You CAN go Holmes again... but maybe you shouldn't...

One thing that has struck me lately is the large number of Sherlock Holmes projects that are "in the works" at the moment... why, I can't help but wonder, is Holmes suddenly the hot property? I honestly don't know, but right off the top of my head I can think of at least three different Holmes movies that are being prepped... And I'm sure there are more...

First, of course, and probably the most highly anticipated, is the Guy Ritchie directed pic starring Robert Downey Jr as Holmes and Jude Law as Watson... Now personally, though I love Downey and really like most of the roles he's done lately, the more I see of this movie there more I can't help but think he's really too young for this role... Of course, since it seems that Ritchie is persuing the "Action Holmes" angle, perhaps it needs a younger than usual Holmes...

Here's the latest trailer:



Next up, moving from the possibly sublime to the definitely ridiculous is a supposed vehicle starring Sacha Baron Cohen (yes, Borat himself) and Will Farrell... Fortunately, rumors of this one have been kicking around (and reported repeatedly in Variety and other places) for years, but so far nothing has come of it, and hopefully nothing will... However reports that Ethan Cohen has recently been signed to direct the movie indicate that some movement is being made...

Then there's the upcoming "Sherlock" from new Dr. Who showrunner Steven Moffat... Now Moffat has proven he can do suitably creepy with his Who episodes "Blink" and "Silence in the Library", and he has also previously done the "updating of a classic character" shtick with his show "Jekyll", so his take promises to be intersting at least... if, that is, the BBC can decide which way they're going to go with it... whether it's going to be (as Variety reports) three 90-minute dramas or simply a single 60 minute comedy as reported here... either way, it seems the plan in to bring Holmes into the present day, a take that very rarely works, and one which will then have to go some way to distinguish itself from shows already on tv like "Psych" and "The Mentalist", both of which use some of the same "super-observant" techniques that Holmes himself is known for employing...

Of course, any new take on Holmes is also going to have to rprove itself against the inevitable comparisons not only to Basil Rathbone's classic take on the character



but also my personal favorite (and the one considered the best by many) portrayal of the detective by Jeremy Brett...

Why can't we get these kind of probing questions on his real news broadcast?

To be honest, not being a CNN junkie, the first time Anderson Cooper really came to my attention was when he hosted the first two seasons of "The Mole"... Even then it was obvious that he was a newsman with a sense of humor... Nonetheless, in this guest hosting spot he proves he still has the ability to ask just the right question... (And no, I'm not really gonna comment on the fact that he's slumming doing Regis and Kelly or ask what it does to his "journalistic integrity" because a)I figure everybody just needs a good paycheck every now and then and 2)he works for CNN - I'm not sure the concept of journalistic integrity even comes into the picture)...



Of course, what I really love about the clip is the fake outrage from everyone involved - including the audience who you know was salivating to hear the answer..

Like a Rock(ford)...

Y'know, in the midst of all the remake-mania that's been sweeping the movie and tv industries lately I was just chatting the other day with some friends speculating on who could possibly make a good replacement for James Garner in his iconic role as Jim Rockford... Now comes word from Variety that just such a remake is in the works...

Not sure how I feel about this really... when i called the role iconic above i truly meant it, and it's tough to think of anyone that could take it over...

Of course, perhaps just as important a question is who could they tap to play Angel?



Ideas?

Fakin it...

One of the new tv shows that got a trailer preview at ComicCon last weekend was Spartacus coming in January from cable network Starz... executive produced by Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Joshua Donen, the show provides a 300-esque take on the slave revolt/gladiator saga... Here's the preview:



One of the more... interesting... items that has come out in relation to this show is that the male members of the cast will be supplied with fake... male members...

A Guest Named Brian

So last week I was watching the Daily Show and Jon stewart had Brian Williams (of NBC news) on as a guest... Now whenever these two get together you can rest assured the sparks are going to fly... So I got to thinking and decided to go digging back in the archives a bit to dig up some other Williams appearances...

The first I found was from Nov 30, 2004 - an appearance that's especially interesting in light of Mr Williams most recent appearance, because even back then Jon was asking him about what the major news organisations were willing to do to get people to appear on their shows and talk to them... His response? "We don't do deals"...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Brian Williams
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

This next clip is from July 31 '08...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Brian Williams
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Next we move to Sept 2, '08...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Brian Williams
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

And finally, Mr Williams' latest appearance on July 20 '09...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Brian Williams
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

ASpray you need...

y'know, if they keep making real commercials like this one, the parody makers are soon gonna be out of business...



(Gotta say, my personal favorite part is the testimonial... "m-m-m-m-my butt"...)

He's the Shat, She's Just Sh....

If you watched the clip in the last post, you know, of course, that the Daily show of course led yesterday's show with the Palin resignation... Here's the clip of their coverage...

(BTW, one thing I just don't get in all of this is how someone who's so into killing animals doesn't understand the concept of a "lame duck"... of course, there seem to be quite a few concepts Mrs. Palin doesn't understand, like what the word "quitter" actually means, and that running for and being elected to a position such as governor means actually making a commitment to the people you're supposed to be serving that extends beyond the attention span of your average moose, so...)

