New trailers came out online for The Wolverine and Man of Steel.  Both trailers add a lot more detail or information to what folks might know about the upcoming movies.  Especially the Man of Steel trailer, which adds more details to the upcoming story.  It makes much more sense now.

Man of Steel movie trailer

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The Wolverine movie trailer

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It would seem that DC Entertainment (DCE) is calling June 12th the Man of Steel day and they’re going to make it count at your local comic book retailers and bookstores.

The latest Superman movie, called Man of Steel is opening in theaters on Friday, June 14th.  And there’s much to be excited about this film for.  It’s produced by Christopher Nolan, (who co-wrote the script) who legitimatized the Batman character in his Dark Knight movies.  It’s directed by Zack Snyder, who has an eye for the visually stunning.  He’s been  behind such movies as Sucker Punch, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Watchmen and 300.

The movie stars Henry Cavill as Clark Kent, with Michael Shannon as General Zod.

The movie shows Clark facing his off-planet origins when others from his planet show up and invade.

I think Warner Bros has a hit coming up on their hands, and how they handle this movie as a potential lead-in to their own universe of comic book characters will be interesting to see.  I’m secretly expecting a quickie reference to Superman taking a moment for a bomb in Gotham city… oh, oops, I guess that’s not secret any more.

But regardless, DC is going to make the most of it and tease you into comic book retailers with “a free copy of ALL STAR SUPERMAN #1 SPECIAL EDITION comic book by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly.”

There will also be “MAN OF STEEL promotional posters and bags,” a new comic, SUPERMAN UNCHAINED #1 for sale, 12″ collectible statues from Man of Steel.

Digitally, keep your eyes peeled for that free comic title to be available for download also, courtesy of Sears.

AND, there will be a bunch of 99 cent titles via comiXology, Kindle, iBookstore, Nook platforms.

Man of Steel Opens in the U.S. on June 14th, while Japan gets stuck with a August 30th opening date!

Below, are various international locations and their opening dates for Man of Steel:

Philippines      –      12 June 2013

Argentina      –      13 June 2013
Bolivia
Chile
Czech Republic
Lebanon
Malaysia
Peru
Puerto Rico
Singapore
South Korea
Thailand
United Arab Emirates

Bulgaria      –      14 June 2013
Canada
Colombia
Denmark
Egypt
India
Indonesia
Ireland
Lithuania
Mexico
Panama
Paraguay
Taiwan
UK
USA
Uruguay
Venezuela
Vietnam

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Belgium      –      19 June 2013
France
Switzerland (French speaking region)

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Cambodia      –      20 June 2013
Croatia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Israel
Italy
Netherlands
Russia
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Switzerland (German speaking region)
Ukraine

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Austria      –      21 June 2013
Cyprus
Iceland
Norway
Romania
Spain
Turkey

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Finland      –      26 June 2013
Sweden

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Australia      –      27 June 2013
Hong Kong
New Zealand
Portugal

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Estonia      –      28 June 2013
Latvia
Poland
South Africa

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Brazil      –      12 July 2013
Japan      –      30 August 2013

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[DCE Press, IMDb]

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During the Boston Marathon horror, it didn’t take long for the despicable element of our society to pop up with fake charities.  When people need the help, and good people around the nation step up to lend their support, the last thing we need are terrible trolls on our society stealing money for those who need it.

Once again, another tragedy has taken place, this time in Oklahoma.  And I’m sure that the evil-doers are revving up once again to scam people out of money.

So!

Let’s take a quick look at how to avoid providing money to the fake charities.

Fakers will pretend they have an existing relationship with you.  If you’re a frequent donator, double check your past interactions.

Beware of unsolicited text messages.  Unsolicited is the keyword here.

First, there’s the obvious major and well known charities, like

Red Cross,
United Way,
Salvation Army,
and more.

If you’re compelled via a pitch, you should go check guidestar.org and/or charitynavigator.org to double check the charity.

Don’t believe the domain name.  I could go out and get 100′s of domains with keywords or names in it.

So be careful, and go out and help those in this time of need.

(To be honest, you don’t need an active disaster to send a few bucks to an organization of your choice.  Off on the right side bar of the site are a few cancer donation links too.  There’s always someone in need, in some way.  If you are doing OK, you should send some appreciation for your good fate to a charity.  If you’ve read my site, you know that I say that even a single dollar can help any cause.  No amount is too little.)

