SuperHeroStuff.com

This bulletin was posted on MySpace so I thought I’d pass it on.  He’s in Chicago and needs any info on truck driving jobs.

“Hi folks!  I sure could use some help.  For me, 2007 wasn’t a very good year.  I was layed off twice.  I worked only 6 months out of the year.  At the end of the year, I finally obtained my truck drivers CDL Class “A” license.  I was hired immediately by Werner Enterprises (a truck company) with the intention of taking a “local driving route” that they were offering.  Well, after I completed Werners 275 hour student driving program, I was informed I was uneligable for that route since I lived more than 30 miles from their terminal.  So, to continue bringing in money for my family, I’m out on the road driving.  I’m in Ohio, at a truck stop as I type this on my cell phone.  What I need is, for someone who knows about any Chicago local truck driving jobs.  It has to be a local driving position.  I want to be home nightly.  The reason, I need to be at home for my 2 beautiful kids.  I already missed my son’s birthday plus X-Mas, and New Year’s Day. If anybody can help me I would really appreciate it.”

If you or someone you know knows anything about trucking positions in Chicago, you can email me at ronando@superherostuff.com and I can pass on the info.

 Heath Ledger died today, Jan. 22, 2008.  He was only 28.

Visit our Tribute Page

Heath Ledger first came to the attention of the public in 1999, it was all too easy to tag him as a “pretty boy” and an actor of not much depth.  Heath Ledger was born on the fourth of April 1979, in Perth, Western Australia.  In junior high it was compulsory to do one of two electives, either cooking or drama, and as Heath could honestly not see himself in a cooking class, he tried his hand at acting. 

When Heath was 17, he and a friend, decided to pack up, leave school, take a car and rough it to Sydney. Heath believed Sydney to be the place where dreams are made, or at least, where actors can possibly get their big break. However, upon arriving in Sydney with a purported 69 cents to his name, Heath tried everything to get a break. His first real acting job came in a low budget movie called Blackrock (1997), a largely unimpressive cliché; a teen angst film about one boy’s struggle when he learns his best mate raped a girl. He did not have a large part in this movie. In fact, it was a very small one. The only thing of notice in his role is you get to see him get his lights punched out. After that small role, Heath auditioned for a role in a TV show called “Sweat” (1996) about a group of young Olympic hopefuls. He got offered one of two roles, one as a swimmer, another as a gay cyclist. Heath accepted the latter because he felt to really stand out as an actor one had to accept unique roles that stood out from the bunch.

It got him small notice, but unfortunately the show was quickly axed, which led him to look for other roles. He was in “Home and Away” (1988) for a very short period, in which he played a surfer who falls in love with one of the girls of Summer Bay. Then came his very brief role in Paws (1997). Paws was a film which existed solely to cash in on guitar prodigy Nathan Cavaleri’s brief moment of fame, where he was the hottest thing in Australia.

Heath played a student in the film, involved in a stage production of a Shakespeare play, in which he played “Oberon”. A very brief role, this did nothing other than give him a small paycheck, but nothing to advance his career. Then came Two Hands (1999). He went to America trying to audition for film roles, showcasing his brief role in “Roar” (1997) opposite then unknown Vera Farmiga. He could not find any American roles but then Australian director Gregor Jordan auditioned him for the lead in Two Hands (1999), which he got. An in your face Aussie crime thriller, Two Hands (1999) was outstanding and helped him secure a role in 10 Things I Hate About You (1999). After that, it seemed Heath was being typecast as a teen hunk, which he did not like, so he accepted a role in a very serious war drama The Patriot (2000).

What followed was a stark inconsistency of roles, Heath accepting virtually every single character role, anything to avoid being typecast. Some met with praise, like his short role in Monster’s Ball (2001), but his version of Ned Kelly (2003) was an absolute flop, which led distributors hesitant to even release it outside Australia. The Order (2003) was absolutely terrible, and A Knight’s Tale (2001) was just light entertainment. Heath has had such a wide variety of roles that he seems unsure what to do with himself next. Despite being a very talented comedic actor, he seems to only want serious roles, which has hindered his career. He is by no means one of the greatest actors out of Australia, but in his brief career to date has suggested he could become one, if only he accepts the right role.

