I was saddened to hear over the weekend about the death of director Tony Scott. I haven’t seen a ton of his films, but we dissected Crimson Tide in film school as basically a perfect movie, and of course as a young airplane nut (and specifically fighter-jet nut), Top Gun was pretty seminal for me. I remember all the kids on the playground quoting it in second grade, but it was several years before I could convince my (much older) sister to rent it during a visit to her house.

There’s a lot you can dislike about Top Gun — it’s jingoistic (though not more than many other movies of its time), has some muddled sexual politics, and of course it’s part of the Bruckheimer school of connect-the-dots violent bombast. Still, I think it’s possible to be a fan of problematic things, and I like Top Gun. It’s got airplanes doing cool airplane things, and fighter pilots being hotshots, and just enough aviation lingo peppered into the dialogue to make me feel cool that I know what a RIO is.

Combine that enthusiasm with my background in filmmaking, and here’s a surefire recipe for A Thing That Dave Likes — a very long Making of Top Gun documentary, presumably from a fairly recent DVD release. Here it is on YouTube in two parts!

The documentary features interviews with most of the principal cast (except Kelly McGillis and Anthony Edwards), but including Tom Cruise, Val Kilmer, Michael Ironside, and the actors who played “Wolfman” and “Slider”. Also interviewed are director Tony Scott, producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the editors, one of the writers, several of the pilots and technical advisors, and several of the musicians who worked on the soundtrack, including Kenny Loggins and Harold Faltermeyer.

I personally found it super fascinating! Top Gun came out when I was real young, so it’s always kinda been there, a huge part of the cultural landscape. Yet it hasn’t been obsessively dissected the way that something like Star Wars has, so a lot of the insights and background were completely new to me. In particular, I enjoyed learning about:

• The process of working with the Navy during the script stage to try and find a compromise between a feasible movie, an accurate movie, and an entertaining movie

• How the actors interacted with the actual pilots they were attempting to emulate — both in attitude and in practical matters (Tom Cruise couldn’t get enough of riding in an F-14, but some of the other actors puked up a storm, and Val Kilmer turned down any rides at all)

• How the aerial footage was obtained using camera placements and technique that had until then only been attempted in music videos

• The work of the special-effects unit, which built dozens upon dozens of scale model fighter planes and blew them up, tossed them off towers, and suspended them from cranes, sometimes in front of giant sky-blue backdrops if the weather wasn’t cooperating

• How the editors took hours and hours of miscellaneous aerial footage and essentially wrote huge parts of the story by assembling it however they could manage, then dubbing in new dialogue (over shots of the actors with oxygen masks covering their mouths)

• How the soundtrack was produced, and how it both made the band Berlin super-famous and directly led to their breakup. I found this in particular incredibly interesting: a reminder that sometimes you can’t control what you become known for, and how you deal with that fame, and reconcile that with your creative goals, is up to you.

• How the movie became a cultural force, and even the Navy pilots who’d denounced its lack of accuracy suddenly came around once they became celebrities overnight. The documentary even credits the movie for introducing terms like “crash and burn” into the common lexicon. That’s crazy! I’ve lived with “crash and burn” my entire life, and you’re telling me this movie started it??

SURE ENOUGH. The graph shows the prevalence, in printed media across the 20th century, of the terms “need for speed” (in red) and “crash and burn” (in blue).

(But what in the 40′s gave us “need for speed”? Now I want to find out about that!) (I am guessing it was the nation’s rapid mobilization for war.)

Of course, one of the other neat things about the documentary is hearing from Tony Scott. We won’t hear from him ever again, which is a loss for the world, and I’m glad we have his thoughts here, at least.

BONUS LINK: Somewhere on a floppy disk near my mom’s old 386 IBM compatible I’m sure there is still a painstakingly typed full transcription of a movie I watched a lot more than Top Gun, and that’s Hot Shots!

Rewatching it now, there’s less flying I remembered, but I get more of the jokes, and I can appreciate Lloyd Bridges even more. If you’ve never seen it, here’s the full movie on YouTube. A classic!

Friend of Wondermark & Machine of Death Zachary Bernstein has just let me know that his musical comedy, Disasteroid! The Musical — about a budding romance during the end of the world — is opening for its two-weekend run on Friday, August 10!

If you’re in LA and need a fun date event, check it out at THE UNDERGROUND in Hollywood.

More details at: disasteroidthemusical.com

Here are some videos I’ve enjoyed in the last week or so! First, some short ones:

Batman Maybe (warning, spoilers for the latest Batman movie within)

Patrick Stewart, Olympic Ticket Scalper

And some longer ones — I like to leave them on in the background when I’m doing something tedious:

Tina Fey interviewed at Google (about an hour)

John Cleese on creativity (about 36 minutes, and a must watch)

BONUS LINK: Emma Coats relays 22 Rules of Phenomenal Storytelling she learned from working at Pixar (presented here in infographic form by PBJ Publishing). Linking it here so I can find it again when I need it, that is to say, every morning, whispering into the mirror, forever.

