Fellow geeks and nerds, we are apart of a movement that is sweeping the world of comics. That movement is the "Age of the Reboot." The New 52 is the name DC Comics chose and Marvel NOW! was Marvel's reboot brand, and with some good and bad titles the two have held their own. Today Marvel announced yet another reincarnation, this time of Ms. Marvel.
Now we've already seen one rebranding of Ms. Marvel in the form of Carol Danvers assuming the title of Captain Marvel. This time, however, the title of Ms. Marvel will belong to a slightly nerdy 16-year-old girl from New Jersey with shape-shifting abilities. Woot Woot, Jersey represent! The twist Marvel has thrown in is that the character is a Pakistani-American teenager, the daughter or fresh-off-the-boat Pakistani immigrants. Her name is Kamala Khan, and she is part of Marvel's recent efforts to expand presence of various ethnic groups within comics. We have seen similar changes already occur with the rebranding of Nick Fury, mainly due to Samuel L. Jackson bringing the level of badassery to the character on the big screen. This isn't the 1950s anymore!
Kamala will have to go through the usual teenage drama that presents itself to a 16-year-old in New Jersey. [Trust me, it's rough; I was chubby, had a bowl cut, and looked like Harry Potter.] The series will follow Kahn as she deals with your typical super villains while balancing her home and religious lives, which is a newer concept for Marvel. Series creator G. Willow Wilson gave some insight as to why Kamala takes up the mantle of Ms. Marvel rather than her own identity: "She looks up to Carol because she's saved worlds with her bare hands—literally. She really idolizes Carol, and is an ideal she looks up to. So when she gets powers of her own, it makes sense for her to take that younger Captain Marvel role up."
Those of you who currently follow the Captain Marvel series will notice that in issue 14, Kamala is in the background. The reasoning behind this was to establish the setting when and where Kamala first saw Danvers going to work. Needless to say, this is a huge step for Marvel and has definitely created a lot of buzz. Now, lets see if I can fall in love with Ms. Marvel all over again like I did with Carol.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at—and no, not just porn—as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case…The Marvel NOW! Ms.Marvel #1!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Following the reveal that Ultron would be the villain in the second Avengers film, many have wondered if and when the villainous machine's heroic creation, the Vision, would come to the big screen. Although speculation has gone so far as assuming that Agent Coulson would become the AI Avenger, it was confirmed today that Paul Bettany, who voiced J.A.R.V.I.S. in all three Iron Man films, will play the role in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron.
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron is slated to hit theatres May 1, 2015, but is still adding characters to its roster. What do you think of the addition of Bettany as the Vision? Would you have preferred someone else? Let us know in the comments section below and stay tuned to fanboysanonymous.com for more Marvel movie news.
Comic book adaptations have managed to make consistent headlines as the genre grows. Thanks to the glory of the internet, fanboys everywhere get to walk through the bizarre mind of the Hollywood executive, as the details of all stages of casting show the various directions these films could be taken in. It seems almost a monthly occurrence now that some strange casting or plot choice comes storming out of left field like a Bat-Affleck out of hell to raise a superstorm of hullabaloo. The most recent of these odd announcements is the reveal from AMC that Seth Rogen and writing partner Evan Goldberg will be the ones adapting Garth Ennis's and Steve Dillon's classic Vertigo series Preacher.
AMC has certainly managed to mine golden properties over the last few years and establish itself as a top-notch channel, which should earn it quite a bit of benefit of the doubt. What do you think of Rogen attached to Preacher? Would you like to see him take a role in the film? Let us know in the comments below!
Hey, Hey, Hey Dacetacular Nation! Check out Episode 33 of The Dace Man Show with regulars Dace, Gibby, and Frank Ward! Also joining the show is special guest Michael Burhan!!
Join The Dace Man and crew this week as they break down the following:
::SPORTS NEWS::
- SUPERBOWL XLVIII football season is over and we break it down for the last time till August!
- Current NHL Leaders…the only sport currently happening [sigh]
- Charlie Manuel to be inducted into the Phillie Wall of Fame
- Sochi Winter Olympics kick off Friday. Are we excited?
- Curt Schilling diagnosed with cancer
- Apparently your weekly RSS Feed from Huffington Post
::FRANK'S CORNER::
- Random Generator
::CELEB NEWS::
- George Zimmerman to box DMX in a Celebrity Boxing Match.
- Phillip Seymor Hoffman passed away this weekend.
- SuperBowl XLVIII Halftime Show breakdown
- Woody Allen under fire
- Justin Beiber is in all kinds of legal trouble.
- Popular USA sitcom coming to an end after current season.
