PopCulture No.6

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ENTERTAIMENT IN ENGLISH, FIRST TIME IN SCANDINAVIA!

Cover page image: The Legend of Tarzan © 2016 Warner Bros.

Entertainment Inc. Other images in this issue: Discovery Networks // Viasat // The Walt Disney Company Nordic // Universal Studios // Warner Bros Fox International Channels // Fox ICB // Twentieth Century Fox // Nordisk Film // Pexels.com POPCULTURE MAGAZINE ENTERTAINMENT IN ENGLISH, FIRST TIME IN SCANDINAVIA! SUITED FOR EXPATS. Published monthly Issue 06, June - July 2016 Published by Founder & Editor-in-chief MARIN MILOSAVLJEVIC Art Director GORDANA BAKIC Proof reading TANJA MILOSAVLJEVIC Cover Story MILJN KRUNIC Contributing writers MICHEL PETKOVIC // MARIN MILOSAVLJEVIC // BORIVOJE ORINOSUKE FUNAKOSHI NAUMOVSKI // MILAN KRUNIC // MILJAN TANIC

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PopCulture Magazine is digital only magazine and no part of it can’t be reproduced in any form without the written permission by the publisher. All the articles in this publication are intellectual property of their authors and publisher cannot accept any responsibility for the accuracy of the information included.

#EditorsWord THE NEW TARZAN COMES STRAIGHT OUTTA SWEDEN. The muscle-packed Swedish star is well known for his work on True Blood, and now we’ll see Alexander Skarsgård on the big screen. Tarzan is the forefather of today’s superheroes, but what destiny awaits him now that he has to battle it out against Iron Man and Superman at the box office? This summer will show us if the classics of pop-culture still have a place in the hearts of the blockbuster audience.

I am very happy when a star from Scandinavia makes it in Hollywood. Mads Mikkelsen as a fantastic incarnation of Hannibal Lecter, Nikolaj CosterWaldau in one of the most prominent roles on Game of Thrones, Rebecca Ferguson together with Tom Cruise in the latest Mission Impossible, Alicia Vikander as the new Lara Croft and Skarsgård as the new King of the Jungle… they all make it easy for me to answer my family’s questions about pop culture in this part of Europe. It turns out that Scandinavia is a great source for acting talent, so that the average expat has no problems remembering at least one name.

Beside Tarzan, in this issue we bring you the perfect Scandinavian playlist for long summer days. This “long” isn’t just a metaphor – these days in Copenhagen the sun rises just after 4 o’clock in the morning and total darkness sets in right around midnight, so that good music, books and TV-shows are my necessary tools to preserve a sane mind while waiting for sleep to finally grab me. That’s why (though that’s not the only reason), PopCulture Magazine has a story about three shows with protagonists who cause the biggest commotion this season.

Summer in Scandinavia is wonderful, but overly long, and you’ll hear many jokes about it – if you haven’t already. Therefore, enjoy the wonderful green parks, beaches and forests that just can’t wait for you and your favorite book, comic book or anything else that makes you happy.

Marin Milosavljevic Editor in Chief

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10 NORWEGIAN POP ARTISTS 58 YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW

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#ThisMonth

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TARZAN:

Many faces of Lord of the Jungle

DEFENDERS:

Street level heroes

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SUPERGIRL:

A logical change

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THE ULTIMATE NORDIC PLAYLIST:

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Summer is finally here!

24 NASHVILLE: SEASON 5 28 GILLIAN ANDERSON

65 MOLDE:

International Jazz Festival

34 KELLAN LUTZ: Is Twilight star the new He-Man?

36 NIKOLAJ-COSTER WALDAU

37 STEPHEN KING:

On "End Of Watch" Tour 64 BIKE TOUR IN COPENHAGEN

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by: Michel P.

#HOT START

michel_p@popculture.dk

10 NORWEGIAN POP ARTISTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT RIGHT NOW!

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IN OUR THIRD PART OF THE BEST OF SCANDINAVIA SERIES FEATURE, WE TAKE A LOOK AT 10 OF THE BEST MUSIC ACTS COMING FROM NORWAY. CURRENTLY, THE COUNTRY’S PARTICULARLY KNOWN FOR ACTS SUCH AS RÖYKSOPP, TODD TERJE, KYGO AND CASHMERE CAT. IN THE LIST BELOW, LINDSTRØM UPHOLDS THE COUNTRY’S REPUTATION IN ELECTRONIC BRILLIANCE. THE ACCOLADE OF NORWAY’S NEXT BIG THING(S) GOES TO HIGHASKITE AND TEAM ME WHILE ELECTRO-POP CHANTEUSE MR. LITTLE JEANS AND SINGER-SONGWRITERS AURORA AKNSES AND EMILIE NICOLAS REPRESENT POWERFUL WOMEN IN THE FIELD OF POP MUSIC. IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER, THESE ACTS PROVE THAT WHAT THE COUNTRY MAY LACK IN POPULATION IT MAKES UP IN ITS DENSE MUSICAL EXPERIMENTATIONS AND ENDEAVORS. SO, CHECK OUT OUR RECOMMENDATIONS AND ENJOY!

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Rร YKSOPP

Photo by Stian Andersen

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hey're pride and joy of Nordic indie pop scene... Rรถyksopp, at their best, blur the lines between pop and experimental electronica in much the same way as The Knife, and their undeniable talent has been recognized by other Scandinavian stalwarts, with the duo having collaborated with Robyn (on one of their biggest hits "The Girl and The Robot"), Karin Dreijer Andersson (of The Knife) and Lykke Li. Rรถyksopp came to international attention with the release of 2009's Junior, a powerful, propulsive collection of electronic pop songs that were as much influenced by house and techno as any pop music, and were all the better for it.

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MR LITTLE JEANS

Press photo (mrlittlejeansmusic.com)

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onica Birkenes, the voice behind Mr. Little Jeans, moved to London and then L.A. to pursue a career in music, but it was not until she released a stunning, haunting cover of Arcade Fire's "The Suburbs" that people began to take notice. With a delicate voice that is sometimes reminiscent of Lana Del Rey, Birkenes describes her sounds as "pop that dances left of center," and the slightly wonky electronic production that she uses confirms that description.

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AURORA

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Press Photo

escribing herself as a “dreamer and a thinker,” Aurora started making music when she was just nine years old.

Now 18, she’s dropped a number of wonderfully delicate tracks since 2012.

“Puppet” is an astonishing debut effort and “Awakening” released earlier this year garnered her wider attention.

There’s fragility within the music, certainly, but the maturity and subject matter of her lyrics belie her young age.

Listing Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen as her inspirations, she’s delivered a cover of David Bowie’s “Life On Mars” and put her own spin on Miley’s “Wrecking Ball.” This year saw her play at a number of important showcasing events and festivals – First We Take Berlin, Ja Ja Ja and Øya – and she’s also released a new album "All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend" this spring.

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AWILL

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Photo: Facebook

he rap scene in Norway may not be hugely established but it is there. Well-known rappers include Karpe Diem, LidoLido and Diaz.

Awill – who describes himself as a “boom bapper”- is slowly making a name for himself in the scene and has received notable online praise. He started rapping at the age of 14, spent some of his teenage years in the States and relocated back to Oslo to focus on his career. He dropped his debut mixtape, The Human Society, in 2012, which was followed by “Right Or Wrong.” The EP can be heard via WhyBe Collective’s SoundCloud. The young rapper impresses with his lo-fi sound, choppy beats and meticulous delivery – his talent landed him a showcasing slot at SXSW – just listen to his track "Aristocracy". He’s also released a series of well-produced videos for the majority of his tracks.

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COMET KID

Press Photo (the.cometkid.net)

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ombining folk and pop, four-piece Comet Kid are creating a sound that is carefree and heartfelt.

Describing himself as the "dancing, songwriting, bearded vocalist" frontman Andreas Kjøll started up a fundraiser on Indiegogo to help them produce their debut album.

They may not have got the financial result they needed, but Roots

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–released early this year – was nonetheless written, recorded and produced. It presents a collection of catchy tracks that combine soul and blues with indie folk. It’s a solid first effort and landed them a strong following in a short amount of time.

