In case you weren’t in Sydney, Australia on New Year’s Eve, we have the fireworks bonanza shot by ITN News. The weather in Sydney around this time of year is great, so why not have a fantastic fireworks display? Enjoy it and look forward to more posts here on Awesome By Default in 2010!

Will Mickey Mouse become the newest member of the X-Men? Will Wolverine become a star on Disney on Ice? Will Hannah Montana dress up like Dazzler on an episode of her series? Will they pit Marvel’s Hercules versus Disney’s Hercules? Will Pinocchio be accused of being a mutant? Will The Incredibles fight against and later with the Fantastic Four? Actually, I’d like that one to come true to tell you the truth.

Most critics of the acquisition fail to realize that the same studio that gave us Hannah Montana, Winnie the Pooh, Cars, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, and G-Force also gave us Gargoyles, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lost, Scream, Kill Bill, Trainspotting, and Clerks. Needless to say, the initial reaction has cooled down compared to what happened upon the announcement. Now, a little clarity is in order.

The long and short of it all. Marvel is still going be Marvel, just with Disney money and global reach behind it. That’s not to say there aren’t going to be changes on both sides.. A little breakdown of what exactly went down:

1. What exactly happened?

The Walt Disney Company has announced that they are acquiring ownership of Marvel Entertainment in a stock-and-cash deal for $4 billion, not including debt (that, along with the transition fees and such, will actually make the deal about $6.4 billion in total). Disney will have 100% ownership in Marvel Studios (film and television production), Marvel Characters (intellectual content company), Marvel Animation, Marvel Toys (formerly Toy Biz), and, of course, Marvel Comics. Marvel will now be owned by the same company behind Mickey Mouse, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lost, SportsCenter, The Golden Girls, Hannah Montana, The Incredibles, Power Rangers, Gargoyles, and The Muppets.

What this also means is that Marvel is no longer the world’s largest independent company, but rather a part of the Disney corporate machine not unlike how it’s longtime rival, DC Comics, is part of Disney’s longtime rival Time Warner’s corporate machine. Some might see it as a bad thing. Some might see it as a good thing. I’m still looking at both sides myself because, at least from a business and creative perspective, it’s a good thing, at least on Disney’s end.

2. Wait, what about the current film and programming deals Marvel has with companies like Sony, Paramount, Universal, Fox, Lionsgate, Cartoon Network, BET, and Nickelodeon?

The current deals with the Spider-Man and Men in Black franchises at Sony, the Marvel Studios deal with Paramount Pictures, Universal’s Hulk franchise, and Fox’s deal with the Fantastic Four and X-Men/Wolverine franchises are still valid and will be honored by Disney. However, beyond the duration of the deals, Disney intends on becoming sole distributor of those projects.

The Lionsgate DTV projects are still a go, though Disney could eventually take over distribution of anything after the deal (whether that includes the upcoming Japanese adaptations of Iron Man and Wolverine is to be certain the closer they’re completed and distributed). As for Nickelodeon’s current programming deal involving Iron Man, Wolverine and the X-Men, and the 2000s Fantastic Four animated series as well as Cartoon Network’s deal to air Marvel Super Hero Squad and BET’s upcoming Black Panther could be in jeopardy in 2010 and could end up elsewhere, particularly Disney XD.

3. Disney XD? What’s that?

To talk about Disney XD, you have to go back to the glorious era of cartoons on cable television. Cartoons were on Cartoon Network on a daily basis. Spongebob Squarepants wasn’t on Nickelodeon. Fox Kids was still on weekday mornings and afternoons as well as Saturday mornings on Fox. 4Kids Entertainment was preparing to syndicate Pokemon that fall. For you younger readers, syndication was a practice studios used to distribute first-run programming as well as off-network reruns that didn’t appear on cable first and used for more than just trashy “talk shows” and court shows.

While Disney was preparing to release Pixar’s second film, A Bug’s Life, they were preparing to launch their second family-themed network, Toon Disney, which would be a commercial-based outlet unlike sibling network Disney Channel, which had just become a basic network rather than subscription-based. Over the years, Toon Disney failed to make an impact. When they introduced Jetix in 2004, many felt it was the beginning of the end of Toon Disney, especially with the dependence on boys’ entertainment and the live-action Power Rangers, which was a gateway to bring in more live-action to Toon Disney.

Good call to those that felt that way.

Disney XD is Disney’s male-oriented network formed from the ashes of Toon Disney after that channel was burned by Jetix. It’s not on many cable systems, and those where it’s on, it’s a digital cable-only network. The Marvel purchase means that Disney has as library of characters they could adapt into live-action and animated projects exclusively for the network. Disney already owns the pre-1997 Marvel Animation library as well as broadcast rights to the Film Roman-produced X-Men Evolution and the Sony-produced Spectacular Spider-Man, so it wouldn’t be a stretch to add more Marvel programs to that channel.

