Video: First Clip from Disney/Pixar's Brave

This sneak preview clip was released today by Disney for the upcoming Pixar film, Brave. The film is being directed by Mark Andrews who replaced Brenda Chapman during the project. Both directors are  behind some of my favorite animated films so I'm sure this film is really as good as it looks. The release date has been set for June 22, 2012

Below is the write up provided by Disney UK:

Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In Brave, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts.

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida's actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Wise Woman (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late.

Directed by Mark Andrews (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, John Carter of Mars) and Brenda Chapman (The Lion King, Prince of Egypt), and produced by Katherine Sarafian (Lifted, The Incredibles), Brave is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and the signature Pixar humour enjoyed by audiences of all ages. 

Adventure Time #1 Sells Out Again! Going to 3rd Print!

BOOM! Studio's has a major hit on its hands with Adventure Time printed under their all ages KABOOM! imprint. The first issue is going into its 3rd printing after selling out twice. First print copies are going for a decent price on eBay.

The 3rd printing will have a new cover, which pictured above.

My son and I love this cartoon. I'll be hunting down on these printings to have for our collection.

2012 Fruit Cake Challenge!!

As we go through February the holiday season becomes another memory of good times and stress, that fades away for another year. The decorations are all put away and looking in the fridge its way past time to throw out that old carton of Egg Nog in the back but something that hasn't faded away or even started go bad is the fruit cake. Yes fruitcake, the infamous dessert of Christmas. The jokes about it are never ending and the varieties of cake are numerous. I personally can't stand the stuff, I'm a much bigger fan of its Old English cousin the Christmas pudding. For one reason or another (specifically for a blog post lets be honest) I picked up different brands of fruit cake as I discovered them through various shopping trips.

My son, The A-Man, decided after much inner debate to help me taste these cakes to decide which was the least offense, and overall to see if fruitcake was deserving of its rather bad reputation.

Our choices included:

Fruit Cake of C. Forchy - Made in France
FORCHY PATISSIER S.A. -57 Rue des Champs - 76190 YVETOT - FRANCE

Our only international import in this contest of cakes. I believe I found this cake at the World Market in Rockville, MD

Premium Fruit Cake
Benson's Bakery, Bogart, GA 30622
The first of the two cakes from Georgia, which I guess is the big fruit cake producing state. I purchased this on deep discount mark down at a Safeway supermarket in Montgomery Village, MD.

Old Fashion Claxton Fruit Cake, World Famous!
Since 1910
Claxton Bakery, Inc. Claxton, GA 30417
This most often what I equate with fruitcake. I can almost guarantee this is the brand I first tasted and is the cake responsible for me not liking fruitcake to start with (sorry Claxton). Let's see if my tastes have changed over the past 30 years.

A-Man really got into this taste test. I was surprised especially since he was so reluctant to try any of the cakes at first. Here are his selections as they shake out:


FINAL RESULTS!
A-Man
1. Claxton Fruit Cake - A-Man's Top choice with best flavor and most fillings is my old nemesis the. Only complaint the fruit and nuts make it a chewy cake
2. Benson - 2 out of 5 - nuts and fruit too big
3. Forchy - 0 out of 5 - Too much cake, didn't like the taste of the fruit. Said it tasted to chemically and preserved.

And my rankings

Dr. Oracle:
1. Benson - 4 out of 5: Not bad for a fruitcake. Tasted the most homemade out of the three. I liked the large whole pieces of fruit and nuts.
2. Forchy - 2 out of 5 - The cake is out, can't stand the taste of the fruit. No nuts whatsoever which is a bad thing in my book
3. Claxton - 1 out of 5 - Hard to find any cake at all, just seems like a brick of jellied fruit and nuts held together with something unidentifiable. I'll be honest, this is the fruitcake that formed my memory of the stuff and is the reason I don't like it. The taste isn't as bad as I remember, but the overall experience isn't pleasant to me.

