The unstoppable Lara Croft!

If Super Mario is the King of the gaming world then there's only one woman who can rightfully be his queen... Lara Croft!

Two of Lara's most famous assets... I meant her guns, her guns! What dirty minds you have!

After posting the news that a new model, Alison Carroll, had been chosen to represent Lara for her next gaming outing Tomb Raider: Underworld I thought I'd do a little homage to the one and only, Guinness World Record holding "most successful human video game heroine of all time" - Miss Croft.

Created in 1996 by game designer Toby Gard in response to his male co-workers choosing to only play the female characters in Virtua Fighter, Toby created Laura Cruz, a South American female adventurer. Laura Cruz eventually evolved into Lara Croft after the decision was made to give her a little more class and character and make her British.

The many incarnations of Lara that Tomb Raider has given us (click for a bigger picture)

There have been over 15 different Tomb Raider games spanning numerous consoles and Lara has been voiced by numerous women:

* Shelley Blond in Tomb Raider
* Judith Gibbins in Tomb Raider II and Tomb Raider III
* Jonell Elliott in Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation, Tomb Raider Chronicles, and Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
* Keeley Hawes in Tomb Raider: Legend, Tomb Raider: Anniversary, Tomb Raider: Underworld
* Charlotte Asprey voiced young Lara in the flashback sequences of Tomb Raider: Legend

The stunning Angelina Jolie as Lara in the movie: Tomb Raider II - The cradle of life.

As one of the most stunning video game females ever created, Lara has been portrayed by a whole host of beautiful women (most notably Angelina Jolie in the movies - above) although I was surprised to hear that our very own Jordan (aka Katie Price) was the first person to ever model as Lara. All the lovely ladies are listed below:

* Katie Price (Jordan): 'portrayed' Lara Croft at ECTS before official models were cast
* Nathalie Cook: 1996-1997 (mostly unknown before Tomb Raider became famous)
* Rhona Mitra: 1997-1998
* Vanessa Demouy: 1997 (hired by a French video game magazine for a photo shoot)
* Nell McAndrew: 1998-1999
* Lara Weller: 1999-2000
* Ellen Rocche: 2000 (hired by Brazilian distributor of Eidos' games to promote The Lost Artifact)
* Lucy Clarkson: 2000-2002
* Jill de Jong: 2002-2004
* Karima Adebibe: 2006-2008
* Alison Carroll: 2008 to present

A few of the faces of Lara Croft

Five ex Lara's in PVC... Hear those geeks squeal!
This The photo shoot includes Karima Adebibe (2006-2008), plus Nell McAndrew (1998-1999), Lara Weller (1999-2000), Lucy Clarkson (2000-2002) and Jill De Jong (2002-2004).


My all-time favourite Croft model (and former Topshop assistant) Karima Adebibe


Nell McAndrew. My second favourite Lara model (sacked for posing in Playboy!)

Lara has been the subject of controversy many times over the years, most notably for her increasingly sexual appearance and excessive use of deadly force in the games towards humans and animals alike. This hasn't stopped those games from being released year after year, or her action figures flying off the shelves all over the world or her name and image being known by almost every man, woman or child around the world.

The most recent NECA action figure

Lara has outgrown her pixelated beginnings and become a legend in her own right. I have to admit that the 17" Tonner Doll Lara I bought from SDCC this year is a masterpiece and one of the most beautiful figures I now own, not least because it's simply her.

The Tonner Doll Lara, proudly owned by me ;P

All hail Lara, the queen of games!

Monsters vs Aliens

One movie I'm really looking forward to is "Aliens vs Monsters" a 2009 CGI 3-D animated movie from Dreamworks. I'd heard a little about this last month but learnt a lot more about it today during a meeting with Vivid Imaginations (the company that will be running the entire toy line, who also do WWE figures, Fifi and the future JJ Abrams Star Trek products).

The film attempts to reinvent the classic 1950’s monster B-movie but this time it will be in "true digital 3-D" which will dispose of the need for the red and green cardboard glasses used in classic 3-D cinemas. Directed by Rob Letterman (director of "Shark Tale") and Conrad Vernon (a seasoned storyboard artist and voice actor who has worked on Shrek, Madagascar and Flushed Away to name but a few) M vs A tells the story of a group of monsters who have been captured and held at "Area-52" and are called into action when an alien attacks Earth and they are found to be the only ones who can stop it.

