Bob Andelman Interviews

Robert Tinnell has spent the last half decade racking up credits as a graphic novelist with The Black Forest, The Wicked West, and Sight Unseen splashing blood across the comic book pages. Now, Mark Wheatley and Robert Tinnell, the creative team behind last year's Harvey-nominated webcomic/graphic novel EZ Street, follow up with Lone Justice: Crash. LJ:C, like EZ Street, will run for free right on ComicMix beginning January 12, but that's not where the similarities end. In EZ Street, central characters Scott and Danny Fletcher set to work on a comic book project featuring their character, Lone Justice. Lone Justice: Crash is in fact Wheatley and Tinnell's take on what that book would be. Featuring the art of Wheatley (Frankenstein Mobster, Mars) and co-scripted by Tinnell (Feast of the Seven Fishes), Lone Justice: Crash takes place during the Depression, but given this era's economic troubles will most certainly resonate with the modern reader. Lone Justice: Crash follows the exploits of the titular character, who was first introduced as the creation of Scott and Danny Fletcher, themselves characters in Tinnell and Wheatley's EZ Street. Occupied for years successfully battling crime as Lone Justice, millionaire Octavius Brown has let his own finances slip to the point of ruin. Now destitute, unable to even effectively re-arm his weaponry, Brown must live amongst the masses of homeless in the city. It is there that he learns the true face of evil, and from nothing is reborn as a true defender of the innocent. Combining the thrills of two-fisted pulp action with a storyline that parallels much of our nation's current socio-economic struggles, Lone Justice: Crash represents a sincere effort to deliver what comics can do at their best: an entertaining message.

Brian Krause is best known for his portrayal of white-lighter Leo Wyatt on Aaron Spelling's popular, sci-fi program "Charmed" opposite Alyssa Milano, Rose McGowan, Holly Marie Combs and Shannen Doherty. The actor played the ever-developing character for eight seasons. In May 2006, starring in the series finale marked Krause's 145th episode on the program. Since completing the series, the actor has taken on a variety of television roles, including: a priest in Lifetime's Devil's Diary, a WWII Colonel in the Sci Fi Channel's Warbirds, a cryptozoologist in the Sci Fi Channel's Beyond Loch Ness, a murder suspect on CBS' "CSI: Miami," a firefighter under suspicion on TNT's "The Closer" and a guest appearance on AMC's "Mad Men." Krause will soon be seen as the title character in the independent feature Cyrus. Among the actor's other television credits are: "Highway to Heaven," "Tales from the Crypt," "Bandit," "Family Album," "Walker, Texas Ranger," "High Tide," "Return to Cabin by the Lake" and "Ties that Bind." Krause's additional film credits include: Return to the Blue Lagoon with Milla Jovovich, An American Summer with Brian Austin Green, December with Balthazar Getty and Jason London, Stephen King's Sleepwalkers with Alice Krige and Mädchen Amick, The Liars' Club with Wil Wheaton, Breaking Free with Christine Taylor and Jeremy London, Mind Games with Soleil Moon Frye, Trash with Jaime Pressly and Jeremy Sisto, The Mission with Jacklyn Zeman and Alex Hyde-White, Protecting the King with Tom Sizemore and Peter Dobson, Jack Rio, Desertion, Nowhere to Hide, The Gods of Circumstance and Growth.

Get a preview of the 2009 Bowl Championship Series between my Florida Gators and the Oklahoma Sooners with Kent Walls, co-host of "Fox College Sports Tailgate Tour"! Call in and talk to Kent and offer your predictions for the game: 1-646-595-3135! After years of working in professional sports and as a correspondent/producer on local television in Arizona, Kent Walls was determined to leave the Valley of the Sun for the bright lights of Hollywood. Upon his arrival to Los Angeles, Kent quickly created and sold a web-based series, which he hosted, produced and wrote for his first year in Los Angeles. It was here that Kent quickly garnished a dedicated audience and the attention of Hollywood influencers. Most recently, Kent has been tapped as the co-host of Fox Sports (FSN) and Fox College Sports' (FCS) "Tailgate Tour," the show that travels the country giving an up close and personal look at the best part of college football – the experience. He also served as the "face" of Wasserman Media Group's Sportnet.com, which encompasses skateboard.com, motocross.com,surfspot.com, swimnetwork.com and a variety of other sites where he covers the latest in action and Olympic sports. Outside the sports realm, Kent continues to host, produce and write for several online television networks covering a broad range of topics including politics, films and relationships. All the shows capture Kent's quick wit and engaging presence as he keeps his audience constantly on their feet.

