To celebrate the release of the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD the lovely people at Paramount Home Entertainment have given me a Limited Edition Rorschach Hoodie to give away!

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, FEATURING Under the Hood

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, also featuring Nite Owl’s autobiography Under the Hood, storms onto DVD & Blu-ray on April 6 2009 ~

Offering audiences two essential Watchmen background stories, experience the exclusive and dramatic origin – essential to the Watchmen experience – as the comic-within-the-comic and Night Owl’s autobiography are brought to life when Paramount Home Entertainment releases Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, FEATURING Under the Hood on DVD & Blu-ray on April 6 2009.

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, the story within the highly anticipated Watchmen features the voices of Gerard Butler (300) and Jared Harris (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button). Executively produced by Watchmen director Zack Snyder, the feature is directed by Daniel DelPurgatorio and Mike Smith.

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter brings to strikingly animated life the graphic novel’s richly layered story. Within the graphic novel, Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, appears as a comic book read by a young man in New York City while the city is being destroyed.

This daring pirate saga chronicles a sailor’s journey home from being marooned. During his journey, the young seaman is “forced by the urgency of his mission to shed one inhibition after another” and experience horrible events along the way. The turbulent events the sailor endures seem to mirror those in the Watchmen’s world.

Visit Forbidden Planet for this Rorschach Bust and other Watchmen goodies!

Hollis Mason’s tell-all autobiography, Under the Hood, chronicles the events in Hollis Mason’s life that led to him becoming the masked avenger Nite Owl and discusses how the Minutemen were formed. It features the original Sally Spectre, the Comedian, Moloch the Mystic, along with Hollis Mason, the original Nite Owl.

Under the Hood is directed by Eric Matthies and also stars Carla Gugino, Matt Frewer, Stephen McHattie and Jeffrey Dean Morgan appear as their characters from the theatrical Watchmen film in this live-action documentary-style special.

Watchmen: Tales of the Black Freighter, FEATURING Under the Hood is available to buy on DVD & Blu-ray from April 6 2009 from Paramount Home Entertainment.

Competition: Win a Limited Edition Rorschach Hoodie!

To win, all you need to do is answer the following question:

Q: What is Rorschach’s real name?

Competition closed.
Winner will be informed by email over the next day or so.

The Rules

The competition closes on 21st April 2009 and is open to UK residents aged 18 or over. By entering this competition, you are agreeing to the rules of this full rules which can be read here.

Stargate Universe Cast:(l to r back row) Ming-Na, Justin Louis, Jamil Walker Smith, Brian J. Smith, Lou Diamond-Phillips, (4 in front l to r) Alaina Huffman, Robert Carlyle, David Blue, Elyse Levesque (Click pic for larger).

The first cast shot of the Stargate Universe cast popped up on AICN recently. It’s a group pic of them in ‘civvies’, not full SG uniforms, but it does give you a chance to put faces to some of the names that have been mentioned in the casting.

Here’s a rundown of the characters:

Camile Wray (Ming-Na) – A human resources executive with the international oversight committee that governs the Stargate program. Now the highest ranking member of that division left stranded on the ship, she carries herself with a misguided sense of superiority over the other military and civilian survivors.

Colonel Everett Young (Justin Louis) – An experienced Stargate team leader. Married, with years of tough decisions under his belt, life has taught him never to take anything for granted. He stays on top of his team so they stay alive.

MSGT. Ronald Greer (Jamil Walker Smith) – A Marine with a temper you don’t want to mess with. His past is mysterious but it’s clear something dark formed the hard shell around him.

Lt. Matthew Scott (Brian J. Smith) – A junior member of the Stargate team. Green and rough around the edges, he is thrust into the role of leader well before he’s ready for the responsibility and must learn to command, earn respect through action, and manage the diverse personalities aboard the ship.

Colonel Telford (Lou Diamond Phillips) – A proud lifelong military man, who puts his faith in the chain of command. Stubbornly confident, he’s highly regarded by his superiors. He is the chosen leader of the ill-fated expedition.

Dr. Nicholas Rush (Robert Carlyle) – One of the most brilliant scientific minds, whose motives are not what they appear to be.

Eli Wallace (David Blue) – A total slacker, who just happens to be an utter genius with anything he puts his mind to – mathematics, computers, video games. A lack of confidence has left him with an acerbic sense of humor.

Chloe Armstrong (Elyse Levesque) – The daughter and aid of a U.S. Senator. Politically savvy, but with a wild side, she is considering following in her father’s footsteps, until she finds herself trapped on the ship. As tensions rise, her character will be tested and her place among the group revealed.

So, we have a whole bunch of military guys, a few scientists, the obligatory geek, and a politicians daughter… There seems to be a lot of people in that group who are listed as ‘leaders’, or ‘command’, which rather makes me think not all of them are going to make it past the 2hr pilot episode (anyone else think Mr. Diamond Phillips might end up doing a Robert Patrick?).

It’s certainly looking a lot darker/gritter than previous Stargate series judging by the teaser trailer (below). I’m rather hoping they’re not attempting to copy the truly excellent Battlestar Galactica but in a Stargate universe, because i really can’t see that working. Much as i loved BSG, Stargate has always been lighter than that, and i’d hate to see it lose it’s way by them trying to force a Stargate shaped peg into a BSG shaped hole… However, darker sequels to original shows have worked in the past. Here’s hoping SGU turns out to be Angel to SG1/Atlantis’s Buffy.

What do you get when you have a group of people who are not cool enough to be popular, and not geeky enough to be nerds? You get… The Inbetweeners.

The award-winning E4 comedy series is back on 2nd April, with more mishaps, embarrassing attempts to pull and the vital adult initiation – to lose their virginity and become men.

The six part series voted the Best New British Television Comedy at the 2008 British Comedy Awards, continues where the first series left off. Centred at Rudge Park comprehensive school, four dysfunctional friends are all desperately trying to work out how to fit in.

Click here for more info at The Inbetweeners site on E4 >

Barenaked Ladies - Ed, Kevin, Tyler and Jim

For those who don’t know Barenaked Ladies, they are a Canadian band who i’ve been a massive fan since about 1992 (read more about them here). They recently had an amicable split from Steven Page, one of their 2 frontmen.

They’ve decided to carry on as a band, and to show they can still rock it as 4 piece, they’ve released their first concert since the break as a free download until the 27th March 2009.

If your a fan, then it’s good, if a little weird, hearing all the songs you know sung by BNL, but a slightly different BNL. If you’ve never heard of BNL, download it and give them a try!

Click here to grab you copy while you can!

Syfy - New Name for the SCI FI Channel

Here at Geektown, we wear our geekdom on our chest. It’s a badge of pride and honour… So when a fellow geek… A comrade in lightsabers if you will… Try to hide and shun their true nature, we need to sit them down and have a talk.

Sci-Fi Channel. Don’t be ashamed. We know you were bullied as a youngling by those bigger channels, but you’ve grow into a fine, upstanding network. Don’t shy away from your true nature. There’s nothing wrong with being a geek. After all, as someone once said, “the geek shall inherit the earth”. You can change your style and change your name from SCI FI to Syfy, but we still know what you are, and where you’ve come from… All those afternoons playing old episodes of Quantum Leap and Star Trek. Your not fooling anyone!

You may call yourself Syfy, but you’ll always be SCI FI to me.

Full press release here