The House of Batiatus is on the rise, basking in the glow of its infamous champion Gannicus. Poised to overthrow his father and take control a young Batiatus will freely betray anyone to ensure his gladiators are in the highest demand. With his loyal and calculating wife Lucretia by his side, they will stop at nothing to deceive the masses in this audacious prequel to “Spartacus: Blood and Sand.”
Premieres Jan 21st 10pm e/p only on Starz.
Spartacus: Gods of the Arena – Trailer
HBO Documentary Films: If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise Trailer
HBO and Spike Lee present an all new 2 part HBO Documentary Film Event, “If God Is Willing and Da Creek Don’t Rise.”
One of the most fucking depressing and utterly shattering documentaries I have ever seen. What the fuck America?!?!?!?!?!
The Human Spark
“For 11 years, I was the host of the public television series Scientific American Frontiers.†That’s the familiar voice of Alan Alda, star of stage, screen and science. Now Alda is hosting a three-part public TV series about you. And me, and all of us. “We’ll be trying to get to the bottom of what makes us human. Trying to find that thing we’re calling the ‘human spark’.â€One way to examine us is by looking at what’s almost us. “We’ll be checking in with our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees, to find out how the tiny difference in our genes, just 1 percent, makes such a huge difference to who we are and what we can do. Chimps are smart as a whip, but they’re not us. Why aren’t they?â€
The Human Spark debuts on PBS Wednesday, January 6th, with episodes two and three on the following Wednesdays, the 13th and 20th. “We can’t promise we’ll find the human spark, but we can promise that looking for it will be fascinating. And it may change the way you think about who you are.â€
–Steve Mirsky
Scientific American
More at Chedd-Angier-Lewis
I really like Scientific American, both the shows and the magazine. It’s one of the better ones for non-science people and Alan Alda has fun with it (he’s been the host for many of their series). I’m hoping this one will be worth it also.
Say Goodbye to Free Online Television
On Monday (1/4/10), public interest groups called on federal authorities to investigate a plan by the largest cable, satellite and phone companies that threatens the future of Web-based video. “TV Everywhere” gets programmers like TNT, TBS and CBS to keep their content offline unless a viewer also pays for TV through a traditional company like Comcast or AT&T (phone companies are starting to offer TV service, too).
TV Everywhere is designed to protect the current cable TV subscription model and block competition from upstart online video ventures like Vuze, Roku and Hulu.
Cleverly marketed as a consumer-friendly product, TV Everywhere is really a desperate bid by old media giants to crush the emerging market for online TV. Cable giant Comcast
just became the first company to launch TV Everywhere under the brand “Fancast Xfinity,” and the other dominant cable, satellite and phone companies have announced plans to follow suit.
At its core, TV Everywhere is about ensuring consumers don’t cancel their overpriced cable TV subscriptions that provide companies like Comcast with huge profits ($6.7 billion in 2008 alone.) But the current scheme also prevents competition between existing TV distributors. Instead of being offered to all Americans, including those living in Cox, Cablevision and Time Warner Cable regions, Fancast Xfinity is only available in Comcast regions. The other distributors plan to follow Comcast’s lead, meaning that the incumbents will not compete with one another outside of their “traditional” regions.
Steven Seagal: Lawman
A new Real-Life series that will chronicle martial arts expert and international film star Steven Seagal’s extraordinary life in law enforcement.
NO!
Fox News graphics department has shaky grasp of Mideast geography
Media Matters.org
Egypt is now Iraq? Fox News fails once again.
Top Gear’s Stig revealed?
The Stig, a mystery driver who tests high-performance cars on Top Gear, has been “revealed” as Michael Schumacher.
The seven-times Formula 1 champion dressed as the show’s famous driver and removed his helmet during an interview with presenter Jeremy Clarkson.
However, an appalling driving performance by Schumacher at the end of the show cast doubt on the “revelation”.
Clarkson told viewers: “I don’t think Michael Schumacher is the Stig”.
The presenter had earlier revealed in his column in the Sun that Stig’s identity would be a “staggering surprise” to viewers.
“As a television moment, it’s up there with Neil Armstrong walking on the… corpse of JR Ewing,” he added.
Earlier, a BBC spokesman said: “As Jeremy said, in tonight’s Top Gear Stig will remove his helmet for the first time.”
I don’t think it was for real – it was good fun and nice to see Schumacher playing along
Peter Lawton, What Car? magazineAfter the show, a BBC spokeswoman would not confirm whether or not Schumacher was the genuine Stig, or a stunt to mark the first episode of a new series of Top Gear.
