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The Rock comes to Shazam?

The Rock comes to Shazam?

Director Peter Segal is in discussions with Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson about playing the lead – the original Captain Marvel (a.k.a. The Big Red Cheese) in the forthcoming Shazam! movie.

The Rock, the WWE wrestling star who has impressed many critics and movie-goers in such films as The Scorpion King, The Mummy Returns and Gridiron Gang (even if some of those movies themselves did not), is awaiting John August’s screenplay before he makes a final decision.

Johnson told ComingSoon.net Marvel’s famous red-and-yellow costume might be updated, although "Pete also understands the importance of getting that right; he’s a big comic-book fan."

Until then, Rock fans (well, "The Rock" fans) can await his performance as Agent 23 in the upcoming Get Smart movie.

August’s screenwriting credits include Corpse Bride, Charlies and the Chocolate Factory, and Titan A.E.

Tim Roth in Incredible Hulk 2

Tim Roth, who played favorite characters in Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Planet of the Apes, has been cast as The Abomination in the upcoming Incredible Hulk movie, according to Variety.

Roth will star opposite Edward Norton and Liv Tyler, as Bruce Banner and Betty Ross respectively.  The movie is scheduled to be released next summer, on June 13. 

Abomination is the alter ego of Emil Blonsky, a Russian spy who Hulks out. If you want to see Tim Roth before June, he stars in Youth Without Youth this fall, directed by Francis Ford Coppola. 

(Artwork copyright Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Your all-in-one convention report

Your all-in-one convention report

He’s been Gaiman’ed, Beat’en, and now he’s ComicMix‘ed. Your must-read for today is Lee "Budgie" Barnett’s pre-Bristol all-purpose con report boilerplate. Like MadLibs for those of us more exhausted than mad. Hope Budgie gets his energy up in time to co-host his popular annual Hypotheticals panel!

By the way, the Bristol International Comic Expo, being held this coming weekend, is a wonderful socializing convention, particularly in the hotel pub, and it’s a short and inexpensive bus ride from the train station to the shopping plaza — but be forewarned, bring sunscreen, that caught us unawares last year…

JOHN OSTRANDER: The Secret Death of Bees

Okay, I’m officially getting freaked out now.

It started with a small remark from the redoubtable Bill Moyers when he appeared on Bill Maher’s Real Time show on HBO. I started to do some research based on his remarks and it came to a head recently with an MSNBC report on their website. It’s a real life event called “Colony Collapse Syndrome.” What’s it about?

The sudden death of honeybees.

“And this affects me – how?” you might ask. “I don’t use honey. I’m strictly a Splenda man. (Or woman.)” The fact is, a lot of food crops need to be cross-pollinated to come to maturity and the principle way of doing it is with the honeybee. About one-third of the American diet depends on cross-pollination and the honeybees that do the job are dying out and nobody really knows why.

According to the MSNBC article, 80% of the cotton crop is pollinated by commercial honeybees. Same for 50% of the soybean crop. Use cotton or soybeans much? 60% of the alfalfa crop is pollinated the same way. Alfalfa hay is a staple for cows – low cost, good nutrition for the bovines. Drink milk? Having a Big Mac attack? Scarcity of an item increases its price and you can bet a jump in the price of alfalfa hay will be passed on to the consumer. Same for cotton or anything made with soybeans. How much do you feel like paying for your jeans? I haven’t even gotten into the fruit and nut cross-pollination done by bees – almonds, for example, are 100% dependent on bee pollination.

Cereal grains aren’t affected so we wouldn’t starve. We’d have to do without a number of items, though, or pay a heck of a lot more for them. Oranges, grapefruit, and tangerines, for example, are all 90% dependent on commercial honeybees for the cross-pollination. You could have your Cheerios in the morning but having milk to put on them or an OJ to go with it might be tougher to get or a lot more expensive to use.

As my Mary, a farmer’s daughter, also pointed out to me, alfalfa, soybean and clover crops (clover is also cross-pollinated) put nitrogen back into the soil. Very important in crop rotation. If you just plant corn all the time, you deplete the soil and – wham! – you’re headed for a dust bowl situation. There are indirect as well as direct effects from the death of honeybees.

