Stan Lee

Stan Lee (photo by Alan Light)
(photo by Alan Light)

Stan Lee, former president of Marvel Comics, co-created Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, the X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Daredevil, and several other comic book characters.

In 1998, he started Stan Lee Media, a new internet-based production and marketing studio, which grew to 165 people and went public. He produced the animated web series The 7th Portal and voiced the characters Izayus, The Drifter, and The Accuser.

Near the end of 2000, investigators discovered illegal stock manipulation and in February 2001, Stan Lee Media filed for bankruptcy. Stan Lee’s lawyer Peter Paul fled to Sao Paulo, Brazil. Excelsior!

In 2003, Lee created the animated series Stripperella for Spike TV, which was cancelled after thirteen episodes. In 2004, he announced plans to collaborate with Hugh Hefner on a superhero cartoon featuring Playboy Playmates and announced another superhero show that would feature Ringo Starr as the lead character. ‘Natch!

On July 27, 2006, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? starring Stan Lee debuted on the Sci Fi Channel. At the July 2007 Comic-Con International, Hasbro introduced a Stan Lee action figure. ‘Nuff said!

Episode 103: Wednesday, May 28, 2008

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 103

Our summer movie rundown!

In this episode:

  • comments by Manny the Mailman in NJ and Brian in NJ,
  • a picture of the dueling Dr. Phils,
  • The Incredible Hulk (2008) starring Edward Norton,
  • Stan Lee,
  • another stupid style (giant headphones in public),
  • boom boxes,
  • D batteries,
  • Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) starring Jason Segel,
  • Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008) starring Harrison Ford,
  • Iron Man (2008) starring Robert Downey Jr.,
  • Speed Racer (2008) starring Emile Hirsch,
  • The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) starring Ben Barnes,
  • Postal (2007) directed by Uwe Boll,
  • Uwe Boll vs. Michael Bay,
  • Get Smart (2008) starring Steve Carell,
  • The Love Guru (2008) starring Mike Myers,
  • WALL-E (2008) starring Fred Willard and Jeff Garlin,
  • Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008) starring Ron Perlman,
  • Meet Dave (2008) starring Eddie Murphy,
  • Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D (2008) starring Brendan Fraser,
  • The Dark Knight (2008) starring Christian Bale,
  • Space Chimps (2008) starring Andy Samberg,
  • The Longshots (2008) directed by Fred Durst,
  • Step Brothers (2008) starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly,
  • Land of the Lost (2009) starring Will Ferrell,
  • The X-Files: I Want to Believe (2008) starring David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson,
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) starring Samuel L. Jackson,
  • and Tropic Thunder (2008) starring Ben Stiller.

Download this episode:
34 minute MP3 file – 15.6 MB (right-click to save)

Listen to this episode:

Episode 102: Wednesday, May 21, 2008

The Paunch Stevenson Show episode 102

Our interview with the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog in NYC!

In this episode:

  • getting Juliana Hatfield on the show,
  • What Ever Happened To? (Natalie Imbruglia),
  • friend and filmmaker Jonald Reyes,
  • That Asian Thing on Independent Features (www.independentfeatures.com),
  • The Net (1995) starring Sandra Bullock,
  • a librarian at the Belleville Public Library trying to send a fax,
  • our interview with Joan Diver of the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog in NYC,
  • Dennis Haskins,
  • and the Screaming Orphans live.

Photos of the Screaming Orphans at Tir Na Nog:
Flickr – Screaming Orphans, NYC 5/10/08

Download this episode:
30 minute MP3 file – 13.7 MB (right-click to save)

Listen to this episode:

Drivers start your engines, I get Paunched again!

As many may have picked up, or not, I Greg am quite the motorsports aficionado. One of my favorite days of the year is Sunday, Memorial Day Weekend. This year, while recovering from my 70 mile bicycle ride, I’ll be glued to the set for the 92nd Indianapolis 500. Well, while the action has been going on in Indiana for the last 2 plus weeks, you’d think to see it you’d have to fly out to Indy, right? No! On Monday, May 19, they flew the full field of 33 drivers (30 guys and 3 ladies) to New York City, right over the river from me. They all took part in a group photo op. next to the Charging Bull sculpture downtown on Broadway at the Canyon of Heroes.

The only problem was A) I didn’t find out until afterwards, and B) I was too busy at work to go anyway. But argggggghhhhh how annoying! Paunch Luck again. The next closest Indycar race is 4 hours away in Watkins Glen, NY. What other chance would I have to see the entire field of drivers though for the Indy 500 without being there? Rats! NASCAR does the same thing, having their actual cars ride through Manhattan in December. I’ve yet to see it, because I always forget when it is, so I can take off from work.

http://www.indycar.com/news/?story_id=11417

Indy 500 drivers in NYC

PS: The Dush (Eliza Dushku) has been in NY a lot lately promoting her new show Dollhouse I assume, but I never know where beforehand. Paunched!

Unboxing My New HP Computer

HP Pavilion Elite m9250f

After months of research and waiting, I finally bought a new computer: an HP Pavilion Elite m9250f. Circuit City had it for a good price and Intel isn’t releasing any major new processors for a while, so it seemed like the right time.

I’m still setting up the new computer, but hope to have episode 102 online soon. I copied all of my files from my Dell Dimension 4500 to my external USB hard drive and am now copying them from the USB drive to the HP.

My old Dell from 2002 is still a good computer, but I do a lot of audio editing, image editing, and video editing and this new HP will save me a ton of time. I just performed a test to see exactly how much time I’ll save and the results are even better than I anticipated. On my old Dell, applying noise reduction to a 30-minute audio file takes roughly 14 minutes. I thought that was pretty good. On my new HP, it takes roughly three minutes. Wow.

For those of you who are into computers, I posted unboxing photos and photos comparing my Dell tower to my new HP tower:

Flickr – Unboxing my new HP, NYC 5/17/08

For those of you who are really into computers, here are the specs for my old Dell and new HP:

Dell Dimension 4500 and HP Pavilion Elite m9250f specs – text file

As amazingly fast as this new computer is, there are a few things I like better about my old Dell. The Dell tower was designed so it could be lifted and carried easily. The HP tower wasn’t. The Dell came with a standard keyboard, which I like. The HP came with a multimedia keyboard, which has a slightly different layout. I use a lot of keyboard shortcuts while working, so I notice the fact that certain keys are different sizes and in different places.

This is my first time using Windows Vista. One thing I don’t like about it is that Microsoft changed the audio mixer. The one in Windows 98 and XP was convenient and simple. It was almost perfect. The one in Vista is useless. I’ll probably end up searching for a third-party audio mixer online, but I wouldn’t have to if Microsoft hadn’t ruined it in the first place.