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Falling through the cracks, takoreći.

Watchdog group praises games industry, criticizes parents
Report lists ten games to keep away from your kids.
By Ben Silverman
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The video game industry can breathe a sigh of relief. It won't have to hide its report card anymore.

The National Institute on Media and the Family, a conservative media watchdog group that has repeatedly criticized the game industry for failing to adequately warn families about inappropriate content, issued its 13th annual video game report card on Tuesday. And for the first time, the industry got nearly straight A's, receiving high marks in its ratings system and retail policies.

"This year the industry has improved its ratings enforcement and given parents new tools when choosing the right video game for their child," said NIMF president David Walsh. "That's a significant step in the right direction."

Significant is right. As recently as 2005, the NIMF gave the Entertainment Software Ratings Board a resounding "F."

The NIMF still points out one problem-spot: parents. This year's report gave parents an 'Incomplete' for not paying enough attention to ratings and failing to use parental controls built into game consoles.

To remedy the situation, the NIMF has red-flagged ten violent games concerned parents should keep away from the under-17 crowd this holiday, citing excessive bloodshed and brutality:

Blitz: The League II
Dead Space
Fallout 3
Far Cry 2
Gears of War 2
Legendary
Left 4 Dead
Resistance 2
Saints Row 2
Silent Hill: Homecoming
Notably, all ten are already rated M for Mature, so for once the industry and the watchdog are in agreement. On the flipside, the NIMF recommends these Teen-rated alternatives:

Guitar Hero World Tour
Rock Band 2
Rock Revolution
Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
Shaun White Snowboarding

More "Chinese Democracy" Sales Numbers: The Answer Is As Mysterious As You'd ExpectYou may be wondering how first-day sales of Guns N' Roses" Chinese Democracy went, and... well, no one's really sure, thanks to lots of retail secrecy! Hits has the very first, very wild estimates: "After yesterday's first-day sales, which include a reported 25k downloads at iTunes, first-week sales prognostications are ranging anywhere from 300-500k." Those of us who figured that the album's Sunday release date on Best Buy and iTunes meant that it would show up on this Wednesday's album chart were wrong, thanks to the combination of something that Hits is calling "a recent controversial SoundScan ruling about counting digital sales" and Best Buy's own Sunday-to-Saturday sales-reporting policies, which were outlined way back when the album's release date was announced in October:

Beyond enticing pre-Thanksgiving shoppers, the move is tied to the structure of Best Buy's sales week, which runs from Sunday to Saturday. As such, "Chinese Democracy" would not be eligible to chart on The Billboard 200 until the week of Dec. 1, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

I suspect that the digital-sales ruling has something to do with albums that are available in both physical and digital form, but that come out first digitally, not "counting" chart-wise until they're available everywhere, so as to ensure that their chart placement is as high as possible. But I could be wrong about that! SoundScan is pretty secretive when it comes to announcing changes like this, perhaps because it's so easily swayed by outside influences. Either way, instead of theorizing over whether the album's sales would beat those of Beyonce (whose probably-inflated Hits estimates put her split-personality sales around the 500,000 mark) we now get to prognosticate about Axl taking on Kanye and Brandon Flowers. Fun! I think.

Kanye West Vs. Guns N' Roses: A Fairly Even Match After All (Numbers-Wise, Anyway)GN'R's label revises the timing of its reporting, so both albums' debuts will be based on seven days of sales.
By Chris Harris
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Last week, using information provided by a spokesperson for Guns N' Roses' label, Geffen Records, MTV News reported that first-day sales of the band's long-awaited LP, Chinese Democracy — which was released as a Best Buy exclusive on Sunday — would not be released to Nielsen SoundScan until next week.

Seemingly, this would have given Axl Rose and friends an advantage over Kanye West, who released his 808s & Heartbreak on Monday, in the race for Billboard's peak position, as GN'R's first-week figures would include an eighth day of sales — not seven, as with West's new opus.

However, on Tuesday (November 25), Geffen revised its statement, saying instead that the first-week sales data it will be releasing to SoundScan for Chinese Democracy will be based on sales tallied Sunday through Saturday, whereas West's will be based on sales tallied Monday through Sunday — which means that both albums' debuts will be based on seven days of sales.

Typically, albums are released in the U.S. on Tuesdays, and SoundScan tracks weekly sales data from Monday through Sunday, meaning that most albums' debut spots on the chart are based on six sales days. But unlike many other retail outlets, Best Buy reports sales figures that were recorded between Sunday and Saturday.

What this ultimately means is that West and Rose will battle it out for the chart's top spot fair and square — numbers-wise, anyway — with neither artist having an inside track. If anything, West's latest offering, as well as the Killers' Day & Age and Ludacris' Theater of the Mind (which were all released on Monday), will have an unfair advantage in the sales contest over every album released on Tuesday.

This development comes on the heels of a report released Monday by "Hits Daily Double," which claims Chinese Democracy is on pace to scan anywhere between 300,000 and 500,000 copies that figure also includes a reported 25,000 iTunes downloads.

http://znaksagite.com/diskusije/viewtopic.php?p=165437#165437

Videli smo, videli smo. Lep napis, odlično promišljanje i apsolutno previsoka ocena. Mislim,da, kao proizvod, ovo je zaslužuje. Kao umetničko delo, ne.

Slažem se, ali zar u popu kvalitet nečega kao proizvoda ne ulazi u obzir...?

Goran Musić je u kući!

http://www.popboks.com/tekst.php?ID=6915

http://www.radivizija.com/video/?dir=&download=Exit05-Prti%2C+Bicharke+%26+Ajs.avi

Komad istorije - poslednji nastup Davora Bobića - Exit 2005, dakle nekih mesec-mesec i po pre nego što je umro.

Skinuće se večeras, pre odlaska na PE. Hvala, mada je sasvim moguće da ja ovo zapravo negde već imam.  

Umro Betmen?

Mračni junak koji čuva Gotham od kriminala je u novoj epizodi upečatljivog naziva Batman RIP doživeo tešku nesreću.

"Ovo je kraj Brucea Waynea kao Betmena. Ono što planiram je sudbina mnogo bolja od smrti. Nešto što niko ne bi očekivao da se može dogoditi herojima", zagonetno je prokomentarisao škotski scenarista Grant Morrison za BBC.

Betmena je u ovoj priči najpre upucao negativac Simon Hurt, koji za sebe tvrdi da je njegov otac dr Thomas Wayne; ranjeni junak se posle toga bacio na helikopter kojim je Hurt hteo da pobegne.

U poslednjem delu stripa, posle nesreće, nije prikazano telo Brucea Waynea.

Morrison nije hteo da otkrije ko će biti novi Betmen.

Ukoliko Betmen nastrada, to neće biti prvi slučaj te vrste u svetu stripova o superherojima.

Prošle godine nas je napustio Kapetan Amerika, koji je nastradao u atentatu.

Prva epizoda stripa Betmen objavljena je 1939. godine.

Starijim Meksikancima besplatno "vijagra"
Ponedeljak, 1. decembar 2008. 22:10


Najsiromašniji stanovnici Sjudad Meksika, stariji od 70 godina, od ponedeljka mogu da besplatno dobijaju lekove protiv impotencije - "vijagru", "levitru" i "cijalis", objavio je sekretar za zdravstvo glavnog grada Meksika Armando Aued.

Taj potez zdravstvenih vlasti predstavlja deo programa za očuvanje seksualnog zdravlja starijih osoba, preneli su lokalni mediji.

Besplatni lekovi su obezbeđeni za 112.000 najsiromašnijih stanovnika Meksiko Sitija, koji će prethodno morati da prođu zdravstveni pregled kako bi im bila dijagnostikovana erektilna disfunkcija.

Meksičke zdravstvene vlasti smatraju da seksualni život muškaraca, koji predstavlja deo života i želje da se bude srećan, ne mora da prestane posle 60. godine života, kakav je uobičajeni stav.

Pažnja zdravstvenih vlasti biće usmerena i na obezbeđivanje besplatnih lekova protov raka prostate, dijabetesa, gojaznosti i hipertenzije za tu kategoriju stanovništva.

