Twenty-Five Years Later – Updated!

commentary and criticism, film, tv, video

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This year, it was 25 years ago that the modern classic Blade Runner first flashed across the silver screen. Just in time for the anniversary, the film has emerged from years of copyright limbo and it has finally become possible for director Ridley Scott to finish a final cut of the film that matches his original vision — as he sees it today – as closely as possible. Blade Runner: The Final Cut comes out in October, but unfortunately won’t see theatrical release, though special screenings will be held in New York and LA, so copies for cinematic presentation will at least exist — important when one takes into consideration the film’s enduring life in theatres worldwide since its original release in 1982.

The official release, however, will be on HD & Blueray DVD, in five different sets (image here), the most complete of which will include all existing versions of the film, except the so-called ‘San Diego Preview’ but including the hallowed, elusive ‘Workprint’ (click here for an overview of the different versions) – which includes a good deal of other material that didn’t make it into the theatrically released versions – as well as copious amounts of extra material, including a comprehensive documentary on the film. This is, of course, great news to all Blade Runner afficionados, but one cannot but worry a little that Scott has tampered too much with it, negating some of the imperfections that made the old Blade Runner magic.

Hype: De Freston & Foulds

hype & linkage, pictorial arts

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Just wanted to plug the blog of one of last year’s students here at Cambridge, Tom de Freston and his friend Andrew Foulds. They are both painters and have now started a blog showcasing their work all the while providing a forum for their thoughts on art and such. There’s some good work there – Tom has an acute sense of saturated, rich colour that I dig. Above is reproduced a riff on Titian’s Danae. Check it out.

Mangismo i betalingsstandsning

comics and cartooning, journal


Mangaforlaget Mangismo meddeler på sin hjemmeside, at forlaget er gået i betalingsstandsning. Forlaget forhandler i øjeblikket med mulige købere, og mener at et salg er sandsynligt. Dermed vil bl.a Hellsing, Samurai Deeper Kyo og Kare First Love fortsætte med at udkomme, så læserne ikke bliver ofre for forlagets økonomiske problemer. I øjeblikket er der dog udgivelsesstop på samtlige serier, gældende for både Danmark, Norge og Sverige.

Her på Metabunkeren håber vi på den bedst mulige udgang på den meget triste situation. En ærgerlig udgang på et ellers meget spændende forlagsprojekt.

Hype: Simon interviewer Kim Fupz!

comics and cartooning, film, tv, video, hype & linkage

fupz.jpgI seneste udgave af sin klumme på Seriejournalen har Simon Petersen scoret sig lidt af et scoop – eller måske rettere: han har tænkt i baner de fleste andre danske tegneseriejournalister har forsømt – og taget kontakt til den frafaldne blad- og serietegner og nuværende filmmanuskriptmaskine Kim Fupz Aakeson. Man kunne godt ønske sig, at Simon havde brugt lidt mere tid på interviewet, men i det mindste har han lavet det. Og det er cool. Læs det.
 
 
 

The Spanish Cartoon Crisis

comics and cartooning, commentary and criticism, current affairs

el_jueves.jpgIt never seems quiet on the cartoon front these years. Today cartoonist Guillermo and writer Manel FontdeVila are to appear in court for having depicted Spanish royals, the Prince and Princess of Asturias, fornicating on the cover of last week’s edition of prime satirical magazine El Jueves. Not content to have forced its retraction by the publishers and closed down most of their website, the state prosecutor (apparently, the royals themselves haven’t addressed the cartoon at all) is going all the way. Guillermo and FontdeVila risk up to two years in jail.

That an otherwise enlightened country like Spain – in many ways an exemplar to an increasingly reactionary Europe – still has a law against insulting the crown, and actually takes it seriously, is discouraging to say the least. I’m in no way in favour of insulting people who by default are in the spotlight 24-7, but to actually prosecute those who do it is wrong on the face of it, unless we are talking about outright slander. This is not slander, merely a humorous depiction of a couple doing what most couples the age of the royal couple frequently do, accompanied by a cheeky text referring to a recent law compensating couples for having babies. Perhaps a little humiliating, but totally harmless. Instead of merely shrugging, the state prosecutor has turned it into a freedom of speech-clampdown.

