Links of the Day

Disney To Buy Marvel for $4 Billion - Marvel Entertainment, home of Spider-Man, X-Men, Wolverine, Hulk, Iron Man and more than 5000 characters, is soon to be part of the Disney empire. The deal will net around $50 for each for Marvel stockholders making me wish I had bought some back in 1997 when it was going for less than a $1 each instead of buying Marvel comics that now just collecting dust. What this means for Marvel isn't clear as they have a lot of contracts with other businesses for movies, video games, and merchandising that has to expire before Disney can do their thing. One critical question is what will this mean for Marvel Comics - will they get "Disney-fied" or will they be allowed to run mostly autonomously?

100 Years of Visual Effects - A pretty good compilation that shows the evolution of special effects.


Bad Boys 3 Screenwriter Hired - Peter Craig has been hired to write the script for the movie that ignited the careers of Michael Bay, Will Smith and Martin Lawrence. I guess all three have indicated they are willing to come back and Sony is willing to pony up the truckloads of cash as likely bringing all three on board will account for at least the first $50 million of the budget if not more. How this effects production of Transformers 3 is currently unknown since a script doesn't necessarily mean a green lit movie.

EVE Online Bank Near Failure - In a case of the online world mimicking the real world, the MMORPG's largest player run bank is on the brink of failure after its "CEO" embezzled 200 billion game credits from the virtual bank and sold it in year life. This combined with general mismanagement has resulted in a 1.2 trillion credit deficit that has resulted in player's accounts being frozen for withdrawal. What impact this will have on the game world is currently unknown but it should be interesting to see as it demonstrates how real world theories on commerce affect even the fake world of the virtual marketplace.

God of War Collection - God of War I and II will get a 720p HD upgrade with a re-release for the PS3 for $40 this holiday season. What, if any, extras are unknown except that Trophies will be added to the game.

Links of the Day

Unboxing Batman: Arkham Asylum Collector's Edition and Review - The game itself is getting universally good reviews but is it worth it to pay an additional $40 or so for the Collector's Edition? Hopefully the review below will help in that decision. For me, the plastic (rather than metal) Batarang isn't enough to pay that kind of money so I will take a pass and just get the regular edition.


Why Are Senior Citizens Crying "Socialism"? - The link provides some analysis but to me the short answer is because they are stupid. You have to be if you’re against healthcare reform because its socialism while at the same time you’re drawing from socialism programs of Medicare and Social Security. This doesn't include other socialism programs of public education, emergency services, armed services, roadways and highways, and so much more. I seriously doubt any of them would willing give up any of the many socialism acts of the US government for those anti-Socialism ideals they suddenly grew out of nowhere thanks to the GOP taking advantage of their ignorance.

Most Dangerous Celebs to Search - According to a report from McAfee, compiled in who knows what way because that would require the press doing more than rewriting a press release, Jessica Biel and Brad Pitt are the most dangerous celebs to Google as their results can lead to websites with viruses and spyware.

Why Neoconservatives Love Jon Stewart - An interesting article that claims conservatives, who usually loathe to be challenged and stick to GOP friendly places like Fox News or radio, seem to like the liberal Jon Stewart. Supposedly because he is intelligent and aware but really because he lets them speak their garbage in complete sentences rather than interrupting constantly as their GOP counterparts like O'Reilly ("cut his mic!"), Hannity, and others like to do.

How USB Flash Drives Are Made - A video that shows how a flash drive is manufactured by Kingston. I found it interesting, especially the parts that involve more human input then I would have thought. I figured it was basically a start to finish machine operation but not quite.

Links of the Day

Lego Voltron Figure - Click the link for a full gallery of Lego Voltron that has its five cat modes and robot mode. Very cool and something wish was available at a local toy store to purchase.

Roger Ebert Comments on Healthcare Debate - I am pretty much in agreement with Roger Ebert when he call providing healthcare to all a moral imperative. I just think its good fiscal policy. Rather than people waiting for issues to reach the critical range when if often very expensive to treat with a hospital stay, they are more inclined to deal with it when a visit to the doctor and a prescription would have taken care of it. Measure that by millions and the savings cost can be measured in billions. What really annoys me though is those that hate it confuse communism with socialism and don't have enough sense to recognize that socialism has been a part of America from nearly day one. What do you call the police, emergency services, Medicare, the Armed Services, education and so much more? All of those are socialistic programs. How stupid do you have to be to not know this while complaining that healthcare shouldn't be done because its "socialism"?

