Joe Hill’s Next Novel Will Be About Vampires

According to a recent USA Today article, Joe Hill’s next book is described as “a vampire novel in a sideways kind of way.”

The New England based author and son of Stephen King provides his thoughts on the creatures of the night, “Nothing is more tired than the whole idea of the vampire, and I hate sexy vampires,” Hill says. “How did that happen? Sexy vampires are like sexy leeches. Really? REALLY?!”

Hill will be at Comic-Con International this week, where his amazing Locke & Key comic series is up for four Eisner Awards

Joe plans to have the third draft of the new yet to be titled novel written by the end of the year. I for one cannot wait. If you have not read Joe Hill yet, I urge you to do so! Pick up a copy or download his excellent short story collection 20th Century Ghosts or his last two novels Heart Shaped Box and Horns.

Limitless Blu-ray & DVD Due On July 19, 2011

Fox Home Entertainment has announced DVD and Blu-ray releases of Limitless for July 19th. Each will include theatrical and extended cuts of the film, plus featurettes (“A Man Without Limits”, “Taking it to the Limit: The Making of Limitless”), and an alternate ending. The Blu-ray release will also include a digital copy of the film.

Spotify

Spotify boasts a catalog of 15 million songs and it lets you search for and listen to specific songs, artists, and entire albums (for up to 10 hours a month). Spotify offers three great services, from absolutely free to paid subscriptions:

Spotify Free – the unsurpassed free music service. With an invite, enjoy on-demand, buffer-free access to over 15 million songs on your computer, great social features, manage your own music files through Spotify, and sync with your cellphone or iPod. Features occasional advertising.

Spotify Unlimited – all the special features of our free service but with uninterrupted, ad-free access to Spotify on your computer. All for only $4.99 a month.

Spotify Premium – Premium gives you access to all the music, all the time. Listen online or offline, on your computer, your cellphone and a whole heap of other devices. Enjoy enhanced sound quality and access to exclusive content, competitions and special offers. Premium costs just $9.99 a month.

Rumor: Ghirardelli Factory, Chocolate Shop & Soda Fountain To Open At Disney’s California Adventure In 2012

On Tuesday May 31, 2011, the Old Mission Tortilla Factory at Disney California Adventure closed its doors. Rumor has it that the theme park is replacing it with a Ghirardelli factory, chocolate shop and soda fountain that will open in 2012!

The location will remain, but the exterior will be changed to resemble Ghirardelli’s famous waterfront chocolate factory in San Francisco.

Disney Imagineering plans to expand the current building to the adjoining backstage structure that currently houses DCA’s first aid and lost children complex. This expanded complex will have enough space to allow for a factory tour experience, as well as a chocolate shop and soda fountain. Hopefully they will hand out free chocolate samples like they do in their flagship shop!

Jerry Seinfeld Is On Twitter

Jerry Seinfeld entered the Twitosphere last night under the username @SeinTime. “A nickname Chris Rock gave me many years ago,” according to his fourth tweet. Follow him here.

 

New Captain America: The First Avenger Cast Poster

Marvel has released this new poster for Captain America: The First Avenger, which opens in 3D and 2D theaters next Friday, July 22nd.

Captain America: The First Avenger will focus on the early days of the Marvel Universe when Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers to participate in an experimental program that turns him into the Super Soldier known as Captain America. As Captain America, Rogers joins forces with Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) and Peggy Carter (Hayley Atwell) to wage war on the evil HYDRA organization, led by the villainous Red Skull (Hugo Weaving.)

The Trailer For Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the trailer for the Steven Soderbergh thriller Contagion, starring Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Kate Winslet.

Contagion follows the rapid progress of a lethal airborne virus that kills within days. As the fast-moving epidemic grows, the worldwide medical community races to find a cure and control the panic that spreads faster than the virus itself. At the same time, ordinary people struggle to survive in a society coming apart.

The film opens in conventional and IMAX theaters on September 9.