- Great Debate of Evolution vs. Creationism occurred Feb. 4th.
- Jay Leno's Final Tonight Show will be Feb 6th. For realzies this time
- 2014 Internet Goddess Tournament kick off!!
Current Entertainment Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Mega Powers Radio on BlogTalkRadio
Step onto the crazy train with Chris "The Dace Man" Dace and crew, only on The Dace Man Show… cue the "Final Countdown"!!!
Listen live to The Dace Man Show every Wednesday at 8pm EST on Mega Powers Radio.
Follow on Facebook: Mega Powers Radio | Fanboys Anonymous | The Dace Man Show | I Got Game Play | Geek Speak | Rose Colored Reviews | Addicted to Anime
Just when you thought that celebrity entertainment couldn't get any more desperate, just when you thought that there were no more half-arsed "celebrities" left to exploit—you'd be right!
Ring promoter Damon Feldman has confirmed that George Zimmerman will fight DMX in what is being billed as a "celebrity" boxing match. You will know George Zimmerman as the former neighborhood watchman who escaped a guilty verdict for second-degree murderlast year for the shooting of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida in February 2012.
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| "Celebrity?!!" |
His opponent in this boxing match is not the only one who hates Zimmerman's guts, but despite his longtime tough guy image, DMX hardly looks fit to box a broccoli fart. With a string of offenses such as possession of weed, dangerous driving, DUIs, animal cruelty, and more, his last stint in prison saw him moved to a mental health unit with an "undisclosed mental disorder."
How is that entertainment? How, in Barack Obama's United States? How is this even honoring Trayvon Martin? It isn't, it never could. This match is virtually in Zimmerman's hands. DMX is the challenged, not the challenger. Considering that Feldman has been charged with fixing celebrity matches before, and also for promoting unlicensed matches, this couldn't just go either way. This has so many different ways it could go badly wrong. If it is fixed, and it goes horribly wrong, then what?
The match originally came about when rapper The Game challenged Zimmerman. Although Feldman told The Game that he'd have a fight on his hands because Zimmerman had been training hard, The Game laughed it off. Not long after, Zimmerman dropped out and decided he wanted to fight DMX instead.
Promoter Feldman has also stated that all of Zimmerman's proceedings from this match will go to charity. That is not going to make everybody who still thinks he's guilty have a sudden change of heart and say to themselves, well hey, he's not such a bad guy after all, but dropping The Game for DMX tells me that he really wants to win, because take a look at the bulky Zimmerman compared with the wasted and vacant-looking 43-year-old rapper.
George Zimmerman's "celebrity" boxing match against DMX will be aired both online and on pay-per-view on March 1st, subject to change (or cancellation).
Sound off, Fanboys! What are your views on this? Do you think people are taking it seriously or not serious enough? Should this match be boycotted? Comments below and thanks for reading!
The popular online retailer giant Amazon has acquired Double Helix Games, the developer behind Xbox One games such as Killer Instinct and the upcoming Strider reboot, CNet just confirmed.
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| Amazon acquires Double Helix Games |
The report was first revealed on TechCrunch, stating that the deal was made for the studio's talent and intellectual properties.
"Amazon has acquired Double Helix as part of our ongoing commitment to build innovative games for customers," an Amazon representative said in a statement to TechCrunch.
The Irving, California studio's seventy-five employees will continue the current line-up of Double Helix games and its future plans.
Information on the deal was reportedly leaked through an invitation to a joint recruiting event between the two companies that was scheduled for next week in Los Angeles, TechNews said.
The independent gaming studio was founded in 2007 when Shiny Entertainment, creators of Earthworm Jim and Enter the Matrix, merged with The Collective Inc., makers of Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, citing on their website that their combined experience stretches back almost twenty years.
Throughout the years the studio has developed a handful of games including Silent Hill: Homecoming for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 and is set to launch a reboot of Capcom's classic title Strider later this month. It also released Blockbuster-based titles such as G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters.
While Amazon has its own game studio, which developed mobile games such as Air Patriots and Airport Mania on iOS and Android, the deal adds speculation that the company is pushing to enter the video gaming industry as major competition with Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony.
The news comes just a week after rumors surfaced that Amazon plans to launch its own Android-powered console that will allow for both streaming and downloading games.
The video game blog VG247.com reported, citing multiple anonymous sources, that Amazon's new console will launch this year and will be priced below $300. This follows Amazon's marketing of Kindle Fire HD against Apple's iPad.
According to the report, the unit shown to publishers is described as "roughly the same size as the PSone redesign, grey in color, oblong in shape and with sharp edges," although the console may receive a redesign before an official release.
