Snap! Crackle! Pop Culture!: Arrested Development Edition

Snap! Crackle! Pop Culture!

Arrested Development Edition

Today Netflix releases a full fourth season of cult comedy show; Arrested Development. Across the past two weeks I have been busy...watching this show from Season1-3. I had heard so much about it but never got the chance until I finally decided to take the chance and have since become enamored with the freaking insane Bluth Family and their mad antics. 

So what better way to give ode to the now released 15 episode 4th season, than by giving them a SCPC post of their own. Enjoy!

My Memes

Fair warning some of these aren't really memes, and there are too many I just couldn't resist putting.

Just Enjoy, More memes next (since I have no artwork today)...

GTCB: Course Completed!

Gender Through Comic Books

Course Completed!

As I'm sure some of you are aware (you're not!), I had joined an Massive Open Online Course for the study of Gender Through Comics. After six weeks of enjoying reading, drawing and learning about comics I also got an insightful perspective of Gender and everything that encompasses it such as stereotypes, roles and how gender is portrayed in comics.

I'm not here to talk in length about the course, all I wanted for this page was to say...

...Thank You!

Thank You Ms Christy Blanch for teaching us (me and my fellow students) this amazing course, Thank You to Ball State University for allowing Ms Blanch to go through with this endeavor and of course Thank You to my peers for doing this course with me and in the process creating a community (of sorts). Of course also a special mention/Thank You to my sister; Dibeshree Raikundalia, for helping me pursue this course by affording to buy the necessary texts required. 

This course has given me a greater knowledge of how to write characters and a nice insight into the minds of some of the greatest writers in comics today, so Thank You to them for taking their time to teach us as well.

And now here's a look at the dazzling certificate students were awarded at the completion of the six week studies;

Not to forget Thank You to Peter Krause for this splendidly drawn cetificate! :)

'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia

Geoff Johns on Green Lantern: The Greatest Modern Run in Comics

Geoff Johns on Green Lantern

The Greatest Modern Run in Comics

 

 If there is any character that got me into reading comics beyond the Marvel pond and into DC, then that character is definitely neither Batman nor Superman. That character is Green Lantern (Hal Jordan).

Blockbuster Films: One Upping Each Other...But Falling Into Plot Holes

Blockbuster Movies

One Upping Each Other

...But Falling Into Plot Holes

Lat week I had the great pleasure of viewing Star Trek Into Darkness, not once but twice.The movie was a roller coaster ride of entertainment, as can be vouched by my own review. However one thing generally popped up, plot holes.

Snap! Crackle! Pop Culture!: Star Trek Edition

Snap! Crackle! Pop Culture!

Star Trek Edition

This past weekend saw the release of the latest Star Trek film in the USA; Star Trek Into Darkness. A riveting action packed sci-fi I enjoyed last week (who doesn't love world wide releases before the states) twice. In lieu of its release, follows my own Pop Culture funkiness regarding Star Trek.

My Memes

I'm not going to comment like last time, since I guess it ruins the jokes. For Non-Trekkies or those who don't know anything about Star Trek, sorry.

Didn't You Know?

Gene Rodenberry, the creator of Star Trek actually meant to call the Enterprise; the Yorktown.

Captain Kirk is actually Jewish. 

Apparently there are no washrooms in the Star ship Enterprise, the waste disposal is Space. What do you know? After Earth, we'll all start polluting the final frontier. No just kidding, the early designs had no washrooms but eventually Paramount in 1973 released new blueprints with listed places for washrooms.

Uhura in the series never really had a first name until...the 2009 Star Trek movie. Now she is known as Nyota Uhura.

Will Wheaton (some of you may know him from Big Bang Theory) who played Wesley Crusher in Star Trek The Next Generation, voiced Romulan villains in the 2009 Star Trek Movie.

Spock's legendary Live Long and Prosper Sign is a Jewish sign, yup Kirk is Jewish, the hand signal is Jewish and Spock still doesn't get Hanukkah cause its not Logical for him.

Your Star Trek Character=Your Personality

 

Captain Kirk-You're narcissistic and a ladies man/gentleman's woman, you like to lead but are also to confident. Most would question your leadership by asking; What would you do for your crew?

Spock-You use logic to get out of sticky situations, you have slight understanding of social norms and are constantly ignorant to emotions

Uhura-You have got a talented tongue (get your mind out of the gutter!) and love the linguistics. There are no language barriers for you, except since your not Uhura then you don't understand alien.

