1214895206
Just the messenger guys. We've heard this before 30 June 2008 6:30 PM, PDT Trainspotting http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117951/ star Robert Carlyle http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001015/ is in talks to take over from David Tennant http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0855039/ as TV time traveller Dr. Who http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436992/ . Tennant is rumoured to be leaving the cult BBC TV show at the end of the current series in 2009 and speculation about his replacement is pointing to fellow Scot Carlyle. Although Tennant has refused to confirm whether he will be quitting his role as the Time Lord, tough guy Carlyle hasn't ruled out stepping into his place. He says, Would I do it? Possibly. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0254445/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] The End Of TV As We Know It?
The End Of TV As We Know It? 30 June 2008 10:23 AM, PDT http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0254325/ Sony's experiment, in which it plans to stream Hancock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/ , starring Will Smith http://www.imdb.com/name/nm226/ , to Internet-connected Bravia TV-set owners immediately after its theatrical run (and before it is released on DVD), may set the stage for companies to bypass traditional content distributors like networks, cable TV, and satellite companies, the New York Times indicated today (Monday). The newspaper quoted Sony Cfo Robert Wiesenthal as saying, The Internet is not only a great place to reach Web sites, but it's also a great way to deliver conventional content. And at the end of the day, it's about getting entertainment back into the living room. But while Sony may be using its film studio and consumer electronics units to experiment with new ways of delivering home entertainment, it is unlikely that it can corner the market in that area, the Times article suggested. It noted that following Sony's announcement, Pali research analyst Richard Greenfield wrote, While the content offered is only from Sony today, we expect other studios to follow if consumer interest becomes apparent. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] Grading the Fashion Sense of Superheroes
By Martha Brockenbrough Special to MSN Movies http://movies.msn.com/movies/incredible-hulk/galleryfeature/superhero-costum es/ We get that Dr. Bruce Banner is a brilliant scientist. You'd think, though, that he could put at least some of his superior brain cells to work developing a better stretch fabric. Out of all the superheroes in the Hall of Justice, or Mall of America, or wherever they hang out these days, poor Hulk has really gotten the sartorial shaft: Short pants don't suit a grown man. They're even worse on an overgrown one. No wonder Hulk angry. Hulk wear pants that make him look like little boy ... little boy of nasty nuclear age! Pants not suit Hulk's dignity! Pants torn! Too tight! Squeezes Hulk's bulk! Makes Hulk sulk! Now that a new movie version and pair of pants are on the horizon for the Hulk, those of us who care about such things wondered: Will Hulk be angry? Or will he find his new outfit to be everything a giant green man with anger management issues could have wished for? And how about the styles for all those other superheroes -- are they fashion dos or don'ts? Here's how we grade them. The http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/the-incredible-hulk.1/ Incredible Hulk: A minus Though we won't truly be able to judge until we see Hulk run and smash things in his pants, what we've seen so far looks promising. The pants aren't too short. They're not too tattered. They do make his butt look big (but totally proportional to the rest of him). We also like the skin he's in. Hulk - a transmogrification of the Bruce Banner played by Edward You Had Me at 'Primal Fear' Norton - is a splendid acid green with the sort of scowl that could only be undone by elephantine Botox injections. He's a modern-day Dr. Frankenstein plus his monster: monster genius and monstrous creation, all rolled into one, huge, muscle-bound form. It's synergy, baby. And we like it. http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/superman-returns/ Superman: C On the bright side, the creators of the 2006 Superman remake wisely resisted the urge to drop the Man of Steel into a made-of-steel, chiseled suit carved to look like a cover of Men's Health. Here, Superman looks like he might actually be a journalist in disguise. They also deserve credit for keeping Superman in mostly patriotic colors. Superman may be a little too truth, justice and the American Way for some people, but we're talking about Superman, here. He's gotta be him, and one-notch-shy of actually wearing a flag always made sense for this farm boy. This leads to our one complaint: What up with the burgundy boots and cape? Red states yield red capes; burgundy is for wine drinkers. http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/spider-man-3/ Spider-Man: A/B In the first two Spider-Man movies, they nailed the suit. This is THE classic Spidey in his original colors, white eyes and big spider on the chest. Whoever worked on this look loved the original, and it shows. Another nice part about the costume is how well it works when the flick switches from live actors to animated scenes. The costume makes the transition easily. Spidey got a new suit in Spider-Man http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/spider-man-3/ 3, and while it doesn't quite live up to the original, it's pretty cool. Black is the new red and blue. Even cooler, the suit doesn't contain our web-slinging hero. It's actually an evil alien life form, which makes it unique in the superhero suit collection. To quote many an earthbound designer, it's tres fabulous, even if it is missing the white spider on the chest of the original. http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/daredevil.2/ Daredevil: A This is one of the few costumes that worked better on the screen than in the comic book. Even Ben Affleck's All-American face couldn't cheese up this red-leather tribute to the man without fear. No molded plastic, no muscles where there should be soft parts, and no cape (which, as The Incredibles http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/the-incredibles/ taught us, is not a wise choice for a hero anyway). You can even imagine a self-respecting ninja wearing this number down to Hell's Kitchen on a night off. What's even better is the consistency with Daredevil's character -- super, but not implausible. http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/iron-man.3/ Iron Man: A Is King Arthur legendary because of his Lawyers of the Round Table? Heck no. Lancelot in a massive, blood-stained iron body suit swinging a mace -- now THAT is legendary. Just ask Guinevere. And this is precisely the appeal of Iron Man. Heavy, destructive, menacing, powerful and best of all, a design that's true to the comic original while still looking modern. The Iron Man costume may, in fact, be the best movie adaptation we've seen. http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/the-incredibles/ Mr. Incredible: A As you probably know, Mr. Incredible has two supersuits in The Incredibles http://movies.msn.com/movies/movie/the-incredibles/ , and both are worthy of top
[scifinoir2] Best Robot Love Stories, From Wall-E to Weird Science
By Jenna Wortham 06.26.08 http://www.wired.com/entertainment/hollywood/multimedia/2008/06/robot_love_s tories When cute trash compactor Wall-E first lays eyes on Eve, a flying, laser-gun-equipped fembot, it's binary love at first pixel. Although Pixar Animation Studios' Wall-E takes inspiration from classic sci-fi films, the G-rated galactic adventure that hits theaters Friday is, at heart, an old-fashioned love story. It's the latest roboromance in a long line of on-screen infatuation involving at least one automated being. From Star Wars' classic brotherly droid love between R2-D2 and C-3PO to the computer-generated babe in Weird Science, here are some of the best and -- as with the cybersex hostage in Demon Seed -- worst roborelationships ever to hit the screen. Which unforgettable android affair did we leave out? Submit your faves in the comments below. Love-struck Wall-E does his best to wow Eve with his treasure-trove of relics from humanity's reign on Earth -- a Rubik's Cube, light bulbs and even a spork. Though separated by seven centuries of technological advances, Wall-E and Eve find common ground in the quest to save humanity. Sort of like HAL-9000 from 2001: A Space Odyssey, but with none of the killer instincts. RoboLove Meter Reading 4/5: This kid-friendly, sugary-sweet romance should warm even the coldest of metal hearts. The Stepford Wives When Joanna Eberhart (played by Katharine http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001684/ Ross) moves to Stepford, Connecticut, she discovers a sinister secret about the perfectly coiffed, submissive female residents of the sleepy suburban town: They're all high-tech bots. In this 1975 thriller, the men of Stepford -- hoping to quell the early strains of feminism -- have all killed and replaced their wives with engineered robot replicas. Joanna's discovery comes just a moment too late, as she soon falls victim to the same fate at the hands of her husband. The film was updated in 2004 with a version starring Nicole Kidman, Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken, but the original won a spot on our list for the creepy atmosphere and genuinely disturbing premise at the heart of the story. RoboLove Meter Reading 1/5: As cool as the idea of bioengineered human replicas is, this home-wrecking thriller bottoms out in the creepy factor for being too Hans Reiser-y http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/06/hans-reiser-off.html . I.K.U. This Japanese surrealist sci-fi flick follows Reiko, a shape-shifting sexbot whose job entails racking up as many intimate experiences as possible. Her inner circuitry records each one-night stand, and a large corporation sells the virtual-reality romps from vending machines. It's not long before a rival company seeks to destroy Reiko's popular wares, but before that happens, viewers are treated to eyefuls of kinky, medium-core rolls in the hay ... and in spider webs ... and even in fish tanks. RoboLove Meter Reading 5/5: A shape-shifting fembot whose entire existence revolves around collecting data on orgasms? This fantasy pleasurebot rates high for having a one-track program compatible with any operating system. Weird Science When Gary (played by Anthony http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001309/ Michael Hall) and Wyatt (Ilan http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0593819/ Mitchell-Smith) use their computers to design the perfect woman, they never expect her to be more than an online fantasy. But thanks to an electrical storm, a Barbie doll and headgear fashioned out of bras, Lisa (Kelly LeBrock http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001456/ ) is suddenly brought to life in their bedroom. Breakfast Club director John Hughes http://www.imdb.com/name/nm455/ ' 1985 nerd classic redefined the ideal geek girlfriend -- Einstein's IQ, a rock 'n' roll attitude and the ability to transform pesky older siblings into amphibian hybrids and materialize sports cars out of thin air. RoboLove Meter Reading 4.5/5: Even though Gary and Wyatt never actually get home-schooled in the birds and the bees, they receive high marks on our scale for scoring priceless life lessons. And, of course, the shower scene. Cherry 2000 In this 1988 vision of a post-apocalyptic future, sex machines are all the rage, and lovebot Cherry 2000 (played by Pamela Gidley http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0317293/ ) is in high demand. Unfortunately, a romantic interlude too close to a malfunctioning dishwasher causes a model owned by wealthy businessman Sam Treadwell (David Andrews http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0028625/ ) to short out. Sam must travel into an intrepid no-man's land of outlaws to retrieve a replacement for his beloved android. RoboLove Meter Reading 2/5: This movie gets low marks since all that stood in the way of Sam's happily ever after with his sex droid was blatant violation of the most basic rule electronics -- avoiding contact with water. Electric Dreams When San Francisco architect Miles Harding (played by Lenny von
[scifinoir2] Re: Doctor Who - Forests of the Dead
I love the cheeky meditation on the nature of libraries vis-a-vis computer hard drives. Immortality in print. The possibility of corruption of digital storage. Really good stuff. Also, I smile at the resonance of those posting on this subject warning of SPOILERS!!! just as dear Alex Kingston responded each time the frantic Doctor asked her questions about the future. ~rave!
