I am conflicted. On one hand this fan opening credits sequence is visually stunning. The 60′s Saul Bass-ian style animation fits so well with the X-Men universe in the 60s. It is detailed, lovingly crafted and clever to boot.

On the other hand it features the single worst variation of the classic 90′s X-Men animated theme ever. I have heard hip-hop versions, death metal versions, even a trendy house music version and nothing compares to the nut kick to the ears that this video presents.

Not only is the song just horrible to listen to, it is also wrong for the tone and style of the visuals. The music needs to be fast, upbeat, jazzy and most of all flow and sync with the visuals. I suggest going to you tube and playing the normal version of the 90′s X-Theme while watching this sequence in mute.

And you should watch this sequence, it is awesome. From a strictly visual standpoint this opening sequence gets everything right. I have a metric ton of hope for this film, and fan produced projects like this only re-affirms my feelings. The 60s are the foundation for everything the X-Men have become, and to get that encapsulated in a film should be high watermark for the genre.

Check out Joe D’s excellent title sequence after the jump.

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Will Ferrell not big enough for all of you fans of NBC’s The Office? How about an hour-long season finale featuring Ferrell, Ricky Gervais, Will Arnett, Ray Romano, Doctor Who’s Catherine Tate and James Spader?

NBC has recently announced that the trio of Spader, Tate, and Romano will be making appearances in the upcoming season finale of The Office, in which we get the last episode with Steve Carell’s Michael Scott.

Carell’s character may be quitting the paper business to live the married life, but his real life counterpart will be taking on a new NBC comedy in which he tells the story of a younger him delivering mail for a living after college.

The question still remains: Who will replace Michael Scott as the new boss of the Scranton branch?

With this huge slew of cameo stars for the finale, you can see NBC is stirring the pot by making you think it could be any one of those candidates.

Sadly, you’ll just have to wait for the full season finale on May 19th to see for yourselves. Until then, who would you like to see replace Steve Carrell’s Michael Scott on the show?

Sound off in the comments!

Even though I’m a big fan of Marvel’s comics, the character of Moon Knight was never one of my favorites. I tended to gravitate to the more grounded characters like Captain America or Nick Fury instead of the more fantastic ones. Still, that doesn’t mean Moon Knight hasn’t been popular with Marvel fans, he has.

And now his fans have yet another reason to be happy because the character has a brand new series coming out soon from Marvel. Here’s some details: “From the Eisner Award-winning creative team of Brian Michael Bendis and Alex Maleev, the new series features Moon Knight as he heads to Los Angeles as a one-man Avengers team to dissolve a criminal syndicate tearing the City of Angels apart.

Except there will be no warm welcome, because once word gets out about Marc Spector’s arrival, the mastermind behind LA’s crime circuit will stop at nothing to make an example of any Avengers who cross him. Plagued by incurable schizophrenia, can Moon Knight hold it together to clear out a city riddled with villains?”

Sounds cool. I may have to re-think my opinion of this character.

Click though to check out some pages from the new comic. Moon Knight #1 hits comic store shelves on May 4, 2011.

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Ever dreamed about being a big time Hollywood special effects make-up artist? If so, you’re probably aware of Syfy’s recent show Face Off, which highlighted a contest between several make-up people with the winner getting $100 K and a potential career in Hollywood.

What you might not be aware of is that the show was a hit for Syfy and will be getting a second season. But wait, there’s more. The network will be holding an open casting call looking for a new crop of contestants for season two and that is all happening this weekend in Los Angeles and New York.

Who knows, it could be your big break. If you have any desire at all, it could be worth it. Besides, what have you got to lose?

Click through for all the details directly from Syfy:

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You can put this in the “Why?” file but it seems somebody at least wanted to buy the Blockbuster video rental chain even as that business is going in the toilet. That somebody is Dish Network who, pending approval at a hearing on Thursday, will acquire Blockbuster Inc. following an auction that took place this week.

