The real reason there will be no more Star Wars films

Thank you, Jimmy Kimmel. This amused me to no end.

"Tintin" not as creepy as I had initially thought...

As anyone who knows me knows, I'm a bit of a fan of the Tintin books. You can blame the pediatrician I had growing up. The reading choices in the waiting room were either Tintin books or *shudder* Highlights magazine (Surely I am not the only one who identified more with Goofus than Gallant, but I digress...).

Sure, the  adventure comic book series by Hergé (born Georges Prosper Remi) was filled with --how to put this delicately-- cultural insensativities, but my options were limited, so Tintin it was.

My favorite was Tintin in America, because even as a six year-old I knew that it was highly unlikely that a Belgian boy --no matter how plucky and determined-- would be able to outsmart both Native Americans and the Chicago Mob. Perhaps there isn't a French word for "cement shoes"?

As I've grown older, I've been able to appreciate the storytelling and structure (Remi knew how to write for the comic book medium). Film adaptations of his works have been hit or miss over the years.

There have been three attempts thusfar to bring Tintin, Snowy and the gang to the screen. First up was 1947's little-seen stop-motion film "The Crab With the Golden Claws."

Then there was 1961's live-action "Tintin and the Golden Fleece."

I loved the poster. The movie? Meh.  Still, it did well enough to warrant a sequal, 1964's "Tintin and the Blue Oranges."

And that brings us to the CGI version coming Dec. 23 from Steven Spielburg and Peter Jackson, "The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn."

The teaser trailer featured life-like computer animation that always creeped me out (something about the eyes that appear so souless). The full trailer is out now and the characters look a little more like their comic book counterparts (and thus, less scary). Admittedly, I am rocking a Tintin-style 'do at the moment.



Admittedly, I am rocking a Tintin-style 'do at the moment. Perhaps I'll keep it for the December premier.

Whatever happned to Pauline from "Donkey Kong"

Long before Mario discovered Princess Peach was being held in another castle, there was Pauline.

If you were ever wondering what happened to Mario's first damsel in distress:

The newest member of Scissor Sisters is a Fraggle?

Well, not actually. But Scissor Sister's Jack Shears and Babydaddy have been tapped to write the songs for the upcoming "Fraggle Rock" movie.

Music Week had the scoop. You can read the full scoop here. The photo is from Afterelton.com and I snagged it because it was better than anything I was photoshopping this morning.

I don't know what is more exicitng: a "Fraggle Rock" movie or "Fraggle Rock" tunes by these two. Doozers rock! The movie better feature the Trash Heap, though.

My BroadwayWorld Chicago review of "Chicago" is up.

Needless to say, I loved, loved, loved this show.
Here's the review.

My first post at BroadwayWorld.com is up

Somebody start humming "The Way We Were." It's all about the history of the Lookingglass Theatre Company (winners of the 2011 Regional Theatre Tony Award). Hard to believe they were ever this young (though David Schwimmer hasn't changed much)

You can find the whole story HERE.

It's the first of a series of five articles on the company to run all this week by yours truly. Please to enjoy!

The Pre-Electronic Entertainment Expo Preview

E3, the annual video game industry meet up, kicks off next week in Los Angeles. With major announcements expected from Sony (new portable handheld) and Nintendo (a new console), some third-party software companies have already begun to leak their announcements so as not to have them usurped by the big news from the big three.

Michel Ancel, the creator of Ubisoft's "Rayman" platformer, is back with "Rayman Origins."  The game brings the title hero and his zany crew back to their original 2-D world with gorgeous results.

The game runs on the open-source engine UBIart Framework (also created by Ancel), which Ubisoft plans to use to create games with high-quality graphics quickly.

Based on screens I've seen of "Rayman Origins," Ancel and crew have succeeded. The game features more than 60 levels of various gameplay and like the popular "Lego" series, drop in/drop out cooperative play.

"Rayman Origins" will be out this holiday for the 360, PS3 and Wii.