We Can’t Stop Laughing, So, Why is the Rabbit Crying Al?

CD/DVD Review of the Comedy Central Presentation:

Al Madrigal - Why is the Rabbit Crying?

Comedy Central Premier on April 26^th, 2013 at 11:00pm ET/PT

CD/DVD Hits Stores April 30^th, 2013

Review by Joseph Timmons- Xombiewoof Magazine

 

On April 26th, 2013 at 11:00pm ET/PT Comedy Central will openly expose Al Madrigal and all of his naughty bits to an unsuspecting public.

In his first Comedy Central One Hour Stand-Up Special “Why is the Rabbit Crying? – we guarantee if it is tears of laughter you are after, there will not be one dry eye in the house!

Al Madrigal, one of the funniest comedians in America, will reach for and exceed all expectations. Rising up to the challenge, he will be standing tall in the spotlight on the Comedy Central stage where other Latino Comedians have found success . Al has joined Comedy Central’s major players - George Lopez, Gabriel Inglesias, and the “maestro de risa” Carlos Mencia – just to name a few.

Al Madrigal’s Comedy Central Special “Why is the Rabbit Crying?” completes this year’s Comedy Month with a huge performance of “it’s funny because it’s true” humorists style and the “in your face” and “I dare you not to laugh” mentality.

Al Madrigal is a widely celebrated comedian and enjoys a history of performances in many television shows, movies and in his role on “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart”. Al Madrigal is known and appreciated for his skills in the story telling comedic genre.

 

Warning: Video Contains Strong Language and is Un-Edited nor Censored

Al Madrigal talks with us on a real level with his immersive, witty and fully detailed commentary style. He tells us of his travels, while delivering lighting fast one liners in various points of view. Al Madrigal is an expert at interjecting humor into tales of his neighborhood, his marriage and his children. Reveling in stories of “nature loving humanitarian Cholos” as well as “Gangsta Soccer Coaches with excellent child rearing skills”.

Al Madrigal uses some of the colorful vocabulary words in his performance, but only to emphasize how funny life can be when you are just trying to survive through the drive by called life. Admittedly, this Comedy Central Special and it’s CD / DVD combo may not be suitable for children, but it definitely mirrors a truth about living in the city, marriage, raising children and all that life offers while trying not to loses what little sanity one is born with.

Al Madrigal is a comedian that understands social perception of reality, cultural heritage, living in this world and maintaining a family while still wanting to leave the house, this is hilarious romp through his mind and speaks to us in a real time voice of a man who just wants to make his mortgage payments, live a good life and get a little action while the kids are sleeping.

Named the “Best Stand Up Comedian” by HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts festival in Aspen, Al Madrigal is sure to represent!

Watch “Why is the Rabbit Crying” on Comedy Central, April 26th, 2013 at 11:00pm ET/PT and look to get your own copy on April 30th, 2013 when this great CD/DVD combo comedy punch hits the stores, or get direct at http://www.comedycentral.com

Click here to visit Al Madrigal’s Comedy Central Page and see snippets of “Why is the Rabbit Crying” to air on Comedy Central, April 26th, 2013 at 11:00pm ET/PT

You can follow Al Madrigal at his web site, on Twitter, His YouTube Page and on Facebook.

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Graphic Novels? Not Really. by Sean Stoltey

Graphic Novels.  I am getting so sick of this term.  Not because it is invalid, but because it has become misused and abused.  It all started with Hollywood, of course.  Some suit somewhere decided that the general public looks down on comic books, but graphic novels are acceptable.  So suddenly you hear every actor and director working on comic book adaptations referring to the “graphic novels”.  Sounds very tony, much more high class than the oh so pulpy “comic books”.  Unfortunately, it also sounds like bullshit because it doesn’t fit.  Graphic Novels are actually a very specific thing within the realm of Comic Books.

In the 1970’s the medium of comic books had been around for over thirty years.  The artists working within it were starting to feel constrained by it.  They wanted to experiment and really do things that were different.  Some of them wanted to do much more serious work.  Thus, the “Graphic Novel” was born.  Will Eisner’s A Contract With God is considered by many to be the first of them.  It had four short stories that all took place within a 1930’s Bronx tenement and it was inspired by Eisner’s own life experiences.  It was a finite work, designed to exist as one lone piece on the shelf.  It was not serialized.  One book, one statement.  Like a novel, but…you know…graphic.  Marvel started a line of graphic novels.  Two of their most notable, The Death of Captain Marvel and X-Men: God Loves, Man Kills, did feature characters from their serialized comic books but were finite stories published in single volumes.  Dc did Which is the perfect description of a Graphic Novel: finite stories published as a single volume.

