Finally! I can't believe it has taken soooo long for someone to put the cast of Lost into a Last Supper homage. Perhaps they were just waiting for the last season. The scan is a promo pic for Season 6, from the current issue of US Weekly (via ohnotheydidn't).
In this iteration of the Última Cena, Locke takes the place of Jesus, placing him at the centre of the show as I had always suspected. The placement of the other characters is a little odd, but it would appear that Sayid is being shown as his Judas, with Kate as Mary Magdelene/the apostle John. But the way Kate is sitting, with her arm on the table and in the second position she is also in the traditional spot of Judas. I'm starting to lean more towards that interpretation.
Putting Jack to Locke's left would make him the apostle Thomas, often know as Doubting Thomas for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it. How appropriate.
Are there other hints or spoilers in the image? I await analysis from those more steeped in the lore of Lost. Maybe someone can explain how this Last Supper has 13 apostles.
Update: Lost expert Nik at Nite has weighed in with more in-depth thought on the placement of the cast and their surrounding environment. I expect a lengthy discussion in her comments section.
Continuing the Simpsons theme I have going on today (well, all the time to be honest), my blogging pal John Farrier posted this video on Neatorama of what The Simpsons would look like it took place in a small village in Estonia. I would so not watch that show, but they do have surprisingly good production values.
"The idea was to comment on the demise of American culture, and how we are no longer world leaders. The old standard of Uncle Sam was way too overused. Fitting with the history of stained glass I planned to place him on the cross, but it looked like some old dude up there, my message was about American now, not 100 years ago. I considered what symbol of American society is know around the world, and then it hit me, the lovable yet mischievous Bart Simpson."
Demise of American culture? I see it as another step in turing the Simpsons into religious cannon. (Link via Cartoon Brew)
La Morte Al Campo Giochi (Death to the playground)
In case you were wondering what four Nobel laureates would sound like if they formed a funk band, may I present Diddy Lama on drums, Mother T on bass and Nelson "The Man" Dela — Quite possibly the funkiest supergroup of all time. Hmmm, perhaps Obama is right, maybe he's not ready to be part of this pantheon.
I just came back from the Royal Ontario Museum's dinosaur exhibit with my now over-stimulated three-year old son and a friend's comment on a photo reminded me of an image. "Now the only dino he cares about it Barney."
From the Glennz Museum of Natural Oddities comes the Prehistoric Freak — Barney the Dinosaur was neither man nor beast. Avert your eyes, children!
George promised to be good, but it is easy for little monkeys to forget. Then George, who was now a very big monkey and still very curious, climbed to the top of the Empire State Building and peeled The Man with the Yellow Hat like a banana. Get Irate Primate from Threadless designer David Schwen.
Actually, they really need a smaller Bert. A much, much smaller Bert. What can I tell you, it's the best line of the movie. From the photoshop wizardry of Sebastian Niedlich. (Link via Super Punch)
This is why you don't invite Spock to your party — he gets into the Vulcan brandy and does the same trick over and over again. From the mind of Glennz to your chest in t-shirt form.
Oh! You better watch out,
you better not cry,
you better not pout,
I'm telling you why:
Rorschach is coming to town!
He's making a list,
He's checking it twice,
gonna find out who's naughty or nice.
Rorschach is coming to town!
He sees you when you're sleeping,
he knows when you're awake.
He knows when you've been bad or good,
so be good for goodness sake!
Rorschach hated Christmas! The whole Christmas season!
Now, please don't ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
It could be that his fedora wasn't screwed on quite right.
It could be, perhaps, that his trench was too tight.
But I think that the most likely reason of all
May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.
The tenth day of the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas has been brought to you by the last 20 years of my life, and the intro to the Simpsons episode Pranks and Greens.
What does He-Man need of a Battlecat when you he ride a fabulous My Little Pony? Pop artist Sam Carter has mashed together these two solitudes of kids cartoons (and product lines if we are to be honest) into one gender-bending super toy.
I was never much of a Masters of the Universe fan but my sister was crazy for the Ponies. Despite my lackluster interest, He-Man appears to be having a pop culture revival. Gallery 1988 will be presenting Under The Influence: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe next month and you can see many of artists entries at Super Punch.
