discover that the beloved American acting icon who starred in such movies as Forest Gump and Castaway was actually a hooligan up to shenanigans.

So, I finally saw Avatar – writer/director James Cameron’s magnum opus and highest grossing blockbuster of all time (not accounting for inflation). And, it was alright. I’ll give the film this — it is an auspicious motion picture with incredible visual special effects. But, it is a mediocre story driven by a rather predictable point A to point B screenplay. We’ve all seen this story before, just not with all of the exceptional eye candy.

Did Avatar need to be two hours and forty minutes long? How else would they have managed to cram in all the nifty 3-D effects that at times looked like the most hectic MMORPG that a video card is still decades away from being produced that can manage all of the visual action? The flick certainly didn’t need to log that amount of time to tell the story of soldier gets second chance, soldier meets (alien) girl, soldier falls in love with (alien) girl, soldier turns against the very army is once part of to defend (alien) girl. That might be simplifying the story, but not by much.

Though, I do have to give credit to Mr. Cameron for waiting for, as well as developing, the technology needed to bring his true vision of the movie that he wanted to bring to the screen. But, as great as the special effects were, at times it felt as if the “illusions” they were creating were done more in the spirit of “let’s see if we can actually pull this off” rather than helping propel the story. But, this is James Cameron’s world. He created Avatar and he can do whatever he wants with it. Unfortunately, that became a bit too apparent at times. Rather than caring about what was happening and to whom (or is it who?) it was happening to, I often found myself wondering how they pulled off that effect and why they pulled it off. The answer to both questions — because he can. He’s James Cameron — the king of Pandora.

But, Avatar did leave me with something. It showed me that if something can be imagined it can be visually created on film. Special effect technology seems to have almost passed science fiction itself. Now we need to hope that quality screenwriting and storytelling doesn’t fall by the wayside like good ol’ fashioned special effects such as matte paintings, miniatures, and stop-motion photography (Fantastic Mr. Fox the noted exception).

Los Angeles is known for its good weather (regardless of the amount of rain Southern California has had lately), being the nucleus of the entertainment industry, and of course… the beautiful people. But, not everyone in sunny Southern California is beautiful. There are some “a-holes” — or to be more exact, L.A. Holes.

An L.A. Hole is a resident in or around Los Angeles who is a cynical, mean, arrogant, rude, and obnoxious person — in other words, an asshole. Some L.A. Holes are proud of who they are and flaunt their “L.A. Holeness” in front of the paparazzi (most of which are L.A. Holes themselves) in a desperate attempt to direct the spotlight in their direction. Other L.A. Holes are unaware of who (or what) they are and can use the hint. So, if you’re looking for a gift idea for Spencer Pratt, or aren’t afraid to admit that you yourself are a L.A. Hole, we’ve got your back covered with the L.A. Hole T-Shirt. Check out the GeekPunk Zazzle Store for more info.

L.A. Hole T-Shirt by GeekPunk

Actually, I was working on a concept awhile ago for a possible web comic entitled L.A. Hole about a self-centered, egotistical, narcissistic Hollywood agent — someone similar to Ari Gold (played by Jeremy Piven on Entourage). I channeled some of that inspiration into the characters of Pop: Darlings of America(a comic book mini-series about the dark side of Hollywood publicity that will hopefully see publication someday) that I co-wrote with Neil Kleid. Maybe I’ll revisit the L.A. Hole web comic idea if I can find the right artist collaborator.