First Avengers set picture!

I feel this is worth posting. The Avengers starts filming today and just to make me extra happy, Marvel went ahead and released this first official photo. Sure, you don't get to see anything, but it's still awesome. You can read the full press release over at /Film. But for now, just look at these chairs and imagine what could be.

Casting updates and links

Since I last posted about anything about casting, almost the entire Hunger Games cast has been filled in. There's an unremarkable announcement for Zach Snyder's Superman reboot, which is now titled Man of Steel. Also, there's a suspiciously mundane press release for The Dark Knight Rises.

Harry Potter and the Deathy Hallows Part II trailer leaked

Thank to /Film for pointing out that a teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II has turned up online. The trailer looks awesome and showcases some of the book's best moments. While I liked Part I (it made my top 10 for the year), it dragged a lot and was fairly boring. I still stand by my argument that it should have been condensed into one film, but at least the second part looks like it's going to pack enough punch to make up for all that time in the tent.

The good of Twitter and publishing's future

The new anthology 2:46: Aftershocks: Stories from the Japan Earthquake was put together in just a week. It's only available in eBook form from Amazon right now, but less than a month after the disaster, it's a book about a disaster that actually has a chance to measurable help the victims of the disaster. According to Technorati, a British resident of Japan, known as "Our Man In Abiko," put out a call over Twitter and within hours had received dozens of short essays and photos. I don't own a Kindle, but you can still download its reader program to read the book on your computer. The book is available from Amazon.com for $9.99. Amazon has waived their usual fees, so all profits go to the Red Cross. It's a great way to give some money and take a look at this Twitter-sourced book.

First video from The Hobbit

Peter Jackson has posted the first video blog from The Hobbit. There's nothing really new shown here, but we get a look at the replicated Bag End and Rivendell sets, and get a look at the actors out of makeup. My personal highlight was Jackson running through the names of the dwarves (Dori, Ori, Nori, Balin, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur). I can tell the script supervisor is going to be working overtime. Check out the video on Facebook.

My March reading recap

I didn't end up reading as much as I'd wanted to in March. There's one big reason for this, and some other things got in the way as well. I'm hoping a lighter schedule this quarter will let me read more on my own. Of course, this month's all ready a third gone, so I'd better get on that right away. But if you want to see what I read for fun, it's after the jump.

A collection of updates

It's been a while since I posted any links, though it's not like anything particularly Earth-shattering has happened over the last week or so. There's some Warner Brothers news about the future of their comic franchises, news on Ron Howard's The Dark Tower, and a small item on The Hobbit. Oh, and there's more casting for The Hunger Games. It's all after the jump, so click on ahead.

Sucker Punch

I saw Sucker Punch over the weekend and wanted to post a couple of quick thoughts, because its such a ridiculously over-the-top movie that I think it deserves it. As the credits rolled (to a bizarre musical number), my friend gave the best description I've heard so far, calling a cross between Inception and a Lady Gaga music video. Going in, I was expecting Sucker Punch to be a pretty straight up exploitation flick. Basically 300 with hot women instead of shirtless guys, which to my mind would be an improvement. I ranked it fifth of the films I was looking forward to in 2011. Now Sucker Punch has received some negative reviews, and I'm going to have to disagree with those.