HGC Radio - Episode 3: The Assassination of Dane Cook by the Coward Anthony Kingdom James

Online now, it's the third episode of the Handsome Genius Club Radio Show. Kingdom is flying by the seat of his pants this week: his co-host and both guests have disappeared! So it's solo hosting duties again for our hero with immense gratitude to a pair of friends who agreed to be guests at the last minute.

First up is PHIL STAMPER. Phil, besides being another of Kingdom's indy wrestling buddies, is a fledgling actor and host of his own pretty damn entertaining video blog. Kingdom has "one question" for the opinionated Virginian and from there it's off to the races.

Then, as if they don't spend enough time together at work each night, Kingdom welcomes strip club manager RON LARMONDIN to the show. Big Ron tells us how a guy of his ilk ends up in charge of Canada's most prestigious adult entertainment establishment, what it's like to keep the peace in the club and a few stories about celebrities who've been turfed out onto the street for acting the fool inside the bar. Then Ron and Kingdom trade insults, discuss each other's alcoholism and loads more worth a laugh or two.

All this, plus the week's nerd news and Kingdom brings us a fantastic internet article with "5 Reasons You Should Hate Dane Cook" and a discussion with producer TJ about his sordid man-whore past. WARNING: THIS SHOW CONTAINS ADULT TOPICS AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE!

WEEKLY LINK-O-RAMA
Click here to visit Phil Stamper's v-log.
Read "5 Reasons to not like Dane Cook" at its original website.
TJ fronts a band called Secret Suburbia.
Give our brothers at Tha O Show a listen, too.

TO DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW AS AN mp3:
Right click on THIS LINK, then choose "Save Target As" in Internet Explorer or "Save Link As" in Mozilla FireFox. If you have problems with this, please e-mail us at handsomegeniusclub@gmail.com.

PUSH THE PINK BUTTON and thanks for listening!

From Printed Page To Silver Screen #2

Hey folks! Welcome to another edition of Printed Page to Silver Screen. I want to get stuck into this week’s topic, which is the Spider-man franchise, but before I do that I need to cover something which has been bothering me since I posted last weeks edition: The Crow.

I heralded Blade as the first good comic movie and whilst it was the one which brought about the current revolution of comic movies, The Crow was the first GREAT comic movie and deserves it’s place in history. I love that movie and it was a horrible oversight, so I am saying it now… The Crow Rules!! (R.I.P. Brandon Lee.)

Now, on to this week's topic of discussion: Spider-man. On last week's HGC show Kingdom stole my thunder by mentioning the fact that Toby Maguire has been signed on to do the next two Spider-man movies for a whopping $50 million. Not only that but he went on to say that he liked Maguire as Peter… I have only one thing to say to that… WHAT!!!!!


The first Spider-man film was actually pretty good and I liked Toby in this one, I have since discovered the reason he was so good in the first film was because he only had once side of the character to focus on, the transformation from geek to hero. Osbourne was given plenty of time to develop into his own, and a great performance was given by Willem Dafoe, the only thing that bothered me about the first film was the lack of the Gwen story. Instead of the Mary – Harry – Peter love triangle we could have been given the Gwen story and with her death at the end of the film that would have left space for M.J in the second film.

The Second film wasn’t a bad film but it was no where near as good as the first. Octavius was given plenty of space to develop just as Osbourne was in the first film but the rest just didn’t deliver. Why bother having John Jameson if it wasn’t to bring in the Wolf. This space should have been filled by the love triangle from the first which would have resulted in the creation of the new goblin in the third film along with Harry blaming Peter for his fathers death. Maguire started to show why casting him as Spidey was a problem here.

In the second film. The world was seeing Spidey a true hero but even in the suit Maguire portrayal came across as a shallow and his portrayal of Peter also lacked any depth, if you want a contrast to this watch Superman Returns or Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer. Both Reed and Clark are portrayed as you typical Nerd or Genius without loosing any depth regardless of how badly the film was written or directed.

