That’s a Wonder of a Woman!

Here we have a preview image of Smallville’s erstwhile Lois Lane, Erica Durance, guesting on the Jan. 11, 2012, episode of Harry’s Law dressed in the Wonder Woman costume that was used in last spring’s abortive Wonder Woman pilot — and I think she looks wonderful.

David E. Kelley, the creator of HL, was the writer behind that much-maligned Wonder Woman project (which was deemed so bad that even NBC — yes, NBC — refused to air it), and apparently he still holds the rights to a TV depiction of the character. Clearly, he didn’t want to waste his opportunity. WW still has the pants ensemble instead of the traditional bare legs, but, hey — the costume was already sewn, right?

My Favorite Photos of 2011: Green Lantern Kitty

Here we have perhaps my favorite favorite photograph — more than the cyclops shark and more than the frozen bubbles — an actual living cat glowing with bioluminescence. Yep, this cat glows with internal light.

Now, before you go turning off your room lights, this kitteh is special. Scientists splices his genes with the cells that make a certain jellyfish glow naturally. The result is an unearthly greenish aura around this cat — who, I stress, was not harmed by the process.

My little green buddy looks ready to join the Green Lantern Corps!

My Favorite Photos of 2011: Hockey, anyone?

Continuing my theme of really cool nature/science photos I enjoyed in 2011 (such as the one-eyed shark), I couldn’t resist mentioning a series of shots taken by Emmanuel Coupe as part of the National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest 2011. Mr. Coupe focused on Abraham Lake, in the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, Canada. These are my favorites.

Frozen bubbles

Sunset

Blue ice

New Trailer Adds Elements to John Carter’s Story

I know clouds are not common on Barsoom, and I have praised John Carter teases before (like the TV spots and the long trailer), but my nervous disposition makes me think I now see some dark cumulonimbus on the distant horizon, thanks to the just-released Japanese trailer for the Disney adaptation. The teaser contains some scenes not yet seen in the USA, and they hint at mechanisms and motivation — but mechanisms and motivation that are not in Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original texts!

SPOILER WARNING: If you want to avoid all information about the story beforehand, you should skip watching this trailer. For the rest of you, take a look:

My Favorite Photos of 2011: Cyclops Shark

With the year rapidly coming to a close, I wanted to do some fun posts to wrap up 2011, so I thought I’d take a look at the year’s best photographs — according to me. These are the pics I liked the most or that affected me in some way that made them memorable. There’s no particular ranking to the photos, and I don’t particularly care what official photographic organizations think of them.

First up is a photo that freaked me out when I first saw it back in June: The cyclopean albino shark fetus. The mysterious, milky mutant instantly went viral. However, this looked SO fake that I couldn’t believe the photo was getting wide distribution; there was no way it could be real, right? A shark’s eyes are located on the sides of its head, so even if it had only one, it wouldn’t be in the middle of its nose on the front of its head, right? The pale thing even resembled a ghost more than a real shark.

AMERICAN HORROR STORY 1.12: “Afterbirth”

AMERICAN HORROR STORY wrapped up its inaugural creepy season with a neat bow for the holidays — one that tied off all the plot threads and nearly ended the story of the Harmons in the Los Angeles “Murder House,” capping it with a warm Christmas scene out of a Hallmark movie, with the undead clan trimming their tree.

The final episode served as an epilogue for the season-long story of the Harmons, who moved into the house with “personality” in the premiere, and ended up making sure a new family moved out in the finale. Overall, I have to declare AHS a success. It suffered from “pilotitis” in the beginning a took a couple of episodes to find its feet. But once it stopped paying tribute to horror greats of the past and started charting its own path, AHS worked as a family drama and as horror TV. The tale of the Harmons had a beginning a middle and an end. AHS pushed boundaries with imagination and flair, and generated some genuinely unsettling scenes.

Epic Hobbit Poster and Trailer

This is traditionally the time of year of good little boys and girls look forward to great presents from a fat, gray-bearded elf — and, boy, did Peter Jackson ever deliver! OK, so the director lost a ton of weight and his beard is still dark; and he’s a kiwi, not an elf. But he still came up with some truly amazing gifts for fans who cannot wait for the December 2012 release of his latest masterpiece, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey — an awe-inspiring poster and a kick-ass teaser trailer!

Feast your eyes on this terrific poster. It depicts the titular hero, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) stepping out of his cozy hobbit-hole and out into a wide, mysterious — and possibly sinister [look at those black clouds!) — world beyond the friendly confines of Bag End and The Shire. The image is off-kilter, mimicking the way Bilbo’s world has been knocked off its axis by a visit from Gandalf (Sir Ian McKellan). I love the way this poster is so low-key, yet absolutely screams adventure! Bilbo does not know what he’s getting himself into by taking on this quest.

John Carter’s Two New TV Spots

Disney is finally starting to ramp up the publicity machine for the upcoming John Carter movie, and as part of that, we get to see two new TV spots that ramp up the action factor and show a little more of Barsoom and hint at the story.

This clip is called “He Arrives,” and looks at US Civil War veteran Capt. John Carter’s (Taylor Kitsch) arrival on a desolate Barsoom, then some good-looking action sequences.

Saving Face for Hollywood Superheroes

What does this new photo from Marvel’s upcoming summer blockbuster The Avengers tell us about Hollywood suits and what they think of audiences? It reveals that studio suits are stupid — and they think you are, too!

In this scene, Thor (Chris Hemsworth) and Captain America (Chris Evans) are standing shoulder-to-shoulder, ready for battle. Only Cap isn’t quite ready… because he doesn’t have his mask — a mask that serves to both conceal his identity as protect his head in throes of combat. Both sensible precautions.

“The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe”: More Teasers

We’re just a few days away from Christmas — but that’s still too long to wait for the 2011 DOCTOR WHO Christmas special, “The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe.” Here in the colonies, we’ll be able to see the delightful Matt Smith‘s second Xmas adventure as the 11th Doctor on BBC America at 9 p.m. on Dec. 25.

To help us limp through the final days to the finish line, the BBC has released not one, not two, but three short preview clips to whet our appetites even more than the tension-filled prequel did!

The first (very funny) clip sees the Doctor welcome Madge, Lily and Cyril to their new home for the holiday — as only the last of the Time Lords can!