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Thursday, November 30, 2006

Clooney to Star in White Jazz

Clooney to Star in Jazz, Direct Boys - ComingSoon.net

I read awhile ago that they were going to make a loosely connected sequel to one of my favorite movies, LA Confidential, called White Jazz based on the book by James Ellroy. Well now comes word that George Clooney is set to star in it, playing a crooked cop who is setup to take a fall by his even more crooked bosses. Production will start in early '08.

Looking forward to this, especially Clooney in a noir turn as a crooked LAPD cop in the 40s/50s. I wouldn't have pictured him in that kind of role. It'll be interesting to see if he can get away from the 'half-smile head bob' thing and do a gritty noir turn...

I Wondered About That...

Did Wii break your TV? - Yahoo! Video Games

Looks like some Wii players are have a Wii bit of a problem holding on to their controllers. Apparently, the strap on the things isn't all that. Prone to fraying, and eventually snapping off. And that's when the players are using the strap. I guess there are some damaged TV's, windows, etc, from flying Wii controllers. Whoops. Hang on to your Wii Wiis, people...

What Does It All Mean, Basil?

You know you're tired when...you go to bed, fall asleep, and have a dream...a dream of yourself sleeping. I think I was even first person sleeping in my dream, and if I remember correctly, I was having a dream while I was sleeping in my dream...but I can't remember what it was.

Surreal, eh?

(Bonus points if you know where the post title comes from :)

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

What if You Forget To Take the Pill?

Memory Drug ...on 60 Minutes

Would you take a pill to block or ease bad memories? I didn't watch the all videos, but the very premise that a pill currently used to lower blood pressure may soon be used to block memories is rather unsettling. I suppose there are good points to the possibility, but the ability to abuse it seems high. Plus, what if it wipes out memories you want to keep?

I didn't see the movie, but wasn't Jim Carrey's movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind basically about this? He wanted to remove the memories of his ex-girlfriend, and things didn't go quite as planned. Maybe I'll have to watch that flick now...

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Snow Globe

globeandmail.com: Snow warning out for B.C. coastal areas

Proof the world is a little messed up. Vancouver is buried in snow and freezing temperatures, while the snowbelt of Ontario gets double digit numbers on the Celsius scale. That's just weird. If winter keeps moving west at this rate, Japan's teenagers are going to have to buy pocket warmers for their IPods while Newfoundlanders spend Christmas at the beach...

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

A Buffy Season 8 - In Comics

About Heroes: Buffy Season 8 and Wonder Woman Update

About Heroes has a link to the EW article that features information and some quotes from Joss himself about the upcoming Season 8 Buffy comic series. He's treating it as a TV season, with about 25-30 issues written by various writers after a 4 issue 'pilot.' It will follow TV show canon and picks up after the events of the Series finale. Unfortunately, we won't learn what happened after the Angel series finale cliffhanger, but Angel and Spike may show up briefly (read the article for the explanation on that). The rest of the Scooby Gang will be featured however. Sounds like a cool concept - series is set for March.

Whedon is the first to my knowledge to turn to the comics medium to continue storylines from his shows that are no longer on TV - Firefly, Angel, and now Buffy. I wonder if this will catch on with other writers/creators of TV shows that may get cancelled too soon?

Play Something Good...

I should have been a DJ. A light night, “smoke’em if ya got ‘em”, spinnin’ what you want to hear on the long drive home, continuous block of music, DJ. Of course, what you want to hear would be whatever it was that I wanted to listen to at the moment. However, I would follow the philosophy of the rules of a good mix tape – as laid out by Rob in High Fidelity – unlike the DJ’s of radio I hear. They have no flow on the radio anymore. For instance, you don’t follow the Paisley/Krauss ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ with ‘Man, I Feel Like a Woman’ by Shania Twain, or spin Collin’s ‘In the Air Tonight’ followed up by Jay Z. As Rob said, there are a lot of rules. I don’t know how many times I hear a good song on the radio, sometimes even two in a row if I’m lucky, and then they go and ruin a good vibe by playing a bad song that doesn’t fit the flow. There are all kinds of songs, and songs that can be used as transition songs between sets, but you have to know what you’re doing. Seems most DJ’s on the radio don’t.

Elsewhere, I’m enjoying my Amazon goodie box…but not the shrinkwrap and ‘security’ sticker mayhem associated with CD’s and DVD’s. What, are the companies afraid we might actually open the product after we buy it?! One barcode security sticker is too much, let alone the usual paranoid 3 sided deals some of them have. By the time I’m done opening the stuff, I’ve got another whole bag of garbage to throw out. Forget emissions tests on vehicles, ban shrink wrap and security tags to save the environment.

