Head North Through Wonderland, Then It's Straight On To Narnia

I had no idea how close Whoville is to Mordor. It's amazing that Sauron didn't destroy the Who's, what with all the noise from their Jingjinglers, Floofloobers, and Blumbloopas. (The Fantasy World Map from Dan Meth)

Previously on Popped Culture...

Sailing The Sea Of Memes

Topographical Map Of Marge Simpson

Take Your Stinking Maps Off Me, You Damned Dirty Ape!

Can't We Nerds Just Get Along?

Captain RibMan has a dream: "From the sandy hills of Tatooine, let freedom ring; Let freedom ring from the mountains of Mordor; Let freedom ring from the plains of Rigel VII; Let freedom ring from the hallowed halls of Hogwarts. From every tree in Pandora, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every alien village and every shire, from every castle to every city in the clouds, we will be able to speed up that day when all of The Force’s children—black men and white men and half-black-half-white men from Cheron from that one Trek episode, Muggles and wizards, those who want to believe and the skeptics, Jedi and Sith, Time Lords and Daleks, will be able to join hands and sing the words of the old Ewok spiritual, “Yub nub, yub nub.”

Available on redbubble and for cheap for a couple more hours on TeeFury.

Previously on Popped Culture...

Vitruvian Robot

A Clockwork Smurf

Mystery Machine Transformer

Best Rock Collection Ever!

Of course the reason these rocks and minerals are so rare is because you have to break through the layer of adamantite to get to everything else. This almost makes me interested in geology. Almost.

Rocks and Minerals by Eduardo San Gil, available at J!NX as a tee. (Link via Shirtoid and Herochan)

Previously on Popped Culture...

Elements of Awesome

Vincent Van Wolverine

You Am Play Gods!

The Long And Winding Moria Road

John Lennon as Gandalf? For sure - The Beatles are bigger than Sauron, don't you know? (Moria Road by zero-lives)

Update: Just realized this was an entry for a cool Super Punch art contest. That will learn me to only look at your Flickr site. And update via iPad.

Previously on Popped Culture...

Cantina Road

King's Quest's Silver Hammer

Mashups Are Playing At My House

Lights, Camera, Animals!

I loved Full Metal Snail! "I'm already in a world of slime." (Lights, camera, animals! by Jebs at lafraise. Link via Shirtoid)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Apocalypse Pooh
Reservoir Droogs
Back To The Ancient Future

Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship of The Vuvuzela

"Gandalf man, you ruined my vuvuzela! Oh no wait, it's working! Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Forget the scores (or lack thereof), the best part of the World Cup has been the vuvuzela. I just love how annoyed people get by it. (Gandalf Goes to the World Cup via everyone)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Vuvuzela Hero – Legend of Africa  
No Goooooooals! 
Kazoos Are So Underrated 

Hey, Sauron. Why So Glum?

See, dance music is evil. (Single Ladies via xkcd)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Holy Single Ladies, Batman!
Queen Of The Wild Things
Lord Of The Onion Rings

Lord Of The Rings Computing

Seems they do things backward in Middle Earth. No wonder they stayed stuck in the past. Stupid Hobbits — everyone knows halflings are luddites anyway. (droID242 via Soup von b-w)

Previously on Popped Culture...
It's All About Ctrl
Lord Of The Onion Rings
GandALF

Lord Of The Onion Rings

In the Land of Booger where the deep fryers lie.
One Onion Ring to rule them all, One Onion Ring to find them,
One Onion Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Booger where the deep fryers lie.

A scene from pop artist Dave MacDowell's Another Perfect Day, and Gollum's precious, precious onion rings. 

Previously on Popped Culture...
Disney's Lord of the Rings
The Bambie Hunter & Taxi Rider
Breakfast Hawks

Geek Army Knife

This is the ultimate Swiss Army Knife. Who needs nail scissors, saws and screwdrivers when you have an array of weaponry like this? Really, what couldn't you accomplish? Damn heavy though.

Top: Noisy Cricket from Men in Black; Rorschach’s grappling gun from Watchmen; Frodo’s sword Sting from Lord of the Rings; He-Man’s Power Sword; Thor’s hammer; Obi-Wan Kenobi’s lightsaber, Harry Potter's wand; Lion-O’s Sword of Omens from Thundercats; James Bond’s Walther PPK.

