This is yet another film being released in 3D, but from the trailer (especially in HD) I think it will make a great 3D experience. But the big news is that someone has ‘found’ the HD Tron Legacy trailer for the film and posted it. So follow the link and watch it before the site gets taken down!

Starting in July with SUPERMAN #701 and WONDER WOMAN #601, superstar writer J. Michael Straczynski — a man who’s created layered and compelling characters and worlds on the big screen, on television and across the comic book spectrum — dives head-first into the DC Universe by taking the ongoing writing reins for two-thirds of the fabled DCU trinity.

We’ll have more details about who’ll be teaming with JMS on both titles — not to mention the exciting new directions he’ll be pointing our heroes toward — in the coming months. But today is about JMS and how he sees these great characters and what they stand for.

NEW SYFY SATURDAY ORIGINAL MOVIE RED TO STAR FELICIA DAY (BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER, THE GUILD, DR. HORRIBLE’S) IN RE-IMAGINING OF LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD

New York, NY – March 8, 2010 – Felicia Day, star of web videos The Guild and Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, who also played “Vi” in the final season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will portray a werewolf-hunting descendant of Little Red Riding Hood in the new Syfy Saturday Original Movie, Red.

Scheduled to premiere in 2011, Red is Syfy’s latest re-imagining of classic fairy tales, legends and pop culture characters. The new line of films launched with Beauty and the Beasts: A Dark Tale, which starred Estella Warren, on February 27.

Syfy, one of television’s most prolific producers of original movies, is also developing films around the stories of Aladdin, Sinbad the Sailor and Hansel & Gretel, among other projects.

In the action-packed Red, Red (Day) brings her fiancé home, where he meets the family and learns about their business – hunting werewolves. He’s skeptical until bitten by a werewolf. When her family insists he must be killed, Red tries saving him. Red also stars Kavan Smith (Stargate Atlantis) and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen). Red is produced by Angela Mancuso and Vesuvius Productions in association with Chesler Perlmutter Productions.

In addition to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Felicia is most widely known for her work in web video. She co-starred in Joss Whedon’s Internet musical Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-long Blog, which was voted the Best Web TV of 2008 by Time Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and People Magazine.

Currently she stars in the web series The Guild, which she created, writes and stars in. The Guild was the winner of the YouTube, Yahoo and SXSW Best Web Series Awards for 2008. The series has generated more than 50 million views web-wide. Day also has a hugely popular Twitter following, reaching more than 1.7 million fans.

Syfy is a media destination for imagination-based entertainment. With year round acclaimed original series, events, blockbuster movies, classic science fiction and fantasy programming, a dynamic Web site (www.Syfy.com), and a portfolio of adjacent business (Syfy Ventures), Syfy is a passport to limitless possibilities. Originally launched in 1992 as SCI FI Channel, and currently in more than 96 million homes, Syfy is a network of NBC Universal, one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies. (Syfy. Imagine greater.)

Music this week was first from the artist Kudai off the album Shah Mat

The second artist was Fresh Body Shop from the album Make This End

Syfy sent a press release today exclaiming that season two of Warehouse 13 would begin July 13th. And keeping in theme, this season will have 13 episodes of wacky artifact fun! The press release:

SYFY’S HIT SERIES, WAREHOUSE 13 BEGINS SEASON TWO PRODUCTION THIS MARCH LEADING TO ITS SUMMER PREMIERE ON TUESDAY, JULY 13

Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek, Allison Scagliotti and CCH Pounder

All Return For Second Season Pick-Up

Nolan Funk (Nickelodeon’s Spectacular) To Guest Star In Four Episode Storyline

New York, NY – March 2, 2010 – Syfy’s #1 original hit series, Warehouse 13, commences production on season two this March in Toronto and will kick off the new season with a summer premiere on Tuesday, July 13. Series regulars, Eddie McClintock, Joanne Kelly, Saul Rubinek and Allison Scagliotti, along with series guest star, CCH Pounder, reprise their roles in the series ratings leader for Syfy. The 13 episode, hour-long dramedy is slated to return this summer 2010.

Nickelodeon star, Nolan Funk (Spectacular, Drake & Josh) guest stars in a four-episode storyline in season two. Funk portrays Todd, a tech savvy local who takes a special romantic interest in Claudia (Scagliotti). This budding relationship is put to the test by the secrets they are forced to keep from one another.

Warehouse 13 follows two Secret Service agents who find themselves abruptly transferred to a massive, top-secret storage facility in windswept South Dakota which houses every strange artifact, mysterious relic, fantastical object and supernatural souvenir ever collected by the U.S. government. The Warehouse’s caretaker Artie (Saul Rubinek) charges Pete (Eddie McClintock) and Myka (Joanne Kelly) with chasing down reports of supernatural and paranormal activity in search of new objects to cache at the Warehouse, as well as helping him to control the Warehouse itself.

Warehouse 13 became the all-time Syfy leader in total viewers (4.1 million), Adults 25-54 (2.1 million) and Household ratings (2.9), as measured by 7-Day DVR data, making it the most successful series in Syfy’s 17-year history.

Warehouse 13 is produced for Syfy by Universal Cable Productions. Jack Kenny (The Book of Daniel), returns as showrunner.

Since this is being touted as a ‘big role’ it certainly makes us wonder if he may be the big bad guy behind everyone’s time-lapse. Frankly I am just happy to see James on a great show again. His stint on Numb3rs last year was nice, but just not enough.

There was no music this week.  I looked around for some, wasn’t feeling inspired by anything and hit a deadline to get this one out, which I am already a day late for.  Music will return next week.

It seems that the students at the University of Mississippi recently voted that they no longer wanted a mascot called Colonel Reb. Seems that it reflected a time period that is best left in the past. In fact, the mascot has not even shown up to any games in about 7 years.

So how do you go about choosing a new mascot? Well with the sports teams at MU called the Rebels, it didn’t take long for one college geek to come up with a great idea. Why not have the supreme commander of the rebel forces be your mascot? And thus a grassroots campaign was launched to bring Admiral Ackbar on as the schools mascot.

Check out www.notatrap.org and give them some support. It seems that the students may get to decide on the new mascot, I am sure to the ire of the alumnists, lets hope the Force is strong in this one!

One of my favorite sites, ArrestedMotion.com broke the news in this article. Here’s the video in case you have run out of forks to stab into your ears…oh, its NSFW (not safe for work).

So then just what the f*ck is it going to be??  If it’s not going to be a “remake… re-imaging… reboot”, then what?  Eisner continues, “We’re going back to the original Alex Raymond [comic strip] scripts and imagining if he were living today, what would those strips be like?”.  So it’s a re-makeimagingboot.  For those of you who are wondering just who the hell Alex Raymond is (like I was), he’s the guy who did the original comic strip in the “funny papers” back in 1934.  According to Wikipedia, ”Debuting on January 7, 1934, Raymond’s first Flash strip introduced the “world-famous polo player”, improbably roped into a space adventure alongside love-interest Dale Arden and scientist Dr. Hans Zarkov. Transported by rocket to the planet Mongo, “which was about to collide with Earth”, the trio “immediately became embroiled in the affairs of Mongo’s inhabitants — particularly those of its insidious warlord, Ming the Merciless,who would become Flash Gordon’s arch-nemesis throughout the franchise’s many incarnations”.  So basically it’s Flash Gordan.  Again.  Hopefully it won’t look like sh*t this time. 

Speaking of it not looking like sh*t (or maybe more accurately, it looking exactly like a stinky turd of poo), Eisner continues, “It will definitely be in 3-D, unless they come out with 4-D before then”.  He’s rumored to be looking into a new German binaural 3-D sound process that supposedly pushes 3-D to a whole new level.

