Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ - "Join the Battle"

Twisted Disney Princesses

In a dark light...

• This twisted Disney Princess art by illustrator Jeffrey Thomas is both disturbingly beautiful and awesomely bad-ass. The Disney princesses have never been seen in this dark light before, but it sure looks fantastic! Its very easy to see hardcore heroines through the lens of a Disney Marvel mash-up. But the truth is, this art was done before Disney even bought out Marvel. So, enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New DC Nation Clips & Stills: “Beware the Batman”

Warner Bros. Animation has released the following clips, stills, and plot synopses from upcoming new DC Nation programming, set to premiere on Cartoon Network starting this weekend on September 14, 2013. All times listed Eastern/Pacific. The next new DC Nation short will be Aardman’s “DC’s Worlds Funnest,” premiering on the Saturday, September 14, 2013, block at 10:00 AM, but no clips or stills were provided.

BEWARE THE BATMAN

“Allies”
Premieres September 14, 2013, at 9:00 AM (Central)

Girl versus Grizzly

The age old question of who will win: the Girl or the Grizzly? We put it to the test to find our answer.

At 3:27  "He's picking the lock! He's picking the lock!"

‘The Legend of Korra’ Season 2

Starts Friday, September 13, 2013

at 6:00 pm (CT) on Nickelodeon
Bringing the long, un-bendable wait to an end!

 "Yahoo!"

Though the official panel at San Diego Comic-Con revealed the news that The Legend of Korra season 2 (entitled ‘Book 2: Spirits’) would debut in September, no specific release date was announced at that time. The show’s first season officially aired from April through June of last year, and ever since, devoted fans have (sometimes literally) been waiting on the edge of their seats for the Legend of Korra season 2 release date.

The Legend of Korra season 2 promises not to disappoint. A trailer for the season was released at San Diego Comic-Con, and contains so many exciting elements (Desperate battles! Communion with past Avatars! Waterfall slides!) that it’s hard to decide which part makes us most excited.

Watch the new trailer for The Legend of Korra season 2 here:

The Legend of Korra season 2 will also introduce several intriguing new characters to Korra’s world. Fans will meet Korra’s extended family for the first time, which includes her imperious uncle Unalaq and impassive twin cousins Desna and Eska. In addition, a specially-designed flashback episode will introduce fans to Wan, the very first Avatar, who will be voiced by Steven Yuen of The Walking Dead.

Delayed Gratification

Cookie Monster Learns a Lesson

from Tom Hiddleston

LG Meteor Prank

You won't believe what the new LG technology, Ultra HD can do. Welcome to the Ultra Reality of LG. Unsuspecting people expecting to be interviewed for a job instead encounter the realistic quality of the new LG flat-screen TV.

New Robocop

Robocop gets rebooted in this big-screen MGM production from director José Padilha. The picture will once again surround a slain police officer (played by The Killing's Joel Kinnaman) who gets resurrected as a crime-fighting cyborg until memories of his previous life begin to make him doubt his corrupt corporate overlords. Gary Oldman co-stars as the doctor who suffers a crisis-of-conscience after bringing life back to the man in the form of a mechanical body and reprogrammed brain, while Samuel L. Jackson plays a larger-than-life media mogul.

Star Trek crew watches Miley Cyrus twerking

What strange new world have we discovered? Arm photon torpedoes!

Terry Gilliam's Best Film Since 'Brazil'

"The Zero Theorem"

• THE ZERO THEOREM revolves around an eccentric and reclusive computer genius (two-time Oscar winner Christoph Waltz) plagued with existential angst who works on a mysterious project aimed at discovering the purpose of existence ­or the lack thereof­ once and for all. However, it is only once he experiences the power of love and desire that he is able to understand his very reason for being.

