Ca-caw!

Usually I stay a million miles away from writing anything about an actor’s personal life, but in this case I’m making an exception.

Full story here.

Owen Wilson has brought a great deal of laughter and joy into my life since I saw Bottle Rocket back in 1996, not just as a wonderful actor but also as a writer, too.

He’s one of a kind, and now he’s a father, and I wish him and his new family nothing but happiness and goodness and joy.

On October 30, my good friend (and soon to be my producer) Alexander Nevsky defeated 300 competitors to be crowned Mr. Universe.

And here’s a photo he sent me with his trophy in hand! The lovely lady standing beside him is Oksana Sidorenko, who just won the World Fitness Championship herself.

My writing partner Kevin Rice and I are writing Alexander’s upcoming Hercules movie, and I’m so excited I can’t stand it. (As you can see from his outfit, his winning program was based around the heroic exploits of Hercules.)

Some of the greatest bodybuilders in history have played Hercules on the big screen, including Lou Ferrigno and former Mr. Universe winners Steve Reeves and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Our movie will be filled with muscles, magic, swords, monsters, and mythology … and I can’t wait to tell you everything about it.

Hopefully soon. In the time since Alexander asked Kevin and me to write the movie, he has produced and starred in the movie Magic Man (which I got to visit the set of back in 2008), promoted the international theatrical and DVD releases of his movie Treasure Raiders, written and promoted a best-selling book on women’s fitness in Russia, filmed a role in the movie Somewhere by Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation), trained for/competed in/placed in the top five in the Russian version of Dancing with the Stars (in which Ms. Sidorenko was his dancing partner), promoted the theatrical release of Magic Man in Russia, and finally trained for — and won! — the Mr. Universe competition a couple of weeks ago.

After some promotion of the U.S. DVD release of Magic Man in early January, we should be ready to get some more movement on Hercules. More news on that and all of Alexander’s other international exploits as it happens! I think 2011 is going to be a wild, busy year. And I like that. A lot.

Back in June, I was the guest on SOLDOUTcast, the awesome weekly podcast created by my friends Aaron and Mike.

Check these guys out — they put a lot of humor and heart into what they do, and the sky’s the limit when it comes to discussion topics.

On my first guest appearance, we performed a script I wrote that basically turned their podcast into a post-apocalyptic action movie. You can listen to the original installment here.

And now we’ve done the sequel, which is available here.

And you should listen to it, because it’s kind of amazing.

Mike’s fiancée Tiffany was able to play herself this time (though Mike’s impersonation of her in Part 1 was pretty hilarious), and the guys’ guest host for #22, our friend Greg Wilson, steps up to rescue us all from the clutches of evil before everything goes all Empire Strikes Back at the end.

The stakes have never been so high.

The massive amount of time and care that Mike put into editing this thing is flabbergasting, and the vocal performances from everyone are off the charts. Greg makes for a mighty Iron King, and when Aaron is called upon to express the greatest sorrow any man has ever felt about anything, all I can say is that you’ll feel it, too.

Here are just some of the things that happen in the sequel:

Flaming pig monsters!

Christina Hendricks in furry space lingerie!

Battles!

Sex!

Mythology!

Shortcuts!

Escapes!

It’s out of control, and ready for consumption.

Please let Aaron and Mike know what you think.

And yes, I wrote myself into a romantic relationship with Erica Durance of television’s Smallville.

So sue me!

This was their eleventh episode, which I consider a really cool milestone for them — doing 10 of anything is great, but 11 means you’re here to stay. And with new guests signing up all the time, you’d better believe they’re ready to hang around.

You should become their fan on Twitter and Facebook to get updates on upcoming topics and guests, and guys, I’d love to come back and do it again.

Be sure to check out all the previous episodes, too. Each podcast is about an hour, and Aaron and Mike really put a lot of heart, thought, hilarity, and fun into each one.

Of special interest in my guest-starring role on this week’s episode is SOLDOUTcast: The Movie, in which we read an 11-page radio play that I wrote about Aaron and Mike and their efforts to carve out order and bring back hope in a lawless, mutant-ridden apocalypse. (Warning! Adult language and situations!)

We also talk about movies, music, and other topics as I answer the legendary SOLDOUTcast Questionairre.

You can check it out by clicking here or on the SOLDOUTcast logo below:

A huge thanks to Aaron and Mike for having me on and providing such a fun time, and of course for acting skills that would make Clooney weep.

