G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Super Bowl Spot

Courtesy of Trailer Addict.



Sure the posters look like cat shit that your dog ate out of the litter box and shat out again, but still....kinda cool.

Watchmen Music

What do you get when you cross Bob Dylan with The Sex Pistols? My Chemical Romance's version of Dylan's song Desolation Row. Recorded specifically for Watchmen and directed by Zack Snyder. Check out the whole story here at Comic Book Resources, or just watch the video below. *sorry, check that. Watch the 30 second clip of the video below. It's the only one Warner Bros. Music has left up for free.*

Beautiful....

Serena Williams takes her 10^th career major title Saturday morning by defeating Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 in the Australian Open. Winning the first set in an amazing 22 minutes and concluding the match in 59 minutes Serena was just spot on almost the entire match. To make the moment complete, with this victory, Serena becomes the #1 female player in the world again.


By just making it to the finals Serena becomes the highest earning female athlete in history with an amazing $21,989,507. A day earlier, along with her sister Venus, Serena claimed her 12^th career doubles title as well. Now that Serena has won the Australian she joins the much vaunted "double digit" Grand Slam club along with four others.


In my opinion one of the loveliest women to ever play the sport. Keep your Maria Sharapova, I'll take Serena any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The Graveyard Book Wins Newbery Medal

My absolute favourite book that I reviewed last year, Neil Gaiman's The Graveyard Book has won the Newbery Medal. The NPR story can be found here, Blog@Newsarama's is here and Mr. Gaiman's own thoughts can be found on his blog here. A HUGE congratulations to Mr. Gaiman. Not that I read that many (or any) of the other nominees, but this book was truly amazing, and it Will definitely be the first book Hadrian and I read together.

In other Graveyard news, via /film (Slashfilm) apparently Neil Jordan will be writing/directing an adaptation of The Graveyard Book. Cool.

Considering that all the trailers I've seen for Coraline look amazing I'm really pleased.

Interesting Bits IX or Beware Zombies in Austin

Well, since my knee went catty-wompus on me tonight I'm up and in pain. Thought I'd give it a whorl of trying to kick this out before I had too many thing stacked up.

Beware! Zombies Ahead!

An industrious hacker had a bit of fun in Austin Monday. They apparently reprogrammed construction signs near the University of Texas to read, "Caution! Zombies Ahead!” and “Nazi Zombies! Run!!!” Our Keep Austin Weird slogan never fails to live up to the hype. Don't believe me? Check it out.


Comics

Well, DC Comics Final Crisis came to a conclusion on Wednesday. I know, I know I kept complaining that it didn't make much sense, but since then I've reread: ALL of Jack Kirby's Fourth World stuff, Grant Morrison's Seven Soldiers, Batman RIP and the entire Final Crisis miniseries. Well, now it all comes together for me. With only close to 150 comics before you read it, I am completely sure it will make perfect sense to you too. Either that or you could read Grant Morrison's exit interview with Blog@Newsarama. Where Morrison explains how Kirby's Fourth World was ripped off to make Star Wars and most especially that movie of movies He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. I shit you not.


In other "scratching your head and saying WTF?" news. DC Comics also released the wrong picture to Previews ordering catalog. (The catalog comes out with "Previews" of what's going to be on the stands or in stores in three months time.) Thereby really fucking up their big summer cross-over Green Lantern:Blackest Night. Now the picture they were supposed to release should have been this:
For those of you not in the know, other Lanterns are now in the Universe. Red (Rage), (forthcoming) Orange, Yellow (Fear), Blue (Hope) Violet (Love) and also forthcoming Black (Death). Now, Black had yet to be unveiled. It had been leaked that the Black Lanterns were all going to be reanimated zombies (wow that is TWO Zombie things), but no one knew that identity of the first Black Lantern. Well, check out the picture that was actually published in Previews this month:
That's correct folks. Earth-2's Superman (Basically the archetype for all the heroes in the DC Universe. The one that came out in 1938) who died saving the Universe (all 52 of 'em) is going to be reanimated to be the first evil Black Lantern for Blackest Night. Sometimes I really think that the editors at DC just Twitter all day and don't really pay attention that much. The fanboys/girls at The Green Lantern Corps Forum were nonplussed to say the least.

While on the subject of GL. How big of a geek are you? Big enough to fashion a wooden replica of Hal Jordan's ring? You can if you go here.

