During a Glee-themed week of musical programming in May, FOX is airing an musically-inspired episode of Fringe. How odd, I know! The creepy and the fantastical will turn even freakier in the episode titled “Overture” that will feature series regulars Agent Dunham (Anna Torv), Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), Agent Farnsworth (Jasika Nicole), Nina Sharp (Blair Brown), and even Broyles (Lance Reddick) break out into song and dance. No, this isn’t a peek into the alternate universe where all our characters live as professional singers and dancers. The characters will cover popular songs that will play out in a Walter Bishop hallucination.
Says musically trained Farnsworth (Nicole): “When I first read that, I thought, ‘How are they going to pull this off? This is really weird.’ And it makes complete sense within the story. It’s essentially Walter kind of manifesting his idea. He’s trying to get his mind off of, you know, what’s going on because he’s just waiting to see what’s going to go on with Peter. And essentially he’s kind of created this little world in his head. And so everything is super-symbolic so all the characters embody the qualities that he notices about them the most, which is really neat. And it happens in the 1940s. Everybody’s in 1940s dress, but they still have cell phones and stuff. So it’s just his brain, because he’s telling a story to someone. Sort of like a bedtime story to help ease his anxiety. So we get to sing in it.”
What’s interesting is that Sharp (Brown) and Broyles (Reddick) come from musical theater backgrounds. Says Reddick: “…everyone was kind of freaked out about the singing. For me, it was like having to play the piano at the same time; that freaked me out a little bit. But, yeah, it was fun. For me, what was more fun was actually being able to play completely to the character.”
As strange as this all sounds, it might just work. If Buffy can pull it off, so can the Bishops & Company.
Remember when I told you about Spike Jonze’s latest project titled I’m Here, a 30-minute short film about robots in love? After premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in January, I’m Here is finally available to watch online. Here’s an updated synopsis for you:
I’m Here is a love story about two robots living in contemporary Los Angeles. The sad-eyed robot librarian Sheldon (Andrew Garfield) leads a lonely and methodical life, until he one day meets Francesca, a creative and free-spirited female robot (played by Sienna Guillory). Robot romance develops and the story is just as beautiful as it is unpredictable.
Though it’s sponsored by Absolut Vodka, you won’t find any product placement in the film. When you’re ready to sit back, relax, and pop some popcorn, head over to www.imheremovie.com to watch short film. The site is pretty neat, actually; it all plays out like you’re going to a virtual movie theatre. And get this–the site limits the audience to 5,000 viewers per day. So if the theatre’s all filled up today, better luck tomorrow. Enjoy.
Disney’s casting call for the next movie in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise seeks: “beautiful female fit models. Must be 5ft7in-5ft8in, size 4 or 6, no bigger or smaller. Age 18-25. Must have a lean dancer body. Must have real breasts. Do not submit if you have implants.” They go on to warn that there’ll be a “show and tell” day filled with all kinds of test to make sure candidate’s breats are real all around. How fun!
A former casting agent reminices the days of yesteryear: “In the last movie, there were enhanced breasts to give that 18th-century whorish look, and men were pretty well padded too, and no one worried. But times are changing, and the audience can spot false breasts.” Ha! So true.
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will find Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) chest deep in a whole new adventure without his trusty sidekicks Orlando Bloom. Penelope Cruz replaces Keira Knightley as Sparrow’s love interest, Ian McShane is set to play Blackbeard, and it’s rumored that Geoffrey Rush will reprise his role as Barbossa. It’s set to hit theatres May 20, 2011.
I’m going on a hunch here and assuming you’ve seen Avatar in theatres. I mean, $737 million in domestic ticket sales doesn’t just spring out of no where. And I bet you can’t wait to get your mits on your own copy. Avatar is set to release on DVD and Blu-Ray on April 22 to coincide with Earth Day (how cute). The April DVD/Blu-Ray release will not include any bonus features. That means no deleted scenes, no behind-the-scenes featurettes, no nothing. Why, you ask? “Sources at Fox said the April disc will come without extra features so that all available storage space can be used for the best picture and sound possible.” So where’s all the extra features then? Apparently they will be packed into a second release (dubbed “The Ultimate Edition”) of the DVD/Blu-Ray packages in November. And what about the 3D version of the movie; when can we watch it at home the way it’s meant to be seen? That won’t come until sometime in 2011. Consumers likely won’t have 3D TVs to play it on until then anyway. So your safest bet is to wait until November to snag all the extras and play the rest by hear; who knows how fast 3D tech in the home will catch on.
