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Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Dexter at SDCC 2013

Dexter Panel Members at SDCC 2013

These are the folks who made an appearance for the Dexter panel at this year's San Diego Comic Con. Yes, that Doakes right next to Hannah McKay!! And YES, that's Rita next to Dexter!! Sadly, the Ice Truck Killer, Harry, nor Masuka were there. I really love Masuka and wished he had been there. John Lithgow, the Trinity Killer, did send a video message as he wished he could have been there, but was unable to attend.

The panel was a goodbye panel as this is Dexter's final season. It consisted mostly of personal questions to the cast and had more of a chit-chatty vibe. There really wasn't that much in the way of information about this season. The only tid-bit we got was confirmation that Hannah McKay was going to return, however, we pretty much knew she had to come back with the way things were left with her. Yvonne Strahovski who plays Hannah McKay did at least give us one teeny tiny little morsel. She said that the question of her return is to do with her motivation, is it out of love or revenge? Hmmm.

There really weren't any great full panel videos available that were worth linking to here. The various highlights around YouTube will suffice; I can confirm that you won't miss any concrete information by just watching the short clips featuring favorite actors' comments. The panel really was mostly about just saying goodbye. The actors made sure to sincerely thank the fans and gave credit to us, the viewers. And rightly so!

Goonies Never Say Die,

Heather

The Incredible Dork

Hannibal at SDCC 2013

Fan Art from a relevant scene in TV Series Hannibal

I just had to review the Hannibal Panel from this year's San Diego Comic Con! I love this new show and hope it continues to grow in popularity next season! The only starring actor in the show to attend the panel was Hugh Dancy, who plays Will Graham. I really wish we could have had the other stars, Mads Mikkelson and Laurence Fishbourne, as well. Maybe next year!

Hannibal Panel at SDCC

Probably the most interesting insight we learned had to do with the stag. We all generally know that the Stag which eventually becomes the Windigo represents Hannibal in Will's mind. However, we learned a little more about it. The stag comes from the first case that Will Graham assists which involves one of Hannibal's kills. It was the one where Cassie Boyle was impaled on the severed stag's head and pecked at by raven's. The stag is an amalgamation of those elements in Will's mind resulting in a stag covered in raven feathers which later becomes the Windigo as Will becomes more certain of Hannibal's involvement.

There were a number of varying questions, but questions about wanting to know more about the ear in the last episode came up twice. It was confirmed that we will learn a bit more about that ear and how Will ended up with that in his throat in the first episode of season two. Someone also asked about the smirk on Hannibal's face at the end of the season. We learned it goes back to the beginning of the season when Will Graham first goes to see Hannibal. Hannibal starts by talking to him from upstairs on the balcony, then downstairs, then eventually sits down to talk closer to Will. They likened Will Graham to being like a squirrel and Hannibal to a hunter coaxing and luring the squirrel closer. The smirk indicated that Hannibal had his squirrel, Will Graham, in the trap. One other really great question was if Will Graham's encephalitis was contracted from cannibalism. The answer was that they hadn't thought of that and that she should be in the writer's room!

"Stag Girl" was a hit with the Panel

We also learned more about Season 2 in general. The story arc for season two is already mapped out. Episodes One and Two will essentially be like a pilot for a new season, because it's going to be entirely different as all the elements of the first season have been played out. We learned that there will be a trial in episode 3 and that Will Graham hits rock bottom. It'll make for a "loose, scrappy, fighty" Will Graham!!

As the minds behind the show talked, it became very evident that there is a huge love for the Hannibal stories. The show was actually made by a fan; not by some people who merely threw together a successful concept for a tv show to make some money. These guys really care about the story, the history, and the characters. It's evident in the quality! This panel just proves how far their passion for the show goes.

Season 1 comes out on DVD in September and will include behind the scenes features, commentary, and a gag reel!

I can't wait for the second course!!

To Infinity and Beyond,

Heather

The Incredible Dork

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Breaking Bad at SDCC 2013

The cast of Breaking Bad was on hand at San Diego Comic Con to discuss the show starring a former high school science teacher turned druglord. Moderator, Chris Hardwick was joined on stage by creator and executive producer Vince Gilligan and castmembers Bryan Cranston, Aaron Paul, Anna Gunn, Dean Norris, R. J. Mitte, and Bob Odenkirk.

