Christmas List Item.

Well I have added the first official item to my Christmas list for this year.

Samsung has announced the production of a new "Ultimate" LCD TV. This LCD is a whopping 70 inches of true 1080p goodness. It also boasts a complete 180 degree conical viewing angle, which is great when you have a lot of people sitting around the TV. The signal is reproduced at 120Hz, compared to the wimpy 60Hz that a normal HD LCD outputs.

In laymens terms,,this is a rocking set. The set is set to go into production in the first half of 2007, so reserve yours now. Price has yet to be announced and the Asian show-model is not included.

Amazing Screw-On Head Pilot.

If you missed the premier on Sunday at 11pm, you can watch the entire pilot for The Amazing Screw-On Head on SciFi.com . This new animated series is based on the comic by Mike Mignola (Hellboy) and features the voices of Paul Giamatti, David Hyde Pierce and Molly Shannon.

The pilot is great, with a nice mix of horror, sci-fi and comedy. It is like watching a moving Mignola comic book. The art style is perfectly matched and catches all the little quarks that Mignola piles into his art.

I don't think that the late Sunday time spot is the best choice for this series tho, it should be in a Sat or Fri night spot to catch the target audience.

Wizard World Chicago

This past weekend was the 10th Annual Wizard World Chicago Convention at the old Rosemont Convention Center. Once again wizard pulled out all the stops and presented a great show for fans of all genres.

I am in the process of getting some pictures together and some notes of the day (we attended Friday, and it was Little G's first convention) and will post a large post later.

Also on a quick note I would like to give a shout out my friend Scott Licina. Scott's name has popped up several time son this blog and was most recently attached to the cool horror comic GRAVE Grrrls. Well, GRAVE Grrrls is now more and Scott has moved on to bigger and better things. On Thursday the 27th, Scott was announced as the new head of Fangoria Comics, branching off the huge Fangoria Entertainment. The first book out of the gates will be Strangeland Disciple, based on the upcoming movie and character created by Dee Snider. Scott knows his horror and will not let any of us down on this new project. Congrats Scott.

New Spider-Man 3 Trailer........NOT.

This video has been making the rounds online. It is toted as a new trailer, but has not been officially released by Sony. I appears that it is a "fan-made" trailer because of the old scenes mixed in with the new and some of the special effects seem pre-production. If you really look at it you can see that the Goblin scenes are from the first movie ,but the Goblin costume color has been changed. Also the JJJ scene is the one from the first movie, with the publicity still of Sandman on the cover of the paper. It is a good job, and will be cool if Venom does look that good. I could also swear that one of the Venom scenes is super-imposed over a Pumpkinhead scene.
Spider Man 3

AAHHHH,,,Make It Stop !!!!!

I knew when we purchased a 100 yr old Victorian home that there would be a lot of work involved in getting it back into shape. Over the years it had been changed around and odd little things added. So we started our quest to restore the home back to its original grandeur. First the orange carpet was trashed to reveal oak floors, which in the coarse of a few days where refinished and now are beautiful. Next was the 2 month odyssey of tearing down the main stairway (which had changed directions several time over the years) and putting it back where it belonged and replacing add-ons with oak and original pieces we found in storage in the crawl-space. It turned out grand.We completed other little nips and tucks here and there, slowly but surly making it our home.

So the most recent project, that has taken up the last 2 weeks, was the kitchen. I thought it would be a simple 1 week job, but as usual nothing goes as planned. In a nutshell we redid the ceiling and walls (plaster), installed new crown and blocks, re-painted, tore up 3 layers of linoleum, put down new sub-floor and then new tile and then re-touched up the paint again. Now all that is left is the new counter tops and I can finally cross that job off the list.

Finally I can take a rest. (Never thought I would be happy to return to work after a vacation, but I need the rest after a working vacation) next project coming up will stretch from fall to spring. That will be restoring the original front porch. Over the years metal railing and posts where put up and the old wood beams and railing where put in the crawl-space. So the fall/winter months will be me stripping years of paint off the surviving pieces and then frabricating new pieces to replace those missing and then in the spring I can hopefully get the porch put back together.

If my sanity holds out that long.

Headbutt Heard Around The World.

