Tales From The Rat's Nest

The Arizona immigration law

2010-04-30T15:06:00.002-04:00

Re: the new Arizona illegal alien law. While I certainly believe that illegal means illegal and any people here illegally should be deported, I can see a LOT of legal aliens and even citizens being at least inconvenienced if not outright arrested for not having handy proof of citizenship on them at all times. This law wont stand legal challenge I'm sure, but it should force the federal Gov. to enact legislation that will, sooner rather than later. Whether or not that future law has any teeth or is just a "come and get it" pass for even more people to enter the country illegally remains to be seen. No politician on either side really wants the flow of cheap exploitable labor to stop, regardless of thier public stance. They are merely mouthing the words that the more extreme sides of thier party want to hear.

Before anyone starts to scream "racist" make sure you read what I said carefully. I have no problem whatsoever with people that follow the correct channels and enter this country with visas and work permits. If they like it here I welcome them and wish them luck in thier bid for citizenship; this is a great country and all legal immigrants should be able to strive towards being a citizen here. But we all need to follow the law, a person that flaunts it once to enter illegally is likely to flaunt it many times while here. The need for many false documents and the fraud associated with being here illegally supports a huge criminal industry and is a drain on our taxes and resources. It strains the resources of local law enforcement and adds to federal costs as well. So before we all take sides, let's stop and think about the issue like rational adults. There has to be a better way, a way that works to keep illegals out but does not discriminate against legal aliens and citizens that are of any ethnicity. remember, there are illegals here that come from European countries and other mostly white/black countries. How can we tell if they are here illegally when they apear as American as you or I? We can't. So the only real way to secure our borders is tighter control of entry. Add to that an actual willingness to deport those found here illegally, heavy fines for bussinesses found to be using illegals and maybe we can curb the rush to come here illegally. I don't know, but there has to be a better way.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News, MMORPG Edition

2009-08-01T11:47:00.003-04:00

Raised on a steady diet of comic books, you grew up to be an unstable lunatic, whose wacky ambitions are only matched by your delusions of grandeur. You're too crafty to get caught, otherwise you'd certainly be locked away in the loony bin!

Take the quiz!

Yup, I'm most like Foxbat, no big surprise there.

So, thanks to my on again off again job at Gamestop, I'm in the closed beta for Champions on-line. Mostly because no one there was interested in it and I was the only one that wanted the key. This is the second beta I've participated in, the first being Star Wars on-line, meh.

Some of you will know I was a City of Heroes player since launch, with a couple of lengthy hiatuses. This game is, of course, produced by the same company, Cryptic. I've played one long night and got a mystical energy-blaster/healer to level 11 and teamed up for a bit to see how it worked. So far I like it a lot, and I've experienced only minor beta-type problems that didn't effect game play whatsoever. Due to the NDA, I'm not at liberty to say much ATM. If you want to know more specifics, well, the forum over there is full of chatter.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News Epi 18

2009-06-14T13:33:00.003-04:00

Hey all, Verm here with a quick bit of buzz about a little retro-cool sci-fi flick that all true nerdlings need to support that came out Friday, June 12. The movie is called Moon and it's one and only character, Sam Bell, is played by Sam Rockwell, who you may know from such films as The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy where he played Zaphod Beeblebrox and Galaxy Quest where he played Guy Fleegman, the nervous "redshirt" crewman.

Moon is about a Helium-3 miner under a three year contract on the moon. Helium-3 has become the leading source of energy on Earth and there are mining outposts dotted around the moon extracting it from the rock. It seems to be a largely automated affair with an AI and one crewman running the entire operation at each widely spaced outpost. The suspense kicks in when, with only 2 weeks left on his contract Sam's health has been deteriorating and he's in an accident. He awakes back at base to find a younger him has rescued him. The question is, well, who, why, what and all that jazz. So suspense and deep internal probing are the theme of this movie, along with a lot of interesting takes on moon mining and solitary survival.

The work on this movie is very old school with tons of model work and sets and minimal CG. So it looks like Silent Running, 2001 and original Star Wars. Which is a good thing. Unfortunately it's an independent film and is only going to be in limited release, so if it's showing in your area, go see it! Maybe it will get a wider release if it gets a good response.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 17

2008-08-17T19:01:00.006-04:00

You gotta love a guy that doesn't take himself too seriously. I'm not totally sure yet if Babylon AD is going to rock or suck ass, but if good ole Vin Diesel can put his stamp on a funky little piece of viral marketing like this then I gotta say that there's hope for it. Thanks goes to those nuts at Twitch for the embed.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 16

2008-08-16T12:28:00.008-04:00

Just a cool site that a friend turned me on to, whether she knows it or not.

xkcd

The above cartoon is awesomeness in it's most concentrated form.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 15

2008-08-06T15:14:00.002-04:00

Roadents

OMG. So funny.

From Crackle: The Roadents: Season 2 Episode 5

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 14

2008-08-04T18:36:00.003-04:00

Well, I know I said last week that I'd be back 3-5 times a week, but I've been lax. Sue me.

Anyway, the movie I'm about to clue you in on is a bit off the beaten path as far as nerdlinger news goes, but I believe that it will fit in well with our world, given a chance.

Back in my youth, I went to see a movie starring a newly hot Michael Pare'. Sadly, he didn't stay hot much longer after it. The year was 1984 and the movie was Streets of Fire, a rock and roll fable. Now, being a fable, it had all the right elements; a hero newly returned from the war, a former love trying to make it alone while forgetting her hero; a villian interested in both the girl and the hero; even some comedy relief in the form of a group of minstrals trying to make it big. The soundtrack that included songs by Jim Stienman, Tom Petty, Ry Cooder and The Fixx doesn't hurt at all.

In short, I loved this movie, saw it twice and bought the cassette tape.

Well, according to the guys at AICN, there's a sequel in the works. Starring Pare' and at least one other star from the original. With returning characters. Wow. We can only hope that the music will stand up. Perhaps Stienman will do a couple of tunes?

Quickies

AICN also reports that a possible DOOM 2 is in the future. Maybe.

Scriptgirl reports that fan (and my) fav Del Toro is working on a script for a remake of "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark". A movie that gave me nightmares for, oh, about 30 years.

The Return of The Nightly Nerdlinger News

2008-07-21T15:15:00.002-04:00

Yes, that's right, I'm back. Look for new posts 3-5 times a week featuring all the latest in Nerdlinger News, movies, books, television, comics, pulp and games of all kinds. Focus, as always, will be on Science Fiction, Fantasy, Pulp, Wierd West, Horror and The Wold Newton Universe.

So stick around if you're an old friend, and check it out if you're a browser. More news than you can shake a Fungi from Yuggoth at.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News TMBG Edition

2008-01-15T08:19:00.000-05:00

So, for Christmas my wife got me a gift cert to a local tattoo parlor where she had gotten a small tattoo a couple months ago. I've been wanting to get something for a few years now and had been pretty sure what for about a year now. My fiirst tattoo would be a tribute to my favorite band, They Might Be Giants. It took about 2 hours to do and didn't hurt until the end when the heavy shading was done. In case you can't tell it's my upper left arm. It's the cover of the TMBG single of "Don't Let's Start".

Here's the cover.

And here's my new skin art.

Cool eh? Next year I'll add my other great love to my upper right arm; A pic of mighty Cthulhu.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News HPLHS Edition

2007-11-19T09:19:00.000-05:00

The Whisperer In Darkness

Finally, the teaser trailer for the next H.P. Lovecraft Historical Society film, The Whisperer In Darkness, is up. Many sizes and two formats are available and this time, it's a talkie! The first HPLHS movie was a silent film and an atmospheric masterpiece. This one looks to build on the success of the first film and I have no doubt it will continue to meet the high standards set by it. Order the first movie from the website or from Amazon where it's about 5 bucks cheaper, go figure.

Afterworld

2007-09-22T18:44:00.000-04:00

99% of the worlds population has disappeared. For some reason I can't watch this on Youtube. Every once in a while Youtube tells me I can't watch stuff because I have java script turned off. Whatever. I'm putting it here so I can actually watch it. The animation is poor, but I'm told the story is very good. You can check out this web based series (130 episodes are to be aired) at it's site http://www.afterworld.tv/

A kiss is not a contract

2007-08-06T14:16:00.000-04:00

Flight of the Conchords, a folk parody duo (the forth most popular folk parody duo in New Zealand), has a show on HBO (which I refuse to pay extra for so I have to live with online clips). This is one of the songs from the shows latest episodes, not one of the best but it made me laugh.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 13

2007-07-31T19:45:00.000-04:00

I know you missed it so it's back!