This actually looks like a great little movie and has an all-star voice cast which consists of:

# Reese Witherspoon - Susan Murphy/ Ginormica
# Rainn Wilson - the evil alien Gallaxhar
# Hugh Laurie - Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D.
# Seth Rogen - the jellylike B.O.B.
# Will Arnett - the half-ape, half-fish Missing Link
# Kiefer Sutherland - General W.R. Monger
# Stephen Colbert - The President

Below is the highly secretive leaked footage of the trailer which raises my anticipation a few notches higher! One to take the kids to then!

Jade Goody diagnosed with cervical Cancer...

I was shocked again today to hear that ex Big Brother contestant Jade Goody has found out she has cervical Cancer. Jade had been collapsing and generally feeling ill lately and was waiting for her test results to come back to explain what was going on. She was given the bad news in the diary room of the Indian Big Brother show that she was appearing on (who the hell thought that that would be a good idea after the Shilpa Shetty fiasco!) directly from her consultant over the phone after which she hysterically told the rest of her housemates the shocking news.

After hearing that Christina Applegate had breast Cancer last week it's very sad news that Jade will also be battling it. Best wishes to both women.

Let's hear some good news please!!!

Someone has too much time on their hands!

A Star Wars fan with far too much time on their hands skillfully edited some holiday footage to include some recognisable Star Wars Imperial ships, including the Death Star itself!

My favourites have to be the Star Destroyer and the Imperial Shuttle. The Force is strong with this one!

Star Wars: Clone Wars Mini Review

OK, so after months of waiting Clone Wars has finally been released and I went to see it today with my eldest daughter.

Yesterday I'd read some pretty damning reviews of this CGI Star Wars movie and even that some people weren't going to waste their time and money on it based on the bad feedback. I have to say that although it did have its negative points, which for me were: some poor voice work, some jerky/ wooden animation (and acting!), dragging a little in the third act and "Zero the Hutt" being an embarrassment to the SW universe, among a few other little niggly things, the overall attempt was a success as far as I'm concerned.


I have to admit that I think the previous Clone Wars cartoon was superior to this movie, both in style and in content, but it had its moments of excellence and an abundance of action and mayhem which made for geeky, compelling viewing.


When I asked my daughter which part she enjoyed the most she joyously told me that she loved it all and that her favourite character was Ahsoka (Anakin's new Padawan), although the odd scenes containing imagery such as a tray of severed bounty hunter heads or the semi-graphic deaths of numerous Clone Troopers were a little over zealous for a five year old. The characters that we know and love were all there along with some new faces (we like Captain Rex) General Loathsom, Rotta the Huttlett and of course Ahsoka, along with a bevvy of Clones (love the different hair-dos) and humorous Battle-Droids, who gave us some, literally edge of your seat, viewing in places (the vertical assault on the monastery for instance was a highlight).


If you're a Star Wars fan I think you'll end up in one of two places in your mind. 1) You'll love it, simply because it's Star Wars and 2) You'll find so many faults with it that you won't enjoy it much (at least during the first viewing) BECAUSE you're such a fan of Star Wars. Either way I can't say it was terrible at all like some people out there. My advice is take a kid with you that loves Star Wars and you'll enjoy it even more. My little one was making lightsaber noises and babbling about the film all the way home so I know she enjoyed it!

A good attempt, but not what we were all hoping for
6/10

Hours of online fun

If you're sitting at your computer at any time, bored out of your wits, or you just have some time to kill, I have a temporary solution for you. The world of online flash games.

One site in particular that hosts around 220 of them is "RedBalcony". Click on the following link to go to their games page http://www.redbalcony.com/?feed=games

There are some truly awesome little games on here that take me back to when I had my Amiga 500+ or even further back to my original Amstrad CPC 464 (those were the days!). By simply clicking on the image of the game you're interested in you can play it in seconds, straight out of your internet browser, completely free. You'll even find some amusing soundboards (sound snippets of certain characters/ actors) such as Peter Griffen from Family Guy or even Paris Hilton to play around with.


Have a little fun when you get some downtime... ;)

Movie/ TV quiz... How good are you?