"Twilight" star Kristen Stewart is set to portray rocker Joan Jett in the biopic "The Runaways" says The Hollywood Reporter.

The Runaways were hugely influential as the first successful all-girl hard rock band; its members included guitarists Jett and Lita Ford, drummer Sandy West, singer-keyboardist Cherie Currie and bassist Jackie Fox.

Initially a novelty act of teenaged girls performing in leather and lace in the 1970's, the girls became serious and influential musicians thanks to songs like "Cherry Bomb," "Born to Be Bad" and "Queens of Noise". After four years together, they fell apart over management and money issues in 1979.

The film will revolve around Jett and Currie and follow them from the band's meteoric rise as teenagers to their dissolution and disillusionment. Jett of course went onto a successful solo career with her most notable hit being the legendary "I Love Rock N' Roll" in 1982.

Music video director Floria Sigismondi wrote the screenplay and is directing. A 2009 start is set and will work around Stewart's commitments to the two "Twilight" sequels.

John and Art Linson along with Bill Pohlad are producing. Jett herself will act as an executive producer.

Bas sam se pitao gde dede ta Joan posle Dirty Deeds obrade !

Kanye Edges GNR, Ludacris For No. 1 Debut
Kanye West

December 03, 2008 11:16 AM ET

Katie Hasty, N.Y.
Kanye West earns his third straight No. 1 on The Billboard 200 as "808s & Heartbreak" bows in the top slot. The Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam set moved 450,000 copies in the U.S., according to Nielsen SoundScan, the artist's lowest debut sales frame since his first album, "The College Dropout," bowed with 441,000 in 2004.

His last release, "Graduation," began with 957,000 at No. 1 last year, while sophomore set "Late Registration" checked in with 860,000 at No. 1 in 2005.

With the help of Thanksgiving sale prices and a performance from the singer at the Nov. 23 American Music Awards, sales for Taylor Swift's Big Machine album "Fearless" increase 23% to 267,000, pushing the set up 4-2.

At No. 3 with 261,000 is Guns N' Roses' Best Buy exclusive "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen), the first studio album of original material from the group since 1991. GNR's last studio efforts, "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II," debuted at Nos. 2 and 1 respectively, with 685,000 and 770,000 after being released on the same day in 1991.

Since then, the act has charted with a covers set (1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?" with a 190,000 debut), a live effort (1999's "Live Era '87 - '93;" 60,000) and the 2004 "Greatest Hits" package (169,000).

Beyonce's "I Am ... Sasha Fierce" (Music World/Columbia) declines by 47% in its second week, dropping 1-4 with 257,000. Debuting right behind at No. 5 is Ludacris' "Theater of the Mind" (DTP/Def Jam) with 213,000. It's the first time one of the rapper's albums debuted anywhere but No. 1 since 2001's "Word of Mouf" bowed and peaked at No. 3.

The Killers' third album, "Day & Age" (Island) enters at No. 6 with 193,000. Its 2006 predecessor, "Sam's Town," bowed at No. 2 with 315,000.

After debuting at No. 2 last week, Nickelback's "Dark Horse" (Roadrunner) slips to No. 7 on a 46% decline to 178,000. Chop Shop/Atlantic's soundtrack to the runaway hit film "Twilight" falls 6-8 with 162,000 (+29%) while the multi-label "Now 29" hits compilation earns a 26% sales increase to 145,000, slipping 7-9. David Cook's self-titled 19 Recordings/RCA debut rounds out the top tier, descending 3-10 with 112,000 (-60%).

Other debuts this week include Barry Manilow's "Greatest Songs of the Eighties" (Arista) at No. 14 with 78,000, the Coldplay EP "Prospekt's March" (Capitol) at No. 15 with 77,000, Trace Adkins' "X: Ten" (Capitol Nashville) at No. 32 with 37,000, Jeremy Camp's "Speaking Louder Than Words" (Tooth & Nail) at No. 38 with 32,000 and Linkin Park's "Road to Revolution" (Warner Bros.) at No. 41 with 31,000.

At 12.15 million units, sales this week are up 29% compared to last week's sum, but down 0.7% compared to the same sales week last year.

Punisher: War Zone
Brent Simon in Los Angeles
03 Dec 2008 22:36

 


Dir: Lexi Alexander. US. 2008. 103 mins.

A blithely depraved shoot-'em-up in which its glum protagonist lays waste to a vast criminal underworld, Punisher: War Zone recalls low-budget action movies of the 1980s in which dialogue was only something to fill three to five minutes between set pieces. Steeped in as much over-the-top brutality and gore as comedy, this artless revenge tale would seem to have a limited fan base and shelf life.

Jonathan Hensleigh helped prove the viability of even the bottom tier of the Marvel Comics catalogue in 1994 when The Punisher, starring Thomas Jane in the vigilante title role and John Travolta as the villain, grossed just under $34m domestically. Without stars or much of a sense of scope, this version's commercial yield should be lower, though its base-level carnage and mayhem could translate well for international action junkies.

Neither a sequel nor origin story, Punisher: War Zone, much like this summer's The Incredible Hulk, simply takes as its point of focus a different part of the comic book narrative. Set almost entirely at night, the film unfolds five years after former Navy S.E.A.L. and anti-hero Frank Castle (Stevenson) has launched a one-man war on the criminals who killed his family. A legend to both sides of the law, Frank operates with the tacit approval of the New York City police, who have a token task force assigned to his capture but otherwise don't seem very interested in stopping him.

After junior-level mob boss Billy Russoti (West) is left horribly facially scarred by Castle, he adopts the nickname Jigsaw and sets out for vengeance, enlisting the assistance of his brother Jim (Hutchison), whom he frees from a mental institution. When Jigsaw helps a rival gang smuggle a biological weapon into New York, federal anti-terror authorities step up the pressure to catch Frank, thinking he can lead them to Jigsaw. Predictably, many bodies hit the floor.

While The Punisher surprisingly went out of its way to temper its bloodlust with a pinch of reality, no such desire for nuance is on display in Punisher: War Zone, which unleashes depravity galore. In the first 10 minutes, an old lady's neck has been snapped, a chair leg rammed into someone's eye, and Frank has readjusted his own broken nose with a pencil; by film's end, heads have been blown off and faces literally punched in.

As a showcase for this sort of splatter-effects excess, the movie could possibly briefly enthral young male action junkies, but it's hard to see it working anywhere else. The script is lazy, and the ridiculous violence doesn't match scenes that play on Frank's guilt over having accidentally killed an undercover agent, for example. Also, the final act is predicated on federal authorities giving the Russoti brothers money, unconditional freedom, and information to help settle their vendetta with Frank, which makes little sense.

To cap it all, there's no idea that Frank is physically vulnerable, twirling around as he does in a bulletproof vest and overwhelming his opponents via simple firepower. This conspires to make the film feel like an elongated computer simulation videogame in which the protagonist is granted unlimited lives.

Performance-wise, Stevenson glowers in a fashion one could deem appropriate, but West adopts an exaggerated Mafioso accent that seems based on having seen several episodes of The Sopranos. As "Loony Bin Jim," Hutchison chews the scenery so madly and gleefully that it elicits laughs. And even if that wasn't always the original intent, at least the viewer can appreciate the diversion.

Production companies

Lionsgate

Marvel Studios

Valhalla Motion Pictures

MHF Zweite Academy Film

SGF Entertainment Inc.

Domestic distribution

Lionsgate

Producer

Gale Anne Hurd

Screenplay

Nick Santora

Art Marcum & Matt Holloway, based on Marvel's Punisher comic book series

Special Effects

XY&Z Visual Effects

Cinematography

Steve Gainer

Production designer

Andrew Neskoromny

Editor

William Yeh

Main cast

Ray Stevenson

Dominic West

Doug Hutchison

Wayne Knight

Colin Salmon

Dash Mihok

Julie Benz

Mark Camacho

Keram Malicki-Sanchez

T.J. Storm

David Vadim

Hola all. Massawyrm here.

