Los Angeles, Calif. (May 18, 2012) – The PixelDrip Gallery is proud to announce the Six Seasons and a Movie art show. Hosted at Monk Space in Los Angeles on June 23-24, the event will be a weekend celebration of all things “Community” as interpreted through the vision of over 130 artists from around the world. Much like how “Community” isn’t just a sitcom, the Six Seasons and a Movie art show isn’t just an art exhibit. It is an event organized by fans meant to serve as a physical focal point for the show’s fans to gather.

Mark Batalla, curator and manager of PixelDrip said:
“We continue to be astonished and humbled by the artists that have agreed to participate in the art show. Any of these individuals is talented enough to have their own solo exhibit. Having the opportunity to gather their artwork under the same roof is a dream come true and one we would like to share with as many people as possible. We are also honored to have artists that have worked on ‘Community,’ such as Rob Schrab, Megan Ganz, Jim Mahfood, and Myke Chilian. The cast and crew’s close relationship with the fans is one that separates ‘Community’ from many television shows. This is our heartfelt tribute to both  ‘Community’ and its fanbase.”

Exhibited artwork will range from framed and canvas pieces to vinyl toys, dioramas, and plush dolls. Additional artwork and video shorts will be on display via projector and monitors. Among the interactive elements are several video game demo kiosks and a table with three college textbooks that attendees can artistically vandalize. Monk Space itself will be transformed to give attendees a genuine Greendale experience. Attendees are also eligible to win prizes through raffles, the costume contest on Saturday, and the trivia contest on Sunday.

Throughout the event, the PixelDrip crew will also be shooting a documentary of the exhibit that will be distributed to the various backers of the art collective. Attendees should be aware that they are likely to appear on camera. Release forms will be available to fill out as necessary.

Admission is free to the public. In addition to markets, restaurants, and supply stores in the immediate area, there will be a food truck parked just outside the venue during exhibit hours. The exhibit will be open from 11am to 6pm on Saturday and Sunday. Monk Space is located at 4414 West 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90004. Further announcements concerning the Six Seasons and a Movie art show will be revealed leading up to the event.

The current artist roster as of this release includes:
Alice X. Zhang / Annis Pekka / Arica Houy / Arran McKenna / Aviv Or / Balen / Bannon Rudis / Ben DeGuzman / Ben Steeves / Bethany Sellers / Bobby Rubio / Brendan Suleiman / Bumbledom / Caanan Grall / castlepöp / Chip’s Challenge / Chris McVeigh / Chris Schweizer / Claire Hummel / Clayton Chowaniec / Craig Arndt / Crystal Fontan / Dan Hipp / Dave Perillo / Dave Stenken / Douglas Holgate / Eric Anderson / Erica Henderson / Fro / Fungus / Giordano Casanova / Glen Brogan / Heather M. Morris / Hector Lowe / Henry the Worst! / Howard M. Shum / Ian Richens / Ive Sorocuk / J. Salvador / Jack Cusumano / James Stayte / Jeff Pina / Jeff Victor / Jen Ann Bennett / Jennifer Jeong / Jennifer Steadman / Jennifer Vo / Jessica Bradley / Jim Mahfood / Joëlle Jones / John Murray / Jon Defreest / Jonathan Mann/ Jonny Eveson / Jordan Allen / Joshua Budich / Joshua McGrane / Julieta Colas / Justin Crisostomo / Kali Fontecchio / Karen Hallion / Karina McBeth / Karoleen Decastro / Kasey Albano / Katie Sekelsky / Kevin Woody / Kristin Murphy / Kyle Kulakowski / Kyle McCoy / Leesasaur / Leigh Young / Len Peralta / Lou Studdert / LoveTHYconan / Lucy Knisley / Lusy DeCoursey / Mark Batalla / Mason Phillips / Matt Greenholt / Matt Parsons / Max Wittert / Mbecks14 / Megan Ganz / Megan Lara / Michael Mayne / Mike Horowitz / Ming Doyle / Myke Chilian / Nancy Pham / Natalie Nourigat / Nik Holmes / Otis Frampton / Rad Sechrist / Ramsey “Raz” Sibaja / Rebecca Hayes / Rob Cham / Rob Schrab / Rosemary Travale / Rowan McKeough / Rusty Shackles / Sam Filstrup / Sam Spratt / Sanjit Kaur / Sean Mills / Sophie Iannuzzi / Stephan Krosecz / Steven Ray Brown / Taryn Gee / Timothy Lim / Tom Trager / Tomas Overbai / Tony Bui / Valeria Herrador / Vanessa Stefaniuk / Vanessa Zucker / Victor Camba / WinterArtwork / Yasmin Liang / Zach Allen / Zneuse

