Barring the occasional Disney Channel special (looking at you, Suite Life of Zack and Cody ), a legitimate crossover not between a show and its spinoff is a rare, mystical thing. Which is perhaps why, amid the Babel Stones, the makeshift lightsabers and the fire-breathing mechanical spiders, the first installment of the Warehouse 13-Eureka crossover felt so right.
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Warehouse 13’s Relic Roundup: What Artifacts Sprang from SyFy’s Ultimate Crossover?
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Tagged amid-the-babel, eureka, fire, guys, Hollywood, neil grayston, the-first, warehouse 13
The executives at FX raised trumpets to their mouths and unfurled a scroll of good news today, including the renewal of FX’ s Louie . The Louis CK comedy has a new episode tonight, and you may prefer it over the fire-juggling antics going on in NBC primetime.
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What’s On: Louie is King at FX
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Tagged bennyhollywood, fire, glee, good-news, head-on-camera, Hollywood, johnny-depp, louis, may-prefer, new-episode, News, night, rachel zoe project, tvline
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eM-1XnAWvLY http://www.mefeedia.com/news/32255459 http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20012557-504083.html Whether they were racist or not is not the issue. The issue is that this man decided to take the law into his own hands and he should absolutely be held completely accountable for all of his actions. Race or insanity should not hold up as defenses for his terrible actions. ____________________________________________________________________ MANCHESTER, Conn. — A warehouse driver who a union official said was caught on video stealing beer from the distributorship where he worked went on a shooting rampage there Tuesday, killing eight people and wounding two before committing suicide. Omar Thornton, 34, pulled a handgun after a meeting in which he had been offered the chance to quit or be fired, Manchester Police Chief Marc Montminy said. Among those killed was Thornton's union representative at the meeting. The gunman, who was black, had complained of racial harassment and said he found a picture of a noose and a racial epithet written on a bathroom wall, the mother of his girlfriend said. Her daughter told her that Thornton's supervisors told him they would talk to his co-workers. Brett Hollander, whose family owns the distributorship, said, “I can assure you there has never been any racial discrimination at our company.” And a union official said Thornton had not filed a complaint of racism with the union or any government agency. Thornton had been caught on videotape stealing beer, Teamsters official Christopher Roos said. “It's got nothing to do with race,” Roos said. “This is a disgruntled employee who shot a bunch of people.” Thornton's girlfriend had been with him the night before the rampage and had no indication he was planning it, said her mother, Joanne Hannah. On Tuesday morning, about 50 to 70 people were in the warehouse about 10 miles east of Hartford during a shift change when the gunman opened fire around 7 a.m., Hollander said. Adding to the chaos at the warehouse was a fire, which was put out. Montminy said he didn't know how the fire started, but didn't think it was set. The shooting was over in a matter of minutes, Montminy said. The victims were found all over the complex, and authorities don't know if Thornton fired randomly or targeted specific co-workers, Montminy said. After shooting his co-workers, Thornton called his mother, Hannah said. “He wanted to say goodbye and that he loved everybody,” Hannah said. Thornton was alive when police got to the scene but killed himself before officers got to him, Montminy said. A police sharpshooter had approval to fire on Thornton when he killed himself, an official with knowledge of the scene told the AP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it. Hannah said her daughter, Kristi, had dated Thornton for the past eight years. Kristi Hannah did not return calls for comment. “Everybody's got a breaking point,” Joanne Hannah said. Hannah described Thornton as an easygoing guy who liked to play sports and video games. She said he had a pistol permit and had planned to teach her daughter how to use a gun. Hollander's cousin, Steve, who's a vice president at the company, was shot in the arm and the face. Hollander said he thought his cousin would be OK. Steve Hollander would not comment when reached on his cell phone. Police declined to release the names of those killed. Among the dead was Bryan Cirigliano, 51, of Newington, president of Teamsters 1035, according to the union. He had been Thornton's representative at Tuesday's disciplinary hearing, the union said. Bill Ackerman, a 51-year-old warehouseman, also was killed, said his girlfriend, Stephanie Laurin. “I was like, 'Where's Billy, where's Billy?' and they said they hadn't seen him. And then one of his co-workers told me … that he saw the shooter go to where Billy's room is that he works in,” she said. “I was just praying to God that he was OK.” Ackerman, who enjoyed playing golf and rooting for the Boston Red Sox, had worked for the company for about 20 years, she said. The Hartford Courant identified another victim as Victor James, 59, of Windsor. Two victims were being treated at Hartford Hospital. The rampage was the nation's deadliest since 13 people were fatally shot at Fort Hood, Texas, in November. A military psychiatrist is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder in that case. In Connecticut, a state lottery worker gunned down four supervisors in 1998 before committing suicide, and six people were killed in 1974 in botched robbery at a bakery in New Britain. Two men were convicted of that crime. On Tuesday, a few dozen relatives and friends of the victims gathered a few miles away at Manchester High School. Outside, people talked, hugged and cried. Others talked on cell phones. Police officers from numerous agencies and police and fire vehicles surrounded the warehouse, on a tree-lined road in an industrial park just west of a shopping mall. Thornton listed Hoffman's Gun Center & Indoor Range in Newington as among his interests on his Facebook page. A company official declined to comment. Thornton filed for bankruptcy protection a decade ago. His Chapter 7 petition in 2000 listed $4,850 in assets, including a 1994 Chrysler Concorde, and more than $15,000 in liabilities — primarily debt on credit card and student loan payments. His debts were discharged in March 2001 and the case was closed the following month. The Connecticut Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities said Hartford Distributors has never had any complaints filed against it. The Hollander family is widely respected in Manchester, said state Rep. Ryan Barry, a lifelong resident. He said the family-owned Hartford Distributors sponsors local sports teams and the family is civic-minded. “Everybody knows the Hollanders as good, generous, upstanding people,” Barry said. “They're embedded in the community. Everyone knows Hartford Distributors. They treat their employees very well and they're part of the fabric of the town.” In a statement, Connecticut Gov. M. Jodi Rell offered condolences to the victims' families and co-workers. “We are all left asking the same questions: How could someone do this? Why did they do this?” she said. added by: keithponder
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Tagged Boston, daughter, distributorship, fire, hollander, Hollywood, House, montminy, psych, texas, the-smartest
For clues, MTV News takes a closer look at clips for ‘Ye’s previous first singles. By Steven Roberts Kanye West 10.10.2005 Photo: MTV News Despite his newfound penchant for social media, Kanye West has kept quiet about what’s in store for the video for his newest single, “Power.” MTV News gathered a few clues, including a look at the videos for his previous first singles, for hints about what fans might expect from his latest. A photo from the Marco Brambilla-directed “video project” hit the Web last Thursday and it featured a sullen-faced West wearing his oversize, gold Horus chain and standing between rows of columns. Still, West urged fans to not get too excited — via his Twitter. “Preview of the ‘Power’ Trailer, it’s just a still pic. Don’t get to[o] hype.” Naturally, everyone got hyped, and West tweeted a link to a New York Times article about Brambilla’s involvement with the project soon after. Brambilla described the video as “kind of apocalyptic, in a very personal way.” It remains to be seen how it will shape up, but it seems certain the clip will set the tone for his still-untitled fifth album. “Through the Wire” The video for West’s triumphant, Chaka Khan-sampled first single from his debut LP, The College Dropout, featured a bulletin board of Polaroids documenting ‘Ye’s recovery from a near-fatal car crash and early footage of West’s road to recognition. With his jaw still wired shut, West narrates the story of how his life-threatening accident fueled his fire as an MC. The video reflected the mood of West’s debut, which saw the Chicago native detailing his early struggles trying to get put on in hip-hop after being overlooked and underappreciated. West spent years behind the scenes, producing for the likes of Jay-Z, Mos Def and Beanie Sigel, but received little encouragement when it came to his dreams of rapping. It wasn’t until his accident, however, that even he began to give it his all. “Diamonds From Sierra Leone” Following the enormous success of College Dropout, West upped the ante with the video for “Diamonds From Sierra Leone.” The black-and-white, Hype Williams-directed video finds West riding around in a Mercedes-Benz in Prague. As he explores the city’s lavish architecture, he’s haunted by the sins of wealth in the form of children who’ve died mining diamonds in West Africa. The video reflects the creative steps forward that Kanye took on his second album, Late Registration. West collaborated with composer/producer Jon Brion on the project, which combined hip-hop production, string arrangements, horn riffs and piano. