The Purple Pinup Guru Platform

When purple things are pulsating on your mind, I'm the one whose clock you want to clean. Aiding is Sparky, the Astral Plane Zen Pup Dog from his mountain stronghold on the Northernmost Island of the Happy Ninja Island chain, this blog will also act as a journal to my wacky antics at an entertainment company and the progress of my self published comic book, The Deposit Man which only appears when I damn well feel like it. Real Soon Now.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Sparks: My favorite 2 Jews with tattoos! And then onto the Batmobile as we simply hate the Popemobile!

Kinky Friedman

Kinky Friedman

Richard F. "Kinky" Friedman, (born October 31, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and novelist, who is currently an independent candidate for the office of Governor of Texas.

Personal life

Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish parents, Friedman's family moved to a ranch in central Texas during his childhood. He had a keen interest in both music and chess at an early age. Friedman was chosen when he was seven years old to be one of fifty local chess players to challenge U.S. grand master Samuel Reshevsky to simultaneous matches in Houston. While Reshevsky won all fifty matches, Friedman was by far the youngest competitor.

Friedman graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts, double-majoring in Psychology and Plan II Honors. He then served two years with the Peace Corps in Borneo with John Gross. While in Borneo, Kinky was tattooed as a rite of passage. [1] He has been featured in the news including 60 Minutes on CBS and made an appearance as one of Jay Leno's guests.

Friedman currently lives at Echo Hill Ranch, his family's summer camp near Kerrville, Texas, just outside of Medina. He also founded Utopia Animal Rescue Ranch, whose mission is to care for stray, abused and aging animals; more than 1,000 dogs have been saved from euthanasia.

Music career

Friedman formed his band, The Texas Jewboys, in the early 1970s. Friedman's father objected to the name of the band, calling it a "negative, hostile, peculiar thing".

Arriving on the wave of country rock following on from Gram Parsons, The Band and Eagles, Friedman originally found cult fame as a country and western singer. His repertoire mixed social commentary ("We Reserve The Right To Refuse Service To You") and maudlin ballads ("Western Union Wire") with raucous humor (such as "Get Your Biscuits In The Oven and Your Buns In Bed"). His "Ride'em Jewboy" was an extended tribute to the victims of the Holocaust.

He confronted racism and anti-Semitism head-on in the song, "They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore," a song in which the fictitious Kinky verbally and physically beats up a drunken White racist who berates African Americans, Jews, Greeks and Sigma Nu's in a bar.

Sample lyrics:

"You know, you don't look Jewish, near as I can figger,
I had you lamped for a slightly anemic well-dressed country nigger!"

and

"Oh, they ain't makin' Jews like Jesus anymore,
They ain't makin' carpenters that know what nails are for"

In the spring of 1976 he joined Bob Dylan on the second leg of the Rolling Thunder Revue tour.

Friedman was a musical guest on Saturday Night Live in October 1976.

It has been reported by Mr. Friedman himself that he is the only artist known to have taped an episode of Austin City Limits only to have it never reach the airwaves.[2]

Discography

  • Sold American (1973)
  • Kinky Friedman (1974)
  • Lasso From El Paso (1976)
  • Live From The Lone Star Cafe (1982)
  • Under the Double Ego (1983)
  • Old Testaments and New Revelations (1992)
  • From One Good American To Another (1995)
  • Classic Snatches from Europe (2000)
  • Mayhem Aforethought (2005)
  • They Ain't Makin' Jews Like Jesus Anymore (2005)

Writing career

After his music career stalled in the 1980s, Friedman found a new lease on life as a detective novelist. His books have similarities to his music, featuring a fictionalized version of himself solving crimes in New York City and dispensing jokes, wisdom, Texan charm and Jameson's whiskey in equal measure. They are written in a straightforward style which owes a debt to Raymond Chandler.

Friedman has also written a regular column for the magazine Texas Monthly since April 2001, although it has been suspended during his run for governor of Texas; his last essay appeared in the March 2005 issue[3]

Selected bibliography
Politics

In the early 1980s, Friedman ran for Justice of the Peace in Kerrville, Texas, but lost the election.

