UPDATE: Issue #4 of Countdown to Darkness that IDW is publishing in April will feature the first appearance of a fan favorite alien race, the Klingons, in J.J. Abram's reinvisioned Star Trek universe. Check out this sneak peek of the cover:
Apologies in an earlier version of this post we announced the release date of STAR TREK "Countdown to Darkness" as January 16 but have subsequently found out the date will be Wednesday, January 23, 2013.
Have you seen the trailer for STAR TREK: Into Darkness yet?
Can’t wait to see the new STAR TREK movie Into Darkness? The adventure begins Wednesday, January 23! No it’s not the release of the movie which is coming out May 17, but rather the first of a four issue arc by IDWPublishing that provides a comic book prelude to the events of J.J. Abrams’s STAR TREK sequel is hitting retail shelves and the Internet. IDW has developed a four-issue comic series based upon a story provided by STAR TREK Into Darkness co-writer Roberto Orci that serves as the official prologue to the Paramount Pictures movie. Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness will feature artwork from David Messina (who has inked several of IDW’s Star Trek comic series) and provide readers with a tale that bridges the gap between the 2009 blockbuster Star Trek, which rebooted the franchise,and its upcoming sequel while also setting the stage for the events taking place in the new movie. The price of individual print issue from your local comic store or to download as an e-book through i-tunes is $3.99 and amazon.com is also taking pre-orders for a graphic novel that bundles the 4-issues which is currently priced at $12.14 which will be published this summer.
My son and daughter love to race around the house pretending they areDora & Diego, from the popular Nick Jr. television cartoons, playing along with a stuffed animal in their adventures they imagine to be one of the show’s sidekicks called Baby Jaguar. In fact, I believe they talk more about Baby Jaguar when they are playing than Diego, Dora, or any other aspect of the show…well maybe accept Swiper the swiping fox as I often hear them saying “Swiper no Swiping” as they go about exploring the wild jungle of our living room. So they were really excited to have the chance to see two real life baby jaguars!
They don’t have any jaguars on display at our local zoo, but in November two cubs were born at the Milwaukee County Zoo and we've been able to catch glimpses of them bya live webcam feed that has been posted. My kids were so excited to see the jaguar cubs that have unofficially been named Gaps & Dots due to the markings on their heads by the zoo staff caring for them, that my monitor is covered with finger print smudges from them pointing the cubs out to me. Here’s a link if you’d like to check out Dots and Gaps for yourself:
These two jaguar cubs are also very important to the species because their father was captured in the wild and brought to the zoo because he was deemed a nuisance for attacking cattle and so these births introduce a new gene pool to the captive population that will help promote healthy breeding in future generations. Jaguars are the third largest “big cat” behind the lion and tiger and is the largest feline native to North & South America. Wild jaguars can be found in the southern United States, Mexico, Central America and South America. Unfortunately, they are a threatened species with declining numbers. For more information on wild jaguars and how you can help in the effort to protect them, visit the conservation group PANTHERA: http://www.panthera.org/species/jaguar
The Milwaukee County Zoo has also posted a nice video with more information about Gaps and Dots that is interesting to watch:
I’ve been a Detroit Tigers fan since I was a little kid with an attachment to the team and the game of baseball developed through the connection to time I spent with my grandfather and father enjoying the national pastime. Some of my fondest memories of time spent with my grandpa involved sitting on his back porch with him drinking out of glass bottles a multitude of different Towne Club soda pop flavors …I think there were 24 flavors in all that my grandparents bought in big wooden grates…while listening to the Tigers’ games on the radio. And what young boy doesn’t cherish the ball games their Dad takes them to. I have such great memories of eating hot dogs with my Dad at the old Tiger Stadium on Woodward & Trumbull while watching Sweet Lou Whitaker and Alan Trammell turn double plays.
As a parent now myself, I’ve shared my love of the game with my children as a bonding experience with them. We’ve enjoyed some cherished family moments enjoying games together at the Tiger’s new home Comerica Park and watching on television as a new generation of heroes named Cabrera, Ordonez, Fielder, Avila & Verlander take the field and lead the team to division championships and the playoffs. I believe that \ my children like the excitement associated with the sport but what they really enjoy is the quality time with me that watching these games together represents. Enjoying baseball is an important pastime for our family.
