We’ve been hearing about it for years, but it seems Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit has finally started production. Things had been looking pretty grim when the Tolkien Estate & British publisher HarperCollins filed suit against New Line cinema over a breach of contract. Following that debacle, Guillermo del Toro had been attached to direct the project, only to pull out when MGM’s financial issues had sidelined the project indefinitely. Thankfully, those issues have been resolved, and Jackson looks to be directing the project once again.
The image of a vampire licking their blood stain lips after feeding, or bearing their fangs may or may not send a shiver up your spine, but for viewers these are possibly a quintessential appearance of a vampire. Vampires was first mentioned in literature around the 1700’s, but until Bran Stroker’s Dracula was published around 1897, the other vampire works weren’t as definitive or influential. Now the usage of vampires is a very common tool. Viewers can easily see vampires in contemporary series like Twilight, True Blood, or The Vampire Diaries. But consider these vampires in three different categories, Movies; Television; Comics, and see if you want to be bitten, if they have their focuses on you. Read more…
Anyone paying attention to Asian news these past several weeks would have realized that a devastating triple threat has happened in Japan. On March 11, 2011 around the Northern east coastlines of this island nation, there was a strong earthquake that resulted in devastating tsunamis, and what is now the concern of Japan in controlling a nuclear incident around its nuclear plants. Every day checking certain tweets on Twitter, there is an official notification of how much casualties there has been, with also thousands of people displaced or suffering. This incident has caused casualties and victims that surpass Japan’s Hanshin Earthquake in 1995. Japan needs an incredible amount of money or resources in order to rebuild. So many people around the world, celebrities, or civilians have banded to join up the cause of fundraising and donating time or money for Japan relief. The better option in other countries, out of Japan, of course is to send money to charity foundations to supply aid. Read more…
Dystopian young-adult sci-fi novel “The Hunger Games” is being converted into a feature film by Seabiscuit’s Gary Ross, and the hunt has been on for an actress to fill the role of heroine Katniss Everdeen. Names like Saoirse Ronan and Hailee Steinfeld have been tossed around as potentials, but according to The Wrap, the film has officially found its lead: Winter’s Bone actress Jennifer Lawrence. Having an Oscar nominee leading a genre film is a pretty big deal, and Lawrence is one of Hollywood’s rising female stars, so this certainly bodes well for the film. Suzanne Collins’ book series has been one of the biggest and most talked-about young adult series in years, so if The Hunger Games does well, it could mean a trilogy (and mass exposure) for Lawrence. Read more…
Yes, this Wonder Woman TV show thing is really happening. It’s happening so hard that Entertainment Weekly was able to release the above sneak peek at Adrienne Palicki in full Wonder Woman kit. I’m not really sure how I feel about it — Palicki is certainly lovely and statuesque, but something about the costume just seems off. Maybe it’s a little too shiny. Maybe it’s the fact that seeing an actress in the costume means the show, whose script failed to impress, is actually getting made, which is possibly the most distressing fact of all. Read more…
Japan is facing the worst crisis in its post-war history, and you can help! Bloggers whose work revolves around Japan have banded together to make Bloggers for Japan, a website dedicated to compiling resources and news for those who want to donate or stay abreast of new happenings related to the earthquake. The site recommends active charities like Doctors Without Borders and Shelterbox, and has donation boxes for each. Read more…
Director Darren Aronofsky is known for great award-season films like The Wrestler and Black Swan (and The Fountain if you like genre stuff), but he was also attached to a rather unorthodox project: a Wolverine reboot called, well, The Wolverine. At least until now, anyway. Citing the fact that the film’s schedule would keep him out of the country and away from his family for over a year, he decided to call it quits from the project. Fox insists they’re going to move forward with the project, though without Aronofsky the prospect of another Wolverine movie just doesn’t sound that great, if it ever did. Read more…
Posted by Michael Sacco on Mar 18, 2011 in Science
Science has a lot of really cool (and weird) stuff to read about, but sometimes you have to wade through a lot of other words to find it! What a pain, right? Out of Context Science cuts all that out, giving you single sentences of science weirdness without all the work. Where else can you read the sentence ” The aim is for the robot to be able to propel itself in any fluid mucus without having to carry its own reserve of mucus along”? Besides the original paper it was in, anyway. I think this way is a lot better. Read more…
Posted by Tim Sheehy on Mar 17, 2011 in Videogames
Both Capcom and Sega have announced plans to donate a portion of their profits to disaster relief efforts in Japan. For the rest of the week through Monday, Capcom has discounted the iOS version of Street Fighter 4 to just $0.99, and will donate all sales — this is in addition to the 100 million yen they’ve already contributed. Sega has also discounted all theirSonic the Hedgehog iOS titles, along with their Football Manager 2011 app, and are likewise offering all proceeds to disaster relief through Tuesday. For their part, Sega has already contributed 200 million yen to the Red Cross.
One of the girls from GamingAngels.com – fantastic site, by the way – caught this amazing video of William Shatner’s Q&A session at this years Emerald City Comiccon. An audience member asked Shatner if George Takei is a giving lover, and if he’s interested in men with beards. Shatner’s reply was priceless. It’s fairly common knowledge that Takei isn’t fond of his old co-star, but what amazes me is that Shatner still isn’t quite sure why. Takei, for his part, has mentioned plenty of reasons over the years.
