Christian Bale's Batman Voice is Terrible

From worstpreviews, Kevin Conroy has been the voice of Batman in animated shows, movies and video games for nearly two decades. And during his C2E2 panel on Friday, he was asked to comment on Christian Bale's voice in "Batman Begins' and "The Dark Knight."

The question is obviously referring to the bizarre voice that Bale has been using to portray Batman, which has been the focus of many parodies. And you would think that Conroy would have nothing but positive things to say about Bale, but he surprising sided with the fans by agreeing that the voice is terrible.

He said: "[Bale is] an excellent actor. He just got steered wrong. Obviously someone should have stopped him and said 'You sound ridiculous.' But no one did. As actors, you have to trust the people on the other side of the camera, because you can't see what's going on. You're working in such a vacuum that you can convince yourself that anything is great. So you need a third eye to tell you that you're way off base. Unfortunately no one stopped him."

Big Tits Zombie Brings The Weird

From cinemablend, It's not my intention to sound racist, but judging from the movies, commercials and various other media that make their way to America via the internet tubes, Japan is a bizarre place. Going solely by videos seen online, the Asian country appears to be populated by creepy dogs hocking ear shaped chips and Robo Geishas that lactate acid. Now, in that spirit, we have Big Tits Zombie.

Twitch has posted the trailer for the film (which will be in 3D by the way) and it is completely inexplicable. The video is two minutes of strippers posing, a voice-over speaking in a language that can barely be described as English, and zombies with costumes that were likely picked up at the Japanese equivalent of Party City. Throw in references to ping-pong, sushi, geishas and samurais and you slowly begin to wonder if this is, in fact, a deep social commentary about how America views Japanese culture. Then a zombie gets split in half vertically with a chainsaw and you realize that this film likely has the depth of an inflatable kiddy pool.

See the trailer here

Spock to retire?

From ew, I’m gonna say it: Khhhhhhaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn! Who else could we possibly blame for Leonard Nimoy’s recent admission that he plans to retire?

That’s right: The man formerly known as Spock intends to step down from his acting career after finishing his arc as Dr. William Bell on Fringe. That means no more Bell, and no more Spock — even when it comes to Star Trek’s 2012 sequel. Says Nimoy to the Toronto Sun: “I want to get off the stage. Also, I don’t think it would be fair to [Star Trek's 2009 Spock] Zachary Quinto…He’s a terrific actor, he looks the part, and it’s time to give him some space.” (Ha. Space. Was the pun intended? I’d like think so.)
And get this: He might even retire from sci-fi conventions. Gah! I don’t know, PopWatchers. I loved Zachary Quinto in last year’s film, but are we ready for Leonard Nimoy to disappear from our lives like a red shirt? Do you think he’ll at least perform a follow-up to “Ballad of Bilbo Baggins” for us?

Either way, live long and prosper, my friend. Because I’m sure you haven’t heard that enough.

Creepy video of talking robot mouth (I see porn possibilities)

From geekology, his is a robotic mouth created to help the hearing impaired learn to articulate their speech better. It's a learning tool. One I just set on fire and kicked down the stairs.

"To enable the robot's speaking abilities, engineers at Japan's Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs. The robot not only talks, but it uses a learning algorithm to mimic the sounds of human speech. By inputting the voices of both hearing-impaired and non-hearing-impaired people into the microphone, researchers were able to plot the differences in sound on a map. During speech training, the robot "listens" to the subjects talk while comparing their pronunciation to that of subjects who are not hearing-impaired. The robot then generates a personalized visualization that allows subjects to adjust their pronunciation according to the target points on the speech map."

Admittedly that's pretty neat, but I suspect there's a much more devious robotic plan involved. You know those scary-ass fish with a million teeth that live way down in the ocean and have that little light they dangle around to catch fish? Well this is like the same thing, except for human peckers.

Yay: Megan Fox's descent into obscurity has begun

Megan Fox knocked off top spot by Mad Men actress!

From abcNEWS.com: "Mad Men" actress Christina Hendricks looks completely revamped on the cover of Esquire magazine, which named her "Best-Looking Woman In America," with over 30 percent of the 10,000 women surveyed picking her over Megan Fox and model Adriana Lima. Her tips for men in the issue include expanding their vocabulary. "There are better words than beautiful. Radiant, for instance. It's an underused word. Also, enchanting, smoldering, intoxicating, charming, fetching," she said. She also lists chocolate-covered bacon as her favorite food.