My wife showed me this video tonight, it’s adorable! Marcel the Shell with Shoes On:

Apparently I am the LAST PERSON ALIVE to see this video that already has 18 million views? That’s okay! That’s what I love about the internet, that something can blow up and get huge and go nuts, and there are still millions of people that can stumble across it and have that same thrill of discovery years later. The Venn diagram of “people’s interests on the internet” looks kind of like someone knocked over a shelf of washers in the hardware store. It’s a million little circles, some big and some small, some overlapping but mostly not!

There’s a second video too:

And holy cow there’s even a book! It is currently #11 on Amazon in the category Books > Children’s Books > Animals > Marine Life. It’s o-FISH-ally a hit!

ALSO: This weekend I will be at the Los Angeles Renegade Craft Fair!

I will be bringing some of my dwindling supply of hardcover Wondermark collections. Come check it out, it’s as if Etsy exploded in a park. Free to gawk, plus I’ll be doing Roll-a-Sketches!

Nothing will stop me from doing Roll-a-Sketches for the rest of my life unceasingly

Hard to believe that it’s Comic-Con season already! NEXT WEEK is when the nerds take over the city of San Diego. I’ll be with TopatoCo at booth 1229 — an easy booth to remember because we’re just on the other side of the aisle from booth 1-2-3-4. YOU KNOW THIS BY NOW.

If you won’t be in San Diego, but still want to read some good comics, my friend and yours Ryan Estrada has just launched something called The Whole Story. In his words:

I’m going to level with you — buying comics online can be a pain in the butt. Most of the services out there are geared toward what’s good for the middle man, not the customer. But luckily, I also make comics. And know a lot of others who do too.

So we spent most of the last year putting together an amazing collection of brand new books. And built a site to get them directly to you in the way that I would like to buy comics. Direct from the artists, at whatever price you think is fair, without having to register an account or download an app.

My dream is that if this takes off, I can start offering advances to awesome cartoonists so that they can focus on making the best comics they can. I can focus on making new graphic novels full time. And overall, the world will have a lot more great comics!

It’s like the Humble Indie Bundle for comics! And one of the comics he’s selling is called Fusion Future, a collaboration between Korean artist Nam Dong Yoon and a whole bevy of English-speaking cartoonists — including myself — who’ve “translated” his work (probably correctly). Check it all out at the-whole-story.com — the work that’s up now will only be available for a couple of weeks!

I want to see Ryan do well, not least because he is one of the authors in our upcoming Machine of Death 2 (out next summer). Another MOD2 contributor is artist Tony Cliff, whose comic Delilah Dirk and the Turkish Lieutenant was just nominated for the Harvey Award this year.

I read Delilah Dirk when Tony submitted his portfolio for MOD2 and I fell in love with it! It’s a wonderful, swashbuckling adventure full of gorgeous art and fun action. (It’s the picture at the top of this post!) I recommend you go read the whole story right now for free at delilahdirk.com.

All that should keep you busy for a while

I’m heading off to Finland with my mom and some family! I’ll be gone about a week and a half. I think new comics will still post while I’m gone, but just in case something doesn’t work, don’t freak out, I’ll catch up when I get back.

I don’t know much about Finland! Do you have to bring your own fins or can you rent them there?

ANYWAY here are some links I’ve had in open tabs for a while:

“The Human Race” Kickstarter: This is an independent action/horror movie that looks really good! Also notable for starring, in the lead action-hero role, an actor with only one leg (and some other disabled actors in supporting roles). I dig the clips in the Kickstarter video, and I hope it gets finished!

“Old is the New New”: Neat article about creating distressed typography. “I get really excited when watching some obscure Italian thriller from the 30′s and I see a sign on a window or a poster on a wall that any self-respecting designer today would suffer mid-level carpal tunnel syndrome to have designed themselves.”

Titanium Physicists Podcast: A science podcast in which physicists explain concepts to ignorant but wisecracking laypeople. In this episode, the ignorant but wisecracking layperson is me, and I learn all about sunspots! Did you know that sunspots always appear in pairs? YOU WILL, when you listen to this podcast!

Futurism from 1910: Reader Michele forwarded me this collection of French postcards (as in the picture above) predicting what the world of the far-off, nearly incomprehensible future of the year 2000 would look like. I want to live in this postcard world so bad.

From Marksman Frank F. comes the link to this video. It appears to be an entry in a German contest, sponsored by Jameson whiskey, to re-tell a well-known movie in just 60 seconds. The creators of this (quite remarkable) entry used some familiar faces…!

Ricki S. sent in this picture of a real-life doughplane! (Photo credit: Tim Walker.)

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In two weeks I’ll be in Vancouver for the first-ever Vancouver Comic Arts Festival! I hope you’ll come say hello. We’ll be doing a Machine of Death game panel (similar to this one we did in Toronto last year) and it should be tons of fun. If you’re a Vancouver local and interested in volunteering at the show, you can check out the VanCAF forums.

I haven’t been to Vancouver since I was five years old, I look forward to remembering anything at all about it this time around!