[scifinoir2] Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Watching episodes of Showtime's new serirs Secret Diary of a Call Girl makes me really, REALLY want to see the Billie Piper cycle of Dr. Who. ~rave!
Re: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant?
There have since been a couple of names tossed into the hat, mostly for show IMO. Both comedians who are fairly popular Across the Pond right now, neither of whom I can name. Carlyle is still the front-runner. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant? To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 2:53 AM Just the messenger guys. We've heard this before 30 June 2008 6:30 PM, PDT Trainspotting http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0117951/ star Robert Carlyle http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0001015/ is in talks to take over from David Tennant http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0855039/ as TV time traveller Dr. Who http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0436992/ . Tennant is rumoured to be leaving the cult BBC TV show at the end of the current series in 2009 and speculation about his replacement is pointing to fellow Scot Carlyle. Although Tennant has refused to confirm whether he will be quitting his role as the Time Lord, tough guy Carlyle hasn't ruled out stepping into his place. He says, Would I do it? Possibly. http://www.imdb. com/news/ ni0254445/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing
Keith, when this entire thing first sprang up, I was thinking that it was nothing more than another Guv'mint Waco-in-the-making. And then I saw the Stepford Compound Wives on Today. After that, I'm led to wonder what that judge was thinking in returning those kids to that sitch. Wouldn't buy from that site if you held guns to the heads of the five people in this world I care most about. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:16 AM http://www.fldsdres s.com/ Wow, talk about irony . A sect that in many ways hails back to simpler times, now has a website hawking their simpler clothing. What a strange world in which we live. Do the Amish have web sites...? I had conflicting feelings about this site when first I visited it. I must admit, first reactions were a bit of amusement at the backwards-seeming styles, which made me chuckle and shake my head in bemusement. That was then coupled with a visceral feeling of --i don't know, distaste?--for what I see as an oppressive, soul-crushing group that programs boys and girls with bizarre beliefs. After all, these are people who seem to believe--many of them at least--that it's okay to wed off girls as young as 14 to old-butt men. Doesn't matter that much of our planet still does the exact same thing, I'm not down with that in a modern society. So then those funny, plain clothes, and the kids with their plain looks, took on a sinister look. Symbols of a twisted religious/world view they became. Then I spent some time looking at the little models (doesn't take long, they don't exactly have a lot of styles). I saw the smiling boys and girls, who genuinely look happy to be photographed. They don't look posed or forced at all. Even the really scary shots of the teen girls (dig the Princess Dress) look pretty happy posing in their cotton garb. And I recalled how many of the kids pulled from the compound genuninely want to return to their families (however those are configured). And I recall those TV shots of those women, looking like something from Little House on the Prairie, some of whom are brainwashed to my mind, yet who genuinely love and want to do right by their children. Women who fear the outside world, seem at a loss to function among our society, whose very command of English seems basic at best. Yet women who braved that world to bring back their children. I realized that, twisted, perverted as some of this might be, there are many people in this group who rea lly think they're doing the right thing, who love their children and would die before knowingly hurting them. People who think their values and way of life could benefit the world, and who are proferring their clothing in a way to continue those values and that way of life. People venturing out a bit into what they must see as a world of sin, in order to protect and care for their own. Doing it for love and necessity. And that made me sad and more than a bit concerned. After all, it's rarely the people who beat and obviously mistreat their own that one must fear. It's those who in love--misguided and misdirected as it may be--craft a lifestyle and worldview that twists their children so that they embrace that lifestyle. Yeah, some of the kids in that compound hate what's done to them. the interviews I've seen with women who've escaped and made new lives for themselves is proof of that. But I wonder how many are being programmed to think it's okay to be cut off from teh world at large? To be married off to men two and three times their age? To be wedded to their cousins before they've even finished developing? The more I thought about that, the more I realized that my reactions aren't about some elitist, arrogant modern guy's amusement at a backward sect. It's more than ridiculing people who dress like something from two centuries back. Hell, there's something to be said for trying to adopt a simpler lifestyle, for wanting to divorce oneself from an over-reliance on technology, TV, and superficial things. But this is about more than that. It's about kids not seeing all sides of the picture, about women so programmed that they can't even think for themselves. About dirty, petty men with delusions of godhood who use God to support their twisted views, and deny those women and children the right to think for themselves, to see the alternatives. And thinking about that, those pictures of those smiling kids in their simple clothing really filled me with sadness and anger at something that's sinister and
[scifinoir2] Re: Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant?
I might actually watch Dr. Who if Carlyle goes Begbie on some villain. --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: There have since been a couple of names tossed into the hat, mostly for show IMO. Both comedians who are fairly popular Across the Pond right now, neither of whom I can name. Carlyle is still the front- runner. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant? To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 2:53 AM Just the messenger guys. We've heard this before 30 June 2008 6:30 PM, PDT Trainspotting http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0117951/ star Robert Carlyle http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0001015/ is in talks to take over from David Tennant http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0855039/ as TV time traveller Dr. Who http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0436992/ . Tennant is rumoured to be leaving the cult BBC TV show at the end of the current series in 2009 and speculation about his replacement is pointing to fellow Scot Carlyle. Although Tennant has refused to confirm whether he will be quitting his role as the Time Lord, tough guy Carlyle hasn't ruled out stepping into his place. He says, Would I do it? Possibly. http://www.imdb. com/news/ ni0254445/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
1214933907
I hear you. The wild thing is how their look and dress hit people more than the rumours of what they were doing. I know some people who were skeptical, or at least, cautious, until they saw them. The look of that ultra-modern (for 1829) dress made some people think, of course they're odd Not saying it was all visual for you too, Martin. Was it that, or what they said that did it? The judge had to return them because her rulings were overturned by a higher court, in what was seen as a rebuke for her taking all the kids. The higher court seems to acknowledge that *some* kids might be at risk, but the state couldn't prove that *all* of them were -- Original message -- From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keith, when this entire thing first sprang up, I was thinking that it was nothing more than another Guv'mint Waco-in-the-making. And then I saw the Stepford Compound Wives on Today. After that, I'm led to wonder what that judge was thinking in returning those kids to that sitch. Wouldn't buy from that site if you held guns to the heads of the five people in this world I care most about. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:16 AM http://www.fldsdres s.com/ Wow, talk about irony . A sect that in many ways hails back to simpler times, now has a website hawking their simpler clothing. What a strange world in which we live. Do the Amish have web sites...? I had conflicting feelings about this site when first I visited it. I must admit, first reactions were a bit of amusement at the backwards-seeming styles, which made me chuckle and shake my head in bemusement. That was then coupled with a visceral feeling of --i don't know, distaste?--for what I see as an oppressive, soul-crushing group that programs boys and girls with bizarre beliefs. After all, these are people who seem to believe--many of them at least--that it's okay to wed off girls as young as 14 to old-butt men. Doesn't matter that much of our planet still does the exact same thing, I'm not down with that in a modern society. So then those funny, plain clothes, and the kids with their plain looks, took on a sinister look. Symbols of a twisted religious/world view they became. Then I spent some time looking at the little models (doesn't take long, they don't exactly have a lot of styles). I saw the smiling boys and girls, who genuinely look happy to be photographed. They don't look posed or forced at all. Even the really scary shots of the teen girls (dig the Princess Dress) look pretty happy posing in their cotton garb. And I recalled how many of the kids pulled from the compound genuninely want to return to their families (however those are configured). And I recall those TV shots of those women, looking like something from Little House on the Prairie, some of whom are brainwashed to my mind, yet who genuinely love and want to do right by their children. Women who fear the outside world, seem at a loss to function among our society, whose very command of English seems basic at best. Yet women who braved that world to bring back their children. I realized that, twisted, perverted as some of this might be, there are many people in this group who rea lly think they're doing the right thing, who love their children and would die before knowingly hurting them. People who think their values and way of life could benefit the world, and who are proferring their clothing in a way to continue those values and that way of life. People venturing out a bit into what they must see as a world of sin, in order to protect and care for their own. Doing it for love and necessity. And that made me sad and more than a bit concerned. After all, it's rarely the people who beat and obviously mistreat their own that one must fear. It's those who in love--misguided and misdirected as it may be--craft a lifestyle and worldview that twists their children so that they embrace that lifestyle. Yeah, some of the kids in that compound hate what's done to them. the interviews I've seen with women who've escaped and made new lives for themselves is proof of that. But I wonder how many are being programmed to think it's okay to be cut off from teh world at large? To be married off to men two and three times their age? To be wedded to their cousins before they've even finished developing? The more I thought about that, the more I realized that my reactions aren't about some elitist, arrogant modern guy's amusement at a backward sect. It's more than ridiculing people who dress like something from two centuries
1214934215