Mondo Posters Will Be At The 2011 San Diego Comic-Con

Mondo Posters will have a booth for the first time ever at San Diego Comic Con. The Austin based print company has been saving a small amount of their back catalog and intend to bring out some choice posters for Comic-Con fans

They will also offer two new releases a day. One in the AM and one in the PM. Watch Twitter HERE to find out when stuff goes on sale. Three yet to be announced artists will also be signing posters.

Stop by booth #433 to check out some great art, pick up some free stickers and postcards and meet the Mondo gang.

Legendary Entertainment To Hold Inaugural Comics Panel Featuring Frank Miller At 2011 Comic-Con

Legendary Entertainment will hold the first-ever Legendary Comics panel at this year’s Comic-Con International on Saturday, July 23rd. Fans can join Legendary Comics editor-in-chief Bob Schreck, the iconic writer and artist, Frank Miller, as well as some of the biggest names in comics as they unveil Legendary’s initial slate of highly anticipated graphic novel releases. Heidi MacDonald, editor-in-chief for comic culture blog, The Beat, will moderate this esteemed group of panelists. Comic icons will discuss their craft, reveal content, take questions from the audience, and provide unique insight into their upcoming Legendary Comics projects, including Miller’s already announced Holy Terror. The Legendary Comics panel will take place in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

In addition to Legendary’s first-ever comics panel, the company will also have Frank Miller and Guillermo del Toro on-hand in San Diego to sign autographs at the Legendary booth. Time, date and location will be announced at a later date.

Introducing The Flipback, A Portable New Reading Experience

Flipback is a revolutionary new book format, giving book lovers a real reading experience with the portability of a mobile phone. The flipback is a new kind of book, which opens top to bottom and has sideways-printed text, so you get a full length novel in little more than the size of an iPhone.

More than a million have been sold in the Netherlands and now it’s to be introduced in the UK, France and Spain. Here is the flipback catalog of books that are currently available.

For those individuals that do not want to go the e-reader route this is an affordable viable alternative.

Martin Scorsese’s Hugo Trailer

Paramount Pictures has revealed the first trailer for director Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, opening in 3D and 2D theaters on November 23. The film stars Asa Butterfield, Chloe Grace Moretz, Sacha Baron Cohen, Ben Kingsley, Jude Law, Ray Winstone, Christopher Lee, Helen McCrory, Richard Griffiths, Frances de la Tour, Emily Mortimer and Michael Stuhlbarg.

Hugo tells the story of an orphan boy living a secret life in the walls of a Paris train station. With the help of an eccentric girl, he searches for the answer to a mystery linking the father he recently lost, the ill-tempered toy shop owner living below him and a heart shaped lock, seemingly without a key. Based on Brian Selznick’s award winning and imaginative New York Times bestseller, “The Invention of Hugo Cabret,” this magical tale is Scorsese’s first film shot in 3D.

Jawbone UP – The App-Powered Wristband That Encourages Wellness

Jawbone, a leading innovator of products and services for the mobile lifestyle, today unveiled its vision to inspire people to live healthier with UP by Jawbone– a new product the company plans to launch later this year.

Lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and some forms of cancer cause more deaths than communicable diseases, according to the CDC. Research shows eating healthier, getting quality sleep, and moving more can prevent most of these lifestyle diseases.

UP leverages Jawbone’s expertise and partner ecosystem integrating robust computing and sophisticated sensor technology in the form of functional jewelry. UP by Jawbone is a new system that tracks your movement, sleep patterns, and nutrition so you can live a healthier life. This new end-to-end system consists of a small wristband that monitors your activity 24/7, a mobile app that analyzes the activity, and an open platform that motivates you with personal and social recommendations and challenges tailored to your goals.

UP by Jawbone will be available later this year. To be alerted to the release of UP, sign up for email updates at http://up.jawbone.com/.

The Thing Trailer

Universal Pictures has debuted the trailer for The Thing. Opening in theaters on October 14, the Matthijs van Heijningen-directed thriller stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Jonathan Lloyd Walker and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje.

