Pop focus: Hammer Horror movie stills

A batch of pics featuring Christopher Lee as Dracula, plus images from other films from the cult movie studio.




















Somebody's bright idea: Boba Fett earrings


Pop culture roundup: Silver Surfer; Steranko; Jack Kirby; Sufijan Stevens; Bill Watterson; Superman, more!

This could be fun: A new Silver Surfer series from Marvel Comics by scripter Dan Slott and artist Michael Allred.

-----

I've not purchased any of IDW Publishing's awesome-looking "Artist Edition" books, but a few upcoming releases are tempting: Collections of Jim Steranko's S.H.I.E.L.D comics, a Peanuts collection and Jack Kirby's New Gods.

Jack Kirby’s New Gods Artist’s Edition will be released in March and feature five complete issues of Kirby’s inaugural Fourth World book. Kirby, often called the King of Comics, is arguably the most important and influential comics creator of all time. His work on New Gods, which he wrote as well as drew, clearly reinforces that notion. Filled with amazing imagery and giant concepts, this book will measure 12 x 17 inches.

-----

The great Sufjan Stevens pens an open letter to Miley Cyrus:

 “Dear Miley. I can’t stop listening to #GetItRight (great song, great message, great body), but maybe you need a quick grammar lesson. One particular line causes concern: “I been laying in this bed all night long.” Miley, technically speaking, you’ve been LYING, not LAYING, an irregular verb form that should only be used when there’s an object, i.e. “I been laying my tired booty on this bed all night long.” Whatever. I’m not the best lyricist, but you know what I mean. #Get It Right The Next Time. But don’t worry, even Faulkner messed it up. We all make mistakes, and surely this isn’t your worst misdemeanor. But also, Miley, did you know the tense here is also totally wrong. Surely you’ve heard of Present Perfect Continuous Tense (I HAVE BEEN LYING in this bed all night long [hopefully getting some beauty sleep?]). It’s a weird, equivocal, almost purgatorial tense, not quite present, not quite past, not quite here, not quite there. Somewhere in between. I feel that way all the time. It kind of sucks. But I have a feeling your “present perfect continuous” involves a lot more excitement than mine. Anyway, doesn’t that also sum up your career right now? Present. Perfect. Continuous. And Tense. Intense? Girl, you work it like Mike Tyson. Miley, I love you because you’re the Queen, grammatically and anatomically speaking. And you’re the hottest cake in the pan. Don’t ever grow old. Live brightly before your fire fades into total darkness. XXOO Sufjan”
-----

Check out this trailer from "Dear Mr. Watterson," a crowd-funded documentary that looks at the impact of "Calvin and Hobbes."


“Mr. Watterson has inspired and influenced millions of people through Calvin & Hobbes,” the documentary’s website explains. “Newspaper readership and book sales can be tracked and recorded, but the human impact he has had and the value of his art are perhaps impossible to measure. This film is not a quest to find Bill Watterson, or to invade his privacy. It is an exploration to discover why his ‘simple’ comic strip made such an impact on so many readers in the 80s and 90s, and why it still means so much to us today.”


-----

Speaking of which, here's a very rare, and recent, interview with Watterson:
Owing to spite or just a foul mood, have you ever peeled one of those stupid Calvin stickers off of a pickup truck?
I figure that, long after the strip is forgotten, those decals are my ticket to immortality.

-----

See 75 years of Superman in two minutes.



-----

Tweets:



Fab Friday: Vintage Beatles pics

LPs.