The Lone Ranger: Top 10

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies,

Disney has released a trailer for their new Lone Ranger movie, coming out in 2013. It’s directed by Gore Verbinski (Pirates of the Caribbean, Mousehunt), and written by Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio (The Mask of Zorro) and Justin Haythe (Revolutionary Road).

The Lone Ranger stars Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as his trusty companion.

After looking at the trailer, here are my thoughts:

10. Klinton Spilsbury is very happy now

9. Cowboy and Alien?

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Tim Burton’s Seaweed: Euthora Timburtoni

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Movies,

Tim Burton has directed a ton of quirkily wonderful movies – from Beetlejuice and Batman to Edward Scissorhands and Alice In Wonderland. He’s won all kinds of awards and accolades and made Johnny Depp a star. But you know what he has that no other celebrity has so far? His own seaweed!

That’s right. There’s a new brand of Tim Burton seaweed, courtesy of Bridgette Clarkston, a University of New Brunswick researcher, up in Canada.

Clarkston, so obviously the smartest girl in school this year, discovered the previously unidentified species through DNA samples and named it Euthora timburtoni, citing the director Tim Burton as someone who inspires her. The underwater weed can currently be found in the water off British Columbia.

I think there’s still time to get her on a panel for San Diego and I think this could be the start of a whole new Hollywood trend. How about the James Cameron‘s 3-D krill? Michael Bay’s nudibranch? Dennis Dugan’s Clownfish? Someone should get their agent on the phone right now!

[Artwork: a cool Edward Scissorhands drawing by Tim Burton]

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Captain Swing by Warren Ellis & Raulo Caceres

Posted by Tom Mason Categories: Editorials, Independent,

Yo-ho-ho. If you love your pirates and you’re a little bit burned out by Johnny Depp and the many, many Pirates of the Caribbean, you might be looking for something a little different in the “pirate” category. If you can expand your definition to include Bow Street Runners, flintlocks, and “flying things that aren’t supposed to fly?” then February 2010 has something for you. It’s the start of a new four-issue mini-series by Warren Ellis (Supergod; No Hero) and Raulo Caceres (Gravel; Crecy) from Avatar called Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island.

Described as “an electrical romance of a pirate utopia thwarted,” Captain Swing is set in London, 1830. That would be the Warren Ellis London of 1830 in which copper Charlie Gravel starts seeing things, including the legendary Spring-Heeled Jack. I love the Bow Street Runners. They figure prominently in the mystery novels of Bruce Alexander (Blind Justice) and Richard Falkirk (Blackstone), and I’m curious to see what this new incarnation will be like.

This is an Avatar book, so expect some cover variants and a retailer incentive, but best of all, it’s a new Ellis mini-series and I’m looking forward to it.

[Artwork: One of the covers to Captain Swing And The Electrical Pirates of Cindery Island, © Warren Ellis]

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