Celebrity Videos - "Battlestar Galactica" Goes A Cappella

via press release: BBC AMERICA SUMMER PREVIEW Comedy: The Graham Norton Show, The Inbetweeners, Come Fly With Me, Friday Night Dinner Sci-Fi: Outcasts, Battlestar Galactica Drama: The Hour Non-scripted: Top...

32/Male- Aventura, Florida Love movies and tv shows top 5 shows 1. BattleStar Galactica- New ver. 2. Dexter 3. Walking Dead 4. Sarah Silverman Show

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So-so Internet buzz hasn't put a damper on our out-of-control excitement over 'Battlestar Galactica' mastermind Ron Moore's new pilot, '17th Precinct.' Why?



Well, for one, it's been described as "'Harry Potter' meets 'Law & Order,'" the greatest combination of two separately amazing things since someone first decided to pair chocolate and peanut butter together. Two, the cast list includes 'BSG' alums Jamie Bamber, James Callis and Tricia Helfer, along with 'Smallville' vet Kristin Kreuk and the inimitable Stockard Channing. And three -- wait, you need more incentive to get excited?

Aside from the police procedural of our dreams, here are a few other potential fall series the AOL TV staff can't wait to lay our eyes upon.

 

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So long as it's Battlestar Galactica quality special effects.

The men who helped to create such popular properties as Lost, The Dark Knight, Battlestar Galactica and Heroes are just a few of the people with brand new shows currently awaiting the executioner's axe. The J.J. Abrams-produced show Alcatraz [1], Jonah Nolan's Person of Interest [2], Ronald Moore's 17th Precinct [3] and Tim Kring's Touch [4] are four out of dozens of pilots whose fates will be decided this month as the networks get ready to announce their fall schedules from May 16-19 at New York upfronts. And while it would be easy to assume anything these guys touch would most certainly make it to our television screens, Deadline's sources say that some might not. Read more about the buzz on all those shows, as well as a ton of other upcoming pilots you have been anticipating (Locke & Key [5], Charlie's Angels [6], Wonder Woman [7], etc), after the jump. According to Deadline [8], Fox is all but certain to pick up Touch, Tim Kring's dramatic series [9] starring Kiefer Sutherland as a father whose mute, autistic son can see the future. However two other sci-fi dramas, Locke & Key, an Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci-produced [10] show based on the graphic novel, as well as Abrams' Alcatraz - a mystery starring Sam Neill [11] and Jorge Garcia - have reportedly "cooled off," which is not a good thing. Alcatraz has a better shot of seeing the air though as a minority of executives have a soft spot for it. Over on NBC, the Mad Men-esque Playboy pilot [12] apparently has a good shot of getting the call as does Traffic screenwriter Stephen Gaghan [13]'s Sila. They also have two magical themed pilots including Ronald Moore's 17th Precinct, which is basically a magic themed police show [14]. Apparently, though, another show called Grimm is currently outshining Moore's. Wonder Woman is also on NBC but the pilot is still in production [15] so no one has really made a decision yet. ABC seems to be ready to roll on Charlie's Angels [16] as well as an Edgar Allen Poe themed show called Poe while CBS's has Person of Interest, created by Jonah Nolan and starring Jim Caviezel [17]. The show, about an assumed-to-be-dead-CIA officer who gets hired by a New York billionaire to solve crimes, "reportedly tested well but plays dark" giving it mixed buzz. That's just a small sampling of the shows the networks are considering giving a shot this coming Fall. Head over to Deadline [18]to read about a ton more but first, are there any shows mentioned above you think we won't see? Any you're surprised are on the bubble already? [1] http://www.slashfilm.com/sam-neill-star-jj-abrams-alcatraz/ [2] http://www.slashfilm.com/jim-caviezel-star-jj-abramsjonah-nolan-pilot-person-interest-cary-elwes-joins-wonder-woman/ [3] http://www.slashfilm.com/votd-the-aurors-fictional-harry-potter-tv-show/ [4] http://www.slashfilm.com/kiefer-sutherland-confirmed-star-tim-kring-pilot-touch-24-movie-happening/ [5] http://www.slashfilm.com/nick-stahl-cast-locke-key/ [6] http://www.slashfilm.com/minka-kelly-rachael-taylor-annie-ilonzeh-abcs-charlies-angels/ [7] http://www.slashfilm.com/wonder-woman-rewrite-possibly-lynda-carter/ [8] http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/primetime-pilot-panic-2nd-hot-list [9] http://www.slashfilm.com/kiefer-sutherland-confirmed-star-tim-kring-pilot-touch-24-movie-happening/ [10] http://www.slashfilm.com/nick-stahl-cast-locke-key/ [11] http://www.slashfilm.com/sam-neill-star-jj-abrams-alcatraz/ [12] http://www.slashfilm.com/tv-bits-nbc-orders-mad-menlike-playboy-club-tv-pilot-jj-abrams-eyes-pulp-fiction-tv-series/ [13] http://www.slashfilm.com/lionsgate-buys-stephen-gaghans-action-crime-thriller/ [14] http://www.slashfilm.com/votd-the-aurors-fictional-harry-potter-tv-show/ [15] http://www.slashfilm.com/wonder-woman-rewrite-possibly-lynda-carter/ [16] http://www.slashfilm.com/minka-kelly-rachael-taylor-annie-ilonzeh-abcs-charlies-angels/ [17] http://www.slashfilm.com/jim-caviezel-star-jj-abramsjonah-nolan-pilot-person-interest-cary-elwes-joins-wonder-woman/ [18] http://www.deadline.com/2011/05/primetime-pilot-panic-2nd-hot-list

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"Steve Austin, astronaut; a man barely alive...."

Unless you've been freeze-dried or living on an asteroid for the past 30-odd years, you know that those are the first words to one of the most iconic opening credits sequences in the history of television.

That's right: Hyperbole is free here at stately Ward Manor.

When I was in single digits, The Six Million Dollar Man was the show to watch. Half the kids in my neighborhood -- including me -- were running in slow-motion (only later incorporating that "dih-nih-nih-nih-nih" sound, when it became commonplace on the show). We had the big action figure with the hole in Steve Austin's head you could look through and get "BionicVision" or whatever. I had Oscar Goldman and his exploding briefcase, and even Bigfoot with his bust-out chest panel. I may have had a lunchbox, but I don't remember.

Second only to the original Star Trek, The Six Million Dollar Man was my favorite show on TV back then. I watched Steve Austin go up against all sorts of bad guys, aliens, robots, death probes, and, yes, even Bigfoot. I remember my father coming home from work one evening and telling me there was going to be this new TV show about a guy who was sort of like Superman, but without the cape and costume. I also remember him telling me that the character was at least partially-based on a real incident involving a test pilot surviving a horrific crash.



I don't think the first episode I ever watched was the actual first episode, but I recall being a pretty regular viewer after that. In those days before DVRs and VCRs, if you missed an episode, that was the way it went until a rerun came along, but at that age I really didn't care too much about stuff like that. The show started to fade from being "appointment television" during the fourth season (AKA "Season of the Mustache"), and I think I only watched a handful of fifth season episodes, as I'm sure I moved on to something else that I don't even remember now. By the time the "reunion movies" started in the late 1980s, I'd left home and joined the service, and didn't even know about them until I caught them by accident one afternoon on cable. The Sci-Fi Channel (excuse me, "Syfy") aired the show for a while several years ago, but I only watched the occasional episode. Sometimes I got lucky and caught one that made me remember why I enjoyed the show in the first place. Other times? Well...not so much. That's pretty much the way it goes so far as revisiting movies and TV you loved during childhood, right? Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Ark II? I'm looking at you.

Anyway, skip ahead to March 2011, and my writing partner and hetero life mate, Kevin Dilmore, surprising me with an awesome gift: The Six Million Dollar Man - The Complete Collection DVD set.


For those of you who follow such things -- this set is currently available exclusively from Time-Life, and will remain so until October 2011. It came out last fall, and the price tag made my eyes go all asplodey, though I did cave and pony up the money for the first season, which is also available by itself via Time-Life. I just about soiled myself when Kevin handed me the box set, after which he swore on a stack of Flying Spaghetti Monster hymnals that he did not pay the Time-Life price.

This thing is loaded! Once you get into the box itself (which has an embedded sound chip with the opening narration, and a lenticular picture on the top with Steve Austin running as he's shown in the opening credits), and just like the ad copy reads, the set is crammed full with DVDs containing the original three telefilms which preceded the series, all five seasons (including all "crossover" episodes with The Bionic Woman), the three reunion movies, and even the syndicated versions of the three pilot movies which were amped-up with extra footage to help pad them each to two hour-long episodes for the rerun package. Everything's been cleaned up for DVD; the picture is crisp, the audio is clear, and it looks stupendous on my big-assed TV screen.

Each season comes in its own package, and each contains various featurettes and extras, which usually pertain to the individual season in question. Various episodes have commentary tracks, as well. New interviews with all of the major cast members and behind-the-scenes players are included throughout the seasons, including some great material featuring Harve Bennett and Kenneth Johnson. The sixth package contains the reunion movies, the syndicated versions of the three pilot films, and the really juicy extras including a brand-new 90-minute interview with Steve Austin himself, Lee Majors. All told, the extras come to something like 18 hours of material.