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The heat of Summer is either upon us or will be soon. But don’t be fooled. Heat can be interpreted as anything above 70 or 75 degrees, depending on the situation. And then, if you’re unlucky enough, you get to experience your dog having heat stroke form dehydration.

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Did you know that a dog is sixty percent water and yet, they can dehydrate at an incredibly fast rate, compared to us, or the stupid humans that leave them in their locked up car on a hot day.

And your dog isn’t always the best indicator of needing water, believe it or not.

When humans overheat, we sweat and drink fluids. Dogs don’t. They drink water to cool down, in addition to panting and sweating from their feet (per PETA). Yet panting in the hot air from inside the car doesn’t remedy the situation. Gimme a break.

But if they’re overheated, and on their way to medical dehydration, they might get confused and not want water. Yep… that’s when you are too late with your inattentive mode of caring for your family member.

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When I take my dog out to play or hike, half my water supply is for him. I have a collapsible dog bowl and lots of water. If I’ve gone through more than half his water, I start considering shutting down the play time or turning around on the hike.

Sure, you think the dog would know when to drink, but not always. If Fido starts looking lethargic or disoriented, or is showing a surprising lack of appetite, then he/she is possibly getting dried out (dehydrated).

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Seeing as how I have become a bit sidetracked about keeping Fido hydrated, let’s talk about leaving your dog in the car.

Summer is coming and this is a popular time to talk about not killing your dog by leaving it in the car. But it doesn’t have to be summer for that to happen.

When temps start soaring over 75 degree is when you need to ponder the premise of NOT leaving your dog in the car. Why?

And while your family friend is panting away inside the car, how exactly do you think they (dogs) cool down?

Well, they can’t in an over-sized egg cooker called your car.

— Just because it’s 75 out and it seems OK to you, it’s not, really. It’s hot. And a car seems akin to a giant magnifier of heat, sucking the life out of your dog.

And this brings me to that stupid f*ng phrase, “I’ll only be five minutes.”

Really? Have you ever timed your five-minute tasks? Nope. Because it takes five minutes to get out, lock up and walk into the store.

It takes five minutes to go to one aisle, pick up one thing, and hit the register. Your idea of five minutes is probably more like ten and could even be upwards of fifteen or twenty. Especially if you run into someone in the store, run into an issue in the store, or what not.

The next phrase, being, “He’ll be fine” is my other pet peeve.

If he’ll be fine, I’d love to see you sit in the car, as you leave it for your dog, to see how it really feels and think about what you’re doing to your dog.

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At the moment 14 states have laws about leaving your animal in a hot car. And some of those states have penalties for the selfish, mindless act, including being charged for a misdemeanor to time in jail, depending on what happens to the animal.

And where states may not have laws, local ordinances can or do get used to deal with some extreme issues.  And my favorite, some states allow law enforcement to break windows to rescue animals, like here in CA.

“Peace officer, humane officer, or animal control officer is authorized to take all steps that are reasonably necessary for the removal of an animal from a motor vehicle.”

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Seriously folks, you need to think about Fido as much as you do yourself. Ask yourself, hey, would I want to be sitting in that car, where it’s parked?  Is the cracked window going to be good enough for you if you were contemplating sitting in the car?

If you don’t have a resounding yes in your head, then move the car so some shade, regardless of the distance or defer your store trip and take the dog home where he/she will be safe.

According to sources, it only takes ten minutes for a dog to start suffering heat stroke and other issues and they can suffer brain damage in 107 degree temps, and die in 120 degree heat.  107 is sitting in a parked car when the temps are just under 75.  That 120 mark is equal to temps just over 75.  (With “the windows cracked” in direct sunlight.

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Here’s the text of the CA law:

Leave or confine an animal in any unattended motor vehicle under conditions that endanger the health or well-being of an animal due to heat, cold, lack of adequate ventilation, or lack of food or water, or other circumstances that could reasonably be expected to cause suffering, disability, or death to the animal.

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First conviction: fine not exceeding $100 per animal.

If the animal suffers great bodily injury, a fine not exceeding $500, imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding 6 months, or by both.

Any subsequent violation of this section, regardless of injury to the animal, punishable by a fine not exceeding $500, imprisonment in a county jail not exceeding six months, or by both.

