Stan Lee and Comic-Con’s Favorite Doc ‘Superheroes’ Has DVD Release

Commercial director Michael Barnett swoops in with real-life costumed crime fighters

By Darrah Le Montre

(HOLLYWOOD, CA) HOLLYWOOD TODAY – 11/17/11 – “I would be a little worried about somebody with no real superpower, who puts on a costume, and then runs around challenging criminals,” said comic book pillar Stan Lee about a band of activists that has sprung up to take the law into their own gloved hands.  “Real life superheroes” are anywhere from 18 to 62 years old, run the gamut of ethnicities and backgrounds and often have no real training to fight crime.  But, captured in the award-winning Barnett documentary “Superheroes,” whose DVD hit shelves this week they appear to be the next big thing.

“The film touches on a zeitgeist-y moment.  I think we’re in a very troubled time right now as a society,” Director Barnett says, in a Hollywood Today exclusive.

“Occupy Wall Street is a very power to the people movement.  People are fed up and they feel like they don’t have control and they don’t have a voice.  And they’re trying to create one.  This movement [of real life superheroes] is so on par with that.  Though a little more eccentric, it is a protest,” he asserts.

HBO saved the day, buying the self-funded Comic-Con Indie Film Fest winner, whose budget is yet unreleased, and it debuted on the small screen in October.  The doc reflects a private community that is now under international spotlight.  “Superheroes” is enjoying a limited theatrical release as part of Slamdance On The Road.

Shot over 15 months, this lauded and still slyly hip documentary shines a well-balanced light…

Read the full story at: HOLLYWOOD TODAY

The unlikely, but delightful newly-wed Gaiman-Palmer duo hit the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in L.A. at 8pm Halloween-night opening what will be a 5-city West Coast and North American “mini-tour.”

On the heels of performing with Moby and Stephen Merritt, along with an admittingly “uncomfortable”  Gaiman on keyboards, on The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson earlier that day, the twosome were introduced at the Ebell by rad chick comic Margaret Cho.  (Who likened her life-long affection for rice-paper wrapped white bunny candies to her fondness for un-circumsized penises.)  Taking the stage in black and white wedding-esque attire Amanda and Neil began a rowdy costume contest.  Audience members, hand-selected by Cho, donned the stage and accepted varying levels of applause, which determined the ultimate winner: a gay male couple dressed as twin-rabbits.  Creeepy masks. Prize?  Signed merch.

The British scary story writer and Dresden Dolls founder and lead-singer met while collaborating on Palmer’s macabre art/photo book “Who Killed Amanda Palmer” – a collection of photographs of a dead-Palmer – taken by Palmer, over a period of 14 years.  Gaiman explains how this undertaking brought them together.  Read, also, his latest plight: to help artists create wills for their literary estates.

A charmingly disorganized night filled with on-stage, off-mic banter, impromptu song and reading plans and even a cue-card Q&A of previously scribed audience questions proved utterly lavish in this overly-synchronized Lady Gaga lights/Chris Brown firework world of perfectly framed modernity.  Not to mention, the love between these two is palpable.  (They pecked between songs, and when Gaiman forgot his lyric sheet, Palmer hurriedly scribbled lines on a ripped piece of paper with Sharpie, handed it to him and ran back to her piano.  To which, Gaiman proclaimed aloud: “I love her.”)

NYC-native Palmer sang a cover of “Science Fiction/Double Feature” from Rocky Horror Picture Show along with originals “Runs in the Family,” “Judy Blume,” and latest Twitter-fan-aided ode to 4-stringed, anti-Fascist Machine-killing machine, her I.O.C., “Ukulele Anthem.”  The 35-year old outspoken bisexual even sang “Satellite of Love” for the nearing birthday-boy (Neil turns 50 on November 10th) all the while bragging her landmark sticatto & writhing piano-playing.  Neil read a few poems and a Halloween story he wrote for the New York Times, as well as a silly torch song about heartbreak and computers replacing the ‘cigarettes and bar-fly’ mentality that pervaded society for so long.  Australian duo The Jane Austen Argument opened.

The tour will be recorded, by way of fan funding from a Kickstarter campaign, which surpassed it’s $20,000 goal by $113,000+.  In fact, much of the connection Palmer – now playing as one half of duo Evelyn Evelyn with Jason Webley – has with her fans stems from her DIY, grass-roots use of technology: blogging, free music sites, Twitter.  There, she communicates and even beckons help from them (like during “ReBellyon” a record company dispute re. Roadrunner Records alleged editing out of a music video belly shot, because they felt she looked “fat”).