First, big news from the San Diego Comic con

Zachary Quinto, Syler from Heroes, is going to be in season 2 of Heroes, he's also going to play Spock in the JJ Abrahms Star Trek movie, the 11th in the franchice. And so is Leonard Nimoy. I smell time travel, or at least flashbacks. source : HR

Kevin Smith is writing at least one episode of Heroes: Origins ! That is sooo cool!
Source: Superherohype

I am sooo hyped for the next season! Season 1 DVDs are due out Aug. 28th.

I know Ethan Haas, and he's not from Cloverfield

2007-07-13T23:00:00.000-04:00

Well, not really. But despite the internet furour the last week over the Ethan Haas ARG, it's not part of the marketing campaign for the upcoming JJ Abrahms project codenamed Cloverfield. However, there is a LOT of information out there for BOTH of these projects. It's just that the Ethan Haas viral marketing is for an upcoming tabletop RPG called Alpha-Omega from MindStorm Labs. So, if you google Cloverfield you'll probably run across Ethan Haas stuff and visa versa. So here's a list of Ethan Haas related links, Cloverfield links will follow.

Ethan Hass related links
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com/
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com/
http://www.mindstormlabs.com/products.html
http://www.ff0000.com/
http://omgwtfehwr.blogspot.com/
http://www.ffxiresource.com/devel/ethanhaas/
http://ethanhaasknows.livejournal.com/ Iffy, could be a crap site trying to cash in on fad
http://www.ethanhaaswaswrong.com/ iffy, was a link to dareware clothing until a few days ago, probably just trying to cash in on the craze.
http://www.tritonenterprises.net/ seems to be related to the game, somehow.

Cloverfield related links

http://www.1-18-08.com/
http://parasitemovie.com/ also iffy, probably not really official site
http://www.slusho.jp/
http://cloverfieldclues.blogspot.com/

Ride for the Charleston Nine results

2007-07-08T19:06:00.000-04:00

So despite inclement weather we made the ride. All morning it looked like rain and in fact it was raining/sprinkling till after 11AM, so much so that I went to wallymart and bought a couple of rain suits for us. 100 bucks I really didn't need to spend but in fact we'll use them occasionally so I may as well have them. It turns out we didn't need them after all. In a cliched storybook occurrence, the skies cleared and the heavens opened up and shined down upon us for the ride and it didn't rain till after we got home and out of our sweat soaked riding clothes.

The ride was about 40 miles and the turn-out was way higher than the organizers expected and that's despite all the wannabes that didn't show because they thought it was going to rain. Over 1000 bikes showed, we don't know for sure yet because the local cops stopped counting around 900. We gave the fire chief an initial Big Cardboard Check for about 8,080 bucks, not bad for a ride that was 10 bucks a rider/passenger. I expect that we'll have a final tally tomorrow of riders registered and moneys collected.

I actually won the first raffle prize, a white trooper style helmet, which is cool, because I've been meaning to get one, so that saved me $50, except I need to take it back to the shop that donated it to get the right size.

So, a good day all in all.

Ride for the Charleston Nine

2007-07-07T22:52:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow I'll be participating in a memorial ride for The Charleston Nine, the nine Fire Fighters who died in the Sofa Super Store fire June 19th. I'll be on a red 1998 Kawasaki Vulcan 800A, wearing my VROC vest. all proceeds go to the Fire Fighter Family Fund. We'll start just 1/2 a mile from my house at Azalea Square Regal 16 Cinema in Summerville, SC and end up at Brittlebank park in downtown Charleston, SC. Mrs. Verm snagged some donations for the raffle from Home Depot, where she works. I'm a member of The Patriot Guard Riders ( just joined ) and would fly those colours too, if I had them. They (PGR) did several rides already for the Nine.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News, Ethan Haas edition

2007-07-06T21:39:00.000-04:00

Is there a Cthulhu movie in the works?

We can only hope so, but chances are looking good. Several sites ahve been posting about a JJ Abrams project code named Cloverfield. Also it's been reported that the movie being directed by Matt Reeves, a writer on Felicity and director of The Pallbearer. Now there's a couple viral advertising type sites devoted to the project, one called Ethan Haas was right, has an annoying little puzzle, or rather a series of puzzles and videos (I'm on the third puzzle now). But some of the bits coming out point to this movie having something to do with variously, "The Parasite" ( a name leaked about the creature in the movie ) The Old Ones and Abdul Al Hazred. Supposedly it's to be a giant monster movie shot by hand held cameras as if it's unfolding before you. Also the other viral site is a blog called The Truth of Ethan Haas that sheds even more light on this project. You can find walkthroughs of the puzzles on these sites Jay is Games and Escape the Room.

Strangely, since it's a viral marketing campaign there's already backlash, only 3 days into the campaign ( started about July 3rd ) Check out this anti-Ethan Haas blog, done in a parody of The Truth of Ethan Haas, which seems to be an attempt to get you to go buy t-shirts since every link goes to some place called dareware clothing, a cafepress venture that specializes in rude t-shirts, but nothing about the movie. An official seeming site is at http://www.1-18-08.com/ with a couple movable pics up, plus a domain for the working title was registered, http://www.cloverfieldmovie.com/, and until today, you were redirected to Paramount when you went there, now it's just a blank site, no redirect.

There was also a teaser clip with no title in front of Transformers, which I will probably see tomorrow. Go check the clip out NOW, paramounts yanking them as fast as they go up, this was the 5th site I went to looking for it, You Tube's already yanking it as fast as it's posted.

Personally, I HATE shakycam movies like Blair Witch, but I'd be willing to put up with that for a good Cthulhu movie.

I'll be updating as I find more info.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News Secret Origins Edition Pt 3

2007-07-02T07:51:00.000-04:00

Today I'm just going to list most of the rest of the sites I use for material for The Nightly Nerdlinger News. After this I'm going to get back into the swing of things and start posting updates nightly again. It's just been a really bad couple of weeks at work and it's left me too depressed to really want to blog. But I'm off all this week for shutdown so besides updating my resume', sleeping and drinking as much beer and eating as much barbeque as I can I'll be hitting the net hard looking for nerdly goodness. And now, the other links.

SyFy Portal A good site for science fiction news, especially television items.

Dark Horizons A general movie site, but often has the best listings of trailers and early synopsis of new movies.

Anime News Network is a great site for all your Anime news needs, release dates, apperances, upcoming projects and just about anything a fanboy could want to know about Anime including an exhaustive encyclopeadia.

Anime Nation Another good anime news and anime sales site.

Fangoria The website of the long-lived magazine about horror movies.

Horror.com Another horror website, mostly news and releases.

Bloody Disgusting A good horror site, movie reviews, news and interviews

JoBlo's Movie Emporium A fun site with news, reviews, opinion peices, interviews mostly nerd-worthy stuff but the occasional mainstream stuff sneaks in.

Latino Review This site somehow gets ahold of drafts for all kinds of movies and posts them or at least reviews the drafts. All kinds of movies, but emphasis is on nerd-worthy movies. Also reviews, interviews etc.

News Askew The official View Askew and Kevin Smith news site. News on all his movie and comics projects.

Pit of Horror Another horror site dedicated to movies.

SCIFINEWS Fantasy and Science Fiction news for all media.

Slashdot A nerd news site, everything from tech to movies to comics to internet, anything your average nerd would find interesting. Highly recommended by me.

Space.com A great site dedicated to all things space related, news, tech, launches and just about anything cool about space.

I don't think I need to include obvious links of interest to nerds like TLC, Discovery, The History Channel, and The Smithsonian but there they are.

Stop now, what's that sound...

2007-06-26T20:58:00.000-04:00

That's the sound of silence because today is the Internet Radio Day of Silence. While I could rant here about the imminent demise of internet radio, about the loss of some great stations like Carp Circles or Directional Wave, about the loss of a venue for bands that doesn't require deep pockets or industry connections. But I'm not going to do that. It's been done by better than I. But I will add my support to the cause. It's a misguided law, paid for by big record labels, and sounds the death nell of free internet radio due to royalty rates that are impossibly high for the majority of internet radio producers. July 15th internet radio dies, will you let it, or will you write you congressman and demand that they review this law and keep the music playing? Go to Savenetradio and see how you too can lend your support to the DJs of this medium.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News Secret Origins Edition Pt 2

2007-06-26T18:45:00.000-04:00

Tonight we feature sites where I find all the latest news about comic book movie, television and DVD projects.

First off is Superherohype, part of Crave online. They get a lot of interviews, reviews and news about superhero movies and television. They're a pretty good source.

Next up we have the appropriately named ComicBookMovie.com. They update regularly about just about any comic book movie news in a rolling blog. I often find stuff that gets over looked at the more general sites.

