Tonight on CASTLE (Apr 27)

Next on CASTLE (ABC, Monday night, 10/9c)
Ghosts: A murdered woman found drowned in a tub of motor oil leads to a maze of lies and revenge for a horrendous crime committed years earlier.
Watch free episodes online at Castle on ABC.com

Name of the Year? More like Name of the Millennium

I didn't know there's an actual contest for Name of the Year until angry asian man blogged that a Pinay named Iris Macadangdang (pronounced macka-dong-dong) is competing in it. She instantly got my vote.

You know what would be really cool? If she wins, I think Iris Macadangdang should meet up with Texas state Rep. Betty Brown to discuss names that are "easier for Americans to deal with."

I have a special attachment to the name "Macadangdang." In high school, there was a guy with that last name who would elicit snickers from douchey white kids whenever his name was read over the PA. As a shout-out to that poor Filipino kid--had I ever met him when I did time at that school, I would have told him, "Be proud of that billboard space-hogging indigenous Filipino name and tell them fools to eat your 'dangdang"--I have used "Macadangdang" repeatedly in my writing, particularly in A Fistful of Soundtracks Halloween Special sketches back when I was on terrestrial radio. I plan to continue to slap that last name onto Filipino characters, in much the same way Wonderland and Friday Night Lights creator Peter Berg continues to name hot female characters after Lyla Garrity, a girl he had a crush on when he was a kid.

Go Macadangdang!

Tonight on CASTLE (Apr 20)

Next on CASTLE (ABC, Monday night, 10/9c)
Home Is Where The Heart Stops: When a wealthy socialite is found brutally murdered and stuffed inside a wall, the home invasion investigation leads Beckett into Castle's high society world.
Watch free episodes online at Castle on ABC.com

Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology is hummin', comin' at ya

The New Press graphic novel Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology finally drops today. It features my print comics writing debut, "Sampler."

Other stories in the collection include "Justified" by artists Tiffanie Hwang and Ken Wong, the creator of self-published comics like Pandora's Box, who, like me, is making his graphic novel scriptwriting debut in this anthology; "The Blue Scorpion" by celebrated American Born Chinese author/illustrator Gene Yang; "The Citizen" by industry heavyweights Greg Pak and Bernard Chang; "You Are What You Eat" by Saving Face star Lynn Chen and Maxwell Wong creator Paul Wei; and "James," an amusing jab at American pop culture's constant emasculation of Asian guys that was written by Michael Kang, the director of the underappreciated indie movie The Motel. Erwin Haya illustrated both "James" and "Sampler."

Secret Identities: TAASA also includes stories penned by editor-in-chief Jeff Yang, managing editor Parry Shen (from Better Luck Tomorrow and the 2006 FX miniseries Thief) and Gilmore Girls alumna Keiko Agena.

The blogroll on the Secret Identities editors' blog has a complete list of the writers and artists who participated in the novel, which, to borrow the words of reviewer and Secret Identities champion Anne Ishii, "sets out to find or create more Asian-American superheroes; to balance a status quo of 'white' super men who are disproportionately depicted, inked, given voice and color (ahem) by Asian-American artists."

June Park, the power-absorbing protagonist of "Sampler," got bored one day while business was rather slow at her family's dry cleaning store, so she surfed the Web and played around with the Hero Factory superhero generator, which dubbed her "Sergeant Avenger."


Now go buy Secret Identities, so that there can be more Sergeant Avengers who look like June, alright?