• [Source: SlashFilms] Terry Gilliam‘s new film The Zero Theorem stars Christoph Waltz as a nervous, put-upon data processing agent who is looking for a mathematical explanation of existence. He’s also waiting for the most important phone call of his life, and fending off distraction from an attractive woman sent to him by the Management. 
• If you think that all sounds like quintessential Terry Gilliam you’re very likely correct. The first trailer and footage shown at Comic Con make the film out to be connected — spiritually, at least — to Gilliam’s film Brazil. And with every photo released (such as the one above) we get new glimpses of the director’s odd and rather pessimistic vision of the future… or the present. 
• Now we’ve got the first poster for the film, which you can see below. There’s also a statement from Gilliam about his intentions. Finally, and even better, you can watch the video introduction the director recorded for Comic Con. It’s a great video intro from the director in which his personality really shines through. (And in which he insists and confirms, comically, that Matt Damon is in the movie.) 
• Here’s Gilliam’s video intro, which makes a good companion to his text explanation that follows.

 

The following text comes via The Film Stage: 

• When I made Brazil in 1984, I was trying to paint a picture of the world I thought we were living in then.  The Zero Theorem is a glimpse of the world I think we are living in now. 
• Pat Rushin’s script intrigued me with the many pertinent questions raised in his funny, philosophic, and touching tale.  
• For example: What gives meaning to our lives, brings us happiness? Can we ever find solitude in an increasingly connected, constricted world? Is that world under control or simply chaotic? 
• We’ve tried to make a film that is honest, funny, beautiful, smart and surprising; a simple film about a complex modern man waiting for a call to give meaning to his life; about inescapable relationships and the longing for love; peopled with captivating characters, mouthfuls of wise and witty dialogue; raising questions without offering easy answers.  Hopefully, it’s unlike any film you have seen recently; no zombies, no caped crusaders, no aliens or gigantic explosions.  Actually, I might have lied about that last item.  
• Having not worked with a budget this small for several decades, I was forced to work fast and instinctively, pressured only by the lack of time and money.  We relied on the freedom to spin on a dime, to make outrageous creative leaps. The results surprised even me.  I’m proud to have been part of The Zero Theorem. 
• 
  

Frederik Pohl passes away at 93 years old

Frederick Pohl
(1919 - 2013)
"And now who will take me to the stars 
when I sleep at night?"

• [Source: Syfy.com; by Trent Moore] After spending almost a century helping shape the genre of science fiction, legendary writer and editor Frederik Pohl, 93, passed away on Monday, September 2, 2013. He cut his teeth editing groundbreaking genre fare like Super Science Stories and Astonishing Stories in the early 1940s. He also edited Galaxy and If for most of the 1960s, along with numerous other books.
• 
  But, he’s likely best know for his original works — including the short story Day Million, the award-winning 1977 novel Gateway and his numerous collections of short stories and novellas. He leaves behind a treasure trove for sci-fi fans to rediscover, and hopefully he’ll keep inspiring for years to come.
• 
  Pohl also racked up numerous Hugo Awards, Nebula Awards, the Campbell Memorial Award and the National Book Award during his decades of work.
  

• He talked about what got him interested in science fiction in a great interview with Locus Magazine in 2009. Check out an excerpt below:
  

  “Then, some time later, someone else left one of the early copies of Astounding Stories around. That had 'Manape the Mighty' as the cover story: this King Kong-like creature doing something terrible to a girl. That led me to believe if there were two there had to be more, and I went to a second-hand magazine store and looked around and found lots of them. Then I discovered there were SF books in the public library -- not very many in the children's section, but there were some. And at 12 I discovered that one of my classmates also had one of those things, so we became fans.
  In the early days, we science fiction readers were like cellar Christians: they didn't talk to anybody else because everybody else laughed at them, but they kept running into each other. Mostly they were writing letters to each other, all over the country -- all over the world, actually. I had pen pals in France and England, although I had hardly ever been out of Brooklyn.”

