Wednesday, April 30, 2008

4-30-08

Hector Elizondo will be the new psychiatrist on Monk.

Click here if you want to see a well argued theory of who the final cylon is on BSG.

Pyr editor Lou Anders has a really good post about SF film and TV.

DVR for tonight:
10pm CSI:NY

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

4-29-08

The WB is going to revive itself as an online network, showing old episodes of Buffy, Friends, Gilmore Girls, etc.

DVR for tonight:
9pm Reaper
10pm Women's Murder Club

Monday, April 28, 2008

4-28-08

The LA Times has an article from Michael Chabon about how reading for "entertainment" has an undeserved stigma. His novel, The Yiddish Policemen's Union, just won the Nebula and is nominated for the Hugo, the Sidewise (best alternate history), and the Edgar (best mystery) awards. I wish I believed that the stigma would go away, but I don't. I'm just glad he doesn't seem to share the opinion. Too often when mainstream authors write genre books, they deny the label and consider themselves better in some way.

Gateworld has a preview for the next Stargate movie (Continuum). It is under News & Features.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Greek
8pm Bones & Big Bang Theory
830 How I Met Your Mother
9pm House & 2.5 Men
10pm Medium

Saturday, April 26, 2008

4-26-08

Nebula Award winners were announced today.

Want to see a penguin in a wet suit? A 25 year old balding penguin (they normally live 20 years) was given new life when a nearby dive gear shop made him a custom wet suit.

Nathan Fillion & Alyssa Milano have signed on for new shows on ABC.

DVR for tonight:
6pm Robin Hood (BBCA) season 2 premier

Friday, April 25, 2008

4-25-08

It's official: Guillermo del Toro (Pan's Labyrinth, Hellboy, Blade 2) will be directing The Hobbit.

Features on Mars have been named after the late science fiction authors Jack Williamson, Roger Zelazny, C.S. Lewis, and Fredric Brown by NASA's JPL Mars Rover Project.

NASA is going to be developing tiny satellites (nanosats) that will be arranged in a constellation for communication in space.

Sky One is reviving Blake's 7. They have ordered two 60 minute episodes in an attempt to reboot the classic SF show like Doctor Who and Battlestar Galactica. I hope they do it well; I loved that show.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Sarah Jane Adventures (repeats at 8pm)
6pm Doctor Who (repeats at 9pm)
7pm Battlestar Galactica
8pm Ghost Whisperer
9pm Moonlight
10pm Numb3rs

Thursday, April 24, 2008

4-24-08

The Locus Award finalists have been announced. A few of the things I voted for even made the list. Winners will be announced June 21st.

Tricia Helfer (6 on Battlestar Galactica) will have a multi-episode arc on Burn Notice.

Lois McMaster Bujold has shared what she likes & what inspired the Sharing Knife books over at Eos.

8 previously unknown silent film shorts (trailers, newsreels, and one-reel movies) from 1912-1927 have been found in Australia. They will be shipped to a Dutch restoration library, corrected in America, then new preservation masters will be sent to Australia & the US. I'm amazed that they are still salvageable after all this time. Most film from then hasn't survived.

DVRs for tonight:
8pm My Name is Earl
830 Scrubs
9pm CSI, Grey's Anatomy & Supernatural
10pm Lost

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

4-23-08

Spiral Galaxy Reviews suggests eBook readers for short fiction.

The list 10 Cool Gadgets Every Geek Should Want makes me doubt I'm really a geek, since most of them I wouldn't want (a couple are tempting).

Lucasfilm announced that a live-action Star Wars series will be on TV by 2010. Apparently it will reveal the "greasy, seamy underbelly of Star Wars" and "involve some characters we know".

DVR for tonight:
10pm Men in Trees

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

4-22-08

Due to some reminiscing at the Great Moonbuggy Race this year, NASA has revealed how duct tape saved the day in the Apollo 17 moon landing.

CNet has a couple slideshows for Earth Day: a photo guide to plastic recycling and NASA's Top 10 views of Earth. Another was added for Earth images from space.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles has been renewed, and Brian Austin Green will be a series regular for season 2.

Marvel has announced they are adapting Ender's Game into a comic later this year. Orson Scott Card will oversee the project. He is excited to get the story into a visual medium, one step closer to a movie.