10 MacGyver-like Tricks - Click the link for a few cheap and easy ways of fixing a few household problems such as diffusing a camera flash, making an iPhone dock out of anything, using nail polish for a bug bite, drying out a wet cell phone, and more. My personal favorite is using canned air and hair dryer to fix car dents.

Michael Jackson Murdered? - Preliminary results indicate that Michael Jackson may have died from an overdose of propofol, a sedative he used to help him sleep. This is on top of an extensive list of drugs the singer took on a regular basis. One source indicated the coroner ruled the death a homicide but that has not been verified. Considering Jackson's love of drugs to manage his lifestyle, I don't see any attempt at prosecution being successful.

8-Bit Lego Trip - Cool video with Legos and stop motion that pays a homage to the 8-bit era of video games.

Links of the Day

World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Expansion Trailer - At Blizzcon '09 today, the next expansion of the most popular MMORPG in the world is getting a new expansion that will include cap level increase to 85, new quests, dungeons, instances and more including transforming existing land and characters into something new that will probably lead to re-exploring the land. More details of the release can be found here.


Pallet Shipped for One Power Cord - The picture to the left is what HP chose to ship a 10 foot PC power cord in. Those cords could almost be tossed in a letter size padded envelope and even that might be too big. It’s pretty amazing that someone went through this level of trouble to ship such a small item.

Avatar Teaser Trailer - The new teaser trailer for James Cameron first movie since Titanic. The result is visually appealing but doesn't really tell you anything about the story or characters.

Barney Frank Nails An Idiot - This is how you handle the ignorant healthcare protestors whose knowledge of the issue essentially extends to repeating whatever Limbaugh, Hannity, or Beck said in the last few days. This one for instance apparently doesn't have any grasp of history whatsoever and Frank basically admits that talking to her is a waste of time as nothing will be accomplished anyway.


Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Trailer - The next game in the Castlevania series will be an action game in the vein of God of War if this trailer is indication. The voice cast is phenomenal, the graphics look good and hopefully the game play and story will be too.

New PS3 Slim and Starcraft II News

Playstation 3 Slim Officially Announced - The worst kept secret in video games is now official and hits stores shelves starting around September 1st with a $100 price drop. The new system, which is 33% smaller and 36% lighter is essentially identical to the current models (i.e. no PS2 backward compatibility) but with 120 GB hard drive and $299 price tag. For a video of the unboxing of the system, click here. If interested in buying the PS3 Slim from Amazon be sure to use the link to the left so my sites get some of the credit.

Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty Hands-On - The game is probably six plus months away from release but portions of the single player campaign was made available for various game sites to play. Click the link for Joystik's first impressions of the game that looks like is going to be a must have game of the year.

Starcraft II's Dustin Browder Interview - Main lead on the development of the game, he talks about development of the game, the delay to 2010 for release, achievements, matchmaking system, Easter eggs, and much more.

Starcraft II Andy Chambers Interview - Discussion with creative director of the game as he discusses the single player story line which takes place about four years after the end of the Brood War storyline. The game has over 4000 lines of recorded dialogue.

Starcraft II Cinematic Trailer and Gameplay - Two videos, one shows off a cinematic sequence for the game and the other shows off various single player maps.

Links of the Day

Mickey Mouse Copyright - As the chart indicates, how copyright duration has changed over the last 100 years, mostly defined by how close the Mickey Mouse copyright came to entering public domain. It use to be that items would enter public domain after a certain period of time but now that is unlikely to happen as lobbyist get Congress to extend the date which is currently 70 years after the creators death. Just another example of how copyright, patents and more are broken systems.

Avatar Sneak Coming Soon - Apparently James Cameron's next epic might get a 15 minute sneak peak next Friday at Imax 3-D theatres worldwide at 6 and 6:30pm. The website is reporting that the tickets will be available at noon PDT on Monday at the Avatar website on a first come first serve basis.

Clueless Town Hall Protester - It’s amazing how a little ignorance can go a long way as the video shows below. This random housewife of clearly limited knowledge has suddenly become absolutely angry about the healthcare debate (despite her own coverage being one of the worst I have heard of). Apparently the last 20 years couldn't get her dander up but this is the final straw! How much you want to bet all her information comes from Fox News and Glenn Beck? In this day and age with the ease of getting information from multiple perspectives, her ignorance on even the basics is pathetic and inexcusable.


