We have put out a limited amount of “This Crap is Free” T-Shirts that have been signed by most of THE LEGEND OF NEIL CAST and show creator Sandeep Parikh on eBay for you to bid on.
These shirts are sure to become collectors items and coveted by fans for many years to come. It is likely that in the future they will be worth 3 billion glibfams (glibfams being the currency of the future of course). So bid on them now while they’re still reasonable!
Is there that special someone in your life whom you know would love this gift? Is that special someone you? Act now! Supplies are limited (there are 17 shirts total in a variety of sizes, men’s and women’s) and this offer will expire soon, so act now and good luck!
And from all of us here at The Legend of Neil office located here in beautiful downtown Hyrule, we thank you for being the greatest fans since mankind started becoming fans of things and we wish you all a very Happy Holidays and a safe and drunken New Years!
I don’t know how many of you know of the book Law & Chaos, or have heard us mention it now and then over the years. Briefly, Law and Chaos is the story of how Wendy Pini (actually, Wendy Fletcher when she started) tried to adapt Michael Moorcock’s fantasy tale Stormbringer into an animated film. It was an ambitious project that she started as a teenager, continued through college, and kept at for a short time after, until 1973. The magnitude of the task, on many levels, was too great, and the work — some 400 paintings, drawings and sketches — was put aside.
Fast forward to 1987. ElfQuest had been running for nearly ten years, and Father Tree Press was publishing the colorized graphic novel collections. But as the publisher I wanted also very much for this long-hidden artwork to be seen. So we gathered the best of it, Wendy wrote a connecting narrative of her hopes and struggles, and Law & Chaos was released.
The book sold well, and then went out of print. We thought that was that — until just a few months ago when we decided that Wendy’s newest magnum opus, a re-envisioning of Masque of the Red Death, should have its own web site. In the discussion of what content to include, she realized that the driving force behind her desire to tell the Elric tale was a direct ancestor to what inspires Masque now.
One way to present the book online would have been simply to scan the pages as printed, and have you click through them, reading as you would any online text. But that wasn’t going to work, for a number of technical reasons. Plus, with access to all of the original artwork, why not at least show it off to better advantage, with some better design to complement it?
So that’s what you will find when you go to masque-of-the-red-death.com, and click on the Purple Room’s window. You’ll see a lot of the artistic touches that eventually found their way into ElfQuest, and you’ll discover, as Wendy did, that when the spirit is strong (to paraphrase the line from Jurassic Park) art will find a way. It’s not quite the animated film that Wendy first envisioned, but it’s a heck of a lot closer than the printed book could ever be. And it’s a fair dinkum pretty piece of webwork, too.
Weta Dollars — Final Reminder!
As we’re nearing the end of 2009 we thought we’d highlight once again that any Weta Dollars you’ve transferred over from our old site (we launched the new site in February) will expire on 31 December 2009. So please make sure you use them.
December is the time to go to the movies!
Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and James Cameron’s Avatar are launching in time for the holiday season. Get your tickets now. We can’t wait! Weta Workshop and Weta Digital have contributed significantly to both movies over the last few years. See what we have been up to!
Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones — 11 December (US)
James Cameron’s Avatar — 18 December World Wide
New books signed by John Howe
When John Howe visited the Weta Cave this weekend, Anna, our store manager asked if he’d mind signing a few more for his out-of-town fans. And John, gentleman that he is, of course said yes! So we can offer a VERY LIMITED number of John Howe’s Fantasy Drawing Workshop and Lost Worlds on a first come, first served basis. If you snooze — you lose! Get one now.
More news from Hobbiton!
The design of the Bag End Environment continues to make good progress. We have been actively seeking suggestions and advice from some of the key Hobbiton experts involved. We recently journeyed up to Matamata and discussed the designs with our friends at the Hobbiton Movie Set. We were fortunate to get first hand input from Russell Alexander (Owner and Manager) and Ian Brodie (Media and Communications Manager). Russell and Ian run tours of the Movie Set, so if you are visiting New Zealand, this is a “must do” activity to cleanse the soul. Check out their website at hobbitontours.com.
VICTORY Shipping!
Dr. Grordbort’s VICTORY: Scientific Adventure Violence for Young Men and Literate Women is now shipping in the US and NZ and has all but arrived in the UK. Order your copy now! It really is a great book and a must-read for anyone who’s read Dr. Grordbort’s Contrapulatronic Dingus Directory.
The Exceptional Exhibition — a huge success
Weta Creative Director Richard Taylor and Dr. Grordbort’s creator Greg Broadmore are currently attending Weta’s exhibition in Chengdu and the crowds are pouring in. Multi-talented Ri Streeter who’s there making sure the guys stay out of trouble has taken some photos that we’d like to share with you. Check them out here!
