First off I have to admit, I must be the only one that didn’t get to attend the Glow in the Dark tour, with that said, Kanye West has released a photo book of the epic tour that he did in 2008. From the preview images below the photos look AMAZING. The book comes with an interview with tour collaborator Spike Jonze, 400 photographs, a CD with unreleased music and an interview with Ye. The book will run you $50 retail but on Amazon.com you can cop the Trade Edition for $29.99.

Photo: Kanye West

We’ve seen Lego hip hop albums among other things Lego.  And while pop-up books may amaze all ages, there is nothing like the one in the Youtube clip above.  Watch the video and see  how this next level pop-up book reveals an intricate diorama including Kyoto’s Golden Pavilion.  All built in Lego pieces of course.  I’m really curious as to how many hours was spent planning and executing this brilliant piece of art.

Source: Topless Robot via talpaz

Here we have two fine ladies of BSG, for those that do not speak geek, that’s Battlestar Galactica. Both coincidentally are Canadian, yeah Canada, Grace Park and Tricia Helfer are on the cover the November issue of Maxim, below is the some of the images from the shoot as well as a  behind-the-scenes video, in which I kept looking for nipples. I once saw Grace Park on the streets of Vancouver in a barely there piece and the buttons on my pants nearly popped off. Just sayin’.

On the cover for Interview’s Oct / Nov 2009 issue, which happens to be their 40th Anniversary, is Kristen Stewart, not just on the cover, but a full photo editorial inside done by photographer Craig McDean. His portrait shots of her are amazing and my favorites are those three below.

Lily Allen recently was announced GQ’s Woman of The Year, GQ UK that is, and appeared on the cover of this months issue. In addition to the cover there’s a full interview and photo shoot accompanying that. The photographer for the shoot was Simon Emmett, whose shot quite a few covers for GQ UK and is a fairly well known portrait photographer. In the the shoot Lily Allen does go topless, so if you’re viewing this at work then beware.

Amazing. Simply put that’s all I have to really say about this shoot. Done by photographer Elena Kalis, basically her interpretation of the story and forthcoming film by Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland, but renamed to Alice in Waterland. The photos are amazing, as underwater photography has always fascinated me, but the model that’s in the role of Alice in this shoot is pretty amazing as well, holding her poses and looking animated. Along with this photoshoot is also an interview that Yatzer did with Elena Kalis, which can be read here.

Link: Yatzer

Actress Kristen Stewart appears on the cover of Dazed this month. In addition to the photoshoot they also had a chance to sit down with the actress and do an interview. An excerpt can actually be read online at Dazed’s website here, in it though she talks about the fact that the paparazzi is finding her where abouts because of Twitter.

Yeah since Twilight. That’s the only reason they’re out there. They find out where I am from the Internet – from Twitter, man! Anyone who wants to know where I am at any given time just has to go on Twitter, it’s so ridiculous! – Kristen Stewart

In addition she talks abit about her upcoming role as musician Joan Jett. The full interview can be read in the September issue of Dazed out now.

Harper’s Bazaar has enlisted “it” model Agyness Deyn and acclaimed photographer Terry Richardson to channel Michael Jackson for the latest issue. The six-page spread will appear in the September issue which is on newsstands on August 18th. As it can be seen influences of Michael are taken from different iconic moves, moments, videos, etc. Hell they even have a “Bubbles” appearing in the shoot.

With the aide of artist, Camille Scherrer, here is a promotional clip bringing Louis Vuitton’s book, Art, Fashion and Architecture to life.  If anyone can find a way to market a hardcover in style, it would have to be the almighty LV.  The book hits shelves next month.  Although Art, Fashion and Architecture details all past artist collaborations, it’s hard not to associate the brand with Takashi Murakami’s whimsical characters these days.

When speaking of the Justice League there are usually the normal mainstays: Superman, Batman, Green Lantern, Wonder Woman and Flash. But if you’ve ever seen a few episodes of the TV series or picked an issue of the JLA, then you might have noticed another character that always seems to be around. This character of course is the Martian Manhunter. As the Justice League and all of its characters begin to pry their way into pop culture, don’t forget to mention J’onn J’onzz as one of the pillars to the superhero team. This week’s edition of Get To Know Your Superhero will focus on The Martian Manhunter.

