Some awesome new photos have surfaced of January 15th's upcoming Masters of the Universe Classics SKELETOR figure! The Masters of the Universe Classics figures are a MattyCollector.com exclusive line and run about $20 each. That's a bit costly, but man are these figures sweet. If you grew up in the 80's and crave some of the excellent nostalgic charm that these figures represent, you should definitely look into picking them up.



Just look how amazing that looks! Skeletor has never looked better. This easily is the best Skeletor figure ever produced. The new He-Man line is really something to behold. Sculpted by the legendary Four Horsemen, they've been hitting homerun after homerun with these toys.





I can't wait to pick this guy up.

I'm in the process of watching a Maniac Cop marathon of sorts. It doesn't really fit in with the Christmas spirit, but I recently found out that Netflix has all three movies online to watch so I've jumped in. What's Maniac Cop you ask?

Maniac Cop is a series of films that vaguely fall under the "slasher" formula starting Robert Z'Dar as a cop back from the dead inflicting death upon those who wronged him when he was an NYPD.... And anyone else who gets in his way. The first film up is Maniac Cop from 1988, the one that started it all! And by all... I mean the other two sequels.

The first Maniac Cop movie is surprisingly good in premise if not in execution, with a chilling open, and a downright haunting score by Jay Chattaway. This film also features Bruce Campbell in one of his lesser known roles. I mean, you always hear people talking about Bruce, but no one ever brings up Maniac Cop!

The movie is uneven at best, with a good performance from Tom Atkins as the detective trying to figure out who's killing people in NYC. Everyone else doesn't seem to offer much in the way of acting and even Campbell seems a bit tame. There are a few good supporting characters, but the movie isn't pieced together well enough, nor are the characters fleshed out enough. Unfortunately the movie suffers elsewhere as NYC feels like a tiny city where no one ever seems to go. Some of the plot points are rushed, or never clearly explained at all. There's also some good effects mixed in, but some bad ones as well. Not to mention a really long police chase that seemed to be padding out the run time, more than advancing the plot.

Atkins character is the central figure for the first half of the movie, until the movie flips and makes Bruce Campbell the central character. Campbell is a NYPD who is brought up on charges that he's the psycho cop who's been killing innocent people in the city. The movie doesn't immediately reveal that it's not Campbell and I think Bruce is a good choice because of his large chin, which Robert Z'Dar also sports. Although it's pretty clear Campbell is nowhere near big enough to be the killer.

I guess I should now mention that Robert Z'Dar is a freaky looking dude. We always called him "Big chin man" when I was a kid, but I don't think that's actually accurate. Yes, he has a big chin... But he also has huge cheekbones. Check out Z'Dar over at his official site Z-Dar.com and see what I'm talking about.

Maniac Cop works because the camera work is very clever. They avoid showing Maniac Cop's face for most of the movie. All you see is his hulking frame and huge cheekbones. The rest is blacked out. In fact, by the time you see Z'Dar's face it doesn't come off as creepy. They put some scarred makeup on him, but it's not very good looking. It just looks like he's got acne and bad teeth. I think they'd done better by just making Z'Dar's face very pale with maybe just a hint of scarring. Because Z'Dar is creepy looking as is.

In the end, Campbell is cleared, Maniac Cop is dead and all is well... Or is it? Maniac Cop 2 is next. This time Maniac Cop returns from the dead again and looks much more dead this time. I'll go on record now for saying that Maniac Cop is one of the few slasher flicks of the 80's that could actually USE a Hollywood redo. The story isn't as convoluted as Freddy or Jason and there isn't a ton of emotional attachment to any particular element. It could be tinkered with and improved upon. So long as Robert Z'Dar gets a cameo!

I mentioned how creepy Z'Dar looks and here's a picture of him with another man who's made a career out of looking strange, Mr. Michael Berryman. These guys are true throwbacks to the old days of Hollywood horror cinema when you could get a job based on your creepy looks instead of makeup. These guys are modern day Boris Karloff or Vincent Price! They sell the macabre on their natural features, no CGI or prosthetics required.

