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Ponderings For 2009-02-14

Submitted by GuyGG on Sun, 02/15/2009 - 2:59am
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  • So, did those of you who actually care about Valentines Day have a good one today?
  • Looks like the Friday night Death Slot is going to claim two more genre victims. Dollhouse did worse than even the low expectations the slot had warranted. And looks like the move for The Sarah Connor Chronicles was a mistake as well. Thanks very much, Fox. Perhaps it sounded like a good idea, but if this doesn't prove that The X-Files was a fluke hit on Friday nights, I think the network will never learn. What's even more sad is that I didn't love the Dollhouse pilot episode. Granted, this is after much rumored behind-the-scenes difficulties between Whedon and the network (when are these shows going to learn to stay away from the Fox network?). It was a decent pilot, with some interesting ideas and a slick enough production, but this is not Whedon's best work. Still, it's just a pilot, and one can rarely dismiss a show on just the pilot. It's certainly worth hanging in there to see where it goes. Since it is Whedon (And Dushku, and Acker, and Penikett, etc), I'll be watching every episode, no matter what.
  • The Witches Of Eastwick pilot has signed on the great David Nutter to direct, basically guaranteeing that it gets picked up to series. Nutter is on a 14-for-14 streak of directing/developing series pilot episodes that get picked up by the networks to go to series. So, we'll see if Witches will make it a 15-for-15 track record. While not every one of them may have lasted all too long (Traveler, Dr. Vegas & Tarzan), they've all been very well done. I've certainly been loving his latest success, The Mentalist (my favorite new show of the season, followed by Fringe).
  • Star Wars: The Clone Wars has been picked up for a second season. The show has been more enjoyable than I would have initially anticipated.
  • Dang it. Looks like Germany will get to see the final 3 episodes of Pushing Daisies long before the rest of us.
  • These boots were made for Walken? Indeed. Yikes.
  • And on the subject of Rifftrax, I've been enjoying some of the former MST3K gang's "trax" over the last week or two. Great stuff. And if you haven't been following Mike Nelson's month of eating nothing but bacon, you're missing some great coverage.
  • Lots of cool news for the TV on Blu-Ray front from a recent Rumor Mill post over at The Digital Bits. Coming to the format is Chuck: Season 2, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: Season 2, Torchwood: Season 3 and Fringe: Season 1. Not only that, but there's cover art and news about all three of the Star Trek original series seasons HD remaster sets. But of course the coolest news in that post is that Disney is, indeed, working on a Blu-Ray release of Tron, in anticipation of the upcoming sequel. I imagine it's going to take a whole lotta work to get Tron up-to-snuff for a great quality high def master. The amount of laborious effort that went into the myriad elements and layers of the film resulted in some rough-around-the-edges end results.
  • After nearly a year of deafening silence, it looks like things are still moving forward with JPEG XR (formerly Microsoft's HD Photo format). I began a film/slide scanning project (which I will NEVER finish) about a year and a half ago, and committed to the format in it's VERY early infancy. Still to this day, one of the very few apps to support the format is Photoshop, via a plug-in (which is how I'm doing the work with the project). Good to hear that the finalization of the format is now done and that it is imminent for popular use. It'll be nice to have some real support for the format.
  • Conan did a funny rant against the NY Times about their boron mistake.
  • And Joaquin Phoenix made a dazed, half-hilarious, half-scary appearance on Letterman.
  • And you thought your fingernails were long? Ouch.
  • Beverly Eckert is somebody who did not have any manner of good fortune with airplane disasters. Definitely a sad set of circumstances.
  • If you've never checked out the ultra-cool, Tesla-coil-weilding music group ArcAttack, you should hunt around their site and all the videos of their performances up on YouTube. Awesome stuff.
  • I don't care if this is staged/planted or not (I vote not), this is hilarious. Here's a camcorder recording from the audience of the jumbotron. Great stuff.
  • Coolness - The Pong Museum. Happy 40th anniversary, Pong.
  • And on the topic of video games (and my previous post about Tron coming to Blu-Ray), and of no particular surprise, Disney is supposedly working on a new Tron video game to tie in with the upcoming sequel.
  • And I'll transition from Tron to other modern remakes of fun retro-franchises of my childhood. The first is the very cool trailer for GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra. Helmed by a perfectly chosen Stephen Sommers directing, and featuring Christopher Eccleston (The ninth Doctor), I have high hopes for the fun looking movie. If nothing else, it will surely result in a great new score from Alan Silvestri (who has worked with Sommers before on the second Mummy film and on Van Helsing). The second is Land Of The Lost. It is also helmed by a talented director, Brad Silberling, and the great cast includes none-other-than Pushing Daisies' own Anna Friel. The third almost defies belief, The A-Team. I'm a fan of the series, and had been interested in the number of rumored attempts to do a new film based on the show. The newest incarnation of that idea has Joe Carnahan directing (hopefully not as crappy a choice as my instincts would tell me), but most interesting is that Ridley Scott will be producing with his brother Tony exec producing.

Ponderings For 2009-02-04

Submitted by GuyGG on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 2:59am
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  • I post this entry from down in comfortable Phoenix, AZ (technically speaking, I'm in Laveen, which is just outside of Phoenix). It was roughly the same temp inside and out tonight. A bit wamer than the 17 degrees of Chicago, from whence I came.
  • Great to have Medium back with a new season this week. It's one of those shows where I don't realize how much I missed it until it's back. It's also a show I don't mention enough, because it really does deserve it. It's one of the most consistently great shows on the air. It's extremely rare for there to be a less-than-solid episode of the series, and it's always striving to be creative and try something risky and interesting. And it's one of those TV shows that really understands how to visually tell a story. The show's not just about visual style (which it certainly does have), but about using the visuals to help convey the plot and characters. Hopefully, the show will survive a good while longer.
  • Here's a fun new official promo from FOX for their upcoming Friday pairing of Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and Dollhouse, done Grindhouse style. It's a fun and cool promo (particularly for being an official promo from the network), and I really do hope these two shows can help each other survive in their crazy Friday "death slot" schedule. It all kicks off on 2/13, and I can't wait. The Whedon geek in me loves seeing Summer Glau and Eliza Dushku joining forces in different shows together.
  • Speaking of sci-fi on Friday nights, did y'all enjoy last Friday's Battlestar episode, "The Oath?" After two fantastic and gritty character episodes, this one launched things forward at a breakneck speed. Awesome episode. I cheered out loud when Starbuck, uh, made an appearance in the landing bay...
  • Speaking of Battlestar, Universal is doing an interesting move releasing the pilot for Caprica on DVD this April, LONG before it airs on Sci-Fi in 2010 along with the episodes that will follow it.
  • And just to prove that after praising the above shows so much there's the other side to the coin, here's another low for reality TV.
  • The Obama administration has made their first move that annoys me.
  • Doctor Who will be making the big jump to being fully produced for HD starting with the upcoming 2009 Specials.
  • And you thought you've stayed at some strange hotels...
  • Here's an amusing bit of subterfuge pulled off by Anna Torv and Mark Valley, stars of the series Fringe, having gotten married over the holidays without the press noticing.
  • Speaking of subterfuge, looks like you'll wanna pay close attention to those M&M's you are buying.
  • And if you wanna see something equally strange and cool, check out these hit songs reworked through Microsoft's rather interesting and impressive Songsmith platform. There's numerous other ones you can find on Youtube if you go looking, a number of which are quite interesting.

Ponderings For 2008-11-17

Submitted by GuyGG on Tue, 11/18/2008 - 2:59am
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  • 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 2008-11-02

Submitted by GuyGG on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 2:59am
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  • 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.

Ponderings For 2008-05-19

Submitted by GuyGG on Tue, 05/20/2008 - 1:59am
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Ponderings For 2008-04-08

Submitted by GuyGG on Wed, 04/09/2008 - 1:59am
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Ponderings For 2007-11-03

Submitted by GuyGG on Sun, 11/04/2007 - 1:59am
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  • 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)
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