I've combined my two blogs for now. The store and the personal are one and the same for the moment. You can get to my new self-hosted site HERE.

All new material will be posted there. I have a few ideas kicking around for another personal blog, but it will have to wait for now.

Enjoy!

Microsoft Surface launching April 17th... with AT&T

You know, I think one of these would fit nicely in my living room (JR)

Microsoft has chosen AT&T to launch the world's first Surface into retail. Shoppers in New York, Atlanta, San Antonio, and San Francisco will be treated to what amounts to the novelty (at least initially) of learning about a device (Samsung BlackJack II, pictured) by simply placing it atop the Surface. They'll also have the ability to explore interactive coverage maps. Later, users will be able to drag ringtones, graphics and video and drop it into "the phones." Note their use of "the" and not "your" phone in the press release. Nevertheless, we're happy to see Microsoft get the technology out the door on its long march towards consumerdom.

Thanks to Engadget.com

Here is a clip of some of Jackie Chan's stunts that he's done over the years in his movies. I'm not sure I would pick the same stunts for a "10 greatest" list of his, but nonetheless these stunts are simply amazing to watch.

Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction author, dies at 90

After having read dozens of his books over the years, I believe he is one of my top five favorite authors. He will be missed.

Arthur C. Clarke, a writer whose seamless blend of scientific expertise and poetic imagination helped usher in the space age, died Wednesday in Colombo, where he had lived since 1956. He was 90.

The author of almost 100 books, Clarke was an ardent promoter of the idea that humanity's destiny lay beyond the confines of Earth. It was a vision served most vividly by "2001: A Space Odyssey," the classic 1968 science-fiction film he created with the director Stanley Kubrick and the novel of the same title that he wrote as part of the project.

His work was also prophetic: His detailed forecast of telecommunications satellites in 1945 came more than a decade before the first orbital rocket flight.

Clarke's influence on public attitudes toward space was acknowledged by U.S. astronauts and Russian cosmonauts, by scientists like Carl Sagan and by movie and television producers. Gene Roddenberry credited Clarke's writings with encouraging him to pursue his "Star Trek" project in the face of indifference from television executives.

Read The Entire Article HERE

Pixar Might Film Live Action John Carter Of Mars Movies...


The Disney insider news site JimHillMedia reported a rumor that Pixar's first foray into live-action filmmaking may be a film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars series.

Citing anonymous sources, the site reported that WALL•E director Andrew Stanton told the staff at Edgar Rice Burroughs Inc. in October of last year that Disney/Pixar is gearing up to do a trilogy of films based on the books.

Mark Andrews has reportedly completed a first pass on a screenplay for the first film in the series, to which both Pixar and Disney executives have responded enthusiastically. Both companies are reportedly eager to put the project in the development pipeline soon, with an eye to a 2012 release, if not earlier.

Thanks to SCIFI.COM

New Iron Man Trailer!

Well, after a reinstall of everything on my system and a couple of other things that get in the way of leisure stuff, here's another post....

Around this time last year, comic book geeks were in an uproar over the state of Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. It appeared that, while the Surfer was going to be a strong part of the FF sequel, his boss, Galactus, wouldn’t be putting in an appearance. The responses were split, with some people bummed the world eater wouldn’t be shown, while others were glad because, frankly, a giant sized dude dressed in purple could look kind of stupid. For my money, Rise of the Silver Surfer reached a nice balance of alluding to the character without revealing him.

That was last year’s movie, however. This year the focus is on the spin-off movie, Silver Surfer, which writer J. Michael Straczynski spoke about at the recent WonderCon. The forums over at Newsarama quote Straczynski as saying that Galactus will show up for the Surfer’s solo picture. In fact, the author said that part of the reason the big guy wasn’t shown in the last movie was so that his appearance could be a big reveal in Silver Surfer. I still say it’s because he’d look stupid on the screen, but what do I know?

Even though we saw an abridged version of the story in the second Fantastic Four movie, Silver Surfer will focus on the origin of the character, although that contradicts previous reports by Stracyzinski, as pointed out by Filmstalker, where the writer said the spin-off would pick up right where the FF sequel ended. Could it be that we’ll get both, a continuation of the story, with flashbacks to the character’s origins? Straczynski did something similar with his recent Silver Surfer: Requiem miniseries, which explored both the origins and ending of the character.

I didn’t expect to like Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, but I found it surprisingly good, especially compared to the first picture. The addition of the Surfer made for an improved story. Can he hold his own in a spin-off? We’ll find out soon enough.

Thanks to CinemaBlend.com