Category: News

From the BBC, the story of the day week:

An unusual disguise has helped a Bangkok fireman rescue an eight-year-old boy who had climbed on to a third-floor window ledge, Thai police say.

The firefighter dressed up as the comic book superhero Spider-Man in order to coax the boy, who is autistic, from his dangerous perch.

Police said teachers had alerted the fire station after the boy began crying and climbed out of a classroom window.

It was reportedly his first day at the special needs school.

Efforts by the teachers to persuade the pupil to come back inside had failed.

But a remark by his mother about his passion for comic superheroes prompted fireman Somchai Yoosabai to rush back to the station, where he kept a Spider-Man costume in his locker.

The sight of Mr Somchai dressed as Spider-Man and holding a glass of juice for him, brought a big smile to the boy’s face, and he promptly threw himself into the arms of his "superhero", police said.

Mr Somchai normally uses the costume to liven up fire drills in schools.

Mending their relationship, Twilight production company Summit Entertainment and director Catherine Hardwicke are coming together again for the new fantasy/drama movie If I Stay, according to Variety.  The movie is based on author Gayle Forman’s young adult novel If I Stay, which will be published this spring by Dutton children’s Books.

Additionally, via ICv2, Hardwicke is in discussions with Columbia Pictures to develop and direct a movie adaptation of James Patterson young-adult book series Maximum Ride. Ex-Marvel honcho Avi Arad is producing the adaptation of Patterson’s tale of six teens who have been genetically altered so that they can fly. On the one hand, both the text versions and Yen Press’ Maximum Ride graphic novels have done very well. On the other hand, Arad’s first film after leaving Marvel– was Bratz.

Man, we are so behind… busy busy busy here. Some items from the past few days to tide you over:

• The "comics on handhelds" panel at SXSW, covered by ComicMix contributor Chris Ullrich for one of the thirteen other blogs he writes for.
• And speaking of ComicMix contributors past and present, Rick Marshall made it up to the Webcomics Weekend and covered it heavily.
• Quote of the day, from John Rogers:
  There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
• Take the above with a grain of salt– Rogers drinks. Heavily. Quotes On Comics. This will probably save Dirk Deppey five minutes a day or so when he does ¡Journalista!
• Papercutz is going to publish Geronimo Stilton graphic novels beginning in August.  The first graphic novel titles under the deal are The Discovery of America and The Secret of the Sphinx.  Scholastic Inc publishes the Geronimo Stilton book series in the US.

Anything else? Consider this an open thread.

You have to wonder if the April’s Fools stories are coming out early… but apparently not. According to Variety, Disney will release producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s family-targeted live-action movie The Sorcerer’s Apprentice on July 16, 2010. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice joins two other Disney kid/family-centric pictures set for that summer: Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, set for May 28, and Pixar’s Toy Story 3, which opens July 18.

The movie, starring Nicolas Cage and Jay Baruchel, is based on "The Sorcerer’s Apprentice" section of Disney’s animated feature Fantasia.  The movie begins production this month under the direction of Jon Turteltaub, who has worked with both Cage and Bruckheimer before on the National Treasure films.

No word yet if Cage will wear the mouse ears.

Now, before you all cry "Blasphemy!" bear in mind that you never thought Pirates of the Caribbean would work… and it probably can’t be any worse than this version:

So I’m watching WALL•E, and I’m thinking to myself that the voice of the ship, AUTO, is real familiar, and so I call up IMDB. And lo and behold, it is familair– it’s MacInTalk. The happy folks at Pixar tipped their hats to Apple (gee, can’t imagine why).

Then I look deeper. Dang, IMDB gave MacInTalk its own character page. Very neat.

And then I scrolled down to the message boards, and I saw the various comments…

Met him last night…
Macintalk for Best Supporting Actor!

This guy is in every fcking movie!
So overrated.

People say I look like him!!

Is it true he’s dating Keira Knightly?

I think I read that somewhere. Maybe People magazine? I don’t know but it would be cool if it was true!

He’s quite the player. He’s also been seen with Agnes, Kathy, Princess, Vicki and Victoria, as well as Trinoids, Zarvox, Pipe Organ and Bahh. There are even rumors about him and his pet dogcow, Clarus.

You people are all insane! MacInTalk and Keira have repeatedly DENIED any relationship. All this kind of talk does is further confuse people who’ll readily believe anything they read. CAN’T YOU LEAVE THEM IN PEACE? Anyway, MacInTalk was seen in Ibiza two weeks ago snuggling up to Salma Hayek on the beach, so you can make up your own mind about that …

Nude pictures – real?

Oh, that is SO photoshopped. FAKE!! Can’t you see it’s Mac’s (read/write) head on a Hitachi platter and chassis?

You don’t even want to know about discussion of the sex tape on Robby The Robot’s page.