Radio Dead Air was started in July 2000 by Nash Bozard as an in-character radio program for a Live Action Role Playing Game. Since then it has blossomed into a regular fandom radio show where advocates of Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, gaming, comedy and great music can get together on IRC chat and tune in to a one-of-a-kind Webcast.
Live broadcasts happen every Monday night 9pm to 2am EST through Live365 with live IRC chat through Darkmyst in #radiodeadair. Streaming music broadcasts are on the rest of the week. The play schedule and how to listen can be found at Tune In.
More of RDA's legacy can be found at History. Past RDA guests, broadcast recordings, and chat transcripts can be found on the Celebrity Spotlightpage. Fan art and guest pictures are on the Picture Gallerypage. The Dragon*Con pages contain audio interviews and pictures from those events. Buy Stufflinks to the RDA store through 99dogs.com where your purchases help go to pay for this web site and the regular RDA broadcast.
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I can't believe I didn't see this movie when it was released.
Moon is a 2009 drama starring Sam Rockwell with a little help from Kevin Spacey. It's about a man working alone in a lunar mining base, coming to the last two weeks of his three year contract, when he makes some interesting discoveries. I'd like to tell you more about it but I really can't without ruining what a beautiful, wonderful film it is. And don't you dare go looking it up on Wikipedia and spoiling it for yourself. Go into this one cold, because it's probably one of the best science fiction films I've seen in ages.
So Marvel is putting out a new title called Girl Comics, which is quite obviously a comic marketed to girls. I was willing to put aside the preconceptions that Marvel's previous outing in this direction gave me (the horrific and character-wrecking Marvel Divas). After all, I can appreciate the effort. I don't agree with the premise that comics don't have stories that can be appreciated by either gender (The Stuff of Legend already dispelled that notion), but hey. They're trying something. I'll give them credit for that.
Sadly, that's about all I can give them credit for when it comes to this mess. While some of the vignettes included in this issue aren't awful, they're awfully patronizing. The artwork is all over the place; while the Punisher and X-Men stories included are lovely, the rest are unfortunate. Here's a tip Marvel: "girl" does not equal "child." Girls (and also women) who do read comics like artwork that speaks to them, not speaks down to them. It's why female readers tend to gravitate to manga. Manga features complex storytelling coupled with deep, intricate and stylish artwork.
See? That's all you need for comics to appeal to a female audience. Complex stories. Character development. Exemplary artwork. Not difficult.
What doesn't appeal to a female audience is a comic book that assumes its reader has the mentality of a six year old. What makes this even more disappointing is this book was written and drawn by quite a number of female writers and artists. I don't know what caused this to collapse . . . editorial fiat? The short story format, instead of a whole issue dedicated to a single story? You got me.
Women aren't children. They don't appreciate being infantalized. They like the same thing guys like: good stories, complex characters, brilliant artwork. Hell, sometimes they like some aspects of comics that male readers take for granted, like story arcs and continuity. Don't talk down to them, and don't try to make a book "for" them as though they're a different (or even lesser) species.
Some of the stuff in the book had potential, I'll say that. Both the Punisher and X-Men stories included, had they been expanded beyond four or so pages, could have stood well on their own. But as it came out? Not worth five bucks, that's for certain.
What? You missed the Jonathan Coulton interview last night? Both times? What the hell, guys?
Oh well. I forgive you. And to prove it, here's the full interview:
Spread it about for me. Special thanks to Shawna Silverman, Jonathan's assistant Lindsay, Paul and Storm and to Mike Spiff Booth for making such awesome videos.
Well kids, now that it's done and pending editing, I can let you in on a special treat we have coming up on Monday's show. We were fortunate enough to get an interview with Mr. Jonathan Coulton at his concert in Atlanta tonight.
Tune in Monday night at 9pm Eastern for the interview, concert highlights and other fun stuff. See you there!
Via Topless Robot, here's a trailer for Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil. It's a slasher movie parody starring Alan Tudyk, and the thing looks freaking hilarious. Give it a watch.