Antarctica: an extraordinary continent of awesome beauty. It is also home to an isolated outpost where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The shape-shifting creature, accidentally unleashed at this marooned colony, has the ability to turn itself into a perfect replica of any living being. It can look just like you or me, but inside, it remains inhuman. In the thriller “The Thing,” paranoia spreads like an epidemic among a group of researchers as they’re infected, one by one, by a mystery from another planet.

Paleontologist Kate Lloyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has traveled to the desolate region for the expedition of her lifetime. Joining a Norwegian scientific team that has stumbled across an extraterrestrial ship buried in the ice, she discovers an organism that seems to have died in the crash eons ago. But it is about to wake up.

When a simple experiment frees the alien from its frozen prison, Kate must join the crew’s pilot, Carter (Joel Edgerton), to keep it from killing them off one at a time. And in this vast, intense land, a parasite that can mimic anything it touches will pit human against human as it tries to survive and flourish.

“The Thing” serves as a prelude to John Carpenter’s classic 1982 film of the same name.

Trailer For John Carter

From Academy Award–winning filmmaker Andrew Stanton comes “John Carter”—a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). “John Carter” is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

The film will be released on March 9, 2012.

9 New Pictures From The Amazing Spider-Man Movie

Check out 9 new photos of Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Rhys Ifans, Martin Sheen, and Sally Field from the upcoming The Amazing Spider-Man Movie featured in this week’s Entertainment Weekly magazine.

Entertainment Weekly’s Comic-Con Preview Issue Available On Friday July 15th

The Amazing Spider-Man doesn’t hit theaters for another year, but in anticipation of next week’s Comic-Con (July 21-24 in San Diego) Entertainment Weekly has provided first looks at and inside scoops about the webslinger’s highly anticipated return — including interviews with stars Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone and with director Marc Webb. EW can also exclusively confirm that Rhys Ifans will be playing Doc Conners, who, in an experiment gone wrong, transforms into one of Spider-Man’s most formidable foes ever, the Lizard.

For even more on The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as EW’s jam-packed guide to Comic-Con – including sneak peeks at Total Recall, The Walking Dead, Spartacus, Terra Nova, and much more – pick up the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, on stands Friday, July 15.

More Information About Stephen King’s Limited Edition of The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole

Donald M. Grant Publishers is scheduled to release the Limited Editions of The Dark Tower: The Wind Through The Keyhole in February 2012. Anyone familiar with this wonderful New Hampshire based publisher knows the care and detail that lovingly goes into each of their keepsake books. My copies of the Grant editions of The Dark Tower series are treasured!

Stephen King has agreed to sign only 800 copies of a Deluxe Edition. In keeping with the publisher’s policies of supporting long time customers, owners of Deluxe Edition copies of The Little Sisters of Eluria numbered 1-800 will have the first option to buy this Deluxe Edition.

Jae Lee will sign an Artist’s Edition which will be slipcased. A printing count has yet to be decided.

Grant Books will initially have a “postcard lottery” for unclaimed copies (which they expect to be very few) eligible for those who have a Deluxe Edition numbered higher than 800.

Scribner has announced their release of a trade hardcover edition of The Wind Through The Keyhole on April 3, 2012.

Donald M. Grant Publishers will be producing a slipcase for the Scribner Trade Edition which will match the three slipcases that they produced for the first seven Dark Tower books.

The publisher is not taking orders at this time and prices are not yet available. We also advise you to sign up for Stephen King’s newsletter at stephenking.com for future information.

A Day in the Life of Pixar’s John Lasseter – The Full Length Documentary

Watch all 25 fascinating minutes of A Day in the Life of John Lasseter — a short documentary detailing the daily routine of Pixar/Walt Disney Animation Studios Chief Creative Officer John Lasseter.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides DVD & Blu-ray Due On October 18, 2011

Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow will once again set sail on Blu-ray, as well Blu-ray 3D and in a Blu-ray 4-Film Collection will be released on October 18, 2011.

Disney/Buena Vista will be releasing ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides’ (Blu-ray/DVD) and DVD/Blu-ray (DVD packaging) combo packs each with a suggested list price of $39.99.

