Shaun Toub has been previously announced as a cast member of the upcoming Iron Man movie, but news sites are now saying that he’s been cast specifically as Mandarin, Iron Man’s enemy in this movie (much like in the recent animated feature). For those of you who don’t know, Mandarin’s super-powers involve being Chinese and wearing rings that shoot crazy beams (ranging from “ice blast” to “matter rearranger” – I’m betting they don’t keep “matter rearranger” one for the movie). Personally, I’m just surprised James Hong wasn’t cast for the role. I thought it was his job to play every Asian character in every American film.

Cure for cancer, cure for AIDS, make a gamer want to not play PS3 for days.

Distributed computing has been done for years on PC. Sci-Fi nerds spare cycles and bandwidth to help the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence for example.

Now with the super powerful Cell processor combined with a current lack of compelling software, Stanford University’s chemistry department has released a version of their Folding@home software on Playstation 3. Basically you can turn it on, and let it run while you’re not playing games and Stanford will use your game machine’s horsepower to run simulations of protein folding. Understanding the hows and whys is beyond me, but the research is currently being used to explore cures for various ailments, including some cancers and Alzheimers.

So go ahead and download it on PS3, you’ll find it on your XrossMediaBar under the network icon. Or if you like the idea you can toss it on your PC, Mac, or Linux box.

Today is the 12th Anual Kris Kross Day and to celebrate I would like share this music video I made of myself performing “Jump” by the legendary Kris Kross.

It is my hope that this video inspires nations across the globe to dress backwards and come together in peace on this memorable day.

For more information about this special holiday please visit the official website.

SectorSeven.org, the viral marketing website based on the secret government organization in the 2007 Transformers movie has been updated with a startling confirmation of a cast member. Use password “NBETWO” to gain access to the site, and you’ll find the following email…

Operation Hungry Dragon 2 continues. As of today agent H. Weaving has officially convinced S.S., M.B., R.O. and A.K. to oversee the Megaman issue. The recording will commence immediately.

All the years of investment into Agent Weavings public persona have finally paid off. We will monitor the campaign from the inside and report on its progress free from suspicion.

By this summer, the population will think N.B.E.’s are nothing more then figments of an overactive imagination.

Our power lies in our secrecy.

Just to translate some of the jargon… “NBE” means Non-Biological Organism and “Megaman” has been the code word used for anything referring to Megatron. As for the Initials, you’re looking at producer Steven Spielberg, Director Michael Bay, and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. H. Weaving is none other than Hugo Weaving, seen prominently as Agent Smith in the Matrix series and Elrond in Lord Of The Rings.

IESB reported in January that it was a neck-and-neck race between Weaving and original Transformers series Megatron Frank Welker. Now it appears that the choice has been made and voice recording will commence immediately.

Michael Bay has also updated his website with a letter. Some strong language follows after the cut… [Read the rest of this entry…]

The new, “FINAL Spider-Man Trailer” launched today, and while Comcast is doing a craptastic job of making you sort through their frustrating flash-designed sites – like mice hunting through the maze for our piece of cheese – we here at Powet are providing you direct links to the real movie files, not to those fake “.qtl” redirect files. So get downloading and enjoy yourself some HD Spider-Man 3 trailers!

Final Spider-Man 3 Trailer – 480p (actually 118 MB, not 91)
Final Spider-Man 3 Trailer – 720p (actually 145 MB, not 113)

Also, though it seems largely unavailable online anywhere, there’s a specific Spider-Man 3 trailer only playing before showings of 300 in certain locations… but not all of them, for some reason. Fortunately, the fine folks at DailyMotion.com managed to get a bootlegged version for the world to see. Yes, it’s shaky, and yes, it’s dark – it’s a bootleg, remember? If Sony would just release it online, there wouldn’t even be this headache for us to find it, now would there. Here’s the video itself:

All week long, the Spider-Man 3 Minimate waves have slowly been revelead, via Art Asylum, Raving Toy Maniac, Minimate Multiverse, and Wizard. Each unveiled images from the line, which (coupled with the two Spidey Minimates from Wizard World LA) added up to the entire 17th and 18th wave… Except for the listed Battle-Damage Spider-Man, which is strangely missing from the images released. Here’s a list of all the characters included:

Marvel Minimates Series 17 – Red Spider-Man/New Goblin, Black-Suited Spider-Man/Flint Marko, Peter Parker/Eddie Brock, & a limited Transformation Venom

Marvel Minimates Series 18 – Transformation Spider-Man/Venom, Battle Damage Spider-Man/Sandman, Unmasked Black-Suited Spider-Man/Gwen Stacy, & a limited Mary Jane

And here’s the images!

Bruce Timm is responsible directly for some of the best animated series I’ve ever seen. Batman: The Animated Series and Justice League are constantly called by any fan of comics the most faithful and respectful translations of the characters from the page to the screen.

Bruce is still animating DC Comics characters, but this time for direct-to-DVD movies. Newsarama has a 2 part interview up, the first goes over his history, but the second gets to the new stuff, specifically some lingering questions about the animated adaptation of the Death and Return of Superman comic. The film will only run 75 minutes, cutting out all the fat of the 30+ issues of the original story and just sticking to the basics.

No League. No Supergirl. Not even any blood, since they’re aiming for a PG 13 rating. Still, he seems pretty confident they can deliver a good version of the comic original.

Beyond Doomsday, he’s directing an adaptation of New Frontier and Teen Titans: Judas Contract.

With Doctor Who’s 3rd season just around the corner producer Russell T. Davies has already mentioned that Doctor Who is set to have a 4th season. No specifics of whether or not David Tenant will be returning as the Doctor or if Freema Agyeman will be reprising her role as his assistant Martha have been mentioned at this time.

Series 3 of Doctor Who premieres next Saturday, March 31st, in the UK and later this year in the US and Canada. Stay tuned to Powet.tv as we follow this season’s development as well as all things Doctor Who.

Doctor Who seasons 1 and 2 have both premiered on TVs in the west and are available on DVD: