The State Is FINALLY Coming To DVD

 

Funk Yeah!!!

 

For those of you young people out there, and by young I mean under 25 or so, you have probably never heard of The State.  Let me explain.  The State were a sketch comedy group that had a TV show on MTV back in the early 1990's (1993 to 1995 to be specific).  It was memorable for the simple fact that it just so happened to be the god damned funniest sketch comedy show of all time. 

 

Seriously, only SNL in its early years with Bill Murray and Chevy Chase could top The State.  Every other show pales in comparison.

 

With great characters like Louie and Doug and Old Fashioned Guy, and great skits like $240 Worth Of Pudding or Taco Delivery or the Father and Son race, The State were consistently hilarious.  And since The State went off the air, the cast of the show have stayed incredibly busy working on other amazing shows like Viva Variety and Reno 911 (whose cast is made up mainly of former castmembers of The State).  They even made the incredible film Wet Hot American Summer.

 

Well finally, after almost 15 years off the air, The State is coming to DVD.  Thomas Lennon, one of the members of The State, recently told reporters while promoting his upcoming film 17 Again that The State would finally be released on DVD on July 14th.

 

"For real: Bastille Day. The whole g--damn thing. I have no idea why it's coming out on Bastille Day, but it's coming out on Bastille Day."

 

One of the main reasons the show took so long to be released were disputes over the rights to music that was used in a number of scenes.

 

"There was a lot of music clearance issues, and then, you know, it's a cult show," Lennon said. "The fans are die-hard, but there's not tons and tons of them."

 

Lennon also said that the set is packed with extras, but some episodes have been changed due to those music issues. "It comes with $249 worth of pudding," Lennon joked, referring to one of the series' skits. "It has the crappy music on it. All the music's been—if it wasn't cleared, we had to redo it. And a lot of scenes that were cut—for good reason. They suck. So it's got some incredibly sucky bonus materials, but it has commentaries on every single episode. I've seen the package, so it exists."

 

New music or not, I don't care. I'm just excited that I'll finally get to own The State on DVD.  And then I can watch my favorite comedy skit whenever I want.  It is, in my opinion, the single greatest comedy skit of all time.

 

Behold the glory that is . . . . . Porcupine Racetrack!

 

Mattman’s Weekly Batman Update

I have returned! Not that anyone cares or was holding their breath or anything but I am back if you like it or not. My last update was in December. The reason I stopped had everything to do with the chaos of the holidays. After quite some time away from the weekly updates themselves I found that I was really hating what I was reading. I know the idea was that I would read everything Batman, good or bad but the bad stuff was too horrible to read or really justify spending money on. So I just stopped.

 

Now here it is April and we are into the second week of the second month of the exciting new Batman storyline Battle for the Cowl. I know I have spoken out against gimmicks in the past and truthfully this storyline seemed lame to me when it was announced months ago, but I have to admit I'm excited now. I don't know what happened. I don't know how a story of "who will replace Batman?" ended up getting me excited, but it did. I think it was when I got a glimpse of the titles that will be shipping in June when the Battle for the Cowl wraps up and the Batman universe changes it's line-up.

 

A new Batman and Robin title will begin written by Grant Morrison and drawn by Frank Quitely. This title features a NEW BATMAN AND ROBIN! I can't wait! Who is the new Batman? Obviously Dick Grayson. Who else could it be? Who is the new Robin? Well, he looks like a little kid, so my guess is Dayman, Bruce Wayne's son. I can't stop thinking about this title. It has me eagerly anticipating new comics Wednesdays. I haven't given a shit about new comics Wednesdays in five or ten years.