(And if don't believe what I said about the opening credits sequence, then you can all about its utter awesomeness in a 20-minute featurette devoted to its creation. I thought that sounded silly when I read it on the box, but it's actually one of the coolest of the extras, which are already pretty cool to begin with.)

As for revisiting the series, I was surprised at how many episodes I couldn't remember seeing...ever. Most of those were from the fourth and fifth seasons, but there were a few sprinkled here and there throughout the earlier years, as well. I'd seen the original pilot film in recent years, but never the other two (complete with Dusty Springfield opening credits song...youch). The very first episode of the actual series, "Population: Zero," is still among my all-time favorites. The scene near the end when Steve breaks out of the freezer which has incapacitated his bionics, and slowly "ramps up" to full power and speed accompanied not by the familiar bionic sound effect but instead a simple heartbeat that increases in frequency with every passing second, still kicks total ass.

Oh, and not for nothing, but Lee Majors still has the manliest running stride in the history of running men. Steven Seagal? You should be taking notes, dude.

Other favorites from throughout the run? Just from the short first season:

• 
  
• "Day of the Robot," which introduced the concept of evil robot-makers to the bionic mythos.
  
• "Doomsday and Counting," where Steve helps a Russian friend rescue his fiancee from a military installation damaged in an earthquake.
  
• "The Last of the Fourth of Julys," which sends Austin after a terrorist who commands a WMD and is plotting to kill foreign government leaders during a summit.
  
• "The Coward," which sends Steve to the Himalayas when the remains of a WWII-era U.S. military plane are found. His mission is to retrieve top secret documents from the plane, but there's a wrinkle: the pilot of the plane was his father, accused of bailing out of the plane and abandoning his crew.
  

As for the rest of the series, I'm not going to list all the ones I like, love, or at least fondly remember, but suffice it to say that I had a good time burning through the set. Interestingly, I only howled with laughter at Steve's 70s fashion choices once or twice, and my biggest note was about the pacing. I often found myself wondering how some of these episodes would play in today's TV world, with almost 10 fewer minutes within an hour-long slot. In a lot of cases, it was easy to see where parts of scenes or entire scenes would be excised to fit the shorter running time, and the overall pacing of most episodes would be kicked up at least a couple of notches.

(And yeah, we know there are all sorts of problems with the basic concept of a "bionic man," like how Steve Austin can lift a car without his bionic arm tearing away from his not-bionic shoulder, and so on. Hey, guess what? I don't care. This is The Six Million Dollar Man, not the Science Channel, all right?)

Now, just to show that I'm not a hopeless gusher, I'll point out that there are also more than a few episodes which were silly to begin with, and which have not aged well at all. Most of those involve Steve undercover for one reason or another...a magician, a boxer, a dock worker, a roller derby player, and so on. While the first Bigfoot episodes (the 2-part "The Secret of Bigfoot") are fun, those follow-ups are increasingly goofy, as are the various "return of this or that robot" episodes. The fifth season has Steve being launched into space seemingly every other episode, but these are redeemed somewhat by the production's having been able to film at Kennedy Space Center in and around various vehicles, buildings, simulators, and so on.

One side note so far as my overall enjoyment during my revisiting of the series is that both of my daughters got into the show, too. Addy absolutely digs "watching Steve Austin" and giggles hard enough to make me laugh when the opening credits spin up. Though I had to screen a few episodes to make sure they were kid-friendly, on the whole the series is something we can watch together, and doing so has been a total blast. I've also picked up the first season of The Bionic Woman for them to watch (and the second season is coming out in just a couple of weeks as I write this!), and we've been having fun with that, too.


Bottom line? This set rocks, hard. If you're a fan of The Six Million Dollar Man, this set has everything you're ever going to want. Ever.

"Dih-nih-nih-nih-nih."

Mohsin Hamid spent his childhood moving between California and his native Lahore. His response was to develop a fascination with maps and with imaginary islands he could populate with the best of both places

In December 1980, at the age of nine, I moved back to Pakistan for the first time.

We touched down at Lahore, in those less security-conscious days when it was still a place where families strolled to the tarmac to greet deplaning passengers. Ronald Reagan had just beaten Jimmy Carter in the election for president of the United States, the Soviet Union was about to mark the first anniversary of its invasion of Afghanistan, racoon-eyed General Zia-ul-Haq was ensconced in Islamabad as Pakistan's dictator, and I'd lost my Urdu.

It's a funny thing to lose your first language. I was an early talker, chirping along in full sentences and paragraphs well before I turned two, and I have a scar to prove it. In the summer of 1973, ZA Bhutto was campaigning to become prime minister of Pakistan, and I picked up the habit of climbing on to the dining table and holding forth in the manner of the speeches I'd heard him make on PTV: "When I become prime minister..."

One day someone tried to get hold of me and lower me to the ground. I made a run for it, dashed into thin air, fell, split open my head and wound up with blood in my eye and stitches across my brow. (ZA Bhutto's fate would, sadly, be similar.)

The following year I left Lahore, winging via Hong Kong and over the Pacific to San Francisco with my parents. In California we moved into one of many identical graduate student townhouses on the Stanford University campus. Bands of kids ran around and chased butterflies and dashed through the tish-tish-tishing rotating water sprinklers, all barefoot, unsupervised. I slipped out to join them.

My mother heard crying and went to investigate. She saw me in tears at the door next to ours, gazing up at a perplexed neighbour, surrounded by jeering children. My mother took my hand and led me back home.

"Is he retarded?" one of my new playmates asked her.

"No," she answered.

"Then why can't he talk properly?"

"He can. He just doesn't know English."

After that I didn't speak for a month. My parents worried, but they decided I probably just needed time to adjust. So they let me sit in front of our TV, do my drawings and build precariously tall towers with my wooden blocks. And when I next spoke, much to their surprise, it was in English, in complete sentences, and with an American accent.

Over the next six years I didn't speak a word of Urdu. I made friends, went for sleepovers, brought home tadpoles and frogs in jam jars, ran like the wind, played soccer, crashed out on unused beds at grad student parties; camped in tents in national parks, asked what that funny smell was at a spliff-heavy open-air Bob Marley concert, swam in the frigid Pacific, dressed in moccasins and beaded vests, and wrote my first stories – intergalactic space operas inspired by a slew of sci-fi movies and TV shows of the time: Star Wars, Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, Buck Rogers, Space Ghost, Star Blazers, Battle of the Planets.

Meanwhile, my dad did his PhD, my mum worked at the accounting department of an early Silicon Valley electronics firm, my little sister was born, and our battered second-hand Datsun clocked up tens of thousands of miles.

I'd been so fluent in Urdu, and such a talker, that my parents never realised just how completely I'd forgotten the language until we arrived back in Pakistan.

I was thrown into a strange new (old) world of extended families, aunts and uncles, two dozen cousins, cricket, odd-tasting bread, odder-still-tasting milk, only one television channel – and even that only on for part of the day – and an almost complete absence of familiar consumer brands. Here in Lahore there were no Frosted Flakes, Twinkies, Nestlé Quik, Trapper Keepers, Nerf balls, Bactine and No More Tears shampoo.

On my first day in Pakistan, I asked a cousin, "Are these people slaves?"

"No," he explained. "They're servants."

I kept wanting to write to my friends in California but never managed to. What would I even say? Months passed and then it seemed too late. One night I looked up at the stars and thought these were the same stars people over there looked up at, and I cried. It was the only time. Pretty melodramatic stuff. But it passed.

Or maybe it didn't, but it did subside. Besides, I made new friends, learnt new sports, biked around town, found a place that sold model aeroplane kits, another that sold aquariums and tropical fish, and understood – after the first few bruises – that my cousins were actually like brothers and sisters, a classroom-sized clan always ready to chat and play and come unquestioningly to my defence against the outside world.

I liked my new existence, but I'd liked my old one too, and I imagined places where the two could come together. I was a map buff, and for my tenth birthday my parents bought me an exquisite atlas. Pencil in hand, I would create new countries: non-existent Pacific islands with snow-topped volcanoes and tightly packed contour lines, the French department of Alpes-Maritimes as an independent republic (I admired its shape), the Kathiawar peninsula separated from the mainland by a deep canal, a confederacy of midsized city- states scattered across a variety of continents.

I would write the almanac entries for these places, their histories and natural resources and climates and militaries and flora and fauna. And, importantly, their demographics: always mixed, with no clear majority, and significant immigrant groups of Lahori and San Franciscan descent.

This was the creative writing initially inspired by my return to Pakistan. (There was also some poetry, modelled on verses in Tolkien and in Bulfinch's Mythology. "Do you know what a virgin actually is?" my dad asked me upon reading it. "Like a maiden?" I ventured.)

Most of my family and classmates in Lahore spoke English, so I didn't need to fall silent this time. I just started picking up Urdu on the go. Eventually I could tell a joke and sing a song in it, flirt and fight, read a story and take an exam. I could speak without a foreign accent. But my first language would be a second language for me from then on.

English fractured for me too, coming in distinct Californian and Pakistani varieties. (Later, in adulthood, Mid-Atlantic and British English would be added to my mix.)