Then comes the third instalment. And I cried. Everything was handled badly in this film, except Sandman who shouldn’t have been in it in the first place. Venom… Topher Grace … Really!! Where is the muscled hulking monster who could swat Spider-man away, who should have never needed Sandman’s help. And what the hell were Raimi and Maguire thinking when they came up with the Saturday nigh fever scene, with Peter strutting down the street after succumbing to the Symbiote?? It wasn’t funny it was awful, it made me cringe it was so bad!. As for the New Goblin once they had converted him to the side of good it should have taken both heroes to deal with Venom alone. Then we could have finished with an M.J – Peter wedding and hey presto we’re done. The whole thing came off as a total clusterfuck and I hate it.

Now we have a fourth and fifth instalment to dread and I am scared of what will happen to the greatest hero ever created. So that’s my take fellow Geniuses let me know what you think of the first three and what may happen to the franchise in the next two.

It may also interest you to know the Toby Maguire has been attached to the Robotech films which are being released to capitalise on the success of Transformers and speaking of Transformers most of the nest I have gathered this week centres around the upcoming Transformers sequel: Revenge of the Fallen.

Leaked Pictures of Megatron from The Fallen?
Source: Transformers World, Latino Review
September 22, 2008

While I tend to question anything that mysteriously show up in my Inbox claiming to be from any highly-anticipated upcoming movie, I was particularly suspicious when it comes to Michael Bay's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. After all, wasn't Michael Bay boasting earlier this year that he planned on leaking false information to throw the fans off for what to expect in the sequel?

The four pictures that popped up certainly look like concept art for the toy designs and box depicting the new transformed version of Megatron that might appear in Michael Bay's sequel, but are they the real deal? Or are these a part of Michael Bay's campaign of misinformation?

When the same pictures started showing up on Transformers World 2005 and Latino Review and all over our message boards, I started wondering if these pictures might actually be legitimate.

You can check out the pictures in all their glory at one of the links above and decide for yourself.


Roberto Orci Answers Transformers Sequel Questions
Source: Transformers World
September 23, 2008

Slowly turning into one of the best sources for all things Transformers, Transformers World 2005 (no, I have no idea why they're three years behind the rest of us) has had a very special member of the Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen creative team, co-writer Roberto Orci, join their message boards where he's been (somewhat vaguely) answering questions about the upcoming sequel.

While Orci has been doing the interview rounds as the co-producer of the new action-thriller Eagle Eye, which opens everywhere on Friday September 26, plus he has a new Fox show "Fringe" (both co-produced with his partner Alex Kurtzman), none of these interviews get as in depth into what we may or may not see in the sequel than this message board Q 'n' A thread. (General spoiler warnings if you want to be surprised, of course.)

There's way too much information here to mention just one thing or another but there's a lot of diehard Transformers fans on their forums, so you'll probably want to read it all for yourself here.

Transformers World also confirms that Jetfire will be an Autobot in the movie, rather than a Decepticon, because he'll be combining with Optimus Prime in the new movie. You can read more about that here.


Some Kick-Ass Set Pics!
Source: /Film
September 22, 2008

/Film got their hands on some cool pictures from the Toronto location shoot for Matthew Vaughn's adaptation of Kick-Ass, depicting a scene straight from the comic book by Mark ("Wanted") Millar and John ("Amazing Spider-Man", "Uncanny X-Men", you name it) Romita Jr. The scene being shot by the production's 2nd Unit is of a flying superhero being felled and crashing through a taxi cab, which comes from the opening of the story and movie.

/Film reader Dan B. depicts the scene being shot as such:

“Coming back from a Jays game happen to catch what appeared to be 2nd Unit for Kick-Ass. Didn’t see Matthew Vaughn on site. They seemed to be shooting the opening shots of the movie. The camera starts off facing the wrecked taxi and ends up on a close up of the license plate that reads ‘Kick-Ass’ Here are the shots taken with my Iphone.”

You can see some pics, as well as a comparison from the same scene in the comic book by clicking here.


