Yay, Dad! / Hockey Night no More

If you don't mind, I'm just going to take a moment here to be proud of my Dad.

You know how when you watch the 6 o'clock news, and the weatherman says, "The coldest town in Canada yesterday was this town, which had a high of -40!" Ever wonder how they get those temperatures? Well, Environment Canada has an army of volunteers all across this land who record those temperatures.

For 20 years now, my Dad has been the volunteer for Entwistle, Alberta.

If memory serves, we started doing it all those years ago because it met the requirements for some badge my brother wanted to get in Cub Scouts. I was in Cub Scouts, too, but I didn't want no part of it. I was a lazy Scout and was never too motivated to earn badges and all that...I still don't know how I earned the five I did earn. But I digress.

The calls were made, we volunteered, and the government came out and put one of their official monitoring stations in our backyard. When my brother got his badge, my Dad and my brother just kept doing it. When my brother moved out, the torch was passed to me and I started doing it. Then I when I moved out, Dad started doing it solo.

So the government men came out a few days ago to give Dad his 20 year service award and thank him for all his hard work. While 20 years seems impressive, Dad says there's still a long way to go. According to Dad, there are some people who have been doing it for over a hundred years, and it got passed down through the family.

So, congratulations, Dad!

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And while we're blogging, I guess I should also take a moment to talk about the big story sweeping Canadian pop culture right now.

After 40 years of using it, the CBC has decided to dump the theme for Hockey Night in Canada.

See, the theme song is not owned by the CBC. It's owned by some agency. The contract between the agency and the CBC ended at the end of this hockey season. Shortly after the Detroit Red Wings hoisted the cup, re-negotiations began. And then, a few days back, the agency released a note to the press saying that the CBC had decided to dump the theme and negotiations had ceased.

The CBC said, "No! That's not the case!" Petitions were started. Facebook groups sprung up. Angry phone calls were made to the CBC. However, as of Friday night, the CBC said that they decided to stop using it, and they're starting up a contest to find a new one.

There's no doubt that the Hockey Night in Canada theme is part of our pop culture fabric. I mean, I could already hum it when I was 9 years old, and I wasn't a hockey guy at all. I don't think I'd even watched Hockey Night in Canada before that point.

It's a brave new world, that's for sure.

To See with Eyes Unclouded

One of my most heartbreaking days in Grade 4 was the day I was told I need glasses. My teacher suspected something was up as I kept moving my desk closer and closer to the blackboard. Finally, she sent me down to the school nurse to have my eyes checked. I broke down in tears when I admitted that I couldn't read the eye chart at all.

A few weeks later, I was back in class, sporting a pair of prescription lenses. By that time, I had gotten used to the idea that I would forever have this blemish on my face.

Time passed, and my glasses just became...there. No different than anyone else, if only for the fact that I had to reach to my nightstand and put them on every morning.

I had the same pair of glasses for, according to my best estimate, 17 years. I know I got them in junior high for certain. For the past few years, my family had been on my case pretty seriously to get a new pair. But my constant response was, "Why? I can see just fine." The truth was, I couldn't. I knew that it had also been 17 years since my last eye exam, and I was probably due for something a little stronger.

Of course, chatting about this with my friends, they'd occasionally ask questions like, "So, have you ever considered contacts?" To which I say, no, I haven't. Contacts were an option that was never really presented to me, so it's one I've never really considered. Besides, I still have the image of a person cupping their hand over their eye in a panic and screaming, "NO ONE MOVE! I lost a contact!" and everyone crawling around on the floor looking for them. Contacts just seem to be too much bother. Besides, in this day and age of corrective laser surgery, contacts just seem like a halfway solution.

In answer to your next question, I would have the corrective laser surgery in a heartbeat. Too bad it's not covered by a lot health plans yet, so it'll be many heartbeats until I've got the money saved up.

So that meant a new pair of glasses. I started the process back in the fall, by heading to the doctor and getting a new perscription. I finally went to the shop the other day to get my new pair.

It's weird. As I said, I had that same pair for at least 17 years. With them, I saw the shimmering northern lights, the sun rise on Mt. Fuji, and the complete, original runs of 3 Star Trek series. They were constant companions. But now, I have a new companion.

And the world has never looked better.

Must Be Thursday....

Let's do another news that only I care about update:

The International Olympic Committee announced earlier today the 4 finalists to host the 2016 Olympics. The four finalists are:

• Chicago, USA
• Madrid, Spain
• Tokyo, Japan
• Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

These four finalists get 16 months to plead their case. The host city of the 2016 games will be announced on October 2, 2009.

Granted, I don't know much about global politics, but I kind of hope it goes to Rio de Janeiro, because the Olympics have never been held in South America.

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Hey, what's my favourite director, Tim Burton, up to?

Rumors have been flying the past few days that Burton was recently approached by his ol' buddy Johnny Depp to do a movie version of the classic TV show Dark Shadows.

For those who don't feel like clicking on the link to Wikipedia, Dark Shadows was a soap opera popular in the late 1960s. It was unique in that it drew its inspiration from Gothic horror novels. Plots frequently featured werewolves, ghosts, zombies...hell, the lead character was a vampire!

Needless to say, it's become a cult classic. It spawned two movies in the early 1970s. There was a revival in the early 1990s that, while being popular, only lasted one season. And, it was a huge influence on Goth culture.

Which is where Johnny Depp and Tim Burton come in, because they are both fans of the show. In fact, Depp's own production company currently holds the movie rights, and Depp has alegedley asked Burton to direct. Depp himself wants to play that lead character vampire.

Of course, there's nothing official yet. As for what Burton is officially doing right now, he's hopping on the performance capture bandwagon to give us a performance capture version of Alice in Wonderland, and then he'll be producing a stop-motion animated version of his 1980s short film Frankenweenie.

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Big news happening with the development of Disney's straight-to-DVD Tinker Bell movies.

Disney's Tinker Bell Movie has had one of the most storied productions of all of Disney's straight-to-DVD movies. Rumor has it that there have been two dozen versions of the script, a dozen different directors, and Disney has poured more than $50 million into the project.

And then, John Lasseter, the head of Pixar, was put in charge of Disney Animation. While he was not in charge of the straight-to-DVD unit, he started becoming deeply involved anyway. Like a lot of people, he thought that the straight-to-DVD sequels were a blight on the Disney legacy. When Lasseter took charge, he saw a rough cut of The Tinker Bell Movie and declared it "unwatchable." It was thought that Lasseter pulled the plug on the project.

Which is why it came as a shock a few months back when Disney and Pixar announced their upcoming animated film slate, and revealed that there would be not one, but four straight-to-DVD Tinker Bell movies. The first one is due out in October.

But that's not the news.

The news is that it was recently announced that Brittany Murphy was fired as the voice of Tinker Bell.

Murphy was announced with much hype and fanfare back in 2006 to give voice to Tink. So, again, surprising.

The new voice of Tinkerbell will be Mae Whitman, whom my fellow Arrested Development geeks will recognize as Ann, George Michael's girlfriend. Yes, her.

Replacing an overpaid celebrity for someone lesser known? That's a classic Pixar move.

These might be good after all.

New Computer and New Nightmare Before Christmas DVD!

I really have to start getting serious about my new computer. I just ran Disc Clean-Up and only freed up 1G. There has to be something wrong with my computer. It just sits there, doing nothing, and yet, the hard drive gets fuller and fuller...spy ware, a virus, something's filling it up. And yet the scans say nothing.

Which is why it's time for something new. I said I'd blow my tax refund on a new machine, and it's time to do so. As I've blogged previously, I really just wanted to go to CompuSmart in Edmonton and get my ideal system on a one-stop shopping trip, but CompuSmart is no more.

The trend right now are these little Mom & Pop computer stores that build-to-order. I've talked to family and friends about which Mom & Pop store to go to, and everyone tells me that the one in their neighbourhood is the best. Each Mom & Pop store is unique and differnt, but they all seem to build Acers.... And of course, lots of my friends also own Dells, that's what we use at work, and they seem pretty reliable.

I hereby declare I'll have my new machine by the end of June.

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In the past, I've often decried against the crime of DVD double dipping. I've already bought it once, I should never have to buy it again! I only succumb to the double dip when it's a movie I really, really like and/or there are enough bonus materials to warrant buying it again.

