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We've had some cool people through Planet. Like when the band Garbage used our toilets or when Rhianna and Bob Geldof coincidently turned up to our clothing launch. I'm not talking about when Dylan Moran asked if we knew anywhere near by that would let you drink and smoke (we had to say no, the licensed cafe isn't open yet) or when a guy I'm sure was the ghost of SunRa played awesome jazz on our piano and then left followed by his two bodyguards.

Better still havebeen the planned visits by cool people. When Booker Prize winner DBC Pierre officially opened the bookshop with a beer in one hand and a shot of vodka in the other or when Shaun Tan came in to sign his newly released Arrival to a two hour line of eager children and even more eager graphic designers and when Peter Greenaway came in to chat about how film is dead. But I think the winner for coolest visitor to Planet is Henry Rollins who stopped by and made himself available for signing.

American punk legend, cult writer, socio-political commentator, talk show host, raconteur and a star of the hard-hitting talking tour, Henry Rollins stood at the front of a long cue of people largely in black and he greeted each and every one of them.

I wouldn't call the event a signing, though that was its purpose. Henry quickly turned it into a handshake and a brief chat, a personable one-on-one. The signature he left behind had no longer been the purpose of those who lined up but now a reminder, a memento, of meeting and talking to him.

I was impressed by not just his professionalism but how it never compromised his personalism. They say never meet your idols. There are exceptions to that rule; Henry Rollins is one of them.

Planet's accounts dept. gives Mr Rollins a squee hug.

Thanks Henry

Ok, I'm back from my mini-sabbatical and I'm pleased to say that during which I saw dugongs and Eric the opalised pliosaur? Two more things I can strike off my list.

Salinger

I see that while I was away Mr. Catcher in the Rye J D Salinger entered the tall grass for the last time. As I predicted a year ago, when celebrating his 90th on this blog, that we'll see a lot of new material be published after his death; looks like it will be at least two novels and several collections of short stories. I have a feeling it might be a lot more than that. And can you imagine the attention if it includes continuing adventures of Holden Caulfield?

Avatar vs. District 9

Having finally seen both Avatar and District 9 I was quite surprised how much they have in common. Both are about humans exploiting alien culture and their willingness to destroy that culture in the process. Both productions were heavily dependent on the talents of people under the employ of Peter Jackson. Both have climaxes involving walking power armour.

After that, though, they diverge radically.

One is a visually rich and intense cinematic experience that doesn't compromise storytelling and characterization while still staging complex and intricate action sequences, ramping up the tension while continuing to raise serious moral questions about human nature and how far we'd go for selfish dehumanising greed, all within a package of top notch special effects that integrate live action and computer animation flawlessly, creating a new sense of fantastical realism, and thus elevating the art of the cinema aesthetic and contributing to cinema art in general. The other film is Avatar.

Don't get me wrong, Avatar is a very pretty movie, one of the most handsomely produced ever and it's entertaining enough, well, for a kid's movie. And it is especially enhanced by the 3D experience, but it is ironic that District 9 is actually the 3 dimensional movie. Also I can't ignore the fact that District 9 cost one tenth of Avatar yet is ten times a better science fiction actioneer slash morality tale with far more convincing aliens and a heaps more interesting central protagonist (who must have come close to a Oscar nomination, but sadly missed out, like Sam Rockwell for his performance in the sublime Moon).

The Gone-Away World

I am the master of reading the first few chapters of novels, so it was refreshing to have enough time to actually finish a book. In this case it was Nick Harkaway's The Gone-Away World, a post-apocalyptic adventure with nasty ninjas, enigmatic pirates, evil corporations and mutant monsters. Yes, it's a sci-fi martial arts epic extravaganza. Or so I thought, until I got to my first digression. Can't wait to get back to the action, you ask. Not when I realised the digressions are actually what are the soul and core of the novel. Harkaway's satirical wit and socio-political commentaries enrich this alchemical potboiler. It's like combining Terry Gilliam's Brazil and Jackie Chan's Drunken Master with Christopher Hitchens adding the footnotes. It's Thomas Pynchon doing Indiana Jones, Chuck Palahniuk doing Mad Max, Clive James doing Kickboxer. Very entertaining, insightful and, best of all, it is groovy and cool.

What now?

