Kevin Smith is an excellent entertainer. His movies have a limited audience, but his podcasts and speaking engagements have proven Smith can engage a crowd like few others can. Now that his directing career seems to be coming to a self-imposed end, it is nice to see him pursuing other outlets for his talents.

One of those outlets is a new show called Spoilers on Hulu, according to Wired:

The show, which will premiere June 4 on Hulu, will showcase Smith and 50 die-hard movie fans right after they’ve seen a big blockbuster movie on opening night, creating a monster gab-fest full of opinions, fights and — because it’s a Smith endeavor — plenty of gags and a bit of Jason Mewes (the Jay to Smith’s Silent Bob).

The concept of the show is rock solid. A psuedo-review show that is after a more general public opinion instead of the academic opinions you often find on televised review shows. The list of movies they already plan on covering is impressive, hopefully the show’s format works as well in practice as it does on paper.

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The concept of ancillary books to large comic events is becoming common place. No longer does an event take place in the confines of it’s own limited series or the pages of the characters involved, now it is everywhere. Marvel’s newest event, Avengers VS. X-Men, is no exception to that new rule, although Marvel might just be changing the game a little bit.

Marvel has teamed up with MTV to bring you Avengers VS. X-Men: War Journals, a web series that gives you a behind the scenes look at the event from the perspective of the people actually creating it:

Join Axel Alonso (Marvel Editor in Chief), Tom Brevoort (Marvel SVP/Executive Editor) and Nick Lowe (Senior Editor) as they discuss putting their own personal allegiances aside to craft the biggest story in Marvel history and meet fans at Midtown Comics in NYC for the largest Avengers VS. X-Men launch party in the world! As fans argue about who will win—Avengers or X-Men—some of the hottest celebrities—DJ Pauly D, Big Time Rush and the Wanted—let you know just which team they’ve chosen! Plus, discover more bonus clips featuring the biggest names in comics exclusively at MTV Geek.

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It is really easy to sit behind a keyboard and bitch. It is really easy to fling bile at filmmakers who make films that don’t match our personal version of the movies we want to see. This has been true for as long as there has been the internet, and will likely be true for our children’s children and their children as well.

There has been a disturbing trend in the general internet fan community that has played off that universal truth. It has manifested as one of the biggest problem facing Hollywood today, there is no trust anymore. There is no faith that the professionals, who are talented and/or driven enough to make this their career, can actually make quality cinema from our beloved franchises.

The most recent example of the internet’s pigheadedness is the backlash to Michael Bay’s comment that the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film will feature an expanded back story that exposes potential Alien origins for everyone’s favorite heroes in a half shell.

Kids are going to believe one day these turtles actually do exist when we are done with this movie. These turtles are from an alien race, and they are going to be tough, edgy, funny and completely loveable. – Michael Bay

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Some days you just have to stand back and shake your head. The internet is a powder keg of misunderstanding and preconception. When a polarizing figure like Michael Bay makes an off hand comment about a beloved franchise that doesn’t meet perfect fan criteria, the whole things explodes in so much whiny status updates and forum threads.

Recently Bay, who’s Platinum Dunes is setting up a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle reboot, made a comment about the Turtles being of alien origin. He made the comments during the Nickelodeon up-fronts last week, and the internet has been all pissy about it since then.

Keen to clarify his original statement, Bay remarked on his official message boards about the subject:

Fans need to take a breath, and chill. They have not read the script. Our team is working closely with one of the original creators of Ninja Turtles to help expand and give a more complex back story. Relax, we are including everything that made you become fans in the first place. We are just building a richer world.

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One of the best new MMOs out there is going to try to lure you in with a weekend of free play. Now all you worry warts and feet daggers have no excuse to not  jump into this new world and decide first hand if it is worth the price of admission.

Star Wars: The Old Republic is officially offering a weekend pass to new users, which allows players access to eight different classes and the ability to advance your character has high as level fifteen. This limited free-to-play time period begins today and ends on Monday the 19th of March.

The MMO world really needs to evolve with the times and understand that continuous worlds with monthly subscriptions might not be the best tactic anymore. There has been a steady movement towards the free-to-play model in the past few years, and while this specifically is only a weekend free pass, giving anyone and everyone a free chance to play is a step in the right direction.

At the very least many new people will get to experience the clashing of lightsabers in a pretty great game this weekend, and that is wonderful. Head over to the Star Wars: The Old Republic page now and get in on the action while it is offered for the dirt cheap price of nothing.

Adventure games are great. Like, really great. Remember Myst? The Secret of Monkey Island? They just don’t make games like that anymore. Apparently, studios don’t think they’re in demand anymore. They’d rather produce Call of Duty 12.

Which is why Double Fine’s Tim Schafer, best known for amazing titles like Grim Fandango and Psychonauts, decided to do something about the lack of adventure games on the market lately: he started a Kickstarter project.

Kickstarter, for those of you who’ve never heard of it, is a really cool concept where fans can contribute their own cold hard cash to causes they want to see funded. In this case, Tim Schafer wanted $400,000 to create an adventure game, developed by himself and a small team over a six to eight month period.

The process of producing the game would be documented by Two Player Productions, known best for Season 1 of PATV, Penny Arcade’s inter-office television series. Minimum contributions to the project started at as little as $1, but fans who donate $15 to the project will receive a copy of the game via Steam for PC and Mac, exclusive access to the Beta on Steam, access to the video series, and access the private discussion community.

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Renting DVDs is fast becoming an antiquated concept, soon to join music stores and MySpace as nostalgic reminders of days gone by. With the prevalence of digital downloads and high quality streaming, brick and mortar rental stores are fast becoming an endangered species.