  In honor of Pohl, and to show anyone who might not be familiar with his work how great he was, the following clips are of Pohl reading one of his most famous stories, with some nice editing sprinkled in to help accent his stark voice:
  

Japanese Dino Prank

[Source: io9] Japan has just raised the bar on pranks forever. There's putting buckets of water above doorstops, filling someone's cubicle with packing peanuts, and now there's making people think they are being chased by an actual velociraptor. Seriously, if your prank doesn't involve the prankee either 1) having a heart attack or 2) wetting themselves in abject fear, then you might as well go straight back to the drawing board.

KILL LA KILL - New Fall Anime

KILL LA KILL 

"Will you kill? Or will you be killed?"

This October anime reunites several production staff members from Gurren Lagann: director Hiroyuki Imaishi, series script supervisor/writer Kazuki Nakashima, character designer Sushio (key animator/animation director on Gurren Lagann), and the animation studio Trigger (co-founded by several former Gurren Lagann staffers).

The story is set on a high school that Satsuki Kiryūin rules by force. Ryūko Matoi, a transfer student wielding a giant Basami scissors sword, brings about upheaval on the campus. 

 Ryūko Matoi, teen miscreant, troublemaker, heroine

Satsuki Kiryūin, High School Ruler

Second-year student Mako Mankanshoku

Mysterious young man Aikurō Mikisugi

 Exercise Club control committee chair Uzu Sanageyama

Intelligence Strategy Club committee chair Hōka Inumuta

Public Morals Club committee chair Ira Gamagōri

Culture Club control committee chair Nonon Jakuzure

MacrossWorld Con - October 5, 2013

Guests: Singer Mari Iijima, Artist Hidetaka Tenjin

[Source: AnimeNewsNetwork] The official Facebook page for the MacrossWorld convention announced on Thursday that illustrator Hidetaka Tenjin will be attending the October 5 event in Torrance, California. The announcement follows the previous news that singer and voice actress Mari Iijima will return to the convention for another year.

Despite having no formal art training, Tenjin began garnering fans in college when he posted his Macross fan artwork on his personal website. That attracted the attention of the Macross creators — including the designer of the anime's Valkyries, Shoji Kawamori — and Tenjin began illustrating model kit boxes for not just Macross, but also Gundam, VOTOMS, Patlabor, and other mecha classics. He also illustrated games such as Gradius V and became the main artist for new art in Macross Chronicle and Space Battleship Yamato Fact File, the definitive resources for those two science-fiction series.

Eventually, he began working directly in anime as a visual and special effects artist, particulary for works from Kawamori's studio Satelight. His credits include Macross Zero, Macross Frontier, Hellsing Ultimate, Gundam Evolve, the Saint Seiya movie, and Genesis of Aquarion.

Iijima is known for playing Lynn Minmay in both the Japanese and English dub versions of The Super Dimension Fortress Macross science-fiction anime series. She also contributed songs to later Macross projects and had her own independent music career. Her debut album, Rosé, was produced by composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. In 2006, Iijima returned to Macross to reprise her role as Lynn Minmay in the English dub. In doing so, Iijima made history by becoming one of the first Japanese voice actresses to reprise a major role in the English dub of a Japanese anime. Iijima currently lives in Los Angeles.

Otakon 2013: Studio MAPPA Panel

Masao Maruyama & Studio MAPPA Q&A

[Source: ToonZone] Perennial Otakon guest Masao Maruyama returned to the convention once again in 2013 to do several Q&A sessions. This panel in particular centered on his work with his new production studio, MAPPA.  The panel opened with a total of three videos, two of which I can talk about: a tribute to the late Satoshi Kon that had only been previously shown at Mr. Kon’s funeral and a video made as a tribute to survivors of the 2011 earthquake. The video tribute to Mr. Kon was very moving and the tribute to the earthquake survivors just as much so, in part due to a story that Mr. Maruyama related to the audience afterward.  His family is from one of the areas greatly affected by the earthquake.  His hometown was heavily damaged and his family home was actually washed away in the tsunami that came after the earthquake, so being part of this production was very important to him.  The second video also included music composed by Ms. Yoko Kano that was as beautiful as the video itself.

