Culture

It's that time of year again -- time to take stock of last year's entertainment offerings and decide which was the best of the best (of the best, sir!) (Okay, who let Captain America in here?)

Last year Critical Blast let its readers choose the best among Movies, Television Shows, and Actors in each. This year, we've doubled our categories to include Novels and Comics (selecting the best Writer, Artist and Storyline) for the year.

We put forth nominees in each category (after much careful discussion, a few beers, and one chipped tooth), and presented those to you, our readers -- making sure we also let the readers nominate a write-in candidate that our staff, in its infinitessimal wisdom, might have overlooked.

On Saturday, May 14 from 9 PM - Midnight, Critical Blast and Iron Room will present the First Annual Post-Con Costume Party in Atlantic City!  So, enjoy the day at ACBC then head over to the Iron Room!  

First off, let's talk money.  And we're talking a lot of money.  There are $1,100 in total cash prizes!  The event kicks off at 9 but judging begins at 10pm in a wide variety of categories.  

Want a breakdown, well check this out:

In a 'worst to first' ranking, I give unto you, the Star Wars movies ranked with nothing to quantify it other than my personal preference.

Episode I: The Phantom Menace - With a child actor who delivers dialogue as bland as the plot and an amphibious alien whose attempts at comedy relief are more distracting than anything else, The Phantom Menace is clearly the weakest of the franchise. Even the fast-paced intensity of the duel between Obi-Wan, Qui-Gon and Darth Maul can't save this movie from being the worst of the bunch.
When they retconned the force into bacteria, the magic was destroyed.

I've regularly attended comic and sci-fi conventions, or whatever you want to call them these days, since the '80s.  Let me tell you, the experience has changed quite a bit in those decades.  In the past, cons were mostly a place to shop for merchandise, dress in costume, meet like-minded people, or schmooze comic creators.  Today, it's more about celebrity signings, video games, or movie and television panels.  Geeks have seemingly overwhelmed the Earth and every niche wants in on the con action.  Including more than comics and sci-fi means larger attendance for the shows, which is great in many ways.  Unfortunately, it also caused overcrowded convention floors, admission costs have skyrocketed, and worst of all, it's increasingly difficult to get tickets for huge shows like San Diego Comic Con or New York Comic Con.

I’m a bit of a comedy snob. I can’t stand stupid comedy: low brow, “Whoa, Dude, I’m like, whatever!” fare is completely lost on me. I appreciate a more subtle hand in humor, a sly wit, a surprising turn of phrase. The British to be particularly adept at that brand of comedy, so it was much to my delight that I watched NOISES OFF, a stage comedy written by celebrated English playwright Michael Frayn and directed by Melissa Boyer for the O’FallonTheatreWorks. My only dismay is that it took me so long to discover this hilarious play.

The New Line Theatre kicked off their second production in their swanky new digs in the Marcelle Theatre with AMERICAN IDIOT, a mostly sung through musical written by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and Michael Mayer, featuring the entire American Idiot album with a few numbers from 21^st Century Breakdown included too. Obviously, if you’re a Green Day fan you’ll probably love the show. Me, I’m not a huge fan. I don’t necessarily dislike the band; I just don’t typically listen to them. Immediately after the performance, my first reaction was, “Nice performed by some great talents, but I don’t have much sympathy for these presumably upper-middle class suburbanites being self-destructive by cooking their heroin and meth on the silver spoons they were born with.” And yet something deep in my guts said, “Sleep on this one.

I’ll admit it—I’m embarrassed. What I knew about Carole King before arriving at the Fabulous Fox to see BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL consisted mostly of the soft rock easy listening stuff I used to get subjected to when my coworkers would insist on tuning our radio to the “Delilah” show on KEZK in St. Louis. I knew she won a Grammy forTapestry and you can hear “It’s Too Late,” “I Feel The Earth Move,” and “A Natural Woman” pretty regularly still today. I knew she was elected into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but they let Green Day and The Public Enemy in too--Run DMC and Public Enemy got in before Peter Gabriel, Rush (are you kidding me?), Lou Reed, Hall & Oats, Nirvana and KISS. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy rap music a great deal, but this isn’t the Hip Hop Hall of Fame, this is Rock & Roll. Carole King, no disrespect intended, didn’t really strike me as a rock star either.

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Zac Cherin

After buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion in 2012, The Walt Disney Company had to wait three years for its investment to begin paying tangible dividends. If, however, the initial box-office performance of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” is a sign of things to come, then the wait was well worth it.

The seventh installment in the Star Wars film saga shattered the U.S. total box office record, passing the $760.5 million mark set by James Cameron’s blockbuster “Avatar” in 2009.

With the new year upon us, the "New Year, New Me" Facebook posts are in full swing! The folks over at Morphsuits have come up with a clever infographic to see what superheroes are coming up with for their resolutions.

My personal favorites are the goals set by Cyclops and Batman. To view the infographic, click on the image to open it and enjoy the light-hearted take on some super self-relfection.

Add a clever resolution, for a hero you think needs some self-improvement, in the comment section below!