Sometimes, as a nine-year-old twice transported, the words I heard moved me in unexpected ways, like impressions of half-forgotten sunny afternoons, less than memories and therefore impossible to share.

I wonder now if that is partly why I write, to try.

Mohsin Hamid's The Reluctant Fundamentalist was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2007. His debut novel, Moth Smoke, is now out in Penguin paperback, priced £7.99

Online destinations are vying for ad dollars this Upfront season, but they aren’t the only ones courting advertisers with web original programming. BET today announced its new slate of shows for its 2011 Upfront presentation tonight in New York City. In addition to the Viacom-owned network’s staples - like the Hip Hop Awards and 106 and Park - BET is adding a handful of web sereis to its roster, many of which were created, written by, and star individuals who Tubefilter readers will find familiar. The shows include: Lenox Avenue - A dramatic web series that tells the story of three male friends in their mid-twenties, who are good dressers and busy navigating the rough terrain of love, relationships and careers. Set in Harlem, this series is produced by Al Thompson’s (Johnny B. Homeless, The Royal Tenenbaums) ValDean Entertainment and features Thompson as Owen and Dorian Missick (Lucky Nember) as Sellars. Michael K. Williams and Jamie Hector from HBO's hit series The Wire and Vanessa Bell Calloway of The Closer to make guest appearances. Odessa - A Sci-Fi web series that follows a man and his young daughter, Odessa, who have been on the run for as long as they can remember from the clandestine college university science program that bestowed them with psychokinetic abilities. They must avoid the pursuers at all costs or be hunted down and used as living weapons. Odessa is also a ValDean Entertainment production featuring Thompson, Skai Jackson (Arthur, Boardwalk Empire) as Odessa, Richard Herd (Star Trek), Fullvio Cecere (Battlestar Galactica), Mark Gantt (The Bannen Way), James DeBello (Cabin Fever), and Clayne Crawford (24). Bryan Rolling is Thompson’s producing partner and George Rivera (Rhyme Animal) is his writing partner on the series, while Angel Acevedo (We Need Girlfriends), Jesse Warren (The Bannen Way), and Alex Albrecht (Diggnation) are on board to direct a few episodes. (I told you there were going to be a lot of names you’d recognize!) The Come Up - Equal parts drama and comedy, this series follows the lives of seven teens in Washington, D.C. as they actively pursue their dreams to make it as future music executives, doctors, lawyers, and superstar athletes. But first they have to make it through high school. Set at Silver Spring High School and the Duke Ellington School of the Performing Arts, this show is driven by storylines that focus on the cast's relationships with one other and the dilemmas they face on their path to adulthood. Asylum - A thriller created by Dan Williams and directed by Scott Brown (Blue Movies) that follows a team of doctors as they diagnose and treat patients at the infamous St. Dympna hospital for the criminally insane. Along the way, we will discover intriguing secrets about the staff and learn more about the asylum's mysterious past. Related News:

1. ValDean Entertainment’s One-Two Punch: ‘Johnny B Homeless’ and ‘Lenox Avenue’
2. ‘Asylum’: Scott Brown’s Sophomore Web Series Takes a Dark Turn
3. ‘Asylum’ Opens Its Head Case Hospital, Will It Break Out?

BBC America is sticking to what works best: science fiction with fancy British accents. The network announced premiere dates for two new original series, and both imports have a supernatural twist. First up is "Outcasts" on Saturday, June 18, at 9:00 p.m ET. The 2040-set drama follows the struggles of settlers on the fictional planet of Carpathia after a nuclear conflict forces them to flee earth. It features a familiar faces like Jamie Bamber ("Battlestar Galactica"), Eric Mabius ("Ugly Betty") and Liam Cunningham ("Clash of the Titans"). Don't plan on getting too attached though. The BBC canceled "Outcasts" at the end of its original eight-episode run, so that's all there is.Later in the year, "Bedlam" launches Saturday, Oct. 8, at 9:00 p.m. ET. The drama follows the tenants of an apartment building that's haunted by the inhabitants of its former iteration... a pre-Victorian lunatic asylum. It stars Charlotte Salt ("The Tudors"), Joanna Page ("Gavin &...

The voice cast of the upcoming animated film from directors Lauren Montgomery (Green Lantern: Emerald Knights, Superman/Batman: Apocalypse) and Sam Liu, (All-Star Superman, Superman/Batman: Public Enemies) 'Batman: Year One' has been revealed. One thing that may come as a disappointment to many is that veteran voice actor, Kevin Conroy will not provide the voice for Batman as he has for years in the television shows, 'Batman: The Animated Series,' 'Batman Beyond,' and 'Justice League.' Conroy also did the voice of Batman for Liu's aforementioned animated feature, 'Superman/Batman: Public Enemies' and Montgomery's 'Superman/Batman: Apocalypse.'Suffice to say, it is a little shocking to hear that Conroy won't be the voice of Batman, but given that his tone is that of a hardened, older gentleman and 'Year One' tells the tale of a young Batman, it makes sense. Taking Conroy's place is Ben McKenzie, probably best known for his prominent roles in the television shows, 'The O.C.' and 'Southland.' He has lent his voice to an animated series however, in 'Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated.' Voicing a young Lieutenant James Gordon is Bryan Cranston of 'Breaking Bad' and 'Malcom in the Middle.' Cranston has lent his voice to animation in the past on 'Family Guy,' 'American Dad' and 'Macross Plus,' but he originally scoffed at the notion of playing an integral role in 'Year One.' He admitted: "I wasn't aware of this level of storytelling in animation. I confess that freely. They didn't give the characters the short shrift. I was stunned." Eliza Dushku, best known for her roles in the television series, 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Dollhouse' is voicing Catwoman, the oft love interest of Batman. For a change, Gordon is getting in on the action with a love interest of his own in the form of Detective Sarah Essen, voiced by Katee Sackhoff, who has lent her voice to the animated series, 'Robot Chicken,' and has had roles in live-action series, 'Battlestar Galactica' and '24.''Batman: Year One' is of course based on the comic book story arc published in 1987 which was written by Frank Miller with artwork by David Mazzucchelli. The film is going to be rated PG-13 and is scheduled for home video release this fall. Those lucky enough to attend Comic-Con in July will get a sneak peak. A couple of images from the film have been released alongside the casting news. Take a look at them below.  Source: THR

Great, this is how Biggie and Tupac died.

Throughout my Simming life i have noticed a severe lack of Battlestar galactica simms out there.

So i decided to create my own.

Battlestar Valfreyja is set in the first Cylon war, and is the third of the 12 original Battlestars.

Battlestar Valfreyja uses the Nova 1.2 Simming system. It is a browser based program that organizes characters into rosters and gives members permissions based on their rank and position to Make joint mission posts and even personal logs. In addition to this, Nova also supports PBEM simmers, as an email format copy of every saved post is sent to each user included in the current post. This means that if a post is under construction by several members and contains a plot spoiler it will not be leaked to anyone who is not working on that post.

If anyone is interested in Joining this Simm Please feel free to Visit :

http://www.section31rp.co.uk/valfreyja

Your application will be processed within 24 hours on weekdays however may take longer at week ends (my apologies for this)

Thankyou

Statistics: Posted by Derial — 2011-04-20 06:07

---

Star Trek's Marina Sirtis & Tony Todd At Houston Comicpalooza May 27-29, Reminder! Subspace Communique ... weekend event: Edward James Olmos (Battlestar Galactica), James and Oliver Phelps (Harry Potter movies), Sam Trammell (True Blood), Sean Maher (Firefly/Serenity), Jeremy Bulloch and Peter Mayhew (Star Wars), as well as Marina Sirtis (Star Trek). ...

1 million bashing Cylons in just six weeks

Margo Martindale – If she doesn’t win an Emmy this year there is no justice and no JUSTIFIED. At least this season. Margo is a wonderful character actress whose portrayal of Mags Bennett on JUSTIFIED is so deliciously evil she steals every scene she’s in. And that’s not easy when she’s playing against Timothy Oliphant or that mongoloid family of hers.


Aubrey Plaza – Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones get all the kudos but Aubrey’s deadpan attitude makes me laugh every time. Her timing is impeccable.

Abbie Cornish – Those of you saying “Who?” won’t be saying that long. She starred in LIMITLESS and is just on the verge of breaking out. Beautiful, plays smart, and has a real presence. This was even apparent in ROBOT CHICKEN. Best thing to come out of Australia since the Bloomin’ Onion.

Kathleen Madigan – Just simply the funniest, sharpest comedienne working today. Imagine a female comic whose act isn’t endless Lesbian jokes or crass insults.


Julianna Margulies – They should change the title of her show to THE GREAT WIFE. I love how real she is and how subtle. It’s especially noticeable when she plays opposite Norma Desmond… I mean Christine Baranski.

Carrie Fisher – In between shock treatments she remains wickedly funny.

Julie Bowen – Finally getting the chance to show what a good physical comedienne she is on MODERN FAMILY. And to me she’s sexier than Sofía Vergara. Call me crazy but I’ll take the girl-next-door over Charo.

Nicole Atkins – Singer/songwriter with a voice that’s been compared to Roy Orbison. Her music is sort of ‘60s Brill Building meets David Lynch. Also was excellent in an American Express commercial, which is how I judge all talent.