On Wednesday this week our computer system went down at work. Everyone was a little p****d off and bored to say the least so I thought I'd inject a little fun into the day to pass the time.

I created (all by myself, aren't I clever) a 25 question quiz based on popular movies and TV that I know and love. 1 point is allocated to each correct answer equaling 25 points total by the end (not including the extra rounds mentioned below of course). Minor spelling errors are tolerated but cheating (internet usage etc) is not. This quiz was designed to test everyone's natural knowledge and memory which covers the 80's up until now.

The highest score was 17/25 and as two guys drew they asked me to create 3 extra tie-break rounds of 5 questions each based on subject headings of their joint choice. After completing those 3 rounds it was still a draw and a 4th tie-break round (Star Wars) was then created. There was a winner in the end and everyone seemed to enjoy taking part (I enjoyed making it up too!). Try it for yourself and see how good you are! I have placed key words in each question in bold as they were things people were asking about or not reading properly when answering.

General Entertainment Quiz

1) In Dirty Dancing what is Baby’s real first name? Character not actress.

2) In Red Dwarf who is Dave Lister’s biological father?

3) Name the actor that connects these two programmes: Batman: 1960’s Series & Family Guy

4) In Pulp Fiction what is the full name of John Travolta’s character?

5) Name the song played during the pottery scene in Ghost

6) Hayden Panettiere from Heroes voiced which character in Pixar’s A Bugs Life?

7) What is Tom Cruise’s call-sign in Top Gun?

8) What film had an abbreviated title of “ID4”?

9) Name the main robot from I Robot

10) Marion Ravenwood, Willie Scott and Elsa Schneider are female characters from which movie trilogy?

11) Einstein is the name of the dog in which movie/s?

12) In the animated Disney movie The Little Mermaid, what was the crab’s name?

13) Name all four Wallace and Gromit movies

14) In Die Hard With A Vengeance what is Samuel L Jackson’s characters first name?

15) Complete the nickname for this A-Team character “Howling Mad…”

16) K.A.R.R is the evil version of what famous 80’s series car?

17) “The Truth Is Out There” is the tagline for which movie (and series)?

18) What is the name of Dr.Who’s home planet?

19) What is the name of the dog-like demon that appears in Dana Barretts fridge in Ghostbusters?

20) What is the name of the android from Aliens?

21) What film quadrilogy has the characters Riggs and Murtaugh?

22) Complete the names of the following newspapers that the following characters work for:
Superman – The Daily…..
Spider-Man – The Daily…..

23) There are 4 main kids in Goonies. What name is missing from this list? Mouth, Data, Chunk...

24) How does Donnie Darko die?

25) Name 10 films Arnold Schwarzenegger has appeared in… (yes you can have sequels but this question still only gives you one point)


Tie Break Round 1 - Sci-fi Movies

1) Name Casper Van Dien’s character (full name) in Starship Troopers

2) In Star Wars Princess Leia’s surname is not Skywalker… What is it?

3) In which comedy sci-fi movie is there a character named “Barf”?

4) In 1984 James Cameron made one of the most popular and influential sci-fi movies of all time starring one of Hollywood’s biggest stars of all time. What was the film?

5) What planet other than Earth was the main setting for Total Recall?

Tie Break Round 2 - Sci-fi TV

1) In what programme does a large device called a “Chapa-eye” appear?

2) In Star Trek: The Next Generation what colour uniform refers to the next rank down from the Command Level which is red? (Hint: Data and Worf originally wore that colour)

3) What 1994 Sci-fi programme written by J. Michael Straczynski was based on a space station?

4) What 1999 sci-fi series featured humans and "Jim Henson Muppets” as its main cast?

5) Name the programme this picture below is from:

Tie Break Round 3 - 80's TV/ Cartoons

1) What was the name of Mumm-ra’s reptilian minion in Thundercats?

2) Slag, Snarl, Sludge and Swoop are 4 out of 5 of which character team from a famous 80’s cartoon series? The group/ team name is what I’m looking for not the programme.

3) Hank, Eric, Diana, Presto, Sheila & Bobby are from which 80’s cartoon series?

4) He-Man’s real name is Prince Adam. What was She-Ra’s?