Next is the very specific Batman on Film site. Guess what they talk about there. But they are the place to go for any Batman fan looking for news about movie projects for the Dark Knight.

Though they actually can be a bit slow updating thier own news, you have to check Marvel.com for news regarding upcoming Marvel Heroes based movies. If for no other reason than the high res pics and clips.

Although they're a print media site, you can sometimes find some movie related news at Comic Book Resources , but even if they don't have a column up for movies or television they have really good reviews and news of comics themselves.

Tomorrow, science fiction and horror news sites that didn't get mentioned previously, and there's a bunch of em.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News Secret Origins Edition

2007-06-25T21:37:00.000-04:00

Breathe...

Since the summer movie season is upon us and the studios are taking a breath after their exertions it's been a slow time lately, but I'm trying to find more news for you to keep your NQ (nerd quotient) at a high level. At times like this I go further afield in my search for Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Anime, Martial Arts and Action news for you. To that end I'm going to make a few posts on the sites I use most often to find out what's coming, what's rumour and what's, sadly, not gonna happen.

The first site I always check is Ain't it Cool News, or AICN as it is affectionately known to us nerds. Harry Knowles runs this site with the help of a lot of really good reviewers and a ridiculous amount of industry insider info. For over 10 years now this has been the go to place for news about the same kind of stuff I post about here. If it's American made this is the best place to find news about Science Fiction, Fantasy, American Animation and some Martial Arts, Horror and Anime news. For non-American stuff the next place I check is always-

Twitch, an amazing site dedicated to all the stuff that most American film sites don't tell you about. An interesting thing about foreign films is that they have a LOT of sub-genres and these guys know their stuff when it comes to sorting out what you should care about and what's probably just trash. Then again, they also appreciate really good trash. There's so much stuff coming out of Korea, Japan, India, Russia and a dozen other countries usually not associated with movies (at least on this side of the world) that no one can keep track of it all. Luckily, these guys do all the work for you. The only real trouble is finding R1 versions of the movies they report on, that is, if you remember about about them 6 months later when they might make it over here. Luckily they usually report when DVDs come out over here.

The next site I often go to for mostly Science Fiction news is Sci-Fi Wire, part of the Sci-Fi channels website. A lot of stuff pertaining to science fiction and fantasy in all types of media can be found there, especially stuff that shows on Sci-Fi.

Another site I frequent, Film ick comes out of the UK and is similar to mine (though much more thorough and better connected) in that it gathers LOTS of links to other sites and bits of news from all over. They also get the odd exclusive and post reviews. They do more than genre stuff though so you have to dig a bit sometimes.

One last site I check most days is CHUD. They've been around a while and focus mostly on genre stuff, leaning heavily towards the horror side of it. They also get the occasional interview with actors and directors. The reviews are very opinionated and usually funny as heck.

I'll add more to this tomorrow but these are the main sites I check every day. Others I check less frequently or when the news is slow, like now.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News, Weekend Edition 3

2007-06-23T13:35:00.000-04:00

John Carter of Mars to mix Live and Animation

Today, during the press junket for Pixar’s latest, Ratatouille, IESB’s Robert Sanchez started inquiring to anyone who would listen about a big project that the studio has coming up, John Carter of Mars. Big question on fans' minds? Will it be live action or animated?
With Pixar behind it one has to wonder. Well boy and girls we’ve got your answer.
IESB was told that John Carter of Mars would be both. Pixar will use both live action and animation working together to bring the story to life.
Meanwhile, one more tidbit of news, Brad Bird reconfirmed that he is definitely working on 1906 next. Anybody that was still hopeful, as we posted previously, he will not be directing John Carter of Mars.

Source: IESB

The Young Ones

A new boxed set of The Young Ones has been announced with lots of new material, probably outtakes and behind the scenes stuff, no word yet what the new stuff will be, but I know I want it! Due out in October.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 11

2007-06-20T19:01:00.000-04:00

Say it isn't so!

A reviewer at AICN reports that Bruce Campbell isn't in Bubba Nosferatu, the sequel to Bubba Ho-tep. This is like the book of John without Jesus. But his review of My Name is Bruce confirms that it's a must for fans of "The Chin". Hopefully this will change or my heart will break.

The Mach 5 looks AWESOME!

A new pic of the Mach 5 from the upcoming Wachowski Brothers movie, "Speed Racer" has shown up on AICN. Very cool, I am having good feelings about this movie.

Heroes adds 6 new cast members

NBC has annonced that it has added six new cast members for the upcoming season of Heroes, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Joining the cast in recurring roles will be Barry Shabaka Henley, Holt McCallany, David Anders, Eriko Tamura, Lyndsy Fonseca and Dianna Agron. Anders, best known for his recurring role on Alias, will play the ancient samurai warrior Takezo Kensei, the childhood hero of Hiro Nakamura (Masi Oka). The last scene of the finale showed Hiro inadvertently transporting himself back in time to ancient Japan, where he is likely to encounter Kensei next season. Japanese pop star and actress Tamura will play a Japanese princess in the same time period. Henley will play Detective Fuller, a New York police officer. McCallany will play Ricky, the ringleader of a group of Irish thugs. Fonseca and Agron will play beautiful cheerleaders in Southern California, where Claire (Hayden Panettiere) is expected to move. Fonseca's character April is sweet, while Agron's Debbie is a mean girl. The six join Nick d'Agosto, who recently landed a recurring role on Heroes next season, as well as Dania Ramirez, who was cast as a new regular.

Source: Sci-fi Wire

If Luke Cage has a movie, where's Iron Fist?

Tyrese Gibson (Transformers) told SCI FI Wire that it's looking increasingly likely that he will star in a big-screen movie featuring the Marvel Comics hero Luke Cage. If everything goes according to plan, Gibson will play Cage, the first black comic-book superhero, in a film to be directed by John Singleton, who previously directed Gibson in the drama Baby Boy. "They're doing rewrites on it now, and we actually have a meeting coming up on it soon, from what I hear, just to see where we are with the whole thing," Gibson said in an interview while promoting Transformers. "Right now they're in the process of getting the rewrites done, and then they'll, I guess, do kind of a formal presentation to see if it's going to be a go." Asked what interests Gibson most about the super-strong and hard-to-hurt Cage character, he replied: "I just love his presence, and I love the fact that he's one of the first black comic-book characters. I'd like to make the comic-book world proud with what I'm looking to do with Luke Cage. So hopefully the opportunity all pans itself out. Me and Singleton are both looking to be a part of it, if the screenplay turns out right. I met with [producer] Avi Arad, and he's very excited about the possibility. But you can't do a great movie without a great script, and the ducks have got to line up."

Source: Sci-fi Wire

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 10

2007-06-18T20:03:00.000-04:00

After a rather slow week last week I'm back with more news for nerds, geeks and propeller heads.

Wall-e

Pixar has a teaser up of it's next feature film, this time a science fiction themed story about a 700 year old metal compacting junkyard robot named Wall-e.

Godzilla returns... in 3-D!

Godzilla is returning to the big screen, for the first time in 3-D! This contemporary version of the largest classic cinema creature of all time will take full advantage of the growing popularity of digital 3-D theaters to bring Godzilla to its worldwide audience in a way that has never been experienced before.Kerner Productions recently announced that Tokyo based Digital Motion, have provided initial development funding for the project. Kerner Productions and Kerner Optical LLC staff will also be providing miniature, creature creation, physical effects, and visual effects support.

Tokyo based Producer/Director Yoshimitsu Banno and Producer Kenji Okuhira, have teamed up with Hollywood 3-D veterans Producer Brian Rogers, Director Keith Melton, and Director of Photography Peter Anderson, ASC to form the core production team.

“Godzilla 3-D” will be designed to take full advantage of the composition, staging, and dynamic editing of original three dimensional photography. The film will also incorporate updated creature technology along with cutting edge motion capture and 3-D CGI animation to bring a more fluid and realistic energy to Godzilla. This will create more subtle facial moves and will allow the filmmakers to expand and enhance Godzilla’s character.

The anticipated start date for this original production is slated for February 2008, and will lens in South America, Mexico, Tokyo, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. Casting for this English language film will take place in Los Angeles.

by way of Twitch

The Bat Pod

Check out the clip at Today that shows the new batcyle, dubbed "the Bat Pod". Rumour has it it's launced from the "Tumbler", plus it's just as heavily armed and armoured (though where the hell the armour is I can't see).

Vermsnote: As a biker this makes my dick so hard!

