DeAnna Knippling first came on my radar with the 2010 publication of “Choose Your Doom: Zombie Apocalypse,” a choose-your-own-adventure featuring the undead. I was an instant fan! Since then, I’ve learned that DeAnna is one of the most hard-working writers out there and immune to rejection. (That’s a real superpower!) Her latest novel is “Alien Blue,” a science fiction tale about extraterrestrials and beer. Check it out!

I recently talked to her about writing, social media and, of course, zombies…

You’re an incredibly prolific writer. How do you keep going?

Being prolific is a skill that you can develop as an author. One, write every day. (Sorry; you’ve heard this advice before, but it’s true.) Two, develop writing speed by observing how many words you can write in an hour, setting deadlines much closer than you think you can reach, and doing crazy things like NaNoWriMo. Three, and this is the part that most people miss when they try to do this, allow that writing is not the sanest activity in the world and your normal judgment process is flawed when it comes to writing, so there’s no point in second-guessing yourself while you write. Your internal editor will be there, and you can’t shut it off, but you can ignore it and play in your sandbox anyway.

What is your writing schedule like? Your writing process?

I freelance, so I’ll tell you before-freelancing and after-freelancing.

Before freelancing: I started out writing once in a while, then built up to 100 words a day (no joke, I was so proud), and gradually increased my word count. I discovered that I had to have days where I take a break — not from writing per se, but from whatever Big Project I’m working on. Blog, write book reviews, work on something completely different…whatever. Then I did my first NaNoWriMo (in July, because I was afraid I’d fail). That was a huge boost, and I knew that I could write 1.5-2K a day without killing myself (although I did irritate my family). Eventually I got it up to 1K a day, average.

Then I went freelance, which was a whole new set of chops to build, and I spent a lot of time trying to learn how to balance writing and business (business likes to take over). I kept doing NaNoWriMos and built a speed of about 1K an hour over two years, which I can hit now regularly except on this romance that I’m writing, because I don’t write a lot of romance, and that’s about 500-750 wph. With horror and other things I’m closer to 1.5K.

Trying out multiple things to balance out writing and the business side of things has led me to realize that I, personally, have to do my fiction first before anything else. I always have a resistance to going into story world, because my sane brain is terrified that I won’t come back; everything I do in story world points to crazy (hallucinations, multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia). So I make bargains with the sane part of my brain: a word count or a time cutoff. I can only write so much, and then I have to come back. I usually write on my stuff from eight to noon now (in 50-minute writing, 10-minute-break cycles), then switch over to freelance writing, formatting, answering emails, etc. Weekends I spend with my family and tie up whatever loose ends I couldn’t get to during the week.

This is a big issue for me. How do you decide when your story is finished?

If you’re talking about when it’s good enough, I don’t. I let the readers do that — either my first readers (critique group and others), the editors when they either accept or reject, or readers for my self-published stuff. If people don’t like it or it’s not selling, I look at it again. Learning to trust your readers is another skill you can pick up…mostly by giving them a chance to tell you what they think, and not defending yourself from their comments. Part of developing as a writer is putting your work out in the world and getting feedback.

Not that you have to do what your feedback tells you. But you do have to listen.

If you mean, “I just write by the seat of my pants and I’m never sure when to stop,” then you have to do some work studying plot to do :)

Do you have any tricks for overcoming writer’s block?

Writer’s block is usually one of two things: one, the sane part of my brain scared to go back into a story, scared that I won’t be able to finish it or that it’ll suck when I do; two, I’m headed down the wrong path, and my story brain wants to go somewhere else. In both cases, the answer is to listen to story brain. Whatever it is that you do to get to your story brain, do that. Write at 2 a.m. Write listening to special music. Delete the last page and rewrite it. Brainstorm. Imagine that you’re watching a movie…and come up with the most predictable plot and don’t do that.

Writing is about accessing a crazy place in your brain, and nobody else’s tricks will work for you…unless they do. You just have to keep trying new tricks until you find ones that work more or less reliably.

My tricks? Set a deadline. Set a goal. Try something foolhardy.

What is your secret to dealing with rejection?

Soak up so much of it that it seems normal :) It’s just another skill.

How has social media helped your writing career? Hurt it?

