Joss Whedon in Sydney

Yours truly went to see Joss Whedon at the Sydney Opera House today. It was such a lovely day and a lovely crowd. It was full house!

Joss was honest, funny and truly inspirational. Listening to Joss talked about his dark place where he wrote from and how he created and developed his characters with respect. This could be the talk that changed my life.

Apart from the Buffy, Angel and Firefly stuff, he also talked about The Avengers. As much as we love to know who the villain(s) will be, Joss didn't give us any spoilers! I am most impressed with the fans and also host, Will Anderson, that they really asked intelligent questions. It was just a very short event (90 mins), but it was so awesome!!

Joss, thank you so much for coming to Australia!

More Supernatural episode titles revealed; Grandpa Sam; Joss Whedon in Australia

SpoilerTV revealed more episode titles for Supernatural.

6.01 Exile On Main Street
6.02 Two and a Half Men
6.03 The Third Man
6.04 Weekend at Bobby's
6.05 You Can't Handle the Truth
6.06 Live Free or Twihard
6.07 Family Matters

Episode titles and order subject to change.

And finally, a new photo from the set. This time, we see Grandpa Samuel (played by Mitch Pileggi). Not only it makes me happy, my BFF (who is a die-hard X-Files fan) loves it too!

Note: Dean's shirt is still tucked in, and Sam still needs a hair cut.

We are of course very intrigued as to where Grandpa had been all these years and how he came back. In In the Beginning, we saw him as the YED and he died. Interesting! Very interesting! Source: SpoilerTV and TVOverMind.

Get back on the road with the Winchesters on 24 Sept as season 6 premiers.

Jensen Ackles still fans choice of winning the Emmy, it's just that he wasn't nominated by the officials! Boo them! Boo them to hell! Thank you EW for running the poll!

Of course, this weekend is the Supernatural Vancouver Convention. Awesome! Follow the hashtag #vancon on Twitter for live update! LOL! Matt Cohen (young John Winchester) apparently pitched the idea of a TV series on young Mary and John Winchester! I WOULD LOVE TO WATCH IT!!!!!!

The Impala was on display at the Fan Expo Canada taking place this weekend. Check out Agent_M's blog for another photo!

Photo courtesy of @Agent_M

Last but not least, Joss Whedon is visiting Australia! Aussie radio Triple J had an interview with Joss this week. Check it out here. Last night he was at the Writers Festival in Melbourne and Joss will be at the Sydney Opera House tomorrow, this talk will be hosted by Will Anderson. Yours truly will be attending this event. I cannot wait!!!

Here is an idea! Who's gonna host an Evil Genius Tour featuring Eric Kripke, Sera Gamble, Ben Edlund and Jeremy Carver?

Supernatural, Smallville, Stargate are returning to Australia; Guess who played soccer

Dear Channel Ten, Don't screw this up! And I hope these shows do stick around, so that viewers can actually enjoy watching a full season of it.

That's right, Australia, you are going to get a new digital channel in 2011, thanks to Channel Ten. The new digital channel is called Eleven (as in Ch11), targeting the "distinctly youthful" market.

Programs to feature on the channel will include some of my favorite shows such as Supernatural, Smallville and Stargate. Not sure exactly which seasons they will air. I guess we'll find out.

The new digital channel is expected to launch early 2011.

Source: Sydney Morning Harald, CNet and The Hollywood Reporter.

Oh hey, who wants to see Jensen on the soccer field?


Source: PunkdImages

Tuesday Edition: Acklemanic; Joss Whedon

What a crazy week it has been in the real world?! I need 48 hours a day to work. But when I am not working, blogging is what I love to do. Looks like we have a few things for today. So let's get to it, shall we?

Acklemanic
The term was used by Jimmy Kimmel when Jensen Ackles was on his show a few years ago. LOL. Paul McDermott from an Aussie TV program, Good News Week, mentioned a website called "I worshipped Jensen Ackles's ass." I don't know if the website was legit.

