According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this . . . → Read More: Throwing spaghetti on the wall]]> This post is going to be like throwing spaghetti on the wall: I’m just gonna toss a lot of stuff up here and see what sticks. It worked for Oscar Madison (okay, that was linguini – work with me).

Movie prices

According to Slice-of-Sci-Fi…

The weekend closed out the books for the summer season and while ticket sales were up to $4.35 billion, the highest total ever for a summer season, overall attendance was down. Attendance this summer was 552 million, the lowest total since 1997.

So basically, they’ve raised movie ticket prices to the point where they’re not just making up for low attendance in an effort to stay afloat like the rest of us, they’re gouging us to the level that they’re breaking income records, despite the fact that almost no one is showing up! And they’re still producing mostly crap. That’s just rude.

Websites

Dan, one of the fellow contributors to the Coalition of Awesomeness, has started a new blog called Kids Telly. The blog is meant to provide a perspective on pop culture aimed at kids, including movies, books, TV, music, and kids’ websites. The first website he’s reviewed is a real winner, I think, for the young crowd (Preschool/Early Elementary). Poisson Rouge is a site that kids can use without adult intervention, for the most part, and it’s educational and fun. Here’s how Dan describes it:

The outstanding feature of Poisson Rouge (or Red Fish for any fellow francophonicphobes out there) is it’s simplicity. There are no unfriendly menus, no instructions to follow, and most importantly no need to be able to read to use it. The numerous games are varied, intuitive, and elegant; but above all the site is a great deal of fun.

Check it out if you’ve got young ones… and by ‘it’ here I mean both Poisson Rouge and Kids Telly.

And speaking of the Coalition of Awesomeness, there’s some good stuff going on there as well. For my part, I’ve talked about the failed Babylon 5 sequel, Crusade, plus five other shows cancelled too early, and posited Kermit the Frog as my answer for “who would you entrust the safety of the world?” Later this week (I think) you’ll get to read my defense of a Nicholas Cage film. Check out the site later in the week to find out which one. [Update: here it is.]

While I’m plugging sites, check this out. Amadio Artworks is a great find if you’re looking for unique handcrafted home and garden art. I can’t call myself an expert, but I’ve seen this stuff in person and it’s really, seriously, good. My aunt got this started and sucked in the rest of her family. She’s been in some pretty prestigious art and craft shows and always does very well. Give it a look.

Good comics and bad adaptations

Last night I watched the movie version of The Losers. I had read the comic book about a year ago, and absolutely loved it. Really well done action book that just screamed out to have a movie made of it. It’s one of those rare books that I’d actually read with a big geeky grin on my face like I’d just watched a really good Zorro or Jason Bourne film. The action was great, if a little over the top (though that was part of its charm), and the characters and plot were well drawn. The movie I watched last night was, sadly, a pale reflection of that story. I totally recognize that the length of a movie couldn’t cover all that happened in the books, but this film started at just about mediocre and then went downhill. It wasn’t horrible – it could be enjoyed as a brainless action flick – but it just never pulled it together enough to even be something I cared about. I’d put it right about the same level as Fantastic Four. Skip the movie. Read the comics.

These days I’m reading the The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. I’m on book 4 at the moment, and I’m just now starting to enjoy it. I actually kind of disliked the first book but kept going due to it’s reputation. Books two and three were noticeably better, but I was mostly reading it as mildly entertaining. Book four now is starting to feel more cohesive and worth my time. It’s the first hint I’ve gotten that it might live up to its reputation. I’ve also just read that Warner Brothers is in negotiations to make a TV series of the story. That’s the kind of news that has fans hopeful, but with a huge – almost overwhelming – fear that they’ll screw it up. Honestly, I can’t see network TV doing it justice, even though I’m only about halfway through the story. Maybe something like HBO (who are also mentioned as pursuing the idea) could pull it off, but not a network. They’d have to go too mainstream.