Watch their acoustic rendition of "Psychopath" and the official video for the lovely "Diamonds".

EMILIE NICOLAS

Photo by Rod Maurice

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mere four years ago, Emilie Nicolas was studying music in Oslo, now she’s being celebrated as one of Norway’s talents to watch. Over the course of the past 18 months Emilie Nicolas has progressed from the status of unknown music student to being one of the most highly anticipated Scandinavian artists for 2015. She (unintentionally) started her career with a cover of Dumdum Boys "Pstereo" – commissioned by a Norwegian festival as part of their marketing campaign; it garnered widespread attention and was nominated for at P3 Gull (the award show of the Norwegian Public Broadcaster). Her own debut track "Grown Up" is much more the sound she wanted to create for her project; it’s a heartfelt and honest account of her relationship with her father.

The track "Nobody Knows" is another enchanting display of her gorgeous, glossy voice. On June 1st, her stunning debut album “Like I’m A Warrior” will be released in the UK and Scandinavia.

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HIGHASAKITE

Photo by Tonje Thilesen

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ighasakite are Norway’s current musical darlings. They’ve received both national and international success – critical and commercial – and avid fan Justin Vernon invited them on tour with Bon Iver. Their debut album All That Floats Will Rain was released in 2012, followed by two EPs. Her sophomore album Silent Treatment reached #1 on Norway’s album chart and won Dagbladet’s Norwegian Album of The Year. Each single release is accompanied by a moving visual account, like the official video for "My Soldier", and "Indian Summer", proving that Norwegians are well aware

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that music is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the ears. The group’s music is full of contrasts; it’s spacious and dense, eccentric and accessible.

It’s a stark dreamy affair of drums, percussions and synths with Ingrid Helene Håvik’s vocals moving graciously through it all. Purchase their recent album Silent Treatment. Rare musical landscapes, a place of long dark shadows, sudden flashes of glittering light, brooding silences and unexpected explosions of fierce percussion. All of that is available on their new album "Camp Echo" released in May 2016.

KID ASTRAY

Photo by Press Here Publicity

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id Astray’s forte is creating incredibly catchy pop songs. From their first official offering "The Mess" (created in just six hours, unbelievable!) to their latest song "Back To The Ordinary", the uplifting sounds of this Norwegian six-piece are filtered through their own adolescent realities.

Fresh out of high school (where they met), the indie pop band has a penchant for fun, carefree music; they formed effortlessly and it shows in their music.

Members of the band include a Vogue model, a junior golf champion and a piano prodigy – and we’re not joking. Check out seven-track EP Taking You With Me via their Soundcloud.

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LINDSTRØM

O Photo by Lin Stensrud

ne of Norway’s finest musical exports, Lindstrøm is often hailed as the country’s contemporary disco king. Releasing a steady stream over the years, his art is a dizzying affair of layering, shimmering melodies and sonic arrangements that constantly build and hypnotize. Directed by Kristoffer Borgli, the video for "Vōs-sākōrv" offers a clever and creative contrast to the typical music video format. Three-time winner of the Norwegian Grammys, Lindstøm runs his own label Feedelity Records and has released all four of his studio albums via the imprint. He also frequently collaborates with fellow Norwegian producer Prins Thomas under the conveniently titled project Lindstørm & Prins Thomas.

Termed "space disco", their sound fuses electro with prog and krautrock and is well worth familiarizing yourself with.

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SAMSAYA

F Photo by Andrew Paynter

rom the signature heart she paints over her eye (during video shoots and live shows) to the positive message she’s sending out (be yourself), Indian-born Norwegian singer Samsaya is all about love. Fusing contemporary pop with traditional Indian sounds, her self-titled four-track EP was released this summer.

Bursting with hugely infectious sounds, it includes fresh and fun "Bombay Calling" and "Stereotype", which is accompanied by a feel-good video. You can catch her self-titled EP on Spotify.

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FREE CphPost APP IN EVERY EXPAT'S POCKET!

Denmark's leading source for news & events in English is now also available as practical service-information App on your smartphone and tablet.

Scan code or find CPHPost App on:

DISCOVER MORE: 20 20 CphPost.dk

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by: Marin M.

#HOT START

marin_m@popculture.dk

THE TEMPERATURE'S RISING!

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TOGETHER WITH THE SUMMER, MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT SHOWS WITH QUESTIONABLE FUTURES COME UP – AMONGST THOSE ARE NASHVILLE, SUPERGIRL AND THE X-FILES. MANY TIMES NOT SO MUCH THE SHOWS ARE IN QUESTION, BUT THE NAMES CONNECTED TO THEM: CONNIE BRITTON, TOM WELLING AND GILLIAN ANDERSON. IN A SEA OF RUMORS, WE TRIED TO FILTER OUT BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT TV-SITUATIONS NOT GIVING US ANY REST: OH, THE DRAMA, THE TWISTS, THE IMPATIENCE! 23 23

NASHVILLE: Deaf fans of the country soap: it’s official, Nashville is back from the dead, only a few weeks after ABC informed us on the time of death of the show!

For the return we have to thank Lionsgate above all, which did everything to find a new home for its product, believing in it as much as the fans, which is a nice refreshment in comparison to what usually happens: a show gets cancelled, people talk much, nobody does anything.

IMAGE: Courtesy of LIONSGATE

The new home of the show is CMT television, which is the most logical place – CMT standing for Country Music Television – and we don’t have to point out how it’s perfect in tune with the theme of the show. But there is concern for the future ratings, since CMT – as popular as it is – is just a cable channel, hence having considerably less viewers than a national TV-network like ABC. Lionsgate on the other hand is confident that their deal with the streaming service Hulu will be enough to fix the problem. Let’s just hope they don’t cancel it after one more season. For the moment, let’s enjoy the news and be happy about new episodes of the country-style drama.

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What is being speculated in the last ten days or so since the news about the renewal broke out is – who of the regular cast will be seen in the new, fifth season of the show, since the budget will surely be considerably smaller. On the other hand, in a show like this, cutting the cast isn’t bad by default. It seems that at this moment there are too many characters and parallel plots, so that it’s sometimes hard to follow their relations and some characters, with their paths naturally crossing, barely share any screentime together. This goes especially for Rayna and Juliette, the main stars of the show, who barely had any scenes together in season 4. If it wants a healthy future for the show, CMT has to focus on what made the show so great in the first place: music and drama that comes from making music. Of course, a soap is a soap and it’s ok to have a well directed family drama from time to time, that will hold us on the edge of our seat, but the focus has to be what makes Nashville so special.

Cutting characters is good, but we don’t want to loose Rayna, so wonderfully played by Connie Britton, or Juliette, played by the charismatic Hayden Panettiere. Though they probably

A NEW CHANCE take the most out of the budget, they’re the stars and it’s clear that these two ladies created the fanbase, ready to send petition and hold the internet on its feet for weeks after the show was cancelled.

Asked by Entertainment Tonight a few weeks ago about her return to the show, Connie Britton just clearly happy said “Sure, sure!”, though she admitted there hadn’t been any official talks yet. She admitted that she found out about the show’s move to CMT like everyone else – from the CMT press release.

And though Rayna and her family had a happy ending of season 4, everyone’s eyes are on Juliette Barnes, the young country star whose plane disappeared from the radar, while her (ex and potentially future) husband and baby are waiting for her on the landing strip. Is this a signal for alarm or just a production trick – we’ll find out in the months to come. The only thing coming out of the production these days is that all the actors, including Ms. Panettiere, have contracts for several years.

Concerning the rest of the cast, no one expects really big changes – for most of the cast these are first big roles, or first big roles after a pause or a long struggle in Hollywood.

Besides, many, like Clare Bowen’s Scarlett, started as sideline-characters and then went on to make a big music career thanks to the show. Having that in mind, it is possible that many of the supporting characters will return and maybe have even more space than before.

Season 5 will have 22 episodes and the production hasn’t started yet, but we can expect that the shooting schedule will be known soon, and with it the roles, too. It is unknown when season 5 will premiere, but October is very possible, since the production will probably try and use the date the fans are already used to.

