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News from AWN! Chungy was mentioned an upcoming movie from Aardman (the gang that did “Wallace and Grommit” and “Chicken Run” and such), so I was curious.

Kate Winslet has joined the voice cast of Aardman Animations’ FLUSHED AWAY. Winslet will be Rita, the female sewer rat who helps pampered rat Roddy (Hugh Jackson) survive in Ratropolis after he is accidentally flush down the toilet. The cast also includes Sir Ian McKellen, Bill Nighy and Andy Serkis.

The film will be Aardman’s first 3D CG feature and will be produced in L.A. instead of its regular studios in Bristol, England. The film will be directed by Henry Anderson, David Bowers and Sam Fell from a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. The film is set to hit theaters in November 2006.

Also, Aardman’s Wallace & Gromit: Tale of the Were Rabbit is slated for Oct. 7, 2005.

And because what would a CG-rich movie be without a clone coming out at almost the same time, Pixar, is currently in pre-production on Ratatouille, its first solo effort, about a rat that inhabits an upscale Parisian restaurant, directed by Jan Pinkava (Geri’s Game).

Brian Cox will provide the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia. Fox has comissioned a script for a possible Magneto X-Men spinoff. Phobos Ent. has obtained media rights to Ursula K. Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness. Disney is planning on remaking Swiss Family Robinson and adding Jungle Cruise to their list of “movies inspired by theme park rides”, even after saying there wouldn’t be any more after the PotC sequels. The description is pure gold:

As for CRUISE, Hoberman described the movie as “an adventure film with comedic elements, but its core is almost a family version of Joseph Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS, about a group that travels upriver, in search of a significant cure.” Josh Goldstein and John Norville (TIN CUP) have been hired to write the screenplay.

“A family version of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness“? Yeah, that’s going to be a success! *snorks*

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My Message to Any Firefly Fans Reading This Journal:

Soon, some lucky Firefly fans (flans?) are going to be coming back from tonight’s test screening of Serenity, and they’ll certainly have a lot to say about the movie’s plot, character development, storytelling devices, etc. In fact, Whedonesque set up this thread specifically for said spoilers. Let me announce here and now that I want nothing of it. I don’t want to know any details about the movie in advance, so if you choose to indulge, please don’t share your theories or opinions or whatever with me, and if you talk about it in your LJs or blogs, please be respectful and use a cut tag or change the text color to match the background or whatever. Good? Good.

*steps off soapbox*

Shiny.

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A few random links:

What is happening in this picture? Doesn’t Bush know what happened to the last guy?

What the… the box set of Invader Zim is 90 bucks on Amazon? It’s 1 1/4 seasons! Great gravy. Good think I have all the aired episodes burned on CD. Thank you, Luke!

Funny, with great animation: “Everyone Has Had More Sex Than Me” (ganked from lisew)

More anthropomorphic bunnies: “It’s a Wonderful Life” in 30 seconds (ganked from Heidi)

Dude, just when I think Google can’t get any cooler, they come out with this.

Not to be missed: Glockgal’s favourite fanartists on LJ! It would take a hundred fen a hundred years and a hundred megs of hard drive space to fully apprecate all these artists! She says of me: “TheNineMuses.net. Is all about the light, gentle charm of illustration, and the deep, intense voluptuousness of computer coloring. Her drawing style is pleasant and easily accessible and her coloring is eager and rich. Some people just have all the multi-talent.” *beams*

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While watching snippets of “Return of the Jedi” to better understand the AT-ST walk cycle (which I love so much and want so badly to animate, but I know I won’t have time to so do for the critique on Monday), I was struck again by just how awesome Firefly is. It always bothered me when we studied World War II in history class that we were called the Allies and our enemy was referred to as the Axis Powers. I wondered if the word “axis” gained its negative connotations from World War II or if it came before. I wondered what the Axis Powers called us, and what they called themselves. I’m sure they thought of themselves as allies! It’s a classic example of history being written by the victors. Then in Star Wars, we have the Rebel Alliance. Good for them. I love how in Firefly, the “Alliance” is the name of the side Mal and Zoe fought against; the side that won.

Joss is so awesome.

Oh, and the foot of my scout walker? Beyond hotness. *continues work on gun mounts*

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Stolen from pauraque and malograntum: This past Saturday was Kerry’s birthday. In his honor, here’s this picture of a young John Kerry, shirtless and holding a puppy.

Let’s take this time to also admire this young and shirtless Howard Dean, carring lots of heavy firewood or something. Carry that firewood, Dean!

Man, with hotties like these on our team, how on earth could we lose? To a cheerleader, at that?

(The rest of pauraque’s entry has some great links, as well, so check it out!)