Dan O'Bannon, writer of ALIEN and TOTAL RECALL and creator of the Death Star plans, has passed away

Dan O'Bannon stands as one of the most influential minds of the modern era of filmmaking. His script for Dark Star helped launch John Carpenter's career. A few years later O'Bannon did animation work on what was then simply titled Star Wars. Remember General Dodonna's PowerPoint presentation on how to hit the Death Star's exhaust port? You can credit Dan O'Bannon for that.

But not long after that O'Bannon turned in a screenplay for a Ridley Scott-directed project called Alien. That would have been more than enough to have Dan O'Bannon's name emblazoned forevermor into movie legend.

He didn't stop there. Some years later O'Bannon wrote the script for Total Recall: another masterpiece of science fiction. Word is he was still working on a number of other screenplays.

And now the sad news has come out of Los Angeles that Dan O'Bannon has passed away at the age of 63.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family this morning.

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12 inches of snow tomorrow? White Christmas too?!

That's what the meteorologisticians are predicting. Cold air plus a system pumping a lot of moisture up from the Gulf of Mexico. That usually means beaucoups of snow in this part of the country.

And we stand a good chance of snow on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day as well.

The bad news is that it puts a crimp in plans to see Avatar tomorrow. But if worse comes to worst I suppose I can always download it :-P

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Scientists crack entire genome of skin and lung cancer

Researchers working around the globe as part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium have announced that the entire genetic code for skin and lung cancer has been "decrypted".

The scientists have discovered more than 30,000 transcription errors in genetic replication that give rise to melanoma (and almost all of these are triggered from too much sunlight).

And if you're a smoker, think about this the next time you light up: you typically acquire one fresh new mutation for every 15 cigarettes that you smoke. Not all of these are malign, but there are more than 23,000 genetic errors and some of them will lead to lung cancer.

That's about, what... 1.25 mutations per pack of cigarettes, on the conservative side of the figures?

Yul Brynner was smoking five packs a day. This is what he had to say about it, in a 1985 television spot intentionally airing after he died...

The International Cancer Genome Consortium researchers are hailing their findings as a tremendous breakthrough in the fight against cancer. That it certainly is.

But folks, let's not pin too much hope on research. Take care of yourself so that you don't have to likely appreciate the fruits of future medicine.

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Damn the gods! New CLASH OF THE TITANS trailer unleashes the Kraken on your eyeballs

In general, I loathe remakes of original films. It takes a lot for a revamped movie to impress me.

But I am getting pretty darned close to sold on Clash of the Titans, if this new trailer is indication of what we'll see in theaters on March 26th a few months from now...

Mash down here for the Clash of the Titans trailer in full beautiful Quicktime!

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First trailer for IRON MAN 2 flies onto the Intertubes!

You can wait for it to show up on YouTube, or...

...you can watch it in Quicktime right now!

(Go for the Quicktime, it's better.)

Gotta wonder if Steve Jobs is looking at this and secretly wanting to make such an entrance at an Apple event :-P

Iron Man 2 comes out on May 7th, 2010.

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Newly discovered "super Earth" has water, atmosphere

Exciting news on the astronomy front: the most Earth-like planet yet outside our solar system has been discovered. The world, which thus far is known only by its official nomenclature GJ 1214b, is 40 light years away (practically in our backyard, cosmically speaking 'course). It's six times the mass of our Earth and according to analysis is literally swimming in liquid water. It orbits a red star, kinda making it "Krypton meets Waterworld". But it ain't quite the habitable sorta world that astronomers are looking for: the temperatures on this planet are around 400 degrees Fahrenheit and the air pressure is much higher than we're used to on Earth.

Maybe we should name it "Saunaworld"? :-P

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Roy Disney has passed away

The sad news coming down this afternoon that Roy Disney, nephew of Walt Disney and longtime upholder of the family legacy, has died at the age of 79 following a battle with stomach cancer.

Few will argue that Disney as an entertainment brand would not be anything like the powerhouse it is today were it not for Roy Disney fighting behind the scenes: both to foster creative drive and in the corporate boardroom. His history with Michael Eisner - the man who Roy Disney first brought in as chief executive officer before being ousted in a stockholder coup led by Disney - is the stuff of business legend.

I don't know if there's any comfort in saying this, but I'm glad that Roy Disney lived long enough to see his uncle's company return to traditional animation before he passed. I haven't seen The Princess and the Frog yet but that Disney's 2-D department has been revitalized is a huge victory for Roy Disney.

Thoughts and prayers going out to his family. And Los Angeles Times has a fascinating article about his career.

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Not a good gift idea

I don't understand why anybody would want a hippopotamus for Christmas.

Look people: Those things are DANGEROUS!! They cause more human deaths on the African continent than any other animal.

And they cost a fortune to feed, too..

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The Battle of the Bulge began 65 years ago today

It was on this date in 1944 that Adolf Hitler launched Nazi Germany's final major offensive of World War II. In an act of desperation, Hitler went for broke and threw in just about all of his reserves for one big operation, in the hope that he could stave off the Allies' occupation of western Europe.

The Germans called it "Operation: Watch on the Rhine". Among the Allies it was officially referred to as the "Ardennes-Alsace Campaign". For General Anthony McAuliffe of the 101st Airborne it was simply "Nuts!"

But you and I know it better as the Battle of the Bulge.

It was perhaps the hardest-fought battle of the European theater. It would have been that even without the snow and ice and freezing temperatures that the Allies (mostly American but several British as well) were forced to endure.