Music

A few nights ago on Facebook someone posted a video of “Birdhouse in your Soul” by They Might Be Giants. I really like that song, and it managed to pull me into a YouTube session for a couple of hours. The last time that happened, I ended up revisiting some of my favorite Homestarrunner.com bits. This time I ended up going a different direction and exploring some of the kid-focused music of TMBG and Barenaked Ladies… and a little Animaniacs. Here are a couple of the highlights:

Here Come the Geese – Barenaked Ladies (I couldn’t find the album version)

Meet the Elements – TMBG

The Alphabet of Nations – TMBG (love the piano)

Nations of the world – Animaniacs (a classic)

There were a lot more in that session, but that’s a decent representation. Fun and educational!

Well, I think that’s enough for now. This turned out to be a little longer than I thought, and didn’t even get to the frustrating Doctor Who news (they’re splitting the next season in half – dumb, dumb, dumb!).

I gotta go clean up the spaghetti I used as the inspiration for this post. In the meantime… what’s on your mind?

That it has a sci-fi theme is just, well… icing on the cake.

There's really too much to take in here

You need to go to the creator’s site and check out the detail . . . → Read More: The best cake I’ve ever seen]]> I’m not even exaggerating. This blows my mind. There are certainly cakes that are unbelievably beautiful (and this is not one of them), but the level of detail on this cake, and the obvious love put into it, is staggering!

That it has a sci-fi theme is just, well… icing on the cake.

There's really too much to take in here

You need to go to the creator’s site and check out the detail on this thing. It’s just awesome. She even includes how she made some of it.

Here’s my favorite example…

Of course he did!

Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Spaceballs, Alien, Doctor Who, V, Predator, Futurama… it’s all there and way more. Simply awesome.

Go check out the rest of the cake.

The topic of the day is Tron, the 1982 movie starring Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, and Jeff Bridges. And of course, Lacy Underalls with huge glasses.

Some of . . . → Read More: Greetings, Program!]]> I mentioned last week that I was a guest on a podcast over at Lee and Dan’s Midnight Movie Club. The show has now been released so head over and listen. You should be able to pick me out. I’m the one who doesn’t have an accent.

The topic of the day is Tron, the 1982 movie starring Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, and Jeff Bridges. And of course, Lacy Underalls with huge glasses.

Some of the topics discussed:

• How marital discord arises in a geek marriage
• Avatar
• Lee’s kleptomania
• “The Black Hole” and Disney’s failure in producing live action movies
• Arcade games, including Australia’s newest sensation, Pong
• Babylon 5 actors
• The aforementioned Lacy Underalls

We also mention Tron a few times.

One thing I’m surprised I didn’t mention in the podcast is that there is one phrase that immediately brings me back to the fun of the film. If someone says, “Greetings, Program!” to me, I instantly feel some sense of camaraderie, and in my head I go back to the last scene of the film, where the good guys have won. It’s cool that a 2-word phrase from a movie that did rather poorly when it was released can engender good will.

Go check out the podcast, and let me know what you think, whether here or over there.

Lee came up with a good Friday Top Five this week. What are the 5 best shows that met an untimely end at the hands of the network suits?

1 & 2: This is a tie for me. Firefly and Crusade were both handled horribly by their respective networks (Fox and TNT), and both were aborted before they even had a chance—Crusade . . . → Read More: The best cancelled shows]]> Top five shows that shouldn’t have been cancelled – Quit Your Day Job:

Lee came up with a good Friday Top Five this week. What are the 5 best shows that met an untimely end at the hands of the network suits?

1 & 2: This is a tie for me. Firefly and Crusade were both handled horribly by their respective networks (Fox and TNT), and both were aborted before they even had a chance—Crusade was even cancelled before it aired. They also both had overarching story arcs that would have been amazing. Crusade had a 5 year plan (as its parent show, Babylon 5, did) and would have taken an extreme turn in the very next episode after it was cancelled. Firefly didn’t have a set time that I know of, but it had an obviously evolving story with a defined end point. When the follow-up theatrical release, Serenity, came out, it was obvious that it was compressing multiple years worth of episodes into its running time. While the movie was great, it would have been so much more satisfying, and a more fully-realized story, to have it all play out over the course of a few seasons.

3: The 4400. It had a great run on USA Network, but it needed to resolve the story. Everything was heating up for the big reveal, and fans were left hanging. I still haven’t quite accepted that it’s not coming back.