In 2004, Friedman began a serious, though colorful, campaign to become the Governor of Texas in 2006. One of his stated goals is the "dewussification" of Texas[4]. Among his campaign slogans are "How Hard Could It Be?" and "Why The Hell Not?" Other bumper stickers concur: "My Governor is a Jewish Cowboy", and "He aint Kinky, he's my Governor"[5]. He hopes to follow in the footsteps of other entertainers-turned-governors, including Jesse Ventura, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Ronald Reagan. When the campaign finance reports came out after the second quarter had ended, Friedman shockingly outraised the Democratic nominee, former Congressman Chris Bell.

His campaign seems to be similar to the 1998 populist independent campaign of Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura. On education, he supports higher pay for teachers and work to lower Texas's highest-of-the-nation dropout rate[6]. He also supports more investment in harnessing Texas's alternative fuel resources such as wind and biodiesel[7]. On social issues he has supported gay marriage, answering an Associated Press reporter's question on the subject on Feb. 3, 2005, he remarked "I support gay marriage. I believe they have a right to be as miserable as the rest of us"[8].

On the death penalty, he previously summed up his position, "I am not anti-death penalty, but I'm damn sure anti-the-wrong-guy-getting-executed"[9]. However, more recently he has said that he has changed his position, "The system is not perfect. Until it's perfect, let's do away with the death penalty"[10].

Since he began campaigning, Friedman has appeared on The O'Reilly Factor, Real Time with Bill Maher, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.

Friedman is friends with both Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, both of whom have invited him to visit the White House. He wrote about his friendships with them in his November 2001 column ("Hail to the Kinkster"[11]) for Texas Monthly.

On May 11, 2006, Friedman submitted his petition to get on the November ballot, with 169,574 signatures to support his candidacy. In response to a question of how he got the signatures, Friedman replied, "Thank God for bars and dance halls"[12].

Support for the campaign

Don Imus, the host of Imus in the Morning on radio and TV, has publicly (and frequently) announced his endorsement of Friedman for the governorship of Texas.

In March 2006, Entertainer Mojo Nixon, announced his "un-retirement" as a performing musician to support the candidacy of Kinky Friedman. Previously, Mojo Nixon had retired as singer-songwriter to focus on his new career as a disc jockey for Sirius Satellite radio. To celebrate Kinky's campaign, Mojo re-wrote his hit single "Elvis is Everywhere" as "Kinky is Everywhere," which can currently be downloaded at the MojoNixon.com website.

Country singer Willie Nelson recorded a campaign radio spot to assist in the petition drive to get Friedman on the ballot.

Jack Cafferty mentioned on CNN that he supported Kinky.

Friedman has also received overseas support by Melbourne radio show "The Sunday Roast", on 94.1fm.

References
  1. http://www.austinchronicle.com/issues/dispatch/2004-09-17/music_string_all.html
  2. List of Friedman's articles and Hail to the Kinkster from Texas Monthly
  3. http://www.ccrayz.com/news/?id=7604
  4. http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=81
  5. http://www.kinkyfriedman.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=28
  6. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/08/19/sunday/main788935.shtml
  7. http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=3948211
  8. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060511/ap_on_el_gu/governor_kinky_1

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Kinky Friedman

Peter David


Peter David - writer of stuff.

Peter Allen David (born September 23, 1956) is an American writer, best known for his work in comic books and Star Trek novels. David often jokingly describes his occupation as "writer of stuff". David is noted for his prolific writing, characterized by its mingling of real world issues with humor and references to popular culture. He also uses metafiction frequently, usually to humorous effect, as in his work on the comic book Young Justice. David is Jewish, and lives in Long Island, New York.

