Shopandship.com offers Protection Service against damaged goods

The parcel forwarding company Shopandship now offers Protection Service against damaged goods for international shipments.

Got a email today with the above image. This is the best news I've heard related to international shipping so far. I mentioned the site Shopandship.com before in one my previous posts. Well they're now offering Protection Service in case of damaged goods and their carrier is Aramex.

And the best part is that they cover upto $2500 USD !! Wow..even FedEx doesn't offer that. FedEx covers max $100 USD. If anybody wants coverage above $2500, they need to contact Shopandship directly.

If the item is below $100, it's covered for free by Aramex. One of my Looper posters was shipped via shopandship.com and it arrived in a damaged condition last month. I sent them an email regarding the damage and two days ago I received a cheque for Rs. 1073, which covered the cost of the poster that was damaged.

Cost of coverage is $1 for every additional $100. That is so reasonable. So if somebody orders a collectible statue costing $400, they pay $3 extra for insurance. If it's damaged they can claim that $400 amount, which is why the carrier is bound to be extra careful while shipping such fragile items anymore.

Maybe now collectors in India (who are way too rich) can even order life-size statues like Terminator Endoskeletons and not worry about damage :D.

You can know more about this service by reading their FAQ page.

Hot Wheels Elite - 1:43 BTTF DeLorean Time Machine Photos

Hot Wheels Elite have released photos of their new Back to the Future DeLorean Time Machine which will be part of their Cult Classic Collection of model cars.

Scale: 1:43
Collection: Cult Classic Collection
Limited Edition: no more than 10,000 pieces

To be released in December 2012 and you can pre-order them at the BTTF.com Store.

As per the Hot Wheels Elite website these are Deco Master Pictures and Not Final Images.

(Click on images to enlarge)

One of the most common inaccuracies in the previous BTTF DeLorean models was the side wiring, which should not go above the tires. And the three cylinder capacitors should be red in color and not grey.

These two details used to bug me all the time. I wrote to Sunstar and DST early on, they acknowledged their mistake but didn't bother to fix them. Sunstar did fix the red color but not the wiring for their final BTTF 3 Railroad DeLorean model. Hot Wheels thankfully got those details right.

Nickelodeon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Trailer for Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. It aired on Saturday morning in US with two episodes.



Nickelodeon's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Theme Song. Nothing beats the original TMNT theme, still I am digging this new theme song as well.



The new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was really good, of course it isn't gritty like the Mirage comics or the first movie, but as most who grew up watching the 80s cartoon will surely come to enjoy it and TMNT fans should give this new show a try.

The tone of the series is primarily directed towards kids just like the old show, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and laughed out loud number of times. The animation and virtual camera movements really works great especially during the fight sequences and helps to showcase the agility of the Turtles. Also I liked some of the little extra animation effects when they show some of the facial emotions including some pop out effects to infuse expression and humour through visuals.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Videos | Watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Online
Both episodes (Rise of the Turtles Part I & II) are now available for US streaming on the Nick website.


Pics of the toyline. The Playmates Nickelodeon TMNT figures are 4" and the new Playmates classic TMNT figures are 6". There are also larger figures with sound.


































Turtle Van.

My two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India

These are my two attempts to get a Looper UK quad teaser poster shipped to India and I am pretty much running in a loop now.

The first time I used Shopandship.com (a mail/parcel forwarding service), I had the UK poster seller ship it to my UK shipping address and then Shopandship's courier service Aramex forwarded it to India and delivered it to my city in Mangalore.

I received it on August 31. Instead of opening the tube from the sides to check the contents, the poster tube was chopped in the middle like a cake by the Indian customs. Aramex sealed it with a tape during transit, but the poster was already ruined and creased up. I am currently communicating with Shopandship.com to compensate for the poster. Though I doubt I will ever get this poster for 10 pounds anywhere else. It's not even available on eBay anymore. I managed to buy the poster the second time for 12 pounds.

The second time I decided to risk it big time and had another UK seller ship the poster directly to my Indian shipping address, which meant once it reaches India it would get delivered by the Indian postal service. I received this poster today on September 17. The Indian customs this time didn't merely open it but also folded the whole poster tube like a tissue paper.

(Edit: Updated this post to include shot of the poster tube in its original full folded condition)

So yeah the Indian customs guys are a bunch of irresponsible sadistic jerks.

Perhaps my Loop is working against me and making sure I don't ever get to own a proper version of this gorgeous Looper poster, after all it's the only poster featuring the Time Machine.

Though I won't be framing these two damaged posters, I just have to find solace imagining that the damage to the posters gives them a little character and a distressed look fitting into the aesthetics of the film.

Total Recall (2012)

Total Recall has lot of great visuals including many real sets making their whole world believable. It's non stop action yet I wasn't really engrossed by it. Sometimes the much needed excitement was somehow lacking for me and knowing the gist of the story based on the original film had nothing to do with it.

Even the flying cars sequence which I was most looking forward to, started out great but lost steam eventually. Kate Beckinsale's early fight in the movie is probably the highlight of the movie for me.

Len Wiseman who directed this also directed the first two Underworld films, which I felt were also barely memorable. And my expectations were already pretty low for this movie, so I don't really consider that I was totally disappointed by it.