Will this new flash be any good?  I hope so.  I really loved the old Flash Gordon movie from when I was a kid.  The most recent SyFy incarnation started out well enough, but it stunk like hooker taint by the end of the first season.  I’m a big fan of the concept, it’s the execution that worries me the most.  We’ll see as production gets started, if it ever does.

quotes via SciFiWire

The new season starts in England on April 3rd. BBC America has yet to announce when those of us on this side of the pond will be so blessed. I will keep everyone apprised!

Dr. Who New Season Trailer #1:

Spring Teaser Trailer:

Entertainment Earth has them available for pre-order right now. I just hope they put out a Venture Jet!!

This was first tipped off by Lost producer Carlton Cuse. Carlton was the co-creator of Brisco back in the day so if anyone should know it is he. This just makes me giggle inside to see this show being kept alive in such a bizarre way.

For those not familiar with the Riverworld book series, the story takes place on an Earth like planet where humans are resurected after some catastrophy on Earth. The planet is essentially one long river valley with the river starting at the polar north. Everyone resurected here are all approximately 25 years of age and in perfect health. They also encompass the whole of humanity, so there are people from the 20th century intermingling with people from 2500 BC.

The story line is vast and could easily be spun off into a regular series if Syfy gets good ratings. Here’s hoping they do!

According to Jon, the prequel will be written by James Cameron and will answer a lot of questions left unanswered in the film, such as:

“It would be something that would lead up to telling the story of the movie, but it would go into much more depth about all the stories that we didn’t have time to deal with — like the schoolhouse and Sigourney [Weaver's character] teaching at the schoolhouse; Jake on Earth and his backstory and how he came here; [the death of] Tommy, Jake’s brother; and Colonel Quaritch, how he ended up there and all that,” Landau explained.

The novel will be Cameron’s first foray into books. And if it turns out well, it could open the universe for other writers to flesh out later. Expect it by years end.

The London Times reports that a world record has been set, most people in Star Trek costume/uniform at one time.

Namco Bandai, as a promotion for the new Star Trek Online game, organized the event on Millenium bridge this last Sunday. Apparently the 99 people who showed had nothing better to do on Valentines day (not showin the geek love).

Frankly 99 people seems like not a big number to me…more like a very weak gauntlet has been thrown to the USA. Perhaps someone needs to organize a rebuttal at DragonCon this year!?

(photo from last years DragonCon parade)

Joss Whedon, master of my universe, is teaming up with director and filmmaker Morgan Spurlock to make a documentary about fans that attend the San Diego Comic-con.

“They want to follow people for about three months leading up to this year’s Comic-Con,” the source said. “And then they want to film them there. They’re looking at all types of people.”

I will stay on top of this and as soon as I figure how they will be choosing the subjects I will pass it along.

If you’re not giggling right now, you’re reading the wrong blog.  In fact, if you haven’t been giggling since you first read “Black Hole”…

Anyway, the original 1979 story focused on a lost ship that is found by a deep space exploration vessel right on the even horizon of a massive black hole.  The ship, named the Cygnus, is inhabited by one man, a possibly crazy scientist bent on flying into the black hole, and his legion of robot slaves.  The story was one of “I’m gonna fly into this here black hole, ya see” “no you’re not, mister.  We’re gonna stop you!” “KILL KILL KILL”.  At least I think that’s how they talked back in the 70’s.

Anyway, we hope you enjoy listening to our drunken rambles, even if in this case they may seem a little behind the times. 

The first music you heard was from the Brooklyn based band “The Trembling Turncoats” from the album “Lieutenant Commander”

The second music was from the Dutch band “Kismet” from the album “Hiatus“

Reinforcing this point is the fact that they’ve hired David Scarpa to write the script.  “Who?” you ask?  Well look him up on IMDB!  He wrote the screenplay for the 2008 movie “The Day the Earth Stood Still”!!  He also wrote “The Last Castle”!  Aaaand that’s all, at least according to IMDB.  Now I don’t want to be the one to say “oh, this guy is a sh*tty writer”.  Please don’t think that’s what I’m saying.  For all I know this guy might be the “next big thing”.  What I’m saying is that Fox went to what looks to be the least expensive guy they could so the movie could be considered “in production” and they could keep their rights without spending too much money.  I’m betting this movie never gets made, at least not in this current incarnation.  There’s no director attached, no actors, no nothing.  Way to go, Fox.

The movie was just picked to play at the South by Southwest Movie Festival (SXSW) sometime between March 12th and March 20th.  I’m hoping it gets a wider release than just the film festival circuit. I’m sure the creators are too. It sounds like the’ve put in a lot of work. “2 and 1/2 years…63,686 frequent flyer miles… 634 hours of footage…14 TB of drive space… 126 interviews… 719 fan submissions…” Sounds intense. Keep an eye on SXSW’s movie site (pops) for more info. The official site (pops) for the movie is a good source of information too.

Klingon Bird of Prey?

According to NASA, this is a picture of a Klingon Bird of Prey hurtling through space at 11,000 miles per hour.

Or it may be a comet, the result in this case of 2 asteroids colliding. It’s interesting because it’s something that hasn’t been seen before. First there’s the oddly distinct X shape at the beginning of the tail. Then there’s the fact that the comet’s nucleus is OUTSIDE THE TAIL ALL TOGETHER! Normally, a comet’s tail is produced when the nucleus heats up and starts shedding it’s mass, usually engulfing the head in a gaseous cloud. This comet is too far out for that. According to NASA, “P/2010 A2 may have a different origin. It orbits in the warm, inner regions of the asteroid belt where its nearest neighbors are dry rocky bodies lacking volatile materials” which makes it likely that that the debris tail was produce via an impact rather than the normal solar melting way.

Anyway, check out NASA’s site for high rez pictures and bigger words than I care to use.

(via Gizmodo)

Now the way that the Razzies are ‘awarded’ is not by the hollywood élite voting for themselves or their friends, but rather the ‘Razzie Members‘ get to vote. Anyone can join, yes there is a fee, but just think of the money you sunk into these ‘block busters’ this year!

Some of this years top nominees include Land of the Lost and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen which took 7 nominations each, All About Steve and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra with 6 noms each. Here is the complete list:

Worst Picture of 2009

* All About Steve
* G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
* Land Of The Lost
* Old Dogs
* Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen (Aka Trannies, Too)

Worst Actor of 2009

* All Three Jonas Brothers – JONAS BROTHERS: THE 3-D CONCERT EXPERIENCE
* Will Ferrell – LAND OF THE LOST
* Steve Martin – PINK PANTHER 2
* Eddie Murphy – IMAGINE THAT
* John Travolta – OLD DOGS

Worst Actress of 2009

* Beyonce – OBSESSED
* Sandra Bullock – ALL ABOUT STEVE
* Miley Cyrus – HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE
* Megan Fox – JENNIFER’s BODY and TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
* Sarah Jessica Parker – DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE MORGANS?

Worst Supporting Actor of 2009

* Billy Ray Cyrus – HANNAH MONTANA: THE MOVIE
* Hugh Hefner (as Himself) – MISS MARCH
* Robert Pattinson – TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON
* Jorma Taccone (as Cha-Ka) – LAND OF THE LOST
* Marlon Wayans – G.I. JOE

Worst Supporting Actress of 2009

* Candice Bergen – BRIDE WARS
* Ali Larter – OBSESSED
* Sienna Miller – G.I. JOE
* Kelly Preston – OLD DOGS
* Julie White (as Mom) – TRANNIES, TOO

Worst Screen Couple of 2009

* Any Two (or More) Jonas Brothers – THE JONAS BROTHERS 3-D CONCERT EXPERIENCE
* Sandra Bullock & Bradley Cooper – ALL ABOUT STEVE
* Will Ferrell & Any Co-Star, Creature or “Comic Riff” – LAND OF THE LOST
* Shia LaBeouf & EITHER Megan Fox OR Any Transformer – TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
* Kristen Stewart & EITHER Robert Pattinson OR Taylor Whatz-His-Fang – TWILIGHT SAGA: NEW MOON

Worst Remake, Rip-Off or Sequel (Combined Category for 2009)

* G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
* Land of The Lost
* Pink Panther 2 – (A Rip-Off of a Sequel to a Remake)
* Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
* Twilight Saga: New Moon

Worst Director of 2009

* Michael Bay – TRANNIES, TOO
* Walt Becker – OLD DOGS
* Brad Silberling – LAND OF THE LOST
* Stephen Sommers – G.I. JOE
* Phil Traill – ALL ABOUT STEVE

Worst Screenplay of 2009

* All About Steve
* G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
* Land of The Lost
* Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen
* Twilight Saga: New Moon

Worst Picture of the Decade

(Three Special 30th Razzie-Versary Awardz) (Special Category!)

