Heath Ledger, star of Brokeback Mountain and the forthcoming The Dark Knight has died.

According to the New York City Police Department, Heath Ledger was found dead from a drug overdose in his apartment in downtown Manhattan. Foul play is not suspected. Not much information is currently available, CNN is following the story.

Much has been said of the decision to cast Ledger as the Joker and recent clips and photos have had fans of Batman overwhelmingly excited. As this will likely be his final finished screen performance, I hope the role does the character and actor justice.

We’re also going through this on our forum, join the ongoing discussion here.

Joshua Middleton gives us a look at his cover for JLA Classified 52 at several different stages of its development. From concept sketch to final coloring, Josh has explained the process behind the art in brief detail (is that an oxymoron?). You can see the article on his blog here.

I have posted things from Josh’s blog in the past. He is among my favorite artists and its nice to see him give background on stuff like this. You can check out his site here.

Well, I for one thought that the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy was enough of a sendoff for a great collection of movies, but it seems Johnny Depp and Geoffery Rush disagree. According to Cinema Blend, both have signed on for a 4th Pirates movie, which had only been rumors up until this point.

Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom have, as expected, denied signing on for another Pirates movie. The new movie would be focusing on Jack Sparrow and his past anyway, so I suppose that’s all well and good regardless. The plot rumors also state that the adventures of Cap’n Jack will steer towards a more sci-fi/fantasy theme, in the same vein that the other movies only had a light dusting of. Could this reflect what the ending of the 3rd movie hinted to? That of course, remains to be seen.

 

July 10, 1917 – June 12, 2007

I wanted to post this because, in the same way that our comic book superheroes and the characters from mainstream media inspire us to strive toward a goal, Mr. Wizard inspired countless people with his television shows in the 50’s and the 80’s.

Below are a few snippets from the write-up at MAKE.

Donald Jeffrey Herbert “Mr. Wizard” (July 10, 1917 – June 12, 2007) brought science and fun to millions in the 50s, then again in the 80’s.

Watch Mr. Wizard (1951) had 547 live episodes. The show won a Peabody Award. Mr. Wizard’s World (1983 -1990) was the longest running show on Nickelodeon. In 1955 there were about 5,000 Mr. Wizard Science Clubs nationwide with more than 100,000 members.

You can see more at Mr. Wizards Studios and there are plenty of clips on YouTube from shows.

I’m a big fan of Johua Middleton‘s art. Especially his cover art. In his blog, Josh has noted that he posted a youTube video showing the creation process of a comic cover he worked on from the pencils to the final rendering. This cover is from the DC series Outsiders with the story focusing on Aquaman and Metamorpho. Its interesting to note that he mentions being told that the new Aquaman is actually a teen, so when he showed the editorial staff the final version of the picture, they wanted him to make him look older, which is certainly a challenge for an already finished piece of art. Check out the blog entry for the full background, but here is the video:

Josh has posted a few other very similar and very cool videos on youTube of him sketching. You check his youTube account here.

Ok, when a person mentions the name Alice Cooper to you, what does your mind usually fill with? Monster rock, thrash, and Satanic concerts probably involving virgin sacrifice, right? Or at least something close to that.

But not….golf.

Seems Mr. Cooper has traded up his self proclaimed alcohol addiction for a new addiction, involving a 18-hole green and thwacking little white balls, after battling with alcoholism since the later 70’s and 80’s decades. Not only that, but he’s also written a book on his experiences, “Alice Cooper, Golf Monster”, which explains his apperent epiphany and change of outlook.

“Golf ended up being a good trade-off,” he says. “The thing about this book, is that when I look at the whole juxtaposition of who Alice Cooper is, the golf addiction and the music addiction, still, it’s pretty interesting how they can co-exist.”

More can be read at Billboard.com.

This very well could be a sign of the coming apocalypse, people. Alice Cooper + Golf = Fire and Brimstone raining down. It’s the only logical explination.

On this past Saturday, April 28th, James “Scotty” Doohan’s cremated remains were blasted into suborbital space aboard a rocket launched from the New Mexico desert, along with Apollo 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper, and the remains of several other people who weren’t nearly as important. Doohan actually died back in July of 2005, and follows in the post-mortem footsteps of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, whose remains were also shot into space in 1997.

And so, Scotty has been beamed up for the very last time in this grand finale. More can be read here.

All I can say is, “Damn, that’s how I want to go”. Just, not with 200 other people crammed in there with me.

As many of you have probably read already, as of this past Thursday, Mr. Ken Kutaragi has stepped down and retired from his position as chief executive officer and chairperson of Sony Computer Entertainment. Kutaragi will still have a role as an Honorary Chairman, but for all intents and purposes, will no longer be working directly with Sony.

As a little recap, Kutaragi was the inventor of the original Playstation gaming console, and has been dubbed the “Father of the Playstation”, and it’s subsequent sequel systems. With this act, the Playstation franchise became the the most profitable division of Sony. However, Kutaragi will end up passing the torch at the next Sony shareholders meeting on June 19, 2007, where it is said he will then venture off to work on his own projects.

““It has been an exciting experience to change the world of computer entertainment by marrying cutting edge technologies with creative minds from all over the world. I’m looking forward to building on this vision in my next endeavors.”

Additional news and press release information can be found here.

Of course, rumors of conspiracy are abound and in full swing. With Sony having to deal with $2 Billion in losses related to their gaming division over the past year, and the underwhelming failure of Playstation 3 sales, this will do anything but give the company new momentum and direction. Kutaragi admitted himself that the shortage of Playstation 3 consoles sent to North America and Japan retailers, as well as the postponement of the console’s release, led to Sony’s declining strength in software. Sacrificial lamb? Who knows. All that is known now is that Sony is losing a brilliant mind and the original driving force behind the Playstation franchise. What this means for the company’s future will remain to be seen, though it seems like it very well could be just another nail in the coffin for their reputation.