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Quitter
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

still, i think the person that may have actually begun to figure Mrs. Palin out is Conan O'Brien...

Bill Kristol says Sarah Palin should "Do Jon Stewart"

Oh, if only more televised "news" could be like this... or even the opinion programs... instead how sad is it that we have to turn to what is ostensibly a comedy program to see two people with very divergent opinions, and rather than having them shout at each other or cutting off people's microphones or calling people names instead sit down and with what is obviously mutual respect actually have a discussion about the issues... sure they both show their biases, but you know that going in... and there are moments of tension, and moments where Jon is obviously going for the comedy, but at the same time each man manages to get his points across and there isn't that "dirty" feeling afterwards like you've been watching a complete train wreck...

That's why I'm dedicating this post both to JW who, like Kristol, thinks that Palin should actually have been the Republican nominee last year, and MOO who couldn't disagree more...

(Oh, and for myself, though I think Kristol does make a couple of good points, I definitely think Stewart pwns him on the military health care bit)...

Bill Kristol Extended Interview

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Send the Kids Out of the Room...

No, seriously, send the kids out of the room... because it's time for Kevin Smith to hold court at ComicCon... And if you know Kevin Smith at all, you know that it's gonna be R-rated and it's gonna be funny... So make sure the coast is clear, then enjoy...

(Ive embedded the first part of the show below... for the rest I've set up a playlist you can access by clicking here which should play the whole show... there is some overlap after section 6 because I had to use two different sources to give ya as complete a show as possible... just fast forward about 7 minutes in and you'll be fine)...

Going Back to Mars

So here's a non ComicCon post that I've been saving for a little while... wanted to give MOO a chance to get through all three seasons first... plus, with Kristen Bell recently weighing in on the topic of a movie, now seems an appropiate time to run this...

Backing up a bit... One of the shows that I definitely miss from recent years is Veronica Mars... Unfortunately it was one of those "too smart for TV" shows... Only lasted three seasons, and honestly the third definitely showed the signs of interference from the networks... and ever since it's been off the air there have been rumors and speculations about a Veronica movie - either to tie up the loose ends left dangling at the end of season three or to move the story forward...

But, what if there had been a season four? Series creator Rob thomas answered that question on the Season Three DVD set when he created a "trailer" for a possible fourth season with the working title "Veronica in the FBI"...

(This video was posted in two parts, but they should play one after the other if I've done my embedding right... if there are problems, please let me know...)



As far as the actual future? Well, this is from the series's Wikipedia page:

Thomas stated that he was interested in writing a feature film based on the series, in the interest of providing closure to the storylines and character arcs. In September 2008, Michael Ausiello, now a writer for Entertainment Weekly, reported that Thomas still planned to make a film, even though he was busy with other projects. He met with Bell to discuss the plot, which would likely involve Veronica solving crime in college rather than as an FBI agent. Thomas felt that the "FBI scenario was more of a 'What if...?'", aimed at getting a fourth season, and that he "would want to bring back our key players, and it would be tough to believe that the FBI stationed Veronica in Neptune." Ausiello later reported that Enrico Colantoni would be involved in the project. Colantoni said that he was fully aware of the talks taking place, adding, "cult shows have translated well into the film arena. Nothing's official, but they're talking about it." In addition to the feature-film possibility, Thomas has had a meeting with DC Comics to talk about a Veronica Mars comic book series.

In September 2008, Thomas told Entertainment Weekly that "I thought I had the idea broken, but I've hit a wall in the final act that I haven't quite figured out". Thomas exclaimed that he was very busy writing for Cupid and Party Down, both of which he created. In January 2009, TV Guide reported that the film was Thomas' first priority after Cupid. Thomas noted that as well as writing the script, someone would need to pay for the film, but indicated that producer Joel Silver was ready to green-light the film. In June 2009, Bell said "I don't think it will ever happen, and here's why: [Series creator] Rob Thomas and I had a powwow, and we were both 100 percent on board. We took our proposal to Warner Bros. and Joel Silver told us that there is no enthusiasm [there] to make a Veronica Mars movie, and that is unfortunately a roadblock we cannot compete with."

Nonetheless, check out the link above to find out what you can do to possibly support Kristen and Rob in their efforts to somehow give us more Veronica...

Quote of the Week...

(Remember, naming it quote of the week doesn't mean I necessarily agree with it, just that it's the one that really caught my attention when I heard it)...

"New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. If conservatives get to call universal health care 'socialized medicine', I get to call private, for-profit health care 'soulless vampire bastards making money off human pain'."

-Bill Maher

For the full "New Rules" segment from this week's show, see below...

Live (up)Chucking...

So there wasn't really any NEWS from the ComicCon Chuck panel (except that the season may actually begin earlier than previously announced), but there was a live performance to open the panel by none other than Jeffster...

