Sci-Fi 2

Posted on by under Misc.

I hope you won’t permanantly stop reading this blog, because of this second post about science fiction. There is just so much going on there that I thought it was worth another entry.

I,Robot is opening next weekend. WSJ confirmed my fears on Friday saying:

Readers familiar with Issac Asimov’s collection of short stories under the “I, Robot” title may be surprised to discover that the movie of the same name, which stars Will Smith and open next Friday, bears comparatively little resemblance to the science-fiction writer’s tales…

Tom Rothman, chairman of Fox, concedes that “Asimov purists” may take exception to what they see on the scrren but fans of the science-fiction writer, he predicts, “will be very happy because we are faithful to the essence of [Asimov’s] ideas”

[shaking head]

Star Trek: Enterprise is going into a fourth season. The ratings have never shored up for the series. I have only ever watched one or two episodes. It is reported that Paramount cut the episode price ($1.7MM to $0.8MM) and UPN signed on. It is moving to Fridays. TV Guide reported on this a couple weeks ago and made two good pointa: Paramount needs the fourth season to go into syndication and they probably consider producing more content for Trekkies more important than the initial loss they’ll take.

Stargate:SG1 started its eighth season on Friday on The Sci-Fi Channel. I could never get into this series either. Ratings put the audience at 2.8 million for each new episode. So, someone is watching. They have also created a second series called Stargate:Atlantis. It premieres next week.

Finally, Battlestar Galactica is returning as a weekly series starting in January 2005. The mini-series that ran in December was very popular and a test to see what the reception would be like. I watched it and thought it was really good. It was a great mix of old and new elements of the story.

All of this is old news to sci-fi zealots. I ran across most of this in the last week. I hope it is news to some of you and maybe even of interest.

Bored

Posted on by under Blogging

There isn’t alot that I have run across recently that is very exciting. That is why things have slowed down a bit here.

CBS Sunday Morning reported this morning that blogosphere is a part of the Oxford English Dictionary. That’s the best I could muster.

I think it is a matter of the season. Things slow down this time of year. My wife’s plant has been shutdown for the last two weeks. Lots of vacations. Maybe things will pick up this week.

We do have the new BBBT starting Wednesday. Global PR Week starts tomorrow. As always, there is a new Carnival of the Capitalists.

Still bored…

Sci-fi Movies and a blog

Posted on by under Personal

I also like sci-fi alot. I am not a “dress-up in Klingon, go to conventions” kind of fan, but I have seen every episode of ST:NG at least five times. I am excited about the rebirth of two sci-fi brands.

Firefly was a short-lived series that ran on Friday nights on Fox. I think they aired 11 episodes before canceling the series. When the show came out on DVD, it sold something like 175,000 copies. I also saw a blurb (TV Guide?) that it is one of the most in-demand disc(s) at Netflix. That got people’s attention and Universal is producing a full-length movie called Serenity. Better yet, they have a blog.

The other property coming back to life is Farscape. I guess they found some money to put the project together and The Sci-Fi Channel bought it. It will be a mini-series will be called Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars. No blog for this one yet.

I love music

Posted on by under Personal

I really do. I have 100s of CDs sitting on the shelf in our study. iTunes says I have 4.3 days worth. And still, I am always looking for new stuff to listen to. I think there is some good music that makes it to the radio, but it is destroyed by overplay. More and more I have been trying to find good indie music (that only I can destroy by overlistening).

I am finding a number of great companies that serve this market.

I am a big fan of Paste Music. They are a distributor, a record label, and a magazine publisher. They pull you in with great sampler CDs. I dropped $60 there last month on some really good music. My purchases included The Subdudes’ new album, this sampler, that sampler, this other sampler and a subscription to Paste Magazine (you a sampler disc in every issue). You are seeing a theme?

The second site to check out is Fresh Track Music. They offer a $3/month, download all you want service.

The final site was highlighted in B2.0 this month. It is called Insound.

I think I am going to start posting a favorite track each week. It may be a link to iTunes. It may be a link to Amazon or Paste. We’ll see.

Countdown to 100 Million

Posted on by under Technology

Apple is holding a contest to celebrate selling 100 Million Songs at iTunes.

When the number of songs downloaded from Apple’s iTunes Music Store crosses 95 million, Apple will begin the countdown to 100 million songs by giving away 50 special 20GB iPods—one to the purchaser of each 100,000th song downloaded between 95 million and 100 million songs. In addition, the person who downloads the 100 millionth song will receive a 17-inch PowerBook, a 40GB iPod, a gift certificate for 10,000 iTunes songs to create the ultimate music library for the iPod and the opportunity to create a Celebrity Playlist to be published on the iTunes Music Store.

Current song count is 94,823,835.

I just want to say I will be doing my part.

Business Blog Book Tour #4

Posted on by under Business Blog Book Tour

I am proud to announce the next book for Business Blog Book Tour.

We will be featuring The Startup Garden by Tom Ehrenfeld. Prior BBBT participant Barry Moltz put me on to the book. I think it is a great all purpose guide for new business owners.

The tour start July 14th and runs for a week. For this tour, I have pulled together blogs specializing in writing about small business. Here is the schedule:

Here is the schedule:

I’ll get you some more details after the July 4th holiday.

On Target

Posted on by under Business Media

I want to give a recommendation out to Bullseye, a CNBC program that runs from 6pm to 7pmET. It is hosted by Dylan Ratigan, who gives the program a distinct personality. I think he asks great questions and gets to the point quickly with his interviews.

The segments are also unique. To give you a flavor, some pieces I have seen recently are a professor talking about Wi-Fi for farming, an interview with Tom Wilson (president and CEO of Palace Sports and Entertainment, owners of the championship Detroit Pistons and Tampa Bay Lightning), and a test drive of the Cooper Mini in their parking lot. The mix is eclectic and interesting.

Some night next week, when you are tired of the network talking heads, switch over to Bullseye and give it a look.