In 2007 Heath landed the role of The Joker for the Batman movie Dark Knight. In it, Batman raises the stakes in his war on crime. With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon and D.A. Harvey Dent, Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker.

Right after taking out Ra’s Al Ghul, and the mysterious disappearance of Dr. Jonathan Crane AKA Scarecrow, Batman continues on his war on crime in the streets of Gotham. But this time, he meets his match when this crazed, murdering, psychopath called The Joker, starts bringinc complete chaos to the streets of Gotham making it a personal agenda to take out the Dark Knight, before Batman gets to him first.

Heath did a fantastic job as the new, dark, phychopathic, sociopathic criminal the Joker.  Absolutely fantastic. 

This is awesome, you just have to check it out.  Click on the image to take you to where they come full circle and have Hack ‘n Slash Hobbits go through a D and D game of Lord of the Rings.  Hilarious if you’ve ever played.

Here’s the money shot from the teaser: It’s just a slow pan up on a construction site!  You just gotta love it!

Micahel: Yeah, I saw it.

It was… different. Different-ish. Basically, Blair Witch Project x Godzilla = Cloverfield. It wasn’t actually Godzilla, mind you.

What shocked me the most was the run time. We were there at 12:40. Watched about 10-15 minutes of previews. (Star Trek movie teaser! Weee!) And we were out of there at 2:08. I couldn’t believe it. Like an hour and 10 minutes? Hour 15 at most?

On the other hand I couldn’t have stood much more. Why? The whole movie made like it was filmed on a single video cam. So, run, run run run run bouncing shaky camera work. Take the shakest camera work you’ve seen in a clip, in say any Bourne movie… and make an ENTIRE MOVIE out of it.

There were some good elements, and the beginning worked really well. But overall, meh. I can’t recommend it other than for “different” factor. IT was a miss to me overall.

I can’t wait to see what the box office says. I know the theatre we were in, when it ended, the audience went, “Uh.” Collectively. No one was walking out talking excitedly about it.

It just doesn’t get any better in the superhero universe than Italian Spiderman.  Stan Lee himself said it was an amazing tribute to his own creation.

 We just can’t wait till it hits the screens!

You’ll definitely want to visit our new Batman Dark Knight Movie page to get a glimpse of all the images of this hot movie that’s coming out.

Two new Batman Dark Knight Posters

Michael: … Third, Gary Oldman makes the best damn Gordon ever, right out of Batman Year One!

Ronando: - I agree. I think Oldman’s a good choice, but primarily only based on Year One Batman, but he needs to have white hair and white stash in order to be the commissioner in future flicks.  Overall… even with my jaded cynicism I’m very pleased with Ledger as The Joker.

Yes, I HATED JACK NICHOLSON as the joker. That’s right.  I said it.

1. He was fat. 
2. He wasn’t the joker.
3. Everyone in their friggin mind was nuts to like him, except you of course you… you can like him.  He wasn’t scary.  He was too much into the costume.  But that’s not his fault, stupid whatshisname’s fault… Burton!  That freak.  That necrophiliac freak has some sort of love affair with dead people.  Just look at his work.

Freeman as Lucius Fox is ok.  Though Fox is a bit younger in real life… but I like Morgan, yet … he just doesn’t nail it.  Something’s lacking in his performance as Fox, but that’s alright since Fox’s a background character and we’re lucky to even have any part of the comics in these damn movies with all of the artistic licensing that’s going around in their production.

Bale is good as Bruce Wayne, good as Batman… no complaints there.  But… the uniform… it’s a stretch. Nolan is taking a more practical stance on Batman.  They have created their own universe, they aren’t following the comics when it comes to the uniform and the batmobile.

