New GAME OF THRONES Season 2 Trailer Debuts

Winter is still coming...

A new trailer for the second season of HBO's stellar series Game of Thrones has arrived on the Internets, giving another slice of raw meat to the show's fans already ravenous for more.  In this trailer titled "You Win or You Die," we open with Lord Varys, known as "The Spider," talking about how "a very small man can cast a very large shadow."

Other highlights include Catelyn Stark drawing a knife on Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, the man who betrayed her husband Ned after...um...telling Ned he shouldn't be trusted.  King Joffrey Baratheon is still a little jerk to Ned's daughter Sansa, threatening her with a bow and arrow and telling her "Killing you would send your brother a message."

In addition, Joffrey's mum Cersi is hated by the people she essentially rules over, with her brother Tyrion Lannister saying "You might find it difficult to rule over millions who want you dead."  Meanwhile, Jon Snow, Ned's bastard son, is searching for his missing uncle on the other side of The Wall where there just happens to be this lovely bunch of White Walkers.

Daenerys Targaryen begins her quest to capture the throne, announcing "I am Daenerys Stormborn and I will take what is mine...with fire and blood!"  Ned's youngest daughter Arya, hardened after witnessing the beheading of her father, sums up the entire series by saying that "Anyone can be killed."

And now that actor Peter Dinklage has won at both the Emmys and the Golden Globes for his performance as Tyrion, he appears to have more emphasis this season as Tyrion remarks, "I understand the way this game is played."

Game of Thrones returns for Season 2 on April 1, 2012.  Here's the full trailer...

Season 2: Preview - You Win or You Die

DAMN Good Comics -- AQUAMAN #5

There are a number of constants in geekdom.  Stormtroopers from Star Wars never hit anything they fire their weapons at, Kenny McCormick from South Park is killed off from time to time (although granted, not as often as he used to be), and every so often, Aquaman gets stranded in the middle of a desert.

Yep, this often-redone Aquaman story premise makes you want to channel some of the recent Battlestar Galactica and go "All of this has happened before...and will happen again."  Adventure Comics #256, Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen #115, Justice League of America (vol.1) #12,  DC Special Series #1 (a personal favorite), DC Challenge #4, Outsiders: Five of a Kind #1, and probably some others I'm forgetting have all featured this rather obvious plot with some variations here and there.  So what makes this version stand out?

Well, Geoff Johns' script for one thing.  Still playing with fan preconceptions of Aquaman, Johns uses this desert story "Lost" as a framework to develop the personality of the Post-Flashpoint Arthur Curry and also set up a significant mystery.  As revealed at the end of last issue, the question of "Who sank Atlantis?" is the next major storyline and some tidbits are dropped here that will hopefully pay off somewhere down the road.  A discovered artifact shaped like the letter "A" adorning Aquaman's belt begins emitting a high-pitched chatter, ultimately revealed to be a visual recording hinting at the ominous "enemy" that sank Atlantis.  In addition, we also gain some insight into this new Arthur's persona, as a hallucination from dehydration reveals that he views himself as someone desperate to belong somewhere but terrified that he never will.  A nice upgrade in characterization from "the guy who talks to fish."

Ivan Reis, meanwhile, continues to excel as the title's artist.  The issue's opening scene of Aquaman falling from the sky into a double-page spread desert crater sets the tone nicely, especially with some solid coloring from Rod Reis.  Some of the later desert pages seem to echo Neal Adams mixed with bronze-age Aquaman artist Jim Aparo, while retaining Reis' own style in the process.  He also designed a visually distinctive set of armor for the recorded Atlantean warrior, which should look even more impressive whenever we flash back to see hordes of Atlanteans fighting in vain against the "enemy."

So it looks like Aquaman should be interesting reading for the foreseeable future, which is very reassuring.  Next month promises "Mera vs. The World" and if Johns' take on Mera in Blackest Night and Brightest Day was any indication of what could be in store, my money's definitely on her.

Who Should Be the Next DOCTOR WHO Companion?

Okay, fellow Doctor Who fans...We know that at some point during Series Seven later this fall, the Eleventh Doctor's companions Amy Pond/Williams and Rory Williams/Pond will be leaving both the TARDIS and the television series.  "The final days of the Ponds are coming," current showrunner Steven Moffat has said.  "I'm not telling you when or how, but that story is going to come to a heartbreaking end."