Let me correct myself: it's not that the court is saying some of the kids might be in danger, but that it couldn't be proven that any of the kids were in imminent danger. Subtle but important difference. Not sure where this heads next. Does the state have to do this on a family-by-family basis? -- Original message -- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Keith Johnson) I hear you. The wild thing is how their look and dress hit people more than the rumours of what they were doing. I know some people who were skeptical, or at least, cautious, until they saw them. The look of that ultra-modern (for 1829) dress made some people think, of course they're odd Not saying it was all visual for you too, Martin. Was it that, or what they said that did it? The judge had to return them because her rulings were overturned by a higher court, in what was seen as a rebuke for her taking all the kids. The higher court seems to acknowledge that *some* kids might be at risk, but the state couldn't prove that *all* of them were -- Original message -- From: Martin [EMAIL PROTECTED] Keith, when this entire thing first sprang up, I was thinking that it was nothing more than another Guv'mint Waco-in-the-making. And then I saw the Stepford Compound Wives on Today. After that, I'm led to wonder what that judge was thinking in returning those kids to that sitch. Wouldn't buy from that site if you held guns to the heads of the five people in this world I care most about. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] gt; Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:16 AM http://www.fldsdres s.com/ Wow, talk about irony . A sect that in many ways hails back to simpler times, now has a website hawking their simpler clothing. What a strange world in which we live. Do the Amish have web sites...? I had conflicting feelings about this site when first I visited it. I must admit, first reactions were a bit of amusement at the backwards-seeming styles, which made me chuckle and shake my head in bemusement. That was then coupled with a visceral feeling of --i don't know, distaste?--for what I see as an oppressive, soul-crushing group that programs boys and girls with bizarre beliefs. After all, these are people who seem to believe--many of them at least--that it's okay to wed o ff girls as young as 14 to old-butt men. Doesn't matter that much of our planet still does the exact same thing, I'm not down with that in a modern society. So then those funny, plain clothes, and the kids with their plain looks, took on a sinister look. Symbols of a twisted religious/world view they became. Then I spent some time looking at the little models (doesn't take long, they don't exactly have a lot of styles). I saw the smiling boys and girls, who genuinely look happy to be photographed. They don't look posed or forced at all. Even the really scary shots of the teen girls (dig the Princess Dress) look pretty happy posing in their cotton garb. And I recalled how many of the kids pulled from the compound genuninely want to return to their families (however those are configured). And I recall those TV shots of those women, looking like something from Little House on the Prairie, some of whom are brainwashed to my mind, yet who genuinely love and want to do right by their children. Women who fear the outside world, seem at a loss to function among our society, whose very command of English seems basic at best. Yet women who braved that world to bring back their children. I realized that, twisted, perverted as some of this might be, there are many people in this group who rea lly think they're doing the right thing, who love their children and would die before knowingly hurting them. People who think their values and way of life could benefit the world, and who are proferring their clothing in a way to continue those values and that way of life. People venturing out a bit into what they must see as a world of sin, in order to protect and care for their own. Doing it for love and necessity. And that made me sad and more than a bit concerned. After all, it's rarely the people who beat and obviously mistreat their own that one must fear. It's those who in love--misguided and misdirected as it may be--craft a lifestyle and worldvie w that twists their children so that they embrace that lifestyle. Yeah, some of the kids in that compound hate what's done to them. the interviews I've seen with women who've escaped and made new lives for themselves is proof of that. But I wonder how many are being programmed to think it's okay to
[scifinoir2] Yahoo! News Story - Earth#39;s Cries Recorded in Space - Yahoo! News
Bosco ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.) Personal message: It seems that the Earth will, in fact, die screaming. Earth#39;s Cries Recorded in Space - Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080701/sc_space/earthscriesrecordedinspace Yahoo! News http://news.yahoo.com/
RE: [scifinoir2] Secret Diary of a Call Girl
I forgot that was coming out. How is it? -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ravenadal Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 4:26 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Secret Diary of a Call Girl Watching episodes of Showtime's new serirs Secret Diary of a Call Girl makes me really, REALLY want to see the Billie Piper cycle of Dr. Who. ~rave! Yahoo! Groups Links
RE: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant?
While I think he is an unlikely choice, my favorite is the guy who played Jekyll. -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Martin Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 4:54 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant? There have since been a couple of names tossed into the hat, mostly for show IMO. Both comedians who are fairly popular Across the Pond right now, neither of whom I can name. Carlyle is still the front-runner. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Carlyle To Replace Dr. Who Tennant? To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 2:53 AM Just the messenger guys. We've heard this before 30 June 2008 6:30 PM, PDT Trainspotting http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0117951/ star Robert Carlyle http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0001015/ is in talks to take over from David Tennant http://www.imdb. com/name/ nm0855039/ as TV time traveller Dr. Who http://www.imdb. com/title/ tt0436992/ . Tennant is rumoured to be leaving the cult BBC TV show at the end of the current series in 2009 and speculation about his replacement is pointing to fellow Scot Carlyle. Although Tennant has refused to confirm whether he will be quitting his role as the Time Lord, tough guy Carlyle hasn't ruled out stepping into his place. He says, Would I do it? Possibly. http://www.imdb. com/news/ ni0254445/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links
[scifinoir2] Re: Secret Diary of a Call Girl
It is like all of SHOWTIME's original programming (WEEDS, CALIFORNICATION, THE TUDORS): profane, provocative, articulate and attractive (especially the leads) while constantly trying to stretch the boundaries of good taste. Piper is shown doing all the tawdry things a high class call girl would do while the camera shows a certain British reserve (for instance, she is constantly disrobing but the camera never shows her naughty bits). Although it is cheeky and well bred, with constant self-aware commentary by Belle the call girl, DIARY might be too rough for the faint hearted. I happen to like corsets and garters and high heels and hose so I ain't mad at nobody. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I forgot that was coming out. How is it? -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ravenadal Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 4:26 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Secret Diary of a Call Girl Watching episodes of Showtime's new serirs Secret Diary of a Call Girl makes me really, REALLY want to see the Billie Piper cycle of Dr. Who. ~rave! Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
RE: [scifinoir2] Re: Secret Diary of a Call Girl
Faint hearted is not how I would describe you. Particularly when it comes to corsets, garters and high heels. :) -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ravenadal Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 1:15 PM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: Secret Diary of a Call Girl It is like all of SHOWTIME's original programming (WEEDS, CALIFORNICATION, THE TUDORS): profane, provocative, articulate and attractive (especially the leads) while constantly trying to stretch the boundaries of good taste. Piper is shown doing all the tawdry things a high class call girl would do while the camera shows a certain British reserve (for instance, she is constantly disrobing but the camera never shows her naughty bits). Although it is cheeky and well bred, with constant self-aware commentary by Belle the call girl, DIARY might be too rough for the faint hearted. I happen to like corsets and garters and high heels and hose so I ain't mad at nobody. ~rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, Tracey de Morsella [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I forgot that was coming out. How is it? -Original Message- From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of ravenadal Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 4:26 AM To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Subject: [scifinoir2] Secret Diary of a Call Girl Watching episodes of Showtime's new serirs Secret Diary of a Call Girl makes me really, REALLY want to see the Billie Piper cycle of Dr. Who. ~rave! Yahoo! Groups Links Yahoo! Groups Links
[scifinoir2] Trailer for Pitt's film leaves you wanting more
HOLLYWOODBrad Pitt is getting younger every day. www.chicagotribune.com/features/lifestyle/chi-brad-pitt- 0701jul01,0,380817.story chicagotribune.com Trailer for Pitt's film leaves you wanting more By Patrick Goldstein Chicago Tribune Newspapers July 1, 2008 HOLLYWOODBrad Pitt is getting younger every day. It's a tantalizing hook for a film, isn't it? What if your hero was born an old man, only to grow younger every day, from wrinkles to wrinkles, so to speakdon't they say that all little babies look like Winston Churchill? That's the premise behind David Fincher's upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which stars Pitt going from geezer-hood to infancy, and falling in love with Cate Blanchett along the way. The film is due in December and has already been touted for Oscar-hood. Now that Paramount has put up its first trailer, I have no quarrel with any grand predictions. The trailer promises us a moody, mysterious and bewitchingly bittersweet look at life, lived in an entirely unexpected way. It also offers the tantalizing possibility that Fincher, one of our era's greatest filmmakers, may have found a way (thanks to an Eric Roth script, adapted from a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story) to marry his often chilly obsession with serial killers and people in peril to a story with more emotional resonance. If nothing else, the trailerlargely devised by Fincher, the ultimate hands-on filmmakerreminds us that not every trailer has to play like a greatest-hits reel culled from the film, all so hideously pre- tested that no moment with any ambiguity or mystery could possibly survive. In terms of an opening, it's hard to top the trailer's first image: As we pull in toward the face of a clock, the narrator (Pitt, with a New Orleans accent) says: My name is Benjamin Button. I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was aging, I was getting youngerall alone. As he finishes, the clock ticksbackward. Propelled by French composer Camille Saint-Saens' melancholy The Aquarium, Fincher shows us Button's life via a series of arresting images: A man rowing on a lonely lake. Pitt, studying himself in the mirror, wearing spectacles and boxer shorts, his head cocked to one side, as if bewildered by his strangely youthful appearance. A father, holding a little girl in his arms, a balloon slipping out of their hands. The trailer ends with the most bewitching image of all: A young toddler, walking with his lover, now aged, hobbling along with a cane. Thanks to both the images and the music, the trailer does what a great trailer shouldit leaves us wanting more, having tempted us with a tale that is magical and steeped in an air of ineffable sorrow. It feels like just the kind of spooky fairy tale that M. Night Shyamalan could have made, if he were ever able to get out of his own head and embrace someone else's vision. But I'm eager to see the Fincher version. In the middle of summer, when you're surrounded by movies with dumb gags and cheap thrills, it's a pleasure to look forward to the work of someone who won't subject us to even an ounce of bathos or sentimentality. To view trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, go to apple.com/trailers/paramount/thecuriouscaseofbenjaminbutton. Los Angeles Times Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune
Re: [scifinoir2] Trailer for Pitt's film leaves you wanting more
For sheer *differentness*, this has me hooked. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: ravenadal [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Trailer for Pitt's film leaves you wanting more To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 6:00 PM HOLLYWOODBrad Pitt is getting younger every day. www.chicagotribune. com/features/ lifestyle/ chi-brad- pitt- 0701jul01,0, 380817.story chicagotribune. com Trailer for Pitt's film leaves you wanting more By Patrick Goldstein Chicago Tribune Newspapers July 1, 2008 HOLLYWOODBrad Pitt is getting younger every day. It's a tantalizing hook for a film, isn't it? What if your hero was born an old man, only to grow younger every day, from wrinkles to wrinkles, so to speakdon't they say that all little babies look like Winston Churchill? That's the premise behind David Fincher's upcoming The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which stars Pitt going from geezer-hood to infancy, and falling in love with Cate Blanchett along the way. The film is due in December and has already been touted for Oscar-hood. Now that Paramount has put up its first trailer, I have no quarrel with any grand predictions. The trailer promises us a moody, mysterious and bewitchingly bittersweet look at life, lived in an entirely unexpected way. It also offers the tantalizing possibility that Fincher, one of our era's greatest filmmakers, may have found a way (thanks to an Eric Roth script, adapted from a 1922 F. Scott Fitzgerald short story) to marry his often chilly obsession with serial killers and people in peril to a story with more emotional resonance. If nothing else, the trailerlargely devised by Fincher, the ultimate hands-on filmmakerreminds us that not every trailer has to play like a greatest-hits reel culled from the film, all so hideously pre- tested that no moment with any ambiguity or mystery could possibly survive. In terms of an opening, it's hard to top the trailer's first image: As we pull in toward the face of a clock, the narrator (Pitt, with a New Orleans accent) says: My name is Benjamin Button. I was born under unusual circumstances. While everyone else was aging, I was getting youngerall alone. As he finishes, the clock ticksbackward. Propelled by French composer Camille Saint-Saens' melancholy The Aquarium, Fincher shows us Button's life via a series of arresting images: A man rowing on a lonely lake. Pitt, studying himself in the mirror, wearing spectacles and boxer shorts, his head cocked to one side, as if bewildered by his strangely youthful appearance. A father, holding a little girl in his arms, a balloon slipping out of their hands. The trailer ends with the most bewitching image of all: A young toddler, walking with his lover, now aged, hobbling along with a cane. Thanks to both the images and the music, the trailer does what a great trailer shouldit leaves us wanting more, having tempted us with a tale that is magical and steeped in an air of ineffable sorrow. It feels like just the kind of spooky fairy tale that M. Night Shyamalan could have made, if he were ever able to get out of his own head and embrace someone else's vision. But I'm eager to see the Fincher version. In the middle of summer, when you're surrounded by movies with dumb gags and cheap thrills, it's a pleasure to look forward to the work of someone who won't subject us to even an ounce of bathos or sentimentality. To view trailer for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, go to apple.com/trailers/ paramount/ thecuriouscaseof benjaminbutton. Los Angeles Times Copyright © 2008, Chicago Tribune [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Yahoo! Groups Links * To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ * Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional * To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/join (Yahoo! ID required) * To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
Re: [scifinoir2] Yahoo! News Story - Earth#39;s Cries Recorded in Space - Yahoo! News
Bosco, she's been screaming for years. We're only just noticing. On topic, that last *utterly* serious, more amazing stuff from the least-expected quarter. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Bosco [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: Bosco [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [scifinoir2] Yahoo! News Story - Earth#39;s Cries Recorded in Space - Yahoo! News To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 2:20 PM Bosco ([EMAIL PROTECTED] com) has sent you a news article. (Email address has not been verified.) - - - - - - Personal message: It seems that the Earth will, in fact, die screaming. Earth#39;s Cries Recorded in Space - Yahoo! News http://news. yahoo.com/ s/space/20080701 /sc_space/ earthscriesrecor dedinspace = = = = = === Yahoo! News http://news. yahoo.com/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing
If it has to come to that, with the justice system going at full tilt, thse kids would be *having* kids before the matter was settled. Odds are, this'll all just be swept under a large rug and ignored. I await the tell-all memoirs to come. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 1:43 PM Let me correct myself: it's not that the court is saying some of the kids might be in danger, but that it couldn't be proven that any of the kids were in imminent danger. Subtle but important difference. Not sure where this heads next. Does the state have to do this on a family-by-family basis? -- Original message -- From: keithbjohnson@ comcast.net (Keith Johnson) I hear you. The wild thing is how their look and dress hit people more than the rumours of what they were doing. I know some people who were skeptical, or at least, cautious, until they saw them. The look of that ultra-modern (for 1829) dress made some people think, of course they're odd Not saying it was all visual for you too, Martin. Was it that, or what they said that did it? The judge had to return them because her rulings were overturned by a higher court, in what was seen as a rebuke for her taking all the kids. The higher court seems to acknowledge that *some* kids might be at risk, but the state couldn't prove that *all* of them were -- Original message -- From: Martin truthseeker_ [EMAIL PROTECTED] com Keith, when this entire thing first sprang up, I was thinking that it was nothing more than another Guv'mint Waco-in-the- making. And then I saw the Stepford Compound Wives on Today. After that, I'm led to wonder what that judge was thinking in returning those kids to that sitch. Wouldn't buy from that site if you held guns to the heads of the five people in this world I care most about. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net wrote: From: KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net gt; Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:16 AM http://www.fldsdres s.com/ Wow, talk about irony . A sect that in many ways hails back to simpler times, now has a website hawking their simpler clothing. What a strange world in which we live. Do the Amish have web sites...? I had conflicting feelings about this site when first I visited it. I must admit, first reactions were a bit of amusement at the backwards-seeming styles, which made me chuckle and shake my head in bemusement. That was then coupled with a visceral feeling of --i don't know, distaste?--for what I see as an oppressive, soul-crushing group that programs boys and girls with bizarre beliefs. After all, these are people who seem to believe--many of them at least--that it's okay to wed o ff girls as young as 14 to old-butt men. Doesn't matter that much of our planet still does the exact same thing, I'm not down with that in a modern society. So then those funny, plain clothes, and the kids with their plain looks, took on a sinister look. Symbols of a twisted religious/world view they became. Then I spent some time looking at the little models (doesn't take long, they don't exactly have a lot of styles). I saw the smiling boys and girls, who genuinely look happy to be photographed. They don't look posed or forced at all. Even the really scary shots of the teen girls (dig the Princess Dress) look pretty happy posing in their cotton garb. And I recalled how many of the kids pulled from the compound genuninely want to return to their families (however those are configured). And I recall those TV shots of those women, looking like something from Little House on the Prairie, some of whom are brainwashed to my mind, yet who genuinely love and want to do right by their children. Women who fear the outside world, seem at a loss to function among our society, whose very command of English seems basic at best. Yet women who braved that world to bring back their children. I realized that, twisted, perverted as some of this might be, there are many people in this group who rea lly think they're doing the right thing, who love their children and would die before knowingly hurting them. People who think their values and way of life
Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing
The look, I could cope with, no problem. I've known quite a few Amish families from my Yankee past. During that interview, it was the *atonality* of the women that scared me. Reminded me of The Stepford Wives immediately. It wouldn't surprise me if it came out that their husbands were standing just out of shot. As for that idiot judge...if memory serves, wasn't there at least *one* underaged girl reported pregnant? If so, that, IMO, is enough to warrant immediate removal of all the kids until complete investigations were carried out. That's how it would fly in any criminal complaint. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 1:38 PM I hear you. The wild thing is how their look and dress hit people more than the rumours of what they were doing. I know some people who were skeptical, or at least, cautious, until they saw them. The look of that ultra-modern (for 1829) dress made some people think, of course they're odd Not saying it was all visual for you too, Martin. Was it that, or what they said that did it? The judge had to return them because her rulings were overturned by a higher court, in what was seen as a rebuke for her taking all the kids. The higher court seems to acknowledge that *some* kids might be at risk, but the state couldn't prove that *all* of them were -- Original message -- From: Martin truthseeker_ [EMAIL PROTECTED] com Keith, when this entire thing first sprang up, I was thinking that it was nothing more than another Guv'mint Waco-in-the- making. And then I saw the Stepford Compound Wives on Today. After that, I'm led to wonder what that judge was thinking in returning those kids to that sitch. Wouldn't buy from that site if you held guns to the heads of the five people in this world I care most about. quot;There is no reason Good can#39;t triumph over Evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the Mafia.quot; -Kurt Vonnegut, quot;A Man Without A Countryquot; --- On Tue, 7/1/08, KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net wrote: From: KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net KeithBJohnson@ comcast.net Subject: [scifinoir2] OT: Texas FLDS Group Sets up Website to Sell Their Simple Clothing To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ups.com Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 8:16 AM http://www.fldsdres s.com/ Wow, talk about irony . A sect that in many ways hails back to simpler times, now has a website hawking their simpler clothing. What a strange world in which we live. Do the Amish have web sites...? I had conflicting feelings about this site when first I visited it. I must admit, first reactions were a bit of amusement at the backwards-seeming styles, which made me chuckle and shake my head in bemusement. That was then coupled with a visceral feeling of --i don't know, distaste?--for what I see as an oppressive, soul-crushing group that programs boys and girls with bizarre beliefs. After all, these are people who seem to believe--many of them at least--that it's okay to wed off girls as young as 14 to old-butt men. Doesn't matter that much of our planet still does the exact same thing, I'm not down with that in a modern society. So then those funny, plain clothes, and the kids with their plain looks, took on a sinister look. Symbols of a twisted religious/world view they became. Then I spent some time looking at the little models (doesn't take long, they don't exactly have a lot of styles). I saw the smiling boys and girls, who genuinely look happy to be photographed. They don't look posed or forced at all. Even the really scary shots of the teen girls (dig the Princess Dress) look pretty happy posing in their cotton garb. And I recalled how many of the kids pulled from the compound genuninely want to return to their families (however those are configured). And I recall those TV shots of those women, looking like something from Little House on the Prairie, some of whom are brainwashed to my mind, yet who genuinely love and want to do right by their children. Women who fear the outside world, seem at a loss to function among our society, whose very command of English seems basic at best. Yet women who braved that world to bring back their children. I realized that, twisted, perverted as some of this might be, there are many people in this group who rea lly think they're doing the right thing, who love their children and would die before knowingly hurting them. People who think their values and way of life could benefit the world, and who are proferring their
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Yet another kindred spirit. ;-) Brent --- http://tv.ign.com/articles/884/884913p1.html Lost Writer Talks Middleman Javier Grillo-Marxuach leaves the island for a creation of his own. by Travis Fickett June 27, 2008 - ABC Family's new series The Middleman has been getting pretty great reviews, including by yours truly. The problem with a show like this one is that it doesn't really have a genre but is a combination of so many. It's like a geeky Awesome Mix Tape of genres and ideas that comes hurling at you with equal parts parody and homage. It's certainly unlike just about anything else on TV right now - and makes for a great diversion and diamond in the rough for the famine that is Summer television (a diamond wouldn't be all that useful to famine victims, but we'll deal with mixed metaphors later ) In order to get a better idea of what The Middleman is, and where it's going - we went to the source. Javier Grillo-Marxuach is the show's creator, and he also created the independent comic book that became the series. Grillo-Marxuach has written for some of television's biggest shows - not the least of which is Lost - another show that breaks rules and mixes genres in a much different way. Talking to Grillo-Marxuach is a bit like watching his show - it's at a breakneck pace, it's often funny, at times confusing and never - for a single moment - dull. IGN TV: What are you shooting today? Javier Grillo-Marxuach: Today is the second to last day of an episode called The Ectoplasmic Panhellenic Investigation, which is about a haunted sorority house. Wendy has to go undercover in a sorority house to uncover a sinister plot. They first believe it's ghosts, but it turns out to be some physics geeks who are doing some very interesting things with body-swapping. So that's what we're shooting right now. On Tuesday we start an episode called The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown, which is about a Middleman from the 1960s to the present day to work with our crew. And that is going to be the Lollapalooza of spy-fi fro the 60s inside jokes. It is the staff of its show exorcising every demon from the 1960s spy-fi that we ever had. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's a show that has all of the requisite things that have to happen in a 1960s spy-fi thing - martinis, exotic card games, colorful villains, arch nemeses, melting rays IGN: Let's talk about your demons for a second. Your spy-fi ones in particular. How did this come about, and where does all this come from? It certainly stretches back to before your time - into the pulp era and old issues of Amazing Stories Grillo-Marxuach: Well, there's two things about it. My generation is a pop-culture generation. There was an article in the magazine Fast Company and I was one of the people they profiled along with Damon Lindelof, Ron Moore, Jesse Alexander, Tim Kring and Joss Whedon - and it was all about how geeks were writing all of entertainment right now! We were the pre-internet pop-culture generation. The guys who read Starlog magazine. Frankly, it's all coming from being a sci-fi geek as a kid. I read a lot of comic books, and when you're a comic book reader you have this obsessive desire to discover back story and find out what the references are. Obviously Star Wars wasn't the first science fiction film and it wasn't the first pulp film, but you begin with whatever is popular in your day. Then you start looking for all of those influences and they're delightful. Also, I grew up in Puerto Rico and the thing about Puerto Rican television was that a lot of the programming when I woke up - and I was a kid who would wake up at 6 and turn the TV on. It was a lot of cheap programming and so they reran a lot of serials. So when I was a kid I used to watch Buster Crabbe as Flash Gordon and Commander Cody and all of these serials. Even things like Rin Tin Tin were shown on Puerto Rican television. So really sort of old stuff. And my generation is the last generation to have UHF. I'm 38 and I have a writer here who is 32, and whenever we talk - that's the cut-off for the UHF generation, and when it becomes TV Land. So the UHF generation grew up with Creature Features, and I would run home and starting at 2pm it would be Ultraman and Johnny Socko I feel like in a way the geeks of my generation have a knowledge base that goes further back. Because those UHF stations were showing the Man from Uncle and the Girl from Uncle and Secret Agent Man and all of these shows that are very hard to find now. Station groups can now afford to syndicate Seinfeld, and in a way that's sort of a tragedy because it means people aren't looking for inexpensive syndicated programming anymore. So you don't watch Get Smart at 3:30 in the afternoon like I did. IGN: So all of this is in your blood. There's no single place or influence that you can point to. Grillo-Marxuach: I think that there's four big ones. Obviously Star Wars. I was seven when it came out and it changed my
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/01/AR2008070100342.html Fox promotes new TV show with mysterious ads By James Hibberd Reuters Tuesday, July 1, 2008 LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Find the pattern, growls a voice from your radio. The gravely suggestion interrupts a commercial for the Abrams Auto car dealership and concludes with a whisper of Fox. The Fox network is hoping listeners will piece together these mysterious fragments and realize there is indeed a pattern -- one that leads straight to the network's new action drama Fringe, which premieres September 9. The ads, which debuted this week, are part of Fox's innovative ad campaign for the J.J. Abrams series, which the network hopes will jump-start its fall lineup. Although the network declined to release specific dollar figures, the campaign represents Fox's largest scripted series marketing effort in years. The campaign will feature cryptic messages that encourage fans to search on the Internet for more information. Fans of Abrams' hit ABC drama Lost and the hit winter movie Cloverfield are familiar with the tactic, so much so that Abrams' name is incorporated into the radio ads as a clue. Our radio goal was definitely to not say 'Fringe,' said Laurel Bernard, senior vp marketing at Fox. We didn't want them to sound in any way like a traditional radio spot. We wanted them to be disruptive and a little mysterious sounding. The campaign also includes online ads placed on Web sites outside of the usual entertainment hubs to catch viewers attention in unique locations. Users on such sites as Automobile.com and recipe site FamilyOven.com will see mysterious ads encouraging them to Imagine the Impossibilities. They will be very quick sort of messages, leading people to nondescript Web sites that will ultimately lead them back to 'Fringe,' Bernard said. With the campaign, Fox is getting an early start on its fall marketing. The network's off-air marketing efforts usually don't being until six weeks before a series premiere. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
[scifinoir2] TV studios ramp up presence at big comic confab
http://www.reuters.com/article/televisionNews/idUSN3043342920080701 TV studios ramp up presence at big comic confab Tue Jul 1, 2008 By James Hibberd LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - With action heroes and sci-fi themes populating the fall TV schedule, studios are planning to increase the presence of their television properties at Comic-Con International. The July 24-27 fandom mecca in San Diego will feature more than two dozen sessions promoting upcoming TV series. The events including panels for such shows as Fox's Fringe and Dollhouse, NBC's My Own Worst Enemy and ABC's Life on Mars. A few years ago, 20th Television didn't have an organized presence at the event. This year, the News Corp-owned studio will have a booth on the show floor for the first time as well as panels for at least eight series. We've come to realize there's tremendous value in genre programming, and Comic-Con has become an incredible opportunity to reach out to its core fans, 20th chairman Gary Newman said. The continued momentum follows an overall industry trend of studios taking a more active role promoting their TV properties instead of relying on networks to spread the word. Making a splash at Comic-Con has become a mandatory stop for programs of a certain psychographic - especially with genre shows marked by high DVD sales, licensing of related products and passionate fans. They're an unbelievable viral audience, said ABC Studios president Mark Pedowitz, whose ABC hit Lost is typically the broadcast headliner of Comic-Con. They have a deep-seated need to spread the word. They are a marketer's dream. Added Peter Roth, president of Warner Bros. TV, Comic-Con has been a launching pad for many of our shows, including 'Smallville' and 'Supernatural,' and the dedicated fans who attend each year serve as ardent advocates for series they love and embrace. Last summer, NBC's Chuck and ABC's Pushing Daisies received some of their most significant initial buzz from Comic-Con screenings, where the audience is generally so appreciative that it's rare for a show to outright flop. The excitement also provides an increasingly stark contrast to that other July promotional event, the Television Critics Assn. press tour. With newspaper cutbacks inhibiting reporters' TCA attendance and with the Comic-Con influence growing, critics last year reacted angrily when ABC tried to hold back a bit of Lost news for the fans. Studio heads said that promoting a show at TCA (which is paid for by the networks) still provides a crucial service. Comic-Con is going to a much more specific audience, while TCA is about getting articles about your whole schedule and your shows throughout the course of the year, Pedowitz said. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
