9-29-08

A solar cell developed by scientists for the US Department of Energy has set a world record for efficiency.

RIP Paul Newman. The legendary actor died of cancer on Friday at age 83.

Greek is adding a couple of characters next year: Jesse McCartney (who I've never heard of) and Ken Marino (who played one of the demons next door on Reaper and Vinnie Van Lowe on Veronica Mars).

DVRs for tonight:
8pm Chuck (NBC)
8pm Big Bang Theory (CBS)
8pm Sarah Connor Chronicles (FOX)
830 How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
9pm Heroes (NBC)
9pm 2.5 Men (CBS)
10pm Life (NBC)

Roundup for 8-31-07

It sounds a bit like friends having a joke together, but Kristen Bell and Clark Duke from Greek say they are forming a band. Well, we know they both can sing, let's just hope they choose better lyrics than that "Darwin Lied" song from Greek (and not quite as absurd as Reefer Madness).
http://community.tvguide.com/blog-entry/TVGuide-Editors-Blog/Ausiello-Report/Kristen-Bell-Hero/800021347?rssDate=12345678
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2007/08/internet_tv_star_clark_duke_to_form.html#more

The skywatch alert for tonight is actually 830-9pm (much better than 130-6am for the eclipse). It is supposed to be a good time to see the Draco the Dragon constellation.
http://www.space.com/spacewatch/070831_ns_draco.html
However, there is another skywatch alert for early tomorrow morning: a rare meteor shower that could be amazing or could be a complete dud.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6768311?source=rss

Robot Chicken on the Last Unicorn. This is so incredibly WRONG.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005567.html

Masi Oka commenting on the fact that Bittorrents were used to watch Heroes in France before the TV airdate.
http://torrentfreak.com/heroes-star-recognizes-benefits-of-bittorrent/

Great casting for the Royal Shakespeare Company, but potentially weird scheduling, delays or a new Doctor Who for season 5. David Tennant and Patrick Stewart are going to star in Hamlet next year. Afterwards, David Tennant will play in Love's Labor's Lost.
http://www.comicmix.com/news/2007/08/30/fanboy-meltdown-picard-meets-the-doctor/

XM Radio is going to start doing audio versions of classic books in 30-minute installments, starting with Fahrenheit 451. I don't know how many will be SF, but it probably doesn't matter since I don't have XM radio. :(
http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-bkw-xmradiobooks30aug30,0,7607137.story?track=rss

Monday is the Kyle XY mid-season finale, and they promise it will answer some questions but have a cliffhanger. Of course.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=1&id=43814

There are rumors of ANOTHER Dune movie. I think they've pretty much covered Dune, and I'd like to see them get to another book, but who knows.
http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=7&id=43792

Rumors are that, schedules permitting, Zoe Saldana will be the new Uhura.
http://trekmovie.com/?s=zoe+saldana&searchbutton=go%21

NASA images are going to be archived online by the Internet Archive. This includes non-digital images like the Apollo moon landings they will have to convert, films, videos, etc.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TECHBIT_SPACE_IMAGES?SITE=WIRE&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Anne McCaffrey's website has added a chronological order list. We should double check our BookCat entries for series order.
http://www.annemccaffrey.net/2006-Pern-Reading-Order.pdf

Preliminary schedule for Atlantis shows no midseason break. Only 4 weeks off during the season for holidays. This is too amazing to be true, I'm sure they'll change their minds. Possible spoiler warning: there are TV Guide level descriptions of the first 8 episodes.
http://www.gateworld.net/news/2007/08/preliminary_schedule_for_iatlant.shtml

Reminder, if you are interested, TOR is podcasting from Worldcon in Japan (which started today).
http://www.tor-forge.com/podcasts

Interesting new science development for preventing nasty diseases:
http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Science/2007/08/28/discovery_might_render_viruses_harmless/1552/

Really good interview with John Scalzi.
http://www.januarymagazine.com/profiles/scalzi.html

Something I bet we all need: Top 10 Ways to Clean Your PC
http://lifehacker.com/software/lifehacker-top-10/top-10-ways-to-clean-up-your-pc-294189.php

NBC won't use ITunes for its shows. I hope they provide a good alternative if you miss an ep.
http://www.sfsignal.com/archives/005573.html

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/

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