I've been busy, so it's been a while since I gave an update on interesting entertainment news. Time to get on that.
Shia LaBeouf confirmed that a fifth Indiana Jones movie is in the works (IMDb). He says that Steven Spielberg has "cracked the story on it", but does not give any details. Speculation continues as to whether Harrison Ford will appear in the film, or if by handing over his iconic hat to LaBeouf as they wrapped the fourth film he was handing over the lead of the franchise as well. The fourth installment of the franchise, which came almost 20 years after the third, was not well received critically, but it grossed an impressive sum at the box office, which is all the studio needs to go after another film.
Speaking of gratuitously extending franchises, Tom Cruise has signed up for a fourth Mission: Impossible movie (IMDb). He has actually signed on to produce as he has in the previous installments, but he has not yet confirmed that he will reprise his role of Ethan Hunt. It's kind of assumed that he will, though. Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams will be co-producing. MI3 was pretty good, so let's hope they can keep it up for MI4.
Michael Bay, the Transformers director best known for movies with lots and lots of big explosions, has said that he may be giving up big explosions (IMDb, IMDb)! Apparently frustrated with all the flak he gets from critics for his big action movies--the latest Transformers movie in particular--he said he's "had enough" with making big budget blockbusters. He says that the action sequences are very hard to make, and it seems he is sick of them not being appreciated. He does not want to participate in the Transformers 3 movie which is sure to come. I'm not 100% sure if he really plans to drop out of the franchise or if he was just doing some venting. But since I have in the past kind of lightly poked fun at him for being the "I like to blow things up" guy, I feel like I should re-recognize that he does do other things.
Columbia Pictures is in talks with David Fincher to direct the Facebook movie, the script of which was written by Aaron Sorkin (Variety). The movie will tell the story of Facebook, from its founding by Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg in 2004 to the 200-million-member monster that it is today. Sounds like a tragedy to me--My friends and I are among those early 2004 Facebook members who can recall when Facebook was a little network open to fewer than a dozen schools, so we were the ones sighing when they let high schoolers join and humphing when they opened it up to everyone. We were particularly peeved once our parents started joining. But we were powerless to stop the juggernaut, and I suppose keeping it for ourselves would have been selfish, not to mention less profitable to those actually in charge. I still think this sounds like a dull idea for a movie, but these are respectable people involved, so we'll see how it turns out.
More news on Spider-Man: The Musical! Evan Rachel Wood and Alan Cumming are confirmed to star in upcoming Broadway musical Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark as Mary Jane Watson and Norman Osborn, a.k.a. the Green Goblin, respectively (Variety). Alan Cumming already has some familiarity with the Marvel universe, having starred in the second X-Men film as Nightcrawler (which will make any Green Goblin makeup seem like nothing, I'm sure). The role of Peter Parker has yet to be cast.
Speaking of Broadway musicals, time for a little bad news: Avenue Q will be closing on Broadway on September 13 (Variety). I've mentioned it a few times before on this blog, but I really love this musical--I saw it on Broadway with the original cast twice (the only show I've seen twice), and I can sing half the songs from memory. It's clever and sweet and hilarious and has some great tunes. And, as a twenty-something wondering how she's going to find her purpose, it really resonates with me. I wasn't actually planning on seeing the show again on Broadway, but I did like knowing it was still there, spreading the joy to the uninitiated--those who had yet to realize that everyone's a little bit racist, that it sucks to be me (but not as much as it sucks to be Gary Coleman), and that the internet is for porn. Avenue Q, I'll miss you.
An update on this Guy Ritchie Guys and Dolls movie with Jason Statham: Reportedly, Ritchie is in talks with Justin Timberlake to get him to star in the movie with Statham (IMDb). Nothing's confirmed as far as I know, but I'll be keeping a lookout for this one. It could be good, it could be terrible. We'll have to wait and see.
It looks like after a successful hosting of the Tony awards, Neil Patrick Harris is lined up to host the Emmys (Variety). Legendary. I think NPH is completely awesome, so I'm excited to see him anywhere. Having him host the Emmys also seems like a shrewd move by CBS, which is airing the telecast in September as it promotes the upcoming premiere of the fifth season of How I Met Your Mother, in which Harris stars.
> Update 7/13/09: It is now officially confirmed that NPH will be hosting the Emmys on September 20.
