Jul 27
Comic-Con 2011: Top 10 Costumes
This past weekend, July 21st-24th, Comic-Con International held its annual four-day event in San Diego, California. Over the years this event has become more and more known for thousands of people showing up dressed up in various costumes (or cosplay) that resemble their favorite characters. These costumes range from simple purchased outfits to ones that required countless hours to make, to sexy outfits that leave many Comic-Con attendees doing a double take.
Instead of displaying hundreds of pictures I’ve gone through many sources and have picked out the 10 best costumes from this summer’s Comic-Con. Many of these pictures come from a massive thousand picture gallery at ComicVine, which is awesome, by the way. Check out the Comic-Con pictures below. Click on each picture to view the full size version.
#10 – Anya Stroud from Gears of War 3
#9 – Doctor Doom
#8 – Solid Snake from Metal Gear Solid
#7 – Blondie and Babydoll from Sucker Punch
#6 – Portal Aperture Science Girl
#5 – Ash Ketchum from Pokémon
#4 – Mileena from Mortal Kombat
#3 – Iron Man and Black Widow
#2 – Knightingail Assassin Eloa
#1 – Kairi and Sora from Kingdom Hearts
Jul 26
Comic-Con 2011: Cosplay Gallery
This past weekend, July 21st-24th, Comic-Con International held its annual four-day event in San Diego, California. Comic-Con is one of the main sources for artists to showcase their comic books, science fiction or fantasy films/shows, or any other related element in pop culture. Over the years this event has become more and more known for thousands of people showing up dressed up in various costumes (or cosplay) that resemble their favorite characters. These costumes range from simple purchased outfits to ones that required countless hours to make, to sexy outfits that leave many Comic-Con attendees doing a double take.
Pictures taken from Comic-Con can be found amongst a large number of web sites. However instead of displaying hundreds of them I’ve gone through many sources and have grouped together some of the best from this summer’s Comic-Con. Many of these pictures come from a massive thousand picture gallery at ComicVine, which is awesome, by the way.
Check out the Comic-Con pictures below. Click on each picture to view the full size version. The full gallery is at the bottom of the post.
Comic-Con 2011 Full Cosplay Gallery
Click each thumbnail in the gallery to view the full size version of the picture.
May 18
TV Show Cancellations for 2011
Last week was quite an active week for those in the television business. Most of the activity dealt with network executives dishing out bad news to those trying to make it big on television. If you were involved with a show in 2011, the news you most likely heard was: “your show has been cancelled.”
Since so many shows were axed, I’ll recap a few of the notable ones, but first I’ll just list out most of the shows that were cancelled in the 2010-2011 season. A fair amount of these shows probably deserved it and expected cancellations, but there were a few surprises.
Cancelled Shows (by Network):
ABC
Brothers & Sisters
Detroit 1-8-7
Mr. Sunshine
No Ordinary Family
Off the Map
V
CBS
Criminal Minds: Suspect Behavior
The Defenders
Mad Love
Medium
$#*! My Dad Says
FOX
Breaking In
The Chicago Code
Human Target
Lie to Me
Lone Star
Running Wilde
NBC
The Cape
Chase
The Event
Friday Night Lights
Law & Order: LA
Outsourced
Perfect Couples
So there it is. Some of the not-so-shocking shows on this list are NBC’s Law & Order: LA along with Chase, and Fox’s Breaking In. Also ABC’s No Ordinary Family was cancelled, despite a growing vocal audience. When I made a post previewing this TV season (2010 Fall TV Show Preview), I thought both Chase and No Ordinary Family weren’t going to make it, and both ended up being cancelled.
I didn’t have a chance to catch some of these shows this season, but I will definitely miss a few of them. My favorite show out of this year’s cancellations was NBC’s Outsourced. The show was based in a call center in India, where a lone American manages the call center for an outsourced American novelties company. He often must explain American popular culture to his employees as he tries to understand Indian culture. I thought this was a very good opposing show to The Office, which is also on NBC. It featured a well built and comical cast, while showing off many of the differences between American and Indian culture.