Well, it’s a time suck. But I do enjoy it…I don’t know. It’s a good resource for testing ideas. A good way to stay bathed in what’s going on around me. Writers are addicted to praise, really, so it can be a quick fix when you really need someone to say you don’t suck, too.

It’s important, especially for an indie writer, to build a online network. What are three things a beginning writer should keep in mind when starting their platform?

1. You’re asking people to give you their money. Give them things…share yourself. No guilt trips, no begging, no self-pity: just awesomeness as you see it.

2. It’s slow. The new kid doesn’t become the most popular kid in class just because they’re new. Make the first move to make new friends.

3. Don’t force yourself. You have to do it consistently for a long time, so don’t push yourself to do more than you want to do. Besides, it’s the people who fill up your stream with stupid crap that get booted. It’s better to tweet less and do it well than more — as long as you’re doing it regularly.

Do you have any advice for beginning writers that you wished you received when you were starting out?

When it comes to advice, I tend to need the two-by-four to the head, so these are pretty direct and tactless…this *is* the advice I wish I’d received. At a bare minimum. So when I say “you,” I mean “me.”

1. As a creative type, the way you like to spend your free time is what you should create. Don’t focus on poetry if you never read anybody else’s, for example. If you spend most of your time watching TV, then writing fiction is not your game.

2. You have to write about a million words before you start to get published regularly, ten million to get to the national/international level. It’s doable, but stop screwing around.

3. Don’t sum up. Write what’s happening now for the characters. They can let their thoughts ramble…but it has to happen in real time. You have to be really, really good to write good backstory or to sum up. So skip it until you get that good, like another 30 years down the line (still learning this one).

4. Any writing program that isn’t based on you writing over 1K a day is a waste of your time and is probably mostly there to teach writing professors, not working writers. And if it’s a bunch of wannabes and people taking the class just to get credits they need *and* they get to criticize your stories? RUN. Real writers don’t write by committee, and they don’t write by rewriting, and they don’t write by talking about other newbies’ writing.

5. This attitude that some books are worth more than others is bullshit. Does it get the job done for the readers? Yes? Then it’s a good book. Conversely, write what you want. I guarantee that if you write it well enough, there will be someone as demented out there as you who wants to read it. Literature and hack fiction both boil down to “Did the readers like it?” Read both.

6. It’s not about someone saying you’re worthy to be a writer. There’s no prize for “being a writer.” It’s about the books and about taking someone’s brain and putting it where they want it to go, maybe even challenging them to go a little further. But you? If you can’t get the job done without wasting the reader’s time, go home. “But it gets good in chapter three.” Hey, you just stole two chapters from your readers…jerk.

Do you remember the moment when you decided to commit to a writing career?

Yes. I was bored of being a technical editor…and trying to convince myself that I wanted to do more on the computer side of things. After beating my head bloody studying for A+ Certification, I was getting fed up with computers, though. Finally I cut loose one day in front of my husband and said, “You know what I really want? If I had the money, I would quit *today* and write full time.” “Why don’t you?” he said. I just about passed out. I saved up for the next six months and then quit. I never did take the A+ exam.

Bonus question: If you were a zombie, which movie, book, TV show or video game would you like to roam around in?

Probably “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” Because really, even zombies want to be understood. I don’t really want to infect the world, and I can pick up brains at the butcher’s. Although I have to admit that I have an imp of the perverse that wants to wreck almost every movie with zombies. Batman and zombies! Really I want a zombie movie where the movie set of a zombie movie is infested with zombies. “The Sound of Music” and zombies! My mind wanders during movies, although it rarely does during books. Kung fu zombies. “Risky Business” and zombies! Ferriss Bueller and zombies…yes, the world is ready for a John Hughes movie with zombies in it. Cats and zombies. Freddy vs. zombies. Camelot and zombies.

Website: deannaknippling.com

I first met John Harlacher 11 years ago in a Brooklyn College news writing class after I interviewed him for a writing assignment. He told me about blowing up a school building and his plans to take over the world. At the time I didn’t really believe his story. Then I got to know him, and wondered why he hadn’t blown up the entire city yet. Harlacher, 30, is now breaking laws as a filmmaker. He recently wrote and directed his first movie, “Urchin,” a bizarre and thought-provoking fantasy about a homeless kid from the underground world of Scum-City. With little money and few resources he was able to put together a stylish, professional movie and, of course, break some laws in the process. Harlacher filmed many of the movie’s scenes on the streets of New York and in the subway without permits, dodging and outwitting the authorities at every turn. Check out “Urchin” (urchinthemovie.com), which is now available on DVD. But before you do, read the interview below.