With all these baseball memories in mind, I recently discovered a book that ties into our family’s enjoyment of the game published by CAPSTONE YOUNG READERS in partnership with SPORTS ILLUSTRATED KIDS called “Goodnight Baseball”. I’ve been reading the book to my 4 year old twins this week at bed time, literally all week because they’ve asked me to reread it to them every night, and the kids love it. I enjoy reading it to them because it is a nice nostalgic tale that our family can relate to about a father taking a son to his first baseball game.
The story written by Michael Dahl explores the sights and sounds of baseball through a fun rhyme that makes the book an easy and fun bedtime read for a parent. Also because of the rhyme type storytelling there isn’t a lot of text which allows you to really enjoy and focus on the great illustrations in the book by ChristinaForshay. “Good Night Baseball” does a really nice job of portraying the excitement through a kid’s perspective of experiencing his or her first trip to a Major League ballpark through Dahl’s rhymes and Forshay’s sketches. Reader’s experience the sights and sounds of a trip to the ballpark starting from pulling into the stadium parking lot and wrapping up with a Daddy carrying his tucked out son up to bed when they get home.
I appreciated that Christina Forshay’s illustrations had a classic 1960s/1970s feel to them that reminded me of the animation style of cartoons like “Woody Wood Pecker” & “Tom & Jerry” and Disney movies such as “Alice in Wonderland” and “the Fox & the Hound” that I enjoyed when I was a little kid. Forshay’s drawings drew my kids’ attention into the book artwork rather than me just reading the words to them and allowed aspects of the story to pop out of the pages at them. Three of my children and mine’s favorite images were a display of the ball diamond that made it seem as if you were sitting in the outfield taking the whole field in; a picture of the daddy taking a photo of his son with a lifelike team mascot; and the last page of the book that shows the son falling asleep in his room holding a stuffed toy of the mascot as the moon is displayed in the child’s window looking as if it is a baseball. Forshay does an exceptional job portraying the story through the eyes of a child.
Something I thought was funny that caught my attention while reading the book was how Michael Dahl has the young boy say “goodbye” to all the different things at the ballpark as they are leaving the stadium. He says goodbye to the players, their equipment, the field, the seats, and the trash of the ground as they are leaving. My son does exactly that when we go out places – saying goodbye to all sorts of people, animals and objects when we are out and about. For example we were at the grocery store the other day and as we headed to the car he said good bye to the cashier, than the shopping cart, and the food we didn’t buy, and finally to the building as we pulled out of the parking lot – so Dahl’s inclusion of that angle into his story really hit home. I also appreciated how the author included things that would excite children about going to a stadium such as showing your tickets at the gate, buying snacks, meeting a team mascot, getting a chance to walk the bases and see a dugout, catching a foul ball. Including the “goodnight” angle too really makes this a great bedtime story because it keeps the kids attention and entertains them but it closes out getting them ready to go to bed themselves – excellent!
The downside for us was that we read “Goodnight Baseball” as an e-book on my iPad. I really don’t like reading bedtime stories from my tablet to the kids because they have a tendency for me to want to play apps with them instead and it just doesn’t seem as nice to read to them from as a printed book. Some of the pages weren’t as aligned on the screen and had to toggle the screen somewhat to see the whole picture. I have a feeling that the book’s images would display better and look a little nicer in print versus digital. That being said we did find the e-book overall to be a very enjoyable read that my children repeatedly went out of their way to ask me to share with them again at bedtime after I read it to them the first time.
“Goodnight Baseball” hits store retail shelves in March as a hardcover book for $14.95 and is aimed for children ages 4 – 7. If you are looking for a good bedtime reading book to share with your children the Geek Daddy highly recommends you check it out!
Disclaimer: I received a free advance copy digital e-book of “Goodnight Baseball” from the publisher to review. The thoughts and opinions in the review are my own.