First things first, Punisher War Zone is not GOOD. Oh, fuck no. It is a stiflingly stupid mess of a film that flings itself repeatedly headlong into a brick wall of absurdity. If you're one of those guys crawling out of their mother's basement, wearing a Punisher t-shirt and carrying two prop sub machine guns drooling over how awesome a movie this could really be, this movie might upset you a little. If you lay awake at night dreaming of how Hollywood could make a truly incredible Punisher film if only they listened to you and pulled the movie right out of your head, you might come to curse the name Lexi Alexander. Hell, if you've so much as photo shopped your head onto the Punisher's body and used it as an avatar over on Superherohype, then you are gonna shit yourself with disappointment when you finally see this. Because let me tell you something, Hollywood may never make a serious, real, honest to god Punisher movie.

Lexi Alexander sure didn't. And you know what? I'm glad she didn't.

The Punisher is a relic of a bygone era. A product of his time, he began his comic career as a Spiderman villain. An unstable Vietnam vet with an unending grudge against criminals, Frank Castle emerged with his own comic during the rise of the anti-hero in the early to mid 80's alongside such luminaries as Wolverine and Batman's reinvention as The Dark Knight. But unlike Bruce Wayne or Logan, Frank Castle wasn't multilayered or in any way deep. He was a psychopath - a deranged, fucked up killer who lost his family in an act of random violence and in turn became the boogeyman for criminals in New York City. And like the popular boogiemen of the time - Freddy, Jason and Michael Meyers – the best part of watching Frank's adventures wasn't to see why he went after certain guys or what their backstory was. It was to see how he was going to kill the next guy and what clever, inventive, devilishly brutal way he was going to go about doing it.

So yeah, as a kid, I fucking loved him.

But a few years ago they put out a Punisher video game that kind of changed the way I looked at him. The cover proudly proclaimed there was something like 100 different ways to punish the guilty – and then challenged you to find them all. The picture was of Frank holding a guy under a drill press, and for a second I though "Awesome! This is gonna kick ass," only to begin to wonder "Why isn't there a Nightmare on Elm Street game in which you run around slaughtering teenagers with 100 different ways to punish the kids of Elm Street?" Because that's all this is. I know, I know. "These guys are guilty! They're bad guys! It's okay to delight in watching their slaughter." It sure is. I love a good slasher movie, myself. But it's impossible to pretend nowadays that this is anything but that.

It's not the 80's anymore. Batman has substance and is conflicted. Wolverine has substance and is conflicted. The Punisher? He's a cartoon.

And that's exactly how Lexi Alexander sees him. She doesn't take this movie seriously for a second. Her approach is identical to that of Paul Verhoeven on Robocop and especially Starship Troopers. This isn't a movie glorifying The Punisher. This is a film with its tongue placed firmly in cheek, subtly making fun of him every chance it gets. AND I LOVE IT FOR THAT. Not because I think the Punisher is deserving of mockery, but because Alexander gets it. She sees Frank for what he is and set out to make a glorious, deliciously fun romp through his grime covered universe. And in doing so she actually managed to make the most faithful, spot on adaptation of the comic we are likely ever to see.

There are exactly three things she gets right in this that no one will dispute. The first is that, for the first time in history, someone has made a movie in which the Punisher actually shows up. Not that pussy Thomas Jane version. Not Dolph Lundgren and his silly traipsing through the sewers on a motorcycle. THE PUNISHER. When Ray Stevenson first appears in the dark holding a burning flare – you see him. You know it's him. When he speaks, you hear Frank Castle. Not some lame facsimile. This is one cold, brutal son of a bitch who is going to kill every mother fucker in the room. And then he does.

The second thing she gets right is the origin. Not only does Frank Castle look and sound like he should – his origin is intact. This is not a sequel to the last film. Lexi took a fantastic approach to the last film and said fuck that piece of shit. She went back to the well. There isn't a single shred of the last movie's storyline in this. Franks family died in random gang violence. In New York City. And he lives underground where he is helped by a bevy of characters from straight out of the comic book. Comic book fans will love the attention to detail.

And lastly, she made this bloody as fuck. This movie doesn't play around. The second the shit goes down, The Punisher starts punishing. Guys get decapitated, grenades blow off limbs, bullets rip bloody chunks out of people. And heads...explode...kind of a lot. This thing is soaked in blood from the very first moments of the film until the very end. At times it has this whole Robocop meets Story of Ricky thing going on. He punches through a guy's head for fucks sake. It's just silly.

And really, that's the core of this film. It is camp. Deliberate camp that doesn't feel overly self-aware. I mean, when a guy gets hit square in the chest with a grenade and just plum vanishes in a puff of smoke on what is OBVIOUSLY a soundstage, you know that Alexander isn't being serious. The dialog is unspeakable, but often howl-inducing. Just about every actor in the film chews up scenery like they were told it was craft services. And almost every set is a gaudy soundstage drenched in neon. There are just scenes of such absurdity – up to and including Frank walking across the street, in plain view of pedestrians, with guns holstered all over his body – that you can't for a moment take this seriously. It is gloriously over the top, a hilarious film that perfectly gets The Punisher right while never for a moment taking him seriously. Hell, from the moment Seinfeld's Newman walks in to sell Frank guns (You can almost hear him say "Hey jerry, guess what I got") to the Dockers commercial flashbacks of his family life, this movie will make you piss yourself with laughter.

And I love the shit out of it. Like I said, it's not good. But it's fun, it's gory and often times it is quite inventive. It never gets boring and it's never so bad it hurts. It is always so bad it's good. This is a midnight movie for folks who love MIDNIGHT MOVIES. Vern is gonna lose his mind over this. The beer-and-buddies crowd is gonna have a field day. And make sure when and if you do go to take a friend to lean over and crack wise with. But don't take this seriously. For a second. The hardcore Punisher fans? They're gonna hate the hell out of this. They're gonna piss vinegar and spit blood screaming about how Hollywood needs to finally take the Punisher seriously. They might even be deluded enough to say that the previous effort was the only good Punisher film. And they would be wrong.

They're gonna hate this. Unless they're in on the joke. Like you.

Until next time friends, smoke 'em if ya got 'em.

Massawyrm

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here.

I am barely competent at MORTAL KOMBAT.

I play my fair share of games, and I think I'm fairly decent at them. But I will admit near-total shame at the hands of the online community in MORTAL KOMBAT VS DC UNIVERSE, and frankly, it's the online that would keep me playing this. Once you've played the story mode, all that's left is arcade mode, and since the only person in my house who would play is Toshi, and that ain't happening for maaaaany years, my only option for replay on it is online. So far, I've been impressed by how many people there are at any given time, and just how willing they all seem to be to kick my ass.

I've played the film with friends now, in person, and with strangers online, and I've played both story modes through from start to finish. I think I've pretty much poked and prodded every corner of the game that my admittedly low-level expertise allows, and I've read a bit of criticism from various online sources. I don't usually review games, and I think gamers want a totally different set of things from their reviews than a film fan does. They have to satisfy very different cravings to succeed. One is active, the other is passive. With a game like MKvsDCU, the question is simple: is it fun? And, yes, it is. It is ridiculous fun, with an emphasis on the word ridiculous.

Let's look at story mode first. You choose to play either the Mortal Kombat version of the story or the DC Universe side. I've played both, and they're identical experiences, just using different iconography for the characters. They both build to the same exact final boss fight, and the rhythms of the game leading up to that fight are pretty much identical. At the start of things, Superman does blasts Darkseid's dimensional portal with his laser-vision, and it causes a bizarre explosion to occur. On the Mortal Kombat side, it's Raiden's final blasts against Shao Kahn that triggers the same sort of bizarre backblast. As a result, that dual reaction opens a rift that starts to merge the Earthrealms with the DC Universe. And because there are strange forces at work, everyone's powers are in flux.

