#scott chitwood

[cultfaction]

Preview: Afterburn Vol. 2 (TPB)

Soon to be a motion picture starring Dave Bautista and Samuel L. Jackson! Jake and his friends are hired to recover Holy Relics from the Burn Zone, but so are other teams of rival treasure hunters. Soon enough, the race is on the collect the most prizes. But little do they know they may be headed towards a threat they can’t escape from. Written by Scott Chitwood with art by Roderick Thornton.  

[mutant-ninja-anole]

Some comics I’ve been reading this month.

[graphicpolicy]

Red 5 Comics in February 2022

Red 5 Comics in February 2022 #Comics #ComicBooks

FICTIONAUTS #1 Mauro Mantella (A) Leandro Rizzo (CA) Alvaro PapagianiFC · 32 pages · $3.95Available February 16, 2022DEC211800 They’ve battled Moby Dick, matched wits with Dickens, and befriended a kingdom of evolved sea monkeys! They’re the genre hopping heroes of Hypercity: the Fictionauts! Fantasy is a serious business for this team, as they scour fictional worlds to right dangerous…

[oosteven-universe]

Afterburn: Crossfire #1

Afterburn #3 Red 5 Comics #3 Created & Written by Scott Chitwood Illustrated by Rod Thornton Coloured by Sean Lee Lettered by Dave Lanphear of A Larger World Studio     Desperate to save his friends, Jake commandeers a train and races towards Rome with the help of former rival Galeno. With mutant soldiers and Hidinger's team hot on his heels, Jake fears he may be too late. Little does he know that his friends have already been captured by Castillo, a mysterious mutant leader with ties to Drea's past.     God how I am fan of this series. There is just something about an apocalyptic world with mutated humans that brings a huge smile to my face. Of course the whole world isn't like this but that's okay the ruined part of the world is where the action is at. Also all those relics folks are willing to pay the big bucks to have recovered to either keep them for selfish reasons or to exemplify that they have power of some sort. Jake however doesn't care what their reasons are so long as the money's good as his fate is somewhat already written. Though if their current employer isn't lying and he brings them in instead of Hidinger that fate may be rewritten.     That Scott is able to take this to a level that it's at and with so many layers within the story is amazing to see. The way this is structured is so nicely done. The pacing is strong and how the story & plot development and character development manage to weave in, out and around each other is well done. The way that we see events unfold is great and to find out how Drea knows Castillo that's just an added bonus to everything else. With as much stuff that is going on here you would almost think it was omni-shambles but it's far from that as can be. It has this crazy rhythm to it that just works.     I love the characterisation here as well. No one is left out in how they come across so that we see the same treatment to team and their adversaries alike means we get to find those characters we like, we love to hate and those we definitely want to see more of. I may never have been a fan of the Pope but this one is beyond crazy and infected so yeah I am kind of fascinated by him.     By the nine circles of hell are these interiors so exceptionally well done. Alright so while I don't know what is by hand or computer generated all I do know is that things like the train or the inside the Vatican City Cathedral, heck even the Chinook or whatever type of Helicopter that is are amazingly well rendered in their attention to detail. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective show a sensational eye for storytelling. The colour work is fantastic as well and the way that we see light sources utilised to create shading and shadows is so strongly represented. The night time darkness really does manage to create just the right mood, tone and feel needed for this part of the adventure.     I will say that things in the book have to unfold the way the do. This is how to get the maximum impact as well as extend things into the next book. Besides it does help with the characterisation as well since what we see has this supposed to have a profound effect on the characters. It certainly does have one on me and that last page certainly gives that cliffhanger style ending though in a most non-traditional way. Though while I have my suspicions as to who was eliminated from the race on this leg of journey I do wish that were a little more clear. ​     With the setting and the premise behind the motives what we see here is so much more fun, interesting and exhilarating than any other action/adventure thriller than I have seen in quite some time.

[adam-driver-online]

Adam Driver interviewed by Scott Chitwood for Comingsoon.net. Credit to Comingsoon.net

[downthetubes]

Red 5 Comics "The Dark Age" picked up for new TV project

Red 5 Comics “The Dark Age” picked up for new TV project

Christopher Lemole and Tim Zajaros, founders of Armory Films, are teaming with Knightfall co-creator Don Handfield on The Dark Age, based on a comic series from US publisher Red 5 Comics, Deadline reports. Red 5 Comics will release the comic – written by Don Handfield, the co-creator of The Rift, and Scott Chitwood, with art by Rod Thornton and Leonardo Rodrigues– before it’s developed into a…

[thecomicon]

Jung Byung-gil To Direct Afterburn Adaption

Jung Byung-gil To Direct Afterburn Adaption

  The adaptation of Red 5 Comics’ Afterburn finally has a director. Deadline reports Korean filmmaker Jung Byung-gil will helm the production, which is set to star Gerard Butler. Created by Paul Ens, Scott Chitwood, and Wayne Nichols, the series was set in a near-future following the arrival of a devastating solar flare. While Earth’s technological civilization was shattered, man’s quest for…

[bountyofbeads]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/08/18/us/three-potential-attacks-foiled/index.html?__twitter_impression=true

FOUR people have been arrested for threatening to commit mass shootings over the past two weeks. 3 of them expressed white supremacist racism.

