Web-Junk

I know I just posted a blog hours ago, but I couldn't wait to share all of this web-junk with you.

COMICS:
First off, this site is pretty awesome if you're into comics, and is probably fun even if your'e not. It comes from Marvel and allows you to create your own version of superhero based on pieces of existing Marvel heroes.

Also falling into both the comic and movie areas, it looks like Sony might be making a Spider-Man spinoff. Thanks to the hollywood reporter for this one. Check the story out here.

Finally, it looks as though the presidential candidates are the new thing in comics. I'm not gonna bother with this, but you can investigate further here.

MOVIES:
The new Harry Potter preview is now online. If you haven't already checked this one out, here's the link to do so. I'm actually very psyched for this movie.

Also, according to Variety, Warner Brothers is developing a Marvin the Martian feature film. I'm not sure what I think of this idea, but will gladly wait for the movie to arrive before passing judgement. See the story here.

Finally, it looks like Steven Spielberg might be slightly smarter than George Lucas after all. Yes, the latest instalment of Indiana Jones may have killed at the box office, but I'm not so sure that fans are going to buy tickets to yet another disappointment like crystal skull. All the same, that's not going to stop Mr. Lucas from trying.

MUSIC:
I am thrilled to mention that former Spacehog frontman Royston Langdon may have a new gig. Velvet Revolver has officially been auditioning him to replace Weiland as thier new lead. I think I might actually start listening to Velvet Revolver if this happens. Sweet!.

INTERNET:
Finally, a website that truly proves the internet is useful! Jellotime.com is not only fun and entertaining... well... it's not actually all that entertaining, or fun. But it might just be the best way to waste 3 seconds of your time you've ever found. I hoped it might do something different if poked enough, but unfortunately it's a pretty straight forward blob of jello, no tricks involved. I only know because I poked for much longer than I should've.

RANDOM:
I didn't even know where to put this news, so I've created a 'random' section. It would appear as though Buffy's beau Freddie Prinze Jr. has signed on with the WWE! No, he won't be fighting, as much as we'd all like to see that, he'll apparently be in some bhind the scenes role like writing or producing or whatnot. Seriously, how esparate can he be?

This Week

Hey kids. Sorry about my short hiatus from blogging, but I’m pretty sure I’m back at full steam now. July has been an amazing month in New York City. I’ve made quite a few new friends this month, and have become addicted to numerous new bands. The cashiers at my favorite comic book store know me by name and work is looking up. Needless to say, I’ve got so much to talk about. But, let’s start with what’s up this week.

Movies: First off, my old roommate Brandon was in town and we were able to go see the new Will Farrell movie Step Brothers. If raunchy slapstick comedy is your style, then this is a good one for you. I will admit that I laughed more than I thought I would. For a guy who doesn’t generally like comedies, that says a lot.

Music: I finally listened to the synth-pop band Metro Station. While I apparently downloaded this album a few months ago, I had failed to ever make it a priority. While it is a pretty tight album, I can’t get the image of the lead singers little sister, Hannah Montana, out of my head while listening. This pretty much ruins the whole experience for me. I can’t seem to take them seriously, which they clearly want. Also in music however, the New York band Bears Repeating released an EP today, and is allowing free downloads of that EP via their website beginning today, August 1st. The album will only be free for a short time, so be sure to download it A.S.A.P. And seeing as they have no relation to any Disney Channel royalty, I’m pretty sure it’s worth your time.

TV: Mad Men blew my socks off this week. The season 2 premier picks up exactly 2 years after the first season ended, with a lot of holes to be filled. But still, seeing the difference those 2 years made to American life is surely interesting. The addition of locks on doors, copy machines first appearing in office hallways, and women beginning to find a spot in business with the men. I can’t wait for Sunday. You can watch the entire season 2 premiere below. Go to hulu.com to watch the full screen format.



