Fans of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire have reason to celebrate today, as an official release date has finally been set for the fifth book in the saga, A Dance with Dragons.

According to EW, July 12, 2011 will see the release of the next book in the series, whose last book, A Feast for Crows, was released more than 5 years ago. The new book is reported to be almost 900 pages in hardcover, and will focus on characters from the series who were mostly absent in the previous book. The timing for the release of the new book will be perfect (assuming Martin is finished in time) as it will be coming out just after the HBO adaptation of A Game of Thrones, the first book in the series, wraps up.

The Song of Ice and Fire started in 1996 with the release of A Game of Thrones. The series revolves around the Stark family, and their roles in political intrigue and war in a fantasy land under threat of human and supernatural forces [...]

After the Goodnight Dune illustrated children’s book made the rounds yesterday, Meredith over at Coilhouse decided to unearth a found treasure from her collection: the Dune Activity Book series, which were released in 1984 as tie-ins to the David Lynch film Dune.

These movie tie-in activity books were filled with pages for coloring, puzzles, games, cut-outs, mazes, and more to keep children, occupied for hours. Unfortunately, a lot of the content was totally inappropriate for children! [...]

Lionsgate has released a motion poster for the new 3D reboot of Conan The Barbarian, with imagery inspired by the classic Conan artwork by the late Frank Frazetta.

IGN debuted the poster earlier today, and you can see it embedded here below, courtesy of the official movie site.

It’s a great motion poster, but beware, the audio is defaulted to “on” so if you need to turn the sound off, click the AUDIO: OFF button at the bottom right corner of the poster [...]

In the recently released trailer for Marvel’s upcoming superhero movie, Captain America: The First Avenger, there was a brief tease of the evil Red Skull, being played by The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings star Hugo Weaving.

Now Entertainment Weekly has a much better look at the villain for those of you dying to see just how he looks. Red Skull is an incredibly dangerous threat and ultimate nemesis to Captain America (Chris Evans), a Nazi trained by none other than Hitler himself. He’s one of the all-time best villains of comic book lore, and could go down as an all-time great movie villain if done right.

You can see this great look at Hugo Weaving as Red Skull in Captain America: The First Avenger by clicking on over to the other side right now! [...]

A strange new movie has arrived, and its ridiculous and unique premise is making a lot of movie fans very happy.

The movie is called Rubber, and it tells the story of a tire named Robert who randomly comes to life and discovers that he has telepathic powers! The wacky flick is directed by Quentin Dupieux and is set to hit theaters on April 1st, but can already be seen by most on VOD, iTunes, Xbox Marketplace, Playstation Network, VUDU, and Amazon.

A new poster for the movie has been released, and it comes from famed poster artist Boris Vallejo. His previous works include posters for classics like The Empire Strikes Back, National Lampoon’s Vacation, and Barbarella.

You can see this poster, along with a full synopsis and the trailer for Rubber by clicking on over to the other side now! [...]

Just a friendly tip from one geek to another—SteelSeries is running a 10th Anniversary giveaway for computer gamers the likes of which I do not think I have ever seen.

Anyone in the know is aware that SteelSeries is pretty much the grandfather of PC gaming accessories, and like all good grandparents they’re showering us geeks with gifts aplenty.

If you go to their site and bear through a super quick sign-up process where you are asked to select your favorite SteelSeries mouse, keyboard, headset, mouse pad and even a pair of gamer glasses (which are suppose to help reduce eye strain from the long hours of staring at your monitor), you’ll be entered into their big ‘Decade’ giveaway. [...]

See the image above? How would you like a chance to win that t-shirt? Well, now you can, as Geeks of Doom is teaming up with Gryphony for a Twitter contest where we’ll be giving 2 lucky winners one of this shirt!

To enter for a chance to win, retweet the following text on Twitter:

Win a free tee from @Gryphony & @geeksofdoom. Follow @Gryphony & RT. 2 winners chosen randomly http://su.pr/1xGLcS #giveaway

See full contest rules and deadline here below, along with details about the shirt [...]

Another actor has been added to the cast of 300 and Watchmen director Zack Snyder‘s upcoming comic book movie, currently known simply as Superman.

In a press release sent out Wednesday, it was announced that Diane Lane, who received an Academy Award nomination for her work in Unfaithful and has starred in movies like The Perfect Storm and Untraceable, had been cast in the movie.

Lane will be playing the role of Martha Kent, who acts as mother to the young boy who eventually becomes Clark Kent and of course, the Man of Steel himself, Superman.

