It was a day of good news from BioWare[^f2830].
[^f2830]: With the obvious exception being [the co-founders retiring](http://www.joystiq.com/2012/09/18/bioware-co-founders-greg-zeschuk-ray-muzyka-retiring-from-indus/).
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Category: Entertainment
Great news. I was not ready to leave the world of Mass Effect yet.
Amy Adams was afraid of the ball, so
> they used a double, a 15-year-old girl who could catch 80-miles-an-hour heat
So awesome.
I know I am looking forward to this, but I bet Elyssa *cannot wait* for it to open.
> A slight, laddish, liberally tattooed brunette, she bounds into the boardroom of her publicist’s Soho offices and launches into a breathless account of the music festival from which she has just returned, where she saw the Stone Roses, a band she chased around in her teens. She doesn’t sound much like the Lena Headey you expect either. On screen, she tends to speak in an American accent, or the kind of Received Pronunciation Hollywood has come to expect of British women since Mary Poppins. This is true even when she is not in character: in American television interviews with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel (which are on YouTube for perpetuity), she keeps her back straight and her vowels round.
> …
> Yet, conversely, she seems relaxed about fantasy fans, a famously dedicated bunch, obsessing over Cersei. “With fantasy and sci-fi, it’s based in a real fandom. You’re presenting to experts, and their source material is really important to them. They’ll come up and ask: ‘so when you turned your head slightly in that scene, what were you thinking?’
> “I enjoy that, because the battle is over the interpretation, and they’re more interested in the character than they are in you. There’s something cooler about the geek.” If discussions about the finer points of her character are allowed, she has more fruity language reserved for the general media “circus” surrounding her profession.
They really could not have picked a better actress for Cersei[^fn1].
[^fn1]: I am also glad to hear that the time she is required to commit to *Game of Thrones* is actually not that intense and that she has the freedom and availability to do other things. I hope she continues to pop up in unexpected places, like as [a punky hacker on White Collar](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1942780/)
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Google Becomes More Useful
Finally. I hated having to go to some other website for my “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” info.
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Preprocessing CSS
Converting my CSS to SASS is one of the upcoming enhancements I plan on making to my site.
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Forced 3D
Who cares if Guillermo del Toro does not want the studio to convert HHS movie to 3D, they can charge $3 more per ticket if they do[^f0652].
[^f0652]: Stuff like this is why I try it avoid going to movie theatres.
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Amazon’s First Graphic Novel
The best part? They pay you $5 to read it.
I had major doubts this was going to even get minimal forward momentum. If the scripts is almost written though, maybe it will actually get made.
It seems very positive. More importantly, I hope this helps Amy Acker get more exposure. I thought she was phenomenal on *Angel[^fn1].*
[^fn1]: Do not get me started on Angel Season 5’s A *A Hole in the World* Episode. It still might be the best hour of television I have ever seen.
This has seemed inevitable since Apple announced the YouTube app would not be part of iOS6. Next up: iPad app.
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Grantland’s Fall TV Previews
Broadcast networks covered so far:
* [ABC](http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/56908/fall-tv-preview-abc-tries-to-go-big-with-nashville-and-last-resort-go-dumb-with-the-neighbors)
* [CBS](http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/57061/fall-tv-preview-cbss-boring-super-competent-dog-learns-some-new-tricks)
* [FOX](http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/56788/fall-tv-preview-fox-beating-nbc-at-its-own-must-see-comedy-game)
* [NBC](http://www.grantland.com/blog/hollywood-prospectus/post/_/id/57172/fall-tv-preview-hapless-nbc-still-stumbling-around-like-a-peacock-with-its-head-cut-off)
The biggest surprise for me was their granting[^fn1] *Season Pass* status to *Made in Jersey*:
> A zippy hour about a plucky fish out of water isn’t the usual CBS fare — it’s much easier to imagine Jersey succeeding on the more femme-friendly ABC, where it would be called Very Pretty Betty and feature a lot more Snow Patrol songs. But MIJ, starring the British minnow Janet Montgomery as a blue-jeaned associate floundering at a white-collar Manhattan law firm, exhibits CBS’s trademark flair for streamlined storytelling. Case in point: Creator Dana Calvo’s spunky pilot doesn’t linger too long on bridge-and-tunnel clichés, like Montgomery’s Martina recognizing pliers as a tool for skinny jeans, not murder. Rather, it wastes little time getting down to the underappreciated business of aspirational dream-making: Aided by an affably slick boss (Kyle MacLachlan), a loyal pal in the secretarial pool (Toni Trucks), and a proud Mama Mia (Donna Murphy), Martina cracks the cases that those lacking a deep appreciation of the Southside Johnny catalog never could. Even with Stephanie March’s impossibly smug, straw-woman antagonist (“You speak fluent townie,” she huffs. Is this Midtown or Monaco?), Jersey, surprisingly, won me over.
I wanted to check it out simply because I like Janet Montgomery, but this write up makes me think the show will have some staying power.
Two other shoes I am interested in, *Elementary* and *Revolution*, both got *Incomplete* status. There is nothing new that interests me on either ABC or FOX.
[^fn1]: See what I did there?
The details:
* HD Quality Movies
* Available via iTunes[^bb]
* Earlier than the DVD / Blu-Ray Release
* For $15
I like it. It is not perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. I have [pre-ordered Prometheus](http://click.linksynergy.com/fs-bin/stat?id=r*bqlTuiXSo&offerid=146261&type=3&subid=0&tmpid=1826&RD_PARM1=http%253A%252F%252Fitunes.apple.com%252Fus%252Fmovie%252Fprometheus%252Fid547496947%253Fuo%253D4%2526partnerId%253D30)[^fn1] already as a “show of support” for this new model.
[^fn1]: Affiliate Link
[^bb]: They are also available via that “UltraViolet” thing which I do not understand and, frankly, I do not care about. I am content staying within the Apple ecosystem for my media content.
This seems pretty flimsy.
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NBC Breaks Even on the Olympics
Imagine how poorly they would have done if they actually aired events live.
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G4 to “Rebrand”
Can someone ask the people at Kabletown what on earth “the modern male” means?
Seth Davis breaks it down:
> The Pac-12 did not partner with a major media company to form its TV network. That meant starting off with no offices, no infrastructure, no footage archives — and no cash.
> …
> In other words, it was classic risk-reward. So far, the Pac-12 has the risk part down pat. “We took on all of the financial and operational risk,” [Pac-12 Commissioner Larry] Scott said, “but it made sense because it made us the master of our own destiny.”
Good for the Pac-12. If [their iPad app](http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pac-12-now/id550252401?mt=8) is any indication, they are on the right track.
*The Empire Strikes Back* beats *Godfather II* for the title of “Best Sequel of All Time.” I agree with this choice.
I always thought it was a strange fit for Disney World anyway.