Simply Everything

By Peter K. Lam

Facebook and FriendFeed

News broke out today that Facebook has acquired FriendFeed although details have been sketchy at best as to the terms of the acquisition. FriendFeed operates very much like the wildly popular Twitter. With Facebook’s acquisition of FriendFeed, Twitter’s reign over the microblogosphere may no longer be as dominant as before.

Twitter became popular so rapidly that it’s hard to remember what the internet was like when it wasn’t around. It took the social networking circles by storm and has become the communication tool of choice for celebrities, athletes and even media personalities. With Facebook’s new business venture, it’s highly possible that Twitter may not remain the king for much longer.

Facebook remains one powerful force of social media overthrowing MySpace in terms of user preference. Facebook has only continue to grow and expand, gaining more members and popularity than ever before. The minds behind Facebook have all the necessary tools to mold FriendFeed into Twitter’s formiddable rival.

This war is definitely going to be fun to watch. I simply loathe Twitter so watching them go down will be absolute joy! If Facebook is able to utilize the same principles of Twitter and maybe add in a few cool unique features, it will be only a matter of time before Twitter becomes a distant memory. Facebook did it to MySpace now it’s time to do it to Twitter!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Darkness #81

LOS ANGELES, Calif., August 11th, 2009 – Top Cow Productions, Inc. proudly announced today that Phil Hester, the current writer for The Darkness, will take over artistic duties on the series for “Bog,” a special two-part story which he has also written. “Bog” begins in The Darkness #80 which is solicited for a September 2009 release and will conclude the following month in The Darkness #81.

Phil Hester, whose previous art credits for Top Cow include the Daredevil/Magdalena one-shot, has been the sole writer for the third volume of The Darkness since its launch in 2007. The Darkness #80 marks the first time that his art will accompany his writing in the series.

The story follows current Darkness bearer Jackie Estacado and his recently formed crew of criminals as they head to the swamp on their quest to destroy every representation of The Sovereign in the world. But they soon find that the swamp they are in has a monstrous protector.

In a recent interview with Comic Book Resources, Top Cow Publisher Filip Sablik said, “Phil has really revived and reinvigorated ‘The Darkness’ during his tenure as writer. He’s taking Jackie places he’s never been before and making him a much more fleshed out, three-dimensional character… Phil mentioned had a secret ‘swamp monster’ story he’d been itching to tell and draw since he wrapped up his run on ‘Swamp Thing’ years ago. Phil has a great affinity for classic archetypes and stories and this one just seemed like too much fun to pass up. We found a way to incorporate it into Jackie’s larger story and away we went!”

“Although I’m not a ‘typical’ Top Cow artist, the story line in Bog allows me to really play to my dark, angular, twisted strengths,” explained writer/artist Hester, “Plus, with Parks on inks, Darkness readers will get to see my vision for a truly menacing swamp monster in all its glory.”

Two cover variants will be offered for The Darkness #80, one by Hester and another by artist Michal Ivan (City of Dust). Issue #81 will feature a cover by regular series artist Michael Broussard, who returns to the The Darkness with issue #82.

Both The Darkness #80 and #81 will be priced at $2.99 as part of Top Cow Productions ongoing promotion to maintain the low cover price of $2.99 in 2009 for all of their regular comic books.

Media Contact
Filip Sablik
Top Cow Productions, Inc.
(310) 282-8062
fsablik@topcowent.com

About Top Cow Productions Inc.
Top Cow Productions, Inc., a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, was founded in December of 1992 by artist Marc Silvestri, who also co-founded Image Comics earlier that same year. Top Cow currently publishes its line of comic books in 21 languages in over 55 different countries. The company has launched 20 franchises (18 original and two licensed) in the industry’s Top 10, seven at #1, a feat accomplished by no other publisher in the last two decades. Its flagship franchise, WITCHBLADE, was TNT’s #1 original film of 2000 and the subsequent TV series was released on DVD on July 29, 2008. A feature film, co-produced by Platinum Studios, Inc. and Arclight Films, is slated to begin production in Australia with director Michael Rymer. WITCHBLADE is also the first American property to be fully adapted in Japan as an original anime and manga by Studio GONZO in 2006. Top Cow’s other flagship property, THE DARKNESS, was developed into a major next-generation video game release by Starbreeze and 2K Games and achieved platinum sales status. WANTED, an Eisner-nominated miniseries published by Top Cow from 2003-2005, is now a major motion picture from Universal Pictures starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. Virtually all of Top Cow’s other properties are in development as feature films, live-action television, animation or video games. Top Cow has also successfully licensed and merchandised its franchises into toys, statues, clothing, lithographs, puppets, posters, magnets, shot glasses, lighters, lunch pails, wall scrolls, mouse pads, die-cast cars, calendars, Christmas ornaments, Halloween masks, trading cards, standees, video games and roleplaying games.

By Peter K. Lam

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra

I watched G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra today with my cousins and friends. I went in with zero expectations. I was thoroughly entertained. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra stayed very true to the Hasbro cartoon that inspired it. The movie had popular characters such as Duke, Scarlet, Ripcord, Baroness, Destro, Snake Eyes and the list goes on.

The basic plot of the movie is that M.A.R.S., a weapons defense development company, created nano technology that is capable of devouring absolutely everything in its path and have put it up for sale to governments worldwide. G.I. Joe was supposed to protector the weapons at all costs which pulls them into direct conflict with the as of yet un-named terrorist group which will be called Cobra.

There was plenty of action in this movie and I loved every minute of it. Gunfire, car explosions, weird super high tech gadgets… it was just a fun escape from reality. The thing with this type of movie is to go in with a clear head and just watch without judgement. Don’t expect a elaborate story and all that then you’ll be fine because the story was very simple to follow. From a technical standpoint there are a bunch of inconsistencies but if you just focus on that, you’ll miss out on all the fun stuff.

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra fell a little bit short in comparison to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen simply because one movie had greater depth in story while the other did not. Nevertheless, I feel that G.I. Joe was fun and great to watch if you need to just get away from reality for a while. It was #1 this opening weekend and a sequel is already in the beginning stages. As long as fanboys flock to see these movies, there will be more to come and I say, “Bring it on!”