Now, the Ponds/Williamses have had a good run, over two seasons, but the Doctor's next companion is already being discussed even though she (let's face it, probably a she) supposedly hasn't been cast yet.  With that in mind, I started wondering about which female characters we've already met before in previous episodes would make a good replacement companion for Amy...

1.  River Song/Melody "Mels" Pond -- The obvious choice, perhaps, but River Song was such a large focus of Series Six that the show came dangerously close to needing to be retitled River Who.  Although there remains quite a number of gaps in River's history that could be explored, especially as a full-fledged companion travelling with the Doctor, it feels as though most of the main highlights of her story (birth, regeneration, second regeneration, "marriage" to the Doctor, imprisonment, death) have been covered already.  And from a show standpoint, breaking completely away from the Amy/Rory/River saga may freshen the series up in the way Doctor Who needs to do from time to time in order to evolve and grow in new directions.

2. Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, a.k.a. Reinette, a.k.a. Madame de Pompadour -- Now this is an interesting one.  Most fans, including myself, consider "The Girl in the Fireplace" to be one of the best Doctor Who episodes ever, with an ending so sad and tragic it should never be messed with... unless...  It seems there's been some fan speculation recently of the idea of Reinette returning, after Moffat told his followers on Twitter to follow "Fireplace" actress Sophia Myles -- "Right EVERYBODY who follows me, go and follow @SophiaMyles - spin that fireplace. NOW. I'll explain later. Or not."  Myles tweeted in response, "Watch this (fire)place," and "The plot thickens."  Of course, it's possible that Myles could be brought back as a completely new character, which has been done for other stars such as Freema Agyeman, and not reprise her role of Reinette.

3.  Lady Christina de Souza -- Appearing in the Tenth Doctor story "Planet of the Dead," actress Michelle Ryan portrayed Christina de Souza, a thief of expensive artifacts bored with her aristocratic upbringing.  Several mentions were made during the episode of how well the Doctor and Lady Christina got along, and her thieving skills were proven to be quite useful in adventures.  The character was last seen fleeing from police capture in a flying bus, so it's possible this incarnation of the Doctor may be more inclined to welcome Lady Christina aboard as a regular companion.

4.  Jenny -- Last seen in the Tenth Doctor episode "The Doctor's Daughter," Jenny was a female clone artificially grown from the Doctor's genes.  Although the Doctor believes her to be dead after suffering a fatal gunshot, she later returned to life but did not regenerate and was last shown traveling the universe somewhere in a stolen shuttlecraft.  It should be noted that Jenny was originally slated to die in the episode, but that changed at the suggestion of none other than...Steven Moffat.  Georgia Moffett, who played Jenny, is the daughter of Fifth Doctor Peter Davison and recently married Tenth Doctor David Tennant.  Perhaps she might like the chance to reprise Jenny for a series or two with Eleventh Doctor Matt Smith?

STAR WARS Fans Show Their Love in STAR WARS UNCUT

Well, I guess we really know why Star Wars creator George Lucas is retiring from big-budget filmmaking now.

In one of the most amazing and surreal tributes to the legendary 1977 science-fiction classic, Star Wars fans across the globe have contributed their own takes on the film, stitched together into a complete two-hour fan recreation called Star Wars Uncut.  As the story goes, online producer and director Casey Pugh asked thousands of internet users in 2009 to remake Star Wars into a fan film, just fifteen seconds at a time.  Contributors were allowed to recreate scenes from Star Wars however they wanted.

Together with the help of video editor Aaron Valdez and sound designer/mixer Bryan Pugh, Casey Pugh pieced together footage of animation, action figures, people in cardboard masks, assorted children and their toys, people driving their cars, you name it, into a complete scene-by-scene quilt of love from Star Wars fans.  The result is truly bizarre at times, but with more heart than all three Star Wars prequel films combined.  Enjoy it below until Lucas tells his Legal Stormtroopers to execute Order 66 on YouTube...

DAMN Good Comics -- AMAZING SPIDER-MAN #678

Amazing Spider-Man was a bit wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey this week...and that's definitely a good thing.