With all the open questions, impatience and joy mix and the space in the media this show now has is bigger than ever.

With that and a bit of good tactics at CMT, this can be a great new opportunity for the show and its stars.

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SUPERGIRL:

A LOGICAL TV-shows with superheroes are nothing new anymore, but it’s still refreshing when a show finds balance between comic-book-fans and what they expect and the audience that doesn’t know anything about the comics.

That’s why it was even weirder when CBS took months to say anything about the future of the popular and fun show Supergirl. In the end, it was announced that the show would move to the sister-network CW and join the rest of the DC-shows there: Arrow, The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow.

IMAGE: Courtesy of MTV, CBS

But now that the show will move to Vancouver, there are questions about the cast, especially Calista Flockhart, who is the most expensive cast member and who plays the perfect Cat Grant, the boss of the media conglomerate in which Kara Danvers (Supergirl) spends her “anonymous” says. The production said they would be happy with any time Ms. Flockhart can spend on the show, which makes us think that the negotiations are still underway and that we will still see Ms. Flockhart in the role, but in a few less episodes.

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But all that faded away when the ultimate information came out: we will see Superman in Season 2. Not his boot, cape, shadow or a Skype message on a screen, but the real deal. With a considerable place in the show. Of course everybody thought of Tom Welling, who played Superman in the long-running show Smallville from the same production.

CHANGE But alas, only a few hours before our deadline, the news came that Tyler Hoechlin of Teen Wolf fame will be the new Superman. Tyler will appear somewhere at the start of season 2, since it’s possible that the CW is trying to secure the viewing figures with that introduction. We still don’t know how much of Superman we will get in the show, but he “will visit” his cousin Kara.

Now that it ended the way it did, we still ask ourselves if Welling would have accepted the role? Had it been ever offered to him officially? Do you like Tyler as the new Superman and how will the CW split the universes of the Man of Steel for TV and movies? It seems that we will get those answers before or during the San Diego Comic Con, and now we only have to find some patience.

TYLER WILL APPEAR SOMEWHERE AT THE START OF SEASON 2, SINCE IT’S POSSIBLE THAT THE CW IS TRYING TO SECURE THE VIEWING FIGURES WITH THAT INTRODUCTION.

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THE X-FILES: THE TRUTH VACATION Gillian Anderson demands that Sea World releases 23 orca whales. Gillian Anderson is shooting the last season of The Fall. Gillian Anderson leads in internet polls for the first female James Bond. Gillian Anderson lands a role in the TV-show American Gods. One could say that someone is really popular these days?

IMAGE: Courtesy of FOX ICB

But in all the news on Gillian Anderson there is little to no X-Files, and one would expect more X-Files after the big reanimation of the show last winter. The tenth season of the show, that came many years after the show’s official end, got mixed reviews from critics and fans, but the viewing figures and general impressions were positive, so that everyone thought an eleventh, possibly again shortened season, would be only a question of time. But it’s a bit more complicated than that, due to – allegedly – scheduling conflicts of everyone involved.

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Mid-May, Dana Walden, the executive director of Fox production said, she believes, Gillian Anderson, David Duchovny and Chris Carter were “game” for a season 11, that they talked and everyone is positive.

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IS ON THE TENTH SEASON OF THE SHOW, THAT CAME MANY YEARS AFTER THE SHOW’S OFFICIAL END, GOT MIXED REVIEWS FROM CRITICS AND FANS, BUT THE VIEWING FIGURES AND GENERAL IMPRESSIONS WERE POSITIVE Recently Chris Carter also said he was happy about the return of the show and that he showed there’s still life in it. He said there is no official date for the production of season 11, but that there will be a new season for sure.

In the meantime, Gillian will go on with American Gods, a Brian Fuller show based on the book by Neil Gaiman.

She will play the media goddess and she’s going to be either fully or partially a villain, which will be an interesting change in what she plays usually, and her fans will surely enjoy it immensely.

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#HOT START

DEFENDERS

IMAGE: Courtesy of Marvel Comics

STREET LEVEL HEROES ARE COMING TO COMIC SHOPS!

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MARVEL’S STREET LEVEL HEROES ARE STEPPING OUT ON THE TOWN FOR A SERIES OF SPECIAL VARIANT COVERS! MARVEL ANNOUNCED 20 SPECIAL DEFENDERS VARIANTS, COMING TO SOME OF OUR FAVORITE MARVEL TITLES THIS SEPTEMBER. ATTENTION! Find this variant covers this September in your local comic shop.

“Street Level heroes are an integral part of the DNA of the Marvel Universe,” says Marvel Editor-in-Chief Axel Alonso. “From Daredevil to Luke Cage to the Daughters of the Dragon, some of the coolest characters in the Marvel Universe operate in the shadows, and this September, we are shining the spotlight on them with twenty riveting variant covers featuring some of the best artists in comics.

PopCulture Magazine is excited to reveal the following Defenders Variants by some of Marvel’s great cover artists: All-New, AllDifferent Avengers #14 by Paul Renaud, Amazing Spider-Man #18 by Dale Keown, The Astonishing Ant-Man #12 by Siya Oum, Daredevil #11 by Alex Maleev, Howard the

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IMAGE: Courtesy of Marvel Comics

Duck #11 by Jamal Campbell, The Totally Awesome Hulk #11 by Stephanie Hans, Uncanny X-Men #12 by Robbi Rodriguez.

Additional Defenders Variants are also going to grace the covers of these exciting Marvel comics throughout the month of September: Black Panther #6, Captain America: Steve Rogers #6, Captain Marvel #9, Deadpool #18, Doctor Strange #12, Invincible Iron Man #13, The Mighty Thor #11, Moon Knight #6, Ms. Marvel #11, Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat! #10, Power Man And Iron Fist #8, The Punisher #5, Uncanny Inhumans #12.

We got message from Marvel Comics that no fan can afford to miss out on these exciting variant covers featuring Marvel’s street level heroes, so run, don’t walk to your comic shops to get your hands on these can’t miss Defenders Variants!

and MORE...

Could more heroes be joining Netflix's Defenders line-up than just the stars of its solo shows? The use of Daredevil and Luke Cage clearly suggest Marvel is getting out front of the Netflix Defenders series, beginning the process of rebranding the title. This further raises the question of whether Elektra, Colleen Wing and Misty Knight will also be included in the Netflix series not just as supporting characters, but full-fledged members of the team as well. Simone Missick will debut as Misty Knight in this fall's Luke Cage live-action series, while Jessica Henwick will debut as Colleen Wing in 2017's Iron Fist.

Elodie Yung portrayed Elektra in the second season of Daredevil.

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IMAGE: Twitter

#HOT START

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KELLAN LUTZ In talks for role in Masters of the Universe?

In January of 2016, it was announced that Terminator Salvation helmer McG had signed on to direct the Masters of the Universe movie for Sony Pictures. Up until now, we have heard little in the way of possible casting for the film.

EVEN IF MCG THINKS LUTZ WAS BORN TO PLAY THE BUFF PROTECTOR OF CASTLE GRAYSKULL, THERE’S STILL A LONG WAY TO GO BEFORE THIS FILM GETS CLOSE TO GETTING MADE.

this meeting means very little; McG may have left the meeting thinking “HELL NO” or maybe Lutz is up for the role of Man-E-Faces instead of He-Man. Even if McG thinks Lutz was born to play the buff protector of Castle Grayskull, there’s still a long way to go before this film gets close to getting made.

All that said, check out this reply to Lutz’s news, connected to the picture we are bringing you:

Through his official Twitter account, actor Kellan Lutz has confirmed that he recently met with Director McG and Producer Mary Viola about the upcoming Masters of the Universe movie.

No word yet on what this possible role could be in the film, but many fans (including original HeMan Dolph Lundgren!) have given their support for Kellan Lutz in the role of He-Man. Honestly,

The armor on this fan-made picture is wacky— although pretty accurate to the original toy—but that right there looks like a live-action He-Man, people! If, somehow, this movie finally gets made and Lutz stars, could this be new close to final solution?

