That's the word from no less an authority than DreamWorks Studios' website. We heard a few weeks ago that a big-screen feature based on the board game Monsterpocalypse was in very early production. That John August might be getting attached already (he previously wrote the screenplays for Burton's films Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Corpse Bride) suggests considerably more movement afoot than we might have previously thought.In...
Friday, June 11, 2010
Psychologists determine Darth Vader suffered from mental illness
Anakin Skywalker, also known as the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, has a "borderline personality" described as "a prolonged disturbance of personality function in a person (generally over the age of eighteen years, although it is also found in adolescents), characterized by depth and variability of moods." So sayeth a group of French psychologists who studied the Star...
5 real diseases that could turn you into a zombie
But none of them will turn you into THAT kind of a zombie, thankfully! And the image on the right is the first pic to come from The Walking Dead, an upcoming horror series on AMC helmed by director Frank Darabont (he made The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile so he probably knows what he's doing...)But anyhoo, io9.com has put together a list of five real-life maladies...
Exoplanet observed orbiting star for first time
Apologies for the absence, dear readers. Of which no less than three of you have insisted today that I must return 'cuz apparently this blog has become a daily fixture in the lives of some! I shall endeavor to do better but what can I say? I'm a busy lad, with many irons in the fire. And Lord willing I'll get to begin sharing some of those sooner than later.But first:...
Monday, June 07, 2010
THE GOONIES is 25 years old today!
I'm thankful that websites like GeekTyrant are around to make note of good stuff that I've otherwise been too busy to keep track of.Namely, that today - June 7th, 2010 - marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of The Goonies!I have long thought of The Goonies as the definitive Eighties movie. That it's just as enjoyable (maybe more even) a quarter century later,...
Saturday, June 05, 2010
The case for universal data plans
In what some are calling a devious case of "bait 'n switch", AT&T announced this past week that it was getting rid of unlimited data plans and moving to "metered" plans... and just after Apple moved a buttload of those nice shiny new 3G iPads too!So if you too are at wits end on communication rates, you are in good company with Molly Wood, who contributes a persuasive essay on CNET News demanding that universal data plans make more sense...And...
John Wooden, greatest basketball coach ever, has passed away
John Wooden coached UCLA to ten national championships. But since his passing last night he's being remembered by most as a teacher, a friend, and a gentleman...Wooden was also quite a wise figure. ESPN has collected many of his quotes, including this one that I found especially noteworthy..."Talent is God-given. Be humble. Fame is man-given. Be grateful. Conceit is self-given....
Thursday, June 03, 2010
Bargain basement Batmobile
This 1994 Pontiac Grand Am was purchased for $100 from a towing company in Michigan last summer. Its owner (one "Gabe") then set out to convert it into a Batmobile.According to the story at GeekTyrant "After a few necessary repairs, work proceeded: Gabe sawed off the crushed roof and built a custom frame for the new roof and windows. Inspired by the Batmanesque charm of his...
THE KING AND I: 15 days until opening night
Another rehearsal this evening. This one focused on the "Small House of Uncle Thomas" scene early in Act II. I keep thinking that the Uncle Thomas mask looks exactly like Chief Wiggum from The Simpsons and the mask for Simon of Legree resembles Gollum from Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings movies."Wiggum and Gollum". Sounds like a law firm, aye?I have to say, it's so weird doing this show at Rockingham County Senior High where I was once a...
The Knight Shift is standing up for The Sideshow Coalition
About three years ago, this blog's eclectic proprietor had to learn awful fast and hard about Viacom and its dispute with YouTube. If you recall, if you worked it out in your head then logically Viacom was accusing me of violating my own copyright after Viacom took my work without permission and used it for a show on VH1, and then accused ME of copyright infringement for posting the clip of that onto YouTube.Well, I won that case as best I can imagine...
It's a printer made out of LEGO bricks!
And before anyone asks, this is not using LEGO's Mindstorm programming environment. Which if you ask me, makes it even more impressive...The bad news is that the felt-tip markers cost $45 to replace (just kidding :-)Seriously though: that is hella aweso...
First art from Frank Miller's XERXES (it's a prequel to 300)
Frank Miller is one of the most frustrating comic book artists that one can watch the career of. There's his classic stuff like The Dark Knight Returns and Sin City. And then there's his work like All-star Batman and Robin (particularly issue #2, you know what I'm talking about if you've read it). So when I heard that he was going to do a prequel/follow-up to 300 what most...
Sony's new OLED color display: thinner than a strand of hair
This might be what finally saves the newspaper industry, once the technology becomes feasible and widespread. It'll be just like those moving pictures in the Harry Potter novels and movies!Sony has refined organic light emitting diode (OLED) manufacturing to the point where a color display can be built that's 80μm thick... which is just shy of the thickness of average human...
And now, Rue McClanahan is gone too
Professional obligations have kept me from blogging as much as I'd like. I was hoping the next entry wouldn't be another obit.Unfortunately that doesn't get to happen...Word broke earlier today that Rue McClanahan, who'd already enjoyed a colorful acting career before becoming forever known for playing the sex-obsessed Blanche on The Golden Girls, has passed away at age 76...
Monday, May 31, 2010
And now we've lost Dennis Hopper
Most of y'all heard that by now. He passed away Saturday. So in a few days' time we've lost Art Linkletter, Gary Coleman and Dennis Hopper.He was quite the memorable sort, no matter what he was in: be it Easy Rider or Speed or the first season of 24 or even the otherwise atrocious Super Mario Brothers movie (where he played King Koopa).Somehow, his recitation of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" seems a most appropriate tribute to his life and career...Rest...
Friday, May 28, 2010
Attorney subpoenas red-light cameras to appear in court (they didn't, she won)
Something very similar to this happened to me in 2002, but I don't pretend to be an attorney so I couldn't do it as awesomely kewl as Georgia attorney Regina Quick did in court this week. I had to speed through a red-light camera intersection in Greensboro 'cuz the car behind me was about to rear-end me hard. A week later the citation came in the mail, and I didn't think it was fair.So I filed a subpoena at the courthouse in Greensboro to have...