Mr. Maruyama was very gracious in answering a wide range of question about himself and his studio.  When asked about his time at Mushi Pro studios, Mr. Maruyama said that he started there right after Astro Boy (aka Tetsuwan Atom) first started airing and the anime industry was very much in its infancy.  The studio did not have very many resources to use, so taking a chance on a weekly animated television show was a very big gamble at a time when the only anime that existed was a couple of theatrical films. When Mr. Maruyama started he did not know much about the animation industry, but working with such exemplary talents as Rintaro, Isaburo, Tomino and Dezaki it turned out to be a very adventurous time and an adventurous 50 years.  With the passing of several of the giants on anime is recent years Mr. Maruyama said that directors like Senichi Sato, Shinichiro Wantanabe and several others would be worth keeping an eye on in the future.

One of the audience members had an interesting question on the possibility of crowd-funding with a tool like Kickstarter in light of Studio Trigger’s recent success with this.  Mr. Maruyama was happy to hear that studios are able to raise funding that way. When a follow-up question was asked on the subject, he said that MAPAA would possibly consider a project funded by crowd-funding if it was the right kind of project.  MAPAA does have some projects that they would like to produce but don’t have funding for right now, as well as several that are going to be debuting on Japanese television in the next year.

Mr. Maruyama was previously part of Studio Madhouse.  When asked why he left Madhouse, Maruyama said that the studio had gotten too big for some of the projects that he wanted to do and that it had gotten very difficult to get anyone to work on certain projects, so he decided it was better for him to start up a new studio that would work on the kinds of things he wants to work on now.  MAPPA has been expanding recently with some new staffers, and Mr. Maruyama is very happy to have had the chance to renew himself this far into his career. He hopes that in 10 years he’d be able to shut down MAPPA and start all over again if he wanted to, but given that he is 72 now that may not be in the cards.

MAPPA has done a variety of different projects so far including the very richly animated Kids On The Slope and the much more basic TQ, which in and of itself is Japanese slang for low-quality as well as Tennis (or Courtyard Ball).  For TQ, They specifically wanted to make a low-quality animation show rather than doing something very high quality like Kids on the Slope.  Several of MAPPA’s projects have been simulcast in both Japan and the USA simultaneously and while MAPAA itself doesn’t control distribution (the project’s sponsors do), Mr. Maruyama is happy to see more people enjoying what he works on.  He also hopes that the anime industry will continue to grow and have room for both up-and-coming creators and the old guard.  Finishing with another question about crowd-funding, Maruyama said that a lot of the younger creators have trouble finding ways to fund their projects. He also quipped that if anyone wants to start up a Maruyama fund on Kickstarter he will do whatever you want him to do, possibly including coming to your house and cleaning the bathroom.

Hayao Miyazaki Retires From Making Feature Films

[Source: NHK] Studio Ghibli President Koji Hoshino announced on Sunday that studio founder and world-renowned anime filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki will "retire from the production of feature-length films." The announcement was made during a press conference at Italy's Venice Film Festival, one of the three most prestigious film festivals in the world.

The most recent feature film of the 72-year-old director, The Wind Rises (Kaze Tachinu), has been playing in theaters in Japan since July 20. The film was nominated in the competitive program at the Venice Film Festival, which is running from August 28 to September 7. Ghibli's announcement does not rule out the possibility of Miyazaki working on shorter projects or other endeavors.

Miyazaki rose to prominence in the 1970s on such television anime series as Lupin III, Future Boy Conan, and Sherlock Hound. He directed his first feature film, Lupin III: The Castle of Cagliostro, in 1979. He then adapted the beginning of his Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind manga into an anime film in 1984, before he and fellow director Isao Takahata founded Studio Ghibli.

With Ghibli, Miyazaki helmed the feature films Laputa: Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Kiki's Delivery Service, Porco Rosso, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo, and finally, The Wind Rises. He also co-produced Takahata's directorial efforts and directed smaller projects such as the "experimental film" On Your Mark and Ghibli Museum Shorts such as Mei and the Kitten Bus and Mr. Dough and the Egg Princess.

