Writing by Dave on Wednesday, 15 April, 2009 at 12:01 pm

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The above posting on Michael Bay’s Shoot For The Edit forums is a little disconcerting. Especially since I posted that he had an official Twitter account. Then, that “official” Twitter account gave us new pictures from the set, and his camp seemed to be pimping the Tweet as “real.”

Though now we’re told it’s not Bay. Is it possible Michael Bay has a tweeting assistant he is unaware of?

Heads up on that one. My bad.

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Writing by Dave on Monday, 13 April, 2009 at 9:11 am

Why stick with my Mary Elizabeth Winstead pic? Because she’s hot.

The official site for Scott Pilgram Vs. The World has been updated with the first video blog of…um…multiple? I’m assuming?

Previously, director Edgar Wright has been leaking us little character photos. Now, we get to see multiple photos. In motion. It’s a web motion picture…

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Writing by Dave on Thursday, 9 April, 2009 at 9:20 am

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Yay for super-fun movie marketing time. Today, you can use the magic of the consumer-powered internet to advertise one or two of this summer’s bigger blockbusters with your own face!

Or, as the digitized Vulcan tells us at TrekYourself.com: “Knowing that you enjoy sending virtual messages through clever, technologically advanced methods, the Cheez-It cracker people logically thought you’d like try it Star Trek style.”

Upload your photo, choose a Kirk-like head, a Spock like head, a Uhura head or a Romulan head, then it makes a creepy digital model that looks sort of like you, but is totally into saying things like:”I’m the Big Cheese…not!’ on command.

Terminate Yourself is more familiar to anyone that’s used quick masking in photoshop. Use your webcam to take a picture, line up your eyes and mouth with the boxes on screen, then use a slider to determine damage and a pen/eraser tool to add more in certain places.

I’m told by a digital Vulcan that you guys like to do this.

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Writing by Dave on Wednesday, 1 April, 2009 at 4:15 pm

It’s been an interesting April Fool’s day, that’s for sure. Someone has leaked a work copy of X-Men Origins: Wolverine and sent the internet into a tizzy with Fox hot on the heels of the release, and on our backs, letting you know NOT to download it because it is NOT finished and you are NOT supposed to.

Last night, a stolen, incomplete and early version of X-Men Origins: Wolverine was posted illegally on websites. It was without many effects and had missing scenes and temporary sound and music. We immediately contacted the appropriate legal authorities and had it removed. We forensically mark our content so we can identify sources that make it available or download it. The source of the initial leak and any subsequent postings will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law - the courts have handed down significant criminal sentences for such acts and the last person who committed such a crime is still in jail. The FBI and the MPAA also are actively investigating this crime. We are encouraged by the support of fansites condemning piracy and this illegal posting and pointing out that such theft undermines the enormous efforts of the filmmakers and actors, and above all, hurts the fans of the film.

I do condemn piracy, but I also downloaded Wolverine this morning.

And I want to explain why this isn’t wrong, and that’s because I fully plan to see Wolverine in theaters, and pay for it, now that I’ve seen the few moments of the Working Cut that I have seen. I jumped around the file, mostly confirming that reports I had already blogged about weren’t horribly wrong. They weren’t.

But I still can’t tell you how Taylor Kistch is as Gambit or if Blob loses weight and becomes muscular. I can’t even tell you the romantic subplot, because I didn’t watch it. I had concerns about the film that will now NOT be brought to my final viewing of the finished product. I have the answer to the Deadpool question, and - SURPRISE! - I’d already told you about it.

What I will say is this: I would see the film just to see the sequences I peeped this morning in their finished version. There are A LOT of visual effects that are still in the pre-render phases and some of them are going to be impressive.

And though you might not believe me when I say that I didn’t watch it all, I have a question for you: Why do you see summer tentpole films?

When one of my Twitter followers asked me what movies I was looking forward to this summer and I had to think a moment before I said: Terminator and Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen. I was trying to think of what I’m “supposed” to say as someone disseminating content on the internet, am I supposed to say that I’m really looking forward to Transformers? Because when I tell people I liked the first one, I get a lot of dirty looks and disgusted replies. Michael Bay’s explosions are often brought up, followed by Michael Bay jokes, followed by people asking me how I can enjoy an indie that has a stroke of luck like Adventureland (This friday!) and also like something as purely commercial as Transformers.

Summer movies are where I go to see spectacle, where I go to see things explode. If what I’m expecting is to walk into a theater and be dramatically moved, then I’m guessing I’d feel like some people do when I talk about liking Transformers. But I went to see giant robots fighting and that’s what I got. Add to that: I haven’t liked Transformers since, because my TV is not a huge screen and it’s not in a room full of people also psyched to see robots kick the shit out of each other.

Wolverine is the movie that kicks off the big summer season, and just because you can watch a rough-sketch and go somewhere on the internet to read the entire plot does not mean you, I or anyone knows what X-Men Origins: Wolverine looks like.

Because it isn’t done. It’s missing the explosions and mutant powers, and if you’ve watched the trailers, that’s exactly what they’re promising us, nothing more, nothing less.

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Writing by Dave on Friday, 20 March, 2009 at 10:57 am

Thanks, taxpayer!

That’s about the only time I’m going to say that between here and tax season, not only because I’m going to get nailed to the wall by the IRS like I do every year, but I also have taxes for my production company, which are a total bitch and feet of paperwork (as opposed to exaggerating by saying “miles” I say “feet,” because my paperwork stack is several feet high).

The good news is that my company does banking with Bank Of America, where we started our newest checking account mere days before Lehman took the plunge. And usually, I’m not a big fan of BoA, not because they took bailout money, but because their customer service alternates between the fast service I’d expect and the shittiest shit over-the-phone bullcrap, and they switch completely randomly.

That being said, BoA looks to be giving me the chance to upgrade from a 2D showing to a 3D showing of Monsters Vs. Aliens when that flick comes out, which is perfect since we’ve already established that Monsters Vs. Aliens will have an additional 3D fee.

The question being asked is: Is this our bailout money that is paying for this?

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Writing by Dave on Monday, 16 March, 2009 at 10:32 am

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The internet world is the only place that made-up words that have almost nothing to do with what you are selling are actually more profitable. Most people don’t buy their stuff at OnlineMarketplace.com, they head to Amazon or eBay, you watch streaming TV on HULU and upload your copywritten material to Vimeo (or YouTube, but that doesn’t help the particular argument).

On the internet, it isn’t so much about what you do as much as how you brand it and if your brand become synonymous with a certain type of service or content (”Google it!”).

That’s the best explanation I can come up with for why, on July 7th, the Sci Fi channel will abandon it’s Science Fiction abbreviation and adopt the moniker “SyFy.” Same thing when said out-loud, but a perfectly brandable version…

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Writing by John Lichman on Monday, 2 March, 2009 at 2:09 pm

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Rather than doing anything the the supposed Predator, Red Sonja or Barbarella remakes he’s been rumoredrodriguez.gif to be attached to so much that he may as well star in them–Robert Rodgriguez has come clean with his next official project.

Nerveracker.

We have no idea either, but First Showing does:

Nerveracker is set in the year 2085 and centers on the character Joe Tezca, part of an elite unit who is sent in to stop a crime wave amongst a perfect futuristic society. In the process, he discovers that “Nerverackers” are on a rampage for control of the city. Tezca consequently sets forth on a mission to reveal the cover up by the ruling class and stop the “Nerverackers” before time runs out.

Ooh! So what do they do? We don’t know! When will it be out? April 16th, 2010! Because really, we should always let Rodriguez do whatever he wants. Way to encourage, Bob Weinstein.

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