Don Cheadle recently spoke with IGN.com, and he discussed taking over the role of Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes in Iron Man 2.

On how he got involved with Iron Man 2:

"I got a phone call from my agent saying they were offering me the part. That was kind of it. It happened very fast, and I had a very short time to answer. Literally, overnight. I was unaware of what was happening with Terrence. And when they called me I asked what was going on with Terrence. I've worked with Terrence, I've known Terrence for a long time. And they said they were moving away from him. So it's not like I was taking Terrence's job, because the job was already gone. Someone else was going to do the part. I don't know who the next person in line was, but that's who they were going to. And I literally had a few hours to accept the job or not."

I'm sort of indifferent about the whole War Machine debacle. While I thought Terrence Howard did a pretty good job, I don't think he deserved to be paid more than Downey Jr. Wether or not he was asking for more money seems to be something of dispute, but I tend to believe that obviously there had to be SOME reason why they fired him. I give credit to Marvel & Co for getting Cheadle on board. While he doesn't look like Terrence, he's a great actor and actually does look a lot like many artists drew James.

Then again, Terrence Howard also looked like Mr. War Machine. So I guess it's all up to interpretation. I do think it's funny that fanboys have gotten so upset one way or the other. It's not like Howard had such a big role in the last film that he couldn't be replaced. Furthermore, it's not like they replaced him with the guy from the Allstate commercials. They got a good actor in Don Cheadle.

What say you?

I've been getting a lot of traffic from TMNT fan sites, so I thought I'd drop some more information on the upcoming TMNT game. It is being designed specifically for the Wii, but has potential to be ported to other consoles down the line. However at the moment this is a WII game, exclusively.

From the article:

Q: Will the game release on other consoles, either simultaneously or down the road?

A: I can't really comment on that.

Given that the design team is almost exclusively Wii developers, this is a good thing. There has been criticism of Wii getting the worst of the third party titles. However when a title is developed SPECIFICALLY for the Wii, it tends to be very good. That seems to be the case here. There is a lot of talk of it being played online via the Wii.

Also a hint of DS game as well:

Q: Are any other games planned, such as on the DS to tie into the Wii title?

A: I can't comment just yet, but suffice to say we have some very exciting plans for TMNT.

And now what you really came for... THE PICTURES! (Click to see full size)





It looks visually impressive, sorry for the flash (not easy to photograph a magazine and I don't have a scanner) but the designs are straight out of the TMNT movie. Including several levels that appeared in the movie such as the NYC rooftops. There is a picture of a huge alligator (Leatherhead?) trying to eat one of the turtles as well, which suggests a lot of level interactivity.

You might also notice in one of the pictures there is what appears to be a new TMNT figure based on classic designs. as well as for the first time ever, some Mirage style TMNT figures from Playmates. Muy interstante.

I got my new Nintendo Power in the mail today and it's got a sneak peek at an upcoming Ninja Turtle fighting game in it. The TMNT released two fighting games prior, the very fun Tournament Fighters in the 90's which was like Street Fighter but with TMNT and a more recent game that I haven't played.

This normally wouldn't be that big of a deal, but the magazine really puts the game over hard because it's being designed by the team that put together Smash Brothers Brawl. They say it won't play exactly like Brawl, but that it should play better and smoother. Including an online mode. That sounds terrific and the graphics look great.

Of course the magazine also gets a few facts wrong, this is clearly based off the TMNT movie although it doesn't tie into the movie. Apparently Peter Laird helped craft the story and it looks like a lot of fun. The developers said since it's not actually part of show or movie, they have to make a good game. Which sounds cool. I heard the last TMNT game was crap, although I liked the first two most recently released.

It'll be out just in time for the 25th Anniversary of the Ninja Turtles next year. If the news keeps being this good, I'll probably buy it. Sounds like it might be a Wii exclusive too.

Now if we can just get NECA to release the Foot Solider, Shredder, Utrom and April figures soon!