* Battlefield Earth (2000) – Nominated for 10 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 8 (Including Worst Drama of Our First 25 Yrs)
* Freddy Got Fingered (2001) – Nominated for 9 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 5
* Gigli (2003) – Nominated for 10 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 7 (Including Worst Comedy of Our First 25 Yrs)
* I Know Who Killed Me (2007) – Nominated for 9 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 8
* Swept Away (2002) – Nominated for 9 RAZZIES® / “Winner” of 5

Worst Actor of the Decade

* Ben Affleck – Nominated for 9 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES® DAREDEVIL, GIGLI, JERSEY GIRL, PAYCHECK, PEARL HARBOR, SURVIVING CHRISTMAS
* Eddie Murphy – Nominated for 12 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES® ADVENTURES of PLUTO NASH, I SPY, IMAGINE THAT, MEET DAVE, NORBIT, SHOWTIME
* Mike Myers – Nominated for 4 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES® CAT IN THE HAT, THE LOVE GURU
* Rob Schneider – Nominated for 6 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 1 RAZZIE® THE ANIMAL, BENCHWARMERS, DEUCE BIGALO: EUROPEAN GIGOLO, GRANDMA’s BOY, THE HOT CHICK, I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK & LARRY, LITTLE MAN, LITTLE NICKY
* John Travolta – Nominated for 6 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES® BATTLEFIELD EARTH, DOMESTIC DISTURBANCE, LUCKY NUMBERS, OLD DOGS, SWORDFISH

Worst Actress of the Decade

* Mariah Carey – The Single Biggest Individual Vote Getter of the Decade: 70+% of ALL Votes for Worst Actress of 2001 – GLITTER
* Paris Hilton – Nominated for 5 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 4 RAZZIES® – THE HOTTIE & THE NOTTIE, HOUSE of WHACKS, REPO: THE GENETIC OPERA
* Lindsay Lohan – Nominated for 5 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 3 RAZZIES® – HERBIE FULLY LOADED, I KNOW WHO KILLED ME, JUST MY LUCK
* Jennifer Lopez – Nominated for 9 “Achievements,” “Winner” of 2 RAZZIES® – ANGEL EYES, ENOUGH, GIGLI, JERSEY GIRL, MAID IN MANHATTAN, MONSTER-IN-LAW, THE WEDDING PLANNER
* Madonna – Nominated for 6 “Achievements,”“Winner” of 4 RAZZIES® – DIE ANOTHER DAY, THE NEXT BEST THING, SWEPT AWAY

Sony has released a new RED BAND trailer for Kick Ass, and to use the already over used joke, it really kicks ass! For those of you not familiar with Kick Ass, it’s a story about a teen age kid that decides he wants to be a super hero. It’s based on a comic book written by Mark Millar and created by him and John Romita Jr. It’s insanely violent and bloody, as well as crass and funny. This makes it one of my favorite books out there. The movie is based on the first 8 issues of the comic. It was independently financed and made without major studio support or input, so it supposedly stays true to the books. A studio may have wanted it toned down some. I can’t wait to see this movie!! It hits theaters April 16th in the US.

The Oscars will be shown on ABC March 7th. Here is the complete list:

Actor in a Leading Role

* Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”
* George Clooney in “Up in the Air”
* Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
* Morgan Freeman in “Invictus”
* Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker”

Actor in a Supporting Role

* Matt Damon in “Invictus”
* Woody Harrelson in “The Messenger”
* Christopher Plummer in “The Last Station”
* Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”
* Christoph Waltz in “Inglourious Basterds”

Actress in a Leading Role

* Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side”
* Helen Mirren in “The Last Station”
* Carey Mulligan in “An Education”
* Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”
* Meryl Streep in “Julie & Julia”

Actress in a Supporting Role

* Penélope Cruz in “Nine”
* Vera Farmiga in “Up in the Air”
* Maggie Gyllenhaal in “Crazy Heart”
* Anna Kendrick in “Up in the Air”
* Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”

Animated Feature Film

* “Coraline” Henry Selick
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Wes Anderson
* “The Princess and the Frog” John Musker and Ron Clements
* “The Secret of Kells” Tomm Moore
* “Up” Pete Docter

Art Direction

* “Avatar” Art Direction: Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Art Direction: Dave Warren and Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith
* “Nine” Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim
* “Sherlock Holmes” Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
* “The Young Victoria” Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray

Cinematography

* “Avatar” Mauro Fiore
* “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” Bruno Delbonnel
* “The Hurt Locker” Barry Ackroyd
* “Inglourious Basterds” Robert Richardson
* “The White Ribbon” Christian Berger

Costume Design

* “Bright Star” Janet Patterson
* “Coco before Chanel” Catherine Leterrier
* “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” Monique Prudhomme
* “Nine” Colleen Atwood
* “The Young Victoria” Sandy Powell

Directing

* “Avatar” James Cameron
* “The Hurt Locker” Kathryn Bigelow
* “Inglourious Basterds” Quentin Tarantino
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels
* “Up in the Air” Jason Reitman

Documentary (Feature)

* “Burma VJ” Anders Østergaard and Lise Lense-Møller
* “The Cove” Nominees to be determined
* “Food, Inc.” Robert Kenner and Elise Pearlstein
* “The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers” Judith Ehrlich and Rick Goldsmith
* “Which Way Home” Rebecca Cammisa

Documentary (Short Subject)

* “China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province” Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill
* “The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner” Daniel Junge and Henry Ansbacher
* “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant” Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
* “Music by Prudence” Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
* “Rabbit à la Berlin” Bartek Konopka and Anna Wydra

Film Editing

* “Avatar” Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua and James Cameron
* “District 9” Julian Clarke
* “The Hurt Locker” Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
* “Inglourious Basterds” Sally Menke
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Joe Klotz

Foreign Language Film

* “Ajami” Israel
* “El Secreto de Sus Ojos” Argentina
* “The Milk of Sorrow” Peru
* “Un Prophète” France
* “The White Ribbon” Germany

Makeup

* “Il Divo” Aldo Signoretti and Vittorio Sodano
* “Star Trek” Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
* “The Young Victoria” Jon Henry Gordon and Jenny Shircore

Music (Original Score)

* “Avatar” James Horner
* “Fantastic Mr. Fox” Alexandre Desplat
* “The Hurt Locker” Marco Beltrami and Buck Sanders
* “Sherlock Holmes” Hans Zimmer
* “Up” Michael Giacchino

Music (Original Song)

* “Almost There” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Down in New Orleans” from “The Princess and the Frog” Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
* “Loin de Paname” from “Paris 36” Music by Reinhardt Wagner Lyric by Frank Thomas
* “Take It All” from “Nine” Music and Lyric by Maury Yeston
* “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” from “Crazy Heart” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett

Best Picture

* “Avatar” James Cameron and Jon Landau, Producers
* “The Blind Side” Nominees to be determined
* “District 9” Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham, Producers
* “An Education” Finola Dwyer and Amanda Posey, Producers
* “The Hurt Locker” Nominees to be determined
* “Inglourious Basterds” Lawrence Bender, Producer
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness, Producers
* “A Serious Man” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, Producers
* “Up” Jonas Rivera, Producer
* “Up in the Air” Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman and Jason Reitman, Producers

Short Film (Animated)