News of the Weird

In a Belgian Creche (Daycare) an ass clown believing himself to be The Joker from The Dark Knight movie stabbed 21 infants and 6 daycare workers. Thankfully nine children escaped unharmed, well physically. "Belgian television said that witnesses described the attacker as looking like The Joker from the Batman films." The police also stated that when caught, Mr. Kim "Crazier Than a Shit House Rat" de Gelder would only answer them with Heath Ledger's lines from the movie. Please read The Telegraph and The Copycat Effect Blog for further details.

And yet again in the I Shit You Not category, a British man apparently killed his wife over her changing her Facebook status from married to single. Whole story at Breitbart.com.

Darwin completely forgot that some people's gene pool is shallow and full of piss.

Ben Templesmith

Ben Templesmith is a ludicrously talented artist. Truly. Made his big splash doing the original story for 30 Days of Night with Steven Niles.


My favourite from him is the book he writes and draws, Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse.


He's at work presently with Leah Moore and John Reppion on Doctor Who: The Whispering Gallery one-shot,


and Groom Lake (due out late March) with Chris Ryall. Which Templesmith describes as: "Aliens. Mutating crotches. Probing. Smoking. Tourism. This is all you need to know."


Most importantly is the release next week of his new book The Presidents of the United States which includes bios on all 44 of them. Here's his Barack Obama entry:

Let your retailer/book store know PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES has a diamond order code (for comics) of: NOV084121 or that it's ISBN number is: 1600103448 *for your finer bookstores to order) Buy one for Democracy's sake!

Interesting Bits VIII.V

I've figured out that I may be what I've termed a "Binge-Blogger." I go for almost a month without saying boo, and then I make an "Interesting Bits," post and about 3 or 4 others on the same day. I reckon I need to start spreading these out a bit. Anyway, here's another IB post this week, but not as long as most so it's a .five.

Oscar Nominations 2009

The Oscar nominations came out this week, and there were a few surprises.

Best Motion Picture:

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Frost/Nixon (2008) (My Pick)

Milk (2008)

The Reader (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Best Actor:

Richard Jenkins for The Visitor (2007/I)

Frank Langella for Frost/Nixon (2008) (My pick, who would think someone who's played both Dracula and Skeletor would be up for this?)

Sean Penn for Milk (2008)

Brad Pitt for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Mickey Rourke for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Actress:

Anne Hathaway for Rachel Getting Married (2008)

Angelina Jolie for Changeling (2008)

Melissa Leo for Frozen River (2008)

Meryl Streep for Doubt (2008/I)

Kate Winslet for The Reader (2008) (I'm gonna go with this because I wasn't expecting anything from it)

Best Supporting Actor:

Josh Brolin for Milk (2008)

Robert Downey Jr. for Tropic Thunder (2008)

Philip Seymour Hoffman for Doubt (2008/I)

Heath Ledger for The Dark Knight (2008) (Sentiment plays a big roll in these, look at John Wayne winning for The Shootist a month or two before he died)

Michael Shannon for Revolutionary Road (2008)

Best Supporting Actress:

Amy Adams for Doubt (2008/I) (Pleasantly surprised)

Penélope Cruz for Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)

Viola Davis for Doubt (2008/I)

Taraji P. Henson for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Marisa Tomei for The Wrestler (2008)

Best Director:

Danny Boyle for Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Stephen Daldry for The Reader (2008)

David Fincher for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Ron Howard for Frost/Nixon (2008) (I really liked this movie)

Gus Van Sant for Milk (2008)

Best Screenplay (Original):

Frozen River (2008): Courtney Hunt

Happy-Go-Lucky (2008): Mike Leigh

In Bruges (2008): Martin McDonagh (Great freakin' movie)

Milk (2008): Dustin Lance Black

WALL·E (2008): Andrew Stanton, Pete Docter, Jim Reardon

Best Screenplay (Adaptation):

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008): Eric Roth, Robin Swicord

Doubt (2008/I): John Patrick Shanley

Frost/Nixon (2008): Peter Morgan

The Reader (2008): David Hare

Slumdog Millionaire (2008): Simon Beaufoy (I think that this will be the only award it wins)

Best Cinematography:

Changeling (2008)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) (My only thought after I saw it was, "Well. It was pretty.")

The Dark Knight (2008)

The Reader (2008)

Slumdog Millionaire (2008)

Toys

At USA Today they had 4 of the new toys coming out for JJ Abrams Star Trek this spring. Must have Communicator!

