Gotta Drank(&Gamble)! Cielo at Morongo Casino

Banning has it all put together pretty well, a few minutes before Morongo off the 10 is a large shopping and eating center with Best Buy, Wal-Mart, BBQ and whatnot then just past the Holiday Inn and airport is Morongo Casino. It's a strange sight to see as it's the tallest building by far in more or less the middle of nothing besides small housing developments, farms, mountains and giant windmills. But the place looks new and clean besides the indoor smoking. You've got the glitz of slot machines and neon signs, several restaurants, table play in the middle and a High Stakes room. We ventured to the joint a couple times over the weekend to partake in the buffet, Friday night you can get  1 lb T-Bone steak while Saturday and Sunday there's Prime Rib! If you sign up for their free rewards, you get an automatic $5 off so you're a fool not to. The offerings were quite expansive with salad, sushi, Italian, Asian, carved meats and more. It was a 30 minute wait for steaks but there were plenty of other delicious options. One of them being the Turkey Pot Pie. Good lord I'm getting hungry just thinking about it now! I'm not sure if I'll ever have a better plate of buffet food than the one of Turkey Pot Pie, steamed vegetables, stuffing and Prime Rib I cannonballed on Saturday.

After feasting we headed up to the 26th or 27th floor to Cielo, their skyhigh steak house. You know me, I love eating/dranking up high and have done so now in places like Oklahoma City, Portland, Seattle and Calgary. It's a nice spot and wasn't too crowded yet as we sipped on Old Fashions and watched trains go by, cars run four way stops, people floating in the lazy river and wondered what life was like out here. Down on the floor we played a few slots where you could pick from Garfield, Wonder Woman, Batman & Robin, Britney Spears and THE PHANTOM machines. I would have slammed some evil and some slots but it was already taken...We lost a few bucks playing roulette on a computerized set up but it was fun. All in a pretty nice place and I would definitely return if there was a musical act coming through I was into. Upcoming acts Melissa Etheridge and Incubus do not qualify.

Con-Man: Emerald City Comicon 2015 Saturday

Saturday like most cons is THE DAY with bigger crowds and panels. Since we saw so much Friday, there was no rush to get there luckily. After a quick leg and cardio workout, the meat omelet breakfast wasn't the best idea as it made me tired and dehydrated. Walking the floor I got super giddy as the same vendor who sold me the Dolph in Rocky IV figurine had some new ones today including The mother fudging Phantom! Looking super yoked and ready for action in his purple suit, twin .45 pistols & holsters and skull ring, I nearly tripped over a trash can in the crowded booth to get it. I wasn't really on the hunt for more comics but Damme one vendor had all kinds of awesomeness on the cheap. You see, comics come in all shapes and values. You got the random rejects selling for .50 cents, maybe some overstock selling for a buck or two, variants with gimmicky hologram covers or signed by the artist, then the ones graded by some governing body on their condition, etc. This one was all "reading" copies, just issues that have been through hands of readers and selling for a buck or two. I got a huge stack of Sgt. Fury and His Howling Commandos and had to refrain from buying more. The covers are just phenomenal with splashy, eye catching art depicting Nick Fury, Dum-Dum Dugan and the rest of the Howlers saving kids, skiing into action or rescuing one of their own with phrases like "Because you demanded it, Dino Manelli fights again!! 'Nuff said!" or "Keep yer blasted head down, lady! This ain't no picnic!"...Oh man so excited to read these.

On the panels side we meant to tackle several but came up short unfortunately. The first was How To Be A Nerd For A Living where half a dozen guests including the lady who voices the Fancy Feast cat food commercials talk about their ascent up the pop culture ranks of voice acting, illustrating and production design. Pretty basic stuff, everybody has a different journey, people who make it do it because they want to, rejection is part of the game and internet comments are toxic if you take them personally. From there it was Celebrating Will Eisner's The Spirit at 75 which focused on the noir comic strip masquerading as a superhero story. A very esteemed panel included Avengers, Marvels and Astro City scribe Kurt Busiek, novelist Carla Speed McNeil and badass artist Tim Sale of Daredevil: Yellow, Batman: The Long Halloween and Spider-Man: Blue. It was basically an academic style look at the genius of Eisner's art and writing where the panel discussed the iconic character not being a superhero or very good at his job, just very persistent. Not as cerebral as Batman and always getting beat up, Busiek basically summed up the character as James Garner from the 70's; the everyman who solves the case without much finesse and ends up with a few lumps. The panelists were very versed in Eisner's work explaining that The Spirit was more or less a cypher for whatever story the author felt like telling whether it was drama, noir, horror or "action". The domino mask was a simple concession to the publisher who asked for a superhero title.

