[scifinoir2] Conventions: Another day at the office for celebs

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/SHOWBIZ/09/06/dragoncon.celebrities/

Conventions: Another day at the office for celebs

by Suzanne Kelly, CNN

September 6, 2010


Atlanta, Georgia (CNN) -- Much of the world got to know her as Col. Wilma
Deering on the Buck Rogers in the 25th Century television series. Though
she later played Kate on Silver Spoons, there was something about that
Spandex that was hard to forget. 

But today, actress Erin Gray has found a way to combine her celebrity with
the very real business of fan-based conventions. At events like [
http://dragoncon.org/ ]Dragon*Con in Atlanta, the woman known for playing
strong female characters now uses her brains to wrangle issues for her
celebrity clients as they prepare for close encounters with fans.

Gray runs a company called [ http://www.heroesforhire.info/default.htm
]Heroes for Hire, which represents about 35 celebrity clients at
conventions around the world. CNN caught up with her at Dragon*Con in
Atlanta (unofficially referred to as PartyCon). Dragon*Con is known for
being the most fan-friendly convention, which, in itself, can pose both
unique opportunities and unique challenges.

Heading into the weekend, there were 35,000 people expected to attend,
primarily to see some of the 400 celebrity guests who sign autographs and
mingle with the crowds. Gray knew this meant that there were a lot of
things to plan for.

We create 30-page spreadsheets so that we can keep track of where we are
in the process, Gray said. Are the contracts signed? Have the photos and
bios been sent? Are the travel details done?

Today, the former space colonel walks a fine line between getting her
clients closer to their fans at conventions and keeping them away. We've
had death threats before, she said.

I've had my own personal stalker. I would get nude drawings of my body
with a knife and a message saying 'I'm watching you' and 'I'm going to get
you.' When you have a baby, you just feel so vulnerable. We couldn't
figure it out because it was happening at the studio, Gray said.
Incidentally, it turned out to be a security guard. 

The other one, I would get these 10-page tiny handwritten letters front
and back and perfect penmanship, and he would say things like 'don't tell
your husband about our relationship.' And you know how I found out who it
was? He said, 'when you waved at me.' I waved to my postman. This is
before we had stalking laws. And when something like that happens, you
think, 'is being an actress worth it?' 

Luckily, Gray doesn't have those terrifying experiences anymore, but now
she has clients who do. 

I have a couple of clients who give me the names of their stalkers, and I
have to let the promoter know who they are and to keep an eye out for
them. I have one who is obsessed with a female celebrity, and this guy
e-mails me, texts me, and he'll come to a show and stand about 20 feet
away and stare at her. We'll hire security, and they will be with security
all day long, Gray said. Every actor has their stalker.

But the reality is that conventions like Dragon*Con can help make or break
an actor's career. We are no longer living in the age of Hollywood
executives determining who the stars will be, Gray said. We are living in
an age of social media, where the fans have a louder voice than ever
before. 

For example, Gray has one client whom Hollywood paid no attention to. So
she went out on her own and started a webcast, and today has more than 1.7
million followers on Twitter. Ouch! That's gotta hurt all of those people
who told Felicia Day, don't call us; we'll call you.

I think there's been a major shift in grass roots media because of the
internet and because the geeks and nerds rule the world. They are in
control in so many ways. The comic is today's Western, so many movies, and
I think that if actors want to optimize their longevity, it's important
for them to meet the fans because those fans are so loyal and will show up
at any movie or tune in to any television show they're on, Gray said.

The shift in Gray's own career from onscreen heartthrob to celebrity
manager was completely unscripted.

As an actress reaching her mid- to late 40s and the number of roles not
being there and still having kids in private schools, there came a point
when I hit bottom, and I was desperate to get a job and understand that
being a model and actress my entire life since the age of 15, I didn't
have the qualifications to get a normal job, nor did I want to. I couldn't
see myself in a corporate environment under the thumb of some boss, she
said. 

So she started talking to other female actresses in her position, and
before long, they were telling her how she could make money at conventions
like these.

I went online and started booking myself, and one day Gil Gerard called
me up and said, 'what are you doing?' and I told him I was going to a show
in Ohio, and he said, Oh, I want to go, book me, and I'll pay you 10
percent. Then Gil went and played golf with Marc 

[scifinoir2] 'Mad Men's' January Jones Joins the Cast of 'X-Men: First Class'

[brent wodehouse]

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-mad-mens-january-jones-joins-the-cast-of-x-men-first-class.html

'Mad Men's' January Jones Joins the Cast of 'X-Men: First Class'

by Mike Ryan · August 18, 2010


Yes, it's official, [ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800355887
]January Jones will be playing a mutant in [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810159061/info ]X-Men: First Class who,
unlike her character Betty Draper from Mad Men, isn't afraid to wear
white after Labor Day.

As [
http://www.deadline.com/2010/08/january-jones-heads-x-men-first-class-mutant-roster/#more-61898
]Deadline first reported (and a source has confirmed to Yahoo!), Jones
will be stepping into the role of Emma Frost. In the comic series, Frost
was a onetime foe of the X-Men who eventually joined the team of uncanny
mutants. The telepathic Frost, always dressed in white, can read minds,
alter memories, and turn her skin into diamonds, granting her incredible
strength.

Also joining the cast is [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1809753401 ]Zoe Kravitz,
daughter of rocker Lenny Kravitz, as Angel Salvadore (not to be confused
with the majestically winged, original X-Man named Angel), a relatively
new character who debuted in 2001. In the comic books, this newer Angel,
whose housefly-like physiology allows her to fly, doesn't particularly get
along with her fellow X-Men, especially Emma Frost. 

Jones and Kravitz are being added to an already impressive line-up. They
will join [ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808605401 ]Michael
Fassbender as Magneto, [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1808470835 ]James McAvoy as
Professor Xavier, [ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800294837
]Nicholas Hoult as Beast, [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800026573 ]Rose Byrne
(reportedly [ 
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3i4a25a9f106904fc193ec21dafedf2850?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed:+thr/film+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Film%29
]still in negotiations for the part) as Moria MacTaggart and [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019553 ]Oliver Platt as The
Man in Black.

[ http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019403 ]Kevin Bacon has
been cast as the film's main villain. Rumors persist that he will be [
http://screenrant.com/kevin-bacon-xmen-first-class-villain-character-sebastian-shaw-rob-68862/
]playing the role of Sebastian Shaw, leader of the New York branch of the
underground society, the Hellfire Club, whose membership once included
Emma Frost.

To date, there is still no casting information concerning two staples of
the earlier X-Men films, Cyclops and Jean Grey, furthering speculation
that these two original members of the mutant team may not be a part of
X-Men: First Class.

X-Men: First Class, which is set before the first X-Men film, is
scheduled to start production on August 23. It's being produced by the
director of the well-received first two X-Men films, Bryan Singer.
Matthew Vaughn, best known for helming [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1808624572/info ]Layer Cake and [
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810063108/info ]Kick-Ass, will be
directing, with the film set for a June, 2011, release.

[scifinoir2] Anthony Mackie on Working With Hugh Jackman, Robots in Real Steel

[brent wodehouse]

http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/08/anthony_mackie_wont_play_with.html

Anthony Mackie on Working With Hugh Jackman, Robots in Real Steel


At last night's launch of Marc Ecko Cut  Sew's new ad campaign, featuring
[ http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/08/lohan_1.html ]a hologram of
Lindsay Lohan, longtime Ecko customer Anthony Mackie stayed far away from
the computer stations demoing digital Lindsay, preferring to flirt with
his many lady admirers in the VIP section. He's been on a roll since The
Hurt Locker's Oscar run made him a household name, so Vulture took this
opportunity grill him about reading suggestions for Lohan in rehab and his
spate of new projects.

Have you tried playing with the Lindsay Lohan hologram yet?
I haven't. I feel like something about virtual Lindsay Lohan turns me on
too much to play with it in front of people.

You can give her commands and make her do stuff. What would you have her
do?
I would have her tell me what I look good in. Guys want to know what looks
good to women, so you want a woman who you think is hot to tell you what
you look good in. I would like to be able to go on the site and have her
sit there and say, You look good in that.

The webcam films her and then projects her into your world.
I don't want her in my world! I don't want her, like, in my house.

She's in rehab now. Got any reading suggestions for her?
I'm on a big David McCullough kick. I'm reading The Johnstown Flood and
1776. I'm a big history buff. So I'd just tell her to pick up some really
good history books and check out mistakes other people have made. Every
time I think I've done something stupid, I read about something like the
Johnstown Flood and I'm like, You know what? I'm not so bad.

You're doing the sci-fi movie Real Steel with Hugh Jackman. You're a
promoter of robot boxers?
I'm the Don King of the future. It's an amazing movie. Shawn Levy is an
amazing director. And Hugh is honestly one of the coolest cats in the
business. All of my scenes are with him. He is basically a robot boxing
[trainer] and I am the promoter. So he has to come to me to get his fights
on.

Are there actual robots or is it CGI?
They're there! They built eight-foot-tall robots! Yes. You're standing
there and a big-ass robot comes by. They got the guy who did all the
robots for Jurassic Park and Jaws and all these crazy movies and got him
to build mechanical eight-foot-tall robots.

What do you do with the robots?
I run away from them! No, basically I introduce the robots; I promote the
robots; I speak with robots who want to fight other robots. I'm the Don
King of it all.

Do you have Don King's hair?
No, I don't. There are two hairstyles you will never find another man
wearing: Don King's and Al Sharpton's. They're done. They're done.

Evangeline Lilly retired from acting and then [
http://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2010/05/evangeline_lilly_unretires.html
]unretired eight days later to do this movie. Did you talk about it?
No, but that's everyone's goal, to pull an Anthony Hopkins: You know
what? I'm never gonna do this again.

After that, you're playing Buddy Bolden, the Cornet King of New Orleans
and the guy people think started jazz, and then track star Jesse Owens.
Are those skills you possess already?
You bet. I run three miles a day and I've been playing trumpet since
middle school. I think that's why they cast me. I can't talk about Jesse
Owens, but we finished filming Bolden two weeks ago.

You play your own trumpet music?
No, no, no. Wynton Marsalis played all the music. I just act the fuck out
of it.

I always get annoyed when people pretend to play musical instruments in
movies.
Well, as an actor, don't you think I get annoyed when musicians pretend to
act? Right back 'atcha.

How do you feel about all the rappers getting into acting?
A. [Rolls eyes, evading question.] I played the trumpet some. By the
end of the movie, I got my chops back up to where I could sort of make it
work. I learned all the music. Delfeayo Marsalis was my musical coach, so
he made sure everything I did was on point, that I had the right fingering
and stuff. So I think, and everyone else thinks it looks like I'm playing
the music.

Why are you taking so many roles based on real people?
Because those are the best stories! If someone came to me and said, We
want you to play Spider-Man, I'd say, Hell yeah! But I'd have to get
them to change the name to Brotha-man. That's who I'd be.

Re: [scifinoir2] 5 Greatest Geeks Who Kick Ass

[brent wodehouse]

I'm in absolute agreement with you. :-)


Brent


Adrianne Brennan adrianne.bren...@gmail.com writes:

Egon should've been higher. :P




[
http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html
]http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html





~ Where love and magic meet ~
[ http://www.adriannebrennan.com ]http://www.adriannebrennan.com
Experience the magic of the Dark Moon series: [
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series: [
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m): [
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html

Re: [scifinoir2] 5 Greatest Geeks Who Kick Ass

[brent wodehouse]

No David (Matthew Broderick) from 'WarGames'?


Brent


Adrianne Brennan [ mailto:adrianne.brennan%40gmail.com
]adrianne.bren...@gmail.com writes:

Egon should've been higher. :P




[
[
http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html
]http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html
][
http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html
]http://www.fandango.com/movieblog/five-greatest-geeks-who-kick-ass-642005.html





~ Where love and magic meet ~
[ [ http://www.adriannebrennan.com ]http://www.adriannebrennan.com ][
http://www.adriannebrennan.com ]http://www.adriannebrennan.com
Experience the magic of the Dark Moon series: [
[ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
][ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series: [
[ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
][ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m): [
[ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
][ http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html
]http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html

[scifinoir2] Re: Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or Way of Life

[brent wodehouse]

No, we're a geeky/nerdful lot, my family. Descended from a long line of
geeks/nerds, if truth be told. I cannot say outright we've any 'dum-dums'
ancestrally or in the extended family. Ruthless, arrogant bastards, yes;
but no idiots. :-)


Brent


Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com writes:
  


Brent, to answer, I think it's a personality trait. Growing up, very few
of my friends or family were inclined in that direction. Now, save for my
niece, nephews and a few younger cousins, most of my family are D-U-M
DUM. I had to have been born with it.

On Mon, Aug 9, 2010 at 4:29 PM, brent wodehouse [
mailto:brent_wodeho...@thefence.us ]brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:



  


[
http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/is-being-a-geek-a-personality-trait-or-way-of-life/
]http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/is-being-a-geek-a-personality-trait-or-way-of-life/

Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or Way of Life?

By [ [ http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/cebsilver/
]http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/cebsilver/ ]Curtis Silver

August 9, 2010

I have a confession to make to you, dear readers. While I am a geek by
most qualifying standards of the definition, my children so far do not
share similar interests.

Some progress has been made on the older one as he enjoys Anime, but
that’s just because it’s less to read than a novel for which he has little
interest. The middle one - he likes Star Wars but that is about it. He’s a
sportsman at heart, playing football and baseball. While I did play
baseball myself for many years, the geek side eventually won out over
that. The youngest, my daughter, is my final hope in raising a true geek.

Not withstanding, whatever they choose to do that makes them happy, makes
me happy and I will not take that away from them because of my own selfish
motives.

It leads me to think though, what makes a geek? That is, when is that
personality trait truly indoctrinated in the brain? When did I become a
geek and set upon my own path in geekdom? While I do tend to think I
embody the true sense of being a geekdad, I have to wonder what we are
doing to raise the next generation of geeks to replace us and when in
their lives does that training begin and stop.

I suppose it’s sort of like Jedi training, perhaps it never stops. For
myself, my father was an engineer, a total math and logic geek. I started
out early with logic puzzles and Lego blocks. Of course I was into Star
Wars, Star Trek and my father’s expansive science fiction book collection.
To that end, anything geeky you can think of, comics and so on, I was into
and throughly enjoyed.

So in searching my memory, when was the day that the switch in my
personality clicked and I was destined to be a geek for life? I don’t
think I can pinpoint the day, or the year, but when I [
[
http://www.livescience.com/culture/children-personality-adults-100804.html
]http://www.livescience.com/culture/children-personality-adults-100804.html
]read an article that claims that age seven is the cutoff for personality
development I almost have to agree.

The study shows that as early as first grade the personality traits
exhibited by children are precursors to adult personality traits. Clearly
this doesn’t mean the age appropriate behavior, like whining about having
to go to bed and believing there are monsters in the closet. Which there
are of course, but as long as you keep the closet doors closed and don’t
look at them they can’t get out. Unless they are [
[ http://terrortube.com/images/articles/aliens_3.jpg
]http://terrortube.com/images/articles/aliens_3.jpg ]Aliens or [
[ http://astro.ic.ac.uk/%7Emortlock/remnants/2009/3006/morlocks.jpg
]http://astro.ic.ac.uk/%7Emortlock/remnants/2009/3006/morlocks.jpg
]Morlocks, in which case you are screwed.

“We remain recognizably the same person,” said study author Christopher
Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside.
“This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it
does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts.”

The study looked at about 2,400 ethnically diverse children in grade
school – in Hawaii. I find this statistic of the study to be very
interesting. Why Hawaii? In the 1960’s when the study began – how racially
diverse was Hawaii? Frankly, I don’t think race is as important as
environment. More on that in a moment. The researchers compared
personality ratings of the children with video taped interviews 40 years
later. While not looking at “geek” as a specific personality trait, some
of the traits they did study do carry into certain geek behaviors.

They looked at both sides of the following personality traits;
talkativeness (verbal fluency), adaptability (coping with new situations),
impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (humility.) What they found,
and what is going to be argued when this study is published in an upcoming
issue of the journal [
[ http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201952
]http://www.sagepub.com

[scifinoir2] 'Spider-Man' musical set to open

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Theatre/2010/08/10/14980436-wenn-story.html





'Spider-Man' musical set to open 

By REUTERS







NEW YORK (Reuters) - The long-awaited Spider-Man musical with music by U2
members Bono and The Edge, will open on Broadway in December, the show's
producers saidTuesday, after being caught in financial problems. 

Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark, which has been in the making for several
years and was originally due to open earlier this year, will begin preview
performances on November 14 with opening night set for December 21, the
show's producer Michael Cohl said in a statement. 

Inspired by the Marvel Comics hero that has also been turned into a series
of Hollywood films, the musical will spin a new take on the story of
teenage science geek Peter Parker, who is bitten by a genetically-altered
spider and wakes up the next morning clinging to the ceiling, the producer
said. 

The musical is expected to the most expensive in Broadway history, with
local media reporting it to cost up to US$50 million to stage. 

The title character will be played by actor and singer Reeve Carney, who
fronts rock band Carney and appeared in the film, Snow Falling on
Cedars. 

Jennifer Damiano of the Broadway musical Next to Normal has replaced
Evan Rachel Wood to play Mary Jane Watson, and Patrick Page from The Lion
King replaces Alan Cumming to play Normon Osborn/The Green Goblin.

[scifinoir2] Bam. Kapow. It’s supernerd

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/michael-cera-bam-kapow-its-supernerd/article1664725/

Profile

Michael Cera: Bam. Kapow. It’s supernerd 

The sweet is still there in Michael Cera’s new role as Scott Pilgrim and
so is the goofy, but so is a lot of mixed martial arts action combined
with some indie cool. The hardest thing for our wispy leading man? All
that cardio work

Bob Strauss 

Los Angeles -  From Saturday's Globe and Mail Published on Saturday, Aug.
07, 2010


We know he does sweet. Neurotic and self-deprecating, obviously. But
kicks, flips and wire-work?

Yes, Brampton geek god Michael Cera finally gets his turn as action hero.

Well, sort of.

As the lead in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – an adaptation of a cult
Canadian comic book hitting screens next Friday – Cera plays an unemployed
22-year-old in an indie band who has trouble with women and earning
respect.

It’s the same type he’s been spinning (albeit to diminishing box-office
returns) from the breakout hits Superbad and Juno to Nick and Norah’s
Infinite Playlist, Year One and Youth in Revolt. He’s still wispy. He
still favours a glorified bowl-cut, sloppy jeans and T-shirts. His voice
still maintains that trademark near-adolescent croak.

Except there's another side to Scott Pilgrim. To win over his new
sweetheart, he must defeat her seven evil exes in elaborately staged,
video-game-inspired combat. Think mixed martial arts accompanied by
swordplay.

“The hardest part was all the physical stuff that I had no experience
doing. The harnesses and, just – exertion. I was not used to it at all,”
Cera says, sitting outside a soundstage at Universal Studios in [
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/michael-cera-bam-kapow-its-supernerd/article1664725/#
]Los Angeles[Image] in green corduroys and a black shirt that emphasizes
his small frame. 

“I just hope people will buy it,” he adds, “and I don’t distract them from
enjoying the movie.”

Not likely.

The training will help. Cera and co-stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead and
Jason Schwartzman spent three months on kung fu basics and intense cardio
before getting tips from the same fight co-ordinator who worked on Percy
Jackson  the Olympians.

But the moves only count for so much. What really gives this alt-hero his
punch is a sense of irony.

To plug the film at Comic-Con – the fan convention in San Diego where
blockbuster franchises are made (or at least hyped) – the slight Cera
sported a Captain America costume – a little poke at both his own unlikely
superhero status and two of the “exes” he fights in Scott Pilgrim: Chris
Evans, starring in the upcoming film Captain America: The First Avenger,
and Brandon Routh, who’s played Superman.

And despite the promotional machine – there are Scott Pilgrim plush toys
and action figures, as well as an old-school video game – the project is
steeped in indie cool. Beck wrote the songs for Scott Pilgrim’s band Sex
Bob-Omb. Sloan bassist Chris Murphy was the film’s musical coach. Metric
and Broken Social Scene are on the soundtrack.

Plus, of course, there’s that source material. Created by cartoonist Bryan
Lee O’Malley, a London, Ont., kid who spent his early twenties in Toronto,
the Scott Pilgrim series combines action with Japanese pop-cultural
influences, garage-band emo and romance. Local fans lined up for hours to
get signed copies of the sixth and final volume in the series last month.

Cera was a fan himself well before English director Edgar Wright (Shawn of
the Dead, Hot Fuzz) tapped him to play the slacker hero.

“Especially being from Canada, you know? They've [the Pilgrim series] got
Shoppers Drug Mart and [
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/michael-cera-bam-kapow-its-supernerd/article1664725/#
]Tim Hortons[Image] in them,” he says, “I connected with them, for sure.”

The movie certainly approximates O'Malley's unique sensibility – which
makes for a whole lot of wild noise and visuals. It also plays up its
local elements. Shot last year in Toronto, clubs such as Sneaky Dee’s make
an appearance, as do Honest Ed’s and Casa Loma.

Toronto Tourism is even getting in on the action with a website, Toronto
Loves Scott Pilgrim, that includes clips from the film’s stars Alison Pill
(also from Toronto), Jason Schwartzman and Cera on why they love the city.

Mind you, for Cera, the movie’s long production period was less a
homecoming than a revelation.

“I didn't know the city well because my parents’ house is an hour and a
half away. I hadn’t worked there since I was 12,” the 22-year-old actor
says. “It was great filming in Toronto for seven months. I'd go home on
the weekends and my family came to the set. I walked around all the time.”

“Michael's all into wandering and driving himself to work, kind of just
always on his own, doing his own thing,” says Winstead, who plays Cera’s
love interest Ramona Flowers, an American girl with a gig as an Amazon.ca
delivery girl and a romantic history as colourful as her hair. “He set 

[scifinoir2] Entering the extreme-fan universe

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Entering+extreme+universe/3385109/story.html

Entering the extreme-fan universe
 
By Kat Angus, Postmedia News August 11, 2010


There's a sense of nervousness that comes before interviewing an actor
whose work you admire. What if he/she turns out to be boring? Or rude? Or
he/she suddenly starts swearing and declares the interview over?

Such were my fears about talking to Warehouse 13 star Allison Scagliotti.
It wasn't that I actually expected her to start spouting profanities, but
I didn't want anything to tarnish my affection for her work or Warehouse
13 itself. Not only has the sci-fi series quickly proven itself one of the
most downright enjoyable shows on television (Secret Service agents
investigating mystical artifacts with magic powers? Count me in!), but
Scagliotti stands out as one of the most charming members of the cast.

As Claudia, the show's resident hacker with the caustic wit, Scagliotti
carries herself with a swagger and sense of sardonicism that most adults
can only dream of -- and I was terrified that, in real life, she'd turn
the conversation into a meditation on honing her craft.

Luckily, my fears were entirely unfounded. Not only is 19-year-old
Scagliotti every bit as delightful as Claudia, she's not afraid to admit
she's just as nerdy as her TV character.

I'm a geek, myself, Scagliotti says. I just bring my own interpretation
of what that means to Claudia. I bring my sarcasm, I bring my desire to
fit in and my own insecurities to her. Claudia's a little goofier than I
am, but it's fun. It's fun to don a different-coloured hair streak every
week and be her.

And, Scagliotti claims, she knew she was destined to play Claudia from the
moment she first read the script.

I was rehearsing for the audition with my friend, Nolan Gerard Funk --
doesn't his name make your pants want to get up and dance? -- and he
looked up at me and said, 'You are this girl,' she remembers. He said,
'If you don't get this part, I don't know what that means for the career
we have chosen, because this is so you and nobody else should have it.'
So, thank God I got the part!

(As luck would have it, Funk was later cast on Warehouse 13's second
season, playing -- of course -- Claudia's love interest.)

I'm far from the only one to jump on the Scagliotti fangirl train. The
actress quickly became a fan favourite when she joined Warehouse 13 part
way through Season 1, when Claudia hacked into the warehouse in an attempt
to rescue her brother, Joshua, from an inter-dimensional limbo. (Isn't
that always the way?) After Joshua was saved, he went off to Switzerland
to continue his scientific research, and Claudia remained at the
warehouse, living her own life for the first time -- and giving Scagliotti
plenty of juicy material for Warehouse 13's second season.

She's coping with having no real romantic experience or any past or even
a job that she can really talk about, Scagliotti says of Claudia. Not
only is her job top secret, but the last 12 years of her life were devoted
to saving her brother from an inter-dimensional space. That's not exactly
light conversation.

Warehouse 13 viewers love and identify with Claudia's sarcastic, outspoken
nature. To many, she's an incredibly cool personification of their own
geekiness. It wasn't long before Scagliotti became aware of her tremendous
popularity among the show's fans.

I had no idea they would love Claudia so much. This is my first foray
into the extreme-fan universe, and it's overwhelming in the best possible
way, she says. I get this outpouring of love from people who watch the
episode and just eat it up.

I love that I can be this liaison to the fanboys and fangirls everywhere.
I mean, what a great opportunity I have to connect with the people who
make our show possible.

So it wasn't a surprise when the Warehouse 13 producers partnered up with
another beloved science-fiction series, Eureka, for a special crossover
event -- and that they chose Scagliotti as their ambassador. For one
episode this season, Eureka's Neil Grayston (Fargo) brought his character
to visit Warehouse 13 (the episode will air Aug. 20), and Scagliotti
returned the favour with a guest spot of her own (which will air when
Space begins airing Eureka's fourth season this fall).

Although the two shows have very different approaches to their crazy
shenanigans -- Warehouse 13 is based in magic, whereas everything on
Eureka has a scientific explanation -- Scagliotti insists the crossover
couldn't make more sense.

I think it's totally plausible that these two facilities could exist in
the same universe. A top-secret town populated by geniuses and a
top-secret warehouse in the middle of nowhere that houses powerful and
mysterious artifacts -- they're equally weird, she argues.

The crossover was so easy to do because -- I've decided to hijack this
metaphor -- it was like packing a bag and visiting family members. The
cast of Eureka is amazing; they're 

[scifinoir2] [FYI] Don't be fooled: the Google-Verizon plan would kill Net Neutrality

[brent wodehouse]

http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/106645-dont-be-fooled-the-google-verizon-plan-would-kil/

[
http://thephoenix.com/Boston/news/106645-dont-be-fooled-the-google-verizon-plan-would-kil/
]Don't be fooled: the Google-Verizon plan would kill Net Neutrality

Evil
 
By [ http://thephoenix.com/Boston/Authors/EDITORIAL/ ]EDITORIAL  |  August
11, 201


Want evidence that Google is just another avaricious, monopoly-minded
corporate behemoth? Consider this: Google has retreated from its long-held
support for net neutrality and teamed with Verizon to suggest that new
laws allow Internet providers to favor some Web services over others.
Google and Verizon also want Congress to exempt mobile devices from net
neutrality and to limit the Federal Communications Commission's regulation
of the Internet. 

Google and Verizon have proposed this in a very simple and undeniably
clever way, which - unless thoughtfully considered - appears to be
eminently reasonable.

Under this plan, the Internet as it now exists and is currently understood
would remain net neutral. All content would be treated as equal.

The Internet as it develops in the future, however, would be different.
Tiered service would be allowed.

In other words, the giant corporate providers who effectively govern
access and regulate traffic would be able to give preferential treatment
to certain content or content providers.

This is, in and of itself, a nasty piece of snake-oil salesmanship,
especially given the speed and unpredictability with which the digital
world evolves. But when mobile access is stirred into the brew, it becomes
positively toxic. All trends favor more and more mobile access. Morgan
Stanley predicts that within five years, the mobile Web will outstrip the
desktop Internet.

Given the extent to which the Internet governs economic development and
the extent to which it is the medium for free speech, it is clear that the
Google-Verizon plan is bad news. So much for Google's motto, Don't be
evil.

To understand this pledge, it must be considered in context. The pithy
slogan appears as the first three words in Google's corporate code of
conduct governing relations with investors. Yet no corporation can
survive, let alone thrive, without turning a profit. So it stands to
reason that Googlers (yes, that's how the company refers to its employees)
may have a less restricted view of how to interpret the motto than, say,
the world's non-Googlers.

If net neutrality were a simple code of conduct, then the FCC last year
defined it as follows: providers cannot favor their own content; they need
to explain when and why variable Internet speeds are imposed on consumers;
and they can not limit access to lawful content.

As neat and clean as these principles seem, their implementation could
prove to be difficult to impossible, thanks to the Court of Appeals for
the DC Circuit, which in April ratified rules adopted by the Bush
administration that were intended to derail Internet regulation.

The court's decision undoubtedly contributed to the break-up last week of
the closed-door discussions the FCC was holding with big Internet
corporate players. Whether those talks should have been conducted in
secret is now a moot point. But the parallels with former first lady
Hillary Clinton's private health-care deliberations and Vice-President
Dick Cheney's closed energy sessions are certainly troubling.

Power, of course, abhors a vacuum. So while Google's joint proposal with
Verizon was a vicious slap in the face to advocates of net neutrality -
especially in view of the company's previous admirable support of the
concept - under the circumstances it should come as no surprise. Consider
the predatory vigor Google displayed when it cornered the digital market
on books whose copyright has expired. Vito Corleone would have admired its
ruthless elegance. However, Robert Darnton, the historian who heads
Harvard's vast system of libraries, has been eloquent in pointing out the
intellectual hazards of this development.

It would be foolish to expect Congress to unplug the Google-Verizon view
of the future. Massachusetts congressman Edward Markey has been foiled in
his attempts to do so. But the FCC does have the power to short-circuit
it. The FCC must reach back to precedent established since 1910 and
declare Internet providers common carriers subject to federal
regulation. This is not some cute form of legerdemain. It is legal
hardball that would no doubt provoke a hotly contested lawsuit.

If the FCC will not stand up to Google, who will? It is time that someone
establishes that what's good for Google is not necessarily what is good
for the United States - or the world.

For more information, and to learn what you can do, visit the Save the
Internet Coalition at [ http://savetheinternet.com/ ]savetheinternet.com.

[scifinoir2] Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or Way of Life?

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2010/08/is-being-a-geek-a-personality-trait-or-way-of-life/

Is Being a Geek a Personality Trait or Way of Life?

By [ http://www.wired.com/geekdad/author/cebsilver/ ]Curtis Silver

August 9, 2010


I have a confession to make to you, dear readers. While I am a geek by
most qualifying standards of the definition, my children so far do not
share similar interests.

Some progress has been made on the older one as he enjoys Anime, but
that’s just because it’s less to read than a novel for which he has little
interest. The middle one - he likes Star Wars but that is about it. He’s a
sportsman at heart, playing football and baseball. While I did play
baseball myself for many years, the geek side eventually won out over
that. The youngest, my daughter, is my final hope in raising a true geek.

Not withstanding, whatever they choose to do that makes them happy, makes
me happy and I will not take that away from them because of my own selfish
motives.

It leads me to think though, what makes a geek? That is, when is that
personality trait truly indoctrinated in the brain? When did I become a
geek and set upon my own path in geekdom? While I do tend to think I
embody the true sense of being a geekdad, I have to wonder what we are
doing to raise the next generation of geeks to replace us and when in
their lives does that training begin and stop.

I suppose it’s sort of like Jedi training, perhaps it never stops. For
myself, my father was an engineer, a total math and logic geek. I started
out early with logic puzzles and Lego blocks. Of course I was into Star
Wars, Star Trek and my father’s expansive science fiction book collection.
To that end, anything geeky you can think of, comics and so on, I was into
and throughly enjoyed.

So in searching my memory, when was the day that the switch in my
personality clicked and I was destined to be a geek for life? I don’t
think I can pinpoint the day, or the year, but when I [
http://www.livescience.com/culture/children-personality-adults-100804.html
]read an article that claims that age seven is the cutoff for personality
development I almost have to agree.



The study shows that as early as first grade the personality traits
exhibited by children are precursors to adult personality traits. Clearly
this doesn’t mean the age appropriate behavior, like whining about having
to go to bed and believing there are monsters in the closet. Which there
are of course, but as long as you keep the closet doors closed and don’t
look at them they can’t get out. Unless they are [
http://terrortube.com/images/articles/aliens_3.jpg ]Aliens or [
http://astro.ic.ac.uk/%7Emortlock/remnants/2009/3006/morlocks.jpg
]Morlocks, in which case you are screwed.



