Neil Gaiman & Amber Benson Cast in Movie by Gargoyles Writer Michael Reeves!

A new kickstarter project has been started by Michael Reaves, the multi-award winning writer for Gargoyles and Batman: The Animated Series, among other things. A vampire noir horror movie starring Neil Gaiman and Amber Benson (Tara from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, among other things), and a companion comic drawn by Tom Mandrake, this project is aiming for $50,000 before June 14.

Go. Fund. It.

At least go and check out the kickstarter video. Aside from just looking blatantly awesome, it shows how much the people involved truly care about this project, especially Michael Reaves himself, who says “I just want to get this movie made”. Neil Gaiman, one of the most successful (and in my opinion, best) fantasy writers alive, personally endorses the script, and says that “there’s nobody else I would act for”. Most of the people involved will not be drawing a salary.

Seriously, this looks like one of those rare movies which will be fantastic, well thought out, interesting, and surprising. Plus, there are a bunch of great rewards, including digital downloads of the movie (when it’s done, that is. Sadly no time manipulation is involved), posters, DVDs, and a download of the original script! Not to mention, vampires could definitely do with a bit of a comeback from the deep dark pit of lameness into which they seem to have been dropped recently. I mean come on? An ancient monster (which may or may not be sex-on-legs), which hides in the night and kills you by devouring only your blood? They should be the undisputed height of cool!

Peace Out and Fund Fangs

~Willo

Image taken from the kickstarter page for Blood Kiss.

INJUSTICE: Australia’s Caped Crushes

Miracle Food: Pizza Prevents Death, Disease, Famine

So we were all pretty skeptical when American Congress decided to declare pizza a vegetable back in 2011 due to it’s tomato content or something (clearly botany needs to be a bigger part of the curriculum) (and what about pizza with a pesto- instead of a tomato-base? WHAT THEN, ‘MURRICA?). I mean, vegetables are supposed to be good for you, right? And as much as I hate bad-mouthing pizza, it’s, well, not, right?

Wrong!

This year’s pizza news happily involves science and not having cancer. Italian researchers (insert ‘vested interest’ joke here) have been putting out the word that pizza can drastically reduce your risk of certain kinds of cancer. As someone who believes that pizza is an acceptable food for all of the meals, I am welcoming this news with arms – and mouth – wide open.

GET IN MAH BELLEH, YOU CANCER-CURING TRIANGLES OF DELICIOUSNESS, YOU.

(We here at Gay Geek accept no responsibility for stomach ache and other related issues of trying to pizza your way to health. Even though it totally works like that.)

[Image credit]

Baby and the Bad News

Kids are pretty adorable. They can also be brats, and do bad things, but we still think of them as innocent, un-corrupted. We project all of our fears onto children, building up bogeymen that are so much worse than anything that could be hiding in the cupboard. Every moral panic that floods our reason and chokes our sanity has one desperate scream at its centre: won’t somebody think of the children?

Canadian photographer Jonathon Hobin has created a wee bit of a frenzy with his series In The Playroom, which uses children to recreate some of the worst headlines from the last century of news. The series in intended as a critique of the way in which the media treats the news, sensationalising it and appealing to our basest interests. Some of the images are disturbing, made more so by the use of children as subjects. Much of the feedback has been typically hysterical, vilifying the parents of the models and panicking about the potential mental trauma for the children involved.

Sometimes, when people are morally offended, it has nothing to do with some kind of boundary being crossed. Offence is caused because on a subconscious level, we say to ourselves there is truth in this, a truth about me, and I don’t like that. Which is not to say all offensive matter is grounded in truth, or that we have to relate to something to be offended, but that in certain cases we react defensively about things we don’t want to admit to.

We gobble up sensationalised news stories like candy-coated painkillers, dumbing ourselves to what they actually mean for the people involved so we can get in a few dramatic gasps at the grisly details before switching over to X-Factor. We have been taught not to analyse or critique, only to watch news like we watch movie trailers – until the people in the stories stop being strange adults we’ll never meet and become children. Children, who we must protect. Children, who we must save from the horrors of the world. Children whom society must protect, not just police or politicians or the armed forces.