Alan Moore Unsupportive of Snyder's Watchmen
Source: Los Angeles Times
September 18, 2008

With the 20th Century Fox lawsuit against Warner Bros. over Zack Snyder's Watchmen still unresolved, the Los Angeles Times' "Hero Complex" blog recently interviewed comic creator and author Alan Moore and got his opinion on the movie that many have felt might finally get one of Moore's stories right. Moore apparently hasn't had his opinion about Hollywood swayed or changed, because he isn't just against the adaption of his graphic novel finally coming to the big screen, but seemingly against movies in general.

In the interview, Moore says that he finds "film in its modern form to be quite bullying," and as far as the much-publicized lawsuit, Moore seems to be thrilled about the legal problems surrounding the film which is due out on March 6, 2009, two months after the trial date that's been set for the case. "Will the film even be coming out? There are these legal problems now, which I find wonderfully ironic. Perhaps it's been cursed from afar, from England, and I can tell you that I will also be spitting venom all over it for months to come."

Then again, Moore has never watched any of the film adaptations of his books, and Zack Snyder probably shouldn't feel too bad that Moore isn't positive or supportive of the hard work he's been putting into making Watchmen faithful to Moore's original work.

You can read the rest of the interview with Moore here.

HGC Radio - Episode 2: Electric Boogaloo

The Saga Continues! Episode Two of The Handsome Genius Club Radio Show is fresh out of the oven and cooling here on our internet window sill, just waiting for you to download and enjoy. Be forewarned: THIS SHOW CONTAINS ADULT TOPICS AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE! A little less salty then the first show but still enough to make the Baby Jesus cry.

ANTHONY KINGDOM JAMES is your loyal Sherpa, deftly guiding you through 2-plus hours of pop culture news, opinion and interviews. Joining your Uncle Kingdom in the studio this week are guest co-host DEAN BROTTON and HGC Radio's number one engineer, TJ.

Kingdom's guests on this episode are the reigning Ring Of Honor World Champion NIGEL McGUINESS discussing his rise from British university student to the pinnacle of the independent wrestling scene and Pillow Fight League founder STACEY P. CASE to tell us all about where the idea for the PFL came from, the league's impressive growth over the last three years and its current search for new fighters. Plus, Stacey discusses his old band, his new band, his retro movie theatre and his involvment in reviving 70's Canadian kids tv classic The Hilarious House of Frightenstein.

WEEKLY LINK-O-RAMA
Click here to visit Nigel McGuinness' MySpace.
Learn more about the girls of the Pillow Fight League.
Want to see a cool old film this Friday? Try Trash Palace Cinema.
TJ fronts a band called Secret Suburbia.
This week's edition of Tha O Show has nudity.

TO DOWNLOAD THIS SHOW AS AN mp3:
Right click on THIS LINK, then choose "Save Target As" in Internet Explorer or "Save Link As" in Mozilla FireFox. If you have problems with this, please e-mail us at handsomegeniusclub@gmail.com.

PUSH THE PINK BUTTON and thanks for listening!

From Printed Page To Silver Screen #1

Fellow Handsome Geniuses, allow me to introduce our first new columnist: Shaun Kelly. Shaun will be blogging for us on comic book-based movies, updating us on what's happening and what might happen down the road. Welcome to the Club, Shaun!

Does anybody remember the old days of comic book films? The cheesy Superman romps, the half decent Batman flicks, well the first and third ones anyway! The original Punisher with Dolph Lundgren? It really was a sorry state of affairs and didn’t help the reputation of comic books as viable adult entertainment. Then along came Blade.

I know this is my first blog with the HGC so I was thinking; how do I let you know what kind of guy I am? The answer is simple, by tackling my two favourite form of entertainment where they clash, Comics and Movies. My opinions on Comic Movies can be a bit controversial at times, liking Batman Forever for instance! I mean I know the nipples were stupid but it was a great film, I’m sorry I just can’t help it!


My favourite Comic film has to be the one that changed it all, the one that made Comic films cool and spurred the current box office bonanzas that give us the thrills every summer, Blade.

