Celebrate Your Geekdom
from Weta:
Hey Weta fans,
A short but very exciting update today!
John Howe and Weta announce The Art of John Howe — Sculptures from Middle-earth.
Podcast Episode X is here — listen to John Howe talk about the sculptures and get the latest updates around Comic Con.
Enjoy!
This is how you find us online!
http://fans.wetaNZ.com/Magnus/ | Twitter: @wetaworkshop | Facebook: Weta Workshop
from StarWars.com:
Hosted by G4’s Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, the Two-Hour Special Will Premiere on G4 Saturday, July 25 at 2pm ET/PT
Lucasfilm Ltd. and G4 are joining forces for a milestone in San Diego Comic-Con International’s 40-year history — the first-ever, exclusive television broadcast of a presentation from the massive pop culture convention. The Star Wars Spectacular! will air Saturday July 25th at 2:00pm ET/PT only on G4, and will feature never-before-seen footage, breaking news, surprise announcements, guest stars and more. In addition, G4 will present three hours of live coverage from the Comic-Con floor, beginning at 4:00pm ET/PT.
Traditionally, details surrounding Lucasfilm’s primary panel presentation are closely guarded secrets, with only 6,500 lucky on-site fans allowed access to the wealth of coveted information from a galaxy far, far away. But this year, G4 — the network that delivers all of the latest and greatest news on comic books, games, technology and pop culture — is offering TV viewers the one-of-a-kind opportunity to share the excitement with an exclusive broadcast of the panel. G4’s Attack of the Show hosts Kevin Pereira and Olivia Munn will join Lucasfilm’s Steve Sansweet and a galaxy of guests from Star Wars: The Clone Wars and beyond — including supervising director Dave Filoni, and voice talent from the show — to provide an insider look at the Star Wars universe, with never-before-seen footage and a LIVE table read of an exclusive new Clone Wars script.
In addition, fans are invited to participate in the panel itself by submitting Clone Wars questions through a special G4 micro-site. Questions will be answered during the live presentation by Dave Filoni and other Clone Wars creatives!
2009’s Comic-Con International also marks another Lucasfilm milestone — the launch of the all-new Star Wars Stories Project. Fans of the Saga will have the unique opportunity to become a part of the Star Wars universe by contributing to Lucasfilm’s own historical archive. Soliciting movie memories and nostalgia, the Star Wars Stories Project invites fans to share their own tales of fandom through video testimonials. In addition to online submissions, fans will have the opportunity to record their stories at Lucasfilm’s pavilion on the Comic-Con floor.
Fans are invited to upload their fan stories at g4tv.com/comiccon.
It doesn’t start until tomorrow in my neck of the woods, but I’ll be there bright and early tomorrow. If you’re like me and can’t make it today, you can check out the official website at transformersmovie.com to help tide yourself over until then. There are games, videos, wallpapers, buddy icons and lots of other goodies to transform your desktop.
I admit I still watch cartoons. I can blame it on being a mother who was concerned with what her children were watching when they were little but we all know that’s not the truth. I believe that a well-told story is as ageless as it is timeless. That’s why movies and books from before we were born still have an impact on us today. Times change, customs change, but people don’t change. There’s always a struggle to do what is right and good, no matter what era you grew up in. Avatar: The Last Airbender is a classic good versus evil tale of a young man who is the last of his kind and possibly the last hope for mankind. Drawing heavily from several Asian cultures and blending them with Western culture, Avatar has created a unique world and mythology of its own.
The people of this world are divided into four nations, with one of each of the elements as the central focus of their culture. Each generation someone (called an Avatar) is born empowered with one of the four elements — Earth, Water, Fire and Air — and through their influence, balance and peace is kept between nations. But the balance has been broken and the Fire Nation threatens to conquer all. As Avatar of Air, Aang and his companions Katara and Sokka must fight to restore the balance and stop the Fire Nation before it’s too late.
Some people might object to the watered down philosophies presented in Avatar: The Last Airbender but while the elements of Taoism, Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies are present in the show, they are uniquely blended and presented as part of the culture of this fantasy world and not as indoctrination for your children. What your children might learn from Avatar is that there are consequences to your actions, including how we treat our environment and resources and each other (Avatar won a 2009 Peabody Award for its “unusually complex characters and healthy respect for the consequences of warfare”).
Avatar: The Last Airbender was created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko and aired on Nickelodeon for three seasons, from 2005 through 2008. Avatar’s animation style blended traditional anime with Western animation to create a unique animated experience. Each week over one million viewers of all ages watched Avatar. It won several awards during its run and garnered praise from viewers and critics alike. Alas, all good stories come to an end, and when Avatar: The Last Airbender’s end came in July 2008, over 5.6 million viewers tuned in for the two-hour series finale.