See… there are two ways the movie gods can do this. One is that they can follow the comics and stick to tradition, to a certain extent and yes.. yellow spandex on Hugh Jackman would never ever work. Or, they can launch from the comics and go their own route, which is at the risk of pissing off comic enthusiasts.  We go to the friggen superhero movies expecting to see the comics brought to life, and whatthehelldoweget?  Some necrophiliac’s interpretation of a superhero with stupid, idiot BOMBS in the Batmobile’s hubcaps.  Idiots.  Yes, I’m talking about the stupid 1989 Michael I’m not Batman Keaton movie.

Batman Dark Knight is having it both ways.  They take what they want and…  in fact they all want it both ways (can you say friggen organic webshooters??), so they take what they want which is

1. A Batman name and look 
2. The joker 
3. Supporting cast and location i.e. Gordon and Fox and Pennyworth in Gotham
4. and a skeletal outline of a story, i.e. Batman traumatized billionaire boy fights crime with an eye towards techno fashion and emo capes.
5. Then whatthehelldotheydo?? They then add in their own shit to make it transition, in their opinion, into the real world. i.e. The Tumbler (which is acceptable) 2) electo – cape… (which is… acceptable only because the cape is a kind of a mystery in the first place.  We never really know much about it in the comics. In fact, I only read once where Batman had the ends weighted with something to be used as a weapon when he swung it around.  Friggin ripped open a guys nose when he did that. I loved it) 3) body armor, 4) trained by ninjas 5)… guns! Someone tell Nolan that Batman isn’t supposed to use guns. Even in Year One.

So, Nolan and every other superhero movie maker wants to recreate their own univers.  Stupid. 

HERE’S AN EXAMPLE OF SOMEONE MAKING A MOVIE WHILE STICKING TO THE COMICS
The guy’s name is Sandy Collora.  And he’s done the best job so far in depicting Batman.

Michael:  I don’t mind the changes from the comic books anymore. You know why? Because nothing - absolutely nothing in comics - is or ever HAS been “bible”. It’s an illusion.

Look at the original Batman. F—er carried a gun in the 40’s when he started!! That’s where they got the idea from now. Every decade or so the character chagnes w/ the times. It’s evolving mythology - what you remember of Batman is probably the 70’s version and that’s cannon to you but not to anyone else. We all come in that way - ie Hal Jordan is/was the best Green Lantern ever, always will be but guys from the 80’s think Gardner is great and the 90’s, Kyle Raynor. It’s whatever you are exposed to first.

It’s evolving mythology. As long as they keep it smart and thought-out —- I mean you can’t tell me seriously that Bob Kane wouldn’t have Batman wearing battle armour if he knew it existed. It wasn’t an option when the character was created.

Think of it this way - the characters are not just characters, they are myths. Myths are ideals, they teach us to embrace ideas and ideals we have/we need, and they need to adapt it to the times.

BTW I used to like the original Batman by Burton - and it was amazing at the time, in context, but it doesn’t hold up. Other movies do, that one doesn’t. IMO.

Ronando: … I hate you when you make a good point.

Check this out.  You’ll either love it or hate it.  Think of… Speed Racer meets Cool World meets Sin City. The perfect ingredients for something just this side of anime-realism.  I think it’s going to rock!

The film is directed by the Wachowski brothers with Emile Hirsch, who was in Into The WIld, ALpha Dog and Lords of Dogtown, as Speed and Christina Ricci as Speed’s girlfriend, Trixie. Susan Sarandon and John Goodman portray Speed’s parents.

Starting in 1992, Speed Racer was a project in development hell that changed directors, screenwriters, and actors through the 1990s and early 2000s. In 2006, the film entered production and began filming on greenscreen sets in Berlin during the summer of 2007. Speed Racer has a release date set for May 9, 2008.