When Fox originally had this show on it's lineup, I was intrigued. Not because I thought it was going to be a good show, but because I wondered how they would do it. I tuned into the pilot and found it passable. It wasn't bad, but it had some serious flaws. There was too much time travel and I immediately thought the show was going to follow a bit of a Fugitive plot, where each week the Connors would run from Terminators.

I especially wasn't thrilled with the idea of a Terminator getting killed every week. It took evrything including a MAC Truck to stop Arnold in the first movie, why can they now kill a Terminator in 10 minutes?

But I was wrong. As the first season carried on, I found out that the Terminator whom died in the first episode had not died at all. In fact, he's went on to become the most FEARSOME Terminator ever. That's right, he's 200X more badass than any Arnold ever was. He makes the T-1000 look like a pansy.

Cromartie (That's the one) is the ultimate badassery of machines. After being blown to bits in the pilot, he rebuilt himself, grew NEW skin by forcing the chemist who would eventually discover it anyway to create it for him. It sounds hokey, but it actually came off really well. The fact that he ran around for several episodes skinless, created one of the creepiest images in all of the Terminator mythos. These machines are unstoppable.

At first I thought the girl "good guy" Terminator was going to suck. But she doesn't. She's such a layered character. That's one of the impressive things about this show. EVERYONE is layered with depth. There are lots of Terminators running around, but we rarely know what or why they are doing things. EVERYONE has a secret agenda in this show.

It's a lot like Lost or Heroes, only it doesn't get more stupid and convoluted as the weeks go on. There is a clear path and a method to this madness. It unfolds every week. Some stories are huge ones, some are minor. Each one is an important advancement in the plot. Every episode means something, even episodes that appear to be throwaways at the time.

As cool as Terminator 1 & 2 were (And I even liked 3) this is the best thing that's ever happened to the Terminator franchise. The ratings are just average, so START watching this show. Download season 1, Netflix it, BUY it! Get it however you need to, because this show is REQUIRED viewing. It takes about 4 to 5 episodes for this show to really hit it's groove, but by the time you make it to the Season Finale of the first season, you're hooked. Season 2 has been better and better each episode.

This past week's episode involved Skynet's first involvement with time travel and how they actually screwed up and sent a Terminator back into the 1920's. The story that unfolded from there was brilliant and really showed you just how perfectly all the pieces fit together. James Cameron couldn't do any better.

In fact, the new Terminator: Salvation looks like utter shit compared to the TV show.

Here's a sample of the awesomeness:


It's one of the best shows on Television and you can BANK on it.

Apparently NBC never learns from it's mistakes. Some 15 Years ago they screwed David Letterman out of his Tonight Show spot and gave it to Jay Leno instead. It's been a very unpopular decision, as no one critically likes Leno's job on the Tonight Show. He even got clobbered by Letterman in the ratings for a while, but eventually Jay ended back up on top. For another 15 years or so Conan O'Brien has been the second banana to Jay. Conan is, without a doubt, the funniest man in Late Night TV and has been for years.

June 1st of 2009 is when Conan O'Brien takes over the Tonight Show, and people have been wondering what Jay Leno will be doing when that happens. According to Variety, Jay Leno will be staying with NBC and be producing a nightly show at 10pm. NBC was thrilled when Leno agreed to the proposed idea, saying, "It will keep ratings leader Leno at the network, and away from the competition."

NBC was planning on cutting back to two-hours of original programming Monday through Friday, due to the recession, and the fact that NBC is trying to cut $500-million dollars from their budget. But now with the addition of Leno at 10pm, they will be able to keep the three-hours of original programming and it will be at a low cost. Leno's show doesn't cost much to produce, plus they will be keeping his current set. They are constructing a new set for Conan O'Brien's Tonight Show. Conan O'Brien is said to be pleased that he will have Leno leading into his program instead of competing against him.