NOTE: Due to a conflicting engagement, I will not be at the Bay Area Maker Faire this year. I know! I’m bummed too. But I will be at Jesse Thorn’s MaxFunCon in June, leading a seminar called “Victorian Portraiture the Easy Way!” If you’re a registered MaxFunCon attendee, activity signup is open now.

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Zachary Bernstein (whom you may remember from his performance at the Machine of Death Half-Birthday Party & Talent Show) is putting on a comedy musical here in Los Angeles, and he’s holding auditions. Here’s Zachary:

“Disasteroid!” is an original musical comedy about a man who mistakenly believes that the world is going to end, and acts accordingly.

This is a NON-UNION theater show. No Pay. Will be performed at the Sacred Fools Theater in Hollywood, August 10th, 11th, 12th, 17th, 18th, and 19th. Rehearsals start the first week in July.

We’re looking for comedic actors, who can sing just well enough or better. There will also be some dancing, but nothing too ambitious. The original songs have diverse styles. Actors auditioning for roles should be prepared to sing “Moon River,” “I Feel Pretty,” “Aquarius,” or a Beatles song.

Note: Ages of the characters DO NOT mean those must be the ages of the actors. This is theater, after all.

ALFRED EDGLEY (early 30s): Tax auditor pining to be a professional astronomer, timid at the office, but more daring in his spare time (Lead, 7 songs.)

MABEL BELLCOAT (early 30s): Wealthy philanthropist with low self-esteem, coquettish but doe-eyed and easily worried about what others think of her (Lead, 6 songs)

MITZI STERN (40s): Edgley’s unapologetic, tough, sadistic boss. She rules with an iron fist, and is constantly irritated by her subordinates and everyone else pretty much. This is a very meaty comedic villain role (Supporting, 1 1/2 songs.)

PETE PETTY (Any age): Edgley’s co-worker. A nice, harmless guy, but odd. (Supporting, 2 1/2 songs.)

To put your name in the hat, please submit to our breakdown on Actor’s Access. If you do not have Actor’s Access, please send a headshot and resume to: ztsbernstein [at] gmail.com. Thanks!

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BONUS LINK: Last 24 Hour Comics Day, the French cartoonist “Boulet” drew a 24-page comic called “Darkness” that’s incredible. Do yourself a favor and read it immediately, it’s just great.

It’s the 30th anniversary of the video game Dig Dug and Namco/Bandai has commissioned a bunch of webcomics authors to do special comics to mark the occasion! I’m on deck to do one, as are tons more of your favorite webcomics pals. There’s more general info here, and while the comics haven’t been released yet, I’ll be sure and link to them once they are!

Are you in Calgary, Los Angeles, Nashville, Newport Beach, or Baltimore? WELL I GOT STUFF FOR YOU TO DO.

Calgary

I’ll be at the Calgary Comic & Entertainment Expo next weekend, April 27-29! I’ll be signing books and stuff at the TopatoCo table! That’s pretty cool!

Los Angeles

Thursday, April 26, at the Westside Comedy Theater in Santa Monica, there’s an improv comedy show called The Grind. They play every Thursday night (and they’re super great and you should go see them and it’s free besides), but on the 26th in particular, opening for them will be the fantastic MC Mr. Napkins, a musician I’ve mentioned before but who deserves another mention. Here he is performing a rap about moustaches.

I can’t wait to see him live again — if he does his song about vegetables, you will be in for quite a treat. (It’s no party hit of the summer, but what is?) Also I perform improv at this theater every other Monday with my team “Battlesocks” but that is neither here nor there.

Other Places

My friend and filmmaker Michael Mohan is bringing his feature comedy Save the Date to film festivals around the country! It’s co-written by (and based on work by, and featuring art by) cartoonist Jeffrey Brown, it stars Lizzy Caplan (Party Down), Alison Brie (Community), Geoffrey Arend (Super Troopers), and Martin Starr (Freaks and Geeks), and it’s great. Some upcoming screenings are:

NASHVILLE FILM FESTIVAL
April 21 – 5:30pm – Regal Green Hills Stadium 16*
April 24 – 2:15pm – Regal Green Hills Stadium 16
Tickets & Info

NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL
April 28 – 8:15pm – Triangle Square 5**
May 3 – 7:45pm – Island Cinema 3
Tickets & Info

MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL (BALTIMORE)
May 4 – 8:00pm – Charles Theatre***
May 6 – 2:00pm – Charles Theatre
Tickets & Info

* Actor Lizzy Caplan and director Michael Mohan will be in attendance for a Q+A.
** Director Michael Mohan will be in attendance for a Q+A.
*** Co-writer Egan Reich and director Michael Mohan will be in attendance for a Q+A.

You can read reviews of the film here (the Onion AV Club gave it an A-!). In addition to these particular festivals, there’ll be more info on future screenings in other cities posted to the Save the Date Facebook page, here.

The film premiered at Sundance this year and it’s currently being shopped around to distributors, so I’d like to give it all the support it can get! If it’s coming to a town near you, you might say you should…SAVE THE DATE

for the screening