While I'm told Jesus is the Reason for the Season, during the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas, we do things a little differently. Day Nine brings us a charming Nativity scene of the Virgin Bride as Mary, Frankenstein's monster as Joseph. They are surrounded by Dracula, the Wolfman and the Creature From the Black Lagoon as, I assume, the Three Wise Men. (I can't find the original on this, but the link is via Jesus Is Love)
One day the the mines went dry and Yukon Cornelius, now starving, came across his old friend Rudolph and things being the way they were... well a man's gotta eat. But in tribute he had him stuffed and a light placed in his nose to keep the light burning. The eighth day of the 12 Days of Popped Culture is brought to you by artist Mike Mitchell and my destruction of all my childhood memories.
You'd think being a simple plumber would have an easy choice when getting ready for work — put on your red shirt and toss on your blue overalls and head out. But it's not so easy for Super Mario, who's really not as simple as he appears.
Brittany Murphy died early this morning after she went into full cardiac arrest and could not be revived, multiple sources tell TMZ. (Pic via The Daily What)
Bert and Ernie manage to somehow not get whacked while giving script notes to Tony Sirico (Paulie 'Walnuts' Gualtieri) and Steve Schirripa (Bobby 'Bacala' Baccalieri) during Bert and Ernie's Christmas Special.
Your Christmas Tree is on Twitter and it is none too pleased about its fate. "Gah! I'm surrounded by ugly people in bathrobes. WTF?" Santa is also on Twitter, but he's kinda drunk. You can follow me too, but I'm not nearly as loaded.
Dong Ding dong ding, dong bong. Day Five of the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas brings us a choral work by three of the Muppets most non-verbal characters, Animal, Beaker and the Swedish Chef. I must say, Animal is really becoming quite versatile.
If you are hanging out at a place like this, you've likely comes across one of the posters from DamonCarltonAndAPolarBear.com, which was an artist tribute to Lost done in conjunction with the show.
This week Gallery 1988 revealed all the other pop art homages and there was some fascinating stuff, but it was Lauren Gregg's take on Charlie, Ben and Hurly that tickled me. It's just so different from the tone of the show yet manages to capture something pure about the characters.
Next up on the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas is Neill Cameron, who is drawing a Santa-a-Day in an Advent-Calendar-of-Awesomeness that will show you some of the strangest Santas you'll have ever seen. Like Santa Cthulhu here. I must admit that I've never understood the web's fascination with Cthulhu, but judging by how often I see it show up I'm the only person who has never read H.P. Lovecraft.
While clearly Driving Miss Daisy is as low as a man can get, does inmate really outrank a freed slave? But he made it to God, so I suppose the question is moot. (The Morgan Freeman Chain of Command from Maxim, via JazJaz)
After much procrastination on my part, the redesign is complete! This is the first major re-do since moving from AOL (of which the first 14 months of posts have been lost to the slow demise of that once mighty company), so it's kind of a big deal for me.
But now I'm all hooked up with big, shiny pics and videos, links to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr and other such social media.
Many, many thanks to my friend Karen Geier over at Sharp Pants. Anything you like is her doing. Anything you don't is most likely mine.
It's a literal video for Day 11 of the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas. I know the Hall & Oates version of Jingle Bell Rock was supposed to be cheesy, but only cheese has more cheese.
I would watch the hell out of this movie! John Waltrip and T Campbell have created the ultimate Marvel/Disney mashup, featuring over fifty characters meeting their rough counterparts. John Waltrip and T Campbell have created the ultimate Marvel/Disney mashup, featuring over fifty characters meeting their rough counterparts.
I have much love for the new Beauty and the Beast pairing as well as Mike and Sulley greeting the Hulk. Not entirely sure why Uncle Scrooge is staring so longingly at Spider-Man's ass. Perhaps he represent Disney and expects Spidey to be working it.
That Alvaro Arteaga Sabaini's design hasn't been used as a Simpsons couch gag yet is a testament to its originality. The objects fit perfectly into the living room and reference a moment in the show: Homer's bowling ball bag, Bart's fireworks, Maggie's snowsuit and a plant mistaken for Marge. Not sure about the lamp, but you have to love Lisa's pearl necklace pull string.