Martian Manhunter first appeared in 1955 and was created by Jack Miller and Joe Certa.

In an issue of Detective Comics a scientist manages to teleport Martian Manhunter from Mars to Earth.

Upon his arrival, Martian Manhunter finds the scientist dead and all of the knowledge of his teleportation technology is gone.

Martian Manhunter is then forced to remain on Earth until alien technology can develop something to bring him back to Mars.

During his tenure on Earth, Martian Manhunter creates the identity of detective John Jones.

The name Jon Jones comes from his actual name back on Mars J’onn J’onzz.

Martian Manhunter possesses the following powers: Shape-shifting, Super Strength, Super Speed, Martian Vision and Flight

He is vulnerable to fire.

J’onzz eventually revealed to Earth that he was in fact the Martian Manhunter and joins the Justice League of America.

After many missions filling in for Superman and becoming a staple in the JLA community, DC writers decided J’onn J’onzz’s time was over.

In the Infinite Crisis story line, Martian Manhunter is killed in front of an audience by Libra sparking one of the largest DC story lines in history.

J’onn J’onzz is portrayed by Phil Morris in the TV series Smallville.

Who know what the state of a rumored Justice League movie is right now, but if someone out there decides to bring the JLA to the big screen, they better not leave out one of its most important members. J’onn J’onzz is usually the “straight” character in a lot of the JLA story lines in that he is quite emotionless and tends to look at everything from a logical perspective. Where other, more human characters like Superman and Batman can let their emotions get in the way of their missions, Martian Manhunter is a stone wall. So there you have, Martian Manhunter, see ya’ll next week.

Marvel is a giant in the comic book industry. They are so powerful and so influential over the industry that one wrong move would be magnified to, well, comic book  proportions. Because of this, Marvel can come off as some what reluctant to take chances and produce something completely “different.” Thus, the creation of Icon and with it, the creation of a recent cult hit. This week’s edition of Get To Know Your Superhero dips into a modern character. This week’s edition is about Kick-Ass. Sit back and enjoy.

Kick-Ass was created independently by Mark Millar and John Romita Jr was first published under Marvel’s Icon in April 2008.

Before the comic was launched an anonymous Youtube video was uploaded showing footage of Kick-Ass.

Soon after a Myspace page for Kick-Ass appeared stating that Millar and Romita will be making a comic about his life.

The Myspace page also ran a global contest to see if anyone would name Kick-Ass – the winner was Dave Lizewski.

Dave Lizewski is a normal NYC high school student with a love of comics.

He loves comics so much that he become inspired to create a suit and fight crime.

After training himself for a while, Lizewski attempts to stop a mugging – the result was him getting his ass kicked.

After the beating he wanders into the streets only to be hit by a car.

Lizewski spent the next few months in rehab but returned to the streets.

Lizewski is then caught on cell-phone camera while saving a man from a mugging – the video landed on Youtube and was tagged with the named Kick-Ass.

Like many high school boys, Lizewski has a big crush on one of his friends Katie Deauxma.

After his massive beating, other students in his school started a rumor that Lizewski was a gay prostitute – but Lizewski went along with it because he was getting sympathy from his crush.

Kick-Ass now has an active Myspace page where people can call upon him for help.

On one of his first missions, Kick-Ass finds himself in trouble with a violent gang of thugs. All looks lost until he is saved by Hit-Girl.

Hit-Girl is an 11-year old sword swinging girl who fights crime with her father Big Daddy.

After being saved by Hit-Girl, Kick-Ass begins to notice that his Myspace page and Youtube video have inspired an entire subculture of superheros.

Kick-Ass is later approached by Red Mist, another costumed hero looking to team up.

It turns out that Red Mist is actually working for a drug dealer who later captures Kick-Ass.

Each issue of Kick-Ass features a different, real local comic book shop.

The Kick-Ass phenomenon will be coming to screen with the following cast – Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Lindsay Fonseca and Aaron Johnson.