Plus, unlike the Power Rangers franchise (which may or may not be on its last legs depending on the source), Disney would own the Marvel franchises lock, stock, and barrel. In fact, it is believed that Disney XD will be the first Disney outlet to directly benefit from the Marvel purchase. For example, if Marvel wanted to make an animated version of The Avengers, they could. If they wanted to make a Teen Titans-like adaptation of New Warriors or Power Pack, they could. If they wanted to make a live-action series based on Runaways or Araña (think a female Spider-Man/Buffy the Vampire Slayer hybrid), they could. And they’d make for great television possibilities and give Disney XD a foot up on the competition that Cartoon Network once had back when they exclusively showed cartoons and didn’t want to be a third-rate kids’ network.

4. What about the Marvel-themed section of Islands of Adventure at Universal Studios in Orlando?

That’s a tough question and one that could get pretty ugly before it all ends. For now, the section of the park isn’t going anywhere. They’re safe. Spider-Man, The Hulk, Doctor Doom, Iron Man, Wolverine, Storm, all of those characters will be a part of Universal Studios as long as Universal wants them there. They’re just not going to add any new characters or expand on the characters they’ve got at the park. But if it’s one thing Disney knows how to do, its bury their competition, something they have almost 90 years of experience of doing.

5. Speaking of characters, does Marvel REALLY have over 5000 characters?

Yeah, they do.

The core Marvel Universe, Earth-616, are the most familiar ones to the general public. There’s also the Ultimate Universe characters, the 2099 characters, the New Universe, the Squadron Supreme universe, the Ultraverse, the Microverse (home of the Micronauts), the Earth X universe, the Spider-Girl universe, the recently-acquired Marvelman stable of characters, the Genesis universe (mostly populated by public-domain characters), the Aircel Comics titles (including Men in Black), and many, many, many variations of familiar characters and universes.

Not to mention the library of characters from their days as Timely Comics and Atlas Comics like Ziggy Pig, Silly Seal, Super Rabbit, Dippy Duck, Melvin the Monster, Powerhouse Pepper, Millie The Model, and a whole host of characters you’ve never heard of. I don’t know if anybody actually counted them, but it’s probably roughly between 2500 and 6000 characters and counting.

6. Good to know they’re still creating characters. Now, will Disney stifle creativity at The House of Ideas?

On the offset, Disney has announced that they’re going to treat Marvel the same way they treat Pixar. They’re going to still be an autonomous unit free from editorial control from Disney folks who don’t know how to handle the characters. In fact, Disney has been on the record as saying they’re “not only buying great characters, stories and brands, but also excited about working with people who know those characters best and how best to work with them in other media.”

However, I think there could be trouble if Marvel wants to, say, kill a marketable property in the future. I doubt Disney would have let Marvel kill the original Captain America after a major storyline or make Spider-Man sell the soul of his marriage to save his aunt (seriously, I’m still pissed over that), but if DC could kill Superman and take him away from the Earth and his own comics and kill off Batman by, more or less, trapping him in a past where nobody would be looking for him at all, Marvel should be fine.

7. Sorry. Kind of zoned out when you said Pixar and Marvel in the same sentence.

Yeah, Pixar and Marvel are going to be really close when the deal is completed. John Lasseter, head muckety-muck at Disney Imagineering and Pixar, broke bread with Marvel types and practically got giddy over potential projects the two companies could collaborate on together. If anything,good could come out of all of this, it’s Pixar working on Marvel-created properties.

They probably wouldn’t make a major property like Spider-Man, Iron Man, X-Men, or Fantastic Four into an animated film, at least not initially, but they could turn a smaller property like, say, New Warriors, Power Pack, Prime, or even a newer property like Skottie Young and Eric Shanower’s Wonderful Wizard of Oz adaptation. Of course, animation should be fair game for the most part for Marvel properties since they do have all animation rights. So, the skies the limit. I’d personally would love to see Galactcus animated without looking cel-shaded or like a cloud in a Silver Surfer film.

8. Okay, I went back and noticed you made a DC Comics reference. Have they publicly responded to the deal, and what do they plan on doing?

Neither DC Comics nor its own entertainment juggernaut of an owner Time Warner has made a public announcement about Disney’s purchase of Marvel. Aside from the now-dormant Blade franchise, Warner has no connection to Marvel. They’re just going to continue doing what they’re doing. Take that as you will, though I’ll take it as a bad thing because, if anything, DC Comics and Time Warner are tenuous yet successful partners in what they do, especially with their animated productions. Perhaps in the end, Disney will look at Time Warner’s example and treatment of DC Comics and learn from its successes and mistakes when the ink on the Marvel acquisition is finally dry.