About PixelDrip Gallery
Founded by J. Salvador, the PixelDrip gallery and artist community is dedicated to bringing traditional and digital artwork together and showcasing it to the surrounding community, wherever that may be. Its members come from a range of different fields like film, video games, comics, graphic design, writing, and education. The PixelDrip artists bring these influences into their art and find no difference between rearranging pixels on a computer screen or blending paint on a canvas. PixelDrip is not content to stay in a single location and routinely exhibits pop up shows at various videogame tournaments, comic conventions, stores, and art galleries. Mark Batalla is the curator and manager of PixelDrip. He has curated PixelDrip events at The Hive Gallery, Meltdown Comics, Gallery Nucleus, Titmouse Animation Studio, and various other venues in the Los Angeles area.
www.pixeldripgallery.com

Media Contact
Mark Batalla
pixeldripgallery@gmail.com
Photos and Graphics Available Upon Request

About Monk Space
Monk Space is a raw warehouse and studio for shooting Indie Films, Student Films, Music Videos, Webisodes, and Photography. It is also available for private events and art shows. The complex includes a 1000 square foot raw warehouse space, an adjoining 532 square foot white studio, and 654 square feet of outdoor space. Located in production-friendly Koreatown/Hancock Park, this 80-year-old brick building includes electric, WIFI, track lighting, and two bathrooms on site. Both warehouse and studio have tall ceilings and concrete floors. Warehouse has distressed brick wall, a skylight, and two sliding wooden door entrances that join an outdoor patio and brick alley. There are two entrances to the street, and ample street parking for production trucks, vans and cars. The combined spaces are perfect for shoots that need room for production, craft services, and holding. Monk Space is a division of the creative services firm Monk Media, which delivers widely praised design, content, hosting, marketing and representation.
www.monkspace.com

For all those that watched the season 3 finale of Community, you would have seen the #sixseasonsandamovie text appear at the close of the episode. But why use that Twitter hashtag instead of something more straightforward, like “thank you” or “(not) the end?” Well, Community is anything but straightforward. In the second season “Paradigms of Human Memory” episode, “six seasons and a movie” was first uttered by Abed Nadir in response to Jeff Winger’s assertion that The Cape would not last longer than three weeks on the air. At the time, it was just a throwaway joke insinuating that a niche show like The Cape could have the same degree of mainstream success as a show like Sex and the City. The Community audience would find themselves in the same situation as Abed just months later.

Towards the end of 2011, NBC announced that it would be putting Community on hiatus with no concrete return date. While not an outright cancellation, the possibility was still present. Television networks continue to rely on the archaic Nielsen ratings system to gauge audience interest. It became imperative that the fanbase prove to NBC that there was a sizeable enough audience without Nielsen boxes that were watching the show via nontraditional means. In order to do that, they needed to make a lot of noise.

The Community fanbase is one of the most passionate groups of people you will come across. What separates them from Trekkies, Whovians, and Twihards, is that their object of interest has yet to reach mainstream success. Community has actually been closer to the brink of cancellation than they would like to know. And yet, it’s that type of underdog-chip-on-the-shoulder-back-against-the-wall mentality that drives the fans to do what they do. The “six seasons and a movie” phrase was quickly appropriated as a rallying call to make it easier to organize activities like wearing fake goatees or arranging flashmobs to sing a song from the show or contributing more than 30000 comments on a single A.V. Club episode review article. In PixelDrip’s case,  we wanted to organize an art show that gathered incredible fan artwork from all over the globe. Dan Harmon and company certainly aren’t blind to any of this. They actively encourage it! There’s a cyclical relationship between the show and its fans. Not only do they have mutual love and admiration, but they also inspire each other into becoming something better.

Since the show’s March 15th return and announcement of a shortened season 4, the Community fanbase has reverted back to using old standbys like “cool, cool, cool” and the writers have created new hashtags like #thefallofchang. But none of those phrases will reach the significance of “six seasons and a movie.” That simple phrase is all at once a throwaway joke, a benchmark of success in the entertainment industry, a trending hashtag, a wink to the fans, a rallying cry, and a season/series capstone. A show as deeply and densely layered as Community can’t just end with a fade to black. It has to end with an explosive flash of white to the phrase that represents the unlimited potential of the show and its relationship with the audience.