Hobin’s series forces us to think again about the news and how we consume it, how we talk about it and how we sympathise. And if that offends you, if you can’t look past the kids doing things you don’t like the idea of kids doing, then you aren’t thinking hard enough.

See a slideshow of some of the photographs and read an interview with the artist here.

What do you think of these photographs? Crass, artistic wankery, an ethical disaster, or a thought-provoking series? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image: vice.com]

You tell ‘em Captain America

So much more respect for Chris Evans (aka Captain America) when seeing his response to Ben Shapiro’s twitter posts. It went something like this:

This week Jason Collins came out as saying he is proud of who he is, a black christian gay basketball player. He also came out in Sport Illustrated, so in print! This is a big moment for him, after all it is hard to be a christian gay man in a field where being ‘a man’ is determined by how many chicks you score, and where locker room bonding is a thing.

So then Ben Shapiro had to be a douche and say  these things about him:

The outlined bit is where I have a problem. Society in general make sportsmen and sportwomen out to be heroes, there are many young men and women, as well as adults who look up to these people and have them as their personal heroes. Okay so you may think that he isn’t a good player, well that is your opinion. The fact is however, to some people he is a great player and that he has the courage to stand up for himself and use that status as a rolemodel to do something like this should be applauded, especially in a field of work where people are mostly uncomfortable with playing alongside homosexuals.

But this isn’t even the worst of it! So Mr. Shapiro was getting a lot of hate from that, which I thought was a little unfair as he was trying to say that we should idolise players based on their skill and not on their personal lives (essentially).  I felt a little bit of sympathy with him there. But then he had to be a sarcastic ass about it.

Okay, I get it, you are frustrated that people aren’t getting the real message, but don’t antagonise people and don’t make it into a ‘leftist’ statement.I am a leftie, but I know people who are conservative and still have issues with what you have said. Also, by grouping people like that you are doing exactly what you think they are doing – you are turning into the type of person who sees a sample of people and labels everyone who identifies in some way with that sample as being the same as that sample – you become ignorant to individuals and to the truth.  It is a darn shame that you can’t see past it, because if you can you might be a happier person.

What’s really ironic is that by having this outburst, he has painted himself as the conservative caricature, or the “stereotypical Right wing man”. This in turn make us ‘lefties’ more unlikely to want to listen to what you are saying.

For everyone that has continued down to here, I would like to say that Ben Shapiro says he isn’t a homophobe – he was making a comment on what should really be valued in sports and what becomes a ‘sports’ star. However, I will disagree and say that what separates a run of the mill sports idol to a great hero isn’t just skill. It’s their strength of character, about doing what you preach even if it isn’t the popular way, trying to improve and better yourself and knowing that because you are in the lime light you have the opportunity to change perceptions and lives that not everyone has, as well as the determination and hard work they bring to their jobs. Not every celebrity has to do this, of course, and I’m not saying that they must. I’m saying that to be a hero worth following, it takes more than being famous and a hard worker. They are called heroes because the path they have chosen isn’t easy.

Ben Shapiro wants to voice his opinion and to have some sort of impact and possibly change some people’s minds. I have to say that you aren’t going to do that by telling people what’s wrong with them and how they need to change. You change people’s lives by modelling your values and becoming an inspiration to others. People aren’t stupid. If what you are doing is a perferable way of life or the ‘right’ way, then people will follow. No one wants to be aggressive and antagonistic.

After all theese tweets Chris Evans, Captain America, took one look and simply said:

Which, after how Ben Shapiro has reacted, I would have to say I agree.

To see more of Ben Shapiros reactions simply go to his twitter here: Ben Shapiro

By the way, let’s not all hate bash him. Don’t sink down to aggressive behaviour because I have a feeling what he has said in the first place was misconstrued (even though I didn’t agree with that statement in the first place) and he acted out of frustration. Let’s not fan the flames, but pour some water.

{Source: Shapiro’s Twitter and Evans’ Twitter}

[I will like to very immaturely say that Ben Shapiro was figging OWNED by Captain America. In that one statement.]

Kobo Book Sale this Weekend