Was asked why how come no Star Wars-inspired cosplays for May 4th? I don’t know…other stuff going on this weekend, and wasn’t thinking about Star Wars? There are a couple characters from the series i’d like to take a shot at, and will get around to them. But for now, had these sort-of Padme / Leia -ish shots leftover from a Jessica shoot last year.

Wrapping up the expanded Post-Human Pin-Up this week, and working to find the best solution to make it available as fast and problem-free as possible. Also, one of my favorite pic sets is going up later this week. All of this will be capped off by excessive repeat viewings of The Great Gatsby, and testing just how many energy drink cans and bottles of faux absinthe can be smuggled past tight theater security. Busy week.

More pics after the jump. Some nudes, so if that’s an issue, or you’re sub-18, don’t click through. Go here and learn a truly valuable lesson, instead.

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New teevee spot for Man of Steel. Only 34 seconds, but it’s far better than most full-length films i’ve seen.

I would trade a kidney, a foot, and my car to see this now.

I’m sure you’re all familiar with the old Chinese curse, “May you live in interesting times.” We currently are, and it’s simultaneously chaotic and overwhelming and amazing. The few remaining fixed constants can offer some precious solace, as this announcement most certainly does.

Interstellar is scheduled for release on November 7, 2014.

Liked Iron Man 3. I went into it after just seeing the absolute best episode of Hannibal, so far (and by extension, the best hour of teevee this year), and having watched Southern California burn all day on teevee/internets/out my windows. The theater’s decision not to run the new Man of Steel trailer didn’t help, either…but despite being distracted and soured on multiple fronts, i still liked it. Will see it again soon, with a clearer head.

What is bothering me is the pervasive meme making its way across nerd sites that how they handled The Mandarin was the only workable approach to the character. This is so depressingly PC. I don’t have a strong grounding in Iron Man comics of any era, so i can’t argue the notion that the original character was rooted in stereotypes…but i would ask you to point to the most recent comic-based film that faithfully adapted characters exactly as they originally appeared, without significant updating and re-imagining.

Think you’d have to go back to Russell Mulcahy’s wildly under-appreciated, 1994 masterwork: The Shadow…coincidentally so, as that film happened to feature Shiwan Khan, a brilliant Asian warlord bent on global conquest (as any good descendant of Genghis might be), with formidable supernatural powers. If loving John Lone’s performance in that film makes me racist, then fit me for a pointy hood and send me off to reeducation camp.

(If you’ve never seen The Shadow, do yourself a favor. It’s fucking amazing, has one of my all-time favorite cinematic visuals, and i defy you to watch it and not come away believing one, or both, of the Nolan brothers and/or David Goyer were fans, as some combination thereof basically borrowed the story structure for Batman Begins.)

Would love to have seen Sir Ben go full-megalo in that kind of role, but as i have no connection to the comic character, i’m pretty happy with what we got. Just really don’t want the potential for hurt feelings amongst some to become the arbiter of what kind of villains we’re allowed to see in these films, or i guess my longstanding desire for a non-camp, full-on anti-human ecoterrorist Poison Ivy is a pipe-dream.

Here’s the conclusion of a two-part cosplay set that started back in…early 2012? Jesus Christ…still, better really fucking late than never, no? These were shot awhiles ago, featuring Marnie in an alt cosplay inspired by White Rabbit, a Batman villain who made an impression when she debuted back in 2011, but hasn’t really been seen since.

These were supposed to go up yesterday, but new Lego sets for Man of Steel happened. I got a couple, but the Battle of Smallville set is really all you needs…comes with General Zod’s dope Black Zero ship, and minifigures for Zod, Faora, Superman, and Colonel Hardy, which i’m pretty sure is the first toy based on Christopher Meloni. Which means i have to find a Lego-scale can of mixed vegetables, stat.

Also, what’s one more day when you’re already over a year late?