But in the end, more than a month later, the Nazis were in retreat. The Allies had prevailed... and the western front was poised to arrive right at Berlin's front door.

For those who fought - and especially for those who fought and never came back - from this most pivotal moment of World War II, this blogger tips his hat in gratitude.

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Swiss scientist on trial for causing earthquakes

Markus Haering appeared in court in Basel, Switzerland today. The charge leveled against him: that his company's activities caused earthquakes, one of which measured 3.4 Richter magnitude. Haering's firm is researching geothermal-generated electricity. Well, according to court documents his company's deep-drilling in 2006 triggered the quakes. There were no injuries but $9 million in damages were reported. If the judge finds him guilty of intentionally damaging property, Haering faces five years jail for making the earthquakes happen...

...which is gonna be a heckuva retort when he gets asked "So what are you in for buddy?"

(Seriously though, sounds like it's gonna be an easy charge to beat. Lex Luthor might have been put behind bars for doing something like this but not Markus Haering. Dude doesn't even have a nuclear weapon, fer pete's sake...)

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The photography of Jessica Nicole Reed

Good friend (and fellow Theatre Guild volunteer) Jessica Nicole Reed is blessed with both a great eye and strong passion when it comes to photography. So it was only fitting that she would take her gifts out into the larger world. Click here to visit the Jessica Nicole Photography website and if you're interested in buying prints of her work (like this breathtaking shot of the Golden Gate Bridge) Jessica has a shop up at Etsy.com too!

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Yet another cartoon from the wonderfully twisted mind of Dave Lowe!

As always, you can enjoy more of Dave's hilarious work at his web comic Para Abnormal!

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Late Monday evening musing (am I doing too much thinking?)

Disillusionment is very often the father of discernment.

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Is LucasArts out of touch with its fanbase?

That's what Scott Kelly is wondering on his blog. What precipitates the question is the "big reveal" that happened of the next Star Wars game during this past weekend's Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009 show: a sequel to last year's Star Wars: The Force Unleashed.

As Scott puts it...

If we needed any confirmation that LucasArts was undoubtedly out of touch with their fanbase, the announcement of the newest LucasArts game, creatively titled “The Force Unleashed II”, has unfortunately given us the signal.

I could talk about how making a sequel to “The Force Unleashed” doesn’t make sense, in a narrative sense, since (SPOILER AHEAD) Galen Marek dies at the end. I could discuss how this violates the whole “no body/no death” trope. I could bring up the fact that most fans complimented the game not on the gameplay, but on the actual story told.

But I won’t. Looking across the internet, you can find people discussing just that.

Now is the time to come to terms with LucasArts’ cowardice in making new, creative Star Wars games. Yes, you read it right: cowardice. With this cowardice, you’ll only see fans getting tired of the same old games that you’ll come to expect from LucasArts.

I have to agree with Scott. Star Wars should be one of the most dynamic and exciting franchises in history, but LucasArts has been loathe to take risks with it and as a result Star Wars video gaming has become... dare I say it?... exceedingly stagnant. That's what happens when you keep "playing it safe" with your most prized vehicle. George Lucas and his companies should be letting it tear up the highway, not making it sit in a garage out of fear of a few dings and scratches. Because in the end it's the little quirks like that which add character to a franchise. Paramount finally understood that when it let J.J. Abrams direct Star Trek and there's no reason why it can't work for LucasArts too.

Scott suggests new installments of the X-Wing and TIE Fighter series. I would love to see that. But I think LucasArts should stop being afraid to plow some new ground too. We've just had Death Troopers, the first Star Wars horror novel: something like that would make for a hella game in the mold of BioShock or Alien vs. Predator. There may not be any more Star Wars movies forthcoming, but video gaming can certainly keep Star Wars fresh and vibrant by going into sub-genres that have never been considered.

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The Muppets do "The Ringing of the Bells"

Here's the latest from Muppets Studio: the Swedish Chef, Beaker and Animal doing the classic Christmas tune "The Ringing of the Bells"!

Gosh I'm loving these new Muppets shorts! I've probably watched the "Bohemian Rhapsody" video about a hunnerd times so far (along with a few million other people :-)

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Very awesome pseudo-3D effect using CSS and HTML

Visual artist Román Cortés has taken the classic painting Las Meninas and, using only standard HTML and CSS (no Flash or Javascript at all), has created an INCREDIBLY amazing 3D effect. Click on the link to check it out!

(And thanks to Shane Thacker for the great find!)

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Thirtieth anniversary of Steven Spielberg's loudest movie

It was on December 14th, 1979 - thirty years ago today - that the mostest highest-decibel movie ever directed by Steven Spielberg was released.

I am, of course, referring to 1941.

With a crazy eclectic cast featuring John Belushi, Christopher Lee, Slim Pickens, John Candy and Dan Ackroyd among many others and backed up by a rousing score by John Williams, 1941 pokes fun at the very real paranoia that beset the West Coast in the days and weeks following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. At the time 1941 confused and bewildered critics (who weren't sure if it was supposed to have been a drama or a comedy) but three decades later, it is now considered a cult classic. 1941 is a screaming movie. The filming was so loud that Spielberg had to fire a prop machine gun into the air rather than yelling "cut" because otherwise the actors couldn't hear him.

A rather peculiar movie that has only gotten better with age, 1941 is great for an evening's worth of laughs. Check it out if you haven't already... and make sure the volume of your home entertainment system is cranked way up!

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