Rowling’s Bringing Magic Back With Fantastic Beasts And A Cursed Child

Wizards and Muggles alike have been waiting with baited dragon’s breath for more news on the upcoming wizarding adventure Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and this month their wishes were granted.

Homemade Horror: Prelude To Halloween

With Halloween fast approaching, Grizzly Bomb has dusted off the keyboard and delved deep into the crypts of the world-wide web to dig out some really unique, fun and creepy horror creations made by independent artists with a very unique style.

This collection of artistic creation is all neatly bundled together for you, giving you a visual guided tour of some of the web’s coolest creations.

Comic-Can’t? How To Enjoy Comic-Con Weekend Without The Con

If you aren’t one of the lucky horde to be descending on San Diego, California this weekend for the  46^th annual  Comic-Con International, you certainly aren’t alone.

Severus Snape And The Chamber Of His Broken Heart – Snape’s Story Chronologically

While Alan Rickman may have known the fate of his character Severus Snape well before the rest of us, fans of the Harry Potter series went on a seven book (or eight movie) roller coaster ride of emotion for the character. Hate Snape, Love Snape, Trust Snape, it was exhausting.  Now that the last chapter has been read of the epic story we know that Snape was, while a bit of a jerk to a young boy, one of the stories true heroes. One Snape loving YouTuber has assembled all the scenes in which the story of Snape unfolds, and when put together in chronological order there can be little question that one must now, and always, Trust Snape.

Daniel Radcliffe in Talks to play Igor in New Frankenstein

There will no doubt be mixed views about the THR news that Daniel Radcliffe is in final negotiations to play Igor, the famous hunchbacked assistant of Doctor Frankenstein. This is a tale that has gone through countless cinematic retreads and revamps since its inception by Mary Shelly all those years ago, and has even had successful theater runs, the most recent starring UK Sherlock star Bennedict Cumberbatch, and US Elementary star Jonny Lee Miller. But Igor himself was actually a cinematic creation and became immortalized in our minds because of great performances from the likes of Dwight Frye, Bela Lugosi and many more that all helped to create this hunchbacked helper.

1931’s FRANKENSTEIN – Dwight Frye as ‘Fritz ‘aka the first Igor…

Max Landis (Chronicle) is on writing duties, while Paul McGuigan (director of Lucky Number Slevin and Push) is at the helm to direct. Max’s own father John Landis (Blues Brothers, Thriller) is on hand in a producing role. So if nothing else this new version has some pretty good talent behind the camera.  Max Brooks version of this tale is told from Igors perspective. Aint It Cool News has a great interview with Max about his plans. One of the more interesting things said was his plan to make the film a version we have never seen before.

[quote] “That’s when the idea came to me: instead of trying to do some high minded ‘revisionist’ Frankenstein, why not try to stay true to a version that only lives in the zeitgeist, and has NEVER REALLY EXISTED.

And why not do it in an intelligent, hopefully, thoughtful way, about friendship and science, genius and madness, love and ambition, life and death?

Why not use that imaginary, fairy dust framework of ‘guy with hunchbacked assistant makes monster’ and make it fun, sad, scary and hopefully, I really hope this, moving.”  [/quote]

This seems like a really fun and maybe even more heartwarming version of the story than we have seen before. I doubt it will go as funny as Young Frankenstein, but this will certainly be an exciting version of the tale and this will make a change from the more downbeat versions we have seen in recent years.

On Igor’s appearance:

[quote]He is described as pathologically dirty, with long hair and wearing old clown clothes. (A circus tone permeates much of the project, according to sources.)[/quote]

So quite a departure from the clean cut Mr Potter, but still a great piece of casting if it all goes through. Ratcliffe has also pushed the envelope in the past, most famously on stage in Equus where he performed a nude scene. It is not uncommon for actors to want to break type (Jim Carrey and Elijah Wood have done it countless times) and it normally harbors interesting results. It should be fun to see how Daniel gets to grips with a more horrific, tormented character and how he interprets the circus feel this new Igor is alluding to. When you read about Max’s thoughts on Frankenstein you cannot help but feel his energy for the project. To see if it lives up to his plans we will have to wait, but a more refreshing approach to the tale could be just what movie fans are looking for.