A standing ovation for the two goth-faves, was followed by Amanda signing merch with her new husband then standing on a table, barefoot, drinking a beer.  Her defiant tongue ring glimmering beneath the florescent light.

Read Amanda ‘Fucking’ Palmer’s blog @ the Ukulele Anthem, with lyrics.

Republished by SuicideGirls.

Since Tuesdays are sometimes a drag to get through, I’ve decided to help you out. Every Tuesday (if I remember) I will post a hilarious, sexy or clever video. Well, I will find it fabulous, hopefully, you get my humour. What can I say? I got your back.

Let’s premiere with:

Late comedian and mastermind, Bill Hicks. Great mind, difficult personality + who famously loved going down (trifecta perfecta) ranting about Pornography, Marketers (sorry, advertising friends) and Feeding the Hungry. Bon Apetit.

Thrilled at a new opportunity to be the co-host of SuicideGirls Radio, which airs live every Sunday on Indie 103.1 from 10pm-midnight.

Starting next month, I will be interviewing sexy female celebrities and artists, who embody feminism in every-day America.  These stealth warriors for femininity will be spirited, and fun.  And together, we’ll throw ideas around and discuss ways to make men’s and women’s lives richer and more satisfying.  Or, we may just dish on dicks, dishes and doing our nails.  Not sure.

Thanks to Nicole Powers, my supportive editor at SG, who – monthly – lets me spout out about everything under the westside sun, in my column, Red, White and Femme.  She introduced this idea, and instantly, I began amassing potential targets.  Who shall the first guest be?  Not sure yet… but party assured, you’ll be the first to know.

They will also be supplying bands and the like, for me to investigate on air.  A request has already been put in for Red Hot Chili Peppers (for which I will personally exalt and worship the mighty creature who delivers Anthony Kiedis to me).

In the meantime, you can learn more about SuicideGirls radio here: SG Radio or listen to podcasts on iTunes, here: SG Radio on iTunes or Old School SG Radio w/Missy.

Thanks for your support, guys.

There are two reasons to be — wait, scratch that. There are three reasons to be very happy today. Numero uno: Breaking Bad airs tonight at 10pm PST on AMC. Numero dos: Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Thank You for Smoking, Juno, Ivan Reitman’s prodigal son) has inked a deal to direct Kate Winslet in Labor Day. It really doesn’t get much better, unless those two formed a trio with Catherine Keener and then all put up an amateur vid on Porn Hub. Three: Come October 3rd on Fox… HOUSE returns. See the preview (first box on the far left) and mark your calendar. After you wipe the drool from your chest.

This is assuming, of course, that you already know that Alexander Payne has directed George Clooney, in The Descendants. (Now, if Payne, Clooney and Aronofsky had a boyz night out, and I could be a fly on the wall… Let’s see: Clooney gets laid; Aronofsky chats up the bartender, then decides to write her into his next film as a naive alcoholic saddling father issues who cuts herself on the weekends; and Payne gets stuck with the bill.)

Your month in review,
D Love~

I’m hesitant to share this with anybody (not that many, many people, and 21 assorted nominating academies, including the Golden Globes, haven’t already cracked the code) but THE best show on television has now captivated my laptop.  Emmy winning Breaking Bad, stars Aaron Paul (yes, this hot box of adorable-ness leads), Betsy Brandt (I babysat for her when the show was just gaining momentum in ‘08), Bryan Cranston and Anna Gunn.

Informed he has terminal cancer, an underachieving chemistry genius turned high school chemistry teacher turns to using his expertise to provide a legacy for his family… by producing the world’s highest quality (and blue!) crystal meth.

BrBa combines all of my favorite things: itchy-scratchy dialogue.  Check.  Drugs.  Chizeck.  Sex.  Yes, sometimes, needs more.  Irony.  Great angles.  Originality.  Murk.  Questionable behavior.  Illegal lust.  Faith.  Fucking up.  Being redeemed only to fuck up again.  And… oh, yeah, Aaron Paul.  (A man under 6’ tall has to be pretty amazing for me to get a crush going on.  Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, um, a few guys I’ve met in real life, and this blonde boy with searing blue eyes and a ridiculous way of being both stupid, silly, cool, bad-ass and a zero at the same time.)

