Federal prosecutors have dropped the remaining charges against John Edwards. He is now free to return to his life as a scumbag.
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SciFi Weekend: Doctor Who; Sherlock; Star Trek; Spider-Man; Fundamentalist Vampires on True Blood; Med in Black Catch Up With The Doctor
June 10, 2012 — Ron Chusid
The BBC has released the above picture of Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise Coleman on the set of Doctor Who.
Above is a fan-made trailer for the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who which has a lot of memorable scenes.
DreamWorks is interested in Glimmer, a movie with time travel elements.
Andrew Scott won a Bafta for his role as Moriarty on Sherlock. Following is a portion of an interview with him:
You just won the best supporting actor Bafta for playing Moriarty in Shrlxok. Did you find the Baftas fun or terrifying?
Terrifying. I’m shy. I remember at my 21st birthday party, I had to make a speech and was so nervous I sounded like I was giving a eulogy at a funeral. So I did genuinely hope that I didn’t have to get up. But of course there’s a little part of you that wants to win.We’re you surprised at the colossal success of Sherlock?
I kind of knew- I think we all knew- it was going to be really special. I feel very proud that it’s a Sherlock of our age. I really appreciated being allowed to play Moriarty a little left of centre.How much freedom did you have?
I experimented daily and there were incredibly supportive of that. That’s what you Rally want as an actor: someone saying, ‘Go for it!’ not ‘What are you doing?’What makes you angry?
Bland television. I don’t like drama that’s just a version of something we’ve already seen. If you’ve been given money and an opportunity to be in front of an audience, why not say something new and original?
The same site has an interview with Louise Brealey, who plays Molly on Sherlock.
Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/69550478.html#ixzz1xQan3ET9
TrekMovie.com interviewed Damon Lindelof on the upcoming Star Trek sequel along with the future of the series:
TrekMovie.com: You talked about the characters, their relationships and conflict. The last film was all about this family coming together, especially with Kirk and Spock starting out hating each other and growing to, if not like each other, respect each other. This new film is four years later in real time, but not sure in movie time. Are we jumping in to a new spot on their character arcs? Or are we picking up where we left off?
Damon Lindelof: That is a very clever way of asking how much time has elapsed between the movies and that is not something we are commenting on at this point. What we can say is that the big difference with the fundamental crew dynamics as they existed in the first movie and as they roll into this one is the promise at the end of the first movie with James T. Kirk in his yellow shirt is now sitting in the captain’s chair. We have not seen Kirk as the captain of the Enterprise yet. We will see him be the captain in this movie and that changes the dynamic.
TrekMovie.com: Two years ago, before you even started scripting, [producer] Bryan Burk told me you guys were going for something larger in scope. Is it right to say this is a bigger movie?
Damon Lindelof: Sometimes I feel that bigger is not necessarily better. You are just saying “Oh my god this movie is just epic in scale and epic in scope and epic, epic, epic.” But at the end of the day I feel that Trek is at its best when it is intimate and human and relatable. And when I say human, that can include aliens too. But all the things that we view as emotional touchstones: love, loss, and courage and all those themes that are the core of Trek. You sometimes when you want to make a movie too big for its own good, it loses some of those essential values. So we didn’t want that to happen. That being said, JJ’s decision to shoot a lot of the movie in IMAX, definitely makes the film seem a lot bigger and definitely the sequences he directed in IMAX I feel have tremendous scale and energy, without sacrificing any of things that I talked about on an emotional level…
TrekMovie.com: When we talked about Prometheus (see my Movies.com interview with Damon) you mentioned that moving forward you want to challenge yourself with doing original stories and away from more sequels, prequels and comic book adaptations. Does that preclude your working on a third Star Trek movie?
Damon Lindelof: It would be very hard to not be involved in Trek moving forward. We certainly don’t feel that a third movie is a foregone conclusion. Hopefully the second movie turns out well and we are really happy about everything so far. So three movies, again not to do everything that Christopher Nolan does, but if you do it right it’s a good model. But that idea, whether you want to call it a trilogy or not, although I reserve the right to when we are talking four years from now to say “this is the third movie in our trilogy,” but it does feel that three movies is the right responsibility for us to have the baton for before we then pass it off to the people who are take Trek to wherever they want to take it. So if this movie turns out well, would I be writing on the third movie? Who knows? But, we did talk a lot in the writing of this movie and during production about what the next movie might be and started getting excited about some of the ideas, so it would be hard to say no to that. This is a once in a lifetime experience…
Here is a interesting infographic on The Science of Star Trek
Two clips from The Amazing Spider-Man above.
Now there is even talk of a Spider-Man and Avengers crossover.
It hasn’t been a good year for genre shows on network television, with only six of twelve returning according to the count here. Once Upon A Time was the most successful. Several of the shows which are not returning were flawed but did show promise such as Awake, Terra Nova, and Alcatraz.
Genre has done better on cable than on network television. True Blood returns tonight and reportedly this season will be more satirical. The target will be Vampire fundamentalists who take their bible too seriously, but presumably this is also pointed at their human counterparts.
Men in Black catch up with the Doctor
Louisiana Primary Results
March 24, 2012 — Ron ChusidThe candidate who opposes sex beat the candidate who opposes facts in the Louisiana primary.
Cheney Recovering From Surgery
March 24, 2012 — Ron Chusid
Dick Cheney had surgery today to give him a heart. Next will Sarah Palin undergo surgery to get a brain?
Jenna-Louise Coleman To Play Next Companion On Doctor Who
March 21, 2012 — Ron Chusid
Jenna-Louise Coleman has been chosen to play the next companion on Doctor Who after Karen Gillan leaves the TARDIS during the upcoming season. The BBC confirmed the story this morning after British tabloids ran stories on the choice. There are unconfirmed rumors that her character will not be from earth.
Coleman will make her first appearance in the 2012 Christmas episode.
“I want to get started already,” says Jenna. “I’m a huge fan of the show”.
“Matt Smith did my audition with me. It was fun and I felt like we were in it together.”
Steven Moffat said: “We saw a lot of brilliant actresses. But Jenna was the only person going faster than Matt – he had to keep up!”
On her favourite companion: “Between Billie Piper and Karen Gillan”
Coleman was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England on April 27, 1986. She played the role of lesbian Jasmine Thomas on an ITV soap, Emmerdale in 2005. She joined the cast of the BBC’s Waterloo Road in 2009. Coleman had a small role in Captain America: The First Avenger and appears in an upcoming ITV mini-series Titanic (picture below). Coleman has been nominated twice for ‘Sexiest Female’ at the British Soap Awards
Steven Moffat had been tweeting about Sophia Myles, who previously appeared in the Doctor Who episode The Girl in the Fireplace, creating speculation that she would play the next companion. Perhaps she will have another role in the upcoming season. While her character did die, others (including Karen Gillan who appeared in The Fires of Pompeii prior to playing Amy Pond) have returned to the show in different roles.
Update: More news on the upcoming season
The BBC has confirmed rumours that Doctor Who Series 7 will be split over two years. They will only air six episodes in 2012.
“There will be 6 episodes this year, including the Xmas Special. Then 8 next year,” says the BBC.
Amy and Rory will leave after five episodes. Steven Moffat revealed: “Amy and Rory will leave in a final encounter with the Weeping Angels in episode 5.”
Adding: “Not everyone gets out alive. And I mean it this time!”
The Daleks have also been confirmed to appear in the Autumn run.
The Doctor’s Next Companion To Be Announced Tomorrow
March 20, 2012 — Ron Chusid
The BBC plans to announce tomorrow the identity of the actress who will play the Doctor’s next companion after Karen Gillan leaves Doctor Who.
It is hard to believe that it was less than three years ago that we first had the announcement of Karen Gillan getting the role of Amy Pond (pictured above from before she got the role).
Limbaugh Losing More Advertisers And Radio Stations Over Sexist Attack
March 6, 2012 — Ron ChusidRush Limbaugh continues to lose advertisers (I believe we are now up to twenty with the number likely to increase further) and at least two radio stations over his attacks on Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke, calling her a slut and prostitute after testifying before Congress regarding the cost of contraception. A response from Jon Stewart is above (video).
One the many lame attempts to defend Limbaugh on the right is to create a false equivalency between Rush Limbaugh and Bill Maher (typically ignoring the amount of criticism Maher has received on the left for his misogynistic jokes about Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann.
This attempt to create a false equivalency (a common tactic of right wing publications such as the Weekly Standard) fails as Maher might make an intermittent inappropriate joke (for which he often receives criticism from the left) while Limbaugh launched at least a three day sustained attack against someone who is not even a public figure. This is hardly analogous. Bill Maher has received a considerable amount of criticism on the left for his misogynistic jokes while the right has either lined up to defend him or their criticism has been very mild. Limbaugh has a long history of misogynistic rhetoric including his frequent chanting of “feminazis.”
Liberals criticized Maher for calling Sarah Palin a dumb twat and cunt. Why aren’t conservatives standing up to Limbaugh for calling someone who isn’t even a public figure a slut (especially as using birth control hardly means someone is a slut). Besides the total irrational attack line that using contraception makes her a slut or prostitute, he made additional attacks based upon the frequency of sex she has–appearing not to understand that the cost of contraception correlates poorly with frequency of sex–with zero correlation for some techniques such as oral contraception.
There might be a valid debate over what insurance should cover, but Limbaugh’s comments do not contribute rationally to that debate. It is meaningful that of all possible things covered by insurance, it is contraception where conservatives want to draw the line. Did others protest that insurance covers the cost of Rush Limbaugh’s Oxycontin, or his drug treatment?
There is also no comparison between a comedian such as Maher and someone like Limbaugh who is seen as a leader of the conservative movement and a major influence on the Republican Party. Limbaugh hardly comes off as a serious political leader when he calls on Fluke to post sex tapes on the internet.To a considerable degree Limbaugh is a show man who makes his money playing to the bigotries of the far right, but he shouldn’t be allowed to have it both ways. He is either a rodeo clown (as Glenn Beck has described himself in a rare moment of honesty) or he is a serious spokesmen for the conservative movement. Comments such as this show he cannot be both-unless his comments do actually represent the views of the right wing.
Update: The number of advertisers who are dropping Limbaugh continues to rapidly increase. Netflix makes it thirty.
Update II: Capital One makes it 32.
Update III: When the right wing makes a dumb argument, as expected Sarah Palin repeats it.
Romney Projected To Win In Florida
January 31, 2012 — Ron ChusidThe polls just closed in Florida and the media is already projecting that Mitt Romney will be the winner. This comes as no surprise today as the polls showed Romney with a lead, but immediately after the South Carolina primary this outcome was briefly in doubt. Since then Republican leaders have gone nuclear against Gingrich and Romney benefited from better debate performances.
Florida has violated the Republican Party rule that winner take all contests cannot occur until April, and Romney will take all fifty delegates, pending the inevitable challenge should Gingrich remain competitive. Gingrich does say he will remain in the race until the end, and he appears angry enough with Romney to possibly do so.
It now appears increasingly unlikely that Romney can be stopped despite the opposition of many conservatives. There just is not a viable candidate in the race to oppose him. It is too late for another candidate to enter the race and win as many filing deadlines have passed, but theoretically another candidate could enter and pick up enough delegates to keep anyone from winning a majority, leaving the decision to the convention. It is difficult, but not impossible, to envision scenarios which could still deny Romney the honor of losing to Barack Obama this fall.
Romney leading but having Gingrich remain in the race might be the best possible outcome following the Florida primary. As it is theoretically possible for the nominee of any major political party to wind up winning, we certainly do not want Gingrich to be the nominee. Gingrich is welcome to spend the next several months exposing all of Romney’s faults and continue to damage his image.
John Edwards Reportedly Has Life-Threatening Heart Condition
January 13, 2012 — Ron ChusidJust in from CNN:
A federal judge disclosed that former presidential candidate John Edwards has a life-threatening heart condition, a court source tells CNN.
Edwards had sought a delay in his criminal corruption trial, scheduled to begin later this month.
Update: More information here.
