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Thursday, February 23, 2012

VIZ PRODUCTIONS & WARNER BROS. TO DEVELOP BLEACH LIVE ACTION MOVIE

VIZ PRODUCTIONS & WARNER BROTHERS TO DEVELOP

BLEACH LIVE ACTION MOVIE AFTER BANNER YEAR

VIZ Media’s Mega-Hit Franchise Continues To Expand Across All Entertainment Channels, Win In Ratings, And Top Best Seller Lists

San Francisco, CA, February 23, 2012 – VIZ Media, the largest distributor and licensor of anime and manga in the North America, announced today that Warner Bros. Pictures has acquired the live-action feature film rights to the hit manga and anime property BLEACH. The announcement comes after another successful year for BLEACH in print, digital publishing, cable television, streaming video, consumer products and video-on-demand.

“BLEACH has built a huge international following in its manga and anime formats, and we’re excited that Warner Bros. shares our belief that BLEACH can also become a fantastic live-action film,” said Jason Hoffs of VIZ Productions, VIZ Media’s Hollywood-based production company. “BLEACH is an exciting opportunity to mix Japanese and Hollywood storytelling to create something new for the big screen, and we’re thrilled for the opportunity to further expose its unique characters and story to film audiences everywhere.”

Peter Segal (GET SMART, THE LONGEST YARD) of Callahan Filmworks is producing with an eye toward directing. The film’s creative team also includes screenwriter Dan Mazeau, who recently penned Warner Bros.’ upcoming sequel to CLASH OF THE TITANS. Callahan Filmworks partner Michael Ewing and Masi Oka (best known for his roles on NBC’s HEROES and CBS’s HAWAII FIVE-0) will produce. From VIZ Productions, Hoffs will serve as Producer, and Branon Coluccio will be Executive Producer. Screenplay development will commence in 2012.

The popular BLEACH animated and manga series, created by Tite Kubo, follows the adventures of Ichigo, a teenager with the ability to see ghosts. When his family is attacked by a Hollow — a malevolent lost soul – Ichigo encounters Rukia, a Soul Reaper tasked to hunting Hollows, and inadvertently absorbs her powers. Now, Ichigo must dedicate his life to protecting the innocent and helping tortured souls find peace.

BLEACH is a tremendously successful multimedia property around the world. The manga has been licensed to more than a dozen countries and has over 75 million copies in print in Japan alone. In North America, the manga (rated ‘T’ for Teens) has consistently appeared on the New York Times Best Seller list for Manga and the Neilsen BookScan Top 50 Graphic Novels list, selling more than 2.1 million copies across 36 volumes.

The BLEACH manga is also available digitally through VIZManga.com and for download through the VIZ Manga App for iPad®, iPhone® and iPod® touch, where it has proven to be a top-seller. The series was recently sped up to bring North American readers up-to-date with the latest story arc in Japan, culminating in it being featured in WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA, the groundbreaking digital manga magazine that VIZ Media just launched at the end of January 2012.

The BLEACH animated series (rated TV-14) has topped the ratings on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim, sold over 1.8 million DVDs and consistently ranked among Hulu’s most watched shows, This success has further spawned an array of related video games (over 820,000 sold), apparel, action figures, trading cards and other merchandise.

BLEACH-ich14-WLogoComp

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Polar Bears

In 2001 I had a fantastic Olympus digital camera. It took action shots like nobodies business. These polar bears are only a few of the many examples I had over the years. If Olympus still remains in this category, they will be my next camera.

https://picasaweb.google.com/106418347875887154530/PolarBearsFrom2001DenverZoo

Monday, February 6, 2012

Super Bowl TV: Good game, wretched ads, pathetic half-time show - baltimoresun.com

Super Bowl TV: Good game, wretched ads, pathetic half-time show - baltimoresun.com:

'via Blog this'

My friend, Jeff, responded to the article with this response. As an aging woman (and there are many of us), I felt very proud of his reply.

Mr. Zurawik -

I am outraged at some of the hypocritical comments you made in your article "Super Bowl TV: Good game, nasty ads, pathetic half-time show."

In said article, you lamented that the Super Bowl commercials were "a barometer of our culture. And what they said to me is that we have become a truly dumbed-down, crass, trashy and even cruel society -- and somehow proud of it."

Well, sir, you apparently have inhaled the air of our culture and it is seeping its way out of your inarticulate pores.

After condemning the cruelty on display, you turn around and make ageist comments about the star halftime performer, calling her "an embalmed version of Madonna snatched off the undertaker's table." That is incredibly offensive for a number of reasons, but most importantly you are taking cruel pot shots at a person because of her age. That is dumbfoundingly inappropriate, rude, unprofessional and CRUEL for a person in the media to make a remark like that. I would expect that from some uneducated putz on Twitter with no sense of pride in himself or the establishment he represents, but not from a member of the media. If you're supposed to be a critic, then fine, criticize the performance all you want - but how DARE you mean-spiritedly criticize a person for aging. By making such a statement, you are essentially telling each of your readers that, at 53 years old, you are worthless, washed up and should rot in a grave someplace. Have you given any thought to the average age of your readership? All evidence would point to the fact that you have not. You owe every single one of them a sincere apology.

I have no idea how old you are, Mr. Zurawik, but you too will eventually get old. I hope when you get to a certain age the tide will have turned and people will no longer be chastised for getting older...but by then, if your attitude hasn't changed, there may not be anyone around you who cares how old you've become.


Jeff Kirkpatrick