Wednesday, August 29, 2007

8-29-07

Rumors & mini-spoilers for Grey's Anatomy, Men in Trees, Kyle XY, Burn Notice, Scrubs, CSI, etc. on http://www.tvguide.com/Ask-Ausiello/070829

Fox is planning a sitcom that doesn't horrify me at the initial description (amazing, isn't it?). A "normal" family moves into a gated community entirely populated by aliens.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070829/tv_nm/aliens_dc_1

What is it with weird casting for movie remakes? The Rock has just been cast in a remake of Escape to Witch Mountain. I've liked him in some things, but I don't see him as an Eddie Albert substitute (or even as a cab driver which is the new character helping the witchy kids).
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-therockwitchmountaincasting,0,6615235.story?coll=zap-news-headlines

It is the end of time... at AT&T. Phone numbers for getting the current time will be discontinued this week.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus29aug29,0,2466396,full.column?coll=la-home-center

I was glad to see today that Bad Rap will be involved in the temperament testing of the Vick dogs. It sounded last week like they would just be all put down. After all they've been through, they deserved a fair test, and now they'll get one.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/29/BAT1RRMHI.DTL&feed=rss.news


Tuesday, August 28, 2007

8-28-07

Tim Minear is finally working on a show that won't air on Fox. It will actually be on ABC. Not sure about the premise, but his stuff is usually better than it sounds, and Todd Holland is joining too.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-timmineartoddhollandabcpilot,0,2826691.story?track=rss
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43671

Additional Heroes material online: a mock documentary on Kensei, narrated by John Rhys-Davies, is being put up in short segments.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43653
http://www.yamagatofellowship.org/index.shtml

I didn't stay up for the eclipse, but I did wander outside at about 3:30 when I was having trouble sleeping and saw the shadowed moon in total eclipse. Here are some pics capturing the sliver of light proving they were taken either earlier or later than when I was looking:
http://www.space.com/news/070828_lunar_eclipse.html

Slideshow from Voyager spacecraft.
http://news.com.com/2300-11397_3-6203472-1.html?part=rss&tag=6203472&subj=news

Looney Tunes Golden Collection Volume 5 has announced their lineup. **Sniff** Why today? And still no Connecticut Rabbit in King Arthur's Court.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7951

Monday, August 27, 2007

8-27-07

Reports are that Keanu Reeves will play Klaatu in a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I actually usually like him, but I think this is really horrible casting.
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-reevesdaytheearthstoodstillcasting,0,2690006.story?track=rss

Early studies show that stem cell injections can help rebuild heart muscles after a heart attack. The same article says that stem cell use for spinal cord injury goes to clinical trial next year!
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cfce5cae-53f7-11dc-9a6e-0000779fd2ac.html

Article on lesser known SF movies & miniseries. Talk about a strange mix.
1 - Dark City - I like
2 - Robot Stories - I like
3 - The Lost Room - OK
4 - Pi - never saw
5 - Lathe of Heaven - saw ~25 years ago and don't really remember
6 - Ghost in the Shell - never saw
7 - Akira - never saw
8 - Donnie Dark - I like
9 - Cube - never saw - it looks too much like horror
10- A Scanner Darkly - never saw and not really interested
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/235773/lesser_known_scifi_films_and_miniseries.html

Kevin Smith will direct a 3rd TV show this coming season. We know about Reaper and Heroes: Origins, but now Battlestar Galactica has been added to the list.
http://www.buddytv.com/articles/battlestar-galactica/kevin-smith-to-direct-battlses-9870.aspx

The original lightsaber prop from Star Wars is going into space for the 30th anniversary. Chewbacca (or an actor dressed as him anyway) will pass it off to NASA. Then R2-D2, storm troopers and other characters not yet named will escort it along the way. This has got to be filmed for some sort of anniversary dvd release.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=43631

Eliza Dushku has signed a development deal with Fox. They killed Tru Calling and didn't even pick up her last pilot, so why does she want to let them keep her dangling? She and Tim Minear must have the same masochistic tendencies or the same agent.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43592