Comic book work

In the early 1980s he worked for Marvel Comics in their sales department under Carol Kalish. While there, he submitted a storyline for The Spectacular Spider-Man entitled "The Death of Jean DeWolff". The story was published, illustrated by Rich Buckler, and ran in issues #107-110 of that title. The story focused on the death of the eponymous supporting character in the Spider-Man continuity and the characters' reactions to it. The story was acclaimed, both critically and popularly, and David left his sales job and became the regular writer of The Spectacular Spider-Man for a time. David credits Kalish for influencing him personally and for pushing him into a writing career, writing a moving eulogy to his former boss in "But I Digress" after her sudden death from an aneurysm in 1991.

Soon after his run on The Spectacular Spider-Man, he began a lengthy run writing The Incredible Hulk, reviving interest in the flagging title and receiving a great deal of critical praise for his efforts. Many fans consider David's work on The Hulk to be the definitive interpretation of the character. David's recurring themes of Bruce Banner's struggle to deal with the childhood abuse he suffered by his father (a theme first introduced by writer Bill Mantlo), his periodic changes between the more rageful and less intelligent Green hulk and the more streetwise, cerebral Gray hulk, and of being a journeyman hero (trying to find a new home after leaving The Avengers) gave The Hulk what many felt was much more emotional depth than had been seen before. (The notion of parental abuse was again seen in screenwriter Michael France's script of Ang Lee's theatrical adaptation of the character, Hulk). David’s other Marvel Comics work include runs on Wolverine, the New Universe series Merc and Justice, a run on the original X-Factor, the futuristic series Spider-Man 2099, about a man in the year 2099 who takes up the mantle of Spider-Man (the title character of which David co-created), and the 2000 and 2002 versions of Captain Marvel.

At DC Comics David wrote a 7-issue, 1990 miniseries, The Atlantis Chronicles, about the history of Aquaman's home of Atlantis, which David has referred to as among the written works of which he is most proud. He would later write a 1996 Aquaman miniseries subtitled Time and Tide, which would lead to a relaunched monthly Aquaman series, the first 46 issues of which he would write from 1994 - 1998. His run on Aquaman gained notoriety, for in the book's second issue, Aquaman lost a hand, which was then replaced with a hooked spear, a feature of the character that endured for the duration of David's run on the book. He also wrote the Star Trek comic book for DC from 1988 - 1991, when that company held the licensing rights to the property. David's run on that title was also a fan favorite, again highlighting his use of humor, stories with strong ties to Trek's existing continunity. David also enjoyed considerable runs on Supergirl and Young Justice, the latter eventually being cancelled so that DC could use that book's characters in a relaunched Teen Titans monthly that would coincide with the debut of a new animated television series based on that team.

David's work for Dark Horse Comics has included the teen spy adventure, Spy Boy.

Other comics series David has worked on include his creator-owned Soulsearchers and Company, which is published by Claypool Comics, and the Epic Comics title Sachs and Violens, with art by George Pérez, which is also creator-owned. David also took over Dreadstar during its First Comics run after Jim Starlin left the title.

In 2003, David began writing his newest creator-owned comic, Fallen Angel, for DC Comics. DC cancelled the title after 20 issues, but David re-started the title at IDW Publishing at the end of 2005.

Also for IDW Publishing, David wrote a Spike: Old Times one-shot and the Spike vs. Dracula mini-series, both based on the character from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel television shows.

Also in 2005, David briefly returned to Incredible Hulk, though he left after only several issues because of his workload. He also started a new series, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, beginning with a 12-part crossover storyline called "The Other," which, along with J. Michael Straczynski's run on Amazing Spider-Man, and Reginald Hudlin's run on Marvel Knights Spider-Man, depicted the webslinger as he discovered he was dying, lost an eye during a traumatic fight with Morlun, underwent a crysalis and emerged with new abilities, and new insights into his powers. As tends to be the case when fundamental changes are introduced to long-standing classic comics characters, the storyline caused some controversey among readers for its introduction of retractable stingers in Spider-Man's arms, and the establishment of a "totem" from which his powers are derived.