 

Other titles include a Red Robin title. Who is Red Robin? My guess is Tim Drake. Red Robin will focus on the characters search for Bruce Wayne. You see he doesn't believe he is dead and to anyone that read the lame Final Crisis comics, we know that he isn't. He's trapped on a parallel earth or some shit like that. Good luck Red Robin! Detective Comics will focus on the new Batwoman character they introduced in comics a few years back that I have no knowledge of. Could be interesting. Gotham City Sirens is a series that focuses on Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, Catwoman and other Gotham chicks. I like the idea especially since it' s written by the great Paul Dini. Another new title is Batman: Streets of Gotham also penned by the aforementioned Mr. Dini. Don't forget the title Batman itself because it will see the return of the awesomely talented writer Judd Winick to the title. He always penned exciting stuff on a monthly basis. Even if he is responsible for bringing Jason Todd back from the grave, I think I can forgive him because his action, dialogue, pacing, stories and such are fun.

 

But for now we are in the mist of the Battle for the cowl, the baby steps it takes to get to my June Batman titles glory. Actually Battle for the Cowl has been really fun. I'm enjoying it. I mean it's not fucking shakespeare or anything but I love it.

 

Batman: Battle for the Cowl 2(of3)

 

Written by Tony Daniel; Art by Tony Daniel and Sandu Florea; Covers by Tony Daniel

 



 

This is the second issue of only three! I love that it's only a three-part-er and not some over-done sweeping epic for no apparent reason whatsoever. This is simply an action piece and I love every minute of it. So apparently someone is masquerading around as Batman only he has a very dark-looking outfit with a face guard, guns and grenades. It becomes apparently obvious that this Batman is Jason Todd. So this Batman is killing people and Nightwing and Dayman are not happy. Jason Todd shoots Dayman, but I think he's gonna be alright. They have to exit to fix Dayman up. Meanwhile Two-Face, Penguin, Black Mask and more are battling for criminal control of Gotham. Another Batman shows up and it's apparent that it is Tim Drake dressed in a 80's-90's era Batman outfit. Tim and Jason do battle. Meanwhile Black Mask is blowing up half of Gotham including the Police Department. Dick Grayson finds out that Tim took one of the Batman outfits and is not happy about it. Also Alfred gives him more talk that suggests he should be the new Batman. Flash to the Battle between Tim and Jason. It gets pretty bloody and ends with a large Batarang stabbed in Tim's chest. But I think he'll be okay. Sound pretty awesome? That's because it is.

 

Tune in next week,

 

Same Matt-time

 

Same Matt-channel

 

Mattman

My Spider-Sense Is Telling Me Dollhouse Is Seriously Frakked

 

Ok, so Fox hasn't officially come out yet and said that Dollhouse is cancelled, but it's certainly starting to look like it is.  Let's just say that if I were to consult a Magic 8 Ball right now and ask it whether or not Dollhouse was being cancelled, its response would probably be "All signs point to yes".

 

The reason that I say this is that Fox has just announced that they will be airing the 12th episode of Dollhouse on May 8th, and that episode will be the season finale for the show.  Now I know that doesn't sound too bad, right?  But here's the thing.  The 12th episode of the show isn't the season finale, or at least it wasn't meant to be.  Joss Whedon made 13 episodes of the show for the first season.  The 13th episode of the show is supposed to be the season finale, not the 12th.  So if Fox is only going to air episode 12, what the hell is going to happen to Episode 13?

 

It looks like it may end up on the DVD and Blu-ray release, which drop on July 28, TVShowsonDVD.com reported. The discs will contain all 13 episodes: "Ghost," "The Target," "Stage Fright," "Gray Hour," "True Believer," "Man on the Street," "Echoes," "Needs," "A Spy in the House," "Haunted," "Briar Rose," "Omega" and "Epitaph One," as well as the original unaired pilot episode, "Echo," the site reported. (Amazon.com is already taking pre-orders for the DVD.)

 

Just to recap, here's what is happening.  Fox is NOT airing the final episode of Dollhouse.  It'll only be available on DVD.  Oh, and the original pilot episode for the show was never aired either, but that'll be available on DVD too.  Does this behavior sound at all familiar to you?  It should.  This is pretty much exactly what Fox did to Joss Whedon's other show Firefly when they cancelled that a few years back.