“We remain recognizably the same person,” said study author Christopher
Nave, a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Riverside.
“This speaks to the importance of understanding personality because it
does follow us wherever we go across time and contexts.”




The study looked at about 2,400 ethnically diverse children in grade
school – in Hawaii. I find this statistic of the study to be very
interesting. Why Hawaii? In the 1960’s when the study began – how racially
diverse was Hawaii? Frankly, I don’t think race is as important as
environment. More on that in a moment. The researchers compared
personality ratings of the children with video taped interviews 40 years
later. While not looking at “geek” as a specific personality trait, some
of the traits they did study do carry into certain geek behaviors.

They looked at both sides of the following personality traits;
talkativeness (verbal fluency), adaptability (coping with new situations),
impulsiveness and self-minimizing behavior (humility.) What they found,
and what is going to be argued when this study is published in an upcoming
issue of the journal [
http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdDesc.nav?prodId=Journal201952 ]Social
Psychological and Personality Science, is that the traits as they were
exhibited by children directly translated to similar traits in adults. The
challenge there is that these are pretty basic traits of general
psychology. I learned about these behaviors in Psychology 101, and either
side of any of these traits could be applied to almost anyone.

Also, starting a study in the 1960’s to now could be something that could
challenge the validity of the study. A lot has changed since the 1960’s.
The 70’s were turbulent times. The 80’s had [
http://www.google.com/url?sa=tsource=webcd=9ved=0CDkQtwIwCAurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdQw4w9WgXcQei=r1xfTIaOLcKAlAfV36GVCAusg=AFQjCNG7el8GOsX8SUPmhUksMRzOa9FzwQ
]questionable taste in music and way too many [
http://www.blendfashions.com/blog/image.axd?picture=2009%2F5%2Fmullet.jpg
]pastel suits. The grunge movement in the 90’s would have hit those in
their early 30’s pretty hard, not to mention a country pretty much at war
ever since. There were plenty of environmental 

[scifinoir2] International Space Station: By the Numbers

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.space.com/news/international-space-station-by-the-numbers-100803.html

International Space Station: By the Numbers
 
By Remy Melina

posted: 03 August 2010


A major cooling system failure on the International Space Station has
thrust the 12-year-old orbiting laboratory into the limelight. NASA plans
two emergency spacewalks, Friday and Monday, to replace a pump in one of
the two U.S. cooling system loops attached to the station's exterior.

The ISS is the [
http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/how-big-is-the-international-space-station-0776/
]largest spacecraft ever built, and its assembly has been ongoing for more
than a decade. Its first component, the Zarya control module that provided
the station's initial propulsion and power, was launched Nov. 20, 1998. 

As NASA works to [
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/space-station-spacewalk-repair-delay-100803.html
]repair the space station, SPACE.com has rounded up some interesting facts
about it. Here's a look at the International Space Station by the numbers
according to NASA:

100 billion: Estimated cost of the ISS in U.S. dollars. This gives the
space station the grandiose title of being the world's most expensive
single object.

816,000: How much the ISS currently weighs in pounds (370,131 kilograms).
Once completed, the ISS will have a mass that on Earth would weigh almost
925,000 lb. (419,600 kg), the equivalent of more than 330 cars.

220: The average distance in miles above Earth's surface the ISS orbits
(250 kilometers). On a clear day, the ISS is [
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?gid=393
]easily visible to the naked eye from the ground.

147: The [
http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?gid=57
]number of spacewalks taken so far to build, maintain or repair the space
station. 

135: How many times you would have to cross North America to travel a
distance equal that traveled by the ISS in one day (about the distance to
the moon and back).

110: The number of kilowatts of power that the ISS will be supplied with
by an acre of solar panels.

99: The percentage of the ISS structure that has been completed.

90: The number of minutes it takes the ISS to circle the Earth as it
travels at 4.8 miles (7.7 km) per second.

52: The number of computers aboard the ISS to control its systems.

14: The number of pounds of crew-expelled air that the ISS systems recycle
each day (6.4 kg). Of this, 6 pounds (2.7 kg) comes from the U.S. members
of the ISS crew. The water produced by this recycling is used for
technical or drinking purposes.

13: The number of rooms on the station, including a small, seven-window
lookout dome that provides [
http://.space.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=5257gid=385index=0
]stunning views of Earth from orbit.

8: The total length, in miles, of wire that will connect the electrical
power system (12.9 km).

6: The number of months that an astronaut typically lives and works on the
ISS during a mission. Six is also the size of the crew currently aboard
the ISS.

5: The number of unmanned spacecraft currently used to haul supplies to
the space station or contracted to do so in the future. Current robotic
spacecraft include Russia's Progress vehicle, the European Space Agency's
Automated Transfer Vehicle and Japan's H-2 Transfer Vehicle. 

NASA also has contracts with the company SpaceX to provide cargo flights
using its unmanned Dragon spacecraft, and with Orbital Sciences in
Virginia to do the same on its planned Cygnus spacecraft. These private
spaceships are slated for test flights in the next year or so.

4: The tons of food required to support a crew of three for about six
months (3,630 kg). The ISS crews' favorites include shrimp cocktail,
tortillas, barbecue beef brisket, breakfast sausage links, chicken
fajitas, vegetable quiche, macaroni and cheese, candy-coated chocolates
and cherry blueberry cobbler. Lemonade is the most popular drink.

3: The size of the ISS' first crew in 2000, and the number of astronauts
or cosmonauts ferried to the station on a single Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

2: The size of the smallest crew ever aboard the ISS since long-duration
missions began.

1.5: The number of 747s that would provide the equivalent volume of space
that is pressurized within the ISS, allowing the crew to work without
spacesuits.  Of the 33,023 cubic feet (935 cubic meters) of pressurized
volume, about 15,000 (425 cubic meters) is habitable volume where
astronauts can live - more room than a conventional three-bedroom house.

Re: [scifinoir2] An Invisibility Cloak Made Of Glass

[brent wodehouse]

Absolutely brilliant! I love these sorts of posts.Really. Keep them
coming, please.


Brent



Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com writes:
  




An Invisibility Cloak Made Of Glass


July 27, 2010

[
http://www.photonicsonline.com/article.mvc/An-Invisibility-Cloak-Made-Of-Glass-0001?VNETCOOKIE=NO#
] [Image] 


From Tolkien's ring of power in The Lord of the Rings to Star Trek's
Romulans, who could make their warships disappear from view, from Harry
Potter's magical cloak to the garment that makes players vanish in the
video game classic Dungeons and Dragons, the power to turn someone or
something invisible has fascinated mankind. But who ever thought that a
scientist at Michigan Technological University would be serious about
building a working invisibility cloak? 

That's exactly what Elena Semouchkina, an associate professor of
electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Tech, is doing. She has
found ways to use magnetic resonance to capture rays of visible light and
route them around objects, rendering those objects invisible to the human
eye. 

Semouchkina and colleagues at the Pennsylvania State University, where
she is also an adjunct professor, recently reported on their research in
the journal Applied Physics Letters, published by the American Institute
of Physics. Her co-authors were Douglas Werner and Carlo Pantano of Penn
State and George Semouchkin, who works at Michigan Tech and Penn State.

They describe developing a nonmetallic cloak that uses identical glass
resonators made of chalcogenide glass, a type of dielectric material (one
that does not conduct electricity). In computer simulations, the cloak
made objects hit by infrared waves—approximately one micron or
one-millionth of a meter long—disappear from view.

Earlier attempts by other researchers used metal rings and wires. Ours
is the first to do the cloaking of cylindrical objects with glass,
Semouchkina said.

Her invisibility cloak uses metamaterials, which are artificial materials
having properties that do not exist in nature, made of tiny glass
resonators arranged in a concentric pattern in the shape of a cylinder.
The spokes of the concentric configuration produce the magnetic
resonance required to bend light waves around an object, making it
invisible. 

Metamaterials, which use small resonators instead of atoms or molecules
of natural materials, straddle the boundary between materials science and
electrical engineering. They were named one of the top three physics
discoveries of the decade by the American Physical Society. A new
researcher specializing in metamaterials is joining Michigan Tech's
faculty this fall. 

Semouchkina and her team now are testing an invisibility cloak re-scaled
to work at microwave frequencies and made of ceramic resonators. They're
using Michigan Tech's anechoic chamber, a cave-like compartment in an
Electrical Energy Resources Center lab, lined with highly absorbent
charcoal-gray foam cones. There, antennas transmit and receive
microwaves, which are much longer than infrared light, up to several
centimeters long. They have cloaked metal cylinders two to three inches
in diameter and three to four inches high. 

Starting from these experiments, we want to move to higher frequencies
and smaller wavelengths, the researcher said. The most exciting
applications will be at the frequencies of visible light.

So one day, could the police cloak a swat team or the Army, a tank? It
is possible in principle, but not at this time, Semouchkina said.

Her work is supported in part by a grant from the National Science
Foundation. 

Michigan Technological University ([ http://mtu.edu ]mtu.edu) is a
leading public research university developing new technologies and
preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable
world. Michigan Tech offers more than 130 undergraduate and graduate
degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology;
business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts;
humanities; and social sciences.

SOURCE: Michigan Technological University



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! 
Mahogany at: [
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/




[ mailto:hellomahog...@gmail.com?subject=an Invisibility Cloak Made Of
Glass ] Reply to sender | [ mailto:scifino...@yahoogroups.com?subject=an
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Re: [scifinoir2] Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury on God, 'monsters and angels'

[brent wodehouse]

Yes. I found that fact somewhat disturbing, too. :-\


Brent


Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com writes:
  


Is anyone else cringing at the thought that he watches Faux/Fixed/Fox by
day?

On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:03 PM, brent wodehouse [
mailto:brent_wodeho...@thefence.us ]brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:



  


[ http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/02/Bradbury/
]http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/02/Bradbury/

Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury on God, 'monsters and angels'

By John Blake, CNN

August 2, 2010

(CNN) -- Ray Bradbury lives in a rambling Los Angeles home full of stuffed
dinosaurs, a tin robot pushing an ice cream cart, and a life-sized
Bullwinkle the Moose doll lounging in a cushioned chair.

The 89-year-old science fiction author watches Fox News Channel by day,
Turner Classic Movies by night. He spends the rest of his time summoning
the monsters and angels of his imagination for his enchanting tales.

Bradbury's imagination has yielded classic books such as Fahrenheit 451,
The Martian Chronicles and 600 short stories that predicted everything
from the emergence of ATMs to live broadcasts of fugitive car chases.

Bradbury, who turns 90 this month, says he will sometimes open one of his
books late at night and cry out thanks to God.

I sit there and cry because I haven't done any of this, he told Sam
Weller, his biographer and friend. It's a God-given thing, and I'm so
grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer
is, 'At play in the fields of the Lord.' 

Bradbury's stories are filled with references to God and faith, but he's
rarely talked at length about his religious beliefs, until now.

'Joy is the grace we say to God'

He describes himself as a delicatessen religionist. He's inspired by
Eastern and Western religions.

The center of his faith, though, is love. Everything -- the reason he
decided to write his first short story at 12; his 56-year marriage to his
muse and late wife, Maggie; his friendships with everyone from Walt Disney
to Alfred Hitchcock -- is based on love.

Bradbury is in love with love.

Once, when he saw Walt Disney, architect of the Magic Kingdom, Christmas
shopping in Los Angeles, Bradbury approached him and said: Mr. Disney, my
name is Ray Bradbury and I love you.

Bradbury's favorite book in the Bible is the Gospel of John, which is
filled with references to love.

At the center of religion is love, Bradbury says from his home, which is
painted dandelion yellow in honor of his favorite book, Dandelion Wine.

I love you and I forgive you. I am like you and you are like me. I love
all people. I love the world. I love creating. ... Everything in our life
should be based on love.

Bradbury's voice booms with enthusiasm over the phone. He now uses a
wheelchair. His hearing has deteriorated. But he talks like an excitable
kid with an old man's voice. (Each Christmas, Bradbury asked his wife to
give him toys in place of any other gifts.)

Weller, author of [ [ http://listentotheechoes.com/
]http://listentotheechoes.com/ ]Listen to The Echoes:
The Ray Bradbury Interviews, says Bradbury ends many conversations with
God bless. Weller's book devotes an entire chapter to Bradbury's faith.

I once asked him if he prayed, and he said, 'Joy is the grace we say to
God,' '' Weller says.

Bradbury was raised as a Baptist in Waukegan, Illinois, by his father, a
utility lineman, and his mother, a housewife. Both were infrequent
churchgoers.

His family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression to look for
work. When he turned 14, Bradbury began visiting Catholic churches,
synagogues and charismatic churches on his own to figure out his faith.

Bradbury has been called a Unitarian, but he rejects that term. He
dislikes labels of any kind.

I'm a Zen Buddhist if I would describe myself, he says. I don't think
about what I do. I do it. That's Buddhism. I jump off the cliff and build
my wings on the way down.

Examples of faith in Bradbury's stories

Bradbury started writing for pulp magazines like Weird Tales and
Thrilling Wonder Stories at the beginning of his career. But even then,
faith was an important theme.

In his 1949 story The Man, Bradbury tells the story of a rocket crew
landing on Mars, only to see their thunder taken by a Christ-like figure
who had arrived only hours earlier.

In subsequent stories such as Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned,
priests and other ordinary people search and find redemption.

Allusions to Christianity are common in his stories, but Bradbury doesn't
define himself as a Christian. He considers Jesus a wise prophet, like
Buddha and Confucius.

Jesus is a remarkable person, Bradbury says. He was on his way to
becoming Christ, and he made it.

Weller, also author of [ [ http://www.bradburychronicles.com/index.htm
]http://www.bradburychronicles.com/index.htm ]The
Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury, says Bradbury's religious
antenna is most attuned to Christianity.

The guy keeps writing about Jesus, but he

[scifinoir2] FX orders ‘Star Trek’ spoof pilot, renews ‘Louie’

[brent wodehouse]

http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/08/fx-renews-louie-orders-sci-fi-comedy-pilot.html?utm_source=feedburnerutm_medium=feedutm_campaign=Feed%3A+live_feed+%28The+Hollywood+Reporter+-+Live+Feed%29

[
http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/2010/08/fx-renews-louie-orders-sci-fi-comedy-pilot.html
]FX orders ‘Star Trek’ spoof pilot, renews ‘Louie’

by [ http://livefeed.hollywoodreporter.com/author/jhibberd/ ]James Hibberd
|

August 3, 2010


FX has ordered a comedy pilot from the makers of Reno 911 whose logline
makes it sound like an unofficial Star Trek parody.

Set a thousand years in the future, Alabama follows the crew of the
space ship USS Alabama as they continue a seven-year mission to maintain
interplanetary peace.

The show will follow the heart-pounding action as our crew visits hostile
planets, meets alien life-forms, and tries to have sex with each other in
their tiny, metal bunk beds, FX said.

Alabama is created by and stars Reno 911 veterans Thomas Lennon and
Ben Garant and, just like the former Comedy Central series, will be
part-scripted and part-improvised. Garant and Lennon are executive
producers along with Peter Principato and Paul Young.

In addition, FX has renewed the Louis C.K. comedy Louie for a 13-episode
second season.

The pickup comes about five weeks into the show's run, with the comedy
performing fairly modestly -- averaging about 1 million viewers per week.

The announcements were made at the Television Critics Association's press
tour, where FX had the longest presentation in the network's history,
scheduling nearly a full day of panels.

FX's entertainment president John Landgraf said he hopes to expand the
network's burgeoning lineup to a dozen shows, including 6-8 comedies.

After that, Landgraf said, the network will reach a saturation point,
unable to expand further due to the marketing costs associated with
promoting so many shows.

FX has already hit its goal to get on the comedy map, with veteran It's
Always Sunny in Philadelphia steadily improving in the ratings and
freshman animated series Archer becoming a surprise breakout. Along with
Louie and The League, the network has four functioning half-hour
comedies.

Critics noted FX's paucity of Emmy nominations, and Landgraf noted that TV
Academy favorite Damages, which is shifting to DirecTV, is set in the
upper echelons of elite Manhattan society compared to the network's array
of blue collar protagonists.

Emmys live in their own separate universe, he said. Of the shows that
qualified for an Emmy, 'Rescue Me,' 'Justified,' 'Sons of Anarcy' and
'Damages' … all accured as much acclaim universal acclaim based on their
Metacritic scores ... We the tendency to do the literature of the common
man and common woman … I don't think there's a lesson in personal grooming
to be taken from 'Sons'  ... Does that effect the Emmys? I don't know.

Landgraf also said that, for actors, in recent years it has become more
prestigious to land a cable show.

It's become a status symbol for an actor to have a cable show, Landgraf
said. A lot of being a movie star is being in a latex costume in front of
a green screen wearing guide-wires and learning to do karate.

Wrapping up the session, Landgraf noted, I haven't said anything
Tweet-worthy, then announced: Peter Rice told me I could deny that Steve
McPherson is becoming a judge on 'American Idol.'

[scifinoir2] Captain Jack As a Digital Weapon: Launching ‘Torchwood’ Comic #1

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/feature/128580-captain-jack-as-a-digital-weapon-launching-torchwood-comic-1/

Captain Jack As a Digital Weapon: Launching ‘Torchwood’ Comic #1

By [ http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/697 ]Lynnette Porter
 

2 August 2010


During his travels with the Doctor through space and time, not to mention
his long tenure with Torchwood Three, Captain Jack Harkness has had to be
many things to many people (and aliens).  This summer he tackles one of
his most crucial roles yet - as Torchwood’s digital weapon. His mission:
Keep fans of the original TV series happy while attracting a new audience
of comic book readers - and then keep them hooked until new radio dramas
and TV episodes arrive next year. Sound daunting? Not for the Doctor Who
and Torchwood veteran who has successfully defeated long hiatuses before.

The launch of Torchwood comic #1 (10 August in stores after a Comic-Con
debut) seems to be the next step in what TV series creator Russell T.
Davies once termed the digital weaponry of Torchwood.  During interviews
with Entertainment Weekly in July 2009, Davies noted that Torchwood could
become anything it needed to be, and indeed the series has been malleable
in the past. The comic’s timely entry into the marketplace reminds
future-thinking fans that the TV series will return, albeit in a new
location and from American cable network Starz, by this time next summer. 

The comic, however, also woos fans of the original Cardiff-based TV show
by providing the familiar context of the series’ first three seasons. As
such, Torchwood the Comic is an interesting way to expand the franchise by
attracting new readers who might not have seen Torchwood prior to all its
media attention for critically acclaimed but fandom-divisive episode,
“Children of Earth”. The comic also can placate long-time fans
dissatisfied with the ending of the miniseries and anxious about the next
season’s direction. Because the comic book straddles the line between the
familiar and the unexplored, the sale of this first issue is particularly
important to the comic’s and the series’ future.

Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue. This old
rhyme is strangely appropriate for the happy marriage of the TV series’
characters with the comic book format.  In the premiere issue, one story
is “something old”, a tale published a year earlier in Torchwood magazine.
The “something new” is TV script editor Gary Russell’s adventure,
“Broken”.  One character, Ianto Jones, has been “borrowed” from earlier in
the series’ canon to join his compatriots in “Broken” as they battle a
villain from the TV show. 

Of course, the most famous “something blue” (other than Captain Jack’s
eyes) is his trademark grey-blue RAF coat. All the familiar, comfortable
elements long-time TV fans have come to expect are present and accounted
for, sir - but are they enough to keep the franchise going until new
episodes arrive next year? More importantly, can the new Torchwood comic
book generate its own audience separate from the TV series? Is Torchwood
the true “digital weapon” that can successfully market its stories in any
medium - not just TV episodes, but also novels, radio plays, and now a
comic book? 

Cover Story

The two collectible covers clearly indicate where the comic series is
headed. (Two additional black-and-white art covers are Comic-Con
exclusives.) Front and center on every cover is Captain Jack Harkness. The
photo cover presents him as fans’ strongest TV memory - sexy, action hero
Jack in the moment before all hell breaks loose, gun raised as he looks
toward an off-camera source of danger. He wears his trademark RAF coat -
about as quintessential a Torchwood photo of its lead hero as possible.

The illustrated cover also portrays Jack, with coat, front and center as
he strides toward danger, framed against an ominously violent red-orange
sky. Jack’s coat billows behind him, effectively creating a visual lead-in
to the two characters in the background. Fans of the TV series easily
recognize Ianto Jones, sans jacket but nevertheless in a suit (and red
tie, a detail hardcore fans will be sure to notice), this time with his
sleeves rolled up to get to work. Gwen Cooper wears her traditional red
blouse and leather jacket, but her curves have been accentuated in true
comic-book style. The covers play up the familiar aspects of characters at
the beginning of “Children of Earth”, the Torchwood team’s previous
adventure.

Of course, since 2008 several writers and artists have told Torchwood’s
story as serialized comics in Torchwood magazine. The official magazine,
however, most likely is read by Torchwood’s TV fans, not the wider
comic-book audience who will see Torchwood #1 on the shelves of their
favorite comic store. The magazine has included stories written by Gareth
David-Lloyd or John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman, whose “Selkie” is
featured in Torchwood Comic #1. 

As might be expected, the 

[scifinoir2] Comic book buff selling rare copy of Batman No. 1

[brent wodehouse]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2012509132_apuscomicbookauction.html?prmid=head_main

Comic book buff selling rare copy of Batman No. 1 


A longtime Alaska comic book buff is selling one of the gems in his vast
collection, a rare copy of Batman No. 1 published 70 years ago.

The Associated Press


FAIRBANKS, Alaska - A longtime Alaska comic book buff is selling one of
the gems in his vast collection, a rare copy of Batman No. 1 published 70
years ago.

Mike Wheat of Fairbanks has put the 1940 comic book on the auction block
through Dallas-based Heritage Auction Galleries, where it's expected to
fetch more than $40,000. Online bids already have climbed to $35,000 for
the book, believed to be one of fewer than 300 still in existence.

Online bids will compete with a live auction set for Thursday.

The second and fourth Batman issues also will be part of Thursday's
auction. They are expected to bring more than $5,000 combined.

Wheat, a retired city wastewater treatment plant operator, said he
considers the Batman comics an investment. He said it feels like the right
time to sell.

I just decided it's time for someone else to have it, he said.

The Batman No. 1 comic book was discovered after local businessman Ron
Jaeger bought an old dresser at a garage sale in the early 1970s, then
kept it in storage for a few years. When Jaeger finally brought it out, he
noticed one of the drawers didn't slide easily.

Three comic books and a few old issues of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
were tucked beneath the drawer and a quarter-inch piece of plywood. The
haul included a copy of Batman No. 1, Superman No. 17 and an old issue of
a Red Ryder Western comic.

Wheat already had a reputation as an avid comic collector in 1974, and
Jaeger sold him the comic books for $300.

The auction house has handled many copies of Batman No. 1, but Wheat's
copy is notable because the low humidity and cool temperatures in
Fairbanks have kept the paper in excellent condition, said Barry Sandoval,
director of comic auctions and operations at Heritage. Old comics were
printed on cheap newsprint, but the pages in Wheat's copy remain white and
crisp.

If we got a Batman No. 1 from Texas or Louisiana, if you opened it up
after 70 years the pages would start to crumble, Sandoval said.

The condition of comics is graded on a scale of one to 10. Wheat's copy
has been graded a 5.5. That's a middling score for a newer comic, but
impressive for a vintage copy.

I see how most comics from that era look, Sandoval said. Most
70-year-old comics are in pretty rough shape.

Batman No. 1 was the first solo spin-off for the character, who made his
first appearance in 1939 as a character in Detective Comics No. 27. The
debut includes the original appearances by two of Batman's key foes, the
Joker and Catwoman.

---

Online:

http://www.ha.com

---

Information from: Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, http://www.newsminer.com

[scifinoir2] Brilliant 'Being Human' hits DVD

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Video/DVD_Column/2010/07/19/14757351.html

Brilliant 'Being Human' hits DVD

By BRUCE KIRKLAND, QMI Agency


Blood and sex, fangs and full moons, humour and heartache: What's not to
like about Being Human? This supernatural television series from Britain
looks like a fully formed, high-concept, sure-fire success.

But looks are deceiving. The brilliance of Being Human is both an accident
-- and the result of years of hard slogging.

I think if we had been approached in the beginning to write a
supernatural show, we would have ended up with something far less
satisfying, affable series creator Toby Whithouse says from London.

Whithouse is on the telephone to Canada because Being Human: Season 1
debuts Tuesday on DVD and Blu-ray. Both are two-disc sets. They share
identical extras, including helpful character profiles and a Whithouse
session reminding us how tenuous success really is -- especially because
the first fanbase was inspired by social media, not conventional ratings.

You wouldn't think so, not today, not in the era of Twilight and True
Blood. Like them, Being Human plumbs the public's obsessive interest in
the intoxicating world of vampires, werewolves and ghosts, combining them
intelligently. Whithouse put a vampire, werewolf and ghost into a Bristol
house as flatmates. They are all twentysomethings (sort of). They are all
likeable and complicated. They are all cursed.

I flatter us, Whithouse says with a chuckle. We were, I hope, a bit
ahead of the curve. Being Human did pre-date the Twilight phenomenon and
the True Blood fangdom. So much so that Whithouse assumed they were doomed.

When we delivered what would ultimately become Being Human to the BBC, at
the time we thought: 'We haven't got a hope in hell! Who on earth wants to
watch anything about vampires?' Then, of course, all the other shows took
off. So I like to think we were there at the spearhead.

Originally, actor-turned-screenwriter Whithouse was approached by a
production company to write a series about all-human housemates: A show
about a group of college graduates who decide to buy a house together,
with the stresses and strains that puts on their friendships. I thought,
well, it's not really the most scintillating idea that I've ever heard. I
was about to turn it down when, completely unbidden, I had these ideas for
three characters. At this stage they were completely human. Mitchell was a
recovering sex addict, Annie was a kind of borderline agoraphobic and
George was this guy who had anger issues and was kind of anal and
repressed. I wrote pages and pages and pages of biog for these
characters. 

The production team was pleased. But they still did not have a
first-episode story. We spent months pretty much banging our heads
against a brick wall and we couldn't come up with anything. At the final
all-or-nothing meeting, Whithouse jokingly suggested George should be a
werewolf. Eureka! George's anger issues obviously could be linked to the
werewolf curse.

We had nothing to lose and, from there, it seemed like a very natural
progression that Mitchell the sex addict was a bit like a vampire and
Annie the agoraphobic was a bit like a ghost rooted to a house. Suddenly,
by the end of the meeting, we were doing a show about a werewolf, a
vampire and a ghost. But the bedrock of the show is character.

At first, Whithouse admits, I was kind of apologizing for the idea
because it is such a ridiculous idea. Yet those characters -- now played
by Aidan Turner (Mitchell), Russell Tovey (George) and Lenora Crichlow
(Annie) -- are based in reality, not in horror movie cliche.

While I know it is bizarre, given the concept, I've always wanted to do a
show that is as realistic as possible, Whithouse says. They are, after
all, Being Human.


CREATOR AMAZED BY SUCCESS

Being Human creator Toby Whithouse is gobsmacked that his hit series from
Britain is making an impression in North America. 
We were just amazed to get the show on U.K. television in the first
place, Whithouse says from London. Reaching such a wide audience now is
such an extraordinarily wonderful surprise -- but a surprise nonetheless!
And we are just absolutely thrilled.

Being Human is broadcast on BBC America. Season 1 is being released
Tuesday on DVD and Blu-ray. The series originally launched its overseas
invasion with a rousing debut at Comic-Con 2009 in San Diego.

The response that we got from the audience over there was just
phenomenal, Whitehouse remembers. I mean, obviously we're quite British
and anal and repressed. To have this kind of unexpurgated euphoria and
enthusiasm was just an absolute delight! 
I remind Whithouse that Canadians are poised between British reserve and
American excess. Laughing, he says: I think you are then the perfect
audience. And you're more likely to get all the tea references.

This would have been impossible without British fans who backed Being
Human in its infancy, after the pilot broadcast and before the

[scifinoir2] Voice of 'Speed Racer' dies

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2010/07/18/14751546-wenn-story.html

Voice of 'Speed Racer' dies 

By WENN.COM 


Child Broadway star and celebrated American voiceover actor Peter
Fernandez has lost his battle with lung cancer. He was 83.
Fernandez died at his home in Pomona, New York on Thursday.

He appeared in Broadway play Whiteoaks when he was 11 and went on to act
on children’s radio shows.

However, he was perhaps best-known for providing the voice of the title
character in hit U.S. 1960's animated TV series Speed Racer, an adaptation
of Japanese anime series Mach Go Go Go.

He also provided the voice of the title character's brother Racer X, wrote
the American lyrics for the show’s theme song and directed the dubbing
cast.

His voice can be heard in other titles including Astro Boy, Gigantor,
Marine Boy, Star Blazers: The Bolar Wars and Superbook.
In 2008, he made a cameo appearance as an announcer in the live-action
Speed Racer film.

Fernandez is survived by his wife, Noel Smith, three children, nine
grandchildren, a sister and a brother.

Re: [scifinoir2] 3D Newspapers Are the Hottest Thing in China (5 Photos)

[brent wodehouse]

Brilliant!


Brent


Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com writes:

3D Newspapers Are the Hottest Thing in China (5 Photos)


Ever since ChinaÕs first 3D newspaper was released, back in April, the
public has been asking for more. And theyÕre about to get it, as a
limited number of the Hangzhou-based Daily Business editions are about to
be issued, in 3D format.

British tabloid, The Sun, has announced it will be launching the first 3D
newspaper today, a few days before the Soccer World Cup kicks off, in an
attempt to raise awareness to the 3D broadcast of the sports event, by
Sky News. Sorry guys, but youÕre almost two months late, in China, 3D
newspapers are already yesterdayÕs news.



Read more: [
http://funzu.com/index.php/crazy-pics/3d-newspapers-are-the-hottest-thing-in-china-05062010.html#ixzz0u9sjTtWS
]http://funzu.com/index.php/crazy-pics/3d-newspapers-are-the-hottest-thing-in-china-05062010.html#ixzz0u9sjTtWS

[scifinoir2] Klingon and other crazy ideas in book about invented tongues

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/96646229.html

Klingon and other crazy ideas in book about invented tongues

By John Timpane

Inquirer Staff Writer


Arika Okrent was studying languages at the University of Chicago. The
languages people use and how they work. The rules, the changes, the
charts. She was in the library, poking around.

And then, says Okrent, relaxing in her Germantown home recently, I
drifted down to the shelves with all the books on invented languages. It
was a sad little collection. I felt sorry for it.

But something called to her. Tales of made-up languages and their makers.
Esperanto, the most widely spoken of all; Volapük, once the most popular;
Klingon, the bark of space invaders.

She learned artificial tongues, then wrote about going to a 2003 Esperanto
conference for the American Scholar - and the seed of a book was planted.

That book is the delightful In the Land of Invented Languages (published
last month in paperback), which tells tales - often sad, often hilarious -
of made-up tongues, Okrent's forays into the realms of Esperanto, Klingon,
and Blissymbolics, and the personalities, political battles, and fates of
linguistic makers-up.

Niece of the journalist Daniel Okrent, Arika met her husband, research
linguist Derrick Higgins, at Chicago. They came east when Higgins got a
job at Educational Testing Service in Princeton. Okrent says, I did
almost all the research for the book before I had kids - Leo, 5, and
Louisa, 1.

As I got further and further into this world, says Okrent, 40, at
first, I'd say, 'Look at all these crazy ideas,' but I'd also find
touching clues about the lives of the inventors. Her book reflects the
humor and the craziness, but also has compassion and understanding, since
I'm a language person myself.


A graveyard of flops

Land of Invented Languages is a history of a vast graveyard, brilliant
projects that failed. Some inventors, such as James Cooke Brown, become
famous for other things (he created the board game Careers), but not for
their pet languages. We meet Suzette Haden Elgin, who in the early 1980s
created Láadan, a woman's language (the only language textbook I know
of, Okrent writes, that gives the word for menstruate in Lesson 1). We
visit the nutty, simpatico world of Esperanto, and the gestural world of
sign languages.