See the rest of the pics, after the jump. Standard nudity warning / disclaimer: if you’re under 18, or are offended by depictions of the bare human body, DO NOT CLICK THROUGH. Go here and wait for May 10th.

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1.) Really do appreciate the messages and comments re: getting the book(s) and/or bonus content. As soon as i have something that works in place, will plaster it all over the site.

2.) I may know fuck-all about online sales & marketing, but wait ’til you see some of the stuff from a couple shoots last week. The revised Post-Human Pin-Up is looking promising.

3.) If anyone has an in for the premiere (or even an early screening) of The Great Gatsby, and would be inclined to sell a couple tickets for valuable Bernanke dollars or bitcoins, do let me know your price.

4.) if i’m driving with the radio on, and this song comes on, i have to roll really high on a will check, or i’ll drive straight into the nearest wall…quite possibly the worst thing LA’s two alternative stations have ever put into heavy rotation.

5.) New cosplay stuff up later today.

A new, not-really-cosplay set of pics just went up in the bonus content section, featuring Jessica in a fishnet sweater. A couple of these turned up in Cosplay Tetherball, and now you can sees the rest. If it makes them any more interesting, the sweater was borrowed from a famous friend of my sister; it’s actually appeared once or twice on TMZ, and everything.

It was pretty exciting, and a genuine privilege, to get to work with a piece of clothing of that stature.

Greg Gutfeld got into a twitter skirmish with musician Amanda Palmer, Neil Gaiman’s wife, over her poem for surviving Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. The highlights can be read here. That i tend to think Gutfeld is right on this doesn’t mean i love Sandman, Death: The High Cost of Living, and The Graveyard Book any less. (Seriously, go read The Graveyard Book, if you haven’t.)

Also, i would trade a kidney for a sweet Gutfeld action figure, like the one imagined above (no idea who made this, but it’s brilliant.) I’d consider trading the pair, if it could come with a Bill Schulz sidekick figure.

Let’s pretend for a minute that there might be someone(s) else walking the planet who can match the intensity of my zealous and enduring love for Aeon Flux. Such a person would have worn weird groves into their mind from endless re-watchings of the animated serials and episodes, and that ardor would eventually have to spill over to the in-arguably lesser live action adaptation. Lesser…but it’s still Aeon Flux, on at least a few levels. And like the addict in need who turns to licking old mirrors out of desperation, we just can’t help ourselves.

If you are actually out there, just a heads up…you’ll be doing at least a quintuple take at the direct visual references to Karyn Kusama’s Flux movie in the opening sequence for Joseph Kosinski’s Oblivion. I wish someone had warned me, beforehand, as i might’ve snapped my fucking neck. Oh, and it actually builds on that over the course of the film, getting even better. And there’s a conceptual reference to Richard Kelly’s Southland Tales, which of course had its own ties to Aeon Flux.

So yeah, my hypothetical soul-sibling…it’s absolutely worth your time. Seek it out in proper IMAX, too, as it makes excellent use of the format.

As for the rest of you…well, i noticed a lot of walk-outs, and nobody i went with liked it much, so do realize my enthusiastic endorsement is targeted at a tiny/likely non-existent specific audience.

Here are some new alt cosplay pics featuring Kat in a set inspired by the Huntress, a hero who never really bought into the whole no killing jive, into which so many other post-humans have been heavily indoctrinated.

These were shot awhiles ago, during the run-up to Cosplay Tetherball, and before the New 52 retconned the character back to her original origin, as the daughter of an alternate universe Bruce Wayne and Selina Kyle.

Have moved on to a more comics accurate Huntress mask, for more recent shoots inspired by the character, but think we’ve come up with an interesting way to recycle this one. You can judge that for yourself, soon.

Also, have an idea for a new shoot incorporating a more alt take on Helena Wayne, will try to get that included in the revised Post-Human Pin-Up.

See the rest of the pics, after the jump. Only if you want to, though. If you’re under-18, or offended by nudity, DO NOT CLICK THROUGH! Cool? Cool. This is far better, anyway.

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