With this level of success behind the remake of the Conan movies, which if we follow most of the remakes coming from Platinum Dune, it will be a mix of all the films together in a blender with an attempt at a new look, the Conan remake is going to be a bloody good time.

Platinum Dunes did well with the movie Pathfinder, the story of a young Norse boy who is a survivor of a shipwreck on the eastern shores of America and raised by the Native American Indians. When he is grown, the Norse invaders return, and he finds himself fighting against his own people for the sake of his Indian family. The action is great and the visual effects were very well done in this movie.

Platinum Dunes is a production company that was founded around 2001 by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form. While the company does specialize in horror films, and really in the remake of horror films, they have on occasion strayed to the remake of other genres such as Conan. Paramount Pictures announced in 2009 that they were entering a first-look deal with Platinum Dunes and they planned to branch into more action and thrillers.

Platinum Dunes have several remakes under their belt, and they have never spared on the bloody gore in the process, which mens that we should see a great deal of blood splattering around the remake of the new Conan movie that is scheduled to be released in 2011. If you look at the remakes that Platinum Dunes has went through already you will see that they steadily double their beginning budgets and more, so this makes their work very attractive to companies like Paramount. In fact, Platinum Dunes has never lost money on their projects, again, this is in their favor.

Upcoming releases from Platinum Dune include the remake of Friday the 13th Part II (2011), The Birds (TBD), The remake of Conan the Barbarian (2011), The Butcherhouse Chronicles (TBD), Fiasco Heights (TBD), and several other films in the works.

For the next decade many industry researchers think that the Internet search engine results page will dictate the flow of Internet traffic much like it does today. This process of search engine optimization has created its own breed of developers that have specialized in the process and the industry has rapidly expanded last few years.

The merger between Microsoft and Yahoo hopes to break up the tight hold Google now has over search engine traffic. Google is responsible for over 70% of search engine users on the Internet today. This statistic allows Google to dictate where traffic goes 70% of the time through its search engine results. This has created almost a death grip on not only Microsoft and Yahoo on the Internet but most of the companies, all of the companies, present on the Internet today.

If Google decides that they want to blacklist you then that means 70% of the traffic is going to skip right on by your site and despite Robert Murdoch recently declaring that he was going to pull the Wall Street Journal from the Google search results that would almost mean death for the Wall Street Journal online and possibly even off-line because the revenues would be gone.

Yahoo is on the brink of selling its search engine to Microsoft who will be merging it with their own search engine Bing. The details of the deal include Yahoo still retaining revenue, a large portion of the revenue, that is generated through users that surf to Yahoo pages through the improved Microsoft search.

Yahoo is still a very healthy company and in this year alone in the second quarter pulled down over $350 million just in their advertisements on their sites. This signals to the rest of the industry that Yahoo still knows what it is doing and Microsoft recognizes that. 

The merger could be the closest thing there is to be able to break up the death grip Google has on the search engine industry but it is almost still a David and Goliath scenario. Microsoft is not a newcomer to Internet wars and most of us remember the browser wars that happened in the 90s, does anyone remember Netscape? Most of the Internet users today do not. 

There is however a backdoor that Yahoo is fully expected to take advantage of after the merger is said and done. Yahoo will still be in full control of the way the search engine works and will also still be in control of the results page which has many industry professionals wondering if Yahoo will just funnel traffic to its own (Yahoo) pages and advertisers as a priority to attain that large portion of the revenue that is being generated.

There’s more than 600 schools that post information to iTunes University and Apple now says it has over 250,000 classes that are available to students and, this is bringing up a debate about what exactly is being taught to students through iTunes University because it is not just an American institution anymore. Case in point would be open University which is a distance learning school based in Britain announced recently that it had seen more than 10 million downloads from iTunes to students of its lectures.

 Will we see such debatable topics as history being questioned and other sciences because not every country shares the same view as the United States?

