Activision, the video game company that makes some of the coolest video games IN THE WORLD, has announced the release of a new game called Band Hero (an offshoot of the very popular Guitar Hero series of games) which allows players to play as their fave musicians in order to live out their rock star dreams. Here are pics of the animated versions of Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine (who are both playable characters) and the press release that reveals what other musicians you can play in the game:

Video game players and music fans alike can now get closer to Activision Publishing, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Band Hero’s(TM) in-game playable character Taylor Swift than ever before, as they can perform as the music icon to her fan-favorite chart-topping hits “You Belong With Me,” “Picture To Burn” and “Love Story” in the biggest music event to hit living rooms this holiday season – Band Hero. Today, Activision puts fans front and center in the concert of a lifetime, as they debut Swift’s never-before-seen in-game performances in Band Hero, the perfect game for family and friends to jam out and sing along to their favorite tunes together. Allowing budding pop stars the ability to perform with friends and family in living rooms across the globe or take their newfound fame on the road as they command center stage with their band anywhere they choose, Band Hero confirmed today additional songs from both the console and Nintendo DS(TM) Lite set lists, comprised of the most fun to play, chart-topping hits. When the games ship on November 3, fans can live out their music fantasies as they step on stage as their favorite music superstars, including singer/songwriter Taylor Swift and Maroon 5’s Adam Levine, while strumming, drumming and singing along to the most popular songs of yesterday and today … This holiday season, the biggest music event of the year will hit living rooms around the world as family and friends come together to ascend the virtual stage and rock their way to superstardom with Band Hero. Brought to you by the makers of Guitar Hero(R), one of the best-selling video game franchises of all time, Band Hero features the hottest chart-topping hits from everyone’s favorite bands including No Doubt, Nelly Furtado, Lily Allen, The All-American Rejects and Jackson 5. Headlined by some of the leading names in music as in-game artists and playable characters, including singer, songwriter and guitarist Taylor Swift and Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine, Band Hero is the ultimate party game where friends and family can choose to join the band or “take five” at any time without interrupting the performance, in Party Play mode. Band Hero allows fans to create the band of their dreams, using any combination of vocals and guitar or drum controllers, providing budding pop stars the chance to customize how they interact with and experience their favorite music.

OMG … I love this!! Back in July we learned that we would be able to play as Shirley Manson of Garbage in Guitar Hero 5 and now we learn that we will get to play as a whole lot of other amazing musicians in Band Hero!! People, the game also allows you to play as Kylie Minogue and Robbie Williams on their duet song Kids!!! Other playable characters include David Bowie on Let’s Dance, The Go-Go’s on Our Lips Are Sealed, Pat Benatar on Love Is A Battlefield, Styx on Mr. Roboto and more. Wee!! This sounds so fun … I know my boy Darion will be getting his hands on this game and I cannot wait for him to host a party so we can all play at his place. I need to channel my inner Kylie Minogue, y’all. Woot!!

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

In late August pretty much everyone lost their shizz when the news came out that The Walt Disney Company was acquiring Marvel Comics for $4 billion mainly because there was a huge fear that Disney would interfere with Marvel and ruin those characters. BUT, what if the reverse actually happened and Marvel was able to influence the nice, sweet Disney characters instead. Illustrator Jeffrey Thomas envisions what Disney characters might look like if they received the Marvel Comics treatment … here are a few of the Twisted Princesses that he envisions:

Wouldn’t it be fantastic if instead of Disney’s wussification of Marvel’s characters, the tables were turned and instead Marvel turned the Disney princesses into Skrull invaders and zombies like this Dark Little Mermaid? All the images are by illustrator Jeffrey Thomas, who’s as twisted as he is brilliant. Please oh please can’t we at least get a comic book out of these images?

Aren’t these illustrations fantastic? I love mashing up characters like this … seeing the Disney Princesses in a more dark light only highlights their personalities, I think. Some of them look evil (ie. Ariel the Little Mermaid) but some of them just look more realistic and strong (ie. Pocahontas). I LOVE these illustrations. I urge you to visit Thomas’s website HERE to see these illustrations in higher resolution … they’re really amazing. One can only hope that the marriage between Disney and Marvel might bring to fruition an alliance like this … my guess is that it won’t really happen but it’s nice to wish … upon a star.

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Since I’ve been in a big G.I. Joe mood lately, what with my love of the movie G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and my affection for the viral video G.I. Joe: The Invasion of Cobra Island, I thought it was time to bust out my G.I. Joe DVDs of the original 80’s cartoon and watch a few eps … so that’s what I did yesterday afternoon:

I know it prolly sounds like I’m going overboard but the movie really did remind me how much I loved the cartoon when I was a kid. Sure, it’s cheesy as hell now but I really loved those 80’s cartoons.

To be honest, I think I might’ve gotten all the Joe out of my system … and I’m ready to get fixated on something else. This afternoon, David and I are meeting up with Ollie, Caleb and hopefully Tamar to see District 9 which I hear is FAB. I’m staying well away from all potential spoilers cuz I wanna see the film fresh. No word on what’s going on later on tonight but … it’s the weekend so, it’s bound to be fun! Happy Friday, y’all!!