So I will be succumbing to the double dip on August 26, when I run out to buy Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Collector's Edition.

Granted, The Nightmare Before Christmas got a really nice single-disc special edition about 7 or 8 years ago. But this new edition is a 3-DISC special edition! For bonus materials, you get:

- a brand new, anamorphic widescreen transfer for the film.
- an all-new running commentary with writer/producer Tim Burton, director Henry Selick, and composer Danny Elfman.
- 4 featurettes: The Making of The Nightmare Before Christmas, the Worlds of The Nightmare Before Christmas, What's This?: Jack's Haunted Mansion Holiday Tour, and Introduction to Frankenweenie!
- Tim Burton's Original Poem, as read by Christopher Lee.
- storyboard to film comparisons
- deleted scenes
- the original trailers
- a gallery of movie posters
- Tim Burton's classic short film Vincent
- and a brand new introduction by Tim Burton.

Disc 3 of the set will contain the electronic copy. This is a new trend that's popping up on DVD. The electronic copy is the film already rippped and saved as a movie file, so that way you can copy the file right onto your iPod without any unneccessary ripping, and it's all legal.

For those who have already made the Great Upgrade, it's also being released on Blu-Ray.

And for the ultimate fans, there'll also be a special gift set, where in addition to the 3-disc special edition, you also get a limited edition, hand-painted bust of Jack Skellington, complete with a sound chip so it plays voice clips from the film.

August 26.

Monday Morning Catch-Up

At work, I've got these Justice League action figures on my desk. Wonder Woman is the only one that came with a base so you can stand her up, what with her tiny, dainty feet and all that. I came in this Monday morning to find that the figures had been knocked over. Happens all the time...the janitors probably just bumped the desk while dusting. Sadly, though, I found Wonder Woman's base had gone missing, and she now had no way of standing up.

So I grabbed this little bit of Athabasca University swag I had lying around my desk, wrapped her kung-fu grip around it, and now she can stand on her own two feet. She's actually more stable than she's ever been.

Only downside is, Wonder Woman now looks like she's working her way through college.

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I do so love my fast food, so I feel I've got to highlight this story going around.

KFC Canada and PETA have now reached an agreement to make KFC in Canada more animal-friendly.

Some of the new initiatives KFC is undertaking is they're going to use "controlled atmosphere killing" to slaughter chickens. According to the news, "controlled atmosphere killing" is gassing them to death, which PETA calls the most humane way to slaughter a chicken.

KFC also has to form an animal welfare advisory panel to make sure that these things are carried out.

the one thing that I'm most interested about is they also have to introduce a vegan-friendly, faux-chicken item to their members. Being a fast food junkie who has sampled the vegan alternatives from time to time, I'm actually excited about that.

Once again, this is just KFC Canada. While other KFC's around the world have decided not to cave to PETA's demands, KFC in Canada went, "hold on here, let's here what they have to say," and had seven months of negotiations. they were able to do this because KFC in Canada is owned by a different company that KFC in the USA.

So, there you go! KFC in Canada is now the most humane fast food place.

Here's the Canadian Press's story on the matter.

Here's PETA's official statement.

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And hey! My collection of Tim Burton films on DVD is finally going to fill in a very notable gap.

Beetlejuice is finally getting a special edition DVD!

Beetlejuice: 20th Anniversary Deluxe Edition hits store shelves on September 16. It has a brand-new anamorphic widescreen transfer, and a new 5.1 surround sound mix. It's kind of scant on bonus materials, though. All you get is an music-only track, the original trailer, and 3 episodes of the Beetlejuice cartoon.

Now all I need are special editions of Mars Attacks! and Sleepy Hollow and my collection will be complete!

Latest Targ's Up!

So, a few weeks ago, I went down to Red Deer for a family function, and I used Blooger's new "Future Post" function to automatically put up a blog entry saying, "Hey, I'm in Red Deer, so no new episode this week."

Today, I use my future post powers for good! I am once again in Red Deer for a family function, but this time, I recorded this week's episode of the Targ in advance, posted it before I left, and I am using the future post function to say, "It's ready for download!"

That's right, I got this week's episode of the Targ up!

This week, we've got Episode 98: The Art of Mediocrity. In this one, I get ready to sit down and watch all 10 Pokemon films, start wondering about where to get that new computer, and tell the tale of Tama the Station Master.

Give it a listen!

the Zack and Miri teaser!

It's been a proud tradition of Kevin Smith's -- starting with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back -- for Smith to produce Internet-only teasers for his films.

Ladies and gents, here's the first Internet-only teaser for Smith's next one, Zack and Miri Make a Porno!





Smith has already said thise scene is NOT in the film...he made this just for a teaser.

It's slated to come out in October.

I Love This Song

At my little ol' blog, I've already geeked out enough about the music of Michael Giacchino. Among his latest accomplishments is the score for Speed Racer. It hasn't been released in Canada yet. I ordered it out of the USA and it should be here soon.

Until then, here's the end credits music for Speed Racer that I found on YouTube. At its core, it's a huge orchestra cover of the end credits music for the original cartoon:



It is impossible to listen to this music and not smile. My copy of the soundtrack can't get here soon enough.

this summer, as I'm strolling down the streets of Athabasca with my MP3 player cranked up, and you see me dancing in the streets, this is what I'm listening to.

It's already been widely reported that Giacchino is doing the music for the next Star Trek film. Giacchino has also gone on record as saying that he's working the original Alexander Courage theme into his score.

If he does it like this, I will be very, very happy.

Portrait of a Wannabe as a Young Man

Those who have been reading this website for a really, really long time will remember something I used to do called Chaos in Print. Way, way back in university, I did my college radio show AND I wrote an opinion column for the school paper. When I graduated, I was suddenly deprived of a creative outlet and started getting bored out of my mind.

Then I remembered I still had the website. So, I re-launched my column at my website, and dedicated myself to writing a new column once a week.

Chaos in Print was born! Or re-born, or something.

I managed to keep doing it for seven years. From 1999 to 2006, every Sunday afternoon, you could find another column about my life. It could be my musings on my favourite TV show. It could be some deep analysis of my own neuroses. It could be anything...whatever I felt like writing about.

It charted that first year of unemployment after school. It charted two years of wasting my life at Extra Foods. I stretched a week-long visit to friends in Vancouver to three months of rants. It chronicled my year of teaching English in Japan...I had no shortage of topics that year. I jotted down my notes about returning to school to study broadcasting. And it charted that first year of unemployment after school...again.

When the term "blog" started entering our language, I'd get pissy whenever someone called it a blog. It wasn't a blog, darn it! It was a column! I was a writer! This was going to be the beginning of the Great Canadian Novel! But, taking a second look at it...yeah, it's a blog. it's the worst kind of blog...the kind where someone chronicles their bowel movements and tries to find the meaning of life in re-runs of Battlestar: Galactica. It's moody, angst-ridden, and way too personal. I kept thinking it would be the start of the Great Canadian Novel, but if it were to be published today, I'm certain I would die of humiliation.

So how come I haven't wiped it from the face of the Internet?

Mainly because, at one stage in my life, it was very important to me. Back when my life was confusing, in upheaval, and I was still finding myself, that was my one constant. The fact that I'd sit down sometime that week and write about it.

I once heard it referred to as "the second coming of age." I hear it's now called the "quarter-life crisis." It's that stage when you're done school and experiencing the culture shock of the real world. And it looks like I've kept a darn good record of mine.

I stopped doing it rather unceremoniously two years ago, when I got hired in Athabasca. I said I'd come back to it when I was settled in my new place, but here we are, two years later, and I think it's time to accept that I'm not getting back to it. Besides, most of my efforts are put into the podcast now, and that's pretty much what Chaos in Print has transmogrified into.

But I just didn't want to leave it hanging. For the last two years, it said, "Next one coming soon!" I had to do something about it. So I did.

I just re-designed the Chaos in Print section of my main website. You'll find I've divided Chaos in Print into sections. Each section has a brief summary of that stage of my life, and a few highlights--articles that are less embarrassing than others.

The dream has not died. I still write from time to time. Still kind of half-plan to write that novel someday. But until then, you'll have to make due with the rantings of man who thought he was much more talented than he really was.

This is me, from 1999 to 2006.

Pokemon 10 hits DVD!