There's the occasional success, as with Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, who fought in
the late 19th and early 20th centuries to resurrect a near-dead priestly
language (Hebrew), and retrofit it for a modern age; it is now the
national language of Israel. Or Lazar Ludwik Zamenhof, who grew up in the
1860s and '70s in the Russian Empire town of Bialystok, a Babel of
Russian, Polish, German, and Yiddish. He dreamed of a language that cut
through the tangle - and his brainchild, Esperanto, is still the most
widely practiced made-up tongue.

Rage for order has led many to remake language. In the late 1940s,
Austrian engineer Charles Bliss invented Blissymbolics, which he hoped
could become a writing system for all languages, logical writing for an
illogical world. And Brown invented Loglan, a language that followed the
rules of logic. In one of her saddest stories, Okrent recounts how Brown
fell into a long-running feud over rights, egos, and direction. A project
titled Lojban carried on his vision, despite him.


Why fix what isn't broken?

Language makes us human. So - why mess with it?

Well, there is a lot of messiness and ambiguity in language, Okrent
says. We need it. We need that wiggle room. But if you have an
engineering mind, you'll see irritating things. Why do words have more
than one meaning? (Look up the word set in Webster's: Its very first
entry lists 25 possible meanings.) Why do we have irregular verbs? Why
are pronouns in English so messed up?

Problem is, language probably isn't fixable. When you try to fix the
world of ideas, fix the meanings of words, Okrent says, it's hard to
keep it steady. Times change, words change, and besides, we tend to mean
what we mean not by strict rules, but by agreement.

That won't keep people from trying. One motive is the altruistic dream of
tearing down the linguistic walls that divide us. It's the dream of
oneness, says Okrent, the idea that if everyone could communicate with
one another, we could eliminate strife - an idea that is, unfortunately,
easy to disprove.

Ludwick invented Esperanto with that idea. Bliss of Blissymbolics grew up
in the many-languaged Austro-Hungarian Empire and dreamed of unifying the
world through a common system. Even the names for these languages hint at
the dream of one, perfect world: Esperanto (one who hopes), Volapük
(world language), Lingua Komun (common language), Unilingue, Unita,
Universel.

One of my favorite figures in the book, says Okrent, is Fuishiki
Okamoto, inventor of a language he called Babm. It's a ridiculous language
he claims is perfect, and of course it's not - but he is so humble and
modest, hoping it would be for the 

[scifinoir2] Smart gadgets may one day anticipate our needs

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_15450492?IADID=Search-www.mercurynews.com-www.mercurynews.comnclick_check=1

Smart gadgets may one day anticipate our needs

By Steve Johnson
sjohn...@mercurynews.com


Don't be surprised if one day your refrigerator nags you to lose weight,
your phone blocks calls it figures you're too stressed to handle and your
wisecracking car entertains you with pun-filled one-liners.

Within a decade or two, researchers at Silicon Valley companies and
elsewhere predict, consumer gadgets will be functioning like
hyper-attentive butlers, anticipating and fulfilling people's needs
without having to be told. Life would not only be more convenient, it
might even last longer: Devices could monitor people's health and step in
when needed to help them get better.

I think it's inevitable, said Michael Freed, an artificial intelligence
specialist and program director at the Menlo Park think tank, SRI
International, which has been studying the concept for the military.
Noting that some of these gadgets already are being developed, he added,
I expect we'll see more soon - a trickle and then a flood.''

The technology propelling this new generation of personal assistants is a
combination of sophisticated sensors and carefully tailored computer
software. As envisioned, the machines would adjust their own actions to
the preferences and needs of an individual, by analyzing data on the
person's past actions and monitoring current behavior with cameras, audio
recorders and other sensors.

Santa Clara chipmaker Intel, which has been studying the technology for
several years, believes that one day soon the gadgets will have the
ability to read their owner's emotions.


Detecting mood swings

While some experts have proposed that face- and voice-recognition gear be
used to detect a person's disposition, Intel has been experimenting with
heart monitors and galvanic skin-response sensors. A study it did last
year envisioned the gadgets detecting mood swings while people are
driving, singing, chatting with friends, attending a boring meeting and
even while going to the dentist.

Others expect that household appliances eventually will be designed with
humanlike personalities. In a study this year that was partly financed by
Nissan Motor, researchers at Japan's Hokkaido University experimented with
cheery-sounding devices that they imagined one day could serve as
artificial companions for elderly and lonely people or as pun-spouting
car navigation equipment that could entertain drivers by talking and
possibly by joking.

Although some gadgets already make assumptions about what people want,
such as word processing software that automatically corrects grammar, the
devices contemplated by Intel, Hewlett-Packard and other companies would
be capable of much more sophisticated judgments about a broader array of
human needs. That's a complex task - so difficult that some experts are
skeptical the technology will be ready in the near future.

My guess is that we will get there in time, but it's a little further off
than the most ambitious announcements from a lot of companies have
indicated, said Bob Sloan, who heads the computer science department at
the University of Illinois at Chicago. There are a lot of hard problems
to solve.

But other experts say the idea recently has become more practical because
of the proliferation of computerized devices, from universal remote
controls, MP3 players, air-conditioning equipment and microwave ovens to
security systems, lawn-sprinkler controllers, exercise equipment and toys.

Because many of these devices come with cameras, global positioning
systems and other sensors to monitor what's around them, these experts
say, it's not hard to imagine them gathering enough data about people to
act autonomously on their behalf, assuming the individuals let the gizmos
have that authority.

One product that already claims to partly think for its owner is a
personal assistant app for the iPhone and iPod developed by Siri, a San
Jose company Apple bought in April.

Besides being able to recommend a good play, book a taxi and offer helpful
reminders, the app - which responds to verbal queries - adapts to your
preferences over time, Siri claims.

For example, ask it about a good place to eat nearby and it might suggest
a certain type of restaurant you have picked before, a company spokesman
said. He added that the app also can learn to recognize a person's voice
and speaking style, which might make it easier for it to understand what
the person is saying on a noisy street.

Other products could be on the way soon, said Diane Cook, a researcher at
Washington State University, which has an experimental smart house filled
with such devices.

We have companies large and small and in between visiting us monthly -
IBM, Bosch, Qualcomm - all wanting to commercialize it, all trying to
decide what that first step is, that first niche, she said.

Stanford University operates a similar research lab. 

Re: [scifinoir2] Re: Fwd: Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doe

[brent wodehouse]

I believe the thrust of the arguments of his peers described in the
article is that his idea be given a fair hearing. Maybe we are talking
here about something more in keeping with a phenomenon measured in
billions of years rather than mere human-thousands. Of course, I haven't
seen the maths (and mightn't understand them if I did :-), so he could be
pulling the idea out of his proverbial a***. But it does lead one to
wonder...


Brent


Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com  writes:

To this genius, Brent, I ask this.

Why, in the entirety of human history, hasn't there been a bad hair
day, when gravity kicks out and sends thousands soaring off into space?

Maybe, MAYBE, in a hundred years or so, something may walk in the door to
support this hare-brained chicanery. I haven't been involved in the
physics community for close to fifteen years, and it's stuff like this
that makes me happy that I estranged myself.

On Thu, Jul 15, 2010 at 6:41 PM, brent wodehouse [
mailto:brent_wodeho...@thefence.us ]brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:



Ê 


Yes. The 'bad hair day' theory of gravity.

'It goes something like this: your hair frizzles in the heat and humidity,
because there are more ways for your hair to be curled than to be
straight, and nature likes options. So it takes a force to pull hair
straight and eliminate natureÕs options. Forget curved space or the spooky
attraction at a distance described by Isaac NewtonÕs equations well enough
to let us navigate the rings of Saturn, the force we call gravity is
simply a byproduct of natureÕs propensity to maximize disorder.'

From: [ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?src=mv
]http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?src=mv

Brent




[ mailto:martinbaxter7%40gmail.com ]martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:

-- Forwarded message --
From: Martin Baxter [ mailto:martin.baxter.013%40gmail.com
]martin.baxter@gmail.com
Date: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Subject: Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist
To: [ mailto:martinbaxter7%40gmail.com ]martinbaxt...@gmail.com


Even as I post this, I feel compelled to say that this is a post from a
new Siffy-powered site and that, IMO, that association renders this and
all other things reported that as null and void, being too far divorced
from reality...

==

Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist

Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist
Stephen Hawking experiences weightlessness in a jet
7Share

I know that something is keeping me from floating off as I type away at
this keyboard, but thanks to Erik Verlinde, a string theorist and
professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, I no longer know
what. But I'm not the only one feeling a little, well, adrift right now.

According to an article in the NY Times, Some of the best physicists in
the world say they don't understand Dr. Verlinde's paper. Which makes us
feel a little better that we don't either.

That paper, On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton, claims
that gravity is an illusion.


More at: [ http://blastr.com/2010/07/eccentric-but-brilliant-p.php
]http://blastr.com/2010/07/eccentric-but-brilliant-p.php


-- 
Between getsumei no michi and the Zero...no better place to live.

(About little moments of happiness) If this isn't nice, I don't know
what is. -- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without A Country












-- 
If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody
hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik

[scifinoir2] Re: Fwd: Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist

[brent wodehouse]

Yes. The 'bad hair day' theory of gravity.

'It goes something like this: your hair frizzles in the heat and humidity,
because there are more ways for your hair to be curled than to be
straight, and nature likes options. So it takes a force to pull hair
straight and eliminate nature’s options. Forget curved space or the spooky
attraction at a distance described by Isaac Newton’s equations well enough
to let us navigate the rings of Saturn, the force we call gravity is
simply a byproduct of nature’s propensity to maximize disorder.'

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/13/science/13gravity.html?src=mv


Brent



martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:

-- Forwarded message --
From: Martin Baxter martin.baxter@gmail.com
Date: Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Subject: Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist
To: martinbaxt...@gmail.com


Even as I post this, I feel compelled to say that this is a post from a
new Siffy-powered site and that, IMO, that association renders this and
all other things reported that as null and void, being too far divorced
from reality...

==

Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist
Eccentric but brilliant physicist claims gravity doesn't exist
Stephen Hawking experiences weightlessness in a jet
7Share

I know that something is keeping me from floating off as I type away at
this keyboard, but thanks to Erik Verlinde, a string theorist and
professor of physics at the University of Amsterdam, I no longer know
what. But I'm not the only one feeling a little, well, adrift right now.

According to an article in the NY Times, Some of the best physicists in
the world say they don't understand Dr. Verlinde's paper. Which makes us
feel a little better that we don't either.

That paper, On the Origin of Gravity and the Laws of Newton, claims
that gravity is an illusion.


More at: http://blastr.com/2010/07/eccentric-but-brilliant-p.php


-- 
Between getsumei no michi and the Zero...no better place to live.

(About little moments of happiness) If this isn't nice, I don't know
what is. -- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without A Country

[scifinoir2] 11 biggest sci-fi blockbusters that still managed to LOSE money

[brent wodehouse]

http://blastr.com/2010/07/11-biggest-sci-fi-blockbu.php

11 biggest sci-fi blockbusters that still managed to LOSE money


The fifth Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,
made more than $938 million worldwide at the box office yet still lost
$167 million.

How is that even possible?

Well, it's all thanks to the magic of what is commonly known as Hollywood
accounting a creative way of crunching numbers said to be used by all the
studios to make even the biggest blockbusters look like losers. The reason
they do this is to minimize, if not outright eliminate, the percentage of
net profits they are obligated to dole out in profit participation deals
and royalties. After all, how can a studio pay Tom Cruise that 20 percent
of the back end that they owe him if the movie has theoretically not made
a dime?

This is why Peter Jackson had to sue New Line Cinema to get his
contractually obligated fair share of the billions of dollars generated by
The Lord of the Rings. Yeah, we're guessing those three movies were deemed
losers too in the studios' funny way of calculating such things.

We thought we'd look into this further and find out which other sci-fi and
fantasy favorites have yet to turn a profit despite raking in gazillions.
The answers may surprise you. But since this is SCI FI Wire and not
Accounting 101, you can do the math yourself ... just don't let the
studios do it for you.
---

The Lord of the Rings

Budget: $285 million (all three movies combined)

Worldwide box office: $2.9 billion (all three movies combined)

As noted above, Peter Jackson had to sue to force New Line Cinema to allow
its books to be audited and get Jackson his proper share of the Rings
trilogy's box office and DVD sales. The estate of J.R.R. Tolkien and 15 of
the trilogy's actors also sued the studio for their cuts of the movies'
profits.
--

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Budget: $315 million

Worldwide box office: $937 million

According to a net profit statement obtained by Deadline, the movie cost
around $315 million to make (if we're reading it right), while the
official budget is listed at imdb.com as $150 million. A big difference
for sure, but either way the studio claims the movie has generated a loss.
So why keep making them if no one's earning any money?
-

Batman

Budget: $48 million

Worldwide box office: $411 million

The first modern Batman movie cost $48 million to make (relative peanuts
compared to today) and raked in hundreds of millions. Yet as reported in
Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters' 1997 book Hit  Run: How Jon Peters and
Peter Guber Took Sony For A Ride In Hollywood, producers Benjamin Melniker
and Michael Uslan sued Warner Bros. Pictures, claiming they had not seen a
penny of the net profits.
-

Spider-Man

Budget: $139 million

Worldwide box office: $807 million

Spidey's creator, Stan LeeStan Lee, for Pete's sake!had to sue Marvel and
the producers of the first movie for his share of the movie's profits.


Iron Man

Budget: $140 million

Worldwide box office: $572 million

While director Jon Favreau took home a not-too-shabby $4 million paycheck
to direct Shellhead's first movie, Favreau has said that he's also due 10
percent of the movie's net profitsmoney he doesn't expect to see for
years, if ever.
--

Alice in Wonderland

Budget: $200 million

Worldwide box office: $1.02 billion

According to Showbiz Management Advisors, Disney has not shown a profit on
Tim Burton's surprise 3D hit despite it making five times its budget at
the box office. Net profit participants have yet to earn a penny.
--

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Budget: $70 million

Worldwide box office: $349 million

Gary Wolf, the science fiction writer on whose novel this alternate
reality animated classic was based, is still waiting for his share of
gross receipts from the movie22 years after it came out. According to
AllBusiness.com, Wolf claimed as late as 2005 that the studio owed him $7
millionwhile Disney alleged that Wolf owed it anywhere from $500,000 to $1
million because of an accounting error!
--

The Last Unicorn

Budget: N/A

Domestic box office: $6.5 million (worldwide box office not available)

Peter S. Beagle, who wrote the beloved novel on which this 1982 animated
film was based (he also wrote the screenplay), has to date not received
his contractual share of any revenues or profits derived from the movie,
including home video and merchandise sales. While Beagle has not filed a
lawsuit, a public campaign on his behalf was launched in 2005 (Beagle also
has his own Lord of The Rings issues, which can be checked out at the
above link).
-

Babylon 5

Budget: $110 million (all five seasons combined)

Earnings: More than $1 billion (estimated)

Apparently Hollywood accounting is done for TV shows as 

[scifinoir2] It's official: 'Thor' and 'Captain America' will be 3-D films

[brent wodehouse]

Hero Complex

For your inner fanboy

It's official: 'Thor' and 'Captain America' will be 3-D films

July 14, 2010

EXCLUSIVE FIRST-LOOK PHOTO: THE GODS OFTHOR

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/07/thor-3d-captain-america-3d-comiccon-marvel-studios.html

Re: [scifinoir2] Top 10 Evil Human Experiments

[brent wodehouse]

Gruesome. :-\


Brent
  

Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com wrote:

http://listverse.com/2008/03/14/top-10-evil-human-experiments/

Top 10 Evil Human Experiments

Share This- Published March 14, 2008 - 343 Comments

[WARNING] This list contains descriptions and images of human
experimentation which may cause offense to some readers.] Human
experimentation and research ethics evolved over time. On occasion, the
subjects of human experimentation have been prisoners, slaves, or even
family members. In some notable cases, doctors have performed experiments
on themselves when they have been unwilling to risk the lives of others.
This is known as self-experimentation. This is a list of the 10 most evil
and unethical experiments carried out on humans.

Re: [scifinoir2] [Far, Far Away Off Topic] Is 2010 New York City, America's Summ

[brent wodehouse]

Ah, sadly, we are somewhat at odds then, Martin. You see, it's fiendishly
difficult to describe, but... Words fail me. The sight when one
encounters... when the vision of... ineffable. I guess the feeling...
beyond the ken of mere mortals (certainly this mortal :-). It pushes one
out of acceptable comportment into a sort of glassy-eyed delirium. You
see, there; it makes one confused and exhilarated at the same time.

Bother. 

I've ceased making sense. All I can be certain of is that the effect is
total. :-)


Brent


Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:

Brent, as a Leg Man for Life, I am bereft.


On Mon, Jul 12, 2010 at 11:29 PM, brent wodehouse
brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:

 

:-)

   
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/07/is_2010_new_yor.php

Badonkadonk

Is 2010 New York City, America's Summer of Ass?

By Foster Kamer

Mon., Jul. 12 2010

The times, they change. The ebb and flow of the universe is simply
something to be gerneally understood as such, and nothing more. For
every
action, there's an equal reaction. And for every physics law, there's a
metaphysical plane to apply it to that generally shows its face when
you
look at it from the right direction at a certain point. Like this one.
From behind. In other words:

In 2009, New York City, and the rest of America had the Summer of
Death.

In 2010, New York City, and the rest of America has the Summer of Ass.

Because 2009 was the Summer, when, like, every celebrity died! And
that's
sad. So America must be rewarded with something. The revitalized
popularity emerging for big derrieres -- an easily-achievable physical
feat, one may argue -- is, of course, society's natural karmic award
for
bearing the pain of all those dead celebrities last year.

The New York Daily News didn't note this in their piece of the Summer
of
Ass -- which, by the way, Runnin' Scared Dot Com would like to
officially
get behind (heh) in a big way (heh, that's another big ass joke, right
there) -- but after much looking, and looking, and looking, and
talking to
impressively-assed celebrities like Kim Kardashian, they think they've
unlocked the secret of the reemergence of the ample back-asset
   
[http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2010/07/12/2010-07-12_rearing_to_go_big_butts_are_summer_2010s_hottest_trend.html?page=1#ixzz0tTz6zgoG]:

'Gone are the days of being ashamed of a wider bottom, with America
becoming more diverse amid shifting standards, according to Stylesight
trend analyst Sharon Graubard. I think it's about the diversity of our
population and more accepted beauty, and a wider range of accepted
beauty, Graubard explains.'

Realize what a win-win situation this is for everyone:

* The Big-Bottomed: Pleased.
* The Ass Men: Pleased.
* The Workout Industry: Pleased.
* The Food Industry: Pleased.
* The Ass-Accentuating Denim Industry: Pleased.
* Pat Kiernan: Pleased
   
[http://www.patspapers.com/story_stack/item/everybody_likes_big_butts/].

Of all of society's ills, will the large-ass trend work to heal any of
them? Only time will tell. In the mean time, there's certainly one
marginalized group that may -- nay, must -- see something good yielded
by
all of this:

* The Booty Jam Nostalgists.
Lest you not understand what a Booty Jam is, all you need to know
is: It
is a song created for hyper-utilization by those with, um, big asses.
And
hopefully, these songs will come back, because they are amazing.
Certainly, you can have your Sir Mix-A-Lot, you may have your Apple
Bottom Jeans and your Nelly, but ah, you don't know anything about
Luke,
69 Boyz, and 2 Live Crew's heyday, until you experience it. Like this.

Re: [scifinoir2] OT: Goldberg: Mel Gibson is Not a Racist

[brent wodehouse]

No harm, no foul. I post, you comment. Fair play. :-)


Brent


Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net writes:


Brent,

I owe you an apology for high-mindedly saying I don't like being privy to
people's private thoughts and utterances, odious though they may be. I
still feel that way. I hate knowing that Gibson is such a racist on this
level. I don't get why his girlfriend chose to release this crap to Radar
Online instead of just the cops. I think, like the other topics we've
discussed recently of media coverage, we are becoming way too much of a
nation where everyone wants to get their stuff out in the media for a
variety of reasons.Ê But, for all that I wish and think this stuff should
never have been released this way, I must admit I've listened to it, and
it sickens me.Ê The only question I have is, why is *anyone* still
surprised at Gibson's racism? The drunken rants when he was arrested were
enough evidence, the disturbing anti-Semitic tones of The Passion of the
Christ were troublesome as well. 

As for Whoopi Goldberg saying he's not a racist, I have no idea what the
hell her definition is, but I'm not surprised. She's dealt with
self-hatred and hatred of black people for a long time. I've noticed over
the years how she attacks people who use the term African-American,
saying she's just an American, as if the term were insulting. I note
how refused to wear a ribbon against racism for the Oscars one year, and
even did a riff on it, but curiously, she wore things supporting
everything from gay rights to women's rights. And I note that, the same
lady who gives people like Gibson a pass is very quick to attack other
blacks. years ago she was given an Essence award I believe. (Might have
been NAACP...) When she got the award, Goldberg proceeded to thank the
audience, then tell them Y'all have made it hard on me--very hard. She
berated the audience for all the years that blacks had laughed at her
looks, not supported her, and made her feel ugly. Odd that she was so
quick to attack blacks publicly, takes offense at black labels,Ê yet
can be so forgiving and understanding of racism like this. 

Oh yeah: I bet Danny Glover is saying, What the fu**, Mel?!


http://www.examiner.com/x-15166-Comedy-Examiner~y2010m7d13-Whoopi-Goldberg-defends-Mel-Gibson-Mel-Gibson-is-not-a-racist



We've been following the goings-on over at the Mel Gibson
Meltdownapalooza for the past few weeks.Ê By now, you've probably heard
one or more of the audio tapes that Gibson's ex has leaked to the press,
so we don't need to reiterate the blatant hate-speech, misogyny, and--
let's face it-- flat-out threats that Gibson spits out during these
tapes.Ê This is the sorta situation that any reasonable, intelligent,
rational thinking-person could look at and say, You know, I think that
Mel Gibson's a bit of a racist, and probably a few other things.Ê With
that said, Whoopi Goldberg has sprung into action to defend Mel Gibson as
decidedly un-racist.Ê Read all about it below, my gentle Examiner
readers...

This Mel Gibson thing's really getting out of hand.Ê The current news on
the situation is that authorities are now looking into the Gibson/Oksana
(that'd be his ex-wife) debacle for a multitude of reasons.Ê On one side
of the fence, you've got Gibson's camp accusing Oksana of trying to extor
Gibson by releasing the tapes to the media.Ê This side claims that Gibson
was set-up and provoked into making the several audio tapes that have now
leaked to the press.Ê On the other side of the debate, you've got
Gibson's ex's people, who claim that Gibson beat her up, threatened to
plant her in (his) rose garden, and that Gibson's a flaming racist.Ê
Now, just because there aren't enough cooks in this particular kitchen,
Whoopi [
http://wonderwall.msn.com/tv/whoopi-goldberg-mel-gibson-is-not-a-racist-1560886.story?GT1=28135
]Goldberg's got a few things to say:



I have had a long friendship with Mel. You can say he's being a bonehead,
but I can't sit and say that he's a racist having spent time with him in
my house with my kids, added Goldberg, 54.I don't like what he's done,
make no mistake, she went on. I'm not defending Mel. I'm simply saying
I don't see him as [a racist] because that's not been my experience with
him.




That's Whoopi Goldberg speaking to MSN.com.Ê She's apparently taken the
stance that, while Gibson's behavior is certainly boneheaded, it's not
necessarily racist.Ê Goldberg's careful to add that she doesn't support
Gibson's behavior or the things that he's said that might be construed as
threatening to Gibson's ex or children, but that whole pack of n---gers
thing definitely wasn't racist.Ê With that in mind, let's take a trip
down memory lane for the other non-racist and tolerant things that
Gibson's been caught saying on camera, on tape, or by police officers
with glorious breasts:



You look like a f-cking pig in heat, and if you get raped by a pack of
n---ers, it will be 

[scifinoir2] Nolan won't replace Ledger as Joker in 'Batman 3'

[brent wodehouse]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/entertainment/2012336593_apusfilmbatmansequel.html?prmid=head_main

Nolan won't replace Ledger as Joker in 'Batman 3'

Batman is returning, but he won't have the Joker to contend with next time.

The Associated Press


LOS ANGELES - Batman is returning, but he won't have the Joker to contend
with next time.

Director Christopher Nolan says he will not bring back the Joker, the
villain played so maniacally in The Dark Knight by the late Heath Ledger
that the role earned him an Academy Award a year after his death.

Nolan would not disclose what villain or villains might take on Batman in
the next film, due out July 20, 2012, the same weekend that brought the
record-breaking $158.4 million debut of The Dark Knight in 2008.

For me, Heath was the definitive Joker, Nolan said in an interview to
promote Inception, his sci-fi thriller opening Friday. It wouldn't feel
appropriate to readdress that character.

Ledger died of an accidental prescription drug overdose in January 2008.
His death stoked fan interest in The Dark Knight, which topped $1
billion at the box office worldwide.

With his supporting-actor win, Ledger became only the second performer
ever to earn an Oscar posthumously.

The next Batman film will be the third in the current Warner Bros.
incarnation of the franchise, which stars Christian Bale as the vigilante
superhero.

[scifinoir2] Tiny Satellites for Big Science

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.physorg.com/news198173326.html

Tiny Satellites for Big Science

July 12, 2010 

by Prachi Patel

The shrinking technology of cell phones, laptops and cameras are now
leading to palm-sized satellites. Easy to build and affordable, these
small satellites offer a new way to conduct astrobiology research. They
also could change the way we explore the universe.


When it comes to laptop computers and cell phones, bigger isn’t better.
The same logic applies to satellites: the bulkier the satellite, the more
time it takes to design and build, and the more expensive it is to put
into orbit.

Researchers are now taking advantage of the electronics technologies
that have made personal gizmos compact and affordable to make satellites
that weigh and cost a fraction of their predecessors. These pocket- and
backpack-sized satellites are changing the way astrobiology research is
done.

Conventional satellites used for communications, navigation or research
can be as large as a school bus and weigh between 100 and 500 kilograms.
Universities, companies and NASA are now building small satellites that
weigh less than one kilogram (picosatellites) or up to 10 kilograms
(nanosatellites).

These small satellites can be considered miniature versions of full-size
counterparts. They contain the same components - battery, orbital control
and positioning systems, radio communication systems, and analytical
instruments - except everything is smaller, less expensive and sometimes
less complicated.

“That’s the beauty of this technology,” says Orlando Santos, an
astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center. “We can make these things
small and still get meaningful science out of them.”

The Rise of the Cube

Two decades ago, Bob Twiggs and his students at Stanford University
developed the first picosatellite the size of a Klondike ice cream bar.
The Aerospace Corporation launched these picosatellites as part of a
mission to demonstrate the feasibility of building little satellites that
communicate with each other.

Twiggs then worked on CubeSat, a 10-centimeter cube. “I got a 4-inch
beanie baby box and tacked on some solar cells to see how many would fit
on the surface,” Twiggs says. “I had enough voltage for what I needed so I
decided that would be the size.”

Jordi Puig-Suari at California Polytechnic State University built a
deployment mechanism called the poly picosatellite orbital deployer, or
P-POD, that could pack up to three CubeSats. One of these is typically the
satellite bus, the brains of the satellite containing positioning and
radio equipment, while the other cubes carry the scientific experiments.
In 2004, the researchers sent the first three-cube nanosatellite into
orbit.

Six years later, CubeSats have become the world-wide standard for small
satellites. They are being used for everything from environmental sensing
and fundamental biology research to testing new space flight systems.

Over 60 universities and high schools are part of the CubeSat Project
based at Cal Poly. The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Air Force
have programs that funds CubeSats for atmospheric and space weather
research. Aerospace companies such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing have also
built and flown CubeSats.

Kentucky-based NanoRacks LLC provides a platform to take CubeSat
experiments as cargo aboard the Space Shuttles to the International Space
Station for periods of 30 or 60 days, after which they bring the cubes
back.

The goal of NASA’s new CubeSat Launch Initiative is to radically open up
the flight opportunities for nanosatellites. This Initiative should also
make it easier for universities to compete for launch access on NASA
launch vehicles.

There are probably between 35 and 40 small satellites orbiting the Earth
right now, of which about a quarter might still be working, says Twiggs,
now a professor at Morehead State University’s Space Science Center in
Kentucky.

Cutting Costs

The biggest advantage of nano- and pico-satellites is that they are a
bargain. Most of the cost saving comes at the launch stage. Unlike
conventional satellites, they don’t need a dedicated launch vehicle where
they are the primary payload. “They’re so small they can hitch a ride on
somebody else’s rocket,” Santos says. NASA’s nanosatellite missions cost
two million a piece as opposed to the tens of millions needed for a
conventional satellite.

Their affordability also comes from being built with off-the-shelf
electronic circuit chips such as microprocessors and radio frequency
transmitters and receivers. These are the same components that are inside
smart phones, hand-held Global Positioning System units, and digital
cameras.

In fact, the miniaturization of electronics has been the driving force
behind small satellite technology, making it affordable, says Twiggs.
“Electronics today are much more power-efficient than electronics of the
past; that helps us,” he says. “Ten or fifteen years ago we couldn’t have
found the components for the 

[scifinoir2] Feature Version of Robert Heinlein's Have Space Suit, Will Travel

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021311.html?categoryid=13cs=1

Jupiter 9 'Travels' to sci fi

Indie to develop tome with Gotham Group

By DAVE MCNARY


Harry Kloor's Jupiter 9 Prods. is developing a feature version of Robert
Heinlein's Have Space Suit, Will Travel with Gotham Group's Ellen
Goldsmith-Vein and Peter McHugh attached as producers.

Kloor, who founded Jupiter 9 to promote science literacy, obtained film
rights after presenting a finished script to the Heinlein estate.

I was inspired to become a scientist and science fiction writer in part
by reading the works of grand master Robert Heinlein, Kloor said.

Have Space Suit, Will Travel was originally serialized in 1958 in
Magazine of Fantasy  Science Fiction and published later that year in
hardcover by Scribner's. Set in 2040, Space Suit tells the story of a
teenager who loses a contest for a free trip to the Moon, but wins a
broken-down space suit -- which contains properties that lead to
humanity's first contact with aliens.

Kloor's credits include writing for such TV series as Star Trek:
Voyager, the animated series Godzilla and the syndie drama Earth:
Final Conflict, and the upcoming animated feature Quantum Quest: A
Cassini Space Odyssey, which will be released in large-format theaters in
the fall. Quantum Quest interweaves animated sequences rendered by
Digimax with space imagery captured from seven ongoing space missions.

Gotham Group was a producer on The Spiderwick Chronicles and is in
preproduction on Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner and directed by John
Singleton.

Contact Dave McNary at dave.mcn...@variety.com

[scifinoir2] [Far, Far Away Off Topic] Is 2010 New York City, America's Summer of Ass?

[brent wodehouse]

:-)

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/07/is_2010_new_yor.php

Badonkadonk

Is 2010 New York City, America's Summer of Ass?

By Foster Kamer

Mon., Jul. 12 2010


The times, they change. The ebb and flow of the universe is simply
something to be gerneally understood as such, and nothing more. For every
action, there's an equal reaction. And for every physics law, there's a
metaphysical plane to apply it to that generally shows its face when you
look at it from the right direction at a certain point. Like this one.
From behind. In other words:

In 2009, New York City, and the rest of America had the Summer of Death.

In 2010, New York City, and the rest of America has the Summer of Ass.

Because 2009 was the Summer, when, like, every celebrity died! And that's
sad. So America must be rewarded with something. The revitalized
popularity emerging for big derrieres -- an easily-achievable physical
feat, one may argue -- is, of course, society's natural karmic award for
bearing the pain of all those dead celebrities last year.