GOP's Real Reason for Fighting Healthcare - Let's face it. If you look at the GOP for the last 60 years their core platform is "whatever makes big business happy" + "scare the public with a boogeyman argument". In the Healthcare debate the question then is what are they protecting big business for? It turns out record profits is the motive. Based on SEC filings, during the Bush years (2000-2007) Health insurance companies have enjoyed a 428% increase in profits from $2.4 billion to $12.9 billion. During this same period 19% less Americans have insurance. This is why the GOP is fighting so hard and why they are using boogeyman arguments ("death squads") to fight any reform as the insurance companies are scared to death that their will cease to enjoy record profits. When the GOP is fighting something there is always, without exception, a big business motive behind the action. They do nothing out of kindness, only out of lust for money.

Special Comment - Stop the Lies

Sadly the health care coverage has devolved into a mess in this country. With a skill that only the GOP and their followers of stupid can manage, they have changed to conversation about health care into something other than how to fix it. The concern, magically, has become about fiscal policy at least for a few that are vaguely aware. For most though the argument is become just how unfair they think the world is because their team is not in charge of things. For the last 8 years it was "Bush knows what is best, don't argue with your President in a time of war!" to basically disagreeing with a great deal of hate and anger with anything and everything that is done, often by people who themselves need the help. If check the town hall meetings, often the most angry are older white men who are probably on Medicare complaining that the government will decide their healthcare and completely oblivious to the irony.

As Keith Olbermann points out below, all this is only fueled by the Republican machine of lies led by Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck. They don't counter with truth (the costs, better alternative plans, etc); no they counter with "death camps" and pretty much anything else they can make up. Newt, when confronts with "its not in the bill" lamely responds "its 1,000 pages long" basically meaning "I can make up whatever I want to get the idiotic base fired up and mad!". God forbid a rational argument be held using actually. I honestly don't know what is worse, that the "leaders" of the GOP are essentially trying to incite their followers to violence with lies or that their base after 8 years of similar lies continue to eat it up with a grin on their face and unquestioned obedience, not much better than a dog that fetches simply because his master told him too.

Links of the Day

The Ballad of GI Joe - From Funny or Die and starring some actual stars like Alexis Bledel (Lady Jaye), Billy Crudup (Zartan), Julianne Moore (Scarlett) and more in costume in brief appearances in this music video about how the various GI Joe characters spend their off days. I think my favorite is Olivia Wilde as the Baroness; she in glasses is just fantastic eye candy.

The Ballad of G.I. Joe from Olivia Wilde

InvisibleHand 1.5 - Firefox add-on that checks 50 or so US and UK retailers to make sure that the item you are looking at isn't better priced elsewhere.

Kick-Ass Trailer - As shown at the San Diego Comic Con, this trailer is for the movie based on the comic book miniseries about a boy that decides to become a real superhero (but minus the powers). This inspires a dad and daughter team to enter the vigilante business and their methods are much more violent.


Super Michael Jackson Bros - Amusing video that puts the King of Pop in Super Mario Bros. It’s actually nearly a year old and yet it remains amusing.

John Hughes Dead at 59

John Hughes, king of the 1980s teen comedies, passed away today due to a heart attack at the age of 59. He wrote and directed many beloved films that still influence the work of today including The Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful, Sixteen Candles, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Pretty in Pink, and Home Alone. There are many stars in Hollywood that owe their career and continued paychecks to his efforts. He leaves a film legacy that few others have achieved in both acclaim and box office bucks. Condolences to his surviving family of a wife, two sons and four grandchildren.

John Hughes
2/18/1950 - 8/6/2009

Click here for a great story about the director and writer that conveys his humanity from the perpective of a fan and pen pal.

Links of the Day

Journalists Freed - Two journalists have finally been freed from North Korea thanks to a visit from former President Bill Clinton. The journalists were jailed for essentially planning on writing stories that were not flattering to the country. Of course, Fox News thinks they should have served their 10 years for doing their jobs (makes you wonder what their own journalists are feeling about that right about now). Overall a good day and a sign that Bill Clinton still has the mojo that Bush will never have.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

MegaMan Game History - Click the link for a large picture diagram that shows all the Mega Man games created for the storied franchise and all its iterations across pretty much every gaming platform since the NES. Personally I miss the original Mega Man games.