Interview with Sherilyn Kenyon about her Dark Hunter series. 2008 has been marked as the "Year of Acheron." Talk about teasing.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=43590

The Sarah Jane Adventures will be back for 10 30-minute episodes telling 5 2-part stories this fall in the UK.
http://www.shannonsullivan.com/drwho/sarahjane.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sarah_Jane_Adventures

Infinity Plus, a free online SF magazine, celebrates 10 years and closes down. They will keep their archives online.
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/theend.htm

Review of Heroes 1st season dvd set from someone who never watched the initial run. It's fun to see someone get addicted.
http://dvd.monstersandcritics.com/reviews/article_1347883.php/DVD_Review_Heroes_%96_Season_1

New evidence shows Beethoven died of lead poisoning brought on by treatments from his doctor.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6730028?source=rss

Friday, August 24, 2007

8-24-07

I mentioned the new Google Earth the other day, and today it featured on MyStanford's home page. Stanford was 1 of 7 winners (out of 300 schools competing) of a Google prize for 3D mapping of the campus.
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2007/august22/google-082207.html

Subterranian Press has started putting their latest magazine online for free. I've never checked these out before, but they include stories by Charles deLint, John Scalzi, etc. and most issues have an audiobook.
http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine

Paul Reubens will have a recurring role on Pushing Daisies.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43513

The report of JK Rowling writing a detective story was part of a joke reported as fact. Nobody knows what her next project will be yet.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=43515

A Torchwood producer talks about the origins for the idea of the show (US shows like Buffy, X-Files & BSG among others).
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43570

John Williams will be doing the music for the final Harry Potter movie and Indy 4.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=43552

Astronomers have found a huge empty hole in the universe.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070823_huge_hole.html

Fairly interesting article about all the fighting going on about setting up high speed rail from LA to SF (the argument being the route and the funding).
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6706923?source=rss

Great article on cord blood. If you've been paying attention, you know I think this is a medical marvel being thrown away far too often. This covers pretty much all the issues.
http://www.eastbayexpress.com/2007-08-22/news/a-cure-for-all-that-ails-you

Stargate full series box images are at TVShowsonDVD:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7927

Stanford Shopping Center is planning to expand.
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_6706360?source=rss

Sony has developed a bio-battery that runs on sugar. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have ecologically-friendly batteries?

Any DVD that comes packaged with a barf bag is clearly not trying to sell to my demographic. Am I the only one who finds this disturbing?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070824/film_nm/dirtysanchez_dc_1

Tor books is going to podcast from the Worldcon in Japan next week.
http://www.tor-forge.com/podcasts

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

8-22-07

The upcoming HD-DVD release of Star Trek: TOS will have standard DVD on the flip side of each disk. This totally goes against the usual "make them buy it as many times in as many formats as possible" Star Trek marketing and makes it much more tempting to me.
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7914

From the "I can't believe I haven't heard everything yet" files: They are now making scratch-n-sniff "musty book smell" stickers for people to apply to e-book readers so they can have the smell of a book while reading electronic copies.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070822/wr_nm/internet_books1_dc_1

Another depressing article about how few people actually read books. It's based on the "Reading at Risk" study I linked to a few weeks ago, but they added quotes from people who do/don't read. Laurel: Sorry, I know you've seen this already.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/wayoflife/08/21/reading.ap/index.html

Documentary on the history of SF TV. It's 30 minutes, so I've only seen the very beginning. It looks good though, so I'll probably watch the rest later.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005510.html

I've never used Google Earth, just their online maps, but they just added some great features: a virtual telescope called Sky, which shows you the view from where you are and lets you zoom into Hubble photos and click popups with info, and a Book Layer, which tells you what has been printed about a location in public-domain books.
http://news.com.com/2300-1032_3-6203876-1.html?part=rss&tag=6203876&subj=news
http://www.space.com/news/070822_google_sky.html
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005514.html (about book layer)
http://earth.google.com/index.html

A new wine cafe has opened in Woodside for local wineries too small to have their own tasting rooms. Sounds nice.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6686781?source=rss

