Archive for the 'News' Category
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Published on
April 1, 2009 in
News.
- Earlier this week, a source who works with Robert Pattinson on the Vancouver set of “Twilight” revealed the actor’s dirty little secret to the world. He doesn’t bathe. “He stinks. I mean, it’s awful. He never showers, and it drives people on the set crazy,” the source said of Pattinson’s personal hygiene. Pattinson confirmed in an interview that he rarely washes his hair or cleans his apartment, not seeing the reason for either. No comment was given on the rest of his hygienic practices.
- A deal with Universal and Imagine Entertainment could bring Ron Howard to Image Comics’ The Adventures of H. P. Lovecraft. The upcoming comic being released April 9th shows the nightmares and creatures of H.P Lovecraft unleashed upon the world. If the movie does well, it could pave the way for Guillermo Del Toro’s “Mountain of Madness”.
- An early rough cut version of 20th Century Fox’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which opens May 1, has leaked online, exactly one month before the opening.
- Andy Hallett, who starred as Lorne (“the Host”) on the TV series Angel, died of heart failure last night at age 33, according to his longtime agent and friend Pat Brady. The actor passed away at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles after a five-year battle with heart disease, with his father Dave Hallett by his side.
- As Paramount Pictures readies the May 8 release of its “Star Trek” franchise relaunch, the studio is moving forward with a sequel, and has hired Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof to pen the screenplay. J.J. Abrams, who directed and produced the latest chapter, is onboard to produce the follow-up alongside his Bad Robot partner Bryan Burk. No decision has been made yet on whether Abrams will return behind the camera for the sequel.
- Alyson Hannigan was given a special gift on her 35th birthday: Her first-born child. The actress and husband Alexis Denisof welcomed baby Satyana into the world on March 24, meaning mother and daughter will share the special anniversary.
- Jolt Online Gaming has launched their free-to-play browser-based adventure game, Legends of Zork. You’re an out of work salesperson for FrobozzCo International who ventures out into the wilds to earn fame and fortune hunting monsters, solving puzzles, or defeating your fellow players in the arena.
- The Donkey Kong monster truck is looking a little worse for wear these days after the Monster Jam World Finals. As a note to the novice drivers out there, it’s generally not a good idea to keep driving after one of your wheels falls off. It’s also not a good idea to try and get some air after one of your wheels falls off.
Published on
March 25, 2009 in
News.
- The name “Colbert” has beat out NASA’s four suggested options in the space agency’s effort to have the public help name the new addition to the International Space station launching later this year. Colbert urged viewers to write in his name. And with 230,539 votes that clobbered Serenity, one of the NASA choices, by more than 40,000 votes. Nearly 1.2 million votes were cast by the time the contest ended Friday. NASA reserves the right to choose an appropriate name. Agency spokesman John Yembrick said NASA will decide in April, but will give top vote-getters “the most consideration.”
- Mythbusters exploded 500 pounds of ammonium nitrate for an upcoming episode half a mile north of Woodland Avenue in Esparto, California, Friday afternoon. The explosion, caused by a quarter of the same material used in the Oklahoma City bombing, was large enough to be picked up as a “small event” ground tremor by National Geographical Survey sensors, said scientist David Oppenheimer. Most Esparto residents didn’t know the MythBusters were in the area let alone going to create such an explosion.
- On a cool spring eve, March 15th, 2009, a bat, crippled and wistful, clung to the Space Shuttle Discovery as it was thrust toward the great beyond. Bereft of his ability to fly and with nowhere to go, a courageous bat climbed aboard our Discovery with stars in his weak little eyes. The launch commenced, and Spacebat trembled as his frail mammalian body was gently pushed skyward. For the last time, he felt the primal joy of flight; for the first, the indescribable feeling of ascending toward his dream—a place far away from piercing screeches and crowded caves, stretching forever into fathomless blackness. Whether he was consumed in the exhaust flames or frozen solid in the stratosphere is of no concern. We know that Spacebat died, but his dream will live on in all of us.