My favorite example of this in the story mode is the Joker suddenly becoming a badass who can fight. His reactions as played out in his chapter of the story mode are pretty much dead on for the classic interpretation of the Joker. He thinks it's hilarious that he can finally defend himself using brute force, and every fight seems to just make him laugh even more. It's nicely done. I can see why some fans find the idea frustrating, wishing they could just punch people's heads off like water balloons with Superan's strength, but that would pretty much render the game unplayable. They had to find some way to try to keep the powers familiar, but scale them so that everyone has some chance in a fight. The format for both versions of the story is a series of chapters, each from the point of view of a different lead character that you're playing, each with about four fights in the chapter.

And at the very end of the game, you have to face Dark Kahn, who is a hybrid of Darkseid and Shao Kahn as one person. You defeat him as Superman and as Raiden, and when you do, you unlock both Darkseid and Shao Kahn as playable characters. Playing through story mode straight through took about four hours each time. You sit through a looooootttt of cut scenes, and I was surprised to see there's no way to skip them. If you could, playing that mode would take a lot less time, and sort of defeat the point of having a story mode instead of an arcade mode, I suppose. The first time through, playing the DC Universe, I didn't mind, but about three chapters into the Mortal Kombat version, I was ready to just skip to the fights.

If that's what you're looking to do, let me suggest the online mode. It's very simple to set up a match, and I've been able to find people online any time I went looking so far. And either I have terrible luck of the draw so far, or I really am the worst player ever born. Every single time I've gone online so far to play, I have had my ass handed to me in rapid fashion. I've played for an hour or two each time, trying to see if it's just a learning curve for me, but I continue to get shamed. I thought I did really well playing through the story mode, and I seem to do well on the Kombo challenge mode, where you try out different combos in order to unlock all sorts of things. But against a real person, I get schooled every single time. Pwned like a noob, if you will.

I'm guessing the solution is to play it with my friends at my place or at their place, but I play so few games with someone that I don't even have a second controller for the PS3 right now. I think this would be a great geek party game for the crazy novelty of it, and I've really enjoyed the wacko head-to-head match-ups the game makes possible. It's very much a Mortal Kombat game in control scheme and combo styles, with a few new mechanics thrown in. There's the freefall Kombat, where you crash through a wall and ride your opponent to the ground in a 3D space, beating the shit out of them as you fall. That can be reversed, though, and you could end up taking damage that costs up to 30% of your health as a result. There's also another event you can trigger where you throw someone against the wall, then charge them and run them through something like six walls in a row, mashing buttons to try to determine how much damage you do. It feels very familiar, though. They didn't try to reinvent Mortal Kombat completely, and I appreciated that. The last MK game I played was MORTAL KOMBAT MYTHOLOGIES: SUB-ZERO, which we played when we started work on our script for MK3 back in the late '90s. I think this new game is a real return to what made Mortal Kombat so much fun in the first place, with one very notable exception.

I don't think the lack of noteworthy fatalities is a deal-breaker, but I can understand how someone else might. Part of the kick of playing this series has always been the knowledge that if you somehow get lucky and hit just the right series of buttons at just the right moment, you're going to get this crazy deranged gore-soaked cartoon death that you visit upon the other player. It's humiliating to have done to you, and it's awesome to rain down on someone else. It was a defining part of the series, and the licensing of the DC Universe characters defanged the series a bit. That's just inherent to having all these kid-friendly characters involved. To me, none of the fatalities or heroic brutalities I've seen are particularly memorable. It's the one thing it felt to me like Midway really botched. Sometimes, some of the biggest games out there can be dazzling and involving and technically impressive and cutting-edge, but they don't end up being much fun over the long haul, and the fatalities were fun. I personally got over their absence, and there are a lot of moves that end up being just as dramatic and extreme, but just not as violent, so maybe you can as well.

If I could just make my 38-year-old fingers move as fast as those of a Mountain Dew-soaked-14-year-old who's got time to memorize every combo perfectly, I'd be having a bit more fun, maybe, but if you ever feel like racking up a few easy victories, look for "MoriartyAICN" on the PS3 version of the game. MKvsDCU may not have the scope or the depth of some of this season's biggest games (I feel like I'm just scratching the surface of LITTLE BIG PLANET or FAR CRY 2, even after hours and hours and hours of game play, and I know friends who feel that way about FALLOUT 3 as well), but it's fun. And that seems to me like they got the most important part exactly right.

Morijarti očigledno nije svestan da je u okviru od 24 časa od objavljivanja igre onlajn zajednica provalila najmanje jedan unbreakable/ infinite kombo (sa Supermenom) i da je verovatno naletao na igrače koji su ovo zloupotrebljavali.

Ili to, ili nikada nije igrao 1 on 1 fajter protiv ozbiljnog igrača. Kad mene moja žena pobeđuje relativno redovno u Tekkenu i povremeno i Virtua Fighteru, mogu misliti šta bi mi napravio neki klinac od 15 godina koji 18 sati dnevno igra MK vs. DCU i zna TAČNO koliko frejmova mu treba da veže skoro unbreakable kombo.

Bettie Page hospitalized in L.A.
Iconic pinup figure in coma after heart attack
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LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Bettie Page, a 1950s pinup known for her raven-haired bangs and saucy come-hither looks, was hospitalized in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, her agent said Friday.
"She's critically ill," Mark Roesler of CMG Worldwide told The Associated Press.

He said the 85-year-old had been hospitalized for the last three weeks with pneumonia and was about to be released when she had the heart attack Tuesday. Page was transferred to another hospital in Los Angeles and remained in intensive care Friday.

A family friend, Todd Mueller, said Page was in a coma. When asked to confirm, Roesler said, "I would not deny that," but he would not comment further on her condition.

Page, a secretary turned model, is credited with helping set the stage for the sexual revolution of the rebellious 1960s. She attracted national attention with magazine photographs of her sensuous figure that were tacked up on walls across the country.

Her photos included a centerfold in the January 1955 issue of then-fledgling Playboy magazine, as well as controversial sadomasochistic poses.

Page later spent decades away from the public eye, and during that time battled mental illness and became a born-again Christian.

After resurfacing in the 1990s, she occasionally granted interviews but refused to allow her picture to be taken.

Mueller credits his business dealings with Page for bringing her out of seclusion. He said he first met her in 1989 when he offered her "a bunch of money" to show up at autograph signings.

"I probably sold 3,000 of her autographs, usually for $200 to $300," he said. "Eleanor Roosevelt, we got $40-$50. ... Bettie Page outsells them all."

Ona je još živa? Wow.

Vanguard Films has landed the rights to the comedic comic book series "Emo Boy" for "Fanboys" helmer Kyle Newman to direct says The Hollywood Reporter.

Comic creator Stephen Edmond has adapted his own story that follows the travails of the most self-dramatizing young man in the history of the world, whose emotions were so intense he even had "emo powers."

Said to be satirical in the form of "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Zoolander", the project will make music an integral part of its plot.

Len Wiseman ("Underworld," "Live Free or Die Hard") is set to direct the film adaptation of the five-part apocalyptic sci-fi comic mini-series "Atlantis Rising" for DreamWorks reports Variety.

Created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, the story kicks off when seismic disturbances at sea force world militaries to investigate the deepest part of the ocean, where an underground civilization emerges to engage in war with planet Earth.

Rosenberg, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are producing. Once completed, Wiseman will move onto the Dreamworks thriller "Motorcade".

PUNISHER: WAR ZONE


Punisher War Zone? More like Punisher BORE Zone!

Nah, that was not sincere punning. Actually I was not bored and in fact enjoyed this stupid movie. What I mean to say is "The Punisher? More like The FUNisher!" But you know how it is, people tend to prefer negativity to positivity. That's why there's three movies called THE PUNISHER and not a single one called THE REWARDER. So I went the extra mile, I gave you both types of puns. Merry Christmas.

The Punisher is a unique motion picture phenomenon. Not too many characters are in movies three times, with three different actors, three different directors, three different approaches. Not sequels or remakes, each one is a do-over. I can relate to this type of series because I myself am a unique motion picture phenomenon: I am the rare individual who sort of enjoyed all three versions of THE PUNISHER. That's three more Punisher movies than most people are able to enjoy in their lifetime. In fact I would like to see them continue to remake THE PUNISHER every few years, every time with different actors, every time believing they totally fucked it up all the previous times but this time, this time they'll get it right, I just know it! If they give up after this one, though, at least we got a trilogy.