The New York Daily News didn't note this in their piece of the Summer of
Ass -- which, by the way, Runnin' Scared Dot Com would like to officially
get behind (heh) in a big way (heh, that's another big ass joke, right
there) -- but after much looking, and looking, and looking, and talking to
impressively-assed celebrities like Kim Kardashian, they think they've
unlocked the secret of the reemergence of the ample back-asset
[http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/fashion/2010/07/12/2010-07-12_rearing_to_go_big_butts_are_summer_2010s_hottest_trend.html?page=1#ixzz0tTz6zgoG]:

'Gone are the days of being ashamed of a wider bottom, with America
becoming more diverse amid shifting standards, according to Stylesight
trend analyst Sharon Graubard. I think it's about the diversity of our
population and more accepted beauty, and a wider range of accepted
beauty, Graubard explains.'

Realize what a win-win situation this is for everyone:

* The Big-Bottomed: Pleased.
* The Ass Men: Pleased.
* The Workout Industry: Pleased.
* The Food Industry: Pleased.
* The Ass-Accentuating Denim Industry: Pleased.
* Pat Kiernan: Pleased
[http://www.patspapers.com/story_stack/item/everybody_likes_big_butts/].

Of all of society's ills, will the large-ass trend work to heal any of
them? Only time will tell. In the mean time, there's certainly one
marginalized group that may -- nay, must -- see something good yielded by
all of this:

* The Booty Jam Nostalgists.
Lest you not understand what a Booty Jam is, all you need to know is: It
is a song created for hyper-utilization by those with, um, big asses. And
hopefully, these songs will come back, because they are amazing.
Certainly, you can have your Sir Mix-A-Lot, you may have your Apple
Bottom Jeans and your Nelly, but ah, you don't know anything about Luke,
69 Boyz, and 2 Live Crew's heyday, until you experience it. Like this.

[scifinoir2] Wide-eyed Beauty Seyfried to star in 'I'm.mortal'

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118021636.html?categoryid=13cs=1

Posted: Mon., Jul. 12, 2010

Seyfried to star in 'I'm.mortal'

New Regency sci-fi pic to be distributed by Fox

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK


Amanda Seyfried is seeking immortality, starring in New Regency's sci-fi
action thriller, I'm.mortal, from writer-director Andrew Niccol.
Twentieth Century Fox will distribute the film, which also has romance
elements.

I'm.mortal centers on a society in which aging stops at 25 -- meaning
that every role will be played by actors in their mid-20s.

New Regency picked up the high-priority project this spring. Niccol is
expected to begin lensing this year.

Eric Newman and Marc Abraham are producing via their Strike Entertainment.
Strike's Kristel Laiblin is exec producing.

Time is the currency in the world of I'm.mortal, where citizens must buy
and bank time when their aging gene turns off at age 25. The rich can live
forever, but those who run out of time are engineered to die automatically.

When a rebel from the ghetto is falsely accused of murdering a wealthy man
for his time, he is forced to go on the run with a beautiful, rich hostage
(Seyfried).

Seyfried stars in Warner Bros.' upcoming Red Riding Hood, from director
Catherine Hardwicke. She was last in theaters with Letters to Juliet,
Dear John and Mamma Mia!The male lead hasn't yet been cast.

It's a strange casting process. Even for a small role like a priest or a
pawnbroker, where you would normally cast a 75-year-old character actor, I
have to find a 75-year-old character actor in a 25-year old body, Niccol
told Daily Variety.

Niccol's previous directing/writing credits include Gattaca and Lord of
War. He also wrote The Truman Show.

I'm.mortal isn't the only sci-fi film project broaching the subject of a
future where people don't age.

A remake of Logan's Run has been in the works for more than a decade at
Warner Bros., with Joel Silver and Akiva Goldsman producing. That film
focuses on a man trying to escape a mandatory death sentence on his 30th
birthday.

Seyfried is repped by Innovative Artists.



Contact Pamela McClintock at pamela.mcclint...@variety.com.

Re: [scifinoir2] Star Trek in the Park

[brent wodehouse]

(((Swet!)))


Brent



On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 5:48 PM, Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote:



http://www.boingboing.net/2010/07/08/trek-in-the-park-cla.html

Classic Star Trek episodes performed outdoors

An amazingly awesome small theater group in Portland, OR called Atomic
Arts is about to launch its second season/episode of Trek in the Park --
a live action recreation of a classic Star Trek episode from start to
finish, free and open to the public and staged at Woodlawn Park. The
group launched Trek last summer with weekend performances of the bizarre
episode 'Amok Time', and it was insanely awesome! Local band Fast
Computers provides the live soundtrack (including a great rendition of
the theme song to get things off to a spacey start), and the entire
staging, from the actors to the live-on-set sound effect, is just . . .
fascinating. And hilarious

[scifinoir2] 'Tron's' digital revolution began 28 years ago today and continues in San Diego

[brent wodehouse]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2010/07/comiccon-tron-digitial-revolution-comic-con.html

Hero Complex

For your inner fanboy

COMIC-CON 2010: 'Tron's' digital revolution began 28 years ago today and
continues in San Diego

July 9, 2010

GUEST ESSAY

Jay West is a devoted fan and student of the 1982 film Tron and he has
written a series of guest columns on the viral marketing for the film's
sequel, Tron: Legacy, due this December. Today, on the 28th anniversary
of the original film's release, West talks about the legacy of the film,
looking both forward and back, with emphasis on Comic-Con International
2010. 


Twenty-eight years ago today, Tron arrived in movie theaters and made
movie history -- not that everybody actually noticed. Like Blade Runner
and John Carpenter's The Thing, Tron was overshadowed that summer by
media frenzy surrounding Steven Spielberg's E.T: The Extra-Terrestrial
and its mega-success with moviegoers. Still, Tron did connect with a
devoted core audience and its influence continued to echo through the
years as it was rediscovered by subsequent generations.

The original Tron film was groundbreaking in its use of computer
generated imagery and, while today's fans might chuckle at the Reagan-era
visuals, they set the stage for today's movie marvels. Without 'Tron,'
Pixar guru John Lasseter has said, there would be no 'Toy Story.'

This December, moviegoers go back into the machine with Tron: Legacy,the
sequel from Disney that will be one of the major projects-to-watch at this
month's Comic-Con International [http://www.comic-con.org/]. At 11:15 a.m.
on July 22, the film will be promoted with a star-studded panel in Hall H,
the 6,500-seat room that is the standing-room-only hub of Comic-Con's
Hollywood programming. The panel will consist of director Joe Kosinski,
producers Sean Bailey and Steven Lisberger as well as cast members Jeff
Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Michael Sheen and Bruce
Boxleitner. Patton Oswalt will moderate and there will be new footage from
the film and, according to Disney, some special surprises.

It was at the 2008 convention that the vision of a 21st century Tron
film was born. When test footage was shown to a packed hall of incredibly
surprised convention attendees, it was met with such an overwhelmingly
positive response  the “it” moment of the convention  that the studio gave
the still-tentative film a bright green light to move forward.

Director Kosinski recalls: “When we made the teaser, we envisioned it as a
sneak peek at the potential of this project. We set out to stay true to
the characters, the vehicles, and the world established in the first film 
then show its evolution. When it took off with the fans, we knew we were
in the right place. Because they’ve been key to getting this story told,
we’re back to keep them involved, and excited to finally present actual
footage from the film to the audience that made it all possible.”

This year the San Diego expo will provide the latest chapter of the Flynn
Lives [http://www.flynnlives.com/] ARG (alternate reality game) for
Tron: Legacy that has been the centerpiece of Disney's ambitious viral
marketing campaign for the sequel. (You can check out my guest-contributor
coverage [http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/jay-west/] of the
ARG, which will continue through Comic-Con, right here at Hero Complex.)

Disney will also showcase an interactive Tron booth on the convention
floor (Booth No. 3712), giving fans a first look at the all new “Tron:
Legacy” merchandise launching this fall. The display will spotlight toys,
electronics, collectibles, apparel, accessories, publishing and the “Tron:
Evolution” video game from Disney Interactive Studios
[http://disney.go.com/disneyinteractivestudios/]. Comic-Con exclusive
products will also be on sale. Disney will also revealing tie-in mobile
content at the event.

Expect a lot more Tron in the months to come. The acclaimed music duo
Daft Punk [http://www.daftpunk.com/], for instance, is not only providing
the musical backbeat of the digital world on screen, there are rumblings
about major music events that will take the Tron universe to new
live-event frontiers. Today, on the 28th anniversary of Tron, the
digital fantasy's glow has not faded at all -- far from it,Tron and its
future are becoming brighter every week.

-- Jay West

Re: [scifinoir2] Frequency Rotation: Jermaine Jackson, “Escape From The Planet

[brent wodehouse]

I REMEMBER. (Eerie synthesiser noises) More please. :-) robo-funk


Brent



Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com writes:

Have I been living under a rock, to have missed this?

===


Frequency Rotation: Jermaine Jackson, ÒEscape From The Planet Of The Ant
MenÓ

[ http://www.tor.com/community/users/JasonHeller ]Jason Heller

[Image]


Each week, Frequency Rotation probes a different song with a
speculative-fiction theme. Genre, musical quality, and overall
seriousness may vary.

ÒRemember Michael Jackson,Ó the headlines have been screaming over the
past couple weeks. The anniversary of the pop iconÕs death is upon us,
and fan and hater alike had better get used to the exhaustive media
tributes (and fresh rounds of reissues, lawsuits, and Jackson family
drama) that will be popping up every summer from now until the end of
existence.

Personally, I donÕt mind. I love spectacle, and I love Michael
JacksonÑand the two, after all, go hand in hand. His video for ÒThrillerÓ
fricasseed my tender brain when I was a kid, and his revamping of trashy
genre tropes was uncannily in sync with my own warped development at the
time. Michael, though, isnÕt the only Jackson with geek cred: Behold the
secret science-fiction life of Jermaine Jackson.




More at: [
http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/frequency-rotation-jermaine-jackson-escape-from-the-planet-of-the-ant-men?j=24116312e=truthseeker_...@yahoo.coml=15162145_HTMLu=276428062mid=83886jb=0
]http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/frequency-rotation-jermaine-jackson-escape-from-the-planet-of-the-ant-men?j=24116312e=truthseeker_...@yahoo.coml=15162145_HTMLu=276428062mid=83886jb=0




-- 
If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody
hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik

[scifinoir2] Victorian Star Wars Portraits Paint Characters in New Light

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101634-Victorian-Star-Wars-Portraits-Paint-Characters-in-New-Light

(Please note also: http://www.sillof.com/C-Steampunk-SW2.htm)

[scifinoir2] Complex, Multicellular Life from Over Two Billion Years Ago Discovered

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100630171711.htm

Complex, Multicellular Life from Over Two Billion Years Ago Discovered


ScienceDaily (July 1, 2010) - The discovery in Gabon of more than 250
fossils in an excellent state of conservation has provided proof, for the
first time, of the existence of multicellular organisms 2.1 billion years
ago. This finding represents a major breakthrough: until now, the first
complex life forms (made up of several cells) dated from around 600
million years ago.

These new fossils, of various shapes and sizes, imply that the origin of
organized life is a lot older than is generally admitted, thus challenging
current knowledge on the beginning of life. These specimens were
discovered and studied by an international (1) multidisciplinary team of
researchers led by Abderrazak El Albani of the Laboratoire Hydrogéologie,
Argiles, Sols et Altérations (CNRS/Université de Poitiers) (2). Their
work, due to be published in Nature on 1st July, will feature on the cover
of the journal.

The first traces of life appeared in the form of prokaryotic organisms, in
other words organisms without a nucleus, around three and a half billion
years ago. Another major event in the history of life, the Cambrian
explosion some 600 million years ago, marked a proliferation in the
number of living species. It was accompanied by a sudden rise in oxygen
concentration in the atmosphere. What happened between 3.5 billion and 600
million years ago though? Scientists have very little information about
this era, known as the Proterozoic. Yet, it is during this crucial period
that life diversified: to the prokaryotes were added the eukaryotes,
single or multicelled organisms endowed with a more complex organization
and metabolism. These large-sized living beings differ from prokaryotes by
the presence of cells possessing a nucleus containing DNA.

While studying the paleo-environment of a fossil-bearing site situated
near Franceville in Gabon in 2008, El Albani and his team unexpectedly
discovered perfectly preserved fossil remains in the 2.1 billion-year-old
sediments. They have collected more than 250 fossils to date, of which one
hundred or so have been studied in detail. Their morphology cannot be
explained by purely chemical or physical mechanisms. These specimens,
which have various shapes and can reach 10 to 12 centimeters, are too big
and too complex to be single-celled prokaryotes or eukaryotes. This
establishes that different life forms co-existed at the start of the
Proterozoic, as the specimens are well and truly fossilized living
material.

To demonstrate this, the researchers employed cutting-edge techniques that
allowed them to define the nature of the samples and to reconstruct their
environment. An ion probe capable of measuring the content of sulfur
isotopes made it possible to map the relative distribution of organic
matter precisely. This matter is what remains of the living organism,
which has been transformed into pyrite (a mineral formed of iron
disulfide) during fossilization. This helped the researchers to
distinguish the fossils from the Gabonese sediment (made of clay). In
addition, using an ultra-sophisticated, high-resolution 3D scanner (also
known as X-ray microtomograph), they were able to reconstitute the samples
in three dimensions and, in particular, assess their degree of internal
organization in great detail, without compromising the integrity of the
fossils, since the method is non-invasive. The clearly defined and regular
shape of these fossils points to a degree of multicellular organization.
These organisms lived in colonies: more than 40 specimens per half square
meter were sometimes collected. Consequently, they constitute the oldest
multicellular eukaryotes ever described to date.

By studying the sedimentary structures of this site, which is remarkable
both for its richness and quality of conservation, the scientists have
shown that these organisms lived in a shallow marine environment (20 to 30
meters), often calm but periodically subjected to the combined influence
of tides, waves and storms. In order to be able to develop 2.1 billion
years ago and become differentiated to a degree never attained previously,
the authors suggest that these life forms probably benefited from the
significant but temporary increase in oxygen concentration in the
atmosphere, which occurred between 2.45 and 2 billion years ago. Then, 1.9
billion years ago, the level of oxygen in the atmosphere fell suddenly.

Until now, it has been assumed that organized multicellular life appeared
around 0.6 billion years ago and that before then the Earth was mainly
populated by microbes (viruses, bacteria, parasites, etc.). This new
discovery moves the cursor of the origin of multicellular life back by 1.5
billion years and reveals that cells had begun to cooperate with each
other to form more complex and larger structures than single-celled
organisms. Several research avenues now need 

[scifinoir2] [Somewhat OT] Apatow plans new 'Pee-wee' movie

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/07/02/14583651-wenn-story.html

Apatow plans new 'Pee-wee' movie

By WENN.COM


Paul Reubens' man-child alter-ego Pee-wee Herman is set for the big screen
again - the actor has signed a movie deal with producer Judd Apatow.

The Knocked Up director set the project in motion after seeing Reubens'
zany revival of the Pee-wee Herman Show, which ran in Los Angeles from
January to February.

The show was a revamp of Reubens' 1981 stage production that landed the
actor and his beloved character a TV show and a film franchise.

Paul Rust, whose credits include Inglourious Basterds and I Love You, Beth
Cooper, will reportedly pen the new screenplay, which will take Pee-wee on
a gigantic adventure.

Apatow tells Daily Variety, Let's face it, the world needs more Pee-wee
Herman. I am so excited to be working with Paul Reubens - who is an
extraordinary and ground-breaking actor and writer. It's so great to watch
him return with such relevance.

The movie deal follows Reubens' announcement he will take his smash stage
revival to Broadway, for a six-week New York run in November.

The actor previously took the character to the big screen with Pee-wee's
Big Adventure in 1985 and Big Top Pee-wee in 1988.

He retired the character in 1990 after 13 episodes of Emmy Award-winning
children's TV series Pee-wee's Playhouse.

[scifinoir2] Some Ancient Stars In Milky Way Were Born Elsewhere

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/milky-way-ancient-stars-collisions-100701.html

Some Ancient Stars In Milky Way Were Born Elsewhere

By Zoe Macintosh
SPACE.com Staff Writer

posted: 01 July 2010


Our Milky Way galaxy snatched up many of its most ancient stars from
smaller galaxies that shredded each other in violent collisions, a new
study suggests.

Using new supercomputer simulations, researchers found that some ancient
Milky Way stars did not form natively with the rest of the galaxy about 10
billion years ago. Instead, they are actually the leftovers from other
galaxies that collided about 5 billion years ago.

These stars make up some of the residents in the Milky Way's stellar halo,
which extends above and below the spiral galaxy's main disk, researchers
said.

Effectively we became galactic archaeologists, hunting out the likely
sites where ancient stars could be scattered around the galaxy, said
researcher and post graduate student Andrew Cooper of the Institute of
Computational Cosmology at Durham University in the United Kingdom.

Like ancient rock strata that reveal the history of Earth, the stellar
halo preserves a record of a dramatic primeval period in the life of the
Milky Way which ended long before the sun was born, he added.

The new simulations began about 13 billion years ago, just after the
universe began, and then used universal laws of physics to chart how the
gravitational attraction of the galaxies' dark matter halos accumulated
stars over time.

Dark matter halos are regions of invisible matter around a galaxy which
astronomers only infer exist because of their gravitational effects on
visible matter.

The simulations are a blueprint for galaxy formation, said researcher
Carlos Frenk, director of the Institute of Computational Cosmology at
Durham. 

Frenk said the simulations reveal clues into the early, violent history
of the Milky Way galaxy.

Researchers credited the unusually high resolution of the new simulation
for its results. Capable of zooming in on the fine details of galaxy
unraveling, the simulations showed streams of stars being pulled from
clusters due to the gravity of hidden dark matter.

Most surprising was the similarity between the simulated results and real
observations, said Cooper.

This shows that the cold dark matter model gives a convincing match to
the real universe not just on very large scales, but also for individual
Milky Way-like galaxies, he told SPACE.com.  

The cold dark matter model is the current standard model of cosmology,
which depicts galaxy formation in the universe as a process primarily
arising from the clumping of dark matter.

The research is detailed in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Society.

[scifinoir2] Andrew Garfield cast as the new Spider-Man

[brent wodehouse]

http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2010/07/01/andrew-garfield-cast-as-the-new-spider-man/

Andrew Garfield cast as the new Spider-Man

by Nicole Sperling


We have a new friendly neighborhood Spider-Man - and he’s British.
Columbia Pictures confirms that Andrew Garfield, 26, has nabbed the highly
sought-after role of Peter Parker after a worldwide search. Garfield,
while largely unknown in the states, is one of the U.K.’s most highly
regarded up-and-comers. He appeared in Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of
Dr. Parnassus as well as John Crowley’s Boy A, for which he received a
best actor BAFTA in 2008. He’s been getting heat in the U.S., too. This
year the young Brit will be starring opposite Jesse Eisenberg and Justin
Timberlake in the Facebook movie Social Network, directed by David
Fincher, and will star in the Oscar-bait drama Never Let Me Go opposite
Carey Mulligan (An Education) and Keira Knightley. As recently as
yesterday, web speculation was high that 17-year-old Josh Hutcherson (The
Kids Are All Right) would land the webslinger role, which was originated
on the big screen by Tobey Maguire.

[scifinoir2] [Fairly Well OT] Mel Gibson and the N-Word

[brent wodehouse]

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/the_big_picture/2010/07/mel-gibsons-outrageous-new-rant-is-it-time-for-anger-management.html

Mel Gibson's outrageous new rant: Is it time for more anger management?

July 1, 2010


We all know that Mel Gibson is a very, very angry guy, something that
seems to surface at the most inopportune times, as when the WGN-TV
reporter Dean Richards had the temerity to ask the actor, on camera, about
the fallout from his 2006 drunk driving arrest and Gibson called him a
profane name that we can't repeat here. After that incident, Gibson
acknowledged that I have a short fuse. I'm trying to work on it.

But judging from this explosive new story that just broke at
RadarOnline.com, Gibson needs to put a little more time into anger
management. Maybe a lot more time. Radar reporters say they have heard a
tape made by Oksana Grigorieva, Gibson's ex-girlfriend and mother of his
baby daughter, Lucia, who have been battling in court over custody issues.

In an e-mail to The Times, Gibson representative Alan Nierob said that he
had not yet confirmed the report's accuracy due to legal matters.

According to Radar, Gibson is heard yelling insults at Grigorieva,
including a nasty racial epithet known in polite society as the N-word. In
one of his rants, Gibson reportedly says, You look like a ... pig in
heat, and if you get raped by a pack of ..., it will be your fault.

In addition to a string of derogatory words referring to Grigorieva's
womanhood, Gibson also is said to have threatened her, saying I am going
to come and burn the ... house down, adding, but you will [perform oral
sex on] me first.

There's much, much more, but I'll spare you the gory details. You'll
undoubtedly hear all about them in the media uproar that is sure to
follow. If Gibson has an explanation for his racial epithets, which of
course echo the vile anti-Semitic remarks he made after his DUI arrest, it
is sure to be a doozy. So far, according to Radar, Gibson has not denied
having a confrontation with Grigorieva but has simply described it,
through his lawyer, as a loud argument.

It's way too early to start talking about the career fallout from his
latest tirade, except to say that if these tapes are authentic, Gibson
should be figuring out not whether to make an apology, but when and where.
It's a sad thing to realize that the actor who was so gifted at playing
bitter, violent men on screen is apparently drawing all too easily on a
store of bitterness and anger from deep inside his own psyche. It sounds
to me as if it's time for Gibson's friends to get this man some help. Fast.

[scifinoir2] Williams wants crack at 'Batman'

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/06/30/14565671-wenn-story.html

Williams wants crack at 'Batman'

By WENN.COM


Robin Williams is urging movie bosses to cast him in the next Batman movie
- because he has twice been turned down for parts in the superhero
franchise.

Rumours over casting for Christopher Nolan's upcoming third superhero film
have been rife ever since The Dark Knight, starring Heath Ledger as The
Joker, hit cinemas in 2008 - with fans speculating over which characters
will be re-introduced.

Nolan is said to be considering bringing feline femme fatale Catwoman back
for the new movie, along with The Riddler.

Williams is adamant he would make a good replacement for Jim Carrey, who
played the fiendish puzzler in 1995's Batman Forever, because the part was
originally offered to him. The funnyman also reveals he was lined up to
play The Joker in the original 1989 Batman movie before the role was later
handed to Jack Nicholson - and the snubs have made him determined to
secure a part in the next installment of the hit franchise.

He tells Empire magazine, I would do Batman in a second. I'd play The
Riddler in the next one, although it would be hard to top Heath Ledger as
the villain and I'm a little hairy for tights.

The Batman films have screwed me twice before: years ago they offered me
The Joker and then gave it to Jack Nicholson, then they offered me The
Riddler and gave it to Jim Carrey. I'd be like, 'OK, is this a real offer?
If it is, then the answer's yes. Don't pump me again motherf**kers'.

Re: [scifinoir2] Hulu starts paid subscription TV service

[brent wodehouse]

:-(



Brent



Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com writes:

As the prediction foretold, it has been done...


Hulu starts paid subscription TV service

Jennifer Saba
NEW YORK
Tue Jun 29, 2010 6:39pm EDT   

Related News

[ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65O07S20100625 ]Sony's
PlayStation near deal with Hulu: report
Thu, Jun 24 2010
[ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2423075420100625 ]Sony
's PlayStation near deal with Hulu-report
Thu, Jun 24 2010
[ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65M0OU20100623 ]Hulu in talks
with CBS, others for paid TV shows: report
Wed, Jun 23 2010
[ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSSGE65M04L20100623 ]Hulu in talks
with CBS, others for paid TV shows - Bloomberg
Wed, Jun 23 2010
[ http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65D4XP20100616 ]Microsoft Kinect
arrives November 4th
Tue, Jun 15 2010 
  

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Hulu introduced a new paid subscription service for
watching TV shows and movies on mobile devices, game consoles, television
sets and computers, and joined other media companies trying to strike a
balance between paid and ad supported models.

 

[ http://www.reuters.com/news/entertainment ]EntertainmentÊÊ|ÊÊ[
http://www.reuters.com/subjects/ipad ]ipadÊÊ|ÊÊ[
http://www.reuters.com/news/technology ]TechnologyÊÊ|ÊÊ[
http://www.reuters.com/news/entertainment/television ]TelevisionÊÊ|ÊÊ[
http://www.reuters.com/news/media ]Media



Until now, Hulu has been free over the web supported by advertisements,
but offered only selected TV shows and movies. That service will continue
to exist after the launch of Hulu Plus.



Hulu's subscription service, called Hulu Plus, gives users access to more
than 45 full programs of everything from Glee to The Office for $9.99
a month.



Like all media companies, Hulu has its work cut out in trying to get
people to pay for programing they are used to watching for free from the
broadcast networks.



Hulu Plus is hoping to lure consumers to pay a monthly fee for the
convenience of watching shows whenever they want.



Hulu has the backing of some of the most powerful media brands, with Fox
owner News Corp, General Electric Co's NBC Universal, ABC owner Walt
Disney Co holding equity stakes in the company. Providence Equity
Partners also is a stakeholder.



Hulu said it is making its service available on Apple Inc's iPhone, [
http://www.reuters.com/subjects/ipad ]iPad and iTouch, Samsung
Electronics Co Ltd's television sets and Blu-ray players. Soon, Hulu Plus
will be available on Sony Corp's PlayStation 3.



Next year, the service will be available on Microsoft Corp's Xbox 360,
Hulu said in its announcement on Tuesday.



Netflix Inc already runs a subscription service, while Comcast Corp and
Time Warner Inc are developing TV Everywhere, which will allow people
to watch shows on demand for free and on any device provided they are
already paying customers.



In another case, Time Warner's HBO service Go lets subscribers download
episodes of True Blood or Big Love as a free ad-on.



The Hulu subscription plan and partnership with device makers was a
widely anticipated move, reported by Reuters and others earlier this
month.



In a blog post, Hulu chief executive Jason Kilar described Hulu Plus as
incremental and complementary to the existing Hulu service. He said the
subscription plan would make available full seasons of current TV shows,
as well as back seasons of hit programs like Arrested Development and
The X-Files.



We believe that any lasting solution to the challenge of making TV show
discovery and viewing dramatically easier has to work for all three of
our customers, and those are our end users, our advertisers, and our
content suppliers, Kilar wrote.



CBS Corp is the only major broadcast network without an ownership stake
in Hulu and currently does not make any of its programs available on the
video website. The company declined to comment on whether it would
participate in the paid service.



(Reporting by Jennifer Saba, editing by Gerald E. McCormick and Carol
Bishopric)



-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! 
Mahogany at: [
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] Top secret Dr. Who script missing

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/06/27/14537476-wenn-story.html

Top secret Dr. Who script missing

By WENN.com


Filming for the Doctor Who Christmas special has been thrown into jeopardy
after the top-secret script reportedly went missing.

Executive producer and lead writer Steven Moffat is facing a race against
time to create a new draft before filming commences next month, according
to Britain's Daily Star Sunday.

The writer reveals, It's a flashback Christmas special.

Matt Smith currently stars as the Time Lord in the popular British sci-fi
show.

[scifinoir2] Superman’s walk across America starting in Philadelphia

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.bostonherald.com/entertainment/arts_culture/view/20100623supermans_walk_across_america_starting_in_philadelphia/srvc=edgeposition=also

Superman’s walk across America starting in Philadelphia

By Associated Press


PHILADELPHIA - The Man of Steel will hoof it across America to reconnect
with everyday people in a story that will feature actual cities, towns and
neighborhoods submitted by readers.

Superman, one of DC Comics’ flagship fictional heroes, begins his journey
next month in Philadelphia, where he’ll embark on a 12-issue,
cross-country walk - no flying, thank you - through Illinois, Iowa,
Nebraska, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington. Not
on the travel itinerary is a swing through the Deep South.

Dan DiDio, DC’s co-publisher, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that
the Krypton-born, Kansas-bred hero had lost touch with the people he grew
up with, his adopted home on earth and he’ll take a walk across America
to reconnect.

In a bid to keep the story arc fresh in the age of instant communication
and social media, readers of the comic who live within 50 miles of the
cities of Chicago, Des Moines, Denver, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Los
Angeles, Portland and Seattle can submit essays of up 1,000 words touting
why their city or neighborhood should be included in the story titled
Grounded. DC will select nine winners.

DiDio said DC is looking to hear what people have to say, how the
character affected their lives and, he added, more importantly, what the
character means to them.

Superman, created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, first appeared in 1938
in Action Comics No. 1.

The story, scripted by veteran film, television and comic writer J.
Michael Straczynski, whose previous work includes DC’s The Red Circle
books and Marvel’s Thor and Fantastic Four, has its roots in the current
issue, No. 700.

In it, Superman asks The Flash whether he actually sees the people he’s
protecting as he barrels across the country at supersonic speeds.

When I’m running flat-out, I see what I figure you see when you’re flying
up there at several bazillion times the speed of sound, the speedster
replies. I see a blur. Unless I make an effort to see the details.

Superman’s decidedly slower-than-a-speeding-bullet walkabout officially
starts with issue 701, which goes on sale next month, and lasts through
issue 712.

[scifinoir2] Muslims, Asians and others protest casting of white actors in ethnic parts

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/20100628_Muslims__Asians_and_others_protest_casting_of_white_actors_in_ethnic_parts.html

Posted on Mon, Jun. 28, 2010

Muslims, Asians and others protest casting of white actors in ethnic parts

By CHRIS LEE
Philadelphia Daily News

Los Angeles Times


SINCE ITS RELEASE, the video-game franchise Prince of Persia has become
notable for the acrobatic grace of its dagger-wielding, balloon
pants-wearing hero as well as for what the games didn't do: affront gamers
of Middle-Eastern and Muslim descent with stereotypical depictions of
people from the region as terrorists or religious zealots.

Independent filmmaker and blogger Jehanzeb Dar, to name one such player,
remembers his favorable first reaction to the swashbuckling action game,
which is set amid the sands and ancient cities of Persia (as ancient Iran
is known) and follows a hero with a magic sword caught between forces of
good and evil. You could see clearly the protagonist had distinct
Middle-Eastern features and darker skin, said Dar, 26, who pens the blog,
Muslim Reverie, from Langhorne. People could develop some respect for
that culture instead of seeing it vilified.

So when Disney Studios announced plans for a live-action adaptation of
Prince, Dar held out hope it would be a serious story that would dispel
a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions. Then came the bad news regarding
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. None of its principal cast members
are of Iranian, Middle-Eastern or Muslim descent. And playing Dastan, the
hero and titular heir to the Persian throne in the $200 million tent-pole
film, is none other than Swedish-Jewish-American prince Jake Gyllenhaal.

My first reaction was, 'Really?!'  said Dar. It's insulting that people
of color - especially Middle Easterners or South Asians - are not allowed
to portray ourselves in these roles. That's a big problem a lot of people
in the community are having with this film.

Of course, Hollywood has a rich history with this kind of thing. Think:
John Wayne playing Genghis Khan in The Conqueror, Peter Sellers'
bumbling Indian character in The Party or even more notoriously, Mickey
Rooney's bucktoothed Mr. Yunioshi character from Breakfast at Tiffany's,
the grandfather of all yellowface stereotypes.

Although these portrayals took place decades ago, their legacy lives on.
Even now, in the age of Barack Obama - when the newly crowned Miss USA
Rima Fakih is Lebanese American, Will Smith is the biggest movie star in
the world and Sonia Sotomayor became the first Latina to sit on the
Supreme Court - the movie industry can still seem woefully behind the
times when it comes to matters of race.

Consider the latest evidence. This summer, two of the season's
biggest-budgeted films have sparked controversy by installing white actors
in decidedly ethnic parts. And some early fan reactions have varied from
indignation to righteous fury to organized revolt over a perceived
whitewashing of multi-culti characters, a practice that is known as
racebending.

Besides Gyllenhaal and British actress Gemma Arterton's portrayal of
Iranian characters in the swords-and-sandals action epic Prince of
Persia, Paramount has come under attack for its live-action adaptation of
the Nickelodeon animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. Directed by
Sixth Sense auteur M. Night Shyamalan, The Last Airbender (as the
movie is called to distinguish it from a certain James Cameron-directed
3-D blockbuster) has enraged some of the show's aficionados by casting
white actors in three of four principle roles - characters that fans of
the original insist are Asian and Native American.

