So I’m strolling along the post-blizzard streets of New York City earlier this week when I spotted a new stand-up plaque at the foot of the William H. Seward statue at the southwest entrance of Madison Square Park. From afar I spotted the words, The Cape, which I know is new superhero drama premiering this weekend on NBC.

As I got a little closer, I realized that the statue of Seward was now newly adorned with a flowing black cape! I crossed the park to find at the other end the statue of Admiral David Glasgow Farragut was also donning a cape and had a similar plaque as well.

Check out the photos I took of the statues here below. It was an amazing sight, I’m glad I happened upon it! [...]

The BBC has released a lot of new information concerning the upcoming fourth series of Torchwood, which has been renamed from Torchwood: The New World to the new title of Torchwood: Miracle Day. Some of the information included could be seen as spoilers, so bear this in mind if you’re trying to remain spoiler-free for the new season!

Along with new cast member Mekhi Phifer who will be acting as CIA operative Rex Matheson, John Barrowman (Captain Jack Harkness) and Eve Myles (Gwen Cooper) have been joined by Bill Pullman (Independence Day) portraying protagonist Oswald Danes, Arlene Tur (Crash) portraying Dr. Vera Juarez, and Alexa Havins portraying Agent Esther Drummond.

As indicated by the character descriptions released by the BBC, the events that bring Captain Jack back to Earth and draw Gwen Cooper back into the world of Torchwood surround a mysterious event that would become known as Miracle Day — forcing the heroes, notably Gwen, to make some very challenging and “terrible decisions” for humankind. Essentially, Miracle Day ties into a global conspiracy being scrutinized by Rex Matheson and Esther Drummond [...]

Young artist Rob Cham has reimagined the Marvel superhero team The Fantastic Four as forks…

The Fantastic Forks.

Quite cute [...]

If you’re a die-hard Slayer fan with some money to spare, here’s a neat collectible for you.

Guitar company ESP plans to release a limited-edition Slayer guitar which will feature the cover art from the band’s classic 1986 thrash metal album Reign In Blood.

The guitar, which is called the LTD Slayer-2011, will have a limited edition of 250 guitars worldwide and celebrates the 25th anniversary of Reign In Blood‘s release [...]

Today marks an incredible 20 years since the death of Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark.

Def Leppard is sometimes, rather unfairly, known simply as ‘the band with the one-armed drummer’. Back in the late ’70s and for well over a decade, Def Leppard was one of the biggest rock bands in the world, selling albums by the millions and playing sold-out stadium tours across the world. As a part of the NWOBHM* its influence on rock and metal bands since has been immense. A big part of this was down to wildly talented guitarist Steve Clark.

Born in Sheffield, England, in 1960 he played guitar from a young age and joined Def Leppard in 1978. One of my favourite stories about Clark came from his Def Leppard audition: he played Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” in its entirety with no backing. He quickly became a key part of the band’s songwriting process, contributing both lyrics and music, and was known within the band as ‘The Riffmaster’.

Sadly Steve Clark battled addictions to alcohol and drugs for many years. He died of an overdose on January 8, 1991 at only 30 years of age [...]

The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes is Marvel’s latest animated endeavor and it’s their best in many years. Marvel sent us some screen captures from this Sunday’s episode, so check them out here below.

Try to block out the tragedy that was the Saturday morning Avengers cartoon from several years back. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes does a great job of walking the line between kid-friendly action fest and older adult fan storytelling. There’s a great serialized element to the show that is most often used to introduce a new hero or villain.

For fans of the comic books, this show is loosely based on Brian Michael Bendis’ New Avengers series. The show began with the escape of the earth’s most powerful villains and a group of heroes including Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, The Wasp, Ant Man, Hulk, and Black Panther and others assembled to recapture the evil doers. This story is told as if the team didn’t previously exist, so there’s no baggage from Avengers Disassembled for new fans to be concerned with [...]

Many of the stars of director Peter Jackson‘s epic trilogy adaptation of The Lord of the Rings have been expected to return for his adaptation of author J.R.R. Tolkien‘s first classic in the realms of Middle Earth, The Hobbit. And while not all of the actors have been confirmed yet — Ian McKellen and Andy Serkis, specifically — it’s still assumed that everyone is on board. How could they not want to anyway, right?

One name you might never have thought was returning, however, would be that of a one Mr. Elijah Wood, who famously played the lead character of Frodo Baggins, in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Frodo is the “nephew” of Bilbo Baggins (played by Ian Holm first and to be played by Martin Freeman in the new films), who’s the main character of The Hobbit, which is set many years prior when he was but a young lad.