Starcraft II Delayed - To probably the surprise of no one, the game has been delay. The plan now is for a first quarter 2010 release but I suspect that April to May is the more likely date.

Paula Abdul Quits American Idol - The link breaks down the likely reasons why but really everyone knew her days were numbered when that fourth judge was added as insurance in case one of them bailed. The cause comes down to money, she wanted a few million more (not clear if per episode or season) and Fox said no. Time will tell if this will impact ratings but I suspect they will not show more than a minor hiccup.

Windows 7 Review and Features - Long story short, Vista sucks, get this version instead which is what Vista was supposed to be. If you buy any machine make sure it has the free Win 7 upgrade. I haven't used it but have noticed that essentially everyone that panned Vista is universal in their agreement that 7 is a good buy.

Special Comment on Health Care

Keith Olbermann knocked another one out of the part regarding the health care debate as the American public allows themselves to be lied to be Republicans and "Blue Dog" Democrats who have been clearly bought by the health care system who are worried that a public option would create the competition of good and services that up to know they have not really had to worry about.

They like to talk about how the government can't run anything, find let’s say that is true then what is the harm of the public option? Why fight it so desperately if it’s nothing to worry about. They say "hey do you want a bureaucrat deciding your care?" Well assuming you can even afford it, don't they anyway? Who makes the decision on what is covered and what isn't? Who decided how much the insurance will pay out and how much you have to? Oh yeah corporate bureaucrats who actually get raises and bonuses for making things better for the company at the expense of your health.

They say "what about the costs?" Yes what about them? What do you think happens when a simply flu that could have been taken care of with a quick doctor visit and anti-biotics turns into a medical emergency requiring hospital care simply because the person couldn't afford that initial visit? Which is cheaper? Getting people to see the doctor when they need to or making them delay until their own bodies takes the choice away? Now imagine that scenario times millions. That is why it will be cheaper, simply because people will get the cheaper care they need rather than waiting until a much more expensive consequence occurs.

The final argument is "what about your choices of coverage?" What choices? Unless you work the government you have one choice, whatever your employer decides if that. If you have a pre-existing condition and no coverage from an employer, the "choice" is made for you - you’re just out of luck. There is no choice in medical care anymore then there is choice is cable coverage, or gas or anything else. Sure they all have different names but the "choice" of cost and extent of coverage remains oddly uniform and lacking in any real competition.

There is no marketplace; there is no proof of capitalism when it comes to healthcare. The choice people need to make is do they want the Republican solution - do nothing or the Democrat solution - do something, anything that is better the current system. To me the choice is simply, something is better than nothing and that is the choice we really have right now.

Links of the Day - More SDCC Stuff

Smallville Season 9 Trailer - Pretty sweet trailer for the upcoming season shown at SDCC. "Kneel Before Zod" gets a nice reaction as Zod returns, only as Major Zod, a younger probably not quite as villainous version that doesn't know Krypton has been destroyed.


24 Season 8 Sneak - A two minute look at a scene shown at SDCC 09 from the upcoming season of 24 that starts next year.

Heroes Season 4 Trailer - A pretty good looking trailer that shows the upcoming season of Heroes shown at the SDCC panel. For some reason I have a thing against anything where a circus or carnival plays a central focus on the story line (even if only a single episode) and it seems here a carnival will have a major play in the story arc of the season so not a happy camper about that.


Narnia 3 Begins Production - After Disney decided the Chronicles of Narnia 2 was a box office failure (rather than taking the blame for the choice of releasing it in the highly competitive summer) and bailed, Fox has continued the franchise with The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. The plan is conclude shoot by November 2009 and then prep movie for release in December 2010.

Complete Nintendo Game & Watch Collection - This sweet collection was put on eBay recently with the asking price of $10,999. I remember as a kid wanting many of these games but never able to get it partly because they were hard to find and also because never had the money for them.

Ben Silverman "Resigns" from NBC - After a pretty disastrous two year span, Silverman is no longer in charge of NBC programming that has seen the network remain at 4th place and actually get worse under his tenure as he focused on making the bottom line look better rather than trying to rebuild the network for long term growth. No replacement announced but hopefully someone a little more on the ball then he was as his goal was clearly making sure he his bonus milestones and nothing else.

San Diego Comic Con Panel Videos (Updated)

Thanks to attendees and the power of YouTube, I was able to find a bunch of videos to various panels from the 2009 San Diego Comic Con. Sadly couldn't find the Mythbusters panel that kicked off this link fest. This might give you an idea why people go to these cons as they all have a fun, laid back party feel where actors, writers, and producers all get the A-list treatment from fans.

