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Ponderings For 2008-12-26

  • So, did y'all have a peachy Christmas? The project I've been working hard on trying to finish before Christmas still managed to end up behind schedule, and I'm still working at finishing it, so blog posting will continue to be a bit sporadic. Figured I'd try and get one set of stuff posted today. I was at the Mannheim Steamroller Christmas concert tonight at the Rosemont Theatre, so the holiday spirit hasn't quite diminished yet.
  • RIP: Majel Barrett-Roddenberry (Yeah, I'm late with this news, thanks to my slow postings recently)
  • Awesome. Bruce Boxleitner has now been confirmed for the Tron sequel. Now if they could get Cindy Morgan signed on, that'd be truly cool. The name for the film is still in question (or at least it should be). I'll go with ComingSoon's impulse and just call it Tron 2.0 - what it should be called anyway, no matter what stupid name Disney wants to use.
  • I picked up the new Band Of Brothers Blu-Ray set at Best Buy when they had a 50% off all HBO sale recently. I've watched a few of the episodes on it, and I must say that it's a breathtaking transfer. High marks to HBO for a fine release of one of the greatest mini-series ever made (along with HBO's From The Earth To The Moon). But here's the real shocker - I just stumbled upon the fact that HBO has already filmed a follow-up miniseries called The Pacific which, as you might guess, does for the Pacific theater what Band Of Brothers did for the European. It's being made by many of the same people, and is planned for airing in 2009. If it's even half as good as Band Of Brothers, it'll be great. Can't wait. If only HBO could make anything other than mini-series that are worth watching.
  • Check out the trailer for the very cool looking new sci-fi, animated film 9.
  • Woo hoo! The wonderful Jane Espenson (one of the best writers in the TV business) is writing a 5 part comic about the Buffy character Oz (played so perfectly by Seth Green).
  • Looks like the third Chronicles Of Narnia film has stalled, with Disney backing out of the production. Personally, I think it's likely that Walden will be able to drum up a different studio (and yes, Fox is a good bet).
  • All hail the fractal kitty!
  • Wow. The videographer of this lightning strike probably had some hairs singed.
  • For those who didn't know, this is a leap second year.
  • Classic: Artist renditions of the scoring sessions for Star Trek
  • Do you like dolphins? (emphasis on the plural)
  • This is so bad, it's funny. Talentless hack director Stephen Norrington has signed on to write & direct a reboot of The Crow franchise. Unless he has hidden talent that the lame Blade and the reprehensibly awful The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen worked against, I'm betting this Crow movie will be the biggest embarrassment the franchise has ever seen. This has disaster written all over it.
  • The sad thing is, I might actually believe the McDonald's rep that says they didn't know 1000 people were being sent to the location. It's those most outlandish attempts at spin that sound so hard to believe they must be true.
  • Rock on. Forget voice controlling your computer - try mind control. (the demo starts around the 14 minute mark)
  • Ah, The Onion doing what they do best. (moderate language warning)
  • The CW took an embarrassing hit in the last few weeks, being beaten by fly-by-night MyNetworkTV (MNT), the goofy group of stations that were left out in the cold when The WB & UPN merged into The CW. As much as MNT seems to be the winner of this story, it's surely a random fluke. With the crap programming that MNT has (I need only glance at their line-up before I laugh at it and move on), I find it impossible to believe their beating The CW as anything but a momentary spike in the randomness of ratings. Sure, the idiotic wrestling is likely helping them on a regular basis in achieving those ratings surges, but it's been proven multiple times that WWE isn't enough to really help a network beyond bragging rights. If WWE had such controlling interest in their own programming when they were on UPN & The CW, then they surely nave nearly complete control over it at a network with such a low profile as MNT.

Ponderings For 2008-11-17

  • OK, so my posts have been slow lately. Hey, I at least got a review posted for Quantum Of Solace. What more do you want? How about me admitting defeat when it comes to the reviews? Well, then you're in luck. Rather than attempt actual reviews for all the ones that are long overdue, I've begun adding a simple single paragraph review ("reviewlettes?") for ones that are still lacking full reviews. Their brief reviews are contained with their entry on my 2008 Films list. And yes, I know The Dark Knight is missing a brief review. That's because I do actually plan to finally get my full review of that one published.
  • Speaking of Quantum Of Solace, it entered the James Bond franchise record books this weekend.
  • The new trailer for Star Trek has gone live.
  • It's sad to see that Pushing Daisies is on death watch. I suppose there are plenty of puns that can be used with the title of the show. I'm a HUGE fan of the show, and will be sad to see it go. I can't say I'm surprised, though. First, it's a wonderfully odd show, which instantly makes it hard to market (as any TV network will tell you, "same is good"). Add to that the fact that it's made by the folks who brought us Wonderfalls, one of the greatest shows of all time, which was short-lived with a 13 episode run on Fox. But like all insanely brilliant shows that don't live long, one can adopt the viewpoint of "hey, a short run of a fantastic show is still something to enjoy and be proud of." I have my fingers crossed that Daisies can survive. But if not, it was great to get whatever we could from such a great series. If it dies, I just ask that the second (also short) season gets released on Blu-Ray.
  • And on the topic of series cancellation, NBC has killed My Own Worst Enemy. While following episodes weren't as great as the awesome pilot episode, I did like the series. Not the greatest one on the air or anything, but a fun show. And it made a great companion in the time slot to follow Chuck (which IS one of the best shows on the air).
  • A new trailer for Joss Whedon's upcoming Dollhouse has hit the web
  • Could it be? Knight Rider is being retooled yet again? But hey, it sounds like they are correcting many of the problems I had with it once it went to series. I liked the TV movie from earlier this year, but it totally went off the rails when they brought it to series, when it became completely ridiculous and lost focus of what the show should be. Sounds like NBC has figured out their mistakes. I now look forward to seeing what the later half of the season will be like.
  • And in the good news department regarding cancellations of series, The CW has scrapped plans for their uber-retarded sounding Graysons series.
  • RIP: Michael Crichton
  • RIP: Phoenix
  • "Insane" barely begins to describe this dog. Wow.
  • Here's a hilarious breakdown of the events in Cloverfield using Google Maps.
  • Like many other Academy Awards disqualifications from the past, Hans Zimmer & James Newton Howard's score to The Dark Knight has been ridiculously disqualified from awards consideration.
  • Google has release the new version 7 of their 3D modeling program SketchUp.
  • Here's a pretty good collection of photos from the LA Times of the recent California fires.
  • And here's a cool photo set of New York in the 1930's
  • Coolness. USA Network's series In Plain Sight (of which I'm a fan) has cast the fantastic Joshua Malina in a recurring role.
  • Ever wonder what happens to the planes when smaller budget airlines go out of business?
  • They may not wear eye patches and have peg legs, but pirates are hardly a thing of the past.
  • The kick-butt new USB 3.0 standard has finally been stamped with approval. It'll be very cool to see the new devices in the hopefully near future.
  • Incidentally, I'm now on AT&T's brand new 18mb U-Verse data tier. So far, it's working great.
  • Here's a great experiment with Google Suggest
  • Oh nooooo....

Ponderings For 2008-10-05

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