But I digress. I like the new Dixie Chicks CD, Alan Jackson’s new one will probably grow on me, the Miami Vice TV show CD’s are actually pretty good, and I still haven’t gotten into the Bob Seger or Evanescence new ones yet. The Absolute Batman: Hush hardcover was a surprise – a heavy oversized book in a slipcase to boot. I liked Jeph Loeb’s take on Batman in the fantastic Long Halloween, and Jim Lee’s art is always good, so I’m enjoying it so far. Then there are the Fables comics trade paperbacks I picked up as well. A very unique and creative storytelling spin on the rhymes and fables we all grew up with. So yes, Christmas came early this year…

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Good Grief...

I'm scanning the news headlines this morning...and here's just a sampling of what I read that proves humanity's brain cells are on the short bus to extinction:

Hot headed Calgary woman throws latte at Starbucks clerk in outrage over lack of scones.

People get trampled in lineups at Best Buy's for Playstation 3 units.

Women-only buses coming to Brazil to fight rush hour groping.


It'd be funny if it wasn't so sad. That gray matter sloshing around your cranium is meant to be used people...

Thursday, November 16, 2006

Here and There...

Not much time to write posts this week...that could change though...till then, some randomness...

I read on the Movie Blog that the much troubled Dallas big screen movie adaptation has started over. And here's a shock - they're going to make it a comedy. Starsky and Hutch, Dukes of Hazzard, Bewitched, all redone as a comedy for a movie and all sucked. Hollywood execs, just like leaders around the world, can't learn from history apparently.

Stallone's Rocky Balboa movie has a new trailer out. I didn't think I'd have much interest in watching this one, but these trailers really have me interested. The story looks solid, and I would not want to mess with Stallone the way he's in shape for this flick. Plus, some of the lines in the trailer are great: "It ain't about how hard you can hit, it's about how hard you can get hit, and keep movin' forward." and "If this is something you gotta do, then you do it. Fighters fight." Not to mention the boxing action looks incredibly real and brutal. I might just have to see this one come Christmas.

Been listening/watching the Dixie Chicks sing 'Lubbock or Leave It'. Saved it from a Amazon.com preview video. It's a good tune, and shows the rock influence Rick Rubin brings on this new album. It's a barn burner song, but compared to a similar 'Sin Wagon', it's got a stronger rock vibe...and better for it.

There's a new music video for Johnny Cash's song 'God's Gonna Cut You Down.' There are all kinds of famous people shown throughout the video...basically that's all the video is. Don't quite get the point of the video, but the funny thing is seeing all these actors and singers showing up and relatively few from the Country music spectrum. Seems like if you're Country, and you want to do your own thing, you have to go Rock. But that was the thing with Cash - he crossed all the lines and genres. Everybody respected Cash.

Gotta go pick up my Amazon order today...it's like Christmas in November, getting a box of goodies to open...even though you bought it yourself and you know what's in it :)

Monday, November 13, 2006

Start the View Count: A New Vid

Well, after my first attempt at making a Logan/Marie X-Men music vid is now moving in on 2000 views on YouTube, I thought I'd try another since the people have spoken and seem to like it. :)

I had an idea and a song for one, so I made a new one, but wasn't quite happy with it, so I let it percolate for a couple of weeks. I added a couple fades and a vid effect or two, changed two clips at the end, and it works much better. It's still amateur hour, but I like it.

I can see why these music videos are so popular around the net fandom circles. They're fun to make - ridiculous time consuming time wasters, but fun. Take some of your favorite elements from a movie or show, add some favorite music, and turn out a clip of the way you'd write the show if you were in charge. Now this is putting technology to good use :)

A Temp Resolution...

I view this blog at 1280 x 1024 monitor resolution, and it looks pretty good. However, after seeing what my new template looks like on a 800 x 600 resolution machine, I'm not sure I'm going to keep it. I wanted a template that would look good on any machine, but this may not be it. I'm not sure what I'd change to, but I'll just have to kick it around for a bit.

In the mean time, I've come up with a temporary fix. This seems to work great in Firefox, but IE6 is still fubar. It appears everything is ok except for the YouTube clips throwing it out of whack, so I've downsized them when posting. If you want to see them bigger, double click on the clip and it will take you to the YouTube page.

Friday, November 10, 2006

An Accidental Bit of GG (posted for Blythe)...

Here's something for Blythe Lane should she happen by, as I think she 'just kinda' likes the show like she 'just kinda' likes coffee :)

I stumbled over it looking for the Brad Paisley music video for the song "She's Everything" on YouTube. It's a fan made GG vid of Luke & Lorelai set to the song. The vid is well done too - good editing together of the clips.