Of the group, probably the most entertaining was the Lost panel with lots of amusing segments. The Jonah Hex panel is noted mostly because once again Megan Fox is treated rudely but thankfully Josh Brolin was quick to jump to her defense. I am don't know why but people just seem to want to be disrespectful to her and I don't know why. She gets credit for taking the rudeness in stride and handling it better than most would.

Other ones of note is Psych part 7 includes a "Magic Head" chant. The ladies of Smallville are as stunning in person as they are on the screen. Robert Downey Jr is having a ball in the Sherlock Holmes and Iron Man panels. I didn't bother to watch the Twilight one so no clue if any good or not. Katee Sackhoff, in the 24 panel, is jaw droppingly gorgeous.

In some cases the panel video may not be complete. Also sometimes there will be a mention of video rolling and a cut, the reason for that is SDCC would not allow recording of copyrighted video unless given permission before hand which is pretty rare. I will add more links to panel video when found.

24 - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Battlestar Galactica The Plan, Caprica - Complete
Big Bang Theory - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Bones - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
DC Universe Online - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Dexter - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Dollhouse - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Doctor Who - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Eureka - Complete or Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
Fringe - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Transformers 2010 Sneak - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Heroes - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Iron Man 2 - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Jonah Hex - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Lost - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Psych - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Sanctuary - Complete
Sherlock Holmes - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Smallville - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Stargate Universe - Complete
Supernatural - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
The Guild - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
True Blood - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
Twilight: New Moon - Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Warehouse 13 - Complete

Update: Added The Guild (I heart Felicia Day) and True Blood panels.
Update 2: SyFy shows some marketing intelligence by posting panels relating to their own program, too bad the other networks didn't do that. As a result, now have links for Warehouse 13, Stargate Universe, Sanctuary, Eureka, and Battlestar Galactica The Plan/Caprica panels.

San Diego Comic Con G4 Coverage

reason, there are rarely video of the various panels that occur during the San Diego Comic-Con so have to make do with G4's excellent coverage of the event, much of which they put online for those that don't get the channel.

48 Hours with Olivia Munn Part 1 - First five parts of the lovely Olivia Munn that shows her working the con that is humorous and informative as get to see parts of the Con that most don't get to.
48 Hours with Olivia Munn Part 2 - Last four parts of Munn at the Con.
Chuck's Yvonne Strahovski Interview - The gorgeous Australian actress talks about Chuck's third season and hanging at the con. Not really informative, just a fan of the actress.
Avatar Interviews - James Cameron and company promote his next movie that is coming out this Christmas.
Jennifer's Body, Kick-Ass and Tron Legacy Interviews - Quick segment with actors involved with those three films and rather odd question for Megan Fox.
Inspector Gadget: Book of Shadows Trailer - G4 created fake trailer that is a cross between Taken and Inspector Gadget that is actually good enough you almost wish they would do such a movie.
Peter Jackson Talks District 9 - The director talks about the latest product he produced, District 9 that is coming out next month.
Jon Favreau Interview - The Iron Man 2 director talks about the film and the fans.
Lost Cast Interviews - Jorge Garcia, Michael Emerson and Nestor Carbonell talk about the final season or at least try too due to the lack of information even they get about the TV show.
Hall of Armor, Marvel News - Interview with Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics Joe Quesada about various upcoming Marvel plans and a look at the four Iron Man costumes including the Mark IV which premieres in the sequel.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 2 Trailer - New season starts soon on Cartoon Network and the trailer suggests it will take an "Empire" level turn to the dark side in tone.
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition Trailer - Two level expansion of the game for next gen systems that allows you to fight against Obi Wan on Tatooine and Luke Skywalker on Hoth.
Star Wars in Concert - A look at the London production that will become a traveling shows around the world that merges a real life orchestra playing the music with movie footage on huge screens.
San Diego Toy Exclusives - Annoying part of San Diego is the great toys that you can only get if you attend to con. After that it can only be found online at a significant markup.
Smallville Panel - Few panels were held on the final day including this one that had most of the cast appear for the first time. Tidbits include confirmation of the return of Zod, Clark getting in a Superman type costume, and Tom Welling and Allison Mack will direct a few episodes (separately).
TV Guide Interviews True Blood Cast - Short video interview with three members of the cast as they talk about the books versus the show (the two align in some areas and not in others).