Watchmen Casting part 2

Well, it seems that Keanu is a greedy baster and too much of a "Movie star" to be in Watchmen. He'd been offered the role of Dr. Manhatten, but the paycheck was too small and really, he's not much of an ensemble player, is he now? Now it's likely the Jason Patric is to play the blue skinned genius reports AICN. Chud reports that Jackie Earle Haley has been tapped to play Rorschach, the mask vigilante that learns of the conspiracy that's the pivotal to the story. Coming Soon has an interview with Patrick Wilson where he practically comes right and and confirms that he's going to play Night Owl.

And one last great piece of news, AICN hints that they have it on good authority that a certain punishing actor will play The Comedian, the hero that get's killed that starts the whole shebang off. Can you say, Thomas Jane? I knew you could.

Jay and Seth Vs the Apocalypse

Oh My God! I can't wait to see this short by Seth Rogen.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 9

2007-06-13T19:06:00.000-04:00

The Incredible Hulk

William Hurt has joined the all-star cast of Marvel Studios' "The Incredible Hulk." The movie, which Louis Leterrier is directing, sees Bruce Banner/Hulk on the run, trying to avoid capture long enough to cure the condition that turns him into a monster. Hurt will play Gen. Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, the man who has dedicated his life to capturing the Hulk -- and who also is the father of Banner's love interest, Betty Ross."Hulk" is shaping up to having one of the stronger comic book movie casts in quite a while as Hurt joins two-time Oscar nominee Edward Norton, who is playing Banner, Liv Tyler as Betty and Tim Roth as villain Emil Blonsky/the Abomination. Zak Penn wrote the latest big-screen adventure of the green goliath, which Universal Pictures is distributing.The film is being produced by Avi Arad, Gale Anne Hurd and Kevin Feige, while Jim Van Wyck, David Maisel, Ari Arad and Stan Lee executive produce. Shooting is slated to begin this summer in Toronto.

Source: HR

Vermsnote: This Hulk sounds like it will be so much better than the last one, which I did like, mostly, but still, let's hope. Plus it has Liv Tyler! Liv=love

Oh wow! A modernized Dante's Inferno by stick animated cardboard cutouts!

You have GOT to check this out. I love Inferno, always have, I've read or seen maybe a dozen versions of it, from the standard high school translation in Brit Lit to the cool graphic novel Sinergy. Check out the trailer and the website, you'll be amazed.

Thanks to twitch for the heads up.

Dragon War

This looks pretty damn cool, dragons fighting in LA. Due out this summer in Japan, should be here not too long afterwards hopefully. It only took The Host a few months to make the leap.

D-war

Science Fiction Dictionary

Editor/lexicographer Jeff Prucher told SCI FI Wire that his book Brave New Words: The Oxford Dictionary of Science Fiction attempts to cover the shared language of science fiction writers, critics and fans—as well as those terms that originated in SF and have subsequently been adopted by mainstream society or other subcultures. "By 'shared language,' I mean those terms that have been used (in more or less the same sense) by several writers in multiple settings," Prucher said in an interview. "Thus a word like 'dilithium,' which will be familiar to most people, is not included, since it has little use outside the Star Trek universe, but a word like 'ansible,' which is most often associated with Ursula K. Le Guin's works, is included since other authors have subsequently used the term." Brave New Words is also a historical dictionary, which means that, in addition to the usual dictionary content (definitions, parts of speech, etymologies, etc.), each definition is supported by citations taken from a variety of sources, Prucher said. "These citations play a variety of different roles. One of the chief ones is to show the earliest known use of a term in a given sense. But they can also show how a word has been used over time or be used to indicate variant spellings and even to some extent show when words have been used in non-SF contexts." The dictionary is in many ways an offshoot of an ongoing project of the Oxford English Dictionary, which is actively seeking evidence for words related to science fiction, Prucher said. "The project maintains a Web site that lists all the terms the OED is interested in; anybody is welcome to contribute, and they've collected several thousand citations this way," he said. "I've been involved in the project for some time, first just as an enthusiastic contributor and later as one of the site's administrators." Prucher sees the dictionary as filling several roles, he said. "On the one hand, it is a serious dictionary, and I hope it will be both a valuable contribution to lexicography and to the study of science fiction and popular culture," he said. "On the other hand, I hope that most people will read it at least partly for enjoyment—I think that there is a lot of pleasure to be had in reading through the citations, finding connections between words, maybe being reminded of forgotten works or discovering that a familiar term is older (or newer) than you thought or has unfamiliar meanings." Prucher said it was exciting to realize how much of the language of science fiction has become part of the mainstream language. "Obvious examples are words related to space exploration, like spaceship," he said. "One of my favorites of these, since it refers not to a technology but to a sensation, is 'space-sick,' which was coined by Hugo Gernsback in 1911 but was not actually experienced by a human until 1961." —John Joseph Adams

Source: Sci-fi Wire

Vermsnote: I'm so buying this!

A pair of Stargate SG-1 stories

A third Stargate series?

Robert C. Cooper, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis, confirmed to SCI FI Wire that he's developing a third series with the working title Stargate Universe, but remained mum on details. (The project has not yet been picked up by any network, including SCI FI Channel.) "It's being developed," Cooper said in an interview on the Vancouver, Canada, set of the two series. "Not a lot to say at the moment, other than it's ... not the characters from SG-1 or Atlantis. It's a completely third entity. The third series is born of the mythology that's been established." SG-1 will draw to a close after 10 seasons with the episode titled "Unending," airing June 22. Atlantis is currently finishing up its third season and will return with a fourth season later this year. Cooper added that the proposed third series will take place in the present day. "One thing that we think contributes to the success of [all of] the series and the concept behind the series is that it takes place in the here and now. ... It's about us and our age of people dealing with fantastic things, like Stargates and wormholes and aliens. And then there's an identifiable quality to the people in the show. It's not like an antiseptic version of humanity sometime 500 years in the future. [SG-1's] Jack O'Neill [Richard Dean Anderson] was a guy who everybody could relate to, and his reactions to the more fantastic elements of the series were the reactions the average Joe on the street might have." SG-1 and Atlantis executive producer Paul Mullie added: "It's all top secret." Either that, added fellow executive producer Joseph Mallozzi, or "it just hasn't been written yet. I'm not sure which." —Melissa J. Perenson

Source: Sci-fi Wire

Stargate SG-1 direct to DVD movies

Robert C. Cooper, executive producer of SCI FI Channel's original series Stargate SG-1, told SCI FI Wire that the franchise's saga ends and begins anew in the upcoming direct-to-DVD movies Stargate: The Ark of Truth and Stargate: Continuum. The Ark of Truth will wrap up the arc begun in the show's ninth season, which introduced the Ori and their crusade to conquer the galaxy, Cooper said in an interview on SG-1's set in Vancouver, Canada, last week. SG-1 wraps up its 10th and last season on SCI FI on June 22, and some of the story arcs will remain open-ended. "The idea for the first movie [The Ark of Truth] was going to be [the] cliffhanger ending to season 10 and the start of an arc that would have lasted most of season 11, if season 11 had been picked up," Cooper said. "But that didn't happen, and we revised that concept and turned it into the story for the first movie." The second movie, Continuum, will be a stand-alone story conceived by Cooper's fellow executive producer Brad Wright. Wright, who co-created SG-1, leveraged the show's ties with the military for Continuum. "In some respects, Brad's idea evolved out of the fact that the Navy had come to us and said, 'If you ever want to shoot in the Arctic, we'd love to take you up there,'" Cooper said. "'We have a couple of nuclear submarines you could shoot on.' So Brad said, 'Wow, I'm just going to write a movie around that.' We were the first production ever to shoot that far north. It was a pretty cool experience for everyone that went." Cooper paused, then added: "A very cold experience." Stargate SG-1's warm relationship with the U.S. military began in season one, when the producers needed permission to use stock shots of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center, which is the home of Stargate Command in the show's fictional universe. Eventually, the military vetted scripts for accuracy, and two chiefs of staff had cameo roles as themselves. "As things progressed, we started to say, 'Hey, send us up a C-130 or a couple of F-18s,'" Cooper said. "There are two F-15s that are parked out at Vancouver airport now that we're shooting in [for Continuum]." Fans mourning the loss of SG-1 after this season can take comfort that the franchise will live on in other ways. "SG-1 ran for 10 successful seasons," Cooper said. "We've ended that run on SCI FI, and now we're continuing the story with those characters. Our DVD packages sell so well that, if the movies sell as well as the series sells, it's going to be a tremendous success. And MGM [which produces the series] will eagerly want more." —Melissa J. Perenson

Source: Sci-fi Wire

SOFA KING TIRED

2007-06-12T21:28:00.000-04:00

Too tired to blog or search the internet for all the stuff tonight ( or last night it seems. ) But I'll be back tomorrow with a veritable plethora of nerdlinger news.

