From Marvel to Finance Up to 10 Films:
Comic book publisher Marvel Enterprises Inc. on Tuesday said it completed a new $525 million debt facility to independently finance a slate of films based on its characters.
Cool, another X-Men film, maybe a few other mutant books, and if God likes me, a Silver Surfer film. Oh, wait, what’s this…
Marvel said the 10 characters in the arrangement are Captain America, The Avengers, Nick Fury, Black Panther, Ant-Man, Cloak & Dagger, Dr. Strange, Hawkeye, Power Pack, and Shang-Chi.
Holy B-movie Batman (I know, wrong publisher), this list is spectacularly dull. Cloak and Dagger could be interesting with the right script and director, and the Avenger’s could be fun if they don’t do it up “Fantastic Four” style. The rest of the list are your bargain basement characters that have little in the way of character development or even interesting action stories. Shang-Chi? I don’t think he even had his own book (those of you who can correct me, please move out of your parent’s basement).
Besides, they’ve already done two of these. What, you didn’t know about the Hasselhoff version of Nick Fury? I hear they loved it in Germany.
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Tags: Life, Music.
Stop what you’re doing right now, and buy both of The Shins‘ albums. These are some of the best rock albums I’ve heard from the past 10 years. They’re wonderfully produced, yet still manage to have a rough, indie feel to them. Their second album, Chutes Too Narrow, is more melodic and poppy than their first, Oh, Inverted World, but both are beautiful to the ears and soul alike. Trust me, buy them.
This has been a public service of Mr Chuckles dot net.
I had no idea I was ever a G.I. Joe character. For the record, however, I look absolutely nothing like this guy.
I was a huge G.I. Joe fan as a kid, and yet I have no memory of this character. I watched the cartoon religiously, collected many an action figure, and read the comics for a few years. Funny what you come across on the web these days. In any event, I wonder how long before I break down and the buy the Chuckles action figure off eBay…
From: ‘Voltron’ morphs into movie
The story being developed will be based on the series about five maverick explorer-pilots who must travel to the planet Arus to learn how to operate Voltron, a giant mechanical warrior formed by five smaller robots. The gargantuan robot is the last hope against the evil Drule Empire that has subjugated Earth and taken control of the universe.
Sounds like a combination of Lion Voltron (five people / mini-bots, planet Arus) and Vehicle Voltron (the Drule). Regardless, it will most likely be teh suck.
I’d just be happy to see the original, unedited Japanese versions of these released on DVD. At least give me re-runs of the American ones on Boomerang.
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Tags: Life, Rants.
No Hassle my ass. I’ve been trying to close a credit card with Capital One for about 3 months now, and I think I’ve just now gotten it sorted out. I’d bet money that these companies intentionally ignore your first account closure request just to keep you as a customer. The second time I called, complaining that I was still receiving statements and accumulating monthly charges, they said there was no record of my first call. Uh huh. It took four calls and a few demanding statements to finally get them to credit my account to a zero balance and mark it for closure at the end of the month. Now I just have to wait and see if it actually worked this time. I hate credit card companies.
Dear eBay, please block any and all connection attempts from my IP to your servers for the next two weeks. My brain responds to your site in ways that can only be understood by Meth addicts and Everquest players. I need to go cold turkey and I can’t do it alone. I assure you that once I’ve kicked this current bender, I’ll come back, albeit in a more controlled and logical state. Please don’t take advantage of me.
Thanks so much.
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Tags: Life, Music.
As I was re-arranging my workspace last night, I decided to pop the Secret World Live DVD in to the DVD player. I needed something I didn’t have to really pay much attention to, and I was in the mood for music, so I figured it would fit the bill. Watching that performance and listening to the music reminded me of how much I enjoy Peter Gabriel’s work. However, it also served to remind me that Secret World Live was Peter Gabriel at his best, and that he will probably never rise to that level again. I enjoy many songs from Up, and I did enjoy myself at the Growing Up tour, but it took 10 years to get that material. Plus, as enjoyable as the Growing Up tour was, it wasn’t nearly as fun as Secret World Live feels, nor was the musical quality as high. Maybe it’s because Peter is getting older, or is devoting more time to his charitable work. Maybe it’s because the Secret World Live CD was my first exposure to Gabriel, and it left a strong impression. I can’t say. I’m sure I’ll continue buying future Gabriel albums, and I may even attend future tours if they occur. However, when I think of how good Peter Gabriel’s work is, I’ll always think to Secret World Live.
It seems everyone is (or was) talking about the recently announced retirement of Dan Rather as the CBS Evening News anchor, who is due to step down in March. The conservative right rejoices the downfall of a biased newsman, while the liberal left seems to shrug its shoulders. Personally, I’ve been far more interested in the stories his predecessor has been sharing on NPR recently.
Walter Cronkite has been sharing some fascinating stories about the news events he reported on during his years as a television journalist, arguably one of most important time spans in America’s brief history. Listening to his behind the scenes tales from such events as the McCarthy hearings, the Sputnik launch, and the first plane hijacking helps me to feel as if I lived during those events. Delivered by that trademark voice in the reporting style of his era, it only reinforces my believe that TV news of today is nothing more than entertainment, scripted from beginning to end and completely sensationalized.
If you have the time, I highly recommend hopping over to NPR’s website and giving some of his stories a listen. I promise it will be worth your time.
My first (and probably last) Fark Photoshop entry…
It was from this thread
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Tags: Life, Music.
Reading through a survey thread on Fark which asked users to nominate their top five rock ‘n’ roll songs, I noticed a large percentage of users posted something from Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy album. This, of course, prompted me to pull up the tracks in iTunes and refresh my memory. I subsequently listened to the entire album. Then I realized, for my money, I can’t think of a better rock ‘n roll album. I mean real rock, not today’s rock, which is usually a hybrid of styles, not pop, not the ambiguous "alternative", just good, clean, rock ‘n roll.
Besides, I still have fond memories of laughing my ass off with Brad when I first heard the "bridge" (or lack thereof) from The Ocean. And those memories are priceless.