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

8-21-07

Cool slideshow: Space.com's top 10 views of Earth.
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/top10_views_of_earth.html

Interview with Kristen Bell about Heroes, etc. Her "arc" will be at least 13 episodes. Sounds like a series regular to me.
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Kristen-Bells/800020731?rssDate=12345678

Rumors are that Doctor Who is going to have a multi-Doctor episode in the 4th season (Peter Davison will appear).
http://www.gallifreyone.com/cgi-bin/viewnews.cgi?id=EElZVVZVpVFCFEHLuq&tmpl=newsrss&style=feedstyle

They will start a Doctor Who comic, based on David Tennant's doctor, next year.
http://www.comicbookresources.com/news/newsitem.cgi?id=11338

According to SFTV.org:
SciFi looks to be planning to repurpose NBC's Journeyman, Bionic Woman
and Chuck, but do not appear to have Heroes on their schedule. The last
week of September shows Journeyman airing at 7 pm on Thursday with
The Bionic Woman at 7 pm on Friday. On Sunday night, they have Chuck
scheduled at 11 pm with Journeyman at 12 midnight. Once Doctor Who
ends its run in the 8 pm Friday time slot, it may be that one of the
NBC shows will take over that time slot on Oct 11th.

They have cast James McAvoy as Scotty in the new Star Trek movie. (I've seen him in 4 roles, but strangely remember him best as the faun in Chronicles of Narnia).
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564215/

Interview with Amanda Tapping, Michael Shanks and Christopher Judge:
http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw16718.html

They've made a term for the stuff clogging my mailboxes that I'll get around to looking at eventually: bacn. It isn't actually spam, it may be something you want, but you don't really want to read it.
http://news.com.com/8301-13577_3-9763146-36.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Great article on using nanotechnology to make solar panels more efficient.
http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=669

Monday, August 20, 2007

8-20-07

Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) is going to have an arc on Heroes this season!
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-kristenbelljoinsheroes,0,1160536.story?track=rss

The actress joining CSI has been named: Jessica Lucas. (I've only seen her in one small role, so I have no idea how she'll do.) They're still not actually saying if Jorja Fox is leaving.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070820/tv_nm/csi_dc_1

More detailed article/interview about the non-green-screen Iraq on the Daily Show (which I think starts tonight).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070820/tv_nm/dailyshow_dc_2

There's a lot more SF&F audio online than I thought. Here's a page that links to some.
http://www.sffaudio.com/OnlineAudio.html

It looks like JK Rowling's next book will be a detective novel.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=5&id=43390

Seth Green interview about Robot Chicken.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12600713

They just found 5000 year old chewing gum. Apparently the birch tar had antiseptic properties that would help with infections, but I don't want to chew on anything that will still be around in 5000 years.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/20/1534227&from=rss

Here's a truly horrifying article. An act signed in 2005 going into effect May 2008 will require us all to have Big Brother style "Real ID" Drivers Licenses that link to birth certificate, SSN, photo, and address (requiring a trip to DMV with all the paperwork to prove this for EVERYONE) or - for states that don't go along with this program - we will have to carry passports to fly a domestic plane or enter a federal building or national park.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/08/16/real.id/index.html

Friday, August 17, 2007

8-17-07

Daily Show correspondent Rob Riggle is going to do a series of reports from the REAL Iraq, not the green-screen version they usually have.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-dailyshowiniraq,0,2870000.story?track=rss

The Closer season finale will guest star Larry King, a California congresswoman, and 2 Court TV analysts, all as themselves.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070817tnt01

A Cancun resort tried to kick out a Nobel Peace Prize winner because she was wearing a Maya dress and they thought that meant she was a bag lady. There is some definite irony over a resort that caters to people coming to see Mayan ruins discriminates against indigenous people, and that someone honored for defending human rights should get treated like those who needed her help. Clearly there is a long way to go.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2150467,00.html

2 German physicists claim to have broken the speed of light. Others claim the results were misinterpreted, but it is still cool.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/17/1153252&from=rss