Bottom: Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver; Hellboy’s revolver; Star Trek phaser. (Geek Army Knife by Ian Summers)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Guns. Lots Of Guns
Pop Culture Target Practice
All Flash, No Dance

GandALF

GandALF searched Middle Earth for eons, looking for the The One Cat to eat.

TeeFury is having giving people a chance to get this shirt, or one of a few dozen other popular tees for $5 in their Grab Bag sale.

Previously on Popped Culture...
Disney's Lord of the Rings
Peter Jackson's The Smurfs
Off to Mordor With You 

Disney's Lord of the Rings

I wonder if they have to destroy the ring in Magic Mountain? It's Merlin as Gandalf, Pinocchio as Frodo, Peter Pan as Legolas and Grumpy as Gimlee, from artist AJ interpretation of Lord of the Rings as drawn by Walt Disney. (Link via Super Punch)

Previously on Popped Culture...
Ginocchio And Winnie the Pope
Dwarfed Punk

Popaganda: The Pop Culture Revolution

Who needs world wars, political ideology and elections to delve into the world of propaganda? Papa Smurf needs you and Waldo is watching. I've got a thing for spoofs and parodies, and if you can tie together two disparate cultural elements, I'm sold. I attribute it to a lifetime of watching shows like The Simpsons and The Muppets. So behold, a collection of pop culture propaganda posters.

Invincible: An army of Berts couldn't hold me back. From Michigan illustrator Kevin Skinner. This was the image that set me off looking for all the rest.
Update: Kevin got in touch and he is selling his final print over on ebay. He says it is a reductive linocut, so it can't be printed again, so get bidding.

Waldo: Forget finding Waldo, Waldo's watching you. From Worth 1000's Fun with Propaganda 5)


Smurfs: Red Revolution. Come to think of it, the village really was a commune.


Smurfs: Of couse some take a more positive spin, and believe in the pro'papa'ganda. He will know if we are there yet.


Muppet Propaganda: Kermit the Gorf, from Thought Faucet. A Gorf appears to be a wonderfully obscure Muppet reference, and I love the poster.


Plant of the Apes: You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you all to hell!"


Wizard of Oz: Fly my pretties, fly! From Worth 1000's Fun with Propaganda 2.


Spongebob: Fight for Bikini Bottom


Lord of the Rings: I want you for the fighting Uruk-Hai. Hmm, can Orcs read? From Worth 1000's Fun with Propaganda 5.


Mad: What me worry? Must be a poster from Cracked. From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda.


Jack: Long live the American Nicholson Party. "Now all you have to do is hold the chicken, bring me the toast, give me a check for the chicken salad sandwich, and you haven't broken any rules." From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda 3.


Willy Wonka: Oompa loompa doopadee dee, if you are wise you'll listen to me. From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda 3.


G.I. Joe: You can't beat COBRA if you get VD. You'd figure that there would be way more G.I. Joe posters - seems the perfect subject matter. From Chris's Invincible Super-Blog.


Transformers: All hail Megatron. From the aptly named All Hail Megatron series from IDW Publishing.

Rocketeer: Some revisionist film history, as Cliff Secord lets the rocket pack fall into the hands of the Germans. From Something Awful.


Street artist Shepard Fairey created a series of Hope posters supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for President. They were quickly parodied into 150 different versions. These are four of my favourites:

Star Wars: Long before there was Barack Obama, there was a new hope. Luke Skywalker.


Debork Obama: Says the Swedish Chef, "Yom-yom-yommm, mit de chocolad. Bork, bork, bork!" By Sleeper Cell.


Winnie the Pooh: Wouldn' you trust a bear of very little brain? By Commissar Maksim.


ALF: It seems to be that ALF would be of very little hope for Melmac, as the planet has already blown up. Easier to keep your promises I suppose.


Animal Farm: Four legs good, two legs bad


Star Wars: Our Imperial Forces. There's no war like a clone war.


BattleStar Galactica: So say we all!


Gnomes: This ain't your garden variety revolution. I knew they were up to something.


South Park: Respect our authoritah. Really fits well with Cartman's fascist bent.