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” West again reached out to Hype Williams for the video for “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” The visual was filmed in the desert with West rapping to a track featuring some Young Jeezy ad-libs. The barren backdrop was perfect for the boastful song, as Graduation became the album on which West began to separate himself from the rest of the rap universe. Famously criticized for not having a street record, Kanye dropped “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” and it became not only an anthem for the streets, but nearly every MySpace page. It was during this period that West also topped 50 Cent in a much-hyped sales duel. Following the album’s release, MTV named ‘Ye 2008’s “Hottest MC in the Game” “Love Lockdown” In all honesty, the video for “Love Lockdown” may not have played as large a role in helping to set the tone for 808s & Heartbreak. West had lost his mother, Donda West , in 2007 due to complications from surgery and broke off his engagement to his fianc
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Tagged Album, college-dropout, engagement, fire, life, mood, Music, News, news article, sierra-leone, Videos
Have you noticed that you can’t swing a dead cat these days without hitting some television host claiming the Tea Party or a conservative is racist? Turn on ABC and there it is. Ditto CBS , CNN , and MSNBC . Can’t get away from it, can you? Think it’s just a coincidence, or could this be a response to President Obama’s plummeting poll numbers and the panic in the liberal media that November could be a realigning election that results in a massive Republican sweep of Congress? Before you answer, consider the following written Wednesday by Gina Loudon, the founder of Buycott Arizona: With no way to win on the issues, Democrats would need some way to energize their base. So in 2010, they began playing the race card as hard as they could. In a very rare move, the president of the United States rushed out to tell the world that he had a racist state that had gone rogue and needed to be punished. Adding to the narrative, Democratic congressional leaders invited a foreign leader to excoriate millions of Americans from the floor of Congress…While assailing white voters in Arizona, the Obama administration got caught in an Orwellian scenario that makes it appear the policy of this Chicago machine administration is that some people really are “more equal” than others. On Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported : Democratic strategists looking to stave off major losses in the upcoming midterm election have devised a precise and targeted role for President Obama: recapturing the enthusiasm he generated as a fresh-faced candidate vying to become the nation’s first black president. This seems crucial for Democrat success, as according to a recent survey by the Pew Research Center, Republicans are far more energized: Fully 56% of Republican voters say they are more enthusiastic about voting this year than in previous elections – the highest percentage of GOP voters expressing increased enthusiasm about voting in midterms dating back to 1994. While enthusiasm among Democratic voters overall is on par with levels in 2006, fewer liberal Democrats say they are more enthusiastic about voting than did so four years ago (52% then, 37% today). The Republican Party now holds about the same advantage in enthusiasm among its party’s voters that the Democratic Party held in June 2006 and the GOP had late in the 1994 campaign. Moreover, more Republicans than Democrats are now paying close attention to election news (64% vs. 50%). Coincidentally as the Times noted, the President is changing his approach: More and more, Obama is taking on a partisan tone. He is weaving a story line peopled with villains and heroes, fools and leaders. In a speech Thursday in Las Vegas, he mocked Sen. Harry Reid’s election opponent, Republican Sharron Angle, saying she “favors an approach that’s even more extreme than the Republicans we got in Washington. That’s saying something.” It sure is saying something: Obama and Company, realizing November looks like a disaster, are beginning to demonize the opposition. And, as midterm elections are often about turnout, the key right now for the Left is to figure out a way to energize those that helped Obama get elected in the first place. The solution: play the race card. Nothing gets the ire up in liberals more than racism. After all, you might still be unemployed, and this administration may not have brought about all the Hope and Change they campaigned on, but Republicans are all racists. This includes many of their elected officials, their surrogates at Fox News, the radio personalities they love like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, and, of course, those awful Teabaggers. The NAACP just put that red letter on THEIR backs, don’t you know? With the strategy in place, all that’s needed is a compliant media stoking the fire of discontent. Just try swinging a dead cat without hitting someone that fits THAT bill.
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Is All This ‘Conservatives Are Racist’ Talk Designed to Save Dems in November?