Also, The Obamassiah has a toy! Holy shit! Who knew the President was such a bad ass??


News of the Weird

Zambia doctors to cut feet of unformed twin from baby Faith Mwampe's buttocks

Wow. I mean, wow. I've heard of people being born with extra fingers and things, but this is just....wow.

Student Decapitated in Cafe

A woman has been decapitated by a fellow student at Virginia Tech, the scene of the worst school shooting in US history in 2007.

They say she was decapitated with a knife. Not a machete, not a broadsword, a knife. This guy had enough time to decapitate a woman with a regular knife and people watching. Our world scares me.

Audio Stuff

Okay, I'll admit I really dig audio books, podcasts and anything I can listen to at my lesiure on my IPod. Now these people at Pendant Productions do radio dramas in the flavour of old radio broadcasts. The really cool things is that they're not bad at all. Kinda fun actually. Considering they do not to my knowledge have a license to do these and make no money besides donations, they're still worth giving a listen to. Their current dramas include:








Superman: The Last Son of Krypton

















Batman: The Ace of Detectives

















Wonder Woman: Champion of Themyscira

















Supergirl: Lost Daughter of Krypton

















Catwoman: Queen of Thieves

















Star Trek: Defiant














Star Wars: Blue Harvest











James Bond: To the End

















Indiana Jones and the Well of Life










Coolest of all, the "Big 3" of the superheroes have had two crossovers.








Imperium

















Vindictatum











All of them are well worth a listen to.

Movies

In the, "Why the Hell Do the Japanese Get Cooler Trailers?" front. Here are the new Japanese trailers for Watchmen, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Terminator: Salvation.

At Last....

The song had two different meanings on Tuesday January 20^th. The President (or as some I know have started to call him, The Obamassiah) and his lovely wife danced to Etta James 1961 hit song 10 times at all the different inaugural balls. However, the title meant so much more when you thought of ol' Dubya. At last, the very worst President in modern history is gone. At Last. At Last.

"We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers...our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man. A charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience sake."

Yet again, I go back to my favourite Benjamin Franklin quote in regards to the previous administration.

"They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Mr. Torture President!

Below, the 3^rd item on Olbermann's "Still Bushed." Please listen to what Mr Manfred Nowak, the UN investigator in charge of torture crimes had to say and what it may mean for the future.


Lastly, because I thought it was the best Inauguration Speech since JFK and FDR's second, here's now President Obama's speech.

Interweb Girlfriends

While searching for a nice photo of Katee (My, Don't I Wish #2 Girlfriend) Sackhoff for my earlier Battlestar post that I wound up not using:

I ran across this photo which is not her, but summed up rather nicely my feelings towards the opposite sex.

Speaking of Interweb girlfriends, #1 is coming out with a movie this Friday. Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Ladies and gentlemen I give to you the beauty that is Rhona Mitra:



Not a bad week.

Hugh Jackman Responds to Wolverine Reshoots

For those of you that don't know, Gavin Hood (Director of Wolverine) is doing reshoots up in Vancouver right now. The fanboy outcries were heard far and wide about how this means Wolverine is gonna suck. Apparently they were heard up in BC as well since Hugh Jackman sent an email to Harry Knowles of Ain't it Cool News trying to explain the situation. It's as follows:

"Hey everyone -

It's Hugh Jackman, sending this note from freezing Vancouver. I have read a lot of your online comments regarding the footage that we are currently shooting and I share your passion for the Wolverine character and the movie - I owe it all to you guys!

I wanted to reach out and let you know that due to scheduling conflicts with certain cast members and location/weather considerations, we had to wait until now to shoot a couple of scenes. Please rest assured that WOLVERINE will be badass and hopefully meet all of your expectations. I am stoked by the positive response to the teaser, which clearly reflects the tone and scope of the film. If you like that, we've got much more in store!

In the meantime, here's an exclusive shot of some characters you may recognize...

Cheers,

Hugh"

I guess we'll see is what we're left with, but the publicity shot is mighty bitchin'.

A Battlestar Question....

Wouldn't Dualla have made a better choice as the final cylon? I mean, come on! Dualla! At least I got the bit about Kara and the Raptor right, but DUALla?!!?