For all the geeks like me, it might interest you to know that Pokemon: the Rise of Darkrai hits DVD today!

For those of you who are counting, this would be Pokemon: The 10th Movie.

For the polyglots in the crowd, its original Japanese title is Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai.

If the rumors are to be believed, this is the first release that'll contain the original Japanese language track!

Following the current pokemon movie trends, this one's setting is based on a real-world city. In this win, Ash, Pikachu and the gang head to Barcelona.

I'm going to swing by Amazon.ca and buy it now!

And just think! The saga will just never end. This July, the 11th movie hits theatres.

Mascot Mania!

Wow, just when you thought you'd had enough Olympics in your pocket change....

I get the spam from the Royal Canadian Mint today saying that there's a trio of new quarters out now boasting the Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots.

These won't actually be in your change. They're going to be sold to coin collectors. $14.95 for a quarter. Ye-ha.

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And this story's just cute.

so, here we are in Japan. This very small railway - just 14km of track - was on the verge of going under. Meanwhile, one of the stations along this railway adopted a little kitten named Tama. Tama made the train station his home.

The railway company made Tama its mascot. Now, people from all across Japan are flocking to see this cat/station manager and buy merchandise bearing the kitty's likeness. The kitty saved the railway!

Read the complete story.

Latest Targ's Up!

Wow, I sure haven't had much to blog about this week....

Anywho, got the always blog-worthy new episode of the Targ up!

This week, it's Episode 97: Online Footprint, where I lament the size of my online footprint, start finishing that Star Trek DVD collection, and geek out over Pokemon 10 hitting DVD on Tuesday!

Give it a listen!

Obscure Film Music Ho!

As a bit of an update on this week's podcast, my copy of the Speed Racer score has been special ordered out of the States. But I didn't swing by Amazon.com. Instead, I learned that the score was put out by the record label Varese Sarabande...a label that specializes in film scores. So I decided to buy it direct from the record label.

It's actually really cool if you like film scores. Before I hit "check-out" and ordered my copy, I did a little more browsing and found another obscure film score that I wouldn't mind having...Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Acutally, I got a little miffed after I clicked the button and made my order official. They've got a lot of other obscure film scores I wouldn't mind getting.

"Crocodile" Dundee - The opening credit music for "Crocodile" Dundee has always stuck out in my mind. With a driving bass and a digeridoo, it's classic "venturing into the wilderness" music.

Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie - Want to get it mainly for the "Holy moly, they actually released this?" aspect.

Fantastic Four - Around five years ago, when every Marvel character started getting their own film, I started collecting the scores for most of them, mainly because there's nothing like a great superhero theme. But, sadly, most of them don't have great superhero themes, so I gave it up. (John Williams' Superman theme and Danny Elfman's Batman theme are still the gold standard.) However, I do like John Ottman's Fantastic Four theme, as it's got a great "charging to the rescue" vibe to it.

So, yeah. I might be blowing my next paycheque. Might give it a few more paycheques before doing so, though.

New Movie Reviews are Up!

Got two new movie reviews up at the main site.

Two weeks late is my review for Iron Man, and my review for Speed Racer.

Check them out!

Latest Targ's Up!

After last week's hiatus for a trip to Red Deer and a Mother's Day BBQ, I am back with a brand new episode of U62: The Targ!

Here we've got Episode 96: My May Long Weekend. I gush about Speed Racer, tell you about one of the funniest websites ever, and go shopping online for some hard-to-find film scores.

Give it a listen!

Speed Racer, Star Trek, and Pokemon

I just got home from Speed Racer.

Don't believe the anti-hype. It rocks.

As you're probably aware, Speed Racer was brought to the big screen by the Wachowski Brothers, the same guys who brought us The Matrix Trilogy. When the Matrix first came out in 1999, some of the more cynical geeks I hung out with went, "yeah, well The Matrix only impressed people who haven't seen enough anime."

With Speed Racer, the Wachowskis have truly made a live-action anime.

Everything is there, from the colour schemes to the editing to the very upbeat music...all the key elements of anime are there. In live action.

So trust me. If you were ever a member of your high school or college's anime club...if you ever rolled your eyes because a friend of yours saw a clip of Neon Genesis Evangelion and said "Is this Astro Boy?"...if you get the joke when I mention Sailor Jupiter's talent....

then you'll enjoy and appreciate Speed Racer.

I'll even go out on a limb and say I liked it more than Iron Man.

So go see it!

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So I guess this is year that I'm finishing getting all of Star Trek: The Next Generation on DVD.

I got seasons 1 and 2 six years ago when it was first released. Then I went to Japan, started saving my money to go to NAIT, and, well, life got in the way.

I always meant to finish the collection, but as any trekkie will tell you, it's tough. Whereas the average season set for a TV show runs $40-$50, Star Trek's season sets go for $80-$100. It really is gouging the fans.

So a few weeks ago, when I was seeing Iron Man, I was browsing in Best Buy and found season 3 marked down to $50. I figured, "What they hey?" and bought it.

And I must say, I was pleasantly surprised with season 3. When I watched seasons 1 and 2, I would roll my eyes at how many bad episodes were in those early years. But with season three, the ratio of good to bad was definitly on the side of good.

Anyway, today I was browsing in Future Shop. I found season 4 marked down to $60. Since I hadn't really touched my tax refund yet, I decided "What the hey?" and grabbed it off the shelf.

I went to the till. The clerk rang it up. But it didn't come up as $60. It came up as $40.

Me>> It's $20 cheaper? Nice!

Clerk>> Yeah, we just got a new shipment and we're trying to move them, so all our Star Trek is on sale right now.

Me>> I'm almost tempted to go back and get season 5....

Clerk>> I'm not sure if we have season 5.

Me>> You do have it. I saw it right on the shelf next to this. Give me a minute....

And I ran back and got season 5.

Two more and I can start on DS9.

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Hey! Pokemon 10 comes out in a week and a half. If Amazon.ca is to be believed, it's going to be the first one to boast the original Japanese language track.

And hey! As we all know, Pokemon games come in threes. There was the original Red/Blue/Yellow, leading to Gold/Silver/Crystal, and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. We now know what's going to complete the trinity of Diamond/Pearl/__________.

Coming this fall to the Nintendo DS...Pokemon: Platinum Edition.

Double Dips, Fraggles, and Educational TV

Tuesday! New DVDs! And the day is filled with double-dips.

Here's a trivia fact for you: Twister was the first movie released on DVD. Now, all you Bill Paxton completionists can get a brand new, 2-disc special edition of Twister. This new edition has a whole slew of documentaries about the making of the film, the real world of tornadoes and storm chasers, and all the fun stuff like running commentaries and cut scenes.

Hey! Did you know that there's a new Indiana Jones movie coming out next week? To celebrate this event, all of the Indiana Jones movies are re-released on DVD today. This time, each film in the original trilogy gets its own individual 2-disc special edition, full of new featurettes about the stunts, the special effects, and all the stuff that makes Indy so darn cool. And, you can get them all in a special gift pack called as Indiana Jones: The Adventure Pack.

Hey! Did you know that there's a new Incredible Hulk movie coming out next month? There was also this Incredible Hulk TV series in the late 1970s, and that spawned three reunion movies in the late 1980s. Well, the first two reunion movies are out on a single DVD today. The first film was called The Incredible Hulk Returns, and actually featured the Hulk teaming up with Thor (in his first live-action appearance). The second film was called The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, and actually featured the Hulk teaming up with Daredevil (in his first live-action appearance). And the great thing about this DVD is that it's discount-bin-priced. Suggest retail price is $10, so it just might be worth a laugh.

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Fraggle Rock is being turned into a movie!

Yup, the classic, Jim Henson created TV show from the late 1980s is coming to the silver screen. The plot will follow Gobo, Wembley, Mokey, Boober and Red as they venture into outer space (that's our world) to rescue Uncle Traveling Mat.

This'll be a co-production of the Weinstein Company and the Jim Henson Company. Rock legend (and son of rock legend Frank Zappa) Ahmet Zappa is going to executive produce. And now, the bad news. Corey Edwards, director of the very lousy computer animated film Hoodwinked! is directing.

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The Electric Company is making a comeback!