So how did Blade change things? Well the special effects were top notch, they didn’t try to stretch it too far and make it look stupid and the casting was spot on. Wesley Snipes and Kris Kirstofferson gave the project and the characters all the dedication they deserved. It was a smash and the Film companies have been on the ball ever since.

I could write a whole blog about the film and the effects it’s had but that’s not what this is about. This is about modern Comic Films and not all the results have been positive. Blade was a series of three films which as with most trilogies got worse as they went on. Spider-man is the same. I think they badly miss-cast Spider-man, and although that’s not as evident in the first film it becomes horribly obvious in the second and third films. Then there is the semi reboot of Superman which was well cast but badly written.

Marvel does seem to have had most of the successes but DC has the biggest success… The Batman reboot. Let’s be honest here, The Dark Knight is just the best Comic Movie ever made, it’s THE best film ever made. I don’t care if it doesn’t beat Titanic at the Box office, it simply kicks ass and Batman Begins was no slouch either.

Batman isn’t however the only good reboot, look at Hulk or the new Punisher: War Journal. Both are/or look to be great, although the future of Hulk is in doubt (check my news section at the end) both of those were a success. Then you have the likes of Iron Man, Fantastic 4, Ghost Rider, The upcoming Green Lantern, Watchmen, Transformers, TMNT. The list goes on and on and Ariston.

I have plenty to say about this stuff and hopefully in future editions I will go into details about the way some of these franchises have been handled and review the new films as they come out, Below I have stuck some news stories that have broken about some the films I’ve discussed.

So until Kingdom get’s a sex change and starts stripping for a living Do Me A HGC


Transformers 2 Vids
Source: Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has posted its second exclusive behind-the-scenes video for Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The second clip takes a look at Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox on the set of the Michael Bay sequel. A fourth video has also been added, which features Fox's auditions for the first film.

To access the content, just go here and use the access code AllSpark62609.

"Revenge of the Fallen," opening in conventional theatres and IMAX on June 26, 2009, stars Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Isabel Lucas, Rainn Wilson and Jennifer Alden



Edward Norton on Hulk's Future
Source: MTV

The Incredible Hulk star Edward Norton tells MTV he is uncertain about the green fella's future.

"The minds of Marvel are sometimes opaque," Norton said. "I won't say [they're] obtuse, but I don't have any idea what they want to do."

He added he was not sure if he would be asked back for Marvel Studios' planned team-up project, The Avengers, scheduled for a July 2011 release.

"They've got this notion of collecting the Marvel characters," Norton said. "Who knows where they'll go?


Guggenheim Talks Green Lantern Script
Source: ComicCon.com
September 12, 2008

Almost a year ago it was announced that Greg Berlanti was set to direct the live-action take on DC Comics' Green Lantern, which he would write with Marc Guggenheim and Michael Green.

Now, Guggenheim has given ComicCon.com an update:

"I've been working my ass off on Green Lantern," he said, then laughed. "I'm ready for a weekend off. I really can't say too much about it. I've sworn a blood oath of secrecy. I will tell you it features Hal Jordan and is an incredibly faithful rendition of the character. It honours everything everyone loves about the hero. We approach it from a fan's perspective. Every step of the way, we ask ourselves what we want to see and what the fans will want to see. I think we have a script that will actually satisfy on those levels. Right now I'm just doing a rewrite for the studio with Greg [Berlanti] and Michael [Green]. We'll turn that in next week. We just keep moving forward. It's really good stuff!"

Green Lantern was created in 1940. Hal Jordan, a second-generation test pilot, is an ordinary man who has been charged with defending a sector of the universe.

HGC Radio - Week 2 Preview

Available online this Friday afternoon, it's the second episode of THE HANDSOME GENIUS CLUB. Your congenial host, indy wrestler/announcer ANTHONY KINGDOM JAMES, leads you on a two-hour audio love-o-rama, discussing all the pop culture news and opinion you can handle. Plus, check out this week's guests:

Trained by Les Thatcher, tutored by Robbie Brookside and tested by wrestlers the world over... NIGEL McGUINESS stands tall as the current Ring Of Honor World Heavyweight Champion. We'll talk to the British-born brawler about everything he went through to become a professional wrestler and how he's enjoying life on top of the indy wrestling scene today.

