Orange County News Blog

Coburn: Ready to blow?

With UC Irvine's announcement of the establishment of the Center for Computer Games & Virtual Worlds, you've got to wonder if U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn's head is going to explode. At least his virtual noggin must be staining a carpet in some sims world somewhere.

The Oklahoma Republican puts out annual "Worst Waste of the Year" reports, and among the examples of "outrageous federal spending" in the 2008 edition was the National Science Foundation having granted $100,000 to UCI to study the differences in how gamers from the U.S. and China play the popular online video game World of Warcraft.

Part of UCI's Donald Bren School of Information & Computer Sciences, the new center is led by associate dean Magda El Zarki and senior research scientist Walt Scacchi of the UCI Institute for Software Research. Their goal will be to expand campuswide research activities involving the social and technological aspects of games and virtual worlds. More than 20 faculty members from computer science, arts, humanities, social science and education will collaborate in the center, according to the announcement.

UC Irvine was among the first major research universities to establish educational and research programs in computer game culture and technology, with its Game Culture & Technology Lab that was launched in 2001 having attracted nearly $5 million in external funding.

No doubt some readers recall my description of the Beowulf footage shown at Comic-Con, featuring a photo-realistic 3-D naked Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother.

While you won't see that exact footage until the film comes out later this fall, you can get a glimpse of all of Jolie, and much more, in the new Internet-exclusive, age-restricted Beowulf trailer.

As you'll see -- assuming you can get past the age filter -- some of the CG people look better than others, to put it mildly. But Jolie looks the best, and you can check her out in hi-def, along with the zombified Crispin Glover Grendel and a bunch of dragon stuff.

It's no 3-D IMAX, but it'll do for now.

If you haven't read Luke's endless Comic-Con coverage, be sure to flip through his feature. . .which has the best of his posts prettified and strung together.

And then there's my sidebar on travels with rainbow boy into the Heart of Dorkness.

So we said we were through with Comic-Con. We lied.

But if you'd like to revisit the panels, costumes and geekdom, by all means, skim the archives.

Comic-Cons are a bit like film festivals -- most people there just want to go to the big-name stuff, but you really get more out of the experience if you mix it up a little. So rather than see Kevin Smith tell his stories about Jon Peters for the umpteenth time, it seemed a better use of the moment to go watch Ray Harryhausen do a live commentary while screening the new DVD of his 1957 movie 20 Million Miles to Earth. (It bows on Blu-Ray Dec. 4.)

Harryhausen is, of course, a living legend of cinema and arguably the most important special-effects man ever. Worked with King Kong animator Willis O'Brien, and in the pre-CGI era did every amazing movie monster there was, from the skeleton warriors in Jason and the Argonauts to Medusa and the Kraken in Clash of the Titans.

He got a standing ovation when his chair was wheeled into the room. But the room was only 1/3 full.

It may go without saying, but the announcement of a film entitled The Strangers that stars Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman wasn't exactly super-exciting. Especially when writer-director Brian Bertino comes in and he looks about 17.

But ever so slowly, the presentation started to warm this cynic's heart. The premise of the movie is that a young couple are terrorized in their home by masked assailants for no apparent reason. In theory, this seems like a good way to tap into fears about the randomness of terrorism without actually getting political.

The first clip shown involved Liv being terrorized. Fine and good, and the cartoon-little-girl masks the attackers wear are appropriately creepy, but the trailer tries to milk scares from a record player needle becoming stuck.

Riddle me this: How many couples Liv and Scott's age do you know, in 2007, who play records?

Well that sucks. Los Angeles Times pop culture reporter Geoff Bouche was covering the con when he got jumped on a sidewalk in San Diego's Gaslamp Quarter. He writes:

"In the 15 years I have been writing for The Times, I have covered wildfires, riots, gang murders and plenty of other mayhem. I never got hurt. This weekend I covered a comic book convention in San Diego and I'm going home with staples in my head."