Weekly Geeky ‘Pinterest’ Finds – Gift Edition

Hello, hello, hello! Welcome back to this week’s “Weekly Geeky Pinterest Finds!!!!!”. I hope everyone of the American persuasion had a great Thanksgiving, and if you aren’t American, I hope you had a great Thursday. Of course the passing of Thanksgiving means that Christmas shopping time has arrived! If you are anything like me, you have no idea what you are going to get anyone and will more than likely wait until the last possible moment, but maybe this week’s ‘Pinterest’ finds come in handy. Let’s dive right in and see if we can’t cross of a few people on your shopping list with some geeky gift ideas.

I don’t even wear earrings and I want these. How could I not? I mean come on, these are awesome. My only concern would be getting through daily errands while wearing them because surely everyone would feel the need to stop me and tell me how awesome my earrings were. Well that and I’d worry about losing an earlobe when a dog thought Joker was trying to attack my face and then decided to kill him first, but the chances of that happening are negligible so these are still awesome.

Do you have a friend or family member that recently moved into a new house or apartment? Looking for that perfect “housewarming and Christmas/holiday” gift combo? Look no further my friends for here it is- the Darth Vader Kitchen Utensil Caddy. Whether or not you use the force to cook those eggs, your spatula will look quite at home nestled snugly along with the whisk in Darth Vader’s head.

This is a must have for that movie lover on your list. If you were the type of gift giver that likes to put together a “complete package” you could include an iron, a bottle of aftershave, and perhaps some coupons for free pizza. It’s a shame I don’t know someone who’d appreciate that because what a great gift.

Do you know someone who is anxiously awaiting the return of Sherlock? Does that Sherlock fan also happen to have an iPhone? Well then look no further because this gift is just for them. You might want to gauge how crazy they are first though, because I’m sure gunshots through a wallpaper covered phone are not covered by the warranty.

My heart stopped when I saw this. On one hand, snuggie’s are sort of lame (she says while sitting wrapped in an Alabama snuggie) but on the other hand, Wonder Woman is amazing. I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that if you know someone who likes Wonder Woman enough that they even came to mind when you saw this, then it’s probably a safe bet that they’d enjoy it.

FOR THE HORDE!!! AND ART!! What a great gift for the World of Warcraft player in your life. Well it would probably help if they play Horde, but I daresay even an Alliance member would appreciate it. Well maybe not but it’s worth a shot. This is pretty damn cool, no matter who you play for.

Now this one is linked to an etsy page and the item has sold but if you are the least bit handy, I’m sure you could somehow figure out how to make this. If you do, tell me how because I want to get a gift for myself. This light switch would look amazing in my office. Yea, that’s right- light switch. You could have a childhood flashback of playing Pac-Man for hours at the arcade when you turn on the ceiling light. Awesome.

Say you’ve made a deal with your spouse/significant other/sibling/friend that you’d only do handmade gifts. And perhaps that person is a Lord of the Rings fan (because who isn’t?), well this is your lucky day because look what I found. This is a lembas bread holder. In other words, this is awesome. Even if you didn’t put forth the effort to make the lembas bread, I’m sure it would hold a peanut butter and jelly just as well.

Finally for all those Harry Potter fans in your life, a t-shirt that Cho Chang would totally rock. I’m not ashamed to admit that I really want this shirt. If a certain Santa were reading this, I’d be more than thrilled to find this under the tree.

There you have it! Hopefully this helped y’all with at least one person on your list. If not, then maybe you found some gift ideas for yourself, no shame in that. Until next time!