Time for the 12 Days of Popped Culture Christmas. And before anyone gets all liturgical on me, I know it relates to the 12 days after Christmas, but that's not how anyone thinks of it.
Anyway, this is Eclectic Method's remix of dozens of Christmas specials, which will either get you all nostalgic or give you a seizure.
And for those of you reading via RSS, Facebook or whathaveyou, come check out the site today — we've spent the weekend moving the furniture around.
Long gone from the comic page, Bill Watterson's Calvin and Hobbes still manages to inspire other artists. At the Crazy For Cult show earlier this year, pop artist Sean Clarity submitted Jack's Imaginary Friend as a visual representation of Galvin P. Chow's theory that Fight Club is Calvin and Hobbes, but grown up:
"Just as Calvin has an imaginary jungle-animal friend named Hobbes, whom everyone else believes to be nothing but a stuffed toy, "Jack" in Fight Club has an imaginary cool-guy friend named Tyler, whom no one but Jack can see."
I went back and found all of that after seeing the results of Comics Alliance's call out to comic book artists to reinterpret the iconic strip. (Link via Neatorama)
Like Ralph the Wolf and Sam Sheepdog, even Godzilla and Ultraman need to take a break from decimating Tokyo. From Evan Ferstenfeld and Jordan Marzuki at Made With Awesome.
This mashup of Team America: World Police with the audio from the latest Avatar trailer knocks some of the pomposity out of James Cameron's much-anticipated sc-fi epic. The hype for this film is way out of control, even showing up on Bones (ya I watch it, what of it?) as the height of geek delight. Sure it was just an extended product placement, but still.
Thankfully Trey Parker and Matt Stone are here to help, if only indirectly. (Link via Unreality)
Mr. T as a bear, from Threadless designer robotwaste. It's not for sale yet, so go vote for it so it will be. My question is, did the bears evolve into Mr. T or did he evolve into a bear? (Link via Super Punch)
Our Mother of Video Games. She's a perfect fit for all the Last Supper parodies that keep showing up around here. Of course in those she is often sitting in the place of the Apostle John (or Mary Magdelene if you believe Dan Brown.) Still, she could still be Jesus Mario's mom - it would explain why he's so desperate to rescue her. (From Kotaku, via Geekologie)
Popped Culture contest No. 2: On Friday, Dec. 11 American Express is hosting a gala screening of The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus in Toronto. The screening takes place two weeks before the film opens in Canadian theatres and will feature a Q&A session with director Terry Gilliam! And guess who is giving away two pairs of tickets? Me! That was obvious, wasn't it?
What: Gala screening of The Imaginarum of Dr. Parnassus When: Friday, Dec. 11. Doors open at 6 p.m., screening starts at 7 p.m. Where: Screening and after party will take place at The Carlu, 444 Yonge Street, Toronto
To win: First, go to www.americanexpress.ca/events and find the right phrase. Then email me (hint: it's in my profile) the phrase and either join my Facebook page, follow me on Twitter and/or vote for Popped Culture in the Canadian Blog Awards. I will enter all the correct entries into a draw on Wednesday night at 11 p.m. and let the winners know Thursday morning.
You have to be 18 or be accompanied by an adult to attend and I'm not flying anyone in so, you know, keep that in mind. No prize substitutions either.
Good luck! I can't wait to see this and a Q&A with Terry Gilliam too? Cool.
To commemorate the release of a Star Wars horror novel, artist Matt Busch has recreated all the Star Wars movie posters as zombie films. The originals appear to have vanished from StarWars.com but coreplanets saved the lot. The Living Dead Strike Back is my fave. Love the guts hanging out of the tauntaun, though I can't figure out why Han would have had to cut it open in the first place, other than maybe he just wanted to. (Link via @thinkgeek)
It's almost Christmas, so time to turn on the TV and bathe in its seasonal warmth. I've already introduced three-year-old to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (and instilled a life-long fear of dentists) and I'm ready to watch my annual favourites: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (animated, of course), A Christmas Story ("You'll shoot your eye out!") and Scrooged.