What you do you think about the deal? Let us know in the comment section below.
After missing the original December release date due to network issues, Nintendo has slowly been releasing the Pokemon Bank and Poke Transporter apps around the world. Yesterday Nintendo teased that they'd be coming "soon," and they weren't kidding; now gamers in North America can now fire up the Nintendo eShop and download the apps for themselves!
For those who don't know, Pokemon Bank is an online service that allows you to store up to 3000 of your Pokemon from X and Y in the cloud, and Poke Transporter allows you to retrieve Pokemon from your Black, White, Black 2, and White 2 versions and store them in the cloud as well. The only catch is that if there are any items attached to your Pokemon, they'll automatically be removed and returned to your bag in X or Y. If you download Pokemon Bank before March 14th, you'll get a 30-day free trial; after that, it'll cost $4.99 per year to use.
But that's not all! If you use the app before September, you'll get the legendary Pokemon Celebi! For a step-by-step guide on how to get your Celebi, click here. (I tried it myself and can vouch for it.)
So there you have it trainers. What Pokemon are you most excited to bring over to X and Y? Sound off in the comments below!
Science fiction is a rapidly growing force in the entertainment world, with major franchises like Star Wars and Star Trek filming new big-budget films, as well as Marvel Studios taking its films to the stars. The comic world has been receiving an influx of sensational sci-fi in the past few years, but Rick Remender has managed to make a distinct addition to the new universe of sci-fi content with Black Science.
The story thus far has been split into three distinct sections, following two groups of parallel-universe-exploring "dimensionauts" to a world of "inverse manifest destiny," where a German army circa World War I battles a technologically advanced Native American nation. Private security leaders Ward and Shawn, along with Kadir, who funded the Pillar and is now trapped traveling with the rest of them, watch as a medicine man of the superpowered Native American armies heals a soldier from a seemingly fatal wound. They decide that kidnapping him is the only way they can save lead scientist Grant McCay, but the plan fails as quickly as it was formulated due to the arrival of a Native American in a Matrix Revolutions-like mech suit. While the mech tries to take out Ward and Shawn, Kadir sneaks behind the mechanical monster and destroys it with a defeated German soldier's grenade.
Back at the Pillar, Chandra, another scientist, holds the team's German captive at gunpoint but rapidly loses control of the situation when the German soldier begins to relentlessly cry out for help. The group decides to hide and tries to muffle the soldier, but to no avail. Another scientist, Beccah, finally realizes that further attention could get them killed and fights through both the soldier's thrashing and her own tears to drown the captive in a puddle of mud.
Issue three is bookended with flashbacks. The first depicts Grant being intimate with Beccah just a few hours before the Pillar begins to malfunction, revealing that their affair had been on the verge of going public just before the accident. When we next return to the past at the end of the issue, Grant is guiding his children on a tour of his facility. He explains to his son that parallel worlds all stack on one another like rings of an onion and that no one knows just was is at the center, but with the Pillar they may now jump between dimensions and find out. Before they can speculate any further, Kadir rushes in just as the Pillar goes off, revealing the events surrounding the misfire and the subsequent dilemma of the "dimensionauts."
The issue was a fun mix of action and back story. So far, the flashbacks and constant action have left the story without much room to breathe, but the fun of exploring Remender's sci-fi worlds makes it worthwhile. Although we haven't gotten to spend much time getting to know the characters yet, we are getting to explore worlds that just couldn't exist in any other medium.
What have you thought of Black Science so far? Do you think it lives up to, or even surpasses Remender's cult classic Fear Agent? Let us know in the comments section below!
Back at the Pillar, Chandra, another scientist, holds the team's German captive at gunpoint but rapidly loses control of the situation when the German soldier begins to relentlessly cry out for help. The group decides to hide and tries to muffle the soldier, but to no avail. Another scientist, Beccah, finally realizes that further attention could get them killed and fights through both the soldier's thrashing and her own tears to drown the captive in a puddle of mud.
Issue three is bookended with flashbacks. The first depicts Grant being intimate with Beccah just a few hours before the Pillar begins to malfunction, revealing that their affair had been on the verge of going public just before the accident. When we next return to the past at the end of the issue, Grant is guiding his children on a tour of his facility. He explains to his son that parallel worlds all stack on one another like rings of an onion and that no one knows just was is at the center, but with the Pillar they may now jump between dimensions and find out. Before they can speculate any further, Kadir rushes in just as the Pillar goes off, revealing the events surrounding the misfire and the subsequent dilemma of the "dimensionauts."