In October 2007, I put up a BizzyBlog post (also cross-posted at the Cleveland Plain Dealer’s short-lived Wide Open Blog ) about William Garner (pictured at right), the Ohio man who killed five children (three of them and the lone survivor also pictured at right) to cover up a burglary in 1992. At the time, it appeared that Garner’s date with the executioner had been indefinitely called off, for specious Miranda-related reasons that you have to read to believe (and even then, it will be difficult). On Tuesday, Garner’s attempts to avoid his death sentence ultimately failed. Sadly, the Associated Press’s unbylined coverage of his execution by lethal injection Tuesday allowed Garner and his lawyers to put forth one final batch of half-truths and untruths that require refutation (bolds and numbered tags are mine): An Ohio man said he was “heartily sorry” for his carelessness (1) before he was executed Tuesday for the murders of five children in a 1992 Cincinnati apartment fire he set in an attempt to destroy evidence of a burglary. William Garner, 37, died at 10:38 a.m. at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, 18 minutes after the lethal injection began. As he lay on the execution table, Garner held a dreadlock of hair from a female friend and read a mostly inaudible lengthy final statement from notebook paper held by the execution team leader. He thanked several people as well as the state of Ohio. “I’m heartily sorry,” he said. “God bless everyone who has been robbed in this procedure. I thought I’d never be free, but I’m free now.” Garner was sentenced to death for the Jan. 26, 1992, pre-dawn deaths of the children in the apartment of Addie Mack, who was in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. Garner had stolen keys from her purse while she received care and took a cab to the apartment to steal a television, radio, VCR and telephone. Four girls and two boys, ages 8 to 13, were at the apartment alone, and Garner knew they were there when he threw a lit match onto a couch. Garner has admitted setting the fire but said he thought the children would escape (2). Only one, 13-year-old Rod Mack, made it out alive. … Because so many people wanted to witness the execution on behalf of the young victims, the prison opened a second viewing room, prisons spokeswoman Julie Walburn said. Six witnesses for the victims and Garner’s niece and legal team were accommodated in the witness room facing the execution chamber, and another three victims’ witnesses watched on closed-circuit TV in the spillover room, she said. … Garner had said a secondary motivation for setting the fire was to draw attention to the children’s squalid living conditions (3). He told police that he had noticed the bedroom “full of girls” and that one of them had asked him for water, which he provided, according to a report by the Ohio Parole Board. He also said he had been in another bedroom where the two boys slept. His lawyers had argued that the death sentences be set aside because Garner had developmental disabilities, a limited IQ and a violent, abusive upbringing (4) that caused him to function on the level of a 14-year-old at the time of the deaths. How is this AP story incomplete and wrong? Let’s count the ways. But first, brace yourself for the horror that follows. A Cincinnati Enquirer report that is no longer available but is excerpted at the October 2007 BizzyBlog post shows that Garner was a cold-blooded, calculating burglar who did everything he could not to leave any tracks, even if it meant killing six children who were sleeping (as noted earlier, one got out alive): Hours before the fire, Garner slipped into University Hospital, looking for an easy mark. There, he found (apartment unit residents Marshandra) Jackson and Addie Mack, who had fallen and hurt her wrist. Garner snatched up Mack’s purse when she wasn’t looking, stealing money and her apartment keys. He took a taxi to the English Woods apartment, telling the driver to wait while he retrieved his belongings. He carted out electronic equipment, at one point waking up one of the children. Garner spun a tale about her mother sending him to check everyone and sent her back to bed with a glass of water. Before leaving, Garner set three fires in the apartment. Then, he grabbed the phone and smoke detectors and left … Now let’s get to the bolded and tagged items in the AP excerpt. (1) – “Carelessness”? The Enquirer excerpt, which originates in Garner’s original police questioning and confession, thoroughly discredits that risible claim. (2) – He “thought the children would escape”? He set three fires, plural (i.e., earth to AP, he did a lot more than throw “a lit match on a couch”). He removed the landline phone and the smoke detectors. How were these children supposed to call for help? How were they going to escape if they weren’t going to wake up until the flames were already out of control? (3) – He wanted “to draw attention to the children’s squalid living conditions”? Mr. Garner had a sick way of demonstrating his concern. The original Enquirer article gave no indication that Mr. Garner had such “noble” thoughts, and I daresay you won’t find any such thoughts expressed in police or legal documents relating to the original arrest and trial. (4) He had “developmental disabilities, a limited IQ and a violent, abusive upbringing”? Gee, he was clever enough to sneak in and out of a hospital; patient enough to wait for the right moment to snatch a purse; cool-headed enough to keep one of his victims calm, giving her a drink of water before sending her back to bed; and sufficiently forward-thinking to disconnect the children’s two best defenses against getting burned alive. Nobody had the slightest reason to believe that Garner was disabled or mentally challenged in 1992 when he was arrested and confessed, or when he was tried and convicted. There’s plenty of reason to believe that his lawyers’ contention while Garner was on Death Row was a fundamentally dishonest, after-the-fact concoction with no basis in fact whose only purpose was to prevent the state from carrying out its sentence. The AP’s weak coverage of Garner’s heinous crime is perhaps instructive to all who read future establishment press dispatches concerning death-penalty executions. The lesson is that the true story and full circumstances of what the killer did may be much worse than what the press chooses to tell readers on Execution Day. Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com .
