Words to confuse the guy trying to hand out Bibles on campus

"Don't use it; I'm Catholic."

Trekwood

We decided to give Deadwood another chance on DVD this summer and we're glad we did -- not just because it's a terrific show, but because it's given me more ideas about casting the new Star Trek movie. Tim Olyphant could easily play Captain Kirk, and if Gary Sinise is busy Brad Dourif could probably pull off Doctor McCoy.

And while I'm casting things, they should totally get William Petersen to play Howard Dean in the movie version of World War Z.

More on Mike Wieringo

As wonderful as Mike Wieringo's work is, I don't know that I'd appreciate it the way I do if I hadn't encountered it as part of Mark Waid's wonderful run writing FLASH, fourteen (!) years ago. Wieringo's run as artist came on the heels of the epic "Return of Barry Allen" storyline, where Wally West, the former Kid Flash, finally came to terms with the legacy of his predecessor Barry. It was a smart, thrilling storyline -- someday, honest, I'll write about the special place Flash #79 holds in my heart -- and one that reset the board for the rest of Waid's run. In embracing Barry's legacy, Wally simultaneously became his own man; he stopped worrying about being as good as Barry and focused on becoming Wally.

Waid and Wieringo were a perfect marriage of writer and artist. And I think, at that particular point in my life, when I was finally settling into college and life away from home, I was a particularly receptive reader. Wally West was becoming an adult at same time I was. It was a nice bit synchronicity that made their run really resonate with me in a way that I don't think it would have otherwise. And the sheer sense of joy and freedom that leapt off of every page of Wieringo's wonderful artwork made the whole thing all the more perfect.

There's that word: Joy. Certain artists you just associate with one word or one feeling because their work seems like a monument to it. Theodore Sturgeon and love. Clifford Simak and decency. Isaac Asimov and reason. Mike Wieringo and joy. The worlds and the people he drew just looked like fun places to be -- whatever villainy the Flash faced was doomed from the start, because Ringo drew us a world where evil was a non-starter and the good guys would always prevail sooner or later. It was a nice place to visit every month.

I never met the man. I'll miss him anyway.

Trapped in the Closet conquers the world

There are even more chapters of the completely bat**** f***ing insane R. Kelly musical serial drama coming out this month. And since the whole thing will be airing on IFC, you don't have to feel bad about supporting R. Kelly's career when you watch it:

“ ‘Trapped in the Closet’ has that ‘oh my’ factor, so that you’re actually laughing at, laughing with, and actually shocked by it,” said Henri Mazza, a creative director at the Original Alamo Draft House, a movie theater in Austin, Tex., which is planning a midnight DVD screening, complete with subtitled sing-alongs and prop giveaways, like a condom printed with the words “oh my God, a rubber! (Rubber! Rubber! Rubber!)” — see Episode 4. “There’s no way you can’t enjoy it.”

Which is not to say you can understand it.

“You can’t tell if he is a genius or a guy who just saw the definition for cliffhanger in the dictionary yesterday and decided to run with it,” Mr. Mazza said of Mr. Kelly. “I think that’s one of the things that keeps you coming back. I’ve watched it 25 times at least, and I’m still going, ‘Wait, what?’ ”

LEGO my LEGO

Have you ever wondered to yourself, "Self, how would I go about making a giant LEGO-person head for a LEGO-person costume?" Wonder no more!

Mike Wieringo, RIP

Comics artist Mike Wieringo died at the obscenely young age of 44 this past weekend. I first came across his work on Mark Waid's amazing run on The Flash and was thrilled when he reunited with Waid on Fantastic Four a few years ago. His work was thrilling and joyful and buoyant, and I particularly loved the sense of movement and possibility that he brought to his work on Flash. There was no one else who drew quite the way he did, and he will be sorely missed.

Recasting Trek

Some thoughts on the actors who should join Zachary Quinto (AKA "New Spock") in JJ Abrams' new Star Trek movie:

Trying to play James T. Kirk will break just about every actor on the planet. That said, I think one of the only people who could pull this off is Christian Bale. I think Lance Mannion has also suggested this, but I haven't been able to find the post I'm thinking of on his site.

Gary Sinise is Doctor McCoy. Period.

Freema Agyeman should play Uhura. I'm just throwing this out there. She'd be awesome.

Who Wants to Watch Who Wants to be a Superhero?

Greg Hatcher takes a look at the Sci-Fi Channel's genuinely weird and strange reality series "Stan Lee's Who Wants to be a Superhero." The primary purpose of this show, I think, is to demonstrate that these days Stan will put his name and face on just about anything this side of hemorrhoid unguents. When the first season of the show aired last summer, a girl I knew in college e-mailed me to tell me that she thought of me when she watched. Then I watched an episode and fervently hoped that it was Major Victory and not the creepy, dismal, and desperate Feedback who was doing the reminding...

Entourage sucks.

So we've stopped watching it.

We'd grown steadily more and more tired of the show, as it went from a show about an up-and-coming actor and his friends to a parody of, well, nothing, really, and instead presented weekly installments of the consequence-free life of an actor and his remoras. The tipping point after several seasons of false drama -- in which situations are presented which we're told could have major negative consequences only to turn out fine through absolutely no action on the part of any of the characters in the series -- was the most recent episode about a bet over who could be first to have emotion-free sex with a strange woman, and was so unpleasant to watch that we decided the characters weren't worth inviting into our living room for half an hour each week.

Wish they'd spin off Ari and Lloyd into their own series, though...