But despite what you may think, it’s being reported that Elijah Wood will indeed be joining the cast of The Hobbit. [...]

The $9 t-shirt deal of the day over at Teefury today is The Dark Knight-inspired “Heath” shirt, by artist Lee Crutchley.

The sale at Teefury began at midnight EST (Saturday, January 8, 2011) and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it’s gone from the site for good.

The design is of Heath Ledger as The Joker from the popular Batman Begins sequel, The Dark Knight. In the face are the words, “Why So Serious?”, The Joker’s famous quote from the film.

The limited-edition t-shirt is available in Men’s and Women’s sizes, both in White color [...]

The Doctor Who musical opening from The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson finally aired on last night’s episode, where host Craig Ferguson interviewed Doctor Who star Alex Kingston.

Watch the video here below of the Ferguson explaining why the musical couldn’t air as schedule last month, along with the musical itself (which is awesome!). Also embedded below is the interview with Kingston, who plays River Song in the Doctor Who television series.

Back in early December, a video leaked online of Craig Ferguson‘s Doctor Who musical cold open, which was supposed to air on the episode of the late night talk show that Matt Smith appeared on [Read Craig Ferguson’s ‘Doctor Who’ Musical Intro Leaks Online]. Because Ferguson’s crew couldn’t get the Doctor Who music cleared in time for the episode, they had to air the show without the musical, much to the dismay of fans [...]

StarWars.com has posted a 5-page preview of the upcoming Dark Horse comic book miniseries Star Wars: Darth Vader and the Lost Command #1, written by Haden Blackman.

Click image here at right to see one of issue’s variant covers, which was done by artist Tsuneo Sanda and is one of twelve 25th anniversary covers.

This 40-page full-color first issue, which centers around Star Wars villain Darth Vader, is available for pre-order now and will be released on January 26, 2011 [...]

Back in November, artist Derek Eads posted the Various Roles of Gary Oldman portraits he created.

The portraits show faceless versions of Gary Oldman in some of his most popular roles, such as Sirus Black (Harry Potter), Sid Vicious (Sid and Nancy), Count Dracula (Dracula), and Jim Gordon (Batman Begins).

If you enjoy the artwork, now it’s available for sale as a print, in your choice of three different sizes [...]

127 Hours
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring James Franco, Kate Mara, Amber Tamblyn, Clémence Poésy
Pathe Distribution
Release date: January 5, 2011 (UK)

Variety is the spice of life. With that in mind, director Danny Boyle decided to follow up his nicey-nicey, award-hogging sparkly dance-fest Slumdog Millionaire with a true story about a trapped canyoneer who is forced to cut off his own hand to save his life. Danny Boyle didn’t spice up his life, he destroyed the recipe.

127 Hours tells the real-life story of Aron Ralston, a prolific climber. Ralston’s story is a famous one: in 2003 he fell while climbing Blue John Canyon in Utah and landed at the bottom of a claustrophobic ridge. He dislodged a boulder which tumbled with him, crushing his right hand against the ridge wall. The boulder was too heavy to move let alone lift, and being a little arrogant he made the disastrous decision not to tell anyone where he was going. He desperately tries everything to escape: pushing and pulling at the rock every which way, chipping away at the rock with his multi tool, rigging a pulley system to try and heave the rock upwards, but nothing works. After six days he was forced to make a decision: stay and die, or cut off his hand and escape. As if that wasn’t hard enough, all he had to do it with was a cheap multi-tool with a small, blunt knife [...]

Disney has released a TRON: Legacy Ear Hat, an all-new limited-edition collectible movie tie-in for their latest film TRON: Legacy.

Check out the image above of the new TRON: Legacy Ear Hat (click for larger view).

The ears on the hat each have a different color identity disc, one represents Sam Flynn, the other CLU — and both ears light up! The Ear Hat is packaged in a collectible hat box, which has the “glow found from The Grid.” [...]

Rock band Foo Fighters has recently put the finishing touches on its latest as-yet-untitled seventh studio album. In the build up to its April release, the band, led by ex-Nirvana man Dave Grohl, is looking for 11 aspiring filmmakers to direct a music video for its next single.

(Please note this is only open to U.S. residents.)

Foo Fighters’ filmmaker fans can upload their showreel to the website thisvideosucks.foofighters.com, from which the winning directors will be selected. Those winners will see their music videos premiered on Fuse.