“You have to bear in mind that Top Gear is an entertainment programme. We never reveal who or what The Stig is,” she said.
But fans of the show remain unconvinced as to his identity. One fan, James2001, wrote on a Digital Spy forum: “You’re very gullible if you believe it really is him.”
Another fan, Mijath, said: “People’s fascination with the identity of The Stig mystifies me. Tonight’s unveiling was always going to be a joke, and a brilliant one it was.”
Peter Lawton, consumer editor of What Car? magazine told the BBC he thought it was “a nice publicity stunt”.
“I don’t think it was for real – it was good fun and nice to see Schumacher playing along,” he said.
He also said he knew who the real Stig was, but added: “My lips are sealed.”
Perry McCarthy, a former Formula 1 driver, was the original Stig, wearing black overalls for his appearances.
He left the show in 2003 – when a “new” Stig, dressed in white, took over – and later disclosed his identity in an autobiography.
Sons of Anarchy Revs Up Season 2 with Henry Rollins
Sons of Anarchy will kickstart its second season with Henry Rollins playing a deadly new threat to the SAMCRO motorcycle club.
The actor and Grammy-winning musician has been tapped for six episodes of the FX biker drama.
“Henry will bring his intensity and muscularity to this complex part,” said Nick Grad, FX’s executive vice president of original programming. “We look forward to seeing him inhabit this role.”
Rollins was the lead singer of L.A. hardcore punk band Black Flag, and later formed The Rollins Band. He hosted the Independent Film Channel’s The Henry Rollins Show and has appeared in films such as Bad Boys 2 and David Lynch’s Lost Highway.
Sons of Anarchy’s second season begins production in Los Angeles on April 23.
Great news for one of my favorite TV Shows. Rollins will fit in great.
Puulaahi">
HBO Miniseries The Pacific Trailer
Executive produced by Steven Spielberg and from the creators of “Band of Brothersâ€, The Pacific is a a 10-part HBO mini-series which tells the intertwined stories of three Marines, Robert Leckie (played by James Badge Dale), Eugene Sledge (Joe Mazzello) and John Basilone (Jon Seda), during America’s battle with the Japanese in the Pacific during World War II.
Produced on a budget of more $150 million, and shot on location in Australia, the series follows (from an early press release) “The extraordinary experiences of these men and their fellow Marines take them from the first clash with the Japanese in the haunted jungles of Guadalcanal, through the impenetrable rain forests of Cape Gloucester, across the blasted coral strongholds of Peleliu, up the black sand terraces of Iwo Jima, through the killing fields of Okinawa, to the triumphant, yet uneasy, return home after V-J Day.â€
I\’ve been waiting for this for a long time. There is no official date for the series run, but the interweb\’s seem to think sometime around Dec 09. I expect this series to be as good as Band Of Brothers.
Popeye’s copyright to expire in January
Britain’s Telegraph reported this week that Popeye the Sailor, the beloved comics strip and cartoon character created by American cartoonist Elzie Segar, will become public domain in the European Union beginning January 1, 2009. E.U. law protects copyright for 70 years after an author’s death, and Segar passed away in 1938. — Comic Book Resources > CBR News: Popeye To Be Public Domain in Europe
Fucking WIN! maybe after popeye becomes cool again, the big companies will realize that copyright is just a hindrance to creativity?
riiight.
Despite ad woes and DVRs, CBS says network model is peachy
Despite ad woes and DVRs, CBS says network model is peachy
Despite falling ratings at the major US TV networks and a rise in the use of digital video recorders, CBS boss Leslie Moonves says that network television is still a great place to be, even though there seems to be lots of evidence to the contrary.
Last time I watched cable tv was November 4th, 2008. Last time I watched CBS was back in the mid-90s. I simply hate having to constrain myself to the time frames that the cable box gives me and would much rather enjoy my favorite programs on my schedule, not theirs. God bless Hulu/PlayOn/X-Box and U-Torrent/MiniNova.
Man charged in attack on Momoa
GateWorld – Man charged in attack on Momoa
Stargate Atlantis co-star Jason Momoa was assaulted at a Hollywood cafe last Saturday, November 15, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
Momoa needed 140 stitches to his face during reconstructive surgery.
Holy craps. I had no idea that Momoa was a bar fighter. That picture is of Momoa btw, he plays a “bad ass” on Star Gate : Atlantis, and comes off as a mildly retarded ex boxer most of the time. I blame that on the ST:A writers though, Momoa seems like a pretty cool guy in the ‘real world’ stuff that I’ve seen of him.
Recent Comments