Mark your calenders, kids.  June 3, 2011 will see the release of X-Men: First Class.

This long rumored prequel to the successful X-Men franchise finally found a director in Matthew Vaughn who just came off of Kick-Ass.  So, in other words, 20th Century Fox just hired a director who just had a very mild success to direct a movie in just 13-months to rush out an entry in its successful franchise … oh yeah, this doesn’t have disaster written all over it.  Not at all.

The official of the description of the film is:

X-Men: First Class, following the classic Marvel mythology, charts the epic beginning of the X-Men saga. Before Charles Xavier and Erik Lensherr took the names Professor X and Magneto, they were two young men discovering their powers for the first time. Before they were archenemies, they were closest of friends, working together, with other Mutants (some familiar, some new), to stop the greatest threat the world has ever known. In the process, a rift between them opened, which began the eternal war between Magneto’s Brotherhood and Professor X’s X-Men.

Now, here’s the problem, in the comic books the team was made up of Cyclops, Marvel Girl, Iceman, The Beast and Angel, but in the movies they have shown there is no way these five can make up the core team. So who in the world the “first class” will be made up of makes no sense. Will it be Storm, Cyclops, Jean Gray and … I have no clue.

The production time has me really concerned. Most major movies require at least two years of production time, and they are going to bang this out in 13 months?

The sad thing is that I enjoyed Kick-Ass, but it isn’t doing well, and a rushed production could make this director look bad.  I don’t know, this just doesn’t bode well for what could be a great movie if done properly, and instead we’re getting a rush job to meet a release date.  Anyone remember Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes?  Same situation.

***MAJOR SPOILERS***

Continue Reading ->

Perhaps Microsoft should have considered a better deal with a carrier for its Kin 1 & Kin 2 then Verizon gave it.  The carrier may have just ended up killing these phones before they’ve even shipped.

Google redid its search results page … yawn.

Facebook had a major security hole for a while on Wednesday morning … hope you didn’t discuss anything sensitive!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Verizon kills any chance of Kin success – The Inquisitr
A spring metamorphosis — Google’s new look – Google Blog
Facebook patches security hole that exposed users’ instant messages – LA Times Blog

Press the big green button to listen in

Regular readers of this blog will know I rarely make personal posts any more. I’ve never been big on talking about myself, but at the end of the day it is my name in the domain name, so I guess I should mention the major events at least.

As of May 1st I have been named the Managing Editor of all the various BLORGE.com properties.  For those of you unfamiliar with the site, I’ve been working there for some time, so I wasn’t just dropped into the middle of a group of writers. We have numerous properties with each having a different focus such as on Macs, Windows, tablet computers and so on.  Currently I am focusing on just one of the sites until I get my feet under me, but I’m working with all of the writers on ideas, promotional opportunities, social networking and other duties.

I’m excited by the challenge, and look forward to where I can take the site and its writing staff.

For those who may be curious, I am also continuing on with TechnoBuffalo.com as an Associate Editor … I obviously still view sleep as something that is highly over rated.  Both companies are aware of the situations, and both figure if I think I can pull it off, more power to me.

I’m really looking forward to this new chapter in my blogging and writing career, and I hope you all will stop by and check out what we’re up to over on the site!

Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old U.S. citizen of Pakistani descent, was arrested in connection to the failed Times Square bombing tonight around 12:00 AM EST while boarding a plane at JFK in New York City for Dubai.

On Sunday evening, a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder was parked on Broadway in Manhattan as the Broadway shows were loading in for the evening.  The driver turned on the hazard lights, exited the car and disappeared.  After about 15 minutes on the street, it started to pop and smoke, causing two street vendors to alert the police to the situation.  The immediate area was evacuated, and the bomb squad was called in.

A very rudimentary bomb was discovered inside the car, which if it had detonated could have been quite destructive and killed a considerable number of people.

After only a little over 24 hours of investigation, Connecticut resident Faisal Shahzad was connected to the incident, and was pulled off of a plane he had boarded for Dubai at JFK airport.

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder issued the following statement:

Earlier this evening, Faisal Shahzad was arrested in connection with the attempted car bombing in New York on Saturday. Mr. Shahzad, an American citizen, was taken into custody at JFK Airport in New York as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai.

Since this plot was first uncovered on Saturday night, the FBI, prosecutors and intelligence lawyers in the National Security Division of the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorneys Offices in Manhattan and Connecticut, along with the NYPD have worked night and day to find out who was responsible for what would have been a deadly attack had it been successful. Over the course of the day today, we have gathered significant additional evidence that led to tonight’s arrest, which was made by agents from Department of Homeland Security’s Customs and Border Protection.

This investigation is ongoing, as are our attempts to gather useful intelligence, and we continue to pursue a number of leads. But it’s clear that the intent behind this terrorist act was to kill Americans.

FBI agents are working with their state and local counterparts in New York, Connecticut and other jurisdictions to gather evidence and intelligence related to this case. We are also coordinating with other members of the President’s national security team to ensure we use every resource available to the United States to bring anyone responsible to justice.

We continue to gather leads in this investigation, and it’s important that the American people remain vigilant. The vehicle in Times Square was first noticed on Saturday by a citizen who reported it to authorities, and, as always, any American who notices suspicious activity should report it to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.

This investigation is ongoing, it is multi-faceted, and it is aggressive. As we move forward, we will focus on not just holding those responsible for it accountable, but also on obtaining any intelligence about terrorist organizations overseas.

Because of the fast-moving nature of this investigation, I am not able to make any further information public at this time. But the American people should know that we are deploying every resource available, and we will not rest until we have brought everyone responsible to justice.

Regular readers of this blog know that I normally have an opinion on these types of stories, but I’m just not ready on this one yet. I’m sure I will be by this week’s Scattercast.

Yep, it’s Moronic Monday, and as per usual, most of the stories are from Steven.  I bring ONE story to the table, and I get mocked in the episode title!

Mark my words, people … the Fartpocalypse is coming.

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Tweet Sleeve lets you wear your “mood” – SlipperyBrick
Close the Internet, we’re done: The 4-port chicken burger USB hub – CrunchGear
Cell phone has a built-in electric razor - The Raw Feed
Pothdead Jewelry – Random Good Stuff
The Better Marriage Blanket – FunJug

Press the big green button to listen in!

NBC’s ban on Conan O’Brien doing television interviews has come to an end, and 60 Minutes wasted no time being the first one in line to interview him.

Despite some saying that he came off as an “oversensitive prima donna whining about losing a show he seems to treat like a sacred birthright,” Mr. O’Brien’s interview laid out how he felt about the whole matter, although he had to measure his words some what as there is a clause in his agreement that says he may not “disparage” the network or Jay Leno, he still got his points across.  I would imagine a lot of these answers were practiced with his lawyer before hand, and can you really blame him?

The interview is embedded below (sorry, USA viewers only)  and you can see some outtakes here.  There will always be naysayers, but personally I felt he came off as a guy who got very publicly sold short, lied about and not having his boss live up to their promises.  ”Prima donna?”  Sorry, I didn’t see a bit of that, but what do I know.

Anyway, here’s the video, I feel it’s very worth watching if you’ve followed this debacle in the least little bit.

The third installment in Christopher Nolan’s Batman film series has gotten a release date, but the script isn’t even finished yet.

Warner Brothers announced this week that the third Batman film would hit the screens on July 20, 2012, almost four years to the day after The Dark Knight, the second film in the series.  The only problem is that the script is still being written, so that means no work can move forward yet even with a 26-month window now in place.

It was unclear for some time if this film would even happen because Mr. Nolan’s original plan had featured the Joker returning in the third film, but with the death of Heath Ledger, he was unclear how to proceed.  Reportedly while working on his forthcoming movie, Inception, he was struck with an idea, and that is why he is returning to the series.  David S. Goyer and Jonathan Nolan, both of whom scripted the second film, are currently working on the screenplay.

Of course the biggest question mark at this time is who the villain will be.  My personal vote is for Gotham City itself to be the antagonist.   (re-watch the ending of the second film, it’ll make sense)  But I’m sure the studio will want someone they can make toys of.

2012 is shaping up to be a busy year for comic book movies.  Here is a run down of what to expect”

• May 4, 2012 – The Avengers
• July 3, 2012 – Spider-Man 4
• July 20, 2012 – Batman 3
• Christmas 2012 - Superman: The Man of Steel

Throw in Star Trek 2 on June 29th, and you have a year that is clearly going to be dominated by movies that cater to comic book and sci-fi fans.

A total of 51 again this week, although that only counts what was published, I’m already at work on next weeks stuff.  Ah, the joys of being a writer.

