http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30853

ScoreKeeper here with sad news. Veteran film and television composer Shirley Walker passed away Wednesday evening after suffering a brain aneurism. She was 61.

Shirley Walker is probably most well-known for her scoring contributions to the television series “Batman: The Animated Series” (1992-95), “Superman: The Animated Series” (1996-00), “The New Batman Adventures” (1997-99) and “Batman Beyond” (1999-01) as well as her outstanding original film scores for MEMOIRS OF AN INVISIBLE MAN (1992), BATMAN: MASK OF THE PHANTASM (1993), ESCAPE FROM L.A. (1996), FINAL DESTINATION (2000), FINAL DESTINATION 2 (2003), WILLARD (2003), and FINAL DESTINATION 3 (2006).

Shirley had a long relationship with Danny Elfman serving as his conductor for SCROOGED (1988), BATMAN (1989), NIGHTBREED (1990), DICK TRACY (1990), EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990) and ARTICLE 99 (1992).

She also worked extensively with Hans Zimmer as both an orchestrator and conductor on a host of his films including BLACK RAIN (1989), BIRD ON A WIRE (1990), PACIFIC HEIGHTS (1990), BACKDRAFT (1991), TOYS (1992), A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992) as well as TRUE LIES (1994) and JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995) for Brad Fiedel.

Damn. I have her scores to Batman: Mask of the Phantasm and Escape From L.A., and have always been impressed with them; the opening theme to Mask of the Phantasm is hands-down one of the best superhero themes I’ve ever heard, and John Carpenter has said that her arrangement of his theme to Escape From New York was “always the way he wanted the theme to sound”.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/4354104.html

SHREVEPORT, La. — A masked gunman walked into a gas station and demanded money, apparently not noticing that the line at the counter included a uniformed police officer.

L.J. Scott, a member of the Police Department’s armed robbery task force, told the would-be robber to put his own hands up.

It’s criminals like that who were the basis of one of my favorite comedy-type books: America’s Dumbest Criminals. After all, criminals done in by their own stupidity just never get old… :-)

http://www.hcnonline.com/news.cfm…rfi=6

A Caney Creek High School dad is fired up because the Conroe Independent School District uses the book “Fahrenheit 451” as classroom reading material.

Alton Verm, of Conroe, objects to the language and content in the book. His 15-year-old daughter Diana, a CCHS sophomore, came to him Sept. 21 with her reservations about reading the book because of its language.
“The book had a bunch of very bad language in it,” Diana Verm said. “It shouldn’t be in there because it’s offending people. … If they can’t find a book that uses clean words, they shouldn’t have a book at all.”
Alton Verm filed a “Request for Reconsideration of Instructional Materials” Thursday with the district regarding “Fahrenheit 451,” written by Ray Bradbury and published in 1953. He wants the district to remove the book from the curriculum.
“It’s just all kinds of filth,” said Alton Verm, adding that he had not read “Fahrenheit 451.” “The words don’t need to be brought out in class. I want to get the book taken out of the class.”
He looked through the book and found the following things wrong with the book: discussion of being drunk, smoking cigarettes, violence, “dirty talk,” references to the Bible and using God’s name in vain. He said the book’s material goes against their religions beliefs. The Verms go to Grand Parkway Church in Porter.
“We went them to go after God,” said Glen Jalowy Jr., Grand Parkway Church youth minister. “We encourage them that what you put in your mind and heart is what comes out.”

…

Alton Verm’s request to ban “Fahrenheit 451” came during the 25th annual Banned Books Week. He and Hines said the request to ban “Fahrenheit 451,” a book about book burning, during Banned Books Weeks is a coincidence.
“Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read” is observed during the last week of September each year, according to the American Library Association Web site, www.ala.org. The week celebrates the freedom to choose or express one’s opinion, even if it might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them, according to the Web site.
Jerilynn Williams, Montgomery County Memorial Library System director, said Banned Books Week keeps the public aware that it is imperative to have access to information in a democratic society. Banning books causes libraries to limit access to information by withholding a person’s right to explore a wide variety of opinions to form their own opinions, Williams said.

And people wonder why Louie said he wanted to get the hell out of Conroe as quickly as he could… *shaking head and walking away*

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060829/NEWS24/608290360/-1/NEWS

COLUMBUS – An Ohio legislative panel yesterday rubber-stamped an unprecedented process that would allow sex offenders to be publicly identified and tracked even if they’ve never been charged with a crime.

No one in attendance voiced opposition to rules submitted by Attorney General Jim Petro’s office to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, consisting of members of the Ohio House and Senate.

The committee’s decision not to interfere with the rules puts Ohio in a position to become the first state to test a “civil registry.”

The concept was offered by Roman Catholic bishops as an alternative to opening a one-time window for the filing of civil lawsuits alleging child sexual abuse that occurred as long as 35 years ago.