The streets of the Colony in this movie had a Blade Runner vibe, while some other parts in the movie reminded me of Minority Report. All that only made me realize that no matter how impressive the production design was, the movie still kinda felt hollow and forgettable to me. And neither Collin Farell nor Jessica Biel were the problem as they along with Kate Beckinsale played their roles quite well.

Also as I was watching the movie I kept thinking that there would be other capable directors who would deliver sci-fi masterpieces with such production values. Like Duncan Jones, who could have done his love letter film to Blade Runner which was titled "Mute".

I just hope the remake of Paul Verhoeven's other classic sci-fi film doesn't share the same fate.

Mars Attacks 50th Anniversary

'Mars Attacks' again, 50 years later is an article from USA Today which looks back at the Mars Attacks franchise and its future plans.

Perhaps I had forgotten about it, but it wasn't until early 2012 I realized that Mars Attacks was based on the trading cards from 1962 and that they were re-issued in the 80s and 90s even before the movie came out in 1996. So far really been digging the cool artwork from artist Wallace Wood, which has also led me to tracking the Weird Science comic book volumes that also featured his sci-fi works. Hoping to buy those later this year.

Sample of old cards.

I enjoyed watching Independence Day at the theatre in 1996 and was looking forward to Mars Attacks later that same year. Of course I was surprised as it was not what I was expecting, but eventually I did enjoy its tone and humour.

Looking forward to the various Mars Attacks merchandise being released this year in celebration of its 50th anniversary, including the commemorative book from Abrams Books.

From wiki:
"In 2012, in celebration of the franchise's 50th anniversary, Topps has partnered with a variety of companies on a merchandising campaign to include comic books (via IDW Publishing), bobble heads and vinyl dolls (Funko), action figures and plush (Mezco Toyz), costumes (Incogneato), statues and busts (Quarantine Studio), electronics skins (Gelaskins) and a hardcover commemorative book (Abrams Books). Topps will also be issuing a special 50th Anniversary card set.

It has been announced via the official Mars Attacks Facebook page that the IDW comic books will launch an all-new Mars Attack universe, with plans to expand into other mediums."

I now mainly want the Heritage 80 card base set which includes the original 55 cards. But looks like they are not selling factory sets at the moment and the box set which contains 24 packs is the only way to get them, with 6 cards in each pack. So there are no guarantees of acquiring the complete set with the box, but they told me every pack contains 4 classic cards and 1 each of the new universe and deleted scenes. So apparently with 24 packs it's most likely that one will get a full set. Box is priced $50 at the Topps website, but going on ebay for less. Some are even selling their own completed 80 cards set for $30 and less.

The Amazing Spider-Man Review

Every movie reboot has the burden of being compared to its predecessor and it's hard not to do so especially when its previous movies are relatively fresh in the minds of the audience. For some fans Amazing Spider-Man needs to not only stack-up to the Sam Raimi films but also to the Spider-Man comics.

Brave

In comparison to Pixar's previous films Brave isn't groundbreaking in terms of unique story, but it's still a really good fun film. Gorgeous animation and oh that lovely orange hair. And gotta applaud Pixar's decision to keep the second act under wraps during marketing, took me quite by surprise (I had only seen one trailer, don't know about the rest). Very rarely we get to experience that with big movies these days.

I was totally engrossed in the film and forgot to spot the Pizza Planet Truck easter egg. Also found out now that there was a post-credits scene which I missed, though it wasn't anything big.

Contact

Yesterday I watched the movie Contact again after a very long time. And since it's been awhile, the movie especially many parts before the third act appeared all fresh to my memory. There are some great little character moments of Ellie played by Jodie Foster and Ellie as a kid played by a younger Jena Malone (who I recognized only yesterday as I was watching the movie).

I've always been fascinated with space since I was a kid and now even though mankind's current prospects of deep space travel aren't looking bright, my enthusiasm for space continues to grow stronger. So watching Ellie talk about space with such devotion and the moments where she roots for things in the name of science, they were all so endearing to watch and had me in tears couple of times.

It's sad that Carl Sagan who along with his wife Ann Druyan was actively involved in the development of the film but never got to see the completed film.

After the Back to the Future movies and Forrest Gump, Contact is my favourite Robert Zemeckis film. I am glad Zemeckis is back to doing live-action films and I hope someday he will consider doing another sci-fi film.

And it's quite a coincidence that Jodie Foster's new sci-fi film Elysium from director Neill Blomkamp (District 9) had a private audience screening yesterday, which I read about earlier today.

I found this beautiful poster for Contact but since I haven't seen it listed in other places online I am guessing it's probably a fan-made poster, also cause there are no movie studio credits listed on the poster. Would have still loved to have it in a poster size.

 

Review for Prometheus

When Ridley Scott chose to go with a new mythology and story for Prometheus (based on writer Damon Lidelof's suggestions), it would have been much better if they had gone all the way and completely distanced their movie from Alien. No matter how good of a script they would have weaved, Prometheus could still never match up to Ridley Scott's original Alien. And for sometime during pre-production the movie supposedly didn't have anything to do with Alien. But the Alien brand is too big to ignore, so things from Alien ended up being shoehorned into Prometheus.