5) Bravestarr had a partner who was a cybernetic horse who could stand on his two hind legs and fire a shotgun.What was his name? Was it 20/20, 30/30, or 50/50?

Tie Break Round 3 - Final Round Star Wars

1) What is the surname of Luke’s Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen in Star Wars?

2) What is the full name of the rebel X-wing pilot character (not Luke) who is seen in all three original trilogy movies?

3) What is Luke’s X-wing call-sign during the final assault on the Death Star in Star Wars: Ep IV A New Hope?

4) George Lucas originally gave Luke one of the following surnames before settling on Skywalker: Which one was it?

A) Stargazer

B) Starkiller

C) Skyrunner

5) Name both the Ewok spin-off movies released in 1984 & 1985.

You what? Bigfoot found? It's a frickin monkey suit!

Read this and see if you have faith... This is from the timesonline.co.uk but it's all over the news websites today.

"To the untrained eye, it may look suspiciously like a cast-off from a fancy dress party. But to Bigfoot believers, this is the latest “evidence” that the mysterious ape-man said to dwell in the forests of North America is more than just a hairy myth.

Named Rickmat in honour of Rick Dyer and Matthew Whitton, Bigfoot hunters who claim to have bagged the 500lb ’corpse’ during an expedition in the US state of Georgia, it was being hailed today as potentially the “greatest discovery of the millennium” - by its finders, at least.

But that was not all they found in the woods. For as they marvelled at the seven foot seven inch, red-haired, flat-footed beast prostrated before them as they trekked through densely wooded mountains, Dyer and Whitton, 33 - who is currently on leave from police work after accidentally shooting himself while pursuing a robbery suspect - claim that they also spotted several of Rickmat’s friends and relatives lurking among the trees.

They are due to present the purported corpse, and their video footage of the shy Bigfoot clan, in public tomorrow, along with what they describe vaguely as “DNA evidence”.

“I think you’ll find that this is the real deal,” claimed their spokesman, Robert Barrows.

Photographs of Rickmat lying crumpled and apparently decapitated in a chest freezer drew so many visitors to one website today that it crashed under the pressure.

But Dyer and Whitton’s own website - bigfoottracker.com - appeared well prepared for the onslaught, advertising opportunities for the public to take guided tours in the footsteps of Rickmat for $499 a time, and selling T-Shirts declaring: “Bigfoot for President.”

“We have located a family of Bigfoot and besides the clear photo and video we have something even more shocking, A BODY. Please bear with us at this time. We have hired legal help. History is in the making,” they stated on their site.

The story was being met with heavy doses of scepticism tonight, not least because of the lack of scientific validity and the involvement of Tom Biscardi, an ’expert’ with a prior record of dubious discoveries relating to Bigfoot - also known as the Sasquatch, America’s equivalent of the Abominable Snowman.

The Bigfoot Field Researchers Organisation, which believes in Bigfoot but not in Rickmat, said the deceased apeman displayed a remarkable likeness to the “Deluxe Sasquatch Costume” on sale on a Hallowe’en costume website for $449.

Ben Radford, managing editor for Skeptical Inquirer magazine, said: “It’s smelling to high heaven like a hoax.”

“They can claim to have DNA, but its not going to be possible for them to prove through DNA analysis that they have Bigfoot because there’s no specimen in a jar that says, ’This is Bigfoot’, to match it to.

"And the video?... it’ll be what’s known in the Bigfoot research community as a Blobsquatch, an indeterminate, dark blob that may or may not be a man, a bear, a Bigfoot, an elf, a dragon...who knows?”

Christina Applegate diagnosed with breast cancer

On 3 August 2008, People Magazine reported that Christina Applegate (star of Married with children, Don't tell Mom the babysitter's dead and The sweetest thing) had been diagnosed with breast cancer. This was confirmed by her representative, who said in a statement: "Christina Applegate was diagnosed with an early form of breast cancer. Benefiting from early detection through a doctor ordered MRI, the cancer is not life threatening... Christina is following the recommended treatment of her doctors and will have a full recovery. No further statement will be issued at this time."

I was really sad to hear this news as I'm a huge fan of Christina's work but as it says above it's been discovered early so I wish her a speedy recovery. Get well soon Christina!

Timetravel for Desperate Housewives?

Well not exactly "time travel" but if you watched the season four finale you'll know that when "Desperate Housewives" returns for its fifth season in the US on Sunday, Sept. 28, the show's timeline will jump ahead five years for the divas of Wisteria Lane -- Susan (Teri Hatcher), Bree (Marcia Cross), Lynette (Felicity Huffman), Gabrielle (Eva Longoria Parker) and Katherine (Dana Delany).

The UK will have their season five premiere on Wednesday October 8, 2008 at 10:00pm on Channel 4, so sorry, you'll all have to wait just that little bit longer to see it here. ETonline has this great "recap" video below that gives you some background on Wysteria Lane and what season five may hold. Enjoy!

"Avada cadaver"!

Oh dear, the Missus won't be happy about this one... ETonline is reporting that the release date for 'Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince,' the sixth 'Harry Potter' movie, has been pushed back from November 2008 to July 2009. Not good news for die-hard Potter movie fans! full story below:

"Warner Bros. President and CEO Alan Horn said Thursday that the studio hoped to make 'Half-Blood Prince' a mid-summer tent-pole release, and also cited the recent Writers Strike as another reason for pushing the release back.

The studio noted that the two-part production and release of 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,' the seventh 'Harry Potter' book, will not be affected by the move of 'Half-Blood Prince.'

The sixth 'Harry Potter' film finds the boy wizard in his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where he discovers a mysterious book belonging to "The Half-Blood Prince" and learns more about Lord Voldemort's (Ralph Fiennes) dark past.

Of course, Daniel Radcliffe is back as Harry Potter and Emma Watson and Rupert Grint are once again portraying loyal pals Hermione and Ron Weasley."

Robert Downey Jr rips into Dark Knight

I was a little shocked to hear Robert Downey Jr's recent comments, made to Moviehole, about Batman: Dark Knight (see below).
I get that he's hit the limelight (big-time) with Iron Man so he's probably feeling a little big headed and proud of himself (plus of course people have temporarily forgotten about his drug fuelled history) and he may be playing a little bit of underhand bitchy politics (as he knows full well that DK is superior in almost every way to Iron Man so he's trying to protect his little money-earner) but his comments make him look a little stupid and a lot jealous.
While Iron Man was definitely an awesome film and I don't doubt for a minute that it wasn't primarily due to Jr's spot on performance as Tony Stark, he should show a little professional decorum and at least give a nod or a "well done on making a great movie" to Chris Nolan, his crew and DK's actors. Saying "I don't get it and F**K DC" reduces my opinion of RDJ quite substantially and makes me think that he's just acting like spoilt little brat trapped in a 43 year olds' body.

In an previous interview with Total Film magazine he even stated "There's delayed gratification and then there's 25 years later. I should get a gold watch or something..."

Below is the section of the Moviehole interview that has got a lot of people narked

“My whole thing is that that I saw The Dark Knight. I feel like I’m dumb because I feel like I don’t get how many things that are so smart. It’s like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I’m like, ‘That’s not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.’ I loved The Prestige but didn’t understand The Dark Knight. Didn’t get it, still can’t tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I’m like, ‘I get it. This is so high brow and so fucking smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.’ You know what? Fuck DC comics. That’s all I have to say and that’s where I’m really coming from.”

He then went on to say:

“You know, you’re never too old to burn your bridges because I believe I have offended everyone. I think I’ve got a couple more. ‘I’ll burn that bridge when I come to it’ is my favourite phrase I’ve ever coined.”

Seth Green and Breckin Meyer to join Heroes

News a round the web this week is that real-life best buds Seth Green and Breckin Meyer are currently in negotiations to join the cast of Heroes. The comedy actors and Robot Chicken compatriots are set to play Atlanta based comic book geeks, currently known as Doogie and Seth, who will cross paths with, and serve as important advisers to, one or more of the heroes. It's not known which hero/ heroes it will be but I'd like to think it will be one of the younger/ newer heroes (such as Monica) who are just discovering their powers.

As I said before I can't wait for series 3 and now that this news has been released I'm even more excited (oh and I met Seth Green at SDCC last month if you didn't know... What? I've said that more than once already? Nah!) ;)

The new Lara Croft...