For those who've never heard of it, The Electric Company was the Children's Television Workshop's attempt to duplicate the success of Sesame Street. It was aimed at kids who had grown too old for Sesame Street, and was designed to promote literacy and reading skills. It was a huge success, developed a huge cult following. It originally ran from 1971-1977, and was on in re-runs on PBS well into the late 1980s.

Well, the Sesame Workshop (the re-named Children's Television Workshop) decided its time to bring it back. It'll be targeted for kids aged 6-9, and once again focus on reading and literacy.

I remember catching a couple episodes when I was a kid. This show was trippy.

Party Like it's 1997

At long last, here's the trailer for the long-awaited second X-Files movie!







July 25.

No Targ this Week

So Blogger just added this nifty future-post function, letting me write a blog post and then choose when it actually goes up.

I'm testing it out today to post this entry that says...no episode of the Targ this week.

I'm off to Red Deer, for a big Mother's Day BBQ for my mom and grandma, and didn't have time to throw one together.

So, don't forget Mother's Day, and call your mom!

Counting the Days Backwards

The nerd news has been piling up here at home, so it's time to unload it!

First, the news of Wednesday. On the left, you see the movie poster for Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which hits theatres on August 15.

For those who haven't heard, Star Wars: The Clone Wars is George Lucas's latest attempt to keep the Star Wars universe going. Set between Episode II and Episode III, it's going to show us the epic Clone Wars that we all hoped would wind up becoming an actual film in the prequel trilogy. It's fully CGI, it's the first TV show from Lucasfilm's animation division, it premieres on the Cartoon Network this fall.

And George Lucas decided to edit the first three episodes together into a film and put it into theatres.

The trailer is going to be unveiled tomorrow night on various Time-Warner cable stations. Rumor has it it'll be shown theatrically in front of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

That's one of the weird things. This is going to be put into theatres by Warner Brothers, meaning it'll be the first Star Wars film that doesn't open with the 20th Century Fox fanfare.

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The news of Tuesday that I forgot to share.

Spaced: The Complete Series is finally coming to North American DVD!

Spaced is one of those TV shows that I've been dying to check out. I have friends who are bigger geeks than me who have seen it, and have told me, quite simply, "It's a TV show made by geeks for geeks."

According to Wikipedia, the show is about Tim and Daisy, two 20-somethings who have to pretend to be married in order to get an apartment. Sounds nice and sitcomy, right? Well, what makes this so geek-tastic is that ALL the characters are geeks, so the pop culture references come fast and furious.

Plus, the creative team went on to make the very funny films Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz.

Besides getting all 14 episodes (I love how British comedies are short and to the point), you get these for bonus materials:

- Skip to the End: A feature length documentary about the making of the show.
- a 2007 reunion of the cast and crew
- bloopers
- deleted scenes
- the "Homage-o-meter," a pop-up counter that keeps track of all the pop culture references.

But that's not all! They got a whole pantheon of supergeeks to do running commentaries. Ladies and gentlemen, your supergeeks:

- Quentin Tarintino (no introduction needed)
- Kevin Smith (no introduction needed)
- Matt Stone (Trey Parker's significant other and co-genius behind South Park)
- Patton Oswalt (stand-up comic and the voice of Remy in Ratatouille. Ever hear his stand-up act? Half of it is about Star Wars)
- Bill Hader (Saturday Night Live cast member and star of Superbad)
- Diablo Cody (writer of Juno)

Oh, and of course, running commentaries from the original creators: Simon Pegg, Jessica Hynes, and Edgar Wright.

July 22 is when this hits stores, and it might become the second time I ever bought a TV show on DVD without having ever seen an episode. (The first time was Robot Chicken: Season 1 and that worked out pretty good.)

---

The news of Monday I forgot to share.

So, Iron Man made a buttload of money, so that means more Marvel Comics movies! On Monday, Marvel announced what they have planned for more movies based on their characters.

May 2010 - Iron Man 2.

July 2010 - Thor.
Thor is currently being headed up by Matthew Vaughn, the man who brought Neil Gaiman's Stardust to the big screen. Vaughn has already said that his take on Thor will be an epic fantasy film.

May 2011 - The First Avenger: Captain America
This was considered a longshot for Marvel characters. People are afraid that such an overtly patriotic hero would be a "tough sell" overseas, given the current global political climate. I don't care, I'm a canuck, and I think the Cap would kick-ass on screen.

July 2011 - The Avengers
Marvel's supergroup gets a movie! Zak Penn, who wrote X-Men 2 & 3, is hammering out a script. No director yet.

Let's rock!

Latest Targ's Up!

My upstairs neighbours/landlords have a new baby. That's great and all, but it's kind of throwing off my schedule.

I like to do my laundry really early on Sunday mornings, because I'm up really early and the washing machine is free, but since the baby got them up early they decided to do the laundry early, and now I'm sitting and waiting for the machine to be free.

So I find myself devoting my early morning time and energy to getting the Targ up early!

This week, it's Episode 95: Comics, Yo!. I lament the loss of Lex Luthor from Smallville, try to figure out what comes next for Marvel Comics movies, and I do something I haven't done in a long time. I give you a "live from the movie theatre during the end credits" review of Iron Man!

Give it a listen!

The Mall

Ah, a Saturday at West Edmonton Mall! There's nothing finer.

Of course, the main reason for today's trip was to see Iron Man. It was a great film, but.... there were no moments that blew me away. There were no moments that gave me goosebumps. There were no moments that made me geek out completely.

I blame the fact that all those moments are in all the trailers and TV spots, so by the time I saw them on the big screen, I had seen them many, many times.

But all in all, it was really good. I give it 3.5 nibs. I'll have a complete review in the days ahead.

---

And since I was there, I thought I would partake in Free Comic Book Day. Usually the first Saturday in May, Free Comic Book Day is a comic book industry wide event in which comic book stores give out free comic books in an attempt to attract new readers.

I stopped in at my usual haunt, Comic King, and I have to say it went much better than my Free Comic Book Day experience at Comic King last year.

This is how it went down last year. I walked up to the front counter....

Me>> Hello.
Clerk>> How can I help you?
Me>> Is it true that today is Free Comic Book day?
Clerk>> (annoyed sigh) Yes.
Me>> May I have a free comic book, please?
The clerk muttered under his breath while he randomly grabbed a comic from a box behind the counter and tossed it to me.
Me>> thank you!

But this is how it went down this year. I walked into Comic King, and was greeted by a clerk who'd been working there forever. He gave me a great deal on a Star Trek action figure many moons ago.

Clerk>> Good day! How are you today?
Me>> I'm doing good.
Clerk>> Can I help you find anything?
Me>> Nope...just browsing.
Clerk>> Hey! Did you know that today is Free Comic Book Day?
Me>> (flabbergasted that he was freely offering this information) Umm, yeah, I think I read something...
Clerk>> Well, we've got all the free comics spread out on a table at the back of the store. Just head on over there and grab yourself one.
Me>> Um...thank you.
Clerk>> Ya know what? Grab yourself two!
Me>> Uh..wow! thank you very much!

Even though Free Comic Book Day would be the prefect opportunity to grab something new and different, I wussed out and went with the big two. DC's offering is a reprint of #1 of All Star Superman, and Marvel's offering was Secret Invasion Saga, which is everything you needed to know about Skrulls but were afraid to ask.

Although, I was sorely tempted to get Archie Comics' offering, which was a special issue of Jughead.

---

I also managed to drift by the mall's petting zoo. I took a moment to stop and take a look at the animals.

Petting zoos make me feel sad. Being kept in a pen and put on display is one thing, but what's got to be worse is being kept in pen, put on display, and poked and prodded by hundreds of screaming kids. Not much of a life.... I hope that petting zoo animals eventually get retired to a nice big farm where they can run and be free from any screaming youngsters pulling on their ears.

I swear, I'm just two steps away from going vegetarian. Vegetarian, not vegan. I don't think I'd ever be able to give up starting my mornings with a nice cold glass of milk.

Must Be Thursday

I can't believe it took me so long to blog about this.

If you're a big geek like me, then you were completely blown away by the end credits of Cloverfield, and piece of music that accompanied the end credits.





It was just a mindblowing piece of music. It was perfect pastiche/tribute/re-creation of the music written for the most classic Godzilla films.