Update: Sorry 3D fans, this update does not push forward the Avatar in 3D release. But it does fix the no bonus features ’til November fiasco. A fresh press release reveals The Avatar Program: “Connecting the two releases in April and November is “The Avatar Program,” an interactive consumer experience that offers an online hub for exclusive content, discounts and more.” The Avatar DVD/Blu-Ray release on April 22 will come with a unique code that can be used to access bonus features online and adopt a “virtual hometree.” Full PR after the break.
This past week Microsoft revealed more details surrounding its brand new mobile phone platform, Windows Phone 7 Series. During their WP7S launch event last month, Microsoft showed off all the UI basics and promised more information to come this month at their annual conference held for developers and web designers called MIX. And boy did they deliver. MIX’10 proved to be a highly informative conference, focusing on how developers will get their applications onto WP7S devices.
Technical details. Third-party developers will have access to XNA and Silverlight tools to create applications for WP7S devices. Microsoft is offering free dev tools, providing Visual Studio 2010 Express for Windows Phone and Expression Blend for Windows Phone, to get things started. In addition to these programs, developers also have access to many services like Microsoft Location Service, allowing devs to make their apps location-aware, and Microsoft’s Notification Service, a push notification system much akin to Apple’s that allows devs to send notifications to users of their apps, regardless of the app being open. Notifications slide down in a tray at the top of the screen (less obtrusive than Apple’s pop up way of doing it). Other prominent services that devs are given include multitouch, accelerometer, and camera & microphone support. If you are a developer or know someone who is a developer, Microsoft is offering free beta versions of the dev tools today at developer.windowsphone.com.
Where will all the apps be sold, you ask? In the Windows Phone Marketplace, of course! Just like the rest of the hubs, the Marketplace hub will be “panoramic,” meaning menus are opened with left and right slide gestures. Microsoft is encouraging all developers to create trial versions of their full apps. The Marketplace supports credit card purchases, operator billing, and ad-supported content. Purchased apps can be pinned to the user’s home screen for easy access. Finally, the revunue split: 70% goes to the publisher, 30% to Microsoft.
Marketplace partners. Microsoft announced the first slew of app partners and they include exciting picks like Pandora, Sling, Shazam, EA Mobile, Namco, Foursquare, and the Associated Press. Look after the break for a full listing of all partners. A majority of the demos show that at least this initial batch of apps will deeply integrate with the WP7S look and feel (think panoramic views and shiny, sleek interfaces). Many of them show off 3D animations, incorporate images and video, and they can reach into your local content (like a photo editing app opening up a picture you took). The most interesting app demo came from Netflix. They demoed a prototype app that supports Watch Instantly, allowing a subscriber to browse and watch their Netflix collection on the go. Unfortunately this was being pushed as a concept, and we likely won’t see anything like it for some time. Another exciting app demo showed off the gaming capabilities of WP7S devices. The Harvest is a 3D Xbox Live-supported title that excited developers with its gorgeous graphics, destructable environments, and Xbox Live in-game leaderboard, gamerscore, and acheivement support. Look in the gallery below for screenshots from some apps.
Multitasking: WP7S will not support true multitasking. Microsoft’s first-party applications will run in the background when exited, but third-party apps will remain in a suspended state until the device needs additional resources. For example, Microsoft apps like Internet Explorer and the Zune music player will run in the background, but other apps like Yelp will be forced to quit when not in direct use at any point without notification when you start opening other apps and the device needs to access more resources. This “intelligent app management” is also purportedly found in Google’s Android OS.
Copy & paste: Following in the footsteps of its big competitor, WP7S will not support the copy & paste function at launch. Apparently this was a conscious decision made by Microsoft; they believe cell phone users do not use this function very often. Instead, Wp7S devices will use a data detection service that recognizes text input like phone numbers and addresses. Hopefully they won’t take as long as Apple did with bringing clipboard functionality to its mobile OS.
What’s contoso?: Contoso is the placeholder name Microsoft added to the Marketplace UI, and now we know its purpose for being there. Microsoft has alloted a space in the Marketplace for phone carriers to put their own branded store. So this is a separate place where Verizon Wireless can sell their content to users, for instance.
