ABC Greenlights Live-Action ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Pilot

ABC has greenlit a live-action pilot featuring Marvel’s Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate (S.H.I.E.L.D.). Even better, the pilot will be co-written and possibly directed by none other than Avengers director Joss Whedon. Whedon will also be helming The Avengers 2, as well as being involved with other features in the Marvel universe.Deadline.com reports that the S.H.I.E.L.D TV show is looking to jump right into production. Whedon will write the pilot along with his brother Jed Whedon and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen, who were both writers on Dollhouse, Spartacus and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.

The Lego Story

Book of This Month

The first new book this month is The Art of How To Train Your Dragon. Can obtain in the market price of RM 120.00 per copy. Preface by Cressida Cowell, Foreword by Craig Fergugon, Text by Tracey Miller Zarneke and published by Newmarket Press New York. This is the first book i bought using Kinokuniya Bookweb.Can buy using Debit Card or Credit Card.Parcel will be post using GD Express(Gdex) Sdn Bhd Here the link http://www.kinokuniya.com/my/

The second new book this month is Fail Sulit Presiden Amerika. Can obtain in the market price of RM 20.00 per copy.Author by Muhd Nur Iman Ramli and published by PTS.

‘Simon’s Cat’ Tops 1 Million Subscribers on YouTube

 Simon Tofield’s charming, black-and-white, animated Simon’s Cat site has reached one of YouTube’s greatest milestones – 1 million total subscribers. This places Simon’s Cat in a very exclusive club, one of only eight U.K. YouTube channels with over a million subscribers.The feat is made all the more eye-catching by virtue of the fact the Simon’s Cat YouTube channel only has 23 videos, almost the lowest number of videos with which a channel has made the million subscriber mark and been part of Global Top 100 Channels on YouTube.“I’m really happy that Simon’s Cat continues to entertain so many people,” says Tofield. “And I’m extremely grateful for the massive support the fans have given me and the team since we started on YouTube.”Tofield’s web series, which was first introduced in 2008, centers on a hungry house cat who uses heavy-handed tactics to get his owner to feed him. The cat has also been featured in several book collections.The phenomenal online popularity and huge international appeal of Simon’s Cat has led to a raft of consumer products being launched globally. United Agents appointed Zodiak Rights to build the UK licensing programme for Simon’s Cat in 2010 and the business continues to expand in 2012.Newly signed partners continue to extend the range of Simon’s Cat products available. Licensees set to launch from A/W ’12 include: Sharples ‘N’ Grant (pet accessories and products), Offshore International (digital & mobile hard cases and skinz) and Bravado (men’s & women’s t-shirts), with further apparel lines and online personalized greeting cards set to launch early 2013.

 website : http://www.simonscat.com/

Youtube Channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/simonscat/videos

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri & Salam Kemerdekaan yang ke-55

Rejoice! ‘Avengers 2' Has Official Release Date!

Disney announced that the much-hyped sequel to this summer’s Marvel superhero blockbuster, Avengers 2 will be released on May 1, 2015. Fans were happy to learn that Joss Whedon is already set to write and direct the epic feature. If you’re keeping track of your Marvel superhero movies, you probably know that Iron Man 3 is next (May 3, 2013), followed by Thor 2: The Dark World (Nov. 8, 2013), then Captain America: The Winter Soldier (April 4) followed by Guardians of the Galaxy (August 1, 2014). 

The Avengers so far has grossed $1.46 billion worldwide. Whedon also signed an exclusive deal with Marvel Studios for film and television through the end of June 2015 that includes developing a new live-action series for Marvel at ABC. It definitely looks like the Mouse House made the right decision by acquiring Marvel for $4 billion three years ago!

‘Ultimate Spider-Man’ Swings to #1

There’s a new star in the Disney XD lineup as Marvel’s Ultimate Spider-Man animated series has rocketed to record ratings on Disney XD UK. The show is the top-rated animated title on the channel, reaching 1.2 million individuals 4+, including 683,000 kids 4-15 and 265,000 boys 8-12 in its first six weeks on air.The premiere episode was the best performing show in its timeslot with boys 8-12 on any kids TV channel in the UK. The series has also boosted year-on-year Disney XD ratings for its timeslot by 77%.“The success of Ultimate Spider-Man demonstrates the demand for Marvel content from a new generation” comments Boel Ferguson, General Manager, Disney Channels UK & Ireland. “Following the incredible success of Marvel’s Avengers Assemble in theatres across the UK we wanted to give our viewers a go-to TV destination for more excitement and energy of the latest Marvel series like Ultimate Spider-Man. Beginning 17 August, Marvel Universe will become the TV home for everyone’s favorite Super Heroes.”Ultimate Spider-Man, which follows a teenaged Peter Parker, is written and run by a star-studded creative team including Marvel’s CCO Joe Quesada; Marvel EVP-Head of Television, Jeph Loeb; supervising producers Joe Kelly, Joe Casey, Steven T. Seagle & Duncan Rouleau (Man of Action); creative consultant/writer Paul Dini; and consulting producer/writer Brian Michael Bendis. The voice cast stars Drake Bell as Spidey and Chi McBride as Nick Fury.Additionally, the success of the show is being reflected in retail trends, with Argos reporting last week that 6 out of their top 10 toy lines were Spider-Man products, and that the web-shooting Spider-Man action figure tops holiday gift recommendation lists at UK retailers Argos and Tesco.

Italian VFX Artist Carlo Rambaldi Dies at 86

We were saddened by the recent death of Italian special effects wizard Carlo Rambaldi, who is best known for this work on Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, Ridley Scott’s Alien, and John Guillermin’s 1976 version of King Kong. He passed away on Friday (Aug. 10) at the age of 86 in the southern Italian city of Lemezia Terme, after a long illness.Born in 1925 in the village of Vigarano Mainarda in Emilia-Romagna in 1925, Rambaldi graduated from Bologna’s Academy of Fine Arts in 1951. After creating a dragon for the low-budget fantasy film Sigfredo, directed by early Italian helmer Giacomo Gentilomo, he was drawn to the world of cinema and moved to Rome to pursue his new passion.It was legendary Italian producer Dino De Laurentiis, who invited him to the U.S. to work on King Kong, for which he won the first special achievement Oscar in 1977. He also took home the award in 1980 for Alien and three years later for E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.Sadly, the rise of computer technology in the world of vfx provided him with fewer opportunities to create his robots and puppets. 

“Digital effects cost around eight times as much as mechatronics,” he once told the newspaper La Repubblica. “Effects on E.T. cost $1 million and took three months. If we wanted to do the same thing with computers, it would take more than two hundred people and five months.”

Jeffrey Okun, the chair of the Visual Effects Society told The Hollywood Reporter, “While I never met Mr. Rambaldi, I know I speak for the entire Society when I say that the lifelike breakthrough puppeted alien he created for E.T. significantly raised the bar for all creatures, including what would become CG created creatures. His ability to inject emotion into plastic and metal still stands as a monument to what is possible…. His talent was immense and he will be missed, but his legacy and challenge will live on.”

 

DC Comics Legend Joe Kubert Passes Away

DC comic book artist Joe Kubert, has died at the age of 85. Best known for creating the characters Sgt. Rock and Hawkman, Kubert was also the founder of the Kubert School of cartooning in New Jersey. His other creations include the comic books Tor, Son of Sinbad, and Viking Prince, and, with writer Robin Moore, the comic strip Tales of the Green Beret.Kubert was inducted into the Harvey Awards’ Jack Kirby Hall of Fame in 1997, and Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame in 1998. He made his comic book debut when he was a only 12 years old, growing up in the East New York section of Brooklyn. His sons, Andy Kubert and Adam Kubert, are also successful comic-book artists.“It’s become dramatically more accessible to make a livelihood with this business than it ever has been,” Kubert told the New Jersey Star-Ledger. “We’ve gained a respectability that nobody who started in my business ever dreamed, It’s amazing how money changes things.” n 1976, having moved to Dover, Kubert and his wife Muriel opened The Kubert School. Since then, students from all over the world who wanted to make a serious career in the comic book industry sought training there. One day a week, Kubert left his drawing table to teach a class in comic book narrative.The prolific artist and teacher came to the United States with his family from what was then Yzeran, Poland, where he was born in 1926. His 2003 graphic novel, Yossel — April 19, 1943 centered on a young Jewish artist in the Warsaw ghetto. The story, he said, reimagines life for Kubert’s own family if they had not left Europe before World War II.

Travis Knight Quote...

“All you need is a goat and a camera!” 

LAIKA’s CEO and animator Travis Knight, discussing the lead character Norman’s hair in ParaNorman, which is made out of goat hair during the film’s hilarious Comic-Con panel.