And with just days until the movie's Friday release - after an
18-month-long letter-writing campaign to the film's producers and a
correspondence with Paramount President Adam Goodman to underscore the
importance of casting Asian actors in designated Asian roles - members of
the Media Action Network for Asian Americans and an organization called
www.racebending.com are urging fans to boycott Airbender.

The movie's detractors have spoken against the film at six college
campuses, including MIT , New York University and University of
California, Los Angeles, also setting up booths at events such as San
Francisco's WonderCon pop-culture expo to publicize their discontent. At
last count, the group's Facebook group had 7,125 supporters and attracted
petitioners against the movie's casting in 55 countries. The stated goal:
to prevent Airbender from blooming into a lucrative three-part franchise
via negative word of mouth.

It's unfortunate that it's come to this, said Racebending.com spokesman
Michael Le. They've constructed a film that is contrary not only to what
fans expected to see but is also contrary to what America expects to see
in a film released in 2010 featuring Asian culture and Asian and
Native-American characters as heroes.

We want to raise awareness of the discriminatory practices of Hollywood,
Le 

[scifinoir2] Sci-fi romantic epic in works

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/06/25/14511636.html

Sci-fi romantic epic in works

By Borys Kit, REUTERS


LOS ANGELES - Thank Avatar for Hollywood's resurgent interest in sci-fi.

Fox is getting ready to bet on sci-fi again and is the lead contender to
pick up an original spec script titled Ion.

Channing Tatum (Dear John) is attached to star in the project, which is
labeled a sci-fi romantic epic, with Ridley and Tony Scott attached to
produce. Tatum will also serve as a producer.

The plot revolves around a man who travels to different Earths and
dimensions in order to find his reincarnated lover. Execs are using the
magic word -- Avatar -- to describe the scope and otherworldly elements
of the script.

Ion actually made the rounds last year but didn't take. In the
post-Avatar Hollywood, however, the script is generating renewed
interest. It attracted the Scott brothers, who helped develop British
writer Will Dunn's script further, which led to Tatum's involvement.

But credit Avatar, with its record-breaking $2.7 billion worldwide take
and envelope-pushing technology, as well as the strong critical and
commercial showing of last year's Star Trek and District 9, for
opening the door for sci-fi projects like never before.

Since Avatar introduced the Navi'i to Hollywood, a slew of projects have
been set up. Among them:

All You Need is Kill - Warner Bros. plunked seven figures for Dante
Harper-scripted adaptation of a Japanese novel by Hiroshi Sakurazaka. The
story follows a new recruit in a war against aliens who finds himself
caught in a time loop where he wakes up one day in the past after having
been killed on the battlefield. Doug Liman is now circling to direct the
movie.

Mass Effect - In May, WB-based producer Legendary picked up the rights
to the the Electronic Arts-BioWare video game. Mark Protosevich, the
scribe who wrote I Am Legend and worked on Thor, is writing the
script. Mass is an epic sci-fi action game set in the year 2183,
focusing on a human soldier and his starship, the SSV Normandy. The
galaxy-spanning story involves a long-extinct race of aliens, dormant
beacons and more alien species than you can shake a box of Unobtanium at.

Pacific Rim - Also in May, Legendary picked up a 25-page treatment from
Clash of the Titans scribe Travis Beacham. The story is reportedly set
in a future in which malevolent creatures threaten the earth, and the
planet must band together and use highly advanced technology to eradicate
the growing menace.

Logan's Run - The title had been at Warners for years, but is benefiting
from the sci-fi wave. Carl Rinsch is now on board to direct and 28 Days
Later... writer Alex Garland is penning the script.

[scifinoir2] 'Futurama' makes welcome return

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Television/2010/06/24/14496826.html

'Futurama' makes welcome return

By Barry Garron, REUTERS


LOS ANGELES - There's good news in the future, a thousand years in the
future.

The resumption of new Futurama episodes on Comedy Central, beginning
Thursday, once more demonstrates the power of a truly dedicated fan base.
More importantly, it brings new life to a show that brilliantly mixes
satire, sex and sentimentality. Based on the first couple of episodes,
executive producers Matt Groening, David X. Cohen and Ken Keeler waste no
time picking up from where the series left off.

Futurama, set in the 31st century, ran on Fox from 1999-2003. Except for
a couple of months, the show was part of the Sunday animation block. Now,
just like Family Guy, which also premiered in 1999 on Fox and survived
cancellation, Futurama is back, the beneficiary of a loyal following and
impressive DVD sales.

In a sense, the show was like one of its main characters, Fry (Billy
West), the pizza-delivery guy who was inadvertently frozen during a
delivery to a cryogenics lab. Futurama never really died. After Fox
dropped it, reruns ran on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Starting in 2007,
Futurama made four direct-to-DVD movies, the last of which came out last
year. As early as 2006, Comedy Central said it planned to revive the
series, and it began showing reruns in 2008.

The premiere of the revived Futurama tries mightily, if somewhat
circuitously, to account for the time between new episodes. Appropriately
called Rebirth, Professor Hubert Farnsworth explains how the entire
Planet Express delivery crew nearly was destroyed in a space battle.
However, by dunking the preserved heads and skeletal remains in a vat of
stem-cell soup, the unintentionally cynical professor regenerates each
character, one by one. All except sexy, one-eyed Leela (Katey Sagal), the
Planet Express ship captain whose ultimate recovery becomes a tale of
robotics and romance, very much in keeping with the tone of earlier
episodes.

For sharper satire (and lots of sexual innuendo), stay tuned for the
second episode, which will air following the premiere. Part fantasy, part
allegory, it recounts how the Earth was threatened by a Puritanical
satellite while Leela and pompous space captain Zapp Brannigan relive the
moment when Adam and Eve committed their original sin, fig leaves and all.


No doubt about it, Futurama and its entire splendid voice cast is back,
sly wit, social satire and all. So, too, are the disembodied heads of
celebrated figures, starting in the second episode with Richard Nixon. In
this new season of 12 episodes, the guest list includes Chris Elliot,
Craig Ferguson, George Takei, Katee Sackhoff as well as executive
producers Groening and Cohen.

Following the two-episode premiere, succeeding episodes will air 10 p.m.
Thursdays.

[scifinoir2] 7th-Graders Discover Mysterious Cave on Mars

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/students-discover-mars-cave-100621.html

7th-Graders Discover Mysterious Cave on Mars

By Clara Moskowitz
Senior Writer

posted: 21 June 2010


A group of seventh-graders in California has discovered a mysterious cave
on Mars as part of a research project to study images taken by a NASA
spacecraft orbiting the red planet.

The 16 students from teacher Dennis Mitchell's 7th-grade science class at
Evergreen Middle School in Cottonwood, Calif., found what looks to be a
Martian skylight - a hole in the roof of a cave on Mars
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091026-mm-mars-caves.html].

The intrepid students were participating in the Mars Student Imaging
Program at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University. The
program allows students to frame a research question and then commission a
Mars-orbiting camera to take an image to answer their question.

The newfound hole on Mars
[http://www.space.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=students-discover-mars-cave-100621-02.jpgcap=California+7th+graders+discovered+this+Martian+pit+feature+at+the+center+of+the+superimposed+red+square+in+this+image+while+participat
ing+in+a+program+that+enables+students+to+use+the+camera+on+NASA%27s+Mars+Odyssey+orbiter.+The+feature%2C+on+the+slope+of+an+equatorial+volcano+named+Pavonis+Mons%2C+appears+to+be+a+skylight+in+an+underground+lava+tube.+%3Ca+href%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.s
pace.com%2Fscienceastronomy%2Fstudents-discover-mars-cave-100621.html%3EFull+Story%3C%2Fa%3E.+Credit%3A+NASA%2FJPL-Caltech%2FASU]
resembled features seen on other parts of Mars in a 2007 study by Glen
Cushing, a U.S. Geological Survey scientist.

Cushing suggested that these anomalous pit craters
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/070605_mars_hole.html ] are like
skylights - places where a small part of the roof of a cave or a lava tube
had collapsed, opening the area below the surface to the sky.

The caves are thought to result from volcanic activity on the red planet.
At some point lava channels likely carved out caverns in the rock, and
then left behind tunnel, or lava tubes, when the eruptions were over.
They would have been covered when a solid ceiling of cooled material
settled on top, and then sections of the ceiling likely collapsed at some
point to form the skylight entrances.

Scientists aren't sure what type of materials or deposits could be stored
inside.

This pit is certainly new to us, Cushing told the students. And it is
only the second one known to be associated with Pavonis Mons.

He estimated the pit to be approximately 620 by 520 feet (190 by 160
meters) wide and 380 feet (115 meters) deep at least.

The young researchers had initially set out to hunt for lava tubes, a
common volcanic feature on Earth and Mars.

The students developed a research project focused on finding the most
common locations of lava tubes on Mars, Mitchell said. Do they occur
most often near the summit of a volcano, on its flanks, or the plains
surrounding it?

The class commissioned a main photo and a backup image of Mars' Pavonis
Monsvolcano
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_daily_020507.html],
targeted on a region that hadn't been imaged up close.

The pictures were taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter
[http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/090312-odyssey-reboot.html ] using
its Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument. Both images
showed lava tubes, as the students had hoped.

But the backup photo provided another surprise: a small, round black spot.
It was a hole on Mars leading into the buried cave, researchers said.

The students have submitted their site to be further imaged by the High
Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter, which could reveal enough detail to see inside the
hole in the ground.

The Mars Student Imaging Program is certainly one of the greatest
educational programs ever developed, Mitchell said.  It gives the
students a good understanding of the way research is conducted and how
that research can be important for the scientific community. This has been
a wonderful experience.

Re: [scifinoir2] I don't normally post this sort of thing to this list, but...

[brent wodehouse]

Fantastic! Congratulations, Adrianne. (((smile)))


Brent


Adrianne Brennan wrote:

  

 ...it's very topical. Honest.

 I am very pleased to announce at last that I have accepted the offer of
a contract for my short story, Love Under Will, a paranormal/interracial
erotic romance, for the Mammoth Book of Hot Romance antholog y.

 It will be released in Spring '11 and yes, it's a print work. Google
Amazon.com for Mammoth Book of and you'll find a lot of them. This will
be the latest one to come out. Needless to say, I am extremely honored,
delighted, and excited and any new news and information I can pass along
about it as time goes on, I most certainly will.

 I am especially sharing with this list because the main character is an
angel in addition to being a very feisty and sexy woman of color. I
sincerely hope that when it comes out, people on this list will enjoy the
tale. I thought of you all when I wrote it. :) 




 Love  Magic,
 Adrianne



 ~ Where love and magic meet ~
 http://www.adriannebrennan.com
 Experience the magic of the D ark Moon series:
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#darkmoon
 Dare to take The Oath in this erotic fantasy series:
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/books.html#the_oath
 The future of psychic sex - Dawn of the Seraphs (m/m):
http://www.adriannebrennan.com/dawnoftheseraphs.html

[scifinoir2] Hewitt eyes ‘Wonder Woman’ role (Move over, Beyonce)

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/06/09/14322861-wenn-story.html

Hewitt eyes ‘Wonder Woman’ role

By WENN.COM


Jennifer Love Hewitt is fighting hard to land the coveted role of Wonder
Woman on the big screen, confessing she is obsessed with playing the TV
heroine.

Hollywood stars Megan Fox, Eliza Dushku, Sandra Bullock and Beyonce
Knowles have all been tipped to take over the role Lynda Carter made
famous in the 1970s for Joss Whedon's big screen remake.

But Hewitt is pleading with movie studio bosses at Warner Bros. to hire
her for the part.

She says, I'm fighting so hard. I think Warner Bros. is getting ready to
make Wonder Woman and I really want to play Wonder Woman. I am obsessed
with Wonder Woman.

[scifinoir2] Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/titan-life-methane-speculation-100607.html

Strange Discovery on Titan Leads to Speculation of Alien Life

By Charles Q. Choi
SPACE.com Contributor

posted: 07 June 2010


New findings have roused a great deal of hoopla over the possibility of
life on Saturn's moon Titan, which some news reports have further hyped up
as hints of extraterrestrials.

However, scientists also caution that aliens might have nothing to do with
these findings.

All this excitement is rooted in analyses of chemical data returned by
NASA's Cassini spacecraft. One study suggested that hydrogen was flowing
down through Titan's atmosphere and disappearing at the surface.
Astrobiologist Chris McKay at NASA Ames Research Center speculated this
could be a tantalizing hint that hydrogen is getting consumed by life.

It's the obvious gas for life to consume on Titan
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/asphalt-lake-life-on-titan-100505.html],
similar to the way we consume oxygen on Earth, McKay said.

Another study investigating hydrocarbons on Titan's surface found a lack
of acetylene, a compound that could be consumed as food by life that
relies on liquid methane instead of liquid water to live.

If these signs do turn out to be a sign of life
[http://www.livescience.com/strangenews/070806_GM_life_universe.html], it
would be doubly exciting because it would represent a second form of life
independent from water-based life on Earth, McKay said.

However, NASA scientists caution that aliens might not be involved at all.

Scientific conservatism suggests that a biological explanation should be
the last choice after all non-biological explanations are addressed, said
Mark Allen, principal investigator with the NASA Astrobiology Institute
Titan team. We have a lot of work to do to rule out possible
non-biological explanations. It is more likely that a chemical process,
without biology, can explain these results.

Both results are still preliminary, McKay told SPACE.com.

To date, methane-based life forms
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090625-am-titan-chemistry.html] are
only speculative, with McKay proposing a set of conditions necessary for
these kinds of organisms on Titan in 2005. Scientists have not yet
detected this form of life anywhere, although there are liquid-water-based
microbes on Earth that thrive on methane or produce it as a waste product.

On Titan, where temperatures are around minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit
(minus 179 degrees Celsius), any organisms would have to use a substance
that is liquid as its medium for living processes. Water itself cannot do,
because it is frozen solid on Titan's surface. The list of liquid
candidates is very short -- liquid methane and related molecules such as
ethane. Previous studies have found Titan to have lakes of liquid methane
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/091221-titan-flash-lake.html].

Missing hydrogen?

The dearth of hydrogen Cassini detected is consistent with conditions that
could produce methane-based life, but do not conclusively prove its
existence, cautioned researcher Darrell Strobel, a Cassini
interdisciplinary scientist based at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore, Md., who authored the paper on hydrogen appearing online in the
journal Icarus.

Strobel looked at densities of hydrogen in different parts of the
atmosphere and the surface. Previous models from scientists had predicted
that hydrogen molecules, a byproduct of ultraviolet sunlight breaking
apart acetylene and methane molecules in the upper atmosphere, should be
distributed fairly evenly throughout the atmospheric layers.

Strobel's computer simulations suggest a hydrogen flow down to the surface
at a rate of about 10,000 trillion trillion molecules per second.

It's as if you have a hose and you're squirting hydrogen onto the ground,
but it's disappearing, Strobel said. I didn't expect this result,
because molecular hydrogen is extremely chemically inert in the
atmosphere, very light and buoyant. It should 'float' to the top of the
atmosphere and escape.

Strobel said it is not likely that hydrogen is being stored in a cave or
underground space on Titan. An unknown mineral could be acting as a
catalyst on Titan's surface to help convert hydrogen molecules and
acetylene back to methane.

Although Allen commended Strobel, he noted a more sophisticated model
might be needed to look into what the flow of hydrogen is.

Consumed acetylene?

Scientists had expected the sun's interactions with chemicals in the
atmosphere to produce acetylene that falls down to coat the Titan surface.
But Cassini mapped hydrocarbons on Titan's surface, it detected no
acetylene on the surface, findings appearing online in the Journal of
Geophysical Research.

Instead of alien life on Titan
[http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/090625-am-titan-chemistry.html],
Allen said one possibility is that sunlight or cosmic rays are
transforming the acetylene in icy aerosols in the atmosphere into 

Re: [scifinoir2] Fwd: Rosie Huntington-Whitely Confirmed for Transformers 3

[brent wodehouse]

Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net writes:


It's all in who makes the rules and pays the dough, which is why people
of all ethnic types need to fight to have our own cinema. Rosie Perez has
said that she was always told by directors that her butt was too big.
They'd ask her if she could spot-reduce it, to which she always replied,
My 'ghetto booty' is part of me and ain't going anywhere.
Although Jennifer Lopez gets all the credit for making a round butt more
acceptable--somethign I as a black person find offensive given that
Sisters have had them for decades--
   For *ages*, surely. Lord bless 'em. :-)


Brent



I love that Perez has always been so proud of her physique. She is very
open to say that as a Puerto Rican she has African heritage, and
specifically states that it's that heritage that gives her the round
behind.

- Original Message -
From: Mr. Worf hellomahog...@gmail.com
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 5, 2010 6:34:48 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern 
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Fwd: Rosie Huntington-Whitely Confirmed for
ÊTransformers 3

Ê 


She looks like a teenager and that's why they picked her. I don't know if
the beauty standards will ever shift back. Not without a collective stand
on it. They have pretty much brainwashed the actresses into loosing that
last 20lbs Even Beyonce doesn't have a booty anymore. 




On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 7:33 AM, Keith Johnson [
mailto:keithbjohn...@comcast.net ]keithbjohn...@comcast.net wrote:







This is so funny. They have to confront head on the complete lack of
acting ability required to star in a film like this. Has the girl ever
acted in anything? 

Man, I'll be glad when the standard of beauty shifts back to voluptuous
women and not these skinny, girlish looking models. Meagan Fox is
prettier than most models, but I always laugh when guys talk about her
great body. She's slim as heck.Ê 





- Original Message -
From: Mr. Worf [ mailto:hellomahog...@gmail.com
]hellomahog...@gmail.com
To: [ mailto:scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com ]scifino...@yahoogroups.com
Sent: Saturday, June 5, 2010 8:20:16 AM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
Subject: Re: [scifinoir2] Fwd: Rosie Huntington-Whitely Confirmed for
ÊTransformers 3

Ê 







Here's the credits that she has. 

[Marker]
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1552637/ ]The Victoria's Secret Fashion
Show (2009) (TV)  Herself 
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0481440/ ]Britain's Next Top Model 
Herself (1 episode, 2009) 
- [ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1468433/ ]Episode #5.13 (2009) TV
episode  Herself 
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1328650/ ]The Victoria's Secret Fashion
Show (2008) (TV)  Herself - Model 
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179303/ ]The Victoria's Secret Fashion
Show (2007) (TV)  Herself/Model 
[ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0926417/ ]The Victoria's Secret Fashion
Show (2006) (TV)  Herself/Model
Ummm do you think she is going to be eye candy?

On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 3:58 AM, Martin Baxter [
mailto:martinbaxt...@gmail.com ]martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:







-- Forwarded message --
From: Martin Baxter [ mailto:martin.baxter@gmail.com
]martin.baxter@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Jun 4, 2010 at 4:51 PM
Subject: Rosie Huntington-Whitely Confirmed for Transformers 3
To: [ mailto:martinbaxt...@gmail.com ]martinbaxt...@gmail.com


Alright, ladies and gents, with me, on three.

One...

Two...

Three...

WHO

[
http://english.ohmygore.com/rosie-huntington-whiteley-confirmed-for-transformers-3-news-uk-7209.html
]http://english.ohmygore.com/rosie-huntington-whiteley-confirmed-for-transformers-3-news-uk-7209.html

Mind you, I've never HEARD of this site before today, so here's something
to go with the story.



-- 
Between getsumei no michi and the Zero...no better place to live.

(About little moments of happiness) If this isn't nice, I don't know
what is. -- Kurt Vonnegut, A Man Without A Country




-- 
If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody
hell wrote the script? -- Charles E Grant

[ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik
]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik







-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! 
Mahogany at: [
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/












-- 
Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! 
Mahogany at: [
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
]http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/

[scifinoir2] Science-Fictional Music

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/125708-janelle-monae-the-archandroid

Janelle Monáe: The ArchAndroid

By Quentin B. Huff 21 May 2010


Lady Stardust

There’s a perfectly good reason why I never thought of Michael Jackson as
the “King of Pop”. It’s not because I’m a hater. It’s not that I thought
he was undeserving of the title. It’s that I always thought of Michael
Jackson as an entire category unto himself. How, I wondered, could he be
“of” anything? He was his own genre. Same thing with the Beatles. James
Brown. Ella Fitzgerald. Aretha.

I’m not saying Janelle Monáe Robinson has reached the status of Michael
Jackson. Nor am I suggesting that she can lay claim to an entire genre -
at least not yet. If, however, you’re looking for the “total package”,
this little lady from the state of Kansas comes awfully close. Perhaps
more importantly, she’s got all the makings of a genuine ‘70s and ‘80s
rock star, and they sure don’t make a lot of those anymore. These days,
it’s about the everyman and everywoman singing relatable tunes, not some
rock god or goddess belting out larger-than-life stadium anthems. This is
the age of the familiar, not the foreign.

Janelle Monáe’s rock star bona fides are all intact. She’s got vocals for
days, wielding a voice that can be as gentle as a ballad in a Disney movie
or so big and thunderous her five foot (1.524 meter) frame hardly seems
fit to contain it. A rock star needs an iconic look, and her outfit of
choice is timeless and appropriate: a tuxedo, black and perfectly pressed.
Her hairstyle includes a gravity-defying pompadour. She makes songs like
“Neon Gumbo”, composed with backwards lyrics and a reversed sample of her
older tune “Many Moons”, like the stuff Prince added to the end of Darling
Nikki. Like any self-respecting rock star, she’s fabulous and glam and
entertainingly weird, traits you could easily pick up from her interviews.
When it comes to music, though, she’s focused, message-oriented, and
dedicated to uplifting her listeners.

Better still, she absolutely brings the hotness to her live show.
Hyperactive, to the point of appearing possessed, Janelle Monáe is a
firecracker, a combination of James Brown and David Bowie, among others.
She’s undulating, twisting, gyrating, the embodiment of constant motion.
There’s no lip synching here, folks, and did I mention that she moonwalks
like nobody’s business? The sista can dance.

Musically, she’s a live wire, a genre-hopper who touches RB and prog rock
with as much verve as she handles jazz, cabaret, rap, doo-wop, and disco.
She’s chic with a rockabilly lean, smart yet fun, and a gleeful student of
Pink Floyd, Prince, Stevie Wonder, Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, and
Grace Jones. She ought to be a member of OutKast, but instead of shaking
it “like a Polaroid picture”, she shakes it “like a schizo”. She’s the
daughter of George Clinton and Parliament’s “Star Child” who occasionally
borrows the “mothership” and takes it out for a spin. She’s Cinderella,
but she wears James Brown’s dress shoes (without socks!) in lieu of
slippers. She’s Lady Stardust.

She is, quite honestly, the best signee to Sean “Diddy” Combs’s Bad Boy
label since the Notorious B.I.G., and signing her was certainly Diddy’s
most interesting choice since he made those kids on Making the Band walk
all the way from Manhattan to Brooklyn, New York to secure him some
cheesecake.

Still not convinced? Nothing gives you rock star cred like having the
necessary self-indulgence to craft a concept album or rock opera. Pink
Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon, Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger, Green
Day’s American Idiot, and Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On are among those
often cited as examples of the concept album phenomenon. Throw your
favorite album by the Who in there somewhere too (I pick Tommy), and I’ll
add MF Doom’s Mm..Food. Such albums are exciting, sprawling, and
ambitious, but also given to excess. Where there’s a concept, it seems
that metaphor and symbolism cannot be far behind. No wonder the English
word “conceit” means “vanity” or “arrogance” and, in literary circles,
also refers to an “extended metaphor”.

Janelle Monáe’s concept began with Suite I of a IV-suite series in 2007’s
Metropolis: The Chase Suite. There, Ms. Monáe was an “alien from outer
space”, inhabiting the persona of Cindi Mayweather, female android #57821
living in the year 2719. Mayweather falls in love with a human named
Anthony Greendown. Unfortunately, such fraternizing with humans is a major
faux pas, so the powers that be have designated Android #57821 for
immediately disassembly. It’s a little like the 1986 film Short Circuit,
except this robot is an unbelievable singer, dancer, and performer.
Likewise, Janelle Monáe’s fictional world of 2719 owes a few nods to Fritz
Lang’s 1927 sci-fi dystopian film, Metropolis. With smooth crooning, and
music that could’ve come straight out of a James Bond flick, Suite I
chronicled Cindi Mayweather’s plight and her experience on the 

Re: [scifinoir2] Frank Frazetta, fantasy illustrator, dies at 82

[brent wodehouse]

:-(


Brent


Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com wrote:

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/10/frank-frazetta-fantasy-illustrator-dies-at-82/

Frank Frazetta, an illustrator whose vivid colors and striking
brushstrokes conjured up fantastic worlds of musclebound heroes fighting
with broad swords and battle axes to defend helpless women from horrible
beasts, died on Monday in Fort Myers, Fla. He was 82.

[scifinoir2] Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/may/02/food-fear-mystery-beehives-collapse

Fears for crops as shock figures from America show scale of bee catastrophe

The world may be on the brink of biological disaster after news that a
third of US bee colonies did not survive the winter

Alison Benjamin

The Observer, Sunday 2 May 2010


Disturbing evidence that honeybees are in terminal decline has emerged
from the United States where, for the fourth year in a row, more than a
third of colonies have failed to survive the winter.

The decline of the country's estimated 2.4 million beehives began in 2006,
when a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD) led to the
disappearance of hundreds of thousands of colonies. Since then more than
three million colonies in the US and billions of honeybees worldwide have
died and scientists are no nearer to knowing what is causing the
catastrophic fall in numbers.

The number of managed honeybee colonies in the US fell by 33.8% last
winter, according to the annual survey by the Apiary Inspectors of America
and the US government's Agricultural Research Service (ARS).

The collapse in the global honeybee population is a major threat to crops.
It is estimated that a third of everything we eat depends upon honeybee
pollination, which means that bees contribute some £26bn to the global
economy.

Potential causes range from parasites, such as the bloodsucking varroa
mite, to viral and bacterial infections, pesticides and poor nutrition
stemming from intensive farming methods. The disappearance of so many
colonies has also been dubbed Mary Celeste syndrome due to the absence
of dead bees in many of the empty hives.

US scientists have found 121 different pesticides in samples of bees, wax
and pollen, lending credence to the notion that pesticides are a key
problem. We believe that some subtle interactions between nutrition,
pesticide exposure and other stressors are converging to kill colonies,
said Jeffery Pettis, of the ARS's bee research laboratory.

A global review of honeybee deaths by the World Organisation for Animal
Health (OIE) reported last week that there was no one single cause, but
pointed the finger at the irresponsible use of pesticides that may
damage bee health and make them more susceptible to diseases. Bernard
Vallat, the OIE's director-general, warned: Bees contribute to global
food security, and their extinction would represent a terrible biological
disaster.

Dave Hackenberg of Hackenberg Apiaries, the Pennsylvania-based commercial
beekeeper who first raised the alarm about CCD, said that last year had
been the worst yet for bee losses, with 62% of his 2,600 hives dying
between May 2009 and April 2010. It's getting worse, he said. The AIA
survey doesn't give you the full picture because it is only measuring
losses through the winter. In the summer the bees are exposed to lots of
pesticides. Farmers mix them together and no one has any idea what the
effects might be.

Pettis agreed that losses in some commercial operations are running at 50%
or greater. Continued losses of this magnitude are not economically
sustainable for commercial beekeepers, he said, adding that a solution
may be years away. Look at Aids, they have billions in research dollars
and a causative agent and still no cure. Research takes time and beehives
are complex organisms.

In the UK it is still too early to judge how Britain's estimated 250,000
honeybee colonies have fared during the long winter. Tim Lovett, president
of the British Beekeepers' Association, said: Anecdotally, it is hugely
variable. There are reports of some beekeepers losing almost a third of
their hives and others losing none. Results from a survey of the
association's 15,000 members are expected this month.

John Chapple, chairman of the London Beekeepers' Association, put losses
among his 150 members at between a fifth and a quarter. Eight of his 36
hives across the capital did not survive. There are still a lot of
mysterious disappearances, he said. We are no nearer to knowing what is
causing them.

Bee farmers in Scotland have reported losses on the American scale for the
past three years. Andrew Scarlett, a Perthshire-based bee farmer and honey
packer, lost 80% of his 1,200 hives this winter. But he attributed the
massive decline to a virulent bacterial infection that quickly spread
because of a lack of bee inspectors, coupled with sustained poor weather
that prevented honeybees from building up sufficient pollen and nectar
stores.

The government's National Bee Unit has always denied the existence of CCD
in Britain, despite honeybee losses of 20% during the winter of 2008-09
and close to a third the previous year. It attributes the demise to the
varroa mite - which is found in almost every UK hive - and rainy summers
that stop bees foraging for food.

In a hard-hitting report last year, the National Audit Office suggested
that amateur beekeepers who failed to spot diseases in bees were a threat
to 

[scifinoir2] Countdown to the summer movie season

[brent wodehouse]

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/movies/2011728574_summermovies02.html?prmid=head_main

Countdown to the summer movie season

Ten indies, nine action movies, eight sequels ... blast off to another
summer filled with movie thrills. Titles to come this season: Iron Man
2, Robin Hood, Sex and the City 2, Get Him to the Greek, The
Secret of Kells and more.

By Moira Macdonald
Seattle Times movie critic


Summer already? Really? As the popcorn season kicks off with Iron Man 2
this Friday, here's a look at some of the titles we'll soon be seeing at
the multiplexes and arthouses. And remember, the summer movie season has
its own fizzy-lemonade personality; if you're looking for hard-hitting
drama, for the most part you'll need to hang on until fall. Here we go,
divided into 10 easy categories (and note that release dates are tentative
and as changeable as 3D pricing):

10 intriguing indies

Let's start with a few that aren't household words, shall we? The
Argentine thriller The Secret in Their Eyes, which won the Oscar this
year for best foreign-language film, turns up May 7; the Italian drama I
Am Love, which may well be a contender next year, arrives in July. (Tilda
Swinton, who stars in the latter, learned to speak Russian and
Russian-accent Italian for her role. So what are you doing on your summer
vacation?) Other international offerings include Coco Chanel and Igor
Stravinsky (July 2) - you can guess who it's about - from France, and
Ondine (June 18), about an Irish fisherman (Colin Farrell) and a woman
who just may be a mermaid, from director Neil Jordan.

On U.S. shores, The Kids are All Right (July 7), starring Annette Bening
and Julianne Moore as a lesbian couple, got raves at Sundance, as did Get
Low (Aug. 13), with Robert Duvall as a 1930s Tennessee hermit who stages
his own funeral, at SXSW. Writer/director Nicole Holofcener (Lovely 
Amazing, Friends with Money) returns with her latest Catherine
Keener-starring comedy, Please Give (June 18). Jeff Daniels plays a
writer (as he did last year in The Answer Man) with an imaginary
superhero (Ryan Reynolds) in Paper Man (May 7).

James Ivory makes his first film without longtime filmmaking partner
Ismail Merchant (who died in 2005, after such classics as Howards End
and The Remains of the Day): The City of Your Final Destination (June
18), starring Anthony Hopkins and Laura Linney. And local filmmaker Linas
Phillips will see his Seattle-to-East-Coast road movie Bass Ackwards on
the big screen June 11.

9 action-filled adventures

Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett and no tights: That's Ridley Scott's Robin
Hood, buckling its swashes in theaters everywhere May 14. Angelina Jolie
plays a CIA agent accused of being a Russian spy in Salt (July 23),
directed by Philip Noyce (The Quiet American). Tom Cruise (to whom, as
it happens, Jolie's role was originally offered - back when it was written
as a man) and Cameron Diaz play a fugitive couple on the run in the
action/comedy Knight and Day, opening June 25.

The Dark Knight director Christopher Nolan returns, sans the Batcape,
with Inception (July 16), a cerebral adventure about dream invasion
starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Marion Cotillard. Josh Brolin plays a
troubled drifter and bounty hunter in the adventure thriller Jonah Hex
(June 18), based on DC Comics characters; John Malkovich and Megan Fox
co-star. An avatar - but not the James Cameron kind - tries to save the
world in M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender, based on the
Nickelodeon series and opening July 2. (Late-breaking news: Last
Airbender will be shown in 3D.)

