Movie Review: Breaking Upwards

Album Review: Mighty Tiger's Western Theater

What's in the Inbox: Stat Quo "Success (Back to U)"

Secretly Canadian will release The Treatment, a new record from Early Day Miners, on September 21 in the UK and September 22 in the United States. The label mentions that we should expect an album of “shorter, tighter songs with a decidedly pop edge” in lieu of the “gorgeous and sprawling guitar rock epics” we usually hear from them.

The group, now a four-piece, will soon be on the road beginning in August playing new songs from the album. For the complete tour schedule, continue reading.

….Early Day Miners Reinvent Themselves on The Treatement

If you happen to be in the Berkley, California area on August 5 around 5:00 pm, be sure to stop by Golden Apple Comics for Image Comics Night. Jersey Gods‘ Glen Brunswick, Elephantmen’s Richard Starkings and Charlatan Ball’s Andy Suriano will all be appearing, along with others from the Image stable of talent. There will be signings, first looks, and other genuinely fun tasks that should appeal to the general nerd populous.

For more information, feel free to contact Golden Apple by calling 323-658-6047.

Those interested in joining the ranks of Stark Industries should visit the companies freshly launched website, Stark Industries Now. After doing so, you’ll see a press release written on a cocktail napkin from company president Tony Stark proclaiming that they’ve abandoned their weapon-making past. A link is located above the napkin that leads to a lengthy application for employment.

Stark Industries Now clearly marks the beginning of some sort of viral campaign for Iron Man 2. Although, some of the questions on the resume are downright difficult, so perhaps if they’re all answered correctly you’ll land an actual job.

As our good friend Mr. Rosco P Coltrane used to say, “Good news, good news!”

We’ve know for a while that a prequel to Alien was in the works, and that Ridley Scott would be involved in some way or another. Until recently, it looked like Scott would only be producing. Today, though, Variety reports that Scott has signed on to direct. The fact that the man responsible for the original film of the series is handling things in lieu of a studio-hired hack gives us hope that this will be worth watching.

The prequel will be written by Jon Spaihts, a fairly new screenwriter with multiple projects in the works.

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Sad news, adventurers. Dungeons & Dragons Online won’t be going free-to-play next month as originally expected. Turbine, the folks behind the game, decided to delay the change for an extra month to make sure everything is optimized. Given the heavy traffic that follows the launch of free-to-play online titles (we’re looking at you Battlefield Heroes), delaying was probably a smart move.

September 9 is now the official launch date, so be sure to have your cloak washed and staff polished by then.

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When we inquired of the Virtual Magic 8 Ball as to whether or not nerds appreciate good country rock, it said maybe. So, we thought we’d tell you that Deer Tick will soon embark on a four-month tour of the United States in support of their recently released album, Born on Flag Day. Grace Potter and The Nocturnals, The Hold Steady, The Felice Brothers, and Johnny Cornndogg will be performing as well on various stops throughout the tour.

Here’s a video of Deer Tick from My Old Kentucky Blog’s Laundromatinee Sessions:

Deer Tick – Houston, TX from LaundroMatinee on Vimeo.

For the complete tour schedule, continue reading.

…Deer Tick Hits the Road

According to The Sun, which we know isn’t the most reliable of sources, Paul McCartney is planning on retiring from the road sometime not too distant future. The 67-year old man-child is reportedly in the midst of planning a series of “spectacular shows” in venues he has yet to play.

“The tour in 2010 is likely to last well over a year,” an unnamed source tells The Sun, “by which time he will be almost 70.”

Hey Paul, if you’d like to play the first annual Insulinfunk Music Festival, drop us an email, mate. We’ll give you that $.35 we earned in ad revenue a few months back.

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Action juggernaut producer Jerry Bruckheimer has bought the rights to Ashley Wood’s World War Robot. The graphic novel, published by IDW, is a war-diary of sorts that tells the story of conflict between humans and Martians fought through robots. Odds are, many tremendous explosions will ensue during the war due to Bruckheimer’s involvement.

Wood will executive produce the film, which hopefully means the film will accurately capture the mood of the book.

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If you know what an Aes Sedai is and you’re still wondering who killed Asmodean, then you’re probably all ZOMGWOOT about The Gathering Storm coming out in November. We will finally have (now bear with us) the first book of the final trilogy that takes the place of the last book of the Wheel of Time series!

(What? More than one book, you say? What happened to A Memory of Light, you say? You need to get caught up here and here. And if you didn’t know that Robert Jordan was dead, nothing we can say but sorry to ruin your week)

So Dragonmount, those lucky bastards, got their hands on a review copy. You can read the full review here. The spoilers are clearly and distinctly set off from the rest of the article so you can make your decision when you get… … Dragonmount Posts First Review of The Gathering Storm

You probably know the story arc of Spider-Man where he encounters the alien symbiote. Peter Parker is transformed from a wise-cracking, brightly-colored friendly neighborhood superhero into a dark, vengeful being who cares more about his own power than achieving justice. I think most fans would agree that this is one of the coolest stories in the Spider-Man saga (excepting of course its portrayal in Spider-Man 3, a movie I am trying to pretend does not exist).

But imagine if the reverse happened; imagine if a dark, vengeful hero like Batman turned his frown upside-down, put on a red and blue costume, and tried not to be so mean to his enemies. Pretty lame, right?

The shadowy Twilight Princess was better received than the cheerful Wind Waker, long before the games were even playable. Mewtwo is darker and thus cooler than Pikachu, but both… … The Strange Appeal of Darkness