news from me - ARCHIVES: "Jerry Juhl, who was one of the main creative forces behind The Muppets died Monday from complications relating to cancer. Jerry and his wife Susan worked for years for the Jim Henson Organization -- 37 years in Jerry's case. He wrote for Sesame Street, served as head writer for The Muppet Show, and was a writer and/or producer on most of Henson's TV projects and films, including The Muppet Movie."

Adventures of Pete & Pete, The - Cool Details & Supplements Disclosed For 2nd Season Set!

Great to see that the final pre-series special, "Space, Geeks, and Johnny Unitas" will be on this set (the other four were on the first season set). And it's nice to see a broader range of participants for the commentaries. Hopefully, the third season set--if there is one--will include the remainder of the shorts, because, really, what's the point of putting out most of The Adventures of Pete & Pete on DVD?

SPOILER: 'Royale' Plot Element Revealed - James Bond 007 - CommanderBond.net - James Bond At Its Best: "CBn has learned that the centerpiece card game in Casino Royale -- the 21st James Bond film due to start production in January -- will not be Baccarat as in the Ian Fleming novel, but will instead be poker. In particular, no-limit Texas Hold'em poker, also known as the 'Cadillac of Poker.'"

It's a little thing, and it really shouldn't matter whether James Bond plays Baccarat or Texas Hold 'em Poker, but this just feels wrong.

news from me - ARCHIVES: "To the surprise of no one who'd seen him the last few years, Don Adams has passed away. "

Fond memories of watching reruns of Get Smart, so very sorry to hear this. Even if it was a long time in coming.

Just a couple of quick notes:

Thanks to NBC owning Bravo and Sci-Fi, it looks like there are a couple of chances to catch Surface and My Name is Earl later in the week. (It means not seeing the Earl show in HD, but it's a sitcom, and one of the few new ones I wanted to watch, so I'll take what I can get.) Also, Supernatural appears to be part of the WB's easyview Sunday night repeat lineup, so I can still watch that, even though it's up against House and The Amazing Race in its regular timeslot.

And Everybody Hates Chris, the comedy about Chris Rock's childhood is pretty good, too.

Recommended comics: G0dland by Joe Casey and Tom Scioli, from Image Comics. It looks like a late 60s/early 70s jack Kirby cosmic adventure comic, and on the surface, that's what it is. (Only not by Jack Kirby, of course.) But there's an undercurrent of the Joe Casey weirdness that has made me a fan of his other work, like Wildcats and Automatic Kafka, and that's what sets this book apart from a mere homage/recreation. If comics were good, they'd be like this.

And Fell, by Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith, from Image Comics. This is Ellis's latest format experiment: selling a comic for less than two bucks by telling a dense, packed 16 page story with four pages of text in the back. And he succeeds: there feels like there's more story here than most 22-page comic books. It's the story of detective Richard Fell, transfered to an oddball precinct where he's the most normal cop there. It's a nice twist on the familiar Ellis theme of an oddball or extreme character in a relatively normal or stable world. The solution to the crime in the first issue is both suitably weird and delightfully mundane at the same time. Considering how so many comics have trouble filling their pages, and then spill over into other comics besides (OMAC Project, I'm talking to you), the idea of a really satisfying, complete story every month for less than two dollars really appeals.

Thanks to Matt, I was able to see the premiere episode of Threshold on videotape. (And what does it say about my life that the one thing I can successfully do is whistle up episodes of TV shows from across the country at the drop of a hat?) A lot of the action stuff was just okay, but a lot of the creepy stuff was really creepy (like an alien object that screws you up from just looking at it). So far, the DVR hasn't erased the second episode all on its own, so I should be able to get caught up in the next day or so. Invasion may have been a little spookier overall, but this one has the edge with a quirky cast. Plus, lots of scenes with Carla Gugino running around in her nightgown, taking a page from Ghost Whisperer. (Clearly, they understand at least the segment of the audience that includes me.)

Went out to the Valley of Fire state park earlier today, as evidenced by the pictures I posted earlier. Since I did not get the job in Oregon, and will be staying in Vegas for the forseeable future, I figured I should get out more and see some of the pretty things this neck of the woods (or, you know, scrubby desert) has to offer.

Let's see, what else... Planning on finishing one of the new Doctor Who books, Only Human, by fan favorite writer Gareth Roberts, tonight. It's been a particularly good one, and the books help fill in some of the waiting until the Christmas Invasion. But even more exciting would be the books on the on-deck circle: new Neil Gaiman novel, Anansi Boys, the new Molly Moon book by Georgia Byng (my personal favorite post-Harry Potter fantasy series for kids), and a book called The Pirates! In an exciting adventure with the Scientists by Gideon Defoe. The second book in this series (because nothing ever stands alone; even Anansi Boys is connected to American Gods) got a great review on Shiny Shelf, and I generally agree with their reviews, so I decided to check it out from the library. We'll see...

Oh, and two new shows of note on BBC America this week: Bodies on Thursday (a medical drama that also attracted raves on Shiny Shelf) and the TV series of The Mighty Boosh, the radio series of which I loved on CD. So check them out.

Greetings from the Valley of Fire

Prosecutors see 'CSI effect' in white-collar cases - Yahoo! News: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Jurors schooled in crime
investigations through watching TV dramas expect prosecutors to
show them sophisticated forensic evidence -- even in
white-collar trials -- making it tough for the government to
prove cases, two federal prosecutors said on Friday.

Alice Martin, the U.S. attorney for the Northern District
of Alabama, said that the so-called 'CSI effect' -- a reference
to the hit CBS television show about gruesome crime scene
investigations -- hurt her case against HealthSouth Corp.
founder Richard Scrushy."

And, once again, I'm just so sad for America...

Leaving Rita

Okay, this would be the blog by my friend Shelly, formerly of Houston. So she's apparently okay.

Again, fuck you, God and Mother Nature and everyone else conspiring to hurt those I care about. I spit in your eye and refuse to cower, you bastards.