Author: Scott Williamson

The Plan is out.

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Buy Battlestar Galactica: The Plan on Amazon.

I stumbled on a couple of reminders that the Battlestar Galactica movie, “The Plan” is out now. The first was the big ol’ email that I got from Universal Studios Home Entertainment that said “Hey, The Plan’s out. Buy it.” and the other was this month’s Maxim magazine. It features a photoshoot with Tricia Helfer and Grace Park and being Maxim, it’s looong on cheesecake (and tongue in cheek humor) and short on interview, but if you must have everything BSG – then… I’m sure you’ll have fun getting it signed at the next con. The 10-second article does have Park hinting about just how Released-to-DVD differs from basic cable (she uses the term “T, C, & A”, if that tells you anything) and Helfer mentioning hosting a kitten adoption (awww… no really, kittens are cute).

To read Tabz’s review of “The Plan” click here.

And – if you’ve never heard of the magazine, there is (of course) a Wikipedia article (hint: they’re the ones that printed a review of a Black Crowes album without actually listening to it. Some people were amazed at their accuracy. They’ve also had Eliza Dushku on the cover twice.)

(Photo: SyFy)

Jackson’s Halo movie tie-in game dead along with movie.

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Today, Ars Technica reported that Peter Jackson’s proposed video game project, “Halo: Chronicles”, died with the demise of the proposed movie. Why, you ask? Inter-studio politics: “That fell apart because of internal politics at Fox and Universal,” the article quoted Jackson.

Read: http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/07/peter-jacksons-halo-game-dead-in-the-water.ars

Another cool idea, killed by the studios…

Foxconn(/Apple) death

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I just stumbled across this news item on Gizmodo: An employee of Foxconn, the Chinese company that builds iPhones for Apple, has, according to reports, “apparently” committed suicide after a shipment of iPhone prototypes came up one short in shipping. This after being abused by security officials following the event. Not only is it tragic, but it’s also strange: one of the Gizmodo items says that Chinese police are still calling this an ‘apparent suicide’ despite having the incident – he fell from the 14th floor of his building – on video.

Gizmodo items:
Death by iPhone

Foxconn iPhone Suicide: Chinese Police Now Investigating Murder

Perspective on the iPhone Suicide: Guy Died Over a F*&#ing PHONE

China bans shock therapy for Internet Addiction

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A article posted to the Discover Magazine website relates how the Chinese government has banned the use of shock therapy in the treatment of Internet Addiction. This happened after local media had picked up the story stemming from events in a hospital in Shandong province. My ‘favorite’ line from the article (i.e. the most ironic): “In what might be an indication of the clinic’s effectiveness, its practices came to light when former patients when online to complain.” Also mentioned in the piece is a recent UK survey that resulted in a working definition of Internet addition, amidst the debate about whether or not this is a real syndrome. Go read – http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/15/china-bans-electroshock-therapy-for-internet-addiction/

Movie Review – Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

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Want to catch up on Transformers before you go see the sequel? Buy Transformers on DVD or purchase the original cartoon as Transformers: The Complete First Season (25th Anniversary Edition) on Amazon.

I went and saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen yesterday. It wasn’t bad – all in all I’d give it… maybe… a three-star rating out of five. Maybe. By now, it’s made its money back. The last time I checked it was at 201M USD and climbing. Second biggest blockbuster opening in history – second only to Dark Knight. The movie itself is about what you’d expect if you’ve seen either, A) the first Transformers movie, or B) anything else by director Michael Bay. The story continues with Sam, the slightly goofy, every-teen hero, and his life after the first adventure – where he discovers an alien race, helps save the world, and gets the girl. And since the first movie was also a Michael Bay movie, the aliens are visual-complicated CG robots, saving the world involves a lot of stuff blowing up, and the girl is incredibly hot.

Fast forward to post-high school. Sam decides to leave home and head east. Leaving behind the robots, stuff blowing up, and Mikaela. For what? 40,000 a year in tuition, his dad would say. But really – he wants to distance himself from all the baggage of the past – while not making a break with his girlfriend, who – according to his mother, talking under the influence… well, we’ll say that Sam and Mikaela are on ‘good terms’. Which is odd. And selfish. This sets the tone for Sam in this movie.

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Bozeman, Montana wants your Social Media Passwords…

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In a Associated Press (AP) story written by Matt Gouras and posted yesterday, it is reported that job applicants to the city of Bozeman Montana, are asked for their usernames and passwords for such social networking sites “to include, but not limited to: Facebook, Google, Yahoo, YouTube.com, MySpace, etc.” (from the article). Usernames and Passwords. Already, job and business sites such as CareerBuilder, CNN Money, and others (links below) advise job seekers that potential and current employers may already be checking out your online persona, but this is something that – to their credit, in my opinion – has the ACLU and at least one Montana House Representative, Brady Wiseman, very critical of this practice.

The original AP story, hosted on Google News.

careerbuilder.com: “Will Your Social Networking Profile Get You Hired or Fired?”

CNN Money: “Fired for Facebook: Don’t let it happen to you”

Permimeter Knowledge Center: Will Facebook get you Hired or Fired?

Destroy Build Destroy!

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Want to build and destroy at home? Play Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy for Wii!

Watch Destroy Build Destroy tomorrow (June 20th) on Cartoon Network!

Ok. We’ve all seen Robot Wars and it’s variants – the shows where teams build, well, robots and try to inflict enough damage to another teams creations to win a competition. And then we’ve seen Junkyard Wars, where people take stuff that looks like it was left over from a massive Robot Wars competition, build a solution to solve a problem and win a prize. Yeah. Great. But wait – Coming to Cartoon Network, branded under a “CN Real” tag, is combining the best bits of both – and adding explosives.

And judging from the promo clip, rocket launchers.

“Destroy Build Destroy” does just what the name implies, the show wrecks vehicles, machinery, what-have-you and then the two teams of teenagers (yes – teenagers …with rocket launchers…) go to work. With help/cheerleading from the host, Andrew W.K., two teams build working gadgets from the wreckage and then… destroy them. According to tv.com, the premier pits Skaters against the Math Club, who are tasked to “build flying machines that attack each other”.

You know, I used to be amazed – and maybe a little jealous – of the really cool toys that weren’t around when I was little – like Mindstorm Legos, or even the pirate sets. Now they’re giving teens freakin’ rocket launchers! I so could have used one of those.

Promo: