New Home for the Neverending Digression

I’ve finally given this blog its own domain name. I’ve also switched the services I’m using to deliver the blog. For new entries and articles please go to http://www.thedigression.com/ also switch your bookmarks and tell your friends.

ND Hollywood Moment: 2/1/2011

British Actor, Henry Cavill, is the next to wear big S

Henry Cavill- Photo from Upstreet Magazine

Superman has been cast for the Zack Synder helmed reboot of the big screen version of the Man of Steel. According to too many sources who have broadcast this news before me, Henry Cavill, probably best known for his role as Charles Brandon on the Showtime series, the Tudors will be Superman/Clark Kent for the upcoming film. I enjoyed Zack Synder’s work on The Watchmen so I’m looking forward to his take on this superhero. Personally I liked Brandon Routh and the Superman Returns movie, but I know I’m in a minority in that regard. I’m glad Warner Brothers hasn’t let the character languish and is bringing him to the big screen for another go. Though a Brit playing Superman seems about as odd as an American being cast as James Bond.

THUNDERCATS HOOOOOOOOO BOY!!

More news from WB. Entertainment Weekly showing off this image of the how the Thundercats will be depicted in their upcoming animated television show for Cartoon Network. I always dug the Thundercats, which I am sure isn’t a big shocker. The toys were great looking and the cartoon was weird & fun. I’ll be adding this to my DVR schedule to be a part of my custom made Saturday morning cartoon cavalcade.

ND Idiot Box Review: Avengers Earth’s Mightiest Heroes Ep.17-19

I was excited about this Avengers cartoon when I first saw a couple of the mini episodes last Fall. Its been one of the rare shows that I record and watch regularly. For the most part this program has done a great job of bringing the Avengers to the TV in an updated form while still bringing in a lot of cool stuff from the source material and staying true to the basic concepts. The latest 3 part story with Kang the Conqueror as the antagonist really stood out for me. Kang has come to our time in an effort to save his future, by first preventing Captain America from disrupting time and by taking over the planet so that Earth can defend itself against a Kree/Skrull war.

The line up for this storyline has the Avengers team full of my favorites: Iron Man, Captain America, Hulk, Wasp, Ant-Man, Black Panther, and Hawkeye. So right off the bat that makes this a fun collection of episodes. We also get a cameo appearance by Reed Richards. The Ultron robots play a big part in the last couple of episodes, which is eerie since any Avengers fan knows what becomes of the Ultron project.

The action is fun and fast, the portrayal of the characters is on target, and its a story that actually feels like it needed the three episodes to tell. I create my own Saturday morning cartoon line up with my DVR, and this show is becoming one of my favorites. Plus its become one of the few superhero shows that hooks in my 4 year old, who isn’t really a superhero fan. According to Wikipedia, there are 52 episodes planned for this toon, since we are only on 19 I can’t wait to see what else is in store.

Check it out on DisneyXD Sundays@10AM/9AM Central

ND Idiot Box Update: The Dukes of Hazzard episode that BLEW MY MIND

My brother and I used to watch the Dukes of Hazzard every Friday night on CBS. Sitting in front of the old RCA with a big bowl of popcorn in our bedroom, that is truly one of the first appointment prime TV moments I remember in my life. After watch the Dukes in their main incarnations, including substitute cousines and in animated form, I thought I’d really seen them all. UNTIL, I caught an episode on CMT last night while eating dinner, an episode neither my brother nor I remember. Its the episode where the Dukes come across a little alien who needs to rendezvous with this ride home to another planet.

This is about the weirdest episode of the Dukes of Hazzard I’ve seen. I don’t have anything clever or funny to say, I’m just dumbstruck by this sample of a red neck ET story. Enjoy these videos documenting the Duke Family meeting “Lil Cousin”

ND iPad App of the Week – Bookman

Aside from  surfing the web or doing sketches, one of the main things I do with my iPad is read. Often I’m reading online versions of magazines or newspapers, as well as comic books, ebooks, or a PDF created by some fanboy who created a guide to a video game or some unofficial material for one of my favorite role playing games. Either way, despite the kryptonite that is sun glare, the iPad is great for reading. Bookman, developed by Tsumiki Studios for both English and Japanese languages, has quickly become my favorite method of reading, organizing and loading e literature to my iPad.