Geeking out about this?

Follow Kellan on Twitter for more information!

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all eyes on him!

NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU 27.07.1970. • DANISH ACTOR

IMAGE: IMDB

ABOUT SOCIAL MEDIA GOSSIPING I know nothing more annoying when people I don't know jump to conclusions on my person based on nothing but gossip or speculation.

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ABOUT GOT What's great about 'Game of Thrones' is they change the perspective, the POV, all the time.

So you will have one story told

by one character and you'll go, 'Oh my God, horrible', and then maybe the season after you have the same story told but from the person you thought was just the most horrible, vile creature.

ABOUT CHILDHOOD WISDOM When I was a kid I was always afraid of small dogs, because they always seemed like the ones that would attack.

ABOUT THE HOUSEHOLD HE GREW UP IN It was in a tiny village of 40 people, Tybjerg in Denmark. I had two older sisters and was brought up mainly by my mother. My mum was a librarian and my dad worked in Greenland.

ABOUT FAMILY My house is north of Copenhagen.

It's a little cluttered. We're four messy people, but it's home.

1 topic, 2 stories…

STEPHEN KING

ON „END OF WATCH“ BOOK TOUR

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o celebrate the release of his newest book “End of Watch”, Stephen King embarked on a twelve city book tour across the US on June 7th in New Jersey. The tour includes an evening with Stephen discussing End of Watch, the last book in the Bill Hodges Trilogy and much more. And if that wasn't enough, at each event, 400 pre-signed books are given out at random to lucky guests. All we can say is we're jealous that we're not in the US. “End of Watch” is the 55th novel by

Stephen King and the third volume of a trilogy focusing on Detective Bill Hodges, following “Mr. Mercedes” and “Finders Keepers”. At the 2015 Edgar Awards, while accepting the award for Best Novel for Mr. Mercedes, King announced that the novel's antagonist, Brady Hartsfield, will be making a return in this book.

The title will be published this fall in Sweden under the title ”Sista vakten” – there are still no news on the title and publishing dates for the Danish and Norwegian editions.

GEORGE R. R. MARTIN IS JEALOUS

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t an event in Albuquerque, New Mexico, “A Song of Ice and Fire” author George R.R. Martin interviewed Stephen King for his “End of Watch book” tour.

The two beloved authors talked shop at Kiva Auditorium in Martin's hometown. And while just seeing the two together caused nerdgasms all over the internet, people went even more crazy when it was Martin who interviewed King. Notable in particular was Martin's comment about King's writing speed. George asked him "How the f*** do you write so fast? I have a good six months and crank out 3 chapters, meanwhile you wrote 3 books in that time!" Stephen answered that he writes almost every day and demands 6 pages a day from him self.

George was amazed by that. He replied "You always get six pages? You

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never get constipated? You never get up and go get the mail, and think 'Maybe I don't have any talent and should have been a plumber?'"

It's interesting to note that King might be equally jealous of Martin.

According to Blastr, the “Under the Dome” author "[got] more involved

with [CBS' adaptation of his book] after seeing the stellar work [Martin had] done crossing over on ... Game of Thrones." King wrote the teleplay for Under the Dome's Season Two premiere. He told the L.A. Times, "I knew that George R.R. Martin had written a few episodes of 'Game of Thrones,' and I was very jealous."

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IMAGE: Courtesy of SF Film

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arzan, Lord of the Jungle. At one point in time also known as Lord of the box office. Today mostly forgotten and overshadowed by modern heroes with superpowers. Alas, every few years some studio schmuck tries to revive Man-Ape’s adventures. There are several hundred adaptations through various media. And it seems the world never gets enough of the Lord of the Jungle’s adventures, but it can get tired of them from time to time. To paraphrase Rocky Balboa: “But it ain’t about how hard you hit. It's about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That's how winning is done!” This means Tarzan is pretty much indestructible.

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#COVERstory by: Milan K.

IMAGE: Courtesy of SF Film

milan_k@popculture.dk

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Many faces of Lord of the Jungle

For those who are wondering what I am talking about, here’s the “Who the hell is Tarzan?” passage.

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arzan is born as Viscount John Clayton, son of Lord and Lady Clayton that were marooned on an African coast due to mutiny. The mother dies soon after she gave birth to John, while the father gets killed by Kerchak, leader of the tribe of giant apes called Mangani. Kala, from the same tribe as Kerchak, adopts the infant and names him Tarzan.

As a young adult, Tarzan meets an American woman named Jane Porter, who got marooned on the same shore as his parents. It was love at first sight. Jane returns to America, and Tarzan leaves the jungle in search for his one true love. Several adventures later, the couple elopes and has a boy named Jack, who adopts an ape-name – Korak. Unable to adapt to the modern world Tarzan’s family returns to Africa, where they make their home on an extensive estate that becomes a base for Tarzan's later adventures.

Science fiction author Philip José Farmer decided to write Tarzan’s biography like he was a historical figure. The book was named “Tarzan Alive: A Definitive Biography of Lord Greystoke”. Farmer wrote several other biographies of other known characters like Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage. These three characters represent the foundation of the Wold Newton family. The most interesting title in the collection is “Feast Unknown” which was criticized by fans for its graphic description of violence and sex, pretty much entangled through the book.

The character was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) who saw profit in pulp writing and because “...if people were paid for writing rot such as I read in some of those magazines, then I could write stories just as rotten. As a matter of fact, although I had never written a story, I knew absolutely that I could write stories just as entertaining and probably a whole lot more so than any I chanced to read in those magazines.”

His first novel came out of print in 1912, while the book “Tarzan of the Apes” came out two years later. In the year of 1923. Burroughs founded his own publishing company and started printing his own books. The Tarzan saga includes 24 books by the original author and 13 titles by other writers with 5 unauthorized works.

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IMAGE: Courtesy of Warner Bros, Disney studio Nordic

Theater, radio, comics aka Rock, Paper, Scissors (without lizard and Spock)

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Beside books, Tarzan lived through other media. There was a radio dramatization of his adventures. The first one was broadcast from 1932 till 1936, where James Pierce played the Man-Ape. Pierce also played the same character on the big screen, in the silent movie “Tarzan and the Golden Lion” (1927). The second adaptation ran from 1951 till 1953 with Lamont Johnson in the title role. This was an interesting choice since Johnson is not an actor but director, who had directed several of the most noted shows back in the day like “The Twilight Zone”, “Have Gun Will Travel” and “Peter Gunn” whose musical theme was used in John Landis’ cult movie “Blues Brothers” (1980).

The Lord of the Jungle was also adapted for comic books. The first publication was in 1929, and was drawn by Harold Foster, who will be remembered as the creator of Prince Valliant. Interesting enough is the fact that Tarzan comics were one of the first things Nazis forbade. At first they stated that “cruelty toward animals encourages sadism within readers”, but after the movie “Tarzan and His Mate” in 1934 the censors said that the image of a woman and “man-ape from the jungle” isn’t compatible with “the public’s view of ‘racial conscience’ and women’s place in the new Reich”.

From 1983 until 1989 The Yugoslavian comic book distributor Marketprint made its own Tarzan comics. The author of these adventures was Branislav Kerac, now a famous artist, mostly recognized for his superhero “Cat Claw” comics. Marketprint Tarzan issues were bought and distributed by Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish and Dutch comic book publishers.

In 1921 The Lord of the Jungle ended up on Broadway with Ronald Adair as Tarzan and Ethel Dwyer as Jane Porter. Richard O’Brien, of “Rocky Horror” fame, wrote his own version of Tarzan in the form of a rock musical named “T.Zee” in 1976, but the play never materialized. The Man-Ape then left the stage for almost thirty years when Disney adapted their animated feature into a full-on Broadway musical.

Tarzan was also adapted into video games, firstly as a platformer for Commodore 64 and later made into several games for PC, PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and Gameboy.

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IMAGE: Courtesy of Viasat

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CBS tried adapting The Lord of the Jungle for television once more in 1989.