Demi Anter from UC Santa Barbara’s The Daily Nexus has the scoop.

Thank you to all our Kickstarter backers and all our artists that submitted work this past week. But we’re not done yet! Not by a long shot. So not only will the Six Seasons and a Movie art show feature traditional pieces of artwork, it will also be exhibiting video shorts made by individuals like Levar Allen, Webbox100, Jonathan Mann, Mindy Haltiwanger, Hot Chocolate Party Productions, and more. We’re still looking for more fanvids like mash-ups, shipping videos, supercuts, etc. Please contact Mark at pixeldripgallery@gmail.com if you’re interested in submitting a video along with a link to your piece by May 27th. We will then notify you the following week if it has been selected.

Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man comes out this summer and there’s no better time than now to take a look back at Sam Raimi’s contribution to the Spidey mythos.

After Blade and X-Men, Spider-Man was the first serious attempt by Marvel at creating a movie that corresponded with the look and feel of the source material. Don’t get me wrong, Blade and X-Men were cool, but they were a far cry from how they were depicted in the comics. Raimi’s films actually mashed together elements from the mainstream Spider-Man comics and its alternate reality counterpart, Ultimate Spider-Man. In the mainstream comics, Peter never really knew anything about his parents, Norman Osborn wears a Green Goblin costume. In the Ultimate Spider-Man comic, Peter has organic webbing as part of his power set, Mary Jane is his next door neighbor, and she is his first love interest.

What’s interesting is the upcoming Amazing Spider-Man film does the inverse. Like in the mainstream comics, Peter is a genius, he creates web shooters to make up for the lack of that superpower, the Lizard is his first supervillain, and Gwen Stacy is his first love interest. Like in the Ultimate universe, Uncle Ben and Aunt May are relatively younger and Peter’s spider powers have closer connections to a secret government project.

For the most part, Spider-Man succeeds at recreating the feel of comics. The Spider-Man costume looks great, despite being a garish red and blue costume. The webswinging sequences feel visceral and should definitely be experienced with a large theater screen. The Green Goblin costume was redesigned, but in a way to make it more plausible as a military uniform. The actors LOOK the way they’re supposed to. As for the way the acted, that’s something else entirely.

Now, my biggest complaint is Tobey Maguire’s bland portrayal of Spider-Man because in every version of the character, Spider-Man cracks wise every chance that he gets. He’s the complete opposite of Peter Parker. And it’s a testament to the character that the audience can read a wide range of emotions via Spidey’s dialogue and body language. With Maguire, you get Peter Parker 24/7. And it’s even worse when he has the mask on, because he is as stiff as the walls that he climbs.

Is It Better Or Worse Than I Remember?

Worse. I never realized how hammy the line delivery was throughout this movie. Most notable is Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin persona. I suppose there’s no way to recite a supervillain monologue without sounding like a complete ass. And take that scene when Green Goblin kidnaps Aunt May. Dafoe and Rosemary Harris are just screaming their heads off for no real reason.  J. Jonah Jameson and Bonesaw McGraw are the only characters that I can appreciate being over the top because they’re supposed to be like that.

Like much of the CG work done during the 2000′s, those used in this movie don’t look that great after ten years. Right off the bat, the models during the opening credits looks amateurish compared to what can be rendered  these days. The CG Spider-Man’s movement is jerky at times. You especially notice this because in fight scenes, the thugs are live actors. It meshes better during fights with the CG Green Goblin model.

And there’s something about the editing and transitions that keeps the flow and tone of the movie disjointed. Take for example that montage of spinning newspapers with the superimposed image of Peter Parker putting  on the costume. On one hand, it’s fits the quirky tone of many Raimi films, but it’s a film technique that seems out of place in a modern movie. I may just be too used to the grittier edge that Christopher Nolan brought to the superhero genre, but I know Spider-Man 2 had a different feel to it and that’s why I enjoyed that film the most out of the trilogy.

A decade is a reasonable amount of time to reboot a film, although the problem is that Spider-Man 3 came out in 2007. It took me some time to get warmed to the idea, but I’m actually glad that Sony is going for a fresh start this year. The way CGI Spidey moves in the Amazing Spider-Man trailers is way more organic than the animations used in 2002. Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone certainly can’t be any more wooden than Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, and James Franco. I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt because in hindsight, Sam Raimi may not have been the best choice to helm the franchise.