Apple’s iTunes is in direct competition with YouTube.edu and looks to take control of the online learning phenomenon. This is also caused heartburn for companies such as Phoenix online and others who had been monopolizing the need for nontraditional students to attend classes online and pursue online degrees.

But, Apple is not doing this just to increase knowledge around the world without making a hefty profit and without strings. By putting itself in such a position it is integrating itself with people who will go on to earn degrees and are becoming familiar with their software in the process.

This scenario has worked for Apple in the past because it is the same concept that used in the early days to have a trade school systems and become an important part of learning experience. This tactic is no different than Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

With control over such a vast library of educational knowledge and alliances with major universities around the world, Apple can position itself into a very powerful political entity as well. It is common knowledge that educational institutions and politics are entwined because the future leaders are usually the ones that are there in the institutions.

This war in the educational system and online distance learning is just another area of a broader war that is going on between Microsoft and Apple and also includes other players such as Google and Yahoo. Each company is positioning itself to take full management of the Internet as we know it.

Least I could do has this feel to it, I was surfing through the pages and I was like, man, this vibe, it feels almost like, like, Groo. You remember Groo don’t you? Groo the Wanderer, Sergio Aragones, about the Conan like, well not Conan like at all, but certainly a fun take on Conan the Barbarian, and it would be cool to see Groo pop up in the new remake of the Conan movie coming out in 2010. But, I am getting off the topic, the reason I had this feel about Least I could do, I don’t know, it wasn’t that their artwork exactly tipped me towards Groo, it was the artwork, the site, the colors, it made me feel almost, Groo-ish.

Which just to point out to Least I could do fans, I am not saying Groo-ish is a bad thing, in fact, you should be flattered because Groo was a classic, and Least I could do, well you’re not a classic yet, not in the sense that people still follow you for nearly 30 years now. I believe I am going to have to post about Groo the Wanderer after this, because Least I could do took me back to those days, and I haven’t been back there or even thought about Groo in nearly 10 years.

Seriously, though, without straying off the subject again, I think you guys need to check these guys out, it is a webcomic, but Least I could do has a lot of fans and the guys behind the comic seem to be having fun which, if you can have fun, and live too (without getting your lights turned off or banished to your mother’s basement until forty) then it is a great deal. I don’t believe any of the guys at Least I could do live with their mothers, I didn’t ask, but, well, they could be living with their mothers in like a A-frame with no basement and they could be banished to the attic to writer their Least I could do comic books and invite all the fans over to slide down the roof during a snowy day in December.

I am placing this little bit in the news section and not in the comics section because, well, I don’t have any images and the comics section requires images, and I didn’t ask Least I could do for permission to print their images because I am lazey tonight and they probably wouldn’t give me permission to print their images because I compared them to Groo, even though Groo is freaking awesome, but anyways…

Check out Least I could do official website by typing in the words, “least I could do” without the spaces, then hit period, then type c, o, m, and you will go directly to their website and they have a forum, jump in and ask them about Groo, they would be like, uhhh…

Thor the god of thunder

The artwork on issue #604 is done by Billy Tan Mung Khoy, or as he is called in the comic book industry, Billy Tan. He immigrated to the United States in 1989 from Malaysia to study business at the University of Kentucky. Well, he is doing a lot of “business” these days but mostly it’s the business of selling his artwork in the form of comic books such as X-Men and the Avengers.

His artwork on the Thor series reminds us of the dark graphic art that Frank Miller has made famous. The scenes of Thor  and the images of Doctor Doom are great pieces of work.

Billy Tan first began working  as a penciler for a comic book company in the 1990’s called Image Comics, which is best known for creating dark comics like Spawn, and he became an artist for Marvel Comics in 2006 with his work being featured in the X-Men.

Billy’s success continued with work on the New Avengers Secret invasion in issues number 41, and 43 through 44. He was then invited to take the spot of Lenil Francis Yu and stay aboard the title’s team.

