The Voice going out on a High Note

Last night was the season finale of NBC's hit new singing competition show, the Voice. Musical hopefuls - Dia, Beverly, Vicci, and Javier waited on pins and needles for host Carson Daly (still no Ryan Seacrest) to announce whose dreams would ultimately be coming true with America's final vote.

I was pulling for Dia Frampton, with her unique voice, restrained enthusiasm, quietly uncompromising image, and total creepy/sinister demeanor. Adorable! I also liked the Mentor/Mentee relationship she had with her coach, Country Musician and straight shooter, Blake Shelton.

Dia made it to the top 2, along with Javier Colon, with her awesome original song, Inventing Shadows, (check it out) ranking #1 on iTunes after Tuesday night's live performance. But after the tallies were in, with a difference of less than 2% between their number of votes ...

The winner was Javier Colon. Truth be told? The guy totally deserves it. Javier was pretty much the front-runner from the beginning, with an incredible voice and a determined, down-to-earth attitude. Confident, yet humble, he'd been working hard in the music biz for a long time, and it was nice to see that hard work pay off.

Coach Adam Levine couldn't have been more proud and happy for his protege, and despite some of the irritating aspects of The Voice, namely the coaches performances (uhg, please no more of that), it was a great premiere season for the show.

Where it succeeds out over Idol is that the competition dynamics are constantly changing throughout. Take note, FOX - 12 weeks straight of "Sing, Vote, Eliminate" just gets painfully redundant ... especially after what? 11 seasons?! So good job to The Voice and NBC for keeping viewers like me interested. Can't wait to see what in store for next season!

At War with G4?

Daniel Tosh, host of Comedy Central's Tosh.0, is easily one of the funniest dudes on television. If you haven't see his show, you are missing out. (Tuesdays @ 10pm) However, comedians these days aren't worth ANYTHING unless they're pissing off SOMEONE, and that list continues to grow for Tosh.

First there was some beef brewing between Tosh and Conan, followed by murmurs of bad blood with Dane Cook. Most recently there's been negativity flowing out from the G4 camp, particularly (allegedly) by way of Chris Hardwick, Attack of the Show regular correspondent, and host of G4's Web Soup. Maybe it's all just friendly rivalry? As both shows have a similar format, they can't help but draw comparison, leaving it to fans to take sides as to who's better and start slinging stones in defense of their preference.

But then last night on Tosh.0, there were several pointed jabs thrown at G4. Target # 1: It's flagship program, Attack of the Show (Weeknights @ 7pm). Daniel performs a short clip, blatantly mocking a regular AOTS segment they call "What Happens Next?"

 
Later on, Tosh couldn't help but fire a few more barbs at former AOTS host Olivia Munn (whom I love), just for the sake of doing so.

I don't particularly agree with everything Tosh says about Munn, but it was still funny. And coming out of left field like that, it also lends proof that this feud may be more than just alleged ... Which I whole-heartedly support! I'm actually a fan of BOTH houses, but I wonder if the G4 crew really knows what they are up against if they choose to fire back. Either way - I'll be watching!

Captain America: The First Avenger - New TV Spot Shows Cap's Icy Recovery!

This new TV spot for Captain America: The First Avenger starts off with a scene everyone's been waiting to see, or even confirm, the discovery/recovery in our current time of Cap after his crash and freeze back in WWII...

Obviously we don't get to see all of it, just a team lowering into a crashed craft (large plane, rocket or blimp if they're going to go anywhere near the source material) and finding the famous shield under a block of ice, but still, that's pretty cool.

The question now is: Where does this happen in the movie?

At the beginning with the rest of the film being a flashback?

Or at the end, which will lead us on to the Avengers movie (not the post credit scene of course, just a final act scene).

Either way it's very cool for fans and makes us all even hungrier for the film's release!

Cool Pics From The Web...

Another outing on the web means another small dose of cool pics for you guys!

Enjoy!

Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol - Trailer

Here's the first explosive trailer for the upcoming 4th Mission Impossible movie 'Ghost Protocol' directed by Pixar's Brad Bird.

Looks pretty cool and just more of the same from the franchise. Gotta say that Tom Cruise is never better than when playing Ethan Hunt...

Enjoy!

The Three Musketeers - New Trailer

A new trailer here for the upcoming Paul W.S. Anderson directed Three Musketeers 3D film due in October.