The whole world cup incident between Zindane and Materazzi has been worn out on the news and all over the net. But this video is just hilarious....Enjoy.

Zinedine Zidane headbutt montage

Big Movies on the "Really" Little Screen.

Little G picked out a new toy a few months back after graduation. The item was a very cool PSP, otherwise known as a Playstation Portable. I had never seen one of these in person and wasn't sure what to expect from a $250.00 mutated gameboy. I have to admit that I was surprised and now wish I had one of these little babies for myself. You can of coarse play games, which there are quite a few to choose from and listen to music ala MP3 or WM. What I didn't know at first is that you can even surf the internet with it. Just find a wireless signal and it will jump right on and a surfing you can go. Another nice this is that you can watch movies on the system using the UMD disc format, and the full color widescreen screen looks great. Now most of the movie companies where releasing movies on UMD at the same time as DVD, but now it has been announced that the UMD format is going to be dropped. This kind of made me upset, thinking that we just buy one, and now it won't support movies anymore.

A solution to this problem was pointed out to me via a company called SlySoft (SlySoft.com). This company offers a program called Clone DVD Mobile. Now before I dive into this please be aware that you should never violate copyright law and illegally copy or sell copyrighted material. But, fairuse law states you can make a copy of a movie that you own for your own personal use to preserve the original copy. Now back to the program. This little thing lets you take any DVD from your collection and shrink it down to a file-size and type that will fit on a memory-pro duo card and play flawlessly in your PSP. I don't know all the technical aspects of the how the program works, but the file you create is perfect and looks great on the PSP, with no artifact or jumping. On a 1GB you can fit about 3 full length movies. This method falls into the gray area, but is a good solution to help bypass the UMD system that is being discontinued.

This program can also convert movies to play on IPod Video, Creative Labs ZEN and other portable devices. It also support and converts to DivX, Xvid, AVI, MP4 and more.

They also have a program call AnyDVD that, among other wonderful features it allows you to watch various region coded dvds on your computer. So if you have a R2 (UK) DVD you can now watch it on your computer without having to worry about resetting your region code. This is very helpful when you have a lot of overseas DVDs in your collection like I have.

Doctor Who,,,A Rose By Any Other Name.

On July 8th, the BBC aired a episode of Doctor Who that marked the last appearance of Rose Tyler as the Doctors' companion. Billie Piper played Rose next to David Ecclestons' 9th Doctor in Season 27 and David Tennants' 10th Doctor in Season 28. Rose helped revitalize the series and brought a "humaness" and closeness never before seen between a Doctor and his companion. She will be missed.

The Doctor is never long without a companion, and that new open space will be filled by Martha Jones, played by Freema Agyeman starting in the 19th Season after the Christmas Special. Freema also appeared in a season 27 episode where she was killed by the Cybermen. She has some pretty big shoes to fill following Billie.

I located this fan-made video on YouTube. It is a great tribute to Rose and The Doctor.

Doctor Who - Who knew?

Some Movie Catch-Up

It's been so long since I posted that I thought I would do a little movie catch-up first.

Super-Man Returns : Went to see this with my boy at the local theater for the first showing on the release day. I was surprised to find the theater only half full. When we saw X-men it was packed to the gills. Superman is much more iconic than the X-Men, but I guess movie goers don't see it the same way as me. I have waited a long time to see this movie, and when it started I had that same feeling of when I saw the original star Wars, or even the 1st Super-man movie. As soon as that S symbol appears on the screen and titles start. It was like going back to being a kid again. This movie takes place 5 years after Superman has left earth to search out Krypton and now returns to a world that has learned to live without him. This movie really had it all. Action, comedy and the little heart-string pulls. Just like Batman Begins revived that franchise, Superman returns does the same for the big blue boyscout. We had more fun watching Superman than we did at X-men.

Pirates of the Caribbean : Dead Man's Chest : When the first Pirates movie came out it was unique. We hadn't seen a true pirate move in a long time, and add the amazing performance by Keith Richards,,,,oops,,I mean Johnny Depp, and you had a blockbuster. Pirates 2 is again a winner. It is rare when a sequel can be matched up to the original, but this movie does it. The action is stepped up several notches and the special effects, especially those for Davey Jones's organic crew are truly amazing. Once again Jack is in trouble and his (so-called) friends turn up to help and hinder. This was another 1st showing when the theater was only half filled, but with the record breaking opening it had (beat spider-man's record), the overall show-up was great. Many people in the theater where disappointed with the ending, but just remember that the next installment, At Worlds End is already made and only months away.

