Justice Alito’s first order of business? Ruling on the un-Constitutionality of the legislative branch, I’m figuring.
I’m glad to see both of New York’s Senators (Clinton and Schumer) voted against Alito’s confirmation.
Month: January 2006
Well, the first casualty of the upcoming WB/UPN merger has happened: Rockne S. O’Bannon’s Cult:
It is understood that Cult, which was ordered by departing WB entertainment president David Janollari, does not fit the programming needs of The CW, which are different from those of The WB, the trade paper reported.
Yet their Aquaman pilot — which I can’t imagine will be sustainable over the course of a series — is going ahead.
I don’t know if Cult would be any good. (O’Bannon’s at least partly responsible for Farscape, but he’s also partly responsible for Seaquest DSV.) However, its subject matter does sound like a very good match for the current WB, so I’m wondering just how different the new combined network will be.
The studio does apparently plan to shop the show around next year, so it’s maybe not completely dead.
Tom Cruise was nominated worst actor in this year’s Razzies for his role in War of the Worlds. I think that’s unfair. The movie has its faults, and it’s certainly arguable that Cruise himself is miscast, but I think he received the worst actor nod simply because he’s an easy target and has been in the news a lot lately. That’s sort of held up by the fact that Worlds wasn’t nominated in any other category — and by Cruise’s two nominations in the Razzies’ new category, Most Tiresome Tabloid Targets.
Oh, and the Razzies website has some of the more annoying banner ads I’ve seen recently.
Saturday linkpharm (it’s science!):
- 18 Tricks to Teach Your Body from Men’s Health [via]
- Penguin webcam and shark webcam, courtesy of the Monterey Bay Aquarium [via]
- Speaking of sharks, Jacques Cousteau’s grandson’s shark-shaped submarine:
Cousteau calls the sub Troy, in reference to the mythical Trojan horse statue, in which Greek soldiers were spirited into the fortress kingdom of Troy.
The idea for the sub, though, came from a slightly more prosaic source.
Troy was inspired by Tintin, a Belgian comic book character. On the cover of the book Le Trésor de Rackham le Rouge (published in English as Red Rackham’s Treasure), Tintin and his dog are pictured in a metal, shark-shaped submarine. [via]
- We’ll pause for the giggling now: New rings and moons around Uranus [via]
- The Perfect Nap? — my very limited experience trying this does suggest the very short “nano-nap” is the way to go. [via]
- The SidewaysBike [via]
- Researchers discover largest prime number [via]
- 1945 Popular Science article about silicone rubber, including silly putty* [via]
- The coelcanth in danger? [via]
- Nintendo’s holodeck prototype (video) — hard to judge now, but a neat indication of things to come [via]
- All the words in the English language that be spelled using chemical symbols [via]
- Early man hunted by birds? [via]
And just in case you wondered what 250 pounds of Silly Putty looked like all together…
I just got some spam about how I can send spam out anonymously. “Send Your Email Ads To 2,000,000 Real Prospects Every Month Without Receiving A Spam Complaint!”
God in heaven, they’re recruiting.
I also got a message with the subject header “3D Bingo Like You’re Never Seen.” I’ve never seen any 3D Bingo. I wasn’t aware such a thing existed. Were you? Is this like virtual reality bingo, for like shut-ins or something? Can’t go to the bingo parlor or church social — well, now you can interact in cyberspace in real-time with 3D Bingo. (Guaranteed almost as good as most things in 3D, which is to say not much good at all, really.)