Toujours aussi frais et instructif, le deuxième tome du Kaboul Disco de Nicolas Wild se dote de nombreux bonus à découvrir gratuitement sur le web. Illustrations, story-boards, pages coupées, tout un tas de petites histoires et de dessins sont à reluquer pour pas un clou ! De petites friandises en attendant le troisième tome de la série, attendu l’an prochain chez la Boîte à bulles.

Véritable franchise cross-média, Blue Dragon a bénéficié des services d’Akira Toriyama, le créateur de Dragon Ball Z, lors de la conception du jeu vidéo sorti sur Xbox 360. En février 2009, Kana sort le premier tome de l’adaptation en manga signée Tsuneo Takano et mise en image par Takeshi Obata, le dessinateur de Death Note. Cerise sur le gâteau, la série ne compte que 4 tomes, vendus chacun 6,25 euros.

3-D movies — from Jaws in 1983 to Spy Kids in 2003 — have long been staples of movie fare. Then as now, audience goers donned special glasses that make double images leap out of the screen. But today’s movies, using advanced cameras, are far sharper; and the prospect of standardized 3-D for all films and TV shows means the technology will likely become a DVD staple, too, over the next 10 years.

Or at least that’s director James Cameron’s message at Hollywood’s first 3-D Entertainment Summit. Cameron is currently producing Avatar, his eagerly awaited $200-million feature film, set on another planet in the far future. Shot entirely in 3-D, the film is set for release in December 2009.

“There’s nothing in the palette of entertainment that can’t be done in 3-D,” he said. “All the hard work has been done.”

Avatar is about a paralyzed ex-marine named Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) whose consciousness is transferred to an alien body and sent to a foreign planet to settle and exploit it. Sci-fi stalwart Sigourney Weaver (Alien) stars as Sully’s mentor and actress Zoë Saldaña provides the voice of Sully’s alien lover (the character is computer generated).

Cameron called his work on Aliens of the Deep, a 3-D documentary from 2005 that explored the wreck of the Titanic, a “proof of concept” that gave him the expertise in stereoscopic filmmaking to take on what he calls the most ambitious 3-D film ever created. His original Titanic blockbuster would have looked “gorgeous” in 3-D, he added.

Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Group, told attendees earlier that the company plans to release 17 3-D pictures over the next few years.

Still, Avatar and all future 3-D films will “live or die based on (their) own merits,” he said. “Market forces drive this thing based on content.’’ That means Cameron, who says he’s concerned he can’t live up to all the hype surrounding the film, still has something to sweat about. “The movie may suck,” he said. “I happen to like it.”

On the December 2 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk, co-host Trace Gallagher repeated the falsehood that the average union autoworker earns $73 an hour in wages and benefits. Gallagher asked Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI): "[I]s it tough to justify to your constituents when you have the hourly compensation and wage of the Big Three at around $73 and you have the hourly compensation and wage for the average American at $28? I mean, it's a big disparity to ask those making 28 bucks in wages and benefits to pay for those who are making 73 bucks in wages and benefits." In fact, according to General Motors, the $73-an-hour figure is based not only on current workers' hourly wages and benefits, such as health care and retirement, but also retirement and health-care benefits that U.S. automakers are providing for retirees, as Media Matters for America has noted.

Numerous media figures have advanced the falsehood that autoworkers earn $70 or more per hour in wages and benefits, some using it to blame autoworkers for the domestic auto industry's financial straits.

From the December 2 edition of Fox News' The Live Desk with Martha and Trace:

GALLAGHER: Is there a plan B if the Big Three don't get this bailout?

UPTON: Well, not really. In fact, GM, they'll probably say, at the end of the week, if they don't get some type of bridge loan commitment, certainly this month, now that we're in December, we're not sure that they can actually make it into -- very much into next year at all. So, there's really no -- no one's talking about a plan B right now. What we're trying to do is -- Ford now is -- at least they've shared with us a summary of a plan that's going to be going to all the members on the banking committee -- House Finance Committee over here in the House. We'll see what the reaction is among both Republicans and Democrats.

Hearings are going to be later on this week, and you know, hopefully, they're going to be showing that, in fact, there is going to be some belt-tightening and a number of different changes that will justify a bridge loan to get them into the next level of vehicles that Americans want: electric hybrids, other things to decrease our dependence on foreign oil. And if we can show that they can pass the plan, hopefully -- or that the committee reaction is positive -- hopefully, we can get a bill on the House floor -- House and Senate floor, as early as next week.

GALLAGHER: Congressman, when you talk about justifying this bridge loan, is it tough to justify to your constituents when you have the hourly compensation and wage of the Big Three at around $73 and you have the hourly compensation and wage for the average American at $28? I mean, it's a big disparity to ask those making 28 bucks in wages and benefits to pay for those who are making 73 bucks in wages and benefits.

UPTON: Couple of things. First of all, the last big contract that the UAW did does away with a lot of the legacy cost difference between the Big Three and some of the transplants, Honda and Toyota. Almost gets rid of it by the end of next year. Second, we're going to see, I'm sure, some more concessions. The UAW, I think, is going to be testifying later on this week as well, talk about some other price-savings things that they can do. But, you know, let's look at the facts here. We're looking for maybe $25 billion dollars as a bridge loan that gets paid back, manufacturing staying where it is --

GALLAGHER: What if it doesn't get paid back, Congressman? What if it does not get paid back?

The BlackBerry Curve 8330 is a very old-school cellphone that was announced last year to Verizon, but for the folks living in Canada that couldn't purchase one in the past, can now do it thanks to Virgin Mobile. Like the saying goes: better late than never... right?

Anyhow, the handset has a ridiculous prices:
- $50 with a 3-year contract
- $330 with 2-year contract
- and finally $380 for a 1-year contract

Virgin Mobile Canada