loonyblog.

The first footage of Halle Berry in her costume from the upcoming Catwoman movie has hit the web. To say that she looks like an idiot is seriously understating things. If you thought the still image was silly, wait until you see this. She looks like some kind of S&M Minnie Mouse.

In that getup she’ll only strike fear in the hearts of costume designers worldwide.

And remember…she’s an Oscar winning actress!

According to The Digital Bits, Peter Jackson has turned in his extended version of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which will be released on DVD in November.

The total running time? 250 minutes.

Bring it on, baby. Bring it on.

As a point of comparison, here are running times for other enormous movies:

• The Godfather: 175 minutes.
• Titanic: 194 minutes.
• Apocalypse Now (Redux version): 202 minutes.
• Seven Samurai (restored version): 206 minutes.
• Ben Hur: 222 minutes.
• Lawrence of Arabia (director’s cut): 228 minutes.
• Gone With the Wind: 238 minutes.

Ain’t it Cool News has been updated with word that Beyoncé Knowles is not going to be playing Lois Lane, despite the recent rumor that suggested otherwise. Apparently director McG wanted her, but nothing was ever actually signed, and they have since moved on. Phew. Hopefully Selma Blair will wind up in the role, as I really do think she could do it justice.

As for Johnny Depp as Lex Luthor, that’s still up in the air.

I’ve made a new addition to the left sidebar over there, as you’ll now see a button (assuming you’re not viewing this in an RSS reader) pointing to the savethehubble.org, and more specifically, their petition to help save the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble is one of the greatest scientific instruments this world has ever seen…letting it die would be a real crime against humanity.

So go sign the petition. It only takes ten seconds to fill out the form (less if your browser can autofill!) and you can at least say you tried. Plus, with NASA reconsidering the current plan to let the Hubble die, every signature helps.

Steve Jobs has balls of freakin’ steel.

Pixar to End Talks with Disney.

Apparently someone at DC Comics has seriously been hitting the crack pipe lately, as this article over at Newsarama pretty much proves. From the company that brought you the Superman vs. Thundercats crossover comes a dark and gritty version of Space Ghost.

Yeah, you read that right.

Here’s the description from writer Joe Kelly:

“It’s really a hardcore, pulp-feel story, with him being betrayed by the police force and taking his revenge. It’s really dark, and it’s going to be a blueprint for them to revamp the character and keep it going.”

Heaven help us all. I might be able to take it a bit more seriously if the character didn’t look like a bastard child of Tom Strong and Captain Sternn, and the writer didn’t assure fans that goofy characters like Jan, Jace, Blip and Zorak (yes, Zorak) will be in it as well. Does the world really need to know what a serious Zorak looks like?

Sigh. What’s next? An evil version of Herculoids? I can picture it now:

When enemies from beyond invade the planet Quazar, it’s up to Zandor and his family of badass supercommandos to take back what’s rightfully theirs. You’ve never seen violence until you’ve seen Gloop, Gleep, Zok and Igoo go on a killing spree.

Hey, that’s not half bad. Anyone from DC out there? I think we’ve got a new Vertigo title here! And just wait until you hear my idea for a sexy, homicidal Bionic Six!

Yikes…sensing that his “movement” has been offputting to mainstream voters, Howard Dean has fired Joe Trippi, the man largely responsible for the grass-roots campaign the propelled Dean to the front early on, and replaced him with Roy Neel, a former chief of staff for Al Gore. All of this can’t be going over well for Dean bloggers. Since I only read one blog by a fervent Dean follower, I can’t say for sure, but Jake certainly ain’t pleased.

So what happened? How will people look back in a year on this campaign? Will the entire movement be forgotten? I certainly hope not. It may have eventually gotten out of hand, but there really was something positive about the Dean movement and I hope it’s not forgotten entirely. At the same time, I doubt we’ll see the kind of “preaching to the choir” that Dean’s followers wound up doing on such a high level ever again.

Just when everyone thought there was some actual good news about the new Superman movie, Ain’t it Cool News reports that the latest casting rumors point to Beyonce Knowles as Lois Lane and Johnny Depp as Lex Luthor.

I’m speechless.

I had some credit at Midtown Comics today, and as I’ve already gone through all the Transmetropolitan books, I figured I’d look around for something new. I flipped through a lot of stuff, including Ellis’ The Authority and Planetary (neither of which looked particularly interesting), those new Swamp Thing collections (I need to figure out which issues I already have first) and some other random stuff, before it occured to me that maybe there’s something interesting in Midtown’s healthy manga section worth picking up.

I’ve read some manga before: I love Akira (have since the original Epic issues, although I was all over the Dark Horse black & white reprints), I’ve read some of Ranma 1/2 and some of Tezuka’s stuff, I’ve got about half of Lone Wolf & Cub and there’s some other miscellaneous stuff I like as well, but all that stuff that’s selling like hotcakes in book stores I’ve never heard of before. I flipped through a lot of different books, and I must say…I have no idea what the appeal of most of this is.

Don’t get me wrong…I’m not opposed to Japanese goofiness. I like some anime, like (again) Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Gundam Wing, Cowboy Bebop and the first season of Big O among others, but most of what I saw didn’t look even remotely interesting. Aside from the dumbass printing of many of these books so they read from right-to-left (I’m sorry, but the argument that mirroring the artwork ruins it is totally lost on me), the subject matter just didn’t look very interesting at all.

I’m not totally against this stuff, mind you, but I think I need a bit of a primer to know what’s out there. Anyone care to help a manga-newbie out? What doesn’t suck?

There’s an article at Salon.com today about Mel Gibson’s much-talked about film The Passion of Christ. Much of it is an interview with Rev. Mark Stanger, who attended a screening of the film for clergymen, but what makes this story unique is that Stanger doesn’t talk much about how it portrays Jews negatively (although he does mention it), but rather concentrates on how the film is a bad example for Christians as a whole.

Stanger’s Episcopalian, which means he’s obviously not going to have the same perspective as a Catholic priest. But it’s definitely worth a read, as he explains why he believes the Gospels should not be taken literally (again, he’s Episcopalian, and has a different perspective on the issue), how Mel Gibson’s reasoning for making the Romans speak Latin sickens him and why the decision to emphasize the pain and suffering of the crucifixion was not necessarily a good one. Here’s an excerpt that pretty much sums it up:

What would be your advice for would-be moviegoers?

I’d say don’t bother. I think it’s a big bore.

I think a 5-year-old who has to get cancer surgery and radiation and chemotherapy suffers more than Jesus suffered; I think that a kid in the Gaza Strip who steps on a land mine and loses two limbs suffers more; I think a battered wife with no resources suffers more; I think people without medical care dying of AIDS in Africa suffer more than Jesus did that day. I mean, I don’t want to take away from that, but this preoccupation with the intensity of the suffering, I think, has no theological or spiritual value.