In Don’t Stop Believin’, Brian Raftery takes us to karaoke joints across the globe, each quirkier than the last. As he weaves stories of his personal karaoke experiences—the good, the bad, and the ones involving Foreigner’s “Cold as Ice”—with the broader history of karaoke in Japan and how it traveled to the U.S. (and around the world), we meet a crazy cast of characters who epitomize this fascinating subculture. With the popularity of shows like American Idol, Don’t Stop Believin’ comes during a resurgence of interest in singing. But Raftery would argue that karaoke is about much more than the notes and the lyrics. He explains America’s growing obsession with karaoke this way: “At a time when songs and albums are widely distributed but often privately indulged, karaoke is simply a communal form of music appreciation.” And it seems that, these days, the karaoke bug is biting all kinds. With handy lists for the karaoke connoisseur, such as “Fifty Songs I’ll Never Stop Singing at Karaoke” (translation: when in doubt, sing this) and “Thirty Songs I’ll Never Find at Karaoke” (don’t waste time looking for it), Don’t Stop Believin’ is a book for karaoke beginners and buffs alike—those who croon classics like Sinatra’s “New York, New York,” and those of us who shamelessly, religiously, belt out Prince’s “Raspberry Beret” every chance we get. Brian Raftery graduated from Penn State and has written for Wired, GQ, Spin, Esquire, and Entertainment Weekly, among others. Call in and talk to Brian live @ 1-646-595-3135 and be prepared to sing a verse of your favorite Karaoke tune!

Voted among Time magazine’s "100 Best Novels" from 1923 to the present, a perennial bestseller over the past 20 years and widely considered the greatest graphic novel of all time, Watchmen is a gripping, labyrinthine piece of comic art, which has earned an acclaimed place in modern literary history. Now, you can enjoy the ultimate companion to the comics masterpiece, as artist Dave Gibbons gives his own account of the genesis of Watchmen in this dust-jacketed hardback volume, opening his vast personal archives to reveal excised pages, original character designs, page thumbnails, sketches and much more, including posters, covers and rare portfolio art. Featuring the breathtaking design of Chip Kidd and Mike Essl, Watching the Watchmen is both a major art book in its own right, and the definitive companion to the graphic novel that changed an industry. “I’ve had a great time, re-visiting the very beginnings of Watchmen and unearthing material I haven’t set eyes on for many years. As a fan myself, this is the kind of stuff I eat up and I’m sure the many devotees of the graphic novel will do the same!” says Gibbons. Take advantage of this rare opportunity to speak directly with Dave Gibbons, only on Mr. Media! Call in and ask a question LIVE: 1-646-595-3135!

Vik Sahay plays the morally questionable Buy More employee "Lester" on the NBC sitcom/spycom/romcom "Chuck," which just happens to be one of Mr. Media's favorite shows! Prior to joining the action/comedy series, the Canadian-born actor appeared in many television movies and series. In Canada, Sahay played the lead character in YTV’s “Radio Active,” in addition to starring roles in Bruce McDonald’s “Platinum” and “Escape from The Newsroom” by Ken Finkleman. Sahay spent two seasons on the hit Canadian television series “This is Wonderland,” which won a Canadian “Gemini” award. He also received a Canadian Comedy Award nomination for his role on the series “Our Hero.” Before getting his big break in the U.S. with “Chuck,” Sahay starred in the Nickelodeon TV-movie series “Roxy Hunter,” and had guest spots on “Without a Trace” and “Las Vegas.” In film, Sahay can be seen in such feature films as Gus Van Sant’s Good Will Hunting, David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ, the recent comedy The Rocker, and the upcoming thriller Time Bomb. Call in and talk to actor Vik Sahay during this rare LIVE interview: 1-646-595-3135.

Paul Gillin, creator of the NewspaperDeathWatch blog, is a veteran technology journalist with more than 25 years of editorial experience. Since 2005, he has advised marketers and business executives on strategies to optimize their use of social media and online channels to reach buyers cost-effectively. He is a popular speaker who is known for his ability to simply complex concepts using plain talk, anecdotes and humor. Paul was previously founding editor-in-chief of TechTarget, one of the most successful new media entities to emerge on the Internet. Prior to that, he was editor-in-chief and executive editor of the technology weekly Computerworld for 15 years. His critically acclaimed 2007 book, The New Influencers, chronicles the changes in markets being driven by the new breed of bloggers and podcasters. Among the more than 100 positive published reviewers of The New Influencers were The Wall Street Journal, The San Jose Mercury News and the BBC. The book was also awarded a silver medal in the business category by Foreword magazine. His next book, Secrets of Social Media Marketing, will be published in the fall of 2008. His website is gillin.com. Paul is a Research Fellow and a member of the advisory board of the Society for New Communications Research and he co-chairs the social media cluster for the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. Married with two children, he lives in Framingham, MA, where he lives and dies by the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox.