On the Trailer front, 2 stand at the top of the heap.

Transformers is set for release on 7/4/2007 and the teaser trailer has now been released. We don't get to see any actual robots in disguise, but after all it is just a teaser for a movie still 1 year away. The coolest part of the trailer is the transforming titles at the end. It is interesting that Michael bay already came forward and said that none of the footage from the teaser is in the movie, it was shot exclusively for the teaser film. You can view the trailer here.

Probably the biggest and most talked about trailer has been the one for Spider-Man 3. This trailer really touches upon all the questions that fans have been asking for months, and still doesn't really clear anything up for us. Yes we see Spidey in the black costume and even get to see the symboite in motion (whether it will be an alien or earthbound creature is not yet known), a great shot of Sandman is shown and a very quick look at Topher Grace who is reported to be Venom. The trailer is very fast paced with shots of the main and several supporting characters. The 2 scenes of the new Green Goblin are very quick and even slowed down it is hard to make out what the costume looks like. Sam Raimi has yet to disappoint us with his Spidey movies. The trailer can be seen here in several different formats.

A Long Strange Trip...................

It has been awhile since this blog has been updated. A lot has been going on in the past months that has kept me busy, and I must admit to a certain degree of laziness also. One of the major developments has been that my little girl (I guess 20 is not little, but she will always be my little girl) has gotten engaged and is set to be married next year. You never realize how much has to be done to plan a wedding, even 1 year before the date. That along with some honey-do projects and assorted Holiday/Vacations, has kept me away from my keyboard and updates. By now I am sure that my readership has been reduced to zero (loosing that 1 steady reader has been a blow). So updates start again today and I plan on branching out into some other topics than just the movies and TV that have dominated. Sure there will be movie items still, especially with Spidey 3, Transformers, Ghost Rider and others on the horizon. But hopefully I can break it up a little, a little more personal ramblings and maybe even get my 1 reader back.

(Rob,,,,,you don't count as my 1 reader)

Go Soul Patrol........Whooo.

Tonight is the grand finale of American Idol. Taylor Hicks vs Catherine McPhee. After last night I could see Taylor running away with it, but in the end it comes down to how many people actually pick up the phone and vote. I am cheering for Taylor, the man has such an original talent that the competition has lacked for many years. It is nice to see someone that is not a clone of last years winner. It should be interesting tonight, even though we will have to sit thru 1 hr and 45 min of filler before they announce the winner.

Soul Patrol............................

Ghost Rider trailer online. WOW!!

Sony Pictures has released the first full teaser trailers for the upcoming Ghost Rider movie starring Nic Cage, Peter Fonda, Sam Elliot and Eva Mendes.

Here is a small synopses from Sony.

"In order to save his dying father, young stunt cyclist Johnny Blaze sells his soul to Mephistopheles and sadly parts from the pure-hearted Roxanne Simpson, the love of his life. Years later, Johnny's path crosses again with Roxanne, now a go-getting reporter, and also with Mephistopheles, who offers to release Johnny's soul if Johnny becomes the fabled, fiery Ghost Rider, a supernatural agent of vengeance and justice. Mephistopheles charges Johnny with defeating the despicable Blackheart, Mephistopheles's nemesis and son, who plans to displace his father and create a new hell even more terrible than the old one."

The trailer is very cool and gives us many looks at the Ghost Rider character. As it looks now the special effects are quite impressive. I was wondering how they would pull the character off. The scene of GR riding up the side of a building is very cool and the quick scene of GR riding alongside the Ghost Rider on horseback is awesome.

You can view the domestic and international trailers HERE in Quicktime format.

Aquaman Canned and Leaked.

Earlier this week the CW announced that Aquaman had been passed for the 2006-2007 tv season. This was a surprise after the show was so heavily toted and episodes already filmed. Now the preview has leaked onto the internet and it does look pretty cool in the Smallville sort of way. This was either someone just getting their hands on the preview,,,or the production staff releasing it on purpose to try and generate some interest and heat about the show.

