Saturday, September 16, 2006
Did television's toughest prosecutor kill Melinda Duckett? By Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine: "Among Grace's most revealing statements, as she struggled to disavow any responsibility for Duckett's death this week, was this one: 'I do not feel our show is to blame for what happened to Melinda Duckett,' Grace said Monday. 'Melinda committed suicide before that interview ever aired.' "
Thursday, September 14, 2006
BBC - Press Office - The Sarah Jane Adventures: "Multi-award winning writer Russell T Davies has written a brand new series for CBBC called The Sarah Jane Adventures. It stars one of The Doctor's most famous companions, investigative journalist Sarah Jane Smith.
Russell T Davies says: 'Children's TV has a fine history of fantasy thrillers - I loved them as a kid, and they were the very first things I ever wrote. So it's brilliant to return to such a vivid and imaginative area of television.'
The series begins with a 60-minute special which will be broadcast in early 2007 with the series due later in the year."
Russell T Davies says: 'Children's TV has a fine history of fantasy thrillers - I loved them as a kid, and they were the very first things I ever wrote. So it's brilliant to return to such a vivid and imaginative area of television.'
The series begins with a 60-minute special which will be broadcast in early 2007 with the series due later in the year."
Monday, September 11, 2006
Tuesday, September 05, 2006
SciFi.com has started posting a series of ten Battlestar Galactica webisodes briding the gap between the end of last season and the premiere of this one. The first one is pretty cool, and feels very much like part of the series. However, if you haven't seen the end of the second season yet (I know at least one friend has not), I'd recommend staying away until you're all caught up. Otherwise, there will obviously be spoilers.
I’m trying to post my thoughts on Steve Irwin to the Animal Planet forum, but unsurprisingly, it’s very busy, so the page won’t load. So I’m going to post it here, instead.
When I was a kid, I loved shows about animals. Whether it was reruns of Disney’s True Life Adventures on The Wonderful World of Disney, or the original Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, hosted by Marlin Perkins (probably also reruns), I watched them with my family. But somehow, at some point, I drifted away.
Then, one day, I came back. Part of it may be living with Penelope, but a large part of it came from watching Steve Irwin’s shows on Animal Planet. Though it was parodied and mocked by the hip and cynical, I found Irwin’s passion and enthusiasm very infectious. I couldn’t help getting as excited as he was about whatever he happened to be talking about. His wife Terri’s presence helped a lot. Her calm, down-to-earth sensibility provided the perfect contrast to his over-the-top performance, grounding it in reality. I really felt like she would call him on anything that was fake or too much. So as over the top as he could seem, I really felt like he was genuine.
(The show about them running their zoo--Croc Hunter Diaries?—also provided another, more down-to-earth perspective on Irwin, showing how he interacted with his staff and animals on a daily basis. It proved that while he was larger than life when hosting his shows, the heart behind it all was true.)
And I’m not going to ignore the blip on his career when he brought his baby into the crocodile enclosure at his zoo. But while it may not have been a smart thing to do, ultimately, no harm was done. And there are too many people who deserve to be pilloried for ongoing errors they make that cost people’s lives every day.
Even the Crocodile Hunter movie won me over, because it could so easily have been screwed up. I had expected Steve and Terri to be recruited by the CIA or something stupid like that. Fortunately, Irwin was smarter than that, and delivered a movie that was just a big-screen episode of his TV shows, only with an entirely separate story going on in the background that he and Terri were completely oblivious to. The plot, about spies trying to recover a stolen satellite swallowed by a crocodile, isn’t going to win any Oscars, but if there was an Academy Award for charm and charisma…
And now he’s gone.
But he brought wildlife education and conservation back into the public eye, and arguably made Animal Planet much more successful, also helping that cause. As a people, we can’t even seem to get worked up over the wrongs we do to each other. Animals don’t even have a voice that most people are wiling to understand. Thank goodness there are people like Steve and Terri Irwin who are willing to speak for them.
When I was a kid, I loved shows about animals. Whether it was reruns of Disney’s True Life Adventures on The Wonderful World of Disney, or the original Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom, hosted by Marlin Perkins (probably also reruns), I watched them with my family. But somehow, at some point, I drifted away.
Then, one day, I came back. Part of it may be living with Penelope, but a large part of it came from watching Steve Irwin’s shows on Animal Planet. Though it was parodied and mocked by the hip and cynical, I found Irwin’s passion and enthusiasm very infectious. I couldn’t help getting as excited as he was about whatever he happened to be talking about. His wife Terri’s presence helped a lot. Her calm, down-to-earth sensibility provided the perfect contrast to his over-the-top performance, grounding it in reality. I really felt like she would call him on anything that was fake or too much. So as over the top as he could seem, I really felt like he was genuine.
