Several months ago, I had made a post talking about a trailer for a new Mortal Kombat movie that appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Starring Michael Jai White as Jax and Jeri Ryan as Sonya, this trailer (popularly referred to as “Rebirth”) was a completely new take on Mortal Kombat, with a more realistic urban setting, and characters such as Reptile and Baraka reimagined as deformed and/or mutilated insane humans. It later came out that the trailer was the work of a director named Kevin Tancharoen, who financed it himself and was making it as a pitch to Warner Bros. to make the next Mortal Kombat film. The trailer was definitely controversial, but also was very well-received. Even Ed Boon liked it, but he said that it probably went too far. The trailer was soon pulled off YouTube, and nothing more was heard from it. It was pretty much assumed “Rebirth” was dead.

As it turns out, we were wrong.

A report over at Bloody Disgusting is saying that Tancharoen is getting to helm a Mortal Kombat ten-episode web series, under the Warner Premiere brand. Michael Jai White will be returning as Jax, though there’s no word on whether Jeri Ryan will be returning as Sonya. She’s not listed in the article, and I didn’t get a response to my query on Twitter. In fact, it’s not even certain yet that it’s based on “Rebirth”. It’ll start filming in Vancouver next month.

If “Rebirth” is anything to go by, I think it’ll be really good. While I hope the series will be based on “Rebirth”, I’m fairly doubtful it would be, simply because it’ll be in wide circulation on the web… and “Rebirth” was definitely a pitch for a hard-R film, complete with gory deaths. Still, while it was a very different take on the Mortal Kombat mythos, it was also VERY reverential to the source media, and it showed that Tancharoen knows his stuff. There’s no word on a release date, but I would imagine it would probably be this summer, especially after the new game hits stores.

I’m definitely looking forward to it. :-)

Changes have been happening in my work life.

A month or two ago, it was announced that a company called Robbins & Myers would be acquiring the company I work for, T3 Energy Services. While I had been through acquisitions before, most of the time it was T3 doing the acquiring. The only time I was on the acquired side was when I started at T3; I had been working as the IT guy for a company called Walker Bolt, and their parent company was acquired in late 2001. I moved from Walker Bolt to T3’s IT department, and a couple of years later Walker Bolt was sold off. It was going to be interesting being through it again…

… or it would be, if I was going to stick around for it.

A couple of months ago, a former coworker contacted me. About a year and a half ago, the VP of process improvement at T3 was offered a job at a company called Kem-tron. Since then he’s become the president of the company. Also, said former coworker, the manager of pressure control engineering at T3, went over to Kem-tron as the VP of engineering. They contacted me, and asked me if I’d be willing to come work for them. I went over and interviewed with them, and gave it some thought. After thinking on it, I decided to accept their offer. I start tomorrow as their new IT person.

Leaving T3 has been rather sad for me. I’m going to miss my coworkers, and it’s been great having a boss who’s so good to work for and looks out for his employees. Also, as I’ve put it in the past, working at T3 has shown me exactly where I went wrong with Walker Bolt. However, things are definitely changing at T3. Many of my now-former coworkers (especially in the corporate side) are leaving. Also, after the acquisition is finalized, the IT department is going to be moved to a new office at I-45 North and FM 1960. While this would have been nice had I still been living with my parents, it would be a 40 mile drive from my current home. I’m personally done with the long commutes.

I’ve been working up until the end, too. Even now I’ve got my T3 laptop sitting next to my monitor here in my home office, and am working on some database maintenance that needs to be completed by the start of business tomorrow. Still, first thing 8 AM, I’ll be at Kem-tron reporting for work and learning about my new job. I’ll be doing all of the IT work for them. It’s a much smaller company, but it’s definitely growing, and if I’m lucky I’ll end up with an IT department of my own.

It’s been a wonderful run. I’d been at Walker Bolt for two and a half years and T3 Energy for nine. However, it’s time I moved on. I’m hoping for the best to those I leave behind, and I’m looking forward to what challenges lie ahead. :-)