- A Finnish computer programmer who lost one of his fingers in a motorcycle accident has made himself a prosthetic replacement with a 2 gig USB drive attached. The finger is not permanently attached to his hand, so it can be easily left plugged into a computer when in use. Mr Jalava says he is already thinking about upgrading the finger to include more storage and wireless technology.
- Kiefer Sutherland will be back to play Jack Bauer for an eighth season of the hit counter-terrorism drama “24,” but the show’s longevity will depend on its writers, the actor said Tuesday.
- A playwright is on the hunt for a Preston family who invited Doctor Who star Tom Baker into their home to watch an episode of the cult sci-fi series. The star arrived at their front door on November 13, 1976, as he was travelling back from a fan convention in Blackpool. He could not wait until his return to London to see the latest episode and so found himself sitting alongside a stunned family as they watched him on screen. Now, Scottish writer Simon Farquhar is researching the incident for a new production he is penning for the BBC, titled Teatime with Tom Baker, and is asking for the help of Evening Post readers.
- Cameron’s Avatar, due in December, could be the thing that forces theaters to convert to digital. Spielberg predicts it will be the biggest 3-D live-action film ever. More than a thousand people have worked on it, at a cost in excess of $200 million, and it represents digital filmmaking’s bleeding edge. Avatar is filmed in the old “Spruce Goose” hangar, the 16,000-sq.-ft. space where Howard Hughes built his wooden airplane. The film is set in the future, and most of the action takes place on a mythical planet, Pandora. The actors work in an empty studio; Pandora’s lush jungle-aquatic environment is computer-generated in New Zealand by Jackson’s special-effects company, Weta Digital, and added later.
- A Thai fireman turned superhero when he dressed up as comic-book character Spider-Man to coax a frightened special needs eight-year-old from a school balcony. The firefighter said he keeps the Spider-Man costume and an outfit of Japanese television character Ultraman at the station in order to liven up school fire drills.
- A mission by the town of Vulcan, southeast of Calgary, to beam in the new Star Trek movie on opening day May 8 appeared to have failed this week when Paramount Pictures said it couldn’t work out details. But now Spock himself, Leonard Nimoy has stepped in. “The people of my home planet of Vulcan are not happy about this. I won’t say they’re sad or upset because that would express emotion but they think it’s illogical that somehow Paramount could not arrange to get a screening of the movie up there in Vulcan,” he said, laughing.
Published on
March 11, 2009 in
News.
- Vin Diesel and David Twohy have been working so hard on the next The Chronicles of Riddick game that they forgot to mention the new Riddick film. Diesel says that around the release of the game they’ll have more information. All he could say currently was Twohy is finishing up the script.
- Ira Glass’ “This American Life” will be simulcast live to 400 screens for one night in April in a program that will include “a special musical performance” by Joss Whedon. The April 23 broadcast will originate from New York University’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. “This American Life – Live!” will be sent live via satellite at 8 pm EDT to more than 400 movie theaters and performing arts centers nationwide. The two-hour show, with the theme “Return to the Scene of the Crime,” will also include performances by Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia, David Rakoff and Dave Hill, plus a cartoon by Chris Ware. Tickets and a list of participating theaters are available at Fathom Events.
- Morena Baccarin, aka Inara from Firefly, will play a lead in the ABC re-imaging of the “V” mini-series. Baccarin will play Anna, the leader of the Visitors who is remarkably knowledgeable about human culture and media manipulation. Nina Dobrev has landed the lead in the CW’s drama pilot “Vampire Diaries.” and Eliza Coupe has been tapped for a lead in ABC’s comedy “No Heroics.” “Heroics” revolves around four B-list superheroes living among us. Coupe will play a bad girl who can turn invisible.
- There’s a rumor circulating that Warner Bros. is looking to replace Christian Bale in the next Dark Knight picture, with his Terminator co-star Sam Worthington. Highly doubtful.
- The Illinois State Senate has resolved that not only was Pluto’s 2006 downgrading to a dwarf planet unfair, but that they’re revoking it, and it will regain “full planetary status,” as awarded by the state. And that’s not all; March 13th has been officially designated “Pluto Day” in the state, to celebrate the date of the (dwarf) planet’s discovery in 1930.
