The big changes to the entertainment landscpe continue. Previously, we brought you news that Disney was buying Marvel and now, its a new week and a brand new deal. This time around, news is out that Warner Bros. has decided that DC Comics needs its own shingle and so has decided to give it one, in the brand new form of DC Entertainment.

According to Warner Bros., the newly formed company will “fully realize the power and value of the DC Comics brand and characters across all media and platforms.” It will be run by Diane Nelson, former head of the Warner Premiere division of the company. Obviously, she’s pretty excited about her new job.

“The founding of DC Entertainment fully recognizes our desire to provide both the DC properties and fans the type of content that is only possible through a concerted cross-company, multi-platform effort,” said Nelson.

“DC Entertainment will help us to formally take the great working relationships between DC Comics and various Warner Bros. businesses to the next level in order to maximize every opportunity to bring DC’s unrivalled collection of titles and characters to life.”

Sounds good to me. But you have to wonder what this means for comics? And for movies and TV based on comics? Whatever they are trying to do here, I sure hope they can pull it off. As with the Marvel deal, there’s a long history of great characters at DC that deserve the best treatment they can get. I hope this is the way they end up getting it.

For the complete scoop, check out all the details via the Warner Bros. official release after the break.

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At a special “Its only Rock & Roll” press event this morning given at its Cupertino campus by CEO Steve Jobs, Apple announced brand new versions of its iPod Classic, iPod Shuffle, iPod Nano and iPod Touch lines, an update to its iTunes software to version 9.0 and an update to the iPhone/iPod Touch software to version 3.1.

Here’s a summary of the updates to the iPod line:

• iPod Classic – Capacity upgraded to 160 GB, price stays the same at $249.00.

• iPod Shuffle – Now starting at $59 for a 2GB model and $79 for a 4GB. Now available in pink, green, silver or black and all stainless steel 4GB Special Edition for $99, which is an Apple Store exclusive.

• iPod Nano – Now with a camera supposedly with 640 x 480 resolution H.264 for stills and video. Available today, the 8GB model is $149 and the 16GB is 179. In addition, now has a built-in FM tuner with Live Pause and iTunes Tagging, a pedometer, VoiceOver, support for voice memos and a larger 2.2-inch display (up from 2.0-inches) with 376 x 240 resolution.

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Hello friends. Due to the Labor Day holiday and because even your intrepid podcast team needs a day off now and then, we won’t be having a podcast this week. Sorry for the inconvenience. We will return next week with a brand new episode of The Flickcast, so be sure and be here for that.

To help you pass the time until next week’s show, be sure to check out a few of our previous episodes we think feature us at our best. Or, at least, are not quite as embarrassing as the others. Plus, take a nostalgic listen to how it all began by going back and reliving the glory that was our very first episode.

Until next week, thanks for listening. We appreciate it.

The Flickcast – Episode 21: The Last Stand

The Flickcast: Comic-Con Wrap Up Special!

The Flickcast – Episode 18: Comic-Con Special with Writer/Producer Mark Verheiden

The Flickcast – Episode 17: Comic-Con or Bust!

The Flickcast – Episode 16: The Quest for Peace

The Flickcast – Episode 12: The Lost World

The Flickcast – Episode 11: Beyond Cyberspace

The Flickcast – Episode 7: The Search for Spock

The Flickcast – Episode 1: The Journey Begins

Between voicing the lead in Wes Anderson’s The Fantastic Mr. Fox, and playing a “jedi warrior” in The Men Who Stare At Goats, George Clooney has been back on the rise as of late. Now we get to see him in a bit more dramatic light now that the first trailer for Up in the Air has hit the ‘net.

Directed by Juno’s Jason Reitman, Up in the Air is about the life of a corporate downsizing expert who’s life on the road becomes more interesting when he comes across the woman of his dreams. The film is based on the novel by Walter Kim, who also wrote the novel-turned-film Thumbsucker back in 2005.

Like Thumbsucker, this film brings in a laundry list of cameos, from Zach Galifianakis to J.K. Simmons to Jason Bateman to Danny McBride. The cast list looks to be a regular “who’s who” of independent comedies. Check out the first trailer after the break. Up in the Air hits theaters December 4th.

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The new TV season is almost upon us with a bunch of new and returning shows vying for our attention. One show we’re always going to give a chance to, even if its sorta seems to have lost its way a bit, is Heroes. Previously, we’ve brought you a bunch of promos and other information highlighting the upcoming season and today we’ve got another promo for you thanks to the folks at NBC.

This one, called “Back At Their Best,” shows that our favorite characters are going to get back to basics and back to, well, their best. From what I’ve seen of these promos so far it seems the show’s producers and NBC are determined to get it back on track and hopefully return the show to the level it started out at. Because I’m a fan of the show, I really hope they can pull it off. And no, that pic of Hayden Panettiere holding a shotgun isn’t from this particular promo, I just like it. So there.

The 2-Hour Season Premiere of Heroes comes to NBC on Mon., Sept. 21st 8/7c. Meanwhile, check out this latest promo after the jump.

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Coming at the end of this month, Hudson releases its follow up to last year’s commercial success with Deca Sports 2 for the Nintendo Wii. With ten all different games from the original Deca Sports, Hudson hopes to offer a different experience than that of Wii Sports or Wii Sports Plus. Like Wii Sports, the Deca Sports franchise is geared as a casual pickup and play game featuring a variety of gameplay options. It does, however, put a focus on full game experiences as opposed to the mini-game or made-up sports style of products like Wii Play.

