blacksundae

I would enjoy Maureen Dowd’s columns a lot more if she got Aaron Sorkin to write all of them.

BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.

OBAMA What do you mean?

BARTLET I’m a fictional president. You’re dreaming right now, Senator.

OBAMA I’m asleep?

BARTLET Yes, and you’re losing a ton of white women.

OBAMA Yes, sir.

BARTLET I mean tons.

OBAMA I understand.

BARTLET I didn’t even think there were that many white women.

Link! Via MetaFilter

Probert’s thirty-year career has been wide and varied, although his greatest claim to fame stems from serving as Senior Illustrator for Star Trek: The Next Generation. Do you get goosebumps when you see the Enterprise-D or feel your pulse rush at the sight of the updated Romulan Warbird? Thank this guy.

But before giving Starlfeet a facelift was even a twinkle in Andrew’s eye, he was hard at work whipping the Cylons into shape.

Link!

Boing Boing Gadgets:

Scant details are available for this Aliens chess set, but it’s wonderful. On the xenomorph side, chest bursters for pawns, with dual queens as the royalty, denoted in rank by whether or not their gelatinous egg sack has been ripped off. The human side is similarly ingenious: sentry guns for pawns, with a loader-armored Ripley as the king. Half of the board has even been bio-mechanically infected: all the black squares have been Gigerized. Checkmate = face hugged!

Link!

Sue Jones-Davies, the actress who played Judith Iscariot in Monty Python’s Life of Bryan, is now mayor of the Welsh town of Aberystwyth* and is trying to lift the town’s ban on… The Life of Brian!

Some religious groups picketed cinemas which screened the film, and it was banned from being shown in some towns and cities, including Aberystwyth.

Nearly 30 years on, Mr Bell, vicar of the town’s St Michael’s Church, said the restriction should remain in place.

“There’s been no change in attitude or response to the film amongst the Christians who have spoken to me in Aberystwyth,” he explained.

“The film at its root is poking fun at Christ and we don’t want that to happen. I don’t think that the film should be shown. Why should the ban be removed?”

Asked if he had ever seen the film, Mr Bell said he had “seen a small clip, that’s all”.

Surprise, surprise. Read the whole thing.

*Gesundheit!

I was thinking about putting together a photo retrospective of Stan Winston’s work, but the folks over at io9 beat me to it. Bathe in the geeky goodness.

Here’s to ya, Mr. Winston

Stan Winston, one of my heroes, died last night. He was one of the greatest Hollywood creature creators, close to Harryhausen and O’Brian in my estimation. As MeFi’s quin said, “This man invented my childhood.” I always wanted to work with him.

Just after announcing their horror-themed reality series Scream Queens, VH1 is giving us something else to scream about. America’s Next Top Zombie Idol, a mockumentary written and directed by Attack of the Show’s Blair Butler, will set itself in a house of eight zombies living together and competing for the title of… zombie idol?

They should get Bub from Day of the Dead to be a celebrity judge. Read on.

It’s nice that there’s room these days for a public figure who’s overtly anti-religion. Here’s the trailer for Maher’s new movie, Religulous.

Holy shit! Starship Troopers 3 is coming to a video rental place near you, and from the looks of this trailer it sports some of the tone of the Verhoeven’s original. I found number two sorely lacking in satire and graphic violence.