The Bring Back Mystery Science Theater 3000 Kickstarter has hit their $2 million goal, which means it’s funded and they’ll do at least three new episodes.
Everybody Smile!
And they still have 25 days to go! Now let’s hope they make it all they way to their 12 episode $5.5 million stretch goal…
I picked the following up as part of a swap:
Dick, Philip K. World of Chance. Rich and Cowan, 1956. First hardback edition and first thus under this title (the first hardback edition of Dick’s first published novel, published earlier in the U.S. as the paperback original Solar Lottery), an Ex-Library copy with tape ghosts to inside covers, slight signs of pocket removal from FFE, inner front hinge half-cracked, slight dust staining to page block edges, in a dust jacket that has about 1/8″ trimmed from top and bottom, and a larger amount (possibly 1/4″ to 1/2″) trimmed from inner flaps, not removing any text, but trimming the flap edges right to the edge of the text block, plus tape ghosts and a touch of edgewear; call it a Very Good-/Good+ Ex-Library copy, though it presents much better than that list of flaws would lead you to believe. Currey (1979), page 159. Levack, 38b. One of the rarest Dick hardcovers.
Here’s a nice cover of Slowdive’s “When the Sun Hits” by Luna Tango.
Who are Luna Tango you ask?
As far as I can tell, they’re not even a musical group, they’re a music circle at Japan’s Chuo University.
This is one of the many things on my want list, since I always thought it was a neat little book, and I finally found a copy I could afford.
Asimov, Isaac. Three By Asimov. Targ Editions, 1981. First edition hardback, one of 250 signed copies, a Fine copy in a Near Fine- tissue paper dust jacket with a 7/8″ semi-closed tear on the top right front cover, with associated wrinkles (the white streaks at left and top are reflection glare from the dust jacket protector). All the pages seem to be made of hand-made paper with ragged edges. Bought for $107.79 off eBay.
William Targ was a former editor at Putnam who ran a one-man small press in his retirement. This and the Ray Bradbury book Beyond 1984 were, as far as I know, the only SF Targ Editions published.
Joel Hodgson just launched a kickstarter to produce new episodes of Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
Let me get the obligatory meme out of the way:
But fans have been calling out for an MST3K reboot for years. Why only now?
Simple: Jim Mallon sold his share of the rights to Shout Factory:
Shout! Factory has acquired cult comedy series “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” Variety has learned.
The news of the acquisition comes the same day Joel Hodgson, the creator and writer of “Mystery Science Theater 3000,” launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new season of the show.
With the new deal, negotiated by Shout’s David McIntosh, Shout! Factory now has the proprietary rights the “Mystery Science Theater 3000” from Best Brains, Inc., including all brand assets and global intellectual property. The media company is partnering with Hodgson and his company Alternaversal, LLC on future endeavors surrounding the “MST3K” brand, including plans for new content development, digital media initiatives, live events, merchandise licensing programs and content syndication to international territories.
The one caveat I have is evidently there will be a “new cast” for the show. I think the consensus is that the MST3K faithful would love to have Hodgson, Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff back in their old roles (and possibly J. Elvis Weinstein back as the original Tom Servo; given his attachment to RiffTracks, Kevin Murphy seems unlikely to reprise the Tom Servo voice role). But I’m certainly willing to give the new cast a chance.
So, yeah, I signed up.
Here’s the pitch video:
Here’s Lantern, a very cool historical research tool that searches “1.3 million pages of digitized books and magazines from the histories of film, broadcasting, and recorded sound.”
How extensive is it? I did a search for Tod Browning and turned up a whopping 2346 pages that reference him.
If you’re doing any research on the early history of film, it’s a real treasure trove.
Moonlit Sailor gets tagged as a post-rock, but they remind me strongly of Midsummer minus the vocals, and since Midsummer has always struck me as a Shoegaze band, here’s Moonlit Sailor’s “Fresh Snow.,”
Some musical works are justly forgotten. Sadly, I feel that Bob Jacobs’s concept album Ray Bradbury’s Dark Carnival falls into that category, being of a overly theatrical folk rock style that was probably never in fashion, even when it was released.
Here are a couple of the more tolerable examples:
I don’t think a revival is in the offing. It’s probably not even as interesting as that weird free jazz album accompanying Edward Gorey’s words…
Peoria, Arizona, today:
Linus tried to warn us, buuuuut noooooooooooo!