Comic books are serialized fiction.  They are published (generally speaking) on a monthly basis and while issues can stand alone, they are all part of one giant ongoing story.  That obviously says nothing about the quality of their content.  Nor does the finiteness of Graphic Novels say anything about their quality.  Somehow along the way, the term Graphic Novel became accepted as something more serious.  Something of consequence.  Which is all fine.  Most creators who set out to do a proper Graphic Novel are usually trying to say something a little more important.  Whether they are using original creations or pre-existing characters they are trying to set themselves apart from the rest of the books by creating a large story that can be read in one volume.  Because of the import of some past Graphic Novels, it is a an announcement of serious intent and a proclamation of quality or importance.

Quite a while back publishers started collecting their regular comic books into paperback collections.  Usually it was special, popular or “important” storylines.  These are referred to as Trade Paperbacks.  The practice has become so prevalent though, it is basically every book published these days.  When the book is special or important they might do a Hardcover Collection.  Although they are starting to do that more and more as well, and in the process are diluting the inherent importance brought by a hardcover.  Unfortunately, strapping a bunch of comic books together in one volume DOES NOT make them Graphic Novels.  If it was not originally published as a Graphic Novel, it is a comic book.  So what’s wrong with that?  Absolutely nothing.

In the day and age of “Let your Geek Flag fly.” and people who are constantly proclaiming that “Geeks rule the Earth.”  There is nothing wrong with saying that you love comic books.  At least there shouldn’t be.  So when I see comic book shop owners saying “Come in for the latest Graphic Novels!” it’s quite a bit disheartening.  You sell comic books, own that.  Be proud of it.  Comic books are one of the great American institutions.  They were invented here, they were perfected here.  Unlike Rock and Roll, we still do it, and always have done it, best.  So comic book fans and comic book sellers unite and embrace that thing which we love:  COMIC BOOKS!  Oh, and their fancy cousin, the Graphic Novel.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com

Finally, another pile by Sean Stoltey

I once again apologize for an absence.  Kids, kids in school, sick kids and then sick me.  It’s been a cornucopia of awesomeness.  So let’s just jump back into reviews, shall we?

HAPPY! #1 by Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson-  A new off-beat creation from Grant Morrison?  I figured I can finally get in on the ground floor of something Morrison did outside of the Superhero mainstream.  Yeah, I’m one of those.  I was aware of Morrison, but I didn’t really give him much of a shot before his run on JLA.  After that, I have mostly just read his mainstream stuff.  (Yes, I plan on reading The Invisibles and The Filth.  Give me time!)  For me, Morrison is either firing on all cylinders(Batman, New X-Men, All-Star Superman), or being incoherent in the name of being fresh and different(Final Crisis).  There really is no middle ground.  After reading the entire first issue of HAPPY!, I’m not entirely sure which Grant we’re getting, but I am enjoying him so far. 

The story starts out as a gangster movie/TV Show pastiche.  We seem to be getting gore and sexual situations just because it’s an IMAGE publication, and therefore we can.  Bullets, blood, begging for life, crooked cops, reference to an account with untold riches…then just when you think you've had enough, a cute blue cartoon winged horse shows up.  The ridiculous juxtaposition somehow works.  

Since this is just the first issue, and what seems to be the point of the story has only just appeared, I still don’t quite know which Grant we’re getting.  The situation created has major potential for humor and craziness.  I honestly can’t wait to see where Morrison goes with this.  I actually laughed out loud at one moment while reading, and that was before the horse showed up.  For someone known for craziness, Morrison is actually a very funny guy in person so I’d love to see his humor come through full force. 

Robertson’s art is at an all time high.  I’ve never hated his art, I’ve just never been all that impressed by it before.  He shows more detail than I’ve noticed before, and his characters are a bit more distinctive than I felt they were in the past.  The pages flow great, and for someone who’s known for gritty, dark artwork he knocks the cartoon horse right out of the park.  So, overall I found it really enjoyable, definitely going to be keeping up with this one.  Come on Grant, keep it up.  As usual, I am rooting for you.

A FINE & PRIVATE PLACE #1 by Peter Gillis and Eduardo Francisco (based on Peter S. Beagle’s story)-  I’ve never read the story this was based on, so I don’t know if it would enhance or diminish my appreciation of this adaptation.  It was somewhat confusing at first.  A crow that can carry two pounds of bologna…okay.  Then the crow speaks to an older man in a graveyard.  His name is Rebeck and he lives in a mausoleum at a graveyard.  He speaks to the crow, he speaks to a dead man, and then a lady comes to visit her husband’s grave and he speaks to her.  They seem to hit it off, despite the previously mentioned dead man interfering in the conversation.  Then Rebeck tries to leave with her and something happens.  Maybe.  See Rebeck makes an excuse not to leave with her and she goes without him.  It’s hard to tell if Rebeck can’t leave or won’t leave.  Is he unable to mentally/emotionally, or is something truly trapping him within the walls of this graveyard? The scene isn't clearly played in either direction, so I can’t begin to predict.  It just suddenly ends there with no explanation. 