Internet: I haven’t had much time to surf the web for interesting sites this week, but I will once again recommend you check out hulu.com. Not only does this online TV network have a tremendous library of shows and movies to watch on demand, but it also has Joss Whedons’ (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, and Firefly) hit internet musical “Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog”. The 45 minute musical film is split into 3 segments and stars Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion. (Watch the whole thing below, or tune to hulu.com for full screen) If you are a Joss Whedon fan at all, you’ll get a kick out of this. For those of you who haven’t kept up on Joss’ blog, he says that his new goal for his shows is to always provide the unexpected. He wants to write the “episode of Murder She Wrote in which none gets murdered.” So, don’t get too upset by Joss’ surprise ending, he’s just delivering on his promise to us. I am really psyched to check out his new FOX network show, Dollhouse. Hopefully he’ll be supported by the network this time around.



That’s it for now. Check back in later for more.

George.

This short cartoon from Disney's animated release Fantasia 2000 pretty much sums up everything I thought New York would be. After 14 months here, I'm happy to say this is exactly how it is, just with less of the Gershwin soundtrack. I'm putting more Gershwin on my iPod today, then it'll be EXACTLY like this.

Upcoming Movies

When I am extremely eager for a films release, I've made a habit of buying tickets to the 12:01am show on Thursday night at the AMC 25 in Times Square. I've had an average of one such film per month since my move to NYC. This month is different. Two weeks ago, I caught the 12:01 showing of Wanted, and have at least one film per week for at least the next few weeks that I'll be waiting in line to see. I've listed some that I'm looking forward to below.

Tonight: (obviously)


Next Thursday: (This is going to be great!)


Thursday, July 24th: (This one could go either way.)


Beyond this, unfortunatly I have nothing to look forward to until Quantum of Solice on November 7th: (My God, this looks amazing!)

I can't wait until Friday!

You may remember a short Hellboy promo I posted a week or two ago:
Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio


Well, it looks like Universal Studios is using it's newest family member to conduct some unique team advertising with many other Universal characters and shows. Here are two more that've been recently released:

NBCs CHUCK


NBCs American Gladiators


NBCs 'The More You Know'


I'm not sure what this is connected to, but it's a good one.


Rumor has it we'll be seeing more of these involving the casts of Law and Order, The Office, and Heroes to name a few. I'll keep an eye out for them and let you know when they're posted.

Give Evil Hell

In my last post I briefly mentioned one movie from my short list of all time favorite films. Another movie from that list would be the 2004 film version of Hellboy. Based on the Dark Horse Comic by the same name, Hellboy was on film as unique as he is in print. Academy Award winning director Guillermo Del Toro did an amazing job of intertwining all the aspects and challenges of Hellboys’ life into an epic story that everyone could appreciate. Unfortunately, very few ever gave the film a chance, let alone appreciated it. The movie barely broke even at the box office and the executives at Revolution Studios decided that Hellboy wasn’t a profitable franchise. It appeared that there was no hope for a sequel. But, when Sony dropped Revolution Studios the rights to Hellboy were up for grabs and Universal saw it’s potential. Surprisingly, almost everyone from the original cast returned faithfully to revisit their eccentric characters. Next week, Hellboy II, The Golden Army will be released into theaters, and I’m planning to be first in line for the midnight show on Thursday night. In anticipation of the film, my Sunday comic book ritual has been dominated by back issues of Hellboy and the new spin off – Abe Sapien, in which Abe finally stars in his own comic. (maybe he’ll get his own movie too.) So, if you are one of those people who never gave the first film a chance, do so this week. I don’t think you’ll regret it.

Here's a scene of Hellboys visit to one of my favorite shows, Inside the Actors Studio.

"Thats why they're for girls."

Over the past few weeks, I’ve written a few positive movie reviews, listing all of the movies that are worth seeing. Now for the list of movies that aren’t worth seeing. I’ve been avoiding TV lately, hoping to free up time to live more and enjoy the city. Still, when I need a fix of electric entertainment, I rent a movie on iTunes. Most of the sure things action movies I’ve already seen, which left me with a less than excitable choice of obviously bad flicks that I had no interest in or romantic comedies/dramas that had some, however little possibility of being good. Here’s the entire list of the few I gave a chance and what I thought of them:

1) Enchanted. I honestly don't know what I expected. This has to be one of the worst concepts for a movie falling in line just below Kate & Leopold for worst romance movie idea ever. Apparently the executives in Hollywood think that women will buy into anything, and apparently they aren't far off. I just don't understand what could possibly have driven these actors to be involved in this, seriously? And what about all of the saps who paid to see this in the theater? The saddest part of all is that this movie is my favorite on the list.

