The Kat's Journal

Books I want to read:
The Windup Girl- Paolo Bacigalupi
The Native Star - M.K. Hobson
Heart-Shaped Box - Joe Hill
Locke & Key (Graphic Novel) - Joe Hill
The Broken Kingdoms - N. K Jemisin (The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms was fantastic.)
The Living Dead 2 - Anthology. The first one was good and I know someone in the second one!
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - Rebecca Skloot
Under Heaven - Guy Gavriel Kay
Ghost Story - Jim Butcher (Yeah, not until April, I know.)

Books I have that I need to read:
Shadowrise - Tad Williams
Arms-Commander - L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Imager - L. E. Modesitt Jr.
Deadnought - Cherie Priest (Started this at the gym.0
Catie's newest bit of Old Races awesome.
The Folding Knife - K. J. Parker
Tongues of Serpents - Naomi Novik

The military tactics of Joan d'Arc book I found as well as the book on Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Anyone else have any recomendations

First reported by Showbiz 411, it looks like Michael Fassbender is officially official to play Magneto. I think this is BRILLIANT casting. I've liked him in everything I've seen him in and at some point, I will watch Jonah Hex just for his malicious glee.

Marvel announced this morning that Jeph Loeb is now Executive Vice President, Head of Television, and will be in charge of bringing more Marvel properties to TV. This is also pretty huge, all things considered but feels like a ove to counter Geoff Johns' new job.

In case you didn't notice Neil Gaiman and The Graveyard Book won The Carnegie Medal. Also, Cherie Priest won a Locus award for Boneshaker. Hooray!

A limited number of SDCC badges will go on sale this morning at 10PST (like very shortly.)

Universal Studios Home Entertainment has announced that the "Back to the Future" 25th Anniversary Trilogy is hitting Blu-ray and DVD on October 26.

Sony is really trying to narrow down who is going to be Peter Parker. I imagine they'd like to announce who it is, is possible, at Comic Con.

Also, regarding the Hobbit, there are no deals yet. There are a lot of people who WANT Peter Jackson to direct it - that makes sense. In the end, though, there is no deal yet and it isn't like they'd be able to make anything until the MGM stuff is resolved.

You can find the teaser for The Social Network here: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/45577 I have to admit, I'm now much more interested in this than I was before seeing it, so it certainly worked.

Daniel Radcliffe is said to be taking the lead in a new All Quiet on the Western Front. Not a bad move for him at all.

It looks like Marvel is moving to a Live Action Doctor Strange. Patrick Dempsey is rumored to want the role.

Here's a tidbit from the Glastonbury music festival this weekend for you Whovians out there:

Those of you on my friend's list who are Queen & Country readers should be excited to see this loveliness. And if you aren't a Queen and Country reader, why not? Seriously, if you like spies and/or snarky kick ass women, this is really for you. October is FAR AWAY! GAH!

So, it looks like Bryan Singer will be producing X-Men First Class because of the fact that he's already committed to making Jack the Giant Killer with WB. For those of you who may not remember X-men is with Fox and WB and Fox are not the best of buddies recently. (Rememeber that Watchmen mess? Yeah.) So, I'm guessing they aren't up for sharing too much or letting him out of that contract.

Speaking of X-men movies, Mark Millar claims that Fox 'offered him X-men 4' but who knows what he's talking about or what he was actually offered. He's never directed a movie and as far as I know, never written an entire movie script... So producer, maybe? I don't know. It seems odd and he's certainly said other things that were... well... exaggerations.

I love the fact that Tiny Titans are getting actual story books. It is brilliant. Again, Tiny Titans is consistantly one of my favorite reads every month. Yes, it is aimed at 8 year olds. I really don't care as it is hilarious and cute.

According to Bloody Disgusting, actor Jonny Lee Miller is the leading candidate to be Rick Grimes in the "The Walking Dead" on AMC. I like Jonny Lee Miller very much and am looking forward to that. Last week Jon Bernthal was cast as Shane.

