Yushu Earthquake

We take a short time to look at the recent cataclysmic disaster that hit Qinghai, China. Yes, while we here at The Daily Zombies, fully relished in more than occasional sardonicism and mockery on the strange ways of the human kind, there are at times, some issues that any living human can't afford to simply turn a blind eye and look away. On April 14th, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Yushu, Qinghai, China, at 7:49 am local time, with the epicenter located at Rima village (日玛村/日麻村), Upper Laxiu township (上拉秀乡) of Yushu County, in remote and rugged terrain, near the border of Tibet Autonomous Region. The epicenter is about 30 km from Gyêgu town, the seat of Yushu County, and about 240 km from Qamdo, and is in fact a sparsely populated area on the Tibetan plateau that is regularly hit by earthquakes. Sparse indeed, but nonetheless populated. What touches me in particular is the above picture of a nine-month-old child child who was injured in the earthquake and is now awaiting rescue and evacuation (on the cover of the April 16th edition of Singapore'Straits Times. As of now, 1,484 people have been confirmed dead, 312 missing, and 12,088 injured of which 1,394 are severely injured. The scale of the calamity and fears of disease has forced a break from the traditional Tibetan "Sky Burials" in which corpses are left on mountaintops to decompose or be consumed by vultures as massive cremation were conducted. The Huffington Post has put up an article on how help can be rendered to aid the victims. Do be mindful of the regular donation fraud that always appears whenever a major crisis arises.

Survivalism

A great display of survivalism. Officials in Melbourne, Australia have just released CCTV (Closed-circuit television) on Friday, depicting an incident in the Melbourne subway where a baby were being hit by an incoming train. The baby rolled off the edge of the railway platform when her mother inadvertently release her baby stroller just as the train were approaching. The baby, strapped into the stroller, were reportedly dragged under the train for 100 feet before the train came to a stop. Fortunately, and rather incredibly, I must add, the child suffered only very minor injuries. Paramedic on site confirms this..."Fortunately the train was slowing as it pulled into the station. The baby received a bump to his head and was distressed when we arrived Luckily he was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life.Luckily he was strapped into his pram at the time, which probably saved his life."

Disney Acquires Marvel

Excelsior! Brave yourself, Marvel Zombies! For when Marvel boldly go where no superheroes had gone before, you gonna need all the war-cries there is out there. It's official. Marvel Entertainment, affectionately known as "The House of Ideas" has been acquired by Disney. For those who actually cares about the details and figures behind the stellar deal, here's an excerpt from the Official Press Release from Disney:- Building on its strategy of delivering quality branded content to people around the world, The Walt Disney Company (DIS) has agreed to acquire Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (MVL) in a stock and cash transaction, the companies announced today. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney on August 28, 2009, Marvel shareholders would receive a total of $30 per share in cash plus approximately 0.745 Disney shares for each Marvel share they own. At closing, the amount of cash and stock will be adjusted if necessary so that the total value of the Disney stock issued as merger consideration based on its trading value at that time is not less than 40% of the total merger consideration. Based on the closing price of Disney stock on Friday, August 28, the transaction value is $50 per Marvel share or approximately $4 billion. In summary, copyrights of all 5,000 over Marvel characters are now at Disney's disposal, notwithstanding, amongst other subsidiaries, the toy division, Marvel Toys (formerly Toy Biz), the comic publishing wing, Marvel Publishing, Inc., the animation wing, Marvel Animation, and, yes, where the money are... Marvel Studios, the film producing studio, of which its joint production with Paramount Films, Iron Man had generated half a billion by its own. That, is a cash cow the size of Galactus. Nevertheless, Disney had earlier indicated that they have every intention to respect Paramount's distribution deal with Marvel and the ongoing Avengers franchise, but honestly stated that it is in their best interest, overtime, to become the sole distributor of Marvel Films. Likewise for existing licensing and distribution deals. In assuring the gun-carrying Marvel Zombies, Disney references the Pixar deal (which Disney bought in 2006 for $7.4-billion) and will manage Marvel in the very same vein of hands-off relationship they had with the avant-garde animators. Additionally, much praises was handed out by Disney to Marvel towards the licensing in all aspects, particularly the video gaming and film adaptations. Incidentally, the Disney cable channel Disney XD is already running about 20 hours a week of Marvel content currently, which expectedly will be going much higher moving forward. All seemed to be in bliss with the killer merger, with Stan Lee's full endorsements, Joe Quesada, the current Editor-In-Chief of Marvel twittering happily and the fact that Pixar’s John Lasseter has already met with key Marvel creative executives and are looking into potential partnerships. Marvel, with its fairshare of hardships(changing hands of ownership in the 80s, enduring the bankruptcy in the 90s, etc), is now entering the next stage. This is not unlike DC Comics' purchase by Warner Bros back in 1969. Back then, Warner Bros already owns Looney Tunes and its assorted cartoon characters but still reaches out for the comic characters. And time had proven that deal a most fruitful one. I am not concerned with Marvel's future hampered with X-Men getting all High School Musical, Hannah Montana joining the Avengers (Dark, Mighty or New) like what most of the online communities are murmuring about. That is not going to happen. Marvel will grow with a much steady hand at helm. Makes Stan Lee's welcome comments all the more resonating. However, there are indeed some killer crossover that you gotta keep an eye on, say, the final battle between the ducks... I'm sure comic-reading folks are pretty much familiar with the single and very much long-standing feud between Howard The Duck and Donald Duck? Let the Ducks duke it out... Howard The Duck VS Donald Duck! For further reading, check out the industry reaction to the merge covered by comicbookresources.