Actually, It's Getting to be a Fairly Largeville...

Ok, I'll admit up until last season I was not that big a fan of Smallville... Just never really got into it, especially when it basically seemed like it was a "monster of the week" type series... But I have to admit that for the last couple of years, and especially during the last season with the introduction of more and more of the actual Superman mythos and more of the real DC characters and especially the ongoing conflict between Clark and Oliver (Green Arrow)Queen about what it means to be a hero and what Clark's legacy is actually going to be, the producers have really stepped up their game... And if the footage that was shown at ComicCon this weekend is any indication, they are going to continue this into the next season...

(Again, as with the Dr. Who End of Time footage, this was surreptitiously shot and is not of the best quality, but it pretty well gets the highlights across... and if better footage shows up, I'll certainly post it...)



(And yes, just in case it wasn't clear, the three words you saw flashed upon the screen there were "Kneel... Before... Zod..." words which will have special resonance for those of us who have fond memories of the second Christopher Reeve Superman movie...)

I Suppose Anything Can Have a Legacy...

Really... It's Tron 2... or officially, Tron Legacy... it's also 26 years later... or, actually 29 years if you look to the official release date of 2011... You already know what you're in for, and you already know whether you love it or hate it... but here it is anyway... the official first trailer...

Knock Knock Knock Knock

MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!!
(Ok, I don't know how much more plainly I can put it... obviously, we're dealing with new Who stuff that isn't out yet, so please don't read any further if you want to remain completely in the dark... OK? OK...)
MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!!MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!! MASSIVE SPOILER WARNINGS!!!
(And yes, it's true that I usually don't even do spoiler warnings, because after all, this is a site that regularly deals with previews and rumors and such, but I figured this one time...)

Ok, so there's gonna be a lot of news coming out of Comic-Con this weekend, but some of the biggest, at least for us Whovians, is the official release of another trailer for the upcoming (presumably Thanksgiving-time) special The Waters of Mars and an unofficial (meaning it's from somebody's camera phone) release of a trailer for theChristmas/New Years special which is apparently going to be called The End of Times...

First up, The Waters of Mars trailer:



And here's the End of Times Trailer... as mentioned above, this is taken with someones cellphone camera, so obviously the quality is not that good, it's a bit dark, etc, but it's enough that you can pretty well tell what's going on... I will, of course, keep looking for a better quality version...

(BTW, The person doing the voiceover is Timothy Dalton, and his first, rather hard to hear line is "It is said that in the final days of planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams")...



Here's what the BBC officially said about the trailer:

If anyone wants to remain in the dark about the two specials which form the Tenth Doctor's finale, please look away now! Footage from the first of these episodes was screened during the Doctor Who panel at Comic-Con International, 2009, meaning details about the adventure are officially out there!
As we revealed earlier today, the episodes feature the return of John Simm as the Master. The Doctor's fellow Time Lord is sporting a different hair colour in the finale, working a striking, lighter look.
And the Master isn't the only familiar figure returning from Doctor Who's recent past. Executive Producer Russell T Davies, who wrote David Tennant's final episodes, confirmed that Alexandra Moen is back as Lucy Saxon, the character we previously saw in The Sound of Drums and The Last of the Time Lords. Although married to the Master she put a serious dent in their relationship by shooting him but what happened to her after the events of Series Three has remained a mystery, so far...
Russell further explained that footage from the finale screened at Comic-Con included the voice of Timothy Dalton as the Narrator. His exact role in the specials is currently undisclosed but Dalton is, of course, best known for portraying James Bond in The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill.
One of the biggest cheers of the Doctor Who panel occurred when the trailer showed the face of Catherine Tate, last seen playing Donna Noble in Journey's End. Bernard Cribbins, who played her grandfather, Wilf, also features in the trailer which depicts a grim-faced Doctor walking purposefully away from a wall of leaping flames... but towards what, or whom..?

Oh, and in other Who news from the ComicCon, there was no confirmation of the rumored Dr. Who movie... (though there was no actual denial either)... David Tennant said he had NOT (as had also been rumored) been contacted to star as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit but, he did confirm that he would be appearing in two episodes of the upcoming season of the Sarah Jane Adventures as the Doctor in a storyline called "The Wedding of Sarah Jane Smith"...

Avante Garde BC?

The only fault I can really find in the statement below from John Hart Studios is that I really can't remember the last time that the comic strip BC was funny... Nonetheless, apparently a lot of folks felt that Johnny Hart's grandson, Mason Mastroianni who now writes and draws the strip crossed the line with his July 21st strip...

Here's the strip in question:



Makes you wonder if there isn't a reason he's called "Dick", don't it?

For those of you who were wondering...

...just exactly where John Oates (of Hall and Oates) truly got his superpowers, wonder no longer...

J-Stache - Official Trailer - watch more funny videos

Craig Ferguson on Why Everything Sucks

iBeans

Yeah, it's been a slow week as all pop-culture eyes turn to San Diego this weekend... As a matter of fact, it's been so slow that Jon Stewart has been reduced to covering the rivalry between two iPhone apps...