Apology/Interesting Bits VIII

Dear Blog,

I'm writing to tell you how sorry I am for ignoring you since the 24^th of December. Things have been rather hectic on all fronts and it came down to what could I stop doing and keep my sanity. Unfortunately my darlin', that was you. I am back now though, and I'm glad you made it through New Year's without me. I'll try to do better.

Interesting Bits VIII

I hope that everyone had a great New Year's and still hasn't broken their resolutions. Would you believe the real reason I haven't written anything is because nothing interesting has happened since 12/24? No, didn't think so. Anyways, here we go....

Watchman Front

Several interesting developments on the status of Watchman. Apparently it will be released on March 6^th as planned. Here's what Blog@Newsarama had to say. That's all fine and dandy and I'm glad I'm going to be able to see Watchman on the planned release date. However, I still agree with this guy over at Cracked.com who posted this before the settlement was released: Watchman Fan Cordially Invites Fox to Eat Several Dicks. Also, on Watchman front was this nice behind the scenes that Empire mag put out with the Minutemen, the precursor group to the Watchman in the comics, and Carla Gugino continues to look stunning in.


Ricardo Montalban

Yes, it was sad that he died on the 14^th of January, but I did find this interesting at Boing Boing: How Many AAAAA's in Khaaaaaaaan? These are Google results depending on how many A's you wish to place in your search of Ricardo Montalban's most famous role.








Comics

Two comics of note were released on Wednesday, Final Crisis #6 and Amazing Spider-Man #583. Stop reading now if you don't want any SPOILERS! We all good now....good.

Final Crisis #6 came out in DC Comics latest attempt to alienate all fans. I don't even know where to start with the bad things about this book. First off, this book made little to no sense without Final Crisis: Legion of Three Worlds #3, Superman Beyond #2 and Final Crisis: Revelations #5. Have those books shipped yet? Nope. Plus, we all know how we got royally screwed in Batman: RIP when Dan (Wife? I Don't See Anybody's Wife Here) DiDio told us that RIP didn't actually end in Batman #681 like we were told, but in FC #6. Somewhere between Batman being blown to lil Bat-Chunks at the end of 681 Batman had the time to sneak off, find a new costume, get his God Killin' Gun with it's own God Killin' Bullett and smoke Darkseid. Check out what Topless Robot had to say about this. To make things a perfect clusterfuck, there were 3 pencillers on the issue. JG Jones, Carlos Pacheco and Doug Mahnke. 3 great tastes that do not taste great together, but we did get a great version of "Superman's Dead Body Pose" from Mahnke.
If you want to make sense of this series, I'd suggest going here: Rokk's Comic Book Revolution from Rokk Krinn (one of my favourite funny book reviewers on the interwebs) and here from Douglas Wolk (who sent me a terribly nice email offering to explain the parts that didn't make sense to me) Final Crisis Annotations Special thanks to Laura for the Final Crisis Annotations blog.

And then there was Amazing Spider-Man #583. Spider-Man at the Obama swearing in ceremony. This is only an add on to the book that's just 5 pages long. Has that stopped people from going nuts trying to get a copy? Nope. Marvel has already announced a 3^rd print going to press. On my last check of Ebay bids for a 1^st print there was one for $125 with 4 bids on it (Update! This book went for $210.55). At least this one is signed by Zeb Wells and Todd Nauck. $125 for a comic that came out on Wednesday for $3.99...Americans are so cool about what they spend their money on. We wonder why the rest of the world hates our guts...Oh yeah, and Erik Larsen is accusing Marvel of plagiarizing him with this story. Over at IO9


How To

Two very cool how to's caught my eye. Over at Boing Boing gadgets there was: How To a Tailfin Retro Media Centre and Make: TV website has a step by step to Make Your Old VCR Into a Cat Feeder:


Politics

Here's a montage of David Letterman's Great Moments in Presidential Speeches:

I will of course continue my countdown clock on the right until Tuesday (or whenever I remember to take it down), but I just keep repeating to myself, "January 20^th the end of an error." Thank you, Dubya and please don't let the door hit you on the way out.

Because

I can't leave you with his face as the last thing you see when reading this, something lovely and something funny. First up I give you Kitty Lea from Nuts Magazine doing Topless Wii video:


and something funny from Durex Condems with the funniest ad I've seen so far this year:

you can also check out "out takes" on the designers website.

On a personal note I wanted to thank everyone who reads this. The comments mean a lot to me.

Cheers!