Anyway. When I was doing my news sourcing this week, I dug out a few fan-sites voiced their casting choices for a few potential movies that are rumored to be in the development stage. Having missed out on being Captain America (you now I can't help it!), Jensen was again fans' choice for a number of movie characters. While he may not be everyone's choice, yes, we fans have creative differences and we sometimes respect each other O_o, I think it's about fudging time Jensen to be on a big screen for a major role that we all love. I love fancast, I mean, fans do make great casting choices. And fans know what they are talking about.

Oh long live the Resident Evil franchise!a I know Resident Evil 4 is just about to come out in October. And many fans were kind of hoping to see Leon S Kennedy to be in the movie, but he is not featured in Resident Evil 4. While there is no confirmation on Resident Evil 5 (and Hollywood is Hollywood, there is always talk but never say never), if this is going ahead, we should definitely see Leon S Kennedy. I don't play video games, but I know Leon is one of the main characters, so they have to include him eventually. This blogger (and I agree with him) said that if Resident Evil 5 is happening, Jensen Ackles should be cast as Leon S Kennedy. Source: ComicBookMovie

I have only watched the 3rd one, I think. Not sure if I'll watch the 4th one. But if there is a 5th one with Jensen as Leon Flipping Kennedy, I will definitely watch it! Here is the trailer of Resident Evil 4:


That's not all, it's not new news that Marvel Studios is thinking about a Craptastic Four Reboot. Anyway, Obsessed with Film has recently blogged about the franchise reboot and his director and casting choices for the Fantastic Four team and the baddies. Casting choice including Jeffrey Dean Morgan for Ben Grimm The Thing.

And of course, when it comes to casting the new Johnny Storm aka the Human Torch (previously played by Chris Evans who is now Captain America and er.. Lucas Lee..), the blogger has selected... wait for it..... wait for it... Jensen 'who-is-inevitably-going-to-end-up-with-a comic-book-gig-at-some-point' Ackles!!!! If Jensen is the new Johnny Storm, I will start calling the movie Fantastic Four. LOL. I never thought of it, I mean, YEAH, I can totally see it! Source: Obsessed with Film

On to my next obsession, Joss Whedon told the Sunday Herald-Sun recently in an interview, “It is true that the movie is only going to have one female avenger…But she [Black Widow] will not be the only female character”. I was hoping Natalie Portman will return as Jane Foster from Thor. Here is ScreenRent's take on this information from Joss. Read more on Joss's interview on MovieHole.

Joss is speaking at the Sydney Opera House this Sunday. Yours truly is attending the 90-minute talk. OMG, it will be so awesome!!!

Supernatural Rewatch - Details Announced for the Next Twitter Party

To celebrate the return of Supernatural, I will be hosting a massive Supernatural rewatch via Twitter. It will take place on Sunday 19 Sept at 1pm, Sydney time. If you are not based in Sydney (Australia), you can convert time via The World Clock Time Converter.

This time, we are going to rewatch all the season premiers including the Pilot. That's a total of five episodes in a row. That's gonna be fun! To thank Eric Kripke for creating the best thing on television, the hashtag for this rewatch will be #EricKripke.

Details
Sunday 19th September 2010
1pm, Sydney Time*
Hashtag #EricKripke

*If you are not based in Sydney, you can convert time via The World Clock Time Converter.

Episodes viewing in this order
1.01 The Pilot
2.01 In My Time of Dying
3.01 The Magnificent Seven
4.01 Lazarus Rising
5.01 Sympathy for the Devil

How to join the Tiny Twitter Party
You just need to be on Twitter. If you are not, just go to Twitter and sign up.

If you are on Twitter, here are three ways to join us:

Follow Tiny & Tiny Panic Room & Tiny Flatbread. (You must follow all accounts in case I go to Twitter jail.)
Follow our tweets on TweetChat HERE
Follow my SPNRewatch member list HERE

When tweeting, feel free to use the hashtag #EricKripke in your tweets.

Get your DVDs/ downloads/whatever ready! We begin each episode with the "Previously On".