Fortunately for us viewers, however, the segment takes an interesting and rather... uncomfortable turn when one of the interviewees makes a somewhat unfortunate analogy...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
iFeud
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Joke of the Day

Who's New Look

So filming began today on the first episode of the new Dr. Who series (officially number 5), and with it came pics of the Doc and his new companion...





Oh, and if you want a spoiler for the new series, be sure to check out The Sun's coverage of the first day to see the rather surprising returning character...

The Junkyard - Dazzling Data, Dizzy Dispatches, and Dangerous Declarations of Rather Dubious Distinction

Some folks call it "linkblogging", we just call it "The Junkyard"... What is it? Basically an every-once-in-a-while collection of those items I've run across that don't necessarily need a full write-up or maybe just little bits that I find amusing or quirky or.... Anyway, just follow the links in each item for more info... You get the idea... anyway, enough preamble, on with the show...

ITEM! Remember last time when we linked to the story about the public and congress not getting any real time to actually read the upcoming health care bill before they vote on it? Well, apparently it's just as well, since House Majority Leader Stenny Hoyer (D-Ick) seems to think the whole concept of congress actually reading the bill before voting on it is a laughing matter...

ITEM! From the "I couldn't make this up if I wanted to" Department: The BBC is reporting that Mel Gibson is in talks to star in a new film to be directed by Jodie Foster about "a depressed man who finds solace in his beaver hand-puppet."

ITEM! The old school is now completely dead...

ITEM! Usually I decry the lack of new ideas in Hollywood, but I think this one may just be their most creative liscense yet... You just have to wonder if every scene transition will be acccompanied by a great big ca-chunk and the screen shifting from one side to the other...

ITEM! Obviously the Swedes have been studying their famous American literature, since they're trying to bring back the Scarlet Letter... just with a slightly different meaning...

ITEM! And the world's fastest snail is...

ITEM! Ray Bradbury: Hero

ITEM! Did you miss World MoonBounce Day?

FINAL ITEM! "If we let parents into the school they would have been free to roam the grounds. All unsupervised adults must be kept away from children." Yep, parents, YOU are the biggest threat to your children... Especially if you really want to be involved in their lives...

A Truly Comical Con

(This one is specially designed to drive RW into paroxysms of "I wanna go!")

The reasons are many and varied to hit the San Diego Comic Con next weekend, but here are two that are extra special:

First, the ever loverly and talented June Foray will be debuting (and signing copies of her autobiography Did You Grow Up With Me, Too? at the Comic Con... What's that? You say you don't know who June Foray is? Well, have you ever heard of Rocky the Flying Sqirrel? Or Natasha Fatale of Boris and Natasha fame? Or perhaps the name Cindy Lou Who rings a bell... Or maybe Granny (the owner of Tweety Bird)... Or for the younger generation, Grandmother Fa in Mulan... Or... trust me, this list only begins to scratch the surface of her voice work...

And of course, because of her involvement in so many aspects of the animation world, you know June's book is going to be filled with stories and anecdotes about Chuck Jones, Stan Freberg, Mel Blanc, Daws Butler, Jay Ward, Bill Scott and many, many others...

Want a little preview? Here's an interview conducted with Ms. Foray a while back by Howard Schwartz:



Ok, so... Extra special reason number two? Well, you may have noticed the mention of Stan Freberg up above... Turns out, Mr Freberg and his wife Hunter are also going to be putting in an appearance in San Diego. They'll not only be selling/autographing CD's and pictures, but there will be a spotlight panel on friday called Two Funny Freebergs...

What's that? Now you're asking who Stan Freberg is? OK, I'm gonna take that rock you've been living under and bean ya with it... Hmm... Actually in this case I think I'll let Mark Evanier (who is going to be moderating the panel) give ya the skinny...

If there's such a thing as a Comic Genius, it's this guy.

He started as a cartoon voice actor and was heard in many a Warner Brothers cartoon...usually unbilled, thanks to Mel Blanc's contract. He was in movies like Lady and the Tramp, and he and Daws Butler were the first Beany and Cecil on the original Time for Beany puppet show. If he'd stopped there, he'd still be a fascinating guy...but Freberg was just getting started.

He began making funny records. I've itemized them here but just look at it this way: There have been a handful of best-selling comedy records and Stan was responsible for about half of them. What's more, his have endured. They're still funny and most are still, in some form, in print. He also starred in the last real network comedy radio show in the classic tradition. Again, if he'd stopped there...

Then it was into advertising. In agencies, he became an adjective. Sponsors would say, "I want a Freberg campaign." That didn't necessarily mean hiring him, though many did. It meant any campaign that was outrageously funny and very, very smart. Or the star of a show would say, "I don't want any Freberg commercials during my show." That meant, "I don't want the ads to be funnier than the show."

The man's had other jobs: Author. Actor. More cartoon voices. Lecturer. But you get the idea. This is a very special guy and obviously, one of my personal heroes.