Teresa Strasser – Heard locally in Los Angeles every morning on 790 KABC but formerly Adam Carolla’s radio sidekick, author, journalist, Emmy winning writer, and host of talk shows on cable networks no one ever watches. Funny in any medium. Has probably appeared on more Countdown Shows than any other human being since the dawn of time.

Grace Park – A stand-out in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, she’s totally wasted on HAWAII 5-0. I don’t know what happened. At first she was this bikini-clad badass action hero. Now she’s been reduced to cross checking fingerprints for McGarrett.

Carolyn Hennesey – Sorry Courtney, I watch COUGAR TOWN to see Carolyn. She makes me laugh way more than you. And I’m sure if I gave a crap about soap operas I would like her on GENERAL HOSPITAL, too.

and finally:


My wife -- so these other girls are safe from me hitting on them. 

Sometimes you'd like to know that there are other MMOs out there, right? It's not all WoW, all the time! Our sister site Massively can provide you with everything you need to know about all of the other MMOs around -- past, present and future.

	RIFT world event fizzles, Trion reevaluates approach Much like World of Warcraft's early attempts at world events, RIFT's first major world event ... didn't go so well. Server queues and intermittent server outages plagued the event, but Trion Worlds has already issued a statement indicating that it is aware of the issues and will use the lessons it learned to forge future events.
	Battlestar Galactica Online passes 1 million player milestone Bigpoint's browser-based Battlestar Galactica Online is a certifiable hit, according to a new press release touting the fact that the title recently surpassed 1 million registered players. The milestone comes a scant six weeks after the launch of BSGO's open beta period and dovetails nicely with the news that the game is getting an engine upgrade as well as new ship content.
	BioWare tackles The Old Republic environment polish, class questions Ever wondered what "polish" entails when it comes to an MMORPG? The word is tossed about on forums often enough, and just as often, newly released titles are lambasted by gamers who feel that polish is severely lacking in some form or fashion. The latest Star Wars: The Old Republic update goes behind the scenes at the Jedi dream factory to give readers an inside scoop on how the developers at BioWare define polish.
	Guild Wars 2's Johanson: MMO class trinity is "tired" ArenaNet is a company with one game to its credit, yet the firm still has the courage to openly challenge Blizzard as well as the rest of the crowded MMO market. In a recent interview, lead content designer Colin Johanson says ANet's success and confidence largely stem from a culture of creative fearlessness.
	LFM: Massively is hiring! Are you passionate about every single MMO you can get your hands on? Do you have a particular skill with the written word? We're looking to expand our ranks with a fresh MMO-loving writer, so if you answered yes to both of those questions, Massively wants to hear from you.
	Massively's week in review Don't let WoW Insider do all of the talking when it comes to Massively's best content of the week. The Massively staff themselves have picked out what they think is the best content their site has to offer in their own weekly roundup.

Filed under: MMO Roundup

MMO Roundup: RIFT world event, The Old Republic polish, and more originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 19 Apr 2011 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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In the world of TV, especially when it comes to genre projects, we often see a few familiar faces pop up in various projects.  It’s these actors that make such a long lasting impression on us due to the performances that they turn in which not only makes the shows they’re on a joy to watch but for some reason or another simply captivates us. One actor that has made quite a name for himself to certain genre fans is Tahmoh Penikett.

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MMO publisher Bigpoint announced that Battlestar Galactica Online, its free-to-play, browser-based MMO based on the SyFy television series, has attracted over one million registered users.

Made available with an open beta six weeks ago, the 3D MMORPG is Bigpoint's most successful launch since its opening in 2002. The firm expects Battlestar Galactica Online's audience to continue to grow as it increases international marketing and partner activities.

The Hamburg-based company notes that it has over 1000 global distribution partners that publish its games on their portals, and that it localizes its titles into 25+ languages with 150+ payment solutions. Bigpoint's catalog brings in more than 250,000 new players each day.

With this milestone, the company announced that it's updated Battlestar Galactica Online's engine to Unity 3.3, a move designed to improve overall stability, as well as enhance special effects and graphics. It also continues to add new content and features to the online title.

Battlestar Galactica Online is co-developed between Bigpoint International and Norwegian MMO studio Artplant. The publisher says it is currently transitioning all design, production, and development to its development branch in San Francisco that was opened last year.

"There is always a risk when you translate a well-known IP into another medium," says Bigpoint founder and CEO Heiko Hubertz. "We built what we believed was a recipe for success; a fantastic gaming experience inspired by an iconic show, with the added benefit of being a free-to-play title."

Don't listen to the naysayers – George RR Martin's Game Of Thrones gets better and better with each episode

This preview blog contains steers clear of big spoilers, but it does contain some information you might not know. If you want to come to Game of Thrones cold, then here's the short version: it's great. For those undecided or just wanting to know a little more, here's a slightly more in-depth appraisal ...

Like a great many others, I'd never even heard of George RR Martin's epic A Song Of Fire And Ice series of fantasy books until a few weeks ago. All I knew of the TV version was that it was a fantasy drama, it stars Sean Bean and it was from HBO. I should point out that I'm not in thrall to that channel: often its output ends up overhyped so that perfectly enjoyable shows like Boardwalk Empire are criticised for merely being very good and not mindblowing. Thus I approached it with middling expectations; six hours later I was completely hooked.

The first thing that impresses is how good it all looks: it really does feel like a movie. Shot on location in Malta and Ireland as well as on colossal sets in Belfast's shipyards, it looks like it cost a lot more than it actually did. It's reminiscent of something legendary production designer Ron Cobb said of his work on Conan The Barbarian: he wanted to make that film 100% historically accurate despite it being set in a time and place that never existed. Production designer Gemma Jackson strikes a similarly authentic note here. They get the dirt levels right too, something very important in sword and sorcery tales. I did read some criticism that the Dothraki (who are cut from very much the same cloth as the Klingons) looked too clean. Well, they look fine to me and just because they're a nomadic warrior tribe it doesn't mean they have to be caked in dirt.

The camerawork and lighting is superb, never drawing attention to itself and offering an impressive variety of moods from candlelit interiors to snow covered woodlands. The Hellboy-ish title sequence should also get a mention; keep an eye on how the map of the land changes from episode to episode as we explore more of Westeros and its surrounds.

Next, the cast. Sean Bean, Mark Addy, Lena Headey, Iain Glen are all familiar, reliable faces. The actors seem to have been chosen not just as safe pairs of hands but as those who deserve meatier roles than we're used to seeing them in. As the drama progresses we also meet Aidan Gillen, Roy Dotrice, Julian Glover and many more. After a while barely a scene goes by without some familiar and welcome face appearing. I think I saw Peter Vaughan in there somewhere and fans of swordplay movies shall be relieved to hear James Cosmo (Highlander, Troy, Braveheart) does, of course, make an appearance. What's great is how the actors bring no baggage with them to their roles; it took me several episodes before I even recognised Jerome Flynn and I'm happy to report he kicks serious ass here. No one really gets a standout big dramatic scene in episode one, but Peter Dinklage as The Imp (the Queen's dwarf brother) comes closest.

The same care is brought to casting the younger roles. Harry Lloyd makes a great, villainous deposed king; Kit Harrington makes a convincing villain. Even younger are Isaac Hempstead as Bran and the revelation that is Maisie Williams as Arya – Williams doesn't have much to do in episode one, but keep an eye on her. At a recent Bafta screeing her fellow cast members were full of stories of how she brought the readthrough to a halt with an early emotional scene or how she, naturally right-handed, learned her swordplay left-handed with no prompting because "that's how it is in the books".

Now for the storytelling, which some reviewers have found problematic. It's easy to see why Boardwalk Empire, Battlestar Galactica and so on go for feature-length episodes to start things off. Game Of Thrones isn't allowed such a luxury; instead the opening instalment, Winter is Coming, has to introduce more than two dozen speaking roles and several locations in under an hour. This clearly proved problematic and what you're seeing tonight is a largely reshot version, with director Tim Van Patten paving over the work done by Thomas McCarthy (Scott Templeton from The Wire). Having seen the first half dozen episodes, I can't think of a single character introduced in part one who isn't later part of some significant event or meaningful exchange. We may not get the full background of the characters, I assume there are pages and pages of this sort of thing in the book, so many expecting a favourite line or scene may come away disappointed. The pilot is a little different in tempo and pacing than what follows, but it does do a bang-up job of setting up the drama.

The high density of the pilot may be the reason some of the early reviews were a little lukewarm, but Game of Thrones gets better and better with each episode. I suppose it's somehow fitting that a show about iron-age people would draw out critics with an axe to grind, but it would be a shame if the fantasy setting put people off. From what I've seen so far, it's all sword and very little sorcery. It's been called fantasy for people who don't like fantasy, but Mark Addy put it better: "It's fantasy about people who don't believe in fantasy." Besides, to us here in the UK, aren't the mean streets of Baltimore in The Wire just as much a fantastical place? I'd go as far as to say the show is a triumph; it'd be a shame to miss out on it due to a deficiency in imagination.