Also available will be a ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – 3D combo pack priced at $49.99.

Finally, there will be a mega 15-disc combo pack set containing all four films in the franchise housed inside a collector’s chest packaging for $169.99

Jim Lee Creates The Cover For The 2011 San Diego Comic-Con Official Souvenir Book

Today, the official San Diego Comic-Con website revealed an exclusive Justice League (issue #1 on sale August 31) image by Jim Lee that will serve as both the cover for the convention’s official souvenir book and design for the official T-shirt. The 192-page souvenir book will be distributed for free (while supplies last) to all convention attendees. The T-shirt, made by Graphitti Designs, will be available exclusively at the Comic-Con Boutique (booth #2515 in the Exhibit Hall). Prices range from $18.95 – $24.95 (depending on size) and supplies are limited.

Tom Whalen’s Kung Fu Panda Print

Through a partnership between the Autumn Society and Dreamworks Animation Fine Art, Tom Whalen had the opportunity to create a limited edition print for “Kung Fu Panda”.

The poster measures 10.125″ x 22.75″ and is limited to 50 copies. Prints are now available HERE for $250.

DC Comics The New 52 # 1 Available For Free At San Diego Comic-Con & Comic Book Shops On 7/20/11

Starting on Wednesday, July 20th, comic book shops worldwide will be giving away copies of DC Comics – The New 52 #1 for free. Featuring a 6-page preview of Geoff Johns and Jim Lee’s Justice League #1, the cover art for all of the books, never-before-seen sketches, and insights from creative teams, DC Comics – The New 52 #1 is a complete and comprehensive guide to all of the books being published this September as part of DC Comics—The New 52.

Attendees of San Diego Comic Con’s preview night on Wednesday, July 20th will also be able to pick up a copy at the DC Entertainment booth. Copies will be distributed throughout the duration of the convention at both the DC Entertainment booth and at the Warner Bros. booth.

Full Specs For Batman: Year One DVD & Blu-ray

Warner Home Video has released the full specs for Batman: Year One, coming to Blu-ray and DVD on October 18.

Comics legend Frank Miller’s classic retelling of Batman’s gritty, formative days makes its full-length animated debut in Batman: Year One, the next entry in the popular, ongoing series of DC Universe Animated Original Movies. Produced by Warner Premiere, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation, the all-new, PG-13 rated film arrives October 18, 2011 from Warner Home Video as a Blu-ray Combo Pack ($24.98 SRP) and DVD ($19.98 SRP), On Demand and for Download.

Batman: Year One is based on the landmark 1987 DC Comics titles from 12-time Eisner Award winner Frank Miller and illustrator David Mazzucchelli. The film depicts young Bruce Wayne’s return to Gotham City in his first attempts to fight injustice as a costumed vigilante. The playboy billionaire chooses the guise of a giant bat to combat crime, creates an early bond with a young Lieutenant James Gordon (who is already battling corruption from inside the police department), inadvertently plays a role in the birth of Catwoman, and helps to bring down a crooked political system that infests Gotham.

Primetime television stars Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad), Ben McKenzie (Southland, The O.C.), Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and Katee Sackhoff (Battlestar Galactica) provide the core voices for Batman: Year One. Three-time Emmy Award winner Cranston gives voice to young Jim Gordon, while McKenzie makes his animated voiceover debut as Bruce Wayne/Batman. Fanboy favorites Dushku and Sackhoff fill the roles of Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Detective Sarah Essen, respectively. Alex Rocco (The Godfather) is the voice of crime lord Carmine Falcone.

Animation master Bruce Timm is executive producer of Batman: Year One. Directors are Lauren Montgomery (Superman/Batman: Apocalypse) and Sam Liu (All-Star Superman) from a script penned by Academy Award nominee Tab Murphy (Gorillas in the Mist, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse).

