Chinese Police Tactics; Mark Newport's Knit Heroes, Marvel Comics guide to NYC, Destop Rover 8/24/04

8/24/2004

"Old School Police Work- Chinese Style" : This from Warren Ellis' blog- what appears to be that elusive perfectly-timed photograph of muzzle flash...as apparently Chinese police are blowing the circulation systems of terrorists apart. Or something. I haven't translated it. It could be from a movie. But looking at it... I doubt it. See the link for the series of photos.
Sina.com Police Action

On second thought, thanks to the Wild Wacky World of Limp AltaVista BabelFish Translation, the text on the page reads:

"Group chart: The Shijiazhuang police open fire wound kidnap the child scoundrel entire process...

August 18, 2004 09:00 Yan Zhao metropolis newspaper Clicks on the here to examine the complete news picture On August 17 about 18 o'clock, in the provincial capital peaceful west road 506th Shijiazhuang city women and children education activity center 5 buildings English classrooms, has to hold the knife to kidnap the child the violence case, in the Shijiazhuang city leaders and under municipal public security bureau's unified command, passes through two hours emergency disposals, the police decisively opens fire the scoundrel on the scene shoots down, the success rescues two to kidnap the child. Simultaneously will be injured the crime suspect delivers the hospital to treat and cure. The above chart (1) (2) (3) (4) shoots down the scoundrel entire process for newspaper reporter under the scene photography"

That makes more sense than the last Matrix script, though.

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Mark Newport Exhibit: OK, so I know it's supposed to make a point about the 'Super-Hero as Fraud" (according to the gallery site)but frankly, they just look kind of cool. And, you know, I always wanted a knit Iron man costume.



"Using embroidery and knitting, Mark Newport wields his needles to address the stereotyped facade of the he-man, the tough guy, and the superhero. In a series of framed samplers, the artist underscores key elements from the covers of comic books, using the satin, the stem, and the ubiquitous backstitch to embroider over them. But it’s Newport’s hand-knit superhero costumes that tie the show together. Well-known classics such as Spider-Man (shown here), Batman, and the Fantastic Four hang alongside lesser-known models such as the Escapist (from Michael Chabon’s novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) and the hooded Patriot, a red-white-and-blue invention of the artist. Unlike their comic-book incarnations, in which the superheroes’ attire seems permanently affixed to muscles that ripple under lean flesh, Newport’s lifeless hand-knit suits line the walls of the gallery and float from the ceiling on invisible threads that allow them to limply sway in the breeze. By exhibiting the wolf’s clothing without the sheep, Newport exposes the superhero as fraud and demonstrates that growing into manhood may not require leaping over tall buildings but rather passing through the eye of a needle."
Greg Kucera Gallery Exhibit: Newport

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Marvel Comics Guide to NYC: Say, did you catch the Travel Channel's Marvel Comics Guide to the Marvel Universe? It was awesome. Really blew my mind to watch John Romitas Sr. and Jr. waxing poetic on each others' books together. Sr. was beaming at Jrs. Spidey run. They used a 3d CGI map of Manhattan and surrounding Buroughs, which was then sort of cell-shaded and inklined to look more comic-like, and they would zoom around the map and pick out neighborhoods and discuss the heroes, and famous Marvel events, that occurred there. It was really fascinating to watch them tie it all together, being a West Coast kid. NYC was always tangible from photos, to me as a lil' robot, but existed in this nebulous sprawl of city massing, so now, 25 years later or so, I have an entirely different view of NY. This show bridged the gap between my childhood images of the city, and my adult awareness of the place. It blew me away. I thought it was especially interesting to see how the local artists drew from what was around them, so all the backgrounds are frequently legit.

Awesome! The show used relations between characters to make connections on the map, like battles, friends and family, etc. and even character history, like Matt Murdoch meeting Elektra at Columbia. It was thorough, and yet light and fun at the same time. The latter half of the show focused on the effect of 9-11 on the artists, and the comic industry's response, as well as the comic shops in the city, the conventions, and a brief history lesson that was sprinkled with Michael Chabon talking about Marvel History, which was neat also. The way they portrayed the early 50's and 60's Marvel Bullpen was EXACTLY like I visualized the virtual Marvel-DC-esque studio from Chabon's Kavalier and Klay.