In December 2008, Steven Paul Leiva wrote a story for the Los Angeles Times that gave details behind one of the most interesting unfinished animated films in Hollywood's history: Brad Bird's take on Will Eisner's legendary creation, The Spirit. The much rumored cartoon by the creator of The Incredibles is an especially hot topic with the release of Frank Miller's live action movie, The Spirit. Leiva spent many years working in film animation as a publicist, programmer, promoter, and producer. He produced the animation for Space Jam, the 1995 Warner Bros hit which brought the great Looney Tune characters back onto the big screen and paired them with basketball legend Michael Jordan. Previously he produced a critically praised 7-minute animated segment for the Warner Bros film, Stay Tuned, which starred the late John Ritter. Steven has worked with some of the greatest names in animation including Chuck Jones, Richard Williams, and Brad Bird, as well as famed producers Richard Zanuck and Ivan Reitman. Leiva voiced the role of Scott in the multi-award winning animated short written and directed by Steve Moore, The Indescribable Nth, which was short-listed for the Oscar in 2000. But writing was Steven’s first love and in 1993 he decided to go back to it, privately printing The Old Curmudgeon’s Book of Questions as an announcement of his intentions. He mailed copies to friends, professional colleagues, and people he greatly admired, receiving grateful acknowledgments and encouragement from filmmakers Richard Zanuck and Richard Fleischer, and Frank Rich of the New York Times, among others.

BlogWorld Expo announced on Dec. 8, 2008, that it acquired New Media Expo; the new combined entity, run jointly by Rick Calvert and Tim Bourquin, will be called BlogWorld & New Media Expo. The next event, featuring a comprehensive conference and tradeshow, will take place in Las Vegas on October 15-17, 2009. New Media Expo was founded in 2005 to serve the educational and networking needs of podcasters and online video creators. Its 4th annual convention was held in August 2008 in Las Vegas, which drew 1800+ attendees and 50 exhibitors. BlogWorld Expo had its 2nd annual convention in September 2008 in Las Vegas, drawing similar attendance numbers and nearly 100 exhibiting companies, and featured keynote addresses by Guy Kawasaki, Anil Dash, Richard Jalichandra, Tim Ferris, Mike Shinoda and other new media thought leaders. BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of blogging and new media. Designed to give participants the strategies, tools and technologies they need to leverage new media communication in business, editorial and entertainment environments, the conference features dozens of seminars, panel discussions and keynotes from iconic personalities on the leading-edge of online technology and Internet-savvy business. BlogWorld & New Media Expo will place at the Las Vegas Convention Center, October 15-17, 2009. More information on BlogWorld & New Media Expo can be found at blogworldexpo.com.

Deborah Sharp is a former USA Today reporter who quit the news biz to write mysteries. Mama Does Time is the first book in her funny, Florida-set series. The second, Mama Rides Shotgun, is out in 2009. They're traditional mysteries with a comic edge: Think Agatha Christie meets "My Name is Earl." Incidentally, she met TV reporter Kerry Sanders in Immokalee, both of them shivering at dawn to see whether a winter freeze would ruin the green pepper crop. They’ve been married since 1989. No kids; no pets, but had goldfish once. Turned out badly—not a good omen for higher life forms. When they moved back to Deborah’s hometown in 1991, the occasional stories she’d been writing for USA Today became a flood. Miami’s loony nature gives it a lock on headlines. And then, 9/11, and everything changed. Call in and talk to Deborah LIVE @ 1-646-595-3135

“Where’s my jetpack?” This simple question from a friend started Mac Montandon on a quest for the promised new millennium that never quite arrived: a world where any person, at any time, could strap on a rocket and take flight. In Jetpack Dreams, Montandon discovers the history of this most elusive form of personal transportation—from its earliest popular appearance (in a science fiction story published in 1928) to the modern engineers, pilots, and other hopefuls still determined to realize the dream. Along the way, he stumbles upon Internet forums for jetpack enthusiasts, attends the first ever “International Rocketbelt Convention,” and unearths the true story behind a bizarre mid-1990s case of kidnapping, imprisonment, and murder—all for the sake of a jetpack. Mac Montandon has written for the New York Times, Radar, Salon, Details, Spin, New York Magazine, and Interview, among others. Check out his website at jetpackdreams.com.