- Director George Miller is returning to his most popular creation, Mad Max… but without star Mel Gibson. Or, for that matter, any live action actors at all; Miller’s new future vision is entirely animated.
- Hollywood production company 1492 has acquired the rights to blood-soaked comic Welcome to Hoxford, by renowned horror madman Ben “30 Days of Night” Templesmith. Welcome to Hoxford is about an asylum where all the most violent inmates wind up, but never leave. When a psychiatrist investigates, she discovers the asylum has been privatized by a mysterious corporation and won’t give up any information about its wards – even to their former doctors. Gradually, we discover that the asylum is being run by a pack of werewolves, whose lust for carnage matches the inmates’.
- Long-lost Doctor Who episodes thought to be hidden away in Zimbabwe may never be recovered because despot Robert Mugabe hates the UK. Zimbabwe is understood to have bought the first season of the show when it was still a British colony known as Rhodesia. Despite years of searching, the BBC is missing 108 of 752 episodes of the television classic.
- With Daredevil already getting the once over and Planet of the Apes also in the running for a new start with a prequel in the works, Fantastic Four is joining the reboot gang.
- The long running action/adventure franchise Power Rangers, which rose to unprecedented heights in the 1990s, will be coming to an end in it’s present live-action format. The decision will leave several New Zealand film, stunt, and effect crews out of work.
Published on
March 4, 2009 in
News.
- The British version of Stan Lee’s reality TV series Who Wants To Be A Superhero is under fire for sending many hopeful super-kids in tears. So far two children have broken down on camera when their characters were cut or “powered down. Not surprising for Channel 4, who has previously been accused of “corporate child abuse.”
- Former Wonder Woman Lynda Carter has given her blessing to Dollhouse’s Eliza Dushku to take on the satin tights and red boots of Wonder Woman if the movie ever happens.
- “Family Guy” will extend its full-episode “Star Wars” parodies to the third film in the George Lucas series, “Return of the Jedi.” The show’s cast completed a table read yesterday for a “Jedi” spoof script, which is tentatively titled “Episode VI: The Great Muppet Caper.”
- Daft Punk might be writing the original score for Tron 2.0, Disney’s sequel to the 1982 evil computer movie. Tron 2 will be directed by Joseph Kosinski, written by “Lost”‘s Eddie Kitsis and Adam Horowitz, and stars “House”‘s Olivia Wilde. Jeff Bridges will also reprise his original role as super genius Kevin Flynn.
- The words “Who Watches The Watchmen?” have begun to appear spray-painted on walls around New York City. There is no evidence that Warner Bros is paying underground street marketing teams to tag the catchphrase around the city.
- This year’s Belfast film festival has stirred up a minor controversy. A screening of 1974′s Flesh Gordon, an erotic spoof on Flash Gordon, will be accompanied by a live translation in broad Ulster-Scots from three local comedians. The event, titled Shockin’ly Spaiked O’er Smot (Badly Dubbed Porn) Live, has been criticized by some local politicians, who say funding should not have been handed over. Ulster-Scots is spoken by an estimated 35,000 people in Northern Ireland.
- British newspaper the Daily Mirror is reporting that the interior of Doctor Who’s tardis will be given “a radical new look” when the show returns for its fifth season in 2010. The decision was, according to the paper, made by incoming showrunner Stephen Moffat, in part to make sure that the time machine will look good in high-definition. An anonymous source told the paper that the new look will be “the most hitech, intricate Tardis ever”.
- After the recent rumors about Evangeline Lilly leaving ABC’s time-tossed island drama Lost and auditioning for fall pilots, the actress herself has spoken about the situation. Short version: Kate’s back on the island to stay.
- Starting this July, a new Magic the Gathering core set will be released every year, and each set will be named for the year after the year it comes out. Therefore, the July set will be called Magic 2010. Each core set will be tournament legal the day it comes out, but it will remain legal for 15 months. Half of each new core set will be made up of totally new cards. You can read the full official explanation from Aaron Forsythe at the official MtG site.
- ABC has decided to end the show “Life on Mars” but in an unusual move, the net will keep the show on the air through the end of its full run. That will give the series a rare opportunity to sign off with a proper finale, wrapping up the series’ core mystery. Network insiders said they were fans of the show and pleased with its creative chops but that the ratings ultimately didn’t warrant a second season.