SMALL SCREEN and its limitations Before we get to the movie business, there are also the TV adaptations. There was a weekly TV series simply called “Tarzan” that ran from 1966 till 1968 on NBC, with Ron Ely as the titular hero.

This version omits the Jane character completely. The show was a spin-off from the Gordon Scott pictures. Ely will act into the sunset on Lorenzo Lamas’ trash action TV series “Renegade”.

Then there’s the Filmation animated series “Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle” that ran on CBS from 1976 until 1980 with Robert Ridgely as the voice of Man-Ape. This show contains the character of Jane, voiced by Linda Gery, but for only one episode! After this, the Filmation studio went and made a mega-popular “He-Man and the Masters of the Universe” Saturday-morning cartoon series. And also Bravestarr.

CBS tried adapting The Lord of the Jungle for television once more in 1989. This time in the form of a TV movie/pilot named “Tarzan in Manhattan” with actor-turned-country singer Joe Lara as the titular hero with Jan-Michael Vincent and Tony Curtis by his side. The movie failed to draw any attention and the show was cancelled.

TF1 also tried to dabble with Tarzan in accentuated “Tarzán”. This seemed to have some impact as the series ran from 1991-1994.

This was actually a French-Canadian-Mexican co-production, and Man-Ape was updated in to a blond environmentalist, while Jane was a French ecologist. In one of the episodes, the original TV Tarzan, Ron Ely, makes an appearance. The hero was played

by Wolf Larson who made some stardom with his later series “L.A. Heat” which was a poor man’s Lethal Weapon rip-off.

Almost two years later Joe Lara returned from anonymity as the star of “Tarzan: The Epic Adventures”. Lara wasn’t bad as the titular hero and looked quite the part. The show ended after a year of syndication because it failed to draw any viewers. The really, really cheap look of the show and naïve scripts are to be blamed.

The 21st century brings new adventures of this well-known character in the form of the animated TV series named “The Legend of Tarzan”. This was actually a sequel to the Disney’s animated feature from two years prior. The main character was voiced by Michael T. Weiss once known as Jarod, “The Pretender”.

The WB network thought Tarzan needed some updating, so they set their hero in modern-day New York and made Jane a police detective. This concept proved as ingenious as the title of the show – “Tarzan”, and the show was cancelled after only eight episodes. Interesting enough is that the modern concept was conceived by Eric Kripke of “Supernatural” fame and also the fact that the titular hero is played by Travis “Ragnar Lothbrok” Fimmel of “Vikings” fame.

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IMAGE: Courtesy Courtesy of of Warner Hammerhammer.com IMAGE: Bros, Viasat

Sound! Camera!

Release the athlete!

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The Internet Movie Data Base (imdb for short) says there are over 200 movie adaptations of Tarzan. The first one was filmed in 1918 with Elmo Lincoln and named like the book – “Tarzan of the Apes”. But out of all silent era pictures only one is worth mentioning, and that is “Tarzan and the Golden Lion”, shot in 1927 in which an evil chieftain is played by a then unknown Boris “Frankenstein” Karloff. In 1929 sound pictures are introduced and Tarzan gets his first lines, played by an American gymnastics champion Frank Merrill in a movie called “Tarzan the Tiger”.

In 1932 MGM hires a relatively unknown Olympic swimmer as their Tarzan – Johnny Weissmuller. Weissmuller was a winner of five Olympic gold medals for swimming and had some acting aspirations. One day he saw his idol Clark Gable walking onto the MGM lot. He tried to follow him, but the doorman wouldn’t let the athlete in.

“Tarzan the Ape Man” (1932) was so successful it bonded Weissmuller with the character of Tarzan for generations to come.

While thinking what to do, a kid came around the corner and said there are over 75 men waiting in line to be tested for the new Tarzan, and that Weissmuller should try it because they will let him onto the studio premises. After several “go there, run, stop, climb this tree, swing from a vine, yell…” he got the part as the Man-Ape. The MGM producers wanted him to change his Austro-Hungarian name because they feared it wouldn’t fit onto the marquee but he refused. Persuading ensued and one of the producers remarked “Weissmuller? Aren’t you that guy who won five Olympic gold medals?” After he said “yes” not only they let him keep his name but added swimming into the pictures. Lots and lots of swimming.

“Tarzan the Ape Man” (1932) was so successful it bonded Weissmuller with the character of Tarzan for generations to come. And not only that, he will play the part the longest.

Twelve pictures in total, six for MGM and six for RKO. Same thing happened to Maureen O'Sullivan who played Jane in MGM movies, and who had a difficult time shedding off the character after the franchise was done. This picture produced one of the most well-known misquotes of the film industry, beside “Play it again, Sam”. The line “Me Tarzan, you Jane” is actually a paraphrase of the original, much longer dialogue.

Also all the elephants in the movie are Indian, not African.

Indian elephants have smaller ears and tusks so filmmakers made special makeup prosthetics for the animals to resemble more their African relatives. Also, all of the pygmies seen in the film are actually short people painted over with shoe polish and soot.

Among other things, this is also the first picture that has the iconic Tarzan call. The yell was made by a sound engineer Douglas Shearer who recorded an Austrian yodel and played it backwards while changing speed of the reproduction. Weissmuller claimed he came up with the sound and learned to mimic it so perfectly the people believed his story.

At the same time, other studios made their own versions of the Man- Ape adventures. All of those pictures, including MGM and RKO, shot movies within soundstages with docu-

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mentary footage used as scenery shots. Except “The New Adventures of Tarzan” (1935), which was shot on location in Guatemala. It was actually a 12-part series starring Herman Brix, that was readapted into a feature.

After “Tarzan and the Mermaids” was shot in 1948, Weissmuller withdrew as the titular character, since he felt he was too old to be Lord of the Jungle. He did pick to play another adventurous jungle character though – Jungle Jim, a comic book character created by Alex Raymond who also created famed space roamer Flash Gordon.

IMAGE: Courtesy of Nordisk film

The studio searched for a suitable replacement for their money-making hero, and found it in Lex Barker, a young playboy who came from a wealthy upper New York family and pursued acting out of boredom. Although Barker was suave and a pretty good actor, the producers told him to “dumb it down” to a more “me Tarzan, you Jane” characterization. After five pictures he had enough and left the franchise in 1953.

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Then came a young bodybuilder named Gordon. His two features, “Tarzan's Greatest Adventure” (1959) and “Tarzan the Magnificent” (1960), swept not only the box office but also audiences out of their seats. Scott became the most beloved Tarzan after Weissmuller and brought back the character to his literary roots of Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Also, in “Tarzan's Greatest Adventure” one of the poachers is played by pre-Bond Sean Connery.

During the 60s, mostly due to the rising popularity of James Bond movies, Tarzan was transformed into a globetrotting suave gentleman with a knack of solving problems and helping others in need. Unlike any of the previous pictures, this adaptation, starring professional athlete Mike Henry, was shot at locations around the world (Kenya, India, Malaysia, Mexico etc.).

But the audience had enough of the muscular, loin-clothed hero and Tarzan withdrew from the movie industry. But in 1981 MGM re-launched their Man-Ape, this time characterized by former professional football player Miles O'Keeffe while his love interest was played by Bo Derek. Critics panned the movie but audiences didn’t care and the movie made damn good money. Miles went to Europe and starred in “Ator”, an Italo-sword and sorcery quadrology.

Three years later, Warner Bros. producers decided to change the story a bit, by implementing some of the ideas from Philip José Farmer’s fictional biography from 1972.

Thus was born “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes”. And who better to portray the character who doesn’t belong than a European, specifically French, actor – Christopher Lambert. Lambert barely spoke any English at the time of the production which only added to the sense of alienation. The movie was directed by Hugh Hudson who won the Oscar for directing “Chariots of Fire” (1981). Critics embraced the movie but audiences found it confusing and… not good. “Greystoke” bombed at the box office. On the other hand, Sir Ralph Richardson, who died shortly after the picture was wrapped, won an Oscar for his portrayal of the 6th Earl of Greystoke.

In 1998 came a semi-sequel to “Greystoke” named “Tarzan and the Lost City” starring Casper Van Dien. The movie not only bombed at the box office but was named one of the worst Tarzan adaptations of all time by critics and audiences alike.