Speaking on the announcement, Snyder said “This was a very important piece of casting for me because Martha Kent is the woman whose values helped shape the man we know as Superman. We are thrilled to have Diane in the role because she can convey the wisdom and the wonder of a woman whose son has powers beyond her imagination.” [...]

Metallica
Master Of Puppets
UK
U.S.: CD | MP3
Recorded September – December 1985
Released March 3, 1986

Metallica pierced the ears of metalheads in with their 1983 debut album Kill ‘Em All; a shocking statement of intent with its aggressive, fast onslaught of sonic terror. They hurdled the ‘difficult second album’ phase with ease on the mighty Ride The Lightning, signaling a grander scope of songwriting. These were good albums, full of promising talent that metal listeners hoped would turn into greatness.

When it comes to bands, every so often everything falls perfectly into place. The best of them experience this perfect moment maybe once in their career. That one album where every song is perfectly written, each vocal perfectly pitched with lyrics encompassing and evoking an issue or time. Master Of Puppets was Metallica’s moment.

Released on March 3, 1986, Master of Puppets has never been a ‘grower’ demanding repeated listens nor has it ever been considered a misunderstood work of genius. It is an immediate album. Right from its release it was considered a great metal album and in the proceeding 25 years since its release its reputation has only grown. The songs still hold up as iconic metal tracks, with the title song still being one of the defining anthems of the genre [...]

A press release has been sent out by Alcon Entertainment, a company based within Warner Brothers, stating that they’ve entered into final negotiations to acquire the rights to make both prequels and sequels to the 1982 Ridley Scott science fiction classic, Blade Runner.

Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove, co-founders and Chief Executive Officers at Alcon, are set to take on not only the film rights, but also television and ancillary rights as well. It’s unclear what exactly they plan to do with the rights at first, but it would appear that at least one Blade Runner sequel/prequel is in our future.

As part of the deal, it’s also noted that this will allow Alcon to do what they will with the Blade Runner name and anything presented in the original film, but it EXCLUDES them from being able to actually remake the ’82 film.

Johnson and Kosove had this to say about the deal: [...]

Disney Parks Blog has posted an non-captioned exclusive photo with the headline “Getting Ready For Something Wild,” asking its readers to guess who’s the woman in the photo and what she is doing.

The photo looks like it’s Olivia Wilde, star of TV’s House and Disney’s Tron: Legacy and the headline of the post hints to it being her. In the photo, she’s wearing the headdress of the Evil Queen, the popular Disney villain from Snow White, and having make-up applied.

All will be revealed at some point tomorrow, but in the meantime, why is Wilde being made up to be the Evil Queen? [...]

Late last year Caldwell Tanner posted illustrated covers for five sci-fi children’s books, one of which was called Goodnight Dune, based on Frank Herbert’s Dune.

Now, artist Julia Yu, inspired by Tanner’s Dune cover, decided to illustrate an entire book for Goodnight Dune and you can read it online for free right now at Goodnight Dune.

Yu based her illustrations on the children’s book Goodnight Moon and included elements from David Lynch’s film Dune [...]

Deadline is reporting that The Walt Disney Company isn’t done with Tom Hanks and Tim Allen quite yet. The company is reportedly seeking to re-team the two actors, who voiced Woody and Buzz Lightyear in all three Toy Story movies, in a live-action project called Jungle Cruise.

The movie will be based on the theme park ride of the same name found at Disney’s Magic Kingdom. The ride sees park-goers jumping on a riverboat and navigating many rivers as animatronic animals pass by.

The script is being written by Roger S.H. Schulman, who was a writer on Shrek and has penned many of Disney’s sequels like Mulan II, The Jungle Book 2, and Bambi II.

This wouldn’t be the first time Disney took a popular ride and turned it into a movie; if you’ll recall, a little movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl turned into one of the biggest multi-billion dollar movie franchises of all-time. The company has been trying to make this one for a while now as well, and if they can grab Hanks and Allen that process should become much easier. [...]

Apple announced details of the latest version of its popular tablet computing gadget, the iPad 2, at a special press event hosted by CEO Steve Jobs (much to the surprise of the crowd).

Notable upgrades include a new A5 chip, faster CPU, both front and rear cameras, a gyroscope, 33 percent thinner design (8.8 mm), support for both CDMA and GSM cellular networks (AT&T and Verizon), and it comes in white or black. The iPad 2′s battery life remains at 10-hours as well as their pricing structure that begins at $499 for wi-fi only.