[scifinoir2] Star Gate's Gen. Hammond (Don S. Davis)) Passes
R.I.P. http://www.cinematical.com/2008/07/01/r-i-p-don-s-davis/ Don S. Davis by Eugene Novikov http://www.cinematical.com/bloggers/eugene-novikov/ Jul 1st 2008 // 12:35PM This may not have gotten its own post were I not blogging here. But for better or worse I am, and so you get to read about Don S. Davis http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0204493/ , who passed away on Sunday at the age of 65. Davis is one of the many versatile, unheralded character actors to have moved through Hollywood in relative anonymity. I wouldn't say he was a phenomenal talent, though he was certainly very good, but it so happens that he played two pivotal roles on two television shows that, more than any other works of art, shaped my taste in movies and stories when I was a young teenager. As Captain William Scully, Agent Scully's father, Davis was the heart of what may have been The X-Files' finest hour (as any self-respecting X-Files fan knows, the Season 1 episode in which he appeared was called Beyond the Sea). And as Major Briggs on Twin Peaks, he carried one of that show's creepiest, most memorable plotlines. Whenever he would appear, I knew I was in for another amazing Lynchian what-the-hell moment. These two roles are so burned into my memory they're practically hardwired. Whenever I see Don Davis's face, I flash back to the incomparable (for me) experience of watching The X-Files and Twin Peaks for the first time. (Of course, he wasn't just a television actor -- he had parts in countless http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0204493/ feature films.) Surely you have similarly strong associations with other actors. I couldn't let his passing go unmentioned. Davis had a prominent role on Stargate SG-1, and that show's fansite has a longer obit for him below Don S. Davis: 1942-2008 http://gateworld.net/news/2008/06/don_s._davis_1942-2008.shtml http://gateworld.net/graphics/clear.gif Monday - June 30, 2008 | by Darren Sumner http://gateworld.net/graphics/clear.gif With great sadness we must report that veteran actor Don S. Davis passed away on June 29, 2008. He was 65 years old. Don co-starred on Stargate SG-1 for the show's first seven years, helping to launch the enduring science fiction franchise. Davis played Major General George Hammond, base commander and a father figure to many of the show's characters. He is also well-known for his portrayal of Major Garland Briggs in Twin Peaks. Off-screen, Don was beloved by the show's cast and crew. He departed the show in 2003 due to a medical condition that restricted his workload, but returned for several guest appearances on SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis in the following years. Don worked hard to improve his health, and continued to work both on screen and off until his death. The following message was provided by Don's representative and his wife, Ruby Fleming-Davis: Dear Fans and Friends of Don S. Davis, So many of you have been touched by not only the work and art of Don S. Davis, but by the man himself, who always took the time to be with you at the appearances he loved, that it is with a tremendous sense of loss I must share with you that Don passed away from a massive heart attack on Sunday morning, June 29th. On behalf of his family and wife, Ruby, we thank you for your prayers and condolences. A family memorial where Don's ashes will be scattered in the ocean will take place in a few weeks, and should you wish to, please make a donation to the https://donate.americanheart.org/ecommerce/aha/aha_index.jsp American Heart Association in Don's memory. Born August 4, 1942 in Aurora, Missouri and raised there, Don received a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in theater and art from Southwest Missouri State College in 1965. He then served three years on active duty in the United States Army, entering as a Second Lieutenant. He rose to the rank of Captain and was stationed in Korea before completing his required tour of active duty. Upon leaving the army, Don began working toward a Master's degree in theater at Southern Illinois University, in Carbondale, Illinois, and received his Master's degree in 1970. He taught at the University of British Columbia for a decade before returning to SIU to complete his coursework for a PhD in theater, receiving the degree in 1982. Don's list of film and television credits is lengthy, dating back to 1982. He met Stargate co-star Richard Dean Anderson on the set of MacGyver, where Don worked as a stunt double for actor Dana Elcar. When production on Stargate SG-1 began in 1997, the producers tapped Davis to play the base commander -- originally written to be a by-the-book antagonist, but quickly softened by Don's own personality and experience. In 2003 Don married his soul mate and the great love of his life, Ruby Fleming-Davis. The two have resided in British Columbia with their three dogs, Teto, Ming and Charley. Don's off-screen career as an artist blossomed especially in the years
[scifinoir2] Movie Reviews Summary: Hancock
Although Will http://www.imdb.com/name/nm226/ Smith has become as visible on an Independence Day weekend as the American flag, he may be facing a bit of a challenge this weekend if early reviews of his latest movie, Hancock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/ , is any indication. The movie opens at midnight tonight in many major cities, and several critics are posting their reviews today (Tuesday). This movie fails so spectacularly -- and on so many levels -- that it's like watching a train plummet off a bridge, writes Lou Lumenick in the New York Post. Smith himself gets a pass from critics for his portrayal of an alcoholic everyman with superpowers who has little interest in saving humanity -- a kind of super anti-hero. It's a strange feeling to see the summer's most promising premise self-destruct into something bizarre and unsatisfying, but that is the Hancock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/ experience, writes Kenneth http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0876845/ Turan in the Los Angeles Times. Or as Claudia Puig http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2561967/ puts it in USA Today: The finished product is so poorly conceived and misguided that even Will Smith http://www.imdb.com/name/nm226/ , with all his charm, can't save it. Likewise Michael Phillips comments in the Chicago Tribune: Not even Smith's charisma can mitigate the chaos that is Hancock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/ . Nevertheless, the film does get a few so-so reviews. Peter Howell writes in the Toronto Star: Hancock http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448157/ is still worth seeing, if only for a glimpse of what might have been a truly innovative idea. And Roger Ebert http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001170/ in the Chicago Sun-Times gives the movie three stars and concludes that it's a lot of fun, if perhaps a little top-heavy with stuff being destroyed. http://www.imdb.com/news/ns003/#ni0254778 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] Wanted Is Big Weekend Star
Disney/Pixar's Wall-E http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910970/ performed about as expected at the box office over the weekend, taking in $63.1 million dollars, according to final figures released Monday by box-office trackers Media by Numbers. But the real surprise was the performance of Universal's Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ , starring Angelina Jolie http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001401/ and James McAvoy http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0564215/ , which took in $50.9 million despite playing in 20-percent fewer theaters than Wall-E. In fact, Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ took in more on a per-theater basis than the Disney hit, averaging $16,040 per theater versus $15,803 for Wall-E. In its second week, last week's box-office leader, Warner Bros.' Get Smart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425061/ , dropped to third place with $20.2 million. Overall, the top 12 films grossed $180,202,418, up 23 percent from the same weekend a year ago. For the year, box office revenue is now up 0.7 percent over 2007. However, attendance is down 2.15 percent. The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):1. Wall-E, Disney, $63,087,526, (New); 2. Wanted http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0493464/ , Universal, $50,927,085, (New); 3. Get Smart http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425061/ , Warner Bros., $20,211,242, 2 Wks., $77,477,031; 4. Kung Fu Panda http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0441773/ , Paramount, $11,692,061, 4. Wks., $179,276,754; 5. The Incredible Hulk http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0800080/ , Universal, $9,577,245, 3 Wks., $115,859,210; 6. The Love Guru http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0811138/ , Paramount, $5,340,895, 2 Wks., $25,222,377; 7. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0367882/ the Crystal Skull, Paramount, 6 Wks., $5,179,960, $300,085,447; 8. The Happening http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0949731/ , Fox, $3,907,948, 3 Wks., $59,120,854; 9. Sex and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1000774/ the City, Warner Bros, $3,808,288, 5 Wks., $140,170,362; 10. You Don't Mess With the Zohan http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0960144/ , Sony, $3,175,214, 4 Wks., $91,190,129. http://www.imdb.com/news/ns003/#ni0254778 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] Most Watch TV On Computers To Catch Up
Most Watch TV On Computers To Catch Up 1 July 2008 10:29 AM, PDT The overwhelming majority of persons who watch television shows on their computer monitors do so to catch an episode they missed on TV, according to a study conducted by Nielsen Media Research for the Cable Telecommunications Association for Marketing and reported by Broadcasting Cable magazine. The survey of adult broadband users found that 35 percent of them have watched a TV show on the Internet. Of those, 87 percent said that they watched the shows on a network website. Nevertheless, 94 percent of those surveyed said that prefer watching television shows on their television sets. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0254771/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] De Facto Strike Begins
De Facto Strike Begins 1 July 2008 10:29 AM, PDT The Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers on Monday made the Screen Actors Guild a last, best offer -- which essentially mirrors the deal the studio and network group has already concluded with the Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. In a statement, the AMPTP said, Our final offer to SAG represents a final hope for avoiding further work stoppages and getting everyone back to work. The group said it will end negotiations with the union but has agreed to meet with its leaders on Wednesday to answer any questions concerning the final offer. In its own statement, SAG said that it is reviewing the complex package and will prepare a response to management once that analysis is complete. That response is not expected until after July 8, when AFTRA has indicated it will announce the results of a ratification vote on its own contract with the AMPTP. In the meantime, SAG advised its members to continue working until further notice from the guild. However, little work is available to them, since the studios have shut down virtually all feature film production and television producers are winding down production as well. Our industry is in a de facto strike, the AMPTP statement said. http://www.imdb.com/news/ni0254775/ [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] Forget Torri Higginson Returning To 'Stargate: Atlantis'