San Diego Comic-Con Day 3

Third full day has drawn to a close; here are the links and news of note.

Iron Man 2 Footage Description - Nice description of footage shown at the con including scene between Iron Man and Nick Fury, quick glimpse of Black Widow action and Stark vs. Congress.
Smallville Season 9 Spoilers - Hints of (hopefully) final season of the show. Theme is "Clark's darkest hour", begins the Superman (red-blue blur), Clark Kent, Lois Lane triangle, Chloe steps up, explanation of why Clark can't fly, and more.
48 Hours with Olivia Munn - Five videos that show the lovely Attack of the Show host doing her thing at Comic-con. Her humor is rock solid but also neat just to see some of the behind scenes part of her show and the con in general.
Lost Panel - Description from the panel as Lost begins its final season this fall. Not details revealed but a promise that mythology and plot points would be answered. Also click here for a video of the cast talking about the Jack-Kate-Sawyer triangle.
Bones Interview - Brief video that talks about the Booth-Bones romance for the upcoming season.
Family Guy Panel - Clip from Empire Strikes Back episode was screened, planned plots include Brian hitting a dog while driving drunk, Peter cheating on Lois with cardboard cutout of Kathy Ireland, and Meg going to prison. Also the unaired "abortion" episode will be released in the next DVD volume.
Dollhouse Panel - Not much revealed, Echo will become more self aware and Whedonverse alumni Alexis Denisof and Summer Glau will appear in the show next season.
DCU Panel - Geoff Johns will write The Flash ongoing after Rebirth finishes and Sterling Gates will write Kid Flash. The new JLA line-up will include Mon-El (replacing Superman), Dick Grayson (replacing Bruce Wayne's Batman), Donna Troy (replacing Wonder Woman), Hal Jordan and few more not named. Ted Tornado miniseries is under discussion. Hitman will be collected in TPB form.
Marvel's Dark Reign Panel - Discussion of the various Dark Reign The List one shots but no specifics. There is a probably Green Goblin versus Spider-Man fight coming. Punisher vs. The Hood in Punisher #10.
Futurama Panel - Still no deal with the original actors. Season more or less leaves off where the "Into the Wild Green Yonder" DVD movie ended but will be a "literal rebirth for the series." Other episodes will be a future version of Twitter controlled by evil Mom, Amy and Bender get together, how Dr. Zoidberg was hired by the professor, and maybe the secret origin of Scruffy the janitor.
Pixar/Disney Panel - Opened with Toy Story 2 in 3D clip. The Pixar movies, when converted to 3D, will not include new scenes or alterations. For Disney, Beauty and the Beast is getting the 3D treatment with the use of new software to give volume and depth.
Blackest Night Panel - Discussion of DC's summer crossover series. Aquaman as a Black Lantern (BL) returns in Blackest Night 3 and BL Firestorm returns in #3. BL Terra has a chat with Beast Boy, Sinestro vs. Carol Ferris, Booster Gold vs. Ted Kord (Blue Beetle), Orange Lantern Larfleeze's name is lard + sleaze, and 40s heroes will return as Black Lanterns.
Avengers Movie Line-Up - Producer Kevin Feige discussed at least some members of the Avengers went the movie starts filming in the next year or two. The expectation is Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Nick Fury, and Black Widow. Zak Penn is currently outlining the script so could grown beyond that.

San Diego Comic Con Day 2

Second full day of the San Diego Comic Con brings more news from various movie and comic book projects. Let the link fest begin.

Chuck Season Three poster - Just thought the image was cool as it reflects the posters of the 80's such as the Cannonball Run films.
Tron Legacy Test Footage - Click the link for QuickTime video and download of test footage with a Light Cycle chase that looks very cool. It’s a realistic look that keeps the feel from the first movie that is pretty sweet to see.
Batman 3 Production Next Year - Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon) let slip that production for Batman 3 could begin next year. Later he backtracked and said the sequel still might be 2-3 years away.
Jonah Hex poster - Click the link for teaser poster for the upcoming film based on the DC comics character. Megan Fox looks amazing but her waist is creepy tiny.
Kick-Ass Interviews - Video interview with writer, director, and actors from the upcoming movie Kick-Ass which is based on Mark Millar's comic mini-series.
Star Wars Panel - Star Wars in Concert live concert planned this fall. The London concert will serve as a blueprint for the events. Clone Wars: Republic Heroes video game that bridges seasons one and two of the Clone Wars cartoon series. New downloadable level for The Force Unleashed in the works set on Tatoonine and feature Jabba's palace and familiar characters. Another pack, called Ultimate Sith Edition will have a new Hoth level. Season One home video set for Clone Wars will be out in November. Season two begins sometime in the Fall and it will be darker story.
Avatar Footage - A detailed description of the 25 minutes of footage showing from the upcoming 3-D alien centric flick from James Cameron.
Stargate Universe Trailer - New trailer for the upcoming SyFy series that will air starting in October. It comes across as a more vicious version of the Stargate series as the plot is group trying to survive a trip across the universe and reach Earth.