Want a couple of examples? Ok... First up, here's Stan's unique take on some popular hits of the day... Followed by a retelling of a popular fairy tale





And yes, that is June Foray portraying both Blue and Granny in the last clip...

Calling Capricorn One...

Wednesday marked the 40th anniversary of the liftoff of Apollo 11 - the first successful manned mission to the moon... I celebration, here's a video of the liftoff...



Also, the John F Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum has established a site which tracks the mission in virtual real time... all the way from liftoff to landing... and you can follow along by going to the site or using the widget below...

---

i didn't realise...

...that toilet paper had suddenly become such a problem item... However, at least if these two recent ads are any indication, apparently it is...

Ah, the classics...

...you may recall that earlier in the year Quirk Classics released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, a glorious remix of the Jane Austen classic... Well, now they have just released a trailer (yes a trailer) for their next offering...

The Holidays Are Coming...

Ok, I'll be the first to admit I'm not the biggest fan of Rob Zombie's "reimagining" of the first Halloween movie... I thought the extended backstory was completely unnecessary, the character of Laurie Strode was changed completely from the original intent, and overall it was simply a mistake of a movie...

It appears however, that the "new" franchise is going to continue... and to be honest, taken for what it is, and trying my best not to compare it to what has come before, it looks like this second entry might actually be a pretty good follow up...

What do you guys think?

Quote of the week...

...so far anyway...

Of course, everyone has been noting Senator Lindsey Graham telling Judge Sotomayor during her confirmation hearing "Unless you have a complete meltdown, you're going to get confirmed."... What hasn't been mentioned so much was his follow up statement "The drama being created here is interesting."

Hmmm... a rare instance of unintentional honesty from the South Carolina senator? Because let's face it, these hearings are exactly that... "Created Drama"... there is no actual doubt about the outcome of this nomination... Nor is there anything going on in this hearing that is going to chenge the vote of one single senator or the opinion of anyone watching them... Instead it is simply another forum for the various senators to state their pre-determined opinions and to grandstand and condescend both to the judge and the American people... To make themselves look good in front of their constituents... "See how tough I was on Obama's nominee"...

But mostly it's a chance to get eight more minutes of TV time... and compete for the evening's soundbite... A competition it appears that Senator Graham has won for the moment... Even if it is for the wrong statement...

It was a very dark night...

Apparently, when Christopher Nolan decided not to put the Penguin in The Dark Knight, this scene had to be left on the cutting room floor...

This actually explains a lot...

for MOO:

from ScienceBlog:

Anyone who has ever had cats knows how difficult it can be to get them to do anything they don't already want to do. But it seems that the house cats themselves have had distinctly less trouble getting humans to do their bidding, according to a report published in the July 14th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication.

The rather crafty felines motivate people to fill their food dishes by sending something of a mixed signal: an urgent cry or meowing sound embedded within an otherwise pleasant purr. The result is a call that humans generally find annoyingly difficult to ignore.

"The embedding of a cry within a call that we normally associate with contentment is quite a subtle means of eliciting a response," said Karen McComb of the University of Sussex. "Solicitation purring is probably more acceptable to humans than overt meowing, which is likely to get cats ejected from the bedroom." She suggests that this form of cat communication sends a subliminal sort of message, tapping into an inherent sensitivity that humans and other mammals have to cues relevant in the context of nurturing their offspring.

"We found that the crucial factor determining the urgency and pleasantness ratings that purrs received was an unusual high-frequency element -- reminiscent of a cry or meow -- embedded within the naturally low-pitched purr," McComb said. "Human participants in our experiments judged purrs with high levels of this element to be particularly urgent and unpleasant." When the team re-synthesised the recorded purrs to remove the embedded cry, leaving all else unchanged, the urgency ratings for those calls decreased significantly.

McComb said she thinks this cry occurs at a low level in cats' normal purring, "but we think that cats learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans." In fact, not all cats use this form of purring at all, she said, noting that it seems to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners rather than those living in large households, where their purrs might get overlooked by poorly trained people.

And if frogs had wings...

...they wouldn't bump their little green butts on the ground when they hop...

(Ok, gang, this one turned out a lot longer than I intended, but honestly, the more I kept reading on it, the more interesting it got...)

Consider this more of a public service announcement than anything else - perhaps a reminder of what can happen when the government rushes a plan like this into action... and what can happen when the public blindly follows along...

First, consider this report from 60 minutes from 1978:





So why bring it up now? Well, perhaps because of articles like this one from the UK's Sky News:

'All Brits' To Be Vaccinated For Swine Flu

The entire population could be vaccinated against swine flu as health chiefs draw up plans to build a nationwide immunity to the disease.

In what would be the biggest vaccination programme of the last 50 years, experts are already formulating a priority list of patients before the bug becomes more virulent.

The fast-tracking comes after the first British patient without underlying health problems succumbed to the disease - the 15th swine flu death in the UK.