* “French Roast” Fabrice O. Joubert
* “Granny O’Grimm’s Sleeping Beauty” Nicky Phelan and Darragh O’Connell
* “The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte)” Javier Recio Gracia
* “Logorama” Nicolas Schmerkin
* “A Matter of Loaf and Death” Nick Park

Short Film (Live Action)

* “The Door” Juanita Wilson and James Flynn
* “Instead of Abracadabra” Patrik Eklund and Mathias Fjellström
* “Kavi” Gregg Helvey
* “Miracle Fish” Luke Doolan and Drew Bailey
* “The New Tenants” Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson

Sound Editing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes and Gwendolyn Yates Whittle
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson
* “Inglourious Basterds” Wylie Stateman
* “Star Trek” Mark Stoeckinger and Alan Rankin
* “Up” Michael Silvers and Tom Myers

Sound Mixing

* “Avatar” Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson and Tony Johnson
* “The Hurt Locker” Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
* “Inglourious Basterds” Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti and Mark Ulano
* “Star Trek” Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson and Peter J. Devlin
* “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers and Geoffrey Patterson

Visual Effects

* “Avatar” Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
* “District 9” Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros and Matt Aitken
* “Star Trek” Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh and Burt Dalton

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)

* “District 9” Written by Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell
* “An Education” Screenplay by Nick Hornby
* “In the Loop” Screenplay by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, Tony Roche
* “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
* “Up in the Air” Screenplay by Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner

Writing (Original Screenplay)

* “The Hurt Locker” Written by Mark Boal
* “Inglourious Basterds” Written by Quentin Tarantino
* “The Messenger” Written by Alessandro Camon & Oren Moverman
* “A Serious Man” Written by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
* “Up” Screenplay by Bob Peterson, Pete Docter, Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy

Farpoint is an excellent little convention in the Baltimore, MD area held in February each year. While not large with attendance, it is well-rounded with activities and great guests. And, as in the past, when a guest cancels they strive to get a replacement…which they did this year by getting Sam Witwer.

Sam Witwer is probably known for his recent work on the tv show Smallville as the villain Doomsday. But he was also on Battlestar Galactica as Crashdown and known for his voice acting work on the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed game as Starkiller.

Perhaps they can get Matt for 2011, in the mean time I look forward to meeting Sam at the show. Hope you all can make it!

Music this week was from the artist Pinkle. The first album was called “Allah-ca-zam“.  The second album was named “The Sound of Music” I listened to both these albums while editing, and I must say, they are very good.

When Lost first aired in September of 2004,  I watched the first 40 or so minutes and thought “meh, this isn’t going anywhere” and turned it off.  I can admit when I’m wrong.  I was wrong.  By the time I decided Lost might be worth watching, it was already season 3 and I thought to myself “I’ll wait until the show is done and then I’ll watch all at once on DVD”.  I did my best (and I was pretty successful at) ignoring all things Lost for YEARS, so when I finally broke down and started watching them just before the season 5 DVDs came out, I started with a pretty clean slate.  What I was confronted with felt pretty monumental.  We’re talking 103 episodes at roughly 43 minutes an episode.  That’s almost 74 hours of Lost! That’s more than 3 days of doing nothing but watching Lost!!  I started my journey in late October/early November with the pilot episode and my first thought was “Was I high? How is this not awesome??!?” Right from the get go I was mesmerized by how good it was!

As I was traveling on my way down Lost Street, I kept hearing “oh yeah, season 1 and 2 are great”, implying that season 3 and 4 were not so great.  When I asked about this I was told “yeah, those seasons start to drag some”.  Well let me say as a recently deflowered Lost virgin, those seasons are easily as good as the others.  No, not “The Others”, but the other seasons.  Who knows if The Others are good or not, what with everybody on the island claiming the be the good guys!  I think you folks who watched it at time of airing probably started suffering from Lost fatigue.  I couldn’t imagine either a) watching those episodes with commercials or b) watching those episodes with a week or in the case of seasons months apart.  I suppose I’d better learn to imagine it as I’ll be watching season 6 as it airs.  I’m not looking forward to it.

I think the story is a good one.  I started out thinking Jack was great and now I can’t stand him.  He’s a big fat jerk.  I have no idea what to think of Ben.  Kate sucks too.  As much as I disliked Sawyer in the beginning, he’s become the guy who I like the most.  My opinions on Jin and Sun have reversed as well.  I don’t like Sun much, and while my first impressions of Jin were ones of anger and frustration, he’s now one of my favorites as well.  To me that’s the beauty of the show… The characters you’re SUPPOSED to hate, you love, and vice versa.  Let me repeat: Jack is an asshole.  I hope he dies in a plane crash.

The whole time travel thing didn’t bother me at all.  I heard some folks complaining about it, however I really enjoyed getting to know the Dharma folks.  It was interesting to see their role on the island and how the “Hostiles/Others” interacted with them.  I also loved meeting Pierre Chang.  After seeing him on all those grainy Dharma Initiative training films, it was great to finally meet the man.

In the build up to season6 it has been nearly impossible to not hear rumors and speculation, even if just in words.  “Alternate reality” “Fake Locke” “Smoke monster” all have new meaning to me.  Personally, I love spoilers and have actively sought them out.  I won’t share anything here, but they’re not hard to find if you go looking.

To sum up, I watched 74 hours of TV in just under 3 months (with 2 major holidays in the middle) and I think Lost is one of the best things to ever happen to TV.  I never got sick of it and I think that seasons 3, 4, and 5 were incredibly relevant and great to watch.  I’m just wondering how the f*ck they survived a hydrogen bomb going off under their feet.  I guess we’ll find out tomorrow when flight 815 lands at LAX.  oops… SPOILER!

First up from Variety, we find that Sony Imageworks will be handling the special effects for the film.

Overall vfx supervisors on the project are Karen Goulekas (“The Day After Tomorrow”) and Kent Houston (“The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus”). Jim Berney (“I Am Legend”) will be vfx supervisor for Imageworks.

Now for the big news. Cosmic Book News has aquired some leaked concept art for the other Green Lanterns. For those not familiar with the mythology, the Green Lantern Corp is like an intergalactic police corp. Each guarding a sector of space. In the film, Hal Jordan (Ryan Reynolds) will become the protector of Space Sector 2814 where Earth is located.

In the film, Hal must go under training by the Corps, probably by Kilowag as that is one of his main roles in the comics. Here are the images:

Guardians of Oa

Abin Sur & Tomar-Re

Kilowag

If you go to their website, look for a one way ticket from Sydney to LAX on September 22nd, 2010. And low and behold you will have the option of a flight on Oceananic Airlines.

(courtesy of David Weinberger)

That being said, I was a little taken aback when I saw Stargate Universe on next weeks DVD release list. I mean, does SyFy really need to split up seasons like this on DVD? How many of you are going to drop your hard-earned dollars on 10 episodes of this series and a couple of exclusive vid’s? It’s like shoveling money through the Stargate!

And here’s the bite, the blu-ray release at Best Buy will set you back $48! At least Amazon has it for $39, but that is still silly high for 10 episodes of anything…much less this drek!

My first memory of the Human Target: was from reading some old DC Comics issues of Batman in the 1980’s. It was an interesting character but not really enough to drive his own comic at the time. Christopher Chance, the name he went by but not necessarily his real one, was a master of disguise. When he entered into a contract with a client he would literally become that person. A very sharp mind, skilled martial artist and marksman made him a great bodyguard/double.

Next up, I ran into the character in the early 1990’s in a very short-lived (properly so) TV series starring Rick Springfield. Yeah… that pop singer/soap star was cast as a bodyguard. Well the series, which I still have on VHS if that tells you anything about my packrat problem, only lasted 7 episodes on ABC. The FX’s they used for Springfield doing his makeup was pretty cheesy, but the concept for the show was good.

Now we have the new FOX series, which at this point has had three episodes aired. Starring Mark Valley as Chance, Chi McBride as Winston his handler (formerly from Pushing Daisies) and Jackie Earle Haley as Guerrero the resident geek/brain (he was Rorschach in the film Watchmen).

