Michael Jackson's bed

The Mail Online has published a series of photos taken by the Santa Barbara Sheriff's Department during its 2003 raid on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch.

This might be the creepiest photo I've ever seen associated with the "King of Pop"...

Jackson slept in this bed and on the wall over it hangs a rendition of The Last Supper. Except this version of the famous painting has Michael Jackson sitting in place of Jesus Christ. Elvis Presley and Abraham Lincoln are also depicted as being among the disciples.

I don't want to even try to imagine how such a "work of art" possibly comes into being.

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William Gibson's NEUROMANCER... 25 years later

It was twenty-five years ago this week, on July 1st 1984, that William Gibson's now-classic science-fiction novel Neuromancer was first published. The book presented a world overwhelmed by too much technology, a people with a gluttony for body enhancement and personal media, and transnational corporations with the power of major governments. In other words: a time not very unlike our own. Neuromancer is often hailed as foreseeing the rise of the World Wide Web, and it even added a new word to the English language: "cyberspace". In many ways Neuromancer was considerably prophetic, while in others it has missed the mark (so far).

On the anniversary of its release, pcworld.com's Mark Sullivan examines Neuromancer after the rise of the near-future fog and details how it got many things right and failed on a few concepts. It's a pretty good article, and especially recommended for any students of cyberpunk fiction.

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FALLOUT 3 Brotherhood of Steel costume

In one of the more impressive examples of video game-inspired costuming, some folks in Seattle have put together a full set of Brotherhood of Steel power armor from Fallout 3. Looks hella sweet, especially the helmet and that laser Gatling gun!

Now we just need an entire regiment of these guys to walk into Washington D.C. and free the land from the tyranny of the Enclave :-P

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Am watching THE TWILIGHT ZONE marathon on Sci-Fi Channel

Made rather bittersweet in the knowledge that this is the last time they do this as the Sci-Fi Channel. But anyhoo...

They just ran the classic episode "A Game of Pool", which originally aired on October 13, 1961. It's one of my all-time favorite episodes of The Twilight Zone, for a lot of reasons but especially 'cuz I thought the interaction between Jack Klugman and Jonathan Winters was brilliant!

So I'm wondering if I'm at all crazy for thinking this...

...that wouldn't it be more awesomely cool than we possibly deserve, if somehow there could be a sequel to this episode made, again starring Klugman and Winters as Jesse Cardiff and Fats Brown?

It could be called "Another Game of Pool"!

Okay, that will probably never happen outside of the wonderful delirium of my dreams. But still, one can practically see it happening.

What an amazing show this was. I even liked the later incarnations quite a bit, but Rod Serling's original series was, I'd dare say, the most influential and revolutionary television show in the history of the medium.

I hope Syfy Channel keeps showing it :-)

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The obvious question about WGSR

In the past month or so WGSR general manager Charles Roark has broadcast footage of no less than three murder victims (before knowing if the next of kin had been notified), and at this moment is defending his "right" to trespass on property and film video of a person's house burning down without regard of what the guy's family was going through. In addition to every other amount of callous disrespect toward others that WGSR under his management has done with no editorial oversight.

So I'm compelled to ask aloud...

If the naked, beaten and dead body of Azile Roark was lying in the street, would Charles Roark be equally insistent on footage of that - the corpse of his own mother and the proprietor of Star News Corporation - be broadcast on television?

Or is there a double standard at work at WGSR?

We already know that Roark has sold out his principles to local cult leader (and WGSR's biggest client) Johnny Robertson. So let's assume that the shoe might be on the other foot someday and that would be Roark's turn to be the victim.

Dear readers, you know just as well as I do: there's not a snowball's chance in Hell that Roark would put himself in as vulnerable a position as he demands on putting just about everyone else.

And no amount of crowing about being "the biggest media" in the area can possibly make up for such a severe deficit of personal and professional ethics.

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No way can I vote for Sarah Palin as President

Sarah Palin announced this afternoon that she's resigning as governor of Alaska effective July 26th. Some are speculating that it's to pursue the Republican nomination for President in 2012.

But I could not possibly consider voting for her now.

If Palin cannot commit to fulfilling her term of office as governor, why should I have faith that she's capable of committing to that of a much higher position?

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Final season of LOST getting extra hour

ABC's smash hit series Lost - said by some to be perhaps the greatest television dramatic series ever and not without plenty of reason - will get one more hour for its sixth and last season, scheduled to begin in January 2010. That makes for 18 hours to wrap up everything still dangling unaddressed in the crazy rich mythology that is Lost.