That piece of music is called ROAR! (Cloverfied Overture), and it was written by Michael Giacchino. Giacchino is a rising new star in the film composing world. He started out doing the music for video games (most notably the Medal of Honor and Call of Duty series), and from there the music for TV shows (most notably Alias and Lost), and he finally broke into feature films by doing the music for The Incredibles. He went on to do the music for Mission: Impossible III and picked up an Oscar nomination for his music for Ratatouille. He does the music for Speed Racer coming out next week, and it's also been announced that he's doing the music for the upcoming new Star Trek film.

But I digress.

I wasn't the only one who geeked out over ROAR!, and soon all the geeks were clamoring for the piece to be released in some form.

Well, it was finally released back on Tuesday. Only on iTunes. Which is more evidence why I need a new computer: need more hard drive space for buying music online.

And here's the cool part. ROAR! as it appears in the end credits is 9:45 long. When you buy it, you get the complete, unedited 12:15 version.

I want it bad.

---

Hey, remember 9 years ago, when all the Episode I action figures went on sale and nerds were lined up outside the toy stores and the toy stores opened up at midnight and there were mad rushes of people wanting to get all the Episode I toys?

Well, sadly, there was no recreation of that today for the Indiana Jones figures. That's right, the Indiana Jones figures are now available at your local Toys R Us!

---

And here's a fantastic piece of 1980s nostalgia.

The Gremlins doing a commercial for a British IT firm!

Latest Targ's Up!

If there's one thing I hate about my job, it's having to be up at 4AM.

No, wait. That's not true. It's OK getting up at 4AM on a weekday so I can get to work on time. But when my biological clock instinctively wakes up at 4AM on a weekend, when I desperately want to sleep in...that's what I hate.

Today, for example. Woke up at 4AM. I lay awake for a while, hoping to drift back into sleep, but it didn't happen. Now, here it is, 7:30, and I've made myself a healthy breakfast of French toast, bacon, and hash browns, swept and mopped the floors, cleaned the bathroom, and got this week's episode of The Targ up!

This week, it's Episode 94: Drive Real Fast. I play a couple of songs to get your engines revving, while I talk about the upcoming movie version of The Hobbit, talk about how Disney shamelessly stages their nature films, and obsess over Star Wars Muppets.

Give it a listen!

Now here it is, 7:30, and I've accomplished everything I wanted to do this Sunday. Time to get back to work on the Weather Dominator.

(In my real job, whenever someone asks if I can do something about the weather, I tell them that my Weather Dominator is around 90% complete, and I'm just waiting for the feds to approve my plutonium.)

Go Speed Racer, Go!

Since the Speed Racer theme song is one of the most beloved anime theme songs going, we just knew there would be a cover version for the live-action movie.

and here it is!

Cranks it up and drives it fast.

Go Speed Racer Go Music Video

The Hobbit is Coming!

I wanted to blog about this yesterday, but after my meandering news recap, I didn't feel like writing more.

Anyway, even though this was announced back in December, yesterday all the paperwork was signed and it's now official.

Guillermo del Toro, director of the Oscar-winning Pan's Labrynth and the Hellboy films, will be bringing us the long-awaited live-action movie version of...The Hobbit.

In case you don't remember the rest of the announcement from December, yes, Peter Jackson, director of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, is the executive producer and will be closely involved with the project. (The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings, for those who have lives.) In fact, del Toro will be moving to New Zealand to film the project.

The plan right now is to film two films back to back. The first one will be a straight-up adaptation of The Hobbit. And for the second one, they're going to pour through all of JRR Tolkein's appendicies and story note about Middle Earth and create something original that fills the gap between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

The Hobbit will be in theatres for Christmas 2011, with The Untitled Hobbit/Lord of the Rings Gap Filler coming in Christmas 2012.

And in other news, check out this sweet new The Dark Knight poster!

Two Years

I try not to talk about work on this blog, mainly because I know my bosses read it and I think it's better safe than sorry. However, a milestone happened at work today that I think is worth noting.

As of today, I have been working in Athabasca for two years.

I'm still not exactly sure how that happened. In a job where the reputation is you just stay at a station like Athabasca for a year or less until moving on to something bigger and better, I'm still here.

It's starting to feel good here. I've made some friends, made some connections, things are going good. What can I say? I'm starting to like it here.

The next milestone comes on May 25. On that day, this officially becomes the job I've held the longest.

---

Thanks for that personal moment...now back to the usual stuff I talk about.

Kevin Smith just announced that Money Shots, the online video journal for his upcoming film Zack and Miri Make a Porno, will be premiering on May 15. All I can say is if it's as good as Train Wreck, his online video journal for Clerks II, then it's going to be great.

---

Lucasfilm has also just announced the latest batch of Star Wars action figures that'll be exclusive to Disney theme parks.

As you know, because of Star Tours, there's all kinds of Star Wars exclusives available only at Disneyland and Disney World.

First, they brought us Star Wars action figures of the Star Tours characters. Then, it was Disney characters as Star Wars characters. Coming in 2008, it's...

The Muppets as Star Wars characters!

The line up is:

Kermit the Frog as Luke Skywalker
Miss Piggy as Princess Leia
Fozzie Bear as Chewbacca
The Great Gonzo as Darth Vader
Rizzo the Rat as Yoda
Beaker as C-3P0

This isn't the first time that Star Wars and the Muppets have crossed paths. Who can forget that classic episode of the Muppet Show with guest hosts Chewbacca, C-3P0, R2-D2, Luke Skywalker, and Luke's identical cousin Mark Hamill? Great stuff.

---

And, the last thing, it's been rumored for years, but it's about 90% official today.

As we all know, it was around four years ago or so that Jay Leno announced that he'd be retiring from The Tonight Show and that Conan O'Brien would be his replacement. The question that some started asking back then was, "Well, who's going to be taking over as the host of Late Night?"

Well, it looks like Conan's personal choice is getting the job. Starting in 2009, it's going to be....

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Disney Goes Natural

Here's an interesting piece of movie news.

Disney just announced that they're launching a new label, "Disneynature." Under this label, Disney's going to start pumping out all manner of nature documentaries and environmental documentaries.

Of course, the main reason for Disney doing this is they want to start cashing in on films like An Inconvenient Truth and March of the Penguins.

The first film under the "Disneynature" label is called Earth, and is a feature-length version of the popular BBC documentary series Planet Earth. It'll be hitting theatres on Earth Day 2009. Other nature documentaries currently in development includes ones about chimpanzees, jungle cats, the world's oceans, and a time-lapse epic about flowers.

This isn't Disney's first venture into nature documentaries. Back in the 1950s, Disney produced a series of nature documentaries under the label True Life Adventures. Many of them won Oscars...and established the formula used for films like March of the Penguins.

Bob & Doug McKenzie finally have a home!

Yay! I just read this online, and it is great news.

The long stuck in development Bob & Doug McKenzie animated series is finally coming to airwaves!

Today, Global Television announced that it's a part of their fall line-up. To be specific, it's a mid-season replacement, so it'll be on TV in early 2009.

For those who've lost track, a Bob & Doug McKenzie cartoon has been in development for quite some time. A pilot/trailer/presentation reel is one of the bonus features on the Strange Brew DVD, which came out in 2003.

And yes, Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis are back doing voices.

Latest Targ's Up

Winter has returned to Alberta, and it sucks! It's a good day to stay inside, curl up next to the computer, and listen to this week's episode of The Targ!

This week, I serve up Episode 93: TerraTron. I share fond memories of CompuSmart, discuss the merits of various video game systems, and reveal the title of the new X-Files movie.

Give it a listen!

Woman with a Crossbow

So, around a month ago, we got our first picture of Snake Eyes from the upcoming live-action G.I. Joe movie. And that made me happy. Because if they could nail Snake Eyes, that meant most of the Joes uniforms would be done right.

I mean, let's be honest. Outside of Snake Eyes most G.I. Joe uniforms were just variations on military fatigues. Very hard to mess up.

And today, my faith was justified, as they released the first official picture of Rachel Nichols as the most prominent female member of G.I. Joe, Master Sergeant Shana M. O'Hara, code name Scarlett.



Again, I have nothing to say but...it's perfect.

August 2009!

The X-Files 2: We Have a Title!

So they finally settled on a title for the long-awaited second X-Files film. Chris Carter and 20th Century Fox had different views, but they finally settled on one.

On July 25, we'll get a great big heaping load of 90s nostalgia when we run out to theatres to see...

