The Killing of Randy Webster

The Killing of Randy Webster ~ This one is another lost telemovie that I remember from my youth that I thought I would never find again. One thing that made it stand out to me was the soundtrack by April Wine, a band that I had liked back in the day. Hardly anyone remembers them now.

Though largely forgotten on the mainstream rock scene, the Canadian band April Wine is still active, and had more than a few hits way back when. Among them were the Dungeons & Dragons flavored Lorence Hud cover "Sign of the Gypsy Queen" and the power ballad "Just Between You and Me" as well as my personal favorites "All Over Town" and the cleverly titled "If You See Kay." There were others, and for a very very short time in the early eighties, April Wine, with its great rock logo, was hot.

The soundtrack was not the only thing that makes this film stand out. It's also one of the lost few not found on video or DVD with any reliability. Luckily it does run on some of the nostalgia networks and is also on YouTube. It also stars three actors - Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, and Anthony Edwards - who would all appear again together a year later in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

The Killing of Randy Webster, a true story based on a 1977 Shreveport LA murder of a teenager by a police officer, is actually quite relevant in this age of Ferguson and "Making a Murderer." What are the facts, and who really did what? Hal Holbrook stars as the teenager's father trying to get to the truth, through a Rashomon-like maze of contraindications and controversy. Also look for a younger thinner Dixie Carter as the mom.

The movie is painfully both a product of television movie of the week-ness and the 1970s, but that doesn't ruin what is a powerful story once it gets going. Later in the movie it becomes more a father's quest and a legal drama, with Holbrook getting the bulk of the emotional action.

I have to confess that The Killing of Randy Webster wasn't as good as I remember, but the concept and the music still hold up in my book. Worth seeing if you can find it.

Chinese Gods

Chinese Gods ~ This one is another film lost to the legal video/DVD generation, and in most cases, like with me and Dead Is Dead or Poor Devil, is one some folks are unsure they remember correctly or perhaps remember seeing at all. Sometimes known as Chinese Gods, or The Story of Chinese Gods, or simply the unlikely Bruce Lee cartoon, its real title is Pang Shen Feng.

Created in 1976, with a character drawn to look like Bruce Lee, I first discovered this on Saturday afternoons in the early eighties where it invariably showed up as part of the martial arts flicks on UHF. I have to wonder what the regular kung fu and Shaw Bros. fans made of this animated feature mixed in with their standard fare.

The simply animated film, with old school anime flair and just a touch of Yellow Submarine surrealism, loosely strings together a handful of tales from Chinese mythology into one story full of bizarre visuals and wild martial arts fight sequences. Be warned ahead of time, this is not for kids. There are adult themes and concepts, and quite a bit of violence and sexual innuendo, even blood and a bit of nudity.

Chinese Gods starts a little slow, but once the strange creatures, monsters, and demons start showing up, it gets quite good. I remember being so entranced with one such beast - the nine-tailed fox - that I wrote it up and used it against my players in a Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Here the nine-tailed fox gives Bruce Lee a run for his money.

The one fighter with third eye bears more than a passing resemblance to Bruce Lee. This homage was obviously well meaning and long labored as it's very close to the real thing. From poses to fighting stances and styles, this Bruce Lee, and it's a hoot to see him not just in period garb, but also fighting magical creatures. It takes a downturn however when he becomes a dragon, not a cool dragon, mind you, but more like Pete's Dragon.

There's also the half-naked kid who flies by riding fiery wheels on his feet. Did I mention how surreal yet cool this flick is? I thought Chinese Gods stood the test of time and was well worth seeing again. It's definitely available on YouTube here, and might also be on out of print VHS or bootleg DVD. Good but surreal fun.

Tomorrow Is Free RPG Day

Free RPG Day 2012 is tomorrow - Saturday, June 16th. All Things Fun! will be participating in the event at noon and at 4 PM. Entry is free! Here are the details:

Come out and join us this Saturday, 6/16 for Free RPG Day at All Things Fun! We'll be hosting a slew of Role Playing Game events in support of this worldwide celebration of Role Playing Games (RPGs).

Doors open at 11 AM and we'll have a limited supply of FREE items (limit 2 items per person while supplies last). And then starting at Noon and 4 PM we'll be running a number of different Role Playing Games including: Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder, DC Comics Adventures, Cosmic Patrol, Shadowrun and more. Entry into these events is also FREE!

We will also be running raffles for some cool RPG Day goodies during the day.

So, if you've been curious or if you'd like to check out some of the Role Playing Games this is your chance.

Come on out to All Things Fun! and enjoy!

The All Things Fun! Live Comics Vidcast for 3-9-11

Shot live in a real comics and gaming store in West Berlin, New Jersey, All Things Fun!, co-hosts Ed Evans, Allison Eckel, and Glenn Walker, discuss the new comics out this week in two fun video segments, now in high definition.

The first segment includes discussion of the following topics: Charlie Sheen, the Maxwell Lord/Wonder Woman connection, the busy Batman Inc. #3 cover, the 1959 Avengers, Hawkeye: Blindspot #2, Venom #1, and Fear Itself from Matt Fraction himself.



The discussion continues in segment two including: Ed's Leftovers featuring Incredible Hulks #624, Punisher Max #11, Zatanna #10, Age of X, Fables, Spawn and Donald Duck, Super/Flash racism, The Challenge featuring the mystery of 5 Ronin Hulk, iZombie #11, badly drawn feet, Dark Sun sure is printed on nice paper stock, and eight comics in under a minute by Glenn.