An Evening of Intoxication: Titanic

So it hit me one day, a lot of people like to drink to get through shitty movies. There are tons of films, practically made for drinking games. Your Evil Deads, your Dead Alives, your Kazaams, and the like. It’s very popular to get drunk, and watch these kinds of movies, and while I do enjoy that as a fond past time, I thought it more interesting, to try a different type of film. The idea was to watch a movie, very far removed from anything you’d normally play a drinking game to, or enjoy while drunk with friends. Movies like Titanic, Tuck Everlasting, Bridge To Terabithia, or Up. The point isn’t that these movies are bad, and alcohol is needed to get though them, (it helps), but that it’s a movie you haven’t seen before, or in a very long time.

In my case, I hadn’t seen Titanic since it came out, making it 15 years since my last viewing. I then proceeded to drink 13 shots of whiskey during it’s 3+ hour run time, and provided the review below. After sobering up a few hours later, I edited it down to something kinda-sorta watchable.

Behold, my drunken review of Titanic:

THIS IS NOT a “Fifty Shades of Grey” Review

Today I’m going to give you a brief run-down of an ever-so-popular story that has a lot to do with the color grey.

“I can’t get over how awesome these colors are!”

No, we’re not going to talk about those guys, unfortunately.  The grey I’m referring to is Fifty Shades of Grey.  You may have heard of it.  It’s the best-selling book and series that sexually deprived and cranially vacant women are going bat-shit crazy for.  The book’s also going to be turned into a movie and is supposedly out-selling Harry Potter (all I can say to that is this is a sad, sad world we live in).  It’s livened up marriages and spiced up the bedroom all across the world, and because most women instead of men read it no one dares to call it what it really is.

Let me be clear: I have never read Fifty Shades of Grey, nor do I plan to in the near future.  Or maybe my lifetime. However, because of my intuitive nature I know exactly what it’s about without having to read it, and I’m here to tell you everything.

We start with a girl.  And yes, she’s a girl, not a woman.  Her name’s Anastasia Steele.  She’s really naive, to the point where you aren’t sure she could actually exist in this world without someone having murdered her already because she thought they really were going to give her a ride home.  She’s also incredibly non-sexual; apparently, as readers we are to believe she’s never done anything in that realm at all, with anyone (including herself).  It’s possible she is an extreme version of a Vulcan.

Then Anastasia meets the dashing billionaire Christian Grey.  He’s described as being “tormented,” most likely due to the fact that he is having an out-of-body experience and can see what his life would be like outside of this book (i.e. better).  He’s probably also tormented because his first name is Christian and there’s no way he can live up to its meaning.  How hard his life must be, and yet somehow millions of women have fallen for this guy.  In fact, in England, experts are betting that there will be a baby boom this year because women got so worked up over Mr. Fictional Grey that they went home to their Mr. Real-Life Dudes and got it on.

Moving on.  So after some happenstance meetings and overall non-existent character development and dialogue, these two end up having sex.  And since Anastasia was so non-sexual from the start, she loses her virginity to Mr. Grey, who seems to think it’s perfectly acceptable to “f*** hard” and then turn around and say, “Sorry, but I gotta get some paperwork done now.”

This is why Anastasia always remains a girl; throughout the book she never thinks for herself, which means she’s not a woman.  I don’t care that she had sex; she’s still a little, annoying, daft girl who doesn’t seem to have a care or idea that the man she says “Oh, my!” about a lot is really just treating her like a piece of meat.  She can’t think for herself; she just constantly wants to be around, near, on, under Christian.  She has no idea what Christian’s “playroom” is, and obviously would not understand the literal definition of the word innuendo if she saw it.  We’re supposed to believe this girl is a literature student?  She must be studying children’s books.  This is what her lack of a brain is telling women:

Christian is a whole other issue.  So long, feminism.  Adieu, years and years of trying to build respect between the sexes.  Christian Grey is here to screw with your goals by screwing Anastasia.  A man like him would be called a scoundrel, an asshole, and a dick in real life, but on the printed page he’s a godsend to all of womankind because he has, well, a dick.  Mr. Tormented seems like one of those guys who you may want to climb under the sheets with, but if you’re a sane human being you laugh at yourself hysterically and say, “He just wants to get into my pants!”

