The rock band Atomic Tom quietly announced last Friday that their new album, ERA, is out, and the complete album is available for a one dollar at Bandcamp for one week.
“It’s overwhelming and humbling to look back at all the names and faces that inspired this album. You’re more than music fans. You’re more than our friends. You brought us from playing empty clubs in the Lower East Side to late night TV performances and US headline tours. We couldn’t have made this album without you. Our story together is embedded in every note and word. This album belongs to you,” said Atomic Tom.
The band stands out with their unique sound, but what makes these four guys endearing is their use of digital and social media; from graphics to music videos, they use these platforms regularly to engage with fans. The group is made up of Luke White (lead vocals, guitar), Eric Espiritu (guitar), Ethan Mentzer (bass), and Tobias Smith (drums).
Track 10 from ERA – Music Makes the Heart Grow Stronger
The song and video that started it all for Atomic Tom, Take Me Out.
Author Buzz Bissinger stopped by to talk about the 25th anniversary edition of Friday Night Lights.
In 1988, in the dusty heat of Odessa, Texas, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist H. G. “Buzz” Bissinger set out to chronicle the Permian Panthers’ season. The students, parents, and townspeople gathered under the lights each Friday night from September to December to watch their team on the gridiron. The socially and racially divided town placed unimaginable pressure on the shoulders of its high school football players as fans tried to forget about the instability of the oil business, high unemployment, and racial tensions.
The book inspired a critically acclaimed film and television series.
Bonus track: Don’t poke the #Olicity fan base!
New to the 25th anniversary edition of Friday Night Lights is an afterword in which Bissinger returns to Texas. He meets with six of the players (Mike Winchell, Boobie Miles, Brian Chavez, Jerrod McDougal, Ivory Christian, and Don Billingsley) and the updates are stirring. Boobie, for example, is in prison for violating the terms of his aggravated assault probation. The town of Odessa and the culture of Friday night football is much changed as well.
These days you can pretty much find a school for anything and now that includes one who instructs on the proper way to use a lightsaber. The Saber Authority specializes in teaching classes on how to effectively use a Jedi’s most trusted weapon. The school has become so popular (especially now with Star Wars: The Force Awakens just 100 days away) that they offer packages for all sorts of groups. They even have pricing on an assortment of lightsabers that you can purchase at The Saber Authority. Just be sure when you look at the cost of the packages and lightsabers, to add in the cost of a plane ticket as the academy is located in Singapore. Check out this cool video from the The Saber Authority.
Here’s another one
As you can see, The Saber Authority is a dream come true for any hardcore Star Wars Fans.
For the next few weeks leading up to the 2015 fall season I’m going to cover a few of the upcoming anime that might not have the hype as a couple others (One Punch Man, anyone?). Starting off is the studio 8-bit original Mecha anime Comet Lucifer.
The synopsis goes: “The story takes place on the planet Gift, where precious crystals called Giftjium are buried in the earth. A young man named Sōgo lives in Garden Indigo, a prosperous mining town. Sōgo’s hobby is to collect rare crystals. One day, he gets wrapped up in a riot caused by his classmates Kaon, Roman, and Otto, and he loses his way until he finds a lake deep under the ground’s mining ruins. There, he meets a mysterious girl with blue hair and red eyes that gaze straight ahead. The story follows the adventure of what happens after this meeting.” (Source)
8-Bit is a relatively young studio, with their most notable work at this point being The Fruit of Grisaia, which, while being a total piece of garbage*, is very pretty looking, and this show looks to be no exception. Helmed by the director of Macross Frontier, Yasuhito Kikuchi, the show promises an interesting world, a bit of action, and some strangely psychedelic visuals.
The success of this show could really determine the reputation of Studio 8-Bit, they’ve shown they can animate, let’s see if they can tell a good story too.
Comet Lucifer will be airing at an undisclosed time around the beginning of October.
*Opinion is exclusive to writer, this opinion may not be held by other writers or the Monkeysfightingrobots team.
The untitled Jason Bourne sequel started filming today and director Paul Greengrass tweeted a photo of Matt Damon who looks shredded and appeared to be filming a countryside MMA fight.
The sequel is written by Damon and Greengrass, and stars Damon, Alicia Vikander, Julia Stiles, Vincent Cassel, and Tommy Lee. Jones.
Bourne Identity debuted in 2002 and it has been eight years since a Jason Bourne has appeared on screen.
Earlier today, the Irish Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphries, granted permission for Lucasfilm to film parts of Star Wars: Episode VIII on Skellig Michael, an island off the coast County Kerry, despite strong concerns raised by environmental protection groups. This is not the first time that Ireland has become part of a galaxy far, far away and filming for the Force Awakens took place on the same island in July and August of last year.