She is best known for her role as Chloe Sullivan on Smallville where, for the past nine years, she’s played Clark Kent’s best friend. She’s appeared in almost two hundred episodes, including starring in Smallville: Chloe Chronicles, mini-episodes of Smallville produced for the CW website.
Mack began acting at age four and has kept busy on screen and stage ever since. She appeared in films such as Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves and The Ant Bully, and in television series including The Nightmare Room, Opposite Sex, and 7th Heaven. Her musical career has included choreography and directing, as well as performing in shows such as Rent, Chicago, and Hair. Her behind-the-scenes experience doesn’t stop there. She’s directed episodes of Smallville and produced, as well as starred in, the short film Alice & Huck.
While she has typically played the good girl, the best friend and other wholesome characters, her role on Riese promises to be much darker. Copple says that Mack will be playing Marlise, “a low-ranking Sect member. Sadistic and power-hungry, she’ll do anything to ascend to the higher ranks.”
Riese is a sci-fi/fantasy series richly influenced by history, mythology, folklore and steampunk. It follows a young woman and her companion, a wolf named Fenrir, who travel through a collapsing world trying to piece together the fragmented memories of her past while attempting to evade the dangerous religious cult that hunts her. With a high budget compared to other web series, and filmed on the RED camera in high definition, the show is visually beautiful. The wardrobe, music and depth of story all contribute to creating the world of Eleysia.
Riese features sci-fi regulars such as Christine Chatelain (Sanctuary, Supernatural, The Collector), Sharon Taylor (Smallville, Stargate Atlantis, Eureka), Patrick Gilmore (Stargate Universe, Battlestar Galactica), Ben Cotton (Harper’s Island, Stargate Atlantis, Taken), Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary, Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis), Peter Kelamis (Stargate Universe, Dragon Ball Z, The X-Files), Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary, jPod, Battlestar Galactica), and Allessandro Juliani (Battlestar Galactica, Smallville, Death Note).
RiffTrax Live: Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza is less than two weeks away! Get your tickets now before it’s too late! Mike, Kevin and Bill are back on the big screen, riffing a wonderfully warped collection of Christmas shorts! Our Special Guest is the hilarious “Weird Al” Yankovic!
All event attendees will receive 5 FREE digital goodies: a holiday song by the RiffTones, two downloadable shorts, an autographed digital photo of Mike, Kevin and Bill, and a Christmas desktop wallpaper!
Don’t miss the Comedy Event of the Season — only two nights, in over 480 theatres nationwide: Live on Wednesday December 16th, with an Encore on Thursday December 17th!!! Bring your friends and share the holiday cheer, with RiffTrax Live: Christmas Shorts-Stravaganza!
And don’t forget, you could win a FREE TRIP FOR TWO to sunny San Diego to see the show live and MEET THE STARS!
If you saw a forest fire and the only thing you had to battle it was a lake full of News, then you certainly wouldn’t want it to be solid, flammable news! No indeed! You’d want it to be Squishy News! And here it is!
Squishable T-Rex — Awesome: A giant round lime-green dinosaur who wants to cuddle and maybe nibble on your nose. Awesome-er: We designed him in conjunction with Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics (read his comics, they’re really good!). Awesome-est: Giant! Cuddly! Dinosaur! I mean, c’mon!
New Gallery Pictures! — My goodness are you an attractive bunch of Squishable owners! If you don’t believe me, take a look at the Squishable Gallery where a large number of new Squishables and their people have recently taken up residence!
The Top Squishables of 2009! — Who doesn’t like a good solid list? I know I do! Our team of supercomputing hamsters and gerbils have done the numbers weighted by fan mail, conversations on Facebook, Twitter comments and sales. The Top Squishables of 2009 are, in this order:
It’s been a very long time since I’ve had news about CafePress, so I am happy to fire things back up.
As you may know, there’s been an ElfQuest shop on CafePress for a few years. Lately, it’s been kind of quiet there, for one reason or another. But when we began to consider launching a new web site for Wendy’s Masque of the Red Death project, alongside a total revamp of the ElfQuest web site, we thought it was high time to resuscitate the online shop.
Between then and now, CafePress has added quite a few new clothing designs and other items, and I’m in the process right now of importing the current ElfQuest designs onto the new offerings. If you go to the ElfQuest shop at CafePress you’ll see how that’s going. I’m also splitting the “his” and “her” wearables into separate sections in the shop, to make finding things easier.
There are many designs in the current “unisex” department, so if there’s a particular favorite you’d like to see on a new item of clothing, please PM me and I’ll get on it. Only 22 shopping days until… well, you know.
Also, for those of you who are enjoying Wendy’s Masque of the Red Death there’s a new CafePress shop for that as well. Some of the offerings are, in keeping with the theme of Masque, of a more mature theme than you’ll find in the ElfQuest shop, but spectacular nonetheless.
Series co-creator Ryan Copple announced today that Alessandro Juliani has joined the cast of Riese the Series.
