Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Disney Pixar's Monsters University Unveils 8 New Character Posters

Monsters University

James and Sully are going back to college in Monsters University, the much awaited prequel to Monsters, Inc. and we're going to see all the naughty and fun things they have done. Hopefully we are going to see the story of how their "friendship" bloomed to how it was portrayed in the original movie.

And to tease us with the movies upcoming release on June 21, 2013, Disney Pixar has unveiled 8 new character posters for your consideration (a pun to the successfully concluded 85th Academy Awards).

See these scary little characters and choose your favorite before you go running and screaming to the cinemas:









Updated: And aren't the characters crowded in this new Monsters University poster, ala class picture?


Also, we got here a new character poster for Professor Knight:


And as a modified version of Morgana's famous speech in Little Mermaid 2: Oh, wishes do come true. See that, huh? Who's your favorite monster now... (Evil Laugh!)

Monday, February 25, 2013

Adele Wins An Oscar For Best Original Song, Watch Her Live Performance Of 'Skyfall'

Adele

I am very happy to announce that Adele has won her very first Oscars. She, together with Skyfall co-writer Paul Epworth, snagged the award for Best Original Song at the 85th Academy Awards.

Only a few artists had achieved this feat -- and by feat I meant winning all awards like Grammy's, Oscars and a lot more -- such as Bono and Barbara Streisand. It's been a while really since we last heard of it.

Earlier during the awarding ceremony, she performed the award-winning song live for the very first time. If you've missed the enthralling performance, don't fret because I am sharing it here to you:


This is really getting well for Adele. She's collecting all kinds of awards and what more could she add to this triumph than her lovely little baby born last year. On the other hand, all of this could be great, but I am getting a little more impatient for the release of her next album, which should have been due months ago...

Congratulations to Adele.

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Kernel's Library: Under The Bosum of the Great Sea

Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne Book 00067: Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea
by Jules Verne


Title:
- Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea

First Publication:
- 1870 by Hetzel


Trivia:
- Captain Nemo's name is a subtle allusion to Homer's Odyssey, a Greek epic poem.
- The title refers to the distance traveled under the sea, not to the depth, as 20,000 leagues is over 12 times the radius of the earth.
- Commander Matthew Fontaine Maury, "Captain Maury" in Verne's book, a real-life oceanographer who explored the winds, seas, currents, and collected samples of the bottom of the seas and charted all of these things, is mentioned a few times in this work by Jules Verne.




After I read Verne's Around the World in Eighty Days, I can't stop myself but crave for more... So I rushed to my favorite bookstore and did everything I can to find Verne's other novels. Rewardingly, I was able to get a copy of Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. The same with Around the World, Under the Sea is a power-pack of a book. The scientific side whet my appetite for reading as I am a science buff also. The wondrous scenes given to us by Verne were incomparable, as who would think of creating such a tale not only filled by adventurous plot but also of scientific predictions...


Read an excerpt

Captain Anderson called an immediate halt, and one of his sailors dived down to assess the damage. Within moments they had located a hole two meters in width on the steamer's underside. Such a leak could not be patched, and with its paddle wheels half swamped, the Scotia had no choice but to continue its voyage. By then it lay 300 miles from Cape Clear, and after three days of delay that filled Liverpool with acute anxiety, it entered the company docks.

The engineers then proceeded to inspect the Scotia, which had been put in dry dock. They couldn't believe their eyes. Two and a half meters below its waterline, there gaped a symmetrical gash in the shape of an isosceles triangle. This breach in the sheet iron was so perfectly formed, no punch could have done a cleaner job of it. Consequently, it must have been produced by a perforating tool of uncommon toughness—plus, after being launched with prodigious power and then piercing four centimeters of sheet iron, this tool had needed to withdraw itself by a backward motion truly inexplicable.

This was the last straw, and it resulted in arousing public passions all over again. Indeed, from this moment on, any maritime casualty without an established cause was charged to the monster's account.

Grade: A+