Deca Sports 2 will not feature use of the Nintendo first party peripherals like the Balance Board from Wii Fit or the WiiMotion Plus controller add-on. When asked about it, Hudson representatives told us that WiiMotion Plus had not been announced at the time in development of Deca Sports 2 where they could insert it into the game. Instead, they have already begun discussing using it should they do another Deca Sports in the future.

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Here’s a list of some of the new movie and TV shows coming to DVD and Blu-ray this week that we’re looking forward to seeing. Also, there’s some classic, and not-so-classic, movies hitting Blu-ray for the first time this week as well.

Of all the new releases, we’re particularly interested in the Blu-ray versions of movies like Silverado, Dead Calm and The Quick and the Dead as well as Fringe Season One also on the Blu-ray.

Check them out.

Movies

Bedknobs and Broomsticks ~ Angela Lansbury, Roddy McDowall (DVD)

Catwoman ~ Halle Berry (Blu-ray)

Crank 2: High Voltage ~ Jason Statham, Amy Smart, David Carradine (DVD and Blu-ray)

Creepshow ~ Hal Holbrook, Leslie Nielsen (Blu-ray)

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For all you budding rockers and artists out there you’re chance for artistic superstardom is about to come to an end — or at least this time around. What am I talking about? Well, the Facebook Binder Art contest for all lovers of the upcoming Brutal Legend video game from EA and Double Fine is about to come to an end on Facebook.

In fact, it ends tomorrow (Wednesday 9/9) at 11:59pm Pacific time. But don’t worry, its not too late to enter. To get in on all the fun, just follow these instructions from our friends at EA, via their official press info:

To enter the Brütal Legend Binder Art Contest Contest visit www.facebook.com/brutallegend and follow the instructions to submit your Brütal Legend Binder Art submission, with the words, “Brütal Legend Binder Art Contest” in the subject line. No other methods of entry will be accepted. A Facebook account is required.

- Become a fan of the official Brutal Legend Facebook fan page
- Post your Brutal Legend fan art onto the official Brutal Legend Facebook wall with “Fan Art Contest” somewhere in the title
- 5 winners will each receive a limited edition ‘Eddie Riggs’ statue
- Sorry to all of our international fans, this is a US only contest

Courtesy of NBC comes a new video which gives us a preview of the second season of their show Parks and Recreation. According to the network “this hilarious clip has Amy Poehler channeling the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ and is the first look at the new slate of episodes.”

Well, that does sound pretty good seeing as Amy Poehler is pretty darn funny — especially during her days on Saturday Night Live. To be perfectly honest though, the first season of this show didn’t exactly wow us very much. Granted, it had its funny moments, but it just wasn’t consistently funny. Consequently, it didn’t make it to our “must watch” list.

However, based on this partcular clip and our love for Amy Poehler, we’re willing to give it another chance. The show returns to NBC on Thursday, Sept. 17th 9:30/8:30c.

Check out the video after the jump.

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With the CW’s Smallville about to begin its ninth, and presumably last, season on Friday September 25th, speculation had been running rampant that this would finally be the year we would see Superman, played by Tom Welling in the series, in all of his costumed glory. Of course, rumors circulated before, during and after Comic-Con in San Diego and they even gave fans a sneak peek at the actual costume during the Con. But unless you were there, you didn’t get a chance to see it. That is, until now.

Over at Screen Rant (via LilMissX on Twitter) they’ve got the first look at Welling’s new look as Superman for the show’s new season. Granted, its not the costume we all know and love but still, it seems to be a step in the right direction. It also seems to follow the mythology established for the show. Its not exactly canon, but it does sorta work.

In addition to the new costume, there’s also some other tidbits of info on the new season including the that they will address the non-flying “issue,” Geoff Johns will be writing an episode, Clark will be dealing with issues on trying to be only a hero, leaving the personality of Clark behind and that Welling will be directing an episode or two. Also, there’s appearances by Metallo, General Zod and the Wonder Twins. So, some good and some not-so-good news. Still, the costume may work. We’ll see.

Check out a larger view of the costume after the jump.

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Score: 8.0 – XBox Live Arcade – 800 Microsoft Points ($10.00)

Last week, we gave our preview coverage of Defense Grid: The Awakening and after getting the time to play through the full retail release of the game, it definitely lived up to our high expectations of the game. Defense Grid: The Awakening towers over the previous XBLA Tower Defense Game, Crystal Defenders as well as every free flash tower defense game on the internet in not only graphics and control but most importantly in fun. It has also set a high bar for South Park Let’s Go Tower Defense which is coming out in the coming months.

As described in our preview coverage, the game continually evolved with each level. From the addition of upgrade levels and additional tower options to the change from preset Path type maps and hybrid maps, there is constant variety over the course of Defense Grid. For each of the first 10 levels, the game adds a new tower in each level except in level 8. Here is where things get really interesting as an orbital laser that takes much of the time spent in the level to charge up to get ready to fire, but it allows for a 1-shot kill that garners no experience. But it’s one heck of a last resort weapon to preserve those last few precious cores the player must defend from the alien invaders.

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Some may think shows like The Tonight Show or The Daily Show are the go-to programs when it comes to compelling interviews with celebrities or people of interest. Those people would be dead wrong. If you want to know what’s really going on in the world of celebrity, look no further than Between Two Ferns with Zach Galifianakis.

Galifianakis is not only a rising star in the comedy world, thanks to this summer’s The Hangover, but he also takes time to host his faux interview web series in which he invites stars like Jon Hamm, Natalie Portman, and even co-star of The Hangover Bradley Cooper. If you’re asking, then yes: each episode takes place between two ferns.

Zach’s latest interview is with international starlet Charlize Theron. They chat about things ranging from her names, her sick dog, and jumping into the naked pool. Check out the Funny or Die exclusive after the jump.

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