Brandon Wagshol, 22, CT

Tristian Wix, 25, FL

James Reardon Jr., 20, OH

Richard Clayton, 26, FL

Notice any kind of similarity?

“Reardon is an avowed anti-Semite and white nationalist and attended the deadly "Unite the Right" rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017” - he is literally one of Trump’s “very fine people”

Why is Reardon not being charged with a hate crime? Why aren’t they all being charged with terrorism charges? Our federal laws need to change with these times

There could have been three more mass shootings if these men weren't stopped, authorities say

By Dakin Andone, Harmeet Kaur and Madeline Holcombe | Updated 6:40 PM EDT, Sun August 18, 2019 | CNN | Posted August 18, 2019 6:55 PM ET |

(CNN)Authorities this weekend announced they had foiled three  potential mass shootings��after arresting three men in different states who expressed interest in or threatened to carry them out.

All three cases were brought to authorities' attention thanks to tips from the public.

Here's what we know about them.

Police say he had the motivation and the ammunition

In Connecticut, 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol was arrested after authorities said he had expressed interest in committing a mass shooting on Facebook, according to a statement from the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department.

He faces four charges of illegal possession of large capacity magazines, and is being held on a $250,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court September 6.

According to the statement, authorities received a tip that Wagshol was trying to buy large capacity rifle magazines from out of state.

As the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department were investigating the tip, they discovered Wagshol was trying to build his own rifle and had allegedly posted on Facebook about his interest in committing a mass shooting, the statement said. Authorities did not provide details on what the post said.

Authorities executed a search warrant at his home and found multiple weapons, including a handgun, a rifle, a rifle scope with a laser, numerous rounds of ammunition, body armor, a ballistic helmet and other tactical gear, police said. Some of the weapons were registered to Wagshol's father, but he had access to them, authorities said.

CNN has reached out to the prosecutor and defense attorney.

He allegedly told his ex 'A good 100 kills would be nice'

Tristan Scott Wix of Daytona Beach, Florida, was arrested in a Winn-Dixie parking lot on Friday after he sent his ex-girlfriend a series of disturbing texts in which he allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. The ex-girlfriend alerted authorities.

In the messages, the 25-year-old said he wanted to open fire on a large crowd of people, the sheriff's office said in a news release. "A good 100 kills would be nice," one message allegedly read. Wix also said he already had a location in mind, according to the sheriff's office.

"A school is a weak target.. id be more likely to open fire on a large crowd of people from over 3 miles away.. I'd wanna break a world record for longest confirmed kill ever," another message read, according to the sheriff's office.

Wix wrote that he wanted to die and "have fun doing it," authorities said.

Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said on CNN Sunday that authorities had recovered a .22-caliber hunting rifle and 400 rounds of ammo in Wix's apartment. Wix had initially told investigators he did not own any firearms but that he was fascinated with mass shootings, the sheriff's office said.

Wix was being held without bond Sunday at the Volusia County Branch Jail. CNN could not immediately determine Sunday whether Wix had an attorney.

He's accused of threatening a Jewish community center

And in Ohio, 20-year-old James Patrick Reardon was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a Youngstown Jewish community center.

An Instagram account belonging to Reardon shared a video that showed a man firing a gun, New Middletown Police Chief Vincent D'Egidio told CNN. The post -- which was shown to an officer out on an unrelated call -- tagged the Jewish Community Center of Youngstown, D'Egidio said.

It's unclear whether the man shooting the gun was Reardon or someone else.

Andy Lipkin, the executive vice-president of the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation, said the post was accompanied by a caption that read, "Police identified the Youngstown Jewish Family Community shooter as local white nationalist Seamus O'Rearedon" -- Seamus being a Gaelic version of Reardon's name.

The rest of the Instagram account contained anti-Semitic comments, white nationalist content, and images of Reardon or someone else shooting guns, D'Egidio said.

A search warrant was executed and authorities found a cache of weapons and ammunition, D'Egidio told CNN.

Reardon was arrested without incident and booked into the Mahoning County Jail on Saturday on one count of telecommunications harassment and one count of aggravated menacing, according to online jail records. He's set to be arraigned Monday morning, the police chief said.

It was unclear whether Reardon was represented by an attorney.

CNN's Taylor Romine, Shawn Nottingham, Kristina Sgueglia and Melissa Alonso contributed to this report.

[dragoni]

America has a #WhiteDomesticTerrorist problem and they’re all in the Trump — Republican demographic.

Connecticut

In Connecticut, 22-year-old Brandon Wagshol was arrested after authorities said he had expressed interest in committing a mass shooting on Facebook, according to a statement from the FBI and the Norwalk Police Department.

When authorities executed a search warrant at his home, they found numerous weapons, including a handgun, a rifle, a rifle scope with laser, numerous rounds of ammunition, body armor, ballistic helmet and other tactical gear, police said. While some of the weapons were registered to his father, he had access to them, authorities said.

Florida

25 year old Tristan Scott Wix of Daytona Beach, Florida, was arrested in a Winn-Dixie parking lot on Friday after he sent his ex-girlfriend a series of disturbing texts in which he allegedly threatened to commit a mass shooting, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office said. The ex-girlfriend alerted authorities.

