Movie Review – Knowing
Synopsis:
Academy Award® Winner Nicolas Cage stars in KNOWING, a gripping action-thriller of global proportions about a professor who stumbles on terrifying predictions about the future—and sets out to prevent them from coming true.
I really like Nicolas Cage as an actor. He usually portrays an average guy who you can believe gets into these strange situations and most of his movies are pretty darn good. Unfortunately, this was not one of them.
The story seems to be pretty good, but the movie itself left a lot to be desired. It was very predictable in most cases, yet in other cases, it left large holes in the story. Not explaining certain things that they spent a lot of time setting up. Also, there seemed to by quite a bit of amateurish hand held camera scenes. Those are very distracting and takes you out of the movie experience. Oh, for the good ole days when professionals made movies.
Also, Chandler Canterbury, who plays Caleb Koestler in the movie, just did not seem to do a very good job of acting at all.
Overall, the movie is ok, if you need something to watch, but do not expect too much.
Here is the trailer for the movie, which is actually better than the movie itself.
The Sci-Fi channel says Bye Bye
Sci Fi Channel Aims to Shed Geeky Image With New Name
‘Syfy’ Will Announce Name Change, Other Plans at Upfront
In some universe, the name “Syfy” is less geeky than the name “Sci Fi.” Dave Howe, president of the Sci Fi Channel, is betting it’s this one.
To that end, the 16-year-old network—owned by NBC Universal—plans to announce that Syfy is its new name March 16 at its upfront presentation to advertisers in New York.
“What we love about this is we hopefully get the best of both worlds,” Mr. Howe said. “We’ll get the heritage and the track record of success, and we’ll build off of that to build a broader, more open and accessible and relatable and human-friendly brand.”
Sci Fi is coming off the best year in its history. In primetime it ranked 13th in total viewers among ad-supported cable networks in 2008. It’s a top-10 network in both adults 18 to 49 (up 4%) and adults 25 to 54 (up 6%).
During its fourth-quarter earnings call, parent General Electric said Sci Fi racked up a double-digit increase in operating earnings despite the beginnings of the recession.
Nevertheless, there was always a sneaking suspicion that the name was holding the network back.
“The name Sci Fi has been associated with geeks and dysfunctional, antisocial boys in their basements with video games and stuff like that, as opposed to the general public and the female audience in particular,” said TV historian Tim Brooks, who helped launch Sci Fi Channel when he worked at USA Network.
Mr. Brooks said that when people who say they don’t like science fiction enjoy a film like “Star Wars,” they don’t think it’s science fiction; they think it’s a good movie.
“We spent a lot of time in the ’90s trying to distance the network from science fiction, which is largely why it’s called Sci Fi,” Mr. Brooks said. “It’s somewhat cooler and better than the name ‘Science Fiction.’ But even the name Sci Fi is limiting.”
Mr. Howe said going to Syfy will make a difference.
“It gives us a unique word and it gives us the opportunities to imbue it with the values and the perception that we want it to have,” he said.
In terms of television, the new brand better reflects that the channel has programs that are not about the typical sci-fi themes of space, aliens and the future.
“We really do want to own the imagination space,” Mr. Howe said. “We want to get the credit for the range of content that we already have on our air and that we’ll be doing more of in the future.”
Mr. Howe said Sci Fi looks at its branding every couple of years. He added that when new executives join the network, they usually ask if it has ever thought about changing the name.
The network worked with the branding consultancy Landor Associates and went through about 300 possibilities before selecting Syfy.
“When we tested this new name, the thing that we got back from our 18-to-34 techno-savvy crowd, which is quite a lot of our audience, is actually this is how you’d text it,” Mr. Howe said. “It made us feel much cooler, much more cutting-edge, much more hip, which was kind of bang-on what we wanted to achieve communication-wise.”
The network plans to make the changeover July 7, when it will launch the new series “Warehouse 13.”
The series, about a secret government facility in South Dakota where all mysterious relics and supernatural souvenirs are housed, is emblematic of the channel’s programming direction.
“It is a dramedy and it is set in the here and now. It’s a kind of an Indiana Jones meets ‘Moonlighting’ meets ‘The X-Files,’” Mr. Howe said. “This is a very accessible, relatable, fun show.”
The network will begin briefing cable operators about the transition this week and plans a trade ad campaign in April as part of the upfront. The new campaign will use the slogan “Imagine Greater,” which Mr. Howe thinks will resonate with both consumers and media buyers.
“It’s a call to action,” he said. “Look at the everyday and how you can turn it to the extraordinary. It’s an aspirational, optimistic message about enhancing people’s lives.”
Mr. Howe said the international Sci Fi channels will transition to the new name over the next six to 12 months.
Web site SciFi.com also will make the change to Syfy.com.
Sci Fi has been working to branch out from being simply a linear cable network to become a hub of businesses operating in the imagination under the Sci Fi Ventures banner.