Redbox has been able to carve out a niche for themselves in the failing industry by bringing the maximum amount of affordability and convince with 1 dollar rental units in stores nationwide. Not just content with staying alive for a few more years Redbox has recently partnered with Verizon to bring a new streaming service to compete with Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and all the rest.

Verizon and Coinstar, Inc. today announced the formation of a joint venture that will create a new choice for quality- and value-conscious  consumers seeking a simple and affordable way to access the video entertainment they crave. The venture’s services will offer all of the convenience, simplicity and value of Redbox® new release DVD and Blu-ray Disc® rentals combined with a new content-rich video on-demand streaming and download service from  Verizon.

The service is expected to roll out in the second half of 2012, and with the infrastructure of Redbox already in place this new service stands a real chance at biting into Netflix’s failing grip on the market place it basically invented.

For nearly 50 years Doctor Who has captured the imaginations of countless minds, from the very young, to the very young at heart. The internet age has allowed that active fan base to accomplish some pretty incredible things, including the ambitious Doctor Who Fan Orchestra which takes individual YouTube submissions of each instrument and re-builds themes from the show.

From the video’s description:

The Doctor Who Fan Orchestra invites musical fans of Doctor Who to take part in an online collaborative celebration of Murray Gold’s music. Participants submitted recordings for this work from November 2011 to January 2012.

This final mix includes a total of 177 submissions from 154 individual participants, ranging in age from 11 to 57, and who are located in at least 18 different countries across the world, including: United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Spain, France, Russia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Israel, Latvia, Norway, Poland, Singapore, Sweden and Switzerland.

The end result is incredible, a near flawless performance of two classic early run Murray Gold themes. The video itself is a collage of individual performances that is almost as interesting as the music they are playing. To see the pieces fit together in an intricate, 21st century weave of YouTube videos highlights this magnificent piece.

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The Amazing Spider-Man is one of the biggest upcoming movies of 2012. As anticipation continues to grow, Sony has unveiled the official website for the new web-slining blockbuster. Most noteworthy on the site are a series of new stills and a synopsis that promises more Spider-Man films in this new universe.

“Like most teenagers his age, Peter is trying to figure our who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. In his journey to put the pieces of his past togetherhe uncovers a secret that his father held… a secret that will ultimately shape his destiny as Spider-Man. This is the first in a series of movies that tells a different side of the Peter Parker story. On July 3rd, 2012, the untold story begins.”

The movie is going to be a very important step in the evolution of the comic-book movie. Up to this point comic book movies have generally held to the Hollywood rules of modern franchises, but one of the aspects of the comic book medium that keeps these characters relevant for so long is their ability to adapt and evolve on the fly. Even if that means rebooting a character that is still incredibly popular.

If The Amazing Spider-Man is a hit than we can see studios more willing to allow new filmmakers a chance at established characters with out waiting for the character to grow stale in it’s current style. The movie is set to hit theaters July 3rd, 2012.

While the world of film and TV awards get more and more jaded to the hardcore fans, it’s time to pay more attention to the forms of media that could, very soon, become the new medium to-be. I’m talking about the form of New Media, or “web series”, which is becoming more and more of what kids are talking about these days.

With that comes, of course, a cornocopia of popular awards to give accolades to these hard-working men and women. One of these is for the The International Academy of Web Television, a freshman organization that’s made to bring more attention to the growing medium.

Yesterday, the nomimations for the first year of awards was announced, and as expected, Sean Becker & Felicia Day’s popular web series The Guild, and the excellent drama series RCVR made out like bandits. From Variety.

“RCVR” racked up a dozen nominations. The show focuses on covert government agents that try to suppress the truth about extraterrestrial encounters and hunt humans selected by an alien species to act as channels for advanced technologies. “The Guild,” a long-running Web series that is arguably the field’s most popular, picked up nine nominations.

Voting is currently underway and the show hits on January 12th in Vegas the upcoming CES. Take a look at the full nominees after the jump.

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If you don’t know what Zazzle is let me enlighten you. They are an awesome online store that offers officially licensed apparel and accessories that are often highly customizable. Last year Capcom joined forces with Zazzle to offer officially branded Capcom properties merchandise. Just in time for the holiday season, Capcom has announced that they are expanding their partnership with Zazzle to offer even more fantastic Capcom branded stuff.

The best part of the expanded Capcom store within Zazzle is the plethora of icons for each title that you can put on any number of cool items. Do you want an Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney coffee mug, a Ryu mouse pad, a Mega-Man iPad case? All are possible with a large variety of images to choose from.

“The Capcom shops at Zazzle.com now have more choices than ever before! With the addition of popular brands like Street Fighter®, Mega Man® and Ace Attorney®, fans now have even more options to customize their favorite Capcom® video game icons on a wide variety of products offered by Zazzle.”

More Details after the jump.

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Let’s face it, we are on the cusp of the podcast generation. Nine out of ten average internet users either listen to daily podcasts if not record one themselves. That means that prosumer audio tools need to be simpler and more cost effective than ever.

Nobody who records a podcast, voiceover, or even voicechats online with friends or family wants to lug around an expensive XLR or headset mic place to place so that they can sound good. That’s where Blue Microphones’ Snowball USB microphone comes in handy.

This simple, science fiction-looking USB mic isn’t your normal USB mic. The #1-selling wired condenser mic out there, the Snowball has a high-quality dual capsule design that enables recording in three settings: cardioid, cardioid w/pad, and omni-directional.

For those who aren’t in it for the high-tech lingo and want simplicity, you can expect nothing simpler than the fact that the mic is plug-and-play for both Mac and PC, so even your grandparents could use this guy with ease and no concern of “drivers” or annoying instructions.

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