Hope that'll be enough... but then again, there can never be nearly enough Lost! :-)

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HILARIOUS TERMINATOR 3 deleted scene that KINDA woulda had TERMINATOR SALVATION make a lot more sense!

This was filmed, people! This was soooooo filmed!

What. The. Hell. Were. They. Thinking. ?!?

GeekTyrant posted this yesterday. It's a scene from Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines that was edited out of the final film. And had this been included in the movie, I could almost see how Terminator Salvation would have been better for it, because it proves that the Terminator saga's timeline incongruities were being actively addressed. I like how it's explicitly stated that the Skynet technology originated with Cyberdyne, and the reason why all the T-800 Terminators look like Arnold Schwarzenegger and even have identical voices (as weird as that was).

But I swear: I literally fell out of my chair when the clip gets to U.S. Army Chief Master Sergeant William Candy.

Nothing I can say could possibly prepare you for this, friends and neighbors...

"OOH... it's ME!!"

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IT CAME FROM THE RALEIGH SEWERS!

Sounds like a bad Fifties B-movie, doesn't it?

But in reality, something slimy and ominous is lurking in the sluiceways of the capital of North Carolina.

Behold the horror that was recently discovered by a maintenance "snake camera"...

This video has gone viral bigtime in the past day or so, with some speculating that there might be an alien organism breeding beneath the streets of Raleigh. Personally, I thought it looked a lot like something out of the video game Dead Space, or maybe the insides of that giant worm from Gears of War 2.

But as it turns out, it's actually a colony of tubifex worms, which are said to be common in sewers but rarely documented in such up-close detail.

Still looks pretty dang deees-gusting though :-)

(Thanks to Lex Alexander for the fascinating find!)

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3D printing of an unborn baby

I'd already thought that 3D printing is one of the neatest new technologies to have come along in recent years.

But look at what Jorge Lopes, a design student and doctoral candidate of the Royal College of Art, has done with it...

Marrying ultrasound imaging and MRI data to the rapid prototyping process, Lopes has engineered a way to create a life-sized exact model of a human fetus while it's within its mother's womb!

Whoa.

Lopes foresees the technology being used in the near future to give expectant parents a model of their forthcoming new arrival, as well as becoming useful in treating birth defects.

Absolutely, unbelievably mind-boggling stuff. Jorge Lopes is a genius!

Click here for the rest of the story and more amazing photos!

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Mollie Sugden - AKA Mrs. Slocombe on ARE YOU BEING SERVED? - has passed away

DARN it!!

There are way too many talented people who are leaving us lately. And just after I had finished noting the passing of Karl Malden, now comes word that Mollie Sugden has die at the age of 86.

I say again: DARN it!!!

It's just been in the past few months that I have finally gotten into watching Are You Being Served?, the classic BBC comedy series that ran from 1972 to 1985. Every Sunday at midnight I now tune into North Carolina Public Television, and for the next hour I enjoy the mad hijinks of the Grace Bros. Department Store clothing staff.

And Mollie Sugden, as the uproariously bossy Mrs. Slocombe, never fails to make me honk with laughter. Especially all those hilarious double entendres when she talks about "my pussy"!

Sugden was a profoundly talented lady and by all accounts, a terrific person off-camera. She will most certainly be missed by her many fans not just across the pond, but throughout America and around the world.

EDIT 5:48 p.m. EST: Leave it to YouTube to have everything. Here's a collection of clips from Are You Being Served? featuring Mollie Sugden's Mrs. Slocombe going on about "my pussy"!

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Karl Malden has passed away

Two-time Oscar-winning actor Karl Malden has passed away, it is being reported this afternoon. He was 97.

Malden started out working in steel mills and fighting in World War II, before getting into acting. He first won an Oscar for his portrayal of Mitch in 1951's A Streetcar Named Desire and then again for playing Father Barry in 1954's On The Waterfront. Malden appeared in many other films throughout the Fifties and Sixties (including Patton, where he was particularly memorable as Omar Bradley). And then in 1972 he landed the role of Lt. Stone in ABC's drama The Streets of San Francisco. In 1984 he appeared in the television movie Fatal Vision (based on the book about the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case), for which he won an Emmy.

But to those of us who grew up in the Eighties, Malden might be best remembered as the ubiquitous spokesman for American Express Travelers Cheques, along with his catchphrase "Don't leave home without them!" Malden also served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989 to 1992.

He was a terrific actor, and will be missed.

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Popcorn Sutton documentary THE LAST ONE wins Emmy!