Octopunk adds: Good for Christina Hendricks! I hear Mad Men is great, but she also stars in two episodes of Firefly, and I always like to see those folks make good.

Awesome: Kids' Drawings Painted Realistically

See more examples here

Latest James Bond film on hold

Los Angeles, California (CNN) -- The big-screen adventures of James Bond are on hold because of the financial woes of MGM, the studio that distributes the movies, producers said.

The 23rd Bond film was in pre-production for a release next year.

"Due to the continuing uncertainty surrounding the future of MGM and the failure to close a sale of the studio, we have suspended development on BOND 23 indefinitely," producers Michael Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a joint statement. "We do not know when development will resume and do not have a date for the release of BOND 23."

MGM has been on the brink of bankruptcy as it works with creditors to find a new owner.

The James Bond series is the longest-running film franchise in history, with the first movie about the world's most famous fictional spy -- "Dr. No" -- released in 1962.

The movie franchise and merchandising are controlled by EON Productions. Wilson and Broccoli took over the 007 franchise from Albert "Cubby" Broccoli in 1995.

Bugman

More class work, this time using the program called Mudbox. I got to class and said "I'm gonna make a bug man." This was instead of working on the Audrey Hepburn head I'm also trying to put together.



This picture is the same as the top one, but with the control mesh visible (you may have to click on it to see it larger).

Tommy comes to town

Maybe a week ago JPX emailed me that Tommy Wiseau would be appearing at a screening of his 2003 cult classic "The Room" in NYC on April 30th, and when I wrote I was tempted to go, JPX counseled me that would be a little crazy. Fortunately, I didn't have to choose between sanity and Tommy, because just a few days later I found out Tommy was slated to appear this very weekend at the Coolidge Theater in Brookline as part of his "Love is Blind" tour. The Friday and Saturday midnight shows were already sold out, but I quickly purchased tickets for the Sunday night show, and emailed some other local
fans.

I didn't want to get my hopes up, so it wasn't until we actually saw Tommy outside the Coolidge that we knew for sure this was really going to happen. He looks exactly like he does in the film, only shorter. And total bonus: Greg Sestero was there too! Mr. AC and I met up with Angela, Chris, and Sam inside the theater. Chris was in character as scruffy Mark, and had brought his sister Jessica and her boyfriend John, who had never seen the film before. I
was torn between envy and compassion for the newbies.

The spectacle kicked off with a lengthy and bizarre Q & A. I had been wondering if Tommy's personality in interviews was an act, but on seeing him I think there's actually something off about him. His comments were a combination of weird, tangential, vague, irritated, guarded, condescending, and intentionally or unintentionally funny. He often didn't seem to understand what people said. Fortunately the crowd was behind him, so when one poorly mannered questioner asked Tommy what it was like to make a bad film, the questioner himself was booed. Greg Sestero was super laid back
and quiet.

Finally the film was played, to copious fanfare, commentary, applause, and spoon-throwing.

Mr. AC had the brilliant idea of leaving the theater slightly before the end of the film, so as to get a good spot on line for the meet and greet, and so glad we did. We were about 10th in line, and therefore were still somewhat awake as we had the opportunity to meet the boys, get our schwag signed, and best of all have our pictures taken. Tommy was very polite and solicitous in person though he did grab my chest without warning, saying "your husband is going to kill me!" I reassured him that it was all right. Fortunately Mr. AC got it on camera. Greg was extremely handsome in person, and so normal, chatting about the screening and asking us how often we'd seen the film, that it actually compounded the surrealness of the experience. To our surprise, both Mr. AC and I ended up feeling totally starstruck, and someone will have to pry the signed, talking Tommy bobblehead out of Mr. AC's cold dead hand.

Horrorthon blues

1) I want everyone who hasn't already to go pay lots of attention to my two posts from over the weekend, about the maze in The Shining (and my Avatar post with the two and a half minute clip from the movie, showing That Big Thing Back There).

2) I really don't want to not look at the girl with the grotesque lips any more. Can we take that down? Pretty please? (Or, "ugly please" as the case may be?)