Thursday, August 16, 2007

8-16-07

One promising note about the ABC remake of Life on Mars: Colm Meaney is going to play the old-school DIC. Good casting. I can totally picture him in the role. (Unlike their Sam Tyler, who will be played by Jason O'Mara, who played Stuart the publisher on Men in Trees.)
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-colmmeaneylennyclarkelifeonmarscasting,0,2661241.story?track=rss

Roland Emmerich is going to direct a new version of Fantastic Journey written by the people who did National Treasure. I can't decide if this will be a reimagined fun ride of a movie or just lame.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=43332

They are making a direct-to-dvd sequel to The Lost Boys with Corey Haim, Corey Feldman, and Keifer Sutherland's younger brother. This is going to be just lame.
http://www.empireonline.com/news/feed.asp?NID=20968

Here's an interesting retrospective on Doctor Who as it approaches it's 45th anniversary.
http://dailypop.wordpress.com/2007/08/15/doctor-who-resistance-is-useless/

As if American education wasn't bad enough, some high schools are requiring kids to declare a major and career path in 9th grade! One, there is no way they can realistically know what they want to do at that age when getting there is at least 8 years away. Two, they are going to completely ignore the rest of the curriculum. So much for getting a broad base of knowledge before specializing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/16/education/16major.html?ex=1344916800&en=7c0e08276c212d99&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

8-15-07

James Marsters will have a recurring role (approx 6 episodes) on Without a Trace this season. I may actually start watching again.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-jamesmarsterswithoutatracecasting,0,7108446.story?track=rss

SciFi has officially canceled Painkiller Jane, but will air all 22 episodes. I thought they'd already announced this, but I guess it wasn't official before now.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-painkillerjanecanceled,0,5054686.story?track=rss

Stargate Atlantis returns Sept. 28th until the midseason finale on Dec. 7th. Other premier and finale dates for SciFi this fall at:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=43313

Kyle XY is splitting their 2nd season, so the "finale" in 2 weeks is just the start of a midseason break until early next year. There will be 23 episodes.

Redwood City has approved the Costco expansion!
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6627745?source=rss

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

8-14-07

Reports are that Lucasfilm has filed for approval for 6 different titles for Indy 4. Which do you think they'll use (assuming they all pass)?
"Indiana Jones and the City of Gods"
"Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds"
"Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth"
"Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull"
"Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold"
"Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant"
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/070812e.php

Anjelica Huston will guest star on 6 episodes of Medium this season.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-hustonmediumcasting,0,5749087.story?track=rss

Good music news:
- John Lennon's solo work is now available to download (legally) making George Harrison the only iTunes holdout of the Beatles (although his Traveling Wilbury's songs are available).
- Paul McCartney reports that the Beatles library is being remastered for download now and should be available by the end of the year.
- James Taylor is putting together a retrospective of 40 years of songs, to be sold in Starbucks by the holidays.
http://www.eonline.com/news/article/index.jsp?uuid=1d503605-2558-4325-89f1-a566c1c48d59&entry=index&sid=rss_topstories&utm_source=eonline&utm_medium=rssfeeds&utm_campaign=rss_topstories

There's a competition to make the Jetsons a reality: build a personal plane that can be used like a flying car. It clearly has a long way to go, but the concept and pics are fun.
http://us.f831.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.rand=d8klcqo7h1uek

Someone has developed a tool to uncover self-interest edits of Wikipedia (like Diebold removing criticism of voting machines). I'm glad someone is defending the accuracy.
http://slashdot.org/articles/07/08/14/1453223.shtml

Old-school game fans: They have found the source code for Adventure (the very first text adventure game - even before Zork).
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/011230&from=rss
http://brain.lis.uiuc.edu:2323/opencms/export/sites/default/dhq/vol/001/2/000009.html
Now if they could only find a version of Welltris that plays like the original (sigh). Mom, while thinking of this, did I mention that the creators of Heaven & Earth have provided the game as a free download and it works on XP? I found it a week or 2 ago.
http://www.iangilman.com/software/heavenearth.php