Also, extra special thanks to Aaron for suggesting the theme music that’s right up my alley, and to Mike for going above and beyond the call of duty with editing and sound effects.

You guys are the best.

Click here to see the names of the writers, who just happen to be me and my friend, Kevin Rice, who are writing the screenplay with its producer and star, Alexander Nevsky. Things are moving, and I’ll tell you about them in more detail when I can.

And it’s more than a little exciting. :)

Alexander recently filmed a role in Somewhere, the new film by Sofia Coppola (The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation) starring Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Michelle Monaghan, and Benicio Del Toro.

Eleven years later I’m still cranking out articles for Impact, the Global Action Entertainment Magazine, which John edits and contributes a massive amount of writing to. But since John writes so much more than any one magazine can contain, he’s also self-publishing his own amazing Verbatim.

You can find out more about it — and order the latest (and previous) issues — right here. Each installment is filled with John’s gorgeous exclusive photos and equally exclusive interview material you’ll not find anywhere else. Verbatim is a real treat for anyone who loves science fiction, horror, and action films — and it makes a great gift for the movie lovers in your life.

Check it out.

I wrote so many articles for the June issue of Impact that I barely remember what all of them were, but you can find my review of Wolverine and a Terminator Salvation preview article summarizing previous Terminator incarnations on film and in the pages of novels and comics.

And if you’re a Vin Diesel fan, check out my Fast & Furious review and my Vin Diesel career retrospective in the May issue. Just click the links to order or subscribe.

Impact means a lot to me, not just because it allows me to see several articles published each month but mostly because John allows us to dig deep into what makes movies tick.

(And Neal’s layouts consistently make this the best looking magazine I’ve ever seen.)

I’ve been able to interview the likes of Adrian Paul, Dina Meyer, Kelly Hu, Alexander Nevsky, and David Duchovny in these pages, and next month I’ll have a five-page chat with Sandy Collora, whose new film, Hunter Prey, looks like something literally out of this world.

Thanks as always for your interest and support!

Inevitably we’d end up at the Pic-Pac grocery store in New Salisbury to grab one thing or another, and Pop would always buy me the latest issue of Famous Monsters magazine.

Even though the color photo of John Carpenter’s The Thing plastering its bloody self across an Antarctic research station’s ceiling scarred my childhood, I still loved reading the articles and looking at pictures covering everything from classic Universal monsters to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s first Conan movie.

That’s why I’m so excited that some VERY BIG NEWS has been broken on the website of a magazine that was so important to me while I was growing up.

Russian actor, author, writer, producer, and bodybuilder Alexander Nevsky is making a Hercules movie.

And he just told Famous Monsters who’s writing it:

Famous Monsters: Nevsky Still Intending to Explore Hercules

WHAMMY!

I can’t even begin to express how happy and proud I am to be a part of this. My uncle Richard once recorded Conan the Destroyer off of HBO for me, and I watched that tape every day before running around the woods behind my parents’ house with a plastic sword, slaying monsters and saving maidens.

That’s what I want this movie to be.

And I promise it’s going to be awesome.

Thanks to my writing partner, brother, and friend Kevin Rice for convincing me we could write movies.

And HUGE thanks to Alexander Nevsky for believing in Kevin and me by asking us to help him tell this story.

With Alexander and his lovely wife, Katya, on the set of Magic Man last summer in Las Vegas

With Alexander and film legend Robert Davi

Kevin and I have worked really hard on this, and we’re infinitely proud of the plot that does some new and thrilling things with Hercules while honoring the classic mythology. Alexander has given us input, help, and direction every step of the way, and we truly believe this will be something mighty, magical, and massively awesome for action fans old and new.

More news on this as it happens!

For more information about Alexander, his new movie Treasure Raiders arrives on DVD on June 2!

His previous movie, Moscow Heat, is already available. I’ll post reviews of both of them here soon. In the meantime, you can become a fan of Alexander on his Facebook page.

Where did everything go?

It’s all still right here, but it will soon all be moved here.

You can always find me at …

www.johnbierly.com

… which, by the way, is exactly where you are right now.

I finally decided to take the plunge and host myself.

And now I have to figure out how all of this works.

Watch out!

You won’t see anything today that’s more bad-ass than that.

Source: MSNBC

Oh! And I just realized that when Conan yells “Into the boat!” to his friends in Conan The Destroyer, it’s that movie’s version of “GET TO THE CHOPPER!”