Tell me about Urchin.
When I came up with “Urchin,” I wanted to make a movie that had the feel and tone of a fantasy film, but no supernatural elements. It’s the story of a nine-year-old boy who lives in a place deep under NYC called Scum-City. The Old Man who rules that place convinces everyone that he’s from a paradise in the hollow earth called Agharta. The story follows the Kid’s journey from believing in this tale to finding some reality for himself. Essentially I took the hero’s journey that “Star Wars” and “Harry Potter” are based on and inverted it. So instead of the hero learning to trust the wise teacher and merge with the universe, he learns to stop being a sap and think for himself.

Are you calling Harry Potter a sap?
I’m not afraid of his wand, if that’s what you mean. I’d pit my kid against him, Michael Vick style, anytime. “Urchin” takes place in a wrinkled version of reality. Harry Potter takes place in a full-blown alternate universe. If magic and Quidditch exist, Harry Potter makes sense, and I enjoy the story. In reality, a kid who literally believes in channeling powers outside himself and that some wise person will teach him about life will be ripped of by various people. He will wind up going to the Landmark Forum and smiling all the time to conceal his confusion.

What was the inspiration for “Urchin”?
My mom was clinically insane, and when I was ten and my brother was younger, we fled New York. She took us out of school and we ran around the country living out of our car. The Nazis were after us, she explained, and all the food was contaminated, and we could only eat very few things. So I would steal food from stores to feed my little brother and myself. “Urchin” was an emotional expression of that time’s desperation and hunger and strange myths presented as real, filtered through the realities of our tiny budget. I made a list of the things we had or could get, and commanded my subconscious to make use of them, and wrote the script in three weeks. That’s basically what we wound up with.

You say you made the movie “illegally,” shooting in New York without permits. What led to that?
We had no budget. We got a SAG contract, and pro crew, but my producer, David Solomon Rodriguez, was only able to get me a few thousand dollars a month, and we never knew how much it would be. He broke his ass to get that money. In the end, we only spent $12,000 shooting it. So we shot without permits. We shot in the subways and tunnels late at night. We shot in other remote places where we didn’t bother people or disrupt what was happening. I actually think it’s better to shoot like that in some ways because you don’t shut down chunks of the city. If you want to talk illegal stuff, you should talk to David. I don’t know where the money came from.

Were there any close calls while filming without permits?
We had an actor playing a bum lying on the floor in a Brooklyn station for a while. He looked really gross. Someone called the paramedics. When they came and saw him, one of them rubbed Vapor Rub under his own nose so they wouldn’t smell him. When they realized it was a film and they didn’t have to pick this guy up they were very happy and went away. But they said on the radio that we were filming. The station superintendent came by and hassled us. I told her we had a “Class G Permit,” and my producer would be by with it soon. That bought us the few minutes we needed to finish. We didn’t have many close calls, because we were fast, and careful to rarely do disruptive things, and if we did we did those last.

How many laws do you think you broke making “Urchin”?
Eighteen. I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t think we did anything wrong. Sure we had a nine-year-old kid, and a two-year-old kid, but no one was hurt, nothing was destroyed, and a movie was made. I was really worried when we did the opening beheading sequence, when the villain Goliath, played by Rick Poli, claims a soul he needs to get to the hollow earth paradise. It was a long shot, and it would be possible to see one actor cut a prosthetic head off another actor, while a gore FX chick shot blood all over the place, and not see the tubes or crew. We did it at five a.m. on a Sunday, and I had a PA kid across the platform telling people it was a movie. One lady almost puked, which I feel bad about.

Now, after making your movie illegally, you’re seeing your movie available online illegally. Do you find any irony in that?
Every piece of intellectual property is available online for free. We made “Urchin” the way we did because it was the only way we could. Also, I don’t know what irony means.

What was the biggest obstacle in getting “Urchin” made?
Time. Because we had a child lead, we could only work a couple days a week for a few hours at a time. Then sound. Because we couldn’t control our conditions, we had unusable sound for most of the film. What I mean is we couldn’t wait for a machine to stop droning, or some crazy guy to stop yelling. We spent six months working almost every day in a house music studio we found to do complete sound design for most of the footage. From start of shooting to finish took two years total.

