4-6-09

Jo Walton reviews Ventus by Karl Schroeder at Tor.com since he now has it as a free ebook on his website. I read this a few months ago and loved it. If you haven't read it, you should.

The UK is bringing out a mythological creatures stamp collection, with art by Dave McKean and a short short story by Neil Gaiman for each creature. Sources: Wired (best pics) and Neil Gaiman's blog.

Discovery.com lists the Top 10 Moments in Astronomy.

Space.com has an amazing photo of colliding galaxies taken by the Hubble telescope after it won a poll as the next target. They also have an article about plans to grow flowers on the moon.

According to John Scalzi, Audible is offering Metatropolis for free for a limited time because of the Hugo nomination.

The founder of Other Change of Hobbit (one of the best bookstores I've been to) talks about the early days.

Zap2It has a description of Fox's potential new comedy shows. Nothing here I have to see from what they say.

Richard Dean Anderson will guest star in a couple episodes of Stargate: Universe.

SciFi wire has interviews with James Marsters about 2 projects: Moonshot (about Apollo 11), and High Plains Invaders.

The final Pushing Daisies episodes finally have a timeslot (although a horrible one): Saturdays at 10pm starting May 30th.

Another sign that Reaper will be canceled - the creators are leaving the show for a new commitment with Fox.

Last week 6 volunteers sealed themselves into a capsule that will mimic the conditions of a trip to Mars. Sources: BBC, Telegraph

A new DNA test may replace the PAP smear since it was dramatically more effective at diagnosing cervical cancer in a recent 8-year study.

The BBC has an article on using stem cell injections to treat damaged bones.

DVRs for the week:
Mon 5pm Greek
Mon 8pm Chuck & House
Mon 9pm Heroes
Mon 10pm Medium
Tue 8pm Reaper
Tue 9pm Fringe
Tue 10pm Cupid (assuming I like the 1st one which is still on the dvr unseen)
Wed 8pm Scrubs
Wed 9pm Lost & Life
Wed 10pm CSI:NY
Thu 7pm Krod Mandoon & the Flaming Sword of Fire (COMEDY - see review at SF Signal)
Thu 8pm Bones
Thu 9pm CSI
Fri 8pm Ghost Whisperer & Sarah Connor Chronicles
Fri 9pm Dollhouse
Fri 10pm Numb3rs
Sat 6pm Ashes to Ashes
Sat 6 & 8pm Nora Roberts Tribute (LIFETIME)
Sun all day marathon of earlier Nora Roberts movies in case you missed them

7-21-08

Tor.com has launched. Part source for original fiction, part blog, part news and discussion of all stuff SF-related. Check out the article about it at SciFi Wire, or go directly to the site itself. The free eBooks and wallpaper art they've been providing as promotion will only be available until this Sunday, so if you've been waiting, go get them now.

One of the first 2 stories at Tor.com is a John Scalzi short story set in his Old Man's War universe. It is available online as text or audio.

It sounds like the replacement for William Peterson on CSI may be a serial killer (or just afraid of becoming one).

NBC has announced a schedule change for their fall lineup. "Life" will have double airings for the first 2 weeks (Mondays and Fridays at 10pm). Christian Slater's new show "My Own Worst Enemy" which was to have the Monday 10pm slot will now be delayed until October 13th.

DVR for tonight:
The Middleman
The Closer

Roundup for 9-19-07

CBS wants to make a US version of Eleventh Hour. Now if they kept Patrick Stewart, that might be OK.

USB 3.0 (coming next year) will add fiber-optic lines for 10x faster rates (to better support USB hard drives).

:-) turns 25 today. That deserves a :-)

Garbage trucks smelling like french fries? They didn't just load up at McD's, they are using biodiesel fuel. I'm not sure the smell problem from garbage trucks comes from the exhaust, but I appreciate their environmental efforts.

Cool science article of the day: Scientists are working on bonding electrons & antimatter to form exotic molecules that can power gamma-ray lasers.

Psych renewed for a 3rd year.

NBC is actually promoting Chuck. The pilot is available as a free download from Amazon, a free rental from Blockbuster, and now a free disk with any TV-DVD purchase at Circuit City (all offers expire when the show airs on Monday).

New satellite launched for gathering Earth images.

2 new John Scalzi books have been announced. Another in the Old Man's War universe, although a generation later, and a sequel to Android's Dream.

Ever wondered what it was like to have cat whiskers? This new headband uses infrared sensors to detect objects nearby and vibrates to alert the wearer something is there. If I ever go blind, get me one.

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

8-3-07

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