IRVING BERLIN’S WHITE CHRISTMAS is gracing the stage at the Fabulous Fox Theatre from November 17-22, 2015, just in time for…Thanksgiving. You can blame WICKED’s December residency for that, but that’s fine, really. The retail stores rolled out their Christmas gear before Halloween, so chances are you’ve already been dreaming of a white Christmas. And why wouldn’t you? After all, Bing Crosby’s rendition of the Irving Berlin classic is the best selling single of all time, according to the good folks at Guinness Book. Chances are you’ve seen the old movie or witness the production on previous tours, but believe it or not, I’ve never seen it before tonight.

The charge is "STAR WARS has dumbed down the perception of science fiction in the popular imagination." Jeff Ritter of CriticalBlast.com represents the Prosecution. 

The very notion of STAR WARS being somehow responsible for “dumbing down” modern science fiction seems preposterous. Of course, the notion is not entirely objective—how does one quantify merit or mediocrity in art, which by its very nature is subjective? How does one quantify the tangible effect of a film from 1977, that wasn’t expected to do much business itself, has had on movies, television, video games, novels, graphic  arts, American and even global pop culture more than 30 years later? I’m sure somebody with a better mind for statistical analysis could find numbers to crunch in this regard, but I find it to be less of a matter of arithmetic and more of a matter of personal taste. Since I can only speak for myself, allow me to take you on a little flashback to the halcyon days of my youth.

FORT WORTH, Texas – Oct. 20, 2015 – Screams.com has unveiled its 2015 list of the Top 13 Haunted Houses in America. Advanced pyrotechnics, trained actors and superior use of technology highlight the attractions, which stretch from New Hampshire to as far west west as Arizona.

“This list represents haunts that have been extensively honored by their peers and the haunted attraction industry,” said Todd James, owner of the Cutting Edge Haunted House in Texas and industry veteran. “A lot of thought and research went into creating this list, which we hope will serve as a guide to haunted house lovers across the country.”

James notes that consumers are expected to spend about $7 billion this Halloween.

The machine-gun patter of clicks was interrupted rhythmically by the ding and zip of the manual carriage return, advancing the page another line and preparing for another string of text. The room was close, cloying with the June humidity of 1963. In a corner, the radio provided background noise with the help of The Chiffons. Over the writer's shoulder, his friend and partner leaned in, peering at the latest completed paragraph before grunting editorial approval. The writer continued at a feverish pace -- a few more strings of machine-gun clacking, a few more dings and zips, and he grabbed the top of the sheet, pulling it free with a whine of protest from the typewriter roller.

The old adage “good things come to those who wait” was proven true once again on September 4, 2015 as Rob Thomas finally arrived in St. Louis. He had to cancel is tour stop earlier in the summer due to an illness in the family, which is more than understandable. As an apology of sorts for the hassle of having to make folks reschedule their plans, Thomas and his supporting acts, Plain White T’s and Vinyl Station, really cut loose with fun-filled, more-than-your-money’s-worth performance.  Apology happily accepted, Mr. Thomas.

Sometimes people make a profound impact in our lives without having ever met them. They affect our earliest memories and influence our actions years, even DECADES, later. I write today to memorialize one of the men that were most influential in my life. One of the men who caused me to lose sleep, and affects my actions to this day, 25 years after we first met.

It’s a new week, which should have some exciting new stories dropping in your timelines. But with busy schedules and Labor Day on the horizon, it’s possible you missed something from last week. Let’s take a look at some of the news, opinions and reviews that you may have missed. Grab your morning coffee and enjoy your…

I'm a lifelong fan of comics, and of the actors who portrayed the characters in them. However, there are only a very few who had a pivotal impact on my life, those being the ones I encountered at my youngest, most formative years.

Actress and dancer Yvonne Craig was chief among those, one of those people who had always been there and, in my unthinking naivete, I presumed always would be.

Today, I have learned that Ms. Craig has passed away on August 17 at the forever young age of 78, after battling breast cancer.

While Craig will be eternally remembered for her portrayal of Batgirl in the iconic 1960s BATMAN television series, starring alongside Adam West and Burt Ward, fans will also recall her stunning portrayal of the green-skinned dancer, Marta, on STAR TREK. She also acted opposite of Elvis Presley in the 1964 musical, KISSIN' COUSINS.

Okay, go ahead and ask the inevitable question: Why in the world is CriticalBlast delving into political coverage?

Well, that's a very good question. I could say that it's technically political theater, but you'd see right through that. But the truth is that this door was opened by reality star host of THE APPRENTICE, Donald Trump. So we thought it would be fun to sort of grade the speakers tonight, based on their presentations and speaking skills, and ask you via our poll below who you felt did the best job of the evening.

Before the questions even come, we're reminded that the Happy Hour Debate winner seems to have been overwhelmingly Carly Fiorina, as Megyn Kelly bluntly laid out there. Chris wallace reminds us that the questions were submitted by the populace through Facebook.

The Rules: 1 minute per answers, 30 seconds for follow-ups. Let's see how well that gets followed!

Well, that didn't take long.