Well, now I get back to the regular blogging of snazzy, keen things. Plenty on my things to blog list; plenty of artists, writers, filmmakers to talk about before even thinking of anniversaries and historical landmarks in pop culture and the artistically neat. I will try to be a little more informal in my style, addressing some supportive criticism that I was a little too dry. And thanks for that support, including the majority of you who prefer commenting on my facebook.

Anyways, I'm back and lets get the show on the road for 2010.

And dugongs are very cool.

The New Year has begun.

But before we start to look forward, I want to have a glance back. Planet Blog started in September of 2008 and during that time I tried to cover topical, cool and groovy pop cultural moments. Favourites seem to be the ones about The Phantom, The Day of the Dead, Errol Flynn, War of the Worlds, Banksy, Philip K Dick and Bettie Page.

However, I missed some things because they were before the blog began or I just couldn't fit them in. For instance, I would like to have written about the 100th Anniversary of Wind in the Willows, one of the most endearing works of literature.

I would have lamented the passing of Roy Scheider. Amongst all his many films he was best known as Sheriff Brody from Jaws, but with that amazing performance in All That Jazz, he showed he was one of the last great leading man character actors. I'd have acknowledged the great b-movie actress Beverly Garland who had a long, successful career but will be remembered by me for her strong performances in '50s cult classics like Not of This Earth and It Conquered the World.

I would have saluted Arthur C Clarke, his remarkable contribution to science fiction and the bridging of art and science, and of course, 2001: A Space Odyssey. And I would have expressed my regret at the tragic loss of two writers; David Foster Wallace, a master of irony in fiction and non-fiction and his major tome Infinite Jest, and Tom Disch, a significant writer of allegorical literature, satire, essays and poetry. Disch especially deserved a wider audience than he had during his life. I hope both only grow in stature. I'd especially like to see Disch's cult classics Camp Concentration and 334 contunie to garner a receptive audience. His children's book The Brave Little Toaster will forever be a classic.

I would have done a nice spread on the art of Dave Stevens, creator of The Rocketeer and the first major artist to seek to immortalize Bettie Page (his work does appear in the Bettie Page post). I'd have a final salute to Ollie Johnston, the last of the great Disney animators who worked on Pinocchio, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Fantasia and Bambi. And I would have done a spectacular showreel of the amazing work by special effects artist Stan Winston. Stan gave us the Predator, the Alien Queen, the Terminator, the Jurassic Park dinosaurs and innumerous effects and creatures ending with the Iron Man suit just before his unexpected death.

I have received some nice feedback (all of it welcome) for the topics and artists covered and the attitude Planet Blog takes, but I have been amused by it being referred to as a bit morbid with its "Death of the Week". I'm afraid that probably won't change while humanity has yet to achieve immortality, but I do try to make my obits works of salutation and celebration of cool dudes and dudettes and to pay tribute to remarkable works of sub-cult-alternate-general pop culture.

Enough looking back, time to look forward, or at least to the here and now; there's plenty to write about, plenty to cover. We've got a whole year a head of us full of neat stories and images.

So, I guess the best thing to do is to get on with it.

Robin Pen

If you're reading this then you are at the bottom which means you are at the beginning.

Welcome.

This is Planet Blog where we hunt for cool and interesting things related to literature, film & TV, art & design, music and anything else we find neat within the realms of pop, sub and alternate culture.

Now there seems little point in talking about things most people are already talking about so we'll concentrate more of our efforts on things not picked up by the mainstream. Why talk about the latest Hollywood blockbuster when we can get excited about a new Korean monster movie? Why talk about a new Dune novel when we can talk about a novel called Go-Go Girls of the Apocalypse? Why talk about a new Coldplay CD when there are other unique talents worthy of a listen.

In short, what excites or intrigues us is what we'll put into Planet Blog whether it be relevant news, hip speculations or nifty discoveries.  Like a cookbook called The Veganomicon. Even if you like your bacon there is something cool about having a book in the kitchen with that title. Don't you think? Well, maybe that's just me then. But hey, there'll be a bit of maybe that's just me from time to time and that's a good thing. If you have an opinion about that or anything we write about we welcome and encourage your feedback.

So the blog ball is rolling. Let's roll with it, shall we? I expect a fun ride.

Cheers

Robin Pen