We meant to make it over to the Cos Fit panel but got side tracked by all the Sgt. Fury comics! Then we wandered around The Writer's Block area and chatted with some local artists and writers. Being next to the celebrity area I decided to get an autograph from John Wesley Shipp. As I've been able to meet so many influences and icons from my pop culture upbringing, this isn't my bag but I loved the 1990 television series of The Flash and Shipp put on one of the greatest panels I've ever seen. And I've seen a lot! Like at his panel, Shipp was super cool and seemed genuinely appreciative of all the fan and viewer support. I asked what it was like filming all the running and fast forward scenes of him eating or cleaning up. He mentioned in the pilot episode when he was cleaning up the apartment, he started off going clockwise then they brought in his stunt double to go counter clockwise so it looks twice as fast. Or when he had to sort the deck of cards out by color and denomination basically fried his brain and was only a few seconds on screen. I thanked him for mentioning alternate reality Flash's that could lead to him being The Flash again and not just Henry Allen. Shipp said he'd heard that so much from others especially as Amanda Pays and Mark Hamill are playing their former characters. He just wouldn't be excited to re-don the suit...A great encounter and I hope the new show continues to showcase his character before giving us what we really want, Shipp as The Flash once again to validate the greatness of the original show!

Some more walking around the extra packed floor and I spotted another Dum-Dum Dugan, a handful of Alien and Aliens peeps, lots of Spider-Mans, several Disney princesses and a giant MODAK wielding the cosmic cube while being surrounded by A.I.M. soldiers. Meant to make it over for some more panels like Clark Gregg or the Valiant Comics retrospective but around 4:00PM just started crashing out and headed back to the hotel. Oh yeah, for any future attendees, if you're looking for an easy lunch head over to The YardHouse a few blocks down from the Convention Center as surrounding GameWorks and The Cheesecake Factory had mobs out the door. A fun show and next year has been announced to be expanding to 4 days! I'm interested to see how they'll up the celebrity and panel quotient to fill the extra day. Until then, nice job Emerald City Comicon, keep it coming!

Pulp Cinema: The Shadow

Pulp Magazines, or "the pulps" were cheap fiction magazines that descended from dime store novels and were prevalent in the early 1900's through World War II.  Pulp refers to the inexpensive wood pulp paper used for printing versus the heavy and glossy stock reserved for magazines.  Genres like adventure, detective, horror and fantasy ruled while over the top heroes Doc Savage, The Shadow, Tarzan, Conan the Barbarian and John Carter of Mars graced dozens of novels.  Those same heroes would also transcend various medias like comic strips, comic books, radio programs, serials, television shows and of course, motion picture adaptations.

The 1990's were a terrific time for such heroes as period set, non-mainstream, DC and Marvel movie descendents and predecessors like Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, The Shadow and The Phantom all got the big budget, big screen treatment.  Each of these films holds a special place in my heart and today we'll take a look at 1994's The Shadow.  Developed in 1930, the crime fighting vigilante with physic powers and a playboy secret identity, The Shadow became a fixture in pulps appearing in 325 printed adventures over 20 years with 282 of them written by Walter B. Gibson.  The Shadow also became a prominent radio drama, originally voiced by then 22 year old Orson Welles and was broadcast for nearly 20 years, ending in 1954.  Serials and low budget features were produced in the 30's and 40's then a line of comic books from DC in the 70's and 80's carried on the legacy.

"The sun is shining." But the ice, is slippery...

I recently sat down to watch the Shout! Factory Blu-Ray and found myself still enjoying the action/mystery/noir/fantasy after all these years.  Opening in post World War I Tibet, we meet ruthless local opium warlord Ying-Ko whose bubble of power is interrupted when he is kidnapped and brought to the Tulku, a powerful holy man who knows Ko's true identity as Lamont Cranston (Alec Baldwin), disillusioned veteran with dark thoughts and strange mental abilities.  Tulku teaches Cranston how to harness his powers to cloud minds and use his powers for good.  7 years later, Cranston returns to New York City where he is man about town by day and black hat, coat and scarlet scarf clad, twin .45 pistol toting anti-hero The Shadow by night.  Cranston meets the beautiful Margo Lane (Penelope Ann Miller), a woman his uncle/Police Chief warns him to stay away from as she hears voices.  Turns out she has the same telepathic powers as Cranston but didn't get the cool training in Tibet.  Things get crazy when Shiwan-Khan (John Lone), a fellow student of Tulku and last descendent of Genghis-Khan who uses his powers for evil, shows up looking to take over the city.