The issue was a fun mix of action and back story. So far, the flashbacks and constant action have left the story without much room to breathe, but the fun of exploring Remender's sci-fi worlds makes it worthwhile. Although we haven't gotten to spend much time getting to know the characters yet, we are getting to explore worlds that just couldn't exist in any other medium.
What have you thought of Black Science so far? Do you think it lives up to, or even surpasses Remender's cult classic Fear Agent? Let us know in the comments section below!
This week we take a look at Round One of the tournament and highlight the contestants! In this round we have Jessica Lee Rose squaring off with Ciji Thorton, and Andrea Russett going toe-to-toe with Jessica Smiles. Check out their spotlighted profiles below and vote. Voting ends for Round One on February 28th, 2014!
Round 1 (A)
Jessica Lee Rose (YouTube Personality, Actress)
Ciji Thornton (YouTube Personality)
Better known as StarSlay3r, Ciji busted onto our computer monitors in 2006 when she grabbed the attention of MTV for being one of the Top 10 Guitar Hero Players in the CPL Tournament held in Dallas, TX. She has been a recognized gamer for the past six years after dominating several Guitar Hero and Rockband competitions. She has also appeared on FOX and MSNBC and been featured on many Internet websites such as IGN. Thornton continues to post videos to YouTube as well as participate in many fundraising campaigns, which is why she's landed on Fanboys Anonymous's 2014 Internet Goddess Tournament!So Nerds, who wins this Match up? Ciji Thornton? Or Jessica Lee Rose? Sound off on our poll!
surveys & polls
Round 1 (B)
Andrea Russett (YouTube Personality)
Better known as GETTOxFABxFOREVER, Andrea is another one of the lovely YouTube personalities who has garnered a cult following. She's known for posting Vlogs as well as music videos of herself lip-syncing to many of pop pulture's top hits. With over 800,000 subscribers and hundreds of videos, she is still an active user on YouTube and interacts with her fans on a regular basis. She also acts as a video DJ and currently resides in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Russett's biggest claim to fame is having her video appear in the Justin Beiber movie Never Say Never. Due to her success she has been nominated for social media awards and has also landed herself a spot on the 2014 Fanboys Anonymous's Internet Goddess Award! Cheers!
Jessi Smiles (Vine & YouTube Personality)
Well Fanboys, who wins this battle? Andrea Russett or Jessica Vazquez? Sound off on our poll!
survey tool
Check back next week for the Round One results as well as the Round Two contestants, and as always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at (and no, not just porn), as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case an Internet Browser—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
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| Complete 2014 Internet Goddess Tournament |
Now I know there has been no official announcement yet, but if any heroine was to get a standalone movie, it would definitely be Carol Danvers. As a member of the U.S. Air Force, there is so much rich history behind this blonde bombshell to build a movie franchise off of. Not to mention that she has garnered enough of a cult following to stand alone and without a doubt do well in the box office.
So this leads us to the most important question: Who should portray Ms. Marvel on the big screen? You have to keep in mind that she has to be a strong enough actress to take the lead and stand alone in most instances, as well as not be locked down as a supporting role in any other Marvel film. That automatically rules out Scarlett Johansson (Black Widow) and Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts). Below, I offer you five choices in no particular order, as well as arguments to why each would work. So let's play casting director and follow through with the five auditions ahead of us.
Katee Sackhoff
Obviously her background in being a badass makes her a perfect candidate to be a major in the air force as well as a future Avenger. Starring in Battlestar Galactica and the most recent Riddick installment, she is no stranger to action. She even got her feet wet in the comics world by lending her voice to Batman: Year One and Superhero Squad. At age 33, this is the role that cold have her set for the rest of her life. Get a three-movie deal for your own franchise, as well as a spot in Avengers 3, and she is set heading into her 40s. Place the mask on her and you can start envisioning the big-screen hit starring Katee Sackhoff. She is definitely one of the top five choices and a front-runner on most lists circulating on the Internet. But let's move on to our next audition before we pull the trigger on the first person.Blake Lively
Now when we talk about this actress, most of us male nerds were introduced to her in the movie Accepted as Justin Long's love interest. We then watched her grow into Ryan Reynolds' love interest in DC's motion picture debut of the Green Lantern, where she was given the role of Carol Ferris and entrusted by Geoff Johns and DC to carry the mantle of the Star Sapphire in what was assumed to be a franchise in the making. She held her own in Green Lantern as Carol and had the aggressive attitude behind her to take on the eventual role of Star Sapphire, but due to poor performance at the box office, Star Sapphire will never appear on the big screen—nor the badass Sinestro. [Sigh.]Blake Lively is young and clearly someone who could join a superhero franchise for the long run. Just like Carol Ferris, Carol Danvers is a pilot, so a transition for Lively would not be hard at all when it comes to research. Clearly she is OK with taking on a superhero role, since she's done it in the past, but the question is, is she ready to step up to the plate and play lead? Unlike Star Sapphire, who plays second fiddle to Hal Jordan, Carol Danvers is a big-league player who would dominate most of the on-air time.
