Catsup, Ketchup... Catch up

Well, the week finally came to an end, and here we are. Remember earlier in the week when I said I had 11 web links I wanted to post and discuss?

Yeah, it's more like 20 now.

Now, posting them up individually would give us only a fine mess 'o blog clutter, so, in one fell swoop, here's the "HH Week In Review."

• Interesting article from Wired.com about the hidden cost of biofuels. Just goes to show how complicated the human relationship to the environment is. There truly is no easy answer...


• Sodium is awesome.


• The WGA (Writer's Guild of America) Strike is the big news in LA this week. Every day, riding my bike to work, I passed the picketers at the Universal Studios gate and gave my support—except for Friday, when 3500 (!) were picketing at the Fox lot, which is, of course, my old neighborhood. Here is an excellent look at what this strike is about, plus a great call to action regarding the studio heads of old. Corporate pros and marketing heads just aren't the same kind of mavericks. Also, as he so often does, Jon Stewart gets it right.


• Here's another bit of entertainment news I really hope is true. Not only is the idea of a new—and skilled—writer picking up the Spidey franchise exciting, but also the tease of a leaner, meaner story. Fingers crossed.


• I really want to get excited about J.J. Abrams Star Trek, as I'm a fan of "Alias," "Lost," and Mission: Impossible III. But the casting has been... to be generous, shall we say, uneven:
  
  
  
  • Zachary Quinto as Spock? Not too bad, as Quinto is one of the best (and most consistent) aspects of "Heroes." Still, I'd have preferred Cillian Murphy.
  
  
  • (Relative) unknowns as Uhura, Chehov, and Sulu? Not very exciting, but they'll probably be fine.
  
  
  • Eric Bana as the evil Romulan bad guy? Unexpected, but probably awesome. Of course, his character's name is Nero, showing once again that Star Trek is quite good at taking the Roman Empire metaphor very literally.¹
  
  
  • Simon Pegg as Scotty? Double-take worthy, totally weird, but Pegg is Pegg, so totally awesome. Or so, at least, I hope.
  
  
  • Chris Pine as Kirk? Meh. No, you haven't heard of him, and neither has anyone else. Might be good, but I want charisma and presence. Kirk's got to be exciting and infectious. There's a reason those Matt Damon rumors kept on swirling—he's got the right kind of energy. This is risky casting, but nothing compared to...
  
  
  • Karl Urban as McCoy! This is, simply put, wrong. Don't mistake me; I love Urban. His work as Eomer in The Lord of the Rings is excellent, and he played one hell of a gritty assassin in The Bourne Supremacy. Hell, I even dug him in Pathfinder, which is a truly terribly movie.² But as Bones?! Sorry, too meaty, too tough. Not enough of a thin, cranky old man, even as a fresh-out-of-the-Academy Star Fleet cadet. Ouch. Again, I'd rather see Cillian Murphy in the role.
  
  
  • Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike, the Enterprise's first commander. I love me my Greenwood, and he looks like an early-Starfleet era captain Right on.
  
  
  • Winona Ryder as Amanda, Spock's human mother. What?! Does she even work anymore? Last time I saw her was as the most dissapointing android ever in Alien: Resurrection. I'm not sure I buy her as anyone's mother, let alone a wise-beyond-his-years half Vulcan. Weak.
  
  
  • Rachel Nichols as... maybe Yeoman Rand, maybe Nurse Chapel? Either way, this gets classified as "awesome," because (A) She's charismatic and cool, and (B) She grew up in Augusta, Maine, and graduated from Cony High School a year or two before me. If she ran track, we were at meets together. Cool.
  
  
  • This is a picture from the set this week and that looks an awful lot like "House, M.D."'s Jennifer Morrison. Who is she? Is it her? Dunno and dunno, but if it is, she could be up for the same roles as Nichols, and it would also be awesome, as she is great on "House."
  
  See what I mean about uneven? Smaller roles are somewhat interesting, and then bigger ones range from "okay" to "Are they smoking crack?!" Here's hoping J.J. can really pull this together with a fantastic production... but given that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are writing this, and they wrote this summer's abysmal Transformers adaptation, I'm starting to feel worried... But this teaser, done right, could do a lot to prove to the fans that this crew has got the right attitude, and is creating a film that has the right vibe. I can't wait to see this trailer.


• Speaking of Star Trek, here's a review of the outline for the Star Trek Prequel Rick Berman tried to make. Worth the read as a Trek-worthy glimpse at the alternate reality we could have had, had this film been made. Not that is sounds perfect, but a real Trek war story, written by one of the "Band of Brothers" guys, going back to the adventure and discovery roots of the original Star Trek? Count me in.


• NYTimes Deputy News Editor Philip B. Corbett talks the Times, language, grammar, and writing, all structured as a Q&A with readers. Great piece.


• Following the language thread, this is hilarious. For non-readers, Dinosaur Comics uses the exact same picture everyday, and just changes the words. It may take a while to get in the groove, but once you do, you may never stop laughing.


• With new Kubrick DVDs and HD discs coming out this week, people have been posting about his work. I followed a few links and came across this. Yes, it's 20 years old, but I'd never heard of this theory. You know what we call this in film school? Reaching.


• This is my morning bus stop when I take the bus to work, as I did the Monday this ad went up. That is the building I look at while I wait on the other side of the street. And I noticed this building before the article came up, I just took a full week to blog it myself.


• Tracy found this, and it's damn good.


• I've caught up on Heroes, and have been watching Season 2, which had mostly sucked. It fact, these 6 or so episodes are so bad, series creator Tim Kring is publically apologizing. Weak.
  
• These are wicked cool. And here you can see the real equipment Lucas used in 1977.


• Also, these pumpkins rule. I should have submitted this two years ago.


• I love wine, and I know some sommeliers, so I can attest that at least some of them know what they're doing. This is still hilarious, though.


• Tracy just discovered Katie Herzig, who's pretty cool. She really likes the song "Sweeter Than This," which you can listen to by going to the "Music" tab, and selecting the track.
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• Go see American Gangster. It's great.

Check out this editorial on the format war. This guy is very optimistic about the situation, and brings up many good points, especially regarding the general publics understanding of HD and how to optimize it. I think the format war is far more negative than he lets on, but he's still worth checking out.

• If you look at Amazon.com's page for Ocean's Thirteen, you can watch previews for two special features I onlined: "Masters of the Heist," and "Vegas: An Opulent Illusion." I even picked out the clips that play as the previews. So that's pretty cool!

Phew! So glad to get all of that out of the way! Maybe now you can see why, when it piles up and I get just a little behind, it starts to get much harder to even post a short bit. But, being all caught up, I intend to get back on schedule.



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1. Example: Romulus and Remus are twin planets; Romulans live on Romulus, and Remans live on Remus.[⇪]

2. Pathfinder isn't even terrible good, or funny. It doesn't have any good action. It's just terrible.[⇪]