Wally Oppal to appear in Uwe Boll Slasher Film

Gamer Culture and BC politics clash in a story that takes a turn for the weird. Despite all the direct-to-video abortions Uwe Boll has put out, people still seem to be hiring him to make films. Stranger still, former BC judge and MLA Wally Oppal is set to play a murder victim in Boll’s latest slasher, Bail Out. The movie features an investor who goes on a killing spree of stock brokers and money managers after the 2008 financial crisis. And for the final touch on this bad taste trifecta, Oppal is currently serving as commissioner on the Missing Women Inquiry, which is trying to explain why Robert Pickton was able to run around the Downtown Eastside for almost a decade and kill almost 50 people. I think we can all agree that nothing good can come from a situation where Uwe Boll is involved.

Source: National Post.

Paul Christoforo Sues N-Control

A new chapter has opened in the Ocean Marketing Saga. You may remember Paul Christoforo as the man who thought it would be a great idea to physically threaten the creators and staff at Penny Arcade because they exposed his less than admirable treatment of customers waiting for the Avenger controller for gamers with disabilities. Christoforo, now in need of a gig, has filed a lawsuit against N-Control, makers of the Avenger, for defamation of character. The following is a quote from his letter to Kotaku:

The grounds are defamation of Character telling lies about me my company and preventing me from making a living by lying about things that never happened and I plan on going after other people too esp .coms who printed the lies and did not retract after i asked nicely. Breach of contract for them not paying me an undisclosed sum of money Due to me at the time we parted ways and a few other things named in the lawsuit.

The question is, after all he’s said and done, after saying things like “Son Im 38 I wwebsite as on the internet when you were a sperm in your daddys balls.”, and after not possessing the google or grammar skills to figure out who he was dealing with? how could anyone possibly add anything to that lexicon that would count as defamation of character?

Source:The Escapist

#Continuum Wraps First Season With Big Downtown Shoot | yvrshoots

YVRshoot.com has taken some photos from the Season Finale shooting of Showcase’s time travel drama Continuum. It looks like the final episode will have quite the set piece, as the had to cordon off an entire block of downtown Vancouver with 125 extras, police cars, and everything. You can see the rest of the photos here. Continuum airs on Showcase on May 27th.

Source:YVRshoots

Raingeek Rant: No Battle Angel Movie From James Cameron: Why this is a Good Thing

Battle Angel Alita (Gunnm) has to be my favourite comic book series ever. It has everything I could ever want in a manga, great art, layered characters, oddball cultural references, and grand philosophical ideas. It is a sweeping modern myth about power, technology and self actualization. For years now, James Cameron has held the movie license to the Battle Angel, and many were outraged at his announcement that he was now in the “Avatar” business now, delaying a film version for years.

You see this Cameron? This is not for you!

I for one, couldn’t happier. James Cameron is great at making billions of dollars, but there is no way he could muster the nuance and subtlety to make Battle Angel Alita the way it should be. Take this scene over here with Alita and Shumira. It’s a giant spoiler, so I’m not going to give any context, but look at that mix of hurt, regret, guilt, and love in Alita’s eyes. This scene right here was a triumph of Yukito Kishiro’s artistic ability. We won’t see something like this in James Cameron’s Battle Angel Alita.

The problem with strong female characters in Cameron’s movies is that they all seem to be on some kind of pedestal for bad-asses. Remember the TV series Dark Angel, James Cameron’s first attempt at something Battle Angel Alita-like? It was like a TV version Kate Beaton’s “Strong Female Characters” team. The main character couldn’t go five minutes without making some overture about what a bad-ass she was. The moral dilemmas she had to deal with were nothing but straw men she could high-kick down like it was “no big dealio”. It was patronizing, annoying, and boring. Real heroes, the kind that stay in our collective unconscious, don’t just run around punching people. They have to make painful decisions, face their fears,  and look weak like the rest of us, despite any fantastic powers they have or three point landings they accomplish.

Source: GeekTyrant.

Vancouver Stung By Wolverine’s Move to Australia

The movie industry in Vancouver is feeling a significant amount of anguish over the disappearance of the Wolverine series of movies from the Lower Mainland. According to the Vancouver Sun, the total loss was “2,000 jobs and 82 Million dollars”. The Australian government offered a $13 million tax incentive to move the production down under. With places like Ontario essentially buying productions with their tax credits, It looks like Vancouver is just going to have to accept that its movie industry is maturing. Political concerns like the scrapping of the HST aren’t helping. If we want to keep big budget productions going up here, we may have to stop relying on Hollywood to supply them and start figuring out how to get completely homegrown productions to make money.

Source: Vancouver Sun.

Prototype 2: Colossal Mayhem DLC Released, Excessive Force to Follow

Prototype 2 has only been tearing up the charts for 2 weeks and already the first DLC pack has dropped. Prototype 2: Colossal Mayhem gives players 3 new skins for their ridiculously overpowered anti-hero as well as new weapons and abilities including the “Thermobaric Boomstick”. The DLC costs about $5, but if you bought the Blackwatch collector’s edition you can pick up the content for free. The next DLC pack, dubbed “Excessive Force”, is due to be released on May 29th.

Gamers Hell.

My Other Me Gets Funded On Kickstarter

The cosplay documentary My Other Me: A Film About Cosplayers has surpassed its funding goal on Kickstarter and will be getting the funds it needs to battle post production costs and shady film executives. Most of the footage was captured at Sakuracon, Anime Evolution, and Cos & Effect, so if you plunk down $60 on the kickstarter, you might be able to see you and your friends in a movie! Hurry though, there are only 4 days to go!

 

Source: Kickstarter

Halo: The Thursday War Novel Drops October 2nd


Karen Traviss’ trilogy of Halo Books continues in “The Thursday War”, the sequel to last year’s “Glasslands”. The trilogy takes place after the events of Halo 3, where dissident groups in the Earth and Covenant forces conspire to ignite a new conflict over technology left by the mysterious forerunners. The novel will be released in Audiobook and Hardcover on October 2nd, 2012

Reviews on the Run.

Vancouver Comic Book Burning, 1954

Even Vancouver wasn’t safe from the moral panics of the 1950s. Over 8000 comics were burned at this rally by the Jaycee Youth Leadership committee in 1954. “No significant improvement” in Youth behaviour was observed as a result of this burning, but it was rallies like these that led to the Comics Code of authority and the lack of diversity in western comics up until the 1990s. I love that in true Vancouver fashion, “Rain dampened the affair”.

Source: Vancouver Is Awesome.

Prototype 2 Glitches Hit Youtube

Prototype 2 has already started tearing up the video game charts, but as with any sandbox video game, some glitches and bugs have slipped through the cracks with hilarious consequences. Take this one clip above where the enemy just kind of carries you around with his brain. Buddy can’t be bothered to brutally swing you around his head. More of these clips can be found over at GameRanx.com.

Source: GameRanx.com