The following year Disney made an animated feature which turned out to be a re-adaptation of “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes”. The movie cleared the box office and got hailed as one of the best adaptations of the iconic hero. In 2013 Constantin Film made their own animated version – “Tarzan 3D”, made with CGI and motion capture. And it got panned.

Disney made an animated feature which turned out to be a re-adaptation of “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes�.

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Yates picked Skarsgård to be his Tarzan because “he [Skarsgård] was born in Sweden but found a career in America, so he has this wonderful quality of not quite belonging to one or the other“.

IMAGE: Courtesy of SF Film

The new King of the jungle is… a Swede?

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Producers thought Alexander wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but the actor was determined

In 2003. Warner Bros studios announced another live action feature, adapted from the comic book by Dark Horse Comics.

After a series of false starts, changes of the actor in the principal role (Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill and Charlie Hunnam to name a few) and directors (Guillermo del Toro, Stephen Sommers and Gore Verbinski) Warner settled on Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan, everyone’s favorite girl Margot Robbie as Jane, backed up with Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz and John Hurt. Cavill lobbied for the role but had to give up because of the scheduling conflicts with his Superman movies. The role of Jane Porter was offered to Emma Stone, who turned it down.

The producers picked David Yates, who rose to stardom after directing the last four instalments in the Harry Potter saga, to direct. Yates picked Skarsgård to be his Tarzan because “he [Skarsgård] was born in Sweden but found a career in America, so he has this wonderful quality of not quite belonging to one or the other“. While actor’s motivation was somewhat a family

question. As Alexander told in an interview: “My dad is a massive Tarzan fan. Growing up we had these VHS cassettes of the Johnny Weissmuller films and that was my introduction to the character. But those films are 70 years old and so much time has passed that I think mine is a fresh take. I'll never compete with Johnny Weissmuller but I just wanted to impress my father. He was thrilled, he was more excited than I was!”

Seeing how modern heroes physique looks like (yes, Marvel, you’re the one to blame), Skarsgård got competitive and went on a strict exercise and diet regime for several months that was so “intense and all-consuming that he basically didn't see any family or friends”. Producers thought Alexander wouldn’t be able to pull it off, but the actor was determined and at the first day of shooting, which was the first day anyone saw him shirtless, everyone was simply stunned. Margot Robbie said: “Words failed me. My jaw was on the floor. As was everyone else's in the crew. People stopped working and were staring. Even the men were like ‘wow’. It was amazing. He worked so hard, I am so impressed.” The crew talked about his massive buildup for weeks on end.

Principal photography was done at the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden, Hertfordshire, UK. For the scenery shots, Yates chose the Gabon National Parks as the nature was mesmerizing. Cinematographer Henry Braham flew to Gabon to capture the awesome landscapes because Yates wanted to give his film an authentic backdrop. This included immense granite outcrops, breathtaking waterfalls and black rivers reflecting the sky like a mirror. A specially made mount for six high resolution cameras was built to capture incredible 160 degree panoramas needed for the films 3D filming technique. Braham flew over the forest for hours each day in search of the perfect moment.

CGI implementation in the movie business has brought a lot of good but also bad stuff like laziness and uneventfulness. For every good CGI enhanced movie (read “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015)) there are at least two features so bad, your eyes will bleed pixels (read: “I, Frankenstein” (2014) and “Legion” (2010)). Judging by the trailer alone, “Legend of Tarzan” is filled with CGI enhancements to the brim and for now it looks like it hasn’t fallen into that “Don’t worry if it’s bad, we’ll solve it in post-production” trap. On the other hand, this is Lord of the jungle for a new generation, and oh boy do they love their CGI.

ATTENTION! Premiere: 14. july 2016.

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#BIGones by: Miljan T.

IMAGE: Courtesy of: Image.net

miljan_t@popculture.dk

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MARVEL VS MARVEL:

THE APOCALYPSE OF

THE CIVIL WAR

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This year is very special when it comes to movies – there is almost no franchise which has no new movie or a first movie in the cinemas and almost anything that exists as a franchise and you can remember it – all of that's probably got a movie coming out this year – from Deadpool, to the Ninja Turtles, to Trolls, the little fuzzy-haired dolls. Yes, Trolls are hitting the cinemas this year.

IMAGE: Courtesy of: Image.net

But May was very special because of a cinema-smashdown and the fact that in a space of two to three weeks we had the Avengers (in Captain America: Civil War) and the X-Men (in X-Men: Apocalypse) on the big screen... but alas, not in the same movie. And that's the biggest tragedy of this story. Back in the 90s, Marvel

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had to – if it wanted to avoid bankruptcy – sell the film rights to a lot of characters to different studios. That’s how Spider-Man went to Sony (which now shares the responsibility with Marvel Studios, but later on that), the Fantastic Four and the X-Men are at Fox, etc. Fox had two more or less financially (I repeat: financially) successful movies about the Fantastic Four and a reboot which buried the franchise, as well as nine X-Men movies, out of which only two (the first solo Wolverine movie and X-Men 3) were absolutely panned by critics. The movies are considered so bad that Bryan Singer decided to devise a whole plot in Days of Future Past to annul everything that happened in those two movies. In the meantime, Marvel started its own studio and movie universe (starting with 2008’s Iron Man), with movies that are connected like

SO WHY DO WE REVIEW THESE TWO MOVIES TOGETHER, YOU MAY ASK? WELL FIRST OF ALL, WE’RE GEEKS, AND WE’VE BEEN FANTASIZING ABOUT A MOVIE-SHOWDOWN BETWEEN MARVEL’S TWO BIGGEST AND MOST POPULAR TEAMS – THE AVENGERS AND THE X-MEN, AS SEEN IN THE COMICS NUMEROUS TIMES

a huge cinematic TV-show, and the latest Captain America movie is the crown of it. For now. To sum it up: not everything labeled “Marvel” is really a Marvel movie. It’s easy to tell them apart: “real” Marvel movies have the “Marvel studios” logo, and the rest has just the “Marvel” logo.

So why do we review these two movies (Civil War and Apocalypse) together, you may ask? Well first of all, we’re geeks, and we’ve been fantasizing about a movie-showdown between Marvel’s two biggest and most popular teams – the Avengers and the X-Men, as seen in the comics numerous times.

Sadly, as long as Fox makes any money with their X-Men movies, which some of us fans don’t even deem worthy of the name X-Men, that won’t be

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IMAGE: Courtesy of: SF Film

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possible. Except if Fox understands that it’s better to release the creative decisions to the house that invented the characters in the first place and just take your cut of the profit cake in the end, without doing much. Just like Sony did with Spider-Man, whose new incarnation in Civil War collected far more praise than any Spider-Man movie before (and he has only a cameo here in comparison to whole five solo movies that came before), though those movies made solid money. So Fox could learn a thing or two from Sony.

It seems though that they did learn something, since it has been announced that they will work with Marvel in the television-area and create two X-Men related shows, but unrelated to the movie-universe. We’ll see.

But let’s analyze them side by side.

Fox hired a man, Bryan Singer, to adapt the

comics for the silver screen. The man comes to the set and bans comic books from the set (says Wolverine himself, Hugh Jackman). He misses the marks on the tone of the comics, many of the characters, he wastes a huge pile of characters and basically creates a movie universe in which we watch Magneto for 15 years not being able to decide whether he’s a hero or a villain.

Marvel hires people who actually care about the source material and who despite a bunch of necessary (or maybe unnecessary) changes manage to project the spirit of the source material onto the big screen.

Fox hires a man who doesn't even care about the source material, who creates stories and characters seemingly just based on some comic book covers he once saw. They give him the A-team, put together

by the most diverse characters in any comic book series, which represent all parts of society and he turns them into a black-and-grey team of depressed characters who can't even smile.

Marvel takes 3rd class teams and makes stars out of them, since they hire directors who 1. understand the source material, 2. respect it and 3. don't act as if they were more creative, smarter and bigger than the creators of the source material (and without them they wouldn't even have the job in the first place).