The PUNISHER WAR ZONE Punisher is played by Ray Stevenson, who was apparently on that show ROME. He's by far the scariest Punisher, he looks like he could smash his fist right into the center of your skull, which is in fact what he does to a mobster who looks like Lance Bass. This is a huge lumbering Punisher about two or three inches taller than Bigfoot and usually decked out in full combat gear including bulletproof vest that covers the neck and lower jaw. (Although occasionally he just wears a sweater.) This is a scary motherfucker but also the most comical of the Punishers because everything about him is so over the top that sometimes just looking at him made me laugh. Sometimes he kind of reminded me of Patrick Warburton who, come to think of it, should be considered for the fourth Punisher movie. I don't know man, seeing a big monster like that so passionately dedicated to killing - and I mean REALLY fucking killing - is kind of funny to me. He's a huge nerd for murdering everybody.

He's funny because even more than any previous Punisher, this guy DOES. NOT. GIVE. A FUCK. He opens the movie preparing weapons, then he casually walks into a mansion and horribly massacres an entire mafia dinner table, including wives. I don't think they even got a chance to say grace. (that would've kind of made the scene funnier though.)

In the fine tradition of Blade he also doesn't mind walking around in public covered in weapons. He has kind of a Batcave/flop house set up under a subway tunnel, and that traitorous fat dude from JURASSIC PARK comes by to bring him guns sometimes.

Of course you get some flashes of memory to remind you that his family was slaughtered, and also there is a little girl who likes him and wants to hold his hand even though he killed her dad by accident (whoops). There's not much more than that to try to give him depth, but Stevenson does have some sad looking eyes that almost imply some tragic beauty or something like that. And the funniest thing about him is that even though he looks like (and is) a guy who would go around causing even lower-tier criminals to literally explode, he cannot hide an intelligence and eloquence in his voice. The motherfucker sounds like a poet. He's got a soul. I guess that explains why we saw him in the graveyard crying like a baby before we even heard him say anything.

I like the scene where he tries to apologize to the widow of the undercover cop he killed (Julie Benz from RAMBO [4]) by giving her a bag of money. Most of the movie is more about funny violence than character moments, but there are bits here and there. It's a cliche for a violent character like this to go into a church looking for forgiveness, but they put a good spin on it in this one. It's revealed that he was once in the seminary and knows the Bible surprisingly well. The best part is when the priest quotes to him the verse about how you will be judged the way you judge others and he says he doesn't have a problem with that - in other words he's resigned himself to a violent death himself and knows he deserves it. A nice touch.

Then they put the cherry on top with the classic so bad it's good/so good it's bad line "Sometimes I'd like to get my hands on God." Unfortunately there aren't enough funny lines like that in the movie, but let's at least appreciate that one, even if we already saw it in the trailer.

I can't help but compare this to the other two Punishers, so I will have to say at this point that I liked #2, the Thomas Jane one, the best. Admittedly it's gonna be hard to go back and watch that one now for the simple fact that Ray Stevenson could probaly swallow Thomas Jane's head in one bite and not even gag. But it had the best combination of character and storytelling and the cartoonish flights into absurdism were a little more grounded in an old school action movie world like I like and not in the type of artificial soundstage world of the Lundgren and Stevenson editions. I have learned through talkback research that fans of the comic strip are enraged that Thomas Jane Punisher took place in Tampa, because EVERYBODY knows that this story can ONLY take place in New York City just like every god damn movie ever made.

Well, okay, New York is mean streets and everything but not as much when the "New York" is a fake looking one shot in Montreal. At least Tampa was shot in Tampa, and is therefore in the same country that your precious comic strip took place in.

It's hard to think of it as a real action movie when alot of it is shot with yellow and red lights to make it look like a cartoon world, and the villain Jigsaw (whose face becomes a human Leatherface mask after Punisher teaches him about how glass bottles are recycled) is one of those trying-to-be-funny overacting villains, not the scary type. For example when he unites the different gangs against Punisher there is a "funny" scene where he makes a "patriotic" speech in front of an American flag background. One of those parodies of parodies I'm so sick of.

The actor by the way is Dominic West, who's only bad part of the time and apparently is great on THE WIRE. Still, it's weird that John Travolta is the more subtle and restrained villain of these movies. How the fuck did that happen?

I've seen a few claims that this is the Punisher movie that "finally does it right," but I don't really understand what that means. As far as I can tell it's very similar to the Lundgren version. They both start with the Punisher already in operation, headquartered underground in New York City, with a task force trying to track him, they both have ludicrously high body counts and cartoonish violence, they both try to show Punisher's sensitive side by having him help children. In this one there are some characters who are supposed to be meth addicted parkour dudes (somebody calls them an "urban freeflow gang") - isn't that a 2008 take on the type of gimmicks they had in the first one (ninjas on slides, throwing star earrings, etc.)? And like that first one they fail to really deliver on the promise of the gimmick, because they kill them without ever doing any impressive freerunning stunts at all. It does lead to a big crowdpleasing laugh when Punisher comes after them, though, so it's not a total loss.

The appeal is similar to a bad/good slasher movie like SEE NO EVIL or some of the Jason pictures. You laugh at the utter ridiculousness and callousness of the violence. Punisher impales a guy on a spikey fence, then jumps onto his head. He impales a guy's face on a chair leg. He runs into a fat guy in an elevator (I guess I missed who that was supposed to be) and blows his head off. He picks people up and bashes them through windows and walls, drags people by the ankles, lights people on fire. He blows up a room full of gangsters, then goes out and shoots the bodies. What I'm saying is this is a guy that just overdoes it. And you can't even say he takes pleasure in overdoing it, because he doesn't seem to take pleasure in anything. He just doesn't know how to stop. He has an addictive personality maybe. They say he does this because of what happened to his family and maybe because he's a veteran but I'm betting his daddy was a drinker too.

A movie like SEE NO EVIL pretends you're not supposed to root for the killer, PUNISHER WAR ZONE openly presents him as the hero, which is a good joke. At first I wondered how exactly he could get away with all this, but then you realize all the cops just let him go because they like what he does. There's one FBI agent who is ethical, but he can't keep Punisher in line and keeps pouting with frustration. He's like the man with the yellow hat trying to keep Curious George out of trouble.

When I read about how violent and ridiculous the movie was I thought it sounded pretty good, or pretty terrible. Some of the internet writers who raved about this also loved hyperactive movies like CRANK. Although this has a similarly juvenile love of cruelty, I don't think it's obnoxious in that same way. The opening credits had me nervous, but the camera and editing work turn out to be restrained, it doesn't have all that showoffy shit that ruins some movies like this. It does have a schizophrenic soundtrack though, going between a score that I think is a little too big and serious and shitty heavy metal that's a little too "hey kids, do you like my cool earring? See I'm not old I'm just like you homeys."

I do mean it when I say this movie is stupid. It relies too much on the sadistic spectacle part without excelling in other areas. The other two Punisher movies prove you can do both - you can be lowbrow and ridiculous and still have a better story and dialogue than this. And the look is a little cheesy. But it is a good laugh and although by the time you read this it might be too late for you, I recommend seeing it with whatever small crowd can be mustered up for it. When I saw it everybody was together in laughing, sometimes with the movie, sometimes (I believe) at it. And it's refreshing to see a movie with this tone but NOT with the obnoxious editing and camera techniques that these days tend to be a given.

I'm afraid this might be the last try at a Punisher movie but at the very least I hope somebody sees Ray Stevenson in this and decides to cast him as the hero in other action movies. He's menacing, he seems smart, he can act and yet apparently he's not above doing this type of shit. That's a good combination for an action hero.

Vern

Quote from: "crippled_avenger"Vanguard Films has landed the rights to the comedic comic book series "Emo Boy" for "Fanboys" helmer Kyle Newman to direct says The Hollywood Reporter.