Volusia County Sheriff Michael Chitwood said on CNN Sunday that authorities had recovered a .22-caliber hunting rifle and 400 rounds of ammo in Wix's apartment. Wix had initially told investigators he did not own any firearms but that he was fascinated with mass shootings, the sheriff's office said.

Ohio  

There was the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in Oct. 2018 and the  #DaytonShooting just 2 weeks ago.

And in Ohio, 20-year-old James Patrick Reardon was arrested for allegedly threatening to carry out a shooting at a Youngstown Jewish community center.

The rest of the Instagram account contained anti-Semitic comments, white nationalist content, and images of Reardon or someone else shooting guns, D'Egidio said.

A search warrant was executed and authorities found a cache of weapons and ammunition, D'Egidio told CNN.

#GaslightingTrump #MassShootings  #MAGAshooters

[drmichaelchitwood]

‪Another exciting conference call yesterday with Dr Scott‼️‬

‪Dr Michael Chitwood & myself were updated on the progress regarding the upcoming revitalization summit coming to AL‼️‬

‪New Mega Wealth opportunity to be released July 23-24‼️‬

‪ICCMWorldwide.org‬

‪#TuesdayMotivation ‬

[rabbittstewcomics]

Episode 333

Comic Reviews:

DC

Batman 119 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina, Tomeu Morey, John Rauch

Detective 1047 by Mariko Tamaki, Ivan Reis, Danny Miki, Matthew Rosenberg, Fernando Blanco, Jordie Bellaire, Brad Anderson

Dark Knights of Steel 3 by Tom Taylor, Yasmine Putri, Arif Prianto

Marvel

Darkhold Omega by Steve Orlando, Cian Tormey, Roberto Poggi, Marc Deering, Walden Wong, Jesus Aburtov

Wastelanders: Doom by Torunn Gronbekk, Julius Ohta, Bryan Valenza

Elektra: Black, White, and Blood 1 by Charles Soule, Declan Shalvey, Leonardo Romero, Mark Bagley, Simon D'Armini, John Dell, Edgar Delgado

Infinite Possibilities Infinity Comic by Geoffo, Dee Cunniffe

Image

Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Denys Cowan, Kent Wiliams, Chris Sotomayor

Monkey Meat 1 by Juni Ba

Dark Horse

Apache Delivery Service 1 by Matt Kindt, Tyler Jenkins, Hilary Jenkins

Dynamite

Pantha 1 by Thomas Sniegoski, Jeannine Acheson, Igor Lima, Adriano Augusto

AfterShock

Bylines in Blood 1 by Erica Schultz, Van Jensen, Aneke

Fearbook Club by Richard Hamilton, Marco Matrone

AWA

Fourth Man 1 by Jeff McComsey, Mike Deodato Jr, Lee Loughridge

Red 5

Download 1 by Scott Chitwood, Danny Luckert

Behemoth

Knight Janek 1 by Robert Sienicki, Jan Mazur, Spell, Igor Wolski

Cryptids 1 by Justin Paul, Team Diamant

Additional Reviews: Boba Fett ep2, Star Trek Prodigy, Bad movie review

News: Arkham Asylum interactive experience in London, CW for sale, Bad Idea bad idea, Lemire signs deal with Image, new X-Men Red by Ewing, JSA by Johns and Hitch not happening, Picard s2 delay, Haunting of Skeleton Town, Turning Red goes straight to Disney+, Brubaker involved in the new Batman animated series on HBO Max, the absolute stupidest Doctor Who article

Glenn asks some X-Men questions

2022 Comic Predictions

Comics Countdown

Batman 119 by Joshua Williamson, Karl Kerschl, Jorge Molina, Tomeu Morey, John Rauch

Nocterra: Blacktop Bill Special by Scott Snyder, Tony Daniel, Denys Cowan, Kent Wiliams, Chris Sotomayor

Thor 20 by Donny Cates, Nic Klein, Matt Wilson

Superman: Son of Kal-El 6 by Tom Taylor, John Timms, Hi-Fi

Fearbook Club by Richard Hamilton, Marco Matrone

Dark Knights of Steel 3 by Tom Taylor, Yasmine Putri, Arif Prianto

Black Widow 13 by Kelly Thompson, Rafael Pimentel

Not All Robots 5 by Mark Russell, Mike Deodato Jr., Lee Loughridge

Inferno 4 by Jonathan Hickman, Valerio Schiti, Stefano Caselli, David Curiel

Justice League Incarnate 3 by Joshua Williamson, Dennis Culver, Mikel Janin, Andrei Bressan, Todd Nauck, Ariel Olivetti, Nicole Virella, Hi-Fi

Check out this episode!