The appeal of this series wasn’t lost on M. Night Shyamalan. He took on the mantle of directing the film adaptation, titled The Last Airbender. Tentatively a trilogy, The Last Airbender is currently filming with a slated release in 2010, and is penned, along with Shyamalan, by the series creators DiMartino and Konietzko. Other encouraging names attached to production are Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy as producers (the team that brought us such films as Indiana Jones, The Spiderwick Chronicles, The Sixth Sense, Arachnophobia, Back to the Future, The Goonies, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and roughly six dozen more) and special effects by Industrial Light & Magic. The teaser trailer for the film was just posted and I was so excited after watching it that I’m ready to dash over to Amazon.com to buy the DVD box set (my son and I missed the last half of the third season and series finale as we spent the summer camping). I am really looking forward to this coming out. It looks amazing and, with the team that’s working on it, I can’t imagine it being anything less then great.
Check out these other related links:
The Last Airbender on IMDb
The Last Airbender YouTube Channel
Avatar: The Last Airbender Nickelodeon Website
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 1 Collection DVD
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 2 Collection DVD
Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Complete Book 3 Collection DVD
Heaven couldn’t be a phone bank, could it?
Charlotte Usher discovers that the afterlife isn’t quite what she pictured when she’s forced to intern at a hotline for troubled teens. Before she can officially cross over, she’ll have to be a source of guidance for one such teen. The problem is she doesn’t have much advice to offer since dying hasn’t exactly boosted her confidence level.
But when Hawthorne High’s leading, love-to-hate cheerleader Petula and her gothic little sis’ Scarlet find themselves suddenly resting-in-peace in comas, Charlotte’s opportunity to save them will prove to be the risk of a lifetime — for all of them.
Official Website: ghostgirl.com
from Chris McVeigh:
Star Wars spills into the chipmunk universe!
The critters you see in these pics are wild chipmunks that live in my folk’s backyard. Using a few simple techniques, I was able to get them to socialize with us on a regular basis (and certain chipmunks would even come to the yard when I whistled.) Each of them were quite comical and very easy to get along with, as you can probably tell from these pictures.
And in case there is any doubt, I want to assure you that these pictures are real and not clever composites made in Photoshop. Chipmunks can be very easy to get along with, once you’ve taken the time to befriend them. 😀
Chris’ Flickr Photostreams:
flickr.com/photos/powerpig/
flickr.com/photos/powerpigsetups/
Follow Chris on Twitter: ActionFigured
Featured Articles at StarWars.com:
Chipmunk Trooper Whisperer (October 14, 2008)
Chewie Meets Chipmunk (May 6, 2009)
Article at Telegraph.co.uk:
Star Wars figures and chipmunks by Chris McVeigh
from Squishable:
Hello Folks!
If you were wrestling in a tub of jello-flavored news, you wouldn’t want it to be grimy, grainy news… you’d want it to be Squishy News! Alright, that was a little lame, but it’s ’cause I’m so excited to tell you our news! And here it is:
1) We’ve got two new Squishables! Yes, indeed!
Squishable Bat — What could be cooler than a bat? Can I fly on cute little bat wings? Can I save the world from dangerous bugs? No. Bats are cooler than I am.
Squishable Devil — Who wouldn’t want to hug a symbol of supreme moral ambiguity? I know I would!
2) Eco-Koala Understudy — Hug with caution. Just one squeeze and you will spend the next three days saying “Awwww” and staring dreamily into space. We warned you. Incidentally, he’s made of soy and stuffed with a renewal rain forest crop.
3) Squishable and Squishable Understudy restocks! Please stop protesting outside our door — the following animals are back in stock:
Squishable Raccoon, Squishable Shark, Squishable Whale, Squishable Elephant, Squishable Hippo, Squishable Rhino, Eco-Lemur Understudy, and Eco-Otter Understudy
4) The great Squishable Summer Video Contest! — Show off those nifty video skills (you know you’ve got ’em) to win a free Squishy and a $50 donation to your favorite charity. Free stuff! Charity! Niftiness!
5) And don’t forget, for every picture we receive of you and your Squishable this month for our gallery, we’ll donate a buck to Autism Speaks! Come on, we all could use the the good karma. Send ’em to hugme@squishable.com.
Incidentally, do you need a break from scary, serious news? Then follow us on Twitter! Oh, go on.
That’s it. Thanks folks!
Zoe and Aaron
Squishable.com
from ElfQuest:
At long last, today I tackled a project I’ve been putting off (it seems) forever. And that is, gathering up every news item and posting I could find, wherever they might lurk on the Elfquest.com site, and putting them all into chronological order on one page.
Why?
Because people have been asking (begging, pleading, hounding) for news about the EQ movie project ever since we first announced its first incarnation in 1981. Now, with the option at Warner Bros. and the development further than it’s ever been, I realized that many people STILL aren’t nearly aware of the long path the elves have been on, getting to the big screen. All the puzzle pieces of information have been on the Elfquest site, but some have been in “news”, some in “editorials,” and others scattered who knows where.