Frankly the casting is spot on, all solid actors with their own strengths and they thus far have brought solid performances to the show. The main thing they have changed is the fact that Chance is no longer a master of disguise but rather a bodyguard. A highly skilled and connected bodyguard that is.

They have dropped many hints that he may have been a spy at one time, but nothing concrete. What we do know is, he speaks multiple languages, so far Japanese and Russian, knows martial arts, is a master shot and tactician.

I like the show for its action and humor. So far the writing has been very well done and as I said earlier, the casting is very good. They are actually using some quality comic book writers for the scripting, Carmine Infantino and Len Wein have writing credit on the first two episodes. Also they have had some excellent guest stars so far, Tricia Helfer (Battlestar Galactica), Danny Glover, Alessandro Juliani (BSG), Sean Maher (Firefly), and Emmanuelle Vaugier (CSI NY).

I think FOX may have a good show on their hands, if they don’t muck things up like they have with other shows in the past. Over all I give this a 3.5 Stars out of 5!

Yesterday I ran across this photo on SuicideBlonde and was just awe-struck by it. Someone has taken screen shots of River Tam from the Firefly episode Safe and the Serenity movie and put them side by side.

I love the fact that Joss was able to incorporate River’s dance from the TV show as her fighting style in the bar scene from Serenity. And I also love the Browncoat that caught this and took the time to document it (a purely platonic love of course).

Entertainment Weekly reports that NBC is passing on the Tennant drama-pilot Rex is not your Lawyer. At least for now:

An NBC rep declined to comment, but a Peacock source insists Rex remains under consideration for fall. “The sets are on fold-and-hold,” maintains the insider. “They will still be available if the show is picked up for the fall.”

This show has been in development, though Tennant has only been on its list recently, for over 2 years. Not a LONG time in Hollywood, but it still falls into the realm of developement hell.

Perhaps we will get lucky and the pilot gets leaked by an NBC Dr.Who fan. Or maybe they will put it on as a made for TV movie. In any case, I look forward to more David Tennant in the future.

Fan Rants!

I hope you don’t mind me calling you Dom…

Fan Rants episode 15 just exploded out of my pants and all over… Wait, let me start that over.

Fan Rants episode 15 just made a mess all over… hmm, maybe one more try…

Please offer us is the latest modern day television and movies, as well as comic books and the news conference included several humorous insights enjoy.

Crap, it looks like Google’s nerd to english translator is down again.  Either way, enjoy this weeks episode.  It was a lot of fun for us to record and we hope that translates to it being a lot of fun to listen to.

You may be saying to yourself “why does he keep calling me ‘Dom’?  I’m not calling you Dom… I’m calling Dom Dom.  Not you.  Got it?  Now you might be saying “fine, asshole… Who is Dom?”  Dominick is the first person to donate to the Fan Rants cause!  We’ll always remember our first and don’t worry, the blood is normal.

Thanks!

I went with German electronic industrial this week because I used to have a friend named Dominick who really liked the stuff.  I don’t think it’s the same Dominick, but what the hell.

All the music was by ghostfog.  The first 7 tracks were from the album ghostfest and the rest of the music was from the album ghosts from the past – review 07/08

JRR Tolkien’s novel is set 60 years before “The Lord of the Rings,” with Bilbo Baggins as its unassuming hero in an adventure that centers on his acquiring from the evil Gollum the all-powerful ring that figures into “LOTR.” A few “Rings” cast members, such as Andy Serkis and Ian McKellen, will make return appearances in “The Hobbit.”

One delay currently on getting the first one rolling is the script for the second film still pending from Peter Jackson, Del Toro, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens. As soon as that is done, New Line will be able to set a budget and begin more thorough casting.

Big thumbs up to New Line for making this happen, all the Lord of the Rings fans are wetting their pants in anticipation.

According to Deadline Hollywood, the studios in power approved of Momoa taking over the iconic Robert E Howard character of Conan. Momoa certainly has the physic for the role and he is getting plenty of sword practice in his unrelated role for HBO’s Game of Thrones.

I like this fit for the new movies. Jason is a good actor, definitely better than our previous actor the Govenator, and he is a good man so I wish him the best on this role.

According to a recent article in Variety, Adult Swim has ordered 40 more episodes of their great stop-motion animation show. This is a huge order and a major commitment from that studio.

The series has been on the air, sporadically, since 2005 and has brought droves to the Adult Swim late night programming venue. Each episode runs a meer 15 minutes and is generally made up of up to 10 skits. They have also produced several specials, including two Star Wars specials, some of which have appeared on DVD.

If you have not seen the show, take the time to watch a few of the skits. It is definitely up the alley of our reading/listening audience.

This is an excellent comic and I have been hoping they would make this into a TV series since reading the first few issues. From Wiki:

Powers is set in a world where superpowers are relatively common but not mundane. It follows the lives of two detectives, Christian Walker and Deena Pilgrim, police officers in a Homicide department devoted to cases that involve “powers” (people with superpowers). Walker himself used to be a costumed superhero named Diamond, but became a police officer after he lost his abilities. Though stripped of his powers, he still retains his contacts within the superhero community, even becoming engaged to an ex-colleague, who is later killed. In later issues, Walker is offered the chance to become the world’s latest secret Guardian as part of The Millennium Guard, a secret group of intergalactic guardians, accepting the responsibility and the powers that come with it.

Lets keep our fingers crossed that this turns out at least half as good as what I can forsee in my head!

Ben co-wrote the best selling novel, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters; mashing Jane Austen prose and vapid sea monsters into a great book. Now he is bringing us Android Karenina, from the publishers website:

“As in the original novel, our story follows two relationships: The tragic adulterous love affair of Anna Karenina and Count Alexei Vronsky, and the more hopeful marriage of Nikolai Levin and Princess Kitty Shcherbatskaya. These characters live in a steampunk-inspired world of robotic butlers, clumsy automatons, and rudimentary mechanical devices. But when these copper-plated machines begin to revolt against their human masters, our characters must fight back using state-of-the-art 19th-century technology—and a sleek new model of ultra-human cyborgs like nothing the world has ever seen.”

I am sure Tolstoy is probably rolling in his grave right now. And with the way Russians praise him like a God, perhaps Mr Winters should not be making any travel plans to the old iron curtain anytime soon.

Earlier this week, the Dragon*Con director of programming for the Wheel of Time track made the following announcement:

Do not procrastinate this year

Post by Kathana Trevalaer on Sun Jan 17, 2010 5:45 pm

Pre reg is running really high compared to last year. So DragonCon is considering a membership cap. This would mean that there would be NO onsite registration. So if you know for sure you’re planning to come, be sure to get your badge now.

President,

Age of Legends, LLC

Convention Chair, JordanCon

Director of Wheel of Time Programming, Dragon*Con

So what does this mean for the public? Maybe nothing, after all this is just one hypothesis from one of the many directors of Dragon*Con. But this does make a LOT of sense. The crowds have been getting larger and larger every year, and if you notice the pay at the door lines are pretty short.

Frankly I think this is a great idea. San Diego Comic Con has had to do this and it will not suffer for it. In fact, it only makes people plan a little bit better and get their memberships earlier. So my vote is to make it happen!

“Once again, SUPER, the movie I’m now shooting, is the story of Frank, a disturbed dude who puts on a superhero costume and starts fighting crime as the Crimson Bolt with nothing more than a pipe wrench. Frank is played by Rainn Wilson.  Liv Tyler plays his drug addicted wife, Sarah, who leaves him for a charming drug dealer Jacques, played by Kevin Bacon.  Ellen Page plays Libby, a young sociopath who decides to become the Crimson Bolt’s sidekick. ”

Now we have Nathan Fillion playing a pop icon (more singing!!).

Michael Rooker playing Kevin Bacons bodyguard.