[graphicpolicy]

Red 5 Comics in January 2022

Red 5 Comics in January 2022 #Comics #ComicBooks

DOWNLOAD #2 Scott Chitwood (A) Danny LuckertAvailable January 12, 2022NOV211639 After having his brain filled with designs for hundreds of mysterious devices, Eric and his friends begin discovering the strange and fantastic things they can do. They’re also about to find out that other people have received the Download in the past and powerful forces will do anything to get what’s in his…

[oosteven-universe]

Afterburn: Crossfire #4

Afterburn: Crossfire #4 Red 5 Comics 2019 Written by Scott Chitwood Illustrated by Rod Thornton Coloured by Sean Lee Lettered by A Larger World Studio's Dave Lanphear     Captured by the newly formed mutant army, Jake and his rival treasure hunters find themselves imprisoned in Rome. With no hope of escape, they are forced to do battle in the ruins of the Coliseum as a warning to the rest of the world. Who will survive their fight to the death in the thrilling conclusion to the series?     I do like this series and this issue is a surprise twist unto itself for me. At the hands of the mutated Pope they are being thrown into the Colosseum and let the games begin! There is some great heart-to-heart happening here in the story and how we see things with Jack and Hidinger don't necessarily change but are complicated and rather emotional. I like this and while the two may not be friends, like ever, they do have an understanding and that underlying appreciation that will inevitably find it's way into future encounters. It really is a nice move and that conversation carries itself all the way the end of this issue.     Scott does absolutely fine work with the story here. The way that the story & plot development and character development not only unfold before us but are swept up by the pacing make this a lot more adrenaline fuelled story. Yeah we get emotional at times and we see how the team works under pressure to ensure that they all get out this! Their friendship and partnership is rendered in such a fashion that it makes the reader wish they had those kinds of friends in their lives, the literal ride or die ones that will be there without you ever asking.     Now I don't know if Scott wrote this in a cinematic fashion or not but that's definitely how it reads and considering there is a deal for a film on the table I can see how that influences his writing here. While the whole deal in the Colosseum was a hell of a ride it was too long for me personally, that's where we really see the cinematic angle come into play. It is an incredibly smart move and I am not knocking that at all so don't get the wrong idea.     The only thing I wanted in that is to see it better, lighten up the page so it's not so dark and make it feel like there's light and not happening in the dead of night where the details are lost. There really is something different about the interior artwork this issue. Aside from the overall dark setting, dark as in absence of light, it looks like we really do lose a lot of attention to detail for some reason. I mean the Pope mobile had better definition than Jake's face so yeah. While a lot of this is mood I want to see the Pope's face fully with his teeth coming out where the skin is gone. I want to see the detail in the mutated animals there so much wasted opportunity here. Don't get me wrong there is nothing here that will lessen anyone's enjoyment but this is what I see and what I wish nothing more. ​     This is a hell of a story for sure. While we don't see the end with the employer which is kind of a shame that's okay because the last page is awesome. So long as the team lives there will be another adventure (Scott you listening) because this world and these characters were born to run around in it while introducing us to sights and places as we've never seen them! Fun, raucous and smartly written and with beautiful interiors this franchise take the action thriller genre to a whole new level of sophistication and fun!

[flarechaser]