While Apocalypse is – solo movies and parallel movies like Deadpool not counting – just the „sixth“ movie in the franchise, and we don't know where the timeline begins and where it ends, Civil War is the thirteenth movie in a series of more or less connected movies and it connects perfectly all the dots put along the way since 2008.

While the X-Men introduce new characters, iconic characters, and treat them like toilet-paper, Marvel gives every character all the attention they need. Ok, almost every character. It's not like they didn't miss one or two. But with X-Men movies, that's the rule: Angel one, Angel two, Psylocke one, Pylocke two, Jubilee one, Jubilee two, Colossus one, Colossus two, Havok, Blob, Toad... this is just the tip of the iceberg. If you ask yourselves about the „ones“ and the „two's“... yes, amongst thousands upon thousands of smaller characters they could have used to be background noise in the movies and/or die without one spoken line, Fox was adamant in making new versions of iconic characters just to waste them.

Apocalypse is a tricky character in the comics, too, since he is literally a deus-ex-machina, that he's all powerfull, that no one can harm him, that his motivation is meh... the movie presented him

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IMAGE: Courtesy of: Image.net

just in the worst possible light. A boring character who gives big speeches, destroys weapons because they're ew, and then plans to destroy the world with Magneto pulling all the metal out of the Earth... or something like that.

Helmut Zemo from Civil War is a human villain, with a very personal, relatable motivation, and he pulls the strings very carefully and is in control every step of the way. He doesn't stand around on a pyramid for half an hour, thinking of how to force a telepath to send the whole world something that amounts to a larger text message.

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While in Civil War, every character has their moment to shine (and we love the new Spidey and Black Panther so much, we want their solo movies IMMEDIATELY), Apocalypse, again, has a whole line of characters just passing by, standing around, not doing anything, looking grim, have nothing to do with what they’re supposed to be (yes, Horsemen, I’m looking at you), they die, vanish… Since the first movie, we’ve actually been watching the relationship between Magneto and Charles, and in the new trilogy Mystique/ Raven has been added to that mix, mostly because of JLaw’s star potential. I mustn’t forget Wolverine, but we’ll talk about him later.

While Marvel never allows the actors to be bigger than the characters they play, no matter how legendary they are or how many Oscars or nominations for the little statuette they have, over at X-Men that’s a default now (with

WHILE IN CIVIL WAR, EVERY CHARACTER HAS THEIR MOMENT TO SHINE APOCALYPSE, AGAIN, HAS A WHOLE LINE OF CHARACTERS JUST PASSING BY, STANDING AROUND, NOT DOING ANYTHING, LOOKING GRIM

and we don’t care about anything happening to them.

Do we still have to ask ourselves why Marvel makes much more money than Fox, even though Fox doesn’t earn little? Isn’t it logical that a house that created something knows better how to treat something than a studio which just wants to fulfill a contract and make as many movies as necessary, just not to lose the rights to the golden goose? How come Marvel can dress their characters in colorful costumes from the comics and they work on-screen, while Fox dresses theirs in boring grey-black costumes and drains in postproduction even the little color they might have, similar to what Snyder did to Superman in Man of Steel?

the honorary exception of the truly legendary actors McKellen and Stewart). So it happens regularly that a role is tailored for an actor – Halle Barry, Jennifer Lawrence, Oscar Isaac… in the end, it’s no wonder the characters turn So, what is necessary for the out so bad.

X-Men movies to become as satWhile in Civil War, every cameo isfying as Marvel movies? For (Spider-Man, Ant-Man and Black starters, hire people who love the Panther, who are barely cameos, genre, who respect the source but let’s call them that, for argu- material, who don’t want to come ment’s sake) has their reason for across as smarter than they are the further development of the and people who care about makoverall story, Apocalypse (and ing a good adaptation. If you’re other X-movies) give us cam- smart enough to change other eos for no reason at all (except people’s ideas, ideas that actufan-service, but I don’t know any ally provide your paycheck, then fans who really like them). We do you must be smart enough not love Jackman, but good riddance. to touch other people’s work unnecessarily, but instead have your While in Civil War, the emotions own ideas and make your own, among the characters and the “original” movies. Fair, isn’t it? emotions of the audience for the characters are a culmination of Last but not least, critics on Rot12 movies, most of the characters ten Tomatoes still give Civil War in Apocalypse are just cardboard 90 % freshness, while Apocalypse cutouts, replaceable by anyone, has almost only half of that – 48 %.

SO, WHAT IS NECESSARY FOR THE X-MEN MOVIES TO BECOME AS SATISFYING AS MARVEL MOVIES? FOR STARTERS, HIRE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THE GENRE, WHO RESPECT THE SOURCE MATERIAL, WHO DON’T WANT TO COME ACROSS AS SMARTER THAN THEY ARE AND PEOPLE WHO CARE ABOUT MAKING A GOOD ADAPTATION.

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#DoNotSkip DANISH CORNER

BIKE TOUR:

COPENHAGEN FROM A VERY LOGICAL ANGLE To be green and new in any European capital has a whole baggage of good and bad experiences. No matter if you’re a tourist or expat, the first contact with a city is magical at first: everything is colorful, fun, magical and breathtaking. As the time goes by, along with your breath you lose your nerves, money and time trying to make the experience as authentic as it gets. A simple remedy for this situation lies in a very nice combination of a city tour with a professional guide and of that which makes the essence of the Copenhagen lifestyle – riding a bike.

Last week, when I tried the Copenhagen Fairy Tales public bike tour, I celebrated exactly one year of my life in the Danish capital. In that time, I saw all the “Top 10” places for tourists, several times (every time a new group of family visits, you go and see the Little Mermaid and Christiania, I guarantee you), and I like to think that my experience in this town today amounts to something more than the experience of a mere tourist. Having all that in mind, this tour was not only a fun experience riding an electrical city bike for the first time, but a big eye-opening about many of the city locations which I had started taking for granted. You’ll put a big distance behind you without

even realizing, all thanks to a funny guide who bursts with new, useful information about sites you thought you knew everything about.

The locations you visit, depending on your guide and the weather, are (amongst other): Rundetårn (Round Tower), Strøget, Statens Museum for Kunst (National Gallery of Denmark), Kastellet, Den Lille Havfrue (The Little Mermaid), Amalienborg, Nyhavn, Kongens Nytorv, Christiansborg, Den Sorte Diamant (The Black Diamond), Christiania and Vor Frelsers Kirke (Church of Our Saviour). The groups are usually small, so everyone can ask more than one question, and if you want an even more focused group,

you can opt for a personal tour.

Interesting parts of town, some hidden, “secret” location and international flair if you’re in a group – all that is good for a tourist as well as for someone who came to Copenhagen to stay for a while. If I had had a clear head when I came here (looking for an apartment, a job and information on Danish taxes can cause a storm in anyone’s head), I would have used the benefits of this tour in the first months of life in Copenhagen. But this way I’m not really late – I just got the opportunity to look at things from a different angle.

ATTENTION!

Discover more and book your tour on CopenhagenFairytales.dk

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NORWAY CORNER

MOLDE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

18 JUL – 23 JUL, 2016

EVERYTHING FROM JAZZ FOR CHILDREN DURING THE DAYTIME TO BLUE TONES IN THE SMALL HOURS OF THE MORNING! Experience Europe's oldest annual jazz festival Vibrant rhythms permeate every nook and cranny of Molde when thousands of visitors descend on the town during the festival week. The whole of Molde pulsates from morning to night, to the accompaniment of jazz music from all corners of the world - in the magnificent surroundings that only Northwest Norway can offer. In this beautiful

setting you will encounter throngs of happy people, street sellers, art exhibitions, enthusiastic festival officials, outdoor restaurants - and more than 100 concerts, several of them free.

ATTENTION!

More about Molde International Jazz Festival here.

SWEDEN CORNER

DANCEWEEK IN MALUNG 17 JULY – 23 JULY, 2016

THE WORLD’S GREATEST DANCE WEEK IS ALWAYS IN THE MIDDLE OF JULY (WEEK 29), AND IT OFFERS 6 DANCEFLOORS UNDER ROOF, 3.000 M² DANCEFLOORS, OVER 50.000 VISITORS AND NONSTOP DANCE DURING 7 EVENINGS!

campingsites with over 4.000 caravans and more content that you’re going to like if you like to dance. Only happiness, pleasure and desire, as they are telling us from the PR team of this event.