A video-game series inspired Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (May
28), an action/fantasy starring Jake Gyllenhaal and, reportedly, some
serious sand effects. Sylvester Stallone directs himself, Jason Statham,
Jet Li and Mickey Rourke in the no-doubt extremely manly adventure The
Expendables (Aug. 13) in which a team travels to South America to
overthrow a dictator. (You just know Rocky could do this if he wanted to.)
And a gang of bank robbers try to pull off the ever-popular One Last Heist
as a veteran detective (Matt Dillon) attempts to thwart them in Takers
(Aug. 20).

8 sequels, remakes and otherwise familiar endeavors

No movie this summer is likely to inspire as much squealing as Eclipse
(June 30), the continuing Twilight saga of girl (Kristen Stewart),
vampire (Robert Pattinson) and werewolf (Taylor Lautner). Me, I'm a little
more excited for Robert Downey Jr.'s suavely sardonic superhero in Iron
Man 2 (May 7) or - on an entirely different note - Emma Thompson's
hilariously proper British nanny in Nanny McPhee Returns (Aug. 20).

In the important subcategory of Animated Franchises We All Thought Were
Over By Now, Shrek Forever After turns up May 21 and Toy Story 3 on
June 18, complete with, respectively, greenish ogres and chatty cowboy
dolls. Sex  the City 2, another franchise seemingly unwilling to die
(aren't Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte getting tired of hearing Carrie

[scifinoir2] 3-D movies scheduled to come out in 2010

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/movies+scheduled+come+2010/2971901/story.html

3-D movies scheduled to come out in 2010
 
By Brendan Kelly, The Gazette  April 30, 2010


Shrek Forever After: May 21

Toy Story 3: June 18

The Last Airbender: July 2

Despicable Me: July 9

Cats  Dogs: Revenge of Kitty Galore: July 30

Step Up 3D: Aug. 6

Friday the 13th Part 2: Aug. 13

Piranha 3D: Aug. 27

Resident Evil: Afterlife: Sept. 10

Legends of the Guardians: Owls of Ga’hoole: Sept. 24

Alpha and Omega: Oct. 1

Jackass 3D: Oct. 15

Saw VII: Oct. 22

Megamind: Nov. 5

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 1): Nov. 19

Tangled: Nov. 24

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader: Dec. 10

Tron Legacy: Dec. 17

Yogi Bear: Dec. 17

Gulliver’s Travels: Dec. 22



© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

[scifinoir2] Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece

From The Sunday Times

April 25, 2010

Don’t talk to aliens, warns Stephen Hawking

Jonathan Leake


THE aliens are out there and Earth had better watch out, at least
according to Stephen Hawking. He has suggested that extraterrestrials are
almost certain to exist  -  but that instead of seeking them out, humanity
should be doing all it that can to avoid any contact.

The suggestions come in a new documentary series in which Hawking, one of
the world’s leading scientists, will set out his latest thinking on some
of the universe’s greatest mysteries.

Alien life, he will suggest, is almost certain to exist in many other
parts of the universe: not just in planets, but perhaps in the centre of
stars or even floating in interplanetary space.

Hawking’s logic on aliens is, for him, unusually simple. The universe, he
points out, has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions
of stars. In such a big place, Earth is unlikely to be the only planet
where life has evolved.

“To my mathematical brain, the numbers alone make thinking about aliens
perfectly rational,” he said. “The real challenge is to work out what
aliens might actually be like.”

The answer, he suggests, is that most of it will be the equivalent of
microbes or simple animals  -  the sort of life that has dominated Earth
for most of its history.

One scene in his documentary for the Discovery Channel shows herds of
two-legged herbivores browsing on an alien cliff-face where they are
picked off by flying, yellow lizard-like predators. Another shows glowing
fluorescent aquatic animals forming vast shoals in the oceans thought to
underlie the thick ice coating Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter.

Such scenes are speculative, but Hawking uses them to lead on to a serious
point: that a few life forms could be intelligent and pose a threat.
Hawking believes that contact with such a species could be devastating for
humanity.

He suggests that aliens might simply raid Earth for its resources and then
move on: “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life
might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they
might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their
home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to
conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.”

He concludes that trying to make contact with alien races is “a little too
risky”. He said: “If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be
much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t
turn out very well for the Native Americans.”

The completion of the documentary marks a triumph for Hawking, now 68, who
is paralysed by motor neurone disease and has very limited powers of
communication. The project took him and his producers three years, during
which he insisted on rewriting large chunks of the script and checking the
filming.

John Smithson, executive producer for Discovery, said: “He wanted to make
a programme that was entertaining for a general audience as well as
scientific and that’s a tough job, given the complexity of the ideas
involved.”

Hawking has suggested the possibility of alien life before but his views
have been clarified by a series of scientific breakthroughs, such as the
discovery, since 1995, of more than 450 planets orbiting distant stars,
showing that planets are a common phenomenon.

So far, all the new planets found have been far larger than Earth, but
only because the telescopes used to detect them are not sensitive enough
to detect Earth-sized bodies at such distances.

Another breakthrough is the discovery that life on Earth has proven able
to colonise its most extreme environments. If life can survive and evolve
there, scientists reason, then perhaps nowhere is out of bounds.

Hawking’s belief in aliens places him in good scientific company. In his
recent Wonders of the Solar System BBC series, Professor Brian Cox backed
the idea, too, suggesting Mars, Europa and Titan, a moon of Saturn, as
likely places to look.

Similarly, Lord Rees, the astronomer royal, warned in a lecture earlier
this year that aliens might prove to be beyond human understanding.

“I suspect there could be life and intelligence out there in forms we
can’t conceive,” he said. “Just as a chimpanzee can’t understand quantum
theory, it could be there are aspects of reality that are beyond the
capacity of our brains.”

Stephen Hawking's Universe begins on the Discovery Channel on Sunday May 9
at 9pm

Re: [scifinoir2] Happy Birthday Gina Torres

[brent wodehouse]

Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com writes:


So THAT'S why I've been drooling continuously...

Oh, I say!

Happy Natal Day, Gina! Call me for your present!

Yes. Happy Birthday you lovely, lovely creature... :-)


Brent

On Sun, Apr 25, 2010 at 12:33 PM, Kelwyn [ mailto:ravena...@yahoo.com
]ravena...@yahoo.com wrote:





The lovely Gina Torres is 41 today.

[scifinoir2] DC and Dynamite Reboot Classic Characters With Divergent Results

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.metropulse.com/news/2010/apr/07/dc-and-dynamite-reboot-classic-characters-divergen/

DC and Dynamite Reboot Classic Characters With Divergent Results

By April Snellings


It’s probably not much of a coincidence that three of the pulp era’s most
iconic characters are getting affectionate reboots in a time that bears
marked similarities to the age that created them in the first place. Doc
Savage and the Green Hornet both made their debuts in the 1930s, with Will
Eisner’s Spirit coming along shortly afterward in 1940. Americans needed
them; the radio plays, dime novels, and Sunday comic strips those
characters patrolled were a welcome escape from some pretty ugly
realities. They kept their heads above existential angst, they always came
out on top, and it was easy to tell the good guys from the bad ones.

Stories like that are in short supply these days. Screenwriters are
falling over themselves to out-grim one another, and even the Big Two are
filling their pages with so-called “superhero tragedy porn.” (Have you
been following what Green Arrow and Roy have gone through lately? Jeez.)
It’s not bad; some of it is actually quite good. It’s just depressing. So
it’s a perfect time for DC’s First Wave and Dynamite Entertainment’s Green
Hornet. One is very good and one is rather forgettable, but both are fun
throwbacks that revel in their pulpy roots.

By leaps and bounds, First Wave is the better of the two. Brian
Azzarello’s script establishes an entirely new continuity that puts Doc
Savage, the Spirit, and Batman on the same playing field. From its opening
jungle chase scene to its final urban fisticuffs, First Wave #1 embraces
every pulp convention it can squeeze into 30 pages. You get giant robots,
mad scientists, villainous Russians, dirty cops, a masked crimefighter,
and a cracking good mystery. The first issue is light on story, but strong
on set-up: Doc Savage has returned home to New York City to confront the
mysterious circumstances surrounding his father’s death, while the Spirit
is tracking a truck with strange cargo though Central City; there’s also
some eye-gouging jungle action with the aforementioned giant robot.

The heroes’ paths don’t cross yet. This issue is all about laying the
groundwork for a multi-plot storyline that will play out over six issues
and lead into two new ongoing series. Batman is also notably absent; after
all, he tends to throw his weight around a bit, so it’s best to give Doc
and the Spirit a chance to play without him for a while.

Azzarello does a bang-up job making each character his own while being
true to their original creators’ visions. He has a great sense of pacing,
and his dialogue has a classic film noir feel that meshes beautifully with
First Wave’s pulp characters. Rags Morales’ gorgeous art, complemented by
Nei Ruffino’s earthy color palette, does what good comic-book art should
do: It becomes an active part of the storytelling process, rather than
just illustrations that accompany the script. Morales uses body language
to reveal character in every panel; classic Doc Savage villain John
Sunlight exudes menace as he slouches on a park bench, and the way the
Spirit clutches his fedora as he’s leaping onto a moving truck tells us
more about Denny Colt than two pages of exposition ever could. The shiny
new continuity makes First Wave an ideal read for someone who’s never
picked up a comic book in his life, but Azzarello packs the book with sly
references to and cameos from a small cadre of Golden Age characters. It’s
a must-read for fans of classic pulp or vintage comic-book heroes.

Kevin Smith’s Green Hornet isn’t nearly as successful, but it still
fosters a fair share of good will for its nostalgic take on newspaper
publisher Britt Reid and his badass sidekick, Kato. Based on Smith’s
rejected movie script, the series picks up at the end of Reid’s campaign
to clean up the mean streets of Century City. After a fast-paced opener
finds Reid and Kato dusting off the last of the city’s crime families,
Reid hangs up the green fedora and swears off crimefighting. Fast forward
a bunch of years, and it’s time for Reid’s playboy son to pick up where
his dad left off. Some fans might be disappointed to see Britt Sr. pass
the baton, but masked crimefighting runs in the Reid family. (In case your
pulp genealogy is a little rusty, Britt Reid Sr. is the great-nephew of
creator George W. Trendle’s other star do-gooder, the Lone Ranger.)

Much of the first issue falls flat, thanks to Smith’s self-conscious
attempt at witty one-liners. The poorly written action sequences at the
beginning don’t work at all, but the book finds its legs when it turns its
attention to the characters. The exchanges between Reid and his wife about
the hero’s dangerous career feel honest and candid, and the final page is
a great set-up for the rest of the 10-issue series. The breakdowns by
veteran artist Phil Hester make for a dynamic read, while Ivan Nunes’
candy colors evoke a wonderful 

[scifinoir2] Lando a fave with 'Star Wars' fans

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Artists/W/Williams_Billy_Dee/2010/04/23/13690026-qmi.html

Artist: Williams, Billy Dee

Lando a fave with 'Star Wars' fans

By LISA WILTON - QMI Agency


CALGARY - As far as Stars Wars characters go, Lando Calrissian is a
relatively minor one.

But he is also considered one of the more memorable characters, thanks to
the cool-as-a-cucumber performance of Billy Dee Williams.

The actor also has another theory as to why Lando is a favourite with Star
Wars fans.

He was cute, the 73-year-old says with a laugh.

There was a roguish kind of thing about him that people liked. Sure,
fans may have been slightly peeved when Lando stabbed hero Han Solo in the
back, handing him over to intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett in The
Empire Strikes Back.

But they couldn't stay mad at the handsome Rebel Alliance general for long.

I think I succeeded in making him a kind of palatable, likable character.
A character needs a certain amount of vulnerability that people can relate
to.

Williams says he didn't realize the Star Wars films would have such a
lasting influence on popular culture, although he knew right away he was
working with a very talented director and cast.

I knew that with George Lucas I was working with someone very special,
he recalls. I was a little bit familiar with some of the work he had done
before the Star Wars saga. But one never really knows how a film is going
to turn out. When you're an actor, you're just happy to be working. And if
you're working for people who have the kind of reputation that George
Lucas has then you're very lucky.

Williams, who's appearing this weekend at the Calgary Comic 
Entertainment Expo, doesn't mind he regularly gets called upon to revive
Lando Calrissian.

It's fun for me, he says.

At this point in my life, I'm just enjoying myself.

lisa.wil...@sunmedia.ca

[scifinoir2] Lawsuit against Lee, Marvel tossed

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Books/2010/04/05/13472016-wenn-story.html

Lawsuit against Lee, Marvel tossed

By WENN.COM


Comic book icon Stan Lee is breathing a sigh of relief after a New York
judge dismissed a $750 million suit filed against him and Marvel
Entertainment bosses challenging the copyright of his most famous
superhero characters.

Lee was taken to court last year by Jose Abadin and Christopher Belland,
the shareholders of Stan Lee Media Inc. (SLMI), which was declared
bankrupt in 2001.

They claimed Lee had harmed their interests when he signed away all his
rights in the Marvel Entertainment brand and the copyright to characters
like Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, the Fantastic Four and X-Men to the
company in 1998 - a year before they acquired their shares in SLMI.

Representatives for Lee and Marvel executives denied the allegations in
the lawsuit, stating it was filled with ridiculous claims, and a
Manhattan federal judge ruled in their favour last week.

U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty decided Abadin and Belland had no legal
standing to sue because they were not shareholders at the time of Lee's
Marvel deal.

They were also criticized for only filing their lawsuit 10 years after
acquiring their company shares, insisting they cannot wait a decade to
enforce their rights.

Marvel Entertainment was taken over by Disney in December.

[scifinoir2] Third Degree Burns

[brent wodehouse]

I find this piece not unrelated to the scifi genre.

What are your thoughts?


Brent


http://www.guernicamag.com/features/1688/third_degree_burns/

Third Degree Burns

by Jay Baron Nicorvo, April 2010

It’s not navel-gazing MFA graduates who are killing literary fiction, says
Jay Nicorvo. It’s blockbuster-hungry book editors and their habit of
anticipating anticipations. A response to Ted Genoways in Mother Jones.


In January, in an article published in Mother Jones, Virginia Quarterly
Review editor Ted Genoways warned that struggling literary magazines were
a harbinger for the demise of literary fiction. In “The Death of Fiction?”
[http://motherjones.com/media/2010/01/death-of-literary-fiction-magazines-journals]
he writes, “Once strongholds of literature and learned discussion in our
country, university-based quarterlies have seen steadily declining
subscriber bases since their heyday a half-century ago - and an even
greater dent in their cultural relevance.” The reason for this? Creative
writing programs, and the glut of solipsistic writers they produce. The
expansion of the guild system - academic, institutional - he says has
bogged down editorial offices and bored readers with work that is insular,
self-centered and often unreadable, when fictions should be concerned with
big issues, radiant and reflecting the larger world. This is the same
basic point Dana Gioia made about poetry nearly twenty years ago in “Can
Poetry Matter?” but the point applied to fiction is a little wide-right.

If fiction is indeed faltering, the university system isn’t at fault, nor
are the navel-gazing writers who come out of it. The purpose of a Master
of Fine Arts program in creative writing might be to produce professional
writers, but most don’t - a hundred or so books have been published by
Emerson College MFA alumni in the twenty-four year history of the program;
compare that to the three thousand plus books published by Iowa Writers’
Workshop grads during its seventy-five years cited by Edward J. Delaney in
his ’07 Atlantic article, “Where Great Writers are Made.” What MFA
programs do graduate are people who have mastered some of the uses of
written English. And while this mastery might not be the most lucrative
skill set, I would argue that it is the skill most widely applicable to
making an honest living. Words are everywhere. If you can manage them
well, chances are there’s a job for you, even in this economy. An MFA in
creative writing, more often than it leads to authors who’ve published
books, leads to lawyering, teaching, editing, librarian-ing, agenting,
advertising, speech-writing, nursing, you name it. More than one quarter
of the attendees of the Association of Writers and Writing Programs 2008
Conference in New York City listed “Other” for their vocation, but it’s
safe to assume these professionals continue reading even if they no longer
write.

There’s no guarantee that a graduate of an MFA program will go on to
publish a book, but there’s no doubt that MFA programs produce more
proficient readers. According to the 2007 NEA survey “To Read or Not to
Read: A Question of National Consequence,” prose readers with graduate
degrees are on average 10 percent more proficient. And readers read books.

Almost as an afterthought in “The Death of Fiction?” - one that’s
overshadowed by the easy generalization that academically trained writers
ignore the larger world - is the following: “the blockbuster mentality of
book publishing in the age of corporate conglomeration (to the point of
nearly exterminating the midlist) has conspired to squash the market for
new fiction.” Here, Ted lights upon the real reason to be concerned for
the health and well-being of literary fiction.

I’d like to take this time to ask a rhetorical question that sounds at
first like a bad joke: What do acquiring editors at large publishing
houses and investment bankers at big banks have in common? In The General
Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, published in 1936,
(incidentally, the same year the Writers’ Workshop began) John Maynard
Keynes, in trying to make sense of the forces at work during the Great
Depression, says that financiers are required to keep a close watch on the
“mass psychology of the market,” which could change at any moment. This is
an attention to the mentality of the mob, rather than to the value of the
individual.

These days, editors at commercial publishing houses are required to do the
same. They attempt to herd the mob because they no longer know how to
reach the reader. Old media had a direct line to the audience that bought
books, newspapers, and magazines. Publicity and marketing departments knew
where to effectively (if not cheaply) spread the word about forthcoming
titles and upcoming issues, expecting to get out what they put in. They’d
print a few hundred or a few thousand galleys, mail them first-class to
reviewers, watch the reviews roll in, and count the 

[scifinoir2] Doctor Strange and more getting thrifty?

[brent wodehouse]

A Dr. Strange feature wouldn't be amiss.


Brent
--
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=27664

23 April 2010

Marvel Plans Low-Budget Pics

Doctor Strange and more getting thrifty?

Source: CHUD
[http://chud.com/articles/articles/23473/1/EXCLUSIVE-MARVEL039S-EXCITING-SMALL-MOVIE-PLANS/Page1.html]


Marvel Studios has been eager to keep us all up to date with the films it
has in the works for the next couple of years, and featuring some of its
biggest names (Iron Man, Thor, Captain America etc). But according to
Devin over at CHUD, it has also been quietly plotting an idea to fill its
production pipeline after the likes of The Avengers are in cinemas.

But while that Joss Whedon-helmed (probably) film will be their biggest
project to date, their future plans also include them thinking small. And
thinking creatively.

The company is busy taking meetings with writers and directors to figure
out films based on lesser-known, third-tier characters like Dr Strange,
Luke Cage, Dazzler and Power Pack. The idea is that the filmmakers will
work from a much lower budget than Iron Man and co – between $20 - $40
million – but in return will be given more creative freedom to take risks.

There’s no word yet on when the first film might start gearing up, or even
whether anything will come from it, but this news does at least prove that
the top bods at Marvel are ready to experiment with ideas and have solid
plans ahead for their universe outside of the heavy hitters.

So come on then, people – which lower-level Marvel characters would you
want to see on screen, and which leftfield filmmaker should have a crack
at them?
 
James White

[scifinoir2] Top Ten Space Weapons

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/top10_space_weapons.html

[scifinoir2] Brains, Worms and Computer Chips Have Striking Similarities

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100422184049.htm

Brains, Worms and Computer Chips Have Striking Similarities


ScienceDaily (Apr. 23, 2010) - An international team of scientists has
discovered striking similarities between the human brain, the nervous
system of a worm, and a computer chip. The finding is reported in the
journal PLoS Computational Biology.

Brains are often compared to computers, but apart from the trivial fact
that both process information using a complex pattern of connections in a
physical space, it has been unclear whether this is more than just a
metaphor, said Danielle Bassett, first author and a postdoctoral research
associate in the Department of Physics at UC Santa Barbara.

The team of scientists from the U.S., the U.K., and Germany has uncovered
novel quantitative organizational principles that underlie the network
organizations of the human brain, high performance computer circuits, and
the nervous system of the worm, known as nematode C. elegans. Using data
that is largely in the public domain, including magnetic resonance imaging
data from human brains, a map of the nematode's nervous system, and a
standard computer chip, they examined how the elements in each system are
networked together.

They found that all three shared two basic properties. First, the human
brain, the nematode's nervous system, and the computer chip all have a
Russian doll-like architecture, with the same patterns repeating over and
over again at different scales.

Second, all three showed what is known as Rent's scaling, a rule used to
describe the relationship between the number of elements in a given area
and the number of links between them.

Worm brains may seem to have very little in common with human brains and
even less in common with computer circuits, explained Bassett. In fact,
each of these systems contains a pattern of connections that are locked
solidly in a physical space, similar to how the tracks in a railway system
are locked solidly to the ground, forming traffic paths that have fixed
GPS coordinates. A computer chip starts out as an abstract connectivity
pattern, which can perform a specific function. Stage two involves mapping
that connectivity pattern onto the two-dimensional surface of the chip.
This mapping is a key step and must be done carefully in order to minimize
the total length of wires -- a powerful predictor of the cost of
manufacturing a chip -- while maintaining the abstract connectivity or
function.

Brains are similarly characterized by a precise connectivity which allows
the organism to function, but are constrained by the metabolic costs
associated with the development and maintenance of long 'wires,' or
neurons, said Bassett. She explained that, given the similar constraints
in brains and chips, it seems that both evolution and technological
innovation have developed the same solutions to optimal mapping patterns.

She explained that this scaling result may further explain a well-known
but little-understood relationship between the processing elements
(neuronal cell bodies, or gray matter) and wiring (axons, or white matter)
in the brains of a wide range of differently sized mammals -- from mouse
to opossum to sea lion -- further suggesting that these principles of
nervous system design are highly conserved across species.

This work suggests that market-driven human invention and natural
selection have negotiated trade-offs between cost and complexity in
designing both types of information processing network: brains and
computer circuits.

Bassett worked closely with Edward Bullmore, professor of psychiatry at
the University of Cambridge. He explained: These striking similarities
can probably be explained because they represent the most efficient way of
wiring a complex network in a confined physical space -- be that a
three-dimensional human brain or a two-dimensional computer chip.

[scifinoir2] Leonard Nimoy set to retire

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.torontosun.com/entertainment/tv/2010/04/19/13639516.html

Entertainment TV

Leonard Nimoy set to retire

By KEVIN WILLIAMSON, QMI Agency

Last Updated: April 19, 2010


Just when he thinks he’s out, they beam him back in.

How else to describe Leonard Nimoy’s enduring, at times conflicted
relationship with Star Trek, the franchise that’s defined his career for
more than four decades - regardless of how many times he swore it off or
believed it was finished?

“Countless times, I thought it was done,” he admits on the phone from Los
Angeles.

But this time, says the 79-year-old actor-director-photographer, there are
no more possibilities. Spock, his pointy-eared alter-ego, will live long
and prosper. But it will be without Nimoy.

“I want to get off the stage. Also, I don’t think it would be fair to
Zachary Quinto,” he says, referring to the actor who portrayed a youthful
Spock in last summer’s smash Star Trek relaunch. “He’s a terrific actor,
he looks the part, and it’s time to give him some space. And I’m very
flattered the character will continue.”

In other words, don’t expect to see Nimoy in the next Trek sequel,
scheduled for 2012. And don’t expect to see him anywhere else, either.
Having just shot what will be his final appearance as enigmatic genius Dr.
William Bell in TV’s Fringe, he says he’s retiring from acting altogether.

“I’ve been doing this professionally for 60 years,” he says with a laugh.
“I love the idea of going out on a positive note. I’ve had a great, great
time.”

After all, his involvement with Fringe was never intended to be permanent.
Rather, he’d only agreed to appear in a few episodes as a favour to J.J.
Abrams, who produces Fringe and, of course, directed Star Trek.

“I was away from acting for 12 years, so I guess I was seducable,” Nimoy
says. “But since J.J. Abrams revived the Star Trek franchise, I felt I
owed him something. And I’m glad I did it because he promised me a good
story, and it was.”

Also in question? How many more science-fiction conventions he has in his
future. He’ll be at this weekend’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo
which “could be the last go-round for that too,” he says, noting he only
has a few more public appearances planned.

Not that he doesn’t enjoy them. He describes each one as “a love fest. I’m
so grateful to the fans. I call these kind of experiences a victory lap
... It’s like having a family meeting - a family reunion.”

That goodwill mirrors how his own emotions about Trek have mellowed.
Famously, his 1975 autobiography was entitled I Am Not Spock. By 1995,
when he published his second autobiography, the title had been modified to
I Am Spock.

He explains he made peace with the iconic series during the 1980s and
particularly with Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, which he directed. “I
felt like Star Trek IV was my personal statement on Star Trek.”

Now, typecasting be damned, he feels no regrets about donning the ears
that made him famous. “Since Star Trek began in 1966, I’ve never had to
worry about where the next job was.”

Rather, with his acting and filmmaking career behind him, he wants to
concentrate on photography, citing an exhibition he has coming up in
Massachusetts. He acknowledges he was met with skepticism initially about
this latest creative venture, “but I’ve built credibility now in the art
world.”

And among the general population, too. He recalls an incident in which he
and Tom Hanks were approached by a young man who wanted his picture taken
with Hanks. When Hanks asked who would take the photo, the man turned to
the now former Mr. Spock.

“He said, ‘Mr. Nimoy, you’re a wonderful photographer. Would you take our
picture?’ ”

‘Spock’ headed to Vulcan, Alt.

If Leonard Nimoy is going to be in Calgary, it only seems logical that he
pays a visit to Vulcan too.

“I couldn’t resist,” he says with a very un-Spock-like laugh. “I thought,
‘Since I’m coming to Calgary, why not Vulcan?’ ”

Thus the Southern Alberta community of about 1,900 will get its
long-awaited chance to host Nimoy on Friday, ahead of his scheduled
appearance at this weekend’s Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo.

Nimoy’s fondness for the town is well-documented. Vulcan generated
worldwide headlines last spring when Nimoy backed its bid to host the
premiere of 2009’s Star Trek film. Ultimately, Paramount bused about 300
residents of Vulcan - which has long capitalized on the fact it shares the
name of Spock’s home planet - to Calgary for a private screening.

Not surprisingly, news of Nimoy’s visit has again put Vulcan in the
spotlight.

In addition to touring the town’s Trek museum, Nimoy will have his iconic
Vulcan salute canonized in a handprint ceremony. He’ll also be there for
the unveiling of a bronze Spock bust.

What message does he plan to convey to the townsfolk?

“How wonderful it is to be home in Vulcan.”

kevin.william...@sunmedia.ca

[scifinoir2] 'Trek' fans, want a Starfleet uniform? It's for sale

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.komonews.com/news/entertainment/90380669.html

'Trek' fans, want a Starfleet uniform? It's for sale

By OSKAR GARCIA Associated Press Writer


LAS VEGAS (AP) - Star Trek lovers looking for Enterprise chairs,
Starfleet uniforms or a model Klingon Bird of Prey can seek out new life
for the dismantled pieces of a closed Las Vegas attraction based on the
famous franchise.

Auctioneer Propworx Inc. plans to sell roughly 1,000 items large and small
from Star Trek: The Experience at a warehouse sale Saturday in Las Vegas,
CEO Alec Peters said.

The attraction, based on the beloved television series and movies, closed
in 2008 after a 10-year run.

Anything like this, you're sad to see it go, but on the other hand it's
an opportunity for fans to preserve the stuff, Peters said. It's an
opportunity for the studio to get it in the hands of people who made it
great.

I think it is bittersweet - we try to make it fun, Peters said.

Among the items for sale are three large models of spaceships in need of
repair or restoration - the U.S.S. Enterprise A, the U.S.S. Voyager and
the Bird of Prey - as well as a replica of the Enterprise bridge from
Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Peters said a Borg alcove - where members of the synthetically enhanced
drone race recharge and synch with a hive mind - is on sale for $800.

Also on sale are costumes and knickknacks, starting at $10, Peters said.

The attraction folded in Star Trek mythology, billing itself as a
21st-century time station used to transport personnel and equipment to
and from the late 24th century. The story was that the Experience let
folks of the future meet and study many human cultures in a single place
where they often converge - Sin City.

The attraction included two rides where visitors were transported to the
U.S.S. Enterprise, rode in a shuttle or faced a Borg encounter.

Mike Cornwell, the executive officer of a local Star Trek fan club that
helped set up the memorabilia sale, said Friday that members of the club
have been sad about the immersive experience going away.

We see it as such a waste that they closed it down, Cornwell said. It's
really a blow to all Star Trek fans everywhere.

Cornwell, 47, said he hopes to buy a certain piece of the exhibit's
History of the Future, which chronicled the history of the Star Trek
universe.

CBS Television Distribution, which owns the rights to the franchise, has a
licensing deal in place for a Star Trek exhibit in downtown Las Vegas
through its consumer products division. No timeline for that attraction
has been announced.

CBS Consumer has a deal with Kennedy Space Center on a live 30-minute live
stage show based on the universe from the 2009 Star Trek movie. The show
is to debut in June.

[scifinoir2] Freaky Physics Proves Parallel Universes Exist

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/05/freaky-physics-proves-parallel-universes/

Freaky Physics Proves Parallel Universes Exist

By John Brandon

 - FOXNews.com


Look past the details of a wonky discovery by a group of California
scientists -- that a quantum state is now observable with the human eye --
and consider its implications: Time travel may be feasible.

Look past the details of a wonky discovery by a group of California
scientists -- that a quantum state is now observable with the human eye --
and consider its implications: Time travel may be feasible. Doc Brown
would be proud. 

The strange discovery by quantum physicists at the University of
California Santa Barbara means that an object you can see in front of you
may exist simultaneously in a parallel universe
-- a multi-state condition that has scientists theorizing that traveling
through time may be much more than just the plaything of science fiction
writers. 

And it's all because of a tiny bit of metal -- a paddle about the width
of a human hair, an item that is incredibly small but still something you
can see with the naked eye. 

UC Santa Barbara's Andrew Cleland cooled that paddle in a refrigerator,
dimmed the lights and, under a special bell jar, sucked out all the air to
eliminate vibrations. He then plucked it like a tuning fork and noted that
it moved and stood still at the same time.

That sounds contradictory, and it's nearly impossible to understand if
your last name isn't Einstein. But it actually happened. It's a freaky
fact that's at the heart of quantum mechanics.

How Is That Possible? 

To even try to understand it, you have to think really, really small.
Smaller than an atom. Electrons, which circle the nucleus of an atom, are
swirling around in multiple states at the same time -- they're hard to pin
down. It's only when we measure the position of an electron that we force
it to have a specific location. Cleland's breakthrough lies in taking that
hard-to-grasp yet true fact about the atomic particle and applying it to
something visible with the naked eye.

What does it all mean? Let's say you're in Oklahoma visiting your aunt.
But in another universe, where your atomic particles just can't keep up,
you're actually at home watching The Simpsons. That may sound
far-fetched, but it's based on real science.

When you observe something in one state, one theory is it split the
universe into two parts, Cleland told FoxNews.com, trying to explain how
there can be multiple universes and we can see only one of them. 

The multi-verse theory says the entire universe freezes during
observation, and we see only one reality. You see a soccer ball flying
through the air, but maybe in a second universe the ball has dropped
already. Or you were looking the other way. Or they don't even play soccer
over there.

Sean Carroll, a physicist at the California Institute of Technology and a
popular author, accepts the scientific basis for the multi-verse -- even
if it cannot be proven. 

Unless you can imagine some super-advanced alien civilization that has
figured this out, we aren't affected by the possible existence of other
universes, Carroll said. But he does think someone could devise a
machine that lets one universe communicate with another.

It all comes down to how we understand time.

Carroll suggests that we don't exactly feel time -- we perceive its
passing. For example, time moves fast on a rollercoaster and very slowly
during a dull college lecture. It races when you're late for work . . .
but the last few minutes before quitting time seem like hours.

Back to the Future 

Time seems to be a one-way street that runs from the past to the
present, says Fred Alan Wolf, a.k.a. Dr. Quantum, a physicist and author.
But take into consideration theories that look at the level of quantum
fields ... particles that travel both forward and backward in time. If we
leave out the forward-and-backwards-in-time part, we miss out on some of
the physics.

Wolf says that time -- at least in quantum mechanics -- doesn't move
straight like an arrow. It zig-zags, and he thinks it may be possible to
build a machine that lets you bend time. 

