Archive for January, 2009

From left: Harry Lennix, Fran Kranz and Eliza Dushku in "Dollhouse."

What if you could be anyone?

What if you could do anything?

If your memories were erased, again and again, would there be anything left of you?

These are the questions to be examined in Joss Whedon's new TV show "Dollhouse," starring Eliza Dushku, premiering Friday, Feb. 13 on FOX. Other, equally important questions to be answered are: Can Eliza Dushku convincingly play several different people every episode? Will viewers tune in and follow a storyline guaranteed to be as psychological as it is action-packed? Will viewers tune in at all on a Friday night, in enough numbers to satisfy FOX?

My quick review, for those "don't tell me anything, la la la I can't hear you" people who are avoiding even the slightest hint of plot: It's good. It's going to get even better. Watch it.

More details, and a promo video, after the jump.

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Courtesy Playmates Toys

New Star Trek movie? New Star Trek toys. It's a fact of life, a universal constant, a law of brightly-colored, polypropylene nature.

"Thou shalt exalt every franchise movie, yea, unto the seventh generation, with a full line of toys, dishware, tie-in novels, comics, and commemorative plates, all of them limited-edition-collectible-first-run-mint artifacts to be treasured from a distance behind velvet ropes and saved for future generations to also not touch."

That's the way it's been for toys from Star Trek, Star Wars, and superheroes of all stripes for years now. Ever since some enterprising geek sold his pristine childhood memory for more than the one with chew marks and its head missing, new toys have been carefully removed from the peghooks at Walmart and Toys-R-Us and lovingly transported to their new and permanent home in a storage locker while the new owner enjoys the smug satisfaction of knowing it's there, somewhere.

I've never been a good collector. I open my stuff. I sort of always thought that was the point. When I was a kid if someone told me my toys were collectible I'd have thought they meant finding all the pieces again. Back in the 70s I asked for and received the original line of Star Trek dolls from Mego ($2.87 each, any two for $5.50), complete with vinyl-and-cardboard Bridge set ($12.97, with working transporter!). And I can guarantee that the crew of the Enterprise never had a more harrowing mission than the ones they experienced daily in my backyard.

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Super Bowl Sunday! It's coming! The day you've been waiting for! The greatest day of television ever! The day you gather unto you your friends and family in a joyous shared activity filled with action, suspense, laughter, soaring triumph and crashing defeat. Unfortunately there's also a bunch of football mixed in there to distract you from the highlight of the day: the ads.

The Super Bowl is the day ad men dream of when they go to sleep. After all, nearly a third of the country will be watching the game, and many of them watch as much (or more) for the ads as they do for the sport. And why not? Super Bowl ads are always the wildest, most outrageous, most controversial commercials you'll see all year, and more people will be talking about them the next day than whatever goalie made a free throw from the green, or whatever it is they do.

So why not jump straight to the meat? Head to AdWeek and watch a lot of them right now. Learn how to tell when you need a new job, watch a conspicuously non-wired man in an avatar-filled world, see how insects are plotting to steal your refreshments, discover how Danica Patrick was enhanced, and get a jump start on getting this year's annoying SoBe Lifewater CG-lizard dance song stuck in your head.

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It's National Kazoo Day!

Please plan your activities accordingly, especially if you're planning anything formal tonight. Remember, kazoos fit nicely into even the smallest purse or tux pocket, and nothing finishes off a romantic evening better (or more completely) than a kazoo.

This is also as good a time as any to mention the movement at kazooamerica.org to make the kazoo America's National Instrument. This plucky music maker is an ideal choice for our national musical mascot. After all, it's so democratic: anyone can play a kazoo successfully (for a given definition of "successfully").

The movement has already made great strides with appearances on Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Fox and Friends, CBS Sunday Morning News, Martha Stewart, and has won approval from bemused and often bewildered politicians across the country.

So join the hordes of buzzing musicians and help us fight to honor this lowly instrumentby raising it to the level of national recognition. Wouldn't you love to see President Obama playing the kazoo, possibly leading Congress into a rousing rendition of "America the Beautiful"? Some days, I can think of little else.