• Sarah Hughes's series blog starts tonight

Filed under: Reality-Free, TV News, Stay Tuned

'Game of Thrones' author George R.R. Martin doesn't regret being a 'Lost' fan.

"I found the ending of 'Lost' unsatisfactory, but I'd still give the series overall high marks," Martin said in a recent email interview.

A week or two ago, when Martin's negative assessment of the 'Lost' finale lit up the Internet and prompted several responses from Damon Lindelof, one of the ABC show's co-creators, I dashed off a note to Martin asking him about the whole kerfuffle.

He was kind enough to reply just before the show debuted on HBO Sunday (my review of that first episode is here). The short answer: Martin enjoyed 'Lost,' up until the end. And at the risk of starting another Internet brouhaha, he added that he wasn't a fan of the ending of 'Battlestar Galactica' either.

A larger question, which he addressed at some length, was how much endings should matter in the final assessment of a TV show. It's a fascinating question, I think, and a Q & A with Martin on that very topic is below.

 

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Image: http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/5628215281_7f35445bcf.jpg Following the latest patch players now have a chance to pilot a Battlestar ship in Battlestar Galactica Online (http://battlestar-galactica.bigpoint.com/). PC Gamer interviewed...

[Duo "Tomorrow Kings from 3A Toys. There more of them, oh so much more…]
DELUSION IS A WONDEROUS THING: Thinking back to my heydays of yore as an "active" 12-inch figure collector, I must have been really deluded. I had "claimed" not to collect "military", when I have in fact a miniature ammo-bunker filled with military uniforms and weapons (of course I exaggerate but you'll be surprised). I had claimed to only collect streetwear and urban styled figures (that much is true tho), and I realized just the other day, I had claimed not to be a "team-builder", and instead promoted the virtues of collecting not more than 2 x similar figures at a time (so you could pose them in the display shelf - one standing and one kneeling with his weapon pointing the other way). - when in actuality, I do and like to build "teams"!

And hey, I even had plans for a hypothetical toyshow (which one day I WILL make happen) - and that works real well with teams! (and of course, "dioramas").

TEAM-PLAYER: And when I mention "team-building", it is specifically catering for 1/6th-scaled figure, which involve making multiples of similar-styled or themed figures which interact within a group dynamic, and not a group of Storm Troopers with differing production ranks - bought off the shelf - that is what I call instead "Collection Building". There is a very strong element of "kitbashing", or even "customizing" involved in team-building, and I do not mean going in a group of folks to summer-camp and taking turns sliding down a rope across trees, no.

OBSESS ME: The thing with "obsessions" (which I embrace and lay claim to now, since I "live" it everyday via my blog and memories of my "collecting past") is that once you admit to it and embrace it, that is one thing less that others have a hold over you. You will never be accused of being "deluded" or "self-delusional", or even "lying". I am obsessed with toys. I Like Toys. I LOVE TOYS!

(Okay, that was my schpeel for the day, the rest is up to you to how to face the world, can't help you more than that buddy!)

[I build so much more fashion / streetwear folks that I no
longer call them "teams", they are literal "neighborhoods" :p]
YOU BUILD, I BUILD, WE BUILD: The thing with "team building, is the tiring but weirdly exciting aspect of amassing the uniforms and similar weapons (of course they were mostly armed!) in multiples (depending on how many in your team), from all over the place (depending on price-point), to cater to a group of figures which represent your hopes and desires for human-kind (okay, that much is a stretch of any imagination, scarily so), with each build up as easy as an online bid or "add-to-cart", or as hard as sourcing for items not necessarily popular to be taken apart and sold - or even "too easily popular", they were be snatched up once they are parted!

PARTING IS SUCH SWEET SORROW: When I mention "parted" or "loose", it literally means parts of a complete boxed-figure (aka "what you can buy off the shell") are taken off and sold separately from the box. The accumulation of the loose-parts are more expensive in cost combined, compared to a boxed figure, but sometimes you DO NOT want the whole box-fig, just the weapon, or shoes, or uniform etc - that's where kitbashing as a hobby, caters primarily to.

Sure, there were days when I thought to myself: "I can buy the whole box-figure, then take out what I want, and sell the rest for a price so I get my loose parts free!" - and that's why I used to lug around a mini-suitcase filled with loose-parts bagged and ready to sell - folks might have thought I was a bootleg DVD salesman instead!

But let it be known that the concept of kitbashing is both an adventurous everlasting hunt, and as well a hair-tearing task sometimes. Ever turn a corner into a shop filled from top to bottom with kitbashed loose parts? Ever discovered an online merchant who was clearing out stock of exactly what you were searching for? Ever had a friend fellow-collector snatch a piece right from your hand and head straight to the cashiers to pay?

u>HERE's an old post about the "Anatomy Of Kitbashing", for alla you folks who missed it the first time around (Disclaimer: Mind you, that was written in 2006 - so some details might have altered, but the principal remains the same).


[Old-skool Marvel comicbook War-buffs might recognize these trio of characters
which I have yet to complete but for a Medusa-headsculpt -recognize them yet?]
HOW MANY IS MANY?: How many is "enough"? Depends on each individual's preference, or tolerance to being poisoned by toys! I am personally stuck with a notion of a 5 or 6-man fire-team configuration, inclusive of a leader-type character, a comms-specialist ("communication"), a demolition-expert (most times off his/her rockers), a sharp-shooter, a heavy-arms specialist and another or two rifleman (blame my military-training for the roles lol). Most times the mix change along with themes, like a robot, a cyborg, a space-ninja etc (yes, I had a "few" teams!), and I heart me ninjas and cyborgs LOL

Figure-type is always an interesting notion for me, with numerous headsculpts fitting particular characters, or prone to customization (which I used to always say, but hell little done about them lol), as well as different body-types from various toy brands. Wouldn't it be boring to have ALL the figures in a similar body-type? Being able to afford them is one thing, but not everyone needs to be kit out in a 38-points-of-articulation-body, innit? IMHO, of course :)

DO I LOOK FAT LIKE THAT?: Sideshow always provided the tall lanky types, while Dragon provided a mixed similar-style of regular non-heavily muscled bodies, of which I could always depend on BBI-G3s for hunky-builds, and even bulky 21st Century bodies gave their awkward charm (I hear *gasps-of-disgust* somewhere behind there…). Never heard of brands beyond Sideshow Toys and Hot Toys? Can't really blame you if you're new to the the hobby in the past couple of years.


[Not exactly 1/6 "adults" but you get the picture :p]
ONCE UPON A 1/6-TIME: In the early-to-mid 2000s, the height of 12" figure collection hit Eastern collectors with an abundance of choice - with primarily Hong Kong-based makers struggling for action figure supremacy, while us collectors lapped it up, and were actually spoilt hard for choice. Those were heady times indeed!

Price-points were extremely compatible that SGD$50 per BBI-box with a foldout spread of weapons, was not unheard of. Imagine a nude body was parted out to around SGD$20-25, while an automatic weapon could go for between SGD$8 to SGD$15. Get a box, right? And so loads of us did, and we had parts to spare - at least I had!


[Pic circa 2006 - don't judge me…]
IT WAS FUN WHILE IT LASTED: Things have changed so drastically thru the years, with beloved companies closing, and generic figure lines stopping production, and choices dwindling down to exclusivity. You might be able to find a Sideshow body loose somewhere, or perhaps even a Hot Toys. But brands like Medicom Toys cater specifically to brands and remain unparted, and the most DID (Dream In Dragon) does is separate the body and the uniform, and nothing else. There are of course other players of 1/6th out there, specifically "non-licensed" characters, which are currently proliferating yet again in the hobby, and with unbridled aplomb, no less! (More on them in another post about 1/6th).

LOOSE BUT PRICEY: For a period of time, certain brands popped up and offered uniforms and equipment, without the figures - Hong Kong brands like Saturday Toys and Very Hot veered dangerously close to Hot Toy's offerings (but without the weathering paintwork) with rumors persisting those days that they were in fact HT-manufacturers gone rogue (nothing would ever be substantiated or proved), until later when they came out with their own jackets and clothing. But they were no longer as affordable as before. And frankly, how many fireman figures would be enough? (Hey, there were considered a team-build too you know?).

QUALITY VERSUS PLAYABILITY: Know that "quality" was pedestrian at best in the "good old days" (compared to the lushness of Hot Toys, Enterbay et al these days) which frankly afforded loads of "play", and the notion and action of "kitbashing" - which aided especially well for the notion of "team-building". The current offerings of three-numbered prices deter the notion of taking figures apart somewhat (not necessarily true, as I have witnessed loads of DX Joker being parted out!), although there no doubt are other constant supporters and purveyors of the hobby on dedicated toy-forums (if which I used to be a fanatic, now no more).


[The name "Bravo-6" does not actually pertain to any until I have had served in while in the army]
INDULGE ME: So instead of yakking about the industry (which you probably already know of by now) - let me indulge on my OWN teams! I had a few team-builds going on: The largest number of folks kitbashed belonged to my Vietnam War-era team of soldiers BRAVO-6 (12 soldiers in all - mostly with different body-forms too / circa 2004), my S.W.A.T. team-turned-urban mercenaries (aren't they all? LOL) - and my S.W.A.T.-team would have been a 6-man team, if not for the advent of B.B.I.'s LAPD-SWAT release (then my boys needed to have a "upgrade" in uniforms - their TUAS uniforms no longer cut it lol).