This past Saturday was a big night for North Carolina filmmaker Neal Hutcheson! At the 35th Southeast Regional Emmy Awards held in Atlanta, Georgia, Hutcheson's documentary The Last One - in which he chronicled Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton's fine art of moonshining - won the Emmy from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for "Outstanding Achievement in Television Programming Excellence".

If you've been reading this blog for the past few months then you already know that Popcorn Sutton took his own life in March, just days before he was to report to prison following a series of events that began with a raid on one of his stills last year...

"Popcorn's death underscores the cultural preservation value of films like The Last One," Hutcheson said. "A fact that I doubt escaped the Emmy selection committee."

I have a copy of The Last One on DVD and y'all wouldn't believe how big in demand it has become around where I live: I don't know if there's a house in the neighborhood that hasn't watched it at least once! It is an exceptionally fine film and that it has been so honored is a testament to both its maker and its subject. For more about The Last One, visit the website for Sucker Punch Pictures. UNC-TV has been showing The Last One quite a bit over the past few months, so one way or another you're likely to have a chance to see it.

And congrats Neal! :-)

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Kid gives up iPod for Walkman for a week

It was thirty years ago this week that the Sony Walkman - the gadget that gave birth to portable music - made its debut. To commemorate the occasion, BBC Magazine asked 13-year old Scott Campbell (above) to yield his iPod for seven days in favor of a classic Walkman. And young master Scott wrote about the experience...

When I wore it walking down the street or going into shops, I got strange looks, a mixture of surprise and curiosity, that made me a little embarrassed.

As I boarded the school bus, where I live in Aberdeenshire, I was greeted with laughter. One boy said: "No-one uses them any more." Another said: "Groovy." Yet another one quipped: "That would be hard to lose."

My friends couldn't imagine their parents using this monstrous box, but there was interest in what the thing was and how it worked.

In some classes in school they let me listen to music and one teacher recognised it and got nostalgic.

It took me three days to figure out that there was another side to the tape. That was not the only naive mistake that I made; I mistook the metal/normal switch on the Walkman for a genre-specific equaliser, but later I discovered that it was in fact used to switch between two different types of cassette.

It's quite a fun read! Click here for more from Scott Campbell about his time with the Sony Walkman.

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TRANSFORMERS sequel making money despite critical panning

Between it's massive opening last week and the run-up to the Fourth of July weekend over the next few days, expect Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to scarf down an unconscionable amount of coin (much like Devastator, left), its place as one of the top grossing movies of 2009 well assured. That's regardless of how it is also one of the worst reviewed movies of the year!

Breitbart.com has the somewhat humorous story of how wide the gulf is between movie-goers and professional movie critics. Personally, I don't care that it's got so many problems artistically. It's giant transforming robots beating the crap out of each other with lots of earth-trembling explosions. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is everything you'd expect from a Michael Bay summer popcorn flick. What more is it supposed to be?! :-)

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Comic book writer detained by Transportation Security clowns for possessing "terrorist"-ish script

Comic book writer Mark Sable is reporting that last month while going through Los Angeles International Airport bound for New York, he was detained by Transportation Security Administration agents after being flagged for "extra screening".

What nefarious act did Sable commit that deemed him worthy of notice as being in possible collusion with "the terrists"?

The fact that his new comic miniseries Unthinkable deals with 9/11-ish scenarios that start coming true.

Here's what Sable said happened...

"Flying from Los Angeles to New York for a signing at Jim Hanley's Universe Wednesday (May 13th), I was flagged at the gate for 'extra screening'. I was subjected to not one, but two invasive searches of my person and belongings. TSA agents then 'discovered' the script for Unthinkable #3. They sat and read the script while I stood there, without any personal items, identification or ticket, which had all been confiscated.

"The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the Unthinkable script mentioned 9/11, terror plots, and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics.

"I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation. While Unthinkable blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of Unthinkable unfolds when the writer's scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks.

"In the end, I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium."

Just one more reason why Transportation Security and the whole sorry lot of the Department of Homeland Security is the worst new government boondoggle of the past half century (even worse than the Department of Education!).

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Brooke Greenberg: The girl who can't age

The picture on the right was taken about four years ago. It is of Brooke Greenberg and her younger sister Carly.

That's Brooke on the left, when she was 12 years old. She is now 16 and looks the same as she is depicted in the photograph.

Doctors and researchers are stymied at how Brooke has hardly aged at all since she was born. She still has her baby teeth, and her bones are considered to be of a child who is no older than ten. Her mental capacity is said to be that of an infant. But her family maintains that in many other aspects she is just like any other teenage girl (she likes to shop, f'rinstance).

Click here for more about Brooke Greenberg and her family.

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