Marvel Animation Panel - Fantastic Four: World's Greatest Heroes joins Nicktoon this fall with 26 episodes starting October 2nd. Iron Man Armored Adventures doing well with Nicktoons rating record. Planet Hulk is the next planned direct to DVD film from Marvel.
Cup O' Joe Panel - Covers the Marvel Universe. Where DC mostly just drops useless hints (thus the lack of links to their panels) at future plans, Marvel uses these panels to start interest on various projects. Bob Gale will start writing Amazing Spider-Man online edition starting in November. New 7 issue Deathlok mini from Charlie Heston, also November. Red Hulk will be joined by Red She-Hulk soon. December 2009 brings World War Hulks and death of a major Hulk related character. The reboot of the Ultimate line starts in January. Dark Reign is expected to go through the end of the year. Marvelman rights now officially owned by Marvel and have plans for the character.
X-Men Panel - Magneto returns with Nation X storyline in September. Wolverine vs. Skaar (son of Hulk) in Wolverine Origins. X-Force, New Mutants, X-Men Legacy crossover will be Necrosha starting in October that somehow brings back 16 million mutants (about the number that died at Genosha during a massive Sentinal attack).
Joe Quesada Interview - from io9.com, an interview with the Marvel Editor in Chief as he discusses his role, tells the angry fan boys to "suck it up", and more.

San Diego Comic-Con Day 1

The first full day of the San Diego Comic-con has ended and while nothing earth shattering has been revealed there is some news of note.

Tron Sequel Official Names, Gallery - As the image shows, Tron 2 has officially been named Tron Legacy. Also click the link to see some fantastic production art for the movie that reveals a darker, more realistic look that still retains the look and feel of the first movie.
Day One Gallery - Images of costumes, booth babes, shops and more from the comic-con.
Disney 3D Panel - Robert Zemeckis showed off images from his upcoming CGI movie "A Christmas Carol" that uses more advanced motion capture and techniques for capturing eye movement and better skin reaction. Did note that while loves 3D animated, IF he did a Roger Rabbit sequel those characters would remain 2D (I think the rights cost at this point would make a sequel impossible). Tim Burton showed off Alice in Wonderland art and new teaser trailer. This was followed by Tron Legacy with some story ideas revealed.
Avatar Tease Coming - Leave it to James Cameron to introduce a new movie in a complicated way. Instead of showing off Avatar with a new trailer released to the web, the plan is to have free showing of 15 minutes of footage sometime next month at participating IMAX theatres (list not yet determined). Click the link for some details on the evolution of the film and technology being used.
Castlevania Gets a Director - James Wan (Saw movies) has been hired to helm the Castlevania adaption for producer Paul W.S. Anderson. "I'll be working on the script with a writer to give it a new spin, different to the previous versions," said Wan. "This will have my stamp on it which Konami is very excited about." Consider what crap the Saw series is my interest in this film just zeroed out as I expect it will be "re-imagined" into crap.
Kiss Ass Panel - Covers the comic book turned movie. Several clips are shown, one that introduces Big Daddy (Nicolas Cage) and Hit-Girl (Chloe Moretz) as he shoots her to show the physics of a bullet. Another shows off a very violent sequence as Hit-Girl lives up to her name. Really not much it seems except for clips and that movie will be out in the first quarter of next year.
Marvel Mondo Panel - New miniseries with X-Men Noir: Mark of Cain, Captain America/Black Panther, and Black Widow: Deadly Origin. After Dark Reign wraps up, crossover "events" will take at least a 12 month break in the Marvel U.
Superman Panel - 2010 crossover event is called Codename: Patriot which General Lane (who is out to destroy all Kryptonians) will play a part in. Captain Atom will be part of the Supes books (he was last seen dying as Monarch in Countdown to Final Crisis). New World's Finest miniseries in works that team up characters from "new" Batman cast with "new" Superman cast.
Justice Society Panel - New title, JSA All Stars from Bill Willingham and Matt Sturges which basically breaks off the younger members into a new team. Click the link for more but really nothing major revealed.