Robert Rodriguez wrote a guide to guerrilla filmmaking. Did you use that?
“Rebel Without a Crew” is brilliant, and I read it many times. A shorthand my DP, Luke Leonard, and I would use is “Go Rodriguez” if things were getting hairy and we wouldn’t be able to get all we wanted. This meant to get several shots in the same take, like Rodriguez did in “El Mariachi.” It looks like you covered a scene all day, but it drives your editor mad, because the shot will change itself in the middle. The main thing I got from it was the attitude of accepting everything as something to use and play with. We stopped using a shot list after the first week, which we planned meticulously, because it didn’t work. We had to go to the place, my DP would have his five lights and three gels, we’d set up in 15 minutes, shoot for half an hour and get out of there. So many things were in flux, it became useless to plan too much.

What advice would you give someone who was attempting to make a guerrilla movie?
I think if you have a full budget, it’s like sculpting a fine piece of Lucite with a set of torches. You can basically get whatever effect you have the skill to make. If you are making a movie without what is considered proper resources, it’s like sculpting a gnarled piece of wood: the material will be a major partner in the result. See how your vision is possible with what you have. Does that sound like some New Age freak talk? What I mean is, what you see the scene looking like in your head is probably impossible, but something else is possible that will give the same result to the audience. Try to discover that in what’s there. Also, make sure your crew and actors are very cool, and will roll with the situation. I was very lucky that we had almost no whiners.

You managed to make a movie that looked like it had a much higher budget. How did you pull that off?
Most micro-budget films are what I call “apartment films.” They take place in apartments and deep woods. I deliberately refused to do that. Other micro budget films celebrate their cheapness with a schlock sensibility, like Troma films, which I enjoy. However, I also refused to do that. I make a living as an actor, and so most of the actors in the film were my friends, and pro actors, which helped. I also met very skilled crew people: makeup artists, composite artists, cartoonists, and musicians who gave us an original score. We found this amazing drummer named Shakerleg performing on the subway. While we were shooting, Axl Rose also found him and he opened for then new Guns n’ Roses a few times. One of my composers does beats for Kool Keith. My color corrector did effects on the first “Resident Evil.” They all worked with us because they liked the film, and for very little money. I was fortunate to find so many skilled post-production artists who would work for what we could afford. One of the biggest things we worked on was our sound design. My producer and I worked with these house DJ’s every day for six months in a SoHo loft to get it right. I’d pit our sound against any Hollywood film in a death match.

Has “Urchin” opened the door to making more movies?
Yep. My company is called The Enemy, and it was founded by myself and my editor Dave Buchwald. Our second feature, “Kuru,” already has distribution and a real budget, and we start shooting this winter. It’s about an ancient bank owned by immortal and affluent cannibals that is robbed by computer criminals. It’s good to make your first feature. You should do it.

I plan to. Do you have $50,000 to spare?
No.

Would make another guerrilla film?
I would wage guerrilla cinema again. I have advised other films shooting in that way already. Hopefully I will be able to wage mid-budget cinema next time, Our next film, “Kuru,” is getting attention from some A-list actors, so if I decide to go that way we will probably be able to raise some cash. I’ve never worked with a full-blown movie star, and fear their bullshit. But I hope I can find people who are good actors and cool.

Urchin’s Official Website
Urchin on Amazon.com
New York Press review of Urchin

Lucy Lawless has been proving that she’s much more than a warrior princess. She showed the world she could belt out tunes with the best of them after placing second on last season’s “Celebrity Duets.” She continued her brilliant role as the Cylon Number Three on the third season of “Battlestar Galactica.” And next up, she appears on Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” voices Wonder Woman in the animated movie “Justice League: The New Frontier,” and takes her singing career a step further with three shows in New York this weekend. It seems blondes really do have more fun.

We recently chatted with Lucy and she gave us the scoop on a few things — including a possible return to “Battlestar Galactica”; working with Larry David; and doing a live-action Wonder Woman movie.

How did you get the role of Cylon Number Three (D’Anna Biers) on “Battlestar Galactica”?
[Battlestar Galactica producer] David Eick, who used to work on “Hercules” with my husband [Robert G. Tapert]…we stayed in touch and he wanted me for the role. And I wanted to do it and it was magic. I loved being that character.