Bookman uses a bookshelf system for storing and organizing books just as the iBook app does on the iPad. However Bookman easily reads PDF and Comic book CBR files. The double tap zoom and double page view are excellent for reading a wide variety of the books and comic books that I download. However downloading is the real strength of this app. Bookman comes with a built in web browser, which allows you to browse and download from ebook sites or FTP sites. With its built in web browser, you also have a method of exploring links in documents without leaving the app. I most often go to my DropBox account to download files that I found while surfing the web the night before.

This app is getting updated all the time, so hopefully it will just keep getting better. Check it out and let me know what you think.

Star Wars – The Mighty Marvel Way

I was back at Rebelscum.com looking through the old Marvel Comics Star Wars issue covers. Some of these covers really have me wanting to go back through my collection and reread this whole series. Yeah I have them all, I started buying them regularly well after Return of the Jedi, but my Dad bought the whole series up to ROTJ from someone while we were living in Germany. I’ve never read through a series of comics so fast in my life. I love this cover, Lobot isn’t taking it from anyone anymore including Lando. Maybe he was pissed about Lando turning over the Cloud City operation to the Empire. Either way that is one cyborg who I wouldn’t want to mess with, even with the blousey sleeves he’s sporting.

And that price tag has be longing for the days when comics were so much more affordable.

ND Hollywood Moment: 01/22/2011

X-Men: First Class – News and Photos Abound

Image Credit: Murray Close

Entertainment Weekly and the LA Times both had  great articles full of coverage for the upcoming film, X-Men: First Class. A prequel for the X-Men big screen franchise, not a reboot. Taking facts from the interview with the director, Matthew Vaughn, this X-Men film will start the story in the very beginning with most of the film being set in the 1960′s. It gives a lot of attention to the two men who will later be known as Magneto and Professor X, showing their relationship evolve as they take on the evil organization known as the Hellfire Club, a name that should familiar to fans of the X-Men comic books. There is a mixed reaction on the ‘Net to this approach, but I have to say I’m onboard already. I like going back to the beginning with the X-Men, I feel the original team was still one of the strongest group of characters.

Plus going with this original group of heroes means NO WOLVERINE. I could not be happier about that. I mean the wild little canuck is fun, but the X-men were cool before he came around and hopefully this movie will prove that.

Alright lets get to casting. In the Hellfire Club Kevin Bacon will be Sebastian Shaw and January Jones as Emma Frost, the White Queen. For our band of mutants fighting for their cause we have Michael Fassbender as Magneto, James McAvoy as Professor X, Jennifer Lawrence  as Raven Darkholme aka Mystique, Nicholas Hoult as Hank McCoy aka Beast, Lucas Till as Havok. This sounds like a strong cast, choices that make me feel even better about the prospect of this film. After the X-Men Last Stand and the Wolverine movie being such disappointments, its nice to look forward to an X-Men film again.

Image Credit: Murray Close

All info comes from Entertainment Weekly and The Los Angeles Times

 

From the Sketchbook: Crossbreeding Series: Turtlphant

For whatever reason Ligers were in the news alot this week. So it got me thinking about some unlikely pairings. This is my first in the series, the Turtlpant. This is just my initial sketch, I’ll put this towards something more finalized.

ND Hollywood Moment – 1/21/2011

Wow this has been a helluva a week for superhero related film news. So many movie still revealing costumes and characters, its almost as if the studios were competing in a game of one up manship.