Bibliography for my term paper on evolutionary studies of homosexuality

A large part of this paper was critiquing how these studies were being done, and that included citing some pretty egregious examples of using out of date and discriminatory language. Some of those words are included in the titles. Please take care of yourself when reading these. A lot of it is interesting, and there are a lot of resources here for producing better, community oriented, respectful research that's applicable across the humanities. But it can get overwhelming. Bailey, J M, and P Bell (Bailey and Bell 1993, 313-322) 1993 Familiality of female and male homosexuality. Behavior genetics 23(4):313–22. DOI:10.1007/BF01067431. Bailey, J. Michael, Michael P. Dunne, and Nicholas G. Martin (Bailey et al 2000, 524-536) 2000 Genetic and environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78(3):524–536. DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.78.3.524. Bailey, J., RC. Pillard, MC. Neale, and Y. Agyei (Bailey et al 1993, 217-233) 1993 Heritable Factors Influence Sexual Orientation in Women. Arch Gen Psychiatry 50(3):217–223. Barber, Nigel (Barber 1998, 387-401) 1998 Ecological and psychosocial correlaties of male homosexuality. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. 29(3):387-401. Bentler, P M, and P R Abramson (Bentler and Abramson 1981, 225-251) 1981 The science of sex research: some methodological considerations. Archives of sexual behavior 10(3):225–251. DOI:10.1007/BF01543077. Blackwood, E. (Blackwood 1985, 1-17) 1985 Breaking the mirror: the construction of lesbianism and the anthropological discourse on homosexuality. [Review] [74 refs]. Journal of Homosexuality 11(3–4):1–17. DOI:10.1300/J082v11n03. Blanchard, Ray (Blanchard 2012, 551-556) 2012 Fertility in the mothers of firstborn homosexual and heterosexual men. Archives of Sexual Behavior 41(3):551–556. DOI:10.1007/s10508-011-9888-0. 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DOI:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2012.02785.x. Camperio Ciani, Andrea, and Elena Pellizzari (Camperio-Ciani and Pellizzari 2012) 2012 Fecundity of Paternal and Maternal Non-Parental Female Relatives of Homosexual and Heterosexual Men. PLoS ONE 7(12). DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0051088. Camperio-Ciani, A., F. Corna, and C. Capiluppi (Camperio-Ciani et al 2004, 2217-2221) 2004 Evidence for maternally inherited factors favouring male homosexuality and promoting female fecundity. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 271(1554):2217–2221. DOI:10.1098/rspb.2004.2872. Catania, Joseph A., David R. Gibson, Dale D. Chitwood, and Thomas J. Coates (Catania et al 1990, 339-362) 1990 Methodological problems in AIDS behavioral research: Influences on measurement error and participation bias in studies of sexual behavior. Psychological Bulletin 108(3):339–362. DOI:10.1037/0033-2909.108.3.339. Camperio-Ciani, Andrea, Francesca Iemmola, and Stan R. Blecher (Camperio-Ciani et al 2009, 449-455) 2009 Genetic factors increase fecundity in female maternal relatives of bisexual men as in homosexuals. Journal of Sexual Medicine 6(2):449–455. DOI:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2008.00944.x. Dawood, Khytam, Richard C. Pillard, Christopher Horvath, William Revelle, and J. Michael Bailey (Dawood et al 2000, 155-163) 2000 Familial aspects of male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior 29(2):155–163. DOI:10.1023/A:1001955721992. Denmark, Florence, Nancy Felipe Russo, Irene Hanson Frieze, and Jeri A Sechzer (Denmark et al 1988, 582-585) 1988 Guidelines for Avoiding Sexism in Psychological Research. American Psychologist 43(7):582–585. Fenton, K. A., A. M. Johnson, S. McManus, and B. Erens (Fenton et al 2001, 84-92) 2001 Measuring sexual behaviour: Methodological challenges in survey research. Sexually Transmitted Infections 77(2):84–92. DOI:10.1136/sti.77.2.84. Forrester, Deanna L., Doug P. Vanderlaan, Jessica L. Parker, and Paul L. Vasey (Forrester et al 2011, 339-352) 2011 Male sexual orientation and avuncularity in Canada: Implications for the Kin selection Hypothesis. Journal of Cognition and Culture 11(3–4):339–352. DOI:10.1163/156853711X591288. Herek, Gregory M., Douglas C. Kimmel, Hortensia Amaro, and Gary B. Melton (Herek et al 1991, 957-963) 1991 Avoiding Heterosexist Bias in Psychological Research. American Psychologist 46(9):957–963. DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.46.9.957. Hershberger, Scott L (Hershberger 2016, 212-222) 2016 A Twin Registry Study of Male and Female Sexual Orientation. The Journal of Sex Research 34(2):212–222. Hoffman, Louis, and Justin Lincoln (Hoffman and Lincoln 2011) 2011 Science, interpretation, and identity in the sexual orientation debate: What does finger length have to do with understanding a person? [References]. PsycCRITIQUES 56(15). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0023178. Idani, G. (Idani 1991, 83-95) 1991 Social Relationships between Immigrant and Resident Bonobo (Pan paniscus) Females at Wamba. Folia Primatologica 57(2):83–95. DOI:10.1159/000156568. Iemmola, Francesca, and Andrea Camperio Ciani (Iemmola and Camperio-Ciani 2009, 393-399) 2009 New evidence of genetic factors influencing sexual orientation in men: Female fecundity increase in the maternal line. Archives of Sexual Behavior 38(3):393–399. DOI:10.1007/s10508-008-9381-6. Jensen Krige, Eileen (Jensen Krige 2017) 2017 Woman-Marriage, with Special Reference to the Loυedu. Its Significance for the Definition of Marriage. Journal of the International African Institute, Vol . 44, No. 1 44(1). Kirkpatrick, R. C. (Kirkpatrick 2000, 385-413) 2000 The Evolution of Human Homosexual Behavior. Current Anthropology 41(3):385–413. DOI:10.1086/300145. LeVay, Simon (LeVay 1997, 172-193) 1997 Chapter 9 Genes. In Queer science: the use and abuse of research into homosexuality, pp. 172–193. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA Manson, Joseph H, Susan Perry, and Amy R Parish (Manson, Perry, and Parish 1997, 767-786) 1997 Nonconceptive Sexual Behavior in Bonobos and Capuchins. International Journal of Primatology 18(5):767–786. DOI:10.1023/A. Melton, Gary B. (Melton 1989, 933-940) 1989 Public Policy and Private Prejudice Psychology and Law on Gay Rights. American Psychologist 44(6):933–940. DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.44.6.933. Melton, Gary B., Robert J. Levine, Gerald P. Koocher, Robert Rosenthal, and William C. Thompson (Melton et al 1988, 573-581) 1988 Community Consultation in Socially Sensitive Research: Lessons From Clinical Trials of Treatments for AIDS. American Psychologist 43(7):573–581. DOI:10.1037/0003-066X.43.7.573. Morin, Stephen F. (Morin 1977, 35-58) 1977 Heterosexual bias in psychological research on lesbianism and male homosexuality (1979-1983), utilizing the bibliographic and taxonomic system of Morin (1977). Journal of homosexuality 13(1):35–58. DOI:10.1300/J082v13n01_03. Murphy, Timothy F. (Murphy 1998, 1-11) (Murphy 1998, 13-48) 1998 Introduction. In Gay science: the ethics of sexual orientation research, pp. 1–11. Columbia University Press, New York. 1998 Chapter 1 Scientific Accounts of Sexual Orientation. In Gay science: the ethics of sexual orientation research, pp. 13-48. Columbia University Press, New York. Parish, Amy Randall (Parish 1994, 157-179) 1994 Sex and food control in the “uncommon chimpanzee”: How Bonobo females overcome a phylogenetic legacy of male dominance. Ethology and Sociobiology 15(3):157–179. DOI:10.1016/0162-3095(94)90038-8. Rahman, Qazi, Anthony Collins, Martine Morrison, Jennifer Claire Orrells, Khatija Cadinouche, Sherene Greenfield, and Sabina Begum (Rahman et al 2008, 962-969) 2008 Maternal inheritance and familial fecundity factors in male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior 37(6):962–969. DOI:10.1007/s10508-007-9191-2. Rahman, Qazi, and Matthew S. Hull (Rahman and Hull 2005, 461-467) 2005 An empirical test of the kin selection hypothesis for male homosexuality. Archives of Sexual Behavior 34(4):461–467. DOI:10.1007/s10508-005-4345-6. Rind, Bruce (Rind 2016, 397-407) 2016 Biased Use of Cross-Cultural and Historical Perspectives on Male Homosexuality in Human Sexuality Textbooks. 35(4):397–407. Roscoe, Will (Roscoe 1987, 81-172) 1987 Bibliography of Berdache and Alternative Gender Roles Among North American Indians, Journal of Homosexuality, 14:3-4, 81-172 Schroder, Kerstin E E, Michael P Carey, and Peter A Vanable (Schroder et al 2005, 96-99) 2005 Methodological Challenges in Research on Sexual Risk Behavior: III. Response to Commentary. Annals of Behavioral Medicine 29(2):96–99. Smuts, Barbara, and John M. Watanabe (Smuts and Watanabe 1990, 147-172) 1990 Social relationships and ritualized greetings in adult male baboons (Papio cynocephalus anubis). International Journal of Primatology 11(2):147–172. Strassberg, Donald S., and Kristi Lowe (Strassberg and Lowe 1995, 269-382) 1995 Volunteer bias in sexuality research. Archives of Sexual Behavior 24(4):369–382. DOI:10.1007/BF01541853. Vasey, Paul L (Vasey 1996, 539-551) 1996 Interventions and alliance formation between female Japanese macaques, Macaca fuscata, during homosexual consortships. Animal Behaviour 52(1991):539–551. DOI:10.1006/anbe.1996.0196. Vasey, Paul L., and Doug P. Vanderlaan (Vasey and Vanderlaan 2012, 209-215) 2012 Sexual orientation in men and avuncularity in Japan: Implications for the kin selection hypothesis. Archives of Sexual Behavior 41(1):209–215. DOI:10.1007/s10508-011-9763-z. Williams, Walter (Williams 2001) 2001 Benefits for Nonhomophobic Societies: An Anthropological Perspective. In Ed. Warren Blumenfeld Homophobia: how we all pay the price. Beacon Press, Boston. Wiederman, Michael W. (Wiederman 1999, 59-66) 1999 Volunteer bias in sexuality research using college student participants. Journal of Sex Research 36(1):59–66. DOI:10.1080/00224499909551968. Wilson, Edward O. (Wilson 1975) 1975 Sociobiology: the new synthesis. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA. Wrangham, Richard W. (Wrangham 1993, 47-79) 1993 The evolution of sexuality in chimpanzees and bonobos. Human Nature 4(1):47–79. DOI:10.1007/BF02734089.

