Author Archive
October 7th, 2009, 12:58 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Most of us have just recently finished recovering from this summer’s San Diego Comic-Con. Next year’s event is scheduled for July 21-25, 2010, well over nine months away. As of today, four-day passes with preview night admittance are sold out already. However, four-day passes that don’t include preview night are still available for $100. For the moment, at least. Apparently jacking up prices compared to previous years is doing little to decrease demand.
If you were planning on making the pilgrimage to comicdoms holiest of holys next year, better act fast or you may wind up on the outside looking in.
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Posted in: Comics • Comic-Con • Conventions • San Diego | 1 Comment »
October 6th, 2009, 2:59 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 After the recent shake-ups in DC Comics, rumors of even more changes are in the wind. Bleeding Cool and other news sites are reporting that DC may be vacating their New York offices and moving to California. For now, it remains just a rumor, but there are several reasons why such a move would make sense.
With the recent reorganization, parent company Time-Warner has placed DC Comics under their film division. This reflects the growing influence that comic book movies have garnered in recent years. DC is considered a development house for potential movies. What better place to work on possible film ideas than Los Angeles?
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Posted in: Comics | Post a Comment »
October 2nd, 2009, 12:08 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Despite the abundance of gore and cannibalistic undead, “Zombieland” isn’t a horror movie. While there are a few scares and tense moments, on the whole the film is played more for laughs than for chills. Clearly taking a page from the brilliant English romantic comedy/zombie movie “Shaun of the Dead,” the characters are usually more concerned about their personal wants and needs than the ever-present threat posed by the ravenous ghouls.
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Posted in: Movies • Reviews • Zombies | Post a Comment »
September 29th, 2009, 3:34 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
“As if a million page view requests cried out at once, and were suddenly silenced.” Apologies to the great Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi for the paraphrasing, but it seems particularly appropriate.
Video game company Bioware opened up beta tester applications for their upcoming online role-playing game, “Star Wars: The Old Republic.” Gamers promptly hammered the page with requests causing Bioware to pull it down.
Currently, it reads “We are making adjustments to the site due to the overwhelming response to the testing announcement. Please be patient and check back later.” There’s still a long way to go, but given the strength of the Star Wars universe combined with Bioware’s incredible track record and this game has a chance to be something very special. It might even be the first real competitor to the online juggernaut that is “World of Warcraft.”
Posted in: Gaming • RPGs • BioWare • Internet • Nerd rage • Star Wars | Post a Comment »
September 28th, 2009, 3:16 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 The scramble to adapt comic characters to the silver screen continues. Writers Paul Wernick and Rhett Rheese have turned in their second draft of the proposed Spider-Man spin-off movie, “Venom,” to Sony. The duo also wrote the screenplay for “Zombieland” which opens this week and looks potentially awesome.
No word on how they plan to rectify the fact that the Venom character was killed off in Spider-Man 3. In movies (and comics), if there’s money to be made, death is only a minor obstacle.
With the rumored “Magneto” origin movie still in limbo, this could be the first comic-book villain to get his own movie. The film is looking at a 2012 debut.
Posted in: Comics • Movies • Marvel • venom | 2 Comments »
September 27th, 2009, 5:06 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 The surprise renewal last season of Joss Whedon’s sci-fi drama ‘Dollhouse’ may end up as only a temporary reprieve. The ratings for Friday’s season premiere are in and they are pretty bad. Though this is certainly disappointing, it’s not exactly surprising given the show’s performance last season.
The Eliza Dushku vehicle only managed to garner 2.5 million viewers. While the show has a terrible timeslot at 9 p.m. Friday, it was also soundly defeated by every other major networks’ offerings. Even the third-highest show, a rerun of ABC’s ‘Modern Family’ racked up 4.28 million viewers.
Though Fox did manage to defeat the CW’s showing of ‘America’s Next Top Model,’ so that’s something to be proud of I suppose.
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Posted in: Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Television • dollhouse • whedon | 1 Comment »
September 20th, 2009, 10:14 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
For the third time in recent weeks, Google has replaced its logo with a scene of rampaging aliens. While the previous two were rather cryptic at best, this time around they’re clear about the purpose. It’s to celebrate the birthday of “War of the Worlds” author and sci-fi trailblazer H.G. Wells.
While I can appreciate the sentiment, Google seems to be getting awfully chummy with UFOS of late. That can only lead to no good. Keep watching the skies, friends.
Posted in: Uncategorized • Google • H.G. Wells • Hmmmmm..... • Internet | Post a Comment »
September 18th, 2009, 2:35 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
The excellent musical documentary “Nerdcore Rising” about the increase in popularity of so-called nerdcore hip-hop came out on DVD this week. If you’re a Netflix subscriber, it’s even available to stream instantly. Nerdcore takes the genre and spins it in a new direction. Instead of bragging about toughness, money or crime, these rappers talk about the important stuff, like video games, Star Wars, web comics and more.
If the movie sounds interesting and you’d like to see the real thing, you’re in luck. MC Frontalot, the godfather of nerdcore himself, is playing a show in Mesa tommorow night, Saturday, Sept. 19. Also on the bill are Yellow Minute and video game rockers The OneUps. The show is scheduled for 10 p.m. at The Royal Gardens, 1940 E. Main St. in Mesa. Tickets are $10.
If that’s still not enough for you, there will be a 7 p.m. screening of “Nerdcore Rising” (along with the also acclaimed rock-umentary “Anvil” at 9 p.m.) at MADCAP Theaters, 730 South Mill Ave. in Tempe, next Friday. Tickets for both movies are $2.
