Music Review: Random Access Memories – Daft Punk

It took eight years, but electro-dance duo Daft Punk finally leaked their fourth STUDIO album Random Access Memories (RAM) on iTunes through a live stream on May 10th. Then the official release for purchase happens May 21st. I caught the stream a few times and felt it quality enough to purchase an advance copy from iTunes. I have absolutely no buyer’s remorse.

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Wow, did this album get hyped or what? For a solid year I have seen promos for Daft Punk’s Random Access Memories (RAM), and after releasing the first single “Get Lucky” with short video at Coachella, they upped the amperage. Thomas Bangalter and Guy Manuel-de Homem [more]

Thee Comic Column #37: Interview: Ryan Black & The Kickstarter for his “Tension” Comic

Ryan Black (AKA Ryan Gunwitch Black in music circles) is a man of many trades. I was first introduced to him via his Killbilly band Ghostwitch Family Band. Now the man has an indie comic book in the works titled Tension and the minute I saw the video for it on Kickstarter - which you can watch and contribute to until the end of the month of May HERE  - I knew I wanted to interview him. As my readers will have no doubt surmised I LOVE comics, but I also LOVE indie stuff. It was with great thrill that a little over a year ago I watched Brendon Seifert and Lukas Ketner’s comic Witchdoctor go from some awesome-looking posts on Warren Ellis’ forum Whitechapel to full on comic success, and that’s what I am [more]

Average Joe Photography #2: Night Sports Photography with Chiang Rai United FC

The Raging Mackerel of Samut Songkhram were visiting the The Fighting Beetles of Chiang Rai this past Sunday so I decided to take my camera to United Stadium near the airport for this Thai Premier League clash and capture the action. Now in retrospect, I should have seen if I could garner a press pass. Joup after all is a publication, but I caught wind of the game a bit late so I was subjected to the stands and certain positions that were still within 5m of the action. Using my normal average Joe set-up I stuck with my 55-250mm the entire night because of the necessity for distance shots. Let’s look at what we came up with [more]

Thee Comic Column #36: Mark Millar & Frank Quitely’s Jupiter’s Legacy

Ok, so I really dig Mark Millar. I mean, the guy reinvented The Avengers for god’s sake. I was NEVER a fan of Iron Man, Cap, or any of those characters until my good friend Mike from Amazing Fantasy Comics forced me to read the first volume of Millar’s The Ultimates. And it wasn’t just the updating of the characters that worked for me; it was a combination of the real world espionage, the grit, the lonely man-out-of time that walked around in a hyperbolic American soldier’s uniform, the genius tempered by rich-boy carelessness of the man inside the armor, the complete insanity of Hawkeye and all the little things that went into really stream-lining and re-invigorating characters that hadn’t stepped outside the weight of their own continuity in decades that made The Ultimates so near and [more]

Average Joe Photography #1: Buddhist Monks in Procession: Tachileik, Myanmar

The Premier installment of Joup’s Average Joe Photography. My co-publisher Shawn Baker came up with another great idea (he’s full of’em…really). It started with him asking how I got a certain shots in the Muay Thai pieces I wrote a few months back (Main Gallery). I explained that Muay Thai leads itself to Black and White Photography but how the scenario was tricky to shoot because you have people moving at a fast pace in an outdoor low light situation. And one can’t vary well set up a tripod next to the ring! So I talked with him a bit about using higher ISO with as quick of [more]

Thee Comic Column #35: The Marvel Unlimited App: Digital Comics

FIRST: REMINDER – Today is May 4th, 2013 and that means it is FREE COMIC BOOK DAY today. Go out to your local comic shop and buy some comics! I’m kinda being a hypocrite here, because this is just about the only day a year I won’t go to a comic shop, but when your shop is as awesome as my two favorites are, Amazing Fantasy in Chicago and The Comic Bug in Manhattan Beach, CA then they have lines around the block waiting to get in. That’s awesome – I love seeing the increased traffic, wish it would stay year round. I feel justified in avoiding this day however, because I go one or two times a week every other week, so I do my part. And now that I’ve gotten that out [more]