What I really noticed viewing it again was the grand visual scope of the film utilizing matte paintings, huge art deco sets, cars and wardrobe from the 1930's setting.  That and the fact that the flick has a sense of humor as Baldwin is very smooth, debonair and charming as Cranston and the supporting cast of cooky and memorable characters like taxi driver Moe (Peter Boyle), bomb making Dr. Reinhardt Lane (Ian McKellan), sleazy associate Farley Claymore (Tim Curry) and rescued scientist Dr. Tam (Sab Shimono) all add an extra layer of likeability.  The period setting mixed with The Shadow's ability to hide himself from enemies makes for some visually interesting wham bam action sequences in and around dark bridges, laboratories and ornately designed hotels.  Some of the goings on were kind of surprising as bodies are thrown off the tops of buildings, bouncing and crashing on top of cars, a shard of glass to the forehead, a dream where Cranston rips off his face, etc along with some sexual innuendos I missed as a kid.  Jerry Goldsmith's score is fantastic as well, huge and theatrical to match what we're seeing.

"The weed of crime bears bitter fruit."

Ably directed by Highlander's Russell Mulcahy, The Shadow was intended to become a franchise starter for Universal but was sadly not to be.  Budgeted at a healthy $40 million bucks, the film shot mostly on Universal's backlot where Production Designer Joe Nemec III and crew transformed the fake streets and six sound stages into 60+ sets.   Released on July 1st, 1994, The Shadow would open up # 2 with $11.7 million clams, behind Disney's massive hit The Lion King, on it's way to a middling $32 million gross.  This would continue the diminishing returns pattern after period adventure flicks Dick Tracy and The Rocketeer in 1990 and 1991.  1996's rousing pulpy adventure The Phanom would gross even less.  I can't remember if I saw this in a theater or not but distinctly recall having the VHS, a poster on my wall and a few of the action figures where you'd shove Cranston's head down and attached a hat and scarfed The Shadow top complete with cape.

Cinefantastique covered The Shadow in their August 1994 issue with a staggering 27 page look at the film covering the development of the film, origins of the character, director Mulcahy, the radio program, writer David Koepp, special make up, past film and serial versions, production design, computer effects, merchandise, matte painting and miniatures.  It's amazing to see how much work goes into a movie just from reading it, not even living it.  One of the major thrulines is the ambitious scale of the film and it's visual inspirations while working with a moderate budget and schedule of 64 days.  Producer Martin Bregman had the rights for 12 years and wanted to introduce the popular culture phenom to a whole new generation.  Writer David Koepp was familiar with the radio shows and was tasked with making The Shadow more movie friendly and not just an invisible man as depicted in the radio program.  Koepp eventually wrote 15 drafts of the film and always visualized Alec Baldwin in the role.  It was decided to keep the tone light and to have fun instead of going the dark and serious route of 1989's juggernaut Batman.  Baldwin was drawn to the dark past of the heroic title character, a once evil man now atoning for his sins.  Miller had worked with Bregman and Koepp on the Al Pacino crime thriller Carlito's Way and enjoyed not being a damsel in distress and the rapid, 30's style banter while John Lone went deep method in his role as Khan. The notion of a sequel was raised before release with Koepp ready and willing, thinking a showdown with the Voodoo Master would make for a great follow up.  Cut to today and movement on a new adaptation has all but died out.  Evil Dead and Spider-Man helmer Sam Raimi was eager to make the film but was denied the opportunity in the 90's.  It's said that his Darkman, a story of a disfigured scientist fighting a crime boss, was his version of The Shadow.  In recent years, Raimi acquired the rights but as of 2012 states he was unable to mount a satisfactory script and has essentially abandoned the project.

"The Shadow knows!"

On Shout!'s 20th anniversary release, we get comments from many of the major players including Mulcahy, Baldwin, Miller, Nemec and Cinematographer Stephen H. Burum.  Baldwin really wanted to work with Koepp and sings his praises but makes no mention of Mulcahy while Miller gives props to the writer and the leading man.  Mulcahy talks about the terrific cast and Lone's method style off set which led to funny interactions, especially during lunch. Everyone seems to think Miller has a very 1930's look and was perfect for the role.  Also discussed is The Shadow's place as a film caught in between eras of technology as old school methods like matte paintings were mixed with visual f/x to make a knife with a face fly around.

Until we pick up the Tommy Gun and ride with Dick Tracy, before we strap on the jetpack with The Rocketeer and until we slam some evil with The Phantom; check every corner, every empty room, as inevitable as your guilty conscience...The Shadow will be there!

Con-Man: Long Beach Comic Con 2014

It's been a busy week getting back to regular life with a late night screening of The Equalizer on Thursday, Nightcrawler at Beyond Fest Friday then Long Beach Comic Con Saturday.  Doing the Damme thing since 2009, LBCC has expanded into two shows annually, a smaller show in May and a bigger one in September/October.  While Long Beach was one of my favorite shows behind San Diego Comic Con, recent events seem to have peaked in terms of exhibition floor, guests and panels.  While Southern California doesn't have too many competing comic book focused conventions per se, the rise of Wonder Con Anaheim, Comikaze downtown and the like make me wonder if Long Beach isn't at risk of being passed by.

The good is still the good.  Long Beach is a quick jaunt down the 405 from Los Angeles, parking is ample and the surrounding Pike contains a glut of outside attractions in the forms of restaurants, bars, a $1 book store, movie theater and the Queen Mary village.  The convention center is beautiful and spacious but in past years where movie replica cars and food trucks lined up outside, nary an outdoor attraction was present this year.  Inside, there was a decent sized crowd of attendees and cosplayers and the floor in Exhibit Hall C was filled if not packed.  Vendor wise I ended up grabbing some random issues of Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandos and Captain America, trades of collected The Phantom newspaper strips and some Walt Simonson Thor.  Funko figures were everywhere and there was a decent amount of vendors selling comics new and old.  I even spotted a first, Miami Vice action figures!  So great to see Crockett and Tubbs in plastic form. 

Long Beach Comic Con staple RAW Studios had a sizable booth set up with artists Tim Bradstreet and William Stout as well as X-Files spinoff Lone Gunmen star Dean Haglund.  Bradstreet had some wicked The Shadow prints for sale and we chatted for a few minutes with Mr. Stout who had just returned from Austin's inaugural MondoCon.  As always, he's a cool guy but I wish he had some artwork from the Masters of the Universe film with him.  Last year we met Lance Henriksen at the booth who was awesome and in years past co-owner Thomas Jane would be hanging out.  Without either of their mainstream name and face recognition present, it was pretty quiet around the table.  Elsewhere on the floor you had comic dynamos like Mark Silvestri, Jimmy Palmiotti, Len Wein and James O'Barr meeting the fans but overall, guest wattage was a little low this year.

Panel wise there was plenty to choose from ranging from cosplay to drawing lessons to character and artist/writer spotlights but nothing really jumped out at us, sadly.  Instead we took to the Pike and hit up the $1 bookstore where I continued my The Phantom theme and grabbed the movie tie-in novelization for the 1996 swashbuckler starring Billy Zane and the WWII set The Monuments Men.  Next door at the Auld Dubliner a friend met up with us for a few Dublin Donkeys, Jameson and Ginger Beer with lime in a copper cup.  Sound familiar?  I just had a weekend theme of Moscow Mule's last week which just had vodka instead.  Two of those bad boys and I was feeling good.  The bacon and cheddar topped tator tots and Shepherd's Pie were delicious as well.  Saying our goodbyes to my former co-worker, we headed back to the show and did a final lap, flipping through some more comic boxes, checking out action figures and more of artist alley. 

On my way out I couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for Long Beach Comic Cons past where RAW Studios held film screenings and Thomas Jane sat in front of my friends and I for The Mist.  Or the spectacle of the Zombie March that I believe set some kind of record with a few thousand participants.  Panels with William Stout, Iron Man 3's Shane Black and Seth Green for Robot Chicken were sorely missed for their insight, inspiration and laughs.  I know LBCC has been competing with Comikaze in the last couple of years for dates and then new kid on the block were in Long Beach advertising, now that they've established themselves as a force on the con circuit, I hope they haven't tied up all the guests and exhibiters because we need more cons, not less.  But I can appreciate Long Beach keeping the focus on comics, artists and writers instead of just hocking paid opportunities to interact with celebrities.