Now, I don’t claim to be an expert or anything. I just pay attention. But am I happy with Disney buying Marvel? I’m a little torn. As a Warner Bros. cartoon fan, I was literally born to hate the Disney characters (even though I find Donald Duck and Goofy great cartoon characters), and as a DC Comics fan, I was literally born to hate the Marvel characters (though to be fair, Spider-Man is in my top five list of superheroes along with Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, and Plastic Man). I still have a feeling Marvel is going to end up affecting the storylines in the comics, even though they said they wouldn’t. On the other hand, Disney and Marvel are, to paraphrase Wolverine’s famous quote, the best they are at what they do, and what they do is pretty damned sweet. There’s a reason Disney is still considered the standard all media companies adhere to and why Marvel is called The House of Ideas.

Whatever happens, it’s going to be a fun time.

Photo: lkayama

The press release sent out by the company this week states, “Ben & Jerry’s has a long history of commitment to social justice, including gay rights.”

Since announced on their Facebook page yesterday, the name changed has caused a stir online. Comments ranged from “Brilliant name change” to “Time to give it a rest B & J.” While many people blame Ben & Jerry for using their product as a political soap box, many feel politics and ice cream just don’t mix. Who can blame them. Many products we use today are neutral. If Coca-Cola suddenly supported creationism, would you still be a fan? If Burger King decided all people that buy Whoopers support abortion, would you still order one? Does your food need to have a social agenda?

As someone that supports ice cream and equal rights, I find it refreshing and strange that our political issues can have a flavor. In a slightly ridiculous twist, CBS News recorded a Ben & Jerry’s ice cream truck serving Hubby Hubby to the public in Vermont. The video is below…

As you can see, the lack of political agenda does not stop anyone eating the free ice cream. Towards the end of the video, a woman spouts that homosexuality is wrong, but she is quickly cut off in the video. Its fair to say that no matter how much peoples’ beliefs may separate us, out common bond is in our stomachs.

(Photo: Business Wire)

This week the first official (non-teaser) trailer for Spike Jonze’s Where the Wild Things Are has been released. Its a mix of CGI and costumed actors. Looks like its going to be something special. As a fan of the children’s book, I’m excited to see it.

Moon Day has help tame some of the rumors started by the moon landing deniers with new photos showing the original moon lander and the astronaut footprints on the surface of the moon. While this evidence certainly won’t convince a denier of the scientific truth, its a validation to those of us that want the evidence. The new satellite images come to us as a result of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft, which launched on 18 June. LRO’s mission is to photograph the moon to scout for future mission sites. So far, LRO has located five of the six Apollo missions that landed on the moon’s surface.

Large logical leaps must be taken to support a good conspiracy theory. If someone disagrees or shows skepticism, they could possibly be accused suppressing the “truth”. Although my faith in humanity runs keep, my faith in a person’s ability to keep a secret long-term is non-existent. If thousands of people had the ability to all keep their mouth shut at the same time, the paparazzi would be out of a job. With exclusive information comes the temptation to sell secrets. Its hard to believe that among all those “fake” NASA staffers, someone wouldn’t be willing to sell their story for a few million dollars.

I chose to embrace the research presented. After all, history is not the objective record of what has happened, but rather the record of perception. In my world, we landed on the moon have have 6 missions to prove it. How about you?

Photo: Brian Knight Photography

A lot of complaining has been going on over the use of Auto-Tune in popular music. Auto-Tune is software that corrects the pitch of a sound wave digitally. It has been use by many popular singers including Madonna, Rascal Flatts, Snoop Dogg, Maroon 5, Kanye West and countless other top-40 pop singers. It came to the forefront this year when rapper Jay-Z released his newest single, “DOA (Death of Autotune),” which proclaims the practice of using Auto-Tune is gimmick. Rappers such as T-Pain have become the poster child for the technology, utilizing the correction technique for all of his songs. Are rappers of the future supposed to sound like robots?

So who is to blame for all this Auto-Tune drama? The inventor of the proprietary software, Andy Hildebrand, takes pride in his creation as he give a reporter at PBS’s NOVA a full demonstration (see above video). Don’t blame Andy for the sudden Auto-Tune abuse though. He points the finger at Cher, who let the secret out with her song Believe. Since 1996, the software has been in use to correct certain words within songs. As the video highlights, Hildebrand’s software was initially intended for more subtle pitch adjustments. As the reporter points out, Auto-Tune is simply “Photoshop for audio.” 