Kick-Ass is probably one of the biggest comic characters to come out of 2008. A lot comic book fans focus on the originals or the classics, but there’s always room for something new and exciting and Kick-Ass is both of these things. So now when the film hits theaters some time next year you’ll be able to know exactly who is who and what is going on. Just don’t be that douchebag in the back of the theater who explains everything to his friends while the movie is playing. Until next time…..

The third season of Mad Men, one of my favs, is set to start on August 16th. The super sexy Christina Hendricks, whom plays Joan Holloway, can be seen in the lastest issue of Esquire in various alluring poses.

Season 2 of Mad Men is now available on DVD and on Blu-Ray, click here.

Growing up in North America we’ve all been treated with some amazing things in our childhoods. We live in a place where Disney has both a land and a world, where carnival food could be considered its own food group and where television basically raised an entire generation from the time we could open our eyes to, well, now. But for all of the privileges we seemingly take advantage of, we’ve definitely been missing out on one of the greatest international characters ever created. Good thing this week’s Get To Know Your Superhero focuses on Astro Boy – The world phenomenon (at least the world outside of North America).

Astro Boy was created in 1951 by Osamu Tezuka.

Astro Boy was originally created as Captain Atom in his very first Japanese manga.

After a freak accident resulting in the death of his son Tobio, Doctor Tenma creates a robotic version to replace the original.

Astro Boy embodies seven distinct robotic powers:

He speaks 60 languages

Hhe has the strength of 100,000 horses

His legs are flying jets

He has magnified hearing

Weapons can project from his mid-section when called upon

His electronic heart can glow and sway criminals away from being bad

His eyes can turn into lamps for night-vision

His fingertips are laser guns

According to the Astro Boy comics, he was born in 2003

In 2003 the city of Niiza registered him as a resident and promptly retired him into the Robot Hall of Fame.

The story of Astro Boy follows Astro’s adventures on Earth after Dr. Tenma rejects him for not being able to age and being void of all emotion.

Tenma sells Astro Boy to the circus, specifically the owner Hamegg.

After watching Astro perform in the robot circus one night, Doctor Ochanomizu adopts him and raises him as his own son.

Astro is constantly striving to prove that, even he as a robot, should be treated as an equal in a world of humans.

Astro is constantly called upon to save the world from impending danger and criminals at large.

The original Astro Boy manga ran from 1951 – 1968

Since then numerous companies have tried to profit from Astro Boy’s celebrity, but not until this year will Astro Boy grace the big screen in North America.

The Astro Boy feature film will hit theaters October 23, 2009. The film is already creating huge buzz around the world with just its star-studded cast. Voicing Astro is Freddie Highmore who will be joined by Kristen Bell, Bill Nighy, Nicolas Cage, Donald Sutherland, Nathan Lane, Charlize Theron and Samuel L. Jackson. So now when October hits and you see all of the hipsters in your neighborhood lining up at the theater, you’ll know exactly why. Who knows how Astro Boy will be received as a North American feature film, but really, who cares?

Maurice Sendak’s classic children’s book Where The Wild Things Are is being re-envisioned by director Spike Jonze. Have a look at this featurette released by Jonze and the producers of the film to get a sense of how important it was for Jonze to maintain all of what Sendak had written, while at the same time give it new life for the screen.

This past weekend marked one of the year’s biggest events in terms of pop culture and entertainment. Comic-Con 2009 closed the books yesterday evening and like so many years previous, people will be talking about it for a while. I posted a few interesting things to come out of the convention a few days ago, but now that the event is over I can point out some of the biggest news that people will be following.

First up, James Cameron’s Avatar. This was probably one of the most anticipated panels / talks of the year where Cameron would screen some footage of his upcoming IMAX release Avatar. Movie fans have been buzzing about this project for over a year and Cameron didn’t disappoint. It’s impossible to show footage of his presentation because the web could never do justice due to the sheer size of the project. Just know that Cameron’s Avatar will be making huge news throughout the next calendar year.

Next was the public screening of Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland. After a lot of talk, rumors, leaked photos and random forum news, Disney finally released the trailer for the upcoming Wonderland adventure. You can check the trailer below:

Fans camped out the night before to get a good seat and a glimpse of the next big thing to come out of the Twilight Saga. New Moon premiered the latest public footage. Check the clips below and please disregard the screaming camera woman.