Haven’t had your fill of Marvel movies yet?  Still whining about DC not putting out like we deserve?  Still dying to see more Jessica Alba in a skin tight Fantastic Four suit? …mmmmmm Jessicaaaa.  Wanna see more Surfer and Batman and Angelina?  And what’s up with Iron Man?Hopefully this little list will shed some light. 

• WANTED - March 28, 2008 (Angelina Jolie’s in it!)
• Iron Man - May 2, 2008
• Speed Racer - May 8, 2008
• The Incredible Hulk - June 13,  2008
• Hellboy II: The Golden Army July 11, 2008
• Batman Dark Knight - July 18, 2008 Spoiler Here!
• Watchmen - March 6, 2009 (Alan Moore’s awesome story)
• X-Men Wolverine: Origins - May 1, 2009
• The Spirit - June 16, 2009 Also, visit here. (Frank Miller’s doing it)
• Sin City II - Sometime in 2009
• Ant-Man - Sometime in 2009
• Captain America - Sometime in 2009
• Thor - Sometime in 2009
• The Avengers - Sometime in 2009
• The Punisher II - Sometime in 2008 (featuring Jigsaw)
• GI Joe - Sometime in 2009

Is there a connection between Heroes and Lost?  Yub!  Or, so says Greg Grunburg in his interview with the buddies at Buddy TV. 

“BuddyTV spoke to Greg Grunberg about everything related to Heroes and some things that aren’t.  He talked about the possible impact of the writers’ strike and what viewers can hope to see in the immediate future, revealing when the Big Bad Biohazard storyline will be resolved.  Grunberg also spoke about reuniting with his Felicity father Alan Blumenfeld (now playing Parkman’s father) and about how awesome Alias co-star David Anders is.  And for Lost fans, Grunberg clued us in to the fate of the character he played, the pilot of Oceanic flight 815.  Continue reading for the full transcript and audio file of the interview.”

HOLY SMOKES!  I forgot that he played the pilot on Lost. [hey, I don’t proof read this stuff, I just read while I post.]

“Hi this is John from BuddyTV and I’m talking to Greg Grunberg, one of the stars from NBC’s Heroes. Hi, Greg!How are ya?I’m doing great. First off, I just want to ask, the writers’ strike is fresh in everyone’s minds. I’m wondering, how is that affecting Heroes and the production?

Well, it’s interesting, we got a really early jump on the season, the writers did at least, we were way ahead which is a really good thing for awhile. But as you know in TV, as soon as the episodes start airing, it quickly catches up to you. We had a couple extra scripts but now we’re pretty much caught up and I hope this thing gets resolved very quickly because we all want to get back to work. We’re still shooting, but we have another couple weeks and then we go down because the writers don’t have any finished. You know, they have, basically a break-down and some outlines of the next few scripts, but nothing complete enough for us to keep shooting. It’s frustrating because we’ve been on such a roll this year, especially right now with all the stories, you know. It’s a shame, I hope it gets resolved quickly.

Yeah. So what’s the last episode for which the script is officially fully done?

I believe it’s going to be 13.

OK.

Yeah, I believe so. But that could change. Things happen, you know, it could be 12, it could be 13. It depends. We’re in the middle of, just finished episode 11, so we’re just about to start episode 12.

And is that the end of…because season 2 was supposed to be divided into two chapters, I believe. Is that the end of the second chapter?

The second one ends with episode 11.

So you’re going to film the first couple and with the writers strike, would you air the first couple episodes of the new chapter, or would those be held off? Do you know?

I don’t know, that’s a good question. It depends on a million things, with the network, and how they want to do it. We’re lucky, Tim Kring and Dennis [Hammer] and Allan [Arkush], they were really smart in breaking this up into volumes, for a couple reasons, but this plays into it in a good way because we get to wrap up stories and sort of have two season finales and two season premieres every season. So, if people aren’t happy with what they’ve been seeing, story-wise or character-wise, it ends on episode 11 and there’s a whole new set of story points and exciting things that are introduced, to carry us through the second half of the season, so for various reasons, I think it’s a good thing. It also plays into the comic book element of our show, breaking it into volumes like that.