Links of the Day

Jon Stewart: Most Trusted Newscaster in America - According to a Poll from Time, the comedian has earned the title from Walter Cronkite by a wide margin. He received 44% of the vote, followed by Brian Williams (29%), Charlie Gibson (19%), and Katie Couric (7%). I think the title is deserved as he seems to know what he is talking about while the other three have just proven they know how to read off a teleprompter or index cards but really don't have anything but a surface knowledge of what they are talking about easily allowing those they are interviewing the run over them due to lack of any meaningful (i.e. not obvious) follow-up questions.

Serenity Model - Click the link for a gallery of a 19" replica of the Serenity spaceship for Firefly complete with lighting effects, Inara' Shuttle and more. No clue on the cost but apparently limited to 500 production run so I expect it to be expensive.

Back to the Future 1 and 2 Comparison - Video that shows that attention to detail that went into re-creating the end of the first movie in the second movie due to the original girlfriend was replaced by Elizabeth Shue. I get the feeling the non-Shue sequences were the scenes edited back in but anywhere she popped up at to be re-created (this is before digital replacement after all) and often the line up matches identically.

Metroid Prime Trilogy Trailer - "New" game for the Wii that releases the three Metroid games in one package with the first to tweaked for the Wii controllers and able to support widescreen TVs.

Mark Buehrle Perfect Game - I am not much of a fan of baseball, finding the whole affair incredibly boring but you don't have to be a fan to appreciate a perfect game from the Chicago White Sox pitcher. It is only the 18th perfect game in Major League Baseball history which considering the thousands of games played a year (162 per team) shows just how difficult just a feat is.

Apollo 11 40th Anniversary

Today is the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 landing on the moon and Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon followed by Buzz Aldrin. Below are a bunch of links I found that at least interested me about this moment in history.



JFK Rice University Speech - "We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard"
We Choose the Moon - Virtual real time re-creation of the Apollo 11 mission
Apollo 11 Summary - Video edit of the mission
La Voyage Dans la Lune - Why the moon?
Walter Cronkite and Apollo 11 - The legendary anchorman's call and memory of the event
Remembering Apollo 1 - Death of three astronauts
"Spider" - End of one of my favorite episodes from HBO's "From the Earth to the Moon" series.
Restored NASA Footage - Digitally remastered footage from the moon.
Apollo Mission Artifacts - Suits and objects from the Apollo missions.
AtlantisSaturn - Documentaries and dramatizations of the space program on YouTube
Profile on Michael Collins - The third "forgotten" astronaut of Apollo11
Mythbusters on Moon Landing - Discussion how Mythbusters proved various moon landing conspiracy theories being false


"We didn't go there to conquer it, claim it or simply beat the Russians to it. Sure we wanted to find out what the moon was made of, to satisfy questions of science that have plagued us since the dawn of man. But more then anything else, we went to the Moon to see if we could make the journey. Because if we can do that, if we can voyage from the Earth to the Moon, then there's hope for all of us. Because we can do anything."
- "From The Earth To the Moon"

Walter Cronkite Dead at 92

The legendary anchorman for CBS has died today at the age of 92. His measured delivery gave him the undisputed title of "the most trusted man in America" in part due to his coverage of the Nuremberg trials, many presidential elections, JFK's assassination, the moon landings and much more.

"Walter was always more than just an anchor. He was someone we could trust to guide us through the most important issues of the day; a voice of certainty in an uncertain world," President Obama said in a statement Friday.

"He was family. He invited us to believe in him, and he never let us down. This country has lost an icon and a dear friend, and he will be truly missed."

When people think of how the press used to be trusted to provide the facts and nothing but the facts with clear separate analysis from an informed position, Walter Cronkite was often the face most people saw and many wanted to emulate. In a day were the news is all about eyeballs with little concern for facts or measured reporting, men of integrity is a rare breed.

Walter Cronkite
1916-2009
Just days away from Apollo 11's 40th Anniversary of man walking on the moon, here is "Uncle Walter's" reflections on the event.