This was basically the Joe and Tucker make Chris listen to us excitedly describe our fondest things. Call it purloined joy, if you would. Then Matt returned and I left and they talked about that Uno Moralez guy and Leiji Matsumoto and then Chris brought up RASL and I like to imagine that it was around this moment that the guys realized they'd all forgotten what sharing was because you couldn't get any more specific to each individual then those three topics. If I'd been on that episode I would have made them listen to me talk about Sweet Meats.

Here's the Comics of the Weak, after an unexpected week off. Abhay covered the news of a dead nun, I tried my Norm McDonald hat on. Nate Bulmer was there. Then, this week was a brief riff on Mignola, Deforge and the Samnee/Waid Daredevil.

I greatly enjoyed this brief article on Tom Cruise and authenticity porn. I didn't realize until I went back to it that Tom Gauld had done the little illustration at the top.

Geoff Klock made this mash-up video of quotes from Hamlet, I dug it.

The consistently wonderful writer on film Ignatiy Vishnevetsky turned up over at the AV Club, writing a brief "why I like this" thing on Michael Mann's Miami Vice. I'm a little older than Vishnevetsky, and I remember walking out of Miami Vice feeling like Mann had lost a step, a feeling that Public Enemies did little to dissuade. But due to another article (on the AV Club, actually), I gave Vice another chance last year, and it won me back over. Everything Ignatiy says about it is true, but it's the purity of certain portions of it--Jamie Foxx's merciless, muscular pursuit of the men who took his girl down to the simple movements of a yanked mask and a smoothly placed hand on the small of a woman's back--that struck me more than the digital immediacy that seems to fascinate others. I like seeing people write about it, and I'm glad I gave it another chance.

This guy Joan Cornella--okay, now that's exciting. When I started reading his stuff, I was immediately won over, and 10 minutes in, I was feeling the same way I felt when I first saw Deforge, Lisa Hanawalt or Joe Daly. These are the exact kind of comics I want to read.

I like David Bordwell's blog in part because it's so unlike every other blog I read in that nearly everything written there takes a solid block of uninterrupted reading time to digest. I was pleasantly surprised to see him toss up this small piece on Calvin and Hobbes, which was written in response to Dear Mr. Watterson, a documentary on the strip and its influence. It is a dream to get a chance to write for Comics Journal, and I don't regret any of the time I spent writing for comiXology, but seeing short pieces like this reminded me how excited it always made me to read offhand observations about comics and cartooning from smart people with only a passing interest in the subject, especially when it would show up in non-traditional venues. I wish there was more like this out there, or at least, that I was better able to find examples of it on a consistent basis.

Tessa Strain dealt with Gatsby. I could read her all day, on anything, but when it's movies and books at the same time, it's a total fish in a barrel scenario. She's the best.

Community Bookstore is taking over Babbo's Books over on Prospect Park West--if you don't live in Brooklyn, this will mean nothing to you--and turning it into their second store, Terrace Books. I liked Babbo's, I love Community, and therefore couldn't be happier if you stapled a puppy to a balloon shaped like a pony. (Both of those things are adorable!)

Koyama is going to publish the third issue of Ryan Cecil Smith's SF--I don't have a link for that, but I'm not sure why you would need one. All the information is right there.

Comic Books Are Burning In Hell is pleased to offer the latest in its top-ranked continuing education seminars.

Our main session concerns FRONTIER, HOTT NEW PUBLISHER NEW NEW COMIC collecting **UNO MORALEZ**

Breakout sessions follow.

JOE discusses BENNY BREAKIRON, nEEEw release from SMURFS CREATOR PEYO!!!

MATT discusses COSMOSHIP YAMATO, 1,000% AUTHENTIC (i.e. untranslated) MANGA from LEIJI MATSUMOTO --not a Daft Punk tie-in --

CHRIS discusses RASL, ALL JEFF SMITH, SOON IN COLOR.

This combined program counts for 4 continuing education credits and 0 ethics credits. Please turn in two copies of your carbon forms as you exit. "We love you!"

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 - - - -

This week on Travis Bickle On The Riviera, the movie podcast for movie-type movies.

00:00 - 16:42 - Tucker watched Slayground (1983), directed by Terry Bedford, starring Peter Coyote, Mel Smith, Billie Whitelaw. Mentioned in this section - books by Sam Fuller and Don Simpson, the Big Red One, Dirty Work, Mel Smith in The Princess Bride, and the Parker novels.

16:43 - 31:28 - Tucker also watched Place Beyond The Pines (2013), directed by Derek Cianfrance, starring Ryan Gosling, Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, and Ray Liotta. Also mentioned in this section - Blue Valentine from the same director, Sidney Lumet, bad writing hallmarks, directors who started in live television.

31:29 - 39:50 - Sean watched Pain and Gain (2013), directed by Michael Bay, starring The Rock, Marky Mark, Anthony Mackie, Ed Harris, Rebel Wilson, Tony Shaloub, lots more people. Also mentioned here - Michael Bay's other films, The Coen Brothers and Fargo, The Departed, and Ethan Hawk's Hamlet.

39:51 - 47:41 - And Sean watched Lords of Salem (2013), directed by Rob Zombie, starring Sheri Moon Zombie, Judy Geeson, Dee Wallace, Meg Foster, Patricia Quinn, Bruce Davison, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Ken Foree, Maria Conchita Alonso. Also mentioned in this section - Rob Zombie's other films, Lars Von Trier's Antichrist, Ken Russell, Roman Polanski, The Velvet Underground's "All Tomorrow's Parties" and "Venus in Furs" (the latter of which the name escaped us at recording time), Cameron Crowe, the title cards in The Shining, and Air Force One.

47:42 - 1:05:16 - And finally Tucker went and saw a revival of Sorcerer (1977), directed by William Friedkin (who spoke afterwards), and starring Roy Schieder, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal, and Amidou as Kassem. Also brought up in this section - Friedkin's new book The Friedkin Connection, The Wages of Fear, the release of Star Wars, the release of Big Trouble in Little China, Heaven's Gate, Friedkin's The Guardian, survival movies, and the term "pure cinema".

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NEXT TIME ON TRAVIS BICKLE ON THE RIVIERA - Tom Cruise, Brian De Palma,  MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

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