Big Action!

Monday Morning Muppets

Muppets Meet Scrubs.

It's a nerdgasm.

One of my absolute favorite bands: the Old 97s.  One of my absolute favorite TV shows: Battlestar Galactica. 

It's like someone got their TV chocolate in my music peanut butter.

Amy P, if you can, please explain in the comments how this glorious thing came to pass.   

Pimpin'

The CIA's former "Q" came by the offices the other day with a very old looking briefcase and a tie decorated with guys in fedoras and trenchcoats. Alas, no rocket-firing ski poles or laser watches. But the gadgets he did bring were pretty cool.

And lo, it was good

So, it's been like a week since I went to the Fox upfront and saw preview clips of the two most geektastic-est new television shows coming your way in the next year, Fringe and Dollhouse.

And that intermittent week -- during which you've no doubt seen a whole bunch of promos for Fringe -- I have to say, my enthusiasm has not diminished. I'm going only on trailer-based impressions (my day-job colleague Daniel Fienberg has read the pilot scripts and offers more detailed analysis), but color me anticipatory (which I think is sort of a melony orange).

Fringe is a J.J. Abrams joint, so: Heretofore lightly known lead actress in a starmaking role: Check. Big-ass visuals: Check. Bigger-ass conspiracy: Check. Greg Grunberg: TBD, but I gotta figure he'll pop up somewhere on an off day from Heroes. The story has to do with boundary-pushing science gone wrong and the G-men and -women trying to stop its spread. It has Pacey and also Daniels (or Abaddon, if you prefer), and the scope and size of the thing look damn impressive.

Dollhouse, you're doubtless aware, marks Joss Whedon's return to TV, under a wholly different regime at Fox than the one that fumbled Firefly. It's about people -- Actives -- who for a price can be engaged to be anyone you want, and whose minds are then wiped completely clean, to the point where they have no identity of their own. Until, that is, one of them (Eliza Dushku) starts to remember things. Already sounds cool, right? Plus, Helo. Downside: Because the pilot started later, it won't come around till early '09.

Still: I'm in.

Priorities

We tried hiring a freelancer to do some work in Northern Minnesota yesterday. Journalists in Duluth, Ely and St. Cloud were very friendly (of course), but all -- and I mean all -- politely turned us down. Why? Fishing opener, of course. You just don't mess with the chance to be out on the lake catching walleye for the first time this year. Heck, the governor even has his own Web page about it (a little on the small size there, gov).

At first this was a joke around the office, but by the end I was starting to get homesick. Out on the lake, a few beers, trying to land one? I'm not working, either. Check out the video on the right side of this Star Tribune page -- oh yeah, they got the minnows and leeches.

Mila FTW

Not many things make me feel less geeky.   Lines for Star Wars movies, comic book ignorance, total lack of math skillz.  So finding out that Mila Kunis not only plays of World of Warcraft (with her ubernerd bf Macauley Culkin?!) but may be a bigger geek than me just kinda makes my day.  Thanks, Mila. I mean that in the nicest possible way.

PS - Macauley plays a character named Home Alone?  The jokes just write themselves.

Meet Ralexander, the most excellent embryo you have ever seen

Meet my new niece, or nephew.* It's too early to tell. Because he or she's only five weeks along. My brother called me at a brutal hour this morning to tell me that there is a new blastocyst in the family, or embryo, or zygote, or proto-fetus, or swimmy baby fish, or whatever stage a human is at five weeks.

My new -- and first -- niece or nephew is coming Jan. 3 or thereabouts. Let me get to the main point: (S)he is already a WORLD CLASS swimmy proto-baby-thing.

If a boy, he will be Alexander. She will be Rachel otherwise. As of this morning, Ralexander is, to me, already swimmier and googlier and more fascinating than nearly anyone else in the United States, and possibly the entire continent of North America. I need to, like, clarify the exact size of the land mass, first thing tomorrow. I'll get back to you with the specifics.

* Dramatization. Actual Gornstein embryo image not available at press time.

“Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?”

Photographer Cedric Delsaux has combined his love of urban landscapes (chocolate!) with his love of Star Wars (peanut butter!).

from Hemmy.net

Watchmarketing... Um, no. Actually not.

I don’t know if anyone else has seen one of these yet, but I think this is the first billboard for Zack Snyder’s adaptation of WATCHMEN.

That would be Rorschach sitting at the bottom there, red tie flapping in the wind. The line is a paraphase of one in his journals.

UPDATE: DAMMIT!

As commenter Heather points out at my blog, that is not a billboard for the Watchmen movie, but a billboard for Frank Miller’s adaptation of The Spirit.

See, this is why I should never drink in the mornings. Especially not with all that cough syrup.

I will point out, however, that the line is still very much like one from Rorschach.

The King of Wakanda Drives a Camry

Since the photo is not great, I'll explain.

The license plate reads, TCHALLA.

T'Challa is the real name of this guy from Marvel Comics:

Yes, I endangered life and limb to snap a photo with my iPhone while driving, just to be able to write this post. That, my friends, is true geek dedication.