David also wrote a MadroX miniseries that year, whose success led to a relaunch of a monthly X-Factor by David. This was a revamped version of the title starring both Madrox and other members of the former X-Factor title that David had written in the early 90's, now working as investigators in a detective agency of that name.

On February 11, 2006, David announced at the WonderCon convention in California in that he had signed an exclusive contract with Marvel Comics. Fallen Angel, Soulsearchers and Company and David's Spike miniseries were "grandfathered" into the contract, so as to not be affected by it. [1] The first new project undertaken by David after entering into the contract, which he announced on April 5, 2006, was scripting the comic book spinoff of Stephen King's The Dark Tower novels, which would be illustrated by Jae Lee. [2]

Novels

David has published dozens of novels, many of which have appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. His Star Trek novels are among those for which he is best known, including Q-in-Law, I, Q, Vendetta, Q-Squared, and Imzadi, one of the best-selling Star Trek novels of all time. He created the ongoing novel series, Star Trek: New Frontier, a spin-off from Star Trek: The Next Generation, with John J. Ordover in 1997. He has also written five Babylon 5 novels, three of which were originals, two of which were adaptations of the tv movies Thirdspace and In the Beginning.

His other novel adaptations include those of the movies The Return of Swamp Thing, The Rocketeer, Batman Forever, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Hulk, and Fantastic Four, and the adaptation of an unused Alien Nation television script, "Body and Soul".

David has also written original fantasy works. His first novel, Howling Mad, is about a wolf that turns into a human being after being bitten by a werewolf. His novel Knight Life, about the reappearance of King Arthur in modern-day New York City, was also one of his earlier novels, and became a trilogy with the sequels One Knight Only, and Fall of Knight, the latter of which is scheduled to be published June 6, 2006. His Sir Apropos of Nothing trilogy, Sir Apropos of Nothing, The Woad to Wuin and Tong Lashing, features characters and settings completely of David’s own creation.

Other published work

Before David became a professional writer, he was a prolific author of fan fiction, including The TARDIS at Pooh Corner.

His opinion column "But I Digress" appears in Comics Buyer's Guide, a monthly comic-book industry newsmagazine.

David assisted Star Trek actor James Doohan with Doohan's 1996 autobiography, Beam Me Up, Scotty.

David's instructional book, Writing Comics with Peter David, is scheduled to be published by Writers Digest Books in June 2006.

Other media

David has written for several television series. He wrote two scripts for Babylon 5 (the second-season stories Soul Mates and There All the Honor Lies), and one (Ruling from the Tomb) for its sequel Crusade. With actor/writer Bill Mumy, he is co-creator of the television series Space Cases, which ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon. He has also written and co-produced several films for Full Moon Entertainment and has made cameo appearances in some of the films as well.

Public persona

On more than one occasion, editorial problems or corporate pressure to modify or re-script his plotlines have forced David to leave books, particularly his decision to leave Marvel's X-Factor, due to constantly having to constrain his plots to accommodate crossover events planned around it and other "mutant" titles (such as X-Men, X-Force, etc). When David abruptly left The Incredible Hulk due to editorial pressures, some of the plot points of the character that David established were reversed by later creative teams. While such creative-editorial conflict is a commonplace occurrence in comics, departures of creators whose books are fan favorites, as David’s often are, tend to generate more notoriety and press within the comic community.

Also as such, David's personality and high viability in the comics profession has led to creative or personal differences with some of his comic peers, in particular several public disagreements with Spawn creator Todd McFarlane through much of the 90s as the comic book imprint McFarlane's co-founded, Image Comics, came into prominence. This came to a head during a public debate they participated in at Philadelphia's Comicfest convention in November 1993, which was moderated by artist George Perez. The topic of the debate was McFarlane’s claim that Image was not being treated fairly by the media, and by David’s weekly "But I Digress" column in the Comics Buyer's Guide in particular. The three judges, Maggie Thompson, editor of the Comics Buyer's Guide, William Christensen of Wizard press, and John Danovich of the magazine Hero Illustrated, voted 2-1 in favor of David, with Danovich voting the debate a tie. David has also engaged in public disagreements with Erik Larsen [3], John Byrne, and Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada.

