Can a Zombie Be a Mover & Shaker?

I’m pretty sure the answer is yes, especially if you are a zombie in the  Universal Dead web series.

I received an email from the guys behind the camera of UnDead – Vernon Mortensen & Kelly Parks with some exciting news:

Unconventional Films – creator of UNIVERSAL DEAD – is completing discussions w/ Paramount Lot Producers, Fishman Productions, Ltd., on a Full Length Feature version of their highly successful horror web series. An official announcement is anticipated during Comic Con where UD will be the featured Project at ICON’s Saturday July 24, 2010 Event. UD Talent will be at Comic Con for signings and to meet their avid fans.

UD writer Kelly Parks indicates “I can’t wait for fans to see the whole story!” Director Vernon Mortensen said, “Fishman Productions has the highest integrity and has really earned our respect.” FPL Executive Producer, Jeff Fishman, admits being “blown away by the connection fans feel for “Universal Dead” and the Full Length Feature Script Kelly has written”. The Full Length Feature script is still under wraps and Fans are hoping for some teasers during Comic Con.

AWESOME! Congratulations guys! That’s great news. Wish I could be at ComicCon to hear the announcement.

BTW Vernon, when’s the next installment of Universal Dead coming out? Hmmmmm…..?

Universal Dead: Episode 1 | Episode 2

The Only Way to Make Ke$ha Less Annoying…

…would be to blast her into space, but this isn’t a bad alternative.

Enjoy!

Fred Is Coming to Toronto! – Whedon Fest Update!

Woot!

Whedon Fest has updated their guest list for their inaugural convention, October 1st – 3rd at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel!

The beautiful and talented Amy Acker, aka Fred/Illyria from Angel, and Dr. Saunders/Whiskey from Dollhouse and lately Rachel Conroy of Happy Town will be making her first visit to Canada and will be joining fellow guest Nicholas Brendon.

I’m chuffed. Can you tell?

In other Whedon Fest News, they have updated their schedule of events to add Geek Off Tournaments,

We will be running a number of Geek-Off trivia contests over the weekend to test your knowledge of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Serenity, Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible. After preliminary rounds there will be our Ultimate Geek-Off with finalists. We have a ton of cool prizes to give away and the title of “Ultimate Whedon Geek.” If you’re interested in participating in this contest (and aren’t afraid of being up on stage!) you will be able to register your name on Friday when you pick up your badges. Contestants will be selected randomly from these entries.

a Dessert Party,

We will be holding a special meet and greet dessert party on Friday night, featuring a chocolate fountain, truffles, pastries and more! A perfect way to indulge and chat up our special guests!

and a live charity auction in support of the SickKids Foundation:

On Saturday October 2, 2010 a live auction will be held at WhedonFest in support of SickKids Foundation. The funds from our auction will support research, education and care at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and will help many children around the world. There will be a ton of great items, so please keep checking back as we update with what’s up for auction and how you can help SickKids Foundation.

among other events. Get more information on the Whedon Fest website.

This is really shaping up to be a great con. I’m really looking forward to attending. Still no word as to volunteer opportunities as of yet, but Evelina of Starry Nights Events told me that they will be needing stewards to help with the main room and people for the autograph/photograph lines and will be looking to fill these roles closer to the event. So, if you are interested in volunteering, contact Starry Nights using the Contact form on the website.

More updates to come!

Jupiter Deep Impact

Coolness!

Two amateur astronomers, Anthony Wesley in Australia and Christopher Go in the Philippines independently spotted a meteor strike on the surface of the planet Jupiter

According to Heidi Hammel of the Space Science Institute in Boulder Colorado, the impact has all the markings of a Jovian ‘bolide’ impact.

This is the second time a large object has been documented slamming into Jupiter’s surface within a year. The first occurred on July 19, 2009. Coincidentally, that impact was also witnessed by Anthony Wesley (he needs to buy me a lottery ticket ;)) Both impacts caused an Earth sized fireball to explode into the atmosphere.

That’s right kiddies, that little blip you’re seeing in right side of the frame is the size of our planet. Kinda makes you feel rather small doesn’t it. Maybe I don’t need to diet after all.

According to the National Geographic, scientists are gearing up to study the latest strike:

Scientists are now racing to get professional and amateur astronomers to train their telescopes on the gas giant to see what kind of scar will be left behind by this latest impact and hopefully what kind of object hit the giant planet.