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Killer of Five Children Executed in Ohio; AP Story Allows Half-Truths and Untruths to Live On
Sequel has not been green-lit, but writer/director already has two scripts in the works. By Brian Warmoth M. Night Shyamalan Photo: MTV News If a $53.3 million holiday weekend proves successful enough to keep M. Night Shyamalan around for a “Last Airbender” sequel, he knows what he wants to do — and he wants to do it darkly. Asked about his intentions going forward, the “Sixth Sense” and “Signs” director confirmed that he has much of “The Last Airbender 2” already mapped out. “I do,” Shyamalan told MTV News. “The third is more ambiguous, but the second one, I’ve written a draft that I’m really happy with and is darker and richer, and it has a wonderful antagonist in it in Azula, who’s kind of like our only real, pure antagonist in the series, so I’m excited about that.” His description of the story implies that Summer Bishil’s character from the film currently in theaters has plenty left to do onscreen as Aang (Noah Ringer) continues his fight against the Fire Nation. As far as what the story will be about and which characters could enter or exit the cast, those decisions may have to wait for Paramount’s decision on the franchise’s fate. If things proceed, Shyamalan has already shared a few details that could play into his intentions. The elite female Kyoshi Warriors , for instance, will likely play a larger role. “I probably won’t show the Kyoshi Warriors because I want to save them for the second movie, because I’m going to have to introduce them all over again,” he said while explaining what would and would not show up in the “Last Airbender” DVD and Blu-Ray’s deleted scenes . The characters were initially included in the first film, but circumstances and editing decisions eventually moved them out of the spotlight. “We shot [the scene] and [the Kyoshi Warriors] were amazing, and we spent an unbelievable amount of time choreographing them,” he said. “And they just distracted from the movie, because the movie wasn’t about them.” Given that he became much more comfortable with filming in 3-D during his first “Airbender,” another round of 3-D filming with the same crew would make sense unless Hollywood’s affection for the evolving medium changes overnight. In the meantime, Shyamalan sounds like he’s ready to go if and when an “Airbender” sequel gets the go-ahead. For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘The Last Airbender’ Clips MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Last Airbender’
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‘Last Airbender 2’ Will Be ‘Darker,’ M. Night Shyamalan Says
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Tagged artists, bennyhollywood, between-the-two, fire, Hollywood, huge, kyoshi, mawuse-ziegbe, movie, story, summer, time, Videos, whether-or-not
The Last Airbender is, as M. Night Shyamalan movies go, pretty straightforward. It’s also, refreshingly, not as completely idiotic as most of his movies are. No aliens in stretchy unitards who can be vanquished by — surprise! — plain old tap water; no meek, modest 19th-century communities who are — surprise! — really just weirdo cults being kept away from 21st-century life. The Last Airbender, based on a popular Nickelodeon cartoon series, is a fantasy-adventure aimed primarily at kids, set in a world where four tribal nations — Air, Water, Earth and Fire — just can’t get along, because a revered being known as the Avatar has skipped out on them some 100 years ago. Taking advantage of this international instability, the people of the Fire Nation have decided to bully the other guys into submission and thus take over the world. Oh where, oh where, could the Avatar be?
