pixar

If you've seen any of the previews for Pixar's forthcoming movie, the terrific "Toy Story 3," you've no doubt caught wind of one of the new toys in the trilogy's roster of playthings: Lots-o-Huggin' Bear.

The movie opens on June 18, and until then viewers won't have much of a sense of how Lotso figures into the film's full story line. Suffice it to say, Lotso is a leader at Sunnyside Day Care, the new home of the stars of Pixar's 11th feature, Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie, Hamm, Mr. and Mrs. … Read more

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--Call it Toy Story 3.5.

That's what Pixar's Jason Katz, at least, called Toy Story 3: The Video Game, during a press event for the game at the famous animation studio's headquarters here Wednesday.

Katz, the story supervisor on the forthcoming "Toy Story 3," which will hit theaters on June 18, was explaining to a group of reporters that while the game version of the film is very true to its source material, it also stands on its own and extends the franchise. Someone who plays the game and then sees the … Read more

EMERYVILLE, Calif.--Oh, Pixar, Pixar, Pixar. You've done it again.

Let me just say it now: "Toy Story 3" is fantastic. I saw an advanced screening Thursday night, and going back over the notes I took in the dark theater at Pixar's headquarters here, I find this that I wrote about a third of the way into the film: "I already know it's a BIG hit."

At Pixar's request, those of us in the room for the screening are constrained about what we can say. Director Lee Unkrich, who spoke prior to … Read more

He wasn't lining up for an interview with Ryan Seacrest about what designer made his suit, but a few eagle-eyed bloggers on location at the 82nd Academy Awards on Sunday evening say that Apple CEO Steve Jobs was in attendance. In a tux, not a black turtleneck.

Blogger and Web video personality Wayne Sutton snapped a far-away shot of someone whom he believed to be Jobs, accompanied with "OMG it's Steve Jobs! I'm the only one yelling at him." Indeed, Sutton's photo shows Jobs' unmistakable profile filing into the Kodak Theater in Hollywood. CNET … Read more

This show is about one of the categories for the Academy Awards: visual effects. This year, there are three films up for awards in the visual effects category: Avatar, Star Trek, and District 9. We're going to be talking with Russell Earl of Industrial Light & Magic. Russell was co-visual effects supervisor for one of those films, Star Trek, and also worked on Transformers, Pearl Harbor, Pirates of the Caribbean, and two of the Star Wars movies.

Also joining us is CNET writer Daniel Terdiman, who covers digital media, culture, and gaming for the Geek Gestalt blog on CNET.

Show notes and talking points… Read more

Can a new chief financial officer paint some real revenue for Twitter? The company announced on Wednesday that it has filled that role with an executive from the Disney-owned Pixar Animation Studios. Ali Rowghani, currently CFO and senior vice president of strategic planning at the animation powerhouse, will join Twitter next month.

"Ali will be an important member of a growing team focused on creating value for our users and capturing the financial opportunities that result from it," Twitter CEO Evan Williams said in a release. Rowghani had been at Pixar for nearly a decade. "His thoughtfulness … Read more

In case you weren't paying attention, 2009 was a banner year for big, big visual effects movies.

And the teams that crafted the most impressive work were honored Tuesday morning, along with all the best and brightest in filmmaking, when the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominations for the 2010 Oscars.

Here at CNET News we have a special place in our heart, as you might expect, for visual-effects-heavy movies because of the fantastic amounts of technology and computing power that goes into them.

As usual, the Academy chose just three films as visual-effects nominees. … Read more

Here's an interesting deal for anyone who has:

With a little coupon magic, you can score the "Monsters, Inc." and "Up" Blu-ray combo packs for $10.98 (plus sales tax).

Each bundle has four discs: two Blu-ray Discs (one with the movie, one with extras), one DVD of the movie (bonus!), and one disc containing a DisneyFile Digital Copy (for viewing on, say, a laptop or iPhone).

Start by printing this $8 off "Monsters, Inc." coupon. You'll need to … Read more

Somehow we make it past the wild Tesla coil in the room to bring you an awesome (if not kind of late) show! Today we show you how to self-destruct your private data, discuss how 3D is totally lame, and why we think Jon Stewart should run for president.

Sorry for starting late today, live listeners! I think today's show made up for the tardiness, and it all starts with Little Big Planet celebrating one million user-created levels. Since the game's popular release, a level is created every 21 seconds or so, on average, which means that if you were to play all of the levels it would take 5 years to finish them all, and that's only if you're playing 24 hours a day. Wild!

I'm also very excited (big surprise!) about the rerelease of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game, dubbed TMNT: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled. Who can forget that classic side-scrolling beat-em-up? I logged so many hours at the local nickel arcade next to my house just sitting there with my friends feeding nickels into that machine. Those were always my favorites kinds of games, and there used to be so many titles, too, including Streets of Rage, Final Fight, Simpsons, and Sunset Riders! Ahh, the old days when you actually had to go to an arcade to play a video game...

We also complain about the recent upsurge of all things 3D and how even YouTube is jumping on the bandwagon, offering users the capability to display their 3D videos in multiple formats. Later on in the second half, we analyze Jon Stewart's role as America's Most Trusted Newscaster, according to an online poll by Time Magazine. Should we be scared that America is relying on a comedian to report the daily news? We're not questioning Stewart's credibility here--he's clearly a smart man--but we're wondering how Comedy Central will leverage such a powerful figure.

OK, I have to bring up the Wikipedia page one more time and then I'll shut up: after a brief recess following yesterday's announcement, the page is now in Wiki-limbo. We need users and 404-supportive Wikipedians to populate the page with more details about the show, the hosts, references, guests, etc...since we can't do it ourselves (no, really, we can't), feel free to insert our appearance on "Fox Strategy Room" as well as other blogs on the Internet that mention The 404, even if it's your own! Anything helps, but please remember not to edit the redirection page; only edit the content at the existing address. Thanks, everyone!