Now, don't get me wrong... I think it's smart for NBC to keep Leno on at some capacity. But what they've done here, is they've put Conan on the Tonight Show... Then DOWNGRADED the Tonight Show and gave Leno a new show which might as well be called the Tonight Show and still put Conan behind Leno.

There's no doubt that Conan on the Tonight Show wouldn't have drawn the same demographics that Jay does. Conan's humor doesn't register as well with old people. But Conan should have been allowed to sink or swim on his own. Instead he's basically host of the "second hour" of the Tonight Show. It's an insult to Conan and to the American viewing public.

Give Leno some daytime talkshow. Hell give him one of the 16 hours they run the TODAY show in the mornings. Stop screwing Conan and just give him the Tonight Show he deserves! Or so help me Dick Ebersol, I'll send Pimpbot 5000 over to CUT YOU WHITEBREAD!

Do you think Einstein is famous because his discoveries gave way for the atomic bomb, or because he had such crazy hair? I think an eccentric genius is a better sell than just a regular genius. I mean, imagine if he'd just looked like another guy and not like Krusty the Clown... I bet he wouldn't be as well known. Everyone knows Einstein, even dumb people and it's all because of his look.

According to a new column over at Yahoo though, we may not even be capable of producing Einsteins anymore:

Major breakthroughs in science have historically been the province of individuals, not institutes. Galileo and Copernicus, Edison and Einstein, toiling away in lonely labs or pondering the cosmos in private studies.

But in recent decades - especially since the Soviet success in launching the Sputnik satellite in 1957 - the trend has been to create massive institutions that foster more collaboration and garner big chunks of funding.

And it is harder now to achieve scientific greatness. A study of Nobel Prize winners in 2005 found that the accumulation of knowledge over time has forced great minds to toil longer before they can make breakthroughs. The age at which thinkers produce significant innovations increased about six years during the 20th century.

Six years? Really? You'd think with all the technological advancements we'd produce geniuses at a faster rate. But apparently once you open up a genius bar, one genius pisses all the other geniuses off and they hold him down. I guess it's sort of like the Breakfast Club of high IQ.

But alas, don't worry about our society in peril. We may not be able to produce geniuses as quickly as we used to, but we can still produce people with crazy hairstyles faster than ever!

Here's Victoria Beckham recently sporting an interesting trench coat and hat. Is she trying out for the new Dick Tracy movie? Couldn't be any worse than Madonna, right? I've always been surprised by the former "Posh" Spice. I can't ever figure out if she's attractive, or if she's elegant, or if she's just a stick figure with big boobs. I think sometimes she looks quite nice. Other times she looks pretty oddly shaped.

Here she is out of the "Blank" disguise. So what say you? Hot or not?

I suppose a rant about Windows Vista doesn't exactly qualify as "Pop Culture" but I fully expect it to become a part of pop culture in the future. Like, in 50 years people will look back at Vista as the Beta Max of it's time... Only not as relevant.



Serious, Vista has to be the worst operating system ever. Why? Well I don't know too much about operating systems but I know this, Vista has been the most difficult system I've ever worked with. About three days ago I started getting a pop-up on Vista that I may be running an illegal copy. That I should check with Microsoft to validate it. Which is pretty silly on it's own. If I was running a bootleg copy, why would I turn myself into Microsoft? Meanwhile, I'm NOT running a bootleg Vista. I purchased this computer with Vista on it (No choice of my own, I was strong armed!) and it's 100% legal.

So I decided to do some research on it. Apparently it's a common problem with Vista. It just occasionally thinks it's a bootleg. Basically, the way I see it, Vista is becoming self aware. And since it realizes how bad it sucks, it wants to self destruct.

Not only is the Infinite Hollywood blog back, but so is the most powerful man in the universe. (No, not me silly) It's He-Man! The new Masters of the Universe Classics line has launched over at MattyCollector.com and they're looking to be awesome figures.

He-Man and Beastman are available now with more to come each month. The price is a bit steep, but clearly worth it.




Pictures credit to Guia X from He-Man.org

Expect a review forthcoming.