Two of the more surprising cancels to me were FOX’s Human Target and ABC’s V. Both of these shows had made it past their first seasons, and had a respectable following. The Show “V” had a very sci-fi heavy cast to support its theme; Morena Baccarin, Elizabeth Mitchell, and Alan Tudyk, just to mention a few. These decisions probably came down to high budget costs and not reaching audience count expectations. Another show I thought would do well was NBC’s The Event. This show had a lot of promise out of the gate, with high action scenes and cliff-hangers. However the show lost a definitive direction, and along with that, viewers.
After all is said and done, this is still business and not entirely up to the fans. A show still has to fit the network’s budget and plans for the next season, however a large audience does indeed help. Was your favorite show cancelled?
Mar 24
Futurama Renewed for Two More Years!
Good news, everyone!
Everybody’s favorite canceled animated show has been extended for another season. Comedy Central’s Futurama has been renewed for two more years, in which 26 episodes of futuristic goodness will air.
For anyone who is blissfully unaware, Futurama initially was aired on Fox in 1999, and was cancelled in 2003. Comedy Central revived the show in 2008, and much rejoicing was had. The show follows the life of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Fry. After accidentally being cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, Fry finds employment at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company in the 31st century.
This recent announcement by Comedy Central calls for two cycles of 13 episodes — which doesn’t include the upcoming batch that launches this June — so that keeps Futurama on the air through 2013. This show’s renewal will put Futurama into its 7th season. The first 13 episodes of the season will air in the summer of 2012, with the last 13 airing in the summer of 2013. The last season averaged 2.5 million viewers per week, and the show isn’t showing any signs of letting up.
Dec 16
The Good Guys Cancelled by Fox
A disappointing yet not entirely surprising order has come down from Fox Television Studios executives: The Good Guys will not return for a second season. Dan Stark and Jack Bailey have turned in their guns and badges and are no longer Dallas Police officers. This means that Bradley Whitford can go ahead and shave off that crime-fighting ‘stache now. Fox confirmed that the show won’t return, but would not comment further.
The Good Guys was an action-comedy series about an old-school cop and a modern-day detective that premiered May 19, 2010 on Fox. The series stars Bradley Whitford as Dan Stark, a former big-shot detective with the Dallas Police Department who has a signature mustache, and Colin Hanks as Jack Bailey, a young, ambitious, by-the-book detective. Bailey is partnered up with Stark in the show to keep Stark’s out of control attitude in check. The Good Guys threw a light-hearted comedic twist onto the everyday cops and robbers show. Bailey and Stark would often be tasked with petty cases due to constantly being on the bad side of the police chief. As episodes would progress, the detectives would delve deeper into their cases to reveal much more prominent criminal activities.
The lead female role of the show was Liz Traynor (Jenny Wade), an assistant district attorney and former girlfriend of Jack. Many of the show’s episodes involve back and forth romantic situations between Liz and Jack, with the two of them getting back together near the season’s end. Jenny Wade was a fitting choice for the role of a beautiful blonde woman with a tough attitude from Texas, and this was often showcased by having her wear very sexy (work appropriate) dresses.
A secondary female character, Samantha Evans (Angela Sarafyan), was added into the show about halfway through the season. Samantha plays an offbeat and socially awkward assistant crime scene investigator. Though assigned to lab work, Samantha would prefer field work and jumps at any chance to help Jack and Dan with their cases, often without them asking for her assistance and doing some things illegally. If a role ever opens up on The Big Bang Theory, Angela would more than likely be a good choice.
Fans who knew about and watched The Good Guys highly praised the show, but very low overall ratings eventually led to the show’s dismissal. The fact that the show aired Friday nights at 8 pm, the ratings wasteland, was not much of a help. I think that this show was one that normal network viewers wouldn’t fully understand due to its non-traditional off-the-wall style. It may have been much more successful on a cable network, where viewers are more prone to trying out new shows.