J. Michael Straczynski, who wrote a nice arc on Thor, is apparently getting a cameo in the movie. He posted the following on Facebook: "It was supposed to be just a ten second deal, but director Kenneth Branagh decided (against the evidence) that I can act, so he kept putting me in more bits. We'll see what ends up on the cutting room floor, but it was a lot of fun... All I can say is that it was something drawn from my tenure writing the Thor comic...so basically I've finally disappeared into my own narrative. Knew that would happen one of these days."

Stephen Daldry joins Sofia Coppola, Bill Condon and Gus Van Sant on the people who they want to direct Breaking Dawn but who (likely) totally will never direct Breaking Dawn. I mean, while we're at it why don't we add Steven Spielberg, Terry Gilliam and James Cameron just for fun.

And, well, yes: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2010/3/29/dm-101/ - I was a little sad not to be at PAXEast this weekend, as all of the Twitter posts made it sound awesome but I needed the weekend of not doing anything SO BADLY.

Universal Pictures has chosen July 1, 2011 for the Peter Berg-directed Battleship movie of, yes, the board game.

The Smurfs has been moved from late 2010 to summer 2011. I wouldn't want to go up against Tron Legacy again.

Christopher Waltz (the milk drinking Nazi from Basterds) has been cast as the villain Chudnofsky in The Green Hornet, replacing Nick Cage.

Harrison Ford says that he is, you know, interested in playing Indy again. The quote is, actually, "... the story for the new Indiana Jones is in the process of taking form. Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and myself are agreed on what the fifth adventure will concern, and George is actively at work. If the script is good, I'll be very happy to put the costume on again."

Michael Fassbender says that he took a lot of inspiration for his Jonah Hex villain from Frank Gorshin's Riddler. Which is brilliant and I can sort of see that from what I've seen of that movie. It looks like everything's been turned up to 11.

"It's oddly relaxing to realize that Kanye just set a bar for douchebaggery that, for the rest of my life, I could not reach if I TRIED." - Mark Waid

Michael Bay's official website updated today - He's meeting on Transformers 3, Bad Boys 3 and a whole slew of other things that look like they'll feature explosions.

http://www.bleedingcool.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/apple.jpg

Bruce Campbell says he has a larger part in Spidey 4 (starts filming in January) but he doesn't know what it is. I'm still voting for Mysterio.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan is going to be in the Red Dawn remake and is starting a campaign to play Lobo. He looks about right for it as a start....

Maybe I will go back to school - http://sites.history.msu.edu/historyofcomics/ Seriously. Check out the Graphic Novel assigned reading list. I'm tempted to write papers for some of these topics just to exercise my brain.

A new Muppets Halloween special will air next year on TV. Animal's Drum Kit will be released on the iPhone in October. There will be a new line of plush Muppet stuffed animals starting with Kermit. There will be a Waldorf and Statler book coming as well as more Muppet music CDs.

The word is Spielberg wants Robert Downey Jr. to play the man who sees an invisible rabbit in his "Harvey" remake.

Roger Avary and Samuel Hadida have both signed on for a sequel to Silent Hill. Huh. Well. I.... Hrmmmm. I didn't like Silent Hill but I didn't think it was an awful movie. I would have done it differently.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance comes out tomorrow. September 15th is tomorrow already? What?

Christopher McQuarrie has been signed on to write the next Wolverine movie. Christopher McQuarrie is good news because of something else he wrote - The Usual Suspects. He was involved with the first X-men movie but took his name off of it as it ended up being more David Hayter's in the end than his. So, we're starting from a good place, at least.

Bloody Disgusting has learned exclusively that Legendary Pictures is looking to make a Godzilla movie and relaunch him here. I don't think relaunch is the right word. I mean, that implies that he's been forgotten or faded away at all. There are no details other than this would be another fresh start.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=58023 - Paul Bettany as an angel with machine guns and Doug Jones. I don't need more than that, really. It'll likely be cheesy but I don't care. It'll get at least one viewing from me. (Watch out, there are some bad words in this if you're at work.)