23 year old professional gymnast from Croyden Alison Carroll has just become the new face of Lara Croft to promote the new Tomb Raider: Underworld game which is due out in November. Alison beat hundreds of other women dying to model as the gaming icon and first lady of action; Ms Croft and seems honoured to be following the footsteps of predecessors such as Nell McAndrew and Angelina Jolie.
Alison does look the part and congratulations to her but I'm afraid my own favourite and most accurate looking model to portray Lara (apart from Angelina Jolie of course) has always been Karima Adebibe. (Below). Now there's a real Lara Croft...

Jake is that you?

Holy crap! Jake Gyllenhaal has been seriously working out for his role of Prince Dastan in the new video game adaptation movie Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. I always viewed Jake as a skinny little runt but these images from Justjared show a buffed up Gyllenhaal walking around the set in Morocco North Africa this week hand in hand with girlfriend Reese Witherspoon. The films plot has Jake playing a young prince in sixth century Persia who must join forces with Tamina (Gemma Arterton, new Bond girl), a feisty and exotic princess, to prevent a villainous nobleman from possessing the Sands of Time, a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world.
This is one videogame-adaptation movie I'm hoping will do very well at the box office and with Mr. Gyllenhaal on board I have my fingers crossed he can make it a hit.

Witchblade movie poster

Recently released, this movie poster has got Witchblade fanboys excited all over again. With an undisclosed model/ actress posing for this shot the question is who will play the part of Sara Pezzini, weilder of the supernatural, sentient artifact with immense destructive and protective powers.
Fans had a taste of live-action Witchblade fun with the 2001 series featuring Yancy Butler in the lead role. Unfortunately the series only lasted for 24 episodes (two series' of 12 eps each) and it was rumored that the series cancellation was unfortunately due to Butler's alchoholism. The 2004 Anime series went off at a bit of a tangent by using a Japanese character named Masane instead of Sara and again teased fans with only 24 episodes...

I'd love for this movie to be a big hit as I've only just started to read the Witchblade and Darkness graphic novels (and playing the X-box 360 Darkness game) and have to say they're pretty damn good. Let's see what happens...

Yancy Butler as Sara Pezzini in the 2001 live action series

The Witchblade Anime series

Sara as she appears in the long running comic book series drawn by Marc Silvestri

New seasons of Knight Rider, Heroes & Lost

After watching the pilot for the new Knight Rider series a long while back I found myself really looking forward to the first season starting. It seems like its taken forever to be aired (and for UK viewers it'll be that much longer) but the first episode is scheduled for Wednesday Sept 24th in the US. Being a fan of the original series and being very surprised at how much I enjoyed the pilot (and Val Kilmer as the voice of Kitt which wasn't as bad as I'd expected) I can safely say I'll be following this one closely.

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS!

I loved season 2 of Heroes, I don't care what the critics say! In some ways I actully liked it more than season 1 and there were moments that really rocked my geekiness and gave me goosebumps. I'm currently watching it again with the Missus as she's not had a chance to see it yet and the DVD boxset came out recently and I'm still loving it. Although the season was cut in half due to the writers strike, the next installment called "Villains" will have some serious role reversals for some major characters and will get fans back into the swing of things with gusto.
Some spoilers for season 3 are as follows:

A villainous future Peter is Nathan's shooter from the end of series 2. Although I've also heard it's Angela his mother... We'll soon see.
Hiro sees himself murdered by his "best friend" while time travelling.
A "cadre" of villains will rise up together against the Heroes this season.
A new villain called Knox (who has speed powers) will appear in New Orleans (where Micah and his family currently are).
A new organisation crops up who are tracking the superpowered Heroes (and villains).
A representitive of the organisation is called Sophie and may well be Adam's (Takezo Kensei's) wife (hinted at in the Heroes comics).
Out of Niki and Nathan, one of them is definately not dead. The jury is out on the other one but sources say both Adrian Pasdar and Ali Larter are back as series regulars. Remember that Nathan has Adam Monroe's healing blood inside him (which got rid of his burns) which could be a factor of his return.
Niki's villainous alter-ego Jessica is said to return for most of season 3, maybe Niki died in the explosion and Jessica lives!
Supposedly Sylar is much worse than season 1 when he gets his powers back and kills a major star... I was hoping he'd turn good dammit!
Ando gets a Japanese love interest (Hiro's sister?) and a much more important role.
Mr. Nakamura’s powers are revealed.
We find out that Adam is indeed immortal (obviously) and this would mean that as Claire has the same power she's immortal too.
The Invisible Man (Claude) may make a return.
Some of Angela Petrelli's secrets and past will be revealed. She's been compared to the Emperor from Star Wars this season.
Monica, Micah's cousin (St Joan) will have a major story arc.
A new member of the Petrelli family is revealed and we've already seen them in series 2!
Is Adam the first and original superpowered human that all other Heroes are decended from?
The Heroes comic states that Adam had ten wives during his immortal life... Could this mean that with each he had children and each Hero on the show is from his bloodline? One of his alter-ego names was Richard Sanders... Niki Sanders anyone?

