Showing posts with label comics. Show all posts

Year in Review: What You Missed on Hopscotch Friday

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Well it's not quite a year in review, as we've only really been around for four months, but for those four months we've enjoyed your company and support. So, thank you for that, we greatly appreciate it and hope to see you continue on the journey with us into 2014.

There's loads to come, with some new features and regular columns from our wonderful contributors. But for now, here's the top posts from 2013 for you to read as you nurse tomorrow's hangover.

People In Your Neighbourhood: Peter Neill


Year in Review - Top Posts - Peter Neill - Music Photographer
Coldplay by Peter Neill
In our second People In Your Neighbourhood feature I spoke with Peter Neill, wedding photographer turned concert photographer, who happens to also be a genuine and down to earth bloke who hasn't yet let hanging out with the likes of U2 and Justin Timberlake go to his head.

Read about Peter here.

The Time of the Doctor: The Long Con


Year in Review - Top Posts - The Time of The Doctor Review
http://www.bbcamerica.com/doctor-who/photos/time-doctor-sneak-peek
Emmet reviewed the Doctor Who Christmas special, the Time of the Doctor arguing that the resultant bellyaching from fans and critics was unjustified. Instead Emmet suggests that this, Matt Smith's swansong, was presented just as it should have been, remembering, of course, that regeneration came about to provide the successful show with longevity beyond the retirement of the original Doctor, William Hartnell. Nothing more, nothing less.

Read Emmet's review of Time of the Doctor here.

Get Your Kinky On


Year in Review - Top Posts - Still Kinky - Sex Party

I'm wondering if this says more about you than it does us! Eliza's musings on sex with people watching and dancing like nobody is struck a nerve or peaked the curiosities of many. She's a straight shooter, but still showed us her vulnerability at this new experience, which I think many found to be both familiar and refreshing.

You can read Eliza's thoughts on the experience here, and in part two, here.

Totally Rad Adventure


Year in Review - Top Posts - Totally Rad Adventure - Space Pyrates to SPX

Giving a platform to an amazing comic creator has been a real pleasure for Hopscotch Friday, and Caitlin's detailing of her trip to the Small Press Expo (SPX) in comic form has proved that you like it too. Caitlin's comic proves that even in drawn form, sometimes reality is funnier than fiction.

Caitlin's SPX adventure in four parts can be found here, here, here and here.

See you in 2014!


That's a wrap for 2013! We want to thank you, our readers, for your ongoing support and hope to see you continuing the adventure with us in the New Year.

I'd also personally like to thank all of Hopscotch Friday's contributors. This blog would just be boring old me if it wasn't for the effort you put in out of the goodness of your own hearts and in pursuit of your passions. For your contributions I am thankful, but so too am I grateful for the opportunity to share your talents with the blogosphere.

Don't forget you can join the conversation via Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram or Pinterest.

-Stevie O'C
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Totally Rad Adventure: The Final Leg

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This is the last in Caitlin's series about her adventures taking the Space Pyrates to SPX in the USA. Missed parts 1-3? You can get them here!

Totally Rad Adventure Space Pyrates at SPX Caitlin Major
Totally Rad Adventure Space Pyrates at SPX Caitlin Major
Totally Rad Adventure Space Pyrates at SPX Caitlin Major
Totally Rad Adventure Space Pyrates at SPX Caitlin Major
Totally Rad Adventure Space Pyrates at SPX Caitlin Major
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A Gentleman Geek's Guide to Wedding Planning

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Before you get all excited, this isn’t going to be the type of wedding that has the bride and groom dressed in super hero costumes. No lightsaber arches, no Vulcan hand gestures, and definitely no ‘so say we all’ (unless the best man decides the crowd is ready for it). 

Nope. My wedding is going to be recognisably a wedding, between two human people. But maybe, just maybe there’s room for a little geekery.