Maybe I'm tried because I've watched the first 50 episodes of Red Vs Blue over the last couple of nights. OMG, even if you're not a Halo or even an FPS fan, this is some funny shit. I've seen the odd epi over the last couple of years, but this is the first time I've actually sat down and watched them in order. They're up to 99 now. Epi 100 is supposed to be the final episode of The Blood Gulch Chronicles. They just started a Shadowrun based series called 1-800-magic that looks like it'll be cool too. All of the videos are up on youtube

The Nightly Nerdlinger News, Weekend Edition 2 (updated)

2007-06-09T13:45:00.000-04:00

I am Legend Trailer, now up!

30 Days of Night

30 Days of Night trailer now up. It's BIG. This should be a good movie, fans of the graphic novel have been waiting a while for it to come out. Vampires above the artic circle, nights that last a month, isolated town, last of the vampires, Sam Raimi produced and David Slade directing? Oh Yeah, gimme more of that. Main site of the film is here.

Death: The High Cost of Living

Superherohype reports:
While doing press for the release of the film adaptation of Stardust, writer Neil Gaiman talked to ComingSoon.net/Superhero Hype! about the status of his directorial debut, an adaptation of his Death: The High Cost of Living comics from Vertigo."Everything is moving, slowly, but it's moving... Guillermo del Toro is executive producing, which is a wonderful thing... and I'm actually planning on going out to Prague very, very soon to do some stuff with Guillermo on 'Death.' I think it definitely seems like it's going to happen.""Death" involves a teenager named Sexton who's been contemplating suicide. He is rescued by a mysterious teenager who claims she is Death herself, spending one day every 100 years on earth to learn the value of the lives she takes.The film takes place over 24 hours as Sexton learns to love life by spending a day with Death.

Hellboy 2 news

ShockTillYouDrop.com pointed [superherohype] to this thread [at deltorofilms] where Guillermo del Toro has posted an update on the filming of Hellboy 2: The Golden Army, revealed that Danny Elfman will do the score and that the sequel will have 30 or more creatures, compared to eight in the first film:

We JUST finished the first day of shooting...Danny Elfman IS going to score HELLBOY II and I feel privileged. I have worked with Marco Beltrami many times and will work with him soon enough but I believe we will have a beautiful score with Elfman, whom I admire greatly (in fact the "Title sequence" music cue had the "Ta-de-dum-ta-de-dum" rhythm by explicit request by me in an atempt to make it kind of Elfmanesque) and with whom I share a dark view of the world.

In the first HELLBOY film we had about 8 creatures (total, between CGI and animatronics/prosthetics) but in this one we have around 30 or more and the emphasis is still heavily on a 50% 50 % balance with CGI as enhancemnet or as a choice but not THE choice." The Golden Army" hits theaters on August 1, 2008.

Vermsnote: What a combination, Mignola, Del Toro and Elfman. Epic.

The Losers win

Leaving behind the world of superheroes, Tim Story is set to direct the bigscreen adaptation of DC-Vertigo's gritty comicbook "The Losers" for Warner Bros.
Studio has hired Jamie Vanderbilt to adapt Andy Diggle's comicbook, working from a first draft by Peter Berg.
Berg and Weed Road's Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster are producing. Also producing is Sarah Aubrey, Berg's partner at Film 44, and John Cameron, who brought the project to Film 44.
Film will center around a small band of elite and highly trained commandos who are set up to to be killed by their own government. They set out to avenge the wrong, as well as avenge other injustices.
"The Losers" was published by DC Comics imprint Vertigo in the 1970s. Strip was revived several years.
Story's feature adaptation will be set in contemporary times, with the special ops team carrying out missions around the world before the members are left for dead. Flying under the radar, they return and move around the U.S.
"I'm a big fan of the edge of war movies like 'Black Hawk Down' or 'Band of Brothers,' and this has some of that. I was looking for a vehicle that would have that edge, but I didn't want to lose my personality, which is a bit tongue-and-cheek, where the characters have a little fun with each other," Story told Daily Variety.
"I haven't made a movie in the real world since 'Barbershop,' because I've been locked into the superhero fantasy world," he says.
Berg originally penned the script with an eye to direct, but is instead helming "Tonight, He Comes."
Story's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" opens June 15. Second installment in the Fox franchise comes two years after Story's 2005 "Fantastic Four."

Source: Variety

Vermsnote: The Losers was a great silver age war comic and it's revival by Vertigo was gritty and compelling, this might just be good.

Watchmen Casting

Zack Snyder, who is directing a live-action adaptation of Alan Moore's Watchmen, told MTV.com that he'll find a place in it for his 300 star Gerard Butler, though Butler himself has said he may be too busy to do it. "Yeah, we'll find a spot for him," Snyder told the site at June 3's MTV Movie Awards. "

They'll let him [off the other sets for a while]; he's not going to get out that easy." Snyder has said he will remain true to Moore's classic graphic novel, about superheroes investigating a murder of one of their own. As for rumors that Jude Law, Keanu Reeves and Patrick Wilson had been offered roles, Snyder was noncommittal. "You know what? I would say 'No,' but then you'd call me later and go like, 'Dude, what are you doing?'" Snyder said with a laugh. "I don't know who's leaking this stuff, but they're good."

Snyder is finishing the Watchmen script. "At the beginning of the movie there's a character called the Comedian," Snyder said of the ill-fated former hero whose murder begins the story. "He gets in a fight with a guy that we don't know who it is, and [the Comedian] gets thrown out a window. That's what I'm working on right now, and it's pretty intense." Snyder added: "[We'll be shooting] up in Canada, starting in September. ... [We'll be shooting] real soon."
Source: Sci-Fi Wire

Vermsnote: Some good choices here, especially Keanu, he understands comics and this type of film so he'll do it justice I think, depending on his role. Dr Manhatten would be a bad choice.

Masters of Science Fiction

ABC will finally air episodes of Masters of Science Fiction in a four-week run starting Aug. 4, Zap2it.com reported. From the same producers as Showtime's Masters of Horror, the anthology series was initially considered a mid-season show; ABC ordered six episodes, but now plans to air only four in the death timeslot, Saturdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT. There's no word yet on which four installments will air. The hourlong shows feature adaptations of stories by such SF masters as Robert A. Heinlein and Harlan Ellison, as well as Walter Mosley. Actors taking part include Terry O'Quinn (ABC's Lost), John Hurt (V for Vendetta), Anne Heche, Judy Davis, Sam Waterston and Malcolm McDowell (NBC's Heroes), the site reported.

Source: Zap2it by way of Sci-fi Wire

Vermsnote: Finally! Some really great actors associated with this sadly truncated series. Anyone who's watched Masters of Horror knows this series is made for fans of the books the episodes are based on. I hear that H.G. Wells is also one of the authors.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 8

2007-06-07T20:05:00.000-04:00

I Am Legend

The I Am Legend trailer is supposedly due out online tonight, as a bootleg if nothing else since it's also supposed to be included with every print of Oceans 13. I'm still not happy about Will Smith maybe butchering another classic, but as this is one of my favorite novels and I loved both the original I Am Legend with Vincent Price and the remake The Omega Man with Charlton Heston, I'll definately be seing it. Watch this space for more news and a link to the trailer when it becomes available. AICN has the poster up, but it pretty much sucks ass.

City of Heroes, The Movie?

Transformers producer Tom DeSanto has secured the film rights to NCsoft and Cryptic Studios' video game City of Heroes, Variety reported. The plan is to adapt the massively multiplayer online role-playing game into a live-action feature and then transition it to television in some form, the trade paper reported. The movie revolves around a group of superheroes who live in Paragon City and must team up in order to fight an invasion of aliens known as the Rikti. In the game, players design their own superhero characters and pay a monthly fee of $14.99 to battle supervillains, aliens, madmen and other criminals. An expansion of the game also enables players to create their own villainous characters. City of Heroes first bowed at retailers in 2004 and turned into a franchise, spawning the sequel City of Villains and a comic-book series published by Top Cow Productions.
Source: Sci-fi Wire

Vermsnote: I played CoH and CoV on and off for over a year and will probably play again this summer. Great game and tons of fun. Here's hoping that this turns out well.

Speed Racer official site is now up.

Halloween, the Rob Zombie remake of the movie, official site is up. You can only view the trailer between 9PM and 4AM

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 7

2007-06-06T18:19:00.000-04:00

Cast of Hellboy 2 Announced

With a nod to AICN for pointing me to it, deltorofilms has announced the cast of Hellboy 2. Some suprises and some good news in the cast listing plus some hints at the plot. The main adversaries are the Tathua De' Danann of English elvish myth, but it seems that other than the name they're wildly different from the traditional. Full story at link above.