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Reposted from Brian on Whedonesque:

Sonny Rhodes, our favorite Firefly theme song blues musician, is in need of a hand up. He is a very proud man, but circumstances related to medical conditions are preventing him from working, and he's trying to keep a roof over his head.

Sonny's wife Ann called me with these details and hoped the Browncoats could help. Sonny hasn't performed since October 2008, except for once or twice against his doctor's wishes when he had to keep the power from being shut off and pay rent, and doing that made his condition worse. He just had an emergency hernia operation and needs to have two hip operations as soon as possible. Ann said he'll likely be out of work for a few more months and, besides being in a lot of pain, is naturally quite worried about paying medical and rent bills. Sonny has vowed to be there for the Browncoats in the future and would appreciate any financial assistance that may be possible via the PayPal Donate link on his MySpace page.

If you can do anything, please consider it. Quite a few friends were privileged to spend some time with him at the last Browncoats Cruise and found him to be a wonderful man who was still amazed at the attention he was getting for performing Joss's song. I just wish he got a buck everytime someone starts singing it at a con…

UPDATE: Brian has contacted Mr. Rhodes' wife and manager Annie about getting a PO Box for people uncomfortable with PayPal, and that address should be up on his MySpace page soon. In the meantime, check out his latest post:

Today the color brown is looking pretty bright. Thank you my friends.  The Browncoats have sent me so many notes that my grand daughter has run out of her printing ink and will have to get some more today. I am slowly reading every note and she and my Annie are helping me with this myspace. I am getting the idea behind it. I am also enjoy seeing some of my friends I haven't seen for awhile. This myspace is okay.

Plenty more there about his current condition, what he's going through, and how much he misses being on the road playing music.

UPDATED UPDATE: Mrs. Rhodes has gotten a PO Box:

SONNY RHODES
2974 Delta Fair Blvd
324
Antioch, CA 94509

Here's part of the response I received from him:

I am a little overwhelmed by the outpouring of kind words and support. I am working on reading all the notes my granddaughter is printing up for me. I will get to each one. I knew I had many wonderful fans and friends around the world but when you see how many come to lend a hand up it is very hard to find words.
[...]
Today I had a good day of rest. I am healing from the Hernia surgery but I will be glad when the hips are not hurting anymore. Many people have told me it is going to be better.
Thank you for your help and support.
Peace
Sonny Rhodes

They're here!

Or, more to the point, less than 100 of here because the rest got sold already.

"I Aim to Misbehave," the second in QMx's "Little Damn Heroes " line iof Serenity maquettes (based on Adam Levermore-Rich's amazing designs) is now on sale at QMx. But you'd better hurry; presales were so strong on these limited edition statues than fewer than 100 are left.

The 4.5-inch resin statue shows Mal with his gun drawn and browncoat billowing behind him. Details in the maquette include screen-accurate sculpts of his boots, suspenders, even his iconic pistol.

Only 1,000 "I Aim to Misbehave" limited-edition maquettes are being made. And, through special arrangement with Nathan Fillion and PJ Haarsma, co-founders of Kids Need To Read (www.kidsneedtoread.org), a portion of the proceeds from sales of  "Aim" will be donated to this worthy cause.

@minnesotian > Hey, how's everybody doing? Temp's dropping like a rock here.

@heapless_in_seattle > Here, too. No bright, fluffy snow, just slush slush slush.

@bostonbeaner > Snow's five feet deep. I'm kinda trapped at the moment.

@cabridges > Hi from Florida! Supposed to get cold this week here, not looking forward to it.

@heapless_in_seattle > How cold?

@cabridges > Down in the 40s, maybe 30s. You know what it's like, having to deal with that?

@bostonbeaner > Um…

@heapless_in_seattle > Um…

@minnesotian > Running out of food, really don't want to go out in that. It's snowing sideways.

@bostonbeaner > The dog was just out for 30 seconds tops, and all his whiskers broke off.

@minnesotian > Ow! Poor thing.

@bostonbeaner > He's huddled by the fireplace now. I think part of his brain may have frozen.

@heapless_in_seattle > Try holding his head in warm water, thaw it gently.

