Cool News
Who is Mayberry Melonpool ' / "Big Trouble in Little China" expanded score CD now available !!!
Glen here...
...with a look at two newly available releases. A book and a CD, both completely unrelated
yet oddly complementary.
The Ultimate Melonpool
Yeah, yeah - I know. "What's a Melonpool, and why should we care?" That's the same
question I was asking myself before reading a new book called The Ultimate
Melonpool.
Melonpool is one Mayberry Melonpool, the creation of artist Steve Troop. The adventures
chronicled in The Ultimate Melonpool are described by the book's cover as "a comic
strip about three aliens, a clone, a telepathic dog, and a 220lb hamster who try to blend in with
Earth society."
At first, I must admit I wasn't all that impressed with Melonpool and his shenanigans. They
simply didn't strike me as funny. But as I read on, the book started to work for me on
several different levels - as I realized that Ultimate Melonpool is not supposed to be an
exercise which will "knock you out of your chair with laughter", but something to make you grin
while gently forwarding both interpersonal and social observations about the world around
us. By the time all was said and done, I found myself smiling a lot - and really starting to
appreciate the cute little characters which populate Troop's world (whose memorable qualities
owe a lot to Troop's bizarre characatures which...while a tad surreal ...are both memorable and
charming).
Part of Ultimate Melonpool's strength is that it is presented in much the same way
a DVD supplementary section might be configured: there are pages devoted to character bios and
design evolutions, there are sections showing the growth of Troop's Melonpool endeavor
from High School to broader publication, even the strips themselves are captioned with
feedback and explanations from Troop regarding his thought process while creating the works,
and informational tidbits about the strips themselves. As such, it is possible simply to read
through the various adventures of Mayberry Melonpool, or follow the development of
the concept and characters as both an artistic endeavor, and through the eyes of the strip's
creator.
The Ultimate Melonpool is 214 pages, black and white - and features tons of strips
which have fun with pop culture mythologies like Star Trek, Star Wars, Back
to the Future, and Wheel of Fortune; and cover real-life issues such as dating, laptop
computers, and William Shatner's toupee. The book's back cover features a quote by Ray
Bradbury calling Ultimate Melonpool "Joyful work...grand fun!".
HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967230608/qid%3D929328776/002-9612755-1068420">CLICK
HERE to jump to AMAZON.COM's Melonpool page, and to get a better sense of
matters Melonpool, CLICK HERE to jump to
the Official Melonpool Web Site !
Big Trouble in Little China expanded score
CD!!!
John Carpenter and Alan Howarth's groovy,
foot-stomping score for the wacked-out Oriental-slam-bang coolness festival that is Big
Trouble in Little China has just been re-issued.
The new CD is a limited
edition promotional pressing available through the
link provided below.
The new CD has been augmented with never before released material from the score ( "Lo
Pan's Domain" - 6 minutes and four seconds long; "Escape from Wing Kong" - 10 minutes and
10 seconds long).
The CD also features 3 "bonus tracks" from Howarth's score for Backstabbed, and a
never before released track from the original opening sequence to Carpenter's masterful
Escape from New York. Said sequence chronicles the events which get Kurt Russell's
Snake Plissken thrown into New York City Maximum Security Penitentiary (the track itself is
called "Atlanta Bank Robbery" and runs 3 minutes and 31 seconds.)
A well mastered CD whose contents range between moody and highly energized, the duo's
score
for Big Trouble in Little China is stylized and evocative, and pleasantly representative
of one of the most underappreciated (and strange) films of the 1980s.
The expanded Big Trouble in Little China score can be obtained through HREF="http://www.supercollector.com">Super Collector, which can be accessed by HREF="http://www.supercollector.com">CLICKING HERE !
Glen
If you send a message to the above address & bounces back to you, HREF="mailto:glenoliver@hotmail.com">send mail to a back-up address!
Or call:
(512) 347-1992
Mail can be sent to:
Glen Oliver
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
P.O. BOX 160812
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
Austin, TX 78716-0812
USA
USA
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Melonpool is one of the best comic strips out there, and one of the few brave enough to tackle sci-fi elements in the comic strip format *and* be able to pull it off. Melonpool is a great strip, and the new book collection is wonderful. I know I'd recommend it to anyone. Kudos to Glen for spotlighting it!
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Big trouble in little china kicks ass
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Glen here....Ummmmm....Irwin....I don't seeem to find ANY place where I suggested BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA was anything less than cool?????**Glen**
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The BTILC CD release is great news. That movie was a classic, with some great lines( no, I mean black blood of the earth) Now we need to get the sndtrck to Commando released.
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God, don't even get me STARTED on Big Trouble quotes.. And Hurrah for the expanded soundtrack, as I've only got the old one on cassette and it's getting a wee bit knackered.
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I've always wanted the Big Trouble soundtrack, so this is kool, but to have the music from the edited first scene if EFNY truly blows me away. Comment: On the Directors Cut video tape of EFNY John Carpenter describes the scene and shows clips, but never reinserted it into its proper place. Why? JC, when this comes out on DVD, please do us a favor and put the scene in. It's only 3 minutes long, for God's sake! I'm out.
BTW, Glen, your 2nd link to Super Collector isn't right.
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