Who likes watching cute chicks wrestling around and hitting each other with pillows? Well, STACEY CASE does. That's why he created the Pillow Fight League. But his genius doesn't stop there. He's the drummer for the surf-punk band The Tijuana Bibles. He runs the Trash Palace retro cinema. He even directed the cult hit movie Zombie Beach Party who's cast was like a who's who of indy wrestlers and burlesque performers. We'll talk to Stacey about his current endeavors and what he has planned for the future.

All this and much more on this week's edition of the Handsome Genius Club.

FaceBook: It's like cyber-heroin...

Bryan Alvarez, the wrestler/writer behind the Figure Four Weekly wrestling newsletter and website, did this on HIS website, so I decided I would too. (And before you ask, YES, if Bryan Alvarez jumped off the Brooklyn Bridge, so would I.) I want everyone to add me as a friend on Facebook. My name there is, of course, Anthony Kingdom James. My first goal is 1000 friends and I'm already more than half way there on my own. See? I've done half the work for you already.

So go. Now. Add me to your FaceBook. Let's be friends.

HGC Radio - Episode 1: The Fandom Menace

[DOWNLOAD MP3]

It's finally here! The very first episode of The Handsome Genius Club Radio Show. Now be warned: THIS SHOW CONTAINS ADULT TOPICS AND OFFENSIVE LANGUAGE! Yes folks, it gets a little salty. But what do you expect when Uncle Kingdom cracks open his first beer at 2pm and his first guest is a porn director?

Join Anthony Kingdom James for 2 hours of fun, frolic, interviews and stream-of-consciousness commentary. Today's guests include adult film director SLAVA "IVAN" SIDERMAN calling in live on his way to filming his latest smutty extravanganza and former ECW Wrestling Superstar COLIN DELANEY talking about his 8 great months in "The E" and his plans for the future.

Check out Ivan's website (18 and over only please).
Check out Colin Delaney's MySpace.
And give Tha O Show a listen at www.thaoshow.com.

PUSH THE PINK BUTTON and thanks for listening!

HGC Radio - Week 1 preview

Join Anthony Kingdom James and the Handsome Genius Club Radio Show this Friday for a few laughs, some nerd news and these exciting guests:

Adult film director SLAVA “IVAN” SIDERMAN: How do you go from being a cameraman and editor for an indy wrestling promotion to being one of the most popular directors in the adult film business? And what’s it like when porn pays your bills? Ivan will join the show for an uncensored peak behind the scenes of the erotic industry, plus insights on the life, death and rebirth of XPW and a discussion about his insane love of Canadian football.

Former WWE Superstar COLIN DELANEY: Plucked from the obscurity of the indy wrestling circuit by WWE talent agents in December of 2007, he quickly became one of the focal points of the ECW brand. Eight months of travel, excitement and main event television matches against marquee opponents later, the ride came to an end. Now, in his first interview since he was released from his contract, Rochester, NY’s favorite son, Colin Delaney joins HGC Radio to discuss life on the road with the WWE and his return to indy wrestling.

All this and much much more, right here on The Handsome Genius Club Radio Show debuting Friday September 12th.

STAR TREK needs more than a new movie. It needs a complete reboot.

For the last few years, I’ve had this thought rattling around in my so-called mind but I’ve been afraid to verbalize it anywhere within earshot of other hardcore Trekkies. I didn‘t want defenders of the canon beating me to death with homemade bat’leths for making such an absurd suggestion. But look at what a reboot has done for movie franchises like Batman and the Hulk or, more importantly, to a property like Battlestar Galactica. Once looked at as a cheese-tastic relic from the year 1979, the re-imagined incarnation is now thought of as one of television’s best shows.

