Iron Man Movie Excitement
April 30, 2007 | Leave a Comment
As Spider-Man 3 prepares to hit theaters on Friday night kicking off the summer 2007 movies, I begin to look forward to the Marvel movies of summer 2008. Headlining those charts is the exciting Jon Favreau rendition of Iron Man.
Classically, Iron Man/Tony Stark has not been one of my favorite Marvel characters. However, 2005’s Orson Scott Card written Ultimate Iron Man series piqued my interest. Following this, the deep involvement in Spider-Man continuity. Peter befriends and relies on Tony Stark, moves into Avengers tower with Mary Jane and Aunt May. He then changes to the Iron Spidey costume. Eventually comes out in support of Stark’s Super Hero Registration Act initiative and reveals his identity. His stance changes in the long run as he defies Iron Man, goes underground and joins the resistance as part of the conclusion of Civil War. All this certainly puts Iron Man front and center in all my comic readings.
Of additional note, last winter’s Invincible Iron Man DVD, created by the same animation studio responsible for Ultimate Avengers and Ultimate Avengers 2 DVDs, was the best of the three.
With all this in mind, the star studded casting of Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Terrence Howard as good friend and coworker Jim Rhodes/War Machine, Gwyneth Paltrow as the love interest Viginia “Pepper” Potts, and Jeff Bridges as the apparent villain Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger is highly exciting.
I’m on the edge of my seat waiting for the first teaser trailer…
Tags: "ultimate avengers", avengers, civi war, dvd, gwyneth paltrow, invincible iron man, iron man, iron monger, james rhodes, jeff bridges, jim rhodes, jon favreau, marvel, movie, obadiah stane, orson scott card, pepper potts, poster, robert downey, robert downey jr, spider-man, spiderman, spidey, tony stark, trailer, war machine
Emperor and Darth Vader Phone Call
April 27, 2007 | 1 Comment
I saw this video a long time ago, but when Keith sent it to me this week, it became time to blog it…
Voiced by Seth McFarlane of Family Guy fame, the Emperor carries on a conversation with Darth Vader from his office on Coruscant. That conversation occurs right after the rebel alliance destroys the first death star. The Emperor is comically angry as he talks with Vader in a manner similar to how a couple modern teenagers may.
Very funny. Robot Chicken from Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim is an amazing segment that consistently produces sweet content like this.
Great Turtle Race
April 25, 2007 | Leave a Comment
When I first heard about The Great Turtle Race on the Colbert Report, I was intrigued. Heck they named a turtle Stephanie Colburtle, how could you not check it out? After visiting the site once, I’ve been hooked ever since.
11 leatherback sea turtles are traveling from the shore of Costa Rica back to their home waters surrounding the Galapagos Islands. A series of conservationist groups have geo tagged the turtles so they can be tracked across their 500+ mile journey. Each 7 foot long, 2,000 pound turtle has been named and sponsored by a different group including: Yahoo, Travelocity, Drexel University, etc.
I’ve eagerly watched throughout each day as the race results are updated every ten minutes or so. Currently Billie is on the verge of victory with a mere 17 miles to go, while fan favorite Stephanie Colburtle holds second at 41 miles out. I’m still pulling for Stephanie, hoping Billie will take a nice deep dive at the end of this trip.
The sad truth behind this exciting public event is that the leatherback turtles are in real danger. The depressing slogan of the site is “going faster than you think”. The irony is these turtles are racing not only towards home, but also toward likely extinction. Check out the Leatherback Trust for more information on what you can do to help protect these amazing animals.
I’m happily surprised to find myself so eagerly awaiting these turtles next migration. In the meantime, I’ll be reading about how their baby’s are doing and learning about what needs to be done to get their population back on the rise.
Update 4/26/07: Billie is the winner!!
Tags: billie, colbert report, conservation, costa rica, extinct, extinction, galapagos, galapagos islands, great turtle race, leather back, leatherback, leatherback turtle, pacific, stephanie colburtle, stephen colbert, tortoise, turtle, turtle race
Which Wiki? Marvel.com vs Wikipedia
April 25, 2007 | 4 Comments
In Casey’s recent post: “Please, Not Another Wiki”, I felt some serious resonance with an internal debate I’m having. In short, Casey states that in general new wikis are a bad idea. They require an entire community to be successful and why not leverage an existing wiki (like Wikipedia) to accomplish your task.
Specifically, when externally linking to details about a comic book character in the Marvel Universe I find myself unsure whether to link to Marvel.com’s Marvel Universe Wiki or to a specific article on Wikipedia. Marvel’s wiki has a much more structured format. There is always a consistent set of data about each and every hero.
However, it is limited in this structure as well. There are less pictures, no external links, and a lack of information tertiary topics. The tertiary topics I find lacking include publication history, video games, and television appearances, etc. Similarly, Wikipedia has great profiles on the various artists and authors. This can develop insight and detail not available on Marvel.com.
Also, Wikipedia has a larger community who can be more responsive. Yet, Marvel has the expertise in this area and in turn should be able to provide better editing. In the end I still find myself leaning towards Wikipedia, however, I remain torn as Marvel has develop a fairly competitive alternative. I’ve pulled a couple side-by side examples so you can compare yourself.
| Carol Danvers/Ms Marvel | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Jessica Jones | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Peter Parker/Spider-Man | Wikipedia | Marvel |
| Sandman/William Baker | Wikipedia | Marvel |
I am left wondering if Marvel had just invested their initial time and resources into working with Wikipedia, wouldn’t contributors, consumers, and fans have benefited more?
Tags: carol danvers, comics, jessica jones, marvel, marvel universe, ms marvel, peter parker, Sandman, spider-man, spiderman, wiki, wikipedia, wikis, william baker
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Full Trailer
April 24, 2007 | 34 Comments
They appear to be hitting all the major plot points of the book nicely. Without a doubt this will be the most action packed of all the Harry Potter films. Umbridge is portrayed satisfactorily evil, Voldemort gets more presence, Dumbledore falls out of government favor, the Order of the Phoenix is formed, legilimency is introduced, Snape remains slimy, and Potter and friends get into more trouble.
July 13th will be a great day for Potter fans.
A big thanks to Jenny for passing this along!
Tags: albus dumbledore, doloris umbridge, dumbledore, harry potter, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, july 13 2007, movie, movie trailer, severus snape, snape, trailer, umbridge, Voldemort, year four
The Landlord - Starring Will Ferrell
April 21, 2007 | 13 Comments
This is the funniest thing Will Ferrell has ever done. My stomach actually aches from laughing as this 2-year old girl swore at and berated poor Ferrell for not paying his rent.
The video is made by Ferrell’s longtime friend Adam McKay. The little girl is his daughter and is frankly, brilliant.
Tags: adam mckay, ferrell, funny or die, landlord, the landlord, will ferrell
Monkey Washing A Cat
April 20, 2007 | 3 Comments
Most people will have seen this clip by now. It is a favorite of both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t much funnier than this video of a monkey washing a cat. In fact, I can’t help but giggle every time I watch it…
Tags: cat, colbert, colbert report, Daily Show, monkey, monkey washing cat, video, washing