Creative Loafing presents Ed Loves Bacon

The Japanese kid channel icon, Domo-Kun has been a favorite of mine for some time now. He’s just so cool, and I can’t figure out why and that’s what makes even all the more hip. I mean seriously, he’s a plush block with tiny legs, knobby arms, beady eyes and the largest mouth I’ve ever seen since the original Japanese monster Gojira.

My fascination aside, Domo has crossed the ocean and made a big splash here in the states. Target has some Domo merchandise and NickToons airs two minute episodes each week. My favorite episodes usually involve big D trying to rock out or dance – it cracks me up. Due to licensing, not many of the NickToons versions of the episodes can be found online, but you can Google fan vids and some official clips as well.

Maybe I’ll try to get a Domo costume for Halloween, there’s several sites to show you how to make them, but like Domo-Kun, I’m probably too lazy for that.

Watch Domo Music Video – Check out Domonation.com in Animation |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

DECI-BELLAS: Twilighters cut loose as they await the release of their faved film on DVD Friday.

Okay, I have to admit – I know nothing about this Twilight phenom. Before Friday, All I knew about the books and movie was that it is a tweener romance series about some angst ridden girl and a hot vamp. Their romance redefines chastity and there’s some butt whoop and smooching peppered throughout. But at the pre-release party held at Blockbuster Video in Brookhaven, devoted fans gave me a brief education about the series.

Here’s what I’ve learned from them:

1. The cutie vamp is named Edward (Robert Pattinson), all that matters is he’s hot.
2. Bella (Kristen Stewart) has a cool truck and she’s awesome.
3. Vampires don’t combust in sunlight – they twinkle. It adds to the cuteness factor as well.
4. Not everyone is in Ed’s camp, some are fans of a Native American shape-shifter named Jacob who’s also vying for Bella’s affections.
5. Jacob (Taylor Lautner) is hot, too.
6. Twilight fans are called Twilighters, their mothers are called Twilight Moms, they tend to be fans of the books as well.
7. Twilight is the greatest movie…ever!

That was enough to wet my appetite until I had a chance to check it out for myself. Their insights gave me several key points of reference when I finally sit down and review the DVD and extras. Since I’m not a pubescent girl swooning over the lead characters, I’m sure my perspective will skew in a different direction.

The two-hour long party was hosted by Star 94’s Street Team. Twilighters and their parents played games and won some cool gear including a poster signed by the cast and crew of the movie.

While fans screamed and swooned in the anticipation of picking up their movie, outside of the store Twilighters were encouraged to give blood and received a pint of Edy’s ice cream for their efforts.

QUEEN BEAGLE: Angel a.k.a. Chloe and handler Mark Anderson greet young fans.

On Friday, Atlantans and their primped pooches paraded downtown at Centennial Park as part of the Disney Dog Tour. Over 40 dogs were in attendance including Angel who recently starred as Chloe in Disney’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

The Disney Dog Tour was in town to celebrate the releases of Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Space Buddies and their most recent release, Bolt. As part of the festivities, Disney held a casting call for dogs big and small for a walk-on role in an upcoming “Buddies” film.

While cruising the web feeds today, I got wind that Facebook is launching a fresh new design next week. The new page is streamlined and looks more refined and elegant in its presentation – very “2.0″ as my contemporaries like to say. What’s up with the new view? According to their official announcement:

We’ve updated our home page to make it easier to understand what’s going on with the people you care about. Now your friends’ posts are streamed in real-time and you have more control over what you see.

The new Facebook features better filter control, real-time streaming of posts in the news stream and revised publisher settings so its easier to post links, photos, videos and more. Here’s a summary of the publisher improvements:

• Link (add a web address to external content)
• Photos (upload a photo, create an album, or take a webcam photo)
• Video (upload a video or record a webcam video)
• Note (add from Facebook’s Notes application)
• Import (add external blogs or RSS feeds)
• Gifts (add from Facebook’s Gift Shop)

I must admit I’m excited to see the changes. Facebook’s interface is rather cumbersome when adding  any external items, so this new interface is a welcomed improvement. I really like the sleek new skin and realtime updates without hitting the refresh key is just pure candy in my book. Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg sums it up brilliantly in his blog.

There’s an interesting blog post in the LA times that states that Facebook’s changes are a means to combat the growing popularity of Twitter. Well duh, these two have been the only real players in the networking game for some time now. It was only a matter of time before Facebook behaved more like Twitter or vice-versa.  It will be interesting to see how Twitter will responds to its competition.