By MICHAEL HINMAN mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Source: SyFy Portal http://www.syfyportal.com Jul-01-2008 It's hard to kill of characters in science-fiction, and no one shouts that louder than SciFi Channel's Stargate: Atlantis. See: Carson Beckett. But fans of former expedition leader Elizabeth Weir will have to settle with history because she not only won't return in the fifth season, she may not return at all. It's very unlikely, Joseph Mallozzi, executive producer of Stargate: Atlantis, told reporters from sites including SyFy Portal during a press conference Tuesday. She came back and did a couple of guest spots, and we pitched out the idea of her possibly coming back in a Replicator storyline. Ultimately, we contacted her about doing it, and she was a little reluctant. Instead, Higginson suggested the writers maybe look at providing some closure for Weir, despite the fact the writing team wanted to keep the door open for future appearances by the actress. Mallozzi said the writers crafted what would've been a good way to say good-bye to Weir, but once again, Higginson didn't seem interested. We sent her a script to review, and ultimately, she passed, Mallozzi said. It's too bad. We would've loved to have her come back and see her on the show. I think at this point she has moved beyond the show and is looking elsewhere. In the meantime, the expedition has a new leader in the form of none other than Richard Woolsey, the annoying by-the-book character played in a recurring role on both Stargate series by Robert Picardo. The actor, best known to genre fans for his role as the holographic doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, told reporters that there was an added challenge for him. Not only did he have to fill a role once occupied by Higginson, but one that most recently was played by very popular actress Amanda Tapping, bringing over her Samantha Carter character from Stargate SG-1. I'm really having a ball, Picardo said. He's an unexpected choice for this job, and that is what I think the viewers will hopefully respond to the way I have. I think that it was a bold thing for the producers to pick a guy like this who doesn't seem to be necessarily the first choice for a leader, but to have him try and make himself into one. And that is the interesting and creative choice. When producers realized that Tapping wouldn't be able to balance Atlantis with her new SciFi Channel series Sanctuary, Mallozzi said there really was no other choice in everyone's mind but Picardo to take over the starring role. It was a hard decision for Amanda, and you know, we were sorry to see her go, Mallozzi said. It also presented to us a situation to bring Bob over. There really wasn't a short list of candidates to consider. So we called him and asked him, 'What would you think about coming over and becoming a regular?' and we were fully prepared for him to say, 'Are you kidding?' I'm happy to say that he was more than amenable. Fans have been debating since the announcement earlier this year of Picardo's casting whether or not Woolsey is the best choice for the expedition leadership role in Atlantis, but part of strong drama is the growth and evolution of characters, and Woolsey has a lot of room to do just that in the upcoming fifth season. Woolsey appears briefly at the end of the fifth season opener 'Search and Rescue' and abruptly relieves Carter of command with his characteristic gruffness and lack of interpersonal skills, Picardo said. That is your first experience of him. However, by the second episode, Woolsey faces his first major crisis, and realizes that out in the field, you can't be by-the-book. He has broken protocol five times in his first crisis, and that puts him in a personal crisis at the end of the show, Picardo said. He's always defined himself as someone who knows the rulebook and evaluates others to live by it. He earns the respect of Col. Sheppard, and demonstrates a capacity [to evolve] that he hasn't shown thus far. Stargate: Atlantis premieres its fifth season July 11 at 10 p.m. ET on SciFi Channel. http://www.syfyportal.com/news425174.html [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] 'Star Trek: The Experience' To Close
'Star Trek: The Experience' To Close By MICHAEL HINMAN mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Jul-01-2008 http://www.syfyportal.com/pagetogether.php?id=5172page=2 After a decade of serving fans from the Las Vegas Hilton, Star Trek: The Experience will close its doors in September pretty much on the 42nd anniversary of the NBC premiere of Star Trek. TrekMovie http://trekmovie.com says employees of the Nevada attraction are being informed about the closing by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which operates The Experience, this week, and that the Hilton is looking to find something that could generate more money from the space. Negotiations between CBS, Paramount, Cedar Fair and the Hilton have been ongoing for quite some time, according to TrekMovie. Attendance at the attraction had been falling in recent years, and not even a possible boost from Star Trek XI seems to be enough to regain confidence in everyone involved to keep The Experience running. Cedar Fair took control of The Experience in 2006 when it purchased Paramount Parks from the CBS Corp. The attraction originally cost $70 million to construct, and had more than 2,500 on hand for its grand opening in January 1998, according to the wiki site Memory Alpha. It was built by Landmark Entertainment and coordinated by the Paramount/Viacom licensing division. Since its opening, Star Trek interest has waned. Only two movies have been released in the Trek universe since its opening, and had only a boost from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for a year, Star Trek: Voyager for three years, and four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise. Two years ago, hype began to build again for Star Trek with J.J. Abrams being brought in to reinvent the franchise. However, a Christmas 2008 release that would've meant considerable marketing over the summer was changed to a May 2009 release, which postponed a lot of the mainstream Star Trek hype for another several months, which crippled The Experience's ability to springboard from that publicity. Robert Picardo, who spent seven years as the holographic doctor on Star Trek: Voyager and was part of the cast of the Borg Invasion 4-D attraction at The Experience, said he's not surprised by the news, but he'll still miss it. The hotel changed hands, and [the new owners] have been eyeing that large amount of retail space lustfully for some time, Picardo told a group of reporters including SyFy Portal during a press conference to promote the upcoming fifth season of Stargate: Atlantis, where he takes a starring role. It breaks my heart a little bit to no longer be my own theme park ride. Once you have an action figure for years, there are only a few ways to go up, and being a theme park attraction is one of the only ones. Hopefully they'll have an 'Atlantis' theme park ride in the future, Picardo said jokingly. Cedar Fair, which owns a number of attractions in the country including its flagship Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, has yet to issue any release on The Experience, although TrekMovie does say one is forthcoming. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
[scifinoir2] More celebrities taking on animated roles from voice actors
Original Story URL: http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=766785 Not just a pretty face More celebrities taking on animated roles By JOHN ANDERSON Special to the Journal Sentinel Posted: June 27, 2008 Los Angeles - Is it not enough that Angelina Jolie was kissed on the lips by the God of Good Looks, gets to play with Brad Pitt and shoot bad guys in $100 million movies? Must she also take food out of the mouths of people who use those mouths to make a living? Jolie's role as the voice of Tigress in the animated flick Kung Fu Panda, which also features the dulcet tones of Jack Black, is yet another example of the Hollywood star-ization of the animated voice-work industry. Last year brought Jerry Seinfeld and Renee Zellweger in Bee Movie. This year heard Steve Carell and Jim Carrey in Horton Hears a Who! and now there's Disney's Wall-E, with the voices of Sigourney Weaver and Fred Willard. And it's not just the starring roles. Look at the list of voices on the Internet Movie Database for Kung Fu Panda or Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (coming this fall), and you'll find the first 10 or so actors are household names. When the `The Lion King' came out, there was no big deal made about who was in an animated movie, says Paul Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers, which tracks box-office figures for the industry. But you see now with `Kung Fu Panda' it's all about star power and Jack Black. Critics voice opposition Yet celebrities aren't necessarily wowing critics. It's curious how many reviewers of Kung Fu Panda went out of their way to trash the vocals of Angelina Jolie, Seth Rogen, Jackie Chan, Lucy Liu and David Cross, who play the movie's Furious Five. It's not her voice that makes Angelina Jolie distinctive, wrote the Newark Star-Ledger's Stephen Whitty, so it's unclear why she was given the part. Despite all that marquee vocal talent, (the characters) have next to no personality, said NPR's Bob Mondello. Star names for the Furious Five have relatively few vocal opportunities to shine, wrote Variety's Todd McCarthy. Blame it all on Robin Williams. Previous to his vocal acrobatics in 1992's Aladdin, vocalizers were as anonymous as key grips. Even as late as 1991 with Disney's Beauty and the Beast which remains one of the masterpieces of Disney's so-called second golden age the studio used a virtually unknown vocal cast, with the exceptions of Jerry Orbach and Angela Lansbury (who certainly weren't cast to reel in the youth market). Once Williams brought real-life star power to cartoons, however, the putty tat was out of the bag. I can't help thinking, `Don't they already have enough money?' says Veronica Taylor, a voice well-known to fans of Pokemon and lots of other Saturday morning cartoon shows. Taylor is a trained actress who says she sort of fell into vocal acting when she had her daughter nine years ago. It was all about the flextime. Hurting the little guy? But that doesn't mean there isn't a certain amount of resentment toward what she calls the celebrities only others need not apply policy now surrounding Hollywood animation. (Spokespeople for Paramount and DreamWorks, which together brought you Kung Fu Panda, had no comment neither did Disney.) It's easy to see why actors want to voice animated characters, says actor Keith David, who has appeared in dozens of films and TV shows (including Crash and ER), and has been the voice of video games, U.S. Navy ads and the Ken Burns documentary Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson. The quality of animation has risen to the point where . . . a lot of these features are like any movie, except you're doing it with your voice, he says. The question is why they don't use more people who are equally as capable. There are people in the voiceover community who act as well as any star.
