Number 23

23. (PROGRESS!) Read 1 chapter per day of a book for a month.

I have altered the criteria for this number slightly. Rather than 1 chapter a day I am making it 7 a week, that way when I simply do no have the time in a particular day I can play catch up during a day that I have more free time.

I have completed 1 week as of yesterday. I read 8 chapters of Horus Heresy: Horus Rising (Dan Abnett) and finished that off I also 4 chapters of Patriot Games (Tom Clancy). I am very much enjoying reading again and it helps to pass the time on various train trips to the mountains and work.

What is the Stargate?

With the Stargate Universe still fresh in everyone's minds I have been pondering the future of the franchise. It would appear that it's long run of syndicated television has come to an end for now, having begun in 1996 that's a a very impressive feat. I am hoping that the franchise continues in some form, David Hewlett recently admitted that he thinks that Stargate is far from done. Whether it be games or online adventures he believes that it will continue on and I personally doubt that MGM is done with it yet. They are ones for sticking with it (Bond franchise) as long as there is the money around.

I found this video that someone thoughtfully stuck up on Youtube. For those of you out there who remain unfamiliar with the series I do not think you could ask for a better breakdown of what exactly is a 'stargate', it's function and of course the history of the Stargate Program.

E3 Buzz - Microsoft.

This year's E3 is almost up on us and it appears that Microsoft is teasing those lucky media attendees with hints at what they will be unveiling on June 6. What we could surmise from the invite is that Microsoft shall be giving us some more Gears of War 3 footage, something more on Arkham City and here's hoping something far more developed in regards to Star Wars Kinect.


There is also expected to be something more in regards to the new Tomb Raider and finally there are hints of a Halo-related announcement. There are countless rumours that surround the future of the Halo franchise, which surely this announcement will address. Whether it be the HD remake of Halo: Combat Evolved or a new Halo title featuring Master Chief??


We'll see.

Bane.

 And so the viral campaign for The Dark Knight Rises begins and we get out first glimpse of Tom Hardy as Bane. Here's hoping for a better interpretation of Bane than we got in the 90s.

Flintstones Rebooted.

 The Flinstones are being rebooted by Seth McFarlane, the man who has brought us Family Guy, The Cleveland Show and American Dad. Hopefully as a fan of the original, he will be respectful of the material and maintain a more family friendly target audience than his other animated ventures. His comments on the project are rather strange, I would like to think that he is being ironic or sarcastic but somehow I don't think he is;

"I think America is finally ready for an animated sitcom about a fat, stupid guy with a wife who's too good for him."

See what I mean? Is he being sarcastic? Because isn't that all his existing series (particularly Family Guy) as well as The Simpsons in a nutshell. It's hardly going to break the existing mold. I am interested to see if they approach the series with a new artistic approach, if they do I'm hoping it's nothing like his existing shows.

It's a Trap!

Smallville.

After 10 years of syndication the re-imagined modern tale of Clark Kent has come to a fitting end. The 2 hour finale did almost everything that fans had been hoping for since the pilot aired back in 2001. When Smallville first began there was a strict 'No Tights, No Flights' rule which has become synonymous with the series. The no flights rule has been broken on ocassion in a round about way, but it always came down to that it wasn't Clark flying. This was covered by him being taken over by his Kryptonian side, or it was his Bizarro-counterpart. This was fine for the better part of the series but it became frustrating rapidly once they introduced more Kryptonian villains and several heroes. When Supergirl (V's Laura Vandervoort) arrived on the scene in Season 7 the frustration grew and yet was satisfied by the Supergirl-related action. When villains such as Braniac became more prominent in the series, the writers began to reflect the audience's frustration through Clark - especially from the beginning of Season 9, Clark actively began to attempt to fly and grew more and more frustrated with his inability to grasp his full potential.

So going into the finale it was difficult to attempt to guess what was going to occur. The entire season had been a lead up to Clark finally grasping his full potential and becoming the 'greatest hero the world had ever seen', but Smallville hasn't the strongest record when it comes down to penultimate season endings so I went in with alot of excitement and a little apprehension. I could say that I was disappointed by the overall lack of action in the episode but for the entire 2 hours I was sitting there thinking 'Man, this is one hell of a build up to the end'. Which it was, and just how did it end?

We got the suit, we got flights, the theme and we got Lex Luthor. And once there is a picture of Superman from the finale online I'll stick it in this post. The only other thing that I would have liked was a full shot of Tom Welling in the suit, rather than CG Superman and some closeups, but you can't get everything however. I think the finale provides the appropriate ending to Smallville, an ending that 10 years ago they could not have hoped for.

Barbarian.

With so many movies to look forward to I think that the Conan the Barbarian revamp is one of the top few that I'm looking forward to. Jason Momoa swinging a giant sword and throw in Ron Perlman, Stephen Lang and Rose McGowan for good measure. The latest trailer was more than expected in regards to the art direction and scale. It would seem as though this particular adaptation will pay the original material more attention. There must be confidence in the film if they have already begun preparations for a sequel, so far the one downside to the film is the fact that it is 3D. The fact that the majority of the cinema chains such as Hoyts and Event have essentially given up on screening anything in 2D is an issue that irritates me to no end.

Here is the latest trailer;

May The 4th Be With You.

Here I am sitting and waiting for the stupid page to load, it having occupied my second monitor for the past hour and what happens? KABLOOM. Internet fail. Not so much internet but rather the server's inability to handle to countless of worldwide Star Wars nerds sitting at the computers attempting to discover what exactly will be on the Star Wars Blu-Rays.


My distaste for blu-ray is well know BUT it is Star Wars and there has been promises of all new features (interviews, footage etc) that could be of great interest to me. This is coming from a bloke who already owns 4 different copies of Star Wars on various media. Two VHS copies (one in the cardboard slips in the golf box, the other plastic covers) and two copies of the original films on dvd (2004 dvd box set and the 2006 re-release of the original theatrical versions) as well as the prequel trilogy on dvd. It's not unbelievable to comprehend that when I inevitably purchase a PS3, I may indeed bite the bullet and buy Star Wars on blu-ray.


So now what do I do? I'm going to hit send on this job application, put Empire Strikes Back on and climb into bed so that I can attempt to get some sleep before getting up at 6am.


May the Force be with you, always.

Avengers.

I thought the first set photo from Joss Whedon's 'The Avengers' would be a fitting way to begin a post about a script leak from said film. It appears as though Samuel L Jackson's copy of the script was stolen from the set and an anonymous email has been shot out to various film sites in attempt to open a bidding war for the script for one of 2012s most anticipated films. Marvel has denied to comment on the rumoured production halt as a result of the theft. FilmFanReview has reported that production has halted so that the script pages may be rewritten but as stated, this has not ben confirmed by an official spokesperson.

So how much would you pay for the script? Or would you even bid at all?