Cameron Diaz is in talks to star opposite Seth Rogen in comic book movie Green Hornet, which Michel Gondry is set to direct (IMDb). I don't really have anything else to say about that--just a little tidbit there that that movie is moving along.
This is the big new news: It looks like Green Lantern has finally been cast, and it's Ryan Reynolds! (Variety blog) He is also still set to reprise his X-Men Origins: Wolverine role as Deadpool in an upcoming spinoff-of-a-spinoff Deadpool movie. This means that Reynolds will be straddling the comic book universes with Marvel's Deadpool and DC's Green Lantern (I think making him the only actor with movie roles in both universes). Pick a side, man. Anyway, I hope he'll be good as GL. I'm ashamed to admit that the only movie I've actually seen with him in it is Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (in which he apparently played "Male Nurse"), but I am certainly aware of many other things he's done. I hope the Green Lantern movie turns out well. DC needs more than just its Batman movies.
Showing posts with label Michael Bay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Bay. Show all posts
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
In D.C. on Inauguration Day
Ah, nothing like adding to an already long weekend by skipping a day of work to go into Washington, D.C. for a truly historic event. Yes, I was one in that one-point-whatever million crowd that gathered to witness via jumbotron* the inauguration of President Obama. Here is my account of the day.
I stayed with a friend at her uncle's house outside the city, and we went in to D.C. on Tuesday morning with this uncle's family, which included two little girls. We were all very well bundled up. I had at least two layers everywhere: two pairs of socks and winter boots, long johns under corduroys, a long-sleeve t-shirt under a fuzzy turtle-neck sweater, my winter parka, double-layer wool mittens, a scarf, and a polar fleece-lined wool hat. All that, and I still managed some mobility. We got a relatively late start, arriving at the Metro station probably around 9:15. The crowds weren't bad at all there, probably because everyone was already in the city by then. The metro ride was slow, though, because, as the conductor kept telling us, "A customer was hit by a train at Gallery Place, so as of now all trains are turning around at Farragut North". We were annoyed at the inconvenience, since Gallery Place was our destination, but decided it wasn't as much of an inconvenience as the poor person struck by the train had experienced. As it turned out, though, the person was not actually hit by the train; I heard she managed to duck into the space below the platform when the train came by, and ended up with only a dislocated shoulder probably from when she was trying to get back up on the platform. Anyway, before we got to Farragut North, they opened Gallery Place back up, so everything ended up fine. When we got off at the Gallery Place stop, there were huge crowds heading up the escalators, so it took a while. We walked around a bit, because we were meeting a couple other families in a museum, and then we made our way to the Mall.
The Mall was crowded. We heard that they had closed the Mall at some point, but we got there around 11:20 or so, and by then it seemed that no one was stopping anyone from entering. Since we figured that one jumbotron looked like any other jumbotron, and there was no way we were going to be close enough not to need a jumbotron, we didn't mind being far from the Capitol Building. We got onto the Mall near the Smithsonian Castle. It was not a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd there (though the porta-potties were lined up shoulder to shoulder), so we easily got in enough to see the Capitol Building as well as a jumbotron. I think we were very lucky that getting into the city was relatively easy, and we got a pretty good view, and we even kind of cheated because we didn't get up early.
The crowd was really cool. I don't know when I'll ever again be in a crowd that big, and that happy. I mean, everyone was in a really, really good mood (people who were not in a good mood today weren't going to bother going out in the cold and the crowds). At one point coming out of the subway, someone had tripped slightly and crashed into the person in front of him. He apologized profusely, but she said, "It's alright, you can do no wrong today. It's a good day." Yes, spirits were high, and the crowds were overly polite and forgiving.
The ceremony was very nice. It was about what anyone saw on TV, but it was great hearing the great cheering roar of the crowd in person, and see those thousands upon thousands of little flags waving over the crowd. I wasn't even bothered by the cold, except when I took my hands out of my mittens to take pictures. Speaking of the camera, to be honest, I think I may have missed some of the gravity of the moment because I was too busy lining up my shot to stop and think about the fact that Obama is taking the Oath of Office right now! I noticed my friend was tearing up and I was not, and wondered for a second what was wrong with me, but the thought quickly passed because I was too busy cheering my lungs out (the video I was taking successfully recorded my unflattering scream).