Here's what we got from the fabled HALL H:

You might not be able to tell from this video, but Bryan Cranston took the stage in Heisnberg cosplay! Trademark green button down, khakis, and an amazing/creepy Heisenberg mask:

Cranston took the opportunity walk the floor in the mask, tried to use a higher voice to pretend like he was a fan who made the mask. "So it was fun meeting you, and you met me."

Chris Hardwick will host TALKING BAD immediately following each of the final 8 episodes.
Regarding the differences between TALKING DEAD and TALKING BAD: "I understand that tonally the shows are different, so I will give 'Talking Bad' the respect that 'Breaking Bad' deserves," he says. He says the show will be "more of a retrospective of the series," since it didn't exist in earlier seasons.

Cranston thinks anyone can become a Walter White. "Under the right circumstances — desperation, need greed, depression — you push those buttons at the right time, and anyone can become dangerous. And that's what happened to Walter White."

What's it like to shoot some particularly dark scenes: Aaron Paul says while the show is dark, "The set is very loose and very comical," because of Cranston. "He's the most professional person I've ever worked with, but also the most immature man I've ever experienced."

RJ Mitte started the show at 14 years old and is turning 21 next month: "Most people had high school, I had 'Breaking Bad.'"

Norris on Hank: "He's the one guy — his conscience won't allow him to do the wrong thing, to his detriment. He could've lied about beating up Jesse Pinkman and avoided getting his head almost cut off by a couple of Mexican dudes, but he didn't. I think he's that guy."

ALL OF SAUL'S LINES ARE SCRIPTED! Just great writing and great delivery.
Odenkirk on Saul: "The key to Saul, and Vince has said it to me, and I've had fans say it, is he's good at what he does. That's the thing. You see a lot of boobs on TV, they're always fun to laugh at... but in the case of Saul, he's funny, and yet he actually gets stuff done."

Gilligan wasn't familiar with Cranston's work on Malcolm in the Middle. Regarding casting comedic actors, Gilligan says "Comedy is a lot harder to do than drama," he explains. "I would hire a comedian every day of the week to play a dramatic part. If they have the chops to play comedy... they can certainly do drama, it seems to me."

Walter White is the Evil Juice Box Man. How did Walter poison Brock? Gilligan says the writers would always tell the story of "the Evil Juice Box Man. The way we worked it out on our timeline is he had just enough time to do it, but it would've been very tricky indeed." They figured he crushed the poison up, stuck it in a juice box, and got into Brock's school. "That's our inner story, the writers and I, for how it happened. It would've been very tricky timing, but he was a motivated individual at that point."

Jane's Death. The original version of the script had Walt pushing Jane onto her back when she started choking to be sure she died. AMC and Sony gave Gilligan a note that this was too quick for an act that egregious to happen. Vince came up with a different plan, and they worked it out on the set, where Walt jostling Jesse would accidentally put Jane on her back. "The culpable moment for Walt is when he recognizes the girl could die, and what does he do then?" He loved the way the note from the network and studio made the scene better.

What's Walter White's motivation coming into the last half of season 5? Cranston: "Empire. He's in the empire business. His ego is peaking. He's never felt this before in his life. To have this kind of power as an adult, he's never ever had that. And it got to him. He succumbed to it like it was an aphrodisiac."

Vince Gilligan on the show's finale: "...I am satisfied by the ending. I hope you will be, too. Everyone in front of the lens and behind it is very happy with it."

And now for a teaser:

The final episodes begin Sunday, August 11th on AMC.

I'll post a link to the full panel on our Facebook page when/if it becomes available.

And because I find PicStitch far too amusing:

Thursday, July 18, 2013

When we almost had a Justice League movie (2007)

Many fans like to pretend it was all a dream and that this never got as close as it did, but back in 2007 we were THIS close to having live action Justice League movie. The film was to be directed by George Miller and due to some unforeseen issues, cameras never got to roll. The 07-08 WGA Strike and changes to Australian tax incentives put a stop to production. Eventually the PTBs decided to concentrate on putting out solo Batman and Superman movies. Check out what the 2007 cast had to say.

BATMAN - Armie Hammer

Recently, while doing press for Disney's The Lone Ranger, Armie Hammer was asked by various media outlets about almost playing Batman:
- Regarding the Bat-suit designed by Peter Jackson's WETA studio:
(speaking to HitFix) "It was pretty badass...Did you see Bat-suit with the carbon fiber and with all the mechanics and springs and pistons on it?!"