Anyway, if you missed it, they might replay it. It was, according to the parlance of our times, "totally hot."

In related news, here's Brian Apodaca's Comicon Pulse report from SDCC earlier this summer regarding the show, not yet aired at the time:

"Friday at Comic-Con international, the Travel Channel put on a presentation promoting their upcoming one-hour special tour of New York. Since it has a Marvel Comics' spin, they interviewed several comics' professionals, and some big names from Marvel (past and present) showed up to discuss their role in the production.
Rick Rodriguez, Executive VP of the Travel Channel began the discussion.

"I'm sure you're asking, 'What the heck is the Travel Channel doing at Comic-Con?' "

Rodriguez then went on to explain that he's a "lifelong comics' fan," and that, when deciding how to put a spin on a travelogue of New York City, "it was a natural to show the locations in New York which have landmarks from Marvel Comics."
With that, they screened a video promotion for the show, showing clips from several segments.
Segment One: "The Golden Age" discusses the 'brand new' comics' industry of the 1930s. Mentions Michael Chabon's Novel, Kavalier and Clay.
Segment Two: "Tour of Manhattan" - Shows locations, including the Fricke Mansion, which was Stan Lee's inspiration for Avengers Mansion. There's also a sequence or two with Roy Thomas, former Editor-in-Chief of Marvel, hitting old spots he used to frequent which made it into the comics, among them Greenwich Village.

There are more segments, but there wasn't much shown of them, although the producer did mention that there will be an unnamed character whose community and background spots will be shown. There were several hints dropped that indicated Spider-Man. Another segment mentioned Matt Murdock / Daredevil's attendance of Columbia University, and had a sequence highlighting the school's rich history.
Maggie Thompson of Comics' Buyers Guide served as an advisor for the show, along with film producer Michael Uslan.

After they showed the clips, Stan Lee briefly discussed the early days of Marvel/Timely Comics. "There was an office in the 40's, with Joe Simon, Jack Kirby, and Martin Goodman." He described the original bullpen as being rather small, but appearing large to him when he first encountered it in his youth. This led, eventually, to his lavish descriptions of a working Bullpen of the Marvel of the 1960s.Rodriguez then asked Stan his reasoning behind placing so many Marvel heroes in the Big Apple. "Why New York City? Was it just because it was where you guys lived - in New York ?" Stan's response: "First of all, we lived there in New York, and also, it made it feel as if the characters co-existed in the same world."

Michael Uslan then described how Marvel Comics "transformed me as a fan." He was amazed by the "world they created that was very special, and people should give credit to Joe Quesada for keeping it going."

Quesada chimed in, "Growing up, I lived in New York. The fact that Marvel had multiracial characters - that whole New York thing had a lot to with me getting addicted to Marvel Comics."

The film discusses the fictitious Baxter Building, home of the Fantastic Four, the top four floors of which were specially designed by Mr. Fantastic to suit the team's needs. There's also a discussion of the Thing's rivals, the Yancy Street Gang, and how their name grew out of the name of a real street in New York, Delancy Street.
They mention the residence of Dr. Strange. Bill Everett, who worked with Roy Thomas at Marvel (and created the Sub-Mariner), gave Dr. Strange the same address as Roy Thomas, on Bleecker Street, in Greenwich Village. Roy even incorporated his girlfriend of the time, Danette, into a What if? comic.
They briefly covered the inclusion of bits on Nick Fury, born and raised in Manhattan's "Hell's Kitchen," and Daredevil, the proclaimed guardian of that same "Hell's Kitchen" location. In the segment describing Matt Murdock's (Daredevil) attendance of Columbia University, there is a nod to the fact that Murdock first meets the love of his life, the character of Elektra, on campus.

Producer Karen Kraft then discussed the origins of the show. "Rick (Rodriguez) wanted to do a travel show on New York. Michael Uslan and Maggie Thompson started talking about the characters with me, and things went from there." Kraft credited Stan Lee, Roy Thomas, and Joe Quesada with bringing unique takes to the project, and described the production team's special affinity for the source material. "It's fair to say, for us that worked on the production, its our love-letter to New York City and Comics."