2) Definitely, Maybe. I once heard Definitely, Maybe compared to the 2002 hit, About A Boy. About A Boy is a great movie whaich has stayed in my short list of favorites since it's release. Definitely, Maybe is no About A Boy. When I read the reviews and saw the adds, I expected this movie to be about a young guy who's dating three girls and one get's knocked up eventually becoming his babies mom (I attempted a slang version of the word, but it failed miserably, but you get the point). I thought it could really be enjoyable. The unfortunate truth is that this movie has nothing in common with About A Boy, other than starring Rachel Weise. Ryan Reynolds does not play a convincing dad, and in fact, doesn't convince me at all. His acting is stiff, often forced and over the top. It seemed as though Adam Brooks had written this with some serious wit and true humor fused in, but it didn’t play out on the screen as well as it could’ve. The only actor who seemed to properly deliver Brooks' work was the 11 year old Abigail Breslin, who we know from Little Miss Sunshine. Watching her react as she realizes her dad once drank and smoked is fun, but those moments occur too rarely. In truth, the majority of the movie was stiff and forced, despite it's potential.

3) 27 Dresses. I know, I know, but once all else is exhausted you have to do something for entertainment. Let me tell you, this is not the thing to do. I will say that it started out pretty strong, and I actually thought I might be entertained for some length of time, until they started singing karaoke at the bar. This movie had a typical storyline that attempted to tug on women’s heartstrings, which I apparently lack. I’m so glad this auto-deletes from my computer after 24 hours.

4) P.S. I Love You. I was attracted to this movie because of the impressive cast. What, Harry Connick Jr. doesn’t play the romantic lead? Hillary Swank and Gerard Butler do? That’s an odd combination. I’ve got to see that. Well, first off, Hillary Swank is no Julia Roberts and certainly can’t pull of the romantic girl all that well. Harry Connick Jr. as the bumbling bartender with psychological disorders just wasn’t believable either, and Gerard Butler, well he could’ve been alright had he actually been in the movie. Just trust me and don’t bother.

To tell the truth, the Richard Gere, Julia Roberts days are done, and so am I. For years I’ve done my best to stay open minded to all genres of film, but for the first time I’m finding myself swearing off this category altogether. How’s that expression go? “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Let me know if anything comes out that’s worth my time or money, meanwhile I’m sticking to the comic book movies.

He can do no wrong.

Over the years I have followed one persons career more than most others. Ever since Alias first aired I've been watching J.J. Abrams as he produced and/or directed any number of projects that always turned out amazing. I began calling myself a fan once I first became an addict of his Alias follow up project, ABCs 'LOST'. But Abrams' geniu=ous seems unstoppable. From the mysteries of the LOST island to the suspensful Mission Impossible 3 (the best Mission Impossible, by far), Abrams never fails to entertain. He's got a new show airing on FOX next season and is currently in post production on the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie. His monster film Cloverfield was a huge box office hit and multiple sequels are rumored to be in the works. To see for yourself why J.J. Abrams is as dependably good as he is, watch the video below. The video is about 20 minutes long, so make sure you have some time.



P.S. This video comes from TED.COM. It's an amazing site with many, many interesting speakers. Check it out.

WANTED

On Friday I mentioned in a post that I had seen the movie Wanted. I'm not sure I was quite as enthusiastic about this movie as I should've been. I'm actually strongly considering seeing this a second time, or at least picking up the graphic novel. Below is a video about the movie, sure to be a bonus feature on the DVD. It doesn't spoil any of the plot, but some of the initial surprise at how stylistic this film is may be ruined. Watch this if you're thinking about seeing the movie. Warning: This movie and this preview are rated R, so don't watch if you aren't up for it.

This Week...

In Movies:

Last night I caught the midnight showing of the new Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman action flick Wanted down in Times Square. I will admit that I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. The concept was interesting, and most of the special effects were pulled off well. Don't get me wrong, this movie was basically a series of "yeah right" moments tied together by some basic plot lines, but as far as action flicks go it's enjoyable. The filmmakers succeed at creating characters the audience can grow fond of. This could also be attributed to the excellent casting as well. Still I enjoyed this and would easily rate it a 6.5-7 out of 10. It's no Incredible Hulk or Iron Man, but it was a unique action flight to pass the time while waiting for the Dark Knight to arrive.