Consider Sergei Krikalev, the Russian astronaut who flew six space
missions. Richard Gott, a physicist at Princeton University, says Krikalev
aged 1/48th of a second less than the rest of us because he orbited at
very high speeds. And to age less than someone means you've jumped into
the future -- you did not experience the same present. In a sense, he
says, Krikalev time-traveled to the future -- and back again!

Newton said all time is universal and all clocks tick the same way, Gott
says. Now with Einstein's theory of Special Relativity we know that
travel into the future is possible. With Einstein's theory of gravity, the
laws of physics as we understand them today suggest that even time travel
to the past is possible in principle. But to see whether time travel to
the past can actually be realized we may 

[scifinoir2] 2009 Nebula Nominees

[brent wodehouse]

2009 Nebula, Bradbury, and Andre Norton Award Nominees 
* Short Story 
* Hooves and the Hovel of Abdel Jameela, Saladin Ahmed 
I Remember the Future, Michael A. Burstein 
Non-Zero Probabilities, N. K. Jemisin 
Spar, Kij Johnson 
Going Deep, James Patrick Kelly 
Bridesicle, Will McIntosh
 * Novelette
 * The Gambler, Paolo Bacigalupi 
Vinegar Peace, or the Wrong-Way Used-Adult
 Orphanage, Michael Bishop 
I Needs Must Part, The Policeman Said, Richard Bowes 
Sinner, Baker, Fabulist, Priest; Red Mask,
 Black Mask, Gentleman, Beast, Eugie Foster 
Divining Light, Ted Kosmatka 
A Memory of Wind, Rachel Swirsky
 * Novella
 * The Women of Nell Gwynne’s, Kage Baker 
Arkfall, Carolyn Ives Gilman 
Act One, Nancy Kress 
Shambling Towards Hiroshima, James Morrow 
Sublimation Angels, Jason Sanford 
The God Engines, John Scalzi
 * Novel
 * The Windup Girl, Paolo Bacigalupi 
The Love We Share Without Knowing, Christopher Barzak 
Flesh and Fire, Laura Anne Gilman 
The City  The City, China Miéville 
Boneshaker, Cherie Priest 
Finch, Jeff VanderMeer
 * Bradbury Award 
Best Dramatic Production
 * Star Trek, JJ Abrams 
District 9, Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell 
Avatar, James Cameron 
Moon, Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker 
Up, Bob Peterson and Pete Docter 
Coraline, Henry Selick
 * Andre Norton Award
 * Hotel Under the Sand, Kage Baker 
Ice, Sarah Beth Durst 
Ash, by Malinda Lo 
Eyes Like Stars, Lisa Mantchev 
Zoe’s Tale, John Scalzi 
When You Reach Me, by Rebecca Stead 
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland In A
 Ship Of Her Own Making, Catherynne M.
 Valente 
Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld 


And this year's Nebula Awards are being presented in Cocoa Beach on May
15, to coincide with a shuttle launch on May 14. If you are interested in
attending the Nebulas, rates go up in a couple of days. You can get more
information at
http://www.nebulaawards.com/index.php/nebula_weekend/registration

Re: [scifinoir2] Missing link between man and apes found

[brent wodehouse]

Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com writes:


Basically, a modern-day nobleman revisiting his pirate days in order to
help a friend and save his own life (through the injudicious use of time
travel). This comes in because I have a character whose species evolved
from a primitive offshoot of mankind
.

Do you have plans to post it once you've completed it? It sounds an
interesting read. Good luck with it. :-)


Brent



On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 6:38 PM, brent wodehouse [
mailto:brent_wodeho...@thefence.us ]brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:



Martin Baxter [ mailto:martinbaxter7%40gmail.com
]martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:

The screaming you hear is from every fire-and-brimstone preacher south of
the Mason-Dixon, lest anyone wonder...

Seriously, this is amazing stuff. Fuel for part of the story I'm working
on. Thanks again, Brent!


Story? Of what variety? Inquiring minds...


Brent

On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 2:49 PM, brent wodehouse
[ mailto:brent_wodehouse%40thefence.us ]brent_wodeho...@thefence.us
wrote:

[
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/7550033/Missing-link-between-man-and-apes-found.html
]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/7550033/Missing-link-between-man-and-apes-found.html

Missing link between man and apes found.

A missing link between humans and their apelike ancestors has been
discovered

[scifinoir2] Lucasfilm developing 'Star Wars' comedy series

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.thrfeed.com/2010/04/lucasfilm-developing-star-wars-comedy-series.html

April 05, 2010

Lucasfilm developing 'Star Wars' comedy series


I have a bad feeling about this...

Lucasfilm Animation is developing a Star Wars animated comedy series.

Better to have fans laughing with you than at you, I guess.

After three unintentionally funny prequels, Lucasfilm is teaming with Seth
Green and Matthew Senreich (Robot Chicken) for a comedic look at the
Star Wars universe.

In a statement, Green said:

“The ‘Star Wars’ universe is so dense and rich; it’s crazy to think that
there aren’t normal, mundane everyday problems in a world so well-defined.
And it’s even crazier to think of what those problems might be, since it’s
all set in a galaxy far, far away. What do these characters do when
they’re not overthrowing Empires?”

No network yet. And really, how about making some progress on that live
action series instead?

The show will be produced by Jennifer Hill, with Simpsons writer Brendan
Hay also on board.

Re: [scifinoir2] Missing link between man and apes found

[brent wodehouse]

Martin Baxter martinbaxt...@gmail.com wrote:

The screaming you hear is from every fire-and-brimstone preacher south of
the Mason-Dixon, lest anyone wonder...

Seriously, this is amazing stuff. Fuel for part of the story I'm working
on. Thanks again, Brent!


Story? Of what variety? Inquiring minds...


Brent


On Sun, Apr 4, 2010 at 2:49 PM, brent wodehouse
brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/7550033/Missing-link-between-man-and-apes-found.html

Missing link between man and apes found.

A missing link between humans and their apelike ancestors has been
discovered

[scifinoir2] Movies that make you love them

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/movies/movies-that-make-you-love-them/article1521282/

Movies that make you love them

Filmmakers are searching out new ways to mine your celluloid sweet spot

Liam Lacey

From Saturday's Globe and Mail


In the future, instead of going to movie theatres and staring at giant
screens, perhaps we will attach a cable to our computers, plug it into the
sides of our skulls - and get lost.

That could be the eventual outcome of “neurocinema,” an emerging
technology that promises to shape films to maximize brain excitement,
allowing Hollywood studios to know exactly what you want better than you
do. As columnist Scott Brown sardonically noted in Wired magazine last
month: “Movie houses will become crack dens with cup holders, and I’ll lie
there mainlining pure viewing pleasure for hours.”

The concern that movies may take over our brains goes back at least to
1931 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, which featured an entertainment
system called “the feelies” inspired by Huxley’s horror at watching his
first sound movie. Novels made into such movies as The Parallax View and A
Clockwork Orange show heroes brainwashed by film. But could brain research
also make films better?

Neurocinema is an offshoot of neuromarketing, a term coined by Dutch
marketing expert Ale Smidts in 2002. It, in turn, is a branch of
advertising research that uses brain-imaging techniques, including the
functional magnetic resonance imaging machine (or fMRI, which measures
blood flow to parts of the brain) and electroencephalography (EEG, which
measures electrical activity) to peer into our brains - and, more
specifically, into “the subconscious thoughts, feelings and desires that
drive purchasing decisions” as branding guru Martin Lindstrom writes in
Buyology: Truth and Lies About Why We Buy.

It’s no longer the stuff of science fiction: Coca-Cola, Unilever,
Campbell’s Soup and Levi Strauss have used brain scanning to develop
advertising strategies, and marketing jargon is full of excited talk about
finding the “buy button” in consumers’ heads.

Neuromarketing buzz has influenced the move industry, too. More than a
year before Avatar hit screens, James Cameron boasted that fMRI machines
would show the brain was much more active while watching his 3-D film than
while taking in a conventional movie. This month’s South by Southwest
festival in Austin played to the film-geek crowd with a panel called Big
Brother in Your Brain: Neuroscience and Marketing.

And last fall, such media outlets as Wired, CNN and National Public Radio
carried the story of a San Diego company called Mindsign Neuromarketing,
which announced it was revolutionizing films by using an fMRI machine to
test scenes from a horror movie called Pop Skull.

But on closer inspection, it didn’t take a brain scientist to diagnose a
bad case of neuro hype. The test involved only one subject, a 24-year-old
woman who watched two scenes from the movie, three times. According to
film producer Peter Katz, this was the first step in a brave new
filmmaking world where filmmakers “will be able to track precisely which
sequences/scenes excite, emotionally engage or lose the viewer’s interest
based on what regions of the brain are activated. From that info, a
director can edit, reshoot an actor’s bad performance, adjust a score,
pump up visual effects and apply any other changes to improve or replace
the least compelling scenes.”

Most brain-movie research to date makes more modest claims. For example,
in 2004, Professor Uri Hasson and his New York University colleagues
showed five subjects different scenes, lasting about 30 minutes, of the
Sergio Leone 1966 western, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly and discovered
“the brains of different individuals show a highly significant tendency to
act in unison.”

No big surprise there. But later, in a 2008 test, the same researchers
looked into how moviegoers experience different films. This time, The
Good, The Bad and the Ugly aroused about 45-per-cent similar brain
reaction among the subjects. By contrast, the loosely structured TV comedy
Curb Your Enthusiasm hit only 18-per-cent common brain activity, while an
episode of the vintage television show Alfred Hitchcock Presents scored a
whopping 65-per-cent uniformity, confirming the Master of Suspense’s claim
that he played his audience like an instrument.

After Hasson’s initial experiment, Hollywood executives commissioned
Steven Quartz, a neuroscientist at the California Institute of Technology,
to try to improve the effectiveness of movie trailers. Quartz claimed to
have discovered an area of the brain, at the base of the orbitofrontal
cortex, that indicates “how much people are anticipating a movie when they
are watching a trailer or how much liking they have.”

Other researchers are dubious. Neurologist Richard Restak, author of The
Naked Brain: How the Emerging Neurosociety is Changing How We Live, Work,
and Love, points out that a large area of the brain 

[scifinoir2] You Are Not a Gadget

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.straight.com/article-301207/vancouver/q-jaron-lanier-author-you-are-not-gadget

Q  A: Jaron Lanier, author of You Are Not a Gadget

By Brian Lynch


There’s plenty of people raising warning flags about adverse cultural
effects of the Internet, but few of them have the credentials of Jaron
Lanier. Back in the digital era’s Cretaceous period, in the 1980s, the New
Mexico–born Lanier was one of a small group of pioneering Silicon Valley
programmers working on virtual reality and other technologies that
bordered on science fiction. He was also a founding contributing editor of
the hugely influential tech magazine Wired.

He’s worked in the field ever since, designing sophisticated applications
for university networks, as well as computer simulations for medical
training and research. But as the years have passed and computers have
shaped more and more of our lives, Lanier has become increasingly wary.
His new book, You Are Not a Gadget (Knopf, 209 pp), is a manifesto that
sets out a searing critique of Web idealism.

Much of it is aimed squarely at what’s sometimes called Web 2.0 -
Wikipedia, Facebook, Youtube, and the like, to name just a few of the most
famous and widely used sites that rely on user interaction and
information-sharing. Lanier argues that the effect of these Web-based
phenomena on who we are and how we see ourselves is often dehumanizing.

“Anonymous blog comments, vapid video pranks, and lightweight mashups may
seem trivial and harmless,” he writes, “but as a whole, this widespread
practice of fragmentary, impersonal communication has demeaned
interpersonal interaction.”

The Straight caught up with Lanier by phone, during a brief visit he made
recently to Toronto.

Georgia Straight: You argue in the book that the design of the information
systems we now use constantly - especially the design of social networks
and other examples of what’s called Web 2.0 - alters basic things about us
as humans, and not always for the better.

Jaron Lanier: What I’ve observed is that slight changes in technology can
really change the way people behave and the way they conceive of
themselves. For instance, if in Facebook you’re given a set of categories
to choose from that describes something about you or your life, like
romantic status or something like that, you tend to start thinking of your
life in terms of that system, because you’re interacting with everybody
via it, you’re planning things via it. So at a certain point it just
becomes real for you, even if otherwise you might have thought about
things slightly differently. And the slight differences are really where
the core of meaning is. So these slight adjustments shouldn’t be
discounted.

If I can give you one other example, one of the ways that behaviour
modification is being most effectively offered on-line is that we dole out
little dollops of useability or ease of use. So, for instance, right now,
if you’re a programmer, if you’re digitally skilled, then you do have a
shot at controlling your privacy settings on Facebook. But if you’re a
normal person, if you’re not technical, you really don’t….

And so people change their ideas about privacy rather than having to learn
to be programmers, given that choice. In other words, if you just tell
somebody, “Hey, why don’t you give up privacy so this company that’s
operating like a spy agency can gather all the information about your life
in order to help advertisers reach you better?”…you’d say, “Are you
kidding? No way.”

But if it’s given to you as a choice - like, “Either learn to be a
programmer, so you can control it, or just accept that you’re going to
have less privacy, and that you’re going to grant all this power to this
other company” - you know, if it’s put as a choice that way, people say,
“Well, I don’t want to learn to program.” So all of a sudden their
standards change.

GS: This is a gradual process, then, as if you don’t really notice your
own attitudes shifting in these ways.

JL: Right. Well, actually, more to the point, it’s as young people come up
- it’s a generational process. And we’re presenting a set of choices to a
younger generation as if they’re normal.

Furthermore, we’re telling that younger generation that they should
identify with them, so that anybody who disagrees with it should be
treated as an old fogey, when in fact the people pushing those choices on
them are as old or older than anyone who might criticize them. In my case,
they’re the same age, because the people who are pushing it are my old
friends. It’s like one circle of people who are both opposing it and
pushing it.

GS: One way you sum up your argument about Facebook is in the idea that
“information underrepresents reality” by turning us into these fields of
factoids. But isn’t that underestimating the service’s users? Isn’t there
enough of the old, “personal” part of their identity that they recognize
there’s a difference between who they are and these lists of facts?

JL: It depends how old 

[scifinoir2] Without Shuttles, Astronauts' Careers May Stall

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125523014

Without Shuttles, Astronauts' Careers May Stall

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

April 4, 2010


Chris Ferguson is a former space shuttle commander. Now he moonlights as a
drummer for a Houston-based astronaut rock band. Perhaps we'll have some
more time to practice here once the shuttle program comes to a slow end,
he says.

It's unclear what else the future may bring for NASA's elite astronaut
corps after the agency mothballs its aging space shuttles in the coming
months.

Ferguson's day job is deputy chief of NASA's astronaut office. He says
that about a half-dozen astronauts typically leave the agency each year to
do things like teach, work for the government or take aerospace industry
jobs.

After the shuttles stop flying, Ferguson says, I would anticipate we'll
see a few extra folks over and above our normal attrition rate might seek
employment elsewhere.

The Countdown's Begun

Space shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch early Monday. After this
mission, NASA will have just three flights left before the shuttles are
slated to become museum exhibits.

Though the agency won't have spaceships, it will still have a lot of
astronauts. NASA currently has about 80 active astronauts, as well as nine
new astronaut candidates hired last year.

There will be fewer missions after the shuttle program ends, and those
will be long-duration stays at the space station. The only way to get up
to the station will be in a cramped Russian Soyuz capsule.

NASA had been designing and building a new system of rockets and space
capsules, called Constellation, which intended to take astronauts up to
the station and eventually on to the moon. But the Obama administration
wants to cancel that program, saying it was behind schedule and had been
too underfunded to meet its goals.

Instead, the administration would rely on private companies to build new
astronaut taxis to low Earth orbit, while NASA focused on developing
technologies for going far out into the solar system. Many in Congress are
fighting that plan.

It's a very tenuous time for everybody here, Ferguson says. This is a
very large organization and it doesn't turn very quickly, kind of like a
large ship. It just takes awhile to make a 180-degree turn.

He says there's a little apprehension as people wonder about their
future. But they also are concerned about what will happen to all the
expertise at NASA that's allowed America to put people into space.

It's certainly not an easy thing to do, and we want to make sure that we
preserve that capability and that knowledge, you know, for future
generations and whoever ultimately does take us up to the international
space station and hopefully beyond low-Earth orbit one day, Ferguson says.

Astronauts For Hire?

This isn't the first time NASA has had to make a big break with the past.
When the Apollo program ended, astronauts had to wait years before the
brand new space shuttles were ready to fly.

But the whole situation was different back then, according to Roger
Launius, a space historian at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space
Museum in Washington, D.C.

There's uncertainty that's in the system today that wasn't necessarily
there in the 1970s, Launius explains. Even before the end of the Apollo
program, NASA had an approved, follow-on program - the space shuttle - and
a firm schedule for getting it completed.

These days, no one knows what NASA will be doing next. Meanwhile, private
companies are moving forward with their efforts - raising the possibility
of not just commercial space taxis, but also astronauts for hire.

NASA administrator and former astronaut Charlie Bolden talked about that
prospect when he visited Kennedy Space Center in Florida earlier this
year, saying it would be a different approach for NASA to rent not just
the space vehicle, but also a private crew of astronauts to go with it.

We need to have the discussion of how important is it to have a career
astronaut contingent, as opposed to none, Bolden said.

He said that NASA's international partners like the idea of an elite
corps, and that he doubted some random person could quickly be trained to
perform at the same level as NASA astronauts, who have devoted their lives
to preparing for work in space.

We need to have the discussion of what the future - the next generation
of astronauts - will be like, Bolden said.

[scifinoir2] ebook prices going up soon

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Books/2010/03/30/13414016-cp.html

ebook prices going up soon

By Michael Oliveira, THE CANADIAN PRESS


TORONTO - If you were thinking about buying an ebook, you may want to do
it now.

The prices of most new releases will soon be hiked by as much as 30 to 50
per cent.

A major upheaval in the ebook world is coming Thursday, with five of the
six biggest publishers in North America implementing a new pricing regime
that will do away with discounting and the need for comparison shopping.

Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, MacMillan, Penguin Group and Simon 
Schuster are moving to the so-called agency model, which means they will
dictate the price their ebooks are sold at and retailers will be forced to
follow.

It's expected to result in price increases for new releases, which
consumers will definitely notice, said Mike Serbinis, chief executive of
Kobo, the online ebook retailer owned 58 per cent by Indigo Books  Music
Inc. (TSX:IDG).

The days of new releases usually priced at US$9.99 are numbered and
readers can think of $12.99 or $14.99 as the new normal.

I think what you're going to see is a lack of discounts, so consumers
will notice that. So far, they've seen list prices of $29.99 and 60 per
cent discounts, with the actual selling prices around 10 bucks - that will
go away in general, he said.

However, there's still one major publisher that hasn't switched over to
the new pricing model, Random House, and Serbinis expects its books will
be discounted aggressively by retailers.

The launch of Thursday's new pricing regime was a last-minute change
imposed by the publishers and retailers are scrambling to adapt by the
deadline.

As a result, some titles may disappear temporarily, if all the logistics
aren't sorted out in time.

We're working feverishly, like all the other major players in this space,
to get ready for Thursday, the change - I would say like all things in
this space right now - has happened very fast, said Serbinis.

There's legal stuff to do, there's IT things to do to get the new pricing
and the new approach and the new rules in place in time.

Macmillan CEO John Sargent said in a blog post that its new releases
generally will be priced between $12.99 and $14.99, although there might
be some exceptions. When books go into paperback, the ebook price
typically will be reduced to a range of $6.99 to $9.99, he added.

[scifinoir2] Chris Evans Wins the Role of 'Captain America'

[brent wodehouse]

http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-chris-evans-wins-captain-america.html

Chris Evans Wins the Role of 'Captain America'

by Matt McDaniel

March 22, 2010


After nearly two years of speculation, The Hollywood Reporter broke the
news on Monday that Chris Evans will be playing Marvel Comics' iconic hero
Captain America in the big-screen adaptation.

The movie, titled The First Avenger: Captain America, was announced in
2008 after Marvel Studio's first production, Iron Man, became a
box-office hit. The names of many actors -- from established stars to
mostly unknowns -- have been rumored to be up for the role for months.
Action movie veterans Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and
Garrett Hedlund (the upcoming Tron Legacy) were reportedly considered,
as were TV regulars Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) and Scott Porter
(Friday Night Lights). Even wild-cards like The Office funnyman John
Krasinski tested for the part.

Chris Evans was a late addition to the roster of potential leads, but he
had already established himself as a comic-book hero by playing the Human
Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies. This goes against director Joe
Johnston's stated intention to use an unknown actor for the role. But
Evans is an American, which was Johnston's other requirement (and left out
foreigners like Australian Avatar star Sam Worthington).

Finding the right actor to play Captain America has been pivotal for
Marvel Studios because they have grander plans for the character beyond
the one film. According to Johnston, The First Avenger is an origin
story set predominantly during the 1940s, when the red-white-and-blue
suited hero first appeared in comics. But the movie will also set up The
Avengers -- based on Marvel's long-running team series -- where Captain
America will lead a group of superheroes that will include Robert Downey
Jr.'s Iron Man.

While fans of the comics have expressed their doubts at some of the
candidates for the role, response to Evans has been uniformly positive.
His performance as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and Rise of the
Silver Surfer were widely considered to be the best parts of those
movies. It's been said that Evans will sign a nine-picture contract that
could see him appear as Captain America in multiple films, both on his own
and with the Avengers.

Production on The First Avenger will begin in the U.K. in June. Hugo
Weaving (The Matrix) is in talks to play Captain America's nemesis, the
Red Skull. It is the third movie in Marvel Studio's pipeline, following
Iron Man 2, which is coming to theaters on May 7th of this year, and
Thor, currently filming for a May 2011 release. Captain America is
scheduled to open on July 22, 2011.

In the meantime, Chris Evans has two films set to open this year, both of
which also happen to be based on comic books. Next month, he'll play a
Special Forces operative in the adaptation of Vertigo Comics' The
Losers. Then in August he will appear in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,
based on the graphic novel series.

Re: [scifinoir2] Chris Evans Wins the Role of 'Captain America'

[brent wodehouse]

Oops... pardon the duplication. :-\


Brent


brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us writes:
 


[
http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-chris-evans-wins-captain-america.html
]http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/movie-talk-chris-evans-wins-captain-america.html

Chris Evans Wins the Role of 'Captain America'

by Matt McDaniel

March 22, 2010

After nearly two years of speculation, The Hollywood Reporter broke the
news on Monday that Chris Evans will be playing Marvel Comics' iconic hero
Captain America in the big-screen adaptation.

The movie, titled The First Avenger: Captain America, was announced in
2008 after Marvel Studio's first production, Iron Man, became a
box-office hit. The names of many actors -- from established stars to
mostly unknowns -- have been rumored to be up for the role for months.
Action movie veterans Channing Tatum (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) and
Garrett Hedlund (the upcoming Tron Legacy) were reportedly considered,
as were TV regulars Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl) and Scott Porter
(Friday Night Lights). Even wild-cards like The Office funnyman John
Krasinski tested for the part.

Chris Evans was a late addition to the roster of potential leads, but he
had already established himself as a comic-book hero by playing the Human
Torch in the two Fantastic Four movies. This goes against director Joe
Johnston's stated intention to use an unknown actor for the role. But
Evans is an American, which was Johnston's other requirement (and left out
foreigners like Australian Avatar star Sam Worthington).

Finding the right actor to play Captain America has been pivotal for
Marvel Studios because they have grander plans for the character beyond
the one film. According to Johnston, The First Avenger is an origin
story set predominantly during the 1940s, when the red-white-and-blue
suited hero first appeared in comics. But the movie will also set up The
Avengers -- based on Marvel's long-running team series -- where Captain
America will lead a group of superheroes that will include Robert Downey
Jr.'s Iron Man.

While fans of the comics have expressed their doubts at some of the
candidates for the role, response to Evans has been uniformly positive.
His performance as Johnny Storm in Fantastic Four and Rise of the
Silver Surfer were widely considered to be the best parts of those
movies. It's been said that Evans will sign a nine-picture contract that
could see him appear as Captain America in multiple films, both on his own
and with the Avengers.

Production on The First Avenger will begin in the U.K. in June. Hugo
Weaving (The Matrix) is in talks to play Captain America's nemesis, the
Red Skull. It is the third movie in Marvel Studio's pipeline, following
Iron Man 2, which is coming to theaters on May 7th of this year, and
Thor, currently filming for a May 2011 release. Captain America is
scheduled to open on July 22, 2011.

In the meantime, Chris Evans has two films set to open this year, both of
which also happen to be based on comic books. Next month, he'll play a
Special Forces operative in the adaptation of Vertigo Comics' The
Losers. Then in August he will appear in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World,
based on the graphic novel series.




  

[scifinoir2] ‘Repo Men’ bloody but funny

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/Reviews/R/Repo_Men/2010/03/18/13275526.html

‘Repo Men’ bloody but funny

By LIZ BRAUN, QMI Agency


Here in the future, you can have any body part replaced with a man-made
gizmo. There’s no waiting list and no hoping someone will die for the
organ you need to be donated - it’s all man-made, it’s all available and
it’s just a matter of paying for it.

Ah - paying for it. There’s the rub.

Repo Men is a bloody, violent and blackly funny movie about the men who
turn up to reclaim your organs if you don’t pay the bill. Armed with large
knives and sanitary plastic suits to keep the blood off their clothes,
these guys taser you, open you up, remove your high-tech heart or liver
and take it back to headquarters to collect the bounty. You? You die
quietly.

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker star in Repo Men as a tag team of
organ-retrieval specialists. There’s no case too tough for these two, and
they spend their working days seeking out those who can’t pay the bill and
snatching back the debt-causing organ. Neither man flinches at removing
anything from anybody, and they trade quips as they go. They have no
sympathy. Slice, dice, yank out kidney, move on. Yerghh.

It’s all in a wildly bloody day’s work.

Then Law’s character has an accident at work and requires a heart
transplant. Funny thing is, once he has a newfangled organ, he just
doesn’t have the, well, heart to do his job any more. He can’t bring
himself to stun people and rip out their unpaid-for organs. Furthermore,
he can no more afford payments on his own new heart than fly to the moon,
so in a matter of months he’s in the same position as his former prey:
Running for his life from repo men. For company, he’s on the run with a
jazz singer (Alicia Braga), a woman who is almost completely man-made.
She’s got custom lungs, liver, kidney, knees, you name it.

What it takes to bring Repo Men to a close is plenty of running, hiding
and fighting, and in scenes that are a bit like Blade Runner if it had
been a slasher film. There is so much cartoonish bloodletting here -
involving guns, knives, hacksaws, axes, mallets and hammers - that after a
while becomes a spurting blur of opening arteries and severed limbs.

The movie, which gets really bogged down in unlikely events (such as
romance) in the third act, has a nifty ending that makes up for a lot that
came before it. There’s no denying, however, that the movie is too long
and too short on story.

Repo Men is full of bad language, bad behaviour and really over-the-top
violence, but it can still make you laugh out loud on several occasions.
It’s a subversive little outing with a terrific soundtrack and a
‘do-unto-others’ moral, and it might appeal - just a hunch - to a young
male audience.

(This film is rated 18A)

liz.br...@sunmedia.ca 

[scifinoir2] Nolan hanging up 'Batman' cape?

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2010/03/12/13205261-wenn-story.html

Nolan hanging up 'Batman' cape?

By WENN.COM


Christopher Nolan has fuelled speculation the next Batman movie will be
his last by confirming the new film will be a conclusion to the Caped
Crusader's story.

The moviemaker revived the Batman franchise with Christian Bale taking the
lead role in Batman Begins in 2005 and returned for 2008's The Dark
Knight. He is now preparing to take charge of his third movie in the
series which will complete his trilogy.

And although Nolan admits his screenwriter brother, Jonathan Nolan, is
struggling to write the script, he's looking forward to concluding the
movie series.

He tells the Los Angeles Times, (Jonathan is) now doing the hard work. My
brother is writing a script for me and we'll wait to see how it turns
out... He's struggling to put it together into the epic story that you
want it to be.

Without getting into specifics, the key thing that makes the third film a
great possibility for us is that we want to finish our story. And in
viewing it as the finishing of a story rather than infinitely blowing up
the balloon and expanding the story. We have a great ensemble, that's one
of the attractions of doing another film, since we've been having a great
time for years.

I'm very excited about the end of the film, the conclusion, and what
we've done with the characters. My brother has come up with some pretty
exciting stuff. Unlike the comics, these things don't go on forever in
film and viewing it as a story with an end is useful. Viewing it as an
ending, that sets you very much on the right track about the appropriate
conclusion and the essence of what tale we're telling. And it harkens back
to that priority of trying to find the reality in these fantastic stories.
That's what we do.

[scifinoir2] '80s Movie Gadgets You Know You Wanted

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.wesh.com/entertainment/22750028/detail.html

[scifinoir2] Has Logan Lerman been cast as Spiderman?

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.denofgeek.com/movies/433136/has_logan_lerman_been_cast_as_spiderman.html

Has Logan Lerman been cast as Spiderman?

Simon Brew

Could the new Spider-Man have been found, and is Percy Jackson star Logan
Lerman the brand new webslinger?

Published on Mar 4, 2010


Rumours are flying around the Internet that the successor to Tobey Maguire
in the Spider-Man movies has been found.

The new Peter Parker/Spider-Man? The current runes are pointing in the
direction of Logan Lerman, the star of Percy Jackson  The Lightning
Thief. Given that Percy Jackson hasn’t set the box office alight in the
manner that Fox presumably hoped, Lerman’s commitment to that franchise
may have been relaxed, and opened the door to the Spider-Man reboot.

He was first linked with the role last month, although naturally enough
when we sat next to him at the Percy Jackson round-table just before that,
he was keeping mum, save for saying lots of nice things about Percy
Jackson director Chris Columbus.

Most of the reports at the moment are suggesting the story has emanated
from sources close to Lerman himself, and we’ve seen that one or two sites
have since ripped the story down. This leads us to think that either a)
it’s bullshit, or b) it’s the real deal, and some PR strong-arm tactics
are at work. Which doesn’t actually help in the context of things a great
deal.

Lerman would certainly fit Sony’s bill for the new Spider-Man, though. The
film is going to have a focus on Peter Parker’s school days, and thus a
young actor - ideally under 20 - was always on the wishlist. Lerman firmly
fits that criteria, and he’s also cheap for Sony to hire. It’ll presumably
look to sign him for three pictures, and given that the budget for the
Spider-Man reboot is set to be in the $80m range, it’s fair to say that
large actor salaries aren’t prevalent on the production accounts.

As we said, there’s no confirmation of this yet, and it may all turn out
to be baloney. We suspect that the casting of Lerman may be close to the
mark, however, and that he’ll be joining director Marc Webb in returning
Spider-Man to the big screen in 2012.

Spider-Man: The Reboot is due out in the summer of 2012. We’ll keep you
posted how this story develops.

More at The Cinema Source here
[http://www.thecinemasource.com/blog/25540/news/exclusive-news-the-new-spider-man-has-been-cast/].

Re: [scifinoir2] Dwayne McDuffie: Race, Sci-Fi and Comics

[brent wodehouse]

Excellent read. Thanks rave. :-)


Brent


Kelwyn ravena...@yahoo.com did write:

http://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2010/03/race-sci-fi-and-comics-a-talk-with-dwayne-mcduffie/37063/

RE: [scifinoir2] (fwd): Request for Info: Subj: College Student Writing a Term Pa

[brent wodehouse]

I do know that it can be quite difficult to discover the perfect gateway
YA science fiction series as so many are very poor entertainment. Have you
considered the group of YA Alexander Key novels (of which 'Escape to Witch
Mountain' is a stand-out example)? I recall them fondly for their engaging
escapism; great fun for the young reader. They do tend to the paranormal
sci-fi element somewhat, I'm afraid, but not overmuch. Besides, in my
case, it's this very aspect that, at the outset, appealed to me immensely.

So, give them a go and see what results. You can't go wrong for trying.
And good luck.:-)


Brent


Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.com did write:

Brent, I'd love to help the young man, but I'm still trying to draw all
of the young minds I can access (younger cousins and my youngest nephew)
into SF, unsuccessfully so far.