Pictures from NASA's underwater training for the moon.
http://news.com.com/2300-11397_3-6202245-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

Serenity now has a Collector's Edition DVD. To see what's new, click:
http://www.serenitystuff.com/2007/08/10/serenity-collectors-edition-dvd-a-guide-to-whats-new-whats-not/

Google Maps just keeps getting better. The new feature to debut next week: you can embed a functional map into a web site or blog (even My Maps and driving directions) by just clicking a button and copy/pasting a few lines of HTML.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9759703-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

Monday, August 13, 2007

8-13-07

Funny gimmick: It looks like Two and a Half Men and CSI are going to swap writers for one episode this season. The CSI is going to have Christine Baranski as the co-star of a murdered TV diva. (Probably a dream fulfillment since the writer is known to have feuded with both Rosanne Barr and Cybil Sheppard on their shows. Sounds like he learned Joss Whedon's lesson since 2.5 Men doesn't have a name in the title. ;)
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Csis-Case-Murdered/800020277?rssDate=12345678

Promoting the DVD and the start of season 2, Heroes is airing 4 cast-favorite episodes hosted by 2 actors each starting next Monday.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070810nbc01

World Fantasy Award nominees announced. 2 of the novels I already wanted to read. I never heard of a 3rd but have added it to my wish list because it sounds great. The other 2 don't interest me and I tend to think they made the list by author name without anyone bothering to read them first. The sad thing is you have to get down to Best Anthology before you find something I've already read. You can guess which books fit in which categories if you check out the list.
http://www.locusmag.com/2007/08_WfaFinalists.html

New Line is trying to mend fences with Peter Jackson to get him involved in The Hobbit after all.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=43212

The Heroes-Star Trek crossovers continue. Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) will guest star in 5-6 episodes this season. Dominic Keating (Malcolm Reed from Enterprise) will also have an arc. James Kyson Lee (Ando) wants to play Sulu in the new movie.
http://www.trektoday.com/news/110807_01.shtml

In trying to find out if Jeckyll was hacked for US television (I can't find runtimes, but it sounds like it was), I found that Steven Moffat wrote 42 episodes of a show called "Press Gang" back in the early 90s. I'm curious about this, even if it is aimed a bit younger. (Oh, and rumors persist that Steven Moffat will take over Doctor Who if Russell Davies leaves.)

Comic Con video interviews about B5:Lost Tales. My volume isn't working right now, but supposedly Samm Barnes talks about short promo-sodes filmed that weren't included on the dvd but might be pulled from later.
http://media.dvd.ign.com/media/888/888522/vids_1.html

Australia's largest bookseller is trying to kill itself. Clearly the management know absolutely nothing about the book business. If you want to see clever commentary about it, check out (TOR editor) Teresa Neilsen Hayden's blog entry for Friday:
http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009263.html

Friday, August 10, 2007

8-10-07

They released info on the Jericho dvd set, and although the extras are pretty decent, it is the latest to fall to the "music has been changed" problem. You'd think they'd negotiate dvd rights along with broadcast rights when they picked the songs these days. :(
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7818

I thought this was already done, but HBO announced they have officially picked up the show True Blood, based on Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire (aka Sookie Stackhouse) books. Airdates still TBD.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43190
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-story-trueblookpickup,0,1915877.story?track=rss

Greg Grunberg is going to host NBC's special about their fall shows airing just about everywhere (every channel affiliated with them and online) over the next month. It might be worth checking out. The new NBC shows I currently consider worth a pilot are: Chuck, Journeyman, and Bionic Woman. Then there are their current shows I'm waiting for: Heroes, My Name is Earl, and Scrubs.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43191

The complete classic Doctor Who in 5 minutes on a YouTube clip. It amounts to about 2 seconds per episode, but it points out how few I've actually seen. They may be cheesy, but I want to watch more.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005460.html

Live Science (of all strange places) has ranked the top 10 immortals. I'm not sure how they determined ranking, and I would have a hard time coming up with any they missed, but the list is kind of cute.
http://www.livescience.com/health/top10_immortals-1.html