(The show about them running their zoo--Croc Hunter Diaries?—also provided another, more down-to-earth perspective on Irwin, showing how he interacted with his staff and animals on a daily basis. It proved that while he was larger than life when hosting his shows, the heart behind it all was true.)
And I’m not going to ignore the blip on his career when he brought his baby into the crocodile enclosure at his zoo. But while it may not have been a smart thing to do, ultimately, no harm was done. And there are too many people who deserve to be pilloried for ongoing errors they make that cost people’s lives every day.
Even the Crocodile Hunter movie won me over, because it could so easily have been screwed up. I had expected Steve and Terri to be recruited by the CIA or something stupid like that. Fortunately, Irwin was smarter than that, and delivered a movie that was just a big-screen episode of his TV shows, only with an entirely separate story going on in the background that he and Terri were completely oblivious to. The plot, about spies trying to recover a stolen satellite swallowed by a crocodile, isn’t going to win any Oscars, but if there was an Academy Award for charm and charisma…
And now he’s gone.
But he brought wildlife education and conservation back into the public eye, and arguably made Animal Planet much more successful, also helping that cause. As a people, we can’t even seem to get worked up over the wrongs we do to each other. Animals don’t even have a voice that most people are wiling to understand. Thank goodness there are people like Steve and Terri Irwin who are willing to speak for them.
Comic Book Resources - Comic Book News, Reviews and Commentary - Updated Daily!: "A couple weeks ago, I was a guest speaker at a librarian's conference, as part of a panel (with the librarian who put it together and a distributor specializing in library sales) on 'graphic novels in libraries.' Curious experience. Even as I mounted the podium for my 15 minute chat, I really had no idea what I was supposed (or going) to say.
Not that I'm a complete novice at these things. I've done enough convention panels, and Bill Willingham, James Hudnall and I occasionally go around to local libraries to talk with (mainly) kids about creating comics. Still, public speaking's not my favorite thing, and this was a very different crowd. But they do represent forces comics creators and publishers should start taking into account."
For the record, the librarian who put it together? That would be me.
And I hear that this column is being forwarded around at the offices of DC Comics. So I'm an anonymous mover and shaker.
Not that I'm a complete novice at these things. I've done enough convention panels, and Bill Willingham, James Hudnall and I occasionally go around to local libraries to talk with (mainly) kids about creating comics. Still, public speaking's not my favorite thing, and this was a very different crowd. But they do represent forces comics creators and publishers should start taking into account."
For the record, the librarian who put it together? That would be me.
And I hear that this column is being forwarded around at the offices of DC Comics. So I'm an anonymous mover and shaker.
Monday, September 04, 2006
TORONTO 06: GEOFF JOHNS TALKS ALL STAR BATGIRL - NEWSARAMA: "Rumored for a little while now, it was finally officially annouced Sunday in Toronto: Geoff Johns and JG Jones will team next year to start off All Star Batgirl, starring Barbara Gordon. "
Love Batgirl, love JG Jones' art, hate hate HATE Geoff Johns' writing these days. So conflicted.
On the other hand, if it's an All-Star book, he can't just revive other writers' stories (and he says as much in the interview). Plus, the last time he wrote a comic about a teenage girl superhero, it was Stars and Stripe, and that's the book that made me a fan of his, before he just decided to just rip off stuff from the 80s... So maybe... Just maybe. That's all I'm saying.
Love Batgirl, love JG Jones' art, hate hate HATE Geoff Johns' writing these days. So conflicted.
On the other hand, if it's an All-Star book, he can't just revive other writers' stories (and he says as much in the interview). Plus, the last time he wrote a comic about a teenage girl superhero, it was Stars and Stripe, and that's the book that made me a fan of his, before he just decided to just rip off stuff from the 80s... So maybe... Just maybe. That's all I'm saying.
"Crocodile Hunter" Irwin dies - Yahoo! News: "SYDNEY (Reuters) - Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian
naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad
'Crocodile Hunter,' was killed by a stingray barb through the
heart while filming a new documentary on Monday."
naturalist who won worldwide acclaim as TV's khaki-clad
'Crocodile Hunter,' was killed by a stingray barb through the
heart while filming a new documentary on Monday."