Oooooooo I can't wait for season 3!!!

WARNING SPOILERS!

One of most varied shows of the past few years has been Lost. It's gained fans, it's lost fans, it's had it's amazing episodes, it's had it's terrible episodes. There've been jaw dropping shocks and thousands of questions raised that have hardly ever been answered and the cast changes almost every episode.

But I love it...

Season 4 was fantastic and the flash forwards being used instead of flash backs was an ingenious, if not obvious, plot device. At SDCC 08 we found out that a new way of telling the story has been developed that doesn't include flash backs or forwards which should impress fans. This is great but the major niggle most loyal followers have is how long it takes to get answers to previous questions and generally just what the hell is going on! Also at SDCC 08 was a Lost panel with a new Dharma orientation video being played for the audience. Some content was as follows:
1. Dr. Candle claims his true name is Dr. Pierre Chang.
2. Chang claims to be broadcasting from the past — 30 years in the past, so circa 1978 — and sending the signal through some kind of temporal pinhole.
3. Chang claims to know information about his future/our present — that our president is George Bush; that we use the Internet; that Dharma is doomed to be destroyed via ''the purge'' — and that he knows this information from a ''credible'' source.
4. A crying baby can be heard off-camera, and at one point, Candle/Chang asks someone to shush him. Could the child be someone we know — perhaps, say, ghost-whispering hustler Miles Straume?
5. Chang's urgent message for the present: The Dharma Initiative must be reconstituted in order to prevent some kind of calamitous future event.
6. The video ends with the man operating the camera despairing over the futility of the endeavor — a man who sounds a lot like time-traveling scientist Daniel Faraday.
(Thanks for www.ew.com for that info)

Season 5 is set to be a shocker once again and some spoilers and answers were given away both at SDCC 08 and elsewhere and are as follows:

* When the hatch imploded (episode 2x23, Live Together, Die Alone) the island didn't move like it did during the season 4 finale.

* "Dead" is a relative term. Jin and Locke will be seen in some form in season 5.

* We will get Rousseau's story, though it won't necessarily come from a flashback or flash forward.

* The show will still have flashbacks and flash forwards, but will move in a new direction with the narrative.

* The other writers don't know all, but know most of what Damon and Carlton know of what is coming up for the next two season.

* Vincent is okay and will appear in season 5 and will most likely make it to the end of the series.

* Kate will see Sawyer in season 5.

* When season 5 starts, you won't know when and where we are at first.

* Daniel knew about the secondary protocol from his notebook. His notebook has things in it that haven't yet happened.

* The writers often "write themselves into a corner" throwing out "What if's" in the writers room. They always know how they are going to get the characters out of a particular situation before they begin filming, though.

* Aging on the island is a different process than what we are used to. Richard Alpert (the guy from the Others who never seems to age) is "old". Matthew Fox guessed that he is 125 years old and Damon said he was wrong.

* We will learn more about Richard Alpert in season 5.

Excitement overload!

Lego Batman - Coming next month

Oh how I love the recent Lego games... My 5 year old daughter (who is an extremely proficient gamer for her age) and I can play for hours and hours on Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures (both of which we've played to almost 100% completion and obtained every unlockable character!). And now Lego Batman is about to be released, I'm a happy bunny indeed.
There's something extremely enjoyable about the way these games have been made. The puzzles for instance have a simple formula; smash this thing, which triggers this thing, which releases a key, which opens that door that leads to a secret you can't get to until you've unlocked freeplay mode for that level etc etc etc it's almost oldschool in it's creation.