It's all about Cinderella right now when it comes to my 4 year old daughter, she has books for bed time reading, dolls with dresses that she constantly asks to be switched or rearranged every 5 minutes, and the movie on DVD that she wants to watch EVERY day. So she is very excited to see a new tv show premiering on the Disney/Disney Jr. cable channels this Friday January 11 aimed at preschoolers who love Princesses. "Sofia the First" is the story of an average girl who becomes a Princess when her mother marries the king. It's a spin-off of a made-for-tv movie "Once Upon a Princess" featuring Sofia that Disney featured on its cable channels back in November 2012 that we were lucky enough to catch on a rainy day when we were out of town on vacation last year and it kept our kids very amused for a few hours. Based upon their enjoyment of the movie I'm sure both my son and daughter will also enjoy this new tv series. Check out the trailer for yourself:
My wife pointed out to me while we were watching the tv movie and a music video following it that the voice for Sofia is the younger daughter on the two high school girls in Modern Family. Her name is Ariel Winter and I have to give her credit for having an incredible singing voice that you wouldn't have known from watching the comedy sitcom. Kudos to Ariel for showcasing that talent with this Sofia role. Here she is singing one of the songs from the show:
One of my kids' favorite shows on tv right now is JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES which airs on Disney/Disney Jr cable networks. If they do the same job of associating Cinderella to "Sofia" as they did Peter Pan to "Jake" this could work out well as a tie-in for preschoolers to the Wonderful World of Disney. We've found JAKE & THE NEVERLAND PIRATES to be an enjoyable and educational outlet for our kids that we are comfortable letting our children watch and SOFIA THE FIRST looks to be a similar format that we will absolutely be checking out.
SOFIA THE FIRST will air on the Disney Channel @ 9:30 am E.T. / 8:30 am C.T. beginning Friday, January 11, 2013
Saturday mornings in our house are pretty typical, my wife heads to Meijer for the weekly grocery shopping trip while my son, daughter & I jump on the couch, switch on the tv, and watch the newest episode of the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars on Cartoon Network. Clone Wars is in the middle of its 5th season now and this Saturday (January 5, 2012) will be it's 100th episode. 100 episodes is a landmark occassion for any television show to reach, but especially for a weekly cartoon series. So I want to congratulate Star Wars: The Clone Wars on this milestone and wish them continued success and 100 more episodes that geek daddies can enjoy along with their younglings.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars is set in a time period between Star Wars movies Episode II & III where the Jedi Knights of the Republic are fighting a civil war with Separatist robot armies led by the Jedi's arch nemesis the Sith. The "Clone Wars" were first mentioned in the original 1977 Star Wars "A New Hope" movie when Obi Wan Kenobi meets Luke Skywalker and tells him that he mentored and fought with his father during the Clone Wars. The Clone Wars were than subsequently featured in the prequel films that were in movie theaters from 1999 - 2005 and in this current television show on Cartoon Network. Haven't seen the show yet? Check out this great compilation video of the animated series provide by LucasFilm:
One of the special things about the 100th episode is that it features two fan favorites that bring together the interests of older and younger fans of Star Wars. R2-D2 (the droid beloved by fans of the original Star Wars trilogy) must help a Republic Clone Commando named Gregor (the commandos are one of the more popular characters of the prequel movie era that have their own video games and books) overcome amnesia so that an important secret mission can be accomplished to help save the Republic. Here's a peak at this milestone episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars
On Wednesday, January 9 STAR WARS will be getting a new start as issue #1 of Dark Horse Comics newest serial hits retailers shelves. Simply titled STAR WARS this new comic is set in the time period immediately following the original movie "Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope." It is in many ways a reboot of the franchise as all the comic's stories will be written & illustrated as if none of the subsequent movie sequels, books, comics and other extended univese mythos was ever created. This series will be taking a step back to 1977 and take the angle of treating stories as if they were exploring the imagination of all the fans who loved the movie and were asking themselves what happens next-there is no Yoda, thuggy Jabba the Hut isn't a giant slug, Darth Vader hasn't said "Luke I am your Father", and thank goodness absolutely no Jar Jar Binks!
Dark Horse is promoting this new STAR WARS comic series as:
This is Star Wars as you remember it . . . and as you have never seen it before! We’re taking you back to those heady, adventure-filled days following the destruction of the Death Star—when the Empire ruled, the Rebels were on the run, and the galaxy was a dangerous place where anything might happen!
STAR WARS will be written by Brian Wood, who currently also works for Marvel Comics on their X-Men titles, with art by Carlos D'Anda, who has penciled and inked for DC Comics on its Batman, Deathblow & Outsiders titles, and the comic's covers will be by famed illustrator Alex Ross.
UPDATE: Because previous 3D conversions have not met financial expectations Disney has announced that is cancelling the theatrical release of THE LITTLE MERMAID 3D that was scheduled for a 2013 September 13th opening.