Trivia

  • David is an avid fan of bowling, and a bowler himself. [4][5]
  • David got tattoed for charity when Paul Dini promised to donate to the CBLDF.

Bibliography

External links

Batmobile

The original 1966 Batmobile as built by George Barris
from a Lincoln Futura concept car.

The Batmobile is the fictional personal automobile of comic book superhero Batman. The car has followed the evolution of the character from comic books to television to films.

Technical description

The standard features of the vehicle include a chassis with heavy armor plating and a high performance engine, sometimes with rocket boosts for increased speed, special devices to improve maneuverability, and mounted weapons to disable vehicles and remove obstacles. In addition, the vehicle typically carries a computer that is remotely linked to the Batcave's main computer, a remote control function, a field forensic kit and a personal small helicopter held in the trunk called a whirlybat.

The Batmobile is also frequently referred to as being powered by nuclear generation of electricity, both by Robin in a launch checklist from the 1966 television show, ("Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed!") and by the Penguin in Batman Returns, where one of his schemes to kill Batman is to turn the Batmobile into "an H-bomb on wheels". (In reality, however, nuclear reactors do not have the possibility of detonating like a nuclear weapon.) Of course, Penguin may have been speaking purely figuratively when he made this comment.

Early history

Originally in the comic books, Batman simply drove a simple red automobile with nothing special in its functions. This version first appeared in Batman #5 in the spring of 1941. Since then, the car's design gradually evolved, beginning with a bat hood ornament which became much larger while the car's paint job became black.

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Lincoln Futura concept car

Eventually, the predominant designs that would remain the norm included being large, dark colored and often having large tailfins that are scalloped to resemble a bat's wings.

Although vehicles for the Batman films have been custom built for the purpose, perhaps the most famous Batmobile, the one from the 1960s live action television show, began life as a concept car called the Lincoln Futura, built nearly a decade earlier. Famed customizer George Barris Barris, whose shop production would not allow for the attention to detail needed, contracted the job to Stylist Dean Jeffries, who completed the project in about three weeks for the series. Jeffries would later comment to Barris about the world class construction of the Futuras hand made body. In constructing the body, Ghias artisans hammered the panels over logs and tree stumps carved as forms. in 1966. Barris built several more identical vehicles as needed for filming. Three of which he covered with black felt, this later served to hide stress cracks in the fiberglass bodies of the replicas. One Replica appears to be based a 1959 Galaxie, while the others are based on 1966 ford chassis. When filming for the series began, several problems arose as the result of pressing an eleven year old car into service. Barris had installed low profile tires which required replacement, before mid year filming he replaced the running gear with the chassis and engine from a 1966 Ford Galaxie. The series was a hit, and the Futura/Batmobile passed immediately into popular culture history. Barris has retained ownership of the original car, and at least one of the replicas survives at the Volo Auto Museum in Illinois.

Later history

Later versions of the famed Batmobile would be built off the stretched-out platforms of other cars, such as the Chevrolet Caprice and Buick Riviera. This style was utilized in the two Batman films directed by Tim Burton. This long, sleek design was later adapted for Batman: The Animated Series, wherein the vehicle was a long, low machine inspired by art deco design style of the film series. As the 1990s Batman films were handed over to director Joel Schumacher, the design for the Batmobile climbed further into implausibility, as decorative lighting was added to the front and the wing-shaped fins reached further into the air. Batman Forever was originally supposed to have a Batmobile designed by none other than H. R. Giger, but Giger backed out of the project when Warner Brothers rejected his design.

The image “http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7d/BatmanBeginsTumbler.jpg” cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.
The "Batmobile" in Batman Begins.