His work on Thor continues in issues 604 through issue 609 and you can visit his most recent work including Thor at his official website located here.

The image on the right is just a scene of part of the artwork that the Thor series is being shown in these days.

The Kindle 2 was released in February of 2009 and it incorporated a number of improvements over the first model. Amazon followed up with the large display Kindle DX just a few months later in June. Amazon now had a Kindle “family” and, assisted by a huge amount of free publicity from bestselling authors such as Stephen King, partnerships with educational establishments and open discussion by political entities, the Kindle very rapidly became almost synonymous with e-book readers.

Of course, Amazon’s competitors were also checking out the nascent e-book reader market and wondering how to get their share. Currently, there is a very impressive list of manufacturers who all have their own e-book readers in development. Apple, Sony, Microsoft, Barnes and Noble and Asus are just a sample of the competition lining up against Amazon.

Any e-book reader that shows potential is immediately given the title of “Kindle Killer”. The various technical features of each reader are pored over and reported upon, especially when, as in the case of Sony’s Daily Edition reader for example, it has a new feature (touch screen control) which the current Kindle lacks.

As important as the technical spec of e-book readers is, it is only one part of the equation. The large choice of books available on the Amazon website, the ability to wirelessly download books – with no monthly fees and no internet connection and Amazon’s highly trusted brand name were all critically important to the success of the Kindle.

A number of the new readers will feature wireless connectivity. The Barnes and Noble Nook reader will allow users to choose from a selection of over 1,000,000 books on the company’s website. However, the one common theme that seems to be emerging among the e-book readers in development is the format of the e-books.

The large majority of the new readers seem to be adopting the ePub format. The Kindle however, uses a proprietary format which means that Kindle books can only be used on the Kindle reader.

At the moment, bearing in mind that the Kindle is pretty much the only game in town, that’s not a big problem. However, in the future, readers may want the ability to transfer e-books from one reader to another and to lend books to family and friends.

The Kindle has, in a very short space of time, become Amazon’s number one selling product. They won’t be giving up their number one position without a fight. It could be that 2010 will see the release of the Kindle 4, which will almost certainly feature a number of technical enhancements. Could it be that Amazon may also adopt the ePub format – or provide some translation service?

Check out the Amazon Kindle ebook reader and find out how you can save money by sourcing free Kindle books straight from Amazon’s website.

The Velociraptors of Jurassic Park

Number 10

The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), ok this dinosaur was scary because this was the dino that started all the films about a giant beast being awakened or brought about by the detonation of an atomic bomb. It was the predecessor of Godzilla, King Kong, Them! and others in the 1950s. So for being the first it gets to be number 10.

Number 9

The dino in Carnosaur(1993), this dino was trying to beat the T.Rex of Jurassic Park to the movie theaters and so, well, they should have waited and made him a touch more scary.

Number 8

The Pteranodon from Jurassic Park III (2001). I wouldn’t mess with these flying mean machines and when they catch some of the cast in the water, then it’s all over. I mean their beaks with one shot could pop through your head and you would resemble a shish-kabob.

Number 7

Gustave, that Crocodile from the movie Primeval (2007) a seriously scary 2,000 pound crocodile. What makes this movie scary is that crocodiles do exist! Is there a 2,000 pound one out there? The film is based on an actual crocodile who killed more than 300 people.

Sabre-Toothed Cat

Number 6

The Sabre Tooth Cat from 10,000 B.C., now how scary would it be to run into this cat in the woods with a stick to ward him off? No gun, no dynamite, and he can outrun and out climb you?

Number 5

King Kong (2005) ok well he’s not exactly a dinosaur, but he has dinosaurs all around him. When he was mad he could get evil.

Number 4

The T-Rex from Jurassic Park (1993). You could almost smell the stink on this giant’s breath, the scene where he is chasing the jeep is probably one of the most famous dino scenes in the movies.