Thunder Cats! Ho!

I was saying the other day when the new He-man remake was announced that I couldn't wait for a live action Thundercats. Well guess what? That's right, Warner Brothers has a script by Paul Sopocy, a senior writer for print advertising at Fox brodcasting and it's his first script. Only it's in CGI, oh well, better than nothing. Full story, such as it is, at Variety.

The Corpse Animated

THE CORPSE
HORROR / xx min / PRE-PRODUCTION
Based on the comic book by Ken Haeser and Buz Hasson
Directed by Justin Paul Ritter
A guilt-ridden Corpse takes on a heavy burden when he agrees to help a Fallen Angel keep the other undead in their graves and the powers of evil from corrupting our world.

Thanks to Twitch for the info

There's no need to fear! Underdog is here!

Okay, this looks way better than I thought it would. Check out the clip in the link above.

And now the bad news

Fans of good fantasy, avert thine eyes! Warner Brothers in an effort to wipe out any good feelings I have about them for the previous news, also announced they've optioned Terry Brooks' Shannara books. All I can say is oog. But I'm sure plenty of drooling 40ish fanboys are happy. Next we'll see Elfquest movies, god help us. Full story at Hollywood Reporter.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 6

2007-06-05T13:05:00.000-04:00

Micheal Bay , you compleat me

OMG. Look at this new clip for Transformers. Optimus Prime fighting Bonecrusher.

Scroll down a bit to see the clip on Bay's personal blog.

Beam me up Scotty!

2007-06-05T12:07:00.000-04:00

Seems scientists are a step closer to being able to beam us up, a la Star Trek. Scientists in the Canary Island teleported data a distance of 89 miles between two of the islands in that chain. Using Quantum Entanglement they sent data from one telescope to another instantaneously. Full story in The Independent.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 5

2007-06-04T21:39:00.000-04:00

The best news I can find tonight is the announced release of the direct to DVD Babylon 5, The Lost Tales. Set ten years after the end of the series, this DVD contains 2 stories that renunites Bruce Boxlieter and Tracy Scoggins ( Who I always had the hots for. ) Sadly, it doesn't look like any of the rest of the cast is going to be in it. No Jerry Doyle, no Steven Furst, no Billy Mumy? That's just wrong, but I'll watch it anyway. The effects are supposed to be even more spectacular than the series was. That alone will be worth the price.

A long time ago in a far out family

2007-06-03T20:38:00.000-04:00

OMG, check out this echoey recording of the Star Wars Family Guy episode released at Star Wars Celebration IV

Episode IV

A NEW HOPE

It is a time of civil war,

and renegade paragraphs

floating through space.

There's cool space battles,

and the bad guy is the good

guy's dad, but you don't find

that out 'till the next episode.

And the hot chick is really

the sister of the good guy,

but they don't know it, and

they kiss. Which is kind of

messed up. I mean what if

they had done it instead of

just kissed?

Angelina Jolie kissed her

brother. Yeah she did it. You

know it, I know it and her

dad knows it. That's why

they hardly ever talk

anymore.You can run away

to Africa but you can't run

away from the truth.

Oh, by the way, here's a tip

for you; when this is over, go

out and rent the movie

"Gia."She's way naked in it,

and makes out with another

chick and everything. It's

awesome. I stumbled across

it late night on HBO after I

just got back from hockey,

and I almost fainted. But I

digress...

Princess Leia was coming

back from buying space

groceries when this

happened...

Source: Youtube and http://www.jediinsider.com/

The Nightly Nerdlinger News, Weekend Edition

2007-06-02T11:40:00.000-04:00

On weekends I've decided to keep a rolling update going, I'll add stuff as I run across it so check back to see if anythings been added occasionally.

Let's start off with the announcment of the John W. Campbell Memorial Award finalists.

Finalists have been announced for this year's John W. Campbell Memorial Award, given annually to the best science fiction novel of the year. The winner of the award, which is named in honor of the legendary SF editor, will be announced at the Campbell Conference, July 6-8 in Lawrence, Kan. The nominees are Titan by Ben Bova, A Small and Remarkable Life by Nick DiChario, Infoquake by David Louis Edelman, Nova Swing by M. John Harrison, Odyssey by Jack McDevitt, The Last Witchfinder by James Morrow, Living Next Door to the God of Love by Justina Robson, Dry by Barbara Sapergia, Sun of Suns by Karl Schroeder, Glasshouse by Charles Stross, Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge, Farthing by Jo Walton and Blindsight by Peter Watts.

Source: Sci-fi Wire

Onimusha
From AICN

DVDrama, a French website with close ties to [Christophe] Gans, got the word directly from him about the fans' biggest worry. Who is playing ONIMUSHA?
It's unique, in a way. Ever since the very first ONIMUSHA game, they have modeled the character after a known actor, who also voiced his character. That actor is Takeshi Kaneshiro (Wong Kar Wai's CHUNGKING EXPRESS). So, you already have a good actor known as this character, but the fans know that in these adaptations they hardly ever bring the right stuff over to the big screen, so there's been worry about this casting.
Gans said to DVDrama that "Of course" Takeshi Kaneshiro will play ONIMUSHA.
I've met Gans before (even watched THREE EXTREMES with him at the AFM) and what was interesting about him to me was that he loves these stories. He doesn't look at video games for the flash, the action, or the "poster moments." He loves those, but what draws him is the story.
If you watch BROTHERHOOD OF THE WOLF, it's the greatest video game adaptation for a game that never existed.
Other news about ONIMUSHA is you won't see it for a while. It's going to start shooting early '08 and Gans guarantees there will be a full year of post production on the movie (budgeted at $70 million). So we're looking after September 2009 before we see it in theaters. John Collee (MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD) and Lesley Krueger are writing the script.

If you can read French ( no, I can't ) the original story is at DVDrama

Iron Man

MTV has 3 cool clips about the Iron Man movie. Check it out. The clips are flash and will play one after the other, do your best to ignore the commercials, unless you really like Dr. Pepper and Mascara.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 4

2007-05-31T21:30:00.000-04:00

Back again this time with some awesome comic book news!

Teen Titans

DC Comics' superteam Teen Titans is getting the big-screen treatment courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. The live-action adaptation is being produced by Akiva Goldsman and Kerry Foster through their Weed Road banner, while Mark Verheiden has been brought on board to write the script.The Teen Titans first appeared in 1964 as a sort of junior Justice League, comprising Robin, Kid Flash, Aqualad, Wonder Girl and Speedy, the respective sidekicks of A-list heroes Batman, Flash, Aquaman, Wonder Woman and Green Arrow. The comic series reached X-Men-style success in the 1980s, when the team was relaunched in a new comic with the characters no longer kids but college-age adults and the stories explored more mature themes. The series also saw the addition of Cyborg, Starfire and Raven, original characters who weren't sidekicks, while the character of Robin matured into one called Nightwing.Most recently, the comic was adapted to the television screen with a Cartoon Network series that ran from 2003-06 that used many of the '80s comics' heroes and story lines. It is not known which heroes will be used, but Nightwing is said to be in the mix. Goldsman said the tone will be consistent with such recent Warners' comic book fare as "Batman Begins," "Superman Returns" and the upcoming "Watchmen."Jessica Goodman and Jesse Ehrman are overseeing for Warners.Gregory Noveck is overseeing for DC Comics.Verheiden, repped by CAA and Untitled, was a writer-producer on "Smallville," the TV series that revolved around the adventures of a young Clark Kent/Superman, and is a writer-producer on "Battlestar Galactica." Verheiden also is a comic writer and creator, penning "Timecop" and "The Mask," both of which were adapted to the big screen in the early 1990s. Goldsman and Weed Road have several comic book movies in development, including "Doom Patrol" and "The Losers." He is in preproduction on the superhero-themed "Tonight He Comes," starring Will Smith.
Source: Hollywood Reporter

Vermsnote: Almost more exciting is hearing that Doom Patrol is still on a back burner. I'll have to see what Tonight He Comes is about, I think I may have already read about it. I'll check it out for you guys and get back to ya.

addendum: Crap Alert! Tonight He Comes is about a tortured superhero who crash-lands in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, and tries to revitalize himself by romancing an alluring housewife, causing chaos in the city.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Emile Hirsch was 6 years old when he saw his first episode of the cartoon Speed Racer and, more important, caught a glimpse of the Mach 5.
"It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen," Hirsch says by phone from Germany, where filming will begin next week on the movie adaptation. "That's when I started thinking it would be great to be on TV. And have one of those."
Sixteen years later, he finally got behind the wheel of the speedster, which gets its first look here and will be at the heart of the film, due May 9, 2008.
"My first thought was, 'Yeah, they got the car right,' " he says. "That's one of the best things about the show, so it was always going to be one of the most important parts of the movie."
That and the return of Andy and Larry Wachowski, the brothers who are making their first directorial effort since The Matrix Trilogy.