FunJug.com

• Who Wants To Be A Millionaire Contestant Gets First Question Wrong
• Sesame Street Learns To Use Google
• John Mulaney Girl Scout Cookies Rant
• Foursquare Cops – Episode 3: “The FBI”
• Betty White Lines
• Kids Reenact: MTV’s “The Hills”
• Soldiers Remake Telephone
• Seinfeld Trailer – “George”

Photo.BLORGE.com

• Nokia unveils N8 camera phone with 12 megapixels

RememberingChristmas.com

• Watch Christmas Comes But Once A Year (1936) For Free

SeanPAune.com

• Fifth Alien Film To Be A Prequel
• RIM Pretty Much Screwed BlackBerry Tour Buyers Today
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 51: Moronic Monday and we don’t mean Gizmodo vs. Apple vs. Cops
• Jay Leno’s Ratings Dip Below Conan O’Brien’s
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 52: It’s all about the bacon lube and FBI
• ‘True Blood’ Minisode: Eric & Pam
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 53: *YAWN* Excuse me *YAWN* while I *YAWN* nothing personal
• Santa Clara County Bans Happy Meal Toys
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 54: Waving from the middle of an empty field
• Scattercast Episode 93: Where’s My Happy Meal Toy?!?
• First Photo Of Thor
• Jonah Hex Trailer
• The Braindead Techcast Ep. 55: Techmeme Friday & Google’s support number found – 1.800.you.funny
• Sarah L. Tolzien Sentenced

Tech.BLORGE.com

• Blippy security problems continue
• YouTube launches online video rental store
• RIM introduces two new BlackBerry models
• Blippy pledges greater security going forward
• Redbox strikes new deals with 20th Century Fox and Universal
• Online dating sites get into a war of stats
• HP acquires Palm for $1.2 billion
• Mozilla testing Firefox for Android
• Apple iPhone raid turning into PR nightmare with Jon Stewart ripping on them
• HP killing off Windows 7 tablet
• Microsoft finally confirms Courier tablet while killing it off
• iPad 3G released, but it has some restrictions

TechnoBuffalo.com

• A Look Back At Betamax
• In Case You Missed It, Skype Is Bigger Than Facebook
• A Look Back At Internet Explorer 1
• Three Reasons Apple Hatred Is Growing
• Consumer Group Calls For The Breakup of Google
• Five Boredom Killers
• Should Amazon Have To Tell States What You Bought?
• Five Reasons To Give The Opera Browser A Try
• Is HP Acquiring Palm A Good Idea?
• How To Speak Like A Geek
• Who Is Buying All These E-Readers?
• Is HP Buying Palm Due To The iPhone OS Universal Strategy?
• Are Point-And-Shoot Cameras Days Numbered?
• With Physical Rental Windows Becoming The Norm, Are Online Rentals Next?
• iPad Wi-Fi + 3G Arrives With Some Issues

Sarah L. Tolzien has finally received her sentence in the case of her having sex with a then 16-year-old student.

It was revealed last March that Sarah L. Tolzien had had a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old boy she was coaching on Rich South High School cross-country team in Richton Park, IL.  The relationship had been ongoing since Oct. 2008, with at least two occurrences of sexual intercourse occurring on Nov. 14th and 17th of that year.  The parents learned of the relationship in late Nov. and reported it to the police on Dec. 1st.  Ms. Tolzien was suspended that month from her position as the coach and as a language arts teacher, and she resigned the day after her suspension.

In Jan. of this year, it was reported that the boy in the case had filed a $50,000 lawsuit against his former teacher, as well as the school.

On Friday, April 30th, Ms. Tolzien pleaded guilty to misdemeanor criminal sexual abuse in front of Circuit Judge Luciano Panici at the Cook County courthouse.  Her original charges had been for felony criminal sexual assault assault.  She was sentenced to 18-months of probation, and she must register as a sex offender for the next ten years.  The 25-year-old also lost her teacher’s license and may not have any contact with the victim.

The lawsuit is still pending.

Ah, TechMeme Friday, that great day of the week where Steven and I get to attack a whole bunch of subjects in one go.  Always so much fun!

(Links by Steven for some of the stories we discuss in this episode)

Twitter for Android: Robots like to share too – Twitter Blog
Open Letter to Steve Jobs – Hugo’s blog
Waiting for iTunes.com?  Don’t Hold Your Breath – MediaMemo
Gawker Media seeks legal reversal in Gizmodo search case Yahoo! News
The real reason why Steve Jobs hates Flash – Charlie’s Diary
Why it is too late to regulate Facebook – Robert Scoble
One in eight to cut cable and satellite TV in 2010 – CNNMoney
Family, Verizon far apart over nearly $18,000 phone bill – Boston Globe
Why iPad mags cost $4.99 each – Fortune
Los Angeles Bureaucrats Question The Transition To Google Apps TechCrunchIT
AT&T wants 3 strikes tribunal, government website blacklist – Ars Technica

Press the big green button to listen in!