Peter Holden, the British Medical Association's lead negotiator on swine flu, told The Sunday Times: "The high risk groups will be done at GPs' surgeries."

He added: "If the virus does (mutate), it can get a lot more nasty, and the idea is to give people immunity.

"But the sheer logistics of dealing with 60 million people can't be underestimated."

Oh, btw, you may have noticed the phrase "fast-tracking" in the above article... Apparently that's a reference to the concept talked about in this article from the Times Online:

Swine flu vaccine rushed through safety checks

A swine flu vaccine will be fast-tracked for use in Britain within five days once it is developed, and 130 million doses are on order.

The Department of Health expects to have enough vaccine this year to give it to half the population. Further supplies will be available if needed. Each person will need two doses of the vaccine, unless one single jab is found to provide high rates of immunity.

The first doses specific to the H1N1 swine flu virus are set to arrive in September and could be given regulatory approval in less than a week.

Yep, that's right... FIVE DAYS... andd this is despite the fact, according to the same article, that

Peter Holden, the British Medical Association’s lead negotiator on swine flu, said that although swine flu was not generally causing serious illness in patients, health officials were eager to start a mass vaccination campaign, starting first on groups that were susceptible to infection or prone to complications.

Oh, and the manufacturers of this fast-tracked vaccine? Ahh, that would be, according to this article from the Chicago Tribune, Illinois-based Baxter Pharmeceuticals... Why was Baxter chosen? Well, one would have to guess it's related to this: Baxter spokesman Christopher Bona said Saturday that Baxter has patented technology that allows the company to develop vaccines in half the time it usually takes – about 13 weeks instead of 26.

Great news, right? especially since Baxter must have a terrific record for safety to be entrusted with such an important rush job, right? Oh, wait...

from the Times of India:

It's emerged that virulent H5N1 bird flu was sent out by accident from an Austrian lab last year and given to ferrets in the Czech Republic before anyone realised. >As well as the risk of it escaping into the wild, the H5N1 got mixed with a human strain, which might have spawned a hybrid that could unleash a pandemic.

Last December, the Austrian branch of US vaccine company Baxter sent a batch of ordinary human H3N2 flu, altered so it couldn't replicate, to Avir Green Hills Biotechnology, also in Austria. In February, a lab in the Czech Republic working for Avir alerted Baxter that, unexpectedly, ferrets inoculated with the sample had died. It turned out the sample contained live H5N1, which Baxter uses to make vaccine. The two seem to have been mixed in error.

Markus Reinhard of Baxter says no one was infected because the H3N2 was handled at a high level of containment. But Ab Osterhaus of Erasmus University in the Netherlands says: "We need to go to great lengths to make sure this kind of thing doesn't happen."

Oh, and just in case you think this is just of concern and will only be mandatory for people in the UK, consider this from a recent article from Time magazine entitled How to Deal with Swine Flu: Heeding the Mistakes of 1976: (and be sure to note the use of the word "when", not "if")...

Howard Markel, director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan and a historical consultant to the CDC on flu pandemics, says the most vexing decision facing health officials is when to institute mass vaccination programs.Vaccines carry risks of complications, leading to agonizing ethical dilemmas. In 1976, Ford offered indemnity to the vaccine manufacturers. But according to reports, President George W. Bush decided in 2002 not to administer a nationwide smallpox vaccination program — despite Vice President Dick Cheney's belief that doing so was a prudent counterterrorism step — because it could have resulted in dozens of deaths (the smallpox vaccine kills between 1 and 2 people per million people inoculated).

Markel says the political climate in the U.S. is much less combustible today than in the post-Watergate era, when Ford faced a skeptical public. Even so, he says, citizens still need to trust that the government is working for the greater good. He says, "The good news is that our surveillance, methodology and public health professionals have never been better. But we are human and mistakes may be made — as happened with the 1976 swine flu affair — and we may jump the gun in the hope of preserving life. The current outbreak is a situation in flux. The American public has to be forgiving and patient and do [their] part too."

In other words, trust the government... they know what they're doing... even when they obviously don't...

Oh, and one other little tidbit... let's not forget this little story from Maryland late last year when officials were threatening to jail parents who didn't get their kids innoculated.. and how reasonable both CNN and the Vanderbilt professor they're jiving for make it all sound...



Yeah, I'm certainly gonna rush right out and get a shot as soon as they're announced... How about you?

If you thought Transformers...

...was the latest in high-tech robo- movies... Well, you might just have to think again after watching this...



And just in case you're wondering if this could possibly be real... here's a link to the imdb page...

All I'm gonna say is...

...can ya really blame him?

I'll probably get in trouble for this one...

But seriously... they needed to do a study to figure this out?

From the UK's Telegraph:

Women Spend Nearly One Year Deciding What To Wear

Choosing outfits for work, nights out, dinner parties, holidays, gym and other activities means the average female will spend 287 days rifling through their wardrobe.

The biggest chunk of that time is used up picking a killer ensemble for Friday or Saturday nights out or selecting the right clothes for a holiday.