Yipes! Read the rest here.

Via LA Observed.

Weekly investigative reporter extraordinaire Scott Moxley just informed me that our fab Comic-Con blogger - LYT - made today's edition of USA Today.

His rainbow 'do is apparently a camera magnet. That's not too surprising. Couldn't help snapping a few of him myself. And Luke was sitting at Hall H for hours on end...an easy target.

Photo via USA Today.

The article's titled "It's Good to be a Geek at Comic-Con."

Rebelscum has a good image of it right HERE

Neil Gaiman and Henry Selick kick things off by announcing a special screening of some early footage from Coraline, their new stop-motion collaboration. It'll be later in the evening at a nearby theater, and passes can be had at the Rogue booth. Those sitting in Hall H all day at the actual panels are out of luck. They couldn't have just shown us a little bit here? Nahh, make us wait in line all over again for something else.

Tidbits: the voice cast includes Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, Teri Hatcher, Ian McShane; plot involves "people with button eyes who want to eat other people's souls."

Balls of Fury had a funny presentation last year, and since the movie still hasn't opened, Ben Garant (director) and Thomas Lennon (cowriter/costar) are back, along with the lead actor Dan Fogler (character name: Randy Daytona), who has that Jack Black vibe, but probably comes cheaper to the studio than Jack Black.

..cles of Narnia!

Director Andrew Adamson is live via satellite from the set in Prague, alongside Ben Barnes, who plays the title character of the new Narnia movie Prince Caspian (and also appears in the upcoming Stardust. Barnes has the Episode III Anakin hair going.

Adamson says Caspian was a more difficult adaptation than The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (which, for my writing sanity, will hereafter be referred to simply as Lion). The structure of Lewis' narrative isn't as cinematic -- Adamson has fleshed out Caspian's past more, showing his battles in detail.

Kevin Feige. That's the Marvel president's name I couldn't get right earlier. In my own defense, how many people do you know named "Feige"?

Kevin, Avi Arad, producer Gale Anne Hurd, director Louis Leterrier, Liv Tyler, and Edward Norton were the panelists for the new Hulk movie, named, like the TV show, The Incredible Hulk. That's no coincidence -- the TV show will apparently be a bigger influence this time. And it isn't a sequel to the Ang Lee movie starring Eric Bana. Edward Norton is the new Bruce Banner...and the screenwriter too! (Rumors have long been that Norton essentially does heavy rewrites on most of his movies anyway; might as well make it official and just let him do it from square one.)

Liv Tyler had been onstage two panels ago (for The Strangers -- more on that in an upcoming post), but managed to change costumes in between.

Gale Anne Hurd, suggesting this movie will be more to fans' liking: "He's not going to be three different sizes in this movie." If she thought she was gonna get a big pop from the crowd, she was way wrong. Not sure why size-changing is a problem, actually -- Hulk changes size in the comics.

We couldn't do everything live -- still to come are write-ups involving Disney, the Incredible Hulk, Ray Harryhausen, Balls of Fury, and more.

But first, I must drive home.

Enjoy the slideshows in the meantime.

Fox may have pulled out of presenting the latest space monster free-for-all, but we have some news anyway...NECA has the toy rights, and that picture you see right there is the 2-up prototype for a 7" Alien figure.

I asked if this means that collectors of Movie Maniacs, Cult Classics, etc., can finally realize the dream of an 18" Alien or Predator...the NECA rep says that will probably depend on sales, and the success of the movie.

Though, as I pointed out, the success of this particular movie isn't the whole story -- as you can see, the alien looks just like it could've been in the James Cameron movie too, so even if fans don't like the newest movie, there's a market. A majority of sci-fi fans seemed to dislike the first Alien Versus Predator...but McFarlane Toys' line of figures sold out nonetheless.

A collection of costume photos for your perusal. More at our other photo galleries, of course.