John Favreau brought up the entire cast of Iron Man 2 and showed 5 minutes of footage. Unfortunately Marvel hasn’t released the footage to the web, but you can check out a clip of the panel here:

There was TONS of news that dropped throughout the 4 day event and trying to wrap all of it up in one post would be criminal. If you’re interested in something specific, leave a comment and I’ll post more.

Songstress Janelle Monae appears on the cover and in the Summer 2009 issue of Paper. I have to admit that I’m intrigued by her and her talent and striking beauty. The photos were taken by Jiro Schneider and the shoot was styled by Mack Dugan and Megan Rizer. Want to know more about Janelle Monae, head on over to www.papermag.com to read the article.

MySpace: www.myspace.comjanellemonae

Big Thanks out to Dose for being one the first to post this amazing new trailer from Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland. As some of you avid Killahbeez readers already know, we’ve been hyping this flick since some of the first images went public earlier this year. Well, a trailer has finally hit and it looks – SPECTACULAR. Not to put too much pressure on Burton and all of the Disney cronies, but if you’re going to put out a trailer like this, you best be delivering something awesome come March 2010. Have a look.

If someone tells you that there’s this comic book character who carries around a hammer and wears a helmet with little wings you might want to reconsider before you burst out with laughter. Although the Mighty Thor may look strange in comparison to some of the spandex-clad heroes you’re used to, he’s by no means any less awesome. With an Avengers flick in the planning stages Marvel Studios has added a Thor feature film to their repetoire, but before you flock to the theaters, you might want to check out this latest edition of Get To Know Your Superhero: Thor.

Thor was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby in 1962.

Lee wanted to create a character that was stronger than Hulk, so he used Norse mythology to introduce Thor as a god.

Thor is the son of Odin.

Odin felt that his son needed a lesson in humility so he placed Thor on Earth with no memory of being a god.

On Earth, Thor was given the persona of Donald Blake.

Donald Blake was a successful surgeon who fell in love with his nurse, Jane Foster.

After living almost an entire lifetime as Donald Blake, his true identity was revealed.

Donald Blake learned of his ability to turn into Thor and was able to balance both personas.

Eventually Odin felt Thor had learned his lesson and separated the two.

Thor now garnered an affinity for protecting Earth and its inhabitants.

Thor possess many powers such as the ability to control the weather, un-matchable strength and stamina and the ability to fight.

He also possesses two very important and mystical pieces of equipment, his belt and hammer.

His belt enables him to control the elements while his hammer contains the power of Odin.

Thor absorbed the “Odinforce,” when Odin died, but used almost all of its power in a battle with Bor, one of his foes.

After this occurrence, Doctor Strange transferred the Odinforce from Thor to his hammer linking his power to his weapon.

Thor’s most epic battles have come against his adopted brother Loki.

Loki is more of a magician than anything and at one point actually uses his spells to call upon Hulk. The result was Thor having to defeat Hulk and the subsequent creation of The Avengers.

Really, this is jus the tip of the iceberg of the history of Thor, but if you’re really interested in the Norse god you’ll be happy to hear about the feature film being put together for Marvel. So now, when you hit the theaters in a couple of years to check out the Thor feature, you’ll know at least the basics.

Last week I was chatting with homegirl Sasha over at Beautiful / Decay, just catching up and all that jazz. At the end of one of messages she told me that their in house artist, Kyle Thomas was hand drawing 1,500 custom covers, YES HAND DRAWN. Thinking to myself, “yeah, right”. Who in their right mind would do something like that. Well guess what, Beautiful / Decay presents to you 1,500 hand drawn custom covers. Take a look at the full gallery of the covers over at www.beautifuldecay.com. Amazing.

For the past decade Juergen Teller has been producing campaigns for “every facet of the Jacobs empire”, which has helped Marc Jacobs carve out distinct ad campaigns every season that stays with everyone. Starting this month fans of the ad campaigns will be treated to the book titled Marc Jacobs Advertising 1998 – 2009 by Juergen Teller. The book of course will feature all of the campaigns that the two have worked on together between this time period and is available from Amazon.com for $75.60, that’s $44.40 off of the cover price of $120. Buy it here.

Images: Wallpaper*