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So the question is, how do I really feel? And my hope, is that this brings some new form of awareness to someone’s life. (And if you ever leave your dog in a hot car, and you come out and find your window is busted out… well, I might have been there!)

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Sources/Bibliography:

1. .dogsbestlife.com.,
2. .peta.org.,
3. .redrover.org.,
4. .animallaw.info.,
5. .care2.com.,

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If you liked the pics of my “Dog Model,” you can catch him on his Facebook Page at Vader’s World.  (That final image is of Vader in his first car ride with us, going home after we picked him up from his foster home.  Yes, he is sizing me up, trying to figure out if I’m trainable or not.)

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As far as new DVD and Blu-ray releases this week, we have a few popular titles, and a few potential.  True Blood promises to be a great selling title, while I would be interested to see if Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Last Stand does any good.

The numbers in brackets are user rating scores from IMDb, if you’re on the fence about

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The Last Stand [Blu-ray] Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger [6.5/10]

True Blood: The Complete Fifth Season starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Sam Trammell and Ryan Kwanten [8.0]

Beautiful Creatures (2013) Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert [6.1]

My Neighbor Totoro (Two-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) Starring Dakota Fanning, Elle Fanning [8.2]

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Other Titles:

Captain America [Blu-ray] Starring Matt Salinger, Ronny Cox, Ned Beatty (This was on YouTube.  It’s sort of frightening to see what was approved for production in those days.) [3.0]

Identity Thief Starring Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy, Jon Favreau [5.7]

Laverne & Shirley: The Sixth Season [6.7]

LEGO Batman: The Movie – DC Super Heroes Unite Starring Clancy Brown [6.5]

Medium Cool (Criterion Collection) (1969) Starring Robert Forster [7.3]

Mel Brooks: Make A Noise (American Masters)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Quest for the Crystal Mickey

National Lampoon’s Vacation: 30th Anniversary [Blu-ray] Starring Beverly D’angelo, Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid [7.3]

Parker Starring Jason Statham and Jennifer Lopez [6.1]

Perception: The Complete First Season Starring Eric McCormack [6.9]

Return to Nim’s Island Starring Matthew Lillard, Bindi Irwin [4.8]

Saving Hope: The Complete First Season Starring Michael Shanks, Daniel Gillies and Erica Durance [6.3]

Side Effects Starring Jude Law and Rooney Mara [7.2]

Stand Up Guys Starring Al Pacino [6.5]

Struck by Lightning Starring Chris Colfer, Sarah Hyland [6.2]

Teen Wolf: Season Two Starring Tyler Posey [7.1]

Tenchi Muyo!: War on Geminar, Part 1 Starring Jason Liebrecht [7.7 (the series)]

The Burning (Collector’s Edition) (1981)) [BluRay/DVD Combo] Starring Brian Matthews, Leah Ayres, Jason Alexander [6.2]

The Rolling Stones: Crossfire Hurricane

The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976) Starring Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine [6.0]

Vegas Vacation [Blu-ray] (1997) Starring Chevy Chase, Randy Quaid, Beverly D’Angelo [5.7]

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New DVD & Blu-ray Releases on Amazon

Next week looks like there will be some new Doctor Who, Longmire, Covert Affairs, Suits and more.  Looks like a good TV week is coming up.

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The other day I saw a local piece on lucky stores to buy lottery tickets at.  The reasoning being that some locations seem to sell more winning lottery tickets.  But can a lottery retailer be luckier than any other selling location?

Short answer:  Technically, the answer is no.  Random is random.

If you look at various lottery ticket result pages, you’d see that the distribution of winning numbers is pretty even, across the board.  But how can a seller become a “lucky” seller?

Here’s how I think a location gets “lucky:”

Example:  If two stores, A & B, both sell lottery tickets and store A gets 50 people who buy tickets, while store B gets 200 ticket buyers, who do you think will more than likely sell a winning set of numbers?

Chances are the retailer who moves the most tickets will be the one who sells the winner.

And when newspapers report on “lucky” retailer locations who sell more winning tickets, they tend to leave out that all important factor.  And then when folks see headlines like this, there are many who think showing up at these lucky locations will give them a better chance to win.  There are many who need it.

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So the bottom line is that when you see headlines like “Lucky Lottery Stores,” don’t get swayed or tricked into heading off to those locations and standing in line for hours on end.  Or longer then necessary.  Your luck in winning will be no different whether you stand in line for an hour or a minute.