The trailer can be viewed here.

""""It appears that Warner Bros has had the trailer removed from all hosting sites. You can still see some good screen captures from the trailer here,,,thanks to comicbookresource.""""

1 Week Till X-Men.

We are now only 1 week until the release of X-Men: The Last Stand on Friday May 26th. Or if you live in a area with a early showing you can catch it at midnight on the 25th. You can check out a very cool 7 minute preview here.

Snakes on a Plane Poster.

Here is a look at the newest poster for the upcoming Snakes On A Plane. The movie stars Samuel Jackson and is directed by David Ellis. The movie revolves around Jackson's FBI character transporting a witness on a commercial airline and a assassin who release scores of deadly snakes onboard to attempt to kill the witness.

Not sure how this will play out yet. It could be a interesting story, but can they pull off a entire movie based around snakes running loose on a plane. You would think there would be easier and more surefire ways to knock someone off on a plane instead of snakes.

I do like the poster. It is right up there in the best 5 posters yet this year. Simple and striking.

This is how the world ends,,,,,,,,,,Yippee!!!

This week marked the beginning of E3 2006. One of the biggest announcments of the show so far came on Tuesday at the end of the Microsoft press conferance. Bill gates was just about to close the conference when he stated they fad one more little game trailer to show. Now, many insiders and fans alike have heard the rumblings of Halo 3 for several months now, especially after Bill (I'm richer than most countries) Gates made his own impromt-to announcement a few months back that Halo 3 would release at the same time as the PS3, of course at the time Bungie denied it all. Well, after Tuesady we all know the truth. That little trailing was an amazing promo for Halo 3. The trailer features a devasted Earth, overtaken by the Covenant. We are treated to a very light narrative from Cortana as master Chiefs walks in from the distance and views the Covenant forces unearthing a strange Forerunner structure from underground. The CGI is simply perfect, with outstanding shading and light, if the game looks this good during gameplay it will be the best thing ever put out and should easily top the Halo2 sales records.

The trailer is available on several different sites, and can be downloaded and viewed best at the Bungie.com. The trailer can also be download and viewed in HD on the XBOX Live marketplace.

Enjoy

Another X3 Update.

With the May 26 release date of X-Men : The Last Stand fast approaching, we are treated almost daily to new clips and photos. Ian McKellen appeared on KTLA and showed of a new clip from X3 and The DaVinci Code. The X-clip was of the forest scene we see briefly in the trailer and has Magneto in front of a crowd of mutants. You can see the clip here.

The 4 new screen shots show us the Danger Room, both active and in the shutting down phase. I am so happy that they fit this into the third movie after it was vut from X2. The 3rd shot is a good team pic and the 4th shot of Juggernaut shows off his costume and fake Popeye forearms.

New Superman Returns Trailer Online.

The newest trailer for Superman Returns is now online. This one gives us a more indepth look at Lex and some of the great character created by Kevin Spacey. A few glimpses of Supes and some action shots finish off this very cool trailer. Superman Returns is set to release on June 30th.

You can view the trailer here. Thanks to Comingsoon.net for the hosting.

This is turning out to be a busy Summer for blockbusters. In the coarse of 2 months we will get The DeVinci Code, X-Men :The Last Stand and Superman Returns.

Spider-Man 3 Cleveland Shoot.

Last week the 2nd Unit crew was in Cleveland shooting scenes for the upcoming Spider-man 3. Of coarse Cleveland was standing in for New York, so some slight changes had to be made tot he area. The scenes shot consisted of a confrontation between Sandman and Spidey and a very impressive armored car crash. None of the cast was present, only what appears to be the stunt doubles. You can see a video of the armored car stunt here,, and a video of Spidey here. Here are also some still from the shoot. Enjoy.

James Bond In French.

We have been getting little Casino Royale tidbits for some time, now it appears that the French have snagged the first teaser trailer. The audio is all french, but the trailer speaks for itself. looks very promosing and appears that Daniel Craig is filling the 007 boots well. The trailer is rough and looks like it is a rough cut. The end title graphic is very nice. You can view the trailer here.