A man's guide to wedding planning - green arrow black canary wedding special
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Arrow_and_Black_Canary_Wedding_Special_Vol_1_1
My future wife, Elizabeth and I have prepared our wedding in the knowledge that the majority of our respective family members are confused by capes and glowing swords, so instead we’ve opted for a relatively Loki (see what I did there?) affair.

You see, my lovely lady wife to be isn’t what you would call a geek. When we stated going out the only thing that could put her into that category at all was a love of Stargate. Make that all of Stargate! SG:1. Atlantis. All of it!

With that in mind, Elizabeth’s vision of her wedding day has always been free of comic book and science fiction influence. But that's where I come in.

When we started seeing each other I had already been engaged. A long and convoluted story of people being young and stupid, that engagement lasted three years and never went anywhere, finally ending quite badly. I accept the blame there. What this meant, though, was that when I did meet Elizabeth, the prospect of marriage was furthest from my mind.

The big change came when I realised this person, Elizabeth, was by far the only one I could possibly want to spend my life with. Now, marriage is not for everyone, but if one of you wants this and it’s important to them, well sometimes you just have to put their happiness before your own, and very loud, opinion.

So I proposed. And she said yes.

The condition, as it were, was that the wedding be a reflection of us both, not just a celebration of love and all that, but an expression of who we are as individuals as much as who we are as a couple.

And with that I got to add my little comic book touches!

The invitation to the engagement party was a mini-comic, the save-the-date was in the style of the Green Arrow, Black Canary Wedding Special, the invites featured Elizabeth and I wearing little bits of Superman and Wonder Woman costumes, and the Order of Ceremony booklet is an homage to the Green Arrow, Black Canary cover.

A Man's Guide to Wedding Planning
Elizabeth and Paul
My groomsmen and I will wear comic book cufflinks – Green Arrow, Green Lantern, John Constantine and Lex Luthor.

The flower girl will have a little Batman pin, although, importantly, she has offered to wear her full Batman costume should we change our minds at the last minute.

As for the flowers; the bouquets are made from paper, with a few flowers made out of comic book pages – don’t worry, none were first editions, or of even slight worth. And the table decoration; the vases will be filled with large paper flowers and lined with more comic pages. The place cards will be speech bubbles and thought balloons.

Collectively, these are things that together we decided would allow my personality to be reflected in our big day, without taking away from Elizabeth’s idea of her wedding day.

But it hasn’t all been easy. On some details I’ve had to ask Elizabeth to let me make my own decisions, and allow me to get to them in my own way. My suit, for example.

Originally Elizabeth wasn’t going to join me at the suit fitting. I knew what I wanted – a three piece grey suit with a green tie. Elizabeth came. I walked out with a two piece charcoal suit and a blue tie. The justification? It’s an outdoor wedding in summer, so the vest would be too hot, charcoal was more slimming, and the blue would match the bridesmaids. While these are all perfectly reasonable points that I would have eventually come to in my own good time I felt as though I was getting steamrolled before I had the chance to even think about it!

One thing that we did agree on at the outset was making a special point in the ceremony about our views on marriage. By law the celebrant has to say that ‘marriage is between a man and a woman’, which is total bullshit. While it is required, we’ve added out own little disclaimer, which works nicely but isn’t as vocal as I originally wanted. That said, telling the Liberals to go fuck themselves in the middle of my wedding ceremony probably isn’t altogether appropriate. In fact, my political views have already seen some relatives choose to boycott the day.

While some may say weddings are the bride’s special day and that the blokes should keep out of it, I think that by adding my own personal touches this has become one of the most memorable parts of our relationship.

I know that come 7 December, I will be a very happy man, surrounded by the people I love and the comics that I hold so dear.


Gentleman geeks guide to wedding planning
http://dc.wikia.com/wiki/Green_Arrow_and_Black_Canary_Wedding_Special_Vol_1_1
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Totally Rad Adventure: Space Pyrates @ SPX

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Space Pyrates Caitlin Major and Matthew Hoddy at SPX in USA
Space Pyrates Caitlin Major and Matthew Hoddy at SPX in USA
Caitlin Major and Matt Hoddy in America at the Small Press Expo
Australian comics at SPX (Small Press Expo)

Missed Part 1 and Part 2? Click the links!