I will do a countdown so that we can all press the play button together. Don't worry if you are a few seconds or minutes in front or behind. Every 10 mins or so, I'll tweet the viewing time of the episode, so that you know where we are up to.

You are welcome to come in and out during the rewatch. We'll have a short break (5 to 10 minutes) in between each episode.

Remember the Twitter Party is highly interactive. Join the conversation and make new friends.

I hope you can join us at on Sunday 19th August, 1pm Sydney time. Got questions? Ask me on Twitter or post a comment here.

Supernatural: Original Television Soundtrack - Seasons 1-5

That's right! They are doing it. And it's not some unauthorised released or fan-made soundtrack. It's the official Supernatural soundtrack, featuring some of the key instrumental tracks from season 1 to 5.

I couldn't believe it when I first learnt about it, I have to look at my sources to confirm it. And it's real! You can pre-order it from Amazon. You can see the full track list here.

I am not sure if this will be available on iTune. It's so cheap, like $8.98 US. Normally, a track from iTune is around $1.69 AUD. If it's available on iTune, perhaps you can only download the entire album and not the individual tracks. Anyway, if you know this is available on iTune, please let me know.


Amazon is referring "this product is manufactured on demand when ordered from Amazon.com", meaning "this recordable media is used to manufacture titles on demand, as fully authorized by the content provider." Read more here.

If I am understanding this correctly, the way it works is that if you order it, they will pop all tracks on a CD and ship it to you. The quality is the same as a CD. It's not the usually movie or TV soundtrack (hence the price). I think they are doing this for the fans only, which is fantastic!

The soundtrack is available on 7th September 2010.

Review: Batman Under the Red Hood

Batman: Under the Red Hood is not to be watched on Sunday morning with your kids. It's a dark drama with blood, violence, it has plenty of pain and angst. I don't normally watch animation unless I am captivated by the story or if it's super cute. And to be honest, I watch Red Hood because of Jensen Ackles, who voiced Jason Todd/ Red Hood. He did a great job. Anyone who needs an actor to play a character to channel angst and pain, Jensen Ackles is your man! I think this would have been a perfect big screen role for Jensen Ackles, obviously someone older would require to play Bruce Wayne/ Batman.

I don't know who did the Jason Todd drawing, but whoever you are, you are awesome!

Batman: Under the Red Hood is so much darker than I expected. The intensity was there from the start of the movie. When I first heard about Red Hood I had not idea who he was, except I've been told Jason Todd was the 2nd Robin and Jensen was the voice talent for this character. But after I watched it for the first time, I felt that homework was required in order to respect the character and story more.

I don't understand comic book continuity, each character seems to have so many different versions and stories, not to mention about the crossovers. Here is Jason Todd in a nut shell. After Dick Grayson aka the 1st Robin became Nightwing, Jason Todd was introduced as the new Robin. Batman was a lot mature and older when Jason Todd was introduced. Jason Todd was athletic and resembled Batman in many ways, except Jason was willing to use lethal force and weapons.

The initial concept of Jason Todd was similar to Dick Grayson. Jason was the son of circus acrobats, Joseph and Trina Todd, killed by Killer Croc. Jason was later adopted by Bruce Wayne. Jason Todd was later rewritten as a young street orphan who first encountered Batman while attempting to steal the tires off the Batmobile. This was seen in the flashbacks of Batman: Under the Red Hood. Jason was beaten to death by the Joker with a crowbar. Jason was then resurrected from the Lazarus Pit by Ra's al Ghul's daughter Talia. But in the animated film, Jason was resurrected from the Lazarus Pit by Ra's al Ghul himself. The Lazarus Pit caused a negative impact on Jason's mental instability.


Jason Todd had a number of adventures in the comic book version. He later became a murderous version of Nightwing. Jason also appeared in a number of Green Arrow's comic series as the Red Hood. Jason was seen as the Red Robin with a new suit. Jason then appeared in Battle for the Cowl, where he wore an alternate version of the Batsuit and revealed he had always wanted to replace Batman. And there was a Red Hood and Scarlett after the events in Battle for the Cowl. I think Jason Todd pretty much went cuckoo in most versions of his story.

