[via Poe TV]
[via Poe TV]
Full Disclosure: I gave up watching Heroes shortly after the Season 3 premiere. You can read those links to see why. It's not pretty.
But even so, I admire those fans that have stuck around through the hard times. Fan dedication is something not to be trifled with or belittled. Unfortunately, Heroes creator Tim Kring doesn't feel the same way.
From an IGN interview, Tim Kring says:
"[Serialized storytelling] is a very flawed way of telling stories on network television right now, because of the advent of the DVR and online streaming. The engine that drove [serialized TV] was you had to be in front of the TV [when it aired]. Now you can watch it when you want, where you want, how you want to watch it, and almost all of those ways are superior to watching it on air. So [watching it] on air is related to the saps and the dipsh*ts who can't figure out how to watch it in a superior way."Wow. Just...wow. This is the thanks his fans get for sticking it out. Nice job, Kring.
The article continues:
Kring said no final ending for Heroes has been conceived, noting, "We didn't have an island to get off of." On top of that, Kring noted that "My original idea was more of an anthological vibe to it, where you regenerate the characters."So, now what he's saying is the show got away from him. Still don't see how that's the fans' fault. If anything, he should retire himself from television and leave it to people who can handle the job and won't belittle the fans that make it a hit. It's not their fault he couldn't keep the ball rolling.Kring explained he had thought they could almost completely replace the characters each season, remarking, "I was primarily fascinated by the origin story. Once the original story is over, and the character has no more questions about what's happening or existential drama, then the questions become just about plot, and then it becomes harder for me personally to connect to."
However, Kring continued that, "The problem is you run into a whole series of issues, where show and business run into each other. The network falls in love with characters, the audience falls in love with characters, the press falls in love with characters. And it's contractually hard to get people onboard for a brief period." As a result, Kring said, "You find yourself writing for characters you thought would be gone."
I wonder how many fans will still stick around after this love bomb?
The music isn't too bad, but I'm not sure I like the CGI look they have here, although having never seen Astro Boy in either its anime or manga form, I can't really say if the 'cartoony' look is fits the show (aside from the the fact that anime has its own look and feel). I can say the trailer does nothing to get me excited about the movie.
If you're interested in seeing the first episode of the 2003 version, it's embedded after the jump!
Okay then, we can say, at least according to this version, the 'cartoony' look fits just fine. I'm assuming the other stylistic devices of anime will be removed for Western audiences.
2. William Shatner is terrible at funerals.
3. William Shatner really does love Spock.
This kinda verifies this and this, doesn't it?
4. William Shatner is quite the ladies' man [via Poe TV]
Check out the wardrobe @1:05. Nice tank top, Bill.
5. William Shatner knows how to handle a woman
(Apologies for the crappy quality...but believe me, you're not missing much)
Not bad, but at this point, having read all the books, I'm just not as interested in the movies. My kids seems to have lost some interest in them as well. And is it just me or are the actors becoming too old to look like teenagers? Better hurry with the last films before arthritis strikes the cast...
Next up is the new Christmas trailer for The Spirit.
We have a 'The Rock' sighting! Dwayne Johnson is starring in Race to Witch Mountain. What emotion! What acting! Seriously, what acting?
The Mayan long count calendar turns over in 2012, which has lead many to prophesize the end of the world. Smelling an opportunity to turn apocalyptic fear into money, Roland Emmerich (ID4) put together the 'feel good' disaster epic of 2009, 2012. Watch the teaser, if you dare.
Start an online genre magazine that commissions writers to write stories, and then lets fans pay for the commission. Think of it as a reverse Radiohead album release. In this case, Cherie Priest writes the pitch for the short story, which is listed as a commissionable project. There is a price listed for commission, and fans are given a Paypal account into which they can donate to get the story written--as much or as little as they want to pay. The faster the commission is met, the faster the story is published. Under this system, writers can earn a decent word-rate for short fiction, because the writers set they word-rate. We also harness a little wisdom of crowds on the selection side, turning the audience into the editor.Sounds like a good idea to me. But then again, I once owned a pet rock.Once the story is paid for and published, it's free to be read. Period. No restrictions. If you're a cheapskate (like me) you can just hang out and wait for someone else to pay the freight. If you're a total fanboy (like me) and would pay good money to see a great pitch from a favorite writer fulfilled, you'll donate a fair amount to speed the cause. Moreover, if the site gives you badges, banners and buttons that let you promote the story commission on your site (and does the same for the authors), and combines that with some "ask your friends to donate" e-mail/Facebook/Twitter interfaces, every fan becomes a promoter.
[via Laughing Squid]
Trooper that he is, he remains in good spirits and is is live-blogging the experience to a small degree.
We all wish you a speedy recovery, Toby!
Now you go do the same.
REVIEW SUMMARY: For best results, ride the waves of the plot and don't dip your feet into the waters of detail.
BRIEF SYNOPSIS: John Bandicut and his crew are the last hope to save the galaxy from destructive hyperspatial gravity waves.
MY REVIEW:
PROS: Non-stop action; fast-paced; large scale sf-nal ideas.
CONS: Flat characterizations; a secondary plot thread seemed unnecessary; it took me half the book to "learn" how best to read it.
BOTTOM LINE: A good space adventure that I suspect I would have enjoyed even more had I read the prequels.
Science fiction set in space is usually characterized by lots of action sequences and big ideas. Sunborn, the fourth book in Jeffrey A. Carver's Chaos Chronicles series, is no exception. It follows John Bandicut and his crew, a band of exiled adventurers who are expecting a well-deserved rest after the events of the previous novels, who soon discover that a vacation is not meant to be. The way station to which they are suddenly diverted is subjected to hyperspatial gravity waves that are getting stronger and threaten countless planets in the galaxy, including Earth. Bandicut and his team are enlisted to travel to the source of the disturbances and find a way to stop them in order to save the galaxy.
As you might tell, Carver is telling his story on a huge canvas. Accordingly, the book is overflowing with big sf-nal ideas that are worthy of its scope. It successfully incorporates sentient stars, traveling in n-space (a hyperspace dimension that allows super quick travel and also offers some too-convenient protection), a ship that morphs to accommodate any size or layout (though, much to the chagrin of its passengers, lacks any offensive weapons), translation-stones that are used to facilitate communication between any number of characters (including aliens and the aforementioned sentient stars), artificial intelligences that drive the ships, suns