The Gilding’s Titian

commentary and criticism, pictorial arts

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Despite my initial scepticism, I am now quite convinced that the possible Titian sold for a song at Gilding’s, Leics. last week (pictured, above left), is the genuine article (as convinced as is possible without having actually seen the painting firsthand, that is). I’ve now had the opportunity to examine the enlargable lot image at the Gilding’s website, which is far from perfect but still way better than the muddled reproduction that’s been floating around the web, and which you see here. The picture is obviously of high quality and fits well into the group of portraits of unidentified gentlemen, clad mainly in black and white, that Titian painted in the second half of the 1510s and the early 1520s, before hitting the major league as a portraitist a few years later. A good number of these portraits are still extant – the most famous being the so-called Man with the Glove at the Louvre, but it stands to reason that he did many more. It is not thus not surprising that another one should turn up this way.

The Child and the Giant – On Alex Toth and David Mazzucchelli

articles and essays, comics and cartooning

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Amongst the handful of significant cartoonists that worked for Warren Publishing during the 70s, Alex Toth stands out. He created some of his best comics for the publisher, despite often working from mediocre scripts. As a rule, the best of them are the ones he did in collaboration with Archie Goodwin, but there are other notable gems in the oeuvre. One of them is the story “Daddy and The Pie” from Eerie #64 (1975), drawn on the basis of a well-written if somewhat banal script by Bill DuBay.

The 8-page comic tells the story of a farmer’s family that one night recovers a gigantic alien, who has crash-landed his spaceship in one of their fields, and helps his recovery. A friendship develops between them and their Earth-struck guest, whom they name ‘Pie.’ The neighbours, however, are not happy about the stranger’s presence, which creates rising tension in the community and culminates with Pie sacrificing himself to save the life of his host, the farmer. The narrator of the story is the farmer’s son, a little boy who finds inspiration in the examples of his father and the stranger.

Tour de France: The Thin Air is Coming

commentary and criticism, sports

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Enter the Alps! It has been a crazy week for the riders in the world’s greatest cycling race. Although the maillot jaune has been in Fabian Cancellara’s possession since the Prolouge, the Tour has been surprisingly eventful so far, which is both good and bad. Good, obviously, due to the entertainment value of the race – bad, because some of these events included the brutal crashes of Team Astana-chiefs Alexandre Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden, which just might put an end to the podium dreams for these two riders, who otherwise happened to be among the top favourites for the GC (general classification). Sure, it’s somehow exciting in a strange, sadistic manner to watch a rider giving it all that he’s got, with deep contusions on both knees, a bleeding elbow and abrasions on hip and buttocks. But then again: if that sight means the exit of Vinokourov, well… not good at all.

Tour de France: Fausto Coppi and ‘La Bomba’ – Updated

commentary and criticism, sports

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If you haven’t got any real plans for the summer, here’s your deal: Le Tour is the thing! Even though the first two stages were more exciting than expected, Tour de France is of course at its best when it reaches the Alps (14th to the 17th of July, Sunday being a resting day) and the Pyrenees (23th to 25th of July). So, should you be reluctant to spending endless hours watching the Tour on TV, do check for the mountain stages where legends are born…

I hope to follow the Tour, and hopefully to blog about it now and then. In my first Metabunker post on cycling, I discussed Bjarne Riis’ doping confession. At the moment, Bjarne Riis’ Team CSC holds the maillot jaune, but Riis himself is not with his team, due to the pressure from the media caused by his doping confession, as well as former CSC-rider Jörg Jaksche’s allegations (see here and here). But it’s also worth noting that Tour de France boss Christian Prudhomme has condemned Bjarne Riis harshly, and made it clear that he would prefer Riis to stay away, because the presence of the former Tour de France winner would soil the grandeur of the race. In fact, Monsieur Prudhomme wants to reclaim Bjarne Riis’ maillot jaune, and erase him as winner of the 1996 Tour de France.