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REVIEW: A Few Nifty Visuals Can’t Rescue Exhausting Last Airbender
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Tagged avatar, bully-the-other, celeb news, fire, Hollywood, idiotic-as-most, international, the last airbender, tv guide, twilight
Visual-effects supervisor and set decorator lead MTV News through the film’s biggest spectacles. By Eric Ditzian Shaun Toub in “The Last Airbender” Photo: Paramount Pictures Last summer, MTV News took a trip inside M. Night Shyamalan’s mad-scientist brain when we visited the Philadelphia set of “The Last Airbender.” The hyperkinetic director was in the midst of bringing “Airbender” out from the animated small screen and into real life, and the results were big, big, big — sets twice the size of football fields, massive green screens, hundreds of extras in elaborate costumes and a production budget two and a half times the size of any of his other movies. “I’m scared to death,” he admitted back then. Yet, at the same time, Shyamalan knew exactly what he was doing. Now the results of that focused anxiety have arrived in theaters. Set in an imaginary world in which various tribes can control the elements of the planet, the film follows the century-long war that the Fire nation has been waging against other nations until a young boy named Aang (Noah Ringer) discovers he is the only person capable of controlling all four elements and bringing about peace. As the tribes go at one another, the audience gets to sit back and take in all manner of badass weaponry and cool, CGI-assisted powers. Visual-effects supervisor Pablo Helman (“War of the Worlds”) and set decorator Larry Dias (“Transformers”) walked MTV News through the creation of these various features to give us the inside scoop about five cool weapons and powers. Manipulating Fire The Fire nation is one committed to ceaseless warfare. Their weapon of choice, obviously, is all manner of wicked flames — flung in various ways at the enemy to cause maximum damage. It’s fantastical stuff, no doubt, but Shyamalan wanted that computer-generated power to be grounded in reality. Helman’s source of inspiration? The annual Burning Man festival in Nevada. “Night wanted something that no one had seen before,” Helman said. “And he wanted the fire to look different every time it was used. At Burning Man, they’ve got a bonfire there, and they put a bunch of fans around it so the fire looks like a tornado fire. That was the main inspiration. We showed it to Night and said it’s a cool look, and he loved it.” Manipulating Water The Water nation, meanwhile, is a more peaceful tribe — until they’re challenged by the Fire folks and have to fight back. Their ability is controlling water and using it every conceivable way to eliminate the aggressor. Helman looked to the U.S. space agency to come up with something that would work for computer animation. “We looked at NASA footage. They did some experiments with liquid water in zero gravity,” Helman said. “If you look at the water in zero gravity, it behaves in a specific way. It stays together, it forms balls, and there’s all this interesting stuff that happens inside the balls of water. That’s what we showed Night, and he loved it. So we had to come up with a piece of software that allowed us to manipulate water in the same way.” Fire Balls The Fire nation doesn’t just hurl fire. They also build huge, spiky metal spheres that they launch from their warships. Think of them like the scariest, flame-assisted catapults you’ve ever seen. “The Fire nation is the only one of the nations that has industrialized, and we needed to create something that would work for them,” Dias explained. “So for the military ships, we manufactured these giant orbs — basically a metal framework that would have fire put in digitally. They have huge spikes, they’re flaming, they’re intense. They inflict a lot of damage.” Zuko’s Double Swords “Airbender” features a slew of weapons, from Aang’s powerful staff to the various swords of the warring tribes. But ask star Dev Patel what his favorite weapon in the movie is, and of course he’s going to choose one that his character — the Fire nation’s Prince Zuko — gets to wield in a seriously badass fashion. Too bad Patel himself didn’t actually get to swing those double swords. “I actually didn’t use the two broad swords,” Patel told MTV News. “Most of the other action I did. With two big, sharp swords in my hand, they had an amazing stunt guy called Stephen Oyoung, and he is brilliant with these two swords. He deserves lots of credit.” Fire Braziers Here’s the thing about the Fire nation: While they maintain a mighty army capable of manipulating fire, they can’t create enough fire themselves to rein terror on their enemies. Instead, they have to cart around huge fire carriers that give them the raw material. “We built these big fire baskets called braziers that are really ornate,” Dias said. “We built them in different sizes. They have these poles that are decorated with spearheads, and four soldiers carry them. The Fire nation can’t go to war without them.” Check out everything we’ve got on “The Last Airbender.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Last Airbender’ ‘The Last Airbender’ Clips Related Photos The Powers & Creatures Of ‘The Last Airbender’ ‘The Last Airbender’