You left “Battlestar Galactica” to star in the pilot “Football Wives.” Though your “Battlestar” character was “boxed,” the door is open for her to return. Are there plans for you to come back to BSG?
I’ve heard whispers of it. But I was all gung-ho to go off and do my own thing on “Football Wives,” but it didn’t get picked up. So I don’t know. I’m kind of weighing all sorts of interesting options at the moment.

We hear that you appear as yourself in the upcoming season of Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” What was it like doing the show?
Oh my God, so good. To me, that was the ideal working situation. It is all unscripted, but everyone is totally relaxed. Larry David is such a doll. I so enjoyed working with him, and we had a good time…. I seem to make him laugh. I don’t know why.

Do you like improvising?
Yeah, I really do. I started out in comedy and theater, and I like it a lot. I would love to do more comedy. I’ve come to a time in my life where comedy and music is all I really want to do. It makes your heart sing. You’re channeling something that’s not really of your own making. When it’s done right, it’s completely effortless and you don’t really know how it happened. The moments when I was doing comedy and singing have been the shining moments of my career as far as I am concerned.

What can you tell us about being the voice of Wonder Woman in the upcoming animated movie “Justice League: New Frontier”?
I loved playing Wonder Woman… I think it will be an interesting project. I’m out of the process now. You do the voice and then it goes away for four years and it gets animated.

Your name has been mentioned for the in-development live-action Wonder Woman. Would you be interested in playing Wonder Woman?
Absolutely! I always want to twist everything up and make it kind of gnarly, but that’s just me. I’m crazy like that. Of course I would! But I’d be just as happy being a villainess.

Do you like playing villains?
Yeah. Bad girls have all the fun.

Are you looking forward to your concerts in New York?
I can’t tell you. I am so turned on by it. The most enjoyable, shining moments of my career have been comedy and singing. I’m an old lady and that is kinda what I remember. I don’t really remember the drama so much. When that inspiration goes through you and it’s not your control, you can never forget those moments.

What type of songs do you like to perform?
I am doing “I’ll Stand by You” by Chrissie Hynde. I do songs by tough chicks. You wouldn’t believe it being the shrinking violet that I am. Chrissie Hynde, Nina Simone, Annie Lennox…these women are kinda my idols. It’s gotta have soul. People are always trying to get me to do Pat Benatar. I love Pat Benatar, when she sings it. It’s not me. It doesn’t fit. There’s got to be some blackness to it, some movement. There’s got to be some soul in it.

I remember you singing Stevie Nicks on “Saturday Night Live” years ago. Do you do any Nicks songs in your show?
You know, I don’t. I’ve always been attracted to “The Chain.” When that song goes, it goes like a train and that song powers through and has its own momentum. I would love to do that sometime. It just doesn’t fit in this set. We’ve got all the trouble we can handle.

How have your fans reacted to your singing?
Unbelievable. Every time I do it, they help me go to a new level and I get freer and a little crazier. I have the most loyal fans in the world. That’s why I do these things. I don’t make it a habit of going to conventions. I’m invited to things in London and Germany and they offer you a lot of money to do it. But the reason to do it and the reason I do a few choice ones with Creation [Entertainment] in the States is to keep in touch with the fans. God bless the fans. Keep with the fans and they will keep with you.

You and Renée O’Connor will appear together at this weekend’s annual Xena Convention for the first time in New York. Are you looking forward to getting back together with your “Xena” co-star?
Renee and I are really good friends. If we don’t hang out every week, we certainly talk on the phone often enough. It’s always a pleasure. I wouldn’t say a sister relationship because it’s not fraught with all of the stuff sister relationships are full of. There is way more admiration in it. I admire her so much as a performer. It’s great to be with Ren. You know, Ren comes and Go-Go dances for me. She does it for the joy of it. She doesn’t have to come. I don’t pay her or anything. She does it because she is a great friend and because it feels good to be alive.

Are there plans for any more Xena projects?
I don’t know. My husband would love to do one. He’s been making movies for the last two years and he never really liked making movies, never enjoyed the process too much. He loves television. When he was doing the show it was him at his most creative. He is really the momentum behind the show. You’ve just got to get some people to come on board to play with you. I wouldn’t count it out just yet.