Disney started off 2012 with what was supposed to be the studio’s next BIG franchise, JOHNCARTER, which turned out to be a huge flop and potentially a $210 milliondollar loss to the company that cost movie division chairman Rich Ross his job. Check out my earlier post about how Disney fumbled a chance to market the 100th Anniversary of Edgar Rice Burrough’s “Princess of Mars” book that the JOHN CARTER movie was based upon: http://www.ageekdaddy.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-is-john-carter.html. JOHN CARTER was followed up by the THE ODD LIFE OF TIMOTHY GREEN that received a lot of buzz on the Internet with the paid-to-post mommy bloggers but had disappointing numbers at the box office.
While Disney never really overcame the damper of JOHN CARTER it did have a few marginal successes in 2012 with the PIXAR movie BRAVE along with another animated movie by Disney Studio’s called WRECK-IT-RALPH. Marvel Studio’s AVENGERS came through in the summer to save the year by providing Disney with a legitimate blockbuster in 2012.
2013 is a new year though and Disney is going gangbusters to do a turnaround from 2012. They have 4 new movies from Disney Studios plus are rereleasing the Little Mermaid in 3D, plus 2 movie sequels from the popular PIXAR brands Cars & Monsters Inc. and 2 sequels from previous Marvel Studios blockbusters franchises Iron Man & Thor. DreamWorks Studios is also throwing in a new comedy to the mix called the “Delivery Man” featuring actor Vince Vaughan. It looks like this year will be a fun and entertaining one for us at the movies and a profitable one for the corporate execs at Disney based on this lineup.
The following is a synopsis of the 2013 Disney movie schedule with information provided from the company:
OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL
Release Date:March 8th
Disney’s fantastical adventure “Oz The Great and Powerful,” directed by Sam Raimi, imagines the origins of L. Frank Baum’s beloved wizard character. When Oscar Diggs (James Franco), a small-time circus magician with dubious ethics, is hurled away from dusty Kansas to the vibrant Land of Oz, he thinks he’s hit the jackpot—fame and fortune are his for the taking—that is until he meets three witches, Theodora (Mila Kunis), Evanora (Rachel Weisz) and Glinda (Michelle Williams), who are not convinced he is the great wizard everyone’s been expecting. Reluctantly drawn into the epic problems facing the Land of Oz and its inhabitants, Oscar must find out who is good and who is evil before it is too late. Putting his magical arts to use through illusion, ingenuity—and even a bit of wizardry—Oscar transforms himself not only into the great and powerful wizard but into a better man as well.
IRON MAN 3 from Marvel Studios
Release Date:May 3rd
Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce & Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of “Tales of Suspense” (#39) in 1963 and had his solo comic book debut with “The Invincible Iron Man” (#1) in May of 1968.
MONSTERS UNIVERSITY from Disney/Pixar
Release Date:June 21st
Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are an inseparable pair, but that wasn’t always the case. From the moment these two mismatched monsters met they couldn’t stand each other. “Monsters University” unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends.
THE LONE RANGER
Release Date:July 3rd
Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) and man of the law John Reid (Armie Hammer) are opposites brought together by fate and must join forces to battle greed and corruption
THE LITTLE MERMAID 3D from Walt Disney Animation Studios
Release Date:September 13th - CANCELLED
Swimming into the hearts of a new generation—beautifully restored and this time in 3D—“The Little Mermaid” features the beloved Ariel (voice of Jodi Benson), a fun-loving and mischievous mermaid, who is enchanted with all things human. Disregarding her father’s order to stay away from the world above the sea, she swims to the surface and, in a raging storm, rescues the prince of her dreams. Determined to be human, Ariel strikes a bargain with the devious sea witch Ursula (voice of Pat Carroll), trading her fins and beautiful voice for legs. With her best friend Flounder (voice of Jason Marin), misguided seagull Scuttle (voice of Buddy Hackett) and the calypso-singing Caribbean crab chaperone Sebastian (voice of Samuel E. Wright) at her side, Ariel must win the prince’s love and save her father’s kingdom – all in a heart-pounding race against time. Originally released in 1989, “The Little Mermaid” garnered two Academy Awards®, including Best Original Score (Alan Menken) and Best Original Song (Menken/Howard Ashman, “Under the Sea”). Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who went on to direct “Aladdin” and “The Princess and the Frog,” “The Little Mermaid” returns to the big screen on September 13, 2013, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters
DELIVERY MAN from DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: October 4th
From DreamWorks Pictures comes “Delivery Man”, the story of affable underachiever David Wozniak (Vince Vaughan), whose mundane life is turned upside down when he finds out that he fathered 533 children through sperm donations he made twenty years earlier. In debt to the mob, rejected by his pregnant girlfriend, things couldn’t look worse for David when he is hit with a lawsuit from 142 of the 533 twenty-somethings who want to know the identity of the donor. As David struggles to decide whether he should reveal his true identity, he embarks on a journey that leads him to discover not only his true self but the father he could become as well.