 

Oh, and here's the real kicker.  Episode 13 is the episode in which Audiences actually get to see the show's main villain Alpha in person.  It's the episode in which Alan Tudyk makes his first appearance as the knife wielding former doll who just happens to be a psychopath with multiple personalities.  And just to add further insult to injury for Joss Whedon fans, Episode 13 was also set to feature actress Felicia Day (from Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog and The Guild) in a guest role for the episode.  Earlier today on her Twitter account, the actress had the following to say:

 

Man, day getting worse and worse. Found out my Dollhouse ep, #13 isn't gonna air. Only on DVD. Such a great part too. Thx Fox. :(

 

Joss Whedon himself has also left a statement regarding Fox's announcement on his Twitter feed.  Here's what he had to say:

 

It's true. Dollhouse ep 13 isn't going to air. This makes @feliciaday sad. How do you feel? Why don't share those feelings with FOX?

  

Personally, I can't say that I'm actually too upset by this news.  I've got to reasons why too.  First off, I really haven't cared for the show.  It's been kind of crappy ever since the first episode.  Sure, its had its moments here and there, but for the most part it's been bland, boring and altogether unengaging to me.  Secondly, I am not in any way suprised by this move as the show's ratings have never been all that good, plus this is Fox and cancelling shows is what they do best.

 

But to all of you Dollhouse fans out there, you'd better start preparing yourselves.  The end is near.  I can feel it.

Here's The Simpsons Stamps I Mentioned Earlier

 

As promised, These are the official Simpsons US postage stamps I mentioned a week or so ago.  They are set to come out later this year.

 

Personally, I'm kind of disappointed.  They're really plain.  I don't know what I was really hoping for here, but somehow I feel that I was expecting a little more than this.  While these are ok and all, they're nowhere near as cool looking as the mythological creature stamps that the UK is getting which were drawn by Dave McKean.

 

I feel gipped.

A Double Dose Of Star Wars News (Both Good And Bad)

 

 

Let's start with the bad.  George Lucas is a douche. 

 

Ok, so I know I swore a while back that I would stop criticizing Lucas and his decisions in regards to what happens in the Star Wars universe.  I'm still sticking to that promise.  However, this bit of douchey Lucas news has to deal with what he's doing in this universe. 

 

It turns out that David Prowse, the guy who played Darth Vader (minus the voice) in the original trilogy, and who has recently been fighting cancer, has never once received a single residual check for his work in Return of the Jedi.  Not one cent.  Speaking with the Times Online, Prowse had the following to say as to why he's not seeing any of that major Star Wars cash.

 

“I get these occasional letters from Lucasfilm saying that we regret to inform you that as Return of the Jedi has never gone into profit, we’ve got nothing to send you. Now here we’re talking about one of the biggest releases of all time.”

 

Lucasfilm is claiming that Return of the Jedi has never turned a profit?  Are they fucking kidding me?  The film has made over $500 million dollars in theaters.  And that's not even counting VHS or DVD releases from the last 25 years or so.  For Lucasfilm to skip out on paying royalties to their actors for this reason is pretty much the biggest dick move I've heard of in a long time.  Way to go Lucas.  Just when I was starting to get over the whole "Episode One thing", you go and do shit like this that makes me mad at you again.

 

Ok, now for the good news. 

 

This will help lighten your mood after that total jerkwad Lucas news.  Some  crazy insane/genius Star Wars fans got together and made one of the cheesiest, yet most hilarious Star Wars fan films I've seen in a long time.  It's actually a commercial for a fake Star Wars themed cologne.  The commercial itself is sort of a Star Wars version of an Axe body spray ad, with hot women lightsaber fighting and cutting each other's clothes off. 

 

It's rad.  Enjoy.

 

Dave Arneson R.I.P

 

I unfortunately have some sad news to report today.  Dave Arneson, co-creator of Dungeons & Dragons, has passed away at the age of 61 after a long battle with cancer.