Linda Cardellini as a woman that falls for the Crimson Bolt (I fell for her as Velma in the Scooby Doo movies!).

And Gregg Henry, the cop after the Crimson Bolt!

Now if that doesn’t sound like an excellent cast, well I don’t know what does!

Figured I should post this since we have so many Nathan Fillion fans on the site. This is the first episode of PG PORN: Everything You Love about Porn, Except the Sex. You can find more episodes at James Gunn’s, the director, website.

Watch as construction worker Nathan Fillion (Serenty & Castle) gets ready to nail the boss’s wife, adult film star Aria Giovanni. It’s porn for the whole family!

Music this week was from the band Gidgets Ga Ga from their album The Big Bong Fiasco. It’s a really great album!

For those of you not familiar with Hector Hammond, he is a pretty petty criminal who stumbles upon a meteorite that causes him to ‘evolve’, basically super increasing his intellect. Now a side effect in the comic is the fact that his head is enlarged also. Looks goofy actually, but in the 60’s that was a good thing for supervillains. Not sure how they will play that up in the movie or maybe skip it all together.

He’s a good villain for Green Lantern and it’s probably not best to pop GL’s nemesis Sinestro in the first movie. Sure he will be in the second film (am I getting ahead of myself?).

For those of you in the North East, I recommend you make your way to the Delaware Art Museum between Feb 6th and May 16th of this year.  James Gurneys fabulous Dinotopia paintings will be on display for that time period and are sure to impress.

While I have always been a fan of the art in the children books, it wasn’t until I got to see some of the actual paintings several years ago in San Diego that I understood just how much of a genius his work can be. The way he works with light to bring out colors and depth in his work is amazing. If it wasn’t for his particular subject matter, dinosaurs and fantastical worlds, I think he would get a lot more public exposure.

He will be appearing on February 6th for demonstrations and a signing at the museum. Hope you can check it out, I plan too!

This week, Marvel announced in a press release that they will be having a special variant edition of Seige #3 with Deadpool on the cover. How do you get this ultra rare comic? The only way is to send in 50 strips (top portion of a comic book cover) to Marvel. Oh, and not just any 50 strips, but specific DC comics:

• Adventure Comics #4
• Booster Gold #26
• Doom Patrol #4
• Justice League Of America #39
• Outsiders #24.
• R.E.B.E.L.S #10

Wow…I don’t know if I should be shocked by this or not. It’s really not going to affect the small comic retailers as several of these sold out quickly and 50 comics is quite a few to trade in for a single variant covered comic. The large retailers, or those who REALLY goofed on their numbers, can benefit from the exclusive. But to me this really smacks at a war cry between the publishers.

Perhaps the gloves are coming off now that DC Entertainment is handling film/TV rights a little more aggressively. Perhaps Marvel is a little jealous at the great response the Blackest Night story arc had at DC comics. All I want to know is how DC will respond or retaliate.

The Sleeper Must Awaken

Pierre Morel was recently interviewed by MTV and a lot of folks (myself included) liked what he had to say. First off, it sounds like he holds my sentiments on the 1984 David Lynch movie:

“As a David Lynch movie, I loved it. As a ‘Dune’ fan, I was not such a big fan.”

Preach on, my brotha!! I really enjoyed the movie, but I was left with the thought “Rain? It doesn’t rain on Arrakis for another thousand years!!” And WTF was up with those “weirding module” things? As a standalone movie I loved it. As a movie based on a book, I think it strayed too much.

Morel goes on:

“I’ve been a fan of the book since I was a teenager. I read that when I was 15, maybe. I’ve been reading it over and over again – well, I’m 45 now, so for 30 years. The fun story, actually, is that there were six books in that first series that Frank Herbert wrote. Every time I was going to buy a new one – because I couldn’t buy all six at one time – I was reading the previous ones so I would not forget anything. So, by the time I bought the sixth book I had already read the first one six times! So, I’m a hardcore fan.”

EXCELLENT!!! So we have a “hardcore fan” that doesn’t think the last theatrical release did the books justice.   He also knows that us hardcore fans will string him up by his balls if he f--ks it up:

“it’s a challenge; there’s a lot of expectation, all the readers will be waiting for me with their shotguns. All the non-readers will also be waiting for us, because it’s such a complex, rich novel and you have to make it accessible to those who have not read the book. So, it’s a tough challenge but I’m very excited about that.”

I can say this: He’s sounds like EXACTLY like the guy I want directing this movie. He’s currently working on another movie (“From Paris With Love” due for a Feb. 5, 2010 release), but he hope that Dune is the next movie he does. I hope so too.

Fan Rants!

Also known as the “Johnny’s not allowed to say f--k” episode.  Or

A note about this weeks episode… I KNOW there have been more than 4 or 5 big inventions/discoveries in the last 150 years. At the time of recording I was a wee bit toasty and could only think of that many. Listening to the episode post edit I could think of lots more. Oh well. Don’t drink and drive. *shrug*

Music this week was from State Shirt off the album Don’t Die.

Amazon has dropped its pre-order price for the blu-ray release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy to $66. This is the best deal we have found around the net and if your interested in picking this up, now would be a good time.

This is the theatrical release, and I am kind of holding off to see if they will be releasing the directors cut on blu-ray, but so far there has been no news on that happening.

First up we have the Avengers movie hitting theaters May 4, 2012. This will be the grand experiment, bringing together the Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk and Thor franchises together. Sounds like a lot of characters on the big screen, and a lot of ego’s on set.

Next we have Star Trek 2 (or is that Star Trek XII?), taking the coveted July 4th weekend spot with a June 29th release date. This was stated by Paramount Pictures last week. We know from previous news reports that JJ Abrams is working feverishly to get the script completed so he can work on his next project, Mission Impossible IV.

Finally we have the sequel to Wolverine coming Summer of 2012. In an interview last week at the People Choice awards, Hugh Jackman stated that the second film would start filming a year to a year and a half from now. I doubt that they will put the release to close to the Avengers, but at the same time you may want to capitalize on the super-hero fans as much as possible.

Whew…that is a lot of genre for one summer. The fan boys are going to have to get better summer jobs to pay for all those movies!

WE ARE GO FOR MERCHANDISING

FINALLY Adult Swim and the Venture Brother creators (Jackson “hey that’s my dad” Publik, Doc “my hairstyle is NOT from the 80s!” Hammer) have agreed on terms and will contract with Bif Bang Pow! to create “a New Line of Action Figures, Bobble Heads, and Vehicles Based on the Adult Swim Series, The Venture Bros.”  Currently, Bif Bang Pow! only create bobble heads and action figures.  They are going to release Venture Bros. bobble heads in spring 2010, followed by action figures in summer 2010.  What intrigues me (and frankly has me a little moist in my panties) is the “and vehicles” part of this announcement.  If you look at Bif Bang Pow!’s website, it says they make “Action Figures and Bobble Heads (so far…)”  Does this mean my sugar daddy *glances over at Johnny and flutters eyelashes* can buy me a Mighty Monarch cocoon for next Christmas?  He says only if I buy him the Venture jet…

 ”‘Green Lantern’ got the official green light today,” she reported yesterday. “And not a second too soon — only 10 weeks out from shooting!”

So looks like March we will see Ryan Reynolds donning the green and black tights. This will be the second comic book character for Ryan as he is staring in the Deadpool film also. I really enjoy him as an actor and while I find his snarky humor more related for the Deadpool character than Hal Jordan (Green Lantern) I have the utmost confidence that he will pull off both roles well.

(Oh, and that is not an official shot of Ryan, just a fan rendition of what he may look like in the role.)

It was reported here a while ago that The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus would open on December 25th, and it did…. In 4 theaters.  The good news is that it is getting a MUCH wider distribution starting on January 8th.  The bad news is that at least around where I live, it’s opening in artsy, independant movie houses.  While I’m normally all for this, in this case I feel a shade cheated.  If the previews and press kits are to be believed, this is a movie involving a stunningly beautiful fantasy world.  It was shot on digital equipment and digitally mastered.  It was MEANT to be seen digitally!  Now I have to go down to some smelly theater with a tiny screen and an old projector that is loud and watch a s--tty 35mm print.  If I didn’t want to see the movie so bad I’d just say f--k it. 