Speaking of Paul Bettany, he's going to be in “Priest”. That movie has just signed Maggie Q as well.

Brett Ratner wants Robert Pattinson to be in his "Youngblood" movie. Okay then.

The Submariner movie is currently at Universal, which means that it isn't one of the Marvel properties and likely won't be tied in in the same way. Of course, there doesn't seem to be much motion on it, either.

Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark seems to have run into some problems. The production has currently halted but the producers are saying everything is okay and that they'll still be opening February. Really.

Guy Ritchie is hinting that he has a comic book property that he's expecting to be filming on by January. *ponders* Guy Ritchie filming a hero movie that is getting ready for production that doesn't have a director yet. Anyone got any guesses? Any wishes?

Ernie Hudson will appear in several episodes of Heroes this season as Captain Bullock. Uh-huh.

I may have mentioned this before or I may have forgotten to mention it - The Blair Witch Project is getting a sequel, now ten years after. (There was a sequel already and it blew but it didn't have the original writers and directors involved.) They're interested in 'what happens next'. So, there you go.

There is a new Tad Williams book out. Hooray! I've liked the Shadowmarch stuff pretty well so far, so that will be lovely to read. I'm storing up quite a backlog these days.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=57191 - Badly scanned image of Scarlett Johannson as Black Widow. Niiiiiice. Nice.

There is a Twilight manga on the way. .... *sighs*

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince earned an estimated $22.2 million for its 3,003 midnight screenings, beating the $18.5 million midnight runs by The Dark Knight and the $16.9 million earned by Revenge of the Sith.

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters is on the way, headed to your bookshelves.

There is a third Bridget Jones moving coming.

There was an early screening of GI Joe last night in Kansas City. All of the reviews I'm reading are saying that a) it is a fun movie and b) it is better than Transformers 2.

Stephen Chow has officially completely pulled entirely out of The Green Hornet.

Nick Cage says that he wants to 'reconstruct' Ghost Rider for a second movie.

Saturday! Wolverine at 2:20 at the Regal Meridian. If it is sold out, there are like a million showings after that. After seeing Wolverine, there will be Smite Fest 2 - http://smitefest.org/2009/04/04/announcing-smitefest-2/ Which sounds like it should be good fun for everyone involved. I may bring my Killer Bunnies....

I want to point out that both ruckawriter (Greg Rucka) and mizkit (C. E. Murphy) have books out today. Walking Dead and The Pretender's Crown, respectively. I'm looking forward to reading both of them very soon. I need to finish Pride and Predjudice and Zombies first.

Your new update - Sapphires! http://dcublog.dccomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/bnln_ssap.jpg Love is dangerous stuff. There are a lot ways this can go weird.

It seems that Wolverine may well have multiple endings, somewhat like Clue. Different things happen! Interesting thing to do in a potential franchise movie. It is rumored that one is a Deadpool ending and one is a Wolverine in Japan ending. Interesting.

Ryan Reynolds has made mention in a few interviews that he'd like to do some sort of Deadpool and Calbe thing. It has the possibility of the awesome but who knows, really. He even mentioned Black Tom, so, that really confirms the geekness or at least that he's done a little comic reading.

Meanwhile, also proving that he did some reading up, Taylor Kitsch wants to do a Gambit movie in where they go back to his Thieves Guild days.

“Surrogates” is scheduled to hit theaters September 25, 2009. It is another comic adaption but I haven't read the source material. It certainly sounds interesting, though. People stay at home and send out robotic duplicates to do day to day things for them. Bruce Willis is the star, playing a detective investigating the bizarre serial killings of the robotic duplicates. There has been a viral marketing push behind this with some websites and now a poster. I'm thinking of tracking down the original.

It seems that Drop Dead Fred is being remade. That really seems like an odd choice for a remake. I guess if you're looking for an interesting concept that really didn't work the first time around, this fits the bill. I liked it well enough but it never stood out at all.

