Between 1996 and 2006, mockumentaries, films spoofing the documentary form, enjoyed their heyday thanks in large part to the creative team behind This Is Spinal Tap (1984) who then moved on years later to produce The Return of Spinal Tap (1994), Waiting for Guffman (1996), Best in Show (2000), A Mighty Wind (2003), and For […]

Verle (Father) Chuck (Son) CHUCK: You first came to came to California in 1954? VERLE: 1954, yeah. CHUCK: And you just had Tom at that point? VERLE: Yeah, well, actually it was 1955 when we came. Because Tom was born in 1954 in September, and we came down to California in June of 1955. CHUCK: […]

Over the past two years, my comic-reading habits have shifted to titles featuring female leads.  I can’t get enough of Ed Brubaker and Steve Epting’s Velvet, Greg Rucka and Michael Lark’s Lazarus, James Robinson and various artists’ Scarlet Witch, Chelsea Cain and Kate Niemczyk’s Mockingbird, and my favorite female superhero of all time, the Black […]

An ongoing debate over steampunk’s viability has been underway for some time. In 2013, an IBM algorithm, the Social Sentiment Index, predicted that by 2014 steampunk would become a major force within the retail industry, a dominant influence on clothing, jewelry, and accessories.  Well, not so much, as time has shown, except for those dedicated […]

To accompany a special issue of the popular fanzine Journey Planet dedicated to Batman, co-editor Christopher J. Garcia asked fans to name their first memories of that hero.  To answer, I shared about how at four-years old I wandered into my two oldest brothers’ bathroom to peek at their stag magazines.  What I found instead was a stack of half-ruined […]

Over five seasons, Orphan Black earned a massive fan base.  Message boards, a Wiki, and individual fan sites have hosted discussion after discussion.  We can’t get enough of the show’s star, Tatiana Maslany, a powerhouse deserving every accolade laid at her feet.  However, Orphan Black hasn’t achieved monolithic status like Star Wars, Star Trek, or […]

While a psychology major at San Jose State during the mid-1980s, I interacted with a group studying psychopathology under Sheila Bienenfeld, a professor famous for using biographies of noted writers to teach diagnostic methodology.  Here assigned selections included Louise DeSalvo’s Virginia Woolf: The Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse on Her Life and Work and Diane […]

Since 1978, Gavin de Becker and Associates has been providing worldwide protective security and logistical consultations for celebrities, media figures, politicians, athletes, and other high-profile individuals and organizations at risk for violence.  A senior fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs, de Becker himself has been twice appointed to the President’s Advisory Board at […]

On March 26, 2015, more than five hundred years after his death, Richard III again was laid to rest at Leicester Cathedral.  This time, the Archbishop of Canterbury presided, and days before thousands of people had lined the streets with white roses, the symbol of the House of York.  Most are familiar with the popular […]

I originally wrote this article to support the History of Marvel Comics show that the NerdVana Podcast recorded on Saturday, June 8, 2013.   What a task: outlining the entire history of the Marvel Universe from the very beginnings of Timely Comics, to the horror stories of the Atlas Era, to the rise of heroes during […]