[thecomedybureau]

Brooklyn’s Got Two Weeks of Festivals with 2017 Cinder Block and Final Eugene Mirman Comedy Fests

This weekend and next, Brooklyn will have two big comedy festivals that you might want to check out (there are some great LA comics paying a visit as well!).

The 2017 Cinder Block Comedy Festival will run this week Thursday 9/7-Sunday 9/10 in several venues throughout Brooklyn. 

On the line-up: Janeane Garofalo Jeffrey Joseph Judy Gold Nikki Carr  Aida Rodriguez Amy Miller   Carole Montgomery Jo Firestone Shalewa Sharpe Aaron Chasteen Alex Fleming Alison Klemp Alvin Irby Amanda McQueen American Express (improv) Amy Shanker Arish Singh Astronomy Club (sketch & improv) Barbara Bush (sketch) Bill Larkin Brian Mitchell Brian Parise Caitlin Durante Caitlin Peluffo Cameran Hebb Camille Theobald Cara Connors Carolyn Castiglia Carter Deems Cassandra Dee Catherine Zini Cathy Humes Chloe McGovern Christina Catherine Martinez Christina Galston Christopher Crespo Coree Spencer Danielle Thralow Derrick Lemos Drew Anderson Ed Galvez Elsa Waithe Emily Winter Emmett Montgomery Erin Lynn O'Connor Erin Spencer Fantasy Grandma Gastor Almonte Gianmarco Soresi Hana Michels Harris Alterman Irene Merrow J Smitty Ja-Ron Young Jacky Beren James Huessy Jenn Wehrung Jenn Welch Jes Tom Joanna Briley Kara Buller Kat Herskovic Kate Willett Katherine Jessup Katie Barbaro Katie Boyle Kelli Dunham Khalid Rahmaan Kristee Ono L Michelle Laura Merli Lauren Faber Lauren Hope Krass Lynn Bixenspan Maddy Smith Mamoudou N'Diaye Marie Faustin Marisa Douenias Mark James Heath Mark Pagán Marlon Jean-Baptiste Maurice Licorish Molly Kornfeld Mostly Sara(h) (improv) My Dark Little Corner Nanie Mendez Nasser Khan Nick Chambers Nicki Wright Nina Manni Patrick Holbert Pedro Gonzalez Rae Sanni Raghav Mehta Raj Sivaraman Rhonda Hansome Riley Silverman Rosa Escandón Sam & Bill Sammie James Sarah Kennedy Sarah Sherman Sharron Paul Shelly Colman Sonya Vai Steven DeSiena Steven Castillo Stine An Subhah Agarwal Sydnee Washington The Gay Trauma Archives (sketch) The Unconventional Lesbians Took Edalow Tyler Snodgrass Whitney Chitwood Will Winner Yogi Paliwal Zack Hammond