Dish Network’s winning bid was approximately $320 Million but the acquisition is expected to end up costing more like $228 Million in cash, taking into account Blockbuster’s inventory, available cash and other adjustments. Blockbuster was put up for sale at auction on Monday following its recent bankruptcy filing, and several companies competed for control of Blockbuster’s business and assets.

Dish’s winning bid topped several other bidders including Cobalt Video, a group of hedge funds lead by Monarch Alternative Capital and billionaire investor Carl Icahn. Also, I considered bidding as well but then the feeling passed after I turned on Netflix, started streaming a movie and realized having a video store these days is a pretty dumb idea.

However, Dish Network doesn’t seem to agree. “Blockbuster will complement our existing video offerings while presenting cross-marketing and service extension opportunities for Dish Network,” said Dish Network’s EVP of sales, marketing and programing, Tom Cullen. Okay, if you say so.

Click through for the full press release from Dish Network. And no, it doesn’t really explain the ‘Why?” either. Really, I can’t remember the last time I went to a Blockbuster and rented a movie. Can you?

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If you’re one of the people who love to video chat using your iPhone or Android device but often wish you could include a few more friends in the conversation, you’re in luck. Not because Apple is doing anything for you, at least not at the moment. No, it’s another company called fring to the rescue.

The company is working on a group video chat implementation for its iOS and Android apps. The update will eventually allow users to chat with up to four participants onscreen at once. For the moment this feature is in beta but the company’s developers are allowing users to sign up so they can test it out before it’s officially available in the App Store.

In a recent video, the company showcased its latest software running a group video chat session on iOS. Sadly, for whatever reason — beta software, poor wireless reception, slower iPhone 4 processor — the video is a tad choppy. Still, it’s nice to see a company taking something Apple started, building on it and trying to make it better.

Check out the video after the break.

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Even as some networks are changing the way they provide programming to Netflix’s Instant Streaming service, the company is still managing to add programming as well. Case in point is the announcement late yesterday that Netflix is entering a new area of business. That business? Syndication.

This new endeavor will begin with an exclusive deal between Netflix and Lionsgate to stream up to seven season of the Emmy-winning AMC TV series Mad Men. Under the deal, the first four seasons of Mad Men will be available on Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” service beginning on July 27. Additional seasons will be added as they finish airing on AMC.

The announcement comes days after AMC announced it had made a deal to keep Mad Men on the air for three more years, bringing the total number of seasons to seven. So, expect to see a lot more Mad Men for years to come. Seeing as the new season of Mad Men won’t debut until 2012, the new Netflix deal gives viewers a chance to catch up with all the previous episodes.

See, who says you never get anything good on TV?

That’s right comic book fans, it’s that time of the week again. New comics are coming out from our friends at Marvel tomorrow and, as always,  we’ve got some we’re really interested in reading.

Among the new ones coming out, we’re looking forward to Herc #1, Uncanny X-Men #534.1,  Deadpool Family #1, Annihilators #2, and Fear Itself #1.

As with most weeks, new comics arrive on Wednesday, so hit your nearest comics book store early for best selection.

Don’t know where your nearest comic store is? Use this handy guide to find one.

Comics On-Sale:
AMAZING SPIDER-MAN ANNUAL #38
ANNIHILATORS #2
ANNIHILATORS #2 DAVIS VARIANT
AVENGERS, THOR & CAPTAIN AMERICA: OFFICIAL INDEX TO THE MARVEL UNIVERSE #12
AVENGERS: THE CHILDREN’S CRUSADE #5
CAPTAIN AMERICA: HAIL HYDRA #4
CARNAGE #3 2ND PRINTING VARIANT
DEADPOOL FAMILY #1
EMMA #2
FEAR ITSELF #1
FEAR ITSELF #1 BLANK COVER VARIANT
FEAR ITSELF #1 COMICSPRO VARIANT
FEAR ITSELF #1 FF 50TH ANNIVERSARY VARIANT

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This report probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone who uses a Verizon iPhone and also has friends using the AT&T version, but for the sake of confirming what we already know, here’s some interesting info about Verizon versus AT&T. Market research firm ChangeWave today released findings of a recent study analyzing iPhone 4 owner experiences and satisfaction.