As a special feature to DC’s latest animated release, Wonder Woman, viewers get a sneak peek at the next release from their comic cavalcade – Green Lantern: First Flight.  According to the DVD featurette, its a retelling of the origin of DC’s most popular ring bearer Hal Jordan.

The film is produced by veteran animator, Bruce Timm (Justice League: New Frontier) and Directed by Lauren Montgomery (Wonder Woman). Hal Jordan is voiced by Law and Order: SVU’s Christopher Meloni while his mentor turned nemesis Sinestro is voiced by Victor Garber (Alias). Other actors who are lending their voice to the movie include Battlestar Galactica’s Tricia Helfer who plays the warrior GL, Boodikka and film actor, Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs) will portray the fan favorite GL – Kiliwog.

Now this doesn’t mean Warner Brothers will not be releasing their live action film version of Green Lantern.  Internet Movie Database still has the release of Green Lantern set for 2011.

Green Lantern: First Flight is schedule for release on DVD, Blu-Ray and On Demand, Summer 2009.

Visit the official movie website.

Geek blogs blew up over the weekend posting the latest images from Guillermo Del Toro’s upcoming film, Splice. The movie is directed by Vincenzo Natali and stars Adrian Brody and Sarah Polley. From what I’ve read on Ain’t It Cool News and Bloody Disgusting, its your typical “renegade geneticist create a new life form by splicing human and animal DNA only to find in horror the error of their ways” movie. Here’s the official description taken from Geeks of Doom:

The film is about Elsa and Clive, two young rebellious scientists, defy legal and ethical boundaries and forge ahead with a dangerous experiment: splicing together human and animal DNA to create a new organism. Named Dren, the creature rapidly develops from a deformed female infant into a beautiful but dangerous winged human-chimera, who forges a bond with both of her creators – only to have that bond turn deadly.

No release dates have been given for the film.

One of the larger criticisms of movies adapted from books, especially comic books, is so much of the character, plot and subtext is lost in translation when adapting the story to a general audience.

When news of Watchmen, probably the most popular graphic novels of all time was slated to become a live-action feature film, fanboys around the web lit up bulletin boards speculating how on Earth would they be able to pull this off. Watchmen is not one story, but a series of subplots, wrapped around the main plot -  an enigmatic murder of a retired costumed hero. To make it even more conflicting, there’s a completely separate comic book, The Black Freighter wrapped within the book. Watchmen fans were buzzing and practically demanded the essence of their beloved comic not be butchered in Zach Snyder’s version.

Warner Premiere’s Watchmen: The Motion Comic is a modestly animated, unabridged version of the book. The DVD is true to the novel and breaks the story down into twelve chapters on two discs. Every single frame of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbon’s graphic novel has been brought to life with seemingly low-tech finesse reminiscent of cartoons from the mid 60’s circa Marvel’s Spider-man, The Incredible Hulk and The Mighty Thor. Unlike a cartoon, the animation relies on the composition of the comic book cells completely. This includes the original drawings, the text bubbles and even narration boxes to create the illusion.

You definitely appreciate the brevity of film as you make your way through the chapters. The entire series is over five hours long and has a series of lull points where the story meanders during character subplots. Still, the novelty of the concept will hold your interest and get you through the slow spots.

While so much attention is given to the visual elements in the series, its surprising and disappointing that very little depth was added to the audio. Sure, the original soundtrack complements the animation brilliantly and every “zap” and “boom” is there for added effect. However, voice acting range for the characters is unfortunately missing. Instead of the expected movie cast voicing the characters, the entire series is voiced by one person. TV veteran actor Tom Stechschulte lends his talents to define each character which gets a bit unnerving at times as he voices everyone from a pubescent Silk Specter to a middle aged African-American psychologist, Dr. Malcolm Long analyzing costumed vigilante, Rorschach. Eventually his voice blends completely into the canvas of the picture and you rarely notice effort he provided.

I was surprised that no special features were included on the DVD. There are trailers for Warner Premiere’s The Black Freighter, a full length animated feature taken from the Watchmen novel, and the highly anticipated Wonder Woman but there are no interviews or behind the scenes offerings.

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic can be considered a comic book fan’s dream come true, but it offers very little to someone who is not a fan of animation or the book. If you’re not interested in reading the graphic novel, this is a great primer to wet your appetite for the upcoming film.

[rating: 4]

Watchmen: The Complete Motion Comic, directed by Jake S. Hughes, starring Tom Stechshulte, 325 minutes. Not Rated. List Price $19.99. Blu-Ray $26.99. Individual chapters available on iTunes $1.99 each.