So, you wouldn’t mind playing Xena again?
There has been enough time now where I wouldn’t mind revisiting that if we could tell a really gnarly story.

[Check out Lucy Lawless this weekend, when she appears at the annual Xena Convention in New Jersey and performs lives in New York City. For more info, click here.]

Ray Wall is single-handedly championing what he calls Comic Book Rock. He first burst on the scene with the “Fantastic Four Song” in 2005 and the song rivaled the actual “Fantastic Four” movie soundtrack on iTunes. He followed that up with the ambitious “X-Men Song: A Super-Hero Rock Opera,” which Wall describes as “a nine-minute state-of-the-art journey deep into X-Men territory which includes voice actors, choirs, multiple music styles, special effects, and more.” Now, the Wharton MBA is working on another FF song called “Silver Surfer Rises.” You can hear a clip on his MySpace page (his songs are also available on iTunes). In a Blogzarro exclusive, Ray announces another project, this one involving a certain web-slinger (see below for more details). And with Marvel announcing a Spider-Man musical, Ray Wall might find himself at the forefront of a thriving genre.

What is comic book rock?
Comic book rock is a new genre of music that we are trying to introduce and define. It’s an innovation that allows contemporary music to intersect with some of the more imaginative aspects of our popular entertainment culture. That means comic books, yes, but it also includes many of the fanship communities that center around science fiction, fantasy, video games, anime, and similar pursuits. All of these popular works have been successful in print, art, TV, and the movies. What I am saying is that comic books and these other things can also be expressed in music in a way that’s new and exciting to fans of all stripes. Comic book rock is real deal, fan-based, content-true music that talks about superheroes by name, their powers, what they do, their arch-enemies and so on. Generic songs about courage or novelty tunes that devote one line to Superman don’t qualify. At its best, and with time, comic book rock may become as grown-up and engaging as any other genre music out there. Combining music with superheroes can be a powerful and fun listening experience.

What spawned the idea for comic book rock?
Like many people these days, I’m a big fan of today’s state-of-the art superhero movies. But as the movies themselves were evolving and getting better I felt that the pop/rock soundtracks that accompanied them were getting worse. Having 15 otherwise fine bands on a superhero soundtrack that were playing music that had absolutely nothing to do with the movie seemed to me to be just an exercise in record label artist promotion and blunt economics rather than giving movie fans a way to enhance and prolong their experience of their favorite superheroes through music. In plain English, if I go to a Spider-Man movie, sing me a song about Spider-Man! Is this rocket science? After we put out “The Fantastic Four Song” in 2005 and especially “The X-Men Song: A Super-Hero Rock Opera” a year later, my hunch that people would be interested in comic book rock was confirmed. MySpace and iTunes were instrumental in giving this feedback.

You’ve been the leading proponent of comic book rock, and now Marvel has announced a Spider-Man musical with music written by U2. What did you think when you heard the news?
Well, you know a few serious people asked me after the X-Opera if we should someday write a Broadway musical about superheroes. HELLO! On the whole, however, I think a Broadway play about Spider-Man would be amazing! (Pun intended.) Spider-Man is the most transcendent superhero of our time. People are endlessly fascinated by him and should flock to go see him in the flesh on stage. People will want to touch him after the show. They have a $15 million budget so it should be good if the writers don’t stray from the original source material too much, which is the secret to the success of the movie franchise.

Do you think the Spider-Man musical will capture your vision of comic book rock?
I guess it will capture U2′s vision, but yes, this is an interesting question. The dynamics of a Broadway musical are different from rock. What will they do? What will the tunes be like? Will the theater production use a rock band? Good questions. One thing is for sure, in a play they will really have to focus on the content of the lyrics for it to work, which is exactly what rock bands in superhero movie soundtracks are not doing presently. But bottom line, hiring U2 is a smart co-branding marketing strategy and is part of the trend of bringing elder established rock stars to Broadway to pen musicals like Phil Collins and Elton John have done. If I were to guess, the issue of comic book rock will get lost on the media and the public will eat up the soundtrack as a wildly successful musical production that happens to be about Spider-Man. This is not a bad thing. However, it should be watched carefully to see if any other iconic bands jump into this new world of comic book rock, or to see if DC attempts to respond.