So with all the above background information on Jason Todd, my second viewing of Batman: Under the Red Hood was more enjoyable and here is why. My knowledge of all things Batman comes from the movies. I've watched all the Batman movies in our generation, i.e those directed by Tim Burton, Joel Schumacher and Christopher Nolan. I have seen them all at least 3 times or more, even the bad ones! We have seen many iconic DC characters on the big screen with Batman, we have seen the Joker and Two-Face twice, we are familiar with the Penguin, Mr Freeze, The Riddler, Catwoman, Poison Ivy and Robin. To me, it was refreshing to see a new character I know so little about, I didn't even know Jason Todd existed until now! The back story was little overwhelming at first, because I wasn't aware of the relationship between Bruce Wayne/ Batman and Jason Todd/ Red Hood.

I thought the action and the fight scenes in Batman: Under the Red Hood were awesome. My favorite action scenes were the rooftop chase scene and the Red Hood versus the Jedi scene (I mean The Fearsome Hand of Four). The end scene with Red Hood held the Joker hostage, demanding Batman to choose between him and the Joker was pretty intense. Jensen Ackles was so awesome, I almost feel that he was too good with his voice, he brought so much intensity to the scene, the animation visual couldn't level with his voice. It felt like I want to see the face of the actor, I want to see his expression. Because that scene was so good and intense, it would have been perfect if we could see the actors performance in a live action setting.

I have mentioned it on a number of occasions that I would LOVE to see Jason Todd/ Red Hood on the big screen. But it won't happen any time soon, not until the Christian Bale version of Batman has grown older (Bale is still portraying a younger version of Bruce Wayne/ Batman). We won't see Jason Todd before Dick Grayson, who is the first Robin. Jason Todd/ Red Hood appeared in a very later stage of the Batman timeline. (That makes Batman so old!) I think Jason Todd/ Red Hood is as dark as Bruce Wayne/ Batman, this character has huge potential. Jason Todd fits into the whole really dark theme of Batman very well. Again, I can see Jensen Ackles on the big screen as Red Hood.

On the DC calender, Jason Todd will star in Red Hood: The Lost Days written by Judd Winick, a six issue miniseries to coincide with the release of the animated film Batman: Under the Red Hood. The story will concentrate on Jason's Todd's lost years of globe-trotting and training after his death and resurrection before his return to Gotham. Look out for it!

On something completely random, just before I started composing for this blog post I read an article on 'concepts, not big-name actors, now real stars of films'. Thank you!! Finally someone gets it! That's what movies should be about. Fans are smarter these days, and we are critical and hard to please. Take Inception for example. Yes we have Leonard DiCaprio starring in the movie, but the concept of the film was so brilliant and engaging, I was watching a movie, not a celebrity and I have so much respect for Christopher Nolan as a director. He doesn't treat his audience like idiots, he is not some studio puppets who would grab any scripts and cast big names to star in the movie, thinking audience would watch anything with big name celebrities. I pay to watch a movie for good content, originality and creativity. I respect someone who can act, does his/ her homework, does justice to the character, I don't care if you are big name celebrities, previous award winners or no name talents.

Polaroid is not dead! Not with these guys anyway!

I love Polaroid, my BFF gave me a Polaroid camera as birthday present a few years ago and we have been taking some really cool photos. Polaroid gives you a different kind of quality and mood. I just love the tone of it.

Anyway, I think the good people at Polaroid took these photos. Check out their website for more goodies.





Source: WinchesterBros, Polaroid and Flickr.

Weekend Goodies - Supernatural Animation Trailer & DVD art; Supernatural & Smallville SDCC Hightlights

Don't you love weekends? I love weekends.

The trailer for Supernatural the Animation is out! Check this out! It is going to be epic! I am so going get it, I don't care how, I am going to get my copy!!


