Azrael's Merryland Blog - 2003-2023

WE have to change the program a little
we will make it more...hmmm...educational !

ok ba?

so here goes !

Mars visible to naked eye on August 27
Close Encounter With Mars

Never again in your lifetime will the Red Planet be so spectacular!

This month and next Earth is catching up with Mars,an encounter that will
culminate in the closest approach between the two planets in recorded history.
The next time Mars may come this close is in 2287. Due to the way Jupiter's
gravity tugs on Mars and affects its orbit, astronomers can only be certain
that Mars has not come this close to Earth in the last 5,000 years but it may
be as long as 60,000 years.

The encounter will culminate on August 27th when
Mars comes to within 34,649,589 miles and will be (next to the moon) the
brightest object in the night sky. It will attain a magnitude of -2.9 and will
appear 25.11 arc seconds wide. At a modest 75-power
magnification Mars will look as large as the full
moon to the naked eye. Mars will be easy to spot. At the beginning of August
Mars will rise in the east at 10 p.m. and reach its azimuth at about 3 a.m.

By the end of August when the two planets are
closest, Mars will rise at nightfall and reach its highest point in the sky at
12:30 a.m. That's pretty convenient when it comes to seeing something that no
human has seen in recorded history. So mark your calendar at the beginning of
August to see Mars grow
progressively brighter and brighter throughout the month. Share this event with
your children and grandchildren. No one alive today will ever see this again

Xmen 2 producer Talks Transformers
Tom DeSanto—the X2 producer who is also producing a proposed live-action Transformers movie—told SCI FI Wire that the film will make use of both computer and practical effects for the signature machines and will be based primarily on the original 1980s lineup. "We're working on the storyline for Transformers, and we're hopefully going to set that up," DeSanto said in an interview at Comic-Con International over the weekend. "We're going to start going out to studios."

DeSanto also said that he and producing partner Don Murphy are close to hiring a director. "We've been talking with several now," he said. "But we have a big guy next week." He declined to comment on a report on IGN FilmForce that quoted Murphy saying that the candidates include Michael Bay, Robert Zemeckis and Joseph Kahn.

The movie will go "back to sort of the roots" of the franchise, DeSanto said. "But if there's something great that ends up from a later storyline, it's the same principle as X-Men: Don't try to follow continuity, but get to the heart and the soul of what made it work."

As for the effects, DeSanto said, "I think relying 100 percent on CGI would be a mistake. But, you know, you need CGI. ... You will believe that an 18-wheeler will transform."

Star Wars EP. III NEWS
Episode III production has taken over all seven sound stages in
Australia's Fox Studio's, some of which were used in the filming of the
Matrix sequels

Stunt Coordinator and Sword Master Nick Gilliard will finally be
seen in front of the camera as opposed to behind it, he will most likely
be in one of the major lightsaber battles, I'm unsure if he will be a
Jedi or Sith

Hayden has been in training for more than three months as of
this date, while Ewan arrived after 2 months after Anakin, as their
climactic battle will be the longest and most spectacular lightsaber
duel of the saga

The sword fighters practice in a large empty room, with
print-outs of the animatics for THREE key-set pieces and rough
storyboards of what looks very much like intense action are strewn on
Gilliard's desk, along with the number's of the nearest hospital and
blaring electronica music (Hayden's choice), just a few chairs, sparring
targets and trampolines populate the room.

Nick Gilliard considers Lightsaber Duels as "like a second
language" "one that only about eight people can understand". "and even
fewer can do" adds Kyle Rowling, stunt double for Count Dooku

the secret coded language of lightsaber battles has now been
extended from the styles as indicated in the Star Wars Insider taken
primarily from the Expanded Universe, to add a total of TWELVE MORE
styles designed by Gilliard for the last installment of the movies,
which have nothing to do with the previously known fighting styles.

Over a hundred lightsabers were harmed in the production of the
first two prequels, the body count for Episode 3 has yet to be
determined


Kutcher First For Batman?
Dark Horizons posted speculation about the rumor that Ashton Kutcher is the front-runner for a proposed fifth Batman movie. The '70s Show star is Warner Brothers' first choice, but not that of director Christopher Nolan, the site reported.

Citing an anonymous source, the site also reported that Nolan will make his choice in late August or early September from a list of as many as 20 actors.

The site added that Christopher Lloyd has been spotted on the Warner lot in the company of Nolan, fueling speculation that he may be in the running to play a villain called the Scarecrow.