If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in
bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik

---

To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com; scifinoir_...@yahoogroups.com;
carlbran...@yahoogroups.com
From: brent_wodeho...@thefence.us
Date: Fri, 26 Feb 2010 16:26:29 -0500
Subject: [scifinoir2] (fwd): Request for Info: Subj: College Student
Writing a Term Paper

 
Subj: College Student Writing a Term Paper
From: Jared Guild jarsk...@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 8:15 am

Greetings,

My name is Jared Guild and I attend a California college by the name of
Chapman University (Brandman University) which I am currently in my last
quarter and will graduate in May with my Bachelors Degree in Liberal
Studies. I am writing a term paper on the affects of Science Fiction and
Fantasy books on the imagination of children. I am writing you this email
because I got your name from an author by the name of Julie E. Czerneda. I
am looking for information that is in the area of Science Fiction and
Fantasy with regard to stimulating children's imagination. If you have any
information that would be useful I am looking for any kind of case study
that has been done or any publications with regard to my paper. If you
have
any books that have been published with information I could always make a
trip to a library. If you know of anybody else I should contact who might
be able to help me out as well that would be appreciated. Thank you for
your time and any help that you might provide.

A Young Mind,

Jared Guild

[scifinoir2] Batman's debut comic sold for $1M

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Books/2010/02/25/13031036-ap.html

Batman's debut comic sold for $1M

By Jamie Stengle, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


DALLAS - A 1939 comic book in which Batman makes his debut sold at auction
Thursday for more than $1 million, breaking a record set just three days
earlier by a Superman comic, Heritage Auction Galleries said.

The Dallas-based auction house said the rare copy of Detective Comics No.
27 sold for a total of $1,075,500, which includes the buyer's premium, to
a buyer who wished to remain anonymous. The consigner wanted to remain
anonymous as well.

It pretty much blew away all of our expectations and now it's the highest
price ever raised for a comic book, said Barry Sandoval, director of
operations of Heritage's comics division.

A copy of the first comic book featuring Superman, a 1938 edition of
Action Comics No. 1, sold Monday for $1 million in a sale between a
private seller and a private buyer, with the transaction conducted by the
New York City auction site ComicConnect.com.

We can really say that Batman has nosed out Superman, at least for now,
Sandoval said.

He said the consigner had bought the Batman comic in the late 1960s for
$100. With a bright yellow background, the comic features Batman swinging
on a rope above city rooftops.

That cover is just one of the most famous of all comic book covers,
Sandoval said.

J.C. Vaughn, associate publisher of The Overstreet Comic Book Price Guide,
said most people had predicted it would be the comics with the first
appearance of Superman and Batman that broke the $1 million barrier. Both
comics that sold this week were in great condition - scoring an 8.0 on a
scale that goes up to 10, he said.

I think that you can greenly ascribe this to a real comfort with the
liquidity of rare, high grade vintage collectibles, Vaughn said.

George Pantela, owner of Melbourne, Australia-based GP Analysis, which
tracks sales of certified comics from more than 20 auction houses and
dealers, said the previous record was about $317,000 paid a year ago for a
lesser grade Action Comics No. 1 than the one sold this week.

Vincent Zurzolo, chief operating officer of Comicconnect.com, took the
breaking of their record in stride.

It's an exciting week in comic books when you have two comics selling for
$1 million, he said.

-

On the Net:

Heritage Auction Galleries: http://www.ha.com

[scifinoir2] (fwd): Request for Info: Subj: College Student Writing a Term Paper

[brent wodehouse]

Subj: College Student Writing a Term Paper  
From: Jared Guild jarsk...@gmail.com
Date: Fri, Feb 26, 2010 8:15 am


Greetings,

My name is Jared Guild and I attend a California college by the name of
Chapman University (Brandman University) which I am currently in my last
quarter and will graduate in May with my Bachelors Degree in Liberal
Studies.  I am writing a term paper on the affects of Science Fiction and
Fantasy books on the imagination of children.  I am writing you this email
because I got your name from an author by the name of Julie E. Czerneda.  I
am looking for information that is in the area of Science Fiction and
Fantasy with regard to stimulating children's imagination.  If you have any
information that would be useful I am looking for any kind of case study
that has been done or any publications with regard to my paper.  If you
have
any books that have been published with information I could always make a
trip to a library.  If you know of anybody else I should contact who might
be able to help me out as well that would be appreciated.  Thank you for
your time and any help that you might provide.

A Young Mind,

Jared Guild

Re: [scifinoir2] Spelman's Robocup Team Making History

[brent wodehouse]

Absolutely inspirational (in true nerd fashion, no less :-). Thanks for
this.


Brent



Keith Johnson keithbjohn...@comcast.net writes:

Kewl! Over the holidays I watched a PBS special about a robot
competition. In this one, teams built all kind of devices to shoot a
bunch of balls into a net. Some teams built really nimble shooters,
others built bulky beasts. And some built good defensive systems. The
show detailed how the high school teams had to learn about project
management, deadlines, how to recover from problems in crisis situations,
etc. and just like any exciting sporting event, the final competition was
actually quite thrilling. I'd like to see the Spelman team compete...

***

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles/news/the_state_of_black_america_news/16558

Living Black History: Spelman's SpelBots Amaze


Date: Monday, February 22, 2010, 6:32 am 
By: Patrice Gaines, Special to BlackAmericaWeb.com 



EDITORÕS NOTE: As part of our ÒLiving Black HistoryÓ series in observance
of Black History Month, this week, BlackAmericaWeb.com will celebrate
blacks in education.

Andrew Williams had a vision. Spelman College believed in it. And the
result is a team of fierce young women who are earning an international
reputation by going toe-to-toe with more experienced graduate level teams
in games of high technology. They are the SpelBots, first all-female and
all-African-American team to qualify for the prestigious senior league of
Robocup.

Not quite six years after founding the group, Williams, their founder and
coach, says the SpelBots are Òbreaking barriers and paving the way for
other black women and for Spelman to one day win the international
championship.Ó

Members of the team, mostly computer science and engineering majors,
conduct research and education projects in robotics and compete
internationally in robot soccer competition. The team is attracting young
women to Spelman who were pleased to find that the college offers an
innovative way to learn cutting edge technology.

ÒI had been on the robotics team in high school,Ó said Jazmine Miller,
the teamÕs co-captain and a junior who is a dual computer science and
computer engineering major. ÒI was always interested in computer science
and love video games. I found robotics very interesting.Ó

Jonecia Keels, the teamÕs other co-captain and also a computer science
and computer engineering major, said, ÒI saw (the SpelBots) give a
presentation during freshman convocation, and I thought about how they
were breaking stereotypes. By being a part of SpelBots, I thought it
would show the world that minorities can bring a lot to the table in
technology.Ó

Coach Williams is the first and only African-American thus far to receive
a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Kansas. He was
teaching at the University of Iowa, where he had just two black students
in five years, when he read the popular best-selling Rick Warren book,
The Purpose Driven Life. The book made Williams start to ponder what he
wanted to accomplish with his own life.

ÒI realized my purpose was to help African-American students reach their
potential,Ó he said.

He had already returned to school to get his PhD. because he wanted to be
a role model for students. ÒAt the time, during the mid Ô90s, we were
having the big dot-com boom, but I didnÕt see many African-Americans
becoming instant millionaires,Ó he said. So Williams and his wife and
their children moved from Iowa to Atlanta so he could fulfill his purpose.

First, Williams introduced students to four-legged robots that looked
like cute little puppies.

ÒI thought they could spark interest in students because they were cute,Ó
he said. ÒStudents could get visual and tactile feedback on programming.
I was concerned that sometimes our students arenÕt taught in ways that
cater to their learning style.Ó

Team members spend some 10 hours a week on projects. But when preparing
for competition, that time can triple. The first year of competition,
they discovered most of their opponents were graduate schools. The
SpelBots qualified to participate in the international contests in Japan,
but they didnÕt win any matches.

Last year, the team had a controversial first place tie in the RoboCup
Japan 2009 Standard Platform Nao League humanoid soccer championship in
Osaka, Japan. It was a well-earned honor to even be invited by the
RoboCup Japan organization to participate in its first humanoid robot
competition. In these contests, teams play their opponents in soccer with
robots programmed with artificial intelligence and operated without the
use of remote controls.

The SpelBots tied five matches and were playing the championship round
against Fukuoka Institute of Japan. They tied and had to 

. go into a penalty kick situation. Williams said, ÒIf we could have
done sudden death, we would have won. But they picked up our robot just
as it was about to kick.Ó

A kick would have 

Re: [scifinoir2] Intro Tracy, Madison, WI

[brent wodehouse]

Welcome aboard! (Please don't mind the horsey chat, lack of decorum, or
laddish behaviour. It's just our way of saying hello. :-)


Brent



Tracy Curtis tlcurti...@gmail.com did write:

Hello Everyone,
I'm sorry I didn't introduce myself before.  My name is Tracy.  (I'm a
female Tracy) I'm currently living in Madison, WI where I have a
university job.  I joined initially because one of my students is working
on a project that involves science fiction, speculative fiction and
revisions of high school curriculum.  I'm teaching a class right now that
involves some science fiction along with some speculative fiction,
horror, and philosophy.  I've been enjoying your talks, but hadn't joined
in at all because I had not properly introduced myself.  Sorry about the
delay.  Things have been (and remain) a bit hectic. 


So here's my template!

Tracy

1.  Name: Tracy Curtis
2.  Location: Madison, WI
3.  Nickname/ Alias:
4.  To which Speculative Fiction Character do you relate or identify When
I was a kid, I really identified with the girl from Escape to Witch
Mountain because I wanted to be able to move things with my mind.
Alexander Key, author, yes?  I was struck by Dana's predicament in
Octavia Butler's Kindred. 
5.  Favorite SciFi Genres: near future speculation
6.  Favorite Scifi Movies Event Horizon, Brother from Another Planet,
Tank Girl,Aliens, Last Angel of History
7.  Favorite SciFi TV or Online Shows  ((canceled shows ok) X-Files,
Warehouse 13
8.  Favorite SciFi Producers and Directors
9.  Favorite SciFi Characters
10. Favorite SciFi Villain:
11. Favorite SciFi Comics and Graphic Novels I'm not good at reading
these.  I'm trying more.
12. Favorite SciFi Film or TV Adaptation of a Book:
13. Favorite SciFi Film or TV Adaptation of a Comic or Graphic Novel:
14. Favorite SciFi Film movie (s) that flopped:
15. Your SciFi Favorite  TVShow (s)that was/were canceled unfairly:
Freaky Links, Invasion
16. Favorite Speculative Fiction Books:
17. Favorite Speculative Fiction Authors:
18. List speculative fiction stereotyped scenarios or characters that irk
you:
19. Other topics of importance to you: With my class, I've been curious
about how readers of various backgrounds take in works with no white
characters. 
20. List your own published works, if any: - nothing related
21. Your web site:
22. Favorite Scifi Web Sites:

[scifinoir2] LOTR prequel made by a fanatic using her £25,000 life savings scor

[brent wodehouse]

Hey Astro... :-)


Brent


C.W. Badie wrote:

Hello, Brent...

Such music flows on the Fringe, and no one can resist singing to Scarlet
From THE SIDE STREET CHRONICLES by C.W. Badie

--- On Sat, 2/13/10, brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us wrote:


From: brent wodehouse brent_wodeho...@thefence.us
   Subject: [scifinoir2] LOTR prequel made by a fanatic using her
£25,000 life savings scores 500,000 vie
To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
Date: Saturday, February 13, 2010, 9:28 PM

 
http://www.dailymai l.co.uk/news/ article-1249966/ Lord-Rings-
fanatic-reaps- fruit-labour- self-funded- prequel-Born- Of-Hope-scores-
500-000-views- internet. html

   Lord Of The Rings prequel made by a fanatic using her £25,000 life
savings
scores 500,000 views on the internet

[scifinoir2] LOTR prequel made by a fanatic using her £25,000 life savings scores 500,000 vie

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1249966/Lord-Rings-fanatic-reaps-fruit-labour-self-funded-prequel-Born-Of-Hope-scores-500-000-views-internet.html

Lord Of The Rings prequel made by a fanatic using her £25,000 life savings
scores 500,000 views on the internet

By Andrew Levy

12th February 2010


She didn't have Peter Jackson's £200million budget, eight years of filming
time or the spectacular scenery of New Zealand to work with.

But Kate Madison could match his boundless passion - and with it managed
to make her own Lord Of The Rings film.

The amateur actress was so inspired by the blockbuster Rings trilogy
created by Jackson she wrote, directed and produced a prequel based on
material from the original JRR Tolkien books.

Her hour-long movie Born Of Hope, made on a budget of just £25,000, is
already a success, with more than 500,000 people viewing it for free on
the internet.

Miss Madison, 31, from Cambridge, said that watching the trilogy had blown
her mind.

'The battle scenes and the array of incredible characters really inspired
me and I was desperate to have a go at making an epic myself,' she said.

She put her £8,000 life savings into the project, worked as an office temp
to gain extra cash and raised a further £17,000 by posting a trailer on
YouTube appealing for donations.

She convinced more than 400 cast and crew to give their time for free, and
played the part of Elgarain the forest ranger herself.

And over a year, starting in mid-2008, she filmed Born Of Hope in
locations around England.

Miss Madison said: 'There were times when it was cold and wet and we were
up to our eyes in mud standing in the middle of a forest wondering if we
could make this a success.

'But now it's all done it's an amazing feeling.'

Her story was based on two paragraphs Tolkien included in the appendix to
his books, which mentioned the adventures of Arathorn and Gilraen, the
parents of Aragorn, who was played in the Jackson films by Viggo Mortensen.

It was shot in Epping Forest, Essex, and West Stow, Suffolk, after seeking
permission from local authorities.

Christopher Dane, who plays Arathorn in the film alongside Beth Aynsley as
his wife Gilraen, said the experience had been 'exhilarating'.

The 45-year-old actor from Muswell Hill, north London, added: 'It was
brilliant fun and we have produced an entire film for less than Peter
Jackson spent on breakfast for his cast while he was filming the original
in New Zealand.'

Jackson's first Lord Of The Rings film, The Fellowship Of The Ring, was
released in 2001, followed by The Two Towers in 2002 and The Return Of The
King in 2003.

They became among the most successful films of all time, grossing almost
$3billion between them.

Jackson is now collaborating with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro on a
two-part adaptation of Tolkien's The Hobbit, due for release in 2011 and
2012.

[scifinoir2] 'Princess' star reduced to tears

[brent wodehouse]

http://jam.canoe.ca/Movies/2009/12/04/12041171-sun.html

'Princess' star reduced to tears

By KEVIN WILLIAMSON -- Sun Media


LOS ANGELES -- Mickey Mouse may be black and white, but that doesn't make
Disney's The Princess and the Frog any less of a landmark.

Yes, the titular frog is green. But for a studio famed for Snow White,
Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, it's the identity of its newest princess
that reduced its star, Anika Noni Rose, to tears. The character she
voices, Tiana, is African-American.

I just started crying. Even talking about it now, I'm such a wuss, says
the 37-year-old actress, recalling the first time she saw her animated
alter-ego projected on a big screen at a New York toy fair.

It was the most amazing, awesome. I don't even know if I have real words
for it ... This is something I've always dreamed of doing.

Yet even while this self-described Disney geek dreamed as a child, she
remained realistic.

I do remember wondering to myself whether there would ever be a Chocolate
Brown and not just Snow White. I mean, they named it (Snow White)! But I
didn't necessarily feel deprived. When you're a child, you don't know.
You're living in your world.

Voicing Tiana, not surprisingly, exceeds all expectations, she says. I
could have been a dandelion and I would have been really happy. So this is
like when your dreams take off and become bigger than what you had
imagined.

In the musical comedy, which will also mark the comeback of 2D hand-drawn
animation when it opens Friday, Tiana is a waitress in 1920s, jazz-fuelled
New Orleans whose lifelong ambition is to open her own restaurant. But
those plans -- and everything else -- are derailed when she meets a
Brazilian prince (Bruno Campos) who has been transformed into a frog by a
Voodoo-wielding con man.

But instead of returning the prince to human form when she kisses him,
she's turned into a frog as well. Together, the amphibious pair, aided by
a trumpet-playing alligator and a Cajun firefly, fight to reverse the
spell.

For Terrence Howard, who voices Tiana's caring hard-working father, the
role presents obvious parallels both to the present-day political
landscape and his own personal life.

When they began production on this film, the initial talks on this film,
Barack Obama wasn't in the White House. So it's very apropos we have two
African-American princesses at the same time this movie is coming out.
It's a happy accident, a wonderful coincidence. But there's always been
nobility in every culture and every race, just the same way there's
geniuses in every culture and every race. It's nice to have Disney
platform that.

He adds, It's also one of the easiest roles I've ever done because I've
got two daughters who are my princesses ... (Playing the part) came from a
natural inclination to teach my own children.

Still, The Princess and the Frog remains a showcase for Rose, who appeared
in Dreamgirls, won a Tony for the Broadway musical, Caroline, Or Change
and starred in the HBO series The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. None of
those roles compare to the impact -- culturally and on her career -- The
Princess and the Frog may present. And she admits she still isn't prepared
to be called a role model for young girls.

That's difficult. I'm honoured that people would think of me as a role
model. On the other hand, I think that it's sort of dangerous to choose a
person and lift them up so high -- because you know, I'm going to play a
role that somebody doesn't like. At some point, they're going to be like,
'She was awful!' I think if we can separate those things and think I like
how she handles her career and how she handles herself as a person, then
I'm honoured.

She believes the film itself will mean different things to different
people, as they sit in that theatre. It will mean different things,
depending on what time they grew up in. For my nephew, it will be the
norm. He will think nothing of it. It will be his first princess -- period.

For my mother, it will be something she's been waiting for ... And for my
grandmother, it will be something she never thought would happen. Each
person sitting in that theatre will have a different journey that they're
bringing to the story and it will make the story different for them.

So I think that's something that's really beautiful about what's being
made. Disney is Americana and we have simply opened a new chapter in
Americana -- something that's been here for a very long time but hasn't
necessarily been shared. So in that respect, it's just another step in the
completion of the story of what America is in this fantasy world.

For his part, while Howard is thrilled with the new ground the movie
breaks, he also observes, Disney has always covered most of the world in
the films they have made because the little mermaid was a fish but every
little girl could relate to that fish.

[scifinoir2] William Shatner set to be beamed up

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/2986590/William-Shatner-set-to-be-beamed-up

William Shatner set to be beamed up

Last updated 13:32 21/10/2009


Hollywood director JJ Abrams appears set to beam William Shatner up to the
Star Trek sequel.

Abrams suffered plenty of criticism from Star Trek fans when he opted not
to cast Shatner, the original Captain James T Kirk of the USS Enterprise,
in this year's big screen update of the iconic sci-fi film and TV series.

Abrams did cast the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy.

Star Trek was one of the most successful films of 2009, earning almost
US$400 million (NZ$542.81m) at the worldwide box office, and with a sequel
set for release in theatres in 2011, Abrams confirmed Shatner may be
offered a role.

I would love to work with him, Abrams told reporters in Los Angeles at a
press conference to promote the release of the Star Trek DVD.

We speak. We actually have a lunch date planned.

Abrams opted to make Star Trek a prequel, winding the clock back to the
early years of the Star Trek crew with young actors Chris Pine (Kirk),
Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Simon Pegg (Montgomery Scott) filling the lead
roles.

While Abrams and screenwriters Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman managed to find
a way to bring Nimoy back, they opted against offering Shatner a role.

The dilemma they faced is examined in The Shatner Conundrum, one of the
extra features on the Star Trek DVD.

It was a foregone conclusion we wanted him in the movie, Abrams
explained.

The problem was his character died on screen in one of his Trek films and
because we decided, very early on, that we wanted to adhere to Trek canon
as best we could ... the required machinations to get Shatner into the
movie would have been very difficult to do given the story we wanted to
tell and also to give him the kind of part that he would be happy with.

It was this thing where it would have felt like a gimmick in order to get
Shatner in the movie, which would have honestly, to me, been distracting.

The success of Abrams' Star Trek and the welcome Pine, Quinto, Pegg and
other new actors received from Trekkies will make it easier to introduce
Shatner into the sequel, Abrams said.

In terms of moving forward, I am open to anything, Abrams added.

I feel like the first movie did some of the heavy lifting that needed to
be done in order to free us to continue going forward. Maybe there's less
of a burden and there's going to be more opportunity to work with him
(Shatner).

The Star Trek DVD, set for release in Australia on October 29, is filled
with extras, including gag reels, three hours of bonus footage,
commentary, secrets behind the costumes and sets and deleted scenes that
reveal a side story involving Eric Bana's villainous character Nero.

The DVD also includes what is billed as ground-breaking augmented reality
technology which, through a webcam, allows a 3D holographic tour of the
Enterprise.

Abrams said the decision to hold the world premiere for Star Trek at the
Sydney Opera House in April was the perfect launch pad for the movie.

I have been to Sydney before and I loved it the first time, Abrams told
AAP in a video interview.

This last time it was so surreal. First of all I had never been to the
Opera House which could not have been more beautiful.

The reception was off the charts. The people were so kind. It was
beautiful, maybe not atypical Sydney weather, but I called my wife and
said 'We might have to move here'.

I am serious. I want to go back not just for professional reasons. I just
want to go back because it is fantastic.

[scifinoir2] The 20 worst science and technology errors in films

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/6274053/The-20-worst-science-and-technology-errors-in-films.html

The 20 worst science and technology errors in films

A far-from-definitive list of the 20 most annoying science and technology
errors in films, from slow-moving lasers to extraterrestrials who use
Windows Vista.

By Tom Chivers

Published: 7:30AM BST 09 Oct 2009


Being a science-geek film fan can be exhausting. It’s hard to watch some
films without wanting to shout at the screen “but that’s not how evolution
works” or “computers can’t do that”.

It’s pedantic, annoying for your fellow moviegoers, and utterly nerdy, but
some of us can’t help it.

So in an attempt to scratch that geeky itch once and for all, here is a
list of 20 of the most infuriating science and technology errors in movies.

Please add your own or argue with ours below - or, alternatively, use the
space to tell us that we’re nitpicking killjoys who should go out and meet
some girls once in a while.

We would like to thank TVTropes.org, intuitor.com and wired.com for
helping us with our enquiries, and to warn you that some of these may
contain spoilers.


1. Aliens are basically humans with silly foreheads

The Enterprise, thousands of light-years from Earth, encounters an alien
spacecraft. The matter transporter beams one of their number aboard… and
lo and behold, it’s Famke Janssen with some makeup on her forehead.

It’s a similar story with Vulcans (pointy eared humans - see also
Romulans), Ferengi (grotesquely deformed humans) and Klingons (humans with
Cornish pasties attached). Humanity looks like it does through a very
specific set of evolutionary circumstances. Why should aliens look
anything like us? And don’t say “to save on effects budgets”.

2. Antigravity love songs

Related to the above, with Star Trek again the main offender, although it
happens everywhere. We find the idea of sex with our nearest evolutionary
relative, the chimpanzee, repellent. And yet we are quite happy with the
idea of Captain Kirk doing his interplanetary swordsman thing with a
variety of smokin’ hot space babes. He might as well try it on with a
nematode worm: at least it has DNA.

Incidentally, Spock is half human, half Vulcan. We have no idea how that
is supposed to work.

3. The Ice Storm

Star Wars is guilty here. Young Luke grows up on Tatooine, a desert
planet; by the start of The Empire Strikes Back, he’s found his way to
Hoth, an ice planet. Endor is a Forest Moon. Do none of these planets have
some warm bits and some cold bits? Do you have to go to a different planet
for a skiiing holiday?

4. Alien computers that run Windows

Independence Day, we’re looking at you. It is almost impossible to write a
virus that will affect both Macs and PCs. And yet somehow Jeff Goldblum’s
character manages to write a nasty little piece of malware that he can
upload into an alien mothership’s mainframe and bring down its shields.

It’s a good thing they didn’t have Norton Antivirus, or humanity would
have been screwed.

5. Slow-moving lasers

Laser beams move at the speed of light, largely because they are light.
What they don’t do is spear through the ether ahead of your X-Wing like
giant glowing arrows.

In fact, they don’t even glow - especially not in space, where there would
be no air particles to diffract off. Although - and we have to acknowledge
this - it did look much cooler like that.

6. Invisible force fields that stop visible laser beams

Again, laser beams are light. Visible light. Anything that stops visible
light will stop them - anything visible light can pass through, they can
pass through. So how on Earth do they get knocked aside by invisible
deflector shields? Mr Lucas? Sir?

7. In space, no-one can hear an elephant scream

Did you know the distinctive sound made by the TIE fighters in Star Wars
is the bellow of an elephant mixed with a car driving on a wet road? Weird
- but not as weird as the fact that they make any sound at all.

Sound is a wave that needs to travel through a medium like air. Without
particles to move, there can be no sound.

8. Who needs conservation of energy?

The Matrix is a great movie. Lots of things don’t make sense from a
physics point of view inside the Matrix itself, but we can forgive that,
because it’s meant to be a computer simulation - and, of course, because
it’s so cool.

But the film is based on the idea that humans are kept alive as a sort of
electricity generator (bringing a whole new meaning to the term “battery
farming”). This is not just unlikely - it’s fundamentally impossible.

They will need more energy to keep alive than they will produce. It’s like
saying you’ll power your car with batteries, and keep the batteries
charged by running a dynamo from the wheels.

9. Dead before you hit the ground

In Tim Burton’s Batman, the Caped Crusader and Vicki Vale fall from a
church tower, But luckily, Batman has a grappling hook, which he launches
over the parapet. After falling two or three 

[scifinoir2] Hawking to step down from Cambridge position

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090930/hawking_cambridge_090930/20090930?hub=TopStoriesV2

Hawking to step down from Cambridge position

By: The Associated Press

Date: Wednesday Sep. 30, 2009


LONDON  - Physicist Stephen Hawking stepped down Wednesday as Lucasian
Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University after 30 years in the
post.

The roughly 350-year-old position has been held by such luminaries as
Isaac Newton and Charles Babbage, one of the fathers of modern computing.
It is customary for professors to retire from the post the year they turn
67.

Hawking, who reached that age in January, will continue to work at the
university as director of research at a department dealing with applied
mathematics and theoretical physics.

This is an exciting time in cosmology with new observational results
coming in thick and fast and large-scale terrestrial and satellite
experiments underway, Hawking said in a statement. I want to make sure
this progress is matched by the development of theories of the universe
which are both mathematically consistent and observationally testable.

Hawking is famous for his research on black holes and his popular works in
theoretical physics, including the book A Brief History of Time: From the
Big Bang to Black Holes.

The university has advertised for a new Lucasian Professor and a
replacement will be announced shortly.

Last November, Hawking accepted a research post at the Perimeter Institute
for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont. But he was unable to make a
planned trip this year because of a respiratory infection.

Hawking has remained active despite being diagnosed at 21 with an
incurable degenerative disorder, known as ALS.

[scifinoir2] Water on the Moon may boost Nasa into 21st-century space race

[brent wodehouse]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/article6848177.ece

From The Times

September 25, 2009

Water on the Moon may boost Nasa into 21st-century space race

Jacqui Goddard, Miami


The timing could not have been better. Struggling to overcome chronic
underfunding, technical problems and a lack of political commitment, and
with public interest waning, Nasa’s plans for sending astronauts back to
the Moon seemed at risk of being frozen. News that water may be lurking in
the lunar soil could prompt a thaw.

Only last month a board appointed by President Obama to review Nasa’s
manned space exploration programme concluded that its goals - which
include having people on the lunar surface again by 2020, ready to start
the process of establishing the first off-Earth colony - were unrealistic
without an extra $3 billion (£1.86 billion) a year from the Government.

As the President considers which of Nasa’s dreams to shatter and which to
back, the water issue could be a turning point. “This information could
prove highly influential,” said Dr Howard McCurdy of the American
University in Washington, an expert on space policy. “It strengthens the
case for going back to the Moon and then on to Mars. It increases the case
for moving forward at a time when the President is being advised not to
increase anyone’s budget - except for the war in Afghanistan and Iraq.”

When it launched Constellation, its new manned space flight programme, in
2006, Nasa estimated that it would need $119 billion to return to the Moon
- a goal it was told to aim for by President George W. Bush. It has never
been granted a budget to match.

Yet the debate on whether to focus on the Moon or on Mars and other areas
within the solar system is not just about money. There are questions over
scientific value, with many until now viewing the Moon as a barren
environment that held little of interest to explorers.

Water could be used to sustain human activity and generate fuel for
spacecraft. If it is accessible and available in sufficient quantities, it
would enable people to settle on the Moon and use it as a staging-post and
filling station for missions farther into space.

On October 27 Nasa is due to take a big step towards its lunar return
programme when it launches Ares 1-X - a prototype of the rocket that is
intended to replace the Space Shuttle and carry astronauts back to the
Moon - at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Nasa managers are waiting for the signal from the White House as to
whether the test should go ahead, or whether the $3 billion rocket will be
scrapped in favour of cheaper, safer, commercial models, and whether Nasa
might skip the Moon altogether.

Whatever the outcome, the schedule is slipping badly. Without extra money,
the Americans are unlikely to sink more footprints into the lunar soil
until after 2030, if at all. And if they get there, they may have company.
China has stepped up its space programme, with plans to put a taikonaut on
the Moon by 2030. Russia and Japan estimate they may be ready to launch
manned missions before then. All plan to establish their own bases.

Commercial organisations are also jostling for position, with many
advocating robotic exploration. Eager to revolutionise the space industry,
innovators from 45 countries are competing for the Google Lunar X-Prize,
which will award $30 million to the first private team that can get an
unmanned lander to the Moon, roll it 500 metres and send images back. The
competition, which could be won and lost in 2011, will open up a new era
of space commerce, proving that it is not just billion-dollar agencies of
government that can cross the final frontier.

“Whether the US remains the front runner in getting Man back to the Moon
is a question the President needs to answer,” Dr McCurdy said.

Re: RE: [scifinoir2] The First Clown In Space

[brent wodehouse]

LOL. 
Not a great fan of the harlequin, eh? :-)


Brent



Martin Baxter truthseeker...@hotmail.com wrote:

Brent... *please* tell me that they sent him up with half the needed
oxygen.

Martin (*clowns)...

If all the world's a stage and all the people merely players, who in
bloody hell hired the director? -- Charles L Grant

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik




To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com
From: brent_wodeho...@thefence.us
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:50:37 -0400
Subject: [scifinoir2] The First Clown In Space

 
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iwmrYnO6-eP0vDWK_bxRTJYDhGPAD9AP4Q684

Canadian to lighten the mood aboard space station

STAR CITY, Russia - The man who plans on being the first clown in space
said Thursday he's got some surprises planned for the crew of the
international space station.

Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte told reporters he plans to tickle
the professional astronauts while they're sleeping, and he's also bringing
red clown noses to try to lighten things up on the orbiting station.

I'm a person with a pretty high spirit, who's there to crack jokes and
make jokes to those guys, and while they're sleeping, you know, I'll be
tickling them, Laliberte said.

The 50-year-old Canadian creator of the famed circus troupe is paying $35
million to blast off later this month on a Russian spacecraft,
accompanying cosmonaut Maxim Surayev and astronaut Jeffrey Williams on the
two-day journey to the station. The three spoke to reporters ahead of
their flight to the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, where Soyuz is
scheduled to blast off from on Sept. 30.

Laliberte hopes his 12-day stay aboard the station will help raise
awareness of drinking water problems around the world when he hosts the
first multimedia event from the station on Oct. 9 to highlight that
crisis.

On a lighter note, he pulled out a handful of red clown noses from his
pocket that he plans to give to the station crew.

This is the symbol of my mission, but it will also remind me that I
should never forget I was once a kid, said Laliberte, a former tightrope
walker and fire-eater who's been dubbed the first clown in space.

The Quebec-born businessman is expected to be the last private paying
tourist to visit the station for some time as NASA mothballs its space
shuttle fleet and the U.S. space agency relies on Soyuz craft to get back
and forth to the space station.

At this moment the butterflies start to rise in my stomach, he said.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.