Letters: spelling, Muppets, X-Men and bad posters

We’ve delved deep into our bulging post bag to look at some more of our readers’ correspondence. As usual, here’s a broad cross-section of your thoughts, suggestions and other stuff, ranging from classic Italian giallo movies, Muppets questions, and lots more. 

If you want to send us a letter, a painting, or even a postcard while you’re on holiday, our address is at the bottom of the page. We look forward to hearing from you. In the meantime, here’s the latest selection of geek missives…

You Can’t Speel!

Most people groan and roll their eyes when people talk about grammar and spelling but as I have to put up with the general mass bad grammar etc. that is Facebook and the internet en mass I expect better from pages such as yours.

But there has been an increase in typos etc. that could be picked up easily by a proof read, in both article titles and articles themselves.

I’ve noticed you do articles on programmes like Broadchurch which have no fantasy or science fiction elements? I could sort of see the ‘geek’ angle on say, James Bond but police procedurals? That seems somewhat at odds with a site called Den Of Geeks? 

What’s next, Neighbours? 

Your call I guess, it just seems odd.

Neil Hickman

Simon writes: I suspect you left ‘Den Of Geeks’ in your original letter to test us, to see if we would pick up on it. We are not falling for it. Mwahaha, etc.

So, to answer your points: yep, errors do creep in, and yep, we fix them as soon as we spot them (and when they’re drawn to our attention). They’re not intentional, but we shall redouble our caffeine intake to try and track more of the critters down.

Your second question is one that comes up a lot. So does the first, to be fair, but I’m, er, glossing over that. The answer: we write about things we’re geeky about. It’s how the site has been approached from day one. So yes, if someone had a geeky angle on Neighbours and wanted to pitch it, we’d listen. We’re deliberately a broad church. What we won’t do is cover something popular for the sake of hits: we cover something we’re interested in covering.

Don’t worry, though. We’re not doing EastEnders episode reviews yet. Oh, hang on…

Muppet Questions

I have two very important questions for you today:1. If you could be a Muppet, which Muppet would you be and why?

2. Which film do you think would benefit most from being remade by an all-Muppet cast?

Respectfully submitted for your consideration,

The Muppets #1 fan

Simon writes: We’ve been doing this letters page for a couple of months now, and there’s still no sign of a Grange Hill question. Muppets? This is the second. Not that we’re grumbling.

We would not be a Muppet, because we are not worthy. Saw would make one hell of a Muppet movie.

Ryan writes: I’ve always thought of me and Simon as being Beaker and Doctor Bunsen (see illustration above).

Recasting The X-Men

Following the recent news of some of the X-Men cast being ditched (Halle Berry, James Marsden etc) if you had to recast the original cast of X-Men (excluding those already recast for First Class) who would you pick as a younger Cyclops, Storm, Jean Grey etc?

[Redacted bit where Arron says nice things, which we appreciate but don’t print], thought I’d put this at the end as you often leave it out on the letters section.

Regards

Arron

Simon writes: Hmmm. I’m not very good at the recasting game. But I would say this: I’m increasingly a fan of seeing actors in interesting roles whose profile has been relatively low. There are some faces in the new Star Wars film, for instance, who don’t have a lot of high profile film baggage, and that can only help lend ambiguity to their characters.

Er, that’s a cop out answer, isn’t it? Bugger.

Ryan writes: How about the Muppets as X-Men? Animal would make a great Wolverine. 

Podcast Recommendations

In response to your readers question regarding under the radar Geek Podcasts that are made in the UK in this article, I would recommend the podcast Cult Friction, which broadcasts on East London Radio every fortnight. It discusses all things pop culture from movies, games and TV shows and much much more. It covers loads of events like Comic Con, Hyper Japan and destination Star Trek. Has a small but devoted listenership.  

Check it out here, and its Facebook Page, and on Twitter.

It’s really good and there’s a good chemistry between its presenters.

Mark Stephen Hughes 

Simon writes: I know not whether you’re involved with Cult Friction or not, Mark Stephen Hughes, but consider the recommendation passed on! Keep podcast recommendations coming…

Giallo Please!

Just wondering if you are going to do a feature of Italian Giallo movies in the future? Would be interesting to see if you can shed any new light on these classics and not just Argento, Bava et al.

Yours

Trout

Ryan writes: If you’re looking for something Italian and off the beaten track, Craig Lines’ guide to the country’s exploitation cinema gems puts it better than I ever could. Not all of those movies are giallo, of course, but there are some great examples of that genre in there, such as Sergio Pastore’s Seven Shawls Of Yellow Silk, or Renato Polselli’s rather naughty Delirio Caldo.

If you’re feeling really brave, I’d also suggest Lucio Fulci’s exceedingly strange and stomach-churning A Lizard In A Woman’s Skin. Fulci’s hardly an unknown quantity among giallo fans, obviously, but until recently, this infamous film was quite difficult to get hold of. Shot in 1971, and starring Sir Stanley Baker from Zulu of all people, it still has the power to shock even in 2014.

Bad Movie Posters

Hi Den of Geek, 

We all know how Nicolas Cage seems to suffer a bit from over Photoshopping on his film posters but I’m feeling a bit sorry for Vinnie Jones (must be the Stath connection). He seems to be suffering from under Photoshopping syndrome  (very rare in these flashy times). I’ve attached a few examples. To that end I was wondering if we could find out if Vinnie’s doing his own artwork as part of his fee now days?  What are the official Den Of Geek top 5 worst movie poster designs? 

Many thanks

Simon

Ryan writes: These are by no means official, but the following are the ones that immediately sprung to mind: 

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