Comic creator Stephen Edmond has adapted his own story that follows the travails of the most self-dramatizing young man in the history of the world, whose emotions were so intense he even had "emo powers."

Said to be satirical in the form of "Napoleon Dynamite" or "Zoolander", the project will make music an integral part of its plot.

S obzirom da je Mafija_X juče skinuo fajl, znači da još 9 emoa može da pročita ovaj strip:
http://rapidshare.com/files/171225451/Emo_Boy.rar.html

New Line has won an auction for screen rights to "Rock of Ages," a stage musical that does with '80s rock anthems what "Mamma Mia!" did with Abba tunes.
Chris D'Arienzo, who wrote the book for the Off Broadway tuner, will write the screenplay and direct the film.

The storyline takes place at a Sunset Strip rock club called Rock of Ages, where a man and woman fall in love but get torn apart by the rock lifestyle.

The show is propelled by signature '80s rock anthems popularized by Journey, Twisted Sister, Joan Jett, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Bon Jovi and REO Speedwagon.

Hollywood has marveled over the global success of "Mamma Mia!," and several studios bid on the musical, which opened Off Broadway in mid-October and is running strong.

Pic will be produced by the musical's creative producers, Matthew Weaver and Scott Prisand of Corner Store Entertainment, and Carl Levin. Joining them in the feature effort is Tobey Maguire and his Maguire Entertainment. Janet Billig, Hillary Weaver and Maguire Entertainment's Dan Shafer will be exec producers.

D'Arienzo recently made his feature directing debut on "Barry Munday," a Corner Store-financed film that is in post-production. Patrick Wilson and Judy Greer star.

The "Rock of Ages" deal comes after Universal acquired the Tony-winning Broadway musical "In the Heights," with creator and songwriter Lin-Manuel Miranda starring and book writer Quiara Alegria Hudes penning the script.

It becomes the second big musical project for New Line, which is developing a sequel to "Hairspray."

Moriarty Visits London To KICK-ASS! Part One! AICN Exclusive Image Premiere!

Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here.

London's starting to feel familiar at this point.

When I was a kid, it always seemed like all the coolest films were shooting in England, and it always sounded impossibly far away. I'd read about STAR WARS or RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK or the latest James Bond film, and I'd try to imagine what sort of places existed where that sort of magic could take place.

SMASH CUT TO: Tarquin Pack, Matthew Vaughn's right-hand man, standing next to me on Stage Eight at Elstree Studios, pointing at a spot on the floor where the word "TANK" is stenciled in white.

"Right there," he says. "That's where they dunked Han Solo in the carbonite. That's where Indy started his descent into the Well Of Souls. Right. Fucking. There."

Forget familiar. This place feels like home.

Let's back up a bit. The first time I heard of KICK-ASS was before it began publication. Matthew Vaughn called to talk about how he was getting ready to buy the rights to something new. "Something even you haven't heard of yet," he crowed. He was still working on THOR at the time, but I could hear some anxiety creeping in when we spoke, anxiety over the way development was progressing. Matthew's a guy who doesn't do things in half-measures, and I've learned that he'll walk away from something if he feels like he's got to compromise it, and his vision of THOR was enormous. After the relative box-office disappointment of STARDUST, it hardly seemed like he was going to be able to wrestle his $300 million Asgard up onto the screen intact, so I got the feeling he was looking for a plan B. He promised he'd call me when he could reveal what the project was, but things must have accelerated rapidly for him, because the next time I heard from him, he was already neck-deep in preparing this one for production. He filled me in on what had been going on, and it seemed amazing how quickly they'd gotten this production up on its feet.

By the time KICK-ASS began publication, Matthew was already hard at work on the screenplay with his writing partner, the rowdy and razor-sharp Jane Goldman. She and her husband, Jonathan Ross (both rabid comic book fans), were the ones who put Matthew together with Mark Millar in the first place, and because they were involved with KICK-ASS from the treatment stage, it's created a strange sort of cross-pollination of ideas between the filmmakers and Millar and John Romita Jr., who are the primary creative team on the comic.

I read and reviewed the script not long ago, and then started talking to Matthew about joining them in England for part of the shoot. I thought it was a provocative read with some very distinct challenges built in for any filmmaker. Although it was nowhere near the scale of THOR, it seemed equally ambitious in a different way. Deconstruction of a genre is a tricky thing, and right now, it seems like there are several people working on various deconstructions of the superhero genre. HANCOCK made a go of it this summer, and there are some very good ideas in that film, desperately searching for a story strong enough to support them. One might argue that Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT is both a genuine superhero film and a simultaneous deconstruction, the UNFORGIVEN of the genre so far. And, of course, Zack Snyder's adaptation of Alan Moore's seminal WATCHMEN looms large on the 2009 horizon right now. So what chance does this scrappy little independent British film have of carving out its own place in the pop culture consciousness.

A damn good one, if you ask me.

I left Los Angeles mid-afternoon on a Wednesday and touched down at Heathrow around 3:00 in the afternoon on Thursday. That always freaks me out, and since I found myself completely unable to sleep on the flight despite being comfortably ensconced in business class and loaded up on Benadryl, my body clock was full-blown haywire by the time my driver managed to drop me at my hotel in Shepherd's Bush. I was right around the corner from the almost-obscenely large Westfield shopping mall they're building there, so construction made the entire area a sort of nonstop circus while I was there.

A quick ten-hour coma left me refreshed and ready to go at 8:00 on Friday morning. My driver picked me up and hustled me to Elstree so we arrived just before 9:30 AM, and once again, I found myself giddy at the prospect of visiting another of England's legendary studios. I've been to Pinewood while STARDUST was shooting, and I went to Shepperton for both INKHEART and THE GOLDEN COMPASS. Elstree was the last of the old-school studios I was desperate to visit, and as I checked in and walked through the front gates, I'm sure I was positively beaming. I was directed into one of the first buildings, told to go upstairs. I found the KICK-ASS offices, and immediately recognized the names of everyone who had helped arrange my trip. They sat me down, handed me a stack of the Millar comics that had been published so far, and left to find the unit publicist. I hadn't read the book, just the script, so it was interesting reading it as a reverse example of adaptation. Seeing what choices were made and why. For the part of the story that the comics covered, both tellings were fairly close in content and tone. Little dialogue tweaks, some character adjustments, but basically the same exact thing. It's going to be a faithful experience if you're a fan of the book. And within that, this cast seems to be having a lot of fun engaging and creating one of the hands-down craziest things I've ever watched shoot.

And I mean crazy in a "wow, I can't believe someone's trying this" sort of way. I have trouble believing Vaughn put together the muscle to make this film independently, his way, using every stage at Elstree, including the big giant George Lucas Stage, opened up into the stage next to it so one set could be built that spanned the full length of both of them. This is a pretty elaborate "indie" in terms of scale and subject matter. When I was greeted by Stacy Mann, the publicist, we chatted for a while and went to meet Tarquin, who I mentioned earlier. I've known him for many years now, on a series of films, and as always, even in the midst of an obviously large and hectic production, he seems unflappable. Always in motion, but never in a rush. He walked me around to the stages himself, and as we talked about Elstree and how much fun he's been having on the stages for the exact geekstalgic reasons I was excited to be there, he told me what part of each stage was used for what in the past, and I can tell he's done his homework because of his own curiosity.

Weirdest part? The Big Brother house for the UK? It's on the Elstree backlot, right across from the George Lucas stage.

That made me laugh for some reason, that collision of brand-new "cutting edge" 21st century reality infotainment and old-school big-budget blockbusters. Especially as I stepped onto the two-stage sets that represent the apartment of Frank D'Amico, played by the great Mark Strong. Frank's a gangster, a businessman who has used his lumber company and other legitimate holdings as a front while amassing a huge illegal fortune. He's got his fingers in a thousand different dirty deals all over New York, but he loves to put on a good face and flaunt his wealth. The apartment set was unfinished when I was there, but enough of it was done to see just how amazing the final set would be. The main hallway down the center of the apartment is several hundred yards long, one end given over to a massive balcony overlooking the city. That's where some of the key action at the end of the film's going to be staged, and the apartment was built so that everything could be done for real on the same set.