Click the photo for some primo visuals:

Toys, freebies, collectibles ONLY at this year's con. You know the drill. Click the picture to see more snapshots:

Surprisingly easy to get into this panel, which doesn't necessarily bode well for the future of Jericho on CBS. Saved from cancellation by rabid fans, it's gonna need more support to survive a full second year.

I walk in on the tail-end of a panel for 4400 with Jeffrey Combs and blue-bearded Ira Steven Behr. Ira makes a crack about how Jeffrey isn't like the characters he plays -- he's actually really boring. Jeffrey responds that of course Ira would think that, "because you're not that smart." Ira plugs a new coffee-table book about Deep Space Nine that he says is the definitive guide, with answers to all the questions people have for him that he can't remember when asked.

Jericho, for those who don't know, is about a small Kansas town surviving the aftermath of a terrorist nuclear attack on America (13 bombs or so). Most fans agree that the first half of season one was a bit like the Hallmark version of the apocalypse, with a bit too much silly domestic drama, but then things picked up when shit started heading towards Mad Max-dom (the first Mad Max, where the world was still relatively stable but collapsing). The nearest town of New Bern declared war, and it was revealed that the mysterious character Mr. Hawkins infiltrated the terrorist group pre-nuke, and managed to steal one of the bombs which he has now hidden in Jericho. Skeet Ulrich stars as a hometown boy returning from some mysterious military missions.

Stargate Atlantis buzz cuts, Liv Tyler, slutty Sideshow figures and more. Click the photo for all that jazz...

Oh hell yeah! Fuckin' Sabbath! YES! Thith ith cool, huh-huh, huh-hu, DUN DUN DAH DAH DAH, DUNANUNANUNA DUN DA DA DAH!

Pardon momentary lapse into Butt-head-dom, but considering that the Transformers live-action movie failed to use the obvious theme song, one can never be too sure with Hollywood. But the clip from Jon Favreau's new Marvel movie Iron Man has the Black Sabbath tune of the same name, and all is right with the world.

Clip: Arms manufacturer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is in a mountainous area with the military, probably Tora Bora. Telling troops that while some say it's better to be feared than respected, he wants both. Respectfully disagrees that the best weapon is one you never have to far; best weapon is one you fire only once. Says that's how America does it, and it's worked out pretty well so far (audience laughs). Next scene he's riding in a convoy, soldier asks if it'd be cool to get a picture with him. Stark says yes, it would be very cool. Tells soldier he wants to see the photo on his Myspace page. Soldier makes peace sign. Stark tells him no gang signs in picture, then says he's totally kidding, gang signs are fine. Basically Downey being Downey.

Convoy gets attacked, and Stark wakes up in a cave with his heart hooked up to a car battery. French-ish sounding guy says it's an electromagnet keeping the shrapnel from entering his heart. Then Stark starts to build the suit.

Saturday night is costume contest time at Comic-Con.Let's try live-blogging this mofo while vaguely inebriated.

Logging in a bit belatedly. Line for free nachoes was huge -- they went instantly.

Most costumes so far are cute li'l kids as Huntress, Rayden/Scorpion from Mortal Kombat, other similar heroes. Sand-People choir was funny.

Good Boba Fett to start.

Bollywood-style Medusa -- nice concept.

Dr. Who costume not so good -- but working Dalek w/lights is cool.

Ghost Rider w/bike -- nice comedy. Hosts think bike is falling on him for real, and help him out. Giant villain then shows up, and GR ropes it in with chain.

White Witch of Narnia, played by young black girl. Music starts as "Ice Ice Baby," then changes to more legit hip-hop

Iron Man -- decent homemade suit. Points off for not using Black Sabbath song. Flexes iron butt. Wait...now Sabbath is kicking in. Guy in costume looks pissed momentarily, then starts doing air guitar. Crowd loves it.

It's interesting to see how quickly some convention rats operate. Exclusive con action figures are already up on eBay, with the prices jacked up. It's an industry within an industry, really.

