A Mark and Brian Christmas: "The Polar Express"

More Classic Gems from Mark and Brian Christmas Past!

One year, Mark and Brian were talking about the awesome Christmas story THE POLAR EXPRESS by Chris Van Allsburg, and they were hoping to get their commentator Chuck Moshontz (who had a wonderful narrative voice) to read the book one morning before Christmas. He happily agreed, and after a week or so of preparing, they got him to sit down and read through the whole book, accompanied by some beautiful background music chosen by "Young" Anthony  just for the occasion!

 Well, it was an overwhelming success, and I came prepared and made sure I got the whole thing on cassette tape. Good thing too, because I had to make copies of that reading for many, many friends, and it occurred to me that it would be great to share it with other Mark and Brian fans out there who either haven’t heard it before or have special memories of hearing it on that incredible broadcast!

It was because of this reading that I eventually purchased my own copy of the Allsburg book, and although I scanned the pages to accompany the clip, in the end, the best way to enjoy this is the way I heard it that morning- Just close your eyes and listen to Chuck reading the story, and your own imagination will supply all the pictures you need!

A Mark and Brian Christmas: "O Holy Night"

More Classic Gems from Mark and Brian Christmas Past!

As I’ve mentioned before in previous posts, I was a HUGE fan of the KLOS Radio Program featuring Mark and Brian, and would listen to the show religiously every day throughout the years, til the show was unceremoniously yanked off the Hawaii airwaves, an evil act that I’ve never forgiven them for! (Thank God For Podcasts!)

  The Holidays were especially special ones to tune on to, because the show was filled with such warmth and real nostalgic conversations of magical Christmases of childhood, including Christmas songs, stories and movies, not to mention everyone’s memories of Christmas as kids.I've taken the time to rip some of my favorite Christmas skits (that I managed to capture on tape) to MP3s so y'all can enjoy them and get into that Christmas mood, too!

Today's Clip:

"O Holy Night" 

What would Christmas be without Christmas Carols? After an interesting discussion about their favorite Holiday Tunes, Mark and Brian got a call from a small group of Christams Carolers…This Choir featured only seven vocallists, but sounded just like pure heaven!


Their vocals were probably pretty loud, and unfortunately the connection over the phone seemed to sound “distorted” at times (especially in the beginning), but wait til you hear the buildup! OMG! An absolutely amazing (if short) performance of “O Holy Night”!

Afterwards Brian jokes, “Hey Amy, one of the guys was off!” then he laughs, and asks how many people were singing…He’s simply astounded that there’s only SEVEN people singing!

Sucking In The Seventies with "Dazed and Confused"

Sasha Jensen, Matthew McConaughey, Jason London, Wiley Wiggins

Just re-watched an old favorite movie of mine, the 1993 Richard Linklater classic Dazed and Confused. Like the George Lucas 1960's homage AMERICAN GRAFFITI (another big favorite of mine) which followed the footsteps of four 1962 High School students on the last day of school before heading out for summer, THIS movie was set in the garish and considerably louder year of 1976, where blaring Heavy Metal music and beer and pot were the specials du jour!

Adam Goldberg, Anthony Rapp, Marissa Ribisi, Jason London

Growing up in the 70's, I dug the reminiscent look and feel of the movie, and I loved its slow, thoughtful pace, where scenes really let you stop and take in the atmosphere. So much of the backdrops reminded me of my childhood-like the game parlor they all hang out at, that really took me back to those days! 

When I first checked out this movie, I knew it was going to be a period  piece of the 70's , but I didn't expect it to have such a laid-back story, and most of all, the show benefits from having very likeable characters, especially the Jason London character of Pink, who really represents all of those cool big-brother type older kids that watched out for you when you were growing up!

Wiley Wiggins, Jason London, Sasha Jenson

And Girls! Holy cow, I'd forgotten how many pretty girls were in this movie, and not only were they lookin' mighty fine, they were featured in those groovy 1970's hairstyles and those sexy and alluring seventies OUTFITS! Aw, this was FANTASTIC!

Deena Martin

Michelle Burke 

Christine Harnos

Christin Hinojosa

Milla Jovovich

Joey Lauren Adams

Parker Posey

One thing that I think is strange is that while some of the stars like Matthew McConaughey, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey and Ben Affleck have gone onto bigger and better things, I haven't seen most of the others in a whole lot of stuff! Looking online, seems like most of them have migrated to televison, so maybe that's why sightings of them have been so scarce for me!

Michelle Burke, Christine Harnos, Deena Martin

I'm amazed that Dazed and Confused wasn't a more popular movie during its initial release, but perhaps it was because it was marketed as a zany pothead movie a la CHEECH AND CHONG, while it was really just this thoughtful and gentle movie. So people coming in expecting off-the-wall silliness probably ended up disappointed, while those that would have enjoyed it passed it up. But thanks to video and word of mouth, it's finally come into its own as the cult classic it is!

 BTW, as a HUGE fan of the show RENT, I was quite surprised to realize that the role of Tony was played by none other than a very young Anthony "Mark Cohen" Rapp! 

Anthony Rapp and Christin Hinojosa

Super-Vixens: Roxy Spaulding

My first introduction to GEN 13 and Image Comics in general came one day when my co-workers had stopped off at a Blockbuster Videostore to rent some flicks for the weekend. At the time, Blockbuster was in the process of “cross merchandising” its wares, and for a brief time, actually sold comics! In any case, my friend Jas saw a slick comic featuring some very pretty girls and picked one up to check out.

Upon arriving back at work (ah, how lax worktime was back then!) Jas, who’d read the entire comic on the ride back, threw it to me and said, “hey, check this comic out, looks totally like the kind of stuff you like, cute girls and the artist is pretty good!”

