Category Archives: Entertainment

Cutthroat Diversity

Game of Thrones

Thrones is back and thank the gods.  Ok.  That was a bluff.  I went all-in, and I folded.  Wasn’t my best poker play.  Throne’s presence at San Diego Comic-Con kicked off with a tribute to the many casualties of the beloved series:

Author George R.R. Martin is still writing The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, the 6th and 7th installments of A Song of Ice and Fire, respectively.  The Winds of Winter is set for release December of this year, while Thrones Season 4 started location shooting last week in Nesjavellir, Iceland.  Several thespians have been cast for the season already including Pedro Pascal as Oberyn MartellIndira Varma as Ellaria Sand, and Mark Gatiss in an unspecified role.

Major potential  Season 4 characters that have NOT been cast yet include: Mace Tyrell; Lord of Highgarden, Styr; the Magnar of Thenn, Aeron “Damphair” Greyjoy; The Iron Captain, Victarion Greyjoy; Captain of the Iron fleet, Ser Arys OakheartThe Soiled Knight, Areo Hotah; The Captain of Guards, and finally Arianne Martell; daughter of Prince Doran.  Stay tuned for casting/shooting updates as they arrive.

UPDATE:

HBO parent company Time Warner has released their latest quarterly earnings report and within it are the latest viewer numbers for Game of Thrones. HBO is now reporting that Game of Thrones averaged 14.2 million viewers per episode last season. This is a 20% increase over season 2′s viewership number and is a significant jump from the last reported number of 13.6 million. (You can download the full report here.)

What does this mean? It means that even well into season 3 Thrones‘ viewership is still climbing. Which is pretty unprecedented for a drama like this. I suspect the Red Wedding may have had something to do with the late season jump as people got caught up on the show to see what all the fuss is about.

This also means that Game of Thrones is very, very close to becoming HBO’s most-watched show of all-time. The Sopranos is currently tops with an average of 14.4 million viewers per episode.Game of Thrones may very well break that next season.

ALSO:

British thespian Roger Ashton-Griffiths has been cast as Mace Tyrell; Lord of Highgarden.

Dutch actor Yorick Van Wageningen is rumored to have auditioned for Styr; the Magnar of Thenn.

Dean-Charles Chapman has reportedly been cast as King Tommen.

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Resolved Effervescence

Rational Effervesence 5

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Tyrion Lannister a.k.a. Peter Dinklage is Bolivar Trask, founder and CEO of Trask-Industries: the company that would go on to enslave mutant-kind with massive robotic Sentinel’s. As seen by some at San Diego Comic-Con this past week. Bryan Singer’s upcoming X-men: Days of Future Past will not only feature Trask’s Sentinel’s, but time-travel and a dystopian alternative future in which mutants are being sent to internment camps.

http://www.trask-industries.com/

The coveted franchise will be trying to shake off X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and X-Men 3: The Last Stand: both films having been absolute garbage, garnering an average 47.5% rottentomatoes score. While X-men: First Class did some damage-control, Singer will probably be looking to make some headway on the many fans of the franchise. As a matter of fact, with Sentinel’s running around, Singer could totally swing some Magneto/JFK”magic-bullet” action into the mix. Let’s just hope, assume and pray that the guy isn’t going to pull some sort of Zack Snyder. Because that would be bad. Like really bad. Speaking of the man-himself, Snyder will direct a Man of Steel sequel, featuring none other than a rebooted Caped Crusader. Does lowly gruntish simpleton Zack Snyder have sufficient enough intellectual-capacity and talent to do justice to the Justice League? NO. No he absolutely does not. Any other questions?

Rational Effervesence 6

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Contemptible Posterity

Despicable-Me-2-1

The summer is upon us my dear friends and with it comes San Diego Comic-Con, and Despicable Me 2:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HwXbtZXjbVE

The first one got an 81% on rottentomatoes.  Which is better than any film Zack Snyder has ever made.  Ever.

Ant-Man

Marvel’s promise to “keep taking risks” ended them up with an Ant-Man film.  How pumped were YOU when you saw “Ant-Man“?  You weren’t.  Disney recently announced that Marvel Studios’ Phase Three will kick off in the summer of 2016: releasing films on — July 8 2016, May 6 2016, and May 5 2017.  Ant-Man and Doctor Strange will be two of those films, and have yet to cast lead roles. Having recently reacquired intellectual property Blade, Daredevil, The Punisher, and Ghostrider: Marvel has requested a meeting with Vin Diesel.  Opening the door for a whole lot of nerd speculation.