Take for instance, this guy's "buy it now for $40" option on the exclusive Hasbro Stan Lee as Spider-Man toy. I picked up the same thing yesterday for $14.99 for a friend.

Gee whiz, maybe I should hang onto it and plan on cashing in a few months down the line...already my pretty R2-KT is worth twice what I put down.

See more Comic-Con coverage here.

It's 1:30 a.m. late Friday night, and I'm lying on a sheet of cardboard in the back of a minivan, headed God knows where, amid sliding packages of toys, many of them mine that I've hauled around all day in addition to the laptop slowly eating its way through my shoulder till it will eventually cleave arm from shoulder. When offered a ride home, it never occurred to ask if there might actually be seats inside the vehicle of transit.

30 minutes earlier: I ask the driver if he knows where I'm staying.
"Yeah, Alvarado or something, right?"
"Doesn't sound like you do know." (check the directions in my pocket.) "Okay, yeah, Alvarado Canyon."
"Oh ye of little faith."

Now: "You're on Alvarado street, right?"
"Alvarado Canyon. Is that the same thing?"
No, says the other guy in the car.
"Me of little faith, right?"

I should point out that I would trust this particular driver with my life. But not, on this evening, with my directions.

This is relevant to Spike and Mike's Sick & Twisted festival of animation, and not just because that's why I'm still awake...

"What if mankind had to evacuate Earth, and somebody forgot to turn the last robot off?"

This is the idea behind Wall.E, which stands for Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth class (pronounced "Wally," as in George). Director Andrew Stanton is determined to capture the epic spirit and sense of wonder in the '70s sci-fi flicks he grew up with...but done PIxar-style.

yep, this is a Pixar-Disney production, and in the spirit of the MTV movie awards, is next year's "Best Summer Movie You Haven't Seen Yet."

Earth has been overrun with trash, and mankind evacuated to starliners, ostensibly for 5 years, while trash compactor robots like Wall.E re-terraform. But something went wrong, and humanity never came back. The last one of his kind still working, Wall.E is starting to develop feelings.

(Fans - check out www.buynlarge.com. Haven't been there yet myself, but they just announced it in a clip.)

Bed at 2 a.m. last night. Up at 7 this morning for a breakfast in honor of the upcoming movie Death Sentence, based on a novel by the author of Death Wish, and directed by James Wan (the original Saw).

Unsurprisingly, the movie looks exactly like what you'd expect from the director of Saw doing a Death Wish-type movie. Which is good news, though some will cry about the violence. Lots of crazy shotgun blasts in the footage shown. Like, LOTS. The tagline could be "Oh yes. There will be shotgun blasts." And unlike Dick Cheney's pal, these people are not okay afterward.

Kevin Bacon stars, and was supposed to show for breakfast, but was delayed. But Garrett Hedlund's cool, even if you can't do six degrees of him. His most recent role was as a Mormon virgin opposite Lindsay Lohan in Georgia Rule.

Sideshow is doing 12" collector dolls based on Resident Evil 4. Photos were not permitted (though I have no doubt they exist online somewhere). Licensor approval is still pending, and Capcom are notoriously nitpicky.

Never got past the first level in the game, but the figures (I think) are two versions of Leon, chainsaw sackcloth-head guy, and a villainous type (Wesker? Is he in part 4? Looks like him.)

The level of detail on these things is higher than even Sideshow's usual standards. Expect them to be quite popular.

See more Comic-Con coverage here.

In addition to the Beowulf , more 3-D stuff was demo'ed. Oops, I mean "stereoscopic." That's the term the owners of the Real-D company prefer to "3-D."

The CEO and president were there. I didn't bother to take down their names because I doubt you care. Anyway, this is the new 3-D system that was used first on Chicken Little, then Monster House, Meet the Robinsons, and The Nightmare Before Christmas.

One day they hope to use it on an actual good movie. (Just kidding, they didn't say that -- but it's true.)