There might actually be a space hotel by 2012. Cool.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070810/tc_nm/space_hotel_dc_3

On the cool technology front, CNet has photos of the MIT solar house construction competition.
http://news.com.com/2300-11392_3-6201572-1.html?tag=ne.gall.pg
http://news.com.com/Energy+geeks+compete+for+coolest+solar+home/2100-11392_3-6201743.html?part=rss&tag=2547-1_3-0-20&subj=news

Thursday, August 9, 2007

8-9-07

Burn Notice has been renewed for a 2nd season. The ratings have actually been getting better since the debut.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-story-burnnotice-savinggrace-pickup,0,3509617.story?track=rss

Paul McGillon talks about Dr. Beckett returning from the dead. The article also mentions we'll see Teal'c on Atlantis.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=43135

Colin Hanks is making a movie that doesn't have Jack Black in it. ;)
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-colinhanksplayboybunnymovie,0,197327.story?track=rss

The TV Guide guy has a bunch of rumors today: Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars) is being considered for a new character on Lost, semi-spoiler for Grey's Anatomy, 2 plot details for Bones, Alan Ruck (Cameron from Ferris Bueller) will play the University Dean on Greek's season finale, etc.
http://www.tvguide.com/Ask-Ausiello/080808

ROFL. Check out the Cereal Killer boxes at this site. I think my favorite is Postmort-MMMMs: the arsenic coated oat cereal.
http://idigcerealkillers.blogspot.com/

Monday, August 6, 2007

8-6-07

Supernatural's creator talks about plans for season 3.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43074

161 stories, 63 pieces of art and 4 radio plays about Mars are on their way to be the first library on Mars about Mars. (They are on a special silicon glass CD velcroed to the lander.)
http://www.space.com/news/070804_phoenix_spacelibrary.html
http://www.planetary.org/programs/projects/messages/vom_contents.html

More about plug-in hybrids. I figure by the time they get the bugs smoothed out with this technology, it will be about time to replace my trusty Camry.
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9755379-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20

David Anders (Sark from Alias) has been upgraded from recurring (1 arc) to regular on Heroes. How is that going to work since he is playing Kensei (in ancient Japan)?
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Heroes-Promotes/800019944?rssDate=12345678

Truly weird - the Hello Kitty punishment: cops in Thailand who break rules will have to wear pink Hello Kitty armbands for a day to shame them into behaving. Who thought up this one?
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/08/06/international/i035724D81.DTL&feed=rss.news

Last week, ABC's new show Big Shots got the actor playing Harry Dresden as a recurring character. This week they get Rob Thomas (of Veronica Mars) as consulting producer. With the cast this already had, I may have to change this from "not interested" to "watch the pilot to see if they can be better than their premise".
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Exclusive-Veronica-Mars/800019936?rssDate=12345678

OK. I admit I'm having a bad day, and I'm oversensitive, but this bugs me. Harris Polls has released a study that more people go online to research health concerns before visiting their doctors. They call these "cyberchondriacs" where I consider it to be common sense. I've had enough idiotic uninformed doctors that I think it is necessary to do some research myself, and I wouldn't go in the first place if I didn't think it were necessary. They say they don't mean anything negative, but I really don't like the hypochondriac comparison.
http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/index.php/id;233083692

Friday, August 3, 2007

8-3-07

If you want to watch the video of the Heroes panel from Comic-Con, they put it online.
http://www.nbc.com/Heroes/video/video_display.shtml#mea=135233

Same for Lost
http://darkufo.blogspot.com/2007/07/comic-con-2007-lost-panel-video.html

Dresden Files has been canceled. Not an official announcement, just a by-the-way comment in casting for another show: the lead actor has been cast in Big Shots for ABC (great cast, bad premise, I doubt I'll watch). I'm sad, I actually liked the show.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43015

Good news and bad news from Fox: They changed their schedule and have moved Bones to Tuesday. I like this timeslot much better - there isn't any competition. They are also holding New Amsterdam for midseason. It actually looked good, and now I'm afraid they'll bury it (and Tim Minnear isn't even in the crew).
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070803fox03