However easy it was for us to get in to the city, we paid for it on the way out. I mean, we started leaving the Mall some time after 12:30. We were trying to cut across to the American History Museum, and it took us until the end of the ceremony to get there (so no, we didn't technically leave until it was over). Of course, everyone else was already going into the museum, so once we got there, we decided instead to go straight home. Right, "straight" home. Cut to 3:30--Eleni and company finally board the metro. Yeah, we were walking around for two and a half hours easily before we got into a station. I don't even remember which stations we tried, I just remember the endless streams of people. No matter how far we walked from the Mall, there seemed to be just as many people walking just as far, and all the metro stations were overflowing and they were closing them down. It was slow going because we had the children with us, but luckily they were with the friends we had met in the city, so they were occupied and mostly not complaining. I was starting to complain, because I was beginning to notice just how cold my nose was and my feet weren't happy walking so much. But we did finally make it out.
We watched the parade on the TV at home, drinking hot chocolate and appreciating the heat. It was a crazy, long day, but it was a good day. Sure, it would have been warmer, more comfortable, less-time consuming, and I would have been able to see and hear better if I had watched from home, it wouldn't make nearly as good a story. It was historic for being the inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president. Hopefully, a great presidency will turn it into an even more historic occasion. And I will be able to say that I was there.
*All day, I kept wanting to say "Megatron" instead of "JumboTron". No, Eleni, they are not the same thing. If Megatron (or 20 Megatrons!) were on the National Mall with well over a million people gathered there for Inauguration Day, it could very well be the plot of the next Michael Bay film.
I stayed with a friend at her uncle's house outside the city, and we went in to D.C. on Tuesday morning with this uncle's family, which included two little girls. We were all very well bundled up. I had at least two layers everywhere: two pairs of socks and winter boots, long johns under corduroys, a long-sleeve t-shirt under a fuzzy turtle-neck sweater, my winter parka, double-layer wool mittens, a scarf, and a polar fleece-lined wool hat. All that, and I still managed some mobility. We got a relatively late start, arriving at the Metro station probably around 9:15. The crowds weren't bad at all there, probably because everyone was already in the city by then. The metro ride was slow, though, because, as the conductor kept telling us, "A customer was hit by a train at Gallery Place, so as of now all trains are turning around at Farragut North". We were annoyed at the inconvenience, since Gallery Place was our destination, but decided it wasn't as much of an inconvenience as the poor person struck by the train had experienced. As it turned out, though, the person was not actually hit by the train; I heard she managed to duck into the space below the platform when the train came by, and ended up with only a dislocated shoulder probably from when she was trying to get back up on the platform. Anyway, before we got to Farragut North, they opened Gallery Place back up, so everything ended up fine. When we got off at the Gallery Place stop, there were huge crowds heading up the escalators, so it took a while. We walked around a bit, because we were meeting a couple other families in a museum, and then we made our way to the Mall.
The Mall was crowded. We heard that they had closed the Mall at some point, but we got there around 11:20 or so, and by then it seemed that no one was stopping anyone from entering. Since we figured that one jumbotron looked like any other jumbotron, and there was no way we were going to be close enough not to need a jumbotron, we didn't mind being far from the Capitol Building. We got onto the Mall near the Smithsonian Castle. It was not a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd there (though the porta-potties were lined up shoulder to shoulder), so we easily got in enough to see the Capitol Building as well as a jumbotron. I think we were very lucky that getting into the city was relatively easy, and we got a pretty good view, and we even kind of cheated because we didn't get up early.
The crowd was really cool. I don't know when I'll ever again be in a crowd that big, and that happy. I mean, everyone was in a really, really good mood (people who were not in a good mood today weren't going to bother going out in the cold and the crowds). At one point coming out of the subway, someone had tripped slightly and crashed into the person in front of him. He apologized profusely, but she said, "It's alright, you can do no wrong today. It's a good day." Yes, spirits were high, and the crowds were overly polite and forgiving.
The ceremony was very nice. It was about what anyone saw on TV, but it was great hearing the great cheering roar of the crowd in person, and see those thousands upon thousands of little flags waving over the crowd. I wasn't even bothered by the cold, except when I took my hands out of my mittens to take pictures. Speaking of the camera, to be honest, I think I may have missed some of the gravity of the moment because I was too busy lining up my shot to stop and think about the fact that Obama is taking the Oath of Office right now! I noticed my friend was tearing up and I was not, and wondered for a second what was wrong with me, but the thought quickly passed because I was too busy cheering my lungs out (the video I was taking successfully recorded my unflattering scream).