- Overall feel: "What we did was...we got down there and George Miller was basically like, 'We're going to push these DC people farther than they are ever going to be comfortable with.' And the DC people showed up and they looked around and they were like 'This is farther than what we're comfortable with, but we love it and you can do whatever you want.' And then it just went even farther. It was great."
- To Australia's The Feed: "If what we were going for would have happened would have been the perfect combination of the realistic grittiness of the Dark Knight series mixed with the amazing detail and, sort of tactile nature of the Star Trek series."

SUPERMAN - DJ Cotrona

During the press tour for GI:JOE Retaliation, Cotrona said:
"It was a damn shame that we didn’t get to finish that. I promise you that it would have been amazing. It would have been incredible. The scale of this was fantastical. It was a Lord of the Rings scale. It would have been really cool."

- About reading comments from internet trolls:
"I did the Justice League thing the wrong way. I read too much on the internet. You can’t do that. The internet is the devil. Or the internet is not the devil, the comment boards are the devil. Believe me, I’ve been on the opposite side on there, too saying, “You can’t let that guy be that character!” But really [in the case of Justice League] it was Weta, Weta, Weta, Weta, Weta. They are amazing and they can make anybody look like anything." (ScreenRant)

- About George Miller's Superman:
"The version of Superman that we were going to build was incredible. We were very much leaning towards alien, you know, not like down and out Clark Kent, but a fully realized alien, alien god. This guy was always flying and the design of the suit was, there was very, very cool subtle details that were really cool, but tonally it was like a god, like the ultimate powerful god and the relationship between Batman and Superman that we were going to make in this movie was the one that I always wanted to see. Still do, still do, man. It’s a damn shame we didn’t get to finish that one. Hopefully it will work out and Warners will be able to put it out eventually." (Cinemablend)

THE FLASH - Adam Brody

-Regarding his suit: “I put it on once, yeah...It was such a preliminary version that it wasn’t quite cool yet. It was only kinda nerdy.”

- Regarding how close they got to filming: "We were in Australia for some table reads and fittings and whatnot for a few weeks with George Miller and his camp, and that was a great experience. I don’t regret a second of it; I had a really good time and a lot of positive things came from that.” (MTV SplashPage)

- "It was a great script, and it was a great director, and I’m not saying it would have changed the world, but that movie would have worked, I will say that. I’m objective about it and I’m also a critic, I am nothing if not a critic. I’m telling you that, again, it wouldn’t have changed the world, but that would have been a nice little movie I think..." (UK's HeyUGuys)

Maxwell Lord - Jay Baruchel

Baruchel told Digital Spy that
- "...if we had been able to make the movie that we had gone down [to Australia] to rehearse, if you had seen the production art I'd seen... it would've been the coolest thing ever. It would have been the neatest vision of Batman and the coolest vision of Superman you've ever seen. It would have been dark and fairly brutal and quite gory and just f**king epic."
- "The problem was that, had it gone to production, it would have been the single most expensive movie in the history of movies. Sometimes people are reticent to spend upwards of $300 million. It was a fun two weeks in Sydney and I got to hang out with one of my idols, George Miller."
- "My friends, who were training to be Batman and Superman, they were down there for three months training and going to Weta in New Zealand to get their costumes. Weta, which is arguably the greatest special effects house on Earth, they had to cancel everything else. They were doing nothing but our movie. It was going to be f**king dope!"
-Regarding other aspects of Pre-Production: "They had everything there; maquettes, pre-visualisation, absolutely everything and we had assembled this neat cast. The rehearsal process was so strange and so unconventional and, I know it sounds hard to believe, but I assure you it would have been something f**king awesome!" (2010, Digital Spy)

Filling out the rest of the cast would have been:

COMMON as Martian Manhunter

Megan Gale as Wonder Woman

Hugh Keays-Byrne Martian Manhunter

Santiago Cabrera as Aquaman

Teresa Palmer as Talia al Ghul

Let's see if DC-WB and whatever other studio involved can handle another go at making the JUSTICE LEAGUE movie.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

Sharknado 2! You choose the subtitle!

Are you a fan of Sharknado? Well then you might want to read on. Not like it's any surprise, but SyFy has announced a sequel to the July 11th TV movie. The movie wasn't a huge ratings success, but it did blow up on Twitter and SyFy officials are hoping that the online popularity of the movie will lead to a better ratings grab the second time around. Not much is known about the movie except for the fact that it will be set in New York City. SyFy will also be running a contest via Twitter for a sequel subtitle.

The announcement was made by Late Night host Jimmy Fallon. Click here to watch the announcement.