Ashley Tisdale
If we're looking for someone who needs that breakout role, look no further. Ashley Tisdale has that Disney TV star aroma still around her, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She already has an in with Disney and could easily move sideways to their Marvel property. Her last appearance on the big screen was on a franchise that sank faster than the Titanic, Scary Movie 5. Now that's not saying much, and the only thing she's slated for in the future is more voiceover work. So if you need a female lead that can commit to you for the long haul, a 28-year-old New Jersey native with no major films in the works is the girl for you. Now even though Scary Movie is absolutely garbage, she did play the lead, and from her previous work at a younger age she can be a dominant presence on screen. If I were the casting director, she would definitely be called back several times—if not picked for the role.Ali Larter
Now she may be the oldest on the list, but let's not have age play a factor. Yes, she's 37, and a long haul would be a tad bit more difficult with Ali, but if she's committed and looks the same for the next five to ten years—like she has for the previous ten—we're set. She has experience with playing a strong woman in both Final Destination and the TV series Heroes. Also, out of the five actresses listed, I think she is the closest to hitting the comic artwork to a tee. She has the voice, height, and experience behind her, and as a casting director I would approach her with this role with the mentality, "It's yours, now take it." Like Tisdale, she doesn't have much in the pipeline—just two movies that are labeled as "post-production"—so commitment on her end wouldn't be tough. Also, as previously stated, she has the charisma to take a lead role and build a franchise. She's been a part of them before and can obviously carry another one if given the shot.Kaley Cuoco
We've seen Cuoco debut as the popular, dumb blonde on 8 Simple Rules and progress to literally the girl next door on The Big Bang Theory. Now with her playing the role of Penny, we get to see a little more of the tough sporty girl rather than a girly girl she played before. This is perfect to be Carol Danvers. At the age of 28, with only two films on her plate, she could easily be in it for the long haul on a superhero franchise such as Ms. Marvel. The only issue she would run into is how long will Big Bang Theory remain on air? We all know that being a featured player on a television show will hinder an actor's big screen appearances. It's why so many make the jump either to the big screen or from the big screen, as it is very hard to balance both. Just ask The Rock. So the ball would totally be in her court if she would risk jumping to a possible four-film deal and leaving the cushy—and seemingly neverending—Big Bang Theory.
So, ultimately the question goes unanswered for me. I would not complain if any one of these five landed the role of Ms. Marvel. They all have their pros and cons with regard to this franchise, but hey, remember when we all bitched about Chris Evans as Captain America or Heath Ledger as the Joker or Anne Hathaway as Catwoman…see where I'm going with this? As long as the actress owns the hell out of the role, I would never be upset—well, unless you cast a redhead and completely ignore the character's comic lineage. Now I ask, who do you think should play Ms. Marvel? One of these five? Someone not on the list? Mouth off below, Keyboard Warriors.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at—and no, not just porn—as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case Ms.Marvel #1!—and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
Candice Patton has joined the cast of the CW pilot of DC Comics' The Flash as Iris West, Deadline reports.
The actress, best known for her role in The Game and The Craigslist Killer, will play opposite both Grant Gustin as Barry Allen/The Flash and Law and Order's Jesse L. Martin as Detective West, Iris' father.
Iris' character has been described in the upcoming show as "Allen's fast-talking, quick-witted best friend," according to Nerdist. In the comics, however, Iris is a reporter and Barry Allen's love interest. Patton's casting is sure to draw some controversy, given that Iris will also be ditching her ginger look to bring some much-needed diversity.
Gustin has already made an appearance as Barry Allen in two episodes of Arrow, which the pilot has spun off of, and has sparked a love interest with Felicity Smoak. Assuming The Flash goes to series, it is unknown if the relationship will end or have a continuous cross-over between Arrow and Flash, CinemaBlend said.
The lightning-fast character was originally slated to appear in three episodes of Arrow, though CW is now filming Flash as a standalone pilot. CW president Mark Pedowitz said last month at the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour that he'd like to see a Flash series launch "with a bang like we launched Arrow."
