Post-Traumatic Tech Disorder

December 15, 1966 – Walt Disney passes away (succumbing to lung cancer). The Walt Disney Family Museum website has a nice (and fairly lengthy) account of Walt’s life. Here’s to you Walt!

Cause apparently he’s writing an Ultimate Iron Man miniseries for Marvel.

Throwing out some movie news I’ve seen over the past week or so…

The new Appleseed movie will be released in the US in January. Not to be confused with the previous attempt at an Appleseed movie. If this plays at the Alamo Drafthouse here in Austin, I’ll go see it…but if it only shows at the Dobie (which is what I’m guessing will happen), then I’ll just wait for it to hit Netflix.

Slashdot references ComingSoon.net who points to a Production Weekly piece about a theatrical Babylon 5 movie going into production next year. Yes…theatrical…the big screen, popcorn, nachos, and soda kinda theatrical. It’ll be interesting to see how they work around all that continuity to create a movie that can be enjoyed by a larger audience than just Babylon 5 fans.

Last night, there was a Half-Life 2 update released that adds a multiplayer deathmatch feature to the game.

Let the gibs rain from the sky.

11 days and counting, and I still haven’t broken down and purchased Half-life 2. A long while back, I went from being an every night gamer to quitting pretty much cold turkey to further pursue writing…and I still feel the pangs of withdrawal from time-to-time. I miss the fun and the thrill of gaming, but I really wanted to get my writing rolling (and I had to sacrifice gaming to make that happen).

So now, I’m putting in a lot of extra time to get ahead with my writing and working out a schedule that can accommodate all that writing and a little bit of gaming. Probably within the next month, I’ll make a non-dramatic, non-impressive return to the gaming world…where I’ll probably get gibbed, fragged, and headshotted about 50 times in the first ten minutes. And with some practice, I’m sure I can work my way up to gaming mediocrity once more.

According to Sci Fi Wire (which is reporting on a Variety story), it looks like things will finally start moving along for the film adaptation of Alan Moore’s V for Vendetta. The Wachowski brothers (Matrix) will produce the film, and an assistant director from the Matrix is in talks to direct it.

Still, this is Hollywood we’re talking about…the project could jet along into production or meander about for years (like it’s been doing), so I wouldn’t recommend any of the Alan Moore fans holding their breath waiting on this one (unless you’re one of those ultra-scary, borderline stalker fans–that rarely engages in acts of hygiene…you’re welcome to hold your breath all you want).

And for those people out there not quite old enough to remember the V mini-series mentioned in the title (gah! Where’s my damn cane?!)…you can read more about it (along with 146 reviews)
here.

In case people didn’t know (since the DVD release seemed to have about as much marketing and hype as the original release of the movie), the Iron Giant Special Edition DVD was released November 16th (this past Tuesday). The special edition includes an alternate opening, eight additional scenes, and commentary/sequence analysis from director Brad Bird (also known for his work on that little movie, The Incredibles).

I’m very familiar with this Iron Giant movie…why? Because it was one of my son’s favorite movies when he was younger (back in the old days when we didn’t own a DVD player…ahhh, those days of playing and rewinding seem so far away). It was the very first movie that he asked to watch over and over…and over…and over. And I didn’t mind. It’s actually a movie you can enjoy over and over again (without slipping to the psychotic side, ripping out all your hair, giving yourself a whipped cream mohawk and doing bad Mr. T impersonations).

Now, it’s finally time to retire our VHS version and add this movie to our growing DVD collection.

Well, this is a first for me…having a project I’m working on mentioned in an MTV News report. For those that haven’t heard yet, I’m co-writing the first BloodRayne one-shot comic, and I’m heavy into research for the next one-shot (which, for the BloodRayne fans out there, will dive into more about the Brimstone Society). I have a flyer with more information on the comic that I’ll be handing out at Wizard World Chicago, so drop on by table 9046 and see what’s up.

Well, thanks to this post at the Bendis board, I’ve learned about the Horror Channel. Looks like the site is doing petitions to help get the channel picked up by the various cable outlets. If you’re a fan of horror and want to see it in your area, be sure to lend your support to the cause.

Seeing that, I realized I don’t watch nearly as much horror stuff as I used to (and don’t read as much horror either), but if it was available 24/7, I’d probably keep it on in the background while I write. I wonder if that would influence my writing…hmmm….

Looks like the courts reversed the reversal of the reversal of the…well, you get the idea. Tony Twist and Todd McFarlane have been at this legal battle for years now, and for some reason, it keeps going back-and-forth. At least the damages are less than the initial ruling by about $9.5 million…but I’m sure some of that savings went to legal fees, and I’m sure it’ll be appealed again.

This isn’t the first time the “Twist” has plagued someone with problems.

…in a way, The Twist really ruined my life. I was on my way to becoming a big nightclub performer, and The Twist just wiped it out. –Ernest Evans aka Chubby Checker

Maybe if Tony wins, Chubby Checker’ll jump in on the legal action claiming that the hockey player’s violent reputation is tarnishing the good image of his song. But then, I don’t really think he cares that much about it. But it’d be funny to see his Twistin’ songs mixed into a video with the court proceedings as the courts “twist again like we did last summer. Yeah, let’s twist again like with did last year.”