Be sure to check out the All Things Fun! website and the All Things Fun! Blogs, by Allison and Glenn, and ATF! on YouTube.

Third Annual Worldwide D&D Game Day

March 21st 2009 is the third annual Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Game Day, celebrating the fantasy role-playing game created by the late Gary Gygax waaay back in the 1970s.

So grab your polyhedron dice, graph paper and lead miniatures, along with a two-liter of Mountain Dew and a bag of Doritos, re-memorize your spells and sharpen your two-handed swords and get out there and play some D&D!

Events are happening at my favorite local gaming (and comics) store, All Things Fun!, as well as locations throughout America and Europe. Start getting ready for your saving rolls!

Bender's Game

The third straight-to-DVD "Futurama" flick, Bender's Game, is a true mixed bag. It could have been one of the more hilarious half-hour episodes but they stretched it to feature length making it for the most part insufferable.

It begins with clever parody of Dungeons & Dragons, the current oil crisis and quite possibly a little bit of Sarah Palin thrown in for good measure, and then turns to mush. Most of the second part of this one is an adventure taking place in a D&D-like world satirizing Lord of the Rings, and doing it badly.

This DVD doesn't even have any fun extras that could possibly make up for the lack of quality in the actual feature. In my opinion, more Hypnotoad, both figuratively and literally, could have helped this package quite a bit. I recommend you skip this one, wait for it to show up on basic cable, and hope for the final "Futurama" feature to improve on this downward spiral.

Beast with a Billion Backs

Futurama: The Beast with a Billion Backs ~ David Cross is a sick sick monkey, and I think he’s hilarious. His presence can virtually turn around a usually bad movie – witness Alvin and the Chipmonks, he made that flick fall-down-and-wet-yourself funny. So when I heard he had a major guest-starring role in the second “Futurama” feature I was already sold.

Things pick up from the last feature as if we hadn’t had to wait a few months. Amy and Kif get hitched, Fry gets a polyamorous girlfriend and there’s a rip in time and space above the earth. As with any extra-dimensional rift, it must be explored, and there a polyamorous tentacle monster named Yivo, played by Cross, is found. It goes downhill from there.

Little things like the Death Ball Arena, the Upscale Human Domicile, the Exorcist 2 and Wishmaster references and of course everything with David Cross are kind of amusing, but for the most part, this feature doesn’t come close to Bender’s Big Score or even the TV series. The subplots are boring and I’m being kind. If only there was more David Cross, love his gonorrhea joke though. Nothing on the DVD special features either this time out, although the preview for the next one looks fairly interesting - a spoof on Dungeons & Dragons. There are two more of these straight-to-DVD Futuramas coming so maybe they can make up for this one.

Uncle Monsterface - This is an Adventure!

Uncle Monsterface is one of those bands that has to be seen and heard. You just can’t get the full effect from listening to their music, even though the tunes are very cool. The Massachusetts-based 'sock puppet rock band' is an experience. Taking their musical cues from Devo, Ookla the Mok, the Dead Milkmen and They Might Be Giants, and their lyrical inspiration from videogames, comic books, television and even Harry Potter – throw in some "Muppet Show" sensibility, a little improv cabaret and some "Kids in the Hall," and you’ve got the full Monsterface stage experience.

Like their previous work, the new album "This is an Adventure!" is another loving musical journey back into geek pop culture. Superheroes, videogames and Dungeons & Dragons permeate the tunes as well as the most fun you’ve had since you played your Nintendo 64. My favorites are "Kill Your Boyfriend!" "Save Our Superheroes," "The Gary Gygax Song" and especially that clash of the titans, "Mashed Potato Vs. Vampire." But the whole CD is marvelous. And if you hurry, you can download it for free, with a promise, at their website. Your favorite Uncle is also available on iTunes as well.



Don’t forget to check them out when they come to your town with Harry and the Potters and Math the Band on the Unlimited Enthusiasm Tour this summer – in Philly on June 29th. Come on out! After all how many bands have their own sock puppet monster?

Album artwork by Daria Tessler, band photo by Shannon Casey Splain. Uncle Monsterface can also be found on MySpace. And special thanks to the original Potterdelphian, Andrea, for turning me on to this band.

Worldwide Dungeons & Dragons Day 2008

Saturday, June 7th is Worldwide D&D Game Day this year. This year the day also corresponds with the release of Dungeons & Dragons, the 4th edition. I know, I know, most of us never saw a reason for a 2nd edition but apparently the folks at Wizards of the Coast really do need two Ferraris in their driveways.

Also for those of you local to the South Jersey/Philadelphia area, stop on by All Things Fun! to enjoy the festivities of the day.

Dungeons and Dragons and Death

E. Gary Gygax, the father of Dungeons & Dragons, passed away this morning.

Most of the world's nerd/geek culture community is mourning the man's passing today. For those who don't know, Gygax created the game "Dungeons & Dragons," or as most of us geeks know it - D&D.

While I don't play D&D much any longer, not for years actually, it was a formative force in my young adulthood. I began playing some time in 1980 and it was, as it was for many folks, the gateway drug to other role-playing games. When I began playing it was a seriously nerd thing but eventually became more accepted, and is now in many ways much cooler than it used to be. I met my best friend playing the game, I met my future wife playing the game, heck, I've even taught the game in school. I've professionally playtested role-playing games and even demonstrated new ones at conventions. More importantly, one of my first professional sales was research for an unpublished sourcebook for a role-playing game. D&D had meant a lot in my life.

Sorry to see Gary missed his final saving roll. Rest in peace, man.