Experts found on average women spend 16 minutes every weekday morning deciding what to wear and around 14 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday morning.

All I can say is, having recently sat through this process on a Saturday evening, I think their numbers are maybe just a bit shy...

Ok, Now I Feel Old...

In celebration of Kevin Bacon's 51st birthday yesterday (dear god, I can just feel the years seeping away as I type that), we present the party scene from the movie that made him a star... featuring, of course, the dance stylings of Sean Penn's little brother Chris... plus assorted very white guys breakin'...



51... damn...

Well, it's certainly wet...

Well, the BBC has just posted a new preview (actually about a minute-long outtake) of the upcoming (read: Thanksgiving) Dr. Who special The Waters of Mars:

Y'wanna know why Sarah Palin was such a hit?

Because the people who supported her were the same people who voted this dumbass into office...



Somehow she is using the "fact" that the world has been here for 6000 years - long before there were environmental laws - to say that uranium mining would be a good thing for the state of Arizona... of course as Discover points out

The irony, of course — and there’s always irony when creationism is involved — is that she’s talking about uranium mining, and it’s through the radioactive decay of uranium that we know the Earth is billions of years old. And she also praises technological achievements!

It's reassuring to know that we have such knowledgeable legislators out there looking out for us...

Is this REALLY news?

As if it weren't bad enough that the bread and circus networks (umm, I mean cable news networks) have gone all-Michael all-the-time, now comes one of our local TV stations (which bills itself as the NewsChannel) posting tabloid-style pictures of Sahel Kazemi on their website... For those who don't know, Kazemi is the 20 year old "girlfriend" of ex-Titans quarterback Steve McNair who apparently killed him then herself over the fourth of July weekend... The pictures, apparently taken from Kazemi's Facebook page, show her in various provocative poses, at times in the company of another unidentified girl... (Trust me, the one to the right is one of the tamer ones to be found on the site...)

Now I can understand that Kazemi is now considered a public figure, and so the pictures are pretty much "fair game"... And I can understand the TV station's desire to draw visitors to its website... But nonetheless, there is something that seems unseemly, exploitative, and downright sleazy about making a slideshow of these pictures of this obviously troubled (not to mention, dead) young lady in the name of news... Is this truly what we've come to?

Don't get me wrong, I've pretty well come to expect most of the so-called news channels to pretty well ignore the real news of the day in favor of exploiting whatever sensationalism and personalities they can, (After all we live in a world where the courts say that FOX "News" has every right to force its reporters to knowingly lie to the public on air)... and there's no denying that Ms. Kazemi was a very attractive young lady... But something about this simply strikes me as somehow going beyond what should be called news... Perhaps from now on, channel 5 should give up the designation NewsChannel5 and simply call itself We'llDoAnythingForTheRatingsChannel5...

Oh, wait... if they did that there'd be no way to tell them from any other station, would there?

Get your motor runnin'

So the other day NPR ran a story in which Tom Moon talked about compiling a playlist for a summer road trip. His list, he said, usually included The Grateful Dead and The Allman Brothers, but this year, in an attempt to change things up a bit, he was including new cuts from Green Day and Wilco among others.

Now personally, I try to never start a trip of any length without Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry / Get Away" (It's not the main song as much as the honkin' horn tag at the end) and Jackson Browne's album Running On Empty... As far as I'm concerned there's not been a better road album made than that one...



But I wanna open it up to you guys... get a little discussion going (and maybe a little road-trippin' inspiration, too... What's on your "On The Road" playlist? What are those songs that just scream "We've got a full tank of gas, a half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses... Hit it." to you? Lemme know in the comments section below...

Oh, and while you're thinkin' about it, here's another song from Running On Empty... this one's for SSA and MOO... they know why...

Wasn't there once a porn movie by this name?

Rumors have once again resurfaced, and the IMDB page appears to have been recently updated with a 2010 release date for The Hardy Men starring Ben Stiller and Tom Cruise...

Of course, E! online first reported on this particular abomination back in Feb 2007 stating that Fox was planning to start production in 2008, so there's always the chance that it will continue to get delayed until both stars are in their 80's... at which point it might be a viable concept...

From the original E! article:

The box office golden boys have been tapped to play the now-adult brothers in the action comedy The Hardy Men, a reworking of the classic detective series The Hardy Boys, which kicked off in 1927 with The Tower Treasure.

Per Variety, The Hardy Men will feature the siblings, once inseparable but now estranged, reuniting to solve one last case. No word on whether they'll still go by Frank and Joe or if the screenplay will call for more modern monikers.

Cruise and Stiller have reportedly been exchanging plot ideas with Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy, who will helm the project for 20th Century Fox.

Please, can't we just stop the madness?

I don't think Dick Cheney could qualify for this loan...

According to Reuters, a loan company in Latvia is agreeing to give loans to customers in exchange for their "immortal souls"...

From the report:

Mirosiichenko said his company would not employ debt collectors to get its money back if people refused to repay, and promised no physical violence. Signatories only have to give their first name and do not show any documents.

