Monday, January 30, 2012

MERLIN IS DEAD.


Scottish actor Nicol Williamson scummbed to esophogeal cancer in December, but his family just recently announced his death to the public. He was 75.

I'll of course always remember him for his near lyrical portrayl of Merlin, a performance to which I've come to compare all on-screen magicians, spellcasters, sorcerers, warlocks, and conjurers. Rest in Peace great wizard....



Obit in the New York Times.

See Merlin bid farewell to his king one last time.

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Warner Bros.: We can't tell the difference between Elfquest and The Hobbit

Wow. The geniuses at Warner Bros. were developing an Elfquest movie (ostensibly looking for fantasy properties to replace their beloved Harry Potter franchise) and recently dropped the project because, as co-creator Wendy Pini puts it:
After close to four years of suspense – and longer than four years of your much-appreciated interest and support – the word has come down from Warner Bros. And the word is “no.” Their simple explanation is that they don’t want to compete with The Hobbit. This was a possibility, among several, that we were prepared for. It is a relief, at last, to know.
Apparently randy space elves are too similar to uppity halfling burgulars. Or more precisely, they hear the world "elf" and think "Tolkien". I suppose that's one better than thinking "Santa's helpers". On the other hand, perhaps Warner Bros. knows something about the elves in the new Hobbit movie we don't. (shudder)

More at Bleeding Cool

Friday, January 13, 2012

D&D 5E contents video!



"Grognard" is a new race!

;)

Monday, January 9, 2012

IT'S HAPPENING

I'm sure you've heard/read this already, but D&D 5 is coming--and Wizards of the Coast says it wants input this time. From the New York Times:
But there might yet be hope for Dungeons & Dragons, known as D&D. On Monday, Wizards of the Coast, the Hasbro subsidiary that owns the game, announced that a new edition is under development, the first overhaul of the rules since the contentious fourth edition was released in 2008. And Dungeons & Dragons’ designers are also planning to undertake an exceedingly rare effort for the gaming industry over the next few months: asking hundreds of thousands of fans to tell them how exactly they should reboot the franchise.
There's a movement now, perhaps you've heard of it. It's called the OSR.

 
So where's the banner? How do we mobilize this? Shouldn't there be a big wishlist of what we'd like the new edition to be? Where should it live and can we all sign up?

 

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Harryhausen Documentary Trailer Promises Awesomeness....



...but I can find no trace of the finished film's actual existence. Here's what facts I DO know about this video:
  1. It's produced by Frenetic Arts, a French-based studio.
  2. It's not out yet, despite being scheduled for Spring 2011 completion.
If you have info on this, please comment. Until then, we'll just have to be satisfied with every Harryhausen monster in one video. :)

P.S. As of June 2011, Ray Harryhausen is 91 years old and still has all of his original models from the films. He is as cool as they get!