Experts believe the collision should produce a dark debris field in Jupiter’s clouds—similar to the previous impact site—which may become visible over the next few days.

“We don’t know if there is a dark site yet, since this appears be a small impact,” Hammel said. “We are working on getting telescopes around the world in gear for followup work, including the world’s largest telescopes and [the] Hubble” Space Telescope.

So, if you’re an amateur astronomer or if you know of one, this could be your chance! Get those telescopes trained on Jupiter. Hopefully, it isn’t little green men looking for a site to launch their invasion of Earth. Good Luck!

Watch the skies!

Via: National Geogrphic, Gawker

I WANT ONE! – Splice Promotional

The big-wigs promoting Splice have created a plush replica of Dren, the human whatcha-ma-who-sit hybrid.

Isn’t it cute? I so want one!

From what I can tell though, they’re super limited edition and the only way you can score one is to win one.

Drat!

Splice, starring Sarah Polley, Adrien Brody and Delphine Chaneac as Dren opens today.

I Can Get Behind This – More Avengers Casting News

Looks like Jeremy Renner will be taking on the role of Hawkeye in The Avengers, directed by Joss Whedon.

Renner was rumored to be up for the role during the fall, but his attachment at the time Universal’s Battleship and to a as yet unnamed Paul Thomas Anderson project was thought to prevent him from joining the film. Since then, Renner has not been cast in Battleship and Anderson’s project has been pushed back repeatedly as it’s tried to cobble together financing.

I like Renner for this role, and he’s a former Whedonite, (He played Penn on Angel) so I’m hoping this means Joss will be able to draft more of his favorite actors for the film. *cough* Nathan Fillion *cough* Gina Torres *cough*

This is good news. I’m really excited. Renner is a tremendously talented actor, it’s nice to see him continuing to get some recognition post The Hurt Locker.

I can’t wait to see what they come up with for the costume.

Via: Heat Vision – The Hollywood Reporter

Where Do I Sign Up?

And how in Hell does one chose a major?

Via: Buzzfeed

If I Had a Hammer…..

‘Tis the day for concept art!

First we saw the official costume for Captain America, Now images of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor costume have begun to appear like popcorn all over the Internet today:

“All Fields Are Subsets of Physics” – Universal Dead, Episode 2

I love the above statement! It gives me shivers when I consider where Universal Dead might go, which seems to be right into Day of the Dead territory.

Doug Jones has made his first appearance as the cuckolded and slightly unhinged Dr. Vataber, whose wife is now the subject of his experiments on the undead.

The other thing that I’m enjoying is the semantics surrounding the undead or the infected, as CDC representative Dr. Macavoy (Gary Graham) likes to call them. It reminds me of the arguments that first surrounded the AIDS epidemic (and yes, I’m old enough to actually remember that) and continues to swirl when discussing it’s cause.

The film is directed by Vernon Mortensen and written by Kelly Parks, both of whom have been in the military, as were most of the crew. Interesting, considering in these scenarios, the military is usually portrayed in a less than stellar light.

This is definitely one to watch.

PRESENTING: Captain America

A few days ago, Mike Sampson over at JoBlo posted a detailed description of Captain America’s costume developed for Chris Evans:

The fabric of the costume doesn’t look like the scaled material of SPIDER-MAN but more of a leather fabric, like something you’d see on one of the X-MEN. Cap wears an old school utility belt, the likes of which we haven’t seen much in modern superhero movies. Utility belts were a staple of comic superheroes but haven’t made the transition but here Cap sports a rather thick belt made up of brown pockets with a silver buckle. (It actually looks something like the belt on this Captain America toy. [snip]
The suit actually has a practical WWII military look to it with some of the obvious Captain America flourishes that we would expect. It’s hard to really pass judgment on a costume until you see it properly lit, in motion and doing what it’s meant to do. But based on what I saw, I’m pretty impressed with how they were able to adapt the costume for the film.

As for the shield, it actually hews very closely to the classic design of red/white/red rings with the white star in a blue circle at the middle.

And yesterday, AICN posted artwork of a completely different source, which Mike from JoBlo has confirmed to be the art he was describing in his original piece.

And now, without further ado, I give you: Captain America – The First Avenger: