PhotoFace

With 3D PhotoFace you can render uploaded 2D images into ultra-lifelike 3D avatars. Upload a single head shot to create a fully rendered 3D face. Then, you can easily manipulate the features: age, emotional expression, makeup and accessories.

Users can also alter nose, eyes, mouth, and more. 3D PhotoFace also allows users to add speech to characters via a computer microphone, uploaded mp3 file, phone call or Text to Speech.

The 100 Most Iconic Internet Videos

Check them out HERE.

LOST – Dead Is Dead Clip

It looks like Ben will face off with Smokey tonight…can’t wait!

Bravo Announces Top Chef Masters

Yesterday Bravo announced a premiere date for its new Top Chef spinoff, Top Chef Masters. The series will feature 24 world-renowned chefs competing in Top Chef-style challenges. The winner receives $100,000 for charity.

Contestants include a bunch of folks we’ve seen as judges on the original Top Chef, including Wylie Dufresne, Art Smith and Rick Bayless. That definitely ups the stakes, though the cool guest stars might add the most flavor to this show: Neil Patrick Harris, Zooey Deschanel and Lost‘s Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are all scheduled to appear.

Tune in June 10 for the delicious debut. Top Chef Masters won’t forget its roots, either: Look for all past Top Chef winners to appear in an episode, too. (Reprinted from Pop Candy)

The Beatles Remasters Available On 9-9-09

The Beatles remasters will finally be available on 9-9-09!  The remasters have been worked on over the last four years at Abbey Road Studios in London.

This reissue campaign encompasses the entire Beatles catalogue as they were released in the UK (track-list and artwork).  In addition, the previous Past Masters (Vol 1 and Vol 2) will be combined to release as one Volume.  As you can tell from the pictures, these are going to be extravagant.  They will be presented with original and new liner notes, detailed historical notes, and recording process notes.  As bonuses, and for a limited time only, each Beatles title will include Quicktime files, mini documentaries on the making of the particular album they’re on.  These documentaries will include archival footage, photos, and in-studio chats by the members of the band as they were in the process of recording.  These are meant to be definitive releases of the Beatles albums.

In addition, there will be Box sets.  There are two distinct sets that include a Stereo set and a Mono set.  The Mono set contains ten of their albums that were mixed in Mono and two extra discs of mono masters, a kind of Past Masters collection except in Mono. To make the Mono Box more complete, it will also include Help and Rubber Soul in their 1965 Stereo mixes not released on CD.  The Stereo Box will contain all of the separate releases and a DVD collection of the documentaries in a convenience package for hard core Beatles collectors.

All of the discs will be released in the popular Japanese-styled Mini-LP digipak format and will be reproduced exactly as the original LP was released, inserts (if any) and all.

As stated before, these CDs will be released on September 9th, coinciding with the release of Rock Band: The Beatles video game.  This could also be the release date for the Beatles’ library to finally go digital as well.

Stephen King To Tour In November

This was posted on King’s official board:

Steve will be doing a tour but at this point, I’m only aware of a US tour. We haven’t started working out the details yet.

The tour is to promote Under the Dome when it’s released in November but as you see there are no more details yet. So, please don’t bother the moderator by asking about it yet, I’m sure that when there are something new it will be posted on the site.  I’ll publish the dates and locations in a future post.

 

 

 

Will The iPhone 3.0 Update Include Video Recording?

A new screenshot discovered in the latest beta release of iPhone OS 3.0 shows a video recording interface for the Camera application, Mac Rumors reports. Accessed by changing configuration files to tell the OS that a video camera was present, the screenshot shows an interface similar to that of the current Camera app, but with a slider in the lower right hand corner for selecting between video and still capture modes, and a red recording dot in the center of the shutter button. In addition, other references to currently unavailable features were found in the configuration files, including text referring to an “auto-focus camera,” “magnetometer,” also known as a digital compass, and “Voice Control.”

Update: Boy Genius Report has published yet another set of screenshots from iPhone OS 3.0 showing evidence of a video recording feature, along with a new status bar battery percentage indicator. The first screenshot shows a revised version of the Photos app with tabs at the top for “All,” “Photos,” and “Videos;” the screen also shows the videos section displaying a “No Videos” marker with the text “You can take videos using the camera.” Also visible in the screenshot is a battery percentage indicator, which can be toggled on/off in the General>Usage Settings app menu, and a Voice Control menu option, the specifics of which are not yet known.

Diaper Dude Messenger Bag

As a brand new father I have found that there are too few diaper bags geared for Dads. Most come in paisley patterns and look like a purse. Reclaim your manhood with the Diaper Dude Grey Messenger II ($100). This messenger-style bag is made of durable polyester fabric, has a padded shoulder strap, a large compartment for baby stuff, and an additional internal pocket for Dad.

 

25th Anniversary Edition DVD of Eddie Murphy’s Delirious

Anchor Bay Home Entertainment has announced a 25th Anniversary edition of Delirious which was taped live in concert 25 years ago at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C. This Eddie Murphy stand-up will be available to own from the 2nd June, and should retail at around $29.97. Extras will include never before seen footage, an exclusive interview with Eddie Murphy, and a Making of Delirious featurette.

 

Where The Wild Things Are Poster #2

2 Posthumous Michael Crichton Books To Be Published

Two new Michael Crichton novels, one of them unfinished, have been scheduled for release.

Publisher HarperCollins announced Monday that “Pirate Latitudes,” an adventure story set in Jamaica the 17th century, will come out this fall.

HarperCollins says the novel was recently found in the files of Crichton, who died last year of cancer at age 66.

A techno-thriller, about one-third completed and currently untitled, will come out in 2010. A co-author, yet to be determined, will help finish the book.

Crichton’s many best-sellers included “Jurassic Park” and “State of Fear.”

2009 Initial Bumbershoot Lineup Announced

Sheryl Crow, Modest Mouse, Katy Perry, Michael Franti & Spearhead, De La Soul, and Raphael Saadiq are among the first acts confirmed for the 2009 Bumbershoot: Seattle’s Music & Arts Festival. The event will be held Labor Day weekend, Sept. 5-7, at Seattle’s City Center.

Also set to perform during the 39th annual event are Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan, the Long Winters, Sly & Robbie & the Taxi Gang, World Party, MSTRKRFT, Roy Ayers, Common Market, UH HUH HER, Dave Alvin and The Guilty Women, Eric Hutchinson, No Age and Matt & Kim.  More artists will be announced in the coming months.

Among the many non-musical offerings at Bumbershoot will be a special appearance by “The Outsiders” and “Rumblefish” author S.E. Hinton, a poetry reading curated by Spencer Moody of the Murder City Devils and the The Seattle-Moscow Poster Show. An entire kids program, Youngershoot, will be announced this summer.

Bumbershoot three-day passes are on sale now via Bumbershoot.org. Single-day tickets begin going on sale July 21.

Last year’s Bumbershoot featured headliners Beck, Stone Temple Pilots, Lucinda Williams and Neko Case.  Bumbershoot is produced by the not-for-profit One Reel organization in conjunction with AEG Live, which bolsters talent buying and sponsorship resources.

Apple Releases iTunes 8.1.1

Apple has released iTunes 8.1.1, the latest version of its digital media management software. According to the release notes, iTunes 8.1.1 adds support for renting HD movies and provides a number of bug fixes, including addressing issues with VoiceOver and syncing with an iPhone or iPod touch. iTunes 8.1.1 is available now through Apple’s Software Update utility or as a direct download from iTunes.com.

Secret Codes You Aren’t Meant To Know

The use of codes is intended to convey essential information quickly and with a minimum of misunderstanding to staff. Some businesses use secret codes to pass information between store employees. These are meant to be a secret as they don’t want to alarm the non-staff members or alert someone like a thief to the fact that they have been noticed. Read HERE for more.

More On The Stephen King IT Movie

Dread Central recently heard from Dave Kajganich, the writer of the upcoming theatrical remake of Stephen King’s IT, and he was kind enough to provide an update on how this massive story is being streamlined into one film.

 

“The remake will be set in the mid-1980s and in the present almost equally — mirroring the twenty-odd-year gap King uses in the book — and with a great deal of care and attention paid to the back stories of all the characters,” says Kajganich. “I think the real twist here is that my pitch to WB — which they’ve assured me they’re on board for — is that this will not be PG-13. This will be R. Which means we can really honor the book and engage with the traumas (both the paranormal ones and those they deal with at home and school) that these characters endure.”

 

“I plan to be very protective of the book,” Kajganich continues. “The reality, though, is that WB wants to do this as a single film, so I will have to kill a few darlings to make that happen. You have my promise, though, that I will do this with the utmost humility and respect for King’s work. He’s the King, after all, and I intend to continue to pledge to him my allegiance.”

 

I for one can’t wait for this feature film as IT has been a King favorite of mine. 

 

No Country For Old Men Collectors Edition DVD

The 2007 Oscar winner for Best Picture, No Country for Old Men, arrives in new collectable three-disc DVD and 2-disc Blu-ray editions beginning April 7, 2009 from Miramax Films, Paramount Vantage, and Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. Acclaimed filmmakers Joel and Ethan Coen’s most gripping and ambitious film, No Country for Old Men – Collector’s Edition comes with more than five hours of bonus features, available on DVD and Blu-ray for the first time ever, including extensive interviews with the filmmakers, stars and technical team behind this unforgettable thriller. From an unauthorized trip backstage with star Josh Brolin, to an insider’s look at the unique moviemaking process of the Coen brothers, fans will get unprecedented access to the story behind the celebrated movie. In addition, both the DVD and Blu-ray versions include a special digital copy of the movie that enables viewers to enjoy it anywhere, anytime in their choice of iTunes or Windows Media formats.The Coen Brothers deliver a sizzling and supercharged action-thriller with No Country for Old Men, based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Cormac McCarthy. Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin), a down-on-his-luck Vietnam vet, stumbles across an illicit fortune and decides to keep it, setting off an unstoppable chain of violence. When Moss discovers a drug deal gone bad in the West Texas desert, he decides to keep the two million dollars he finds there and hit the road. In short order, both Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones), the local sheriff, and Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), one of the most frighteningly amoral psychopaths in film history, are on his trail and Moss is scrambling to stay one step ahead of the law—and avoid a gruesome fate at
Chigurh’s hands.

Bonus Features

• The Making Of No Country For Old Men – A behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to create a Coen
Brothers’ movie.

• Working with the Coens – The cast and crew of No Country for Old Men talk about working with the
legendary duo.
• The Diary of A Country Sheriff – A look at the relationship between Javier Bardem’s Anton Chigarh
and Josh Brolin’s Lewellyn Moss through the eyes of Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones).
• A treasure trove of in-depth interviews and conversations with the Coen Brothers, Tommy Lee Jones,
Josh Brolin and Javier Bardem—never before available on disc—offering viewers the most
comprehensive look ever at the making of No Country for Old Men.

•

Digital Copy Download

 

 

 

 

The Hall of Cliche Super Heroes

The Hall of Cliche Super Heroes, another wonderful Threadless t-shirt designed by Joshua Kemble, his sequel to The League of Cliche Evil Super-Villains.

 

Captain America Teaser

Running in a number of new Marvel comics this week is the following teaser image, which appears to suggest that Captain America will be a hero to watch this summer. What does this mean? What are we looking at? Does this have something to do with the deceased Steve Rogers? Are changes coming for Bucky Barnes? Does this have something to do with the in-development Captain America movie? Your guess is as good as ours?

“Bruno” Trailer

Stephen King Completes Epic Novel After 25 Years

It’s been incubating for 25 years but Stephen King is finally ready to show the world the 1,000-plus page epic he first attempted writing in the 1980s. Under the Dome, in which an invisible force field seals off a Maine town from the world, is due to be published this November, his publishers have said.

Weighing in at a whopping 1,120 pages, Under the Dome is a return for the bestselling author to the arm-breaking heft of his classic novels The Stand and It. King told an audience at the Library of Congress in Washington DC last year that he’d first had the idea for the book 25 years ago, and made a stab at writing it. “I tried this once before when I was a lot younger, but the project was just too big for me and I let it go, I let it slide,” he said. “But it was a terrific idea and it never entirely left my mind. It just kinda stayed there and hung out, and every now and then it would say write me, and eventually I did.”

Set in the town of Chester’s Mills, Maine, “on an entirely normal, beautiful fall day”, inhabitants suddenly find that the town has been sealed off by an invisible force field. “Planes crash into it and fall from the sky in flaming wreckage, a gardener’s hand is severed as ‘the dome’ comes down on it, people running errands in the neighboring town are divided from their families, and cars explode on impact,” King revealed on his website. “No one can fathom what this barrier is, where it came from, and when – or if – it will go away.”

Characters in the cast of more than 100 include Dale Barbara, a Gulf veteran and now a cook, the town’s newspaper owner Julia Shumway, a physician’s assistant at the hospital and three children. They’re up against an evil politician, Big Jim Rennie – who’s desperate to hold onto power and will stop at nothing, even murder – and his son, who in classic King style, “is keeping a horrible secret in a dark pantry”. Meanwhile, time under the Dome is running out.

King, the author of more than 50 books, has said that the new novel “deals with some of the same issues that The Stand does, but in a more allegorical way”.

“Since it’s over a thousand pages long, I sure hope people like it,” he said earlier this year in his regular column for Entertainment Weekly. (Reprinted from The Guardian)

Behind The Scenes At Netflix

Click HERE to see behind the scenes photos of Netflix.

 

 

Google In Talks To Acquire Twitter

TechCrunch reports that Google is in late stage negotiations to acquire Twitter, the free social messaging utility. If this is accurate, it’s a brilliant deal for Google – the value of Twitter is only going to go up over time.

And it will be Twitter founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone’s second sale to Google – they sold Blogger to them just five years ago.

 

What The…Face?

HERE is a site that showcases faces in objects – things look back at you. Everyday objects that appear to have human emotions.

Steve Jobs Doll

Plush Jobs may be very smart, but he’s also super cuddly. For only $27.99, you can have your very own Plush Jobs. The Steve Jobs doll would like you to know that he is completely handmade and that his glasses are constructed from wire. He also mentions that even his shoelaces are hand stitched. The figure stands is 17″ inches tall.

 

Free Comic Book Day Is On May 2nd

Head to your local comic-book shop on May 2, and you’ll come away with a stack of free comics. Publishers prepare exclusive offerings just for the occasion, and some just might turn you on to new series and authors.

The FCBD website has been updated with a bunch of the books that will be given away this year, and so far it’s a pretty good crop. Be on the lookout for a new Avengers story (from Marvel), a Love & Rockets sampler from Fantagraphics and the 25th anniversary reprint of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles No. 1 from Mirage Studios. The site continues to add previews, signings and more. Don’t forget that the books are available on a first-come, first-served basis, so you may want to arrive early. (From USA Today)