Foo Fighters have a history of memorable videos such as Monkey Wrench, All My Life and the hilarious Learn To Fly which featured the awesome Tenacious D [...]

Merlin is returning to Syfy tonight at 10/9c for a third season. This series tells the story of young Merlin the Magician and the friendship he builds with the future King Arthur.

We’ve got an early look at season three to get you geared up for the premiere. Watch it here below.

Season 3 begins with Merlin and Arthur back in the city of Camelot fighting against the ruthless tyrant Uther Pendragon. In the heat of battle Morgana finds them with a look of fear on her face. If you’re a fan of the show it appears that Season 3 will kick off action packed!

Check out this clip to see what to expect in tonight’s season premiere! [...]

Marvel has sent us a bevy of exciting preview art from their upcoming Death of Spider-Man event set in the Ultimate Universe.

Marvel wants to make sure everyone understands this is an Ultimate book so there are no rules governing Spidey and what happens to him. Just because writers can do whatever they want doesn’t guarantee good, but it does promise different and that’s a start considering what’s happening in Amazing Spider-Man. The creative team behind this event is solid so there’s reason to give it a shot.

Here’s some preview art from Ultimate Avengers Vs. New Ultimates # by Leinil Yu and Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #153 by Ed McGuinness to wet your whistle! [...]

A brand new trailer for the upcoming alien buddy comedy/road trip movie, Paul, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, has been released by Universal Pictures.

The movie tells the story of two friends from England who take a trip to the United States, which includes a visit to Area 51. Along the way, they find themselves meeting an alien named Paul (voiced by Seth Rogen), who needs their help finding his way back home.

You can click on over to the other side now to read a synopsis and check out the trailer now!

Paul also stars Jason Bateman, Kristen Wiig, Bill Hader, Blythe Danner, John Carroll Lynch, and Sigourney Weaver. It’s directed by Greg Mottola and it will be released on March 18, 2011.

SYNOPSIS
Simon Pegg and Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) reunite for the comedy adventure Paul as two sci-fi geeks whose pilgrimage takes them to America’s UFO heartland. [...]

The county of Suffolk in the UK recently reached out to residents and asked them what and who they thought were local icons of the area. Officials behind the outreach were surprised, and unamused, when the metal band Cradle Of Filth came in as the number 1 voted icon of Suffolk, receiving a total of 13,025 votes… which is “OVER 9,000” more votes than what was received by the icon that came second place: a swimming pool.

Cradle of Filth originated from Suffolk in 1991, playing music that was highly influenced by the Black Metal movement. The band’s sound has since evolved into a mix of different metal styles including Gothic Metal and Symphonic Black Metal, and are known for songs such as “From The Cradle To Enslave” and “Nymphetamine.”

The organization behind the icons poll, Choose Suffolk, have opted to ignore the public votes, and have since provided a list of 20 finalists to the judges — a list that does not contain the band’s name [...]

Not much more needs to be said but “yikes,” really.

A woman named Cathy Ward, age 49, is a superfan of The Twilight Saga franchise. So much so that she used it to motivate herself to lose weight, ultimately dropping 14 dress sizes — no easy task and worthy of much congratulation to her.

But the strange thing is how she chose to reward herself. Ward saved up £2,000 for one specific treat: her first tattoo, a celebration of Twilight that covers her entire back and features three Robert Pattinsons, two Kristen Stewarts, and a Taylor Lautner.

You can see the giant tattoo for yourself by clicking on over now.

Click the image below to see it full-size, and don’t think this is where Mrs. Ward will leave things. No, no — she still has plans to lose more weight, tone up a bit, and save another £2,000 so that she can get yet another of Pattinson’s Edward Cullen character on her stomach. [...]

Back in November, we helped to show off a great trailer and impressive screenshots for a game that’s been catching eyes everywhere: L.A. Noire.

The game comes from Australian developer Team Bondi and publisher Rockstar Games, who are responsible for a couple of titles you may have heard of like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. L.A. Noire takes that same type of open world, hop in a mode of transportation and travel to your destination type of game we all love so much, but adds an insane cinematic tone and gameplay that requires you, a detective, to investigate and solve crimes.

The big selling point, however, has to be the shocking realism that has been achieved with the characters in the game. Incredible detail goes into every face you’ll see or talk to (which plays an important role in the game when you need to read whether someone is lying to you or not), and you’ll want to weep with joy when you see how accurate their animated lips synch up with every word spoken. [...]