Next time on CASTLE (Apr 13)

Tonight on CASTLE (ABC, Monday night, 10/9c)
Always Buy Retail: When a bizarre murder scene points to a ritualistic killing, Castle and Beckett must capture the killer before he finds his next victim.
Episode guide, character info, and free episodes online at Castle on ABC.com

AFOS "A-to-Z April" playlist

1. American Gigolo: Giorgio Moroder, "Hello Mr. W.A.M. (Finale)," American Gigolo, Polydor
2. Battlestar Galactica: Bear McCreary, "Mandala in the Clouds" (from "Maelstrom"), Battlestar Galactica: Season 3, La-La Land
3. Confessions of a Police Captain: Riz Ortolani, "Il ricordo di Serena" (from Confessione di un commissario di polizia al procuratore della Repubblica), Easy Tempo Vol. 1: A Cinematic Easy Listening Experience, Right Tempo
4. Damage: Zbigniew Preisner, "The Last Time" (from Damage), Varèse Sarabande: A 25th Anniversary Celebration Volume Two, Varèse Sarabande
5. ER: James Newton Howard, "Theme from ER," ER, Atlantic
6. Finishing the Game: Brian Tyler, "Ready or Not," Finishing the Game, Brian Tyler
7. Game of Death: John Barry, "The Big Motorcycle Fight" (from Game of Death), Game of Death/Night Games, Silva Screen
8. The Hunchback of Soho: Peter Thomas Sound Orchestra, "The Hump" (from The Hunchback of Soho), Futuremuzik, Scamp
9. Infamy: DJ Z-Trip and Garron Chang, "Infamy Movie Theme" (from Infamy), djztrip.com
10. Justice League: The New Frontier: Kevin Manthei, "Plan to Action," Justice League: The New Frontier, La-La Land
11. The Knack...And How to Get It: John Barry, "Here Comes Nancy Now!," The Knack...And How to Get It, Rykodisc
12. Lupin the 3rd: You & the Explosion Band, "Theme from Lupin III '78," Lupin the 3rd, Pioneer
13. The Man Who Knew Too Little: Christopher Young, "The Man Who Knew Too Little," Varèse Sarabande: A 25th Anniversary Celebration Volume Two, Varèse Sarabande
14. Northern Exposure: David Schwartz, "Alaskan Nights," Northern Exposure, MCA
15. Ocean's Thirteen: David Holmes, "Snake Eyes," Ocean's Thirteen, Warner Sunset/Warner Bros.
16. The Prisoner: Ron Grainer, "Main Titles," The Prisoner [File #1], Silva Screen
17. Quantum of Solace: Four Tet, "Crawl, End Crawl," Crawl, End Crawl (from the Motion Picture Quantum of Solace), Columbia/MGM
18. Raiders of the Lost Ark: John Williams, "Airplane Fight," Raiders of the Lost Ark, DCC Compact Classics
19. Shaft in Africa: Johnny Pate, "Shaft in Africa (Addis)," Shaft in Africa, Hip-O Select/Geffen
20. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Bear McCreary, "Highway Battle" (from "Queen's Gambit"), Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, La-La Land
21. The Untouchables: Ennio Morricone, "The Strength of the Righteous (Main Title)," The Untouchables, A&M
22. V for Vendetta: Dario Marianelli, "Remember Remember," V for Vendetta, Astralwerks
23. WALL·E: Thomas Newman, "Define Dancing," WALL·E, Walt Disney
24. XXX: Randy Edelman, "Prague Arrival" (from XXX), Varèse Sarabande: A 25th Anniversary Celebration, Varèse Sarabande
25. You Only Live Twice: John Barry, "Fight at Kobe Dock - Helga," You Only Live Twice, EMI/Capitol
26. Zodiac: David Shire, "Graysmith's Theme," Zodiac, Varèse Sarabande
27. John Williams, "Superfeats" (from Superman: The Movie), Superman: The Music, Film Score Monthly
28. John Carpenter and Alan Howarth, "The Siege of Justiceville," They Live: 20th Anniversary Edition, AHI
29. Maurice Jarre, "Building the Barn" (from Witness), Paramount Pictures' 90th Anniversary Memorable Scores, Sony Classical
30. The City of Prague Philharmonic, "Fanfare/'I ain't Captain Walker'" (from Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome), The Essential Maurice Jarre Film Music Collection, Silva Screen
31. Shirley Manson, "Samson and Delilah," Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, La-La Land

The two-hour "A-to-Z April" block repeats Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4am, 10am, 3pm, 7pm and 11pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 7am, 9am, 1pm, 3pm and 5pm all through April on the Fistful of Soundtracks channel.