Monday, August 28, 2006
When I was a kid, I didn't know anything about pulp fiction magazines, until I saw the cover of The Shadow #1 at a local comics store, in their back issues section. (Actually, that's not entirely true. I saw a small blurb about someone getting the rights to do a Shadow movie in an early issue of Comics Scene magazine--this was at least 10 years before the movie was actually made starring Alec Baldwin--and that led me to actually purchase the comic book I had seen displayed at the comic book store.) The comic, by Denny O'Neill and Mike Kaluta fascinated me, and I bought as many issues as I could, which all happened to be drawn by Kaluta.
Still, I wanted more. This would have been well before the days of the Internet, so I'm not sure how I did my research. Probably just hit or miss, really... I know I started finding paperback reprints of the original stories at used bookstores, and eventually I found a copy of The Shadow Scrapbook, a nonfiction book about the character and series written by creator Walter Gibson and uber-fan/comic book colorist Anthony Tollin. I probably heard about Doc Savage as I was learning about the Shadow, but it really didn't register on my radar until after NPR did a radio series. Doc Savage paperbacks were fairly plentiful as I did my Shadow search, but I really didn't try to collect those. No, my passion was for the mysterious urban crimefighter and his network of agents.
(I did become more interested in Savage as I got older. But since his books were still being reprinted, there wasn't the same urgency or desire to snatch the older ones up whenever I saw them. Since the Shadow rights were tied up with the still-unproduced movie, they were more difficult to find.)
I bought the various comic book revivals of both characters, and saw the Shadow movie as soon as it came out. (Not a perfect adaptation, but still fun, I thought.) But I despaired of ever seeing new Shadow reprints, especially after the movie failed to be a huge hit. Eventually, Bantam Books stopped publishing Doc Savage books, and they both faded into my memory, along with all the other things I once loved that aren't available any more.
However, as I mentioned earlier on this blog, Anthony Tollin (co-author of The Shadow Scrapbook now has the rights to reprint both the Shadow and Doc Savage novels. And the first Shadow book is out, and it's great. It's designed to look like an old pulp, using the original cover art, but the material inside has been newly-typeset for clarity. The original illustrations are also in place, but they've been cleaned up nicely, and are probably as good as can be without having access to the original artwork. The book contains two complete Shadow novels, and includes some feature articles giving some background to the novels. For example, this first book contains "The Golden Vulture," and the article explains how the story was originally written by Doc Savage creator Lester Dent, then rewritten by Shadow creator Walter Gibson, making it a unique collaboration between these two pulp giants.
And, the important thing is that the books completely hold up. I'm not saying that they read like contemporary adventure fiction, although except for the technology, they aren't really dated. But they are every bit as enjoyable and exciting as I remember as a kid. There's a reason the character and these stories have endured and keep being revived, and I'm pleased to find out that, in this case, the memory hasn't cheated. (Yes, Superfriends and most of the cartoons made by Filmation, I'm talking to you.) Tollin is offering subscriptions to the books, and I'm totally going to subscribe, just so I don't have to go seeking these books out every other month.
Still, I wanted more. This would have been well before the days of the Internet, so I'm not sure how I did my research. Probably just hit or miss, really... I know I started finding paperback reprints of the original stories at used bookstores, and eventually I found a copy of The Shadow Scrapbook, a nonfiction book about the character and series written by creator Walter Gibson and uber-fan/comic book colorist Anthony Tollin. I probably heard about Doc Savage as I was learning about the Shadow, but it really didn't register on my radar until after NPR did a radio series. Doc Savage paperbacks were fairly plentiful as I did my Shadow search, but I really didn't try to collect those. No, my passion was for the mysterious urban crimefighter and his network of agents.
(I did become more interested in Savage as I got older. But since his books were still being reprinted, there wasn't the same urgency or desire to snatch the older ones up whenever I saw them. Since the Shadow rights were tied up with the still-unproduced movie, they were more difficult to find.)
I bought the various comic book revivals of both characters, and saw the Shadow movie as soon as it came out. (Not a perfect adaptation, but still fun, I thought.) But I despaired of ever seeing new Shadow reprints, especially after the movie failed to be a huge hit. Eventually, Bantam Books stopped publishing Doc Savage books, and they both faded into my memory, along with all the other things I once loved that aren't available any more.