It almost felt (once again) as if they were writing a graphic novel and decided to cut it into individual issues, without any concern for where it cuts off.  It’s an interesting enough start to a story, it in no way stands on its own though.  Maybe there was supposed to be something played through the emotions of Rebeck’s face in the final scene?  If so, it was not conveyed by the art, which was pretty good by the way, somewhere between Sal LaRocca and Brett Booth.  Maybe the penciller botched that scene, but I doubt it.  If it was intended as an intriguing cliffhanger to draw you in for the next issue, that didn’t work so well either.  If I read further it will be because of everything else in the book besides the ending.  I was enjoying a nice, quiet ghost story and then it just stopped for no discernable reason other than page count.  It's irritating because the story was really feeling like it had something to say, but we are obviously not near the point yet.  This story is so obviously served better by consuming it as a whole, why not publish it that way?  Maybe I will wait for the collected edition and read it at a book store.  

Well there you have it.  Two completely new books, off the beaten path and quite enjoyable in two completely different ways.  Let me know what you think if you read them.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com

What's a fan/reviewer to do with this Pile? by Sean Stoltey

So, I've been absent from the page for a bit.  I was on a family vacation right after my last post, and then my sons started school right after I got back.  However, I've come to realize that that is not really the reason.  I've been trying to get up the gumption to write an article or a review for a few days, and it just wasn't happening.  There hasn't been any book that jumped out and said "Review me!"  So much of the Marvel I keep up with is wrapped up in Avengers vs. X-Men, that it doesn't seem right or fair to review yet.  Over at DC, well I've made my thoughts clear a few times, and I didn't want to feel like I was constantly trying to rain on their parade.  So do some indie reviews, right?  Well, nothing there was jumping out either.  It may not seem this way if you have read some of my reviews, but I'd really prefer not to write negative ones.  I want to celebrate the medium.  I would like to convince people who haven't, to jump in and give it a try.  So I dove into some stuff from IDW and here's what happened:

Infected #1 by Scott Sigler and Chad Minshew - Once again there is no beginning, middle or end.  However, this one has been put together so well and the cliffhanger ending had me wanting the next issue pretty quick.  Apparently based on a novel by Sigler, this is the story of a mysterious infection working it's way through America.  Like most medical emergency dramas, we are shown the violent end of a victim and then introduced to numerous characters at varying levels of government.  We can't really be sure yet who the main charcter is, but my money is on the veteran CIA officer who is in charge of the field investigation.  It seems a bit obvious, but that's not always a bad thing.  It's a very familiar trope, but despite that I still found myself getting pulled into the story.  

The art is a big part of it, it's very well done.  The style is quite reminiscent of Salvador LaRocca.  Detailed and stylistic all at the same time.  The pages flowed well.  The story does use a lot of captioning that is describing what we are seeing in minute detail.  Normally this would be problematic, but since this is adapted from a novel it actually works quite well.  Novels can get very detailed and here they have married the detail of prose with great art and I quite enjoyed it.  Some of the action is quite graphic, so be prepared.  I wouldn't say that it is gratuitous considering the story, but it could be shocking for some.

All in all, I have to say I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it and can't wait to see the rest.  It is a familiar story, but the details and characters are interesting enough to keep me reading.  I think it might have been better served (like a lot of modern comics) being presented as a graphic novel, but they so far are making the end worth coming back next month.  We'll see how it goes from here.

Love and Capes: What to Expect #1 by Thom Zahler - I had never heard of Love and Capes, so I didn't realize this wasn't a brand new thing.  But that doesn't matter, because the author has used archetypes that don't require a lot of explaining.  Also, he has used a story that is so universal, that it doesn't require a lot of explaining either.  If someone tells you a comic, television show or movie is about a couple who just found out they are expecting their first child, you kind of know what you are in for.  As with the book reviewed above, it's all in the details when the plot is something you've seen before.  Zahler takes the excitement, fear, joy and so much more of becoming a parent and drops it in the middle of a superhero universe.  

Mark and Abby are your average young married couple.  Mark just happens to also be The Crusader, protector of Deco City.  They have the same fears about not wanting to tell people too soon about their happy news, but when your best friend is the equivalent of Batman you can guess how that goes.  

The art style is very classic animated/cartoony.  That does not detract at all from the story or characters.  It makes it easier to accept I guess.  Such an average story in such a fantastic world, and with fun poppy art.  Bonus points to Zahler for using alternate dimensions in an interesting AND funny way.  The first doctor's visit was easily my favorite part of the book.  Definitely worth a read, eager to see where they go from here.

So there you go.  I was really not jazzed about anything non-AvX this week and I ended up enjoying the heck out of two books.  Just goes to show you, if you're not sure about something: give it a try.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long. 

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com