More specifically, there will be an “Educated Guess Science Fair” and another round of “What a Joke!”, a comedy showcase that raises funds for the ACLU.

Get more details, schedule, etc. here.

The 10th and final Eugene Mirman Comedy Festival will run from Friday 9/15-Tuesday 9/19 at The Bell House, Union Hall, and King’s Theater. 

On the line-up:  Whoopi Goldberg, Michael Ian Black, Reggie Watts, Todd Barry, TJ Miller, Ira Glass, Michelle Wolf, Scott Adsit, Michael Showalter, Bobcat Goldthwait, Caroline Rhea, Jon Glaser, Mike Birbiglia, Janeane Garofalo, Robyn Hitchcock, Wyatt Cenac, Sarah Vowell, Ophira Eisenberg, Aparna Nancherla, Maeve Higgins, Derrick Brown, Joel Kim Booster, Kyle Ayers plus StarTalk Live with Neil deGrasse Tyson, career advice from a unicyclist, a Mike Pence look-a-like afterparty, and more. 

Also, part of Eugene’s signature hijinks, he’ll be doing a “A Day of Cardboard” where companies can choose to sponsor a box for hundreds or thousands of dollars where Eugene will write about that company on said box.

Get more details and tickets here.

[weekendwarriorblog]

CAPTAIN MARVEL: ED’s Very Important Thoughts on Marvel’s Latest (Possible Minor Spoilers!)

So I’m going to try a bit of a two-fold experiment here. The first part of the experiment is whether I can set aside a few personal grudges against those involved with making this movie (which I won’t get into right now) to write a fair and balanced review. I think I can do it.

Caveat:  I wasn’t too happy about the seat/theater in which I saw the movie. Normally I’d go for IMAX but that screening didn’t start until after 8pm, and the seat I reserved ended up being further back then I liked and also was too far to the side so part of the screen was blocked. The sound wasn’t too great either, definitely not loud enough, but hey, I’ll do my best.

The other caveat is that I’m only going to write this review for an hour, and once that hour is up, I’m done talking about Captain Marvel, other than in terms of box office or other aspects for my day job at The Beat. To make this easier, I’m gonna break this down into a few categories, borrowing from one of my old colleagues at ComingSoon.net, Mr. Scott Chitwood.

I’m not going to talk too much about the plot, because that’s probably wherein lies the most spoilers for the movie, because even if you think you know the general story and how some of the characters play into it, there are quite a few nice surprises.

The movie starts on Hala, homeworld of the Kree, where Brie Larson’s “Vers” is training with her Commander, played by Jude Law. They go on a mission to stop a Skrull invasion of a small defenseless planet, and in the battle, Vers is captured, her mind is played with and she gets transported to earth circa 1995 where she runs into S.H.I.E.L.D. agents Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and his new recruit Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg). The Skrulls, led by Ben Mendelsohn’s Talos, are right on her tail, looking for some sort of hyperdrive, but Vers is haunted by implanted memories, and she wants to find answers, taking her and Fury to Pegasus.

What I Liked:

Brie Larson was a wise pick for Carol Danvers/ Captain Marvel. She’s a damn good actor and she brings her all to a character who is highly complicated in terms of emotions and backstory. My personal issues with Larson have nothing to do with the character or her abilities as an actor, but her decision to be a Social Justice Warrior and make a big deal about using her celebrity to constitute change���  without really know what she’s talking about. I’m sure that in a few years from now, when she’s a little older and maybe learns a bit more about the business side of things, she’ll understand why what she’s been doing is actually angering people who would support her, especially if and when she decides to move further into directing. Don’t get me wrong. I think she’s entitled to speak her opinion, as is every woman, but you can’t go after men, especially those who have been the ones whose fandom have helped Marvel get to where it’s at. Anyone who was surprised by the fanboy reaction, just doesn’t have a clue how the internet works.

I loved seeing the Kree and Skrull brought to the screen finally, and for the most part, the movie used them well to set-up future conflicts between the Kree and Skrull in other MCU films.

Similarly, I’ve been a fan of Ben Mendelsohn for a long time and I could say the same for Jude Law, so their casting in the movie was definitely going to be primary reasons for me to want to see this. Mendelsohn is great in a role that allows him to play in creature make-up but also for him to play with a few other roles including playing Fury’s S.H.I.E.L.D. supervisor who looks surprisingly like… Ben Mendelsohn. There’s a lot more to his Skrull Talos than I expected going in, and I owe a lot of that to him reuniting with his Mississippi Grind directors, as he was fantastic in that movie as well.