Bones-That person who likes spouting some wacky phrases and the idiot who actually thinks being a doctor will be fun

Chekov-You just love people's weird accents or your probably the genius kid who graduated earlier than expected

Scotty-The big dreamer to be an engineer on a space ship! It's not possible...or is it?

Sulu-You got a mean hand with a sword, some bad ass attitude hidden behind an innocent look 

Art Gallery

 

Finally the art gallery, if you haven't seen my latest line up of work; check it here. For this edition, I highlight the most important character in Star Trek (and no it's not Kirk or Spock):

    

Yup the star ship Enterprise, one zoomed version and one with the full picture. Enjoy!

Trailer Trash

And If you yet haven't watched the film, then here's some convincing;

So...


...Live Long and Prosper

Aneesh Raikundalia

Art Gallery: Digital Painting Part 1

Art Gallery

Digital Painting Part 1

 

Welcome to the opening of my first ever Art Gallery (Blog post), today I will show you a few of the artworks I have created alongside my major component; A Digital Painting.

Remember the Game of Thrones painting from before, I have yet to fully complete it. However here I will show you a similar Digital Painting of Liam Neeson from the poster for his underrated and under watched film; The Grey. Enjoy this main attraction and more from my gallery;


The Grey Liam Neeson (Digital Painting)

 
This is the original poster for the Grey.

And this is my work. The first digital painting I did, it hasn't come out perfectly right with some distortions and limitations in the 2D painting format. One of the worst things I did was to gain instructions in creating snow from a sample picture where the snow fell sideways rather than straight, the way it is in the original picture. Still it isn't so bad for a first timer.


Photoshop Poster Design (Avengers 2)

 

I created this poster as a homework piece in helping me how to learn to use the blending modes on Adobe Photoshop. I cut the Avengers title from the previous films poster and adjusted it to blend with the background picture. With the title I added the sub-title for the movie and did the same, however to a much lesser effect.

The big picture is of Thanos, the purple man seen at the end of The Avengers. I took a smaller picture of him from a comic book cover and cut it out while also resizing it to mega proportions to cover the film poster.

Below you will also see a date tag for the movie, these came from the poster of the first movie with the last number 2 for 2012 being flipped into a 5 for 2015. Cool Huh!


Vector and Clipping Mask (Framing a Picture)

 

So this picture was adjusted through the use of vector and clipping masks. I'm not going into detail on how to this, but its simple.

I took a picture such as this magnificent Flash vs. Zoom artwork by Stanley Lau;

 I created this through the use of shapes to include a vector mask after which I created a border for the said shape and then linked the layers. I went about copying the original image and sending the copy as the top layer, then hiding the original. 

A clipping mask on the copy image layer soon produces framing on the image, which I can place anywhere I like. Then grouping this copied image and the linked layers, I copy the group and move the copied frame to a different position. I do this until I have multiple frames after which I make the original image visible and change its color and tones, in this case making it purple. 

Comic Book Cover (Halo Season 1 Issue 1)

 

 
This is the cover for my comic Halo set in what I like to call; the Heroverse. I will explain the story including scripting to you in Writer's Block, but before that I will also present you a detailed world building plan on the Heroverse and Halo. It's a passion project which I wish to publish one day as both a comic book writer and artist. Enjoy!


That is it for this week, I'll try see if I can get another art gallery set up for some of the other works you guys might have seen on my SCPC pages, but for now this is it.


'Nuff Said

Aneesh Raikundalia

Reel Reviews: Star Trek-Into Darkness

Magneto's Movies

Reel Reviews

 

Fair Warning! I'm not a Trekkie, but I know some of it's more famous things such as red shirts getting killed first and I have watched some of the movies such as Wrath of Khan but this still means I will not be adding a review for the source. And for this review, Spoiler Alert!

Movie: Star Trek Into Darkness

Release Date: May 16th 2013

Director: JJ Abrams

Cast: Chris Pine as Captain/Commander James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as First Officer Spock, Benedict Cumberbatch as Commander John Harrison/Khan Noonien Singh, Zoe Saldana as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard 'Bone' McCoy, John Cho as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu, Alice Eve as Dr. Carol Marcus, Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov, Simon Pegg as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott, Bruce Greenwood as Admiral Pike and Peter Weller as Starfleet Admiral Alexander Marcus

Genre: Science Fiction

Score: 7.9/10

Pros:-Mind blowing Visual Effects

        -Respects the source material

        -On a deeper level, the parallel universe changes make sense

        -More dramatic touch and better interactions of and arcs for characters

        -Splendid performances from the leads

        -Doze of exciting and viable twists preventing the movie from becoming dull

        -A satisfactory balance of comedy and darker moments

Cons:-Can alienate casual viewers, due to its source heavy narrative

         -Uneven story pacing

         -Poorly written female characters

         -Deus Ex Machina ending  

         -A few poor performances and also badly performed death scenes

         -Confusing action and motives

         -Director doesn't take advantage of the alternate universe set from the previous film, film is re-tread of older events

Best Scene: The emotional scene between Kirk and Spock, as Kirk lays dying.