The next installment of Caitlin's Totally Rad Adventure is a couple of weeks away, because in between she and Matt take the Space Pyrates to Brisbane Supanova over the weekend of 8-10 November. Pop in and see them!
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Not So Marvel(ous): Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

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Brand new 64 inch 3D television...check. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D....check. Disappointment...check and double check!

coulson's back: agents of shield review

Joss Whedon’s most recent attempt to see a television series survive beyond a handful of episodes is also the latest to come from the Marvel franchise. With the success of his blockbuster Avengers film, he seems to have been given the freedom to do whatever he wants – forever! And who could blame Marvel? The Avengers was well rad!

Sadly though, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. misses the mark on many levels.

A pilot episode is supposed to give you a taste of what’s to come and it needs to be punchy to suck you in. A good pilot is one that introduces you to the context you’ll need later in the series, but does so without the audience being aware that they’re effectively being taken on a guided tour.

Unfortunately, this is not that pilot. I don’t know if Whedon banked on it being green-lit anyway because hell it’s Marvel, but that is no excuse. The story is dull and passes slowly while archetypical characters are ham-fistedly thrown into the fray. The dialogue, which is usually Whedon’s strength, is unnatural, while the casting made me feel as though I was watching S Club 7 solve mysteries.

Has this been any other show’s pilot it would never have been green-lit. Well, maybe on SyFy.

The cast is young, Hollywood, and flat. I understand that Marvel only casts the very attractive for its heroes – they are a collection of rich philanthropists, übermenschen and gods – so it’s understandable that they’d cast men carved from marble, but applying the same approach to the rest of the humble bureaucracy seems a little excessive and fantastic. What I’m saying is that I couldn’t get a job at S.H.I.E.L.D., but I could have gotten a job on the Battlestar Galactica – that place was filled with normal looking people! S.H.I.E.L.D. is a large organisation that has access to some of the most brilliant minds in the world, with near unlimited resources, so you’d think there would be at least one Doc Cottle, Galen Tyrol, or hell, even a Gaius Baltar running around somewhere in an out of focus establishing shot!

joss whedon's agents of shield review
The characters, thus far, are cookie cutter stereotypes that seem to be dusty off-the-shelf Whedonverse efforts transplanted into the Marvel universe, which could very well be fine but for the fact that the wit and banter we’ve come to expect from Whedonesque dialogue is just not there. Instead it feels, at best, phoned in. In particular, the kinship between the UK import tech team members is laboured and corny with them contributing nothing but accents and technobabble while looking both attractive and nerdy in non-threatening ways. And I can only hope that the team leader, who has a troubled but relatively stock standard past, will eventually be given a greater role than just ‘driving the bus’. And of course, there’s the quirky hacker who, for some reason, is not arrested for treason, and whose main talents appear to be being ‘bubbly and goofy’ but ‘also warm, edgy and witty’. Because, of course.

The action man field agent is quite possibly the most passable character, but only because he could be any secret agent from any applicable television show ever made. But the worst part, and it pains me to say it, is Agent Coulson. Clark Gregg is not a leading man and given Coulson's origin is as a supporting character, he has no sense of authority. You can’t have a character with a coy smile making jokes and then attempting to yell at someone. I love the film Coulson because he adds a sense of humanity and bewilderment in the superhero world, but here, without the support of the fantasy he is wasted.

Now, as this is my opinion on the pilot some have taken the time to remind me that all of Whedon’s pilots are like this and that I need to reserve my judgement. Honestly though, if he hasn’t gotten the hang of writing decent pilots by now, maybe he needs to reassess the process. Firefly was solid because it planted you right in the middle of a universe with no option but to accept the circumstances within which you found yourself. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is not Firefly, and it even had the benefit of a head start!

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - 7.30pm Wednesdays on Seven.

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