"Upgrades" = the bane of all kitbashing attempts. Tis either you upgrade your boys with the latest gear, or create yet another team altogether - they can't be mucking about wearing different uniforms tho, innit?

I have a collector-friend, "Edwin", who collected and created meticulously different ranks for his Police Officer series, who all wear the same uniforms in the frist place. Now THAT, is dedication! And every year he holds a "change-over ceremony", whereby his advances his characters, and retires the old ones - now THAT, is team-building and cohesion!

Far be it I am making a mockery of anyone's action, for this is serious business we folks are saddled with, and this is a serious hobby involving time and money, and least mentioned of all: SPACE. (Display Space, in fact). Why have a team, when you can't display them together? (Sadly, I do not have space, but I've always just posed them together, snapped pics and boxed them up together afters anyways :p).


[I actually used to actively source out brown Jedi-robes! Hasbro might have
torrid figure-bodies, but they were the only affordable producers of props…]
A failed team that never got past three figures - that bugs at me until now - is my 3-man "Kerberos Panzer Cops" - JIN-ROH unit (with a female as team-leader, no less!) - featuring armor from Dragon Models (I couldn't really afford multiple Medicoms or Takaras tho), which one fine day I hope to make a 6-man/woman team. And the Jedi and Sith guys (shown above) did not really pan out (but they were blink-n-miss "stars" in a television opening once!)

What I had completed, and actually taken pictures of, were another trio of teams that did not thread the regular stores, for which I want to share with you folks now. You might have seen them before, or you might not (thanks for indulging me this far tho!) - Presenting: SCARLET SQUAD, RED HUNT and NEO-OPERA CLAN.


ORIGIN TOY STORIES: The Scarlet Squad was basically my upgrade of Captain Scarlet from the marionette-based science-fiction TV series of 1960s. I had loved the series (tho memories the actual episodes have faded with time) and had even written/planned up an entire story around the characters. The Scarlet Squad no longer policed the Universe. In it's place, the Darkness reigned supreme, and the squad is now a ragtagcollection of rebels found and recovered from around the outer fringes. Shown just above are "recruitment posters" featuring the series of characters I have amassed and kitbashed so far, including two characters I had featured on this blog before: PRIEST and RAVEN. Ironically enough, the genesis of the series was actually spurred on my a classic "Captain Black" figure I had in my humble collection.


I had actually trawled Ebay for old 12" Captain Scarlet figures, as it was their sleeveless vest I was looking for! Instead of getting someone to sew them for me (or even sew them myself), I bided for each figure individually online and won the ones I have put on my figures! (And somewhere in my boxes, is a series of naked "Captain Scarlet" figures, as well as the cap, and some scarlet boots :p).



As the notion of blogging about toys slowly crept into my lifestyle, I lightened up on the frenzy of collecting (believe you me, calling it a "frenzy" is being kind to myself) and started to concentrate on "story-telling" with my creations - if only to appease myself, and of the need to "create", even if with kitbashed figures. One of this series, was THE RED HUNT - a 6-man zombie-kill-squad squad (brought on by a myriad of zombie movies and comicbooks, no doubt - including Robert Kirkman's "Walking Dead" and possibly "28 Days Later"). I created an overall-synopsis of the story, I made individual character back-stories to the folks, and posted them with aplomb. Response was temperate at best, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself! And if checking out tagged posts on this blog is tiring (circa 2006, no less!), check out my dedicated-hobby blog at http://theredhunt.blogspot.com :)


[FatherX: Christmas-themed group kitbash for a toy-forum competition
for which I missed the dateline - with no particular story besides lol]
Yes, there is a master-plan for ALL of them, and I have had kept them pretty close to the chest, all these years - for fear of "theft", truth be told. And the reality is, they remained as a "hobby" for me, as I had not actively "shopped" them or the concepts around. And hell, they're not all "original" ideas to begin with in the first place. let's not over-kid ourselves and give phantom back-pats to ourselves besides their "creation" (even tho their characteristics resound within me). And why mention them now? Because I no longer want to play with myself .. eerrr… I meant, play with my own toys by myself … eerrr … aaaahhh you know what I mean! :p


One of the last "teams" I had ever built, was the "NEO-OPERA CLAN" (posted here in 2009 / Full-screen slideshow) - featuring a group of assassins themed with Oriental/Chinese wayang masks. "Neo" because I had always envisioned a world of abject commerce built out of desolation (yes, AKIRA is king in my mindscape!), and the guys (and girl) of NEO CLAN did what they did, to survive. And a little bit of Chinese heritage is interesting, for after an age of apocalypse, what would more folks attempt to grab ahold of? Money? A fancy car? Or a sense of past, which foretells their future? This notion I had, derived from reading Brian Wood's amazing DMZ. I had attempted to kitbash the characters of the series tho - but I reckon somethings should remain as they are, and not need to be manifested unto toys or products, IMHO.


[Unfinished series of kitbashes featuring characters from the Vertigo-book "DMZ"]

Thinking back, all of the ideas I had created, were based on characters that I could easily adapt to, or from, a comicbook (I grew up on comicbooks), and as well easily lend themselves to being animated. And perhaps that was what fueled me from the very beginning, the influences I have had - that made me build teams, with 1/6th-scaled action figures being the most accessible and workable or me.

Different people build teams for different reasons, and begin with their own "origin stories". Mine is just my own reason and not necessarily yours (But I am interested to know about yours tho! Can't be just myself geeing out here alone, ya'know? LOL). And as much as folks do share the hobby, it seems to be quite the solidary vocation as well. But know that YOU are not alone! (Second schpeel for the day, tired yet? Heh)

And I've always liked the concept of "teams" = especially a ragtag-collection of dark-horses from around the world, very Samurai 7, Magnificent Seven, Buckaroo Banzai, Star Wars (the early trilogy, not the later torrid prequels) and surprisingly "Battle Beyond The Stars (which affected more so than SW) - and yes, even Akira. The team structure has gone from Robin Hood sensibilities to Lord of the Rings-lore, gained regimentation in Battlestar Galactica and conquered worlds in more sci-fi films then we'll ever give credit for, IMHO.


FLASHBACK: The CyPunkX were perhaps my first ever "team-build" made public, all those years ago (shown here in an exhibition+competition at Heeren). Having debated to creating a singular figure (themed ala Akira, thanks), I had decided to create the four Lords of each Clan living in the same city, which has and is constantly being "developed" (I even had wanted to do a stop-motion series with the concept - so many dreams back then, eh?).

HERE+NOW: These days of collecting 1/6, a lot of emphasis is placed now on "licensed properties", with movie characters lining the road pathed with toy-gold, and folks would buy them and display them straight-out-of-the-box, alongside the "other" characters released from the series. There hardly is ever a need to kitbash anymore (specific hobby forums and hobbyists notwithstanding, of course), or even a "desire" for that fact. And "teams" might well be a small series of figures from the same series. Exceptions to team building come in the form of G.I.Joe or even Star Wars characters (ironically also from movie licenses) where folks can form entire groups or extended Universes, and a ready continous production of military personel (I only get the accessories from the P.M.C.s lol). Figures from 3A Toys had initially rekindled my passion for 1/6th, and they blast their way thru with ideas and concepts from one sole person - a unique abnormally in the arena of the 1/6-hobby.


[Tomorrow Queens by 3A Toys / Photography of Alice Adrenochrome]
WHAT'S IN A WORD?: And the word "kitbashed" was strictly kept in the 1/6-scaled hobby, but seems now it has surfaced as a description for a less-than-perfect custom of an art toy, which should not be the case.

And the word "kitbashed" sounds less satisfying than "custom", it seems. Someone slap a few paints unto a figure and call it a "custom" already - the line is so murky these days, I not longer subscribe to the public notion of, in lieu of my own private explanations.


[Pic circa 2006 - when there was more time for "play"]
IN THE END: But perhaps, besides being a "team-builder", I am also a "kitbasher" at heart. Never an opportunity of "loose parts" miss my attention, and frankly, with the amount I had spent on them, I would easily procure quite a few complete boxes of figures in the first place! But the reality is, they would not have been able to satisfy my need to kitbash, and create a world of my own, populated by characters I actually feel for - individually, or as a team.


And though I am not as "active" as I was in the 1/6-hobby, I have been creating yet another "team" of my own, in the art toy culture: A series of custom toys, all actually belonging to a similar story-concept! Sort of like an extension of the "Scarlet Squad", in colors and intent. Ironically I let them leave my side to go on for overseas shows and being procured by folks with excellent tastes (*cough*). Notice the similarities?

Perhaps I should blogyak less and make more toys, be it as "individuals", but always a space in my toy-lurving hearts for "teams".