Meh... We'll see.

New Thundercats Cartoon Gets A Premiere Air-Date!

Good news Thundercat fans! A date has finally been set for the premiere showing of the brand new cartoon series of Friday the 29th of July on Cartoon Network U.S.

There will be two episodes played back to back starting at 8pm EST. After that they'll be on at 8:30pm every Friday once a week.

No news yet on when it'll arrive on UK channels unfortunately!

Don't Make A Koala Angry... You Wouldn't Like It When It's Angry!

Little known fact: Koala's channel demons from the 5th dimension when they fight...

Go to about 33 seconds in for the start of possibly the strangest animal mini fight (plus nightmarish noises) you'll ever witness! :P

Oh and the guy filming couldn't have been more wrong about how Koalas fight! Pushing looks more like biting and clawing to me!

Daft Punk 'Derezzed' Guitar Cover...

Not only one of my favourite movie tunes from one of my favourite movies, but now also played exquisitely and so "frickin fast the fingers are blurry" by Youtube's 'swanthewhitepig'...

Puss In Boots - 2nd Trailer

I have to admit that I love the look of this Shrek spinoff movie 'Puss in Boots'... It's Zorro and Pirates of the Caribbean mixed with fairy tales and comic-adventure, excellent!

Torchwood: Miracle Day - New 11 Minute Sneak Peak Video

Here's an 11 minute sneak peak video for the upcoming Torchwood: Miracle Day. Lots of clips and new info here for fans!

Enjoy!

Alphas - SyFy Original Series Trailer

It may seem a bit like a rip off of X-men (maybe that's because X-men is popular and the X-men: First Class movie came out recently) but this new SyFy original series called 'Alphas' still looks quite interesting.

The basic premise is that a secret team of humans with special augmented abilities, led by a doctor who helps them with their individual powers, fight and prevent crime wherever they can. Watch the trailer and you'll see what its'a all about...

Carp Attack!!! - Video

In what seems to be a natural aquatic phenomenon a whole hoard of Asian Carp jump around in a fishy frenzy launching themselves at this passing "fathers & sons" fishing-trip boat... Giving the occupants a nice catch to bring home for dinner, without needing to lift a finger! Personally I'd be freaked out...

This Bus Doesn't Let Anything Get In Its Way... Including A Flood!

This bus driver obviously doesn't let little things like a 3ft deep street flood get in the way of his bus route timetable!

Like a boss baby!

Another sip of HBO's True Blood

Sunday night featured the much anticipated Season 4 premiere of HBO's hit horror drama, True Blood. Many already know my feelings towards this vampire program, particularly how it pales desperately in comparison to a similar, yet SUPERIOR program of the like on the CW ... But all that aside, I wouldn't be fit to speak on True Blood if I didn't actually WATCH it ... (See how that works?)

Last season left off with lead vampire Bill burying rival, and vampire sheriff Eric in cement and battling the vampire queen of Louisiana. Tortured Tara left Bon Temps, Jason became defacto guardian over a clan of panther-blooded hillbillies, Lafayette was embracing his witch potential with his new boyfriend, and Sookie, sick of being a corner in a vampire love-triangle, disappeared into faerie world ... Yes. Literally.

Premiere? - Lackluster. Returned painful endurance of Anna Paquin's "acting", we find Sookie rejecting glowing fruit and engaged in a magical firefight with snaggle toothed elves. She comes back to the real world to discover 1 year gone by, although only a few minutes have passed for her. (cop-out) They attempt to show how "things have changed", but it's just extended aftershock of last season's dangling plot lines ... Bill & Eric still vie for Sookie. Lafayette remains a skittish disbeliever in witchcraft (even though he's had a year to adjust and lives in a world with vampires). Jason, who was "sorta a cop", is now "a cop"...

The "developments" are that Bill is now King of Louisiana. Sam, former mild manner bar owner who turned "dark" last year is running with a pack of anger embracing shape-shifters. And Tara, perpetual victim of her own hot bloodedness, is now calm and collected ... But also a cage-fighting drifter, in a lesbian relationship. The only worthwhile tale is of Hoyt and Jessica, playing house, and after only a year are ALREADY grown weary of the exercise.