Earlier this week I had the chance to see The Spiderwick Chronicles on iTunes. I was really pleased by this movie. I was a serious fan of the book series and found myself having serious concerns over how well the movie would transition from the book. The truth is that they did a fantastic job. While I did feel that some of the intense suspense in the book didn't relay to the screen, the film was still excruciatingly suspenseful. This movie was outstanding and I can't wait to watch it again.

This Week...

On T.V.:

This week watched the Season 2 premier of My Boys on TBS. It was a lot better than I expected, prompting me to turn to iTunes and get caught up on Season 1. I thoroughly enjoyed my time watching this show. As far as 30 minute comedies go anymore, they've really done something right on this one. In other T.V. news, it looks like Academy Award winner William Hurt will be joining Glenn Close, Tate Donovan and Ted Danson for Season 2 of FXs Critically Acclaimed drama Damages. Unfortunatly, we still have a while to wait for the insanity of Damages to return, as production began just yesterday here in New York. Luckily, the first season is available on DVD and iTunes. This is a show NO ONE should miss. It's by far one of the best things I've ever seen on television.

In Movies:

I finally got to see the Incredible Hulk this week. Edward Norton did it again. This movie was outstanding. It had good depth, plenty of comic book nerd 'easter eggs' and lots of action. I can only pray Norton returns for the sequel. I also watched 10,000 B.C. on iTunes last night and was pleasently surprised. I had very low expectations for this movie, and was happy to see that they had packed in as much plot as they did. This Friday I'm aiming to see Wanted, which I am confident will hold me over until Batman arrives in theaters next month.

In Books:

I finally finished reading A Big Life in Advertising by Mary Wells Lawrence. If your interested in advertising this is a good read. Ms. Wells ads are well known, and her developement in the industry makes for an entertaining and educational story. I've also finished half of Marley and Me by John Grogan. I can honestly say that no book has ever had the effect on me that this book has. It's extremely charming and well written and by the end of chapter one you'll love Marley as though he were your own dog. There are points when I became choked up and other times when I couldn't stop laughing while reading this book. Read the short preface and if you're still not interested, then the books not for you.

Jack Black Sucks!

It's no secret that I waste far too much time surfing the internet in search of crazy information about the world and pop culture. Well, here's one fun activity I've found in my search that I thought worthy of sharing. It's a Swedish furniture name generator. If you've ever walked through IKEA store and thought, "where the hell do they get they come up with the names for these couches?" this is most likely the answer. I'm a side table named SVERRII. I don't know if I like Sweden.

Also, for those Jack Black/School of Rock fans out there, it looks like 2 might be in the works. Click here to see the full article. I can't say I'm excited about a School of Rock sequel, since Jack Black destroys every movie he's in. Case in point: Be Kind Rewind. Any Michal Gondry flick should be amazing, but this latest film was barely bearable thanks to the consistently annoying Black. Eh…

Moving on, Mad Men returns for season two Sunday July 27^th. I'm a TV nut, and would recommend this show to anyone. It doesn't take much to get addicted to this show. The series focuses on an advertising agency in the late 1950s. It's the most truthful portrayal of the industry and the time period I've ever seen on television or on film. While we're used to seeing the chipper, pleasantville world of the Leave it to Beaver '50s, Mad Men portrays the sexism, racism, and immorality that peaople faced during the period. Seriously, you have one month to catch up on season one before the new season begins. The first season is available on DVD or on iTunes. Check out more about the show here.

This is different; the Chicago Sun-Times ran an interesting piece on the effects of high fuel costs on indie rock. It's an interesting spin on a topic I'm really sick of being reminded of. Check that article out by clicking here.

Finally, Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. I'm hooked on this guys music. He sucks live, as he's rarely sober enough to stand let alone get words out while playing guitar. Still, he's wildly popular here in New York and his live performances are often reviewed as 'trancendant'. I disagree, but still love his recordings and can understand why he's often called 'the next Bob Dylan'. My brother and I happened to catch one of his live shows at the Cake Shop on the Lower East Side a couple of months ago. To read more about him and his music, click here.