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#1

Has Darth Vader joined the Salvation Army? Several volunteers from the 501st dressed as Star Wars characters and took their turn ringing bells at both Jefferson City Wal-marts. [star wars blog]

Peter Berg says that Hancock 2 won’t happen, for now. [cinemablend]

Pixar’s Up opened in Japan with $7 million from 525 spots this weekend, the second-biggest debut of an animation title ever after Finding Nemo.

Duncan Jones took home the best British Film and Best Debut Director awards for Moon at this year’s British Independent Film Awards.

The final running time for James Cameron’s Avatar is 161 minutes. [marketsaw]

Vin Diesel has announced on his Facebook page that location scouting has already begun in New Zealand for a new installment in the Chronicles of Riddick franchise. :cool:

Syfy has signed on to pick up 13 episodes of Haven, a thriller based on Stephen King’s novella The Colorado Kid. [variety]

Star Wars Celebration V has been announced for Orlando, FL on August 12-15, 2010 at the Orange County Convention Center.

Zenescope Entertainment, Persistent Entertainment and Pantry Films are teaming to produce the film adaptation of Zenescope’s graphic novel The Piper, a darker cinematic version of the Pied Piper of Hamelin. [variety]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiRMGYQfXrs
Klingon Hamlet performed by Brian Rivera and directed by Amir Sharafeh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWzc9-sFK8U
Zany live action Street Fighter performed on a Japanese TV show, which ironically is much better than the groan inducing Van Damme Flick.

Theo Alexander and Grant Bowler have landed recurring roles on True Blood. [shock]

FlashForward and V will return to the ABC schedule in March 2010, allowing for both shows to run uninterrupted through the end of the season. FlashForward will return on Thursday, March 4th, 2010 and V on Tuesday, March 30th, 2010. [cs]

#2

Neat pic re: Salvation Army, but it might be worth reading up a little on them before contributing.
http://www1.salvationarmy.org/ind\www_ind.nsf/vw-sublinks/80256E520050A2E280256CB9005E9877?opendocument

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/hotstories/6746254.html

Also, when NYC considered making it so domestic partners would be eligible for domestic benefits (that married folks get), they threatened to close down every soup kitchen in the city.

Their prerogative, of course, but it’s possible there may be another charity that’s a little less dickish you might consider contributing to if their beliefs clash enough with yours.

</political junk & stuff>

#3

Id be more inclined to donate to the Salvation Army if their representatives always dressed as Star Wars characters. Come to think of it, Id be more inclined to do/say/think just about anything if it was tied in to Star Wars. :smiley:

#4

Anything?

#5

‘Space Barley’ six-packs for sale

Sapporo Breweries has begun selling six-packs of the world’s first “space beer” brewed with barley descended from seeds that spent time in space.

For now, only 250 six-packs of the beer, which Sapporo calls “Space Barley,” are available for purchase. Customers will be selected at random from those who apply through the Space Barley website before December 24.

The barley used in the beer is the fourth-generation offspring of seeds that spent five months aboard the International Space Station in 2006 as part of research that Sapporo conducted with the Russian Academy of Sciences and Okayama University. The aim of the research was to study the adaptability and life cycle of barley in zero-gravity and to explore the challenges of achieving self-sufficient food production in space.

Space Barley beer has a mellow flavor and slightly dark color reminiscent of deep space, according to Sapporo. The six-packs are priced at an astronomical 10,000 yen ($110), but Sapporo will donate the profits to Okayama University, who will use the funds to promote science education for children and foster the development of space science research in Japan and Russia.

#6

Last month, it was revealed that James Cameron’s Avatar would have a closing credits theme song titled ‘I See You’, performed by multiple Grammy® Award-nominated singer Leona Lewis — an obvious attempt to replicate the success of Titanic’s Celine Dion theme “My Heart Will Go On“.

You can listen to it here-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SKcUQIAs_c

The Avatar soundtrack will be released December 15th (December 14th internationally) and is currently available for pre-order at AvatarScore.com . Avatar hits theaters everywhere on December 18th.

Canal+ has an awesome featurette on the world of Pandora, narrated by Sigourny Weaver-
http://player.canalplus.fr/#/297591

#7

I doubt that beer is anything special, but if at least some of the profits go toward science research/education then Im all for it.

#8

John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway as Spider-Man 4’s Vulture and… Vulturess?


This is where those Black Cat stories from a few weeks back get really interesting. It’s also where some purists start throwing little fits.

New reports have John Malkovich and Anne Hathaway in the frame for roles in the new Spider-Man picture as father and daughter villains. Malkovich would be playing The Vulture, and Hathaway would be playing The Vulturess.