I blame James Cameron.  Stupid Avatar.

The scene was short, and I didn’t think much of it at the time, but during the after-movie-over-drinks discussion one of my friends made mention that he had expected more. And there were specifics to his argument that I agreed with. Well fear not my friends, we will get more when the movie drops to DVD/Blu later this year.

In a recent interview over at Reelz Channel with Zoe Saldana, she stated:

“If you sync to your banshee and you’re syncing to a tree, why not sync into a person? I almost feel like you’ll have the most amazing orgasm, I guess. It was a very funny scene to shoot because there were so many technical things that sometimes you have to keep in mind that paying attention to all those might disrupt the fluidity of how a scene is supposed to take place.

And because Jim was shooting for a PG-13 rating, we couldn’t move in certain directions. The motion would look a little too past the PG-13 rating standards. So it was really funny for Sam and me. We had a lot of giggles there.”

So worry not, we will see full on tentacle porn from Jim Cameron in the near future.

Better Off Ted, for those foolish enough not to be following it (catch up on HULU), is a sitcom about corporate life at a super-duper sized mega corporation, Veridian Dynamics. Its a very funny show, for which a good part of the laughs come from the R&D departments creation of some of the weirdest gadgets. This weeks show had the two primary scientists down in the Verdian storeroom of discarded inventions, when in the back ground you can clearly a Gold Dalek! I guess it was just Davros powered down.

Now obviously its the last one there that has me excited, being  a huge Calvin and Hobbes fan. In fact, since the strip creator has always limited the amount of commercialization allowed, this may be the first non-book item released on the subject.

When I was growing up there was one particular cartoon that I fell in love with, Star Blazers. All about a future Earth that has been under attack by the Gamilon interstellar race for years. The attacks are from these radioactive bombs that were destroying our planet. Luckily we are contacted by Queen Starsha from Iscandar who has a way of curing our planet from the radioactivity…but we have to go to her planet to retrive the cure.

An ancient WW2 ocean faring battleship, the Yamato, is unearthed and rebuilt into a spaceship. The Yamato is not just a battleship, but it also has a compliment of fighters and the dreaded Wave Motion gun. Teamed with an elite crew they form the Star Blazers!

This was my favorite show as a kid and my first experience with a cartoon that was episodic. You really had to watch in order to understand the over-arching storyline, quite the concept at that time. I was quite surprised to see that there is a live action version coming out this year in Japan.

From wikipedia:
Noboru Ishiguro, director and writer of the original Space Battleship Yamato television anime series, confirmed at his Otakon panel on Saturday, July 17, 2009 that a live action version of Space Battleship Yamato is in development. He also noted that Takuya Kimura will star as the main hero Susumu Kodai in the remake of the space opera classic. Takashi Yamazaki will helm the project for a planned December 2010 release.

Personally I can’t wait for this to be released. A year to go though…sigh.

Special thanks to Stuart O’Neal our graphics guru for not only the New Years greeting but all our logo work.

Good news to the Trekkie out there that also likes to scuba dive, or perhaps surf in the chilly waters of the California coast. Or heck even for the one that is *Really* into spandex, the Roddenberry Dive Team has the perfect accessory for you.

“The 7MM wetsuit is available in three colors: Command Yellow, Science Blue, and Engineering Red. Each suit features a durable Star Trek chest insignia, Rank Braids, and RDT shoulder logo.”

But doesn’t the color red attract sharks? Or am I confusing that with bulls?

Music this week was provided by Julandrew from the album Sings Your Favorite Songs II.

The second album was by Depressive Art and had the title Bye Bye Dear Everything.

In this episode we talk a little Dr. Parnassus, Sherlock Holmes, X-Men: First Class, Fringe,  Felicia Day, Dollhouse, who’d you rather (Betty or Veronica? Archie or Jughead?).  Next week we’ll play marry, f--k, kill and spin the bottle.

The first album you heard was Out of It by Brad Sucks.

The second partial album you heard was Petro Spirit by Skull King Mongoose

But as we all know, many horses (and no, not making racial comments about the Navi) come out of the gate fast but quickly fall to last place. The reviews are strong though, with IMDB having a user rating of 8.9/10 and Rotten Tomatoes giving it 84%, its possible that Cameron may keep it at the top of the box office for a few more weeks.

I had planned on seeing it on Saturday, even pre-bought the ticket for an IMAX showing, but the weather Gods were against me and kept me at home instead. Hope to catch it this week sometime though, gotta see if the hype lives up!

And to whomever thought up the Coke-Zero cross promotion…use spell check next time!

But he heals and goes out again and again, eventually he is caught on film being a good Samaritan and is dubbed Kick-Ass. Eventually he runs into other costumed crime fighters, such as the duo Hit Girl and Big Daddy. Hit Girl may be a little girl, but she is acrobatic and martial arts trained, not someone to turn your back on.

When I first read this comic I thought it was an interesting take on the whole super-hero genre. With Mark Millar’s writing and John Romita Jr. drawing, I was quite impressed. One thing that impressed me more, they were able to sell the film rights after only 3 issues of the comic. And now, we will have a major motion picture out April 16th, 2010! Check out this trailer over at Comic Book Resources featuring Hit Girl (its a Red Band trailer though, so there is foul language)!

BBC has produced a new version of the 60’s movie and 80’s TV show, Day of the Triffids. It will air on the BBC December 28th and 29th as a two-day event, each part 90 min in length.

Synopsis provided by wikipedia:
“The protagonist is Bill Masen, an Englishman who has made his living working with “Triffids,” plants capable of aggressive and seemingly intelligent behaviour: they are able to move about on their three “legs”, appear to communicate with each other and possess a deadly whip-like poisonous sting that enables them to kill and feed on the rotting carcasses of their victims. The book implies they were bioengineered in the Soviet Union and then accidentally released into the wild when a plane carrying their seeds is shot down. Triffids begin sprouting all over the world, and their extracts prove to be superior to existing vegetable oils. The result is worldwide cultivation of Triffids.”

The original movie is as campy as you might expect from a crazed plant monster 60’s film. And the 80’s TV show is as crappy as you might expect from most 80’s sci-fi no-budget BBC features. But this one has got my attention.

Written by Patrick Harbinson, formerly of ER and Law & Order fame, it stars Dougray Scott, Joely Richardson, Brian Cox, Vanessa Redgrave, Eddie Izzard and Jason Priestly. It’s a good pedigree that they can still screw up if they try, but here’s to hoping for the best. I just can’t wait to see Eddie chasing after man-eating plants…HA!

He is receiving the honor for his work in Drama, for which the US definately knows him best for playing Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

More at the Daily Mirror.

The movie looks like it will be loosely based on the recent limited comic series from Marvel, X-Men: First Class. In the comics we learn the origin of the X-Men team, how Xavier located and recruited the young Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman and Angel. Not sure how they will work in Iceman and Angel since the previous films skewed their origins. I read the comics and enjoyed that they were able to keep much of the same fun element of the original X-Men comics yet update them enough for current (ie, younger) readers to enjoy.

Singer spoke to Ustream at the Avatar Premier this week:

In an article on Variety, Singer stated:

“This is the formative years of Xavier and Magneto, and the formation of the school and where their relationship took a wrong turn,” Singer said. “There is a romantic element, and some of the mutants from ‘X-Men’ will figure into the plot, though I don’t want to say which ones. There will be a lot of new mutants and a great villain.”

Here’s looking forward to a new X-Men movie and forgetting the third one ever happened!

Last week we reported about the son of Frank Frazetta, Alfonso, breaking into the Frazetta museum with a backhoe to move the collection “to protect it”. At the time this seemed complete horse hockey, but now news comes that it might have been true.