[scifinoir2] File - Map_of_SciFiNoir_Member_Locations
Hi SciFiNoir Family. This is a reminder to add your name to our group map that lets members know in what cities other scifinoir members live. Most of you probably live really close to other memers and do not even know it. This map will hopefully correct that. Please click through to add your point on the map. Takes less than a minute. http://www.frappr.com/scifinoir/map Thanks Tracey de Morsella, your moderator SciFiNoir/SciFiNoir-Lit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir-lit/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SciFiNoir2/ [EMAIL PROTECTED]
[scifinoir2] FW: Spiritual effects of hallucinogens persist, Johns Hopkins researchers report
From: Chris de Morsella [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, July 01, 2008 7:59 PM
To: Tracey de Morsella; Rae; 'paul demorsella'; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Spiritual effects of hallucinogens persist, Johns Hopkins
researchers report
Public release date: 1-Jul-2008
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2008-07/jhmi-seo062608.php
Contact: John Lazarou
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
410-502-8902
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/ Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions
Spiritual effects of hallucinogens persist, Johns Hopkins researchers report
Related report gives safety guidelines for hallucinogen research
In a follow-up to research showing that psilocybin, a substance contained in
sacred mushrooms, produces substantial spiritual effects, a Johns Hopkins
team reports that those beneficial effects appear to last more than a year.
Writing in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, the Johns Hopkins researchers
note that most of the 36 volunteer subjects given psilocybin, under
controlled conditions in a Hopkins study published in 2006, continued to say
14 months later that the experience increased their sense of well-being or
life satisfaction.
Most of the volunteers looked back on their experience up to 14 months
later and rated it as the most, or one of the five most, personally
meaningful and spiritually significant of their lives, says lead
investigator Roland Griffiths, Ph.D., a professor in the Johns Hopkins
departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences and Neuroscience.
In a related paper, also published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology,
researchers offer recommendations for conducting this type of research.
The guidelines caution against giving hallucinogens to people at risk for
psychosis or certain other serious mental disorders. Detailed guidance is
also provided for preparing participants and providing psychological support
during and after the hallucinogen experience. These best practices
contribute both to safety and to the standardization called for in human
research.
With appropriately screened and prepared individuals, under supportive
conditions and with adequate supervision, hallucinogens can be given with a
level of safety that compares favorably with many human research and medical
procedures, says that paper's lead author, Mathew W. Johnson, Ph.D., a
psychopharmacologist and instructor in the Johns Hopkins Department of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences.
The two reports follow a 2006 study published in another journal,
Psychopharmacology, in which 60 percent of a group of 36 healthy,
well-educated volunteers with active spiritual lives reported having a full
mystical experience after taking psilocybin. {See
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2006/07_11_06.html
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/Press_releases/2006/07_11_06.html}
Psilocybin, a plant alkaloid, exerts its influence on some of the same brain
receptors that respond to the neurotransmitter serotonin. Mushrooms
containing psilocybin have been used in some cultures for hundreds of years
or more for religious, divinatory and healing purposes.
Fourteen months later, Griffiths re-administered the questionnaires used in
the first study -- along with a specially designed set of follow up
questions -- to all 36 subjects. Results showed that about the same
proportion of the volunteers ranked their experience in the study as the
single most, or one of the five most, personally meaningful or spiritually
significant events of their lives and regarded it as having increased their
sense of well-being or life satisfaction.
This is a truly remarkable finding, Griffiths says. Rarely in
psychological research do we see such persistently positive reports from a
single event in the laboratory. This gives credence to the claims that the
mystical-type experiences some people have during hallucinogen sessions may
help patients suffering from cancer-related anxiety or depression and may
serve as a potential treatment for drug dependence. We're eager to move
ahead with that research.
Griffiths also notes that, while some of our subjects reported strong fear
or anxiety for a portion of their day-long psilocybin sessions, none
reported any lingering harmful effects, and we didn't observe any clinical
evidence of harm.
The research team cautions that if hallucinogens are used in less well
supervised settings, the possible fear or anxiety responses could lead to
harmful behaviors.
###
These studies were funded by grants from NIDA, the Council on Spiritual
Practices, and the Heffter Research Institute.
Additional researchers who contributed to this work include Matthew W.
Johnson, Ph.D. and Una D. McCann, M.D. of the Department of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine;
psychologist William A. Richards of the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical
Center; and Robert Jesse of the Council on Spiritual Practices, San
Francisco.
[Non-text portions of this message
Re: [scifinoir2] 'Star Trek: The Experience' To Close
:-( Tracey de Morsella (formerly Tracey L. Minor) [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: 'Star Trek: The Experience' To Close By MICHAEL HINMAN mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Jul-01-2008 http://www.syfyportal.com/pagetogether.php?id=5172page=2 After a decade of serving fans from the Las Vegas Hilton, Star Trek: The Experience will close its doors in September pretty much on the 42nd anniversary of the NBC premiere of Star Trek. TrekMovie http://trekmovie.com says employees of the Nevada attraction are being informed about the closing by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., which operates The Experience, this week, and that the Hilton is looking to find something that could generate more money from the space. Negotiations between CBS, Paramount, Cedar Fair and the Hilton have been ongoing for quite some time, according to TrekMovie. Attendance at the attraction had been falling in recent years, and not even a possible boost from Star Trek XI seems to be enough to regain confidence in everyone involved to keep The Experience running. Cedar Fair took control of The Experience in 2006 when it purchased Paramount Parks from the CBS Corp. The attraction originally cost $70 million to construct, and had more than 2,500 on hand for its grand opening in January 1998, according to the wiki site Memory Alpha. It was built by Landmark Entertainment and coordinated by the Paramount/Viacom licensing division. Since its opening, Star Trek interest has waned. Only two movies have been released in the Trek universe since its opening, and had only a boost from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine for a year, Star Trek: Voyager for three years, and four seasons of Star Trek: Enterprise. Two years ago, hype began to build again for Star Trek with J.J. Abrams being brought in to reinvent the franchise. However, a Christmas 2008 release that would've meant considerable marketing over the summer was changed to a May 2009 release, which postponed a lot of the mainstream Star Trek hype for another several months, which crippled The Experience's ability to springboard from that publicity. Robert Picardo, who spent seven years as the holographic doctor on Star Trek: Voyager and was part of the cast of the Borg Invasion 4-D attraction at The Experience, said he's not surprised by the news, but he'll still miss it. The hotel changed hands, and [the new owners] have been eyeing that large amount of retail space lustfully for some time, Picardo told a group of reporters including SyFy Portal during a press conference to promote the upcoming fifth season of Stargate: Atlantis, where he takes a starring role. It breaks my heart a little bit to no longer be my own theme park ride. Once you have an action figure for years, there are only a few ways to go up, and being a theme park attraction is one of the only ones. Hopefully they'll have an 'Atlantis' theme park ride in the future, Picardo said jokingly. Cedar Fair, which owns a number of attractions in the country including its flagship Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio, has yet to issue any release on The Experience, although TrekMovie does say one is forthcoming.