Posted in: Music • DVDs • MC Frontalot • nerdcore | Post a Comment »
September 15th, 2009, 12:01 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Marvel has begun a new program of posting complete digital version of five comics on their website each week. While I remain partial to the real world dead trees version of comics, this is a great opportunity to check out some titles from the comfort of your own home.
Of this week’s selection, while the Deadpool issue isn’t too shabby, I highly recommend 1602 #1 by comic powerhouses Neil Gaiman and Andy Kubert. I’d also suggest checking out Ultimate Spider-Man #129 next week by the almost-as-good team of Brian Bendis and Stuart Immonen.
Even if you’ve never read Ultimate Spider-Man (or any Spider-Man!) before, it will give you a strong sense of what the book is about without needing to know everyone’s backstory. Besides, Marvel has recently pushed the reset button in the Ultimate Universe and it’s a great time to jump on board if you’ve been thinking about it.
Posted in: Comics • Free stuff • Marvel | 1 Comment »
September 14th, 2009, 4:45 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Bruce Campbell (AP) There’s good news for fans of actor, author and all-around geek icon Bruce Campbell (”Army of Darkness”, “Bubba-Ho-Tep”). In a recent interview with Access Hollywood, he mentioned that Spider-Man 4 begins shooting in January and that he will have a “major part” in the film. Exactly what his role will be remains uncertain.
Campbell has certainly earned the role. He’s already staked out his place in Spider-Man’s cinematic world with notable cameos in all three of the web-slinger’s films to date. Spider-Man director Sam Raimi is a big fan of the actor. The two of them have worked together several times, going all the way back to 1981’s cult classic “Evil Dead.”
It may not sell many more tickets, but fans are sure to agree, whatever his role, more of Campbell can only be a good thing.
Posted in: Movies • Bruce Campbell • Spider-Man | Post a Comment »
September 10th, 2009, 6:19 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
The hits just keep on coming in the super-hero biz. First, Disney scoops up Marvel and yesterday the president and publisher of DC Comics, Paul Levitz, stepped down. Levitz has been at the helm of DC since 2002 and has been at the company for over 30 years. He’s had a huge impact on the industry and is one of the main architects of the comic book market in America today. No replacement has yet been named, with several possible candidates rumored as successors.
This seems to be part of a shift to bring DC Comics and its characters closer to parent company Time-Warner. Warner looks like they’re no longer satisfied with simply marketing Superman and Batman t-shirts. With the growth of video games, cartoons, direct-to-video features, super-heroes are no longer relegated to comic-books. There’s serious money to be made from these properties if they’re marketed correctly.
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Posted in: Comics • Business • DC • Levitz | Post a Comment »
September 8th, 2009, 10:07 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
This past weekend, Seattle played host to the annual Penny Arcade Expo (PAX), one of the largest public video gaming conventions in the world. For years now, I’ve been lamenting the fact that I never can quite make up there to attend. However, it sounds like not attending this year might have an upside. Numerous con attendees are reporting they’ve fallen ill with the flu.
So far notable victims include web cartoonist Scott Kurtz (PvP), geek icon Wil Wheaton and Penny Arcade co-conspirator Mike Krahulik/Gabe. The San Diego Comic-Con may be overcrowded, smelly and expensive, but I can say that it has never gotten me sick.
Posted in: Uncategorized • Conventions • flu • Internet • pax | 2 Comments »
September 7th, 2009, 11:26 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 Could Disney’s recent four billion dollar acquisition of Marvel be bearing fruit already? That’s the latest rumor spurred on by a line in the most recent issue of “Entertainment Weekly.” In it, EW writes “Pixar is said to already be eyeballing an Ant-Man movie.”
With the right to so many of Marvel’s higher profile franchises tied up by other studios, it makes sense that some second-tier heroes would seriously considered at for their own films. And an “Ant-Man” movie has been in the works for a while now, with writer/director Edgar Wright wrapping up a second pass on the screenplay. While hardly strong evidence either way, this is more than enough to get fans buzzing (or whatever noise ants make).
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Posted in: Comics • Movies • Sci-Fi & Fantasy • ant-man • Disney • Marvel • Pixar | Post a Comment »
September 7th, 2009, 2:49 am by Chris "KeL" Adams
Have you ever wondered what the coolest library on Earth looks like? The website blog.shelfari.com can answer that for you. They’ve got a series of photos showing best-selling author and comics scribe Neil Gaiman’s home library and it’s incredible. Check it out, it truly is a thing of beauty.
I could see myself sinking into one of those chairs with a cup of cocoa and spending about 10 years happily reading. The best part? This is only his DOWNSTAIRS library. He’s got an upstairs reference library as well. Just when I thought I couldn’t respect the man any more, he gets even better.
Posted in: Books • Gaiman • heaven • library | 1 Comment »
September 1st, 2009, 11:17 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams
 The official Lion’s Gate Movies twitter feed announced that the adaptation of Mark Millar and John Romita Jr.’s comic “Kick-Ass” will hit theaters April 16th, 2010. This seems to put the final piece in place for the long winding road behind this movie.
The comic tells the story of an average high school kid who decides to become a super-hero, despite having no super-powers, training or even equipment. The screenplay was shot down after being shopped around to movie studios. It was deemed far too violent and profane for the ages of the characters involved.
However, director/co-writer Matthew Vaughn believed in the project so much that he refused to soften the story. Instead he went out and beat the bushes to independently raise financing for the movie.
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Posted in: Comics • Movies • Kick-Ass | 1 Comment »
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