Month: December 2007

Rowling Says An Eighth Harry Potter Book “A Big If”

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JK Rowling, author of the Harry Potter series, has dropped some hints that it’s possible there might eventually be another book set in the Harry Potter universe.


“If – and it’s a big if – I ever write an eighth book, I doubt that Harry would be the central character. I feel I’ve already told his story.

“But these are big ifs. Let’s give it ten years.”

I think it would be pretty hard for someone like Rowling, who went from no where to the top of the bestsellers list, to just step out of the limelight since all the books are now finished. I imagine that getting the accolades she got for the series are something she’s going to grow to miss, and we’ll see another book (and more likely a series) before those ten years are up.

Via The Daily Mail

DirecTV buys ReplayTV

I’m very disappointed that DirecTV bought ReplayTV. Earlier this year DirecTV announced that in January 2008 they were going to upgrade the ancient TiVo software in the DVRs they used to sell. I took that as a sign they were going to start a new alliance with TiVo and possibly bring TiVo back to DirecTV. I appears that was done just to fulfill a contractual obligation.

Now, you might be asking what the heck ReplayTV is. It was the first company to bring a DVR to market. I even participated in the beta test for this product, and bought one as soon as they came out. I used it until they filed for bankruptcy. I bought a TiVo that very day. ReplayTV eventually came out of bankruptcy, and continued, but after getting the TiVo I ever looked back.

What does this mean for Dish Network? No telling. TiVO won a jury verdict against EchoStar (Dish’s parent company) and is forcing Dish to stop selling it’s DVR boxes.

I love my TiVo, but currently use the Dish Network DVR on the “main TV” because it has two tuners (one of them can be used with a remote in another room). The TiVo still chugs along in the rec room.

I really like the user interface for TiVo. It’s well laid out, and is easy to use. I can’t wait to replace that Dish Network DVR… the interface on it really stinks.

Do you use a TiVo, ReplayTV, MythTV, or other DVR? Do you like it?

The Winner of Survivor China is Todd

Todd Wins Survivor
The winner of Survivor: China is Todd Herzog

The memorable events in this season were this was the first time someone pulled out something they thought was an immunity idol but wasn’t, the first time someone ended up with TWO immunity idols and still got voted off. Having said that, it definitely wasn’t the most memorable Survivor.

Before tribal council, I thought that Amanda went in with a good chance to win because Courtney and Todd ticked so many people off.

During tribal council, it came out that it was Amanda’s idea to get rid of James, which I think was a surprise to him. I think James would have liked to have found that out before he had a chance to ask question (he was first, so he didn’t get to ask anything afterwards).

Jaime, Denise and Peih-Gee were especially upset at the final three.

I think it would have been better for them to ask the questions in the order they were voted off.

Anyway, afterwards it looked to me that Todd would probably win. From the way people reacted, Denise addressed Courtney, it sure seemed like Denise would vote for her. I didn’t think Jean-Robert would vote for Todd, and I don’t think James would vote for Amanda.

They revealed a few of the votes beforehand:

Jaime voted for Todd.
Erik voted for Amanda.
Denise voted for Courtney.
Jean-Robert told the camera “You just stole a million dollars. Well played.”

They switched to Jeff live:

The Votes Went:
Courtney
Amanda
Todd
Courtney
Todd
Todd
Todd

Todd wins. It almost ended in a tie… what if it had ended in a tie? Anyone know what they would have done in that case?

During the reunion interview Jeff asked Jean-Robert about the vote he made for Todd (!), and Jean-Robert said that his mind was changed because it was the best move to vote him out. The Jeff asked Todd, and Todd admitted that he did play on Jean-Robert’s ego.

Various things that came out during the final interview:

Jeff asked James about “the biggest blunder in the history of this game” asking why he didn’t use the idol, and James said that he made the mistake of trusting his alliance.

Courtney started the game at 93 pounds and ended at 86 pounds.

James said that he’s had a lot of people that came up to him telling him that they liked him on the show. The craziest thing that’s happened afterwards and that after a funeral a couple of ladies were excited that they were able to meet him.