New Scientist has 17 scientists telling the books that influenced them or changed their lives. Some are SF and some aren't, and if you click on the selection you can read what they have to say about the book and if there are other books they rank nearly as high.

DVR for tonight:
9pm Reaper

Monday, April 21, 2008

4-21-08

Space.com has images from the ISS and Japan's moon probe (including a great Earth-rise sequence).

In addition to webisodes, Farscape will have a 4-part comic book series coming soon.

The MIT Communications Forum has a transcript from J. Michael Straczynski about what networks don't know about science fiction.

The List Universe has the Top 10 Obscure but Superb SF Novels. I haven't read any of them, but I know we have at least a few (we may actually have all of them for all I know), and I may try to read a few to see if I agree.

In honor of Earth Day, CNet has a slideshow on making your house more green.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Greek
8pm Bones & Big Bang Theory
830 How I Met Your Mother
9pm 2.5 Men
10pm Medium

Friday, April 18, 2008

4-18-08

Jim Butcher is writing a Dresden Files graphic novel. It is a 4-part story taking place before Storm Front, and issue 1 is on sale now.

RIP Ollie Johnston. The last of Walt Disney's "9 old men" (called that even though they were in their 20s at the time) who animated classic movies such as Snow White, Fantasia, and Bambi, died this week at the age of 95.

Canada has declared that BPA in baby bottles is unsafe and may be banned. In the US, similar actions are being suggested. The maker of Nalgene water bottles is going to provide non-BPA versions.

Lockheed Martin is testing a new spaceship model at the Spaceport in New Mexico.

Scrubs and 30 Rock are going to switch timeslots for the rest of the season (3 episodes each).

Researchers have discovered a new material that is superconducting at high temperatures.

A new ion engine will be used in space for the first time this summer, when a European space ship launches from Russia.

Ronald D. Moore (Battlestar Galactica) has signed a contract to write an original science fiction movie trilogy for United Artists. This would make me much happier if they would guarantee that Tom Cruise (who runs United Artists) wouldn't be in any of the movies.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Sarah Jane Adventures (SCIFI)
530 Doctor Who (SCIFI) - Christmas ep between 3rd & 4th seasons
7pm Battlestar Galactica
Saturday:
6pm Torchwood (BBCA) - season 2 finale
Sunday:
9pm John Adams (HBO) - final part, now I can start watching

Thursday, April 17, 2008

4-17-08

Scientists got a step closer to growing plants on the moon. They have shown that marigolds can thrive in crushed rock (similar to moon rocks) without plant food.

John Scalzi is offering one of his short stories, "How I Proposed to My Wife: An Alien Sex Story", as a shareware download. Details on his blog.

50 years after being nuked, the coral reefs of Bikini Atoll have recovered nicely. Just don't go near the coconuts.

NBC Universal has picked up 2 internet shows: Gemini Division and Woke Up Dead. They will air in 50 3-minute episodes on several websites such as NBC.com starting late this summer.

DVR for tonight:
8pm My Name is Earl
930 Scrubs

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

4-16-08

CNet has a slideshow today from MIT's Energy Conference: pictures and analysis of the effort to make more efficient solar cells and other sustainable energy programs.

This Saturday, BBC America is playing the Doctor Who 3rd season finale. As part of the event, they have announced they will provide an audio commentary by David Tennant, Freema Agyeman, and John Barrowman. You can stream it from the website or download it and listen while watching the episode.

DVRs for tonight:
10pm CSI:NY & Men in Trees

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

4-15-08

SF Signal has a review of the new book by physicist Michio Kaku, whose interview I linked to last week. Sounds good.

If you wanted to vote for the Locus Poll, today is the final day.

San Francisco is going to try to change the way you park your car. If it makes it possible to find a space, I'm all for it.

There is nothing on TV tonight.

Monday, April 14, 2008

4-14-08

Warrick will be leaving CSI. Gary Dourdan announced he is not renewing his contract, which expires next month.

Russia is planning to build an orbital plant to build spaceships (so large or awkward ships don't need to be fired into space before traveling). Construction is tentatively scheduled for about the time the ISS is being decommissioned.

Dubai officials impounded 2 ships believed to have caused the undersea cable breaks that disrupted internet service earlier this year. They were identified from satellite photos. One ship has been released after paying a large fine.

John Scalzi reports that the hardcover of Android's Dream has been remaindered. If you haven't read anything by him, get this book while it's cheap. It was wonderful.