But, you know, apparently all the kinky sex Anastasia and Christian have is “hot” or something.  It made the New York Times bestseller list, which somehow makes the writing and its content legitimate.  What this implies then, ladies and gentlemen, is that people should start having BDSM parties in the streets to make the New York Times headlines to justify their sexual cravings.  Oh, wait.  That gets you arrested.

Overall, the book is about sex, and not much else.  It’s titillating, raw, and passionate.  Anastasia and Christian have lots of it while their characters and the story plummet into literary demise.  You can see Ellen DeGeneres read an excerpt here to get a good summary of the majority of the book.  Or, if you’re like me and prefer something more realistic, you can view this incredible 50 shades of grey poster (my kitchen remodeling suddenly looks so much more attractive now).

CCI 2012: Westboro Baptists = Nothing Accomplished

Christians never cease to baffle me.

When I read about the Westboro Baptist Church’s protest of Comic-Con International, I had to make sure that I did not turn around and punch a hole in the wall.  Then I had to laugh maniacally at their antics.  Then I just had to shake my head.

Everything I have read about this church just makes me cringe; it appears they never do anything truly Jesus-like and right according to the Bible they supposedly follow.  This protest was no exception.  Now, the Bible doesn’t say “don’t protest,” but it does tell us to love one another as Christ loved us, and I don’t believe Westboro’s signs or actions at Comic-Con imply this one little bit.  Sure, their intentions may have been mostly correct, that they don’t want people to be idol-worshipers (no, Thor is not really God, and if you want a better understanding of how the Norse gods actually reflect biblical truths just read up on all of J.R.R. Tolkien’s writings regarding that).  I also don’t think it’s good nor sane to make idols of the subjects at Comic-Con, either.  However, I am guessing only 20-25% of the people who attend Comic-Con (if that) are actually putting our beloved superheroes, game developers, and all-around cool people up on a pedestal they can grovel under.  The rest of the attendees are just there to have a wonderful time, a break from the real world where they can delve into worlds of truth, honor, and justice (and isn’t that what the Bible says God is, anyway?  That’s probably an entirely new article, though…).

Are those 20-25% people really worth the time to protest?  No, because protests rarely work, if ever, and the majority of the time they are never fully thought-out correctly by whoever happens to be organizing them (even non-Christians).  In fact, protests only ever seem to accomplish one or all of these things:

1.  Turn away the people you are supposedly trying to help.
2.  Imply that you’re ignorant about the topic or haven’t truly thought about it long enough.
3.  Reveal that you’re insane.
4.  Confirm that you’re both #2 and #3.
5.  Show that you could be doing something better with your time to actually change the situation.

#1 and #5 I think are the most disconcerting out of that list, however.  As Christians the entire point of believing in God is to bring people to his love by showing them his love.  Protesting simply cannot ever accomplish this.  A while back, I read a very articulate article about the issue of protesting in the Christian world, specifically as it related to the Starbucks public support of gay marriage this past year.  I wholeheartedly agreed with the author’s point that protests are in essence self-defeating, as they claim to argue against power in numbers yet by their very nature are indeed a “power in numbers” group.  The author’s concluding thought was, “Let’s not boycott our neighbors. Let’s not picket or scream or bellow. Let’s offer a cup of cold water, or maybe even a grande skinny vanilla latte, in Jesus’ name” (Moore).

What this implies about Comic-Con specifically is that Christians need to start participating, working, or creating in that geek culture.  This relates back to #2 in my list.  I am going to venture a solid guess that most Christian protests are based off of fear of the unknown.  How many protesting Christians actually read Harry Potter?  How many of them have ever picked up a comic book?  And how many of them have ever studied the biblical truths that simply resonate out of many science fiction creations?

Have you ever run across a Christian geek and been utterly amazed at their very existence?  That’s because we are in the minority, and many times we don’t want to admit that we are believers, not because we are ashamed of our beliefs but because we are immediately associated with people like the Westboro Baptist Church protesters.  We are not all the same (though we really should be if we all truly followed what God teaches).  Some of us simply adore Batman instead of protesting him, and would have less to talk about with others if we didn’t know about him.  Some of us think discussing the finer points of the latest video game instead of protesting it helps make others feel more loved and accepted in this world, not shunned.

So Westboro may continue to protest for years to come, and there will undoubtedly be counter-protests, pointing fingers, and all-around disgust towards them.  Remember, though, that they were never able to actually shut down CCI, and probably never will.  Just as they are wasting their time, you yourself could use your time wisely by hanging out with the geeky Christians who love stepping inside the San Diego convention center, possibly even dressed head-to-toe in Wonder Woman or Thor getup.  You’ll hopefully find that not all of us are ignorant, and you may even enjoy the experience, too.

Check out more Comic-Con coverage here, more pics on Tumblr and follow us over on Twitter! Oh, and Like our Facebook page while you at it!

Avengers: An Unstoppable Record Smashing Machine

The Avengers has been destroying records left right and center and I will be listing all of them below so bathe in the glory that is the Avengers.

The most impressive record they surpassed was the one for the biggest opening weekend of all time, that’s a big one. Disney estimates the film raked in $200.3 million at North American theaters over the weekend, compared to the previous largest opening of $169.2 million ($172M after inflation) for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (loser). It would have probably done even better if IMAX theater had enough seats to meet demand, apparently this was a problem in many places and raises the question would it have made even more money on its opening weekend? But I can live with it beating nearly every record.

Courtesy of Gamma Squad

They made an estimated $80.5 million on its first Friday, the second-largest one-day total of all time after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 ($91.1M). CinemaScore reported on the first Friday that moviegoers were giving the film an average grade of A+, which suggested there were great sales through the weekend from word of mouth. Sure enough, The Avengers did even better than the opening day numbers suggested it would do, and now analysts estimate it will take over Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 for 3^rd highest grossing film of all time. The film hasn’t even opened yet in some profitable markets (like for example Japan on August 17^th).

The movie also made an additional $151.5M overseas that weekend. The film’s worldwide gross now stands at $1.29 billion. It passed $600 million in sales in only 12 days. It only needs $34M more to be 3^rd highest grossing films and will take that spot from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. I doubt it will make it near avatar or titanic though you never know.Walt Disney Pictures announced this weekend that the global blockbuster has crossed the $500 million mark domestically in a record 23 days (the previous record of 32 days was held by Avatar).

It passed the global box office totals for Iron Man ($585M), Iron Man 2 ($624M), Thor ($449M), and Captain America ($364M) within its first 12 days. It also has the highest per-theater average for a nationwide release, $46,063 per theater which is a lot. Highest domestic Saturday gross of all time ($69.7M). And this lot fastest to $100M, fastest to $150M, and fastest to $200M. When will it end Avengers? When?

It accounted for 82.7% of grosses for the top 12 movies, which is the second-largest market share ever. It was the biggest superhero midnight show opening (8th highest-grossing midnight movie). Highest grossing IMAX opening weekend ever (one of them was me!). The biggest opening weekend of all time in North America, Central America, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Hong Kong, Malaysia, New Zealand, and the Philippines (wow).

I think they are imagining money raining over them:

Funny facts from GIZMODO about how it would actually cost the city of New York for the damage that happened in The Avengers final battle if it were to happen in real life. The damage to NYC in would cost $160 Billion to repair! Ouch! (Don’t think that it’s going to make that much at the cinema).

It was calculated that the physical damage alone would cost $60-70 billion, with economic and clean-up ramifications adding $90 billion. To put that in context Hurricane Katrina cost $90 billion, and the tsunami in Japan last year cost $122 billion.