My problem with True Blood, as one Peter Griffin would put it, is that "it insists upon itself." 85% of the show, to use a Richard Roeper descriptor - is "slick garbage". It's HBO, so they take every chance to remind you that with needless gore and violence, which they try to pass off as "style". Profanity, just for the sake of it, creates boring empty dialogue. Nudity, under the same pretense, is just as tiresome.

It's one of those shows that you WANT to like, and contains all the elements of something you SHOULD ... But most of the characters lack any real depth or complexity, with the storytelling being simply lazy and unimaginative. Rather than starting off with something fresh, this season will be about "teasing in the blanks" of what happened when we weren't watching ... Yawn. I'm not impressed.

Agree or disagree? True Blood viewers are made up of either "fans" that continue trying to CONVINCE themselves that it's "good", or people that are left unsatisfied week after week, continually scratching their heads as to why the show lacks any real bite.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Final Trailer!

Yet another trailer for the upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon and supposedly it's the final one before it's released in cinemas on the 29th of June.

Can't wait for this!

A little advert for 'Sirens' before the actual trailer, so sit tight and wait a few seconds! :P




And the Youtube version just in case!

The New DC Justice League Line Up...

Below is the first full roster pic by Jim Lee of the new 'rebooted' Justice League.

At first glance we're looking at the same old crew, but look closer and you'll see some minor changes to costumes and of course the new addition of the Titan's Cyborg with the omission of characters such as Martian Manhunter (although that may be him in the top left, if it isn't Deadman!) .

You'll see that Aquaman and Green Lantern Hal Jordan still look pretty classic, Wonder Woman has kept her new post #600 issue togs and then Superman, Batman and The Flash have some futuristic tweaks to their costumes with new lines and colour changes (mostly to Superman's with the all-red belt, 3-D looking chest logo, high collar top and more youthful face). You'll also notice the supporting characters in the background such as Green Arrow, Hawkman, The Atom and Firestorm.

I believe the DC reboot comics are due in September so in about 3 months we'll find out if this is all the big mistake everyone seems to think it will be or if it'll be a lucrative and popular move!

Fans Honor 'The Rocketeer' Anniversary with Original Animated Film (Video)

Let it be known that Kryptonian Warrior is, and always has been since the 1991 Joe Johnstone directed live-action movie, a massive fan of 'The Rocketeer'.

Many people put that movie in the same rock-bottom league as The Phantom and The Spirit (which are actually another two films I really liked when I was younger) but I absolutely loved it.

I fell in love with Jennifer Connelly (again), I loved Billy Campbell in the main role of Cliff Seacord, I loved Timothy Dalton as the villain, I loved the WWII setting and of course the all out swashbuckling action...

So, you get the idea... I love The Rocketeer. So let's get to the point:

The Rocketeer recently celebrated its 20th anniversary (which technically isn't actually until August 2nd in the UK) and Paris-based 'Digital Banana Studios' created an original animated short film starring the Rocketeer that honours the work of creator Dave Stevens and filmmaker Joe Johnston, who directed the live-action film.

So here you go. Enjoy!


The Rocketeer 20th anniversary from John Banana on Vimeo.

Samuel L. Jackson Reads The Children's Book For Adults - 'Go The F**k To Sleep'!

The missus and I had a pretty hearty belly-laugh over this one, it's hilarious!

The new children's book for adults 'Go the f**k to sleep' written by American author Adam Mansbach and illustrated by Ricardo Cortés not only reached number 1 on the Amazon.com's bestseller list but has since become a Youtube sensation after the legendary Samuel L. Jackson agreed to do the audio version...

Every parent in the world can place themselves in the position of the parent in this book and old Sammy does a fantastic job of reading every last line...

The actual reading of the book starts at 1 minute into the video after a brief audio interview.

Enjoy and note that this is obviously NSFW!

The Best Hot Toys Figure Yet? Captain America: The First Avenger!

OK so everyone knows that Hot Toys have done some amazing figures in the past, not least of which have been Abigail Whistler, Black Widow, Thor and Christopher Reeve Superman... But now the newest figure has been offered out and it's Chris Evans as Captain America in the upcoming 'First Avenger' movie... And it rocks!

Red Sun will be getting these as soon as they're released (supposedly near the end of 2011) so save your pennies now!!!

Click on each picture for a bigger version!