Best Performance: Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison/Khan

Best Dialogue: 'You're my Friend'-Spock, to a dying Kirk. This is a paraphrase of the quote

Coolest TV show reference: The look on Chekov's face when Kirk promotes him to chief engineer and prompts him to wear the dreaded red shirt. In the TV show, the first characters to die were those that wore red shirts.

From below SPOILER WARNING!!!

TV's Biggest Week: The Mother Revealed!!!

TV's Biggest Week

The Mother Revealed

Okay, so this title may just be a sham. In all honesty it isn't the biggest week on TV, but it is the biggest week on TV for fans that waited 8 seasons for this:

 

Smile for the camera!!!

Writers Block: Detective Noir

Writers Block

Detective Noir

Welcome to the place that I call the Writers Block (a double entente) where you-my blog readers-will get a chance to read the ideas that sprout from my innovative mind. Instead of giving a lengthy introduction I'll just jump right in to an idea I had for a series of graphic novels...

 

Detective Noir

It's the 25th Century and the year is 2447, Neo-India has just won the third Cyber War. The country is a mixture of futuristic metropolises and beaten down slums. 

Propaganda tries to convince the world and its inhabitants that Neo-India has become a hub of peace and prosperity, yet the dwelling conditions for the poor are naught and crime and corruption are in full swing. 

Detective Noir tells the tales of a middle class Detective and former Patrol Officer; Sameer Hansraj. He quit the force years ago after seeing his partner die in action for incurring the wrath of Gang overlords in Mumbai, and soon realizing how corrupt the system was.

Rather than fight, he chooses a life of recluse and eventually became a Private Detective for hire. This is a man that knows the true face of the country. Due to his initials, Hansraj among the slum districts and seedy underworld is known as the Indian Sherlock Holmes. 

MCU: Rules and A Fan Cast

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Laying Down the Rules

This week has been marred with controversy for Marvel Studios, there is negotiations going on as to whether Robert Downey Jr. will be a part of the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Questions and opinions rise as to whether Downey should be re-cast or not post-Avengers 2 in the role of Iron Man. 

There is also tension regarding his whopping 50 Million check (+profits) for the Avengers in comparison to the measly amount his fellow cast members got. Some say, a recast may be in order for the Norse God of Thunder AKA Thor if Chris Hemsworth doesn't let his high price tag fall lower.

So well now let's continue towards the objective of this post. As you know, I have already created a post detailing how and what I would like to see in future Marvel Studios movies. So this post here is to lay down the guidelines I will follow when I detail each movie...Plus there's a special fan cast at the end.

So here are the rules;

-There will be recasting, I was asked the question on my MCU post as to how it would be possible for a 60 year old Downey to be a part of Iron Man 10. I simply directed the person asking the question here, and said that Marvel will not throw away a billion dollar franchise just cause one of their replaceable (yes, you heard read me) actors grew out of the role. So Marvel Studios will go the Bond way.

-I will give suggestions but wont re-cast. I will leave opinions on who I feel should take over the role of the actors to old, but in the end I will not write off anyone as re-casted in my detailed posts. It is to complicated and would mean re-casting everyone to fit the continuity gaps. For Avengers characters yet to be cast/appear I wont give any suggestions.

-This brings me to my next rule; it's all about the writing. Yes I'm doing this post for fun and my own entertainment (as well as hopefully yours), but my main objective is to try a hand at script writing. Let's face it, none of my movies here will come to fruition. Thus this way I can write full scripts with spoilers for movies I have a dream of seeing, It will allow me to practice my writing skills in an environment where I have to attract casual viewers and rowdy fanboys, while playing with someone else's toys.

-My Phase 2 plots will be bare bones as simple predictions on what will happen in; Thor-The Dark World, Captain America-Winter Soldier, Guardians of The Galaxy and Avengers 2.

-I decided to change my ideas on my original MCU building the world post, there will be no mixing with the properties that Fox has rights to (X-Men and Fantastic Four) however I desperately need Spider-Man from Sony.

I will add more rules as I go on...

Aspirations for an Eisner: My Dreams and My Goals

Aspirations for an Eisner

My Dreams and My Goals

No I did not get a wake up call just now, I knew from the start that a blog is a form of an online diary/journal. So why am I starting to write things personal to me? The answer is; I never stopped. From my Comic Previews to my Movie reviews, every single post has been personal and part of me. This post is just more personal then those other posts. 

Your first question (if you aren't a comic book fan, and god knows none of my followers are; in fact one even loathes comics, hey Bharat!) may be; What in the blue blazes is an Eisner? 

To put it in layman's terms, it's to the comic industry as the Oscar is to the film industry. The Eisner for a long time has reflected-to every element that is involved in comics-that you have finally made it. 

What do I know about the Eisner's? Honestly not much, apart from the fact that it is named after comic book pioneer Will Eisner (creator for pulp hero The Spirit) and everything else I mentioned above. In fact as I type this, I am also looking at the Wikipedia page considering the award categories and also the page listing this year's nominations. 

If you know me (If you don't, then thank god. Someone other than my limited circle of friends discovered this blog), then you know that I want to be a big shot comic book artist/writer. It's a dream since I started watching the X-Men on TV and has grown between my hopeless dreams of becoming a scientist and a farmacist pharmacist (which I believed meant owning a farm like Old McDonald).

This puts me directly in the race (like at the bottom) for a chance to get my own little Eisner (since I'm also clueless whether they give you a gold statue or not), I could hopefully see my self in contention for Best Graphic Novel, Limited Series, Writer, Artist or anything as long as it's an Eisner. 

Over the next few decades of your life (if you have one, if your reading this crap; you sure as hell don't), my blog will showcase some of my ideas that I can hopefully bring to fruition in order to obtain this goal...this aspiration as the title dictates. So enjoy my monologue, until I excite your senses with my spectacular creative mind. If your not dazzled, then your probably dead. 

'Nuff Said...for now

Aneesh Raikundalia

P.S.: A few words to remember this post by. Eisner, want one, hope...and crap. Enjoy! :)

Top Secret: GTCB Create A Comic

Top Secret

GTCB Create A Comic

Welcome to my first Top Secret blog post, here I will constantly write about the projects I am doing or making for my College or other courses. As I mentioned in a previous post, I have joined an online class at Canvas.net known as Gender Through Comic Books.

Our major assignment was due...well yesterday (oops) and I have been a bit busy in making another project (I will talk about that later) thus my submission comes late and is bound not to go into contention. 

This assignment was to create a comic related to Gender issues/topics but also something that the creator had really experienced. I wont lie, my time being stretched meant that my attempt at creating the comic has been half hearted (sorry). Somehow I have great ideas yet fail to capitalize on them.

Where did my Idea originate from?

It occurred to me about years back when I was reading through Frank Millar's seminal Daredevil run. My sister saw what I was reading, coincidentally her eyes caught the page when Bullseye killed Elektra in Daredevil issue 181 (in Daredevil by Frank Miller/Klaus Johnson Vol.2). 

Her first notion was that it was to explicit (Elektra's costume) and violent. She told me not to read such books and in bewilderment asked why I liked such crap (excuse my language). I explained with my head held high; "The comic is one of the best in the world, Elektra and Daredevil love each other. Her death means that Daredevil will have some pitfalls and issues, thus in the end his character will come out better from it."

 

She asked me; "Why did the girl have to die to make the hero's character better?". Being as young as I was, I had no definite answer. When I think about it now it makes sense, now I champion the Women in Refrigerators movement. Even then I still read Daredevil by Frank Miller.

What's my Idea?

My initial idea was to show a hero saving a girl from the villain with both fighting over which way her character arc would go so as to benefit both the male characters. Eventually the girl would punch each of them and say "I handle matters with my own hands."

Finally I took a more focused approach with my aforementioned story involving me and my sister. With that came the birth of the story known as;

"Girl In The Refrigerator"

Page 1 of my GTCB Comic

As you can see it's not a final cut of work, but I just wanted to complete it enough to get the message across. The story revolves around a boy (actually me) looking for a snack in the middle of the night. Surprisingly he comes across his sister, stuck inside the fridge. She asks for help (a bit rudely but it's justified), Will her brother help her? Find out below;

 

Page 2 of my GTCB comic

The boy mentions why he cannot help her, and then you can see for yourself what happens. Initially I intended to extend the comic but it felt like my message wouldn't get through as easily. So that's it. I will make sure to complete it and refine it, till then enjoy.