In an interview on Japanese television channel TBS's Ō-sama no Brunch program, Miyazaki revealed that he is open to the possibility of a Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind film sequel. However, he would leave such a hypothetical project in the hands of Nausicaä key animator and Evangelion director Hideaki Anno. Anno collaborated with Miyazaki and Ghibli on "Kyoshinhei Tokyo ni Arawaru" (Giant God Warrior Appears in Tokyo), last year's live-action tokusatsu (special-effects) short, and he then voiced the lead role in Miyazaki's The Wind Rises.

Anohana the Movie

Theaters in Japan, August 31, 2013

In the wake of an incident in their childhood, six good friends drifted apart. One summer day, their friend who died in the incident showed up in front of them. However, she didn't remember why she came back. The friends gather to find out the reason, and the time that stopped begins to move gradually again. Why did she come back? This is the strange summer experience that she gave. It's been a year since then. The friends, now grown up, begin to move forward.

Avengers 2 Villain Revealed

James Spader Cast as Lead Villain Ultron 

in 'Avengers' Sequel

Good news for James Spader – the quirky character actor is coming back in a big way as one of Marvel's ultimate villains.

Spader has just landed the title role in "The Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron," the upcoming sequel to 2012's record-setting superhero jamboree.

Ultron is an evil robot that can travel through time and uses his talents to change the present so he can have the upper hand in the future.

But, departing from the comic, writer-director Joss Whedon plans to strip some of Ultron's powers for the upcoming film. "I knew right away what I wanted to do with him," Whedon recently told Entertainment Weekly. "He's always trying to destroy the Avengers, godd--- it, he’s got a bee in his bonnet. He's not a happy guy, which means he’s an interesting guy. He’s got pain. And the way that manifests is not going to be standard robot stuff. So we’ll take away some of those powers because at some point everybody becomes magic."

Spader's Ultron will be making trouble for Marvel's costumed heroes in the movie, including Iron Man, The Hulk, Captain America, and Thor. However, since Ultron is entirely mechanical, it remains to be seen if Spader will be on set in a suit, interacting with his fellow cast members, or if he'll be providing the voice for a CGI creation. So far, Marvel and Disney haven't weighed in on the matter.

Whedon first revealed that Ultron would be the main villain in the "Avengers" sequel during his appearance at San Diego Comic-Con in July. And that Spader will be playing a less powerful Ultron, this should give fans plenty of room to speculate on how the writer-director will approach the character, given Spader's ability to play bad guys who are at once charming and a little creepy.

After rising to fame as a Brat Packer in 1986's "Pretty In Pink" and 1987's "Less Than Zero" (where he played opposite his new nemesis, Iron Man Robert Downey Jr.), Spader wowed critics in the 1989 independent drama "Sex, Lies and Videotape," and developed a reputation for nailing offbeat roles, such as a man obsessed with car wrecks in 1996's "Crash" and the kinky businessman in 2002's "Secretary."

After a long run on the TV series "Boston Legal," Spader seemed to stumble as Robert California, the obtuse idea man who took over for Michael Scott on "The Office" (he was one of the few characters from the series who didn't pop in for the show's grand finale). But Spader impressed audiences and critics last year with a showy role in Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," and with a new TV series, "The Blacklist," debuting in September.

With "The Avengers 2: The Age of Ultron" on the horizon, it seems safe to say that James Spader is making a late-in-his-career comeback.

"The Avengers: Age of Ultron" is slated to open in theaters on May 1, 2015, while "The Blacklist" premiers on NBC September 23, 2013.

Cool Fan Trailer for Superman vs Batman Movie

 What would it be like to have

Ben Affleck as Batman and

Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor? 

 

Bryan Cranston as Lex Luthor!

 

It appears Bryan Cranston has signed a 6 picture deal to play as Lex Luthor in the upcoming DC movies!