Sci-Fi Fan Letter has a listing of books that start on a farm with the characters dreaming of better things. I need to go check the starts of a few books, because I am sure I have read this in more books than they list.

Fox has given the greenlight to 2 SF shows. Anyone want to bet how many episodes actually air before Fox, being Fox, cancels them? The first is "Virtuality" and was written by Ronald D. Moore and Michael Taylor of Battlestar Galactica. The premise is that the 12 crew members of Earth's first starship use VR to keep their minds active during their 10-year trip to explore a distant solar system. Then the VR develops a mysterious bug... The 2nd show is "Boldly Going Nowhere", a comedy about the routine on an intergalactic starship (does this one-sentence description remind anyone else of the British show "Hyperdrive"?).

Lost and Grey's Anatomy will each film an extra hour this season, extending out the finale dates.

Contrary to previous announcements, the switch from analog to digital TV will not just affect antenna users. Some basic cable users will also have a problem. Either their cable company will convert and send an analog transmission, or they will need converter boxes (basically switch to digital cable tiers). If you plug a cable directly from the wall to your TV, then you should check with the company that sends the signal.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Greek
8pm Bones & Big Bang Theory
830 How I Met Your Mother
9pm New Amsterdam & 2.5 Men
10pm Medium

Friday, April 11, 2008

4-11-08

Denvention 3 (this year's Worldcon) has posted Progress Report 3 on their website.

It looks like a new satellite that didn't quite reach its target orbit is going to be consigned to space trash because Boeing has an old (and probably invalid) patent on the maneuver that would be needed to lift it into position and they will only allow the operation if a $50 million lawsuit is dropped. Don't you love it when a $150 million piece of technology is wasted because a company is being spiteful over a lawsuit?

DVRs for tonight:
4:30pm Sarah Jane Adventures (SciFi) - Premiere
7pm Battlestar Galactica
8pm Ghost Whisperer
10pm Numb3rs

Thursday, April 10, 2008

4-10-08

Haven't been keeping up with all the maneuvers involved with Microsoft's attempt to takeover Yahoo? They're trying to bring Google, AOL & News Corp (parent of MySpace) into the mix. CNet has a good article about all the chaotic scrambling going on.

Sarah Chalke (Elliot on Scrubs) will be returning for several more eps of How I Met Your Mother. Possibly as the mother?

Update on 4/11: The studio says there never was a 2:40 cut of this movie. It was just a rumor. The initial rough cut is 1:40, so a 90 minute version could just be polished editing, not major cuts for this country. Previous note: I just lost any interest I might have had in seeing the next Vin Diesel movie (unless they do an uncut dvd). 20th Century Fox is cutting Babylon AD from 2 hours 40 minutes (which Europe gets to see) to 90 minutes (for US audiences). There's no way a plot will survive that kind of cutting.

DVRs for tonight:
8pm My Name is Earl
9pm CSI
930 Scrubs

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

4-9-08

The Computer History Museum in Mountain View will have a full-scale version of Charles Babbage's difference engine (one of only 2 in the world) on display for 6 months starting May 1st. CNet has a slideshow of the installation.

RIP Stanley Kamel. The "oh him" character actor most recently known as Monk's psychiatrist died yesterday of a heart attack at age 65. He acted in over 100 TV shows (and a few movies) over the last 39 years.

SF Signal has an interview with theoretical physicist Dr. Michiu Kaku about science and science fiction.

Gateworld magazine (as told by scificool.com) has details about the premise of the next Stargate series. It will be based on a ship built by the ancients to follow up and explore areas where they have seeded gates.

Amazon is offering their favorite Stargate episodes as free downloads. Since I have them on dvd, my main curiosity was to see which are their favorites (Torment of Tantalus, Window of Opportunity, and Lost City pt 1+2).

Disney previewed their next 10 animated movies (all but 2 will be 3-D). Release dates range from this June for Wall*E to Christmas 2012 for King of Elves. Check out the article for the (extremely brief) descriptions. This article from E! has slightly more detailed descriptions.

The executive producer of CSI has posted a deleted scene from last week's episode on YouTube. (For anyone who wants to see Catherine snooping around Grissom's apartment for clues about Sara.)

DVR for tonight:
10pm CSI: NY

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

4-8-08

The Independent has an article about Russell T. Davies and the new season of Doctor Who.