Definitely. So by episode 11, the biohazard in the future, that’s all going to be resolved by episode 11? Or is that going to carry over into the next chapter?

That’s all resolved. And the biohazard stuff is even resolved before that. A couple episodes before, which will actually be next week or the week after. Yeah, because that was episode eight that aired last night.

No, that was episode seven.

Oh, that was seven, OK.

Next week is the flashback to four months ago.

Right, right, right. Which is so cool. I love that we do that on our show, especially because people have been waiting. They’re like, “I don’t understand! What?” There’s some major looming questions that I think people have. We were, I think, possibly better at it last year at answering all these questions early on. I think it’s taken a little longer this year, over the course of more episodes to answer some questions, but everything will be answered as far as, how did they get from that explosion at Kirby Plaza to where they are, when we started four months later. A lot of those questions, almost all of them, are answered next week….

… OK, and actually I just have one final question, and it’s not Heroes, but will we ever get to see the pilot of Oceanic flight 815 again on Lost?

As a matter of fact, we will. And I have to leave it at that. Unfortunately, I’m not allowed to talk about anything else, but yeah, we will.”

Well, there you have it.  Greg’s an awesome guy and plays an awesome character.  And you can read the rest of the story at Buddy TV

Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave in friggen Tibet, or Pennselvania, then you probably know that Captain America is officially dead.  Yeah, he’s been dead for several months now.  Some chick killed him, some S.H.I.E.L.D. agent I think.  I don’t really know because fraking comics are so goddamn over priced these days I wait to get them the following year when they’re all discounted or else shoved into a trade paperback just so Marvel and DC can make even more money, wringing us dry, from the same goddamn story that they made money from us the year before.  Either that or it’s renting them from the local library, but then I have to beat the stupid goth crowd to the graphic novel section and I just can’t stand them posers.

Regardless.  Cap is back. … sort of.  Of all the news sources, Fox News had to carry this story.

“Four months after Marvel Comics unexpectedly killed off the champion of liberty and the American way, he appears in a comic made exclusively for U.S. soldiers. He is seen on a videotape made before his death.

One million copies of “The New Avengers: The Spirit of America,” the fifth in Marvel’s series for the military, will be available free starting Saturday at military base stores worldwide.

The star-spangled Avenger’s appearance is expected to create a demand for the comic, once word spreads among collectors.

“If you really, really want one, you need to know someone in the military,” said Jim Skibo, director of support for the Dallas-based Army & Air Force Exchange Service, which is distributing the comic.

Captain America, whose secret identity was Steve Rogers, was felled by an assassin’s bullet on the steps of a New York federal courthouse in a July issue after 66 years of battling villains from Adolf Hitler to the Red Skull.

Captain America is not being resurrected in “Spirit of America,” said Bob Sabouni, Marvel’s vice president of business development.

But when AAFES asked Marvel officials to include the hero in the latest military issue to be released before Veterans Day, they agreed because no other character better symbolizes the heroism and patriotism of the American soldier, Sabouni said.

The story begins with Captain America on a videotape asking his fellow Avengers to protect a soldier serving overseas and her brother, a National Guard member stationed in the U.S., from a terrorist organization.

Marvel Comics previously announced that another person will take over the mantle of Captain America early next year. His identity has not been revealed, and the costume will be revised, said Michael Pasciullo, Marvel’s vice president of merchandising and communications.

Marvel Comics started the military series in 2005 after getting a call from a young boy, saying he could no longer afford to send comics to his two brothers serving in Iraq, Sabouni said.

Marvel sent the boy a box of comics but wanted to do more, so the company started working with AAFES to develop something just for soldiers. The military series has been very popular, with books selling quickly after their release.

“You have the fantasy aspect, but they’re staying true to our culture,” said Lt. Col. William Thurmond, an AAFES spokesman. “You can’t ask for anything more if you’re a comic book fan.”