@heapless_in_seattle > With his nose and mouth OUT! boston? boston?

@bostonbeaner > He's OK, I think. He just keeps wandering in tight circles. We're supposed to get three more feet of snow tonight.

@cabridges > Just came back from walking my dogs around the park. Getting serious, I think, I'm going to have to consider putting on a long-sleeve shirt if this keeps up.

@bostonbeaner > Mom just came back inside, car wouldn't start. Looking around kitchen for food.

@minnesotian > Really getting cold, now. Wind is blowing and I think the carport just went over.

@heapless_in_seattle > hey guys? I can't see out of the windows anymore.

@minnesotian > So cold, so cold. Fingers burning. Mom breaking up computer desk for wood.

@bostonbeaner > No food. Thawing frozen tree branches we can reach from the upstairs window for the leaf sap.

@minnesotian > Boston? How attached are you to your dog? I mean, meat's meat, and if the dog is brain-damaged anyway…

@cabridges > This is agony. I actually had to dig out my hoodie and wear it this morning with my shorts. Back up in the 60s by lunch, though, so walking to the deli was no prob. Roast beast sub! NOM NOM NOM…

@heapless_in_seattle > Neighbors banding together for protection against lower east side gangs. I'm the 2-3am lookout for our apartment building. Killed a man yesterday, got 1/2 a Snickers bar.

@bostonbeaner > Cuddlebear will keep us alive for another week, with luck. Good dog. Good dog.

@minnesotian > Front door doorknob just broke in my hand. Entire house frame is frozen solid, starting to crack from the weight of the roof. May God have mercy on our souls.

@bostonbeaner > So sleepy. I'm warm when I sleep.

@cabridges > Just posted pics of our day at the beach. Little chilly to swim, but we did anyway. Can't wait for the warm weather to come back, you know? Guys? Guys?

I'm still deep in the "add 5 cool apps, delete 4 after trying each one once, immediately add 5 more" phase of my iPod Touch love affair. My little mini-desktops are constantly spinning with apps that zoom in just long enough to wiggle the others aside before I bore of them and consign them to iTunes hell.

And yet, even with the amazing time-wasting bonanza available to me through the iTunes store — and that's not even counting the new world open to me if I ever hold my breath and jail-break the thing — there are still whole categories of applications I can't find. So, with a hopeful hint to restless programmers who just need a direction, here are the apps I want.

RealTip

I want to enter the total of my dinner and get the amount of the tip. But, and this is important, only after I check off boxes to describe my waitperson's performance, which would then positively or adversely affect the amount of the gratuity. Did she smile and remember everything, but spill ketchup on my wife's head? Was the food present, warmer than room temperature, and more or less on the plate? Were we treated to unwanted dinner theater involving our waiter and his ex-girlfriend-who-still-lives-with-him? Were we left waiting less than the time it would have taken to hunt, kill, and prepare the food ourselves? RealTip should take it all into account and give me a total I can live with.

GeoPerv

Not sure about your new neighbor? Shivering whenever you walk by your new babysitter? Wondering why your date seems so creepy? Snap a surreptitious pic of him and GeoPerv will instantly compare it to the local sexual offenders database (determined by geolocation) and "To Catch a Predator" reruns.

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Kids Need to Read continue in their excellent series of Serenity-based goodies for auction to benefit a wonderful cause. Coming up on deadline today is this Zoe Alleyne dog tag, a limited edition promo item made by QMx, signed by Gina Torres herself at the Creation con.

Kids Need to Read Charity Auctions has a very RARE Firefly/Serenity item for your bidding pleasure. We have a mint condition Corporal Zoe Alleyne Dog Tag signed by Zoe herself, Gina Torres! The dog tag is brand new, made of high-quality metal plate with enamel, and measures approximately 5 cm x 2.5 cm. A black rubber silencer and chain is included.

An item like this does not come around every day, and Kids Need to Read is thrilled to offer you the chance to bid on it! This item was signed by Ms. Torres at Creation's 2008 "Salute to Firefly/Serenity Convention" in Burbank, California.

Hit it quick, kids, it runs out soon.