HHD Results! Wake up, already!

Way to step up, folks! It's funny how HHDs of late accumulate more slowly than they used to: but then by the end of the day you've got over 50 poems.

I'm grouping my favorites by type:

Generally hilarious and cool haikus

AC said

the dawn treader found
an island where dreams come true
sounds good but isn't

Which was great because I was thinking of that very scene when deciding on whether to include the more daydreamy kind of dreams in the topic.

"Dreams come true here? That's great!"

"No, not daydreams. Dreams"

There was also a priceless array of work dream haikus, which I felt were best summed up by these three:

Stan:

Dreaming about work
Happens almost all the time
Can't I just be done?

Cat:

I hate those work dreams
wake up feeling exhausted
yet day's just starting

AC:

work dreams are unfair
we don't get time-and-a-half
union, anyone?

Haikus that captured the fantastic weirdness of dreams

Cat:

When I was a kid
Dreamt my Barbies came to life
they were pinching me

In the horror movie they'd eat you or stab you or something, but then when it "really" happens they're just petty little mean things, pinching you. Yes.

AC:

an eye in an arm
helplessly drawn forward i
fall into the eye

Eeeew! You dreamt that?! Eewww!

JSP:

Friends getting murdered
Sociopathic natives
Pole vault over shrubs

It's all basic nightmare until that last line. "Shrubs?" Was this happening at a backyard barbecue? "Pole vault?"

Julie:

Awesome baby's room
Ocean waves come through the door
Take away laundry

Julie had actually told me about this dream, and it wove itself in haiku form admirably.

Haikus that revealed stuff deeper into the writers' heads than I probably expected

JPX:

Sex dreams are the goal
I had one that was so real
Woke humping the air

Wow, dude. That's, uh...

This where I point out that I always wake up before things really get going in sex dreams, on two occasions becuase I stopped to look for a condom before going further. In a dream! Dammit. They really drilled that stuff into your head in the late eighties.

50PageMcGee:

weird oral sex dream
'cept instead of vagina
it's a cheeseburger

That brings up all kinds of questions, most of them logistical.


Haukus that personified dreams I have had myself

JPX:

Used to dream of toys
Would try to wake up with them
True, I still do this

Not only do I also have dreams like this, JPX himself stars in most of them. For instance when I said this:

A toy dream I had
Omelette critter with handles
Hammerhead rode it

I was referring to when I dreamt that JPX and I got to see all these preview toys for the original Star Wars line, and Hammerhead (the cantina dude) had this animal he rode on that was like a big, flat, round slug. It had a single antenna in the middle of its back that split into two handlebars. The toy looked like a life size omelette with handlebar antenna and a Hammerhead figure standing on it. Awesome.

And this poignant pair from DCD:

Hate confrontations.
Yet, in dreams I crush people
with my righteousness!

Every point - Made!
They surrender at my words!
I'm tough. In my dreams.

Oh man, soooo there.

In the end, it came down to three. The runners-up are...

JSP:

Look out your window
Me and my sky bicycle
Destination: space

Yay. Pretty much what I didn't know I was looking for when I solicited your ambitions. And that last line is a gem. "Destination: space." Should be a TV show.

The other runner-up is 50PageMcGee's:

after my car wreck
months of dreams interrupted
spider-crack visions

Very nice. Personal, shocking and satisfyingly visual.

But the winner is from my loverly lady:

Julie:

Extra room in house
Coolest room I've ever seen
My recurring dream

That one completely nails a recurring feature in dreams I've had since childhood, with one important difference. In my dreams, that extra room is usually just another confusing element in an already odd task. Like the time I dreamt that one Christmas we received a real-life spacesuit from the world of Space: 1999, and the corner of the living room had been turned into a huge fishtank that we could swim in while wearing the spacesuit. And when it was my turn, nobody could find the helmet, not even in that extra room in the house. Damn.

But in Julie's dream, that room is the coolest room she's ever seen. That's great! What a positive thing to shoot for next time I'm trying to direct my dreams.

We're also having a yard sale tomorrow, and so all this deep thinking about the space in the apartment is resonating nicely in my skull.

And, additionally, this evening when I gave her my camera so she could watch some footage I'd shot earlier in the day, afterwards she secretly took a picture of her boob.