Frank's got a son in the film, a high-school aged kid who he has assigned a bodyguard, and his son is miserable, completely isolated from everyone by this protective bubble in which his father keeps him encased. Christopher Mintz-Plasse, known to most film fans as McLovin in SUPERBAD, is playing Chris D'Amico, and at a certain point in the film, he decides to use his father's money to become a costumed vigilante called The Red Mist. When we left the George Lucas stage, we walked across to the machine shop, where the Red Mist Mobile was sitting, waiting for its next appearance on camera. Calling the Red Mist Mobile a "car" is like calling Megan Fox a "girl" or calling LeBron James a "ball player." It just doesn't sum up the full impact of the thing. This thing is sex on wheels, and Tarquin asked if I wanted to climb in and start it up. I'm not a car fetishist, but if I had access to a machine like this, I might be persuaded. The rumble when I started it up and revved the engine shook my insides like jelly, and if there had been the slightest chance of me driving that thing off the studio lot without incident, I might have backed over Tarquin and made for the gate. I think he could see it in my eyes, too, because he suggested that we should head over to the set where they were getting ready for the first set-up of the day.

Oddly, though, they weren't using any of the soundstages for the first scene. Instead, Tarquin led me into one of the Elstree office buildings, up to the second floor. First thing I saw as we came off the stairwell was Chris Mintz-Plasse in his full Red Mist outfit, and the first thing that flashed through my mind was VELVET GOLDMINE. The costumes in this film aren't like the ultra-perfect design work done in movies like SPIDER-MAN or the BATMAN series, where you wonder how anyone is supposed to have made those costumes without an army of professionals helping out. In the world of KICK-ASS, everything's got a handmade quality to it. Now, Chris D'Amico has money in the film, so he's spent some coin putting together his Red Mist outfit, but even so, it's more like something some glam rock kid would have worn to a club in London in the '70s than like what we're used to seeing in superhero films so far. He's got an outrageous hairpiece that tops off the look, and the effect is that you're so busy looking at the outfit, you'd never notice the kid wearing it, exactly what his character wants. Well-played. I hadn't seen Chris since the YEAR ONE set last year, so we spent a minute chatting, catching up, and as we talked, Chloe Moretz walked by in her Hit Girl outfit, and I realized I'd stopped talking so I could stare.

Hit Girl and Big Daddy are, in my opinion, the break-out characters of the film. I think the whole thing is smartly written, and everyone's got great stuff to play, but there's something so immediate and so right about Hit Girl and Big Daddy that I find it hard to believe they didn't exist before this series. Although the entire conception of KICK-ASS has to do with the idea of costumed vigilantes in an identifiably real world, the concept finds its ultimate expression in these two, a homicidal riff on Batman and Robin. This is the ugly face of vigilante justice at its absolute ugliest, the logical end game, and there's something monstrous and perverted about just how much fun they are. One of the reasons I was brought in for the three particular days I was is because there's only one scene in the film where Hit Girl, Big Daddy, The Red Mist, and Kick-Ass all end up in one room together in costume, and that's the first thing they were set to shoot on the morning I arrived. One of the rooms in that Elstree office building had been redressed to look like one of Big Daddy's safehouses, and that's where I found Matthew Vaughn, already behind the monitor and ready to go.

By that point, Chloe Moretz was in the room, practicing for a tumble out a window she'd have to take in the middle of the scene. Keep in mind, this girl is eleven years old, just like the Hit Girl in the comics, and over the course of my stay in London, I saw her involved in gunfights, doing stunts, and killing gangsters with hydraulic machinery. This is not the typical work by a girl her age, and yet, Chloe seemed completely nonplussed about the extremity of the role the entire time I was there. Chris Mintz-Plasse was the second actor to make his way into the room, and he seemed eager to get going. Aaron Johnson, the star of the film, showed up next in full Kick-Ass regalia, my first time seeing the costume head to toe, and there couldn't be more of a difference in the way he carries himself and the way Chris carries himself. When you're wearing a costume as outrageous as these are, you have to sell it. You have to go out on a limb in terms of the choices you're making, and it's only now... sitting here writing about it... that I sort of realize how much trust all four of these actors had having me on set for that particular morning. Chloe's young enough that she might not be self-conscious about it. Besides, Hit Girl's the coolest of the bunch. Her outfit's a variation on a schoolgirl outfit, but with body armor, leather-wrapped. She's got a purple wig and a small black mask, and Chloe's got a sneer that would make Elvis Presley proud, like if Batman adopted a tiny female Billy Idol as his sidekick.

Aaron, on the other hand, seemed to be constantly... ready. Coiled. Aaron seems like not only can he handle himself, but he's ready to. He seems comfortable with the outrageousness, so over it at this point. They're not overselling him as a nerd or a geek or anything of the sort, which is certainly a danger. It's when he's out of the costume that some of that started to come out. But in the costume? And with the mask on? He seems at home.

Chris and Aaron talked to Matthew for a moment, and then walked back out of the set, into the hallway outside where they were out of view from video village. Matthew, Jane Goldman, soundman badass extreme Simon "Purple" Hayes, and about four or five others were huddled in a small room on the other side of a non-existent fourth wall for the safe house. There was one wall, with a window into the alley, one wall covered in guns and armament, one wall with the door. And then all of us about five feet away.

So for a moment, it was just Chloe, sitting in the window, and then Nicolas Cage walked in.

Now, like I said... everyone's in full costume. And up till now, I've had no indication what to expect from Big Daddy. The Dark Knight to Hit Girl's Boy Wonder. And like I said... having me there for the shoot required an act of trust on the part of everyone, including Cage. I've never met him before this, but I've certainly been a fan since the '80s, and part of that is because he's always pushed boundaries with his work. He's made some great films. He's given some great performances. He's made some big movies and given some entertaining performances. He's been in awful films. He's been in flawed wild weird experiments. He's been in playful messes. More than anything, he always seems to me to be a guy who comes in and makes some big bold choices.

That is definitely the case with Big Daddy.

Matthew went over to talk to him at the desk which was the only piece of furniture in the room. Nic was supposed to start the scene seated at the desk, in his outfit, talking with HitGirl, seated in the open window with her back to the alley, also in her outfit. They're waiting for someone to arrive. There's a knock at the door, and it's Red Mist and Kick-Ass. They come in to talk for a moment, and then...

... actually, I'm going to save that for more of the set report tomorrow. I've got KICK-ASS stuff to share with you from now till the morning of BNAT, and each day, I'll have a new exclusive image or two for you.

In a move ballsy enough to put Soulja Boy to shame, 50 Cent has issued a challenge to gamers to beat him at his own game...which isn't even out yet.

50 Cent: Blood on the Sand isn't due to drop until January 19th next year, but Fiddy's apparently already had enough experience with it to know that he can trounce all comers.

"I actually had the opportunity to play it, and I'm pretty good at it," the hip-hop mogul said in an interview with MTV. Good enough, apparently, to back his claims with his cash. "If anybody out there wants to create a challenge or wants to bet some money online, we could play the game right now."

50 also spoke on some of the influences on his game, which centers on an destructive escapade to recover a crystal-encrusted skull in a fictional Middle Eastern nation. "The actual aesthetics, the scenery, was inspired by "Blood Diamond" on some levels," he said. "Blood Diamond", a film about a war-torn African country and the rampant corruption therein, and the 50 Cent videogame? They both use precious gems as a central motif, I suppose.

Straight out of left field influences aside, 50 remarked that he was extremely pleased with the way the game is turning out. "I'm happy with the videogame," he said. "I actually went to Los Angeles to meet with some of the programmers, and we sat down. They showed me some options and some things that they had already developed. I told them this idea that I thought would be cool and to merge the idea into what they already had, and it worked out."

Let's hope the "idea" wasn't a built-in handicap for everyone who challenges him in an online match.