Number 3

Godzilla (1998) this vintage was way scarier than the older movies in which he looked like an inflatable pool toy. If only the plot had been a little different this could have been a fantastically scary movie like Cloverfield or well…you get my drift.

The monster from Cloverfield

Number 2

The Velociraptor of Jurassic Park (1993) fame that premiered in 1993. These sleek, mean, chomping machines proved during the course of the Jurassic Park sequels that not only do they hunt in packs but they talk to one another as well. Has there ever been a scarier dinosaur on screen? Their bark & bite, well that’s OK, but what made them the scariest was how crazy smart they are.

Number 1

The beast from Cloverfield (2008) and well the parasites that accompany him, put them together and they made a serious push for number 1 and had to stay there. Did the film make him scarier than the rest? Probably so. But, I know one thing, I don’t want to be in the city when he shows up.

The Batman Contemplating

Batman was obsessive about collecting trophies from crime scenes. He actually kept a trophy room that held several articles, some claim that there are upwards of a thousand trophies inside the Batcave. The trophies ranged from a giant penny to a full size mechanical dinosaur. The trophy collection figures so extensively in the Batman legend that even fans and writers get confused.

Such was the case with the giant penny, most contribute it to a villain named Penny Plunderer in an issue that came out in 1947, yet, in Batman the Animated Series, Batman gains the penny from the villain Two-Face. The penny shows up again when Aquaman and Batman attempt to move it after it had fallen over in the Batcave during an earthquake. This trophy collecting that the writers kept writing in the series, really got out of hand, because between 1939 and 1950 there was a total of 964 trophies written into the series and ultimately into the Batcave collection.

Batman hides his Secrets Well

Bob Kane is credited with creating the original Batman, but there was a man named Bill Finger who went to work for Kane in 1938. Bill was an aspiring writer and a part-time shoe salesman. Kane showed Bill his concept for the superhero Batman and Bill later described the drawing as a picture of Superman with reddish tights. Finger offered suggestions such as giving the character a cowl and a scalloped cape instead of Kane’s roughly drawn stiff bat-like wings.

Finger suggested leaving the eye holes on the mask blank to add a bit of mystery, to give the character black gloves and to change the bright red sections of Kane’s original costume and add black and gray instead. Finger also claims he devised the character’s real name of “Bruce Wayne” and wrote the first Batman story while Bob Kane created the artwork. Although officially Bob Kane is given the credit for creating Batman it was Bill Finger who was the man in the shadows when it was all going down.

Batman was married once. In the graphic novel Son of Demon, Ra’s al Ghul gets Batman to help him track down the killer of his wife. During the story line Batman marries Tal al Ghul and she becomes pregnant. What happened to the baby? The writers haven’t really elaborated on this. Interesting point as well, Ra’s al Ghul is one of the people who knows that Batman is actually Bruce Wayne.

Can you find Rocky Balboa?

Rocky Balboa was actually a member of G.I. Joe? Say it isn’t so? Well, it is entirely true according to Brian Cronin of CBR. Sylvester Stallone was actually in talks with Hasbro in 1986 to license his likeness and the actual character of Rocky Balboa (which Sylvester owned) to make him an action figure on the G.I. Joe team.

Evidently, it was such a “done deal” that Marvel released a second issue of G.I. Joe : Order of Battle some time in late 1986 and it included a list of current members of the G.I. Joe squad and guess who appeared? Rocky Balboa.

Rocky Balboa primary military specialty was listed as “personal combat instructor” and his secondary military specialty was “special services” on the G.I. Joe team. He was listed as being born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and his grade was an E-5 (enlisted reserves). He was pictured wearing a head band with the long ends trailing to the side as if there was a breeze blowing and he has white boxing gloves on, bare-chested, with gray sweat pants on that have red, white and blue stripes at the bottom, and of course his lace up white sneakers.

The bio next to his picture basically says normally a boxing champion would serve his reserve time as being a show-piece, but Rocky, being Rocky, serves his as a secret position training G.I. Joe team in the “sweet science of pugilism”. And, of course, he doesn’t get any special pay, special privileges, or publicity for it, he just get’s the satisfaction of serving his country.

G.I. Joe

According to General Abernathy, Rocky is one of the finest fighters in the world and he wants the Joes being trained by the best. And, he wanted the Joes to see how to take a beating but be able to come back fighting.

Since the deal wasn’t totally sealed the picture of Rocky on the G.I. Joe’s squad looks really similar to Sylvester Stallone, but, wasn’t fine tuned to the image of Sly yet. This turned out to be a fine idea of the original artist who was designing the figure art because the deal did fall through.

How? Well Sly had already sold his likeness to another company (Coleco) for Rambo figures and so he couldn’t sell his likeness twice and so the G.I. Joe team lost it’s personal trainer.

This caused Marvel to have to post a retraction at the end of the next Order of Battle which said something to the effects of the Rocky Balboa character was never a member of G.I. Joe and he was incorrectly included as a member in Issue # 2.

It doesn’t stop there, however, with every super hero and beefed up army teams, you have to have an arch enemy in the comic world, right? That issue from Marvel had a page that was for “Big Boa” a member of the Cobra team and had been actually created to be Rocky Balboa’s arch enemy. Big Boa remained in the G.I. Joe universe, but Rocky did not!

The Apple iPhone has Competition

When Generals, back in those times, found themselves facing such a daunting obstacle (such as the Apple iPhone to other phone makers) they resorted to sending small teams “sappers” tunneling underneath the massive structures and bring it down, without those behind the walls, even realizing it.

Google is offering a free alternative solution in their Google Android operating system to phone manufacturers in the hopes that in a few years the phone environment will appear similar to server side software on the Internet where free open source operating systems rule. Apple iPhone’s operating system is a tightly guarded license only system.

Apple iPhone’s business model is much like a dictatorship in which the head of the iPhone divisions controls and manufacture their phones. They control their brand and their business in a centralized iron grip. Apple has integrated their hardware design with applications like iTunes and others and it is exclusively tied to certain mobile phone manufacturers. Apple forces these mobile phone manufacturers to make certain concessions that they want in place.

Apple goes on to dictate where it’s phones are sold and by whom as well as handling all support issues regarding the iPhone. If you need technical help for your iPhone your friendly neighborhood mobile phone shop will be forced to call Apple. That means hardware issues, software issues, and troubleshooting for the iPhone are only provided through your local mobile phone company by Apple. This control by Apple is rigid and non-negotiable for mobile phone companies that look to sell the iPhone.

Apple also makes it impossible to get the Apple iPhone operating system anywhere else and even go so far as to limit what application the consumer can actually place on their iPhone. This type of control can lead to Apple banning popular apps like Adobe Flash in their phones.

Google plans to attack this oppressive business model of Apple by using subterfuge and offering a free open source operating system in Android. On the surface, Google’s attempt to take down the giant iPhone seems noble, but, it isn’t. Google will be supplying its operating system for free but in the background is trying to pull a Microsoft.

Google Android has Manufacturers Excited

Google hopes to spread its free operating system around to several phone manufacturers and gain ground in the phone market by more manufacturers using their system. Once that is complete and Google shares a fair share of the market you will start seeing a return on its investment by charging for its applications to use with the software and also it makes money by selling ads and, this could even be more sinister than Apple, tracking your user preferences.

So going into 2010, Google plans to go after the smartphone market (mainly assaulting Apple iPhone) much like Linux attacks Windows, but, it is really nothing like Linux at all. Google is exploiting the open source community’s goodwill by offering the traditional free-for-all operating system but using invisible ink on the bottom of the contract to trick us. Apple iPhone or Google Android in 2010, can’t we vote them both off the island?