4. Journeyman. The only reason this is #4 instead of a three-way tie for #1 is that they found out early enough that they were being cancelled that they wrote a suitable finale. While there was plenty left to sustain multiple future seasons, they managed to make the last show feel like an ending. Thanks for that, at least. Still, it was cut down way too early – and again, handled very poorly by the NBC suits, who didn’t seem to know what to do with it. In their defense, it had a bit of a slow start, but when it started firing a couple episodes in it was top-notch TV. Easily the best show to run last year.

5. The Dead Zone. This one, again, had a good run on USA Network. But just like The 4400, they were gearing up for the big stuff when they got axed. I appreciate that they were kept on as long as they were, but if the writers could have gotten some advance notice of the cancellation, they could have tied the show up properly – even if it had to be rushed into an episode or two.

Honorable mention: Nowhere Man. We’re re-watching this on DVD now. It’s showing its age a little, but I was hooked on this show during its short original run. Again, cut off way too early, but the writers saw it coming and had time to cram an ending into the last few episodes. It felt rushed, but it was good stuff.

Agree? Disagree? What are your picks? Lee has an almost completely different list, but I’d agree they all should have gone on a little longer (except Seaquest DSV… that one had to go. I cringed when it came on.)

An impressive job. He fits a huge number of major points from the show into that song.

For those who want the lyrics, there’s a normal and annotated version.

As a reminder, here’s the early description from JMS, as I reported earlier:

This first DVD, entitled “Voices in the Dark,” covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the . . . → Read More: Babylon 5: The Lost Tales pre-ordering]]> We’ve got a firm street date for the new Babylon 5 movie! In fact, you can start ordering now!!

As a reminder, here’s the early description from JMS, as I reported earlier:

This first DVD, entitled “Voices in the Dark,” covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

I can’t wait.

[tags]Babylon 5, Bruce Boxleitner, Peter Woodward, Tracy Scoggins, JMS, technomages[/tags]

First, we have a tentative release time for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (which I previously posted about in more detail): they’re shooting for a release during the week of July 27th.

For those into seriously trivial information about JMS, he also released a list of his entire video/DVD collection. I didn’t read through the whole list, . . . → Read More: Babylon 5 / JMS updates]]> I just caught up on my JMSNews reading and found a few items I thought I’d point out.

First, we have a tentative release time for Babylon 5: The Lost Tales (which I previously posted about in more detail): they’re shooting for a release during the week of July 27th.

For those into seriously trivial information about JMS, he also released a list of his entire video/DVD collection. I didn’t read through the whole list, but I did scan it. In general, we seem to have similar tastes. Not sure if that’s a good thing…

Answering a follow-up question, he noted that he used software and a scanner to gather all the catalog information. Here’s what he said about the process:

I got this nifty new hand scanner and software that lets me just scan the imdb number on the back and it auto-loads the full info about the movie, takes about a second per dvd, not counting the load-up time online.

Sounds kinda cool. I don’t have nearly that many DVDs, but I know a couple people who could use it.

[tags]JMS, Babylon 5, dvd catalog software[/tags]

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Disc 1 has now finished principle photography. B5:TLT is a series of Direct-to-DVD stories that focus on a single character, or a few, in the B5 universe. Characters are played by the same actors who created the roles in the previous Babylon 5 series (both B5 and Crusade, at least). Creator/writer/director/producer J. Michael Straczynski describes the first offering:

This first DVD, . . . → Read More: New Babylon 5 finishes principle photography]]> J. Michael Straczynski – B5:TLT Pre-Production – Babylon5scripts.com

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales, Disc 1 has now finished principle photography. B5:TLT is a series of Direct-to-DVD stories that focus on a single character, or a few, in the B5 universe. Characters are played by the same actors who created the roles in the previous Babylon 5 series (both B5 and Crusade, at least). Creator/writer/director/producer J. Michael Straczynski describes the first offering:

This first DVD, entitled “Voices in the Dark,” covers the same 72 hour period of time as Sheridan travels on board a Presidential Cruiser en route to Babylon 5 from Minbar for a celebration marking the 10th anniversary of the founding of the Interstellar Alliance. One part of the story follows Sheridan as he picks up an unexpected visitor on the edge of Centauri space, Prince Regent Dius Vintari, and a warning about what will come afterward delivered by the techno-mage, Galen. The other part of the story is set aboard Babylon 5, as Colonel Lochley summons a priest from Earth space to deal with a problem that may have dark supernatural overtones. The two parts of the greater story intersect at certain key plot and thematic points, so that they overlap and complement each other while telling separate, but simultaneous, stories.