Directors Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck do quite an amazing job when you consider that they’ve mainly been working in the realm of independent film and have never had such an enormous CG-heavy movie with such a big budget. Granted, at this point, Marvel Studios has its team of designers and CG people who basically do the job they do, but that also added up to one of my issues, which you can read below.

Many others have raved about the cat Goose, who Nick Fury quickly bonds with while infiltrating Pegasus, and Goose frequently does steal scenes from the human actors. There’s also a lot more to Goose than you may think, and that’s another fun surprise of the film.

What I Didn’t Like:

I can understand why it was important to include the young girl version of Monica Rambeau in the story to set up possibly having Photon in a future MCU movie, but man, I’m so not into Disney’s decision to keep forcing kids into these movies. I had the same issue with Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 -- still my least favorite MCU movie -- and at least Akira and Azari Akbar, who played the younger Monica, were better than the kid teamed with Downey for that movie.

I just didn’t get the point of Annette Bening’s character at all, and I didn’t think she brought much to the story at all. Sure, I can understand her place in the story  but she was given the name of a character that I thought was played by Jude Law, and it just made things confusing

That brings us to the overuse of nostalgia to keep showing how the movie takes place in the ‘90s. Boden and Fleck absolutely go overboard with it, not just showing locations like a Blockbuster Video or making references but every song is from the ‘90s and not all of them work for the film. I had the same issue with last year’s Bumblebee, because while I loved the music in the ‘80s and ‘90s, I felt that both movies were deliberately trying to win points by using popular songs. For instance, having a scene with Bening dancing to Nirvana’s “Come As You Are” served little purpose, and the use of No Doubt’s “Just A Girl” during one of Captain Marvel’s fights was so obvious that it hurt the scene more than helped. I feel like things like this will have to be blamed on what James Gunn did in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, but in those cases, he found really interesting and often 

The opening scenes in Hala and the other planet basically looked like so many other Marvel movies as well. Those scenes could have just as easily been in one of the Thor or Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and it makes me feel like Marvel’s design and art team is starting to get burnt out. Marvel really needs to make a few movies that look vastly different from what we’ve seen before, because at this point, the criticism that all of Marvel’s movies look the same is starting to be very true.

Most of the visual FX were decent, but seeing a younger Samuel Jackson/Nick Fury was a bit disconcerting at first since CG is used to make him look younger for the entire film. Also, the Skrulls, whether they’re created using make-up or CG or a combination of both, look a little cheesy compared to, say, Josh Brolin’s Thanos. Stuff like that really takes away from things like Mendelsohn’s performance when he’s in Skrull form.

I was pretty excited that Lee Pace’s Ronan the Accuser and Djimon Hounsou’s Korath from Guardians of the Galaxy were included in the story, but they had so little to do and added so little to the story, same with Gemma Chan’s Minerva.

I also didn’t need to be hit over the head with the movie’s Social Justice Warrior agenda about how women can do anything and that they shouldn’t be underestimated. DUH. See, kids, us grown-ups have known that for many, many decades, and we certainly don’t need a Marvel movie to teach us important life lessons, thank you very much. This just adds to my feelings like these MCU movies are trying to drive home messages rather than just be escapist entertainment.

What I Was Ambivalent About But Feel It’s Worth Mentioning Anyway:

It was really hard to tell if the humor in the movie worked, because there was a guy near me, who was just laughing so hard and loud at every single line regardless of how funny or not it was. Oddly, I had this exact same problem when I saw Bumblebee, too, and it’s why I often refer to fanboys as “rubes” because they will laugh at just about everything.

I also didn’t feel the sound was decent enough in my screening to have an opinion on the score, which is usually a big deal for me.

Something I Loved (That Might Be Considered a Minor Spoiler) But That Kept Me from Hating the Movie:

One of the initial issues I had with the idea of making a Captain Marvel movie was that I didn’t think even Marvel Studios could create an origin story out of the mangled mess that is the character in the comics. I mean, there was another Captain Marvel aka Mar-Vell who had Nega-Bands that let him change into this perennial Marvel sidekick named Rick Jones, and Ms. Marvel’s origins came out of air force pilot Carol Danvers getting a blood transfusion from Mar-Vell. She then went on to a number of different guises and monikers over the years, and I knew that there was no way to cover everything.

That said, I was really impressed with how the filmmakers broke away from the comics in a big way and to the point where there lots of twists and surprises in terms of which characters were good and which were bad. In other words, more than any other MCU movie, Captain Marvel plays with the grey area between good and evil which exists in the real world. That’s something that just isn’t done very much in this day and age, especially in movies, so delivering so many surprises was my favorite thing about the movie.

Basically, Captain Marvel ends up somewhere in the range of the first Ant-Man movie in my book, although I’ve already been liking the movie more as I’ve thought about it, so it might get another viewing very soon. I definitely liked the characters in the movie more than I did the ones in Black Panther, and I think Carol Danvers/Captain Marvel is going to be more than a worthy addition to the Avengers. I wish her introduction to the MCU was handled a bit better, but in my mind, Captain Marvel does the job it was meant to do, and I can understand how some people might like it more than others.

Rating: 7/10