Here's a list of the extras for the box set of Stargate. (I hate extras only available for a set when I already have the individual seasons.)
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7773

Interview with Joss Whedon.
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20049318,00.html

We're used to lists of best shows and prematurely canceled shows, but someone has now made a list of 5 SF shows that were completely trashed and destroyed before finally going off the air. Since 3 of the 5 are shows I was recording in first season and not even watching when they went off the air, I pretty much agree and would have a hard time finding better examples. What do you think?
http://hubpages.com/hub/How_Five_Science_Fiction_TV_Series_Were_Destroyed

ResQer's Mr. Woo is in a TV commercial. She has a YouTube video of it on her blog today.
http://threewoofs.blogspot.com/2007/08/mr-woo-kohl-commercial.html

John Scalzi posted all his SF links today: blogs from writers and publishers, etc. I love the SF Signal link, and just added it to my RSS feeds. I may check a few others in the next week or so.
http://www.scalzi.com/whatever/2007/08/02/science_fiction_links.html

Thursday, August 2, 2007

8-2-07

It looks like someone is going to unbox D'Anna on Battlestar Galactica: Lucy Lawless is coming back.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/news.aspx?id=20070801scifi02

Neil Gaiman talks about the difficulty in adapting Stardust.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=42937
He also talks about the Coraline movie.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=3&id=42940

Film clip from the premier of Stardust: includes footage and interviews, but caution because the ad before the clip is really annoying.
http://www.film.com/tv/mediaplayback/thelapremiereofstardust/15725204

Chip Johannessen (whose credits include Dark Angel and Surface) is the new showrunner for Moonlight. No indication of what changes he has in mind.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-moonlightshowrunnerjohannessen,0,6270318.story?track=rss

Linda Park (from Enterprise & Raines) has been cast as a regular on Women's Murder Club. Bruce McGill (a prolific "Oh him" who I always think of as Al the Bartender from Quantum Leap) has been cast in Bionic Woman.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-parkclubemcgillbioniccasting,0,5597588.story?track=rss

Wednesday, August 1, 2007

8-1-07

Joss Whedon and the BBC are finally working on the Buffy spinoff about Giles.
http://www.darkhorizons.com/news07/070731k.php

ABC Family has doubled the order for Greek (season 1 will now be 20 episodes instead of 10). I don't know when the Charisma Carpenter ep will be (#10 or #20).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070801/tv_nm/greek_dc_1

Mickey might be coming back to Doctor Who. No mention of how this is possible when he's supposed to be in the parallel universe with Rose.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=42951

Jack and the Beanstalk is the first of 10 live action low-budget family films being made by an independent studio. How they manage to be low-budget with the announced cast, I have no idea. The cast includes: James Earl Jones, Christopher Lloyd, Chevy Chase, Gilbert Gottfried, Katey Sagal, and Wallace Shawn (Vizzini from Princess Bride).
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070801/film_nm/beanstalk_dc_1
http://www.zap2it.com/movies/news/zap-jackandthebeanstalkcast,0,3684356.story?track=rss

New style of ergonomic keyboard, curving up at the edges for shorter pinkie fingers, is being made by Logitech. Laurel: I know you use ergonomic keyboards - would this help you? Anyway, it looks kinda cool.
http://news.com.com/2300-1042_3-6200140-4.html?tag=ne.gall.pg

It looks like Battlestar Galactica is going to keep Starbuck's return a mystery for a while.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=42918

Closer has been renewed for a 4th season of 15 episodes.
http://www.zap2it.com/tv/news/zap-tntrenewsthecloserfor2008,0,4001487.story?track=rss

Small (family owned) Napa wineries are being sold. The article focuses on Stag's Leap and Duckhorn.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/08/01/MNFBRAN0I3.DTL&feed=rss.news

Lost is adding 2 new characters (as yet uncast). This post is the character description and a lot of speculation (especially over who should play them).
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Lost-Introduces/800019665?rssDate=12345678