The who…? You might be surprised, if not outright appalled, when you read just who she is…

According to Movieline, Hathaway would indeed be playing Felicia Hardy, the comics character also known as Black Cat. In this version of events, however, she won’t be going feline but will instead “become a brand-new superpowered figure called the Vulturess”.

The first report on there being a father-daughter villain team up actually would have pointed straight at the Vulture if somebody had a better memory. A source at the time kept referring to the character as “Viper”, not Vulture. So close.

Now, there’s no reason this rejig won’t work brilliantly but I still bet Raimi and Co. get it in the neck. Frankly, fidelity towards the source material is ludicrously over-protected by comics fanpeeps who seem to be missing the bigger picture. Who cares if we get Black Cat or Vulturess? Shouldn’t we simply care that the end result is smart, purposeful, well made and engaging? With Raimi, David Lindsay-Abaire and Gary Ross pulling the strings I think I’d be happy to bet the shirt off of my back on this one.

Hathaway has already been linked to the role, back when we assumed Felicia would be wearing a slinky cat suit and not some sort of birdy get-up. Malkovich is a new name to the Spider-game, to the best of my knowledge. I like both of them a great deal and think they can hit the required tone perfectly.

I wonder if this new Felicia will also have the white hair? Not terribly Vulture-y, is it? But then, it wasn’t too Cat-y either. I dare say the cleavage costume will go relatively unchanged, perhaps just recoloured into green. It might be like the Norman and Harry hand-me-down all over again.

Movieline’s piece also discusses the exclusion of The Lizard, a villain that the entire series seems to be building towards. According to them, “the suits simply can’t bring themselves to sign off on such an odd-looking enemy”. Is there no concept artist out there who could make this thing work for the witless executives?

Note that all information is pointing to Malkovich’s character taking over The Daily Bugle. That’s another continuity change from the comics, I believe. Again, I could care less as long as it works in the context of the movie.

#9

More Spiderman? Yuck, pass.

#10

I stopped Spiderman 3 in the middle and never went back. Am I missing anything?

#11

You chose well, I wish I had walked out of the theater. It was so… disappointing.

#12

Oh man! Not them too! I feel conflicted enough about the Archdiocese of Washington threatening to cut off all social services they provide if the city council approves same sex marriage legislation (which they’re expected to do or recently passed. I’m a little out of the loop right now).

Then again, perhaps the Vatican might consider changing priestly garments in favor of Imperial uniforms. That might make church services a little more…interesting? Bizarre? Incongruous?

Good night, folks! My brain just fried itself. :wink:

#13

Originally Posted by Thunderscreech
Neat pic re: Salvation Army, but it might be worth reading up a little on them before contributing.
http://www1.salvationarmy.org/ind\...7?opendocument

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...s/6746254.html

Also, when NYC considered making it so domestic partners would be eligible for domestic benefits (that married folks get), they threatened to close down every soup kitchen in the city.

Their prerogative, of course, but it’s possible there may be another charity that’s a little less dickish you might consider contributing to if their beliefs clash enough with yours.

</political junk & stuff>

Call me naive if you must but; what do politics and Christians helping those in need have to do with each other? Homeless people don’t vote! Why would you punish them just because the local Judiciary wants to pass something you don’t approve of? It seems hypocritical and spiteful…:mad:

But then, that is just me.:confused:

#14

That’d be an improvement, IMHO. The bizzare thing about Vatican II et al., is that it depricated spectical (smells and bells and yells, as we called it) and solidified doctrine. What they should have done is the opposite.

/catholic rant

#15

Not to get off on a rant here (too late?), but can someone calmly and rationally explain why they hid pedophile priests for years, but when Father Cutié has adult consensual relations with a woman (he later marries her), they publicly and immediately punished him?

Huh? Do they not see the message that was sent?

#16

South Park had an explanation in this episode:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Hot_Catholic_Love

Because it would displease the Queen Spider.

#17

You know, I used to disagree. Now that I’m removed from Catholicism by several years I yearn for that sense of theater sometimes, which protestant churches simply don’t have.

Say what you will about the Catholic Church, you have to admit, they put on a hell of a show! :wink:

#18

Try a Black church (yes, I’m Black). Anywhere in the US will do, but preferably in a southern state.

Different kind of show though… (:

//youtu.be/MXpwprcVwrs

Start at 5:18.

#19

Sounds pretty congruous to me. :stuck_out_tongue:

Agreed. I might still be Catholic if I had grown up with Latin High Mass.

Nah, probably not.

#20

What happened to my poor thread:confused:

Oh well, please keep it civil…:slight_smile: