Friday, June 29, 2007

Roundup for 6-29-07

Jason O'Mara was cast as the lead in the US version of Life on Mars being made by David E. Kelley. (We've recently seen him as Stuart on Men in Trees.) I'm not sure I see the point in remaking the show, but it will probably be worth a pilot when they finally make the thing (they've been talking about it since the first season started in the UK).
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42211

Photographic evidence of Firefly and Serenity DVDs in space (and a great mockup image of the Firefly ship approaching the ISS). Shiny :D
http://www.breakingatmo.com/status/2007/06/gotta-have-records-of-everything

Official announcement for Veronica Mars season 3 dvd with extras list, pretty much as we were expecting from earlier hints.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7573

Unfortunately, it looks like Germany is going to let Tom Cruise into the country to make a film after all, even though they rank his religious beliefs as dangerous and to be watched like neo-Nazis. The original story made me laugh, this one just shows that they'll ignore anything to have a movie made.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070629/film_nm/cruise_dc_2

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Roundup for 6-28-07

Remember that horrifying reading survey I talked about? The survey asked respondents if, during the previous twelve months, they had read or listened to any novels, short stories, plays, or poetry in their leisure time (not for work or school).
They came up with 4 categories:
"light" readers (1-5 books during the year) = 21%
"moderate" readers (6-11 books per year) = 9%
"frequent" readers (12-49 books per year) = 12%
"avid" readers (50 or more books per year) = 4%
That makes 54% that don't read even 1 book per year. I know I'm in the "avid" category, but I have trouble even comprehending that.
If you want to see more of the details, it can be found here:
http://www.nea.gov/pub/ReadingatRisk.pdf

Ryan Gosling has been cast opposite Rachel Weisz in The Lovely Bones. (He's been getting a lot of attention lately for things like The Notebook, but I actually liked him years ago in Young Hercules.)
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-goslinglovelybonescasting,0,4838818.story?track=rss

Jason Dohring (Logan on Veronica Mars) has been cast as an ancient, mischievous vampire on Moonlight (starting this fall on CBS). This show looks like it is changing a lot since David Greenwalt (Angel) took over.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-dohringmoonlightcasting,0,1462947.story?track=rss

USA is picking up a new show with Roswell actress Shiri Appleby about a woman who decides to track down the father she never knew to get her life in order, then finds out he's an assassin and it might be the career for her.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070628/tv_nm/usanetwork_dc_1

Billy Campbell begged the network president for SCIFI and USA for help getting a part on Battlestar Galactica before the show ends. He even said he would work for free. They're going to try to fit him in.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=42189

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Roundup for 6-27-07

Studio 60 dvd set will be released 10-16-07.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7558

Moonlight has recast the female lead. (This is the new fall CBS show about a vampire detective.) The new actress, Sophia Myles, has been in lots of things I haven't seen and one I have, she played Reinette in Doctor Who: The Girl in the Fireplace.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070627/tv_nm/myles_dc_1

Bionic Woman is recasting the part of Jamie's sister and considering not having her be deaf.

The Redwood City Costco change apparently was approved and now is being fought by some local businesses.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6232820?source=rss

The BBC is going to start offering TV show downloads next month with limits: available 1 week after original airing, can only play to the end once, can only keep download for 30 days, etc. They say it will include 400 hours of programming and specifically list Life on Mars (they don't list Doctor Who, but it is likely). They will also offer the shows through some other official sites.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6245062.stm

Hetty's namesake, the pharoah Hatshepsut, has been found and positively identified.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/06/27/MNGL7QMF8M1.DTL&feed=rss.news

I'm going to get on a soapbox and say that all umbilical cord blood should be saved (for patient care or for research I don't care as much). Most is currently being thrown away or banked for a particular person who may never need it. Considering all the things they are finding that can be cured with cord blood stem cells, and that it is more compatible than bone marrow, they shouldn't be throwing any of this away.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/25/eveningnews/main2977637.shtml

Monday, June 25, 2007

Roundup for 6-25-07

Michael Shanks talks about the end of SG-1. (The article also confirms the full cast, including Claudia Black, are in the movies.)
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=42111

David Hewlett (Rodney on Atlantis) has written and directed a black comedy movie called A Dog's Breakfast, which appears to take its entire cast from SG-1 and Atlantis. The pre-order sales of the DVD are doing really well. It comes out 9-18-07.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=42110
http://www.amazon.com/Dogs-Breakfast-David-Hewlett/dp/B00000F5WY

Brad Bird is thinking about making a sequel to Incredibles.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=42130

The Internet Speculative Fiction Database has started to put category tags on books and authors. This will help my cataloging and may eventually be a way to look for books on a similar theme. Unlike scifan, they don't have many tags in use yet, but this site is really improving.
http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/tag.cgi?121

Friday, June 22, 2007

Roundup for 6-22-07

Article/interview with more info on Heroes: Origins
http://www.geos.tv/index.php/article?nid=2041

Article about the Battlestar Galactica TV movie this fall (a prequel about the Pegasus).
http://www.geos.tv/index.php/article?nid=2042

Cheney thinks that the Vice President's office is not part of the Executive branch. This sends chills down my spine.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Cheney_tells_agency_that_Vice_Presidents_0621.html

Stan Lee is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I would have thought he'd already have one. What I find strange in the article is that it says George Harrison is also getting one. I thought you had to be alive and present to get a star (I remember hearing there was one for the Beatles that was never placed because they didn't schedule a time to be there for the presentation).
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-walkoffamehonorees2008,0,446430.story?track=rss

James Marsters is going to guest star on season 2 Torchwood. (What accent do you think he'll use?)
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42075

Amanda Tapping talks about moving to Atlantis.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=42091

They are going to put a new Trader Joe's in Town & Country Village (El Camino at Embarcadero). This will be easier for me to get to on the way home and probably have more parking.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6200021?source=rss

No more Creature Comforts. It has been canceled. No surprise that ratings were poor, I never saw any promotion.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=7411