The character animatics are great, the levels are well thought out and not too large or too small, the cut scenes are funny and playful, the sheer replay factor is huge and the fact that two player co-op is so enjoyable for me and my daughter means we'll probably buy every game that ever gets released.

As before with the Star Wars and Indy versions you'll be able to not only play as the well known and loved good guys but also as the bad guys (once you complete normal story mode and unlock all of them for freeplay of course) . In the Batman universe this is a very good thing. There's a huge amount of fun and diverse heroes & villains that you'll get to use and all of their weapons, vehicles and fighting styles will be available to you to complete each level. The only downside will be having to make the choice of who to be next!

Watch the trailer below to see just how enjoyable this game looks. Roll on Sept 23rd!

Tropic Thunder - Looking very good

I've been hearing very good things about this upcoming movie and the buzz just keeps getting better as time goes on.

"Tropic Thunder" is an Aug 2008 action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller and starring Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. as a group of prima donna actors filming a Vietnam War movie when their fed-up writer-director decides to dump them in the middle of a real war.

The trailer is fantastic, Robert Downey Jr as the method actor who undergoes a skin pigmentation procedure in the movie to play an African American part looks to be pure gold and the cameo list alone makes me want to see this film. Watch the trailer and look at the cast list below to see what you think.



Cast

* Ben Stiller as Tugg Speedman: A pampered action star who attempted to turn into a serious actor - with disastrous results.
* Jack Black as Jeff "Fats" Portnoy: A comedian-turned-drug addict well known for playing multiple parts in films.
* Robert Downey Jr. as Kirk Lazarus: An Australian multiple Academy Award-winning method actor who portrays an African American character Sgt. Osiris.
* Brandon T. Jackson as Alpa Chino: A rapper who is attempting to cross over into acting.
* Steve Coogan as Damien Cockburn: The director of the film
* Nick Nolte as Four Leaf Tayback: The film's writer, who hatches the idea to put the actors in the middle of some real combat.
* Bill Hader as Rob Slolom
* Danny McBride as Cody
* Jay Baruchel as Kevin Sandusky
* Reggie Lee as Byong

Cameos

* Tom Cruise, as "Les Grossman"
* Mickey Rooney, as "Old Man Carruthers"
* Kathy Hilton, as Herself
* Tobey Maguire, as Himself
* Matthew McConaughey, as "Rick Peck"
* Maria Menounos, as Herself
* Christine Taylor, as "Rebecca"
* Jennifer Love Hewitt, as Herself
* Justin Theroux
* The Mooney Suzuki, as Themselves
* Alicia Silverstone, as Herself
* Jon Voight, as Himself
* Jason Bateman, as Himself
* Tyra Banks, as Herself
* Lance Bass, as Himself
* Amy Stiller, as "Script Supervisor"

Family Guy - Something Something Something Darkside

The sequel to the Family Guy Star Wars episode/movie "Blue Harvest" is almost upon us and above is the great little poster refelcting the original Empire Strikes Back layout. Wiki description (with a little alteration) is below.

"Something, Something, Something, Dark Side" is an upcoming hour-long episode of the FOX animated series Family Guy and the sequel episode to the Star Wars episode "Blue Harvest". It will retell the story of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as "Blue Harvest" did with Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, recasting characters from Family Guy into roles from the film. It is scheduled to air as the season 7 finale, though there has been discussion of a possible DVD release beforehand.

Like the previous episode, several characters from the show will be re-imagined as characters from the film, with some physical modifications to the roles they play (Mort Goldman, for example, will appear as an African American in consideration of his role as Lando Calrissian). Several characters will reprise their roles as they appear in the episode, while some with smaller one-time roles will be re-cast.

Family Guy character	Star Wars character
Chris Griffin	Luke Skywalker
Peter Griffin	Han Solo
Lois Griffin	Princess Leia
Stewie Griffin	Darth Vader
Brian Griffin	Chewbacca
Glenn Quagmire	C-3PO
Cleveland Brown	R2-D2
Mort Goldman	Lando Calrissian
Ernie the Giant Chicken	Boba Fett
Joe Swanson	Imperial Probe Droid

One to look forward to for Family Guy fans.