http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051204/NEWS/512040352/1001

Most of the jokes practically write themselves.

Groans gave way to laughter as soon as it became apparent that the thing wasn’t coming down and, within moments, the jokes started.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/11/30/27788.shtml

Doctor Who to get Stateside release.

Doctor Who: The Complete First Series will be released across America on 14 February and the content will be identical to the box set which was released in the UK last week.

WOOHOO! :-)

Normally I wouldn’t post about a show I don’t watch, but this caught my eye…

http://chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/3489102.html

HI, Crab Man!

Steeples, who writes, directs and acts in indie film and does the occasional stand-up gig, also is a Klein Oak High School graduate, class of 1992. After a trip to Brazil to shoot a documentary on world peace, he stopped by his mother’s home in Spring last week to catch up with family — he’s the oldest of eight children — and friends.

I also graduated from Klein Oak High School, class of 1992. I have no idea WTF this guy is; I had never even heard of him before this morning. Granted, the senior class was 500-something people, so I wouldn’t have known EVERYONE, but this just kinda threw me.

Meh… it’s just something I found really odd.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4454738.stm

President George W Bush tried to make a quick exit from a news conference in Beijing on Sunday – only to find himself thwarted by locked doors.

President Bush tugged at both handles on the double doors before admitting: “I was trying to escape. Obviously, it didn’t work.”

http://www.oag.state.tx.us/oagnews/release.php?id=1266&PHPSESSID=i2evl9j02aohc2r1hgeol9csl5

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today sued Sony BMG Music Entertainment as the first state in the nation to bring legal action against SONY for illegal “spyware.” The suit is also the first filed under the state’s spyware law of 2005. It alleges the company surreptitiously installed the spyware on millions of compact music discs (CDs) that consumers inserted into their computers when they play the CDs, which can compromise the systems.

“Sony has engaged in a technological version of cloak and dagger deceit against consumers by hiding secret files on their computers,” said Attorney General Abbott. “Consumers who purchased a Sony CD thought they were buying music. Instead, they received spyware that can damage a computer, subject it to viruses and expose the consumer to possible identity crime.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/news/cult/news/drwho/2005/11/10/26933.shtml

Doctor’s deadly foe gets updated for 2006

Originally created by Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis, (also the creators of Doomwatch), the modernised version have been superbly redesigned by Edward Thomas’s design team and Neil Gorton at Millennium FX.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Lazzo

Mike Lazzo is the head of comedy programming at Williams Street Studios, the company that makes the Toonami, Miguzi, and Adult Swim programming blocks on Cartoon Network. Lazzo started out running Cartoon Network when it was simply a place to show cartoons from the Hanna-Barbera library, after Turner purchased it. In 1996 when Turner and Time-Warner merged he lost control of Cartoon Network and moved over to working for Williams Street. He is commonly and usually incorrectly credited as the creator of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, The Brak Show, Tom Goes to the Mayor, Stroker and Hoop, 12 oz. Mouse, and Squidbillies, among others. However he did help to create the show Space Ghost: Coast to Coast. Lazzo, along with Cartoon Network Executive Khaki Jones, helped restart Home Movies on Adult Swim after the show had been cancelled on UPN. Because the shows under his control have been so popular, he holds a lot of weight in Adult Swim’s decisions. As a senior vice president of Adult Swim, Mike Lazzo has reportedly generally favored creating or acquiring new comedy shows over creating or acquiring anime-style action cartoons. This has been shown in his refusal to acquire the rights to air Excel Saga and publicly-known hatred of The Big O.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_O

Recently, it has been revealed that the series is in fact unfinished. The production crew wished to create a third season to tie up the loose ends and finish the series, as per an option on the contract between Cartoon Network and Sunrise, but the head of Adult Swim Comedy, Mike Lazzo, supposedly became jealous of Big O’s ratings on Sundays compared to his programs and threatened to quit if Big O was continued. As a result, Cartoon Network demanded they instead create an ambiguous ending to Season 2, refusing to fund a third season.

My respect for Adult Swim has gone down dramatically since reading this. I was one of the ones who loved The Big O, and had wanted to see a third season to clear up what the hell happened in the last episode. *grumblemutter*

http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117932196&categoryID=13&cs=1

Steven Paul’s Crystal Sky Pictures has bought the rights to long-running Konami vidgame franchise “Castlevania” and has set helmer Paul W.S. Anderson (“Alien vs. Predator”) to adapt and direct.
Paul and Crystal Sky president Benedict Carver will produce along with Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, who are partnered in Impact Pictures.

Pic will focus on the origins of Dracula and the uprising of the Belmont Clan, a vampire-slaying family who supposedly become humanity’s last hope.

I’m going to give Anderson the benefit of the doubt for now. True, his Alien vs Predator was poorly implemented. However, I liked Event Horizon and Mortal Kombat, and I didn’t think Resident Evil was the steaming pile of dogshit everyone seemed to think it was. It could definitely be worse: Uwe Boll or John Leonetti (the director of Mortal Kombat Annihilation) could be directing it.

Then again, I’m not really rabid about it because I’ve never played any of the Castlevania games. If I get a Nintendo DS, I’ll change my mind, but until then… *shrug*