Filed under: Action & Adventure, Casting, Comic/Superhero/Geek

Following up her turn in the comic-book movie Ghost Rider, Eva Mendes has signed on to co-star in another comic adaptation, The Spirit. Based on the classic Will Eisner character, the movie will be written and directed by Frank Miller. Variety reports that Mendes joins a cast that includes Gabriel Macht as the title hero, Samuel L. Jackson as the villainous Octopus and Scarlett Johansson as the Octopus’ accomplice, Silken Floss. Although Miller has hinted in the past that the film will feature no love interest — The Spirit is “a bit of a slut” — I figured that Johansson would at least serve as the closest thing. Her character would figure well as a femme fatale who seduces and/or ends up falling for The Spirit. So, now how does Mendes’ casting fit in? The Hollywood Reporter says the actress is playing a character named Sand Saref, who is described as “a beauty with dangerous curves.” The trade further explains her role as the only woman to ever break The Spirit’s heart. Saref and Denny Colt (The Spirit’s alter ego) were teenage sweethearts before Colt’s uncle killed Saref’s father. Afterward, Saref entered a life of crime and espionage.

So, I guess The Spirit won’t be portrayed as a complete man-whore. According to plot points given at this year’s Comic-Con, the film will actually feature a love triangle between The Spirit, Saref and another character named Ellen Dolan, who has yet to be cast. In addition to casting Mendes, Miller has hired a cinematographer for the movie: Bill Pope. The DP is no stranger to comic book movies; he shot Spiderman 2 and 3, as well as Sam Raimi’s Darkman (which is like a comic book movie) and Army of Darkness. His greatest and most memorable work, though, would have to be The Matrix trilogy.

Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Cellphones, GPS, Portable Audio

Ear candy aside, Nokia showed a bunch of other goodies today to adorn that special handset in your life, too. First up, the LD-4W GPS Module adds a little style — “Nseries style,” sez Nokia — to the previously released LD-3W, offering 10 hours of operation on a single charge; it’ll be available for about €125 ($170) and promises compatibility with a “wide range” of Nokia hardware. Next, the MD-7W stereo Bluetooth speakers let you share the tuneage with those around you, willingly or not; they’re also designed with the Nseries in mind but should work with any device supporting A2DP when they hit for €130 (about $177). Last but certainly not least, the DC-1 Power Pack acknowledges that media-centric phones aren’t always the easiest on the battery, offering juice to one or two phones with 2mm Nokia power ports simultaneously. Look for this one to run about €105 ($143). All of ‘em should be available “globally” in the fourth quarter of the year.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Share This

Looks like the classic game, Spin the Bottle, has just been given a modern boost. It is now electronically powered to prevent you from using an unopened bottle of soda back in your more foolish, youthful days that resulted in being grounded for a month after your parents came home to a sticky living room. Is it worth the $34 you have to fork out for it? I suppose if your kid is having his/her friends over for a birthday party, it would be cheaper than hiring a clown.

Share This

I actually have no clue, so I’ll leave the answer up to our own Bunk Strutts since Tacky Raccoons is the name of his brand new blog. While I still haven’t seen any Raccoons at Bunk’s site, I did find quite a few gems … such as a pair of Mr. T. Underoos:

And the definition of a “babe magnet car” (what girl wouldn’t get into one of these?):

And unfortunate proof that the cartoon character Ziggy has met his end:

I hope to see a tacky raccoon as well, but in the meantime it looks like Bunk will keep me entertained. If you yearn for even more randomness than you find here, Tacky Raccoons is the place to go.

Share This

Filed under: Dessert, Food Porn, Baking, Australia, On the Blogs, Sugar

Wow.

When I saw these, all I could say (in my head, of course) was “Wow.”

Though this may look like a very cute gang of B-boys, hip hoppy guys who breakdance, these are cupcakes. Su-yin, located in Australia, made these as birthday cupcakes in honor of a friend. The detail with the heads wrapped up in ‘do-rags, caps, and even the Kangol hat is great, but I love the darling look of the faces. The faces are so adorable, I know for sure I wouldn’t be able to take a bite (though she has pictures on her post of a half-eaten face).

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Share This

Share This

sitepoint.com was today recognized as the 3rd most popular eBusiness web site in the world by ebizMBA.com, just behind news.com and ZD-Net.com.

