Geek news I found while packing spices for a weekend cooking trip:

• Oh baby, is there a lot of news about The Punisher's extended DVD at Newsarama. Read it all here, but be warned, if you're a Marvel fan it is going to make you want to shell out some extra bucks for the DVD. I, personally, am very excited to have a look at it.
• For those among us who like reading novelizations for their favorite movies, you can pre-order your copy of Spider-Man 3, the movie novelization, at Amazon. The only movie novels I tend to read are the Star Wars ones, but I'm sure the Spidey books are fun, too.
• Guillermo Del Toro answers some questions at EW. In his fanboy dreams, he wants to cast Bruce Campbell for a role in Hellboy 2. While this is admittedly unlikely to ever occur (at least for more than a cameo), it still makes Del Toro all the more awesome.
• Neat looking storyboards from a deleted X3 scene. Really, they look like a lot of the rest of the movie -- cars flying through the air, people with shocked expressions on their faces, and things breaking into pieces. If I had to title the flick, I would have given it the same subtitle my friends and I bestowed on the X-Men: Legends video games ... X-Men 3: X-Men Break Your Stuff.
• Hey, Ghost Rider minimates are coming. These toys promise to "deliver all the action-packed excitement of the film with every 2 inch figure." I know that's supposed to suggest the figures will be packed with action, but I can't help but interpret it to say "there's so little action in this film, we could fit it in two inches."

Although he is technically departing Marvel to create his own production company, Avi Arad is still up to his elbows in Marvel film work. In a recent interview, Arad addressed both the long-delayed Ghost Rider flick and the (eventually) upcoming Punisher sequel. Here's the news:

Regarding Ghost Rider, Arad admits that earlier reports of special effects work being very involved are only part of the issue behind the delay of the film. He says the insanity of summer movie releases make it difficult to work in a title; most of the weekends are already filled up with at least one major flick. So in interest of creating both a better looking and more financially successful flick, they pushed back the release date. I'm perfectly okay with this decision if it truly results in a better film. We geeks very much need for Marvel films to be financially rewarding if we hope to see more of them in the future.

Punisher 2 is on the move, although admittedly slower than desired. Arad says: "We are working on it, and I think we are close to a take that makes sense." This still doesn't deal with the issue production and funding, but at least it is a step in the right direction. DVD sales included the film certainly made enough to warrant a sequel in today's Hollywood.