The filming will be subject to strict ecological and environmental conditions to ensure that the local wild-life is not disturbed as the area is quite fragile. The island is home to an ancient monastery which, along with the island itself, became an UNESCO world heritage site in 1996. Some have speculated that the island will be the home of Luke Skywalker in the upcoming sequel trilogy, a theory given some credence by the fact that both Mark Hamill and Daisy Ridley were reported to have been part of the cast taken to the island. The fact that Lucasfilm has opted to return to the site indicates that whatever role the site plays in the film is likely to be quite important.
In another bit of related news which is sure to delight fans in Ireland and the United Kingdom, it was announced that Star Wars: the Force Awakens will launch in that market a day earlier than expected. Star Wars: The Force Awakens hits Irish cinemas on December 17th and will see world-wide release on December 18th.
Back in August the Universal Orlando Resort blog announced that The Incredible Hulk Coaster would shutdown on September 8, that sad day is here, but new bigger Hulk could be on the way.
“We want to let you know that The Incredible Hulk Coaster will be getting some great, new enhancements to its storyline, ride vehicles and overall experience.That work means we’ll have to close the attraction beginning September 8, with September 7 being the last day guests can ride. It will roar back to life next summer, and we’ll keep you posted on the details,” wrote the Universal Orlando Resort blog.
Universal’s Islands of Adventure opened in 1999, ten years later Disney acquired the rights to Marvel but as long as Universal Studios updates the attractions on a regular basis they will retain ownership of certain characters in theme parks east of the Mississippi, according to /Film. Universal refurbished The Amazing Adventures of Spider-Man in 2013, which included re-mastering the entire ride film in high definition, replacing the projectors with digital equipment and updating the effects.
There are rumors that a brand new roller coaster could be built to replace the current rail system.
Universal plans to open the new Incredible Hulk Coaster in Summer 2016.
Before I get started I want to make two things perfectly clear: Aquaman is one of my favorite Superheroes, and Jason Momoa is one of my favorite actors. The fact that Jason Momoa is about to be the king of Atlantis and fight along side the Justice League is awesome, and I can’t wait to see him in action…. Even though he basically looks like an underwater Khal Drogo.
Westeros will definitely be conquered now.
However, recently Momoa said that we just needed to “wait a little bit, and then we can make the jokes.” This instantly led to the internet reporting that after Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice the Aquaman jokes would be dead and gone forever due to his performance, which he indicates would be a more serious portrayal.
While I’m sure Mr. Momoa will do the best job playing Arthur Curry, I’m sorry to be the one to tell everyone this, but there will always be Aquaman jokes.
Now before you all grab your pitchforks, and torches (or in Mr. Momoa’s case, his trident, and the ability to call on Shamu to squish my ass) I would like to say something that might be a little hard to hear, but we all know is true. We don’t make fun of Aquaman because we hate him. We make fun of Aquaman, because we love him.
We love that he is a product of the silver age. We love that he has a ridiculously stupid design. We love that his powers are incredibly silly. We love that the jokes we come up with basically write themselves. But, most importantly we love that Aquaman can take it.
At the end of the day, after all the jokes we make about him we still love that he can stand tall next to the greatest heroes of all time and hold his own. The best writers know to incorporate all the criticisms and humor about the character, but make him able to endure it all and kick some serious ass.
Aquaman’s portrayal on the Superfriends has hindered his public outlook, and it may not be obvious of his immediate advantages at first glance, but he’s still a member of the Justice League. He has great stories written about him, and he is awesome. So Mr. Momoa, don’t fight the jokes. We’ll always love Aquaman, and we’ll love you for bringing your usual badass intensity to the character, but just remember that Aquaman will never out grow the juvenile humor we all come up with.
What do you guys think? Do you think Aquaman jokes help define the character? Or are you sick of hearing them?
Game of Thrones continues to add the season six as Richard E. Grant has been added to the series in an undisclosed role, according to Variety.
Grant was most recently in Dig, Downtown Abbey, Girls, and Doctor Who.
The HBO series have announced the addition of Freddie Stroma as Dickon Tarly, Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy, Ian McShane and Max von Sydow as the Three-Eyed Raven.
DC Comics Tuesday afternoon gave fans a better look at John Diggle’s new costume for season four of CW’s Arrow. Last week CW released a photo that showcased Diggle’s new helmet (Magneto), but the new photos are a full-bodied shot of actor David Ramsey wearing the jacket and helmet.