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‘The Last Airbender’: An Inside Look At Five Cool Powers And Weapons
A fan-friendly primer on how the hugely popular cartoon made it to the big screen. By Kara Warner “The Last Airbender” Photo: Paramount Pictures Based on Nickelodeon’s hit animated series, “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” many thought the film adaptation would never happen. The story revolves around Aang, the last living member of an air-manipulating nomadic tribe, also on his quest to unite the other elemental tribes against the tyranny of the Fire nation. In January 2007, “Sixth Sense” and “Unbreakable” director M. Night Shyamalan was tapped to write, direct and produce the live-action version of the series. Shortly thereafter, MTV News caught up with Shyamalan to find out what inspired him to sign on to the project. He cited the animated series’ “cool fighting scenes” and its supernatural elements. With all systems go and excitement building toward the film’s inevitable casting announcement, when the news finally arrived in late 2008, it created a stir of controversy alleging racist casting choices — mainly for the four main roles of Aang, played by newcomer and taekwondo black belt Noah Ringer; Nicola Peltz as Katara; “Twilight” actor Jackson Rathbone as Sokka; and pop singer Jesse McCartney as Prince Zuko. McCartney eventually had to drop out of filming due to scheduling conflicts and was soon replaced with “Slumdog Millionaire” star Dev Patel . Shyamalan later responded to the criticism in a lengthy interview with Indie Movies Online : “I’m always surprised at the level of misunderstanding, the sensitivities that exist. As an Asian-American, it bothers me when people take all of their passion and rightful indignation about the subject and then misplace it.” Controversy aside, filming was well under way in May 2009, when we got our first look at Dev Patel as the evil and angsty Prince Zuko and newbie Noah Ringer as Aang. The following month, MTV News was invited to visit the Philadelphia set (the largest ever assembled on the East Coast) for an inside look at the production, where we wandered the fantastical lands of the Northern Water Tribe, stood on Commander Zhao’s battleship and chatted with Shyamalan and his castmembers. Patel told us he felt like he’d “been thrown into the deep end. … It’s a real stretch for me. At the start going into it, I was a bit naive, and I thought, ‘This is just going to be a big laugh. I’m playing a cartoon character.’ Then I got on set with everyone and read the script, and M. Night’s in front of me, and there’s a lot of soul-searching to be done.” The first teaser trailer arrived just after our set visit and nearly a year ahead of the film’s release. The footage offered fans a glimpse of Aang in action, practicing his airbending in a circular room surrounded by candlelight. All was quiet on the “Airbender” front until January of this year, when Paramount released two teaser posters , one of Aang and the other of Prince Zuko. The following month, we got a sneak preview of the “Last Airbender” toy line , which was followed closely by a second trailer that aired during the Super Bowl . When our MTV Movie Awards rolled around last month, the trailers started to reveal more detailed action, and we got our hands on and analyzed an exclusive clip that premiered during the live broadcast. And just last week, fans got their first glimpse of Momo, Aang’s flying lemur friend, in one of several TV spots that rolled out around World Cup coverage. Shortly thereafter, MTV added 30 images to our “Last Airbender” gallery . Fans commented that they would buy tickets just to see Appa the Sky Bison. Finally, just days before the film’s release, we caught up with Shyamalan to find out what inspired the film’s impressive fight choreography (hint: Bruce Lee) and “Twilight” and “Airbender” star Jackson Rathbone answered the age-old “who would win in a fight” question: Jasper Hale or Sokka ? Check out everything we’ve got on “The Last Airbender.” For breaking news and previews of the latest comic book movies — updated around the clock — visit SplashPage.MTV.com . Related Videos ‘The Last Airbender’ Clips MTV Rough Cut: ‘The Last Airbender’ Related Photos The Powers & Creatures Of ‘The Last Airbender’ ‘The Last Airbender’
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