UPDATE: Jonathan has just made “Baby Got Back (In the Style of Glee)” available for purchase on iTunes! BUY IT NOW. Proceeds to charity. Read all about it here.
Laura Hudson has a great overview of the “Glee”/Jonathan Coulton situation over at Wired. If you’re agitated by the whole thing, may I humbly suggest channeling your emotions productively by buying some of Jonathan’s (awesome) music. Here’s the order page.
A few personal recommendations (comic book fans in particular may enjoy the super-villain/sci fi elements of a number of these songs):
“Code Monkey”
“Chiron Beta Prime”
“Better”
“Curl”
“Re: Your Brains”
“Creepy Doll”
“Skullcrusher Mountain”
Also fantastic is the live album “BEST. SHOW. EVER.” Which lives up to its name.
Enjoy!
FULL DISCLOSURE: Jonathan appears in the video extras of the iPad app of my “Vision Machine” graphic novel, which you can download for free right here.
Greg Pak: Friends
San Diego Film Festival Reel in the Vote campaign
From my pals at the San Diego Film Festival:
Our friends at the San Diego Asian Film Foundation want YOU to join their REEL IN THE VOTE campaign, to increase voting among Asian Pacific Islanders (APIs). All you have to do is come up with a creative, 30-second video that helps encourage APIs to go to the polls in November. This contest is NON-PARTISAN and offers $2,000+ in prizes for the top three entries, plus Travel and Lodging expenses to 11th San Diego Asian Film Festival in October.
For more info on Reel in the Vote at www.sdaff.org or feel free to contact us at 858.565.1264 | Info@sdaff.org
Slant Film Festival needs help
A FilmHelp post by Greg Pak
Just got word that the Slant Film Festival is facing a budget crisis due to arts funding cuts. For the past ten years, Slant has provided audiences in Houston, Texas, their only chance to see many, many Asian American films — including a few of my own.
Click here to donate — and if you have an Asian American film, click here to submit it to this year’s festival (deadline is January 30).
Pak Talks Comics: Comics and Charity
As the year draws to a close, Greg Pak suggests a few possibilities for charitable giving that might be of particular interest to comic book fans in his latest “Pak Talks Comics” column for BrokenFrontier.com, complete with handy links and addresses.
Click here to read the column — and Happy New Year!
Hero Initiative auctions Hulk lunch with Pak, Paniccia, Brevoort, and Janson
The Hero Initiative is auctioning off a December 11 lunch in Midtown Manhattan with Marvel editors Mark Paniccia and Tom Brevoort, “World War Hulk” inker Klaus Janson, and “Planet Hulk” and “World War Hulk” writer Greg Pak. The auction winner also takes home an autographed limited-edition hardcover of The Hulk 100 Project and a sketch from Klaus Janson!
Click here to bid!
The Hero Initiative is an amazing charity devoted “to helping comic book creators in need. Hero creates a financial safety net for yesterday’s creators who may need emergency medical aid, financial support for essentials of life, and an avenue back into paying work. It’s a chance for all of us to give back something to the people who have given us so much enjoyment.”
Click here for more about the Hero Initiative.
Michael Turner tribute book hits stores next week
Newsarama has posted an interview with Aspen’s Vince Hernandez about the 80 page Michael Turner tribute book that hits stores next Wednesday. Here’s an excerpt:
NRAMA: Who are some of the creators that contributed to the book?
VH: There’s an incredible cover by Alex Ross. And of course we have all of our Aspen artists, like Micah Gunnell, Marcus To, Francisco Herrera, Ale Garza, and Sana Takeda. And we also have writers who’ve worked with Aspen, like Geoff Johns and Jeph Loeb. There’s Joe Benitez, who worked with Mike at Top Cow and will be finishing the volume of Soulfire for Mike. There are some new guys in here we’ve never really worked with, like Marc Andreyko and Brad Meltzer, who we’ve worked with, but never on an Aspen story. Greg Pak had a touching story about an experience he had with Mike at a con. And all the big name artists that you can think of, like J. Scott Campbell, Joe Mad [Madureira], Humberto Ramos. And there’s a piece by Joe Quesada and a tribute by Dan DiDio. We also have Jim Lee in there. Anybody you can think of. Gary Frank is in there, and Marc Silvestri did a piece. Even people who are newcomers wanted to participate.
NRAMA: And all the money you make from this goes toward charity, right?
VH: Yep. All the proceeds from this go to the American Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Those are Mike’s two favorite charities, so we definitely wanted to honor that and make sure proceeds from the book would benefit that. So all the creators and fans are doing something in his name that helps these causes.
Click here to read the whole thing and ask your local store to hold a copy of the book for you.
George Lin, Rest In Peace
It’s with great sadness that I learned that George Lin, the programmer of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, died on October 14. George was a great colleague and friend whose gentle humor, commitment to the community, and enduring support will be sorely missed.
Please read Lee Ann Kim’s beautiful tribute to learn more about George, and see below for information about his memorial service and memorial fund.
UPDATE: Here’s George’s obituary in the San Diego Union-Tribune and here’s a Facebook page dedicated to George.
— Greg Pak
GEORGE LIN MEMORIAL SERVICE
Saturday, October 25 at 2PM
7940 Rufus Court, San Diego, CA 92129
The family asks in lieu of flowers and gifts, that charitable donations be made to the George C. Lin Memorial Fund, which will provide grants to institutions that provide scholarships to students studying film, and for pheochromocytoma research and education. Please send checks to:
The San Diego Foundation
2508 Historic Decatur Road, Suite 200
San Diego, CA 92106
Please write the name of the fund, George C. Lin Memorial Fund, on the memo line of your check.
Save KoreAm Journal!
The KoreAm Journal is a great magazine that’s provided essential coverage of Korean American culture for years — including multiple articles about Greg Pak’s films. Now KoreAm’s hitting some hard times and has launched a “Save KoreAm” website to encourage subscriptions and donations. Check it out and drop some green, if you’re so inclined.
Wizard posts recap of Michael Turner tribute at San Diego
WizardUniverse.com has posted a detailed recap of the Michael Turner tribute at the San Diego Comic-Con. Click here to read the article. And click here for information about charities to which you can donate in Turner’s memory.
Vote for “Secret Asian Man”!
The San Francisco Chronicle is running an online poll to determine which new comic strips to add to the paper. And Pakbuzz friend Tak Toyoshima informs us that his “Secret Asian Man” strip is in the running! Click here to check out the comic, then Click here to vote!