What’s really weird is what’s happening with the hives. The onset is sudden. The beekeepers, after a few days, find that a hive suddenly is empty except for the queen and some very young workers. Bees don’t do that. They protect the hive at all costs. In the case of hives afflicted with CCD, the workers just disappeared.

(more…)

Braintrust Question: Spider-Man 3

Braintrust Question: Spider-Man 3

Every so often I come across a question that even I cannot answer. It saddens me to admit this, but there are times when it happens.

But now, I have an invaluable resource that I never had before — ComicMix readers.

So every once in a while, when we come across a question here that even our crack staff can’t answer, we’re going to throw it out to the floor and ask you, as we know that collectively, you guys are smarter than we are and know many things that we don’t.

So here’s our first question. Take a look at this shot from Spider-Man 3, about four minutes into the film.

See the girl at the far left? You see her on screen for just a few seconds, so it’s tough to tell, but– is that Paris Hilton?

I’m really hoping not, because I really don’t want to have to start covering Paris Hilton stories here…

Please post your answers in comments. Any documentable proof would be nice.

Three Stooges cartoons recovered

Three Stooges cartoons recovered

The Three Stooges (in this case, Larry, Moe and Joe De Rita) were very old in 1965 when they made a series of animated cartoons for Cambria Studios.  Yesterday, Muller Media, Inc. announced that it had recovered the masters for all 156 cartoons.

The cartoons were made with 41 live actions sequences, with four cartoons for each.  Every carton opened with a live action sequence. 

There is no word on whether the company plans to syndicate the cartoons to television or release them on DVD.  Muller Media president said, "We have ordered the U.S. Copyright Office to research their archives to determine if we still own the copyrights or if we merely own the original masters in the public domain. Either way; the series has value to the company."

 

 

UPDATE: Tom Artis family struggling

UPDATE: Tom Artis family struggling

Via Blog@Newsarama:

The Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register reports on the financial problems faced by the family of Tom “TC” Artis, the comics artist who died on May 1.

Artis, 51, suffered a massive stroke last June that left him comatose, and reliant on a ventilator and feeding tube. He was best known for his work on The Spectre, Green Arrow and Tailgunner Jo.

According to the newspaper, Artis’ family — wife Kim and children Deucalion, 13, and Hope, 5 — doesn’t have the money to pay for his funeral and burial and still be able to cover rent and other expenses. Kim was her husband’s sole caregiver over the past year, and was unable to work as Artis’ health deteriorated.

An account has been established at the local Marine Bank to accept donations for Artis’ burial and for the care of his children.

Artis’ funeral is scheduled for Friday.

Spider-Man 3: woulda, shoulda

Ouch ouch ouch. A brutal recap of the film. Examples:

A huge crane swings around, very specifically knocking some floors out of the building where Gwen Stacey has a modeling job. She ends up hanging from something way up high. Down on the ground, Captain Stacey meets up with Eddie Brock, who is photographing the whole thing.

EDDIE: Hey, isn’t that your daughter in deadly danger?

CAPTAIN: *yawn*

EDDIE: Shouldn’t you be doing something?

CAPTAIN: Nah, these days we more or less just wait for Spider-Man. This is the best job ever!

EDDIE: By the way, I’m dating Gwen for some reason, although I too don’t seem especially concerned. Let me take pictures.

Spider-Man arrives and saves the day, despite nearly being thwarted by some errant CGI.

This, along with a brief discussion of ECMLS, is worth a read.

(Artwork copyright Marvel Characters, Inc. All Rights Reserved. La de do da dey. Hat tip: Andrew Wheeler.)

Playboy talks to Matt Groening

Playboy talks to Matt Groening

The cartoonist who created one of the world’s longest teevee series talks in depth to Playboy, and just in time for The Simpsons’ Movie.

Here’s the link for a small part of the interview, which is not safe for work if your boss will give you a hard time about going to the Playboy website.

Matt Groening discusses The Simpsons, the future of Futurama, and Life In Hell, as well as providing a lot of valuable child-rearing advice:

"I appalled some of my friends with how undisciplined I was as a parent. My kids talked back to me, and I laughed it off. Now they tell me I’m not funny anymore. My son said he wishes Seth MacFarlane were his father."

All this plus Woody Allen, Gahan Wilson, Don Rickles and Playboy Party Jokes.

(Artwork copyright Fox. All Rights Reserved. Tip of the hat to our own Glenn Hauman for making the call.)

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