However easy it was for us to get in to the city, we paid for it on the way out. I mean, we started leaving the Mall some time after 12:30. We were trying to cut across to the American History Museum, and it took us until the end of the ceremony to get there (so no, we didn't technically leave until it was over). Of course, everyone else was already going into the museum, so once we got there, we decided instead to go straight home. Right, "straight" home. Cut to 3:30--Eleni and company finally board the metro. Yeah, we were walking around for two and a half hours easily before we got into a station. I don't even remember which stations we tried, I just remember the endless streams of people. No matter how far we walked from the Mall, there seemed to be just as many people walking just as far, and all the metro stations were overflowing and they were closing them down. It was slow going because we had the children with us, but luckily they were with the friends we had met in the city, so they were occupied and mostly not complaining. I was starting to complain, because I was beginning to notice just how cold my nose was and my feet weren't happy walking so much. But we did finally make it out.
We watched the parade on the TV at home, drinking hot chocolate and appreciating the heat. It was a crazy, long day, but it was a good day. Sure, it would have been warmer, more comfortable, less-time consuming, and I would have been able to see and hear better if I had watched from home, it wouldn't make nearly as good a story. It was historic for being the inauguration of the first African-American U.S. president. Hopefully, a great presidency will turn it into an even more historic occasion. And I will be able to say that I was there.
*All day, I kept wanting to say "Megatron" instead of "JumboTron". No, Eleni, they are not the same thing. If Megatron (or 20 Megatrons!) were on the National Mall with well over a million people gathered there for Inauguration Day, it could very well be the plot of the next Michael Bay film.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
BSG auction, Klingon opera, and Batman, Turkey
And now for my thoughts on various recent entertainment news items.
About a week ago, there was a serious shakeup in the powers that control Heroes. Co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired (Variety) and creator and executive producer Tim Kring has promised to focus his time on the story and tone of the show, rather than on post-production special effects and such (Variety). Alexander and Loeb were around for the show's first season success, but under their watch the second and third seasons have increasingly lost fan and critic support and audience numbers. Kring plans to heed the fans' complaints and turn the show around in the hopes of returning Heroes to its former glory. It is unclear whether it'll work, but Season 4 of Lost (Heroes' older sibling) helped it earn back a lot of the respect it had lost in Seasons 2 and 3. I've got to say it's about time they turn things around in Heroes. I adored the show in Season 1, up until the season finale. That finale and Season 2 were disappointments, and I was led to believe that Season 3 would be the turn-around. But this season has been full of weak plots, contradictions in mythology, and lots of characters acting out of character (usually being unbelievably stupid). Save the show! My eyes are getting sore from all the eye-rolling.
It's moments like these that prove just how much of a geek I am: I'm sitting in my office reading about an auction--yes, an upcoming live auction--with a buffoonish ear-to-ear grin on my face. It's just so awesome, I can't contain myself. Now that filming has wrapped for Battlestar Galactica, they are auctioning off numerous costumes, props, and set pieces (press release). Boy, wouldn't I love to have Starbuck's flight suit! Or the arrow of Apollo! Or the frakkin' full-sized Blackbird! And I sure wish I could fit into Six's red dress. Given my budget, though, I could probably only afford some little paper prop (with corners cut off, naturally). Unfortunately, the live auction is in Pasadena, California, a long way away. I'll have to see what they put up on eBay. The auction is in January.
An artist by the name of Floris Schönfeld is writing a Klingon opera called " 'u' " (NY Times). Obviously, I have serious doubts about whether this work will turn out well and how it will be received by the general public. Italian is ideally suited for opera-style singing because of its use of round tones and open vowels. Klingon, in contrast, is a harsh-sounding language; its rough consonants would make operatic Klingon singing unpleasing to the ear (well, to the human ear, at least). I just don't know if an opera in such a rough-sounding language will have long-lasting success.