Denise’s return was a lot different. They didn’t rehire her after the show was over, saying that she would be too much of a distraction for the kids. She now has a job as a janitor at the school, but she has to work the night shift. She asked that if anyone had a lunch lady job, she’d like to hear from.

I have to say I think it’s pretty crappy that the people at Denise’s school treated her this way. I think that’s pretty petty.

Jaime and Erik are dating.

Chicken said, “If I didn’t win the money, I wanted to go first”.

The Sprint $100,000 prize went to the most popular survivor: James. The other two most popular people were Peih-Gee and Denise.

And talk about a live show: Mark Burnett, creator of Survivor, after listening what happened to Denise, told Jeff during a commercial break to tell Denise that he’s going to give her $50,000!

The next survivor starts in February: Survivor Micronesia: Fans vs. Favorites They’re taking fans of the show and pitting them against survivors of seasons past. One of those survivors will be someone from this season.

Survivor items will be up for auction at http://www.pedaids.org/.

What did you think? Did the right person win?

Celebrity Apprentice Candidates Announced

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The Celebrity Apprentice arrives on January, and will feature: Trace Adkins, Carol Alt, Stephen Baldwin, Nadia Comaneci, Tiffany Fallon, Jennie Finch, Nely Galan, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Omarosa, Piers Morgan, Tito Ortiz, Vincent Pastore, Gene Simmons.

You probably recognize at least a few of these people, but the rest? Come on! Where are the real names?

Oh, right… they’ve got better things to do.

Well, at least this is for charity.

Kiefer Sutherland Sentenced to Jail

Kiefer Sutherland
Variety is reporting Kiefer Sutherland,who plays Jack Bauer on “24”, was sentenced to 48 days in jail today, and has to serve those days before March 30, 2008.

While that’s bad news for him, it could have been worse: He could have been sentenced to one and half years in jail for violating his probation.

I think that means “24” will be “safe” by the time the writer’s strike is over. If he enters jail soon, he could to the time at the same time as the strike is on, and go back to work filming after he’s out and the strike is over.

Heroes: Powerless

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As you probably know, with the writer’s strike going, most fictional shows are on hold. Reality shows are still rolling along. Anyway, some shows have done “wrap ups” before going back into reruns, and one of those is Heroes. The show’s season, which they call volume 2, was cut short and ended last night.

Spoilers ahead

It was a decent episode, but a little anti-climatic in places and surprising in others. The buzz before the show was that two characters were going to die. It appeared that one of those was going to be Maya, and it looked like the whole Maya/Alejandro storyline was going to end in a very “Nikki/Paolo we were just kidding about introducing these characters” sort of way (you LOST fans will know what I’m talking about).

That wasn’t to be, since Mohinder injected her with Claire’s blood. (Side note: I like the name “Mohinder”. Not sure why. It’s just fun to say. Mohinder. MohinderMohinderMohinder…. ahem…) So, we’ll be seeing more of Crying Maya.

More random thoughts, in no particular order:

Big trouble brewing for Claire now that Sylar knows her blood heals. Noah has a nice big target on him now too, since it looks like he was the one that killed Nathan. Sylar found out that someone injected him with something that caused him to lose his powers, and he didn’t like it one bit.

It looks like Peter’s mom, Angela, is still part of “The Business” and is working with Bob. For a guy that runs something like that, he doesn’t have a lot of staff. You’d figure that a mastermind running an organization like that would have more people around. Other than his daughter. If Angela is working with “The Business”, that could explain how she was able to survive in that alternate future where 90% of the world was dead.

Nice touch with the Popeye reference at the beginning of Volume 3 when Sylar got his powers back and tested them by willing a spinach can into his hand.

Sorry to see Nathan bite the dust, but Nikki’s character was just weird… never did like her whole storyline. Her “secret power” is that she’s got a split personality and can really kick people’s butts? Maybe it’s that she had this power and her mind couldn’t handle it, so it manifested that other personality. Whatever. It was pretty annoying.

Adam will be back, and he’s going to be really ticked off when he finally shows up. If I were Hiro, I would have put him about 300 years in the past (or better yet, the future), and left him in the same Japanese cemetary. Maybe under a nuclear reactor. Or a garbage dump. Definitely not an Indian burial ground though, bad things happen when you mess around with those.