Today we’re flooded with music that seems a bit fake. Pop stars that can barely hold their booze have no effort reaching a comprehensive octave range. Is Jay-Z’s eulogy for Auto-Tune too soon?

Photo: Valitin.Ottone

Wurlington Brothers Press for offering free downloadable papercraft model kits of several major landmarks of New York City and Chicago. Want a mini-John Handcock Tower for your desk? Done. Re-create Times Square? Its your ink cartridge…go nuts.

The site offers several free models and offers additional model kits for under $2 USD each. All of the projects include detailed instructions for assembly. They also link to other crafty sites that offer free downloadable kits from international sites. Rampage and pillage…just don’t get a paper cut.

I feel dirty, and not the good kind of dirty. I’m feeing the kind of dirty that comes from being tricked into watching a two-and-a-half-hour commercial and liking it. Yep, you probably all ready know where this is going. I went to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. I love it. Who doesn’t enjoy fighting, transforming giant robots shrouded in over the top, amazing special effects? Don’t look at me, because the inner nerd sings majestic when Optimus Prime puts his fist all the way through another robot’s face.

There was a scene where jets are taking off from a Navy carrier and soldiers are working their high-tech radar stations and I’m thinking, “Wow! That looks like an awesome job.” Inside my head, a little warning is going off—the one that goes off when I’m at the check-out counter picking up all the impulse items. I NEED an extra memory card, toothbrush, bug spray and mascara. I NEED to join the Navy, Air Force, Special Forces and….no I don’t. Try and tell me that isn’t an advertisement for the military. It totally is, and I’m not sure I care.

Then my movie-watching buddy leans over and asks, “Why doesn’t Bumble Bee transform more?” And I realize that it’s because GM wants us to look at the car, not the giant much cooler transformed robot. If the car could really do that…well damn I’d be the first one on my street to have one scaring the crap out of the neighbor’s noisy dog. What about that new Corvette concept car? Did it ever transform? What did it transform into–another Corvette concept car?

That’s the tip of the huge product placement extravaganza that is this summer’s blockbuster film. You will want to rush right out and buy a new phone, car; no, make that two phones, DVD’s of Naruto, a Hummer2 etc. Here’s a tip, take your new Ipod/touch/phone and listen to the soundtrack while you watch the film. The dialogue is obviously written by community college interns.

Girl: “Say it.”
Boy: “No, you say it first.”
Girl: “No, YOU say it first.”

Don’t get me wrong I totally LOVE the movie. They can sing Kum-bah-ya and hold hands in the background as long as the robots keep fighting. Those are the best action scenes I’ve ever seen and I was front row center seat for “Kung-Fu Hustle.” I just wish there had been better dialogue connecting all the amazing action in the thin but plausible story which still needs some splainin’ after the movie is over.

I keep going, “Why didn’t they just do that thing with the thing? It would have saved everyone and there would not have been half the carnage.” But the answer to my question lies in the question itself and would be a spoiler. We can’t have that. GM needs your butt in that theater seat eating good popcorn and bad Skittles for their brand new two-and-a-half-hour commercial. You will go, and you will like it. Spit out the pink Skittles, they are gross.

Photo: Tony Crider

I was reading Scholars & Rogues and was impressed with the innovation in pizza boxes. ECO Incorporated seems to be pretty ambitious in their attempt to change the way people get their pizza. Converting the bottom of the box into a take-home storage container is brilliant. How many times you been left with 1-2 extra slices after everyone is full? I’m interested to see if this concept makes it to market.

There is nothing like a cold drink on a hot day. Beer is the ultimate summer drink, bringing families and friends together around the grill. One company in Japan is trying cater to the beer drinkers that are tired of drinking yellow beer. In an effort to show of their unique style and attention to to environment, the Hokkaido Abashiri Beer company introduced the world to the first blue beer last year. That’s right, blue as in “hey that looks like Kool-Aid” blue. The Okhotsk Blue Draft is supposedly made from water from melted ice bergs that float each year onto Hokkaido beaches from Russia. The blue color actually comes from a seaweed extract. The few experiences I’ve had with seaweed has been via sushi. I can only imagine the beer having a salty, plant-like taste.

Other offerings include the Hamanasu Draft, a red-colored beer, flavored with the rosa rugosa plant (or “Japanese rose”). They also have a green beer, Shiretoko Draft, which is meant to have a woodland color similar to the Shiretoko wildlife area, a UNESCO world heritage site. Before any of the Irish readers get excited, the green beer will taste nothing like an ale or stout, leaving its popularity in question.

The ploy might get people to try it once. The flavor is what is important. Would you drink a colored beer?

Photos: Abashiri Beer