The Private Parts of Girls (Salt, 2011) follows Alice down the rabbit hole, Kassandra onto Agamemnon's boat, and Red Riding Hood into the forest: it conjures the most mysterious landscape of all, the mind of a girl – a girl who might be a dancer, a warrior-bride, a transatlantic traveller, the Messiah, sick of being compared to Sylvia Plath, airborne, born in space, or lost in a sunlit feld, discovering love. From Battlestar Galactica to The Clash, the poems mix tart, smart pop culture goodies into the dreamspace of fairy tales, as they take us on a journey – hallucinatory with culture lag – through the mind and body of a modern girl. This is poetry for Buffy fans (and Twilight haters), for readers who grew up with Angela Chase's voice-over for their lives and Air's soundtrack for The Virgin Suicides on their iPods, for everyone who ever wondered if Beauty secretly was the Beast.

Does a Battlestar Galactica marathon out-rank finals? Depends on what kind of nerd you are.

View Image ›

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Film and TV downloads and streaming are on the rise, and there is plenty of cheap (even free) content for you to enjoy

The local DVD rental store has closed down. Music shops that sell DVDs are closing down. Your kids illegally download music and other stuff, but you're not comfortable with that. Is the answer to watch by streaming the film through your computer on to your television, legally, for a price of around £2-£4, or buy it as a download for around £10?

According to the British Video Association, the market for legal downloads of films more than doubled from £35m to £78m in 2010, while rental-style digital services grew in value by £5m to £205m last year

The film industry's hope is that the growing number of legal sites offering affordable (and even free) downloading and streaming of movies will mean consumers will abandon dodgy filesharing sources, which still account for the vast majority of downloads.

"While there are many websites that allow consumers to download and stream films illegally, the internet is full of cheap (and free) legal film and TV if you just know where to look," says a spokesperson for the Industry Trust for Intellectual Property Awareness, the body set up to tackle film and television copyright infringement in the UK.

Where do you start?

Findanyfilm.com lists 33,000 films, and where you can find them as an online download, on sale on DVD, in the cinema or on TV. It alerts you, where possible, to the cheapest source and links you directly to it. Created by the (recently defunct) UK Film Council, Findanyfilm.com works with the Industry Trust and across the industry, to promote legally available films.

You'll find that, once films finish their cinema runs – or TV shows come to an end – some become simultaneously available in all formats: DVD purchase and rental as well as on online download. Others, however, come out first on DVD and only become available to stream or download later, as is currently the case with the Danish cult TV series The Killing – it all depends on individual contract negotiations, according to the Industry Trust.

How to stay legal

Blinkbox.com is the UK's largest movie-streaming website with over 8,000 films and TV shows.

Titles can be bought or rented with some available on an ad-supported, free-to-view basis. Prices start at 39p for the rental of a TV episode and £1.89 for movies, which can be streamed directly from Blinkbox on to Mac, PC, PS3 and through Samsung internet-connected TVs. Each rental movie or TV episode is available for 30 days and, once you start watching it, can be viewed as many times as you like for 24 hours.

Buy-your-own content costing from 99p per TV episode, and £2.99 per movie, can be streamed on an unlimited basis directly to any Mac, PC or PS3 so long as the user is logged in to their Blinkbox account on which all their buy-to-own content is stored in a virtual library.

Lovefilm.com, owned by Amazon, is the UK's leading DVD, Blu-ray and games subscription service, with nearly 6,000 titles available for instant streaming on PC, internet-enabled TV and PS3. Certain advert-supported films can be watched at Lovefilm for free, by members and non-members, while there is more choice for paying subscribers, including pay-per-view where, for example, a more recent release such as The Town costs £3.49, while The Matrix is £2.49.

iTunes.com will sell or rent videos, although on our price test it came out more expensive than others, and, of course, you have to sign up for an iTunes account. The advantage it has is size – the number of movies available to stream is huge. Movies can be played over Mac or PC, iPad and iPhone. You have 30 days from the time of rental to watch your movie, and 48 hours after you've started viewing to finish it. Once the rental period expires, the movie will disappear from your iTunes library.

Indiemoviesonline.com is a video-on-demand site offering hundreds of free movies, documentaries and short films to watch online, funded by advertising. It is committed to supporting independent film and filmmakers by legally acquiring new and classic indie movies, and it currently streams these free in the USA, UK, Canada and Australia. You don't even have to register. You won't find the latest blockbusters or classics on this site but, to give you a flavour of its free content, its most popular five films are: The Auteur (2008); This Girl's Life (2003); One Day Like Rain (2007); Baise Moi (2000); Leon the Pig Farmer (1992).

Seesaw.com is an official source of "catch up" TV offered with its partners BBC, 4oD and Demand Five. It offers over 3,500 of ad-supported free TV shows, which can be watched any time and as often as you want. Current free series to stream include, Friday Night Dinner, The Model Agency, The Inbetweeners and Lily Allen: From Riches to Rags. If you want to watch ad-free TV, you can opt for Seesaw's non-stop service which costs £2.99 a month to receive all the website's free content without commercial ads.

The third option allows you to rent whole series or individual episodes of "premium" programmes at, typically £1.19 per episode. Once you have paid, your unwatched rentals are available for 30 days for individual episodes and 90 days for series. Then, from the moment you start watching an episode, you have 48 hours to finish. Top rentals currently include episodes of Spooks, Doctor Who, Hustle, Battlestar Galactica and House, all at £1.19 each.

Crackle.com is another ad-funded site offering free streaming of movies and TV shows. Operating out of the Sony Pictures Entertainment's studio in Los Angeles, its titles change regularly and it offers mainstream content, but the choice is limited. The site's most popular five films are Groundhog Day (1993), The Karate Kid (1984), The Three Stooges Meet Hercules (1962), White Nights (1985) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977).

If you want to download a lot of movies, you'll need an internet service provider that's fast, reliable and won't penalise you for heavy downloading. And you won't be able to burn the download on to a DVD for later viewing.

For viewers who would prefer to watch their downloads on their TV screen, some sites including Blinkbox and Lovefilm provide useful guides on how to hook up your laptop to your TV and which cables you'll need.

The main alternative to this is to sign up to either Virgin Media or BT Vision and watch on a pay-per-view basis.

Virgin Media's Movies on Demand service typically charges £3-£4 for a movie (on top of whatever Virgin Media subscription package you take out) with higher rates for HD.

BT Vision's On Demand service sells films on a pay-as-you-go basis from £2.50, although recent blockbusters are more likely to be around £4, while rentals last 24 hours. You need to be a BT Broadband customer.

To get an idea of how rental prices may vary, we searched prices on iTunes, Blinkbox and Lovefilm to stream a handful of current and classic films. The results can be seen in the accompanying table.

Bigpoint has announced that its freemium browser-based Battlestar Galactica Online MMORPG has acquired over 1 million registered users in its first six weeks of operation, making it the company’s most successful launch since its founding in 2002. The game is based on the Syfy television series produced by Universal Cable Productions and features 3D graphics [...]

Kara
Stephanie says: I foster a few litters a year and perform trap-neuter-release whenever I get the chance. Kara was a stinker from the day I met her! She was a spunky little single orphan at the shelter. She was always very confident and knew what she wanted. She was also a HUGE snuggle lover… :-) She was named Kara after Kara Thrace on Battlestar Galactica. She slept curled up tight with me at night and during the day curled up with my resident cat, Mr. Eko, aka "Papa Eko." He fosters too and tends to all young kittens in the house.

Kara was adopted and I get emails every year on her birthday from her mom. I love hearing how she is doing. The most recent email said: So it's Kara's second birthday, and I thought I'd send you a little update on her cuteness! We moved to a 10th floor apartment, so she now has a wide view of all the surrounding rooftops and their pigeons. What fun it is in the morning to sit at the window and chatter at the birds below! She has a new favorite thing ever, which is a bird-on-a-string-attached-to-a-stick toy called Da Bird. Kara and her sister, Hazel, are still great playmates. They have daily romps and battles, tearing all around the place. Total Goof. Funniest Cat Ever. Sweetest little honey pot. She sends you purrs and nose rubs on her birthday.

Bonus videos of Kara here, here, and here

Courtesy of: Stephanie S.

The ones from the 70s, that is...

While the Cybertrek Cool Watch looks like the sort of time piece that we'd wear sometime in the future, it also smacks distinctly of Sci-fi gone past. Namely, it reminds us on Pocket-lint of the eye of a 1970s Battlestar Galactica Cylon - the big metal ones, not the sleek fleshy ones that look like super models or that bloke from?Quantum?Leap.

There's one catch (in addition to the one around the back that fastens the strap), you're going to have to swap geek cool for the ability to tell the time.

That's not to say that it's not possible to figure out the current time: The 12 blue LED lights signify the hour, a further 12 red LEDs signify minutes in 5 minute increments, and four lights in the centre signify the minutes in those incremental steps. Just add them all up and bingo, you've got the time. Easy peasy. Erm...

Anyway, strapping this bad boy to your wrist is more of a statement than a practicality, and at least you'll be able to see your way around in the dark. Probably.

The Cybertrek Cool Watch is available from US retailer Gadgets and Gear for a (currently) discounted $69.95 (?42.75) with International shipping to the UK at around $25 (?15.28).

At least you won't need to fork out for a replacement battery anytime soon though, the long-life LEDs are expected to run for 100,000 hours before the 2 CR2016 batteries?need changing. Crikey.