Nearly fifty years after its release, Kind of Blue remains the most popular jazz album of all time. In 2009, to coincide with the 50th anniversary of this album, Don Cheadle will take on the legend of Miles Davis in a biopic that follows in the wake of popular films like Ray and Walk the Line. Such movies attest to a continued interest in music icons, who also inspire music books that tell the stories behind their legendary songs and albums. First among this genre of album biographies was Ashley Kahn’s chronicle of the album that Davis’s drummer Jimmy Cobb claims “must have been made in heaven”: Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece. Peppered with black and white photographs that depict the energy of the 1950s jazz era and evoke the elusive chemistry between Davis and his band, this book contains a foreword by Cobb that underscores the unique nature of the album and its conception. Kahn uses in-depth interviews and historical research to go the behind-the-scenes, looking outward from the record’s release to follow its influence on jazz music to the present. Kahn’s afterword—new to this edition—reflects on the response that Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece has generated since its first publication in 2000, and how the legacy of Miles Davis has continued to evolve. Ashley Kahn is an award-winning music journalist and radio producer often heard on National Public Radio's “Morning Edition.” He is also the author of The House That ’Trane Built.

VoiceThread is a new and powerful way for people to mix, share, and talk about online media and is based upon a simple question: 'Do you have something to say about media in front of you?’ A VoiceThread is a collaborative media player that instantly transforms any media content into a simple and secure space for rich and meaningful group conversations using voice, text, and animated annotations. VoiceThread is a company founded in Boca Raton Fl in December 2005 by Ben Papell and Steve Muth. The founders were driven to develop the product by a deep dissatisfaction with the available solutions for socializing around media. A long-standing and deep human need exists to talk about shared media that we care about, and although there are many solutions on the web, most suffer from poor usability and approachability, leaving out many less tech savvy users. The Company's development team spent 17 months in stealth development, and launched the initial beta release of VoiceThread on April 15th 2007; VoiceThread spent the next four months incorporating feedback gathered during the beta period. On October 10th, 2007 the second major iteration of the product was released, officially ending the beta period and introducing a fee structure. Since it's launch the service has been steadily growing via word of mouth among educators who recognize it's potential to transform online and distant learning. Call in and talk to Voicethread CEO Steve Muth live @ 1-646-595-3135.

Joe Kubert’s extraordinary career spans the history of the comic book in America: he began drawing comics in 1938, just as Superman made his debut in Action Comics #1, and continues to be one of the most vital cartoonists working today, writing and drawing both mainstream comic book characters as well as, more recently, graphic novels of his own conception. Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at the career of one of the most distinctive, dynamic artists in the history of comics. Bill Schelly’s insightful book covers all facets of Kubert’s creative life: artist, writer, innovator, entrepreneur, and educator. It abounds in heretofore unknown details about Kubert’s life and work, and is rich in colorful anecdotes drawn from numerous interviews the author conducted with Kubert’s colleagues, family and friends. Man of Rock: A Biography of Joe Kubert is a full-bodied biography intended to be read and enjoyed by anyone interested in the history of American popular culture. Other books by Schelly include: Harry Langdon; The Golden Age of Comic Fandom; and Sense of Wonder: A Life in Comic Fandom Schelly is also associate editor of Alter Ego.

Karen B. Dunlap is president of The Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Florida, which published the new book, President Obama Election 2008: A Collection of Newspaper Front Pages Selected by the Poynter Institute. Dunlap has devoted more than 30 years to the education of journalists and aspiring journalist. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the (St. Petersburg) Times Publishing Company, the board of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation and Eckerd College Board of Trustees. She has led seminars on writing throughout the nation and abroad, and is co-author of The Effective Editor with Foster Davis, and of The Editorial Eye with Jane Harrigan. Dunlap was editor of the Institute’s Best Newspaper Writing series and has served three times as a Pulitzer Prize jurist. She was a reporter for the Macon News and the Nashville Banner and served stints as a staff writer at the St. Petersburg Times. She began her tenure at Poynter in 1989. Prior to that she taught journalism at Tennessee State University in Nashville, and at the University of South Florida in Tampa. Dunlap is a graduate of Michigan State University and Tennessee State University, and received her Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. She has been recognized as an outstanding alum by each. She has been recognized with the Gerald M. Sass Distinguished Service Award from the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communications in 2005, an honorary doctorate from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg in 2006, and the Missouri Honor Medal from the University of Missouri School of Journalism.