Like Hirsch, the brothers grew up on the popular 1960s Japanese cartoon about the adventures of a racing family — and its pet chimpanzee, Chim Chim.
"The TV show was the brothers' introduction to Japanese animation," says Joel Silver, a friend of the press-shy Wachowskis and producer of Racer and the Matrix films. "They fell in love with the genre. They said they'd been making R-rated movies their whole lives and wanted to do something their nephews and nieces could watch."
The film, Silver says, will have a "retro future" look and will center on Speed (Hirsch) trying to make a name for himself in the racing world despite the efforts of corporate giants to foil his career. The film also stars Christina Ricci as girlfriend Trixie and Matthew Fox as Speed's older brother, Racer X.
Like the Matrix films and the Wachowski-produced V for Vendetta, Racer "has a lot to say about remaining independent and thinking for yourself," Hirsch says. "The brothers weren't just looking to do the TV show on film."
Unlike those darker movies, Racer "is going to be very bright, very family-friendly," Silver says. "And it will have great effects like TheMatrix, just with the car."
A car that will not see much time on pavement. The Mach 5 will be placed on a crane and most effects will be computer-generated.
One real effect, though: Chim Chim.
"They're using a real monkey," Hirsch says. "Just don't call him that. He's a chimpanzee. He gets upset if you call him a monkey."

Source: USA Today

Vermsnote: Oh god, if you ever answered a prayer, please oh please let this not suck!

And last but certainly least Millenium Films is working on a Hercules film penned by Sean ( Halloween: Resurrection ) Hood. This can't be good.

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 3

2007-05-30T20:01:00.000-04:00

The Last House on the Left Remake?

Quint at AICN reports that a director has been found for a a remake of Last House on the Left, a classic of revenge horror.
"A relatively unknown director, by the name of Dennis Iliadis is attached [ according to Hollywood Reporter ]. He's a Greek director who is known for his European commercials and a feature film called HARDCORE."

Sources: AICN and HR

Another story from Quint at AICN is below

Dominic ( Lost, LotR ) Monaghan in period grave-robbing flick, I SELL THE DEAD

"Looks to be a period grave-robbing comedy/horror flick starring Dom Monaghan, Larry Fessenden, Ron Perlman and Angus Scrimm (Dr. Vernon Quint).
The flick's about a pair of young grave-robbers (Monaghan and Fessenden) who dig up corpses for the nefarious and mysterious purposes of an aristocratic doctor (Quint?). I really hope the movie lives up to the fun premise.
We got the first pictures from the production, which began shooting last week. So give a look below! Enjoy!"

Vermsnote: I LOVE these kinds of movies and I think Dom is great, especially as a comedic actor.

Source: AICN

So bad, and yet so very, very hot. DOA

Check the posters of each of the hotties out Here

The Nightly Nerdlinger News epi 2

2007-05-29T20:19:00.000-04:00

Let's start with the biggest news of the week.

Star Wars The Clone Wars Animated Television Series

The first trailer for the new CG Star Wars series, this time for television, is finally up at StarWars.com . Go check it out or we're taking your nerd license away.

Finally, Elric

So his adaptation of The Golden Compass is already being hyped by studio New Line as the new Lord Of The Rings (rather inaccurately if you ask us, since the books share little in common). But that’s not enough fantasy limelight for the guy who, up until now, was best known for small-scale comedies like American Pie and About A Boy. Nope, along with his brother and former co-director Paul, Chris Weitz is going to take on the biggest fantasty-literature property as yet untouched by movieland: Michael Moorcock’s Elric saga. Elric of Melniboné, aka Elric Kinslayer, aka The White Wolf first appeared in print in 1961, and is the anti-hero of more than a dozen books. A physically weak, perpetually sickly albino who’s the outcast Emperor of a race of cruel, ancient decadent people, he’s no musclebound Conan-type, instead drawing his power from the spirit-sucking runesword Stormbringer, an evil entity with whom he struggles for his own soul. And he’s frankly one of the greatest fantasy characters out there – albeit one who’s going to be fiendishly hard to make work on screen. “Of the great classic fantasy series it’s the one that hasn’t been done yet,” Weitz tells Empire online. “My brother Paul and I liked those books growing up and we’ve met Michael Moorcock and he trusts us to take those books forward.” The Weitz’s Depth Of Field production company will be behind the adaptation, although no director is yet attached. Weitz does have one in mind, though: “I’d really like it if my brother directed them,” he says.
Source: Empire

Vermsnote: Oh please let it not suck.

Shia LeBeouf is Death

It looks as if Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia, Transformers) is set to play the male lead in Neil Gaiman's directorial debut of Death: The High Cost of Living, which he adapted from his own mini-series, according to Film Ick. In the comics he was called Sexton Furnival; and that Death, or Didi as she calls herself in her mortal form, has snagged the interest of one famous young actress in particular. The Death hunt is done, if the deal works out, and soon she'll be named.

Source: BloodyDisgusting

Thomas Jane bows out of Punisher sequel

Sad, sad day for fans of the comic vigilante. Stating that he didn't like what he was seeeing as far as the movie went and a full plate and a new daughter, Thomas Jane has left Punisher 2. maybe we'll still see a sequel, but it just wont be the same without him, he's going to be huge some day and he would have made this movie. Also noted at AICN is the possible director to be attached ( announced right after Jane left! ) Freeze Dried Movies says that John Dahl (THE GREAT RAID, ROUNDERS) is in "major talks." I can't confirm he'll direct, but my sources at Lionsgate did mention he was in the running. Also in the running was HOOLIGANS director Lexi Alexander. Full story at AICN.
Source: AICN

The Nightly Nerdlinger News

2007-05-28T20:12:00.001-04:00

Time to kick this sucker into gear.

Back over the winter I had a thread at Hobietopia called The Nightly Nerdlinger News. Basically I scoured the internet for news of note to geeks and nerds; news about science fiction, fantasy, anime and even horror, be it movies, television, books, games or comics. I had a lot of fun doing it and it was pretty well received but I got tired of the amount of time it took to compile. Well, I've decided that I'm going to get back into it here. While I may not be able to keep it up nightly, I'll at least update 3 or 4 times a week. Weekends are typically slow news times anyway so I'll mostly update during the week. So those of you that enjoyed my nerdly updates can look forward to them again.

So without further ado, let's get geeky!

Silver Develops He-Man

FilmProducer Joel Silver is developing a new film version of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe for Warner Brothers, working with toymaker Mattel, Variety reported. Justin Marks is set to write the script.Mattel, which owns the toy-based franchise, must approve an outline for the project. He-Man was born as a Mattel action figure, and the toymaker created an animated series in hopes of selling dolls. The series became a cult favorite and a campy 1987 movie that starred Dolph Lundgren and Frank Langella. The toymaker, which now licenses He-Man for high-end merchandise sold to hardcore collectors, has been wary of going Hollywood again. An attempt by Fox 2000 to make another movie, this time with director John Woo, ended in futility as the toymaker didn't spark to the screen plans, the trade paper reported.The franchise has been reimagined by the producer and the writers and pitched to Mattel as a classic good-vs.-evil battle, using the kind of visual effects strategy employed in 300. A warrior is touted as the last hope of a magical land called Eternia, which is being ravaged by technology and the evil Skeletor.
Source: Sci-fi Wire

Vermsnote: Just a little more on what I had reported earlier. Should be a much grittier He-man this time around.

Dead's Hall Joins Knight

Anthony Michael Hall (USA Network's The Dead Zone) told the Los Angeles Daily News that he has a role in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. Hall won't say what it is."I signed a confidentiality agreement, and I can't say which part I'm playing because it affects the story," Hall told the newspaper. "I can't give away the suspense—it's a $200 million surprise, and I don't want to be the guy to ruin it."Hall added: "I'm excited about it. Christian Bale [is] back as Batman. Heath Ledger is joining the cast as the Joker. Of course, Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine return, and they're great."Hall is currently shooting the sixth season of The Dead Zone, which returns to USA on June 17. The TV series cast and crew bent over backward for him to be in London for the first day of Dark Knight earlier this month, he said. "My crew agreed to take a three-day weekend so I could fly Friday to go to London," Hall said. "It was just a thrill. I felt like a rock star leaving the set, flying to London, going to shoot on a Saturday, you know? ... My crew really gave me a gift, because they had to all vote union-wise to agree to not take a day's pay to help me out. I felt very honored that they did that for me."Hall is not scheduled to resume shooting the movie until August, after The Dead Zone wraps. (USA is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)

Source: Sci-fi Wire

Vermsnote: Man! who's Hall going to play? Has to be someone early in Batmans career. You know who I'd like to see? Soloman Grundy.

