New York Comic Con and Disney*Pixar have just announced that the first 50 minutes of the forthcoming movie Up will screen for the first time at New York Comic Con.

Up is the story of Carl Fredricksen, a man who spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed Carl by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life.

The screening will be introduced by director Pete Docter and begin at 6:30 PM on Saturday, February 7 in the IGN Theater inside NYCC. Methinks you should get on line Friday.

NASA and Google released a new Mars overlay providing 3D views of the canyons and mountains of the Red Planet, part of the beta launch of the downloadable Google Earth 5.0 client application. Now all we’re waiting for is for them to find this somewhere on the planet’s surface…

Fifty years ago, a single-engine plane crashed into a Iowa field, instantly killing three men and officially opening rock ‘n’ roll heaven.

The years haven’t dimmed the fascination with the night of February 3, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake the night before and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight to their next gig. Their deaths would be immortalized in the Don McLean song "American Pie" as The Day The Music Died.

Our friends at FindingDulcinea.com have a great write-up about the performers.

He’s gone from presenting his take on Spider-Man, the X-Men and the rest of the Marvel Universe to, well, his take on the creation of the universe, according to the New Jersey Star-Ledger:

Each morning before sunrise, for the last three years, the Rutgers and Harvard Law School graduate has labored over the Bible, specifically the Book of Genesis in Hebrew, the language in which it was first written.

His goal is to write an English translation of Genesis that is truer to the Hebrew text than are widely used English translations like the famed King James Version. He already has completed the first chapter, available online and in his book "Genesis Rejuvenated."

By presenting alternative English definitions for Hebrew words to those chosen by KJV translators in 1611, he hopes that his internet-accessible "Freeware Bible," as he calls his translation, will show readers that widely accepted Bible translations are inherently imperfect.

He acknowledges that this would be a gargantuan task even for a team of learned Bible scholars, let alone a man like himself without any formal theological training. And he knows that news of his endeavor will baffle comic-book fans who associate him more with Spider-Man and Wolverine than with Adam and Eve.

You can find the book at freewarebible.com. The illustration of Spider-Man’s Greatest Bible Stories was just too tempting to pass up. Sorry.

We understand that there will be a big football game today in Tampa. But if you’re like me, what you’re really looking forward to are the new movie trailers that premiere during the time outs.

We already know there will be an ad for Monsters vs. Aliens, as there’s been a big push to get the 3D glasses into people’s hands. More than 125 million pairs of glasses are being distributed for free at stores nationwide at SoBe displays, they may still be available at your local supermarket. (If you want to know more about the 3D, Wired has a write up.)

Off the top of my head, I expect to see ads for Star Trek, Transformers, G.I. Joe (all licensees of IDW, which should make them happy), Angels and Demons (the sequel to The DaVinci Code), The Year One, Race To Witch Mountain and Pixar’s Up. Budget cutbacks seem to indicate that there will be no ads from Fox or Warner Brothers, so we probably won’t be seeing ads for Watchmen, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Terminator: Salvation, or James Cameron’s Avatar.

What do you think will be appearing? What did you think of what actually aired? Consider this an open thread for discussion.

Oh, and by the way– Steelers by 10, Bud Light by 3.