Batman: The Dark Knight Rises – Anne Hathaway will be Catwoman

Now and Then - Catwoman

First up though the big news doesn’t involve a photo or teaser, its a cast announcement for my favorite superhero franchise currently running, Christopher Nolan’s Batman. For the third film in the Batman saga, The Dark Knight Rises, its been announced that Anne Hathaway will be taking on the role of Selina Kyle aka The Catwoman. Anne Hathaway wouldn’t have been my first choice, or even my choice at all. But I’m a not a casting director, and honestly as spectacular as the last two Dark Knight movies were I have complete confidence in anything Nolan does with these films. He has created the definitive Batman for the silver screen. Really Hathaway doesn’t big shoes to fill in this role, for me Julie Newmar was the best and only Catwoman in my heart. Eartha Kitt was alright, Michelle Pfeiffer’s character was definitely interesting but it wasn’t close to being true to the source material, and the less said about Halley Berry’s version of the character the better. So I raise a bottle of Strongbow to you Anne Hathaway you have a great opportunity here.

First Look: Chris Evans in Captain America uniform

Alright here we go! I’ve have been waiting since I was a little kid for a Captain America movie. Yes I know there are a couple attempts floating around out there, but they don’t count. Basically because they sucked, HARD. Like a black hole that thrived on hopes and dreams instead of cosmic bodies floating through space. I never understood why a decent film about this character was so damn difficult. Already this movie has a leg up on those of the past in that it actually LOOKS GOOD. I don’t cringe while looking at this costume in the stills released by Marvel this week of the Captain America coming to the big screen. The design is kind of a hybrid of the original and the Ultimate version of the uniform, and it works great. Even though he’s dressed up in red, white and blue togs, this dude looks like a super SOLDIER. With every tidbit I see, I have more and more hope for this movie.

New Spider-Man Costume Revealed

Here we have another reveal from the House of Ideas. Marvel shows us the new heir to the webline, Andrew Garfield wearing the Spider-man costume, sans mask. He looks like just got out of a rough fight judging from the gash on his face. Since its my damn blog you have to suffer through my opinions on this. I’m not at all excited about this reboot of the Spider-man movie franchise. I enjoyed the Sam Raimi version of this character played by Tobey Maguire. Okay I wasn’t a huge fan of that third one, but the first two were solid.

I don’t know what to make of this photo. First off I don’t know this Garfield kid, I haven’t seen any of his films. I’m not saying he sucks, I’m just saying I don’t know him or the strength of his acting. His filmography looks impressive so I’m guessing he’s got what it takes. The costume on the other hand, its tough to make a judgement call from this photo. Its so damn dark. It looks a lot more stylized than the previous big screen version. I need to see the mask too. Tough call on this one, but it doesn’t look horrible.

There were a lot of other reveals this week. I’ll hopefully stay awake long enough tomorrow to bring more of them out on the blog here. Until then, stay classy Interweb.

Pinball FX 2 – Xbox 360

When I was a kid I looked forward to playing the pinball machines in the arcade as much as or even more so than playing the latest video games. There was something about these tables, I don’t know if it was the artistry or ingenuity to add in new bonuses and features making each table so different, but at the same not requiring learn a new set of rules. Either way I’ve always dug pinball. The free Pinball FX 2 download via Xbox Live Arcade is an amazing platform for delivering some really great pinball tables. While its not exactly like having an pinball machine in your house, its a great game  to jump into when you have a few minutes and get that pinball experience.

My first table the download was the Rocky and Bullwinkle table. It just cost 200 Xbox points, so I figured the risk was low, being out 200 points if it sucked wasn’t too bad. I was pleasantly surprised while this wasn’t the most amazing table I’ve played it was a lot of fun. The sound effects were lifted right from the cartoon that I watched as a kid and the table included all characters from Mr. Peabody & Sherman to Dudley Do-Right. This table is pretty basic and doesn’t stretch beyond what would be possible on a physical pinball machine. After reading some good reviews I purchased the Marvel pack of tables for 800 points. This pack includes 4 tables based on different Marvel characters: Spider-Man, Iron Man, Blade and Wolverine. All of these boards are a lot more elaborate then my Bullwinkle initiation to this platform. The Marvel tables take advantage of the medium, and throwing in animated characters that interact with one another depending on the levels you activate. Right now my favorite is the Blade table with Iron Man at the bottom of my list.

Either way this is an awesome game for the price. If you are like me and often find it hard to dedicate the hours to play more involved RPGs or part of a season of football, then this pick up and play kinda game is perfect for you. Pick it up, play and leave it.