Hardware minimum requirements: capacitive touch; A-GPS, accelerometer, compass, light and proximity sensors; 5 megapixel camera with flash and an independent camera button; 256MB RAM, 8GB Flash; DirectX 9 & codec acceleration; an ARMv7 Cortex/Scorpion CPU; and Back, Start, and Search face buttons. Initially Microsoft will require all handsets to boast a 800 x 480 (WVGA) resolution screen. An update will allow for 320 x 480 (HVGA) screens at a later undisclosed date.
Exsisting WP7S devices: At Mobile World Congress, we were introduced to the Asus model. At MIX, two new devices were unveiled–a Samsung slate and LG slider (the first with a keyboard).
All in all, MIX’10 was a huge invitational for all developers and Microsoft welcomed them with open arms. Microsoft is making it extremely easy for developers to jump into Windows Phone 7 Series by offering free dev tools. With their stringent hardware minumim requirements and terriffic initial batch of app partners, the apps out of the gate should look great and function well. With graphics-intensive games like The Harvest linking Xbox Live to cell phones, Microsoft could very well raise the bar for mobile gaming, giving the App Store and its growing number of sub-par games (and even the likes of DS and PSP) a tremble in their boots. I am really digging Microsoft’s start-from-the-ground-up mentality and I am excited to see what developers can do with their brand new mobile platform. However, as many have pointed out, Microsoft is stuck in a classic case of Catch-22: Microsoft wants customers to choose WP7S phones and developers to write programs for them. But developers won’t bother pushing their apps into the Windows Phone Marketplace if customers aren’t attracted to WP7S phones, and customers won’t purchase WP7S phones if they don’t offer a wide-ranging marketplace of apps! Microsoft still has more work to do. Priority number one? Come up with a good marketing campaign.
The fine folks at Joystiq have corroborated with two outside sources, confirming that “USB Mass Storage Device Support on Xbox 360” is coming this spring via a firmware update. The update will allow Xbox 360 users to transfer Xbox Live Arcade games, Xbox Live Indie games, Games on Demand, DLC, and game updates to an external storage device. According to the leaked Microsoft documentation, the external device must be at least 1GB in size with space for a 512 MB system partition. After you insert the storage device into the 360, a prompt will give you two options: “configure now,” which completely wipes the device and caps 16GB of space for game file content and “customize,” which readies the device for game files and allows you to keep non-game files on it such as music. So what can we deduce from all this? It looks like the Xbox team is willing to pull out of the Memory Unit (MU) business and finally allow its customers to use their own external storage devices, an ability PS3 users have had since that console’s introduction in 2006. Also, with recent chatter that a slimmer Xbox 360 is in the works, the design team may opt to remove the MU slots entirely. Sure, 16GB of external space (or 32GB if you choose to insert two USB devices) isn’t much, but at least it’s a step in the right direction. Hell, that much space allows for “previously infeasible operations such as installation of a full disc-based title.” Full games on the go sounds nice, now doesn’t it? (Disc-in-tray authentication is necessary, of course.)
UPDATE: Microsoft’s Major Nelson has confirmed USB mass storage support is coming to Xbox 360 via a system update on April 6.
The next iteration of the Nintendo DSi, the DSi XL, has yet to release in the States and already there’s word of an entirely new DS system. Let’s refer to it as the DS2, shall we? According to the latest rumors, the DS2 will continue the dual-screen tradition, but this time it will allow for gameplay to occupy a single screen or bleed onto the second screen, serving as one giant display. The two screens will be bigger and boast a higher resolution. Unfortunately the letters HD were not included in the mix. Playing off past rumors, the DS2 will contain an accelerometer and an advanced graphics chip, possibly the NVIDIA Tegra 2. Based on the hardware dev kit, the DS2’s graphics are comparable to Gamecube and even the Wii. Lastly many developers have spilled a late 2010 launch window–that’s when they plan on having their DS2 games ready for showtime. And what does that suggest? Nintendo will likely reveal the next significant upgrade to the DS hardware line at this year’s E3 in June. Remember, all of this is unofficial pieces of information being thrown into the rumor mill. But boy doesn’t it sound tasty?
The first Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 downloadable content will come in the form of a map pack. The “Stimulus Package” will consist of five maps, two of them being old maps, “fan-favorites” from the original Modern Warfare game. A description of the map pack was posted on the Xbox Live Marketplace (and has since been taken down for unknown reasons):
The best-selling Xbox 360 game of all-time just got bigger, with more epic multiplayer content, first on Xbox LIVE! The Stimulus Package delivers 5 additional action-packed multiplayer maps featuring a variety of locations: “Bailout,” a multi-level apartment complex; “Storm,” an open industrial park littered with heavy machinery; “Salvage,” a snowy junkyard fortified by stacked debris and crushed cars. Two legendary fan-favorites from Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare return, including “Crash,” [pictured above] a war-torn urban environment; and “Overgrown,” which features a massive dry creek bed.
