The Universe Smiles on Australia

A rare cosmic alignment on Monday will produce a smiling face high over Australia made up of Venus as the left eye, Jupitor as the right eye and the Moon as the smiling mouth. Is this the universe's way of saying the land of Oz is poised for great and wonderous things? Whatever. But if you are in Oz this Monday night please take a photo of it!! I wanna see the actual thing. read all about it here.

Bat Grave

I stumbled across this pic of a headstone in Portland. I don't know if it's linked to the comics or if its just some dead dude with the same name but either way it's appropriate to the current Batman story.

Batman is Dead... Maybe

So the final issue of Batman R.I.P. is out (Batman #681) and I've been reading and researching what happened (coz I missed the damn series and have to wait for TPB now) and the bottom line is... I have no fucking idea, and apparently nor does anyone else.

SPOILERS AHEAD (maybe)

It seems the dude responsible for trying to send Batman/Bruce insane was... Thomas Wayne! That's right, Bruces father who was supposed to have died that fateful night in the back alleys of Gotham. This was the single event that led to the creation of Batman in the first place. Bruce wanted to avenge his fathers death and protect the city from any such craziness ever happening again. Bruce was supposed to have died that night along with his mother but things went awry and Bruce lived to become the Batman. Thomas faked his death certificate etc. BUT, it's not entirely clear if it actually was Thomas Wayne. Perhaps it's his double or some other crazy dude, it's all left a little ambiguous.

After that is laid on you, Batman and the Joker are killed (maybe) in a helicopter explosion over Gotham harbour, followed by an image of Nightwing (Robin/Dick Grayson) holding the remains of the Bat cowl and cape. Is this suggestive of him becoming the next Batman? A bit too obvious but still cool. Are Batman and the Joker actually dead? Doubtful.

The whole thing is open to interpretation. There is still a follow up story to come next year called Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader so perhaps all will be revealed then. I still like it but a lot of people have been left sort of unsatisfied with the ambiguity it seems.

Iron Man Mark 1 Maquette

Sideshow Collectibles has produced an incredible Iron Man Mark 1 maquette that I would love to get my mitts on. The price is a bit steep for me at US$400 so I'll have to just enjoy the pics for now.
Join me as I dream.

9

With the feature nearing completion I thought I'd revisit the original short film; 9. Check it out below. Cool stuff.

9 Nine Shane Acker Short Animation
by FrFKmeron

Spirit of the Times

Without meaning to be preachy, it's a good idea for all of us to put aside a couple hours of our time and watch these 2 films; Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist Addendum. If you care about the world, about truth, freedom, peace, love, then watch them. Before anything can be done our eyes need to be opened. These films will help with step one. Here's the trailers;





The films can be watched for free on Google Video;
Watch Zeitgeist HERE
Watch Zeitgeist Addendum HERE

Check out the websites too:
http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/
http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/
http://www.thevenusproject.com/

Heath For Best Supporting Actor

Warner Bros is officially going ahead with their push for Heath Ledger to get a best supporting actor nomination for the Dark Knight. Good. He was surprisingly brilliant as the Joker and I see no reason his death should disqualify him from winning the Oscar. The performance was completed and it was one of the best of the year so why not acknowledge it? Go Heath!

the Glorious Return of Blaxploitation

This film looks ridiculously wonderful! It's Black Dynamite!

Canadian Meteor

A meteor shot into the western Canadian atmosphere last night lighting up the sky over Alberta and Saskatchewan. Check out these amazing amateur vids;





and here's the news reports;

The Amazing Adventures of Kid Cole & Klay

OMG!! This show looks awesome! It's the title sequence for an unproduced series created by Gorillaz director Pete Candeland and directed by Stephane Coedel for Cartoon Network. Somebody PLEASE pick this up!!


The Amazing Adventures of Kid Cole & Klay from Stephane coedel on Vimeo.

Steampunk Superheroes

I love steampunk and I love superheores! How can you go wrong?



These and many other cool steampunk designs are created by Sillof's Workshop. He/they have loads of other designs most of which are Star Wars related (Steam Wars in this case) and they are great. Check them out.

Zune Ad

Umm... yeah. Just watch. Possibly NSFW. I thought it was hilarious.

Guitar Hero... ON A BIKE!?

This is awesome!! I don't exaclty know how they managed this but it's fun as hell.

Batman: BOB

I really do wanna like this new Batman show. I mean just take a look at these pics from episode 2;


Batman as an ape, that's kida cool. And T-Rex's are always great. It appeals to a simpler side of me who just wants to have some old fashioned fun with cool character, but goddammit it's just coming across as stupid in the end. I think it works better as an idea than on screen. (Mind you, what the fuck happened to Plasic Man's pants? Looks like he literally shit bricks) And the visual style is so reminiscent of the opening of the 60's series with Adam West that I can't help but feel a connection to it. Let's reminisce together...



But maybe I'm just past the camp stuff and prefer the darker side of things. I'm more into twisted humur like Family Guy rather than campy stuff etc, and the Batman rogues gallery is so perfect for evil, twisted humour. There's nothing like a little theatrics and a fucked-up joke right before cutting a man's tongue out. That's the kind of Batman world I like. The Dark Knight got it right I think... in many ways but not all.

Astro Boy Teaser

The Astro Boy teaser trailer is out and I guess I'm fairly intrigued. It's pretty cutesy but it still looks ok. Made by Imagi in Hong Kong, the same people who did TMNT a couple years back.

Tesla Roadster

Finally someone with balls has made a serious attempt at creating an electric car and succeeded. Ian Wright (a sheep farmer's son from New Zealand) made his big bucks in electrical engineering then turned his attention to cars. Now we have the Tesla Roadster. It's faster than a Porche (0 - 60 mph in 4 seconds) and you get over 200 miles on a single charge. AND the sports model looks hot too.

A Gentlemen's Duel

Also for anyone who missed it here's Blur Studio's 3D steampunk short called A Gentlemen's Duel.

The Ark

I love the short films of Platige Image in Poland. They are responsible for such gems as the Cathedral and my personal favourite Fallen Art. Today I found another of theirs called the Ark (2006). Check it out.



And here's Fallen Art for anyone who missed it

Euro Animation

Here's a couple of interesting animated features I've found coming out of Europe;

A Monster in Paris (France, April 2009)

Paris, 1910. A terrifying creature spreads fear upon the Capital. Emile - a shy projectionist in a movie theater - and Raoul - a colorful inventor - find themselves thrown into the Monster Hunt. On this wild ride, they meet a big-hearted cabaret singer, an eccentric scientist assisted by a monkey, a ruthless Prefect of Police. And a strange creature who might not be so frightening after all. What if, behind those deceiving appearances, the true Monster was not who you'd think it is?

Zombie Western: The Legend of the Dark Butcher (Denmark, 2009. Based on the short film It Came From the West)

Virgil, who lives with his bully father and mute bartender, is being harrassed by two tough cowboys Eddie and Hank. When The Dark Butcher begins terrorizing the local Indian tribe, they bring the dead back to life by performing The Forbidden Rituals.

The Mechanics of the Heart (France, 2010/2011)

Set in 1874, the story turns on a young man whose heart was replaced at birth with a clock. He should avoid strong emotions, above all love, but can't keep his heart under control.

To keep up to date on the Euro animation scene check out http://www.animationeurope.com/

Tremors Down Under

Sticking with the Aussie news, there seems to be talks of a 5th Tremors film to be set in Oz called Tremors: The Thunder From Down Under. I have a guilty love of this series of films (though I've not yet seen the 4th) and so I'm naturally stoked that one could be set in my homeland. And it makes perfect sense as 70% of Oz is a freakin' desert, not to mention the fact that 9 out of the 10 most deadly creatures on earth are from Oz, why not a giant killer sand worm too?

Oz Animation to Open Sundance

Oscar winner Adam Elliot's first stop motion feature film Mary and Max (which I mentioned here back in September) is to open the 25th Sundance film festival on January 15 2009. The film stars the voices of Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette and is narrated by Barry Humphries. This is huge news for Adam and his producer Melanie Coombs and for the Oz animation scene. I predict that Adam and Melanie will be working on their next feaure within a couple of years for sure (unless he takes on a series first). Oz's indusrty is looking up finally. Animal Logic has two features in the works (the current project being the Guardians of Ga'Hoole directed by Zack Snyder of 300 and Watchmen fame), a new studio being put together called Dr. D will be taking on Happy Feet 2 and now Adam Elliot's feature is about to rock Sundance and undoubtedly open the door for more work. WOO! Keep it up Oz!!

Vampire Killing Kit

An 'authentic' vampire killing kit was recently auctioned off for $14,850 to a collector whose clearly being hunted and in desperate need of personal protection. The kit was made in around 1800 and is complete with stakes, mirrors, a gun with silver bullets, crosses, a Bible, holy water, candles and even garlic, all housed in a American walnut case with a carved cross on top... awesome!!!

Space Travel

Before I run the risk of this blog becoming a dedicated Batman fan site, here are some awesome travel posters made my a guy named Steve Thomas. My bags are packed already.

Batman: Not So Brave Or Bold

I caught the first episode of Batman: the Brave and the Bold and found it to be total shite. I am of the opinion that Batman should be a twisted, dark, vigilante psychopath struggling to to keep his shit together and NOT a campy fucking childrens character reminiscent of the Adam West/Burt Ward live action series. But that's exactly what this new series has done. the Dark Knight film has proven that audiences are ready for a darker take on superheroes and Batman is the perfect character to explore the twisted psyche of a man on the edge in a fucked up world.

The show is terribly written with out-of-place narration throughout, horrible pacing, lame dialogue and campy action. Fuck that! I get that the dark thing has been done for a while with Batman now but that's coz Batman IS dark for fuck sake! BAH! This is a sad day for superhero fans. We've taken a step back to the 60's and are treating kids like simpletons yet again. UGH! I'm so sick of it!

That said, I am a huge Bats fan and will probably give the show a couple more chances to find its feet, but I'm not holding my Breathe. The Bruce Timm animated series', the Batman and Justice League Unlimited were all goddam awesome! Why not ride that wave and take it even further? I kinda dig the visual style on some levels and I can see how this concept could have worked out pretty well, but it's just ended up being a poorly executed show with bad voice acting, shit scripts and boring direction. A shame.

Hope/Joke

Inspired by the Barack Obama HOPE poster comes the cool new Heath Ledger JOKE poster.

Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?

So Neil Gaiman is penning a two-issue Batman tribute for DC called Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader? It'll recap the last 69 years of Bruce Wayne/Batman from his gruesome beginnings to his 'retirement' this Nov 26 when Batman R.I.P wraps in issue #681. Once Bruce Wayne hangs up the cape and cowl the battle will be on for the new Batman and I suspect Bruce will make a triumphant return as the Bat sometime during the 70th anniversary. Will it be anything like Superman's short-lived electric blue reboot a few years back?

Batman has a had a few different incarnations over the years. Lets recap some of them;

The original 1939 Batman;

Azrael (Jean-Paul Valley) as a violent, mechanically aided Batman after Bane broke Bruce Wayne's back;

Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (Bruce's psychologically alternate Batman);

Alex Ross' mechanically assisted Kingdom Come Batman;

Alex Ross' Justice League Batman;

Frank Miller's 50 year old Batman;

and of course TV's Batman Beyond (Terry McGinnis);

I can't wait to see what DC do with the Bat over the next year or so. Will there be a few different Batmen while the Battle for the Cowl rages on (as they did with the 4 Supermen who arrived while Supes lay 'dead' in his tomb)? Aaarrrgghh! I feel like a kid again!!

Indo-European Language Map

Just a cool map I found that traces the history and connections of the Indo-European languages (spoken by about half the world's population).

Batman R.I.P.

OK, I came into this storyline way too late to be able to hunt down back issues etc and cath up the proper way so I've been scouring the net and watching video reviews to try and keep up... and I'm confused as hell.

Basically the story is that a load of Batman super villains including the Joker (and some new dude/organisation called Black Glove) have come together to destroy Batman. To do this they decide to ruin his mind rather than his body. From what I can gather the end result is going to be that the twisted part of Bruce Wayne's mind that NEEDS him to become the Batman each night is to be eliminated leaving ONLY Bruce Wayne and NO MORE BATMAN.

Somewhere in there Bruce transforms himself into a twisted new Batman he calls the 'Batman of Zur-En-Arrh' (WTF?)

It seems Bruce's current love interest, Jezebel Jet, is a major player in the destruction of Batman (she is the infamous Black Glove who masterminded Batman's head-fucking). She know's Bruce is the Bat, has been in the batcave etc.

The original Robin (Dick Grayson, now known as Nightwing) may well be in line to take over the mantle of the Bat once Bruce drops out (and fair enough I say). However another contender for the cape and cowl is Bruce's love child with Talia Al Ghul, Damian. He beat the crap out of Robin (Tim Drake) in the batcave and took over as Robin for a while there coz he felt it was his birthright to do so.

The future for all of this seems to be that a new storyline for next year is about to unfold called 'Battle for the Cowl' in which a number of peeps (Mainly Tim Drake, Dick Grayson and Damian Al Ghul) will be vying for the right to officially take over as the Batman (and Robin) from here on out.

Phew, did you get all that? I fucking didn't. I'm confused as shit. I'm gonna have to wait for the TPB to read this thing start to finish and piece it all together finally. But it's been fascinating me no end.

The final issue of the storyline (Batman #681) will be out soon and all will be revealed. I'll update once I know what's going on. On a side note, DC are cancelling their off-shoot series 'Robin', 'Nightwing' and 'Birds of Prey' so I'm assuming that has a lot to do with this new 'Battle for the Cowl' series.

UP

New teaser for Pixar's next film. Lookin' good :)

Fanboys

OK, I officially can't wait for this film :)

Fanboys - Trailer | Movies & TV | SPIKE.com

Monsters Vs Aliens

Here's the first trailer for the new Dreamworks film. Interesting, though a bit 'safe'.