Free Floating Thoughts

Danny Elfman really nailed it with his score. The only music more iconic to Spider-Man is the opening theme from the 1967 cartoon.

Here we go. Pasty white guy theater. At least Tobey Maguire and Willem Defoe were really that skinny. Chris Evans had to use CGI tricks for his pre-transformation scenes in Captain America.

Oh Yeah! The late great Macho Man Randy Savage as Bonesaw McGraw. I’m not sure of the exact reason for the name change. In the comics, Spider-Man fought Crusher Hogan and I’m guessing most people will immediately think of Hulk Hogan. For the record, Savage > Hogan.

How exactly did Peter acquire the new Spider-Man costume? Does he have awesome tailoring skills that match his drawing ability? Did he hire someone to make it?

J.K. Simmons as the Daily Bugle’s J. Jonah Jameson absolutely steals every scene with his rapid fire insults.

Can anyone else tell the difference between Karen Duffy, Parker Posey, and Elizabeth Banks?

As was the case with Leonor Varela in Blade II and Kelly Hu in The Scorpion King, I also still own the Maxim issue with Kirsten Dunst that came out right around the same time as this movie. Can you blame me? After seeing that scene of Dunst drenched in the rain, I needed to own a magazine spread of her.

Speaking of the rain soaked alley, in the ten years since this movie came out, I’ve seen Spider-Man XXX: A Porn Parody. And boy, I will never look at that upside down kiss scene the same way again.

Did the Green Goblin glider stab  him in the nuts? Since this is a Sam Raimi film, I’m going to say yes.

And end with Spidey next to the American flag. USA! USA! USA!

Finally… The Rock has come back… to Ten Years Ago. In The Mummy Returns, the world got a taste of The Rock through minimal dialogue and crappy CGI modeling. So when it came time for The Scorpion King one year later, that film went in a whole different direction from the Mummy franchise. In The Scorpion King, no longer would Mathayus be playing second fiddle as Imhotep’s tag team partner nor would he get jobbed out to Brendan Fraser’s Rick O’Connell. This time he would be the camel riding, tower diving, sorceress saving, tribe uniting, Akkadian assassin who would guarandamntee to kill the evil warlord Memnon. Matheus, the great one, truly was the people’s champion.

Right around a decade ago is when The Rock was reaching the height of his popularity in World Wrestling Entertainment. The Rock had won the Tag Team Championship, the Intercontinental Championship, and the WWE Championship. The Rock had layeth the smacketh down on every roody poo candy ass jabroni in the WWE roster. With the millions… and millions of The Rock’s fans chanting The Rock’s name wherever he went, there was only one thing left for The Rock to do. And that was to take over Hollywood.

Shortly before The Scorpion King‘s release, Hulk Hogan had made his return to the WWE. Before The Rock came along, the only other professional wrestler to transcend the industry and achieve significant mainstream popularity was Hogan. Their match at Wrestlemania XVIII was a dream moment between two of the most iconic figures in pro wrestling from two separate eras. It wasn’t just a passing of the torch like with Hogan’s match versus Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania III. The Rock’s victory over Hogan also meant that there was nothing left for him to accomplish in pro wrestling. He had to decide on his future because The Rock as a wrestler could not exist at the same time as Dwayne Johnson the actor. And with The Scorpion King‘s success, that decision was made for him. It would be two more years before The Rock finally transitioned away from wrestling and into Dwayne Johnson.

Is It Better Or Worse Than I Remember?

Worse. The Scorpion King was the first film co-produced by WWE Studios and it shows. Much like how you can spot a Happy Madison film from a mile away, so can you with this. Even without knowing that the star is a pro wrestler, it still feels like you’re watching an Attitude-era WWE video promo with all the posturing, quipping, and nu metal. If you were going into this as a fan of the Mummy franchise, then the change in tone will be a little jarring. The actors do little to change their line delivery from the way that they normally talk.

However, if you loved watching Universal’s Hercules and Xena, then you’ll enjoy this film. The costumes and set design are at least interesting to look at, despite the historical inaccuracies. The character actors like smarmy douche Steven Brand, wise old Bernard Hill, weasley Grant Heslov, and muscled thug Ralf Möller fit right into their archetypes. The action choreography is well done and there’s plenty of it to keep you distracted from the fact that nothing in plot makes any damn sense. Whatever, I still prefer Mathayus as a protagonist who is still clearly exerting himself to overcome obstacles rather than Rick and his here-we-go-again-business-as-usual family in the Mummy sequels.

