Bubba Smith, the 6–foot 7–inch tall former NFL star–turned–actor, was found dead by his caretaker at his Baldwin Hills home in Los Angeles, California Wednesday. He was 66 years old.

The cause of death is not yet known, but is assumed to be of natural causes and nothing suspicious is suspected.

Smith was a the first overall pick in the 1967 NFL draft by the Baltimore Colts, and went on to play nine seasons in the league, also playing for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers, where he finished his career in 1976. He won Super Bowl V with the Colts in 1970, and was an All–Pro and two–time Pro Bowler.

After football, Smith moved on to acting, as so many professional athletes try to do. He became part of pop culture history when he landed the role of Moses Hightower, the gentle (unless provoked) giant member of the Police Academy movies. He would appear as the character in all but one of the series’ seven films, choosing not to return for Police Academy: Mission to Moscow. [...]

Not much has been said of the movie adaptation of Emily the Strange since it was reported that Kick–Ass and Let Me In star Chloe Moretz was attached to play the lead role back in September of 2010.

Now comes word that Universal Pictures has chosen Melisa Wallack to pen the script, which is said to tell the origins story of a troublemaking goth girl named Emily who obtains powers that involve technology and imagination, and her four cats: Sabbath, Nee-Chee, Miles, and Mystery.

Wallack wrote and directed Meet Bill, which starred Aaron Eckhart, and she wrote the script for Relativity Media’s currently untitled Snow White project being directed by Tarsem Singh, which stars Lily Collins, Julia Roberts, Armie Hammer, and Sean Bean. [...]

A little confused as to how this week’s big release, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, fits into the franchise’s overall mythology? Well, IGN has just made that a bit easier.

The site has posted an infographic looking at the various characters that you’ve met (or in the case of Rise, will meet), and how each film relates to one another narratively (check out the infographic here below).

Now, as a fan of the franchise, this is a nice refresher leading into the new film. I haven’t gone through and watched these films in at least five or six years, and don’t quite remember how they all work together. According to this piece, Rise is (and this isn’t all that shocking of an idea) outside of the normal Planet Of The Apes universe, but still features our lead ape, Caesar, and his rise to worldwide domination [...]

Within today’s film landscape, there are many conventions. Be it remakes of recently released foreign films, major tentpole projects based on hit comic books, or darker takes on franchises we already know and love, Hollywood isn’t afraid to ride a trend until it’s bloody and beaten. Horror films are no different.

The current belle of the ball has to be “found footage” films, and while they mostly stick to basic haunted house pictures, it’s almost time that this trend heads to space.

Dimension has released the newest one sheet for their upcoming film Apollo 18, and while buzz surrounding the film hasn’t been great (a cavalcade of release date changes haven’t helped things much), this poster is definitely pretty. It’s not the most inventive of posters, but it does catch the viewer’s eye, which is always important when dealing with a one sheet [...]

While I may not be a huge TV nut, one thing that really gets this writer’s nerd wheels spinning is behind-the-scenes featurettes. Better yet? Ones looking at the special effects of what may be one of the most talked about TV shows around, Game Of Thrones.

A video of the some of the special effects is now online that takes a look at the work done on the show, and it is quite an interesting short bit of footage. Check it out here below. (Note, the video contains key scenes from Season 1 of the show, so if you’re not all caught up, be mindful of that.) [...]

The first images for Borderlands 2, the upcoming sequel to Borderlands, will appear in next month’s issue of Game Informer Magazine. We are going to be treated to 12 pages of exclusive content and screenshots, including how they are going to be changing the mission system to give us a better story. Thank god, because while the first game was fun, the story was absurd to put it lightly.

Borderlands 2 will bring us back to the fictional planet of Pandora. Even though it’s the same planet, there is said to be more diversity in the environments. This is something I thought Borderlands did well. The locations you went to had quite a bit of variety, and I’m excited to see how else they mix things up [...]

After a short break, the TARDISblend is back, as we take a look at the news for Doctor Who and Torchwood that came out of San Diego Comic-Con, and look at the most recent episodes of Torchwood: Miracle Day.

We cover the major news and information revealed to fans at San Diego Comic-Con 2011. From details about upcoming Torchwood episodes, to the big news revelations for Doctor Who, we discuss it all! Additionally we take a look at Matt Smith‘s appearance on the Craig Ferguson Show; and examine what may happen if Toby Jones returned as the Dream Lord.