Mike Patton covers the Danger: Diabolik theme

Because I'm an Ennio Morricone fan and I like Mario Bava's Morricone-scored 1968 comic book flick Danger: Diabolik, I got a kick out of Mike Patton's awesome cover of Morricone's "Deep Down" theme from Diabolik. The track, which was originally sung by a female vocalist named Christy, will be part of Patton's forthcoming Mondo Cane album of covers of '50s and '60s Italian pop songs. Also next up from the frontman of Fantômas and previously, Faith No More: the Crank: High Voltage score.



Tim Lucas, who did the Diabolik DVD's audio commentary and wrote Mario Bava: All the Colors of the Dark, said on his blog that "seeing ['Deep Down'] performed live by such an expressive vocalist, a full choir and orchestra brought tears to my eyes."

The Mike Patton's Mondo Cane version of "Deep Down" is my favorite cover by Patton since his cover of the Nestlé "Sweet Dreams You Can't Resist" jingle from his Faith No More days.

Patton and I happen to share both the same birthdate and a love for film and TV scores, especially Morricone's. I didn't come up with the name A Fistful of Soundtracks--another DJ at my college radio station did--but I chose that name for my college radio show because I thought it would be a cool way to pay tribute to Morricone and his work on the Fistful trilogy and A Fistful of Dynamite, a.k.a. Duck, You Sucker.

This post is also an excuse to show Marisa Mell in her Diabolik hot pants.

Next time on CASTLE (Apr 6)

Tonight on CASTLE (ABC, Monday night, 10/9c)
A Chill Goes Through Her Veins: A cold case heats up when Castle and Beckett find the frozen body fo a missing woman at a construction site.
Episode guide, character info, and free episodes online at Castle on ABC.com

Alphabet St.

Hey, those letters are trying to say "cougars." I didn't know Prince likes him some Roscoe's Chicken and Wattles.

I'm recording a bunch of new segments for the Fistful of Soundtracks channel that I'll begin streaming this Tuesday. They'll be put on a loop for the rest of April.

During these segments, I'll be introing 26 film or TV score tracks, and each one will represent a different letter in the alphabet. It'll be like A Fistful of Soundtracks-meets-Children's Television Workshop. (I don't care that it's now called Sesame Workshop. It's always going to be CTW to me, just like how I always called it Candlestick Park, even when it was renamed 3Com Park and then Monster Park before wisely reverting to its original name.)

Also, in remembrance of Maurice Jarre(*), I'll be introing a couple of Jarre tracks that aren't "Lara's Theme" or the Lawrence of Arabia theme--the Zhivago and LOA themes are both classic but a bit overplayed.

(*) The beyond, deux blog has given my brief post about Jarre a nice mention. Thanks, beyond, deux!

There won't be any more new episodes of A Fistful of Soundtracks: The Series. I'm eschewing the episodic format for something more Scion Radio-like. You'll still be able to hear past eps of AFOS: The Series Wednesdays at 10am and 3pm Pacific, starting this Hump Day.

Mr. Monk and the Final Season

This summer, USA Network starts airing the eighth and final season of Monk. Obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk (Tony Shalhoub) returns for 16 brand-new episodes, the return of Sharona (Bitty Schram), and the long-promised resolution of the only case Monk has never been able to solve: The murder of his beloved wife, Trudy. Updates at usanetwork.com/series/monk.

Meanwhile, Season Seven comes to DVD July 21 (Info at TVShowsonDVD). And the latest tie-in novel in stores is Mr. Monk is Miserable, by Monk writer Lee Goldberg.

Related links:
MONK ends with season eight
Mr. Monk and the Finished Manuscript
The stars shine for MONK 100
MONK: New therapist, new episodes
ADRIAN MONK: The face of OCD