However, as I mentioned earlier on this blog, Anthony Tollin (co-author of The Shadow Scrapbook now has the rights to reprint both the Shadow and Doc Savage novels. And the first Shadow book is out, and it's great. It's designed to look like an old pulp, using the original cover art, but the material inside has been newly-typeset for clarity. The original illustrations are also in place, but they've been cleaned up nicely, and are probably as good as can be without having access to the original artwork. The book contains two complete Shadow novels, and includes some feature articles giving some background to the novels. For example, this first book contains "The Golden Vulture," and the article explains how the story was originally written by Doc Savage creator Lester Dent, then rewritten by Shadow creator Walter Gibson, making it a unique collaboration between these two pulp giants.
And, the important thing is that the books completely hold up. I'm not saying that they read like contemporary adventure fiction, although except for the technology, they aren't really dated. But they are every bit as enjoyable and exciting as I remember as a kid. There's a reason the character and these stories have endured and keep being revived, and I'm pleased to find out that, in this case, the memory hasn't cheated. (Yes, Superfriends and most of the cartoons made by Filmation, I'm talking to you.) Tollin is offering subscriptions to the books, and I'm totally going to subscribe, just so I don't have to go seeking these books out every other month.
MediaGuardian.co.uk | Media | BBC's Robin Hood tapes stolen: "Thieves have stolen the only master tapes for the BBC's new ?8m series on Robin Hood and are demanding a ?1m ransom for their safe return, it is reported today."
Sunday, August 27, 2006
Year After Katrina, Bush Still Fights for 9/11 Image - New York Times: "If the bungled federal response to Hurricane Katrina called into question the president's competence, that Air Force One snapshot, coupled with wrenching scenes on the ground of victims who were largely poor and black, called into question something equally important to Mr. Bush: his compassion."
"24" Is Among the Big Winners as Television Presents Its Emmy Awards - New York Times: "Among specialty programs and networks, HBO cleaned up, winning nine awards, with three for "The Girl in the Cafe" and four for "Elizabeth I." "The Girl in the Cafe" won for outstanding made-for-television movie, best writing in the same category and outstanding supporting actress in a mini-series or movie, to Kelly Macdonald. "
Yay, Kelly Macdonald!
Yay, Kelly Macdonald!
Saturday, August 26, 2006
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
What a Moronic Presidential Press Conference! By Fred Kaplan - Slate Magazine: "Asked if it might be time for a new strategy in Iraq, given the unceasing rise in casualties and chaos, Bush replied, 'The strategy is to help the Iraqi people achieve their objectives and dreams, which is a democratic society. That's the strategy. ... Either you say, 'It's important we stay there and get it done,' or we leave. We're not leaving, so long as I'm the president.'
The reporter followed up, 'Sir, that's not really the question. The strategy--'
Bush interrupted, 'Sounded like the question to me.'"
The reporter followed up, 'Sir, that's not really the question. The strategy--'
Bush interrupted, 'Sounded like the question to me.'"
Friday, August 11, 2006
Thursday, August 10, 2006
BBC - Doctor Who (David Tennant and Billie Piper) - News : "The SCI FI Channel and BBC Worldwide Americas have confirmed that Doctor Who will return to SCI FI in September 2006.
The run will kick off with a two-hour premiere package that will include David Tennant's debut, The Christmas Invasion."
The run will kick off with a two-hour premiere package that will include David Tennant's debut, The Christmas Invasion."
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
SCI FI Wire | The News Service of the SCI FI Channel: "Jonathan A. Steinberg and Josh Schaer, two of the creators of CBS' upcoming post-apocalyptic series Jericho, told SCI FI Wire that the series will be told from the point of view of its smalltown residents and that viewers will only slowly begin to learn about the nuclear disaster that is at the show's core."
Okay, you know what? After the failure of most of last season's serialized TV shows (Threshold, Surface, Invasion, Reunion, Heist, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some), I'm not going to get hooked on another one. Yes, Lost, 24 and Prison Break managed to succeed, mostly because they aren't like anything else. And I'll stick with the ones I watch, which are still on. But I'm not jumping on board any new ones, because it's just not a satisfying viewing experience when you never get the end of the story. So thanks for letting me know this up front, creators of Jericho. Best of luck to you.
Okay, you know what? After the failure of most of last season's serialized TV shows (Threshold, Surface, Invasion, Reunion, Heist, and I'm sure I'm forgetting some), I'm not going to get hooked on another one. Yes, Lost, 24 and Prison Break managed to succeed, mostly because they aren't like anything else. And I'll stick with the ones I watch, which are still on. But I'm not jumping on board any new ones, because it's just not a satisfying viewing experience when you never get the end of the story. So thanks for letting me know this up front, creators of Jericho. Best of luck to you.
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