Author Archives: Robert Cortez

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About Robert Cortez

Robert is a design and publishing professional, serving as art director/creative director for Newtype USA and PiQ magazines covering anime and genre entertainment. He enjoys good movies (and even some bad ones), muscle cars, video games, rock and roll and talking about all of the above with friends over a burger and soda.

Damon Lindelof on Prometheus, Lost and ambiguity

In this extended hour-long interview with Josh Topolsky from The Verge, Damon Lindelof talks about writing for TV versus film while dealing with audience expectations and feedback, goes into great depth on Prometheus and its quasi-connection with the Alien franchise. And for those viewers who are still looking for clarity (or, as Topolsky himself, were disappointed), he also lends some insights into the deeper meanings of Lost and its ultimate conclusion.

Video: Damon Lindelof extended interview – On The Verge, Episode 006 | The Verge.

Rocky The Undisputed Collection on Blu-ray for cheap

This week Amazon has the entire Rocky series on Blu-ray for only $29.99, so if you were waiting for a time to pick up all six films on high-def in one fell swoop, this is it.

Whether out of nostalgia or genuine love for the Italian Stallion, your appreciation for the series may change from film to film (check out Scott’s look at the franchise if you’ve never seen a single Rocky flick), but last I checked, that works out to five dollars each. Savings!

Jay Mohr, John August and “Go”

Now under his own Fake Mustache podcast banner, Jay Mohr finally gets to an episode of his Mohr Stories podcast that I’ve been waiting for since he began late last year—a lively discussion with veteran screenwriter John August (who hosts his own brilliant and insightful screenwriting podcast, Scriptnotes) about Tim Burton, Tom Cruise, screenwriting, Hollywood studio execs and of course, my personal favorite, 1999′s Go. As a listener of both of these shows, it’s like podcast worlds colliding in a most magnificent and hilarious way. Listen!

Check out the podcast in iTunes or listen directly at jaymohr.com.

Sword & Sworcery A/V Jam producing sweriously swuper artwork

I know fan art is nothing new, but if there’s anything I learned from month after month of going through submissions at Newtype USA, it’s that really great fan art is really hard to come by.

Fortunately, fans of Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP are a crazy-talented bunch, as evidenced by the totally excellent work on display at the official Sworcery A/V Jam fan art site. While the illustration is what really gets my attention, there’s also music remixes and other way cool stuff to check out, and if you’re in the creative mood, there’s still time (deadline is May 13) to submit your own creations.

And if you still haven’t checked out the game itself, the time of miracles awaits you on iOS and Steam.

Louis C.K. whips out another $5 comedy special

It seemed like he all but vanished entirely after releasing Live at the Beacon late last year, but Louis C.K. is back to release another hour-long show for only five bucks. Recorded in 2010, WORD: Live at Carnegie Hall, is a small departure from C.K.’s tradition of only releasing brand-new material, but I’m willing to bet it’ll be a treat for fans nonetheless.

In addition to that, he’s also releasing audio-only versions of Live at the Beacon Theater and 2007′s Shameless, followed later by an extended version of Beacon and his 1998 feature debut Tomorrow Night.

Five dollars. For an hour with the best comedian walking the earth. Do it!

More at Laughspin

Amazon bringing exclusive Harry Potter to your Kindle for free…sort of

The online retail giant has announced an exclusive deal with Pottermore to include all the Harry Potter novels as e-books in their Kindle Owners’ Lending Library program starting June 19. That means all Amazon Prime subscribers can now check out the Hogwarts saga in e-book form—in addition to tons of other e-books, streaming movies and TV shows and free shipping—at no additional charge. For those keeping score, that’s a lot of stuff for free, with your $79 a year subscription, of course. A pretty good deal, I’d say, except for one thing.

Ever since I bought my iPad late last year, I’ve found myself picking up e-books more and more, and while I’m enjoying the selection that Amazon has in their catalog, non-Kindle owners like me (which I suspect far outnumber Kindle owners) will be locked out of the Harry Potter action. It’s understandable that the company is trying to bolster its Amazon Prime and Kindle efforts, and at some point, I imagine it’ll be “subscribe to Amazon Prime and read/watch/listen to anything for free” for Kindle owners, but I wonder how a move like this might sit with the Department of Justice considering their recent antitrust suit against several major book publishers and Apple in which Amazon was clearly painted as a victim of collusion and price-fixing.

Then again, maybe this is akin to when the Beatles finally allowed their music to be sold digitally through iTunes a couple of years ago. It was a nice thought, but for most fans it was a non-event. Anyone who’s into the books probably bought them from Pottermore already, right? And besides, it’s Harry Potter. That’s sooo last year.