 

Arneson was introduced to table-top wargaming in the early '60s by his parents, who bought him a copy of Avalon Hill's Gettysburg game. In college at the University of Minnesota, he met other wargamers and began both modifying existing games and designing his own. He attended the second official Gencon and there met a similarly youthful Gary Gygax. Gygax had published a set of 1:1 scale miniatures rules called Chainmail, which became the bare bones of an ongoing campaign that Arneson ran for friends called Blackmoor.

 

In 1974, Arneson and Gygax wrote up the rules they had evolved for their fantasy role-playing campaigns, creating the game Dungeons & Dragons. After failing to get any mainstream publishers interested, they created a company, TSR, and published the book themselves using investment money provided by one of Gygax's friends. The book became a hit, first in the wargaming community and then in the mainstream. Dungeons & Dragons not only created a new type of gaming, role-playing, but laid the foundation for the entire hobby gaming industry.

 

Arneson left TSR in 1979 and filed a lawsuit against the company. As a part of the ultimate settlement of that suit, neither Arneson nor Gygax ever spoke about what drove them apart, although Arneson would later return to TSR when Gygax was briefly president of the company again in the mid-'80s. They were on good terms at the time of Gygax's death last year.

 

With the death of Gary Gygax last year, and now the passing of Dave Arneson, the gaming community has lost two of its founding fathers in a relatively short amount of time.  It is a sad time indeed, but at least we will always have the games that they gave to the world and the countless hours of fun friendship that those games have spawned.

 

Rest in peace Mr. Arneson.  You made the world a better place during your time in it.  Our thoughts now go out to your family and friends during this rough period.

Guess Who Has A Cameo In Terminator: Salvation

 

Ever since official word came down that a fourth Terminator film was being made, speculation has been rampant as to whether or not Arnold Schwarzenegger would take a day off from running the State of California and would return to acting to don the leather jacket and black shades of the Terminator once again.  Rumors have been flying ever since that first day, some saying he will, others saying he won't.  The director and the studio have also been incredibly non-responsive to this particular question, which of course has only gone on to fuel the fire of the rumors.

 

Well, it looks like we finally have our answer . . . . . sort of.

 

MTV is reporting that they have gotten confirmation from actor Terry Crews, who will also be appearing in the film, that Arnold Schwarzenegger will indeed have a cameo in the film.  Exactly what his role will entail though, no one knows.

 

Various sources have speculated whether Arnold will have a line, or simply appear body-wise as a T-800 machine. Crews said that the May 21st film’s shoot was so secretive, he has no idea.

 

“I don’t know; I haven’t seen it. They only gave out pages of the script,” Crews remembered. “It was crazy. It was very, very secretive. Believe me - when you see it, that will be the first time I saw it.”

 

So what will it be?  Will arnold show up for some actual screen time?  Will he have any dialogue?  Will he only be there to look cool, or will he only be doing voice over work?  If you ask me though, none of that matters.  To me the real question is this . . . Who cares what his role is?  It's Arnold Fucking Schwarzenegger!!!  I don't care what he does in the film, just so long as he's involved with it somehow. 

 

The man is THE Terminator.  You can't make a Terminator film without having him have at least some small part in it.  To even try otherwise would be blasphemy!  Thank god, I say, for the fact that McG had enough sense to bring Arnold in, even if he's only onscreen for 30 seconds, or if we only hear his voice.  Whatever it is, it's going to be one of those great fanboy moments that'll make me almost wet my pants with joy when it happens.

 

This is just one more reason, piled onto a bunch of others now, that makes me really excited for this film.  It's funny, if you had told me when the film was first announced that I would be excited to see a possibly PG-13 Terminator film directed by McG of all people, I would have laughed in your face and mocked you and then told you to shut up because you obviously didn't know me very well at all.  But here we are, a few months away from the film's release and I'm actually excited to see it.  The trailers have looked good, McG won me over with his enthusiasm for the project back at Wonder Con earlier this year, and now I find out Arnold will be in it?  Fuck yeah!  I'm excited now.  I'm not ashamed to admit it.

 

Just don't let me down McG.  Hell hath no fury like a fanboy scorned by a crappy sequel of a beloved sci-fi property.