We all have regulars that we return to year after year, but Joanna Wilson thinks there is a better way. The author of The Christmas TV Companion has watched hundreds of Christmas specials to create a guide to unusual, overlooked and often bizarre Christmas-themed television episodes and film releases.
(Above: It's Jihad, Farley Towne, from Denis Leary's variety show, Merry F#%$in' Christmas. "It really isn't such a bad little bomb. It just needs a little hate.")
Wilson's thorough book highlights many of the more offbeat seasonal offerings, especially if your tastes aren't exactly in line with White Christmas. Her section on animation (my favourite) digs up gems like Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse's take on A Charlie Brown Christmas.
A devoted fan of the Rankin/Bass stop-motion features (Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, The Little Drummer Boy) she gives high praise to MAD TV's excellent parodies, placing Rudolph into Goodfellas and The Godfather. That is my kind of Christmas tale.
In the Sci-Fi section Wilson declares Futurama's yuletide tales "hands down, the far most interesting projection of Christmases future." Mostly because Santa is now a robot in the year 3000 who is out to kill everyone seeing as his naughty/nice gauge is set too high.
Wilson says, and I agree, that the "most jaw-dropping Christmas episodes have to be those from the series notorious for its crude tastelessness, South Park. In 1997, the creators popularized a new holiday icon for modern audiences: Mr Hankey, the Christmas Poo. The yuletide turd becomes a symbol that everyone in the town can embrace without offending their individual religious of family traditions.
While not the edgiest of their offerings, Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics has become a seasonal tradition for me. The duet between Santa and Jesus gets me every time.
Not surprisingly Wilson devotes a significant amount of time to the 1978 television special, The Star Wars Holiday Special. As someone who was eight when he watched this two-hour travesty when it originally aired, I mostly recall being bored. It really wasn't about Star Wars at all. I tried to watch it again last night but just couldn't get through it. But there it is above if you've only heard about it and want to find out for yourself. Good luck with that.
The real joy of The Christmas TV Companion is flipping through the pages and being introduced to something bizarre that you never knew existed. For me that was Franz Kafka's It's A Wonderful Life, which "dramatizes the anxiety-filled absurdist writer Franz Kafka's struggle to create the opening line of his novel Metamorphosis on Christmas Eve." It's truly odd.
So this Christmas, do yourself a favour: get this book and go watch something a little strange to get yourself into the holiday spirit.
Most mashups take the lines from a movie and place them over an unrelated, but oddly appropriate, scene. At best the dialogue mostly lines up with the movement of the mouthes on the screen but it's mostly about matching with the images.
Day Job Orchestra went the other way with this, matching nonsensical words that match the mouth movements but have zero relation with what is happening on screen. And it works. So what do you say we make apple juice and fax it to each other? (Link via Warming Glow)
"Let's pretend that Prince Tuesday has been having scary dreams..." I don't doubt it. I will too now that I know Freddy Krueger is Mr. Rogers. I knew there was something wrong with that guy. (Ignored Prayers via the incomparable Daily What)
So back when this guy was a teenager, somebody probably told him his flute playing, beatboxing and obsession with Inspector Gadget and Beverly Hills Cop would amount to nothing. Pfft, shows what they know! (Link via Topless Robot)
So "my" episode of Being Erica ("What Goes Up Must Come Down") aired last night and my blink-and-you-miss-it scene as an extra went by so quickly I figured I should screen cap it for you. Ego? I don't know what you're talking about.
Anyway, did you see how star Erin Karpluk walked by me without batting an eye? Yeah, that's good acting. We had a scene where we totally made out, but it was such an instantaneous regret on her part that she couldn't get to her time-travelling psychologist fast enough, so they left it on the cutting room floor.
I managed the above bit of scene-stealing by being the sucker having the privilege of updating the National Post site at such an ungodly hour that they just filmed around me. So that's our newsroom, except better-dressed and with too many people. Nobody wears suspenders. Ok, one guy does.
It's not a meme until the Last Supper gets involved. Seems socialite, reality-TV wannabes Michaele and Tareq Salahi have been party crashing for what seems like years. Forget the White House, these people have been everywhere. (Link via Asylum)