Toys: Hasbro Marvel Legends 2012

Marvel Legends when it was first created by Toy Biz was going away my favorite line of superhero action figures. They were 6 inch figures of heroes that I wish I'd had to play with as a kid.  Were they perfect? No. Every one wasn't a home run. But for the most part the balance of articulation, details given to costumes and paint got into a more than acceptable range that I was a fairly diehard fan of their products. And the products just kept getting better and better. Then Hasbro moved in as the new producer for the Marvel Legends line. It wasn't love at first sight for me and the Hasbro Marvel Legends. They made some questionable choices as far as characters to create figures for and the level of articulation was scaled back a bit from what Toy Biz had produce. After a few series came out I'd more than accepted Hasbro as a worth replacement.  Then Marvel Legends vanished, with the exception of some two figure exclusive packs at Walmart or Toys R Us.

Of the photos to come from Toy Fair this past week, I was happy to see the new Marvel Legends as the 6 inch figure line makes its return to toy shelves in the coming weeks.

Terrax and Arim Zola will be build a figures in the initial two series. Wasn't Terrax a build a figure for a line of Fantastic Four figures? For some reason that seems familiar. Any way here they are.

The Constrictor

Extremis Iron Man

Ghost Rider (wow... I'm digging that figure, when did Ghost Rider start looking like this??)

Age of Heroes Thor (Best looking Thor figure I've ever seen)

 

Klaw  - I'm so happy to see this character get a figure. The master of sound is one of my personal favorites, from the first time I encountered him in a story which was the Secret Wars mini series.

Commander Steve Rogers - Another MUST HAVE for me. Looking awesome Cap.

Terrax - I'm not huge on Terrax, so if I don't get all the pieces I can live with it.

Hope Summers - Daughter of Cable, all grown up

Arim Zola - Nazi Mad Scientist with his digital mind residing in a robotic body.

Spider-Man - Just wouldn't be a series with out another Spider-Man or Iron Man for that matter. It was a wonder to me that they had any left to produce for this series.

Dark Wolverine - Wolvernine's son, Daken. They omitted the kids third claw coming out under this palm at the wrist. Either way not a fan of this character anyway.

Thunderball - The brains of the Wrecking Crew and my favorite of the group.

Drax the Destroyer - I've loved this character in all of his incarnations. Him as a green, balled killing machine works for me.

Fantomex - I've got little info on this character and I'm feeling too lazy to look him up. He looks damned cool though.

Captain America - The Bucky Barnes costume. I went back and forth on this costume design even though I had no problems with Bucky filling the role of Cap. I thought that made for some great stories.

 

Madam Masque - A great choice for another villain. I'm glad Hasbro is giving some good villains in the mix from out of the gate. I've never understood why toy makers didn't make more villains for these superhero lines.

Angry Birds Space! Coming in March

I admit like many of you out there, I'm addicted to Angry Birds. With every new holiday that they bless us with an update I gleefully download it and start to play immediately. Cursing the physics, shouting insults at the green pigs, I get a little too into it, I'll be honest.

Now there is an new game coming that will continue to feed my addiction: Angry Birds Space.

John Severin, Legendary Illustrator, Dead at 90 Years Old

John Severin passed away Sunday, Feb. 12th 2012. John Severin was an artist that had been active in comic illustration through out all my time involved in the hobby of collecting and reading comics. The first time I was really aware of how amazing his artwork was came when I encountered an issue of the The 'Nam that he illustrated. Right away I noticed how different it was compared to Mike Golden whose work I associated with the title as I picked up the issues I could from month to month. As I got older and paid closer attention to the artists names and their body of work, I'd always been blown away by John Severin's ability to so accurately draw facial expressions whether to convey a humorous moment in an issue of Cracked or a more horrific moment in a war comic. His consistent ability to bring so much detail into those small comic page frames without losing any clarity or muddling the story being told is a model that so many current artists and aspiring artist should study.

Mr. Severin's work never lost a step through the years. He was a legendary illustrator both as a penciller and inker, and he will be missed by this fan and many others.

Video: New Amazing Spider-Man Trailer

I'll admit I haven't been fully onboard with this reboot of Spider-man so soon after the previous series, but this is looking like it could be fun. I'm not hating it. I just wish they didn't redesign that Spidey costume so dramatically. They could've done a closer variation of the classic costume without it looking too similar to Sam Raimi's films.

This is a 3D film and this trailer even has a 3D version that is being shown around. 3D isn't a big selling point with me, but from what I hear this is being filmed in true 3D and won't be an afterthought effect.