And yes, I'll admit I was a fan of the show until last season when it took a hard left turn onto the track of bad writing. It had a good five year run...and one gem of a moment near the beginning of season 7 with a stiff right from Luke :) Otherwise, its been a tough slog. Maybe they'll dig their way back on track before season's end. Here's hoping I'm not downloading these episodes for nothing :)

Oh, and the reason I went looking for it in the first place - It's a good song from Brad Paisley...

Spider-Man 3 Full Trailer...

The first Spider-Man 3 full trailer has hit the net and it looks fantastic. The Movie Blog's article has a link to the trailer in glorious Quicktime too!

The tagline is "The Greatest Battle Lies Within", which certainly seems to apply to this 'will he or won't he' darker tone to this third installment that deals with revenge and choices made.

I like a good revenge angle in a movie, and this one has a couple. Spidey's anger at Sandman for what he allegedly did, and Harry's anger at Spidey for what he thinks Peter took from him make for an interesting dual storyline. And then of course is the Black Suit and we know what that'll lead to (starts with a V and will probably be only a bit at the end of the movie setting up the next one). Plus there's MJ and Gwen Stacy now in the mix. Spidey's gonna have his hands full in this one.

The FX of Sandman look great to me, and I'm sure they'll only be better once the theatrical release gets here. Seeing a fist of sand sweep through a NY street was pretty cool.

I liked Spider-Man 2 more than the first one, and this may be a rare case of a series of movies that got better with each one. X-Men couldn't keep the franchise momentum going, but it looks like Spider-Man just might.

(Note: The pic is something I made from the teaser trailer, not this new one. I didn't have time to put up a collage of new shots, plus my computer is in some kind of a mood... ;-)

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Terminated TV...

So they have cast the lead in the soon to be made and cancelled TV series "The Sarah Conner Chronicles." It's Lena Headey. Who? Yeah, me too.

Gotta wonder how this is going to turn out. I'm thinking cancelled quickly, unless it gets more of a leash than "Blade" did on Spike TV. I figure both shows will suffer the same problem. On the Blade TV show, the lead actor couldn't compare to Wesley Snipes version of Blade. I'm betting the same thing will happen with the Sarah Conner Chronicles. How does any actress equal what Linda Hamilton did with that character? It'll be tough sledding from the get go.

The funny thing with Blade was that the actor was finally starting to put his own stamp on the character instead of trying to act like Snipes as Blade, when they cancelled the series. Too little too late, I guess. The show was actually kind of interesting, and had it not been connected to the movies, it might have fared better. I never bothered watching more than a couple episodes, because it was a foregone conclusion it would be cancelled, and it was.

That's another reason I don't watch much in the way of weekly TV shows anymore. What's the point of tuning into new shows when they cancel them within the season, if not sooner? If a show with the star power and creative minds of Studio 60 is about to be cancelled already, what are the chances of a Blade or Sarah Conner?

I think the real Terminators are the shortsighted TV studio execs...

(oh, and I can't let a TV post go by without saying - 'Stupid, Stupid, Fox! Firefly would have run as a hit for 7 seasons easy if you hadn't screwed it up!')

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Here and There...

Worked night shift and then had to get up early because they were going to do stuff in the building and yadda-yadda-yadda, I’ve lost sleep for nothing so far. They couldn’t organize their way out of a paper bag…

On the upside, I flipped on my TV and found an episode of Due South – the one about the wild horses and the meat packing plant. So I got to see Ray go “Or maybe he did it…” ;-) That was a good show…

Can’t believe it’s November. That means the new Bond movie is opening on the 17th. After watching the trailer and thinking that gave too much away, I’ve now seen a TV spot and that gives away even more. I’m not watching any more commercials for it. It seems they’re so worried people might not like the new Bond, that they’re throwing all the good bits into the trailers just to make sure they get butts in the seats. The movie is getting good reviews, so that’s good, but I hate it when the trailers and commercials give away the farm. I purposefully avoided all X3 commercials except for the main trailer, and after seeing the movie and going back and watching the commercials, they gave away every single cool spot in the movie.

It's getting to the point where you can't even watch any promotional video for a movie without having it spoiled. I know all Hollywood cares about is the box office and getting people there, but it's getting ridiculous...

CMA Awards '06

Forgot to record the CMA awards last night, so I didn’t see them. I’m sure they’ll rerun them on CMT at some point, and after reading about the winners on the ‘net, - Nominees here, Winners here - it doesn’t sound like I missed anything. None of the winners are anyone I would have voted for – the closest might have been Brad Paisley and Keith Urban.