A recently enacted law allows county prosecutors, the state attorney general, or, as a last resort, alleged victims to ask judges to civilly declare someone to be a sex offender even when there has been no criminal verdict or successful lawsuit.

The rules spell out how the untried process would work. It would largely treat a person placed on the civil registry the same way a convicted sex offender is treated under Ohio’s so-called Megan’s Law.

… wow, that’s nice. Let’s go ahead and punish someone even though we couldn’t convict him in a criminal trial! (And yes, being on one of these registries is a punishment.) It disgusts me how civil courts/law is being used to trump the “beyond a reasonable doubt” stipulation of the criminal courts. Just like civil forfeiture laws, this punishes the legally innocent.

This is just another reason why I say I love the concept and idea of America, but the reality horrifies me…

http://trekmovie.com/2006/08/28/star-trek-tos-gets-redone-with-new-cgi/

Before JJ Abrams gets to bring the TOS era back to the big screen in Star Trek XI, CBS Paramount has a secret plan to get it back on the small screen, but with a makeover. Over a month ago it was announced that CBS was selling a new broadcast TV (not cable) syndication package for the original series. At the time it seemed a bit odd to try selling a 40 year old show to local TV stations, especially after it has just been sold to yet another cable outlet (this time TV Land…home of retro TV). The Trek Movie Report has now learned from trusted insiders, that CBS Paramount are actually offering an HDTV enhanced version of the Original Series with new state-of-the art CGI visual effects.

The ‘new’ Star Trek
Details are still being finalized, but ccording to sources, the bulk of shows will be as originally shot, with the new effects limited to the space sequences and the opening credits. In addition, TrekMovie.com has learned that some of the music is being redone (presumably for the opening title sequence). There are conflicting reports on exactly how many episodes are getting the ‘enhanced treatment’, but is possible that it is not all 79 original episodes. This also does not seem to be linked to the recent announcement for the Original Series to begin airing on TV Land in November, they will be showing the classic series in it’s original form. No word yet on if or when the enhanced series will be available on DVD, BluRay, or HD-DVD, but it appears that the newly enhanced shows will first appear in broadcast syndication this fall (so check local listings!). So far the Trek Movie Report has not been able to get an official comment from CBS Paramount, but TMR hears that an announcement from them will be coming very soon.

Granted, this is a rumour, but it would be very interesting if they did it. It sounds like all they’re changing are the space FX shots, and not changing anything involving the actors; if they did, I probably wouldn’t mind picking these up on DVD. I don’t mind updated effects shots. It’s when they start screwing with the story (Greedo shooting first, anyone?) that I start getting annoyed.

http://www.gateworld.net/news/2006/08/cooper_isg-1i_will_go_on.shtml

Don’t count Stargate SG-1 out just yet. Though SCI FI Channel has cancelled the long-running series (story), the show’s producers are hard at work looking for a new outlet for the story to continue, executive producer Robert C. Cooper told GateWorld exclusively.

“As far as the future I can’t comment yet because nothing has been confirmed,” Cooper said. “What we want to emphasize is that the franchise is not dying. SG-1 will go on in some way. We’re just not ready to announce how.”

A formal announcement from the studio and the network is expected later this week.

Cooper also emphasizes that, though emotions are running high among Stargate fans who have just learned the news, it is important to keep the show’s ratings strong throughout the remainder of its run on SCI FI. “What’s most important is that fans don’t take out their frustration with SCI FI by not watching,” he said. “In fact, what they need to do is watch both SG-1 and Atlantis LIVE and make sure the ratings stay strong.

“That helps prove to other outlets that might be interested in SG-1 that the show is still as strong as we think it is.”

Well, that’s a good sign, at least. I guess all we can do now is wait and see…

http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?category=2&id=37607

SCI FI Channel confirmed that it will not renew its record-breaking original series Stargate SG-1 for another season, but will pick up its spinoff series Stargate Atlantis for a fourth year. SG-1 aired its 200th episode on Aug. 18, and the SF series is the longest-running SF show on American television.

SCI FI issued the following statement on Aug. 21: “SCI FI Channel is proud to be the network that brought Stargate SG-1 to its record-breaking 10th season. Ten seasons and 215 episodes is an astounding, Guinness World Record-setting accomplishment. Stargate is a worldwide phenomenon. Having achieved so much over the course of the past 10 years, SCI FI believes that the time is right to make this season their last on the channel. SCI FI is honored to have been part of the Stargate legacy for five years, and we look forward to continuing to explore the Stargate universe with our partners at MGM through a new season of Stargate Atlantis.”

Well, damn. Granted, an 11th season was already signed by MGM, but there’s no telling whether they’ll just buy out the contracts of those involved or shop the show to another network. Ah, well… maybe they’ll do us a favor and resolve the Ori storyline before they go out…