The study compared consumer experiences with Verizon Wireless’ iPhone 4 against the same model from AT&T. Following years of complaints of poor service and dropped calls with AT&T, the question to ask with the iPhone’s launch on Verizon Wireless was whether or not service quality would improve. According to ChangeWave’s findings, the answer is yes.

In a survey of 4,068 customers, ChangeWave found that over the past 90 days, Verizon Wireless iPhone 4 users have dropped approximately 1.8% of calls while AT&T iPhone 4 owners dropped 4.8%. In addition, ChangeWave found that Verizon iPhone 4 owners are slightly more satisfied than AT&T iPhone 4 owners, with 82% saying they were very satisfied compared to 80% for AT&T.

With the Verizon iPhone only being out for a short time this report is not exactly definitive proof of anything. There’s just not been enough time and user experiences to make that claim. However, it does go a long way to reinforce what many iPhone 4 users on Verizon wireless have experienced (at least the ones we know) when compared to their friends using AT&T: Verizon’s network is better for calls.

If you’re a Verizon iPhone 4 user have you experienced the same thing when compared to your AT&T using friends? Or, is this study bogus? Let us know your thought is the comments.

This past weekend at WonderCon, Activision and Beenox gave the world its first look at their latest Spider-Man title, Spider-Man: Edge of Time. As we discussed last week, Spider-Man: Edge of Time is a concurrent storyline between two versions of Spider-Man, Amazing in the present and 2099 in the future.

Visually, there are a lot of similarities that can be seen in the trailer between Spider-Man: Edge of Time and Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions. It looks like even gameplay will be similar as well, as can be seen from the return of Spider-Man 2099′s freefall combat section shown in the trailer.

It has been revealed that two of the voice actors from Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions will be returning to Edge of Time as well, but strangely neither will be reprising their previous role. Sadly, Neil Patrick Harris will not be returning to the role of Amazing Spider-Man as it will be voiced by Josh Keaton who played Peter Parker in the Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon and the Ultimate Spider-Man in Shattered Dimensions.

Spider-Man 2099 will be voiced by Christopher Daniel Barnes who voiced Spider-Man in the 1990′s animated series and Spider-Man Noir in last year’s game.

Take a look at the screens and trailer after the jump and be sure to check back right here for more on Spider-Man: Edge of Time.

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Just a short while after it was announced Pixar’s upcoming sequel to 2001′s Monsters Inc. will actually be a prequel, it looks like Pixar and Disney may have spoken too soon, as the film is now getting pushed back to 2013.

We’re not looking at a massive push, just 6 or 7 months. According to THR, that hasn’t stopped Disney from filling up that prime open box office time.

Disney is pushing back the release of Pixar’s sequel Monsters University from Nov. 2, 2012 to June 21, 2013. As a result, Disney toon Reboot Ralph will now open Nov. 2, 2012 — Monsters’ old date — instead of March 12, 2013.

Within several hours, Paramount and DreamWorks Animation announced they were moving The Croods from March 1, 2013, to March 22, 2013.

Needless to say, both November and now the following June are going to be pretty big months for animation fans, especially families. Sadly, this does mean that fans of Billy Crystal and John Goodman’s characters from the original will have to wait that much longer.

April showers bring great television, as you’ll see in this month’s installment of Cortney’s TV Digest.

Game of Thrones

HBO premiered the first fifteen minutes of Game of Thrones on Sunday night, and audiences got a taste of the gorgeous cinematography, stellar acting, and killer violence that is sure to be a part of every episode of this new series. Based on George R. R. Martin’s best-selling A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels, Game of Thrones takes place in the world of Westeros, where many noble familes fight for control of the Iron Throne.

Game of Thrones stars the likes of Sean Bean, Peter Dinklage, and will be directed by Thomas McCarthy, best known for his work on The Station Agent and The Visitor.

Game of Thrones will premiere April 17th on HBO.

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