"If they don't give it back, what can you do? They won't have a soul, that's all,"...

Mirosiichenko said his company was basically trusting people to repay the small amounts they borrowed, which has so far been up to 250 lats ($500) for between 1 and 90 days at a hefty interest rate.

Peeled Kiwis...

This may very well be the only in-flight safety video that people will actually watch...



(I hear, btw, that as their latest cost-cutting measure Southwest is considering supplying all of their flight crews with the same kind of uniform... I suspect it would certainly lead to fewer empty seats...)

What a weekend...

...to decide to take off... First we have Sarah Palin apparently vying to become the next president of either the World Wildlife Fund or PETA by comparing herself to a lame duck, a dead fish and a purple moose all in the same speech where she declared herself "not a quitter" as she announced she was quitting her job as Alaska's governor in mid-stream....

Then, of course, there was the tragic death of Steve McNair... Details are still forthcoming, of course, but right now it's looking like a strange sordid mess... But let's not dwell on that for now... instead let's look back on what had to be one of the happiest days of #9's too short life...



of course, there was to be true heartbreak a couple of weeks later, but one thing you had to say about Steve and the teams he led - they NEVER gave up...

Yes, this is Minnesota's new senator...

Of course, the real question is, now that the dems have the so-called supermajority they've been looking for how are they gonna shoot themselves in the foot and not actually accomplish anything?

But now who'll take care of her pussy?

She was not a Michael Jackson level star, and her death certainly won't make that kind of headlines, but for lovers of British comedy, the passing yesterday of Molly Sugden, one of the stars of the '70's sitcom Are You Being Served is definitely sad news... Ms. Sugden, best known for her portrayal of the feisty Mrs. Slocombe was always a treat to see whenever she was on the telly...



The New York Times has a very nice retrospective of Ms. Sugden's career

Kids and their games...

“A pernicious excitement to learn and play ----- has spread all over the country, and numerous clubs for practicing this game have been formed in cities and villages. Why should we regret this? It may be asked. We answer, ----- is a mere amusement of a very inferior character, which robs the mind of valuable time that might be devoted to nobler acquirements, while it affords no benefit whatever to the body. ----- has acquired a high reputation as being a means to discipline the mind, but persons engaged in sedentary occupations should never practice this cheerless game; they require out-door exercises—not this sort of mental gladiatorship.”

The game? Chess

The source? Scientific American magazine July, 1859

wow...

...ok, quite often I'll label something "wrong"... but this may very well take the "Wrong" award to the next level... I'd label this ad as just as obviously a fake as the Red House Furniture ad from yesterday if it weren't for the presence of Dean Cain in it... and the fact that it's apparently part of a whole series that Microsoft has made to promote the newest version of their web browser... Still, can someone please explain just exactly what Microsoft was thinking when they approved this ad? Or for that matter what ex-Superman Cain was thinking when he agreed to appear in it?



i really don't know what to say but... wow...

Spin, spin, spin...

To say that the Dr. Who folks have gone a little spin-off crazy might seem an exaggeration... right now we've got the main show, Torchwood, and the Sarah Jane Adventures, right? Well, yes... but then there's also this little offering from Australia... (And yes, before you even ask, this IS real)...

The Junkyard - Fabulous Facts and Frivolous Fables for Frantic Fans, Faithful Friends, and Fiendish Foes

yeah, I think we've got enough for at least a short entry today...

Some folks call it "linkblogging", we just call it "The Junkyard"... What is it? Basically an every-once-in-a-while collection of those items I've run across that don't necessarily need a full write-up or maybe just little bits that I find amusing or quirky or.... Anyway, just follow the links in each item for more info... You get the idea... anyway, enough preamble, on with the show...


ITEM! It's a good thing you don't wanna know what's in the health care bill before the house and senate vote on it... Actually it's a good thing they don't wanna know either, apparently...

ITEM! Hmmm... I wonder if Jesus was a decaf kind of guy... Naah, probably not...

ITEM! Apparently "The Devil made me do it!" has now been replaced by Michael Jackson made me do it!"... I'm not sure I wouldn't rather be under the influence of the debbil...

ITEM! Remember Candidate Obama's "firm pledge" that families making under $250,000 wouldn't see "any form of tax increase, not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes."? Too bad President Obama doesn't...

ITEM! From the "I knew mowing the lawn was dangerous" file: two items - 1) Man drowns while mowing lawn... 2) 757 reports near miss with lawnmower...

ITEM! News quote of the day: "The security guard approached the 44-year-old yesterday at a Dapto supermarket and demanded he produce the meat from within his pants."

ITEM! I hope you're not a big fan of privacy if you live in Lancaster , PA. Or, as Jack Bauer says "There's nothing wrong with instilling fear"...

FINAL ITEM! Remember the item last time about Fox News going to court to protect their right to lie to the American public? Apparently the public really likes being lied to, since 10 of the top 10 cable news programs are on... yep...