The X-Files: I Want to Believe

It's no The Empire Strikes Back, but it's still better than Attack of the Clones.

Latest Targ's Up!

It's another Sunday morning, and that means another sunny episode of U62: The Targ!

This week, we've got Episode 92: Pixar Perfect. I recap the biggest movie news of the week, Pixar unveiling their slate of animated films for the next four years!

Swing on by, and give it a listen!

Reflections on Enchanted and Animated Films

Tonight, I finally ran out and rented Enchanted. I really wanted to see it when it came out back in November, but never had a chance. That, and I figured that it's not the kind of film that a 30-year old man goes to see stag.

But all I can say is that it's an incredibly charming film. Especially if you were addicted to the Disney animated films of the 1990s. Yes, I'm even nerd enough that I spotted Jodi Benson and Paige O'Hara's cameos.

Now while I utterly loved the film, I couldn't help but notice that it followed the formula for animated films very, very closely. Rather than tell you the formula for animated films, I'm going to let Paul Dini do it.

Paul Dini is a veteran of writing for cartoons. However, I best know him as one of the creative forces behind Batman: The Animated Series, and he's generally regarded as the best person to write Batman comics since Frank Miller lost his mind. Dini's current day job is writing issues of Detective Comics and episodes of the smash-hit TV series Lost.

This comes from Paul Dini's blog a few months back. He nailed the animated film formula perfectly.


"Trust me, this process is so simple you could break out the Crayolas and storyboard the whole thing yourself using nothing more complicated than stick figures and tracings of your own hand. Be warned however, most studio execs don't have the attention span to follow the most energetic and entertaining of storyboard pitches for more than three minutes before they start checking their Blackberries for their lunch reservations. If you write your ideas as a treatment or script, the execs can make their readers read it and give them coverage. The good news is these story elements are so tried and true (translation: stale) that even the simplest of readers will get it and enthusiastically pass it along to their boss, who still won't read it but will take credit for all the amusing gags once he sees the completed picture.

Anyway, let's begin. Most cartoon features begin on the plot set-up, usually a revelation of the villain (or villainess) and their plan (usually take over a kingdom, or kill a rival, or get rich or a combination of all three) then establish your hero or heroine, usually a likable loser if male (Aladdin, the guys in Treasure Planet or Atlantis, that dumb panda that's already showing up everyhere), a comically-scattered, sweet, smart, ugly duckling type if female (Belle, Anastasia, the girl in "Enchanted") and the obligatory wacky sidekicks, always one, sometimes as many as three (Flounder, Scuttle, Timon, Pumba, monkey, flying rug, etc., etc.). The villain also usually has a sidekick, either the bungling nincompoop type (Kronk) or the loudmouthed asshole (Iago) or very rarely, some actually sort of threatening creatures (the hyenas in "Lion King.").

The screen action lumps along for 80 minutes or so, consisting of initial skirmishes between hero and villain, the set-up of the traditional hero/heroine love story (these days they usually hate each other at first sight, snark back and forth until the end, then inexplicably fall into each other's arms), songs that explain what the hero, the villain and the heroine each want, a vomit and/or fart joke or two from the sidekicks, and action sequences designed to pad out what could usually be a story told in 10 minutes.

Your primary objective as a modern animation feature storyteller is to get the audience members emotionally charged (i.e., distracted from logic gaps and not thinking too much) so they will be ready for your big finale. This usually consists of the hero defeating the villain (almost always by some initial violent action of the villain that the hero has "cleverly" used to boomerang back on the bad guy; real heroes never being allowed to slay dragons on their own these days) and the villain falling to their death from a great height, the only acceptable way for a baddie to meet their end in a cartoon (Gaston, Frollo, the bear in "The Fox & The Hound," Scar, the poacher in "Rescuers II", anyone notice a trend here?). If the villain can trip over the edge while trying to get in one last cowardly stab at the hero, so much the better. The demise of the bad guy puts everyone in a good mood, so the sidekicks fire up the juke box, or strike up the band, or simply break into song, and while the hero and heroine share a modest kiss, everyone rocks out over the end credits.

Any key dangling story points are lazily and cynically tied up in quick "funny" cut-aways during this sequence. In well-written movies, those points would have been melded skillfully into the plot, but most modern animation execs don't want the audience to have to mentally process new information that close to the picture's end. They want to send their audience out on an emotional high, so kill the bad guy, cue the music, and get in the next load of kids. If the villain has been more funny than evil, a credit sequence cut-away reveals he has survived the fall and is either plotting a return, or is in another comical predicament we can all laugh at before we cut back to the heroes gettin' down with their bad selves to an old Motown song. If a villainous sidekick has been found not all that bad, like Kronk, he is also given a inter-credits tag that shows he was really an okay guy all along and will likely be back as a good guy in the sequel. A few more credit cut-ins handily wrap up whatever the heroes' sidekick's big dream was ("Ah always wanted to fly in a helicopter." Right, explain that one to me), or bring about some family healing between the leads and their respective parents, or provide one last gag with that squirrel-weasel trying to open his nut.

Viola! The perfect contemporary animated movie template. Be sure to thank me when you're collecting your Oscar."

Also note - this template can be used for most current comedies and any Bruce Willis action picture."

The End of Corner Gas

Well, when I first heard this on CFRN news, I had to go online looking for confirmation. Sadly, this year, the rumours are true.

Today, it was announced that next season - the 2008/2009 TV season - will be the final season for Corner Gas.

In his statement to the press, Corner Gas creator and star Brent Butt said that he's ending after season 6 because he wants to go out while they're still on top.

And just like that, it's the end of a Canadian pop culture phenomenon. Who knew, that this simple sitcom about life in a small town in Saskatchewan, would become the most successful Canadian sitcom since King of Kensington.

I remember having a debate with a friend of mine around a year ago. There are two notable Canadian sitcoms about small town life: Corner Gas and Trailer Park Boys. We finally agreed that the differences between the shows essentially boil down to this: Corner Gas is the fantasy of small town life...Trailer Park Boys is the reality.

I'll never forget when Corner Gas first premiered. I got a call from my best friend going, "They stole your idea!" For the longest time, in our drunken midnight ramblings, I'd been going on and on about a sitcom about life in a small Alberta town. And I'll admit, Corner Gas was darn close to what I envisioned.

Sadly, I haven't watched any Corner Gas this season. They changed its time to way late at night (10PM...that's late at night when you're up at 4AM) and I never bother to set my VCR. But we got summer re-runs coming up.

Needless to say, I'll be back for it's final season next year. Here's hoping that they go out with a bang.

Oh, and CTV. If you're looking for a replacement, I've got this idea for a show about life in a small Alberta town....

What's on Deck for Pixar and Disney

So, here we are, counting down the days to Pixar's next film, Wall-E, which looks 100% kick-ass. And along with this countdown, Pixar has unveiled their complete schedule of films from now until 2012. And all I can say is, "Wow!" I've NEVER seen this kind of long-term planning from Pixar! This is what we have to look forward to over the next four years from the inventors of computer animated films. We know that Wall-E is what's slated for 2008, so let's look ahead to 2009.

2009: Up
A very quirky tale of a 78-year old man and an 8-year old Wilderness Explorer going on a series of globetrotting adventures and learning to live life to the fullest. This one comes from Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, the duo responsible for Monsters, Inc.

2010: Toy Story 3
The plot for the next adventure of Woody, Buzz and the gang is being kept tightly under wraps, but the strongest rumors say it's about little Andy growing up and heading off to college, and the toys accepting that they have reached their end. Lee Unkrich, long time Pixar editor and co-director of Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc. and Finding Nemo gets his first shot directing a film solo.

Summer 2011: Newt
Well, let's see.... Toy Story is about toys, Cars was about cars, and A Bug's Life was about a bug's life. Guess what Newt is about? The last two blue-footed newts in existence are brought together by scientists in the hopes that they'll breed and continue the species. But you know what happens? The two newts can't stand each other! Sounds like every lame romantic comedy ever. The one comes to us from Gary Rydstrom, the long time Pixar sound designer who made his directorial debut with the Pixar short film Lifted.