'Nuff Said 

Aneesh Raikundalia 

 

 

Star Wars Day!

Day!

I have been so busy these past few weeks, I forgot about May 4th as the coolest time for sci-fi geeks around the world. Today is Star Wars Day, the day is celebrated for what a great cultural phenomenon one idea in celluloid has become. 

Why is it today though? Well not typically cause the first Star Wars movie came out on May 4th, but because the most famous Star Wars line; 'May the Force be with you' became the pun; 'May the fourth be with you'. 

This is a special year to celebrate for Star Wars, since news has arrived that we will be getting one Star Wars movie each year from 2015 onwards. I know how high anticipation was for Phantom Menace among older fans, but I trust JJ Abrams to do his best alongside Disney.

I'll be honest, I am 20 so I was never there for the heyday of the original films. I did though watch all three the day before the release of Phantom Menace in a TV Marathon, I was a wee young lad but in love with the films especially Return of A Jedi (come on, Ewoks!).

When I watched Phantom Menace, I was thrilled. My love for the noble heroic characters (like knights of old) made me cry when I saw Vader smite down Obi-Wan. Thus watching Kenobi as a young adult in his adventures thrilled me, Ewan McGregor became a favorite even though I had no idea of any other movies he'd been in or how to pronounce the name. 

I liked Phantom Menace then, I can still watch it now. Obviously with age and my love for movies plus the outdated CGI, I saw why people hated Episode I and the follow ups. Still apart from some of the acting, the prequels have its own merits; better action and spectacle. 

I adore the originals, growing up watching Bollywood movies, my biggest exposure to the western side of film was with Pixar/Disney movies. Star Wars was one of the few adventures I had that could be cherished, especially since other English and even some Hindi movies had oodles of serious and smart drama.

Not that Star Wars didn't, but it was all about being in space for me. Here's a look at my picks of Star Wars favorites;

Favorite Character: Obi Wan Kenobi

Favorite Moment: 'Emperor's arrival' in Return of The Jedi, Seeing the Emperor live (or as live as he can get on screen) was a scene to witness. Having scene the powerful, merciless and menacing Vader chop of his son's hand, it was a shock to see him bow to the Emperor. This just elevated the Emperor as a much evil and powerful being.

Favorite Quote: "You were the chosen one! It was said that you would destroy the Sith, not join them!"-Obi Wan Kenobi, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith

A quote that was delivered really dramatically in heat of the most awesome lightsaber duel among the six Star Wars films. Unfortunately offset by Hayden Christensen's (Anakin Skywalker) poor dialogue delivery.

Ranking Movies in Terms of Favorite: 

1. Star Wars/New Hope-The original mixes the high adventure and fun from Return of the Jedi while also included the dramatic poignancy of the second installment.

2. Return of The Jedi-This one had re-watch value for me through the early 2000's and was fun cause of the Ewoks. I still like it more than Empire, which is blasphemous so sue me.

3. Empire Strikes Back-No doubt the best off the lot, but Return and New Hope have nostalgia attached to it. Even if I watched them just over a decade ago and together. Seriously, as a child, Empire wasn't attractive.

4. Revenge of the Sith-A prequel I wouldn't mind going to the theater for again, not to mention shelling 3D price money. Bar the acting at times, this one enchanted me.

5. Phantom Menace-Come on, Darth Maul and Liam Neeson being bad-ass before he was bad-ass.

6. Attack of The Clones-Never understood it and it was too boring.

Ranking Movie in Terms of Best:

1. Empire Strikes Back-Definitely the best of the six. Empire included really dramatic value and added depth to this lovable crew of Jedi, Princess, Robots, Fuzziness and bad-ass alike. It gave us Yoda, also the biggest reveal in the history of cinema. 

2. Star Wars/New Hope-The original that began everything

3. Revenge of the Sith-A spectacle of how far Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic had come since the first film.

4. Return of the Jedi-It has lost value over time, cutting/changing scenes has made this a tainted part of Lucas's legacy. Surprisingly some fans hate Ewoks!

5. Attack of The Clones/Phantom Menace-Both were boring with their own issues. How guys hate Jar-Jar so much yet don't mind C3PO is beyond me.

So anyways; Happy Star Wars Day! 

and...

 

 

Aneesh Raikundalia