Just a little background for you. Frank who is 81 has four children, Alfonso, Bill, Holly and Heidi. It turns out that recently Frank set up an LLC and transferred all ownership of his paintings to this limited liability company. On the board of directors of the LLC sit Bill, Holly and Heidi. Alfonso is the only one that is not a director.

Shortly after his recent sale of the famous “Death Dealer” painting for $1 million dollars, there started some rumblings in the family that the rest of the paintings should be sold off. Alfonso was apparently the only one that held out that they should not be.

Alfonso runs the company website and is said to split those profits with his father. And while the other sib’s were offered websites to run, they declined. Seems the lure of the easy cash out is too tempting.

The infighting did not start until recently, when their mother Ellie passed away. Then the pangs of envy and jealousy started coming out. Shortly after that, according to Alfonso, all the paintings in Franks house went missing, at this point he grew concerned.

So is this a case for the courts? Local prosecutor Mancuso stated that he isn’t convinced that it should be. As with all family cases, its best dealt with between themselves.

Author eats his own shoe

I send out an apology to Alfonso for calling him a douche-bag. I have to say that breaking into a museum with a backhoe certainly seemed like something done by a desperate man. But now he may be on the side of his father and I applaud him for trying to keep the artwork public rather than split up into private hands.

Anyway, it turns out that a film I was looking forward to seeing, A Couple of Dicks has changed its title on me. And no, this is not gay porn, but the new Kevin Smith film coming out in 2010. The new title is Cop Out!

Staring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan as a rather odd couple of police detectives. There ya go, that is why the original title was Dicks…another word for Detective obviously…get your mind outta the gutter!

According to Kevin Smith, the studio started farming around for a new title when several of the networks refused to air advertisements due to the title. Obviously there is no sense of humor left in corporate America. Warner Brothers will air the first trailer for this film before Sherlock Holmes, releasing on Christmas Day.

Miller has had some research trips to Greece to try to decipher exactly where the truth ends and the fiction begins about Xerxes.  Obviously this blurring subtext makes the story quite compelling.

Xerxes the Great was seen in the film 300 as the great conquerer of nations. I really didn’t care for the depiction in the film or the book, a little to over the top for my history loving side to enjoy. But the first film was quite spectacular on the big screen and I am sure this one will fill the coffers in Hollywood as well. The first movie made almost $500 million world-wide.

I recently wrote about the upcoming film adaptation for this fan loved book and really have high hopes that it will translate well onto the big screen. With Portman starring I do believe it will get the buzz it needs to successed.

From Variety, “Portman will play feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet, who is distracted from her quest to eradicate the zombie menace by the arrival of the arrogant Mr. Darcy.” In the book, Elizabeth is a zombie hunter with Shaolin training. It is a good book if you get the chance to read it.

Natalie will be producing the film under her Handsomecharlie production company with Lionsgate distributing.

Looking for Group

Last year at DragonCon I ran across their booth and was happy to see them at one of my favorite conventions. Little did I know that that would be their last showing at D*C.

Today on their website they shared a tale of woe from DragonCon 2009. Be sure to read their full description of what happened, but here is the gist:

• Fees paid for a larger spot than previous year
• Upon arrival find that you were moved from where you wanted to the back
• Complain politely and be rebuffed by potty mouthed staff
• Keep escalating till you hear from a board member and they apologize
• Eventually get fees refunded and get to keep your crappy spot
• Determine to come back, reserve a spot, but are not invited back

Lesson learned, don’t make waves at a major convention that always sells out their space. Based on what these guys said, they got screwed for exercising their customer rights. I am sure this kinda thing happens more than we know, but I am certainly glad these guys had the gumption to make this public.

Oh, and read their comic, its good!

Frank Frazetta, renowned Fantasy artist extraordinaire, has a large gallery/museum in East Stroudsburg, PA. On Thursday December 10th, state police arrested and charged Alfonso Frank Frazetta, with theft, burglary and trespass after they say he was caught loading 90 paintings worth $20 million into his trailer and SUV.

Alfonso is the estranged son of Frank. He, along with a partner, broke into the museum using a backhoe. I guess he didn’t realize there was an alarm since the police arrived shortly afterward. Upon questioning Alfonso, he stated that his father requested that he “enter the museum by any means necessary to move all the paintings to a storage facility.”

The police contacted Frank, who was wintering in Florida, and confirmed that he did not give his son permission to remove the paintings. Alfonso was arraigned and sent to the Monroe County jail. Bail was set at $500,000.

Why did he do it? Well Frank is 81 years old, so the easy consensus is that after their falling out Alfonso figured he wasn’t going to see any of his dad’s money after he passed away. And why not strike while the iron is hot, and Frank is outta town.

This guy is a douche, not only for trying to steal his fathers life’s work, but also because of how he went about it. He used a backhoe! No class, no imagination, just brute force. Heck, he obviously didn’t know or care about the burglary alarm either as he took his time loading up the vehicles. I hope this guy rots!

::UPDATE!::
According to the Pocono Record, the men accompanying Alfonso were Frank Bush and Kevin Clement. Frank was operating the backhoe, for which charges are pending, and Kevin was a neighbor who was viewing the action. No charges are being filed on Kevin. Kevin Clement is well known in the convention circuit as the man who runs the Chiller Theatre Expo horror shows in New Jersey.

According to Alfonso’s wife, she and her husband had been the curators of the museum up until Franks wife Ellie died earlier this year. It was at this point that the infighting began over the paintings.

1. The Ultimates (Marvel Comics)
2. 100 Bullets (DC/Vertigo Comics)

3. Planetary (Wildstorm)
4. All Star Superman (DC Comics)

5. The Walking Dead (Image Comics)
6. The Authority (Wildstorm)

7. Mouse Guard (Archaia Studios)
8. Blankets (Top Shelf Productions)

9. Invincible (Image Comics)
10. Y: The Last Man (DC/Vertigo Comics)

Techland has some good descriptions about each title, so I won’t try to paraphrase their good work. I will say that I have read 80% of these titles and will gladly pick up the other 20% to see what I have missed. Many of these are ongoing and I still follow them, like Ultimates, The Authority and Planetary (though it has taken over a decade for them to eek out a meager 27 issues).

Some of the best titles have ended, like Y: The Last Man and 100 Bullets. Oh, and Hollywood if your listening, 100 Bullets could be made into an excellent HBO series almost overnight. And for those not in the know, Y has already been optioned and we are looking at a film release in the next couple of years.

Hey, the holidays are here, grab something off the list for the comic book fans and even the not so comic book fans. There truly is something for everyone.

“TRON: LEGACY is a 3D high-tech adventure set in a digital world that’s unlike anything ever captured on the big screen. Sam Flynn (GARRETT HEDLUND), the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn (JEFF BRIDGES), looks into his father’s disappearance and finds himself pulled into the digital world of Tron where his father has been living for 25 years. Along with Kevin’s loyal confidant Quorra (OLIVIA WILDE), father and son embark on a life-and-death journey of escape across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.”

But I digress…Movieline reports that John Malkovich is in talks to become the Vulture in the next arachnid installment. I certainly like John, and he doesn’t have to go far to look like the Vulture from the comic books. For those of you unenlightened, the Vulture is one of Spider-mans old school villains, an engineer inventor who designs a flight suit that allows him to soar above the rabble below, and enhances his strength dramatically. This could make for some excellent air combat as Spidey swings between buildings battling Malkovich.

Now comes the odd choice…apparently Anne Hathaway is looking to be in the film also, perhaps even as Felicia Hardy (known to the comic readers as the Black Cat). But the role that seems to be involved for her is a new character called the Vulturess. Really Marvel…can’t you come up with something better than that!?

Regardless I am still curious as to see what they are going to do with Curt Connors, played by Dylan Baker for the last two features. He eventually becomes a villain (misunderstood) called the Lizard in the comics. They gotta throw this guy a bone eventually! (no pun intended)