Best know for his role as Felix Gaeta on Battlestar Galactica, Juliani has had a long career in music, as well as in film and television, spanning more than twenty years. His baritone voice delighted fans and brought them to tears when his character Gaeta sang a threnody in the BSG episode, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”. In addition to singing professionally in choirs such as Montreal’s Christ Church Cathedral, Juliani has worked extensively in voice acting, being featured in such roles as the voice of L in the American version of Death Note and Gambit in X-Men: Evolution, as well as several other cartoons. He can currently be seen as Dr. Hamilton on Smallville.
Copple says of Juliani, “He’ll play Garin, best friend of Rand. He’s the calm and thoughtfulness to Rand’s impetuous and impatience.” He will appear in Chapter 2 of Riese which begins filming this week.
Riese is a sci-fi/fantasy series richly influenced by history, mythology, folklore and steampunk. It follows a young woman and her companion, a wolf named Fenrir, who travel through a collapsing world trying to piece together the fragmented memories of her past while attempting to evade the dangerous religious cult that hunts her. With a high budget compared to other web series, and filmed on the RED camera in high definition, the show is visually beautiful. The wardrobe, music and depth of story all contribute to creating the world of Eleysia.
Riese features sci-fi regulars such as Christine Chatelain (Sanctuary, Supernatural, The Collector), Sharon Taylor (Smallville, Stargate Atlantis, Eureka), Patrick Gilmore (Stargate Universe, Battlestar Galactica), Ben Cotton (Harper’s Island, Stargate Atlantis, Taken), Ryan Robbins (Sanctuary, Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis), Peter Kelamis (Stargate Universe, Dragon Ball Z, The X-Files), and Emilie Ullerup (Sanctuary, jPod, Battlestar Galactica).
New York City-based company Dante Beatrix is the caretaker of the Maakun Forest, a land populated by a diverse group of animals in the idealistic-yet-scientifically-improbable style of The Swiss Family Robinson (with the addition of a few dinosaurs). This forest evidently borders on the ocean, as well, since one of the residents is a shark. Despite being a natural predator, Nigel the Shark appears to live harmoniously with all his fellow Maakunans and, as his biography reveals, he is quite the culturally refined creature:
Nigel has a taste for the finer things. He’s a connoisseur of all things floating in the ocean. He can talk for hours about the wonderful chewiness of a North Atlantic fisherman’s boot, or the foamy crunch of an Australian surfboard. Nigel is also a devoted fan of opera and considers himself to be quite an exceptional singer. Fortunately for the other animals in the forest, Nigel does most of his singing underwater.
Fans of web series Ask the Sharky, starring a friendly shark from the coast of California who answers viewer questions and sometimes breaks into song, will leap at the chance to snap up merchandise of near-twin Nigel. Nigel appears, so far, on Dante Beatrix’s fashionable little kid backpacks, big kid backpacks, and lunch boxes.
The Nigel Lunch Box has a sturdy woven nylon handle and is made from a heavy canvas material that ensures that this tote will be your lunchtime companion for many years. It’s easy to wipe the entire lunch box down after every use, too, thanks to the canvas’ waxy laminate coating and a durable plastic lining on the bag’s interior. An overall layer of thick padding insulates food while protecting your apple from getting bruised, and since Dante Beatrix products are PVC, phthalate, and lead free, your snackables will be completely safe from any contamination. Nigel’s image, simple and minimalistic as all Dante Beatrix designs, is appliquéd and embroidered to the front of the light-blue lunch box and, in a cute touch, the metal zipper pulls are shaped like little shark fins. On the back of the lunch box is a small zippered pocket that’s just the right size to hold lunch money or a note, and below it is a cloth tag that provides space to write the lunch box owner’s name. The tag also advises you to “Eat your vegetables!” Hmm… it seems that Nigel may have a preference for vegetarian sushi!
Curious to meet Nigel’s friends? The other Maakun Forest inhabitants, featured on little kid backpacks, big kid backpacks, kid’s t’s, lunch boxes, and wheelie bags, are: Percival the Dinosaur, Juju the Ladybug, Rory the Lion, Yuka the Bee, Fei-Fei the Panda, Esther the Bunny, Señor Gomez the Penguin, Dieter the Monkey, Anastasia the Pig, and Alister the Stegosaurus. Until December 7, you have the chance to name the newest character, a brontosaurus, on Dante Beatrix’s Facebook Page. The prize is a wheelie bag of your choice!
The Dante Beatrix holiday sale has started, so use code HOLIDAY15 for 15% off your purchase of a Nigel Lunch Box and more through December 11.
The Save the Murlocs Foundation aims to preserve and protect these majestic creatures. Through numerous awareness and outreach programs, we work to outlaw Murloc cruelty, help rebuild villages, protest part harvesting, and find homes for poor orphaned baby Murlocs.
