“There’s a lot of unique small businesses and DIY movements that make Portland a kind of incubator for new ideas.”
– Jacob Pander
Arnold and Jacob Pander first achieved comic book stardom with their first project, Grendel: Devil’s Legacy, written by Matt Wagner which starred Christine Spar. The Brothers have since gone on to work on a number of projects including Accelerate, written by Richard Kadrey, and Tasty Bullet, which Arnold collaborated on with Jonathan Vankin, but for the most part, the pair have worked together on comics and film projects.
Among their many cinematic projects are Triple-X – not to be confused by the Vin Diesel movie of similar title, Batman: City of Light, Exquisite Corpse, and Ginger Fox. The duo have also directed many music videos, short films and commercials in addition to writing and directing the feature film Selfless.
Their new release is Secret Broadcast Redux, a full color digital version of the comic the pair released through Oni Press in 1998. When the comic was initially released, it was accompanied by a soundtrack and music videos. Redux includes a new coda to explore what happens to the characters after the events of the story and an all new soundtrack.
“Its my job to fool people into seeing me in another way.”
– Willem Dafoe
Willem Dafoe worked with Mr. Cronenberg on the film eXistenZ and delivered a creepy performance. Creepy performances in films like Shadow of the Vampire, Auto Focus and Wild at Heart seem to be Dafoe’s stock in trade, but for Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou he trades all that in to play Klaus the goofily tragic first mate aboard Zissous ship.
“It’s my theory that 90 percent of acting is the other actor.”
– Angelica Huston
Should I be lusting after Angelica Huston, a woman that’s almost twice my age? I don’t know if it’s a holdover from when she used to glide across the room as Morticia Addams but she is wicked sexy. Plus, now that she is an intimate part of the Wes Anderson oeuvre, it makes her even sexier. She has a serious lock on the loving ice queen in films which she continues as the estranged wife of Bill Murray’s lead character in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou.
“I wanted it to be the kind of book that I love to read”
– G. Willow Wilson
G Willow Wilson first made a name for herself in comics in 2007 when the graphic novel Cairo which she wrote was published by Vertigo. It made quite a splash, combining fantasy and realism in an attempt to capture life in Egypt’s capital city. She followed it up with the series Air, which was illustrated by her Cairo collaborator M.K. Perker. Her other comics work includes Superman, The Outsiders, Vixen, and most recently Mystic. She’s also published nonfiction in many places including The Atlantic Monthly and The New York Times. In 2010 her memoir The Butterfly Mosque, was published about her move after college to Cairo where she met her future husband and came to fall in love with the country.
Her new book, Alif the Unseen, is her first novel. It tells the story of a hacker in an unnamed Arab Gulf country, and involves the jinn, a battle with the state security services overseen by “The Hand,” the nature of storytelling, the power of the internet and climaxes in a revolution. It’s also a book that was written before The Arab Spring erupted last year. We caught up with Wilson and spoke about the book and the current political climate in the Middle East following the Egyptian Presidential election.
“It was bitter for all of us when Brandon Lee was killed”
– John Shirley
John Shirley may not be a household name, but for three decades he’s been an incredibly influential and prolific writer. He was one of the most important early writers in the movement that would later be called cyberpunk, and William Gibson and others have paid tribute to his influence. Shirley’s novel City Come A-Walkin’ and his later trilogy A Song Called Youth – which has recently been re-released in a single volume omnibus edition – remain among two of the best cyberpunk works ever published. Shirley is also an award winning horror and fantasy writer perhaps best known for novels like Demons, Bleak History, and Dracula in Love, and short story collections like Heatseeker and In Extremis: The Most Extreme Short Stories of John Shirley.
A singer/songwriter who’s fronted a number of bands and has written lyrics for bands including Blue Oyster Cult, Shirley is also a screenwriter who’s worked in film and television. He was the original writer on the movie The Crow and has written episodes of TV shows including Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Profit, “VR.5, Poltergeist: Legacy, Batman Beyond, and The Real Ghostbusters.
Shirley’s newest project is The Crow: Death and Rebirth, a comic miniseries released by IDW, the second issue of which has just been released. Shirley spoke with SG over e-mail to talk about his return to the concept of The Crow, which also marks his return to cyberpunk.
“Every good director makes his actor think every idea was his own creation.”
– Jeremy Irons
Jeremy Irons is best known for starring in the David Cronenberg film, Dead Ringers. But of course that was back in 1988, now Jeremy Irons is transporting us even farther back in time by starring in The Merchant of Venice which is directed by Michael Radford. Irons plays Antonio to Al Pacinos Shylock.
“There was nothing exciting about playing the violin or the recorder.”
– John Digweed
It’s hard to believe that it has been ten years since the seminal dance album, Renaissance: The Mix Collection, was released. Now Sasha and John Digweed have teamed up to digitally remix and remaster the album for the modern age. I got a chance to talk with Digweed about the long influence of his work.