This is an open thank you letter from Joss Whedon sent out for the people who went to see The Avengers and it’s a great read if you have really liked some of his previous work (Buffy the Vampire Slayer., Angel, Firefly) because he really deserved this win and I hope he only does better in his future projects.

Dear Friends,

Well, it’s been quite a weekend. Someday, long from now, I will even have an emotional reaction to it, like a person would. I can’t wait! But before I become blinded by this “emotion” experience, there’s a few things I’d like to say. Well, type.

People have told me that this matters, that my life is about to change. I am sure that is true. And change is good — change is exciting. I think — not to jinx it — that I may finally be recognized at Comiccon. Imagine! Also, with my percentage of “the Avengers” gross, I can afford to buy… [gets call from agent. Weeps manfully. Resumes typing.] …a fine meal. But REALLY fine, with truffles and s#!+. And I can get a studio to finance my dream project, the reboot of “Air Bud” that we all feel is so long overdue. (He could play Jai Alai! Think of the emotional ramifications of JAI ALAI!!!!)

What doesn’t change is anything that matters. What doesn’t change is that I’ve had the smartest, most loyal, most passionate, most articulate group of — I’m not even gonna say fans. I’m going with “peeps” — that any cult oddity such as my bad self could have dreamt of. When almost no one was watching, when people probably should have STOPPED watching, I’ve had three constants: my family and friends, my collaborators (often the same), and y’all. A lot of stories have come out about my “dark years”, and how I’m “unrecognized”… I love these stories, because they make me seem super-important, but I have never felt the darkness (and I’m ALL about my darkness) that they described. Because I have so much. I have people, in my life, on this site, in places I’ve yet to discover, that always made me feel the truth of success: an artist and an audience communicating. Communicating to the point of collaborating. I’ve thought, “maybe I’m over; maybe I’ve said my piece”. But never with fear. Never with rancor. Because of y’all. Because you knew me when. If you think topping a box office record compares with someone telling you your work helped them through a rough time, you’re probably new here. (For the record, and despite my inhuman distance from the joy-joy of it: topping a box office record is super-dope. I’m an alien, not a robot.)

So this is me, saying thank you. All of you. You’ve taken as much guff for loving my work as I have for over-writing it, and you deserve, in this our time of streaming into the main, to crow. To glow. To crow and go “I told you so”, to those Joe Blows not in the know. (LAST time I hire Dr. Seuss to punch my posts up. Yeesh!)

Mr. Joss Whedon participated in a Reddit AMA recently, touching on everything from a Dr. Horrible sequel to season two of Firefly, to Scarlett Johansson’s prevalence as a “sex object” in much of the marketing for The Avengers.

First off is his answer to a Dr. Horrible Sequel (yay there might be sequel):

“We’re not shooting right now; we’re still in the early stages of writing. But we hope to make a great deal of progress this summer. And you can expect the death of someone you love… Yes, the original cast will be back for Dr H 2, but Penny will be… um… I don’t want to say ‘decomposing…”

Secondly his answer to Scarlett Johansson’s prevalence as a “sex object” in much of the marketing for The Avengers which I thought was actually a good idea because it was a shock when she wasn’t just some hot girl but actually a good character.

“All I can say is that Scarlett gets to do a lot more than be hot in Avengers. It’s definitely dispiriting to have a woman play a heroic role and then be reduced to body parts by fan commentary, but that can only change slowly. And is.”

The one most people want to know about is will there be a second season of Firefly? You have to kind of agree with what he says as sad as it makes me. The first step is a Kickstarter project.

“Step 2: Cancel Castle. Step 3: Cancel Homeland. Step 4: Generally destroy everybody’s careers. Step 5: Avoid Step 2.”

Next, we have this low budget video which was actually really funny and well thought out… Nah it’s just some good YouTube fun which I would have loved to have seen at the cinema straight after The Avengers finished. The best parts from this video would definitely be the fat Captain America with a small shield and Nick Fury dropping the f-bombs everyone wanted Samuel. L Jackson to do in the film (might just be me).