Published on
February 25, 2009 in
News.
- Philip José Farmer, author of the Riverworld and The World of Tiers series, also known for writing as Kurt Vonnegut’s fictional author Kilgore Trout, passed away this morning in his sleep. He was 91.
- NASA is allowing the public to vote on the name for “Node 3″ of the International Space Station. As of right now, “Serenity” is dominating an open vote for Node 3′s new name. This ship from Joss Whedon’s short-lived show Firefly has 82% of the total vote, with second place going to Earthrise (with 7%).
- The Navy is giving away the first stealth ship ever built and comes with a submersible dry dock barge. The Sea Shadow was the inspiration for the stealth ship in James Bond: Tomorrow Never Dies and the Hughes Mining Barge was actually intended to salvage nuclear Russian subs from the ocean floor.
- Jagged mountains the size of the Alps have been found entombed in Antarctica’s ice, giving new clues about the vast ice sheet that will raise world sea levels if even a fraction of it melts. No word on sleeping Old Ones or Predator training grounds.
- Psi Phi Honorary members of the Wota workshop have created a functional mermaid tail for a double amputee so that she may swim about and appear as a mermaid. The suit was made mostly of wetsuit fabric and plastic moulds, and was covered in a digitally printed sock. Mermaid-like scales were painted by hand.
- The cast of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” is reuniting for an episode of “Family Guy,” that will air next month. In the episode titled “Not All Dogs Go to Heaven,” the “Next Gen” crew (Patrick Stewart, Levar Burton, Gates McFadden, Michael Dorn, Wil Wheaton, Denise Crosby, Marina Sirtis, Brent Spiner and Jonathan Frakes) will provide guest voices as the Griffin family heads to the annual Quahog “Trek” convention.
- CBS was in repeats. The CW was in repeats. ABC aired the “Women Tell All” special episode of “The Bachelor.” And yet despite mostly weak competition, NBC’s “Chuck” and “Heroes” generated their lowest ratings ever. However since NBC has little else to offer, the shows are not in too great danger.
- Rising from the brink of death after Stephen Chow backed out, the Green Hornet movie starring Seth Rogen has a new director Michel Gondry who directed “Please Be Kind Rewind” and “Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.”
- Julie Taymor’s stage musical “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark” is slated to open on Broadway next February. Opening night is scheduled for Feb. 18, 2010, at the Hilton Theatre. The show is to be co-written by Taymor and Glen Berger and directed by Taymor, who is best known for heading up the stage musical “Disney’s The Lion King.” The music and lyrics for “Spider-Man” are by Bono and The Edge from U2.
- A screenshot has hit the internet that shows a company email announcing that original Scream scribe Kevin Williamson has signed on to script a new trilogy of Scream films for The Weinstein Co. This is still a rumor but industry commentators expect a reboot is more likely than a continuation.
- The Buck Rogers revival officially kicks off in May with the release of the first issue of Dynamite’s new Buck comic. The first issue of the series – Buck Rogers #0 – is actually a 25-cent preview of the series proper, allowing curious readers a cheap way of sampling what the future holds for the revived hero.
- Sci-Fi Oscar winners this weekend were The Dark Knight with Best Sound Editing, and Heath Ledger getting Best Supporting Actor. Wall-E won best Animated Feature and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button won best Art Direction, Best Make-Up, and Best Visual Effects.
- Paris Hilton won 3 Razzies this year. Worst actress for “The Hottie and the Nottie,” supporting actress for “Repo! The Genetic Opera” and screen couple alongside either of her “Hottie” co-stars, Christine Lakin or Joel David Moore. With three Razzies, Hilton tied the record set last year by Eddie Murphy, who won worst actor, supporting actor and supporting actress for his multiple roles in “Norbit.”
- Samuel L. Jackson has buried the hatchet with Marvel Entertainment, making a deal to play the role of Nick Fury in Iron Man 2, and potentially many other films. Jackson’s deal is a long-term commitment to play the leader of the espionage unit S.H.I.E.L.D. His deal contains an option to play the character in nine future Marvel superhero films.