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| The Flash - DC Comics |
Carlos Valdes, currently on Broadway in Once, has also landed a series role as Cisco Ramon, an engineering genius and the youngest scientist at S.T.A.R. Labs—better known to comics fans as Justice League member Vibe, Hollywood Reporter revealed.
In other casting news, Rick Cosnett (The Vampire Diaries) will portray Central City Police Detective Eddie Thawne, aka Professor Zoom/Reverse Flash. Danielle Panabaker has also been cast to play Caitlin Snow, the bioengineering expert who lost her fiancé during an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs, and who later becomes the DC villain Killer Frost.
Are you anticipating the Flash spin-off? What do you think about the casting choices? Let us know in the comments section below.
Want to know what happened over the past few days in nerd culture? WEEK IN GEEK is your quick fix to catch up with the rest of the fanboys out there.
MOVIES
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Super Bowl trailer.
My take: Ugh. What? It looks like Jim Carrey's Riddler and Jamie Foxx's Electro have extremely similar origins. And Batman and Robin was a really good movie, right? I am so tired of superhero movies where all the hero does is save his own ass. How about a hero movie where the hero saves the day instead of his own ass?
Captain America Super Bowl trailer.
My take: Wow. This movie looks like it has at least two or three amazing action sequences. I'm really looking forward to this! However, I hate the idea of the Helicarrier's fall being a plot point AGAIN.
Transformers: Age of Extinction Super Bowl Spot
My take: Why are the Dinobots life-sized? The Autobots already have to live in an Air Force hangar. Also, I don't see how the character "redesigns" look any sleeker or easier on the eyes. They still look like piles of shrapnel that are held together with glue and spray-painted.
TELEVISION
The Super Bowl happened.
My take: It was quite the nail-biter.
Super Bowl ads.
My take: Even non-Super Bowl ads are getting a lot of attention. An ad by Scarlett Johansson and another by Anna Kendrick got as much hype (and possibly more sharing) than actual SB ads. I see this "we couldn't get a Super Bowl Ad" ad being a new thing companies are going to jump on, and we'll get a lot more content out of it in the future, so game on!
Seinfeld TV spot.
My take: The big mystery was finally revealed, and Jerry and George gave all their fans a two-minute conversation to promote Seinfeld's Acura web series. Personally, I never got into Seinfeld, so I hope fans enjoyed it.
COMIC BOOKS
Geoff Johns and Romita Jr. to "reset Superman and his universe."
My take: Are you kidding me, DC??? You literally JUST rebooted your damn universe. You're killing me, DC, just killing me.
Marvel trying to steer away from scantily clad female heroes.
My take: Fine by me. Even as a fanboy, I get that sex sells, but it doesn't make for positive role models. As a man with two young daughters, I'm happy to see stronger female characters being created.
HOLLYWOOD
Last week, Leonard Nimoy addressed his health concerns.
My take: Listen to Spock and don't smoke! His condition is one that gets worse over time. COPD is caused primarily by smoking. So stop smoking immediately. It will soon rob us of having Nimoy in our lives.
Philip Seymour Hoffman dead.
My take: The worst takeaway from this event was how the media clamped on to rumours that it was a hoax. Could none of these "real" news agencies confirm genuine information rather than relying on the public's curiosity to feed their ratings? Disappointing.
Watch out for this segment each and every Wednesday. We'll see you next week!
Did we miss something? What are your thoughts on these topics? Leave us a comment below!
Ben Wheatley, the director of the new Doctor Who series, talks about how he feels Peter Capaldi will be as the new Doctor.
Wheatley describes Capaldi as quite an enthusiastic and knowledgeable Doctor Who fan. According to io9, Wheatley finds Capaldi to be an appropriate match to play the next Doctor in the popular series. Compared with other less experienced actors he has worked with, Wheatley says:
"But with Capaldi, you look at his career and you look at his performances they are all so brilliant, and all so different as well. It was a lucky break for me."As for the type of Doctor that Capaldi will play, Wheatley explained to io9 that the new Doctor will be darker than some of his previous incarnations. This change signals a return to the classic Doctor Who style. If we all remember the very first Doctor, he was often sardonic, even rude, at times. Wheatley especially discusses the Fourth Doctor, played by Tom Baker, as being particularly grim, and a good example of where he hopes to take the series. Hopefully Capaldi won't be too moody!
What do you think of this news? Should the Doctor be a dark and sinister character, or should he be more humanistic and less pessimistic?
Hey hey hey, Dacetacular Fanboys Nation, Chris Dace here bringing you some more geek news that's hot off the internet presses. When current CEO Steve Ballmer stepped down on February 4, 2014, the world of Microsoft was thrown into mystery.