Batman: Year One Blu-ray Combo Pack has almost 3 hours of exciting content, including:

- Feature film

- Sneak Peek at Justice League: Doom, the next DC Universe Animated Original Movie

- DC Showcase Animated Original Short – “Catwoman”: This all-new entry to the growing canon of DC Universe animated shorts features the first first solo tale centered around Catwoman. The felonious feline’s adventure takes her through the seedy streets of Gotham City. Catwoman is voiced by Eliza Dushku (Dollhouse, Tru Calling).

- Featurette –“Heart of Vengeance: Returning Batman to His Roots”: “The Dark Knight Returns” provided the denouement of Batman’s life. Frank Miller’s next seminal work would provide his near-mythic origin in “Batman: Year One.” This documentary uncovers the contemporary genius of Miller and the audience that was poised to appreciate the depths of his work.

- Featurette –“Conversations with DC Comics”: The Batman creative team at DC Entertainment discusses the personal influence of “Batman: Year One” on their  careers. Batman producer Michael Uslan leads the chat amongst well-known writers, editors and artists of the Batman lore, focusing their dialogue on the darker, realistic interpretation of Batman’s origins by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli

- Audio Commentary with Alan Burnett, Sam Liu, Mike Carlin and Andrea Romano

- “Batman: Year One, Chapter 1” Digital Comic Book

- Two bonus episodes from “Batman: The Animated Series,” handpicked by Bruce Timm

- Standard and high definition versions of the feature film

- Digital copy on disc of the feature film compatible with iTunes and Windows

Comic-Con Special Edition of TV Guide

For the second year in a row TV Guide Magazine and Warner Bros. Television are teaming up for a Comic-Con special edition issue that gives fans everything they want to know about their favorite hit shows.

The magazine features four original covers — The Big Bang Theory, Fringe, Chuck, The Vampire Diaries — and exclusive content on Warner Bros.’ fan-favorite series, including Supernatural and Nikita. In addition to scoop on each show, the magazine takes fans behind the scenes with exclusive photos from the sets, plus previews of several upcoming series: The CW’s The Secret Circle, CBS’s Person of Interest, Fox’s Alcatraz and Cartoon Network’s ThunderCats and Green Lantern: The Animated Series. There’s also a first look at DC Comics’ upcoming relaunch of its titles, an exclusive Spy vs. Spy comic strip from Mad Magazine, a top secret pullout poster, and much more.

Warner Bros. Television Group will distribute copies of the magazine throughout the five days of Comic-Con International (July 20—24) exclusively at the Warner Bros. booth (No. 4545) on the floor of the San Diego Convention Center. The special issue will be available on newsstands beginning Thursday, July 21.

The Trailer For Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Warner Bros. Pictures has released the first trailer for Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the December 16 release stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Noomi Rapace, Jared Harris, Eddie Marsan, Kelly Reilly and Geraldine James.

Sherlock Holmes has always been the smartest man in the room… until now. There is a new criminal mastermind at large—Professor Moriarty (Jared Harris)—and not only is he Holmes’ intellectual equal, but his capacity for evil, coupled with a complete lack of conscience, may actually give him an advantage over the renowned detective.

When the Crown Prince of Austria is found dead, the evidence, as construed by Inspector Lestrade (Eddie Marsan), points to suicide. But Sherlock Holmes deduces that the prince has been the victim of murder—a murder that is only one piece of a larger and much more portentous puzzle, designed by one Professor Moriarty.

Mixing business with pleasure, Holmes tracks the clues to an underground gentlemen’s club, where he and his brother, Mycroft Holmes (Stephen Fry) are toasting Dr. Watson on his last night of bachelorhood. It is there that Holmes encounters Sim (Noomi Rapace), a Gypsy fortune teller, who sees more than she is telling and whose unwitting involvement in the prince’s murder makes her the killer’s next target. Holmes barely manages to save her life and, in return, she reluctantly agrees to help him.

The investigation becomes ever more dangerous as it leads Holmes, Watson and Sim across the continent, from England to France to Germany and finally to Switzerland. But the cunning Moriarty is always one step ahead as he spins a web of death and destruction—all part of a greater plan that, if he succeeds, will change the course of history.