Amazon Japan has released the DVD art. I can't read Japanese, but I assume you can pre-order it soon. The animation series will be released on Blu-ray and DVD in Japan in three volumes. The first one will be released on 12th January 2011. Source: Spinoff Comic Book Resources

Here is the ComicCon highlight from the WB. I love the stuff from WB, they should get behind the show more than the CW. After all, this is from the WB studio. I want to see more promo!!!


I have also read about Supernatural season 6 episode titles, so here we go!

6.01 Exile On Main Street written by Sera Gamble, directed by Robert Singer (Premier on 24 Sept)
6.02 Two and a Half Men
6.03 The Third Man
6.04 Weekend at Bobby's directed by Jensen Ackles
6.06 You Can't Handle the Truth

Source: Wikipedia and SpoilerTV

There are some really cool spoilers on 6.03, an angel friend of Castiel will appear. I am not ready to let go of my love for the angels storylines, so that's awesome to me! If you want more info, check it out on SpoilerTV.

Buzzine has posted an interview with Jensen Ackles, beware of spoilers ^_^

I love Smallville. There there... I have said it! My love for the show has grown since season 8 and I am loving season 10 already. We will see more DC characters in season 10 and to me, the show is ready for more DC goodies and let's go out with a big bang! Hawkgirl and Deadshot are two of several new DC characters set to appear on season 10, it's been announced that Darkseid, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold will also be making their appearances. Source: SpoilerTV I would love also love to see the young Bruce Wayne on Smallville, but it probably won't happen!!!

Anyway, here is the ComicCon highlight from the WB.

Don't forget you can join me on Twitter for the Supernatural rewatch next Sunday 15 August 2pm Sydney time. Details here.

PS - My Batman Under the Red Hood DVD has arrived. I watched it once.. loved it! I am going to watch it again now. Expect a review this week. The film is more intense than I expected! It's awsome!

Tiny Twitter Party: Helping You to Survive the Hellatus

The next Tiny Twitter Party will be on Sunday 15th August, 2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST). If you're in a different time zone and need a clock converter, go to The World Clock Time Converter.

I picked a few episodes which I think they share a common tone - they are very 'Terminator' like. These episodes took place in a small environment where Sam and Dean have very little to work with but they still have to fight evil and save the world.

Details
Sunday 15th August 2010
2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)
Hashtag #SPNCroatoan

Episodes viewing in this order
Croatoan - season 2
Jus in Bello - season 3
The End - season 5

How to join the Tiny Twitter Party
You just need to be on Twitter. If you are not, just go to Twitter and sign up.

If you are on Twitter, here are three ways to join us:

Follow Tiny & Tiny Panic Room & Tiny Flatbread. (You must follow all accounts in case I go to Twitter jail.)
Follow our tweets on TweetChat HERE
Follow my SPNRewatch member list HERE

When tweeting, feel free to add the hashtag #SPNCroatoan in your tweet.

Get your DVDs/ downloads/whatever ready! We start each episode from the "Previously On".

There will be a countdown so that we can all press the play button together. Don't worry if you are a few seconds or minutes in front or behind. Every 10 mins or so, I'll tweet the viewing time of the episode, so that you know where we are up to.

You are welcome to come in and out during the rewatch.

Remember the Twitter Party is highly interactive. So don't just read our tweets or the episodes, join our conversation and make new friends.

We'll have a short break in between each episode, so that you can go get yourself another drink or another pack of chips or do your 'business'.

I hope you can join us at on Sunday 15th August, 2pm Australian Eastern Standard Time. Got questions? Ask me on Twitter or post a comment here.

Iron Man 2 Blu-Ray with Thor & Cap America Footage from SDCC

The Iron Man 2 Blu-Ray will include the Thor and Captain America footage from Comic Con. Source: WTAQ & Blu-Ray.com

You can now pre-order the DVD and Blu-Ray from Amazon. I think some special features will be different, check the websites for details. The release date is September 28 2010.

I am a suck for special features, I always watch the special features after the movie, even with Juno.

On the subject of Juno, I meant to watch it a long time ago but I've only just got the chance to watch over it the weekend. I love it! If you love Garden State, I think you might love this one. Love the story, love the characters, love the music, love Ellen Page.