Ballmer, who led the company as CEO after the nerve-wracking Y2K scare—and also the man who replaced Microsoft legend Bill Gates—announced last August that "within twelve months" he'd be calling it quits. Well, the day has come to announce his successor, and that man is... Satya Nadella. In the past few weeks leading up to this epic announcement, many believed the front-runner to the race was going to be Nadella, Microsoft’s former cloud and enterprise head. Nadella will be Microsoft's third CEO since the company's birth in 1980.
With the news of Satya's appointment comes the news that Bill Gates will step down as chairman of the board and take on a new technology adviser role to "devote more time to the company." And with him stepping down, the man who led the new CEO search, John Thompson, will take Gates' place.
Prior to joining the Microsoft family, Nadella worked with Sun Microsystems as a member of its technology staff. Before taking the mantle of EVP for Microsoft's Cloud initiative, Nadella had accomplished much within Microsoft's walls—President of the server and tools business; Senior VP of R&D for the online services division; VP of the business division; senior VP of the search, portal and advertising platform group; VP of development for the business solutions group and GM of Consumer and Commerce. In the press release regarding his appointment, Nadella was quoted as saying:
"Microsoft is one of those rare companies to have truly revolutionized the world through technology, and I couldn’t be more honored to have been chosen to lead the company..... The opportunity ahead for Microsoft is vast, but to seize it, we must focus clearly, move faster and continue to transform. A big part of my job is to accelerate our ability to bring innovative products to our customers more quickly."For more perspective from the new head of Microsoft, check out his first interview below as the CEO of Microsoft.
As always, check back regularly to see what Chris "The Dace Man" Dace is looking at—and no, not just porn—as well as all of the other bloggers here at Fanboys Anonymous. Remember, keyboard warriors: leave your feedback! Until the next time, for the few, the proud, and of course the Dacetacular, grab a beer—and in this case your copy of MS-DOS 1.x —and check out what's going on here in the Dace-Sphere. See ya next time!
The Man of Steel is getting a new look. Justice League writer Geoff Johns will be collaborating with veteran Marvel artist John Romita Jr. for a new run on the Superman title, DC Comics announced in its first new "All Access" webisode of 2014.
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| DC Entertainment first look at new Superman |
Johns said in the webisode that "We've been talking about Superman now for quite a while and it's going to be a blast."
"For me, as far as the story goes, my tagline for the story is 'Putting the Man of Tomorrow' back in the Man of Tomorrow," Johns told IGN about going back to the core values, attributes, and strengths of Superman.
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| John Romita Jr. and Klaus Janson |
Johns was excited about the official announcement and said he shared Romita's nervousness but has confidence about the pair up.
Romita Jr. has had a successful three-decade long run with Marvel and co-created Kick-Ass with Mark Millar. His father, John Romita Sr. also worked on The Amazing Spider-Man comic in the 1960s.
Johns said in an interview with IGN, "When you write for any artist, you want to make sure that you know their work. You have to tailor your style differently to everybody, and John's work is so beautiful and so epic and yet personal. One of the things I loved about his run on Spider-Man, for instance, it's just the personal moments were as powerful as the big action moments."
"I think working with somebody like John, who has ideas of his own, we'd go back and forth and amplify each other. That's really where I get my excitement about working on a project, is when I speak with an artist and we actually become real creative collaborators," Johns said.
The revamped comic will launch this summer.
Are you super excited for this collaboration? Let us know in the comment section below.
In the same fashion that BurgerTime may have enticed our earliest aspirations to be a home cook or Mario Kart gave us all Mario Andretti envy, present day gamers yearning to be maids and custodians now have a game to inspire them.
Released today on PlayStation3 and PS Vita, Capcom has announced the arrival of Dustforce, a momentum-based platformer that allows you to free your surroundings of filth, armed with mops, feather dusters, and brooms as--that's right--super janitors.
The new version of this indie hit is now available for digital download at $9.99 from the PlayStation network, offering PS3/Vita cross-play and save functionalty, new content and achievements, and online multiplayer for up to 4 people. For single-players, there are 56 levels, and 10 for multiplayer, while more than 100 free downloadable maps will briefly follow the game’s release. The date for Dustforce’s debut on Xbox Live Arcade is soon, but yet to be announced.
Check out the new Dustforce launch trailer below.
Do the dynamics and animation style of Dustforce remind you of any other games? Let us know in the comments below.
Marc Webb, director of The Amazing Spider-Man 2, has confirmed yet another villain in the script: Alistair Smythe, aka, The Spider Slayer. The new addition to the story will be played by The Office's B.J. Novak.