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, starring Channing Tatum, Sienna Miller, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and others, opened in theaters last weekend but there is more G.I. Joe fun to be had. A fun little viral movie titled G.I. Joe: The Invasion of Cobra Island has been making its way around the Internets to promote the new live action film and, to be honest, this little 2-part mini-movie is almost as entertaining as the film is:

The whole thing features actual G.I. Joe action figures acting out the story in stop-motion animation. It’s pretty much what you wish you could do with your G.I. Joes when you were a little kid … you know, if you had access to high tech animation software and high end video equipment. But, at last, those boy/girlhood dreams from yesteryear can be fully realized in this fun little mini-movie. After the jump, check it out in full for yourselves …

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Naomi Campbell stepped out with her manfriend Vladimir Doronin and friends to do a bit of partying at Acqua Pazza in Ponza, Italy this week. Clearly the supermodel felt it was a fine occasion to get all dressed up … so, natch, she decided to dress like Native American princess Pocahontas:

As a world famous supermodel, Naomi Campbell has access to an amazing closet of clothes and the vaults of many fashion houses. But last night the model opted for a down to earth fancy dress look as she stepped out with boyfriend, Russian boyfriend Vladimir Doronin. But thankfully she didn’t go for complete authenticity, as the mobile phone throwing model opted not to accessorise the outfit with a tomahawk. Naomi and Doronin headed out with a group of friends all in fancy dress, for dinner at restaurant Acqua Pazza in Ponza, Italy. And with her hair in plaits and a headdress, Naomi made sure to look the part of the famous squaw. Her boyfriend went for a similarly striking look – as a naval officer. The 39-year-old model has been enjoying her holidays in Italy for the last few weeks.

I didn’t get the impression from this report that the event was a costume party but it had to have been … right? Sane people don’t just dress up in costume to dine out at fancy restaurants, do they? Whatever the hell was goin’ on, at least Naomi looked good as Pocahontas. I’m gonna assume the event was costume only and not jump the conclusion that Naomi done lost her mind. After all, we know that Naomi Campbell is a bastion of sanity, right?

[Photo credit: Splash News; Source]

Here’s a little nugget that I missed last week when 2009 San Diego Comic Con was in full swing … Movieline managed to get their paws on the first concept art promo images for the upcoming Warner Bros. production of the big screen adaptation of ThunderCats. Fans of the 80’s cartoon series recall that the show revolved around group of cat people heroes called ThunderCats (among them Lion-O, Panthro, Cheetara, Tygra, Wily Kit, Wily Kat and Snarf) who escaped their planet of Thundara and landed on Third Earth (presumably in the future) to battle the evil forces of Mum-Ra. Now, like much of the hallowed TV series out our collective youth, the story is being brought to the big screen. Here is our first look at the concept art for the ThunderCat leader Lion-O in all his glory:

Everyone has their own ’80s cartoon franchise that meant something to them, and mine was ThunderCats: The Rankin/Bass series followed of a race of humanoid felines from the planet Thundera, forced to evacuate after their home comes under siege by the fearsome Mutants of Plun-Darr (who looked a bit like reptilian Ernest Borgnines.) Yes, I still hold a fond place in my heart for Lion-O, Cheetara, Panthro, Tygra, Snarf and the rest, and so Warner Bros.’ announcement a while back of a Thundercats movie filled me with the warm, fuzzy feelings one typically associates with watching Saturday morning TV while eating peanut-butter-and-grape-jelly sandwiches. The script, written by Paul Sopocy, was to follow Lion-O’s origin myth from young cub to his anointment as Lord of the ThunderCats, and was to be directed by veteran art director Jerry O’Flaherty. In conjunction with our coverage of Comic-Con 2009, Movieline has obtained O’Flaherty’s never-before-seen Thundercats concept art, demonstrating just how gorgeous and ambitious his vision for this production is.

HMMM … I’m comforted by the fact that the movie will be a CGI film but considering how crappy the CGI movie based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles turned out … well, I think we have cause for concern. After the jump, check out other artist renderings for the film including Mum-Ra’s pyramid and Third Earth …

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Awesome news for both fans of the band Garbage AND the Guitar Hero series of video games. Shirley Manson, frontwoman for Garbage, has been made into a digitized character and will appear in Guitar Hero 5. She is only the second female performer to get the Guitar Hero treatment. You may recall that just yesterday we saw video of Shirley surprising the No Doubt audience by coming out to do a surprise performance at the ND show here in LA on Monday night … and now we learn this amazing news?! Methinks we’re about to enjoy a Shirley Manson/Garbage resurgence very soon :) Here is our first look at what Shirley’s Guitar Hero character will look like:

Garbage’s Shirley Manson is set to feature as a playable character in the forthcoming ‘Guitar Hero 5′ computer game … “They did a scan of my face then I had to put on this weird suit, it was super-freaky,” the singer said of the process of appearing in the game … The game is expected to be released this autumn. Music by acts including Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Nirvana, The White Stripes and Coldplay is set to feature in it.

Holy effin’ shizz, y’all!! This is SO cool!!! I’ve been a huge Garbage fan from way back in the day and performing Garbage songs on Rock Band is one of my fave things ever (I rock on I Think I’m Paranoid) … now we’ll get to play with/as Shirley Manson in Guitar Hero 5? Hell yes, sign me up!! After the jump, check out a FUN video trailer for Guitar Hero 5 featuring Ms. Shirley Manson …

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