-B

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Here’s a few trailers for movies I’m interested in going to the theater to see this summer.

One is my management role model character himself, Riddick, and a genre subject that was true to my young heart in its day, giant monsters, kaiju, in Pacific Rim.  Both are pure popcorn fun movies.  Riddick will be a 2D event for me, while Pacific Rim is a movie with enough CGI for me to consider dropping a penny on a 3D screening.

Check out the trailers below:

Riddick:

Rated R
Director: David Twohy
Writer: David Twohy
Studio: Universal Pictures
Cast: Vin Diesel, Karl Urban, Jordi Molla, Katee Sackhoff
Release: September 6, 2013

“Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick’s past.”

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Pacific Rim

Release: July 12, 2013
Director: Guillermo del Toro
Writer: Travis Beacham
Cast: Charlie Hunnam, Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi, Charlie Day, Ron Perlman, Max Martini, Robert Kazinsky, Clifton Collins, Jr., Burn Gorman, Larry Joe Campbell, Diego Klattenhoff, Brad William Henke

“When an alien attack threatens the Earth’s existence, giant robots piloted by humans are deployed to fight off the menace.”

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Hey folks.  This movie review of Star Trek into Darkness starts here on Brusimm, but the bulk of the review is posted over on science fiction author Peter Cawdron’s website, Thinking Sci-Fi.

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This is a non-spoiler movie review of Star Trek Into Darkness.

Into Darkness is the 2nd movie in the J.J. Abrams reboot realm of the Gene Roddenberry sci-fi franchise.  Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin and John Cho reprise their roles while Benedict Cumberbatch (who has a very cool voice), Peter Weller and Alice Eve add their names to the franchise in one fashion or another.

J.J. Abrams directed and produced the movie off a story written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman & Damon Lindelof.

But to be honest, the question isn’t if the actors brought their characters to life in an entertaining fashion, (they did). The big question in my mind was if this sequel will fall into the typical sequel realm of so-so, or does it hold up on its own or stand out above the first one?

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Continued at Thinking Sci-Fi Star Trek Into Darkness movie review…

(While you’re there, look around and see what Peter has to say on various things.)

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The season finale of Grey’s Anatomy was chock full of surprises, like it always seems to manage.  With Meredith going into labor, the prenatal section full of babies, Bailey having super jitters, and all , with the power out!

SPOILERS

And don’t forget that final scene with James Pickens Jr. laying on the floor, obviously electrocuted.

Meredith finally, after a few complications, now has a new baby named Bailey.

Alex and Jo finally got it together.

Owen and Cristina, well, flip a coin!

Arizona had a fling, Callie found out.  Arizona once again blames the accident and her leg.  Or something like that.

And now we are all wondering if James Pickens Jr. is leaving Grey’s Anatomy.  Again.

2 years ago, we had a scare that he was leaving the show.  And back then, many different sources made it clear that he wasn’t leaving.  But this year we don’t have that many clues.  But I do have one.

In May of 2012, it was reported that Pickens Jr. had signed a 2-year contract extension.  That would bring him into the 2014 TV season.  But is that a contract that just keeps him on retainer or an active part of the story.

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In the season finale of The Vampire Dairies, it followed up the last episode, where Bonnie, played by Kat Graham, cast a spell to bring Jeremy back.

In the process, she dropped dead.

In the season finale of The Vampire Dairies, it seemed like she had to bring the veil back up to block all the dead people from the world of the living.

During the season, a number of websites were talking about multiple deaths in the show.  One being Jeremy, but many of the interviews were with Graham, and she does seem to be leaving the show.

At the moment, I can’t find solid, in-your-face statements, but there’s enough being alluded to that Bonnie is dead.  She’s the one regular leaving the series, as many articles have hinted at.

Sorry Gang.  It doesn’t look good!

Season Finale SPOILERS

There were some other great events in the season finale.  Klaus showed up when Caroline called.  The big fight between Elena and Katherine was frustrating as Elena kept getting tossed around, but shoving “the cure” down her throat and crushing it so Katherine was forced to take it, was a beautiful thing to see.  And woo boy, it looks bad for Stefan!  Or is it?

We’ll see when The Vampire Dairies returns next season, but crap, I hate cliff hangers.

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