'The Princess and the Frog' Trailer and Official Site

I was very disappointed back in 2004 when Disney said that Home on the Range was going to be their final 2-Dimensional movie. I have always loved the classic 2-D look, as well as the modern CG style. Well, Disney's next animated movie is called The Princess and the Frog, and it is going to be 2-Dimensional!

Up until now, all that was known about this new Disney movie was that it was going to be 2-D, and that is about a Princess and a Frog. Today there is a trailer and an official site for it. Here's the trailer:

Pixar Updates: 'UP' Pictures, and Possible 'Monsters, Inc.' Sequel

Pixar is definitely the best animation studio on the planet. As such, it has a lot of news and buzz around it. Here are some of the news stories and updates for today:

Update 1: Here are some UP pictures taken at Comic-Con 2008. These were photographs taken at a presentation by Pixar. They were then cropped and enhanced in photoshop. Astounding.






Update 2: An interview with Pete Docter from MTV hints at a Monsters, Inc. sequel. This hint is a lot similar to the hint dropped by Iger on the idea of a Cars sequel. Everything points to a Monsters, Inc. 2! Here's the link to the interview. And, yes, they misspelled Docter's name as "Doctor".


Hopefully, more will be announced about UP as its release draws near. I also hope that more on Monsters, Inc. 2 is announced as well. All of this news will be posted as it is announced.

Source: The Pixar Blog

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Trailer Released

The highly anticipated Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer was just released, and it looks amazing! This is the second to last movie in the series, and is followed by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book was really good, and I hope that the movie does the book justice, although I haven't yet seen a Harry Potter movie that was better than the book... Here's the trailer:

'The Price is Right' Made a Mistake

Have you ever thought that those games on The Price is Right are slightly less favorable towards the contestant? A news story from today has confirmed any suspicions you might have had. They are somewhat rigged. It’s a funny story, actually. They were filming a commercial for The Price is Right, and they rigged the Plinko machine so that it’d go into the jackpot $10,000 every time. Well, they forgot to reset the machine before filming the real show, and a lady won $30,000! This seems like a big slip-up on The Price is Right’s part, and it was, which is why somebody got fired. And in case you were wondering, the lady had to play again and won $3,000, but they decided to give her both prizes, for a total of $33,000! Sadly, they will not be airing this portion of the show, so we may never be able to see the malfunctioning machine or the lucky contestant.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox is the sixth installment of the Artemis Fowl series. It is 432 pages, and is written by the talented writer from Ireland, Eoin Colfer. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox begins with what seems to be a relatively simple plot. (Warning Again: Massive Spoilers Ahead!) Artemis' mother is extremely ill, so Artemis calls on Holly Short and the demon N^o1 for help. Holly concludes from Angeline's (Artemis' Mother's) symptoms that she has Spelltropy, a terrible disease which leads to inevitable death. The only known cure is the silky sifaka lemur, which is now extinct because Artemis had sold the last of its kind to a group known as "The Extinctionists" 8 years earlier.

Holly and Artemis decide, with the help of N^o1 and Foaly, to travel back in time 8 years to retrieve the lemur, in order to cure Artemis' mother. Artemis and Holly are successfully transported back 8 years by N^o1, but they have only 3 days to return with the lemur or N^o1 will not be able to bring them back to their time.

Holly and Artemis encounter Mulch Diggums upon arriving 8 years previous to their time. With the help of their new ally, Artemis Fowl and Holly break into the lemur's housing, but Artemis is injured. Holly heals Artemis, and kisses him.

The lemur escapes and the younger Artemis Fowl gets a hold of it and flies to Morocco to sell it to Dr. Kronski, the leader of The Extinctionists. With some difficulty, Captain Short and the older Artemis manage to get the lemur back. While doing this, however, Holly is captured and sold to Kronski in place of the lemur.

The older Artemis manages to rescue Holly, but is thrown into a pit of fire in the process. The fire turns out to be holographic, and Holly realizes that Kronski has been mesmerized by a fairy or pixie.

Artemis is now in Opal Koboi's clutches. Opal doesn't know who Artemis is, since the Artemis in this time is unaware of the fairy's existence. Artemis, on the other hand, knows exactly who Opal Koboi is. Artemis discovers that Opal has been using all of the supposedly extinct animals' brains to increase her own magical abilities. She needs the lemur to finally become invincible, and be able to travel through time.

Eventually, Artemis Fowl escapes from Koboi's lair, and is picked up by Mulch Diggums and Holly Short, they are flying a junky LEP shuttle. Now, Holly and Artemis only have a few hours to get back to the time stream entrance, or they'll be stuck in this time forever. Upon arriving at Artemis' house, the younger Artemis is waiting for them. He demands an explanation for all of this. The older Artemis has no choice, so he tells the younger Artemis all about their travel through time, as well as the importance of the Lemur, the evil Opal, etc. Then, he hatches a plan...

Mulch is being captured by Opal has his memory sucked out of him for Koboi to learn from. Holly and Artemis, unaware of this, travel 8 years into the future, back to their appropriate time. Artemis is about to give his mother the "lemur injection" when he discovers that Opal has taken over his mother, and gave her the sickness in the first place.

Holly and N^o1 cannot help Artemis, because they are trapped by a mesmerized Butler. When Artemis is about to be killed, he reveals that he is actually the 10-year-old Artemis from the past, and that the older Artemis from this time is free from Opal. The older Artemis temporarily stuns Opal's real body, and Holly and N^o1 are freed. The older Artemis takes himself and the Lemur in a family airplane to distract Opal while the LEP reaches Artemis' house. Opal follows Artemis and the lemur, but the lemur that Artemis brought turns out to be just a decoy, and the LEP have reached Artemis' house and the lemur is safe.

Opal is stopped by Artemis and is buried under a bunch of rubble caused by an undiscovered kraken. When the LEP go looking for her body, however, she cannot be found.

Artemis returns to his home to tell the others of Opal's defeat, when he finds that his mother knows what happened to her. Artemis then realizes that if he hadn't gone back in time, he never would have had any fairy-related adventures, thus Opal never would have touched his mother, and thus she wouldn't have had Spelltropy....as Artemis puts it, its a Time Paradox.

N^o1 wiped young Artemis' mind of the past day's events and sent him back to his proper time. Upon waking up young Artemis remembers something from a dream, however, fairies. This dream starts Artemis' search for the fairies, thus prompting the entire series of the Artemis Fowl books. So, the future Artemis Fowl indirectly prompted the past Artemis to go searching for fairies...the Time Paradox again.

As you can tell, it is a somewhat confusing book. It is not terribly confusing, though. It is entertaining, witty, and has a lot of heart. You meet some new characters, as well as learn new things about the old characters. During the last few chapters, it is just beautiful how everything falls so perfectly into place. Also, the book makes you think a lot about time travel and its effects.

Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox is an awesome book. I highly recommend that you read it. You may not appreciate it, however, if you haven't read the previous books in the series.

I cannot wait for Colfer's next installment of Artemis Fowl, it is a wonderful universe with truly great characters. Who isn't entertained by a 14-year-old criminal mastermind with an undiscovered fairy world on his side?