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Marvel Phase Three

Quote1.pngThere comes a time in contracts where, if a studio is done making the movies, [the characters] come home,” he explained. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to make another movie. But it means they’re back in the fold, which is where we want them to be.Quote2.png  — Kevin Feige

Doctor Strange

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Diffident Grandeur

Desolation of Smaug

The Hobbit:The Desolation of Smaug dropped it’s first trailer this week:

And looks substantially more plot-developmental than perhaps the first one was:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/447654

#Trololol.  Literally.  Kinda.  @The_hobbit_blog will keep you updated on all things The Hobbit.  Peter Jackson and crew will more or less be looking for some cinematic redemption after the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey garnered a lackluster 65% on rottentomatoes.  Which funnily enough is more than we can say for the likes of Zack Snyder’s “Best film to date(56%)”.Desolation of Smaug 2-1

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Visceral Prestige

Noble Savagery 1

When the Wolverine is fighting ninja’s, it’s pretty hard to have a bad time:

Quote1This movie will really get to Wolverine’s core—so—fingers crossed that we’ve done it this time.  I’m pretty confident we have.Quote2 — Hugh Jackman

Director James Mangold is looking to delve more into Wolverine’s character; his résumé includes: Girl, Interrupted, Walk the Line and 3:10 to Yuma, so we should be good on that.  An “actor’s director”, @mang0ld knows Wolverine is a classic Anti-hero: a “superhero” with very human flaws foils and fables just like the rest of us.  Marvel’s Canadian Berserker will be seeking cinematic redemption after his last solo film X-Men Origins:Wolverine got a 38% rottentomatoes score.  Wow.  I wonder if Zack Snyder directed it.

Noble Savagery 5

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I, too, was once a Human Being, Revisited

No ashes, no coal can burn with such glow.
As a secretive love of which no one must know.

She was.

But, “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us…” [Charles Dickens, Tale of Two Cities]

She began her dark journey into light at the age of seventeen.

In that darkness, he had beaten her ‘on her bare buttocks’ in a ‘special room’ away from the family. In the light, she eventually confessed that she had felt sexual excitement when her father beat her. Her mother had raised her ‘in complete sexual ignorance.’

Suffering – both physical and emotional – with love.

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Extraordinary Grace

Extraordinary Grace

Academy Award #bestactor Jamie Foxx is looking pretty OG triple as deranged electomancer Max Dillon a.k.a. Electro.  Though not an in-house Marvel Production, Sony Pictures has seen wild success with @therealstanlee’s coveted Web-Slinger franchise.  Save perhaps when they cast Eric Forman as afflicted bruiser Eddie Brock a.k.a. Venom.  Which was a sub-optimal move, one might say.  Kind of  like the cinematic blunder known as Sucker Punch directed by who other than rampant herpaderp nub-scrub Zack Snyder.  #LOLUMADBRO?!?!

Quote1.png“It’s a couple hours of make-up, but it’s really so much fun,” Jamie Foxx on being Electro,“It’s part of a remarkable legacy: Spider-Man.  I mean, when you’re growing up as a kid, that’s everything. So to be able to be in that is just amazing–the producers wanted something for the future.  They wanted to have it more grounded and not as “comic-bookie”, so it won’t be green and yellow.  They wanted to try new things in the script.  This villain (@Electro) is for  the first time written really, really well,” he continued. “[Star] Andrew Garfield and [director] Marc Webb both commented on how great the script is, so it should be an exciting time.   “I’m just waiting to get to Comic-Con and see how people respond to it.Quote2.png — Jamie Foxx

Extraordinary Grace 3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atCfTRMyjGU

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It Will Get Better..

Taller than 99.35 percent of all Americans, with the wingspan of an albatross…

“I’m living proof that no matter where you’re at or how hard it is, you can come out of it,” she said with assurance. “The key is you just can’t give up. Keep believing in yourself.

“It will get better.”

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Carnal Comradery

DC vs marvel artisan

Zack Snyder may be a bad story-teller, but in all fairness is a talented cinematographer.  Luckily enough for us, Christopher Nolan is the kind of guy that would start trolling a baddie if they are bad.  Which let’s be honest if you are dealing with Zack Snyderthat is going to be the case more often than not.

#TROLOLOLOL.  Disney finally bought itself out of Marvel’s Paramount contract, but is still paying 8% and 9% royalties on grosses $1,511,757,910 (The Avengers)  and $1,147,575,931 (Iron Man 3respectively.  Granting Paramount roughly 200$mill without breaking a sweat.  Or literally even doing anything.  Thor: The Dark World however: will be Marvel Studios’ first foot-loose and fancy-free “in-house” project.  With a little bit of wiggle-roomMarvel has already started writing up scripts for some of it’s most recently re-acquired intellectual property most notably: BladePunisherDaredevilGhostrider, and Doctor Strange.

Quote1.pngThey’re back in the fold, which is where we want them to be.Quote2.png —  Marvel President Kevin Feige

Marvel Phase 3

As the #superheroarmsrace #startsheatingup, rumor has it @ChrisNolanWB is now basically the Kevin Feige of DC/Warner Bros.  Igniting what some might describe as a MERCILESS RUMBLE OF TITANS.

DC vs marvel guardian

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With No Direction Home

The Troubadour of the 60’s is one year short to his diamond jubilee today exactly — May 24, 1941 — 74 years to be a exact.  No, he isn’t under 30 anymore, far from it, and with no direction home.

bob_dylan

To celebrate this classic free-wheelin example of a Different Drummer, I copied his Keirsey Temperament Portrait from Keirsey.com

Watch and Observe a Composer in Action

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