Rick Rodriguez asked Quesada a question regarding the attention to detail, in terms of New York locations. "How slavish are you, in terms of reproduction of particular locations." Quesada responded that it often depends on the artist and project, but when a real location's involved, the artist has to nail it, or the readers can tell pretty easily. He then mentioned that, "If you go into my home, and my Library - I have walls and walls of picture books." Quesada referenced that artists often need large caches of picture files for things as mundane as "a great kitchen interior."

Michael Uslan related the personal significance of the project. "This is important to me for a very special reason. When I was a young kid, I harangued my mother to take me to New York City to find the Baxter Building, not knowing it didn't exist." As a result, his mother eventually called the Marvel offices out of frustration, and the secretary "felt so sorry for us, she invited us up to the Marvel building, and ended up getting me signatures from Stan Lee and Jack Kirby!" Uslan then thanked Stan personally for the treatment from the Marvel staff those many years ago.

There's another clip in the film featuring noted Marvel artists John Romita and John Romita Jr., dealing with the events of 9-11, and it mentions that Special Edition Comics dedicated to the relief efforts in New York raised over a Million dollars for the Twin Towers fund.

Question and Answer Session

Q: Absolutely beautiful project, by the way. There was an issue of "What if" - 'What if all the Superheroes lived in Peoria?' Just wanted to mention that to you guys, given the nature of the show.
A: With that comment, the panel brought up the point that Namor chose New York as the city to attack, and Roy Thomas had a point to mention: "I wrote - other than Kurt Busiek - probably the most issues of the Avengers comic, and I never realized that Avengers Mansion was based on the Fricke Mansion."

Q: How do you get artists associated with the look of New York City?
A: Quesada responded that "part of being a Marvel artist is being able to draw anything at any time, on call. It doesn't matter if you're Brian Hitch in the UK, or Humberto Ramos in Mexico."

Q: I was wondering if you could speculate as to why DC has Gotham City or Metropolis, as opposed to New York City?
A: Uslan pointed out that "Most of the DC universe was created in the 30s. It was a way to escape the reality of the Depression - of World War II. I think they were (Marvel and DC) really products of two very different ages." Roy Thomas then made the point that an exception might be the early Human Torch (1930s Timely) comics, by Bill Everett and Carl Burgos, which had started in New York.

Q: Most of the film shots for New York in Spider-Man and Spider-Man II are filmed in Los Angeles or Vancouver. Why was that the case?
A: Stan Lee's response was that its very difficult to film in New York - "Probably the most expensive place to film in the U.S. is in New York City."

Q: Do many artists use actual photographs of locations?
A: Quesada cited Daredevil artist Alex Maleev as being an artist that has a really great technique which uses photographic reference.

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Almost Good Product Rendered Wrong by Cheap-Ass Technology...of the Week: This week's Wired Gadget Lab offers this review of the Pantraco "Desktop Rover":

Plantraco R/C Desktop Rover with Video Camera
[RETAIL: $60 (rover), $120 (videocam)]
Remote-control tanks that play laser tag and perform spy missions with an optional wireless videocam? It sounded like the ultimate office toy ... until the deafening motors drowned out my excitement. Forget about sneaking into meetings with these bad boys. Plans for covert video transmissions also paled when I realized the UHF transmission range from tank to TV was about 2 feet. The bleeps and bloops of shots and hits are satisfying, and the dedicated reload button on the remote is a nice touch. But they aren't exactly speed demons -- the battle experience is not unlike strapping infrared guns to two turtles. The most fun was powering these solidly built tanks over desktop obstacles like a stack of business cards from defunct game companies. -- R.S.
[RATING: 5/10]

- Now, I think "desktop rover" gives you a hint at the worthless transmitting range and generallack of fun. I'ts pretty clear to this robot that the real purpose of this geek-toy is implied: it sits on a pile of crap next to your desk, aimed at the file cabinets, to film upskirt videos of your saucy office interns. Right?
Plantraco.com

Anyway, take a look at their site. They DO have Remote-Control bathtub speedboats, which is pretty fly.




So says...Wrongrobot!


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