Baby Kleiber and Baby Schultz

Congratulations to Aaron Kleiber (Daryl) and his wife Wendy who became new parents today with the birth of their daughter Rebecca.

Also, a belated congratulations to Alan Schultz (technical producer) and his wife Melissa who also have a new daughter, Amelia, now only ten days old.

Extra Life

If you've got a moment I suggest you take a look over at myextralife.com. Extra Life is a comic, a radio podcast, and a blog all rolled into one great site. Not only are the comics great, but they've also been big supporters of Blasto.

Blip.TV

Captain Blasto was featured on the front page of blip.tv today!

Blip is not only the site hosting the episode feeds, but it's also home to many more really good web series. I suggest doing a little browsing.

Episode Three

"Mild Mannered Reporter," Episode Three of Captain Blasto is online now at http://www.captainblasto.com.

Subscribe to Captain Blasto on iTunes and each new episode will be downloaded automatically.

Blasto on Aint it Cool News

Blasto has hit Aint it Cool News! The insanely popular and geeky movie news/reviews site, of which I've been a reader for many years, posted a fantastic review this morning. Here's an excerpt:

This is no fan-fic film you see as you wander through YouTube or a Convention room floor. There are really impressive production values at work. The story wallows in fun. Its characters are having a blast. The humor is smart and crisp, like an extremely intelligent head of lettuce. Camera angles are skewed and exciting. The screen sections itself off into panels (a helluva lot more effectively than Ang Lee’s HULK) and fits the fun mood laid out. I love the mixture of comic book drawings with the live action looniness. If I were to pitch this to a big time Hollywood exec, I’d say it’s CLERKS meets FIGHT CLUB; a light-hearted romp about the drudgery of human existence and the lengths man will go to crawl out from that drudge. It’s also pretty funny when Blasto pounds the would-be criminal with a trash can over and over.

Get in on the ground floor and see what I’m talking about. It’s got laughs that made me chuckle even after multiple viewings. Don’t miss this one. New episodes are going to drop every week. It’s freakin’ free and worth so much more. Check out the first episode. I guarantee you’ll be hooked.

Repost: An Invention of Limitation

I'm in the middle of writing a new feature, and in the midst of the struggle to create a great action /adventure film on a micro budget I thought it appropriate to repost something from a few years back. Enjoy.

Picked up The Adventures of Superman on DVD. That's the old 50's Superman show starring George Reeves (no relation to Christopher Reeve). George Reeves eventually commited suicide and his life is being made into a movie right now starring Ben Affleck which of course makes me want to fill my mouth with molasses and killer bees. But that's not the point of the post.

The point is that while I was watching I kept trying to put myself into the shoes of a little kid back then. They LOVED this show. This is what really rocketed Superman into uber-popularity. And the whole time I'm seeing this middle aged guy leap out of windows in this awful costume and I'm wondering, "They loved THIS?" The effects are horrendously funny. The acting is just what you'd expect from a 50's show. Superman looks like about as heroic as your Uncle Ray.

But the more I thought about it, every medium that super-heroes have ever thrived on has been a very limited one. Superman, the very first super-hero, was created in the funny books. Cheap little black and white mini-mag's with awful little illustrations. He later entered homes through this little TV show. Spider-Man was made famous, not by the comic book, but by his cartoon in the 60's. I've seen flip books and buddy icons with better animation.

So why did people fall in love with these characters if they're only represented by such limited mediums and low budgets? Because the super-hero is essentially a character of imagination. The very core of a super-hero is just that, the ability to defy human limitations. Superman himself is an invention of limitation. A super-hero needs limitation or else there is nothing to defy. Any guy can walk through a door. But not everyone can punch a hole through it.

This theory lends itself to the consistent failure of box office super-heroes. (Failure in my regard is not measured by box office money, but rather quality of story.) With hundreds of millions of dollars poured into movies like Fantastic Four, Batman Begins, and the upcoming Superman Returns, there is NO limitation. Limitation breeds creativity. Unlimited resources breeds laziness. George Lucas should have learned this by now. If you use computers to create great fictional characters and landscapes you've removed the option of the audience using their imagination to fill in the edges. They don't need to, it's right there. And if you remove the audiences ability to use their imagination, they're not going to be engaged. Understand why kids are then so easily sucked into cheesy cartoons?

Should we withold budgets then? Should we ask Bryan Singer to make a film on 10 million as opposed to 200? Should we make special effects so bad that you have to use your imagination? No. But with every resource at their disposal, he'll never be half as super as he is trapped inside that comic book or those old Fleischer cartoons.

Superman needs to be wrapped in chains, just to show everyone he can break out of them. Maintain limitations, because then you'll be forced to be more creative than you ever could have been.

Captain Blasto now on iTunes!

That boring plane ride just got a little better because Captain Blasto is now available to subscribe and download on iTunes! You can watch each weekly episode on your iPod or iPhone.

Just click the subscribe button at http://www.captainblasto.com

or simply by clicking the link below:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=282174763

The Web Series Premieres!

Episodes 1 & 2 of the new weekly web series are online now!

Watch them now at www.captainblasto.com.

If you've got a minute, please pass the link along to friends, family, and co-workers as we try to spread the word about the new series. It would be greatly appreciated by Team Blasto.

E-Mail News and Updates

For those of you reading this on the Blasto blog and not on Facebook or via RSS feed, you'll notice a new e-mail form on the right. Toss in your e-mail address to get Blasto news and updates. We promise we won't be sending you an e-mail every three seconds, only important stuff.

You can also sign-up at captainblasto.com.