Pop Culture from an Alternate Dimension

       The cover of Amazing Fantasy comics #15 is a famous image. Jack Kirby's drawing of Spider-Man swinging among the skyscrapers with someone under his arm was the first time people saw the web-slinger in 1962. However, Steve Ditko, who did the interior art, had also drawn a cover but it was vetoed in favor of a cover by Kirby. In 2007, Jonathan Ross interviewed Ditko and the artist mentioned that Spider-Man was originally supposed be the secondary colors of orange and purple instead of the primary colors of red and blue. Co-incidently, there was a comic character in 1941 called The Spider Queen who wore red and blue, and also had web-shooting bracelets.       In 2008, the Library of Congress anonymously received Ditko's original artwork for that first Spider-Man story and there was another surprise. Under the partly cemented logo and white gouache was a much more webby header; that I recreated as well as cleaning up and re-coloring the origin...

        I've done a compilation of songs that are the band's name and songs that are the name of other musicians, so it's only natural that this week its songs with names of actor's names in the title. As happened last time, some songs are about the person (like The Eagles' "James Dean"), some use the actor for comparison (such as Picture This' "Winona Ryder") and the Gorillaz song "Clint Eastwood" doesn't even mention him.      Don't worry, this is the last I will do on this type of topic.... for now. Listen to the songs here:  Songs with Actor's Names in Title - YouTube

     In 2006 the tv series Smallville was a big hit. Its creators, Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, tried an adaptation of  Aquaman. I remember it was originally going to be called Tempest Key then changed to Mercy Reef (sticking to the Smallville title template). The pilot was filmed in sunny Florida (although if the series was picked up I wonder if Vancouver would stand in for FLA) with famous names like Ving Rhames and Lou Diamond Phillips, as well as some actors that had appeared on Smallville . Even though Aquaman had appeared on Smallville played by Reacher star Alan Ritchson, they cast Justin Hartley in the lead. The series was not picked up but the producers liked Hartley and cast him as the Green Arrow on Smallville . Even though the pilot didn't air, it was released as a download on iTunes and I got it as a bonus with Smallville Season Five from Best Buy.       So, the DVD cover and outer case I made are if the series had been made. N...

       The last CD idea I posted was bands with songs that were their names, this week is similar but different. There have been songs about other bands, such as Ringo Starr's "Rory and the Hurricanes" about the group he was in before the Beatles. This, however, is bands that recorded songs with names of other bands or singers yet aren't actually about them. Scissor Sister's song "Paul McCartney" doesn't even mention him. The first two songs are by Death Cab for Cutie and Shakepears Sister, who named themselves after song titles. The next couple of songs have names that are a coincidence. P.S. In 1979 Gary Numan had a hit called "Cars", the same year the band The Cars were in the charts. This was the germ that started me noticing the trend. I wound up not using it since the song is "Cars" and the band is THE Cars. Listen to the eclectic mix here:  Song Titles That Are Musicians Names - YouTube

       A lot of fans of the NBC television series Community have been wondering why we haven't gotten the movie yet. I want to know why we haven't gotten Shirley's spin-off yet. At the beginning of season six, Abed notices Shirley is missing and wonders if she "spun off". During the end credits is a commercial for the supposed show. I assume it would be like Trapper John, M.D.  or Lou Grant where a character gets their own series that is totally different from the originating show and like Joey and  Lou Grant  none of the other characters we knew and loved would appear or be mentioned.      As a bonus I included one of those ad inserts that would be in DVD cases for tv shows. Three of the "shows" and from the last episode of season five of Community and one is from the ninth episode of season six.

       I remember Wang Chung singing about wanting everyone to Wang Chung "tonight". I kept in the back of head when I found bands that would name check themselves. Three heavy metal bands (at least) not only had a song with their name but also the ALBUM was their name. I tried to choose a variety of music and decades.                P.S. Wang Chung did not make the list because, it turns out, the name of the song is                            "Everybody Have Fun Tonight".           Listen to my choices here:  Band Name = Song Name - YouTube