“Stimulus Package” will land on Xbox Live as a 328MB download on March 30 for a whopping 1,200 Microsoft points (that’s $15!). It will be made available on the PlayStation Network and PC at an undisclosed date. Still feeling down about the hefty price tag for three new maps and two old ones, and remembering that popular map packs for World At War only cost $10 when they released? Share your greif with other gamers by signing this petition. Hopefully Activision will get wind of it and make things right before the 30th.
We first got wind of the JooJoo tablet back when Michael Arrington of TechCrunch was calling it the Crunchpad. Flashforward to present day, and through a heated legal battle, one Chandra Rathakrishnan of Fusion Garage has taken over leadership of the forthcoming device. When a product delay was announced in February due to capacitive touchscreen issues, Fusion Garage wasted little time to revamp the JooJoo’s user interface. The most significant change can be found in the home screen (see above). Instead of being limited to a solid color background, you can now customize it with a high-resolution image of your choice. Navigation gestures have been updated, too. The pinch-to-go-back gesture has been replaced with “a vertical swipe that brings down a status bar containing the home button, status indicators, browser navigation controls, and a combination address bar/search field.” Also, there’s two new ways to scroll: “a two-finger scroll that works like a scroll wheel, and a single finger “pan” that works like a mouse arrow.” You can choose from two on-screen keyboards–a standard, large keyboard and a smaller one designed for one hand that is less obstrusive. In previous video demos, Flash video playback was questionable and Fusion Garage was quick to fix that. Now Flash video plays fine, supporting a standard player, a “custom H.264 HD breakout player” and a wide range of codecs. One more change, and it has to do with the hardware shell. Fusion Garage has gone ahead and changed the backplate casing color from black to “champagne” (silver-ish). Check out the gallery below for a few more images of the new UI and casing from Engadget.
The JooJoo device was our dream tablet coming to life back in December. With the introduction of the coveted iPad, however, the spotlight has shifted to Camp Apple. Although the iPad has captured the mindshare of most tablet buyers, the JooJoo still looks like a solid device with an impressive UI and I am looking forward to its release into the wild. With HP cowering behind the secretive Slate, the iPad and JooJoo will be the first to market with sleek and shiny new tablets, vying for consumer’s hearts. The JooJoo is available for preorder today at $500, and Fushion Garage expects them to ship within 8-10 weeks.
Hot off the heels of creating the most financially successful movie of all time, visionary director James Cameron plans to splay his 3D tech on top of the (now) second highest grossing movie, his Titantic. Says Cameron: “We’re targeting spring of 2012 for the release, which is the 100 year anniversary of the sailing of the ship.” Can you imagine re-watching the sinking of the ship and all those dead bodies floating in the bloody sea in 3D? I know I can’t.
Glee creator Ryan Murphy shares the good news: “Season 2 will be much bigger and much longer. We are talking about doing 25 episodes as opposed to [the customary] 22.” Glee Season 2 is going to be Season 1 injected with steroids–more episodes, more songs per episode, less pregnancy side-story, and new locations. Murphey adds it will have a “sweet feeling… like I loved it when The Brady Bunch went to Hawaii. I want [New Directions] to go to some competition in New York.” Don’t get too excited yet. There’s still a live concert to attend and the second half of Season 1 to complete!
Glee returns with new episodes April 1 at 9PM on FOX.
Actress Natalie Morales (fresh off USA Network’s White Collar season finale) will be joining the Parks & Rec gang for at least two episodes this season. She will play Lucy, “a smart, funny, cute and spunky busgirl at a bar in Pawnee, Indiana.” She joins a couple of new faces in Pawnee this season–Step Brothers‘ Adam Scott and Brothers and Sisters‘ Rob Lowe also join the cast later this season. With so many new additions, it isn’t entirely surprising that at least one current player might be given the boot. According to the latest sources city planner Mark Brendanawicz (Paul Schneider) will be leaving the show at the end of this season; apparently he has film roles on his mind. Schneider plays one of the most dry and subtley humorous characters on the show and will be missed tremendously.
Parks & Rec airs Thursday nights at 8:30PM on NBC. (This week is the AndySamberg episode!)