The Smythe family have a long history with Spider-Man, going all the way back to the late 1960s. Alistair is actually the son of the original slayer's creator, Spencer, who helped J. Jonah Jameson create the killing machines to rid New York of the menacing web-slinger.
Whether or not Novak will play a large role, or we will see the actual robotic, Spider-Man-hunting slayers in action remains to be seen. With The Rhino decked out in a mechanical suit, it's not out of the question that the suit's inventor would be included in the story. Perhaps he's featured there as a precursor to a future plotline where he eventually makes some robotic improvements…?
What do you think? Is this movie getting way too bulked up with characters and plotlines?
Before we get onto my more professional Internet searching habits, I'd like to point out that Danny Trejo wasn't literally in space when he tweeted the following:
Should we make #MacheteInSpace?? I'm #UpForWhatever
— Danny Trejo (@officialDannyT) February 3, 2014
Of course, we know that the trailer at the end of Machete Kills was just a mock trailer, but then so was the Grindhouse trailer for Machete, and so was the trailer for Machete Kills at the end of Machete. Both director Robert Rodriguez and Danny Trejo must be doing the longest happy dance in history since Machete became a reality in 2010. Trejo especially.
The Mexican (as opposed to Mexican't) has been one of the most consistent hardworking character actors and "rent-a-villains" in film since featuring as a prison convict boxer in the 1984 Eric Roberts/Jon Voight escape film Runaway Train. To prove this, he's died more than Sean Bean!
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| "That was my only trophy..." |
To further prove this, even though he's reaching the ripe young age of 70 this May, he's billed to appear in an astounding TWENTY SIX movies in 2014, including Muppets Most Wanted. Not one of those includes the Machete Kills sequel, though, so hold onto your pants for a bit.
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| Or Michelle Rodriguez's pants. Your choice! |
He may eternally thank Robert Rodriguez for getting him the credit he deserves with From Dusk Till Dawn and Desperado. His character, Machete, even came from the Sin City director's family movie Spy Kids. But it wasn't just his hardcore asskicker roles that got him so much love and adoration as a real-life ex-convict. Even comedy roles in the Jake Gyllenhaal road movie Bubble Boy helped to cement his reputation.
Random Fact: Twenty years before Steven Seagal played the lead villain in Machete, Danny played Seagal's first punchbag/victim, Hector, in Marked for Death.
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| Danny Trejo: A Household Name |
I just want this to happen so our favorite Mexican federale gets to blow the shit out of android Justin Bieber. This film has to happen. Why? Well, what makes Machete so awesome? Take a look at how deliberately bad these films are. It's Danny Trejo that makes them awesome, and not just any awesome, but the kind that most cult classic filmmakers and actors only dream of.
Saying that, Rodriguez also hinted that he'd like to make a Carlos Estevez Mr. President spinoff, which would immediately become the best thing Charlie Sheen ever did!
Sound off, Fanboys! Am I right? What's your favourite Trejo movie/appearance? Do you think Machete Kills Again…In Space could be the greatest yet? Comments below and thanks for reading.
One of the most anticipated movies of the year (okay, this month) is The LEGO Movie, and the hot news is that a sequel is already in the works.
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| Abe, Supes, Ms. Liberty? Go Team AMERICA!! |
One point of note is that Jared Stern (The Internship and Mr. Popper's Penguins) will replace Phill Lord and Christopher Miller on writing duties. This is a bit of a controversial move as far as I'm concerned after my disappointing trip to see Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. The first of that series is, to date, one of the most fun movie experiences of my life, and it's sequel, sans Lord and Miller, was a horrible follow-up.
Obviously, these are some preliminary reactions to a movie that has not even been released yet, so everything remains to be seen. Myself, I can't wait to go see this movie. I thought I was going sneaking out to go see it alone, then my daughter insisted I not see it without her, then my nephew was added, and now it's turning into a real family affair as the excitement builds.
What about you all? Is this movie on your 2014 must-see list?
Episode 61 of the I Got Gameplay radio show is now live! In this episode, hosts Michael Burhan, Zack Latour, and Nick Enderle talk Mario, with Geek Speak's own Travis Goss taking the helm. Join the boys as they talk the little plumber that could and try to answer the question of why Michael Burhan is talking in the third person?
You can check out the episode by clicking on the following links:
Libsyn: http://smarkoutmoment.libsyn.com/rss
iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/igotgameplay/id570120518
Stitcher: http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/nerdgenious/igotgameplay?amp;refid=stpr
You can subscribe to the podcast's YouTube channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/IGotGameplay
New Entertainment Podcasts with The RetroUnlim Network on BlogTalkRadio
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