Not to mention, the series editors, writers and directors are not just members of the boyz club.  Lynne Willingham is a killer editor, alongside producers Melissa Bernstein and Karen Moore.

Gunn is right outta any Godfather movie, a supportive, strong and bewildered wife of an outlaw.  (Proving that meth can kill softness in any good and decent human being.  Even by association.)  She, as with all of the cast, evolves, but it’s her early scenes in season 1 – pregnant and family-obsessed… An out of touch, but deeply good-intentioned wife, reveal an actress so easily watchable – other than Vera Farmiga, I can’t compare her to any other out there right now.

Series creator and producer Vince Gilligan (The X Files) is a genius, and so is the score (which is very T-Bone Burnett-ish).   Some of the best dialogue is oft shared between lead cancer man, Cranston, and his ‘50/50 partner’ played by aforementioned cutie boy.  They are the comic relief.  And, their unconventional, not quite father-son or even sick man and his drug-addled friend relationship is the most realistic and unorthodox I’ve seen since Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  It can’t be summed up or stereotyped, and that is why they – and the show – are such charmers.  Cranston (my new Hugh Laurie, almost) embraces his new found kingpin status with mixed-bag consciousness, but this once fearful, now brazen – and awake! – man is forgivable, even when lying to everybody he loves.

If you have AMC, Breaking Bad airs Sundays at 10pm PST.  Or, you can check it out for $1.99 on Amazon and then just buy the seasons at a bulk discount there.  Better yet, if you live on the west side, A Video Store Named Desire has $.99 rentals on e’rythin’.  Just leave the last two seasons for me.  I’m spending too much on single downloads.  (Thanks.)

Yours Truly,

Darrah Paul

Oh, thanks to Craig for turning me onto this show, in your casual, no big deal sorta way.  Good man.  Good, good man.

“The shit you cook is shit… you and I will not make garbage.  We will produce a chemically pure and stable product that performs as advertised.  No adulterine, no baby formula, no chili powder.”

“No!  Chili P is my signature.”  “Not anymore.”

Thrilled for the chance to interview mistress-mind Tina Fey, for my upcoming article about Mean Girlz for SuicideGirls.  This month, my column “Red, White and Femme” will uncover the roots of teen bullying by girls, and how to strengthen female friendships.  SNL-alum Fey, who wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls (with then uber-popular Lindsay Lohan) will * hopefully* lend comic relief, revealing insights about her high school experience!

She is forever cemented in every liberal’s heart (and the living will’s of some, no doubt) for her uncanny Palin impression during the Obama vs. McCain campaign.  Between her and Matt Damon, Prez Palin was never gonna happen.  Not yet, anyway.  (Wonder what her Bachmann face will look like?)

Here’s an excerpt from her book Bossypants.  So.  Darn.  Good.

From PerezHilton.com

Posted by jerkstore on Wednesday, 1/21/2009, 11:21 P.M.

“In my opinion Tina Fey completely ruined SNL. The only reason she’s celebrated is because she’s a woman and an outspoken liberal. She has not a single funny bone in her body.”

Dear jerkstore,

Huzzah for the Truth Teller! Women in this country have been over-celebrated for too long. Just last night there was a story on my local news about a “missing girl,” and they must have dedicated seven or eight minutes to “where she was last seen” and “how she might have been abducted by a close family friend,” and I thought, “What is this, the News for Chicks?” Then there was some story about Hillary Clinton flying to some country because she’s secretary of state. Why do we keep talking about these dumdums? We are a society that constantly celebrates no one but women and it must stop! I want to hear what the men of the world have been up to. What fun new guns have they invented? What are they raping these days? What’s Michael Bay’s next film going to be?

When I first set out to ruin SNL, I didn’t think anyone would notice, but I persevered because—like you trying to do a nine-piece jigsaw puzzle—it was a labor of love.

I’m not one to toot my own horn, but I feel safe with you, jerkstore, so I’ll say it. Everything you ever hated on SNL was by me, and anything you ever liked was by someone else who did it against my will.

Sincerely,

Tina Fey

P.S. You know who does have a funny bone in her body? Your mom every night for a dollar.

Oh!  Burning up with a question for Tina Fey?  Send it to me via the contact box.

