Apple

• So, did you have a fun Halloween? This might be the nicest weather Halloween I can remember. The number of trick & treaters to visit my house tripled this year, with a total of 9 (yes, there were only 3 last year).
• Coming as a surprise to almost nobody, Circuit City has announced the closure of 155 of their locations, which is just short of 25% of their total locations. Most of the ones in my area are remaining open. One thing is for sure, the company is clearly not doing well pulling out of the tailspin they've been in for a while. This new move is surely just to pull themselves out of their current crisis of being warned of their stock being de-listed because it's been below the requisite $1 level for more than a month. My sympathies go out to the many Circuit City employees who are getting caught in this crossfire, particularly the ones who have suffered through the previous layoff spree the company did a little while back.
• Another recent bit of news that isn't too surprising is the announcement by David Tennant that he is leaving his Doctor Who role after 2009's set of TV specials. While my initial reaction is to be sad to see him leave (he's my favorite actor in the role for the entire 10 actor, 45 year history of the show), I'll be interested to see who the next actor will be. The rumors have started flying like crazy, of course, but given the reliability of the UK tabloid press on stuff like this, surely nobody has yet to accurately guess anything.
• The newly-transmitting Hubble has sent back this pretty cool shot. You know, when you stop and think about the 400 million light year distance involved in this, it kinda blows your mind (or at least it should).
• This is equally funny and disturbing. One thing's for sure, I know what will be in your nightmares tonight.
• Check out this collection of photos from Paris during the 1900 Paris Exposition.
• Congrats to The Pirate Bay for crossing yet another crazy milestone, 20 million unique clients.
• So Fox has canceled King Of The Hill. Heh, to be honest I didn't realize it was still in production.
• Oh, and The Ex List is another new series for the season to buy the farm. I hadn't even gotten around to watching any of them yet (though I did intend to give the show a shot, and do have the episodes saved to check out).
• On the subject of new series for this season, Joss Whedon's upcoming mid-season replacement series, Dollhouse, has picked up one of my single favorite TV writers/producers, Jane Espenson. This should come as no huge shock, as Jane has worked on all of Joss' previous shows.
• And speaking of TV, looks like AT&T is adding a new slate of HD channels to the U-Verse line-up. Nothing much that I care about, though.
• The Terrance Howard situation with Iron Man 2 continues to get interesting. I also wanna know how he ended up the highest paid cast member of the first (if that's indeed true).
• You know, for all the complaints that Microsoft gets for their monopolizing, they don't hold a candel to Apple's continuous propriatorization. It's one of the reasons I will have nothing to do with their technology (probably the primary reason).
• Speaking of the all-powerful Apple, how in the WORLD is it that The Beatles have yet to end up on the annoyingly impiracle iTunes yet?
• With the campaign process in the final stretch this weekend, it was fun to see the SNL skit from yesterday featuring McCain himself, and of course the great Tina Fey as Palin again.
• Speaking of political situations, looks like one of the places you don't wanna be right now is Congo (or anywhere surrounding it for that matter).
• Here's an interesting Google Maps mash-up, providing local movie listings.

• As you might have noticed, I've been posting more movie reviews. I'm still going to be playing catch-up on those for a little while. With the last batch, I started something different. I'm alternating between the newest ones and the oldest 2008 reviews I still have pending. So, today I posted reviews for Smart People and The Ruins, the two most recent movies I've seen, as well as The Spiderwick Chronicles and Be Kind Rewind, which were the oldest of the 2008 films I've seen that were pending reviews. I'll continue alternative like this until that gap is closed. There are still 14 reviews left in that gap for me to get posted. As always, you can see my current log of movie going, and the list of 2008 films is typically up to date, or close to. (both of those are always available in the Movies menu up top)
• I've been loving the new seasons of Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who so far. Both have had two episodes so far (if you're up to speed with the UK debut of Doctor Who, that is). It's so great to have them both back on the air. I look forward to the upcoming episodes of the show.
• Speaking of great shows, I need to put in a plug for Eli Stone. It's a delightfully off-beat series, from Greg Berlanti (the man behind shows like Everwood and Jack & Bobby). It has a flat-out wonderful cast. Jonny Lee Miller is great in the lead as Eli Stone. I've always considered him to be an underrated actor, and he gets to do both great comedic and dramatic acting in this role. The fantastic Victor Garber is, as expected, great. Natasha Henstridge pulls off a tricky "straight man" role very well (though like everyone else, she gets to cut loose in the musical moments of the show). The biggest highlight for me, though, is Julie Gonzalo. She's pitch perfect in the series, and I was thrilled to see her get this role after taking a liking to her in the final season of Veronica Mars (she was a new supporting character in that third and last season of Veronica Mars, one of the greatest shows in TV history). Her performance in the role is truly perfect, and she plays off of Miller brilliantly. This show is second only to Pushing Daisies as best new show of the year (followed by Reaper, Carpoolers and Chuck).
• While we're on the subject of new shows of the season, I've got to begrudgingly admit that I've been liking Moonlight quite a bit. Despite all the things stacked against it, like seeming to be a rip-off of Angel (and other shows of the genre that have come before it) and all the behind-the-scenes shake-ups that the show went though during the lead up to and first handful of episodes, I have to admit that I've really been liking it a lot. In particular, the cast is excellent (primarily when you consider that almost all of them were replaced before it went to series). Alex O'Loughlin is quite good in the lead. Sophia Myles (who us Doctor Who fans will be familiar with) is fantastic as the co-star. And hey, we get another of the Veronica Mars cast in this series, the great Jason Dohring in a smaller supporting role (incidentally, Moonlight is exec produced by Joel Silver, as was Veronica Mars).
• So it's official, the new X-Files film is to be titled The X-Files: I Want To Believe. It's a nice title for us fans of the show, and I happily approve. This is still #2 on my list of most anticipated movies of the year. Can't wait for July 25.
• Check out this hilarious video: An Engineer's Guide To Cats (the "corporal cuddling" bit alone is worth it)
• This is so cool: an Apple IIGS converted into a laptop (yes, I'm a nerd)
• Speaking of nerds, here's a particularly dedicated one
• Google Earth 4.3 has been released, with some nice new features.
• An amusing new Numb3rs commercial
• Some lunatic has done a scale model of Scrooge McDuck's money bin
• Ever wonder what salt & pepper really look like?
• Now here's a cool pool shot
• How bout a man who survived a 1,500 foot drop into Mount St. Helens? I'm not sure if he's lucky or unlucky.
• Welcome back, Demonoid
• And here's some entertainment for you feminists out there: the 1943 Guide To Hiring Women
• He's dead, Jim

• I spent a couple evenings this week digging through all the commentaries and extras on the new DVD set of My So-Called Life. Such a nice set. They did an admirable job getting interview material from nearly all the cast and primary crew. Some nicely off-the-cuff, reminiscent stuff. It's truly scary to watch the pilot episode of the series and keep in mind that Claire Danes was only 13 years old when it was shot. It took a while for the show to get picked up, so by the time it was in episodic production, Danes was nearly the 15 years she was portraying. How strange is it to have a child actor on TV playing ABOVE their age? And Danes is just amazing in the show. Truly. Another thing I feel the need to point out is just how amazing the pilot of the show was shot (the rest of the show is no slouch either). It's one of the most gorgeously filmed pilots I've seen. I've watched it quite a few times over the years and it never fails to amaze in how beautiful it is. I also never tire of the great main title sequence.
• Oooooh. Joss Whedon & Tim Minear join forces again. And with Eliza Dushku, no less. Woo hoo! I just can't believe it'll be with Fox.
• Michael Giacchino is to use the Trek theme in scoring the new JJ Abrams film. Great news. And I'm sure his arrangement will be fantastic. He did such a marvelous job with the theme in Mission Impossible III.
• The X-Files 2 has picked out a release date, and it's sooner than I would have expected. I'm totally looking forward to being able to see it.
• Warehouse 13, huh? Hey, if Jane Espenson is involved, I'm already a loyal viewer.
• 10 reasons to hate cellphone carriers - no kidding. This article is SO right.
• I'm anxiously awaiting the release of a version of AnyDVD HD that can get around BD+, as SlySoft has recently claimed to have cracked. I tell ya, as a customer trying to play back legally bought movies on Blu-Ray, they sure do go out of their way to make it so I can't.
• Speaking of which, looks like Warner might be considering going single HD format like Paramount recently did. The format war continues to get bloodier and bloodier. Christmas sales sure will make things interesting, particularly given HD-DVD's recent moves of utter desperation (uh, $99 players?).
• NBC ain't pulling any punches badmouthing Apple's online media business. Can't say I blame them.
• Looks like my decision to use Microsoft's HD Photo format for my new family photo scanning project wasn't poorly founded. The format has been chosen to be the successor to the ubiquitous JPG format. HD Photo is a very nice format, and I'm anxious to see it get better adoption.
• The man who wants to control the internet. An interesting read (well, for us techies, anyway)

• Today was the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik 1. Hurrah!
• Ooooh, a new Sony Bravia commercial. I swear, these are the coolest commercials ever. If you didn't see the first two, they are also fantastic. What makes these commercials truly great is that they are staged in the real world, not some CGI or stage-based production. It gives them a far grander feeling of scale and style.
• The awesome specs for the HD-DVD release of Zodiac are finally announced. I can't wait. David Fincher's special edition releases are the only ones that come close to rivaling the likes of Ridley Scott.
• Speaking of which, check out Bill Hunt's review of Ridley's mouth-wateringly awesome sounding Final Cut of Blade Runner. I can't wait to pick up the ultimate brief-case housed HD disc set. If only the film was going to be run in the Chicago area, dang it.
• If you missed Pushing Daisies last night (shame on you), you can catch it when it re-airs tomorrow (Friday), or online, etc. Speaking of which, the debut episode scored big in the ratings. Woo hoo! ABC has been strongly behind the show up to the launch, and this will help keep them there.
• Uh oh. The RIAA just got a leg up. Sadly, it wasn't from the neighborhood dog.
• Universal takes the step that we all knew was coming with the likes of HD-DVD: in-movie shopping. The whole "interactivity" push of HD-DVD in particular is one of the most useless pieces of studio distraction in all of the HD format features. I wish they'd knock it off and pay more attention to the types of content that are actually interesting. Then again, with my recent Blu-Ray frustrations, the HD-DVD format is looking less annoying with each day.
• 640 GB solid state drives? I want one. Or two. Or three. Or four. Or more.
• As indifferent as I am towards Apple these days, this surely makes me feel sympathy towards the company. The fact that they have to deal with these mouth-breathers is reason enough for sympathy.
• Could ABC really be reviving Rob Thomas' series Cupid a decade later? If so, they've gotta air it after Pushing Daisies. That would be a cool time slot partnership.
• Is McG going to direct Terminator 4? You know, a couple years ago that news would have sent me screaming into the night in fear of the final piece of crap it would have been. But it turns out the guy actually has directing talent, as was displayed recently with We Are Marshall and the brand new TV series Chuck.
• Hmmm, a 100 GB version of the Blu-Ray disc may be in the near future. I may have a bit of a Blu-Ray rant in an upcoming posting, once I get a couple issues sorted out. I swear, these HD formats sure went out of their way to make their own industry a complete mess.
• This cursory article gives some insight into why IE tends to be such a messed up browser.
• Universal sure took their time following through on this, but they have finally announced season 2 of SeaQuest on DVD. While I consider season 2 to be the weakest season, at least there's hope that they'll make it to releasing the final third season eventually. That third season was something of an overhaul of the series, and was actually a lot better than it ever got credit for. Then again, Universal has a long and distinguished history of revamping shows and cancelling them that same year, every time.
• Here's one of those pictures that's amusing for its stupidity. But when you put it in the context in which it was used, it goes WAY beyond stupidity.
• The late Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. provides some amusing political insights in a new book compiling his journals.

They did it! They fracking well did it! Battlestar FINALLY picked up a visual effects Emmy! The "Creative Arts" Emmy Awards are done before the primary awards, and are all the nitty-gritty categories that don't make the primary ceremony/broadcast. Battlestar lost their other creative arts nominated category, for sound editing. Still, the one that I swore I'd boycott the Emmy Awards forever for actually won. I can't believe that Gary Hutzel and his VFX teams on the series have finally been recognized with the award they have deserved from the beginning. And if Exodus Part 2 wasn't an episode that could finally win the award for them, I don't know what would have. Now, here's hoping one of the other two nominations can win during the primary awards next weekend. It'd be a royal hoot if Ron Moore's nomination for writing could pick up a win. On the non-Battlestar front, great to see that Monk picked up a guest actor win for Stanly Tucci's funny performance. Oh, and it's heart-warming to see that the academy aren't complete idiots in passing up Planet Earth for cinematography in a non-fiction series. That series was breathtakingly shot. It also won best non-fiction series as well, for which it was deserving (as well as a couple other categories).

• Here's a funny example of advertising campaigns being used in an on-the-fly, funny way.
• Ever wonder where that rebate you sent in ended up?
• In the seemingly continuous shake-up of producers on Bionic Woman, Glen Morgan has stepped down. The series sure does seem plagued by "creative differences." And, while I'm looking forward to the series, the rough cut pilot definitely needed some work. I wouldn't bet on the success of the show, but I hope it can make it.
• This is a hilarious anti-piracy ad parody from the UK's series, The IT Crowd
• Another good debunking video for you 9/11 conspiracy nut-jobs. (Rosie...)
• I'm not a big fan of Apple (though I'll admit that I've grown to respect them a bit more in the last few years than I have since they went off the rails in the mid-80's), but I'm always amused by Steve Jobs. He's a guy the industry just can't manage to flush, no matter how hard it has tried over the years. Well, his latest bit of amusing behavior is mentioned in this article, talking about his passive-aggressive stance against the cell phone industry, which he has just become mired in.
• Amuse yourself with how computers were in 1999. Or how people thirty-something years prior thought they'd be. While the aesthetics and approach are a bit off, the basics aren't too far off target. Still amusing to watch.
• Adding a good number of movie reviews after this Ponderings post. Should be all caught up with current reviews finally.