It’s been rumored for a while, but now it’s official: Josh Schwartz, creator of such TV shows as Chuck, The OC, and Gossip Girl, will be the man to reboot the X-Men film franchise. And believe me, that’s a series that needs a good, hard reboot after the miserable X-Men: The Last Stand. The new film Schwatrz is developing will be called X-Men: First Class, likely titled after the current Marvel comic set early in the X-Men’s history. The comic has Professor Xavier training his original team of mutants, made up of Cyclops, Jean Grey, Beast, Angel, and Iceman. It’s unclear whether the new movie will go back to show this team or whether it will forge forward (X-Men pun intended) with a new team akin to the Young X-Men, another current Marvel comic that features the next generation of mutant heroes.
I’m feeling a little cheesy here, but let me use a parallel line to one I used in my previous review. When is a teen angst love triangle not just any teen angst love triangle? When it’s between a human, a vampire, and a werewolf. Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. In Eclipse, Bella has to make some difficult decisions, like should she or shouldn’t she accept a marriage proposal from a vampire; should she or shouldn’t she sneak away from said vampire to visit her werewolf friend, should she or shouldn’t she attempt to sacrifice her life to save the ones she cares about from a maniacal vampire out for HER blood? Bella’s life doesn’t seem to get much easier, even if Edward is back and promising never to leave her again. (Again Spoiler Warning)
The New XBox Experience launched this week to XBox 360 consoles everywhere, and with it came new features from avatars to Netflix streaming to optional hard drive installs for your games. Along with all of that, the old 360 dashboard interface has been supplanted by a newer, sleeker look that effectively renders nearly all the old theme packs you might have downloaded as obsolete and useless. The new kind of 360 themes will feature top-side artwork to peek over the landscape where your avatar stands, and the new Friends page will show your buddies standing around theme-specific landscapes, characters, and settings. This new brand of theme is labeled “premium themes,” and a few free ones come by default with the NXE upgrade. If you want to go beyond the free offerings, there are quite a few for-pay ones available for download already, and the going price looks to be 250 MS points (or around $3.13) each. Here’s a look at a few of the premium themes available now.
Broccoli USA will be shutting down and liquidated by February 2009. They managed a fair amount of game, anime, and manga titles such as Digi Charat, Murder Princess, and Disgaea. Assuming it isn’t handed off, this will be the end of Cosmode USA, which is the English version of the very popular cosplay magazine in Japan. The second volume of the hard-cover book was set to be out in January.
You still need to add things to your queue on your Netflix account via your computer before you can access it on your Xbox. I’m hoping this pushes Netflix to making even more titles available through the web. (Not that we don’t all put All Dogs Go to Heaven as #1 in our queue.)
In the grand scheme of Doctor Who, there are The Doctor, the TARDIS, and those who are along for the ride. Another trait which has endeared Doctor Who to generations of viewers is the inclusion of the companions. Without the companions, The Doctor is an alien wanderer who spouts a lot of technical gobbledygook. Narratively speaking, it’s necessary to have a friend by the Doctor’s side to help the audience comprehend the severity of the situation. Recently, they have served as a type of endearment to The Doctor and as a sort of motivation that keeps The Doctor going. Some have joined The Doctor on his travels by chance, some by wanderlust, and some have even joined The Doctor by being assigned to assist him. What is more important is their significance to the development to the entire mythos of Doctor Who. Presented here for our month long tribute to Doctor Who’s forty-fifth anniversary is a list of the fifteen companions who have made the biggest impact on The Doctor and the series at large.
A few weeks ago, we got the chance to talk with Stephen Furst at Vulkon here in Orlando, FL. Along with being an accomplished director and filmmaker, Stephen also starred as Vir Cotto on Babylon 5 and as Flounder in the classic Animal House. Here’s the interview with him, excerpted from this week’s podcast episode.
Here are some books to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. As we’re gearing up for the holidays I want to keep you up to date on what should be on your Christmas wish lists. The following list is for the rest of November, keeping you up to date with the latest book releases. Have an excellent Thanksgiving!
When is a paper cut not a paper cut? When it’s in a room full of vampires. Bella, the reluctant birthday girl, seems to be destined for bad luck as a slight slip of a finger sets off a vampire frenzy. While she survives with a few cuts, it begins a series of events that has a profound effect on her life, bringing to light the fact that vampires aren’t the only supernatural force in Forks and leading many in the fandom to ask: What team are you on? Beware, there are spoilers in this review.
Frenzy for the Twilight saga is sweeping the nation, and with the movie coming out this Friday, the only thing that seemed appropriate is to spend this week celebrating the books! I know some of you out there are thinking, uh… isn’t that a series for tweens or teens? I’m going to argue absolutely not, or at least it’s not just for the younger crowd. Twilight is an amazingly personal account of seventeen year old Bella Swan’s life at a new school, a new life, and new love.