So are you planning anything for Spider-Man?
If you could see the poly-bagged boxes of Spidey comics in my house from my kid days you would not have to ask (laughs). Clearly that’s a big YES! Ray Wall Band’s “Spider-man Song” will be released later this summer on iTunes and also will be on our MySpace page. With this tune we take direct aim at the classic Spider-Man song everyone knows and loves. I have written a new millennium theme song for Spider-Man that’s still fun and singable, but also rocking while keeping ‘ol web head front and center. Not a break from the past, but an update. I feel responsibility to comic fans, of which I am one, to get it right for such an important character. I hope Spider-Man fans and the general public will like it.

Tell me about the new “Silver Surfer Rises” song you’re working on:
“Silver Surfer Rises” is the world’s first musical comic book, and I think it shows another interesting direction comic book rock can go in. All of the lyrics are actually laid out like a story arc that has real plot: a beginning, middle, and end. There are breaking vocal ensembles that interrupt the story every so often that act like chapter endings. The story follows much of the classic Fantastic Four comics from the 1960s where the Surfer made his first appearance. I am guessing that the new FF movie will stay close to the original story, which is what the song does. Musically, the tune is very simple, which is offset by the fact that the lyric content is very deep. It’s something different for our fans that are expecting hard rock like our X-Opera. I wrote the entire song in one sitting on New Year’s Eve 2006 when I started to panic that the Surfer song that I had already written sucked. I stayed up all night and missed the ball dropping (laughs).

What are your musical influences?
First and foremost I am a guitar player. I take my cues from all of the great players of the ’70s and ’80s without regard to style and my all-time guitar hero is Hendrix. I am equally happy playing rock, funk, jazz fusion, blues, bebop, finger-style acoustic, or classical guitar. I hope later to write some tunes that feature my guitar playing more prominently. Growing up in a college town the way I did was great and it had a major impact on me musically. I spent half of my teen years going to major rock concerts and other shows. It’s funny, but with the RWB project I don’t really feel like I’m part of the music industry at all. Because of our fan base and media, I feel much more like we are in the comic or film industry. That’s a pretty interesting place to be these days.

What superheroes will you be writing songs for next?
Well, our policy is sort of not to say too far in advance. However, to date we have always released new tunes near the debut of major superhero movies. Our MySpace friends know this and start to send us letters the second a new movie is announced asking if we are recording a song for it. This is really cool and very flattering, but we can’t do every hero out there, although with time we hope to do many. People have asked us to do The Flash, Spawn, Wolverine, Ghost Rider, etc. Having said that, after the Spidey/FF orgy of this summer is over we hope to record our first DC song and our first sci-fi tune which I can say now will be related to Star Trek. You will also see us cover some villains as well. As a final tease, I will say I have a small pile of songs already written waiting for their respective future movies.

Will we ever see a Bizarro song by the Ray Wall Band?
Ok, well it’s not impossible that I write some kind of a jazz or swing tune about The Hulk or a heavy metal piece about Lois Lane (laughs).

What would a Bizarro Ray Wall be like?
You don’t think writing superhero music is Bizarro enough? (laughs.) I think that a busy person getting involved with anything as hair-brained as all this qualifies as fairly Bizarro to begin with. But I have to admit, it’s fun fighting crime and supervillains with my band!

Movie aficionado Mike Mayo gives Blogzarro his two cents on this summer’s movies. Unlike me, Mike knows what he’s talking about. He’s one of America’s foremost movie experts, contributing to television, radio, print, and online outlets. He was the co-host of the long-running radio show “Max and Mike on the Movies.” And his next book, “American Murder,” about real crimes and the movies that they have inspired, will be published in early 2008. You can check him out online at MaxAndMike.com. But before you do, see what he has to say about the movies coming this summer…

What makes a good summer movie?
A good summer blockbuster is two hours away from reality. It’s unashamed entertainment; your brain is not going to be overtaxed. But the best Hollywood summer movies aren’t going to be aggressively, insultingly stupid either. It’s going to be highly polished with really good special effects, terrific bad guys, maybe a pinch of sex (but just a pinch), and lots of stuff is going to blow up.