Ridley Scott has signed on to make the movie based on the boardgame Monopoly (IMDb). Apparently, he intends to give the Monopoly film a futuristic edge (what this entails, I do not know). Pamela Pettler (Corpse Bride) will be creating the storyline for the movie. Good luck to her. The Monopoly movie is just one of a series of movies Universal Studios has agreed to make based on Hasbro properties. Battleship and Ouija Board are also being adapted into their own features; the latter has Michael Bay signed on to produce. I remember reading about this Universal - Hasbro deal back when they made it. While I am slightly horrified that these projects are in the works, I am mostly relieved that, since the speculation around the time of the initial deal, I have heard no mention of a Stretch Armstrong movie adaptation.
The greatest news of the day, though, is that the Mayor of Batman, Turkey is suing Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from "The Dark Knight", accusing them of using the city's name without permission (Variety, IMDb). I think it's pretty safe to say that this is a lost cause for Mayor Kalkan, since he is unlikely to convince anyone that Batman (the comic hero) stole his name from the city because 1) "Batman" is a simple compound of English words "bat" and "man", which is fitting for a male superhero who dresses as a bat and 2) well, has any American even heard of Batman, Turkey before? I can understand the Batman citizens' complaints about it being hard for them to be taken seriously abroad, but I personally would think it was awesome to live in a town called Batman. Seriously, how sweet would that be? I'm fairly certain this must be some type of publicity stunt (hey, it's working!). While they're at it, they should sue turkeys for stealing the name of their country (it does make it difficult for English-speaking school children to take the country seriously, I have to admit). Rough month for turkeys.
About a week ago, there was a serious shakeup in the powers that control Heroes. Co-executive producers Jesse Alexander and Jeph Loeb were fired (Variety) and creator and executive producer Tim Kring has promised to focus his time on the story and tone of the show, rather than on post-production special effects and such (Variety). Alexander and Loeb were around for the show's first season success, but under their watch the second and third seasons have increasingly lost fan and critic support and audience numbers. Kring plans to heed the fans' complaints and turn the show around in the hopes of returning Heroes to its former glory. It is unclear whether it'll work, but Season 4 of Lost (Heroes' older sibling) helped it earn back a lot of the respect it had lost in Seasons 2 and 3. I've got to say it's about time they turn things around in Heroes. I adored the show in Season 1, up until the season finale. That finale and Season 2 were disappointments, and I was led to believe that Season 3 would be the turn-around. But this season has been full of weak plots, contradictions in mythology, and lots of characters acting out of character (usually being unbelievably stupid). Save the show! My eyes are getting sore from all the eye-rolling.
It's moments like these that prove just how much of a geek I am: I'm sitting in my office reading about an auction--yes, an upcoming live auction--with a buffoonish ear-to-ear grin on my face. It's just so awesome, I can't contain myself. Now that filming has wrapped for Battlestar Galactica, they are auctioning off numerous costumes, props, and set pieces (press release). Boy, wouldn't I love to have Starbuck's flight suit! Or the arrow of Apollo! Or the frakkin' full-sized Blackbird! And I sure wish I could fit into Six's red dress. Given my budget, though, I could probably only afford some little paper prop (with corners cut off, naturally). Unfortunately, the live auction is in Pasadena, California, a long way away. I'll have to see what they put up on eBay. The auction is in January.
An artist by the name of Floris Schönfeld is writing a Klingon opera called " 'u' " (NY Times). Obviously, I have serious doubts about whether this work will turn out well and how it will be received by the general public. Italian is ideally suited for opera-style singing because of its use of round tones and open vowels. Klingon, in contrast, is a harsh-sounding language; its rough consonants would make operatic Klingon singing unpleasing to the ear (well, to the human ear, at least). I just don't know if an opera in such a rough-sounding language will have long-lasting success.
Ridley Scott has signed on to make the movie based on the boardgame Monopoly (IMDb). Apparently, he intends to give the Monopoly film a futuristic edge (what this entails, I do not know). Pamela Pettler (Corpse Bride) will be creating the storyline for the movie. Good luck to her. The Monopoly movie is just one of a series of movies Universal Studios has agreed to make based on Hasbro properties. Battleship and Ouija Board are also being adapted into their own features; the latter has Michael Bay signed on to produce. I remember reading about this Universal - Hasbro deal back when they made it. While I am slightly horrified that these projects are in the works, I am mostly relieved that, since the speculation around the time of the initial deal, I have heard no mention of a Stretch Armstrong movie adaptation.