Since I showed how alligators may cause cures, I figure I'll also pass on the CNN page today that talks about 5 Deadly Critters That Might Save Your Life (scorpions and other potentially deadly creatures that are the source of lifesaving medicines).

There is nothing on TV tonight.

Monday, April 7, 2008

4-7-08

An alligator may one day save your life. Researchers have found that proteins in the blood of alligators can fight 23 types of bacteria (triple that of humans), including those behind staph, yeast infections, and possibly even HIV. Drugs derived from these proteins may be available within 10 years. More info at physorg.com.

PC World is showing off the 10 Coolest Gadgets we can't buy in the US. There are a couple (like the robot that is a voice-activated remote control) that I think would be nice to have.

The lynx is making a comeback in the Italian Alps.

The Telegraph is listing the 110 books it thinks make up the perfect library (about 15 are Fantasy or SF). Mostly long-accepted classics with few surprises, but it makes me want to check the non-fiction & general fiction portion of our family library to see what percentage we have.

A new unit of HarperCollins is forming that will experiment with different ways of selling books. They want to cut advances and give authors a larger royalty instead, eliminate book returns, and include ebook and audio versions with a hardcover sale at no additional cost.

YouTube has a video showing cities at night, filmed by astronaut Don Pettit.

RIP: Charlton Heston died on Saturday at age 84. I may not have liked his politics, but I did like some of his movies.

DVRs for tonight:
5pm Greek
9pm New Amsterdam
10pm Medium

Friday, April 4, 2008

4-4-08

Salon.com has a primer for Battlestar Galactica to answer questions and get you caught up before the season premier tonight.

NBC.com is planning more extensive webisode stories for Chuck and Heroes now the new writers' contracts allow for it.

In his livejournal this week, brokenlibrarian says how he heard about Captain Video from his dad and recently found some on YouTube (he's embedded a video in the journal). Since I heard about it from Mom but never thought to look on YouTube, I am passing on the link and the suggestion.

Dimension Films has acquired the remake rights to Short Circuit and hired the original writers to do the script.

George Clooney has irrevocably dropped his WGA status (he still pays dues and is covered by the contract, but officially he is a non-member: he can't vote, attend meetings, or run for office). He claims to have re-written all but a few scenes of Leatherheads, but the guild denied him a writing credit, and this is his protest.

DVRs for tonight:
7pm Battlestar Galactica
8pm Ghost Whisperer
10pm Numb3rs

Thursday, April 3, 2008

4-3-08

SciFi Wire takes a look at the genre (or similar) shows on NBC's new schedules. They also point out one renewal I missed: Medium will be back in the winter, moving to Sundays at 9pm. I might consider watching the pilots for Merlin and Kings just because of the cast & crew.

Warner Brothers is developing Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos books into a movie.

Studies show that daily intake of caffeine can protect the brain (at least in rabbits). It defends the blood brain barrier from the damage of cholesterol and may help protect against Alzheimer's.

DVR for tonight:
8pm My Name is Earl
9pm CSI

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

4-2-08

NBC has released their fall schedule. Chuck and Heroes stay in the same place, followed by the new Christian Slater spy show. Knight Rider will be on Wednesdays. Scrubs is gone (moving to ABC) and Bionic Woman was canceled. My Name is Earl is still in the same place. Fridays get Life at 10pm and a new Robinson Crusoe story at 8pm. Nothing else interests me. If you want to see their winter and summer 2009 schedules or descriptions of the new shows, you can see them here.

Firefox 3 beta 5 has been released. CNet covers some of the changes.

4 of the Hugo-nominated novels (Brasyl, Rollback, The Last Colony, and Halting State) are now available as e-books for any Denvention 3 member who requests them.

Fans of Moonlight are arranging a nationwide blood donation campaign to draw awareness to the show, even though it doesn't appear to be in any danger of cancellation.

French paleontologists are X-raying amber to identify prehistoric insects and then printing 3D plastic models of them.

DVRs for tonight:
10pm CSI:NY & Men in Trees

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

4-1-08

Yesterday, in honor of the anniversary of the Mozilla project, the original Mosaic website is back online as it appeared in October of 1994. If you want to step back in time, go to http://home.mcom.com/

So far, no real news to report, but Locus and Google have both been participating in the April Fools jokes if you want some fake news.

There is nothing interesting on TV tonight.