The Batmobile depicted in the 2005 film Batman Begins, owes more to the tank-like vehicle from Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns than to the sleek automobiles seen in previous incarnations (We comic book fans know suspect it was in Jim Starlin's The Cult though). The film's production designer described the machine as being a cross between a Lamborghini and a Hummer. In that film, Bruce Wayne modifies a military vehicle known as "the tumbler", and it is never referred to in the film as a "batmobile". Six individual Batmobiles were built for filming in the movie, each with a special purpose to meet the various stunt needs of the film: two regular, full-size driving Batmobiles were built for exterior shots, one full-size model with hydraulics for the "jump" sequences, one full-size functional vehicle with propane tanks to fuel the 'rocket' blast out of the nozzle between the rear wheels, one electrically-powered car used for interiors, and a 1/3rd scale radio controlled electric model (5 feet long, 40 lb) was built (Robert Jones & Greg Morgan) for the biggest stunts in the film such as the jump into and out of the batcave and the majority of the roof-top chase sequence. This was filmed on a massive set built on a stage at Shepperton Studios over the course of 9 weeks. The 'rocket' nozzle is supposedly to give the car extra thrust for its jumps, although it is just a special effect and contrary to some information, no car had a jet engine or a rocket installed. All driving vehicles were powered instead by a 5.7-litre Chevy engine.

A similar tank-like vehicle appears in the 2005 animated series The Batman, which was in development at the same time as the 2005 film, though that series does not follow the continuity of Batman Begins.

In the Batman: Hush storyline, it is shown that Batman has all the previous Batmobiles in storage in the Batcave. A sample of dialogue between Batman & Nightwing- B-"We'll take the car," N- "O.K. Which one?"

A collection of original Batmobiles are on display at the Cars of the Stars Motor Museum located in Keswick, northern England.

Replicas of the Tim Burton-era Batmobiles are on display in front of several Batman The Ride roller coasters.


The Batmobile in popular culture

  • In the movie Rock Star, Mark Wahlberg's character is given to extravagant spending; one of his first purchases is the original Batmobile from the TV Series.
  • In the TV Series The Drew Carey Show, Drew Carey won the Schumacher-era Batmobile as a prize.
  • In the cartoon Transformers: Cybertron, the Decepticon leader Megatron looks similar to the Joel Schumacher version.
  • In the movie Looney Tunes: Back in Action, Daffy Duck drives the Batmobile into the water tower on the Warner Bros. studio lot, causing it to fall over and nearly crush Jenna Elfman's character.
  • In the TV Series Tiny Toon Adventures, Hampton the Pig is working as a parking valet at a restaurant when the Batmobile drives up. Batman exits, tosses him the keys, and says "Be careful with it -- I just got it detailed". Hampton accidently activates the rocket boosters, and the car flies off, punching a hole through the Moon that resembles the famed Batman symbol.
  • In the TV Series Animaniacs Tim Burton Version Batmobile Approaches the WB studios front gates, The Guard at the door greets the driver by saying "Good afternoon Mr. Keaton."
  • A parody of the Christmas tune "Jingle Bells" states that the "(the) Batmobile lost its wheel / and (the) Joker got away". Mark Hamill, in character as the Joker, performed this song alteration in an episode of Batman: The Animated Series entitled "Christmas with the Joker". This parody also appeared in a very early episode of The Simpsons, sung by Bart Simpson (the song predates both shows by many years).
  • In the TV Series Justice League Unlimited, the Flash has to make an excuse for Batman's absence, and says "(the) Batmobile lost its wheel / and (the) Joker got away".
  • An episode of The Simpsons guest-starred Adam West with the Batmobile. Another episode featured the Batmobile in a museum of famous cars next to Herbie the Love Bug and a car from Mad Max. The latter episode featured a live Batman and Robin in the vehicle, who had both tried poorly to conceal the fact that they were not dummies.
  • Batmobile is the name of one of the best known psychobilly bands.
  • On an episode of the Man Show, a lucky guest won a ride in the Batmobile with Adam West in the "Wheel of Destiny" segment.

External links

Batmobiles in other media


Taa!

posted by Coat @ 12:01 AM  

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