What a sexy beast...!

Korra, the last water bender?

Thought you Might like this. Any idea when it is coming out?

A Look at the Different Nations (Updatedx2)

Just found these. Shyamalamadingdong totally nailed the look of the different nations. I cannot wait for these movies to come out. I just hope I'll have time to go watch it. I will be on my psych rotations, so shouldn't be too busy.

Here is the Water Nation, it is the one that impressed me the most. The other three after the jump.

Updated: io9 just posted this cool info on how ILM created some of the effects in the movie.

Here is also a buttload of high res pics that they released.




Air Temple



Fire Nation



Earth Nation



Do you like how I changed the color of the progress bar? Thought it was a nice touch. What do you guys think?

Shyamalan Addresses Racebending Controversy

Shyamalan was interviewed by io9.com recently. io9.com asked their readers what they wanted them to ask Shyamalanidingdong. Apparently the question with the most mentioned was that having to do with the casting in Avatar: TLA. I found his answer very interesting and even feel somewhat satisfied by it. What do you guys think. The interview is a good read if you are interested. Full answer after the jump.

One of the biggest questions we get on a regular basis whenever we write about this movie, besides tone questions and mythos inquiries, is about the casting. There are a lot of fans that have casting issues with Sokka, Katara and the Fire Nation. Can you address the fan concerns about the casting?

Here's the thing. The great thing about anime is that it's ambiguous. The features of the characters are an intentional mix of all features. It's intended to be ambiguous. That is completely its point. So when we watch Katara, my oldest daughter is literally a photo double of Katara in the cartoon. So that means that Katara is Indian, correct? No that's just in our house. And her friends who watch it, they see themselves in it. And that's what's so beautiful about anime.

When we were casting, I was like, "I don't care who walks through my door, whoever is best for the part. I'm going to figure it out like a chessgame." Ideally we separate the nations ethnically — ideally. I didn't know how or what it was going to be. And it was so fluid. For example if you found a great brother, [but] he didn't go with my favorite Katara, then we couldn't use him. Theoretical things like that. There was an Ang that we really loved, but he was like 5'10." There's all kinds of issues that come to the table physically. And I had a board of all the people that I was considering, the seven or eight. There was, at one time, a Chinese Sokka and Katara, and they were over here. One of them was a better actor than the other, and so I was gathering my pros and cons.

I was without an agenda, and just letting it come to the table. Noah is a photo double from the cartoon. He is spot on. I didn't know their backgrounds, and to me Noah had a slightly mixed quality to him. So I cast the Airbenders as all mixed-race. So when you see the monks, they are all mixed. And it kind of goes with the nomadic culture and the idea that over the years, all nationalities came together.
The Fire Nation was the most complicated. I kept switching who was playing Zuko. It was such a complicated and drawn out thing, about practical matters. But the first person that I was considering casting for Zuko was Ecuadorian. So I started thinking that way. Then when that person couldn't do it, the next person who came in was much more Caucasian. And then we had to switch everything around.

The Earth Nation was always the issue as well, because the second movie is so dominated by that group, and it will represent most of the movie. But it has a small, small part in the first movie. So that was important in thinking about it in the long term. Then Dev [Patel] came into the picture, he was really early on. He had auditioned for me in London. He was a sweet guy, but he did such a great reading...I always go for the actor.

When I was doing Sixth Sense, if you literally read the script he [Cole Sear] has dark, hair black eyes. I always pictured the kid from Searching For Bobby Fisher as the lead for Sixth Sense. And I said, "We are not hiring any blonde LA kids, ok? Don't even bring them in." Then Haley [Joel Osment] came in and I said, "You've got the part." How can you not have him play this part?
That's always been my lean. I have hopes of what I want them to be, my hope was that the movie would be incredibly diverse. That when we look back on all three movies that it is one of the most diverse movies of all times. And that is the case when you watch the movies. And it's not an agenda, like when you see a picture of a kid's school and they have everybody on the swings. It's not like that. This nation has this ethnicity and when we go deep into that culture, we will see more there. Dev ended up being my choice for Zuko, and I looked for an Uncle that could be in that realm, for a moment I thought about Ben Kingsley. But Shaun Toub, I just loved him in Iron Man. I thought this takes us into a Mediterranean kind of Arab and Indian world, and I can go as far as that, that will be the breadth of the Fire Nation, that kind of look.

For me, Nicola [Peltz, who plays Katara] had a lot of Russian qualities, European and Russian qualities. So that was the direction we went there. Whoever I ended up with, I went that was their nationality. Suki was Jessica [Andres] who is a mix of Filipino. And now the Earth Kingdom is all Asian so Toph will have to be Asian. Suddenly I was looking at the board and I thought, this works for me, because everything was represented.

And there's a section of the Earth Kingdom that's African American. Because it's such a big country and land I thought you could have some diversity in there as they travel through the cities. So more so than the show, it will have a much more diverse ethnic backgrounds to it. It's not an agenda for me, but it's something I'm super proud of. That when my kids or any kids look at it they will see themselves.

The Last Airbender Super Bowl Trailer SUPER AWESOME UPDATED!!

Here it is, the Avatar: The Last Airbender trailer that is supposed to air during the super bowl. So apparently the reviews of the rough pre-finalized viewings of the movie have been a little rough. I am choosing to ignore that. I doubt that for the most part the people reviewing the rough cut are fans of the cartoon. Maybe they just don't get it. I hope so.

Having said that, this trailer is beautiful. I know Efren and I had originally disliked the way that Ang's tattoos looked. Well, with this nice blue glowing effect I am completely satisfied. The fight scenes look like they are gonna be pretty badass. Not to mention the water bending looked effing sweet.

I can't wait for this to come out.



Movie poster and super awesome find after the jump.


IT'S APPA!!!!!!!!

You've Got Malik In My Zuko

Here you go Efren. Yes Aang is super white, but hey, Dev Patel looks good as Zuko, no? Hopefully this movie will kick as much ass as the toon.

Fallout Love

Yo!  ZombieR stopping in for a quick post, here...  So Adry's really been spreading the Fallout 3 love around this joint.  So much so, in fact, that it was HIS review that lead me to purchase this incredible game.  There's little that I disagree with in Adry's review.  He's pretty spot on.  And he's right about the ungodly time-suck this game has become for me.  "Just a quick quest" so easily turns into a 6-hour game-a-thon.  This being my first real venture into games of this genre (adventure/rpg/action), I have to say that the breadth with which Bethesda Studios has created a truly living, breathing virtual world is remarkable. Forget GTA...  It was a breathtaking (and intensely intimidating) experience catching your first glimpse of the Capitol Wasteland... "You mean I have to explore this?!?" To make a long story short, I'm in love. Some personalized Fallout 3 fun after the jump...

                      

                          Handsomest devil in the Capitol Wasteland?

You have to love the character customization features in Fallout 3.  Don't think I've ever gotten so close in any other game.  Plus then I found some specs in-game...  Icing on the cake!  If I re-grow my mustache, I'll make the appropriate adjustments to my in-game avatar.  Pretty great resemblance, though, no?  Better than my Mii, anyway...

Merry Christmas from TheTragonDragon.

You can go to this link to make your own.