The comic was called GEN13 (and this was labeled as Issue #0!) from a comic company called IMAGE featuring writers Brandon Choi, Jim Lee and artist J Scott Campbell, though I’d heard of Jim Lee(from his popular new X-Men stint, natch), I hadn’t heard of the other two guys, but from just glancing at page one of this new comic, I knew I was gonna love it, and by the end of it, I was a fan and wanted to see MORE!

Although briefly covering everyone, the issue mostly featured the wacky characters of Roxy and Grunge, two really outgoing, wacky and HILARIOUS characters, and the peppy dialog really enhanced the beautiful artwork. I was to later read that Roxy had been based on Natalie Portman (back when she was still a cute young thang in LEON), but at the time she seemed like nothing more than a savvy, sassy fun-lovin’ teenager, and she immediately became my favorite member!

In later years, Choi and Campbell pulled what I call a “Mallory Keaton” on Roxy, where it seemed like issue by issue, she was getting dumber and dumber, for comedy’s sake of course. And make no mistake about it, Gen13 was all about the comedy! It didn’t bother me when she started becoming the resident Phoebe Buffay, but it certainly was jarring when I later went back and read those earlier issues!

Air-headed or not, throughout the series, Roxy remained the “heart” of the comic, and, along with Grunge, always kept things lively and light when the story sometimes was taking a turn for the somber! Going through the enture series again, it’s easy to see that these characters were the ones that really made me love the strip so much!

Roxy Spaulding

by

Brandon Choi, Jim Lee

 and J. Scott Campbell

Gen 13

Super-Vixens: Caitlin Fairchild

So having read and loved Gen13, I found out from friends that this “Issue Zero” was in fact a bonus issue that was tagged onto the end of the original series. How confusin’ was THAT? (of course, creating bonus issue zeroes seemed to be a regular thing for many a comic in later years, but this was the first I’D heard of it!)

The original series was a 5-Issue miniseries, and it was (at the time) a very coveted and highly priced collector’s item, but taking one look at the cover of Issue One,(with the VERY saucy picture of Fairchild literally bursting out of her dress, and when was the last time you saw a super-heroine in her panties on a cover?) I made the leap and got all of those issues, finally getting to read the origin that I’d only read in capsulated form (in issue 0) as the epic five part saga it was!

Funny, unlike the Issue 0, which fronted the comedy team of Roxy and Grunge, it was clear here in the original five issue storyline that Fairchild was the main character, and it was so interesting to be seeing the story from her point of view, if you know what I mean. Though she would continue to be the statuesque buxom babe (and perennial leader) of the group, she would later be outshone by Roxy and Sarah Rainmaker as the “quirky” gals of the group.

Caitlin Fairchild

by

Brandon Choi, Jim Lee

 and J. Scott Campbell

Gen 13

Super-Vixens: Sarah Rainmaker

Shortly after the original five-issue miniseries ended and that fateful Issue Zero came out, it was announced that Image Comics would be starting up a NEW Gen 13 series, and thru to its origins, this one was even MORE wacky than its predecessors (if that’s possible) with the Gen 13 group fighting evil Maurice Sendak characters, The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and even teaming up with the Archie Comics gang!

Fairchild and Roxy were the same characters we’d come to know and love from the miniseries, but if there was one character that really got fleshed out and more fully-developed in this mazi-series, it just HAD to be Sarah Rainmaker, Gen 13’s resident Native American babe/Superheroine! Unlike the very by-the-book Fairchild and the uber-nutty antics of Roxy, Sarah was inevitably the group’s calm and thoughtful voice, and I daresay she even turned out to be the group’s sultry resident sex-kitten!

I remember at the time there was a kind of online controversy regarding Native Americans being stereotyped as overly sexual, and while I haven’t particularly noticed it in other comics as a whole, I will admit that for a awhile there, Sarah was just about the most beautifully exotic woman in that strip regardless of her ethnicity, and one that I certainly looked forward to seeing each month!

Oh, and following in extremely clichéd comic rule regarding superheroes of Native American descent, Rainmaker’s costume of course has lots of fringe and tassles. All Native American comic super heroes have fringe and tassles. Go Figure.

Sarah Rainmaker

by

Brandon Choi, Jim Lee

 and J. Scott Campbell

Gen 13

Nostalgia From "The Blues Brothers"

When I was a kid, I used to go to movies with my friend Jas and his mother, and one thing we’d always do if we liked a movie was sit through the movie for two sittings (can this even be done anymore?) and I remember once even sticking around for the beginning of a third!

 One such movie was the 1980 John Landis musical comedy THE BLUES BROTHERS, starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the titular musical siblings, and not only did we stick around for two showings of this one, we loved the songs and performances so much, we went back with other friends so they could check it out, too!

As a story, the tale is a pretty simple one, (when the brothers find out their old orphanage is going to be sold unless they can come up with the money to pay the back-taxes, they decide to reform their old Rhythm and Blues band up) but when I was watching it again, after all these years, it strikes me how much the IMAGERY of the movie has stayed with me. So many of the scenes are like looking at captures of my childhood!

Really, from the opening scene with Elwood waiting to pick up Jake as he leaves Prison with the sunlight shining from behind him, to the ominous creaky steps up to the Mother Superior’s Room at the orphanage, these are images that have ingrained themselves in my mind, so whenever I read about a prison scene or a church scene in a book or story, these are the pictures I see in my mind!

And one other thing that I’d completely forgotten about was the appearance of Carrie Fisher as Jake’s jilted ex-fiancé- at the time I first saw this movie, it was the first non-Princess Leia role I’d seen her in, and I remember being completely stunned at how pretty she was in “real” clothes, with her hair down looking like a vixen proper as she tried and again and again to assassinate Jake and Elwood!