It's unsure how SyFy will select the winner of the twitter contest, but it's sure fun to read some of the entries. My favorites include "Time Square Shark Scare", "Chew York, Chew York", and "Sharknado 2: Into Sharkness"

Lets hear your Sharknado 2 subtitle ideas in the comments! Also if you missed the original airing of Sharknado, tune in Thursday 7/18 @ 7pm to catch it on SyFy!

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Universal Studio Orlando to get Cabin in the Woods

I'm not sure about you, but I start thinking about Halloween in the Spring. (Mostly because Spring is stupid, Autumn rules and I want pumpkin flavored everything.) It looks like the folks at Universal Studios start thinking about Halloween pretty early too. Universal Studios in Orlando have announced the first of many haunted houses will be based on 2012's CABIN IN THE WOODS.

You didn't see the movie? Do it! It's available on Netflix (at least it is in the States). It was directed by Drew Goddard and co-written and produced by Joss Whedon. The movie stars Chris Hemsworth, Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, and Richard Jenkins and has a bit of something for nearly all horror movie fans. It has horror, bits of comedy, and it flips the genre on its head a few times in the best ways.

Michael Aiello of Universal Studios Orlando told Zap2It, "We are building the cabin completely. You’re going to walk through a forest to get there. You’re going into the cabin. You’re going to go into the cube cells. We’re literally taking everything we can in the film and giving you a kind of best-of montage of the film with this kind of linking story."

Drew Goddard is with the Universal Studios team to develop a script that goes with the new storyline that parallels the one in the film. Goddard and Aiello did not confirm whether any of the film's cast would be involved in the making of the videos within the CABIN IN THE WOODS house. Videos in the queue and within the maze will explain the mythology of CABIN IN THE WOODS and the idea of the film's sacrifices and gods, and then guests will experience the events of the movie - including some of the sacrifices - in real time from a different perspective.

"My wish for 'Cabin' was always that it would live on outside the film, that people would take that ball and run with it, and I can't imagine a better fit for what we were trying to do with the movie than to make a maze out of it," Goddard says.

"I'm too excited by it. I can't believe this is happening. I'm just so happy that the film has continued to live on," Goddard said. And Joss? Goddars says that Whedon is equally pleased after seeing Universal's concepts for the maze. "He couldn't be more excited," said Goddard.
This isn't the first time something Joss'y was at HHN. Remember these guys? They were featured at Universal Studios: Orlando's HHN in 2005 and 2008.

"We're trying to adapt this film as best as we physically can in the context of what we have," says Aiello.

Halloween Horror nights runs from September 20th until November 2nd. Tickets are already available here. Don't look for a CABIN IN THE WOODS house at Universal Studios: Hollywood - it won't be there. This is an Orlando exclusive.

The haunted houses at Halloween Horror Nights are “movie set quality” recreations of fantastic locations. Each haunted house is indoors, and they are usually located in either the unused queue area of a daytime attraction or one of the Universal soundstages. Past haunted houses have featured big pop-culture names such as AMC'S The Walking Dead, the Silent Hill video game series, the Saw film series.

via Zap2it and FoxNews

Friday, June 28, 2013

Mouse cloned from a drop of blood!

Science has never ceased to amaze me.

For the first time, Scientists cloned a mouse from a single drop of blood. Unlike other cloning experiments, this clone lived a normal lifespan and was even able to give birth (many other clones have been infertile).

Why a mouse? Well mice are used in many scientific studies and many human ailments such as cancer and substance abuse. Since with this method, the donor does not need to be euthanized, it can be used to create “invaluable strains of mice” for use in laboratories. Mice are just one example, but this method can be used to create all sorts of animals, from milk producing cows, to even Woolly Mammoths and Sabre-Tooth Tigers.

The process is called somatic cell nuclear transfer which involved transferring the nucleus from an adult cell, which can be obtain from blood, into an unfertilized egg, basically replacing the egg’s nucleus with the adult one.

Of course, this new advancement doesn’t come without its usual backlash. We are all familiar with the controversy surrounding stem cell research for use in humans and with the idea of being able to bring back long extinct species with this type of cloning or creating animals for a specific purpose (farm work, lab research), it brings with it a whole new set of issues.

Via BBC

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Recent Posts

Dexter at SDCC 2013

Hannibal at SDCC 2013

Breaking Bad at SDCC 2013

When we almost had a Justice League movie (2007)

Sharknado 2! You choose the subtitle!

Universal Studio Orlando to get Cabin in the Woods

Mouse cloned from a drop of blood!