The article used a number of metrics to list 25 must-have bookmarks for anyone serious about succeeding in online business. Web sites were ranked by a combination of inbound links, Google Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and U.S. traffic data from Compete and Quantcast.

Here are some reasons why I think we made the list:

• Our online marketplace continues to grow at warp speed. I’ve posted before on why I believe that if you haven’t taken the plunge to get involved, you should do so now.
• We produce some pretty awesome kits, books, articles, and newsletters sharing the secrets of doing business on the Web to entrepreneurs all around the world.
• To top it off, we’ve got a massive online community of entrepreneurs sharing their online success stories every day in the SitePoint Forums.

So if you’re looking to make money from the Web, be sure to put sitepoint.com on the top of your shopping cart.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

Share This

Filed under: Industry, Consumer experience, Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), News Corp’B’ (NWS)

Facebook has the hot hand in social networking. By a number of accounts it is growing more quickly than its larger rival, News Corp (NYSE: NWS) unit MySpace. Some industry estimates put the value of the company at close to $10 billion.

Now, Facebook is taking a real gamble to see if it can increase revenue. The company is working on a system that would allow advertisers to target Facebook members based on the information they give in their profile. Let the privacy advocates chew on that.

The Wall Street Journal writes (subscription required) that marketers will be able to target based on “age, gender and location, but also on details such as favorite activities and preferred music.” As one concerned advertising executive told the paper “Most people don’t realize how targeting works; it becomes so good that even though it’s anonymous, you feel like they know you..”

Facebook’s problem is that it needs the money. Industry estimates say that the company will make $30 million on $150 million in revenue this year. That makes the company tiny by almost any standard, and means that keeping a high valuation is difficult.

The Facebook action could trigger a response from the largest social network, MySpace. It it can set up a similar targeting system, its size might allow it to take more share of the new marketing market than Facebook could accumulate.

But, as leaders in the Web 2.0 space, both companies risk the charges thrown at Google (NYSE: GOOG). Web companies don’t care about privacy if they can make money.

Douglas A. McIntyre is a partner at 24/7 Wall St.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Filed under: New Releases

Games! Yes, seriously. Check out the full release list, just a matter of millimeters below where you’re looking right now.

US Games

• Warhawk
  
• Lair
• Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08
• Dynasty Warriors: Gundam

EU Games

• No new releases

Asian Games

• Bladestorm: The Hundred Years’ War
• Mist of Chaos

Warhawk and Lair? In the same week? Potentially. A lot of websites are showing the US release date has been pushed forward to the 30th of this month. It could easily be the case that whatever problems they had with the game that originally had it pushed back could have been solved early. In any case, we’ll find out within a few days.

European PS3 owners, worry not. As games are region free, you can import any of the games in the above list without fear. Your PS3 will gobble it up without caring where it’s from. Also, don’t forget the PSN version of Warhawk will be out this Thursday, with the retail box appearing on shelves in a few weeks. Remember, release dates are constantly subject to change. Constantly.

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This

Filed under: Computers

We’re fans of good old tactility, feedback and honest to goodness sensation — all commodities in today’s increasingly digital world. That why it’s always been hard for us to jump on the e-book bandwagon. Digital versions of books stored on computer-like readers lack any pages to turn or binding to break in. They certainly lack that musty aroma you soak in when cracking open an older book, which may be more important to the overall reading experience than most of us realize. After all, smell is the sense most closely tied our memory sensors.

But now, e-textbook-peddler CafeScribe is working on a solution. Beginning in September, every e-textbook purchased through the newly-launched service will include a scratch-n-sniff sticker that smells like a musty old book. The gimmick is part of a slightly bizarre attempt to woo students and universities to its e-textbooks and away from traditional paper. In a survey of 600 college students, CafeScribe found that 43 percent identified smell as the thing they most love about books as physical objects, while 30 percent associated “mustiness” with the books they most loved.

Though certainly a marketing gimmick, this is an entertaining marriage of old and new technology, and one we’d love to see packaged with more of our digital goods. Imagine if a new song downloaded from iTunes smelled like the unwrapping a new cassette tape?

From Engadget

Related Links:

• New Machine Prints Books on Demand for $3
• University Begins Testing Web Cam Proctor
• 12 New Schools Join Google Book Search

Permalink | Email this | Linking Blogs | Comments

Share This