Christmas 2011: The Bear and the Bow
Hey, you know what we haven't had in a while? An animated film about a plucky princess who defies convention and dreams of a life out there. Pixar finally tries their hand at the formula that dominated animated films in the 1990s. Based on an ancient Scottish folk tale, The Bear and the Bow follows the tale of the Princess Merida, who wants to abandon her destiny as a princess to become the world's greatest archer. But her attempts to do so unleash a terrible curse upon the land, and she must go on a quest to set things right. The director on this is Brenda Chapman, who was one of the co-directors on Prince of Egypt, and also had a hand in writing The Lion King and Cars

2012: Cars 2
Really? Out of all the things Pixar can make a sequel to, they choose Cars? No offense, I liked Cars, but I believe it's one of Pixar's lesser efforts. Apparently, Lightening and Mater go global! The director on this is Brad Lewis, who was a producer on Ratatouille.

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But that's not all! As we all know, Pixar is owned by Disney, so Disney also unveiled their slate of animated films for the next four years. Does Disney have what it takes to reclaim animated film domenance? Well, let's take a look at what's coming up....

2008: Bolt
The adventures of Bolt, a dog who stars on a TV show where he plays a superpowered dog. But when Bolt gets stranded in the middle of the desert, he has to team up with a kitty and a hamster to get back to civilization. But get this...Bolt thinks he's a superhero for real!

2009: The Princess and the Frog
Now HERE'S the one I'm looking forward to! Disney's long-awaited return to traditional, hand-drawn, 2D animation! John Musker and Ron Clemments, the duo behind The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Hercules, were wooed out of retirement to give us this story of magic, romance, and jazz music, set in New Orleans. Plus Keith David does a voice!

2010: Rapunzel
Disney does their rendition of this classic fairy tale. This one has been in development for EVER, so I hope the wait is worth it.

2012: King of the Elves
Based on sci-fi author Phillip K. Dick's only foray into fantasy, King of the Elves is about a man in the Mississippi Delta who fights to save a tribe of elves, winds up becoming their king, and has to save them from some evil trolls.

Looks like Disney is trying some interesting things.

Latest Targ's Up!

Time for my regular Sunday ritual: frying up some pancakes for breakfast, settling in to watch the weekly recap of Coronation Street, and posting a new episode of The Targ!

This week, I have Episode 91: Countdown to Something. I rave about Brent Spiner's album, count down the 5 most anticipated blockbusters for summer 2008, and say my good-byes to Royal Canadian Air Farce.

Listen to it, if you please!

Nerd News of Friday

Oh, I'm so giddy right now. I opened up my mailbox today, and it finally came!



That's right! It's Brent Spiner's album! As you can see, I even paid the extra $5 to get an autographed copy. I'm listening to it right now as I write this. It's kind of weird. It's a concept album kind of thing...like a musical radio play. And that's not all. Do you know who one of the voice actors is in the radio play parts?

Mark Hamill.

That's right, we've got Data talking to Luke Skywalker on this thing! It doesn't get more nerd-tacular than that!

Well, maybe it does. Once I finished geeking out over Brent Spiner's autograph, I went to toss out the envelope. And my eye caught something on the envelope.



That's Brent Spiner's signature on the customs form.

The dude stuffed this in an envelope and dropped it in a mailbox himself!

That is just incredibly cool. The album is called Dreamland. You can't pick it up at HMV, because Spiner is releasing this independently. The best place to get it is to Brent Spiner's official website and buy it straight from the man himself.

And pay the extra $5 to get an autographed copy.

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Here's a DVD announcement that came the other day that made giddy with glee.

Warner Brothers has finally announced the release of Freakazoid!: The Complete First Season. I'm thrilled this is finally coming out! Freakazoid! was one of the funniest cartoons in the mid-1990s. Long premise short: the creators of Batman: The Animated Series teamed up with the creators of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain to give us a superhero spoof.

Plus it has one of the best theme songs ever.



June 24 is the day this comes out.

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One of my favourite action figure magazines used to ponder as to when 80's nostalgia would end. They theorized that 80's nostalgia would end when Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles made its comeback. But I think that 80's nostalgia hit its pinacle today with the announcement.

News Kids on the Block are re-uniting!

That's right, the boy band that established the formula has hit middle age, and wants to prove that they've still got it. They're going to be releasing a new album, a reunion tour, the whole deal!

I will admit, back in the day, I was one of those who chanted "New Kids suck," if only to be part of the crowd. I never dared admit that Step by Step was one of my guilty pleasures.

Keep your browsers pointed to they're newly-relaunched official website for all your New Kids updates.

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Or maybe 80's nostalgia is peaking with the announcement that one of my favourite movies as a kid is getting re-made.

The Weinstein Company announced today that they just picked up the re-make rights to, and fully intend to do a remake of, Short Circuit.

Who could ever forget Number 5, the high-tech military robot, struck by lightening and brought to life? Who could forget Steve Guttenberg as its creator, questing to prove it's life? Who could forget its sequel, filmed on the cheap in Toronto?

It was also announced that the Weinstein Company has hired the writers of the 1986 original and the producer of the 1986 original to work on this remake. They assure us that it's going to be 100% faithful to the original...just updated to include the past 22 years of computer advancements.

Life...is pretty good.

Air Farce Ends/Birds of Prey Returns

If there's one thing we Canadians have perfected, it's that brand of comedy known as "schtick." Just plain, goofy, people in silly costumes doing silly voices, anything for a laugh. The CBC is a proud generator of schtick.

So, it's on a bit of a sad note, that the CBC has announced that they're canceling Royal Canadian Air Farce. Air Farce has it's season finale this Friday, it'll be back for a half-a-season this fall, with it's final episode being the traditional New Year's Eve special on December 31, 2008.

No offense, but it's kind of it's time. Let's not forget, Air Farce started as a radio show back in 1973! It's first attempt to jump to TV, back in 1980, was a dismal failure and it barely lasted one season. They tried again in 1992, this time it was a huge hit, and it's been a mainstay on the CBC ever since. They finally ended the radio show in 1997, to focus on TV.

But, in recent years, with the addition of new cast members Alan Park, Craig Lauzon, Jessica Holems, and Penelope Corwin, it was like there was a visible culture clash going on on the show. We had the traditional schtick of the originals, clashing with the (attempted) edgier stuff of the youngsters. They'd kind of lost their way.

I'll be sad to see it go. Air Farce was a real comfort food kind of comedy.

Now if we could just work to get 22 Minutes off the air. Cuz that show stopped being funny a long time ago.

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I constantly blog that one of my favourite things about DVD is how TV shows that barely last a season soon get resurrected in a "complete series" boxed set. That fantastic show that only lasted two episodes that you really liked? Well, now you can watch it forever.

So comic book nerds the world over are rejoicing at today's announcement that we're finally getting Birds of Prey: The Complete Series.

Loosely based on the comic book of the same name, and brought to the smalls screen by the same people behind Smallville, Birds of Prey followed the adventures of Oracle, best known as Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl, as she led her all-female superhero team in defending the streets of Gotham City.

Of course, considerable changes were made for the TV show. Oracle's chief operative, the Huntress, went back to her old parallel Earth origins, where she was the long-lost daughter of Batman and Catwoman, who grew up to follow in her dad's footsteps. (In the show, Catwoman was dead and Batman had long since mysteriously disappeared.) Oracle's other main operative, the Black Canary, was now the daughter of the true Black Canary, and a young telepath learning to control her powers. The main villain was Dr. Harleen Quinzel, who was working within Arkham Asylum to manipulate Gotham's underworld and claim her dead lover's legacy.

Despite having a strong start, popularity quickly waned and it was canceled by the mid-season.

But one of the coolest things is what they're putting on it for bonus materials. Among the bonus features is...the complete run of Gotham Girls. For those who don't remember Gotham Girls.... Cast your mind back around 6 or 7 years.... Before YouTube, the greatest form of online entertainment was Shockwave animated short films. Gotham Girls was the contribution from the creators of Batman: The Animated Series. This series of short cartoons chronicled the lives of the female characters of the Batman universe, with the main focus being on Batgirl, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Harley Quinn.

I tell ya, having Gotham Girls on DVD just absolutly completes your collection of all things DC Universe animated.

July 29 is when this hits DVD!

Movies, Movies, Movies!