So now The Rock comes back to the WWE and things have gone full circle. John Cena is currently the face, in every sense of the term, of the company. He’s also dabbled in film with The Marine and 12 Rounds. Their recent match at Wrestlemania XXVIII has now put Cena in the same position as The Rock was when Hogan came back. But things came out different. This time, Cena lost to the returning superstar and he has vowed to remain in the WWE. But then again, The Rock said that he would never leave.

Free Floating Thoughts

I believe this film is when I finally stopped incorrectlly saying “Michael Duncan Clarke” instead of “Michael Clarke Duncan.”

Peter Facinelli as the poor man’s Eric Bana.

What? How did Arpid escape from being buried in the ground? And how did he get Mathayus out before the ants could swarm them?

Can we talk about Kelly Hu for a minute? In my Blade II review, I mentioned that I still own the Maxim issue from ten years ago with Leonor Varela. I also still own the Maxim issue that came out a month afterwards with Kelly Hu. Good lord, that slinky outfit she wears as Cassandra puts the one worn by Patricia Velasquez in The Mummy Returns to shame. This period of time has got to be the hottest that Kelly Hu has ever looked. And take into account that she hasn’t aged! Have you seen her in The Vampire Diaries or Hawaii Five-O? Anyways, this is one of Kelly Hu’s last prominent feature film roles. After X2, she would refocus on her television career.

Wait. So how does Mathayus survive that fall from the top of the tower?

Leading up to this year’s Wrestlemania XXVIII match, John Cena made fun of The Rock for getting a boob job. Maybe it’s just me, but I thought I could see the scars on the underside of The Rock’s pecs upon this rewatching.

Maybe holding the bow sideways gives it extra power. Every person that gets hit with an arrow goes flying. Or maybe Mathayus just turns that sumbitch sideways so when he runs out of arrows, he can shine it up real nice and stick it straight up Memnon’s candy ass! If you smell-ell-ell-ell-OW, what The Rock… is… cooking!

I have to give props to The Scorpion King for not re-using any footage from The Mummy Returns. Also, I’m amazed that The Rock didn’t perform his Rock Bottom move on anyone in the film.

One of my main complaints during my original viewing was the disconnect between the ending of this film and the scenes featuring evil Mathayus in The Mummy Returns. It was as far removed as Anakin’s characterization in The Phantom Menace was from Darth Vader’s in A New Hope. Little did I know that Universal had intended to explore that particular plot point, a heel turn if you will, in The Scorpion King 3: Battle for Redemption, which came out earlier this year.

Saturday night is opening reception for The Hive’s 7 Year Anniversary. It will be the latest stop on the J. Salvador world tour as J will be one of the featured artists up front. He’ll be debuting even more Super Emo Friend designs as well as new entries in his fast food series. You can also find myself and Dormilon at the PixelDrip wall, as we’ll be promoting this summer’s Six Seasons and a Movie art show. The Hive is located at 729 South Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA. Cover charge is $8. Opening reception runs from 8pm to 12:30am and the artwork will be on display from April 7 to April 28.

RealityPalez starts level 3. There are 100 blue balls strwn about a field. He has to bring back one at a time and break each open to get puzzles pieces which are the key to finishing the challenge. Now Krysti finishes phase 2, and Akileez is beside himself. Right after the commercial break ends, he finishes. Reality finds a blue ball with puzzle pieces, and begins to assemble the puzzle. Krysti gets her pieces, too. Reality assembles his puzzle, and it reveals trivia questions, the answer to each being a number on the combination lock of a suitcase. Reality thinks he knows he answer, but it doesn’t open the case. Akileez starts assembling his puzzle as Krysti finishes hers, and realizes one of the questions is a trick question. Inside the suitcase is a PS3 controller, and she goes off to play Starhawk. Krysti is in the lead. Then Akileez realizes the trick question, and he is off. Finally, Reality goes off ahead, figuring it out. They return to the elimination room, and Krysti begins. First person to finish the level’s 7 objectives wins. Krysti finishes the first as Akileez enters. Krysti remains one objective ahead. Reality enters two objectives behind. He tries to rush ahead, but is slaughtered by the AI. Akileez has pulled ahead now by 1 to 1.5 objectives. And now, like last year, Krysti and Akileez are both on the final objective. And with some tense editing, AKileezMight wins the Tester Season 3. I wonder right now if he has earned the right for them to show his real name, like Gaymer got last season.


Son of a bitch.