Fox's Gulliver's Travels movie has added Amanda Peet to the cast. It already has Emily BLunt, Jack Black and Jason Segel.

And last but not least they've started filming the Clash of the Titans remake.

Michael J. Fox will be on‘Rescue Me,” which is starting Season Five tonight. He will play a paraplegic and will appear in five episodes. I love this show. It is gritty and unappologetic and that's what I like about it.

Mandalay Pictures has acquired theatrical rights to and will develop a big-screen version of "Full Metal Panic". It looks like Zac Effron is being looked at to star. There haven't been many anime to live-action cross overs that have done well...

Iron Man 2 set photos are starting to trickle out. Not much to see just yet. Though there is a rumor we'll be seeing a love triangle... (Ahem, Pepper, Tony and Natasha)

Arisia and Kilowog! Arisia and Kolowog! http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810077708/video/12839105 And, y'know, some guy named Jordan.

Ryan Carnes, possibly better known as Laszlo from Doctor Who, or maybe as Justin from Desperate Housewives will play The Phantom for Sci...Syfy when they launch the show again later this year. In other news Tahmoh Penikett and Laura Vandervoort will star in "Riverworld". The premise of that one is interesting (the leads die and wake up in a world that has everyone who has ever died in it...) and it has Alan Cumming in it, so... I'll probably tune in for an episode or two.

House was ... intense last night. Totally unexpected, for me at least. If you haven't seen last night's show, I'll put this ( behind a cut. )

The first reviews on Star Trek are startin to come in (Man, that's soon. I need to start looking for tickets for a few of these...) and they're all really positive. Which is sort of amazing.

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood starts April 9th in Japan. Funimation will begin offering the series on it's website starting on April 13th. Not sure if it is a total reboot or if the website will be subbed or what. I loved the original FMA, though. I should really get that on DVD.

Turn Coat, the new Harry Dresden book came out today. Hooray!

Have you been waiting for a new Harry Potter trailer? Have you? Well. Here you are. It looks.... pretty good, really. I liked the fifth movie very much, even though it was my least favorite of the books.

Heroes is going to get a 18 to 20 episode fourth season. I've officially stopped watching this season, so I'm indifferent about this.

The final trailer for Wolverine is over here. Interesting. Deadpool is still not scarred up. Gambit's eyes are fixed. And who is the weird albino guy? Hrmmmm. Though most of this are things were seen before.

It seems that Daft Punk will be scoring Tron 2. Daft Punk? Really? That's... brilliant. Or it could be anyway.

The synopsis for the novelization of the new Star Trek movie is a bit... ummmm.. spoilery. So watch out for that one.

I'm going to get a Kindle and I'm going to get it in time for my trip to visit my parents. Birthday present to me.

So there.

Gore Verbinki is going direct a new Clue movie. Hrmmm.

Are you ready for this? 2010 and 2011 are going to be full of geekness. Someone once told me the best was over. Pah

Look for Jonah Hex on August 6th 2010 and Green Lantern on December 17th of the same year. .

The second half and last of the Harry Potter movies will be released on July 15, 2011. (That will be the same weekend as The Avengers movie unless someone blinks.)

December 25th, 2009 - Sherlock Holmes (the Robert Downey Jr. one), Disney's Princess and the Frog and The Rock's Tooth Fairy movie.

The new Clash of the Titans will be March 26, 2010.

There is a new Yogi Bear project underway.

Lindsay Price has been cast as one of the Witches of the new Eastwick.

Lou Diamond Phillips, Ming-Na, Elyse Levesque and Alaina Huffman finish the cast of Stargate Universe.

LL Cool J has been cast to star in CBS' "NCIS" spin-off. He's gonna be an ex-Navy Seal!

There are a LOT of Watchmen reviews out there and they're not the reactions you'd usually expect - either absurdly positive or negative - as fan reviews tend to be.