The greatest news of the day, though, is that the Mayor of Batman, Turkey is suing Christopher Nolan and Warner Bros. for royalties from "The Dark Knight", accusing them of using the city's name without permission (Variety, IMDb). I think it's pretty safe to say that this is a lost cause for Mayor Kalkan, since he is unlikely to convince anyone that Batman (the comic hero) stole his name from the city because 1) "Batman" is a simple compound of English words "bat" and "man", which is fitting for a male superhero who dresses as a bat and 2) well, has any American even heard of Batman, Turkey before? I can understand the Batman citizens' complaints about it being hard for them to be taken seriously abroad, but I personally would think it was awesome to live in a town called Batman. Seriously, how sweet would that be? I'm fairly certain this must be some type of publicity stunt (hey, it's working!). While they're at it, they should sue turkeys for stealing the name of their country (it does make it difficult for English-speaking school children to take the country seriously, I have to admit). Rough month for turkeys.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Wicca, Whedon, JLU, and Aaron Burr
So I guess my thoughts lately have been pretty scattered. I had trouble falling asleep last night, which almost never happens to me (even when I came back from Hawaii, with six hours of jet lag, I fell asleep on cue). It was a combination of three things: 1) I was worrying about spiders (hey, they do bite, and though I killed a spider that was the likely culprit of the bites I got the night before, there could always be others), 2) my air conditioning didn't seem to be working so well, and my room was too hot, and 3) I was totally stressed out on behalf of the various protagonists of the book I'm currently reading, George R. R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Anyway, I'm just trying to make an excuse for this post, which will be composed of a few little thoughts I've had, rather than centered around one coherent idea (as if my usual posts were coherent).
IMDb WENN news had an article today with the catchy title "Gellar Blamed For Pagan Rise". It turned out the title wasn't an entirely accurate representation of the article, which cited a British study published in Women and Religion in the West that claimed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show was responsible for 50,000 women abandoning Western religions for paganism. If this is the case, then it's probably more fairly blamed on Alyson Hannigan than Sarah Michelle Gellar, as she was the one who actually played a witch. I wonder, though, how many of those 50,000 were disappointed not to get all of Willow's powers. The article does point out that the show in general, with Buffy at the forefront, promotes female empowerment, which the study credits for the shift to Wicca (hmm, I suppose female empowerment isn't exactly high on the Western religion agenda). I don't know why, but this article struck me as pretty funny. And I don't mean anyone any offense in this amusement; I guess it's just the idea of a fantasy TV show causing a noticeable increase in religious conversion--it seems silly, but at the same time kind of makes sense. Of course, we can't give this study too much credit. After all, xkcd has shown that it is primarily Firefox downloads that is driving the increase in Wicca converts. Yes, folks, correlation does mean causation.
Speaking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ABC has announced that it has picked up new TV series Castle for a midseason premiere. Castle is a comedic procedural starring Nathan Fillion as a novelist who helps the NYPD solve homicide cases. Add that to my list of midseason shows I'm looking forward to (since we're on the general subject of Whedon, I'll give a shout-out to Dollhouse!). Sure, there are too many procedurals, and most of them are bad, but a comedic one with Nathan Fillion? Sign me up. More than any other show, I have a special interest in the subsequent projects of the stars of Firefly (Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck, Desperate Housewives... I mean, I even watched Standoff and Drive!). Maybe it's the simple fact that they have had more free time to pursue other projects than the actors from my other favorite TV shows. But I think there's something special about Firefly, not just in the lovablility of the characters (though they are just about the most lovable characters I can think of), but in the clear enthusiasm and passion of the players involved, their appreciation for the fan support, their eagerness to return to the story in the movie... Okay, I'm just gushing now--I'll stop.
Speaking of which, what TV show features the talents of Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, and Amy Acker, and is not created by Joss Whedon? Justice League Unlimited! The first season of Justice League Unlimited (which I guess is the third and fourth season of the "Justice League" TV series that ran from 2001-2006) has a number of recognizable guest voice actors, including these members of team Whedon. Amy Acker does the voice of Huntress, Morena Baccarin does the voice of Black Canary, Gina Torres does Vixen, Nathan Fillion does Vigilante, and Adam Baldwin does a few different voices in a few different episodes. One episode features Vixen and Vigilante as two of a three person team, and I'm sure the episode wasn't quite as funny as I found it, because every time the two characters spoke to each other, I kept thinking of Zoe and Mal. This is not to discredit the show or the casting, since I found all of them appropriate for the parts. It was just a little added tee-hee for me. The reason I was watching this cartoon is that my brother, for reasons unbeknownst to me, came into possession of the Justice League Season Two and JLU Season One DVDs and lent them to me. I thought this was kind of odd at first, but I was surprised to find that JLU is really pretty awesome. And the preceding season was fun and helpful in understanding the setup. I gotta say, even though the JLU cartoon was supposed to be for kids and all, it had me stressed out a little, with some harrowing situations, complicated issues, and at times a serious serial drama thing going for it where I wasn't sure everything was going to turn out all right in the end. Well, here I am rambling again, and I wasn't even planning on writing about JLU at all when I started this post--I told you my thoughts are scattered today.