As Miracle Day continues, the CIA team have captured the remaining members of Torchwood, Captain Jack Harkness (John Barrowman) and Gwen Cooper (Eve Myles). However, the CIA have turned against their own, attempting to wipe out any remnant of Torchwood, and Rex Matheson (Mekhi Pfifer) and Esther Drummond (Alexa Havins) find themselves uniting with the ones they have captured [...]

Each and every week “Mr. Pull Quote” Henchman21 and “The guy that got killed in Batgirl #23” MK2FAC3 read a lot of comics. Seriously you guys, a lot of comics. Maybe too many comics. I mean, it is possible. They look forward to some more than others, I mean, who doesn’t? So, let’s take a look into the depths of their pull lists, grab some comics, and we’ll let YOU know what the top books to look forward to are for the week of August 3, 2011. Single issues and trades, they’re all here.

On this week’s The GoD List, “THE HENCH” and “THE FAC3″ must fight the evil forces of “THE DEBT CEILING” by putting aside their differences and teaming up to put a shot in the arm of the nearly defeated “ECONOMY”! But they need your help, citizens! All you need to do is join them as they travel to their local comic book stores to purchase the likes of the exciting new books listed here below! [...]

The t-shirt deal of the day over at RIPT Apparel today is the Harry Potter-themed shirt called “Behind You” by artist zerobriant.

The shirt went on sale at RIPT today, Wednesday, August 3, 2011, at midnight CST, and will continue for 24 hours from then, and once it’s over, it will not be sold on the site anymore [...]

The cast of Zack Snyder‘s Superman reboot, Man of Steel, is coming together nicely, and now an actor has been chosen to play the big boss man to Clark Kent (Henry Cavill) and Lois Lane (Amy Adams) at The Daily Planet, Perry White.

Entertainment Weekly has learned exclusively that Laurence Fishburne has been cast to play White, who’s typically known as a tough–but–fair editor–in–chief of the newspaper. Fishburne just recently had a two–season run on the hit CBS show, CSI, which he departed from in May.

The actor joins a cast that includes Cavill, Adams, Michael Shannon, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, and Russell Crowe.

Man of Steel will be released on June 14, 2013. [...]

Face front, true believers! Marvel Studios has recently posted a short clip from the new “one-shot” The Consultant, which is to appear exclusively on the upcoming Thor Blu-ray.

I actually really love this idea, and if this experiment is ongoing, I couldn’t be more excited. What Marvel’s clearly doing with this “one-shot” is adding a high quality short film as a bonus feature on Thor that expands the overall Marvel film universe. The clip, which you can watch here below, features previously developed characters Special Agents Caulson and Sitwell discussing a problem concerning General Thunderbolt Ross, who was featured in The Incredible Hulk, and their reluctant solution to the problem, who we learn is “The Consultant.” [...]

What’s the most important question anyone could ask when it comes to Len Wiseman‘s upcoming remake of the 1990 Arnold Schwarzenegger science fiction classic, Total Recall? Well, that would have to be “will the three–boobed prostitute be included or not?” Naturally.

Thankfully for us, the fine folks over at Collider have gotten to the answer of that very question. In a lengthy discussion with Wiseman, much information was given, including but not limited to the exciting proclamation that the three–boobed woman will, in fact, be in the movie. This also comes with a little bad news, however, as it was made very clear that the Total Recall remake will come with a “hard” PG–13 rating. The aforementioned mammary trifecta will still be somehow involved, but it sounds like you’ll have to wait for the unrated DVD cut of the movie to truly see Wiseman’s revival of the most famous of inconsequential characters. [...]

Marvel comics has been teasing for a while that there will be an all-new character taking over the costumed identity of Spider-Man over in the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man and today they have made the official reveal.

The character’s name is Miles Morales, and he is a just your regular teenager from New York who will learn that with great power comes, well, you know the rest. The big surprise that is making waves around the comics community is that the character will, shock upon shock, be half-black, half-Hispanic. The character will make his first appearance in the pages of Ultimate Comics Fallout #4, out in stores on August 3, 2011 and will then go on to star in the new Ultimate Comics Spider-Man #1, which comes out on September 14, 2011.