Star Wars: The Empire — Ensuring your safety by choice or by force


SuperMario: The Mushroom Guard


Pokémon: I choose you, Pikachu. Much like everyone else in the draft, he didn't really have a choice. From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda 8.

Waldo: But where is Waldo? At least they let hi keep the hat. From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda.

Star Trek: Stop this Klingon brute. Who knew Star Fleet was so xenophobic?


Futurama: You're not paid to think.


Spongebob: Are you sponge worthy? Loose lips sink ships to Bikini Bottom.


Kool-Aid: Oh yeah! From Worth 1000's Fun with Propaganda 4.


Mary Poppins: Just like a spoonful of sugar is all it takes to corrupt you children. Serves you right for letting some woman who blew in on the wind into your house. From Worth1000's Fun with Propaganda 6.

Previously Popped Culture...
Suddenly Last Supper
Would You Like Fries With That?
Find Waldo, Yet Again
Come as You Are: Nevermind The Parodies
Pillow Talk: 25 Strange Throw Pillows

Off to Mordor With You

I wonder who looked at the short and stubby Hobbits and thought, “what it would be like if they could sing Broadway tunes?” It must have been the same person who turned The Lord of the Rings into one of the most expensive plays ever made and then staged into Toronto.

So can three novels, which took Peter Jackson nine hours to film, be squeezed into a three and a half hour play? Sure, but it won’t make much sense. It had been awhile since I had read the books (high school to be precise) but I have seen the movies more than once. Despite that I felt a little lost during the production which was simultaneously too long and too short. Vast swaths of story had to culled, only to make room for the aforementioned singing Hobbits. Anyone who didn’t know the story would have absolutely no idea what was going on. Of course I doubt few who weren’t already versed in the lore would bother attending, which may in part explain why it is shutting down tomorrow and moving to London.

When the cancellation was announced back in June, producer Kevin Wallace laid the blame squarely at the feet of critics who said much the same as I have. They were right, but the same message would have gotten out by word of mouth, so let’s not shoot the messenger. Visually, it was quite a sight. The production makes ample use of a massive, moving stage to recreate mountains and forests and hundred of costumes to represent multitudes of characters and warriors. While impressive, the theatrical aspects were underused in order to make room for musical numbers.

They took a huge risk launching this in Toronto, which is not a huge theatre town, at least in terms of multi-million dollar extravaganzas. Now that it is closing, I’m hoping a sub-par production is not blamed on the city.

One Critic to Ruin Them All

It was the critics' fault. The Canadian dollar is too high. U.S. tourists are too afraid to travel. Gas costs too much. People don’t understand British theatre. It was SARS. Our audiences were all drunken idiots. Ok, I made up the last one, but it was the only thing theatre producer Kevin Wallace didn’t blame the failure of the Toronto production of The Lord of the Rings on.

But it was the Gollum-like theatre critics that took the brunt of the blame for dooming the $28-million adaptation of Tolkien’s trilogy.

"I would not discount the role of the critics," Wallace said. "We were given a rough ride here in North America, and we struggled with a mixed message. In the Toronto press, the vote was three to one (against the show). That became an issue… If the critics don’t think they have power, believe me they do."

At the same news conference where Wallace heaped criticism on the critics for being critical, he barely acknowledged their complaints: it was too long, had no heart, didn’t have enough music, it was confusing and didn’t connect with audiences, who subsequently didn’t shell out $125 bucks for a ticket.

Clearly, Wallace doesn’t understand the role of critics – they are not community boosters, despite what he may believe. And if any show should have been critic proof, Rings was it. Millions have read the books and seen the movies, so it’s not like people didn’t know what the show was about. But perhaps it was the over familiarity that put off fans, who didn’t feel the need to see Frodo again so soon.

I haven’t seen the show myself, but I did (and still do) plan to, despite the critical attention, because I’m interested. I’ve had friends who went and enjoyed it, and that’s more important to me. It was the same way when we saw Avenue Q in New York – on the advice of a friend. We went to see Wicked last year and I never read a single review, we were interested in the story.

Critics don’t sink shows – if they had that power, Mamma Mia would never have lasted. They can help inform opinion, but a show will sink or swim on its own merits.