Danceweek in Malung gathers over 80 dance teams from Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark.

Thousands of visitors from whole Scandinavia, daytime events,

ATTENTION! More about this dancing event here.

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THE ULTIMATE NORDIC

SUMMER PLAYLIST! O

destinations. A good song at just the right time can make all the difference when creating happy memories. So, the sun is out and the beach is a bus ride away. Just don't forget to bring our playlist of the best sunny tunes ever!

They should be a toe tapping accompaniment to lapping waves or be redolent with the sounds of favorite

Pop, rock, folk, indie, electronica and hip-hop from across Scandinavia... Yep! You can't get them out of your head.

Here are 20 essential songs, as chosen by our music team at PopCulture Magazine. Check out these summer power tracks and go on dreaming of your vacation. Enjoy!

h, yes guys! The summer is finally here, so we've put together the ultimate round-up of summer songs to help soundtrack those amazing days in the sun. The summer power hit songs for your vacation or road trip playlist need to get you thinking about wide open blue skies, a beating sun and cocktails on the beach, mountains, camping or BBQ party, the choice is yours.

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Lukas Graham – 7 Years

Gilli – Tidligt Op

MØ – Kamikaze

Aurora – Conqueror

Galantis – No Money

Christopher – Limousine

Martin Jensen – All I Wanna Do

Sabina Ddumba – Not Too Young

Kygo – Raging ft. Kodaline

Sakarias – Atlanten

Astrid S - Hurts So Good

Zara Larsson – Lush Life

Seeb – Breathe ft. Neev

Urban Cone – Come Back To Me ft.

Tove Lo

Phlake – Pregnant

Avicii – Broken Arrows

Medina – We Survive

Broiler – Daydream

Xander - Man Kan Ikk Spole Tiden Tilbage

Madden – Golden Light

by: Michel P.

michel_p@popculture.dk

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#BackAndForth by: Borivoje N. borivoje_n@popculture.dk

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by: Branislav V. branislav_v@popculture.dk

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D

uring the TV-expansion in Post-WWII America, there was an unwritten rule, which meant you had to promote typical American values, by making the so-calles “nuclear family”. The classics of the black-and-white programs brought into every American home perfect pin-up housewives, fathers who are never tired after working the whole day to provide a better future for their well-behaved children. And all that with a set of hairdo’s that could compete with the best commercials for hair-dye. It’s very clear that pets, mostly big, hairy dogs, never left any hair anywhere and they surely didn’t know about fleas.

How a very unconventional family snuck into that picture is still a mystery today. During the somewhat more experimentfriendly sixties, The Addams Family moved into the neighborhood of those perfect households, as an archetype of the modern alternative culture, straight out of the pencil of the comic book artist Charles Addams. The eccentric rich guy, Gomez, played by the flawless John Astin, is nothing else than a good family man and loyal husband, put into the sensibility of a nuclear family. But the romance about the idyllic life is now forever shifted out of the pink picture.

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ROMANCE IN THE LIGHT OF GRAVE CANDLES

The Romance that lived longer than any TV-show introduced the audience to Carolyn Jones as the wife of Gomez Addams, Morticia, who became one of the alternative icons of pop culture. Morticia is the personification of dark beauty and sensuality, a moderate mother and a great lover. Every fan knows how heated Gomez reacts to her knowledge of the French language.

Their passionate love is one of the main motives of the show, which gives clear support to unbreakable family ties.

From a romantic trip to the heart of the Bermuda triangle to a lonesome weekend atop the Vesuvio, the Addams Family shows that you can keep the flame burning and fall in love with your spouse over and over again.

Every big love is crowned by children, so theAddams Family is no exception. Pugsley (Ken Weatherwax) and Wednesday (Lisa Loring) are lively children with vivid fantasies, true children of their parents, to the horror of visitors and family, who are presented through the forced picture of

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IN THE ORIGINAL SHOW, FESTER WAS MORTICIA’S UNCLE. IN THE MOVIE VERSION, HE BECAME THE BROTHER OF GOMEZ “good neighbors”. Pugsley’s obsessions with explosives and torture contraptions and Wednesday’s dark thoughts about the world as well as her collection of headless dolls, inspired by the French revolution, are just some of the well known traits of the Addams Family children, which brought smiles to countless generations of TV-viewers.

YOU RANG?

A stable place as a classic was provided for the Addams Family also by a set of culture references with a comical twist. While Morticia Addams remids us of book vampires, the Addams butler, Lurch (Ted Cassidy) is a carbon copy of Frankenstein’s monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff. Grandmama Addams, a silly old woman played by Blossom Rock, was a paraphrase of the witch

in Hansel and Gretel, while the strange uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan) is a copy of Igor, the assistant of every well known television and movie “mad scientist”.

The scary characters had a hard task: raising a family in a “crazy world”. The ironic treatment of family values made the Addams Family one of the most popular TV-slots in the sixties and they’re still revisited now and then with a DVD collection of 64 episodes.

LIFE AFTER DEATH

This charming family ended its TVrun after two seasons of dominating and battling constantly with the rival show The Munsters. But they came back through iconic movies in the 90s, with a somewhat darker humor, which had veterans like Anjelica Houston (Morticia), Raul Julia (Gomez) and Christoper Lloyd (uncle Fester) and introduced Christina Ricci as Wednesday, who is now a huge sex symbol.

Many TV stations around the world used the fame of the movies to remind people of the show. Hanna-Barbera even started a cartoon which never became as popular as the original TVshow.

With a few less popular specials and reboots of the show with new actors, it became clear that the audience doesn’t want to say goodbye to the Addams Family. Thanks to that, it was announced that a new movie is in the works.

NUCLEAR OR APOCALYPTIC FAMILY?

In its own way, the Addams Family is one of the most healthy shows television ever introduced us to. Despite its demented nature and a unique

look they had, the value system in this family is stable and even submitted to classical values. The father and mother are infatuated with one another. They raise their children with a crazy amount of patience and they always have time for them. The children are very polite and have respect for their elders, though they have a mischief from time to time.

The uncle and the grandmother love the children and are very protective of them.

The butler is very loyal to the family that gives him a warm home.

The relationships in the family seem to be more idyllic than in most “common” families, which makes the audience ask themselves how they can be quick to judge others by their looks or everyday behavior without looking at themselves first. The Addams family made us more ready to embrace differences, because we’ll always know other people’s names, but not their life.

THE THING, THE RIGHT HAND WITHOUT A BODY, WAS MOSTLY PLAYED BY TED CASSIDY, EXCEPT IN SCENES WHERE LURCH AND THING WERE IN THE SAME SHOT. CASSIDY SOMETIMES USED HIS LEFT HAND, JUST TO SEE IF ANYONE IS GOING TO NOTICE. IN THE CLOSING CREDITS, HE IS CREDITED AS ”THING – ITSELF”.

THE PETS AND PLANTS OF THE ADDAMS FAMILY HAVE HISTORIC NAMES. WEDNESDAY’S BLACK WIDOW IS CALLED HOMER, PUGSLEYS OCTOPUS IS ARISTOTLE, AND MORTICIA’S FAVORITE FLESH EATING PLANT IS CLEOPATRA. KITTY KAT IS A LION MALE, THOUGH THEY SPEAK OF HIM AS A FEMALE.

and MORE...

MORTICIA’S MULTILINGUAL AFFECTIONATE PHRASES FOR GOMEZ „MY LOVE“ Bubeleh (Yiddish) Mon Cherie (French) Querido (Spanish)

GOMEZ’S MULTILINGUAL AFFECTIONATE PHRASES FOR MORTICIA “MY LOVE” Cara Mia (Italian) Querida; Querida Mia (Spanish) Cara Bella (Spanish for “beautiful face”, Italian for “Beautiful darling”)

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TECHNICAL PARTNER