Just take a look at how Trek has fared over the last decade. For me, the end of Deep Space Nine was the end of consistently good Trek. Voyager was the start of a tobaggan ride of lame characters, boring stories and bad creative choices that finally crashed into the proverbial "big tree at the bottom of the hill" with the introduction of B-4 and the death of Data during Star Trek: Nemesis. (Retarded robots singing old torch songs is about as smart a move as Vulkans singing camp songs and toasting “marsh melons”.) Then again, that was all slightly easier to tolerate than watching the guy from Quantum Leap leap lead his crew through "The Expanse" to find the Xindi weapon.

Seriously, I love Deep Space Nine with all my heart, but Rick Berman eventually did to Trek what George Lucas has done to Star Wars, both of which are roughly the same thing a baby does to a diaper. The only lifelines Trekkies have been thrown in the past decade have been the movie First Contact, parts of Enterprise’s fourth season after Manny Coto was given the reigns as show-runner and James Cawley's New Voyages/Phase II fanfilm series. Man, if only the officially produced Trek had half the heart or thought put into it that Cawley's fanfilms have shown.

There are plenty of reasons to start from scratch but I’ll just cut to the heart of it: There are so many good stories that could be told within the Star Trek framework but canon has grown too large for the writers and problem-solving has grown too easy for the characters. There came a point a few years ago where I thought if I heard the word “modified” one more time, I was going to have to hurt someone. Modified deflector dishes and modified tricorders and modified nanoprobes were the answer to every stinking hurdle a Starfleet officer could ever face.

Tear it all down and start again, I say. Get to the basics of what made even the campiest of the original Trek so damn good and reweave them into a new product. It all has to start with Kirk, naturally, but wipe the slate clean. Start from scratch. No reboot of Star Trek needs to be as severe as the Galactica reboot, (we don’t to make Spock a female whom Kirk has a torrid affair with… yikes, leave that to the army of fanfic freaks out there) but there things we can get right and do better by restarting the franchise.

Go back and watch Episode 9 of the Original Series sometime: “Balance Of Terror”. My god, that’s good Trek. It was about the characters. It was set in space and in the future but it was about the characters. And what’s more, it didn’t involve any last minute super-McGuffin being invented by an android or a genius teenager or a Borg bikini model to save the day. It was just dramatic and suspenseful and good.

JJ Abrams, a man who’s work I have never enjoyed, has Hollywood’ed his way into being the man in charge of Trek. His first Trek feature film hits theatres in May of 2009. Abrams recently said that the new movie would “not be a rehash” of things the audience has seen before. To quote Abrams, “This movie does acknowledge a world that has pre-existed off the screen for decades, but when you see it, it’s not going to be quite what you’d expect, and definitely not just a rehash of things you’ve seen before. It’s a very new take on the thing that it’s also beholden to. It’s a very interesting balance."

Frankly, I wonder if goes far enough to salvage the franchise. Instead of repairing the damage of the last decade by just recasting and revisiting, commit to starting over and reboot!

Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment and let’s discuss it…

Welcome to the Handsome Genius Club

The Handsome Genius Club (HGC) is a free-form talk show catering to “the nerd inside everyone”. The show consists largely of banter between the hosts as well as interviews with celebrity guests. Topics include current events and politics but the show’s heavy emphasis is on discussing film, television, music, comic books, pro sports and pretty much anything else that make come to mind. HGC Radio is hosted by the often opinionated and always entertaining Anthony Kingdom James alongside a series of guest co-hosts that include stand-up comedians, writers, drinking buddies and the occasional exotic entertainer (that’s code for “strippers”).

Join the fun by listening to the show each week at http://www.handsomegeniusclub.com/. New episodes are available every Friday starting September 12th and the blog is updated daily.

As you can tell, the site is brand-spanking new. Over the next few weeks, we'll be adding bios for our hosts, a bunch of graphics and the HGC Store will open. More bloggers will be joining the Club on a variety of topics and, of course, we always have room sponsors. Remember kids, the seven sweetest words in entertainment are "Promotional considerations paid for by the following..."