Rodriguez To Helm Barbarella

Robert Rodriguez (Grindhouse) has signed on to direct Barbarella, a new film adaptation of the classic SF comic-book series that Universal Pictures is fast-tracking for a 2008 worldwide release, according to The Hollywood Reporter.The character was immortalized in a 1968 movie starring Jane Fonda. Dino De Laurentiis, who produced the original film, will produce the update with Martha De Laurentiis.Barbarella tells the story of a female mercenary who roams across the universe of a distant future, undertaking missions that require physical fearlessness, ingenuity and sensuality. The character debuted in 1962 in a French graphic magazine written and illustrated by Jean-Claude Forest and was known for her many adventures, often involving sex. There also was a musical produced in 2004.Rodriguez is working with writers Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Casino Royale), who are developing a completely original adventure for Barbarella. Rodriguez's coming on board puts to rest questions about what the in-demand director would do next, including The Jetsons at Warner Brothers and Land of the Lost at Universal. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)
Source: Sci-fi Wire

Neuromancer Headed For Film?

William Gibson's cyberpunk SF classic Neuromancer is heading for the big screen in an independent production from producer-distributor Peter Hoffman, Variety reported.The $70 million movie is being fast-tracked to replace the Paul Verhoeven project The Winter Queen, the trade paper reported.Joseph Kahn, a commercials director who made Torque, has signed to direct.Hoffman's company, Seven Arts, made no formal announcement about the project. Hoffman discussed the project with the trade paper from his yacht at the Cannes Film Festival.

Source: Sci-fi Wire

Heroes Flies To DVD In August

NBC's Heroes comes to DVD and HD DVD when the entire first season of the hit series arrives in stores Aug. 28 from Universal Studios Home Entertainment. The seven-disc DVD set has several bonus features, including five featurettes and more than 50 deleted scenes. The set also includes the extended, 73-minute cut of the pilot, from creator Tim Kring, which never aired on television. The DVD version carries a suggested retail price of $59.98. (NBC and Universal Studios Home Entertainment are owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)

Scorce: Sci-fi Wire

So tonight just the stuff from one main site that's good for general mainstream stuff. Over the next week I'll feature more esoteric stuff from foriegn sites, Anime sites and horror fan sites.

Naval Humour for Memorial Day

2007-05-28T11:06:00.000-04:00

A marine walks out of a bar with a couple of his buddies and heads back towards the ship. On the way he see's a little kid playing in what apears to be mud on the side of the road. As they get closer he can smell that it's definately not mud, it's dogshit.
He yells at the kid " Hey, what the hell are you doing playing with that dogshit?" The little kid replies, "I'm making a sailor." This of course cracks the marine and his buddies up. They see another group of jarheads coming thier way and tell them to go ask the kid what he's doing. One grizzled vet asks the kid "What the hell are you doing there kid?" Again the kid replies, "I'm making a Sailor." Which causes them all to bust out laughing again.

The old seargent sees a drunken bunch of sailors heading their way and decides to have some fun. While the rest of the Marines stand off to the side trying to keep from laughing he calls out to one, "Hey, squid, come ask this kid what he's doing with this pile of dogshit!"

The senior petty officer of the group, an old Bo'suns mate goes up to the kid holding his nose and asks "What the fuck are you doing playing with all that dogshit kid?"

The kid looks up, covered in crap and says "I'm making a Sailor, I don't have enough shit for a Marine."

Blogging

2007-05-27T15:04:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm discovering all kinds of Blog crap since I decided to migrate to Blogger. This Authority stuff's pretty cool. I hope it doesn't make my site too busy looking. I like a nice clean layout, but I'm trying to figure out the best functionality of the stuff available. So for a while at least it looks like I'll be a bloated rat. What stuff do you like using on your blogs?

The handyman can, oh the handyman can

2007-05-26T18:09:00.000-04:00

Sorry Sammy.

Well, today was productive, but not in the way I had hoped. Mrs. Verm's back was hurting so we decided not to go downtown today. We we're just going to go to a little leather shop up the raod to get my new patch sewn on the vest I got at Bike week 2 weeks ago. So we hop on the bikes, pull out the driveway preparing to go and I notice my wifes' headlight is out, again. So I tell her to pull back in and get out the tools to check it. It's illegal to ride a motorcycle without headlights. I open the bucket up and chek the connections, one is loose and it's shorted the bulb. So I send the wife to get a new bulb at wallymart since she's going to pick up a few things for a barbeque tomorrow for us and the neighbors. While she's gone I tinker around trying to figure out where the connections go, I can't do much till I have a bulb that works though. So I decide to put up the wooden screen door we got for the inner garage door to the laundry room. The breeze through the breezway into the bedroom is great but I hate all the flies, hence the screen door. It needs trimmed to fit and I proceed to fairly butcher it to size with the cheap power saw I bought a couple weeks ago. Looks like crap but it's inside the garage and the only people that will ever see it live here. I get it up about the time Mrs. Verm gets home ( with some Sam Adams Summer Ale thank God! ). Then I wire the bike back up, replace some stripped screws in the light bucket and whamo, let there be light. Now I need me that beer.

Spoleto Festival USA

2007-05-25T19:33:00.000-04:00

Thursday was the start of the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, the US version of the Italian festival. I usually like to go downtown and wander around the streets and look at the art, street theater, street performers and musicians. I don't often do the ticketed events though, to little cash and to many snobs. Lots of stuff will premiere here, be it theater, music, comedy or other culteral events. To see what fare we'll be having this year go here for the main highfalutin' festival and here for the more family oriented festival, Piccolo Spoleto. I'll at least ride down there tomorrow and wander around to see the free fare, money's all broke and food's going hungry.

Time, time, time

2007-05-25T16:19:00.000-04:00

I'm thinking that I'll be an evening poster for this blog. So if you intend to follow it, don't expect it to come like the morning paper, think evening edition.

Well, after months of six day work weeks I actually have a three day weekend. I'll probably spend it watching war movies ( I'm hoping that "12 O'clock High" and "Gung-ho" will be on, two of my favorite WWII movies. Maybe if I am feeling really lazy and have nothing better to do I'll watch "A Bridge Too Far" and "Kelly's Heroes", yeah! ). We'll probably go to a neighborhood barbeque with a guy that just got back from Afghanistan and another guy that's going to Africa at the end of the summer.

Tonight I think I'll watch a John Cleese movie I got from Netflix called "John Cleese's Wine for the Confused". We've been going to World Market a lot and buying various wines and while we're no connoisseurs, we know what we like. I favor Pinot Grigio, Riesling and Gewurztraminer and sweet fruity reds and Beaujolais Nuevos. We've found some wonderful dessert wine at an Amish winery in Ohio, we pick up a case every time we go up there. They're called Brittenbach farms and they make great sweet wines.

By the Power of Greyskull!

2007-05-24T18:46:00.000-04:00

Oh My God.

He-Man is coming back. It's now confirmed that producer Joel Silver and Warner Bros. Pictures are moving forward with a planned "Masters of the Universe" live-action film adaptation of the famous Mattel toyline and 1980's animated series.The producer and studio are in negotiations with Mattel to acquire the rights to the property. Newcomer Justin Marks, who recently scored a co-writing gig with David Goyer on the Green Arrow prison film "SuperMax," has been brought on board to pen the adaptation.To quickly summarise the character back history - the very well muscled warrior He-Man - with his blond bob, tiny chrome singlet, fur speedo and calf-high boots - took on the mighty hordes of Skeletor - an equally buff, blue & purple spandex-clad nut job prone to delusions of grandeur resembling those of crystal meth-addicted twinks.The new version reimagines the property as Prince Adam (He-Man) being a solider who stumbles upon the magical world Eternia where the evil Skeletor is using a technology-fueled army to wipe out all traces of magic. The property was previously turned into a 1987 feature starring Dolph Lundgren, Frank Langella and Robert Duncan McNeill.
Source http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/070524m.php

Verm's Note: Yeah, but will Billy Barty be in it?

Once again into the breech...

2007-05-23T21:39:00.000-04:00

Well, yet another web log I'll be attempting to actually keep current. Maybe this time it'll stick. I'm not in the mood to actually post right this minute, but I'm sure I'll feel chattier tomorrow.