THOR: THE DARK WORLD from Marvel Studios
Release Date: November 8th
Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself. In the aftermath of Marvel’s “Thor” and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” Thor fights to restore order across the cosmos…but an ancient race led by the vengeful Malekith returns to plunge the universe back into darkness. Faced with an enemy that even Odin and Asgard cannot withstand, Thor must embark on his most perilous and personal journey yet, one that will reunite him with Jane Foster and force him to sacrifice everything to save us all.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård, Idris Elba, Christopher Eccleston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Kat Dennings, Ray Stevenson, Zachary Levi, Tadanobu Asano, and Jaimie Alexander with Rene Russo and Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” is directed by Alan Taylor, produced by Kevin Feige, from a story by Don Payne (credit not final) and screenplay by Christopher Yost and Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely (credit not final) and is based on Marvel’s classic Super Hero Thor, who first appeared in the comic book “Journey into Mystery “ #83 in August, 1962.
Marvel’s “Thor: The Dark World” continues the big-screen adventures of Thor, the Mighty Avenger, as he battles to save Earth and all the Nine Realms from a shadowy enemy that predates the universe itself
FROZEN from Walt Disney Animation Studios
Release Date:November 27th
From the studio behind 2010’s “Tangled” and this year’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” Walt Disney Animation Studios presents “Frozen,” the most daring comedy-adventure ever to hit the big screen. When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna (voice of Kristen Bell), a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff (voice of Jonathan Groff) and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna’s sister Elsa (voice of Idina Menzel), the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, an amazing and comedic snowman named Olaf, Everest-like conditions and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.
The film is directed by Chris Buck (“Tarzan,” “Surf ’s Up”) and Jennifer Lee (screenwriter, “Wreck-It Ralph”), and produced by Peter Del Vecho (“Winnie the Pooh,” “The Princess and the Frog”). Featuring music from Tony®-winner Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) and Kristen Anderson-Lopez (“In Transit”).
SAVING MR. BANKS
Release Date:December 20th
Two-time Academy Award®–winner Emma Thompson and fellow double Oscar®-winner Tom Hanks topline Disney’s “Saving Mr. Banks,” inspired by the extraordinary, untold backstory of how Disney’s classic “Mary Poppins” made it to the screen.
When Walt Disney’s daughters begged him to make a movie of their favorite book, P.L. Travers’ “Mary Poppins,” he made them a promise—one that he didn’t realize would take 20 years to keep. In his quest to obtain the rights, Walt comes up against a curmudgeonly, uncompromising writer who has absolutely no intention of letting her beloved magical nanny get mauled by the Hollywood machine. But, as the books stop selling and money grows short, Travers reluctantly agrees to go to Los Angeles to hear Disney’s plans for the adaptation.
For those two short weeks in 1961, Walt Disney pulls out all the stops. Armed with imaginative storyboards and chirpy songs from the talented Sherman brothers, Walt launches an all-out onslaught on P.L. Travers, but the prickly author doesn’t budge. He soon begins to watch helplessly as Travers becomes increasingly immovable and the rights begin to move further away from his grasp.
It is only when he reaches into his own childhood that Walt discovers the truth about the ghosts that haunt her, and together they set Mary Poppins free to ultimately make one of the most endearing films in cinematic history.
Disney presents “Saving Mr. Banks,” directed by John Lee Hancock and produced by Alison Owen, Ian Collie and Philip Steuer. Executive producers are Paul Trijbits, Andrew Mason, Troy Lum and Christine Langan. The screenplay is by Kelly Marcel from a story by Sue Smith and Kelly Marcel.
PLANES from Disney/Pixar
Release Date:Tentatively Summer/Fall 2013 August 9, 2013
A spin-off of the highly successful Pixar CARS movies was originally scheduled to hit theaters in Spring 2013 but that has been pushed back to a potential Fall or later release date with some rumors even being that it may go straight-to-DVD rather than to the big screen.
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