Check out the preview images from Ultimate Comics Fallout #4 here [...]

The Godfather and Apocalypse Now director Francis Ford Coppola has a new movie on the way titled Twixt. The movie will be hitting the festival circuit soon, including the Toronto International Film Festival which has premiered the first official extended festival trailer for the movie.

Twixt stars Val Kilmer as a novelist named Hall Baltimore whose success was thanks to a series of books about witches, but that success has long since departed. In hopes of trying something new, Baltimore uses the history and inspirations of a haunted town with a dark past involving a mysterious murder to craft his next tale.

The movie looks more like a Terry Gilliam film than Coppola, but it certainly looks intriguing. You can see for yourself by heading below now! [...]

Get ready for the return of The Crow, the fan favorite series originally created by James O’Barr. Coming in 2012, IDW Publishing will publish several series set both in the universe of the original comics, as well as one based on the upcoming feature film. In addition to the new series, IDW will be offering collector’s editions of all the existing Crow comics.

“I edited the last Crow series when I ran Todd McFarlane’s comics in the late ‘90’s, and we’re looking forward to bringing this classic character back to the medium in 2012 at IDW,” said Ted Adams, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, in a statement released by IDW last week [...]

Check out Episode 83 of Comics of Doom, the official comics podcast of Geeks of Doom. In this episode, we review the Jon Favreau-directed Cowboys & Aliens starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford. Click HERE to open the podcast player in a new window or listen through the player here below.

Listen now! [...]

We’ve been waiting for it for a painful amount of time, and now, finally, we have our very first peek at the gameplay of Hitman: Absolution, the fifth title in the mega–hit franchise.

Yes, there was the announcement trailer and that first cinematic trailer, but cinematics only take us so far. What we crave is gameplay footage, and perhaps more than any other, we craved gameplay footage from a new Hitman game. The last installment came out over five years ago, and fans have been desperate for a new title to get their hands on ever since.

You can get your first peek at the gameplay in Hitman: Absolution by clicking on over to the other side. [...]

Check out this clever faux product someone created that will make every Star Wars fan scream “WANT!”

It’s Ben & Jerry’s Boba Fett Carbonite Crunch Ice Cream, a vanilla ice cream with salted caramel swirl and chocolate Han Solo miniatures frozen in carbonite — you can see the frozen chocolate Hans in the background!

Would this not be the fastest-selling ice cream in history? I can see the supermarket display now: a big cardboard Slave I replica that lights up and says,”Eat up! You’re no good to me dead.” Oh, imagine the possibilities! [...]

Amazon is currently offering a $20 credit to be used towards a future video game purchase after you pre-order the standard edition of the video game Gears Of War 3 for Xbox 360.

Also, with the pre-order, you’ll receive the exclusive character skin Savage Kantus. A code for access to the Savage Kantus character skin will be emailed to you within two business days after the product ships.

The game will be released on September 20, 2011 for Xbox 360. There will also be a Limited Edition and an Epic Edition — the pre-order for these do not offer the video game credit, but they do come with the exclusive character skin Savage Kantus, as does the Xbox 360 Gears of War 3 Limited Edition Console Bundle.

There’s a pre-order price guarantee for all editions, so if you pre-order now and the price decreases between your order time and the end of the day of the release date, you’ll receive the lowest price [...]

Plenty of images from the set of Christopher Nolan‘s trilogy–maker, The Dark Knight Rises, have found their way online as the movie films in Pittsburgh, including some recent shots of Tom Hardy as the feared Bane.

Now comes some more shots of filming, this time of some pretty intense battle sequences, as well as our first peek at Marion Cotillard as Miranda Tate (or Talia Al Ghul, as many assume is who’s she’s really playing). The most notable of which is of course the Dark Knight going head–to–head with the aforementioned Bane. But it doesn’t just end with these pictures; some videos from the shoot show that not only are Batman and Bane throwing down, but that there’s a full–on riot going on in the middle of a blizzard. Does this anarchy confirm what fans have been assuming (based on the viral marketing campaign): that the movie involves a catastrophic Arkham Asylum breakout?

Continue on below to see the images and the videos of this insane shoot, and share your thoughts in the comments below! [...]