Let’s run it down:
Entertainer – Kenny Chesney. Ok, but probably should have been Paisley or Urban.
Male Vocalist – Keith Urban. Good pick, but I might have gone with Dierks Bentley.
Female Vocalist – Carrie Underwood. What the?! CMA lost their minds. Should have been Faith Hill, and I'm not the only one who thought that. Underwood has only been around a year, and I haven’t heard one song from her yet that I’ve even half way liked. No way she’s female vocalist.
Vocal Group – Rascal Flatts. Not much to pick from here, but should have gone to Alison Krauss & Union Station.
Vocal Duo – Brooks and Dunn. No surprise here.
Horizon Award – Carrie Underwood. She won two?! She’s not good enough yet to win the newcomer award and female vocalist. This should have gone to Josh Turner.
Musical Event – Brad Paisley/Dolly Parton for “When I Get Where I’m Going.” Good song, good pick.
Song of the Year – Believe, Brooks & Dunn. Ugh. Overwrought pop ballad that I couldn’t stand listening to. Poor selection of nominees, but probably should have gone to Brad Paisley for “When I Get Where I’m Going.”
Single of the Year – Believe. Again. Ugh. Should have gone to Better Life by Keith Urban.
Album of the Year – Time Well Wasted by Brad Paisley. A good pick, considering the rest of the nominees. This should have been Gary Allan for Tough All Over though.
Video of the Year – Believe. Terrible pick, not a good crop of nominees. Should have gone to Faith and Tim for Like We Never Loved At All, but it wasn’t even nominated. If the song was nominated for Musical Event, why not video?

A rather sad lot of nominees, leading to a repetitive and uninspired selection of winners, save for the Brad Paisley and Keith Urban wins. Also, it looks like after a couple years of ‘country’ picks, the CMA’s are again swinging back around towards pop.

But the lack of quality nominees, when there were better ones available, surprised me. Where the hell was Gary Allan?! His album, “Tough All Over” was one of the best albums I’ve heard in the last while, let alone the past year, and he doesn’t get a nom for anything? The CMA’s have clearly lost their minds.

And Faith Hill getting shutout? If her reaction was serious, and not joking like they're trying to spin it, she was certainly justified in thinking it, although you don't do that on national TV. Not when you're an experienced celebrity. Her reputation will probably take a dent from this. Should be interesting to see how this plays and if she lives it down, cause from where I'm sitting, that reaction was dead serious - not joking. Watch the eyes.


Anyway, it sounds like the only thing they got right was inducting George Strait into the Hall of Fame. He’s certainly earned it, and he thanked his fans right off the bat. Well done.

Sunday, November 05, 2006

New Look

So here it is...a new look. Found a template I sorta liked, then modified the hell out of it, and this is the result.

What do you think? Better or worse? Like or don't like? Color scheme suggestions? Too cluttered? Let me know...

I can always go back to what I had, because I saved it :)

As it was, I was looking for something that didn't waste column space like the old one did. Of course, this is designed for a higher resolution, with a layout that will shift size depending on browser windows size as well. I don't know the technical terms for it :) HTML is a frustrating experience, especially when two different browsers read and then output the same code two entirely different ways. I think it looks the best viewing with Firefox instead of IE, but both do the job.

Anyway, guess I'll go with this for a couple days and see if I like it...or more importantly, if anyone else does :)

Friday, November 03, 2006

Oh, It's On...

Ok, I've updated my NanoWrimo page...got a word count and an excerpt up too.

For anyone wondering, my story is a continuation of the Goodbye Angie short story I wrote. You can read that via the link on my sidebar. If I were to put it together in a 'novel' form, my thinking is that the short story would be the prologue, leading into the main event.

I'm NOT using that short story as any part of my word count - just so you all know :) It's just the jumping off point, storywise.

Processed some more story thoughts tonight, and now I at least have a handle on where's it going...I think. Now, all that's left is the writing. Gonna have to see some smoke coming off this keyboard if I'm going to get close to those wordcounts...

Thursday, November 02, 2006

Delayed...

Well, Nanowrimo month has begun, and I’m already trailing behind…guess I’ll just can it…Just Kidding! I will unleash some kind of incoherent novel-ish ramblings onto the world this month, just need to get to a weekend first. One day without sleep and one day to make up for it didn’t leave much time to write. I did however, get some plotting and outlining done – while doing repetitive things at work :-) Anyway, hope to update my NanoWriMo page within the next day or so…

Elsewhere, check this out: there will be an extended cut of the movie The Punisher released on DVD November 21. This will have 17 extra minutes included as well. I kinda wonder what the 17 extra minutes will be, although I hope some of it will feature Mark Collie’s character Harry Heck. That was a cool part of the movie, and hopefully it will be expanded. Some people didn’t like The Punisher, but I really liked it. It was an old school revenge flick with actual stunt work instead of endless quick edit CGI. That right there gives it extra points in my book. I’ll be getting this new DVD too…