What Horror?! Japanese Film Festival

Unimpressed by the affectionately coined J-Horror, being the self-proclaimed daredevil that you are? Well, we'll see what you are made of. Go be awed by the pioneers and truly, the masters of horrors who inspired the current ever-so-copy-friendly J-Horror stereotype, at the Japanese Film Festival in Singapore this year from 25th to 30th August 2009 exclusively at the Singapore Museum with half the screenings up for free admission. Featuring Onibaba, a 1964 noir classic made in Japan, that had always remained an unseen film in my never-fulfilled to-watch-list and was released in its most appreciated condition in the Criterion Collection DVD that displayed brutal humanity in all its raw beauty and ugly facet. All kinds of frustration already ran wild here for missing out "House", a 1977 film that was written by the director's then 7-years-old daughter, with all kinds of timely weirdness in the late 70s. Check out the official site for more screening details and information pertaining the event. Be disturbed, I'll say. That's the single most unspoken element in modern horrors.

The Storm Warriors 風雲II Preview

With the summer blockbusters season behind us, the general cinema-loitering public can only look forward to the Christmas season for big budget blockbuster. And it's not just the Hollywood. Scheduled to open this Christmas, The Storm Warriors (風雲II) (see my previous entry) had just released their full trailer, in an untimely coincidence with its box office rival, Sherlock Holmes, which will also be released on the 25th of December 2009. Looks decent, what with the very much graphically pleasing shot of Nameless Wu Ming (無名, with 何家勁 Kenny Ho brilliantly cast)'s sword moves and relatively cool (but otherwise very much reeks of 300) film tone, check out the full trailer. For the fans: This last screen is here just so you know how dedicated the film is following the source.

Brian Bolland Coming To The Singapore Toys, Games And Comic Convention

Some free-of-charge advert here...Living in Singapore and being a fan of toys, games and comic, after all... This year's Singapore Toys, Games And Comic Convention definitely seem promising, what with the obligatory Cosplay (always a good source of hilarity) and toy design competition, exclusive movie trailer screenings (courtesy of local cinema giant, Golden Village) and one additional event unprecedented here: a Walk Of Fame meet-and-greet autograph session featuring... Drum roll please, one of my all-time favourite artist, Brian Bolland himself. For the uninitiated, other than his be-all-end-all "Killing Joke" with the almighty Alan Moore, Brian is arguably the best cover artist around with his massive body of work (especially so for Wonder Woman) churning out from DC on a regular basis, genre-defining stuffs on 2000 AD (especially Judge Dredd with his creation of Judge Death) and his alternate riff of epic Arthurian saga, Camelot 3000. So pardon the Fanboy tone here.

"I Find Your Lack Of Humour Disturbing."

Unbeknownst to the general public, and more importantly the Star-Wars fanatics out there in particular, Disney actually organized their very own Star Wars Weekends event amongst employees. And to the absolute horrors for the fanboys, they actually created sets of posters on an annually basis to promote awareness of the events, away from the eyes of the public!!! Very much tongue-in-cheek ones, though... Check it out.