In the cheerily-titled "I Killed Tomorrow Part 1 of 2: Schrödinger's Catastrophe," writer Dan Slott gives Peter Parker just three hours to prevent the destruction of New York City.  This isn't the typical "ticking clock" story, though, because Peter only learns about New York's destruction by stepping through a Doorway to Tomorrow (Morrow...Morrow...).

It seems Grady Scraps, his fellow creative engineer at think-tank Horizon Labs, has invented a gateway field of chronoton particles with a 24-hour window.  When Grady shows off his new invention, Peter steps through only to discover that tomorrow's events have suddenly been altered and all of New York City has been completely demolished.  Peter quickly finds an abandoned wristwatch frozen at the exact time of the destruction, while Grady uses a newspaper from before Peter's presence altered the timeline to help Spider-Man fix the timeline and stop the devastation before it happens.

Everybody got that?

Slott indulges his love of time-travel stories here, even revealing that Grady, like Slott himself, is a fan of Doctor Who, adding another Whovian to the Marvel Universe.  (Hmmm...I wonder if Grady ever hangs out with Mr. Fantastic and his daughter Valeria...)  And as the story's title suggests, the quantum mechanics paradox known as Schrödinger's cat comes into play, with New York City being simultaneously undamaged and completely destroyed.  The story's real heart though, is the pairing of Spider-Man and the unconventional Grady, making it feel as if Spidey traveled to Lost Island and spent an entire episode teamed up with Hugo "Hurley" Reyes.

As for the art, Humberto Ramos turns in a mostly-solid issue of his distinctive exaggerated style.  He puts a great deal of effort into giving his characters individual hairstyles and specific fashion choices, but rushes a bit through scenes involving buildings and the devastation.  However, if you're a fan of Ramos on Amazing Spider-Man, as I am, you're probably willing to overlook this and concentrate more on the story instead.

The cliffhanger works nicely, giving Spidey mere seconds to identify what needs to be done (or not done) to avoid catastrophe.  Something tells me he'll figure it out, but that wait for the next issue to see what happens...Duuuuude...

Britain Admits Using Fake Rock to Spy on Russia

The name is Rock...Fake Rock.

Reuters is reporting today that Britain has admitted to using a fake rock concealing a high-tech communications device in order to spy on Russia.  In a television program aired on Russian state television in 2006, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) accused Britain of using the gadget for top secret communications in Moscow, but Britain didn't admit to this at the time. 

However, Jonathan Powell, who was chief of staff to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, has just claimed that the accusations were true.  "They had us bang to rights," Powell said in a BBC documentary to be aired today.  "Clearly they had known about it for some time and had been saving it up for a political purpose."

The original Russian television story reported how the rock contained electronic equipment and had been used by British diplomats to receive and transmit information.  It showed a video of a man walking along the pavement of a Moscow street, slowing his pace, glancing at a rock and slowing down, then picking up his pace.  Then the camera films another man, who walks by and picks up the rock.  Other cameras have caught someone placing or removing the rock in a Moscow park, as shown below.

The FSB has linked the fake rock with claims that British security services were making secret payments to pro-democracy and human rights groups.  Soon after the incident, the then-Russian president, Vladimir Putin, initiated a new law restricting non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from receiving funding from foreign governments.

Britain's Foreign Office, responsible for the overseas intelligence agency MI6, declined to comment on Powell's remarks.

RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK Gets Stop-Motion Remake

Like probably many of you out there, one of my all-time favorite movies is Steven Spielberg's 1981 action-adventure classic Raiders of the Lost Ark, starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen.  The opening sequence, featuring archaeologist Indiana Jones and his companion Satipo going into an ancient, booby-trapped Peruvian temple to recover a golden idol, sets the tone for one of the greatest films of all time.

Well, it seems animator Jeff Gurwood is quite the fan as well.  He apparently spent six grueling months recreating this six-minute sequence in a shot-for-shot video, using the process of stop-motion animation featuring Hasbro action figures and custom-built sets.  Cartoon Network's Adult Swim series Robot Chicken has done this sort of thing for a while now, even featuring Raiders parody sketches, but certainly not a shot-for-shot remake without the advantages of a major animation studio.

Enjoy the stop-motiony goodness...