“Life is not nearly as sacred as the appreciation of passion,” Kurt Cobain mused in his posthumously published Journals. In a strange twist, just a few days prior to Amy Winehouse’s death, SPIN Magazine released ‘Newermind’ – a collection of reworked Nirvana songs – as an homage to the landmark ‘Nevermind’ turning 20. Lassoing artists like (P!nk producer) Butch Walker, Amanda Palmer (Dresden Dolls CEO), and Cobain faves the Vaselines and the Meat Puppets, the 12 infamous songs, now refashioned, cling more wholly to the commissioned artists, rather than the other way around. The hidden track “Endless Nameless” by EMA rounds out a well-intentioned, if at times hard-to-digest ode.

I don’t like tribute albums. I should’ve stated that earlier. At best, they are unnecessary (especially given the plethora of YouTube covers by artists and laypeople alike; and that Tori Amos already silenced us with “Smells Like Teen Spirit” before Kurt even flew off) at worst, they are insulting.
Like the painful confession by Jessica Lea Mayfield (covers track 9, Lounge Act), “I found out about Nirvana through the Foo Fighters. I’m sure I’m not the only one who walked that discovery trail.”

Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what Eddie Vedder would sound like doing “Polly,” as opposed to Palmer’s too-chilling and at times, too sparse, rendition. (BTW, Mazel Tov on your nuptials to Neil Gaiman!)

Available as a free download, the favor feels like salve on an inconsolable wound. Below, find a psychedelic Led Zeppelin-esque “In Bloom” by Butch Walker and The Black Widows. (You may recall his salty Taylor Swift cover of “You Belong with Me” which he later performed alongside the sexless blonde in her triage at the Grammys.)

I’m deeply saddened about the loss of singer Amy Winehouse. I’ve had her album Back To Black on repeat in my car for the past year now, especially track 9, Some Unholy War.

Ever since her appearance on one of the music award shows belting Rehab (introduced enthusiastically by Bruce Willis oddly enough) I was transfixed. There was this slight, soulful woman with a voice like a gallivanting comet, rushing over our heads on its quick way to death. If we were lucky, we were listening.

Russell Brand wrote an amazing tribute to his friend ‘Winehouse’ that is a poetic venture into the origin of their meeting in Camden, his and her rise to fame and the link forever shared by two addicts – sober or not.

It’s beautiful and staggeringly honest. So is Anthony Kiedis’s drug-drenched confessional Scar Tissue.

Mark Ronson (Samantha’s bro) co-produced Back To Black. Below is a vid, featuring Amy’s vocals from his 2007 album. Below that, find M.I.A.’s rough demo “27,” which she dedicated to her via Twitter.

Amy Winehouse R.I.P.

27 by _M_I_A_

I’m really excited about Ben Affleck as a director.  After watching The Town twice in two days I decided to venture into his previous work, directorial debut Gone Baby Gone.  Starring Amy Ryan of The Office, Gone sees Ryan undergo a transformation from the clean cut, upper middle-class blonde we know and love, to a gritty addict – not unlike Blake Lively did for The Town.  (An aside, actresses like Lively have to fight really hard for roles like these, and she was no exception.  The part of tattooed and trashy Krista Coughlin was written as a 37-year old for starters.  Lively was 22.  She donned fake tattoos, nails, a somewhat believable Bostonian accent and in the end, I think the audience was better for the chance she was given.)  Back to Amy Ryan.  She’s an incredible muse, and if you’ve caught her in a tête-à-tête with Steve Carell you know what’s up.  Playing a mother whose 4-year-old baby girl was kidnapped, she’s acerbic, unforgiving and pops off the screen.

But, the coolest thing is Affleck’s tribute to his roots.  This all goes down in Dorchester, or South Boston… “Southy” as it’s known to locals.  The close-ups of ripped up faces, cleft lips, double chins, pockmarks, and frown lines alone was transfixing.  This ode to ‘real people’ – the folks that populated his youth, will most likely land him a brass statue in one of the town squares.

His younger brother, Casey Affleck does a stellar job as a fledgling P.I. hired by Ryan’s sister-in-law to augment the police department’s investigation.  Even when choosing between a child he’s never met, and the woman he loves, he never overdoes it emotionally; a trait I admire in a man – actor or otherwise.

Next up for Mr. Southy?  Argo for producer George Clooney about the CIA, Iran Hostage Crisis and a science fiction diversion.  Somehow, I think, he’ll make it shine.