Additionally, Apple debuted support for two new accessories, including HDMI Mirrored Video Output via a dock cable, which offers up to 1080p to computer monitors and HD televisions, and a new smart cover that acts as a protective screen/microfiber cleaner when on the iPad and props up the device when taken off [...]

The TV deal of the week over at Amazon this week is Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Complete Series DVD box set for only $69.99 (that’s 65% off the list price of $199.98).

Note, this deal is valid through Saturday, March 5, 2011 while supplies last.

Math time: at $69.99, you’d be paying only $10 per season! That’s a steal, considering the box set is worth getting even at the original price.

This DVD box set contains all 7 seasons of the popular Joss Whedon television series which starred Sarah Michelle Gellar as the titular vampire slayer along with Alyson Hannigan, Anthony Stewart Head, and Nicholas Brendon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, which ran from 1997 to 2003, also co-starred Eliza Dushku, Seth Green, James Marsters, and many more, as well as introduced the character of Angel (David Boreanaz), who eventually got his own spin-off show [...]

One of the great things about being able to write about entertainment news is that every once in a while studios will send out unique promotional items to help get the word out about an upcoming movie, TV series, video game, and so on.

In my time writing I’ve seen a lot of different sites get sent some very cool things — things you can’t get or buy anywhere on this planet — including our own Empress Eve, who received this amazing Coraline handmade box. I’ve personally never received my own special Doom Delivery but have always badly wanted one, so you can imagine my delight when an unexpected package arrived at my front door recently!

Eagerly opening the package, I found myself looking at a strange, old-looking box accompanied by a letter. The letter was from HBO, and it explained that in preparation for their upcoming series, Game of Thrones, they had put together a unique package promising an exciting “sensory journey.”

Click over to read more about this special delivery and to see many images below! [...]

At some time today, Mondo, the Alamo Drafthouse’s collectible art boutique, will be offering up a new limited edition Star Trek print, based on “The City On The Edge Of Forever,” a popular episode from the original 1960s television series.

This new print, by artist Dan McCarthy, goes on sale today (Wednesday, March 2, 2011) and is guaranteed to sell out immediately. Follow @MondoNews on Twitter for the “on-sale now” announcement and prepare to buy quick.

The prints is 12″x 24″ and will have a limited edition of 325. The price is $40 [...]

The Blu-ray deal of the week over at Amazon this week is The Hannibal Lecter Collection DVD box set for only $26.99 (that’s 61% off the list price of $69.99).

Note, this deal is valid through Saturday, March 5, 2011 while supplies last.

The Blu-ray box set contains all three films in the Hannibal Lecter series: Manhunter, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal, the latter two of which starred Anthony Hopkins as the title serial killer [...]

Paul
Directed by Greg Mottola
Starring Simon Pegg (Graeme Willy), Nick Frost (Clive Gollings), Seth Rogen (Paul – Voice), Kristen Wiig (Ruth Buggs), Jason Bateman (Agent Zoil), Jane Lynch (Pat Stevenson), Bill Hader (Haggard)
UK release February 14, 2011
U.S. release March 18, 2011

PROBING INVESTIGATION

When considering writing a review for you, my American/worldwide cohorts, for the UK release of Paul, a whole month in advance of the U.S. screening, I had a problem. Every other bloody magazine/media has reviewed it… (and with reference to the current Empire mag, who I won’t plagiarize but I will say this: RESEARCH! Their article on Captain America was not as informed as my article. I was there man, you don’t know, I got the pictures man, 5 months before!!)

…and stole the best/cheesiest headlines: ‘Alien Nation’, ‘E.T. Rider’, and ‘Close Encounters of the NERD Kind’.

Bastards. I spent long arduous seconds creating ‘From OuterSpaced’, but that’s the kind of genius I am. I’m also an insider. Not a crew member of said film, no, I’m that type of Geek that knows enough about UFOs to be an expert. But that’s my bias, especially during the 1990s when you couldn’t avoid the stuff. And so in the course of this article, I scraped together the remnants of my vast DVD collection, including Spaced (see what I did there!?) Shaun of the Dead/Hot Fuzz boxset (£5 – Bargain) and purchased the Simon Pegg autobiography Nerd Do Well to look for clues that would lead to Paul [...]

For our February Doom Of The Month, we doom the first volume of American Vampire by Scott Snyder, Stephen King and Rafael Albuquereque.

This episode is brought to you by Instocktrades.com and DCBservice.com. Check them out for some great deals on the American Vampire and much more!

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