3-13-09

SF Signal reports that the old Atari 2600 games (like Space Invaders and Adventure) have gone online. Oh, the memories.

SF Signal also has the updated Nebula Awards nominations with links to the online versions so you can read them. See also: Locus analysis, note on why there was a correction

The Nebula Awards website has an interview with Jack McDevitt (about Cauldron, Cryptic, etc.).

Apparently some of the lost original Doctor Who episodes are believed to be in Zimbabwe, but they won't let anyone from the BBC in to look.

The Saturn Award nominations have been announced.

The Suvudu free e-library for Random House books (announced recently) has added more formats: Kindle, Sony, Scribd, and Stanza (in addition to the pdf they already include).

The Fox chairman has stepped down. I wonder if this will increase the chances for SF surviving on the network.

Renewal chances for Reaper aren't looking very good this week: one of the main characters has signed on to a pilot for another network.

CG Society shows the Steampunk award winners for video and art. Some great stuff there.

Auxillary Memory has a great article about the value of rereading classic SF books by listening to the audiobook versions. I really like audio books, but I hadn't thought of it from this direction.

3 recent items for Jericho fans: Skeet Ulrich has a new pilot for CBS, Jericho will be continuing as a comic (via i09 and Tor), and there is a possibility of a film version.

As if the original miniseries with Tim Curry wasn't scary enough to make everyone afraid of clowns, Warner Brothers is planning a movie version of Stephen King's It.

Oh, on the DVR front. I didn't mention that this Sunday at 8pm on NBC is the premiere of Kings. I've liked Ian McShane since Lovejoy, but I haven't decided if I'm going to watch this or not. See these reviews and decide for yourself: SF Gate, Zap2It, and What's Alan Watching

Some early pics from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland have leaked out.

New casting for the V remake is making it tempting: Morena Baccarin (Firefly) and Joel Gretsch (4400). The 2nd link also has news of the new pilot for Donald Faison of Scrubs.

2-23-09

List Universe has the Top 20 Science Fiction Films of the 80s. Strange things about this: 1) I haven't actually seen them all (only about 13/20 or 22/31) and 2) They manage to find 20 films in one decade (31 if you count the bonus and notable omissions section) and I still feel there are movies that were left off (esp. Enemy Mine). I guess it was a better decade for SF than I remembered.

Asimov's has put their Nebula-nominated stories online for free reading. Note: if you haven't nominated for the Hugos, but plan to before the deadline this Saturday, 2 of these stories are eligible.

SF Signal lists a bunch of other short fiction that has recently been posted online.

More complications with the merging of TV and internet: Hulu has been forced to stop distributing video through TV.com and Boxee. Content providers really think they can stop people watching web videos on their TVs by disallowing the legal, ad-supported companies? They are just going to drive more people to Bittorrent. See more at: CNet Social, CNet Digital Media, and Techdirt.

NBC and Wired both have articles about advancements in nano electronics that dramatically increases maximum storage density (they can fit 250 dvds in a device the size of a quarter).

BBC News has concept art for the UK's new reusable spaceship (that just got funding).

DVRs for the week:
Mon 6pm Kyle XY & The Closer
Mon 8pm Chuck & House
Mon 9pm Heroes
Mon 10pm Medium
Tue 7pm Leverage
Wed 9pm Lost & Life
Wed 10pm CSI:NY & Life on Mars
Thu 7pm Burn Notice
Thu 9pm CSI
Thu 10pm Eleventh Hour
Fri 7pm Battlestar Galactica
Fri 8pm Ghost Whisperer & Sarah Connor Chronicles
Fri 9pm Dollhouse
Fri 10pm Numb3rs
Sat SYN Legend of the Seeker

Happy Inauguration Day!

Here's the text of President Obama's speech.

New research on graphene will allow for bendable electronics. Sources: BBC and CBC.

Techcrunch has photos of a prototype touchscreen tablet.

Yesterday was Edgar Allen Poe's 200th birthday, and the New York Times had a slideshow of historic documents.

Foodproof has some great geeky cake pictures.

Catherine Asaro has posted her Nebula-nominated novella on her Facebook page.

Comedy Central will be starting a fantasy spoof series in April.

Whoopi Goldberg will be starring in an online SF series called Stream.

1-12-09

The Preliminary ballot for the Nebula Awards has been released.

I found 2 lists for genre movies coming in 2009: io9 lists the big ones, and iconocritic lists 9 unknown ones.

There's lots of great new tech news from the Consumer Electronics Show:
- Wireless USB is coming
- CNet has a slideshow (things seen at the show focus)
- Wired also has a slideshow (gadget focus)
- New laptops shown
- USB 3.0 discussed
- CNet Crave article
- Polaroid is back as a digital camera with built-in printer
- Mead has a telescope "for dummies"

DVR settings for the week:
Mon 6pm Kyle XY
Mon 8pm Big Bang Theory
Mon 830 How I Met Your Mother
Mon 9pm 2.5 Men
Tues 7pm Leverage
Tues 9pm Scrubs
Wed 10pm CSI:NY
Thu 8pm Bones & My Name is Earl
Thu 9pm CSI, Supernatural & Grey's Anatomy
Thu 10pm Eleventh Hour & Private Practice
Fri 6pm Monk (repeats at 9)
Fri 7pm Battlestar Galactica (repeats at 9:04) & Psych (repeats at 10)
Fri 8pm Ghost Whisperer
Fri 10pm Numb3rs
Sat SYN Legend of the Seeker
Sun - nothing

8-26-08

Torchwood season 3 has begun filming. Check out the article at Futon Critic for recurring characters who will appear.

Researchers using Google Earth images from around the world have found that cows tend to rest in a north/south orientation, showing they have an internal compass that nobody noticed before. Sources: Yahoo article, CNet article, LA Times story.

Wallace & Gromit are the new fashion models for British department store Harvey Nichols. It is amusing to see Wallace wearing something other than the same old sweater vests, but I hope this doesn't delay the next movie too much.

Cat story of the day: A German cat survived being walled in beneath a bathtub for 7 weeks. She lost 9 pounds, but has now (18 days later) recovered almost completely.

ABC has picked up 5 new shows for midseason. I don't know if any of them will be watchable, but they all have good cast/crew people. The shows are: "Cupid" (Rob Thomas is remaking his show from the 90s), "Castle" (with Nathan Fillion), "Single with Parents" (with Alyssa Milano, Annie Potts, and Beau Bridges), "The Unusuals" (with Amber Tamblyn, Harold Perrineau, and Adam Goldberg), and "Better off Ted" (with Jay Harrington and a writer from My Name is Earl).

It sounds like they might be building a carbon-neutral ziggurat in Dubai that could house up to 1.1 million people.

The script for Transformers 2 has been modified to include Shia LaBeouf's hand injury (which he got in a car accident last month) so he doesn't further injure himself completing the movie.

Looking for a reading list? Books that have had at least one nomination so far for the 2008 Nebula Awards are listed at nebulaawards.com. This is not the preliminary ballot, but it is likely the books making the preliminary ballot will be a subset of this list.

DVR for tonight:
Eureka
Greek (2nd season premiere)

3-24-08

SF Signal has reviews of all the Nebula short fiction nominees (as well as links to the online versions). I read a few of these over the weekend, and will be reading more over the next few days, so I'm curious to see where we agree and disagree.

Surveillance technology meant to catch the transport of dirty bombs instead detected a cat who had cancer treatment.

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