Ovih dana na Senjaku, pod vođstvom Uroša Smiljanića odvija se jedan od najuzbuljivijih umetničkih projekata u istoriji srpke umetniče, ali i pop muzike. U saradnji sa Multimedia Recordsom, srpskim zastupnikom američke izdavačke kuće Universal Music Group i Sekretarijatom za kulturu Grada Beograda Smiljanić je dobio donaciju da organizuje monumentalni listening party povodom izlaska novog albuma Kanye Westa "808s & Heartbreak". U tom cilju, Smiljanić je napravio muzičku instalaciju "101s and Heartbreak".
"Kanyeov album se zove "808s & Heartbreak" zato što je tematski vezan za raskid jedne ljubavne veze i odsviran je na ritam mašinama Roland 808", objašnjava Smiljanić. "Roland 808 je jedan od ključnih isntrumenata pop muzike osamdesetih koja je poznata po svom emotivnom naboju."

"Moj koncept je da ceo album, svih dvanaest numera bude odsviran zvukom motore Zastave 101, automobila koji je obeležio osamdesete u mojoj zemlji", naglašava nam autor instalacije. "Kao što su tokom osamdesetih sentimentalne emocije izlazile iz umera rađenih na Rolandu 808, tako su i u Srbiji mnoge sudbine, ljubavi, zajednički životi, lepa putovanja, nastajali u Zastavi 101."

Posebnu emotivnu težinu Smiljanićevom projektu daje i prestanak prizvodnje "juga" u kragujevačkoj "Zastavi" koje on smatra svojim "heartbreakom". "Drugi veliki emotivni brodolom za mene je i nedavni odlazak Karlheinza Stockhausena, koji je prvi pravio instalacije ove vrste."

"Smiljanićev projekat je deo naše šire strategije novog vida promovisanja uvoznih izdanja", kaže Jadranka janković iz Multimedia Recordsa. "Pordaja CDova u svetu je u opadanju i mi pokušava da ponovo vratimo interesovanje publike fizičkim nosačima zvuka. Ovo je tek prva od promocija koje planiramo u predstojećem perodu."

Kako saznajemo, ukoliko instalacija "101s and Heartbreak" bude uspešna, Multimedia planira da na ruševinama kineske ambasade na Novom Beogradu napravi listening party povodom izlaska novog albuma Guns N Rosesa "Chinese Democracy".

HRT-ov politički tok-šou Nedjeljom u 2 danas je prekinut zbog ponašanja Zorana Prodanovića i Damira Martinovića, članova Let 3, koji su prema oceni voditelja prekoračili granicu pristojnosti.

Po njemu, oni su preterali su kad su se pred kraj emisije počeli skidati i demonstrirali ispaljivanje čepova iz stražnjice.

Stanković je u jednom trenutku čak ustao i sakoom pokušao sakriti od gledalaca zadnje delove tela svojih gostiju.

Stanković je u par navrata u emisiji gostima prigovorio kako se ne drže dogovorenih granica pristojnosti, te ih nekoliko puta zamolio da ne upotrebljavaju vulgarne izraze.

Uz izvinjenje gledaocima, Stanković je emisiju prekinuo 10 minuta pre kraja, što je prvi takav slučaj u istoriji te vrlo popularne i cenjene emisije.

ZA - KON!!!
Jedva čekam da se pojavi snimak na jutjubu.

jeftin estradni marketing za zasenjivanje prostote.

Pojavio se snimak na Tubi...

Uh, ja čuo da je Mrle zapatio tuberkulozu, kad ono PRLJA imao  "samo" zapaljenje pluća... Dobro je
A i internet tračeraj je čudo neprecizan

Najbolja Nu2 ikad!
Genijalno, mada očigledno isplanirano.
Smara što je na jutjubu podeljeno u 6 fajlova.

Heh... upravo smo dobili mejl kojim nam glavna urednica Hupera javlja da je Politika konačno puld d plag i ukinula Huper. Veliki broj Sagitaša je sarađivao sa ovom novinom pa je red da se ovde napravi minut ćutanja.

Zezas?
A taman kad sam kupio svoj prvi broj i zakljucio da je super, te vredan kupovanja.

Quote from: "Meho Krljic"Heh... upravo smo dobili mejl kojim nam glavna urednica Hupera javlja da je Politika konačno puld d plag i ukinula Huper. Veliki broj Sagitaša je sarađivao sa ovom novinom pa je red da se ovde napravi minut ćutanja.

prava novogodišnja čestitka, u politikinom stilu!
moroni.

Pa, dobro sad, ima možda tu i neke ekonomske logike. Mada... znajući da do sada u vezi sa Huperom Politika nije koristila nikakvu logku whatsoever, možda i nema...

U to ime, evo jednog favorita čitalaca: Albumi sa 'i'.

RIP

P.S.

Mene ni ne cudi sto je Huper izdahnuo, s obzirom da ste samo piskarali o hip-hopu.

Dugo sam se spremao da ovde napišem jedan post o tome kako ovakva koncepcija Hupera vodi časopis u sigurnu propast, ali znajući da moje primedbe niko ne bi uvažio ni uzeo za ozbiljno i da bi to bilo uzaludno, na kraju bih odustajao.

Quote from: "Alex"Dugo sam se spremao da ovde napišem jedan post o tome kako ovakva koncepcija Hupera vodi časopis u sigurnu propast, ali znajući da moje primedbe niko ne bi uvažio ni uzeo za ozbiljno i da bi to bilo uzaludno, na kraju bih odustajao.

sad vidiš kako je meni, svaki dan.
glas vapijućeg u pustinji!

Quote from: "Alex"Dugo sam se spremao da ovde napišem jedan post o tome kako ovakva koncepcija Hupera vodi časopis u sigurnu propast, ali znajući da moje primedbe niko ne bi uvažio ni uzeo za ozbiljno i da bi to bilo uzaludno, na kraju bih odustajao.

Pazi to bi zaista bio jalov napor jer su razumne i promišljene primedbe iznesene ljudima sa snagom odlučivanja u Politici prolazile na isti način: niko ih nije ni uzeo za ozbiljno. Politika je tretirala tu novinu kao pastorče (bez propisne distribucije, bez propisnog marketinga, bez osobe koja bi se bavila oglašavanjem) i pored toga se povremeno jedila što na njoj gubi novac. Najlogičnije je bilo da je ugase, naravno, što su na kraju i uradili.

Jebiga. Žao mi je što je ukinut Huper. Mislim da je u poslednjim brojevima baš stao na noge i postao jako zanimljiva novina.

No, na svu sreću ti poslednji brojevi će po mom mišljenju ostati iza nas kao časopisi u kojima ima vrednih stvari i kojima će se ljudi često vraćati.

Pogotovo oni koji sporije rešavaju ukrštenice.

Ja sam kupio sam jedan Huper iz ove nove edicije (i to onaj o punku, zato što sam pozer), ali mi je drago što se nekadašnji trač teen pamflet sa ukrštenicama transformisao u urbani (česta reč na forumu ovih dana, a?) magazin sa zanimljivim tekstovima i istim takvim facama koje ih pišu.
Siguran sam da će se ta ekipa (ili barem u sličnom sastavu) okupiti ponovo oko neke slične publikacije.

Naravno, mislim da je ukidanje moglo da sačeka barem još koji mesec pošto Marčelo na novom albumu u jednoj pesmi spominje da piše za Huper. Ta reklama bi sigurno podigla potražnju za ovim magazinom za koji niko nije ni znao da postoji...








Not.

Juice pominje i Huper i Marčela u jednoj pesmi.

Da, ali se to ipak odnosi na BS:

QuoteALOA VERA - DS, DS, bash ste super, jebeni ste hardkor kada pozvo vas je "Huper"!

Pa rekoh "i Huper i Marčela". Mada vidim sad i da je crippled_avenger pominjao poslednje brojeve. Tu nije bilo ukrštenica? I onda je ukinut? HOW CONVENIENT!

P.S.
Kad je ukinuta rubrika "Dnevnik jedne tinejdžerke"? Ja sam to čitao. I ko je to pisao?

Sigurno Meho.