It's not clear how aware the rest of the world is of the new Beowulf movie, but it's quite the huge deal here.

Coming out in November in 3-D, 3-D IMAX, and plain old regular (not the way to see it if you can help it), this is a performance-capture animated film, a la Polar Express. I'm going to assume "spoilers" aren't a huge issue in the story of Beowulf, but if you don't know the names of the monsters he kills, possible spoilers ahead.

First, though -- the obvious question on most people's minds is probably "OMG will this be like teh Zombi kiddzors in PolarXpress LOL?????" First off, you all way overstate the "zombie kid" thing -- Polar Express was stylized to look like a children's book illustration, and did it fine. The Steve Tyler elf was the only really creepy character.

But this is a mixed bag. Beowulf himself is a character who solves the classic action movie dilemma of whether to hire a muscular actor or a good one. Pudgy Ray Winstone (Sexy Beast) is given the body of He-Man to play our hero. On the other hand, Anthony Hopkins' King Hrothgar looks exactly like Hopkins, and Angelina Jolie looks like herself, but possibly even hotter. Hrothgar's queen, though, is clearly supposed to be attractive but isn't, she looks mannequin-like. And she's not the only one. The characters who look like the actors are great, but the rest look a bit like the humans in the Shrek movies.

And then there's Grendel, played by Crispin Glover, working with director Robert Zemeckis for the first time since Back to the Future. Picture a giant Gollum, only he's got scales and is a zombie, plus his head is slightly Glover-shaped. There's an implication in what we saw that Hrothgar is Grendel's father, which I don't remember from the old story, but I never read the uncut original, so maybe.

So now, the footage...[remember, spoilers for those who don't know the legend]

Okay, so...upstairs at the Convention Center is an area called the Sails Pavilion. In the morning, it serves as a holding pen for people waiting to enter the exhibit hall. During the day, several B-level names like "wrestling superstar Virgil" have autograph booths there.

Part of the pavilion is roped off for an art show (no photos allowed). You can only enter this part through a couple of doors.

Posted on said doors is the following warning:

"This is access to nowhere but the art show. If you try to use this as a pass-through, you will be turned back -- even if you're Sam Jones."

So the star of 1980's Flash Gordon has been trying to break the rules?

"Security! Flash Gordon approaching!"
"Vhat do you mean...Flash...Gordon...approaching?"

How amusing to see the Los Angeles Times doing something silly and fannish on its Comic-Con blog.

They've dragged a plushie strip of bacon (which they've named "Shaky Bacon") to the convention, and have photos of their little friend's journey: from the car ride over to the arms of dolled-up con rats.

Cute. Very cute, MSM.

SPEAKING OF BACON, Luke's having breakfast with Kevin Bacon this fine morning.

It's Friday at the con and we're going batty. (OK, maybe that's just me.) Click the photo to see the crazy cool things (and people) we ran into today.

Need more eye candy? Check out our photo gallery page.

You know this shit's getting way overcrowded when people form a long line to see a re-screening of a Superman cartoon movie.

I didn't stay for the whole thing for fear of missing the last trolley home, but here's what I did see.

The movie's done in the Bruce Timm animated style used for JLU and the Paul Dini Batman cartoons, except Supes seems to have really hollow cheeks. Adam Baldwin is Superman, and he does a good job. James Marsters seems decent as Luthor. As Lois, Anne Heche sounds way sexier than she is.

Thye movie doesn't beat around the bush -- it makes very clear that Superman and Lois have a sexual relationship. They don't get naked or anything, but we see them waking up next to each other in matching red pajamas.

Then LexCorp accidentally digs up Doomsday from the center of the earth, and he beats the crap out of Superman till they both die. This was about where I stepped out, but I'm guessing there's a reason for the sex insinuations -- Super-pregnancy?

It's not the most complex thing, but a fun cartoon. I wouldn't want to pay money to see it or anything, but it's easy watching.