End of Year Review

I'm sorry for not posting more often this year. Work piles up and writing more at the end of the day gets to be difficult. I did have time to review two shows of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. You can read those reviews in the August 2014 issue of RE/Search's newsletter. Here are a few other events, TV shows, and memorable moments I enjoyed over this past year (no order, just a list)

• Broad City Live (can't wait for Season 2)
• Swans
• Kelley Stoltz
• Alan Cumming (with book signing for I'm Not Your Father's Son)
• Frank Portman (with book signing for King Dork Approximately)
• James Ensor art exhibit at The Getty
• Visiting the graves of Sharon Tate, Bela Lugosi and Jackie Coogan
• "Frankenstein" production by The National Theatre of London (seen on screen with Benedict Cumberbatch as the Monster)
• 20,000 Days on Earth film
• final season and series finale of "Sons of Anarchy"
• final episode of "The Colbert Report"
• the debut of El Rey Network (launched December 2013, but was a main focal point of my TV viewing in 2014)
• the series "The Strain"
• final season of "True Blood" (the writing really suffered, but the slaughter was pretty awesome)
• the series "Penny Dreadful"
• From Inside with Gary Numan soundtrack
• film Heaven Adores You
• re-release and new print of Queen Margot: the 4K Director's Cut
• film Of Horses and Men
• film Trip to Italy
• film Boyhood (with Richard Linklater Q&A)
• "Hannibal" 2nd season
• book A Man Called Destruction: The Life and Music of Alex Chilton
• TCM, the channel airing twice the movie The Man With the Cloak

In the coming year, I'll try to post a few words for each event, TV show or memorable moment for which I either view or attend just to keep the Korner active. One thing to look forward to (I miss "Pan Am") is the TV miniseries "Lizzie Borden: The Fall River Chronicles" on Lifetime coming in 2015 starring Christina Ricci. She starred in the Lifetime movie "Lizzie Borden Took an Ax" nearly a year ago. It was panned, so I don't understand the miniseries being picked up.

There's so much I could say about my favorite "guilty pleasure" TV shows which include The Mindy Project, The Walking Dead, The Good Wife, The Comeback, Homeland, The Affair, Veep, Castle, New Girl, American Horror Story, and Z Nation. I look forward to seeing more excellent writing in 2015.

Write in the comments what your favorite moments of 2014 included. Do we have anything in common?

Hearing about a graphic novel named Wednesday with this blog debut halts me in my tracks; teasing me with words of "fast cars, nanobots, sock monkeys. The post-apocalypse as you've never seen it before." World War Wednesday will be erupting from writer John Bergin (From Inside) and artist Alex Riegel. Watch this space for news.

{interview} John Bergin on Spoiler Alert Radio

If you are a filmmaker or graphic artist turning art into film, listen to artist/musician/filmmaker John Bergin being interviewed on Spoiler Alert Radio. It covers a great deal about his work including his making of the movie From Inside.

Movie Review - From Inside at Dead Channels 2008, San Francisco, CA - Oct. 3 & 5 screenings

Wednesday attended the two screenings of From Inside as part of the Dead Channels Festival at the Roxie Theatre, Friday night and Sunday afternoon. The audience members were a mix of tattooed-hair-dyed goth punks and average looking 30-something fans of animation wanting to see the "new blood." In total about 25-30 people were in attendance. Ironically, San Francisco experienced its first rains of autumn within hours following the first screening, as if in honor of From Inside's torrents of blood raining from the sky. However, the second screening fell on a bright balmy Sunday severely contrasting any dour outlook you have when the movie is over.

The graphic novel From Inside, written, painted and inked by John Bergin, was published in 1992 by Kitchen Sink Press. It has remained timeless in showing how vulnerable humans are to the whims of the people around them as they are the only survivors of a nuclear attack. Its characters are traveling on a train, just barely holding onto life. The main character, Cee, faces bleak prospects, being in her last trimester of pregnancy. She's dealing with some denial about what's to come. In the transformation of page to screen, the drama unravels steadily with a subtle narration by Corryn Cummins, balanced by a dark, ominous score from Jeff Rona and a sound design by Dustin Blegstad that draws us into the post-apocalyptic journey. Bergin's panels become richly animated with flowing rivers of blood and billowing caustic black smoke. Faces of fellow passengers beckon for hope in some of the most vivid images of despair. Bergin chooses to use animation techniques that delay the action and hold onto moments, which honors the quiet doom that permeates throughout the story. Some scenes from the book have more of an impact when animated such as when they come upon the herd of buffalo. Unfortunately, the story reveals all too well that perseverance is futile.

The novel-to-film process began for Bergin in mid-2005 and is well detailed on his blog. In order to stay updated on the movie's festival run, follow John Bergin's blog and Wednesday's Korner using Google Reader to subscribe to the blogs in order to view all the new posts.

Another chance to see John Bergin's From Inside

From Inside, the movie is playing at the Dead Channels Film Festival in San Francisco on Oct. 5 at 2:00 PM Sunday at the Roxie!! It screened first on October 2, Friday, which went perfectly with the storm clouds that brought us the first rains since April.

As previously mentioned Bergin's 71 minute film follows a pregnant woman on a train after a terribly destructive world event. It's tragic, sad and inspires haunting contemplation with unforgettable scenes of bleak landscapes and death. Dead Channels' week-long festival ends October 10 and will show films in San Francisco and in Oakland, CA. The film Latchkey's Lament screens with From Inside and fans of intricate animation and gloomy Sci-fi stories should make this a not-to-be-missed excursion into the City.

Read Dennis Harvey's summation of other movies shown during Dead Channels, which are also fantastically full of dread.

From Inside screens during Dead Channel's Festival of Fantastic Film

From Inside, the movie is playing at the Dead Channels Film Festival in San Francisco on Oct. 3 and Oct. 5!! John Bergin spent thousands of hours inking, painting and numbering the limited edition graphic novel and dedicated even more tedious hours animating it into a 71 minute film. The story of From Inside follows a pregnant woman on a train after a terribly destructive world event. Its tragic, sad and inspires haunting contemplation with unforgettable scenes of bleak landscapes and death. Dead Channels week-long festival begins October 2 and ends October 10 and will show films in San Francisco and in Oakland, CA. The film Latchkey's Lament screens with From Inside and is not a light-hearted screen 'toon about inanimate objects, rather a lively dark tale bounding with the struggle to survive and the quest for vengeance. The big screen is well-justified for both films, well-paired for fans of intricate animation and gloomy Sci-fi stories.