Posted 05/09/09 at 04:25:14 PM by Justin Kerr

The 2009 Webby awards have come and gone, and sadly, Maximum PC was mysteriously overlooked. We didn’t notice a category for “world’s most amazing technology website / magazine”, but that’s no excuse! For those of you who haven’t heard of them before today, the Webby’s are an international award honoring excellence on the Internet.  They focus on everything from YouTube skits to innovative advertising, but one look at the list and you’ll wonder if they just snagged the first million URL’s from Google and ran with it.

The 2009 results are listed below:

• Best Websites
• Interactive Advertising
• Online Film & Video
• Mobile

Special Achievement Awards

• Webby Artist of the Year: Trent Reznor
• Webby Person of the Year: Jimmy Fallon
• Webby Breakout of the Year: Twitter
• Best Actress: Sarah Silverman
• Outstanding Comedic Performance: Lisa Kudrow
• Film & Video Person of the Year: Seth MacFarlane
• Agency of the Year: R/GA

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Posted 01/30/09 at 04:00:45 PM by Paul Lilly

B-list actors and Hollywood washouts taking refuge on YouTube may soon find competition from more talented (or at least more popular) A-list actors. According to The New York Times, the social video site is close to inking a deal with the William Morris Agency that would have the Hollywod talent agency putting its clients in made-for-web shoots.

The deal is not yet complete and neither YouTube or the William Morris Agency are commenting on the situation, but The New York Times claims to have talked with people close to the situation who say this is YouTube's most ambitious attempt to date to expand its video library with professional level content.

Should the deal go through, it remains to be seen how many prominent actors will show an interest in acting for YouTube, but it should be noted that the William Morris Agency represents the likes of Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Quentin Tarantino, and more, as well as famous producers and musicians. 

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Posted 07/26/08 at 02:15:00 AM by Norman Chan

Here’s something I noticed today while snapping up photos hundreds of cosplayers: they each have a unique pose prepared when other attendees or photojournalists ask to take their picture. It’s actually quite entertaining to watch, really. A dressed-up costumer will just be walking by, casually chatting away with their friends, and then they’ll suddenly execute a unique pose and mug for the camera if they anticipate a shutter click. I’d like to imagine that these cosplayers practice modeling their poses in front of a mirror before stepping foot in public.

But on to the kick-ass sights I saw today. Warner Brothers held a large panel to promote the upcoming Watchmen movie; director Zack Snyder brought the entire starring cast to answer questions from fans and show off never-before-seen footage. The cast really looked and sounded like they loved the material and immersed themselves into their roles. Confirmed: Patrick Wilson’s Nite Owl will indeed be balding, fat, and impotent when he’s out of costume. Matthew Goode, who plays Ozymandias, also pointed out that he played the character with the idea that Veidt was the son of Nazis.

Click the jump to see more awesome costumes, and to find out who I bumped into on the show floor today.

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Posted 07/25/08 at 02:37:04 AM by Norman Chan

Who knew geeking out could be so tiring. The first full day of Comic-Con is over, and our legs are already worn out. But before we collapse in fatigue, we wanted to share with your some more awesome sights from the show floor. We spotted hundreds of cosplayers (don't worry, we'll be posting photos of them ALL after the event), B and C-grade celebrities (Captain Sisko from Deep Space Nine!), and even some surprise announcements from the movie presentations (Tron 2 is in the works, starring Jeff Bridges). Some quick impressions of the Max Payne footage shown today at the 20th Century Fox panel: the movie looks like it's taking the story seriously, and bullet-time shots are definitely different from what you've seen in the Matrix or John Woo films. The film apparently utilizes a camera that can shoot at 1000 frames per second -- one scene we saw slowed the firing of a single shot down to over half a minute. Another big surprise from that panel: Hugh Jackman made an unannounced appearance to show off the first footage from the Gavid Hood directed Wolverine movie. Gambit and Deadpool are confirmed to appear. Awesome!

These ladies can barely contain their excitement for Ghostbusters. Click through the jump for more geek-out photos. 

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