B-Fest 2007 Poster Art

Mitch O’Connell supplies another amazing B-Fest poster!

There are only 57 days remaining until B-Fest.

Nintendo: first place, not third

When measured in terms of profitability, Nintendo is actually the most successful player in the video game market. Dig this New Yorker article about Nintendo’s happy existence in “third place.”

The Wii has few bells and whistles and much less processing power than its “competitors,” and it features less impressive graphics. It’s really well suited for just one thing: playing games. But this turns out to be an asset. The Wii’s simplicity means that Nintendo can make money selling consoles, while Sony is reportedly losing more than two hundred and forty dollars on each PlayStation 3 it sells—even though they are selling for almost six hundred dollars.

[via Daring Fireball]

Ultraman Mebius and Ultraman Brothers

Godzilla may be languishing in retirement, but the Ultraman franchise is still alive and kicking. And punching. And wrestling. And finally using that fancy beam weapon to destroy the monster. Why didn’t he just do that in the first place?

The latest Ultraman TV series, Ultraman Mebius, is just as laughable as they’ve always been. Perhaps more so. However, the resulting movie features a whole gaggle of Ultramen as Mebius teams up with the Ultraman Brothers to put the hurt on some monsters.

Sci-Fi Japan does their usual kick-ass job of covering the latest film, which is due out on DVD in Japan in January. Before you fire up that multi-region player, however, you should know that there won’t be English subtitles on that disc. Looks like they’re going to make us suffer until a decent fan-sub comes out, and then maybe there will be a domestic release after a year or so. Maybe. It’s hard being a fan of the giant monsters sometimes.

You laugh at cats now.

Those wacky cats – always yukking it up for the camera.

Andy Ihnatko reviews the Zune

“The Zune is a complete, humiliating failure.”

Ouch.

Jackson’s “The Hobbit” on again when rights revert?

As I am possibly the last person to report, last week’s news that Peter Jackson wouldn’t be directing The Hobbit may only be good so long as the rights remain with New Line. Saul Zaentz, who essentially owns the rights to the Tolkien estate, went on the record to say that when the rights to the film revert to his company, he’ll be on the phone to Jackson first thing.

So all those proponents of a live-action companion film to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy may get your wish. Let’s hope Sir Ian is alive and kicking at that point to play Gandalf. And also Sir Ian, since he did play Bilbo in the trilogy. Though perhaps a younger actor might be better suited to the role by that point . . . ?

Another great b-movie Threadless shirt

THIS Is How The World Ends. Zombies and dinosaurs and vampires, oh my!

B-Movie Nightmare shirt from Threadless

Normally I pimp products over at Film Buff Stuff (and I may yet duplicate this over there), but this Threadless shirt strikes close to my heart and features Godzilla and UFOs. There – I just did your holiday shopping for you. You may thank me now.

Telemarketer calls “crime scene”

If you need a good laugh, have a listen to this. One of the more imaginative ways to waste a telemarketer’s oh-so-valuable time.

Film Threat’s Frigid 50

A hit list of the 50 people/concepts/whatevers that the Film Threat staff consider to be “cold” in the industry. I dislike lists (and as we approach the end of the year there will be endless instances) but there are some interesting comments there if you can find them in between the snide rips on this year’s more popular Hollywood personalities – and a few easy targets who have fallen from grace.