Tags: Watches Gadgets Gadgets and Gear Cybertrek Cool Watch Battlestar Galactica

     

Look like a Cylon with the Cybertrek Cool Watch originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:31:40 +0100

Mark Sheppard (Battlestar Galactica, Supernatural), who will in the near future be better known to us as Canton Everett Delaware III in the Doctor Who Series 6 premiere The Impossible Astronaut/Day of the Moon, has had a nice long chat with American newspaper The Baltimore Sun (no relation to the unlinkably evil tabloid of a [...]

... Galactica, Firefly), Tahmoh Penikett (Battlestar Galactica, Dollhouse) and Daniel Hendry, Chris Lien, John Tenney & Savahanna Lien Wise (Paranormal State: The New Class). The auctions will run until Sunday, April 23. Special thanks to C2E2 volunteers Jack Chiu and Enrique Robles for gathering the signatures. For all the details, complete list of signatures, and to bid, visit...

Source : MediumAtLarge.net

Explore : Broadcasting and Entertainment

Composer Bear McCreary of Battlestar Galactica and The Walking Dead fame provides an insightful look at how he scored SOCOM 4s soundtrack and why he believes it will take video game music to the next level.

There are plenty of reasons to be excited for Ron Howard's planned "The Dark Tower" adaptation, and now here's another one to add to the pile. "Heroes," "Battlestar Galactica" and "Falling Skies" writer/producer Mark Verheiden has been tapped to co-write and produce the planned NBC TV series segment of "Dark Tower" along with producer Akiva [...]

The Battlestar Galactica prop and auction catalog from 2009, itself a work of scifi art and history! The Battlestar Galactica prop and auction catalog from 2009, itself a work of scifi art and history! $19.99

Dave Filoni, Supervising Director of 'Star Wars: The Clone Wars', has revealed in an interview with Entertainment Weekly that Katee Sackhoff will be adding her voice talents to the show. Filoni stated she will be voicing a "memorable" character in the fourth season, which will begin airing this fall on The Cartoon Network.

Sackhoff is beloved by the current generation of sci-fi fans for her role as Starbuck on 'Battlestar Galactica'. Filoni claims that fans will be "very pleased with the the character she portrays". The Clone Wars animated series continues to raise the bar in terms of scope and production value for hardcore Star Wars fans, casual fans and children alike. Adding the voice talents of impressive actors like Sackhoff should only prove to continue that trajectory.

As fans of programs like The Walking Dead and Battlestar Galactica can tell you, award-winning composer Bear McCreary knows how to evoke emotion with his music.

Image: http://www.blogcdn.com/www.joystiq.com/media/2011/04/gambearmccrearyconducting530.jpg (http://www.joystiq.com/2011/04/13/bear-mccrearys-socom-4-soundtrack-now-available/) If you've ever listened to and, as a result, fallen in love with the soundtracks to Battlestar Galactica, Dark Void or...

Mark Verheiden has penned everything from "Battlestar Galactica" to Superman comics. He'll be teaming with Akiva Goldsman on the NBC series that's just one part of a big, giant thing.

Eu sei que os fãs de Battlestar Galactica vão ficar com raiva de mim depois deste post, mas fazer o que, né? O objetivo do Blog de Brinquedo é mesmo deixar seus leitores babando de vontade! A Viper Mark II Artisan Replica é uma miniatura com “qualidade de cinema” feita em escala 1:18, com 45,7 [...]

Mark Verheiden is a name that has been known in geek circles for years. I first ran across his stuff when he was scripting comics like the Aliens series for Dark Horse over twenty years ago. Since then he has become a steady scriptwriter for television, with many episodes of Battlestar Galacitca, Smallville and Heroes under his belt, among others. He's a co-exec producer on the upcoming Falling Skies, and now he's been tapped to work with Akiva Goldsman as co-writer and exec producer on The Dark Tower. Deadline [1] reports the news, but doesn't have a lot more info. For those who have been less than enthused about the idea of Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman being the point men on The Dark Tower, however, having a Battlestar Galactica vet on board might provide some solace. But he wasn't the writer on some of the best Galactica episodes, and then there is Heroes. So, for me, this adaptation of The Dark Tower continues to stand as a gigantic question mark. It is a mammoth undertaking [2] that will cross film and TV boundaries in ways that have almost never been attempted, and while Ron Howard and Akiva Goldsman have had great success doing a certain sort of film, I'm not convinced they're the guys to make The Dark Tower work. Javier Bardem is a much stronger actor than I ever expected they'd sign [3] to play the Gunslinger, however, so that is a huge check mark in the 'plus' column. What are your thoughts about this project, given the details we know? Does it seem like something that has a fighting chance, or is it more ambition than anything else? [1] http://www.deadline.com/2011/04/mark-verheiden-to-co-write-ep-nbcs-dark-tower-series-with-akiva-goldsman/ [2] http://www.slashfilm.com/ron-howards-the-dark-tower-tv-series-hour-miniseries-bardem-mortensen-actors-considered/ [3] http://www.slashfilm.com/javier-bardem-talks-the-dark-tower/

Mark Verheiden will join Akiva Goldsman as co-writer of the multi-tiered film and television adaptation of Stephen King's The Dark Tower , Deadline is reporting. Envisioned as three films and a television series (to star the same cast), the project will bring to the screen King's fantasy epic that spreads across seven published novels. Ron Howard plans to direct the first part of the series and would at least oversee the rest of the massive adaptation. Verheiden, who has written for "Smallville", "Heroes", "Battlestar Galactica" and many more television series, is the co-executive producer of the upcoming "Fallings Skies". He will also executive produce The Dark Tower alongside Goldsman. Casting is still underway for the...

The first season finale of Syfy’s Being Human rose 17% to deliver 1.7 million viewers (1 million adults 18-49). That makes Being Human the network’s best winter series since Battlestar Galactica in 2005. While over on Showtime, The Borgias grip on Sunday nights loosened a bit for the Showtime drama’s second episode. The historical series

EXCLUSIVE: TV, film and comic book writer Mark Verheiden has been tapped to co-write with Akiva Goldsman the NBC TV series The Dark Tower. The project is part of a massive joint deal Universal Pictures and NBC Universal TV Entertainment signed back in September to turn Stephen King’s opus of best-selling novels -- which have sold more than 30 million copies -- into into a feature film trilogy and a TV series, both of them creatively steered by the Oscar-winning team behind A Beautiful Mind and The Da Vinci Code. Verheiden will executive produce the The Dark Tower series with Goldsman and his Weed Road Pictures as well as Imagine Entertainment's Ron Howard and Brian Grazer for Universal Media Studios. As previously announced, Howard will direct the series, which is envisioned as a bridge between the first and second movie in the trilogy. This marks Verheiden's return to NBC and UMS following his turn as a supervising producer on Heroes. He also was a writer/co-exec producer on the NBCU series Battlestar Galactica, which ran on Syfy. He most recently served as a co-executive producer of TNT's upcoming sci-fi series Falling Skies, from DreamWorks TV. Verheiden, repped by CAA and Untitled, is also in business with DreamWorks on the feature side, developing Quatermain for the studio, as well as Ark ... Read More »

As fans of programs like The Walking Dead (http://us.playstation.com/games-and-media/shows-and-tv-series/season/the-walking-dead-season-1.html) and Battlestar Galactica (http://us.playstation.com/games-and-media/movies/battlestar-galactica-1978.html) can tell you, award-winning composer Bear...

Ladies and gentlemen, put down your baseball gloves. Slide off your shinguards. Toss your pucks and basketballs in the dumpster; you'll never want to use them again. Because today is the day you learn about Kronum. Oh you haven't heard about Kronum? Well then you must be a complete sap because literally TENS of people are talking about it and whether or not it's actually real. Check it out...

 

 

See there's this field. But it's a circle. And each team puts 10 players out on it. Then there's a zone shaped like a cross, a zone shaped like some triangles, another zone for something else, uh…I don't know. To be honest I zoned out a bit because there are like 50 different zones. Then you've got your four goals, except each goal has five MORE tinier goals worth different points at the top of it. Oh and anyone can score in any goal at any time, apparently.

This is starting to look more and more like one of those ridiculous sports they make up for movies or television shows, like "Pyramid" in Battlestar Galactica, where you watch them play it and think "This requires greater suspension of my disbelief than spacefaring battleships. No one would willingly play a game this obtuse and disjointed." Seriously. There are like eight different scoring options. Umpires can't get calls right in baseball, and there's only one way to score: you touch home plate. Good luck finding a ref who can differentiate between the myriad scoring zones and goals on the fly. Every time someone scores there will be a 20-minute pause as players examine their field's Zapruder film trying to retrace their steps to figure out who was where when it happened.

But now they're doing it for real. Allegedly. To be honest their website is suspiciously slick and shiny and filled with ridiculous "team bios" that include information like "Have you ever seen the man in the moon? Check your eyes. It's an owl." Uh, what? Was this written by a C-list professional wrestler? There's also no way we can find to see where these clubs actually are. Sure it's a small league and they're probably all based in the same suburb or whatever, but it's kind of weird.

But now they're starting a Rec league and looking for people across the country to sign up and spend your weekends wondering when 19 more people are going to hear about this ridiculous made up sport hurl the Kronum ball or whatever you want to call it.

So let us know in the comments; would you play? What would your ridiculous invented team sport look like?