Pop Culture
Andrew Garfield shoots hoops with kids while dressed as Spidey
When he’s not facing Electro or the Rhino, there are few things your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man enjoys more than playing basketball with a couple of local kids.
Taking a break from filming The Amazing Spider-Man 2 in New York City’s Chinatown, star Andrew Garfield headed to a nearby basketball court — in full costume, no less — to take on two pint-sized opponents. And, as the video below shows, they may have gotten the better of him. (As the person who shot the video notes, Garfield’s co-star and girlfriend Emma Stone, aka Gwen Stacy, can also be seen in the video, with the dog.)
Preschool bans kids from playing superheroes
Man of Steel
Once more, it appears, Fredric Wertham may have been right.
For the latest evidence, look no further than a Philadelphia preschool, which has purportedly banned “wrestling, Super Hero play, and Monster games,” because they’re resulting in injury.
Reddit user Oremar posted a May 17 letter (below) brought home by his son that states, “Recently it has come to our attention that the imaginations of our preschool children are becoming dangerously overactive causing injuries within our pre-k community. Although we encourage creative thinking and imaginary play, we do not promote out [sic] children hurting one another. Wrestling, Super Hero play, and Monster games will not be permitted here at [name redacted]. In addition, please monitor the different media that your children may view. The re-enactment of televisions [sic] shows/movies are being done during active paly [sic] times in school.”
It’s not just a banana, it’s entertainment for the whole family
When the canned-spinach cartel wanted to make its product more attractive, it put Popeye on the label.
Now a fruit producer is doing something similar with bananas — but in this case, the comic goes right on the peel. The multinational fruit and fresh produce company Fyffes, which is based in Ireland, teamed up with the German branding company Serviceplan to make bananas attractive to children by printing comics directly on the peels, using special laser printing technology. (One could argue that it also made comics attractive to children by printing them on bananas, but the fruit folks were paying the bills.) The bananas were then handed out to schoolchildren in Spain, Russia, Belgium and the United States — Why were we not told of this? — for an entire week.
Say yes to the Empire, say no to May the 4th!
Although it might have seemed we were safe from another onslaught of political commercials until at least next spring, the Emperor’s Committee to Destroy May the 4th has released an attack ad that would make Karl Rove proud.
“Every year on May the 4th, citizens gather in celebration of Jedi, rebels and the power of the Force,” the narrator says solemnly. “The wear costumes, have parties and share pictures and greetings on their social networks. They say it’s fun, but what aren’t they telling you about May the 4th?”
A lot, it turns out. For starters, the rebels and Jedi are traitors, along with everyone who celebrates May the 4th. Oh, and wearing Jedi outfits is a crime under the Emperor’s Subversive Apparel Act, so cut that out (especially those embarrassing rat tails).
In case you’re foolish enough to disregard the warnings of the ad, StarWars.com has a guide to “How to Party Like an Ewok For May the 4th.”
‘Disney Magic’ cruise ship adds Marvel’s Avengers Academy
Although a licensing deal with Universal Studios prevents Marvel’s superheroes from appearing at Walt Disney World, there’s apparently nothing stopping them from taking to the water.
Disney Cruise Line announced this morning that as part of a “reimagineering” of the 15-year-old Disney Magic, the flagship will introduce Marvel’s Avengers Academy, “a chance for young ‘recruits’ to unleash their inner super heroes.”
Part of Disney’s Oceaneer Club, the children’s activity center, the Marvel theme area (below) is designed to resemble the S.H.I.E.L.D. Helicarrier from The Avengers film — or, in the words of Disney, “a high-tech command post used by The Avengers for special missions and operations training.”
Batman fan builds his own $150,000 Batcave in basement
Much like Wayne Manor, the real selling point of Chris Weir’s home in Middletown, Delaware, is what lies underground.
When the lifelong Batman fan and his wife bought their suburban home in 2006, it was largely because it had enough basement space for Weir to construct his dream: his own Batcave.
Two and a half years and $150,000 later, the father of two had constructed his own subterranean lair, accessed through a hidden door in a bookcase that’s opened using a switch on a bust of William Shakespeare, just like on the 1960s Batman television series. Inside, as you can see in the video below, is a home theater made to look like a cave (naturally); it also houses what Weir describes as his “most prized possession”: a Batsuit featured in The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises.
Although Weir’s wife claims to be fine with her husband’s expensive fixation — “I’m proud of what he’s done,” she says, “I think it’s really, really cool” — his oldest son looks as if he’s had about enough of Dad’s Batman nonsense.
So your Macbook isn’t quite ‘comic booky’ enough? Try this
This awesome-looking comics-themed Macbook keyboard skin has been doing the rounds on design blogs, but I saw it on HiConsumption. For an atrocious, eyes-on-the-keyboard, six-fingers-in-a-claw, typist such as myself, it’d be a nightmare. But it does look fantastic. It’s from Killer Duck Decals, and is available from its Etsy store.
The accompanying blurb shows them to be very witty people, indeed: “Zorro instead of Zatanna because I didn’t want to deal with the top hat, sorry”; “Our skins are meant to make your stuff look cooler, not make them bomb proof. So don’t go flashing them around in the bad part of town and skipping them across lakes because they do not grant your electronics super-powers.”
There’s a few inspired choices on this thing (check out the “Y” key), and a couple I’ll admit I’m baffled by. (What are the icons on the “O” and “D” keys referring to? I presume I’ll kick myself when someone points them out.)
In San Diego, beer is bigger business than Comic-Con
As big of a boon as Comic-Con International is to the San Diego economy, new research has found something significantly larger: beer.
U-T San Diego reports that an independent study released on Monday– it’s the first devoted to the impact of local craft brewing — found the county’s breweries accounted for $299.5 million in wages, capital expenses and contracts in 2011. The direct economic impact of Comic-Con International that same year was about $180 million, up a little from the $163 million figure found in a 2010 study commissioned by the San Diego Convention Center Corp.
Add to that $299.5 million beer number a reported $680.8 million in local brewery sales, and hotel and restaurant revenues from events like San Diego Beer Week. The new study determined local brewpubs employ 1,133 people, and breweries another 497.
Ohio’s Superman license plates included with state budget
Frustrated by the glacial pace of a bill to create a Superman license plate, an Ohio representative pinned the legislation to the state budget, which passed the House on Thursday — coincidentally, the 75th anniversary of the Man of Steel.
“This is an important moment for Ohioans,” State Rep. Bill Patmon, who represents Cleveland, told The Plain Dealer. “This license plate is all about recognizing the American dream and the heroes that make it possible.”
The legislation now moves to the Senate, and then on to Gov. John Kasich for final approval. If all goes as planned, the plates will be available for purchase by Ohioans next summer.
Celebrating the creation of Man of Steel in 1932 by Cleveland teenagers Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the plates originally were intended to bear the phrase, “Birthplace of Superman,” but Warner Bros. and DC Comics objected to the slogan, insisting the superhero was born on Krypton. So instead they’ll now say “Truth, Justice & the American Way,” and sport the iconic “S” emblem.
The Siegel and Shuster Society began the push for the plate in 2011. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the specialty plates will go to the group to fund Superman projects.
Don’t plan your trip to Hong Kong Disneyland’s Marvel area yet
A recent announcement by the Hong Kong government that the city’s struggling Disneyland will expand with a Marvel superheroes area appears to have been premature.
“We haven’t confirmed anything about it as yet,” Disney Parks and Resorts Chairman Tom Staggs told The Wall Street Journal. The Marvel plans are being characterized as only part of the “potential options” for an expansion of the seven-year-old theme park.
Patton Oswalt is the perfect Penguin in ‘Badman’
Comedian, actor and occasional comics writer Patton Oswalt can now add another title to his resume: the perfect Penguin. In the latest installment of CollegeHumor’s “Badman” series — y’know, the parody in which they simultaneously mock the Dark Knight and Christian Bale’s Batman voice — Oswald Cobblepot teams with Commissioner Gordon to try to make the Caped Crusader understand the concept of death. The results are predictably hilarious.
There’s a whole Tumblr dedicated to Presto Magix
The Incredible Hulk PrestoMagix
I mean, yeah, of course there is, as we live in the age where our memories of the past are preserved for us in the cloud, so it isn’t a surprise. But I’d forgotten these things even existed until they popped up in my Tumblr feed.
“Dedicated to the appreciation and preservation of the most important art form of the latter half of the 20th century: PrestoMagix,” the Tumblr in question has all sorts of package shots of various PrestoMagix “games” from the late 1970s and early 1980s, including several Marvel and DC Comics ones. If you aren’t familiar with the magic (excuse me, magix) behind these things, basically they consisted of an illustrated background and an acetate sheet of various characters, vehicles, etc. The idea was that you put the sheet on the background and rubbed the back with a pencil, so the image on the sheet transferred to the background — thus creating your own little story.
What’s the nerdiest U.S. city? (Hint: It isn’t San Diego)
When you think of America’s nerdiest cities — OK, if you think about them — your mind likely gravitates toward San Diego, the summer destination of tens and thousands of people each July for Comic-Con International, or San Jose, known as the “Capital of Silicon Valley,” or Seattle, home to Amazon, Emerald City Comicon and Penny Arcade Expo (and neighbor of Microsoft).
But when the real-estate website Movoto.com compiled its own list of the 10 nerdiest cities in the United States, none of those locations came out on top. Heck, San Diego didn’t make the cut at all.
It’s lights out for Rhode Island’s ‘Superman building’
The Providence, Rhode Island, skyline, with the “Superman building” on the left
Providence, Rhode Island’s Bank of America Building, known locally as the “Superman building” because of its resemblance to the Daily Planet on the Adventures of Superman television series, will go dark at the end of the month.
The Associated Press reports the familiar blue light atop the 1928 Art Deco-style building — at 428 feet, it’s the tallest in the state — will be turned off when Bank of America’s lease expires (the color was traditionally changed to red and green for Christmas, and red for Valentine’s Day). Likewise, the lights that illuminate the facade will be minimal, if they’re used at all.
Colbert cuts to the chase: ‘On Krypton, do they speak Spanish?’
Pulitzer Prize-winning author Junot Diaz, an MIT professor who serves on the advisory board of Freedom University, a Georgia organization that provides college-level instructions to all qualified students, regardless of their immigration status, appeared last night on The Colbert Report to discuss immigration reform. As Diaz and host Stephen Colbert “debated” a pathway to citizenship and a guest worker program, the conversation soon turned to … the Superman Question.
“Every generation of Americans has to answer what we call ‘the Superman Question,’” Diaz said. “Superman comes, lands in America, he’s illegal, he’s one of these kids, wrapped up in a red bullfighter’s cape. You’ve got to decide what we’re going to do with Superman. Are we going to give him the boot and say, ‘You know what, you’re an illegal, you’re not an American,’ or are we going to have compassion and say, Listen, this kid was brought here before he knew, this could was brought here and he didn’t have a say in whether he was going to come, but he’s living in this country and –”