Category: News

If Avi Arad was hoping that the Bratz franchise would completely disappear and take the movie he produced with it, he’s out of luck. A US federal judge has ruled that Bratz dolls will be able to remain on store shelves through 2009.  The judge gave MGA Entertainment, the manufacturer of Bratz merchandise a stay of sorts, asking MGA and Mattel to come up with a proposal under which the dolls can continue to be manufactured and sold through the year, according to the LA Times. Under the original ruling, MGA would have had to pull the dolls from shelves as of February 11, 2009.  The judge made this new modified ruling "to address the concerns regarding the 2009 retail buying season."  

Last year, Mattel sued and won a copyright infringement against MGA Entertainment concerning the Bratz dolls. But like the vampire blodsuckers they emulate, they keep coming back from the dead.

AP News reports that Pat Hingle, the actor whose career included a recurring role as Commissioner Gordon in four Batmanfilms from 1989 to 1997, died at his home in Carolina Beach shortly after 10 p.m. Saturday after battling blood cancer. He was 84.

His career in movies and television spanned six decades, and he was also nominated for a Tony Award in 1958. Hingle’s last movie was "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which was released in 2006.

I was lucky enough to see him perform on Braodway a decade ago, playing Ben Franklin in 1776 opposite Brent Spiner as John Adams. And much to my surprise, he was the original choice to play Elmer Gantry in the movie, before an accident knocked him out of the role and handed it to Burt Lancaster.

He will be missed.

A year after the events of One More Day, Spider-Man has gone back to unmarried status in the newspaper strip.

So for all of you who thought this might just be a passing phase– like me– your hopes have finally been dashed. At least, until the next reboot.

One of these days I have to write that blog post on how to save One More Day and make Peter’s actions heroic…

Hat tip: Blog@Newsarama.

…Matt Smith?

Yes, apparently. Putting an end to all the rampant speculation, the 26 year old will be taking over the role of the Doctor in 2010.

A relative newcome to the scene, Smith already has experience working opposite companions to the Doctor, having played opposite Billie Piper (Rose Tyler) in TV adaptations of Philip Pullman’s Sally Lockhart novels The Ruby in the Smoke and The Shadow of the North as Jim Taylor, and again in Secret Diary of a Call Girl.

Now let the ritualized mocking of Rich Johnston commence.