One of my movie gossip websites recently ran a poll. They asked the question, "What is the most anticipated summer blockbuster of 2008?" And the top 10 came out looking like this:

1. INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL (82%)
2. THE DARK KNIGHT (42%)
3. IRON MAN (38%)
4. THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: PRINCE CASPIAN (37%)
5. THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPORER (30%)
6. GET SMART (29%)
7. THE INCREDIBLE HULK (22%)
8. THE UNTITLED X-FILES SEQUEL (20%)
9. SPEED RACER (19%)
10. SEX AND THE CITY (19%)

I look at that, and I'm like, "Really? No Wall-E? No Hellboy II?

My top 10 would look more like this.

1. Iron Man
2. the Dark Knight
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
4. Wall-E
5. Speed Racer
6. Hellboy II: The Golden Army
7. The Incredible Hulk
8. The X-Files 2
9. The Love Guru (I LOVE MIKE MYERS! NO APOLOGIES!)
10. Hancock

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And, in DVD news, we've known this date for a long time, but now we know the bonus material!

On June 24, we get Futurama: The Beast With a Billion Backs, the second Futurama straight-to-DVD movie. For bonus materials we get:

- running commentary with the voice cast and crew
- Futurama: The Lost Adventure, which is all the cut scenes from the Futurama video game edited into a "lost episode."
- three featurettes, entitled Meet Yivo!, A Brief History of Deathball, and Blooperama: The Cast of Futurama at "Work".
- five deleted scenes
- and the trailer for the third film, Bender's Game, due out in the fall.

New Knight Rider and New Kevin Smith

Hey, I almost forgot to share the news!

You remember that Knight Rider TV movie that was in February? The one where, if it did good enough, they'd be turning it into a new Knight Rider TV show?

Well, guess what?

It did well enough! The new Knight Rider made the fall schedule!

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And in other news, Kevin Smith has just launched the website for his new film, Zack and Miri Make a Porno.

It's just a teaser site right now, with a couple of pictures from the film. But, Smith has revealed that he'll soon be launching a video production diary called Money Shots. As you remember, Smith also did a video production diary for Clerks II. He called it Train Wreck.

Anyway, be sure to bookmark zackandmiri.com!

Latest Targ's Up!

Wow! U62: The Targ is here and on time this week!

For our return to regularity, I've got Episode 90: Covered Two Ways. I ponder how to spend my tax rebate, share the oddest book title of 2007, and rant about KFC's grilled chicken.

Simon says, "Listen!"

Star Trek meets Indy meets Star Wars

Wow, here's two geek spheres that are about to collide in a magnificent way.

It was revealed today that the next trailer for the new Star Trek movie will be in front of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! Man, it's not like I needed another reason to see Indy....

And also, the good folks at Lucasfilm announced today that, on Tuesday, they'll be launching Indiana Jones Shop.com, your online answer to all your Indiana Jones merchandise needs.

For some reason, though, they're really hyping the fact that one of the items up for sale will be version "A" of the poster for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, which I think have mentioned is one of my favourite movie posters of all time.





Have I ever told you why it's one of my favourites?

When I was a kid, the one movie theatre I went to all the time had a bunch of early-80s movie posters on display in the lobby. The above poster hung right next to the poster for Return of the Jedi. I spent every moment before every movie I saw as a child staring at this:




I've got the Jedi poster...I'd kind of like to complete the set.

The Truth? Still Out There.

I'm guessing that we are now far enough removed from the 1990s that we can start having 90's nostalgia. That being said, I was hit with a huge wave of 90's nostalgia this morning when I saw the first movie poster for the long-awaited second X-Files movie.



If this were 1997, I'd be so geeking out right now. Instead, I'm thinking, "Ah, remember the good ol' days, in college, when this show was still good?"

In a recent interview, X-Files creator and director of the second movie Chris Carter said that, right now, he and 20th Century Fox are scrapping over what the title should be. I'm certain we'll know shortly, though.

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And here's something that just came down the news wire that made me giggle.

The British literary magazine The Bookseller has awarded it's prize for "the oddest book title of 2007." And the prize went to....

If You Want Closure In Your Relationship, Start With Your Legs.

Yes, the author described it as, "a self-help book, written by a man, for the benefit of women." The author, who used the pen name "Big Boom," says his book is "raw, honest and about you," distilling "the sweat off [his] back, the wrinkles in [his] forehead from anger and thinking all the time." The editor of The Bookseller says that the title is so effective, that you don't need to read the book.

The runner up was I Was Tortured by the Pygmy Love Queen, and coming in at third place was Cheese Problems Solved.

Hump Day Stuff

I've always wondered how Canada is perceived by other countries, ever since I went to Japan and most of my Japanese co-workers derided the company-selected primer on Japanese culture as being "hilariously exaggerated" and "maybe true in the 19th century." I see that the company that made the primer on Japanese culture has also made a primer on Canadian culture, and I keep threatening to seek it out someday.

I recently came across this article in the British newspaper the Guardian. It says how the Calgary City Police has been actively recruiting British police officers to bolster Calgary's forces. Apparently, the British bobbies find Canadian criminals to be quite polite, and that patrolling the mean streets of Calgary is a lot more relaxed than the mean streets of London.

The article sums up with this description of Alberta and its culture. I would like to point out that I did not add any emphasis...I bolded exactly what was bolded in the original article.

"Alberta is the second most western of Canada's 10 provinces. Three times bigger than the UK, it has a population of 3,290,350, most of whom live in Calgary or Edmonton. Despite the money which has rolled into the province as a result of the oil and natural gas fields discovered up north 30 or so years ago, Alberta is cowboy country, where beef is on every menu and rodeos are highlights of social calendars. The Rocky mountains lie to the west with the border to British Columbia, and the vast majority of the province is covered in prairies dotted with farms. And there is serious money to be made; with the energy sector booming, Alberta is growing fast, but there are far more jobs than jobseekers. By 2016, the government estimates there will be a shortfall of 109,000 workers."

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So it was announced today that the CBC is preparing a film about the life of Don Cherry. The 4-hour mini-series will focus mainly on Cherry's hockey career, and end with when he first met Ron MacLean. The mini-series was scripted by Cherry's son Tim, and the CBC hopes to start filming this summer.

Ummm...why?

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And in case you haven't heard, the CFL is heading back to Ottawa. I won't embarrass myself by attempting to talk about football, but I will say I think this is cool. Now, if we can only get one in Halifax to bring it up to an even 10, I just might attempt to get into this football thing.

Pointless News

You've probably heard this by now, and I think that the public is really over-reacting.

Allow me to re-iterate. KFC is about to start selling grilled chicken. As many have pointed out, grilled chicken is healthier than fried chicken, and KFC has actually been kind of slow to get on the healthy food bandwagon.

At first, I didn't know why such a big deal was being made out of this. I mean, I remember KFC attempting to offer healthy alternatives in the past. It was around 10 years ago that KFC introduced their Tender Roast chicken...roasted instead of fried. I remember it was out in 1997 because I tried some while watching the infamous fastest man alive race.

But then I read the fine print. KFC is going so far as to re-name some of their stores "Kentucky Grilled Chicken." They're doing a complete re-branding of their stores. Now THAT is a significant change.

Right now, they're only trying it in 6 American cities, and it'll be rolled all across the USA in 2009. No word yet on when/if it comes to Canada.

And despite what they tell us on the news, I don't think Colonel Sanders is rolling in his grave.

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I hate DVD double dips, and here's one that I'm pointing out for the James Bond fans in the house.

The most recent James Bond film, Casino Roayle, is getting yet another DVD edition. The 3-disc collectors edition comes out on June 7. You get everything that was on the 2-disc special edition. New stuff includes 8 new featurettes, a bunch of cut scenes, a director's running commentary, and the TV special Bond Girls are Forever.

I, personally, think I'll be skipping this one.

Latest Targ's Up!

Sorry it's a day late, folks. I went home for the Easter weekend and all that. And seeing as to how I missed last week, I knew I couldn't go two weeks in a row with no episode.

However, I made good on my promise from the last time I put up an episode a day late! This one is called Episode 89: ...And a Dollar Short. I herald the return of the McRib, introduce you to the voice cast of the next Batman animated movie, and plot my running for office.

Interesting trivia note: as I mentioned, I nixed last week's episode because I recorded it when I was in "a bad place," and it reflected. One of the breaks in this week's show was originally from the cancelled episode, but I re-recorded it in a more cheerful manner. Try to guess which one!

Give it a listen!