The link above includes behind-the-scenes photos from Straczynski’s personal stash, as well as more information about the process and effects.

[tags]J. Michael Straczynski, Babylon 5, B5, Crusade, TV, Direct-to-DVD[/tags]

J. Michael Straczynski, the creator/writer/producer of Babylon 5 and Crusade, has been writing for television for twenty years. He’s been pretty successful at it, too. He doesn’t just write for TV, though. He’s also writing for comics (currently The Amazing Spider-Man, among others), and has published anthologies, short stories, novels, articles, and just about anything else you can imagine. The guy literally writes all but three days of the year, if I remember correctly. . . . → Read More: JMS deluged with attention]]> JMSNews

J. Michael Straczynski, the creator/writer/producer of Babylon 5 and Crusade, has been writing for television for twenty years. He’s been pretty successful at it, too. He doesn’t just write for TV, though. He’s also writing for comics (currently The Amazing Spider-Man, among others), and has published anthologies, short stories, novels, articles, and just about anything else you can imagine. The guy literally writes all but three days of the year, if I remember correctly. Plus he’s extremely active on USENET, where he is known as JMS (or at times, Joe), and is very open and accessible to fans.

He’s very well known in sci-fi/fantasy circles, and in the world of TV scriptwriters, but he’s not a household name. In fact, even within Hollywood he’s apparently not well known within movie studios. TV studios, yes; movie studios, not so much. As a fan of his work, sometimes that’s hard to remember. I tend to picture him as much more visible professionally than he actually is.

Recently, one of his stories, “The Changeling,” was picked up by Ron Howard and will be made into a movie. This is a huge deal for him. Even he was not prepared for the whiplash this caused as his career was catapulted from near obscurity (within the movie world) to A-list screenwriter. As he wrote on rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5.moderated:

And then the offers started. Rewrite offers. Original film offers.
Adaptations. I’ve had no less than one and in many cases two or three
studio meetings every day for the last several weeks, and my calendar
is one big mass of black type for the next four weeks. A big-budget
feature that Sony wants me to rewrite because it has to go into
production fast, one that Universal wants developed, on and on and
on…all I have to do is say yes to whichever ones I want and they’re
mine. Everything I’ve ever written is suddenly being pored over and
optioned.

I have never seen anything like it. I’ve read about this sort of
thing, but to experience it personally is…strange, so strange. The
stuff I’ve had out there before, the novels and short stories and the
like, are all exactly what they were before this…the words didn’t
change on the page, the stories didn’t alter, but suddenly the
*context* in which they are being seen has changed radically.

This is really interesting to me. First of all, it reminds me that not everyone who has their name in the credits of shows or printed on books is “living large” – most are toiling in relative obscurity like the rest of us. Even, oddly, some of the more successful ones. Secondly, it’s an indictment of how fickle and political Hollywood can be. That’s certainly not a revelation, but the end of the above quote does bring it into sharper focus for me. Suddenly, things that have been written for quite some time are getting a whole new level of attention because one guy liked one story, and the author is now getting a whole new level of respect. As he says, the content didn’t change, just the mindset of the reader.

Sadly, that kind of thing goes on all the time, all over the world. If you don’t have a “sponsor” in the corporate world, it’s really hard to climb past a certain level on the ladder. Once you get one, suddenly people start listening to everything you’ve been spouting off about for the last umpteen years. The content of what you say hasn’t changed, just the expectation of the people listening to it.

When you think about it, that’s really disheartening. It implies that your ideas have no value until one of them are endorsed by someone in power. Then, and only then, can you be labled a “genius.” Without that endorsement, you are just some schmuck who has a lot of hair-brained things to say, some of which may sound good, but will ultimately fall on deaf ears and go nowhere.

Hey… did anybody notice that the focus of this post took a wild left turn?

Congrats, JMS. I wish you much success in the wake of your newfound notariety. It’s about time.