My last Thought of the Day is actually a little revelatory factoid that I learned last night watching Jeopardy. It was reruns of the Jeopardy College Tournament quarter-finals, but I hadn't seen it before. Double Jeopardy had a category called "Movie Directors", and since it was the College tournament they were all recent movies and I would have totally cleaned up that category had I been there (somehow none of the three contestants knew any of the five questions, and we're talking things like the director of Sicko, the director brothers of The Matrix and Speed Racer, Jason Reitman's sophomore film after Thank You for Smoking, and the director of the new King Kong; I guess most people have better things to do than keep up with movie news like me; Alex was actually somewhat impressed/relieved to see that there were college students not wasting their time with movies; this is becoming a long parenthetical). Anyway, the point of this is the fifth question, the $800 answer. And I'm guessing most people wouldn't think it was such a big deal. But I remember all too well this old got milk? commercial--which I would definitely put on my Top 10 Commercials list, if I were to put one together--where a historian sits in a room decked out with Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton art, books, and memorabilia, listening to the radio, spreading himself a peanut butter sandwich, when he is randomly called by the radio station to answer a question for $10,000: Who shot Alexander Hamilton? At this point, of course, his mouth is full of sticky peanut butter sandwich, and his attempts to say "Aaron Burr" around the mouthful are unsuccessful. He tries to pour a glass of milk to wash it all down, but finds the carton is empty, at which point he runs out of time to answer the question and the radio station hangs up. Cue dial tone and... got milk? Classic. Now, back to Jeopardy. This answer that had me laughing in disbelief was something to the effect of:
This director started out with the Aaron Burr got milk? commercial, and more recently directed the Transformers movie.
Seriously?! Michael "I-love-to-blow-things-up" Bay directed that classic commercial?! The contestants clearly weren't appreciating this bit of trivia, but I got a total kick out of it.
And now I've got to get back to Game of Thrones to see just how much deeper into trouble our heroes can get. And I'll get back to worrying about spiders in my bed. Why can't I get super powers from my spider bites? If strength of super powers scaled with the number of spider bites, I'd totally be kicking butt. Instead, all I got from these bites is the ability to walk around all day scratching butt.
IMDb WENN news had an article today with the catchy title "Gellar Blamed For Pagan Rise". It turned out the title wasn't an entirely accurate representation of the article, which cited a British study published in Women and Religion in the West that claimed the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV show was responsible for 50,000 women abandoning Western religions for paganism. If this is the case, then it's probably more fairly blamed on Alyson Hannigan than Sarah Michelle Gellar, as she was the one who actually played a witch. I wonder, though, how many of those 50,000 were disappointed not to get all of Willow's powers. The article does point out that the show in general, with Buffy at the forefront, promotes female empowerment, which the study credits for the shift to Wicca (hmm, I suppose female empowerment isn't exactly high on the Western religion agenda). I don't know why, but this article struck me as pretty funny. And I don't mean anyone any offense in this amusement; I guess it's just the idea of a fantasy TV show causing a noticeable increase in religious conversion--it seems silly, but at the same time kind of makes sense. Of course, we can't give this study too much credit. After all, xkcd has shown that it is primarily Firefox downloads that is driving the increase in Wicca converts. Yes, folks, correlation does mean causation.
Speaking of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, ABC has announced that it has picked up new TV series Castle for a midseason premiere. Castle is a comedic procedural starring Nathan Fillion as a novelist who helps the NYPD solve homicide cases. Add that to my list of midseason shows I'm looking forward to (since we're on the general subject of Whedon, I'll give a shout-out to Dollhouse!). Sure, there are too many procedurals, and most of them are bad, but a comedic one with Nathan Fillion? Sign me up. More than any other show, I have a special interest in the subsequent projects of the stars of Firefly (Sarah Connor Chronicles, Chuck, Desperate Housewives... I mean, I even watched Standoff and Drive!). Maybe it's the simple fact that they have had more free time to pursue other projects than the actors from my other favorite TV shows. But I think there's something special about Firefly, not just in the lovablility of the characters (though they are just about the most lovable characters I can think of), but in the clear enthusiasm and passion of the players involved, their appreciation for the fan support, their eagerness to return to the story in the movie... Okay, I'm just gushing now--I'll stop.
Speaking of which, what TV show features the talents of Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, and Amy Acker, and is not created by Joss Whedon? Justice League Unlimited! The first season of Justice League Unlimited (which I guess is the third and fourth season of the "Justice League" TV series that ran from 2001-2006) has a number of recognizable guest voice actors, including these members of team Whedon. Amy Acker does the voice of Huntress, Morena Baccarin does the voice of Black Canary, Gina Torres does Vixen, Nathan Fillion does Vigilante, and Adam Baldwin does a few different voices in a few different episodes. One episode features Vixen and Vigilante as two of a three person team, and I'm sure the episode wasn't quite as funny as I found it, because every time the two characters spoke to each other, I kept thinking of Zoe and Mal. This is not to discredit the show or the casting, since I found all of them appropriate for the parts. It was just a little added tee-hee for me. The reason I was watching this cartoon is that my brother, for reasons unbeknownst to me, came into possession of the Justice League Season Two and JLU Season One DVDs and lent them to me. I thought this was kind of odd at first, but I was surprised to find that JLU is really pretty awesome. And the preceding season was fun and helpful in understanding the setup. I gotta say, even though the JLU cartoon was supposed to be for kids and all, it had me stressed out a little, with some harrowing situations, complicated issues, and at times a serious serial drama thing going for it where I wasn't sure everything was going to turn out all right in the end. Well, here I am rambling again, and I wasn't even planning on writing about JLU at all when I started this post--I told you my thoughts are scattered today.
My last Thought of the Day is actually a little revelatory factoid that I learned last night watching Jeopardy. It was reruns of the Jeopardy College Tournament quarter-finals, but I hadn't seen it before. Double Jeopardy had a category called "Movie Directors", and since it was the College tournament they were all recent movies and I would have totally cleaned up that category had I been there (somehow none of the three contestants knew any of the five questions, and we're talking things like the director of Sicko, the director brothers of The Matrix and Speed Racer, Jason Reitman's sophomore film after Thank You for Smoking, and the director of the new King Kong; I guess most people have better things to do than keep up with movie news like me; Alex was actually somewhat impressed/relieved to see that there were college students not wasting their time with movies; this is becoming a long parenthetical). Anyway, the point of this is the fifth question, the $800 answer. And I'm guessing most people wouldn't think it was such a big deal. But I remember all too well this old got milk? commercial--which I would definitely put on my Top 10 Commercials list, if I were to put one together--where a historian sits in a room decked out with Aaron Burr vs. Alexander Hamilton art, books, and memorabilia, listening to the radio, spreading himself a peanut butter sandwich, when he is randomly called by the radio station to answer a question for $10,000: Who shot Alexander Hamilton? At this point, of course, his mouth is full of sticky peanut butter sandwich, and his attempts to say "Aaron Burr" around the mouthful are unsuccessful. He tries to pour a glass of milk to wash it all down, but finds the carton is empty, at which point he runs out of time to answer the question and the radio station hangs up. Cue dial tone and... got milk? Classic. Now, back to Jeopardy. This answer that had me laughing in disbelief was something to the effect of:
This director started out with the Aaron Burr got milk? commercial, and more recently directed the Transformers movie.
Seriously?! Michael "I-love-to-blow-things-up" Bay directed that classic commercial?! The contestants clearly weren't appreciating this bit of trivia, but I got a total kick out of it.
And now I've got to get back to Game of Thrones to see just how much deeper into trouble our heroes can get. And I'll get back to worrying about spiders in my bed. Why can't I get super powers from my spider bites? If strength of super powers scaled with the number of spider bites, I'd totally be kicking butt. Instead, all I got from these bites is the ability to walk around all day scratching butt.
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