STORMBRINGERS

Typos and Dust...

noreply@blogger.com (Korby Marks) — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:23:00 +0000

Typos are like dust...just when you think you've scrubbed and cleaned your entire house...you still find one or two spots you missed.

I keep finding dust on this site...typos I mean. So please bear with me as I clean this up by reading and rereading every single thing I wrote on here again and again.

But check this typos pic out I found online...read the bottom of it...made me laugh out loud at 3:28AM. Probably woke a neighbor up. But it's exactly how I feel every time I read through the text on this site :-).

Night,
KM

Awards Season

noreply@blogger.com (Korby Marks) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 06:48:00 +0000

I gotta say...I haven't seen the film, Precious. The subject matter doesn't appeal to me in the least...and I'm leery of watching too many flicks where Black people are so down and out that their situation becomes completely hopeless.

That being said...I am still stoked to see Mo'Nique win a Golden Globe and SAG Award for her portrayal in Precious. Just judging from her acceptance speech I can see she really believes in the film and poured her heart into it. And at the end of the day, I think that's all we want as artists, creative freedom and access to tell our sides of the story.

And after her SAG win...she's got me somewhat wanting to check out the film more than I did before Awards season began. Don't know if I will. Don't know if I want to see Black self-hatred boiled down to its basest elements...but I may suck it up and venture out into that cold night. We'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Avatar

noreply@blogger.com (Korby Marks) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 06:00:00 +0000

Zoe Saldana was worth the price of admission for me.

So I finally went to see Avatar after much urging from friends and co-workers. I was told to only go see it in IMAX 3-D and that I would be blown away by the visual splendor of it all.

With writing, working a full-time gig and hustling to publish my next comic book and graphic novel I don’t get much time to go to movies. I usually just watch them on I-tunes or cable On-Demand. Plus, I had my reservations about seeing another narrative about the exploitation of indigenous people being rescued and saved by a soldier of the people who came to conquer and exploit them.

So, to everyone who urged me to go see it, I told them I didn’t have the time…

When they insisted I told them about not wanting to see the aforementioned narrative repeated in yet another cross-cultural adventure movie…

Everyone listened to my reasons…to a man and woman, they said they understood…and then they told me I still had to go and see Avatar anyway. Their passion about my need to see this movie really sparked an urge in me…to go see this movie.

So I saw it this past Sunday on IMAX 3-D. And it was very, very good. Easily one of the best movies I’ve seen in the past couple of years… And as a fan of 3-D computer-generated movies like the Final Fantasy series…I really enjoyed the fact that Cameron developed the technology to capture facial expressions…that made a huge difference to me and my enjoyment of each actor’s performance.

So, glad I saw it….now, back to work.

What I'm Almost Finished Reading Now

noreply@blogger.com (Korby Marks) — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 09:45:00 +0000

I'm almost done reading Googled by journalist Ken Auletta. It's a re-accounting of the start and rise of Google into the multi-billion dollar generating search engine most, if not all of us use when we search for information on the web.

It's quite fascinating and I'm really into how the two founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, are so committed to the purpose of their company...to provide information to the world for free...that they resisted selling-out and selling their company to early potential suitors who offered them millions for it.

And you gotta love the Google company motto: "Don't be evil." The two Google founders are inspiring and this book is a gem to read.

My Latest Celebrity Crush

noreply@blogger.com (Korby Marks) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 01:42:00 +0000

Okay...so I'm sitting home minding my own business when I decide to clear off my DVR by watching some of the old episodes recorded on it. So I'm watching the Mo'Nique Show...I know, right? And she has this guest on there that I though was soooo pretty.

Her name is Tika Sumpter and apparently she's an actress on a soap opera and the co-star of the upcoming movie, Stomp The Yard 2.

I haven't seen Stomp The Yard 1 yet so I can't comment on either...but I can comment on her...

She's quite the dish, huh?

The Perfect Storm - Part 4

noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Nicita) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:25:00 +0000

What I read about a week ago…Eating Animals – by Jonathan Saffron Foer

This book helps keep me vegan, especially when all that surrounds me are fish spots, Panda Expresses and fast food restaurants. I haven't been doing a particularly good job as of staying pure to the cause as of late. But books like this make me remember why I need to.

The Perfect Storm - Part 3

noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Nicita) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:23:00 +0000

What I read 2 weeks ago…

The Tao of Wu by RZA

The first two sentences grabbed me. And I didn't put the book down until I read it in its entirety. It was a really good read with a lot of behind the scenes history on RZA's and Wu Tang Clan's rise in hip-hop.

Tyler Perry vs Spike Lee

noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Nicita) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:20:00 +0000

Tyler Perry is currently the Black filmamking heavyweight champion of the world. His films have grossed over $400 million dollars worldwide and, according to the last pitch meeting I went to, he's the only director-producer in Hollywood who can currently greenlight his own projects.

The former Black filmmaking heavyweight champion of the world, Spike Lee has challeneged some of the images in Perry's films. Most notably the character Madea in which Perry dresses in drag and Mr. Brown for the Meet the Browns film.

Spike Lee called the aforementioned Tyler Perry characters coons, citing parallels to historical imagery of Black people in the media. But Perry obviously has a devoted audience. An audience so supportive that their ticket buying has allowed him to build his own motion picture studio in Atlanta, GA. This act alone is a powerful statement.

And here's the historical parallel I see. Malcolm vs Martn; W.E.B. Dubois vs Booker T. Washington, two sides of the same coin vying for the attention of an underserved and underrepresented minority. And here's what I believe...both voices are needed. Because one, Black people aren't politically monolithic as a minority group and two, most times these two seemingly at odds sides are accomplishing the exact same goal.

Malcolm X gave us a reality check while Dr. King fought to improve that reality. W.E.B. Dubois wrote and spoke of enlightening the masses through education while Booker T. Washington enlightened the masses by building schools, manufacturing plants and owning lots and lots of land in an attempt to make Black people independent and self-sufficient as a people...

And while I know it's a stretch to compare Spike Lee and Tyler Perry to the luminaries above...I see the same pattern emerging...Spike raises the issues about negative imagery in the media...while Perry builds an institution to have more say about our image in the media...I wonder what would happen if these two decided to work together?

The Perfect Storm - Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Nicita) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 07:09:00 +0000

The Perfect Storm: Part 1

Hey, who is this model in the back, on the right (our right)? $100.00 to anyone who can find this pic and related website on the Internet. Or the name and professional contact info of the model. She looks like my live action idea of Glorious. Beautiful, brown to dark brown skin, full lips and nose.

The agent I signed with said he could sell the TV Film rights to Glorious in a heartbeat if I agreed to make her White. And that there was a line of white actresses a mile long waiting for projects like this. I also had a pitch meeting with a producer last Sunday who said the same thing.

That’s not what I’m here for. I’m here to create well-rounded, three-dimensional and broad-ranged images starring Black people. Because, let’s face it, most of the shit that’s out there now makes us like idiots.

Looks like I’ll have to finance and shoot the live action Glorious film on my own.

WELCOME

noreply@blogger.com (Adrian Nicita -Web/Graphic Designer) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 07:14:00 +0000

Welcome to Stormbringer's official Blog.
Stay tuned for news from San Diego Comic Con
and much more in the coming weeks.