Pop Xulture Newsletter # 22
Pop Xulture Newsletter # 22
Focusing on WonderCon 2024. 3/29 - 3/31/24
Hey Friends! This Newsletter will be a little different, focused on WonderCon 2024, but I’ll briefly give some updates.
Xurrent News
In February I gave you an exclusive article collecting my reading of C.S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity, so you can listen here. Earlier in March I posted another exclusive, this time a short story called “Not an Owl.” If you enjoy slightly creepy fiction and pop culture, join Jabari’s journey learning what’s living in the palm tree outside his apartment….one thing’s for sure…it’s not an owl.
I’m also working on a few articles for Christ and Pop Culture and shopping around my script – more details to come! And I made a video playlist (which you can totally just listen to) called “TV Theme Songs, Vol. 1 (Instrumental in my Life)” – Enjoy!
Xomposition Exclusive
Last year I attended WonderCon and wrote about the top TV/Film panels here in Newsletter # 13. This year I wanted to give you even more access. So yes, I’m still reviewing the new shows and movies I checked out, but also sharing highlights from the rest of the Con. All events are in the order they happened (not rated):
Panel 1 – “Spiritual Themes in Comics” (3/29/24)
Taking place on Good Friday, there was an interesting discussion about favorite comic resurrections and several other topics. Unfortunately, an emergency evacuation cut the conversation short (turned out to be a false alarm).
Panel 2 – “The Spice is Still Life: 40 Years of David Lynch’s Dune” (3/29/24)
This turned out to be an interview of Max Evry regarding his book A Masterpiece in Disarray about Dune (1984). Fortunately, Evry had amazing stories from his bestselling book and all three panelists were humorous and engaging.
Panel 3 – “The Spectacular World of The Spiderwick Chronicles” (3/29/24)
This was one of the best panels of the weekend. We were the first public screening of the entire pilot of the new show The Spiderwick Chronicles. It was especially cool to see Christian Slater, although I couldn’t help feel that he kind of overshadowed the rest of the cast just by being there. In fact, the cast and creators were engaging and humorous (especially Jack Dylan Grazer!), so it’s weird that a cool experience could be a little unfortunate.
Panel 4 – “Collider’s Director’s on Directing” (3/30/24)
This was a fascinating panel with each director bringing never-before-seen footage from their new movies: Bertinelli-Olpin and Gillett showed Abigail, Leitch showed The Fall Guy, and Ball showed Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. A few points from their discussion:
They’re happy to see technology pushing great quality to indie level.
Interestingly, each director first pitches the story (not visuals) to their DP (cinematographer).
They had an organic conversation about how each director uses temporary music to edit and preview. Each one does something a little different.
David Leach shared that before he was a director, he was a stuntman and on The Mexican, while doubling Brad Pitt, he crashed one El Camino into the only other El Camino on set and was shortly fired thereafter.
Panel 5 – “Boy Kills World Film Panel” (3/30/24)
My other favorite panel of the weekend. We got to see significant footage of the new film Boy Kills World, which looks bonkers! Each actor on the panel was a pretty big deal in their own right, but producer Sam Raimi probably being the biggest. This was the first time I thought about how crucial the panel seating arrangements are. Having Mustafa next to Copley was important for some of their interactions and seating Copley next to Gelman worked well as they played off each other like a deranged Abbott and Costello.
Panel 6 – “The Strangers: Chapter 1” (3/30/24)
The film’s premise is semi-interesting (a couple are hunted for no reason), but the panel and footage was a little lackadaisical. However, they’ve already shot all the footage for all three films, which is bold. Unfortunately, the moderator went by his script, so sometimes he asked questions the filmmakers already answered. This forced the audience to hear the same thing twice which diminished the impact and wasted valuable time in a 45-minute panel.
Panel 7 – “Resident Alien Cast Conversation” (3/30/24)
I’ve only seen Season 1 of Resident Alien so watching half of the Season 3 finale was a little spoilerly-disorienting, but that’s my own fault. I was really hoping Alan Tudyk would be there (he wasn’t, but made a hilarious video for this panel) so I risked the spoilers. Honestly, when I first saw the show I was frustrated at how it departed on one major point from the incredible graphic novels, but seeing this footage and hearing the panelists made me want to start watching again.
Panel 8 – “What’s New in the Weird West” (3/30/24)
My son asked me to go to this panel and it opened my eyes to a hybrid genre. Weird West is a hybrid of Western storytelling coupled with fantasy and/or horror and/or science fiction. All the panelists were interesting, two standouts: my wife had just bought Shane Hawk’s Never Whistle at Night (a collection of dark fiction by indigenous authors) and Kasey Lansdale’s industry insights (and connection through father, Joe Lansdale).
Panel 9 – “Pop Culture and the Christian Church” (3/31/24)
This was an honest conversation about where the Christian church fails and excels when it comes to interacting with people, especially around pop culture. One highlight was Alexander James’ brief sermon encouraging us to be ourselves and littered with pop culture analogies.
Xoncluding Thoughts
I appreciate you reading this far and hope you enjoyed the coverage!
Thanks, in Him,
-Chris (the Bearded Wonder) Fogle