This summer is packed with high-profile movies, but which will be best?
“Ocean’s 13″ shows a lot of promise. The trailers are terrific, but then, so were the trailers to the abysmal “Ocean’s 12,” one of the great stink bombs of our young century. I also like what I’ve seen of “Live Free or Die Hard” (if I can just get the images of those Mac ads out of my head). But I predict that the best movie of the summer is going to be “The Bourne Ultimatum.” It’s got all of the original creative team on both sides of the camera. The premise still has some potential and the “realism” that these films bring to the genre is still fresh.

What’s going to be the big flop of the summer?
This is what they call a target-rich environment — so many choices. But I think it’s going to be unusually tough for the ladies. Has Lindsay Lohan become the new J-Lo with “I Know Who Killed Me”? Or will J-Lo retain the crown and add to her string of box-office disasters with “El Cantante”? And let’s not forget the “troubled” production of “Invasion” (a remake of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”) with Nicole Kidman, and “No Reservations” (a remake of “Mostly Martha”) with Catherine Zeta-Jones as a chef. Still, the two strongest contenders are Angelina Jolie’s “Mighty Heart,” about the execution of reporter Daniel Pearl, and “Stardust,” a fantasy with Robert De Niro as a gay pirate and what appear to be not-very-special effects. This one’s a tough call, but I’ve got to go with Angelina’s drama about a beheading as the one that people will stay away from in droves.

What’s going to be the big surprise of the summer, in terms of quality and/or box office?
John Dahl’s “You Kill Me,” a hit man comedy with Ben Kingsley and Téa Leoni, looks smart and funny. Dahl has been doing fine work for years — “Kill Me Again,” “Red Rock West,” “The Last Seduction,” “Rounders,” “Joyride” — and has developed a following. He’s overdue for a break-out hit. I’m also looking forward to “Talk To Me,” Don Cheadle’s film about Washington, D.C., radio star Petey Green, but I think that “You Kill Me” will probably do better, at least critically.

Which summer movie will make the best DVD?
Kevin Costner’s “Mr. Brooks” is a thriller about a serial killer. It appears to be dark and offbeat, and neither of those qualities are likely to lead to theatrical box-office success this summer. But they can translate well to the small screen, and quirky crime films work better on DVD than they do in theaters. When you try to watch a thriller at your neighborhood multiplex, as likely as not, the older couple sitting behind you will be yacking away trying to figure out what’s going on. At least that was my experience recently at “Disturbia” and “Fracture.” And those aren’t isolated occurrences; it has happened before.

What are your 5 favorite summer movies of all time?
To my mind, the phrase “summer movie” can be defined in two ways. First, there’s the escapist blockbuster released between Memorial Day and Labor Day, and then there’s the movie that evokes the hot season. Therefore, I have three of each on my list of five:

Blockbusters:
Raiders of the Lost Ark. Hands down, the best adventure movie ever made.

Die Hard. I did not think about anything else while I happily munched my popcorn back in 1988, and I left the theater with a stupid smile on my face.

X-Men. Perhaps because I was not familiar with the comic-book characters, the first film in the series was inventive, lively, quick and perfectly realized.

Evocations of Summer:

Body Heat. Sex, sin, sweat, murder, more sex, heat, humidity, wind chimes, and a great John Barry score.

Cool Hand Luke. O.K., so it was shot in California, this is still one of the best depictions of the South in summer ever put on screen. And, of course, it’s one of the all-time great movies.

Breaking Away. There is something about that summer after you graduate from high school — even if you’re not pretending to be an Italian bicycle racer — and this movie captures it perfectly.

He’s had the No. 1 movie for three straight weeks. He’s starring in this summer’s “Transformers” and then the fourth Indiana Jones movie. Is Shia LeBeouf really going to be a star?
Before I saw “Disturbia,” I was saying that “Transformers” was going to be the flop of the season. After all, it was directed by Michael Bay. But I think that “Disburbia”‘s success is due in large part to LeBeouf’s appeal. He’s managed that often difficult transition from children’s roles (“Holes”) to teen star. He’s the new John Cusack and things look bright for “Transformers.”

Superhero movies are inundating theaters and a spate of new projects have been announced — which superhero flick would you absolutely not want to see?
I remember Aqua-Man and Submariner as being particularly off-putting characters, so I doubt that they’d make good screen heroes, plus there’s the whole underwater thing that would probably make them too expensive. I always thought that Green Arrow would be difficult to translate to the screen unless you camped it up. And I was such a fan of Plastic Man that I don’t want to see anybody mess around with him.