Now they are all in one place, from oldest to newest. Which also makes it easy to update the one page whenever we DO have something to add!
The reformatted page is here:
http://elfquest.com/news/Movie3.html
and is also accessible from the home page by simply clicking on the “EQ Got Movie!” image top and center.
Shade and sweet organization,
Richard Pini AKA Elfpop
from “Weird Al” Yankovic:
My new single “Craigslist” is out today. In case you haven’t heard it yet (SPOILER ALERT!) it’s an original song in the style of The Doors about… well… Craigslist.
To explain some of the pictures that I’ve been tweeting… last month I drove up to Sausalito to visit a recording studio owned by Jerry Harrison (Talking Heads, Modern Lovers)… where I recorded the keyboard parts for “Craigslist” with original Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek! It was quite a thrill and an honor to work with Ray. We spent that afternoon eating Mounds bars and guacamole and listening to Ray tell stories about his recent South American tour — it was amazing.
Anyway, back to present day… As I always implore you, if you’re at all inclined to buy this single, please do it this week — it’d be so cool to get this thing to chart. We came THIS CLOSE to getting “Whatever You Like” on the Billboard chart (and I’m certain we would have done it if our release date hadn’t been bungled)… but since this new single is available at all the digital retailers simultaneously, I think it’s got a real shot. And by the way, I just checked — none of my “original” songs have ever cracked the Billboard Hot 100. So if enough people (legally) download “Craigslist” — and it actually charts next week — well, that would be a career first and a real personal accomplishment for me. (Maybe someday people will even stop asking, “Hey, did you ever think about writing your own songs?”) Anyway, if you’ve got a buck and change just lying around somewhere not doing anything — please consider giving it to iTunes or one of those other fine Internet portals that sells mp3s.
And of course the “Craigslist” video is out as well. Liam Lynch did an amazing job directing it. We wanted to create something which looked like the kind of typical low-budget music video that The Doors themselves might have made in the 60’s — lots of random, psychedelic stock footage… and me in leather pants trying to look like a smoldering, damaged poet. You can buy it on iTunes, or just watch it for free on YouTube… heck, you can even watch it in HD!
And oh yeah, I’m doing a live chat on Twitter and Ustream just a little bit later today. I’ll be on from 5PM to 6PM Pacific time (8PM to 9PM Eastern). You can watch the broadcast just by clicking on this Ustream link… you don’t have to sign up for anything or do anything. BUT… if you want to participate and ask questions, you have to be signed up on Twitter. Just tweet me a question with the hashtag #WeirdAl at the end of it. That way it’ll show up on my screen — and perhaps I’ll answer it! We’ll see how this goes today… if my head doesn’t explode by the end of it, maybe I’ll do these broadcasts for the rest of the Internet Leak releases as well.
Okay, I’m done promoting myself now. Thanks for listening!
Al
from “Weird Al” Yankovic:
My new video “Craigslist” is now up on YouTube… in glorious HD!
Weird Al’s homage to The Doors, featuring Ray Manzarek himself on keyboards. Video directed by Liam Lynch.
from “Weird Al” Yankovic:
Tomorrow (June 16) from 5PM to 6PM Pacific time, I’ll be answering your questions live on Ustream! Just tweet me a question and add #WeirdAl to the end of it (yes, you must have a Twitter account).
from “Weird Al” Yankovic:
June 16 is almost here! This Tuesday, the first of four brand new originals songs will be released digitally (available at iTunes and… you know, all the usual places). The name of the song is “Craigslist.”
There will be a music video for “Craigslist” as well, also released on Tuesday. It was shot by my friend Liam Lynch (who directed Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny and Sarah Silverman: Jesus is Magic and is also responsible for those wonderful Lynchland podcasts). It’s a live-action video — my first since “White & Nerdy.” But lower your expectations — “White & Nerdy” had a huge budget, and “Craigslist” had a miniscule one. We shot it in Liam’s garage. I’m not even kidding. As it turns out, though, the “low budget” vibe happens to dovetail well with the concept of the video, so don’t worry, it all works out fine.
If you just can’t wait till the 16th to see this thing, AOL will be doing a world premiere of the “Craigslist” video tomorrow. (Unless they change their minds at the last minute and pull the plug on it like they did with “White & Nerdy.”) So check with AOL for all the details on the sneak peek!
BTW, also on Tuesday the 16th I’ll be doing a live online chat via Twitter and Ustream. I’ll be answering your questions from 5PM to 6PM Pacific time (8PM to 9PM Eastern). Details to come… but in the meantime, make sure you’re following me!
Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s the promo clip for AlsBrain.com.
Hope you like the new song & video!
Al