“We need an umbrella brand we can attach to new businesses: Sci Fi games, Sci Fi kids. It does no use to attach ‘Sci Fi’ because there’s hundreds of sci-fi Web sites and sci-fi publications. So it’s changing your name without changing your name,” Mr. Howe said.
Sci Fi also will be unveiling some of its programming and development plans at its upfront.
But one key venture it won’t discuss is its work with Trion Worldwide to create content designed from the beginning to work on multiple platforms. Mr. Howe said the network is close to announcing a title and description of the project, which will launch as both a subscription-based, massively multiplayer online game and a television series.
A writer has been assigned to the project. The idea is to have the show completely synchronized so that when events happen in the show, they are reflected in the game, and vice versa.
“Because it’s a server-based game, as the storylines evolve in the TV series, so the game echoes that,” Mr. Howe said. “It’s a completely, uniquely interactive 24-7 immersive entertainment experience.”
He’s seen some “amazing demos” from Trion of the graphics and how the world will be built out.
“What that launches, it truly is the next evolution in dynamic storytelling,” Mr. Howe said.
I personally think this is a load of bull. I think the science fiction will slowly dissapear from this channel and it will just be another channel that no one wants to watch. Hopefully, someone else will take up the slack. The only good thing I can think of about this is that we may not have to deal with some of the worst movies ever made being put on a science fiction channel.
Daybreakers
The first trailer has been released for Daybreakers, the vampire thriller starring Ethan Hawke and Willem Dafoe.
Hawke portrays a researcher in the year 2019, during a time when a plague has changed most of the world’s population into vampires.As the human population dwindles, vampires hunt, capture and farm every remaining human in order to survive, or else must find a blood substitute before time runs out. But some humans won’t go down without a fight.
Daybreakers doesn’t open until January 8, 2010. Written and directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig, the film also stars Isabel Lucas, Sam Neill and Claudia Karvan.
Michael Jackson dies
Michael Jackson has died at the age of 50.
Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. When paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.
Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
I can not begin to explain how Michael has had a place in my life. Even though we never met, I have always enjoyed his music. Yes, he did have a lot of strange things in his personal life, but his music always survived and will continue to do so.
This is a sad day.
TWJ – Elkmont,AL to Woodhaven, MI
After I unloaded from the load to Huntsville,AL, I started heading back to the house. There was a van ahead of me down there and it was REALLY hot and humid. I figured I could sit in the a/c at home and it was only about 5 hours away.
I crossed into Tennessee from Alabama 
and then fuled up at a Loves truck stop. 
.
After I fueled up and started heading north again, I got a call to go back to Alabama and pick up a run going up to Woodhaven,MI. Good run, so I didn’t mind turning back around and driving another 77 miles back the way I came. hehe
I got loaded with four small boxes of auto transmission sensors for Ford that weighed about 50 pounds all together in Elkmont,AL.
After getting loaded, I started heading north again and ran by this guy who was driving his oversized load in the center lane 
instead of the right lane. Sure caused a back up and most people had to actually go out of their lanes to avoid this guy.
I made it through Tennessee and here is the border into Kentucky. 
.
After this photo, I started having a lot of trouble with the van shutting off while I was going down the road, so I shut off all my electrical stuff and finally made it up to my drop off point around 5 am. After I brought them in my little boxes, I drove to a truck stop right next door and got a few hours of sleep.
When I got up, I charged up my battery. I then hooked up my small laptop to a deep cell battery so I wouldn’t use the van battery and drove home with just the laptop, no radio, no fan and no air conditioning. Boy, it was a LONG and HOT drive and I made it all the way home about 20 minutes before dark. If I would have had to turn on the lights, it probably would have died again.
Now, the van is in the shop getting a new alternator put on. I sure hope that solves the problem.
TWJ – Evansville, IN to Huntsville, AL
I picked up a run monday in Evansville, IN and was to drop it off in Huntsville, AL. It was a large 8 foot long package with fence parts inside.
Along the way, I ran into a lot of lightning and some strong storms.
I couldn’t drop off till the next morning, so I stopped at the Alabama welcome center and slept for a few hours.
Notice the large rocket at the entrance to the welcome center.
The next morning I delivered the next morning at a fence company.
Farrah Fawcett dies at age 62
Farrah Fawcett, the blonde-maned actress whose best-selling poster and “Charlie’s Angels” stardom made her one of the most famous faces in the world, has died. She was 62.
Fawcett, who checked into a Los Angeles, California, hospital in early April, had been battling anal cancer on and off for three years.
Ryan O’Neal, Fawcett’s romantic partner since the mid-1980s, recently told People magazine that the sex symbol was declining. Her official website made the following statement:
I am sorry to say our Farrah has passed to a better place and left the pain and confines of her bed behind. She is free to be the woman we all knew and loved. So Few have touched so many. You all keep Fighting the Fight.
Doctor Who spoiler
Doctor Who Spoiler
Do not read further if you do not want to know the spoiler!!
Ok, I guess since you have come this far then you are interested in knowing what is to come in the Doctor Who season finale. But just in case:
Do not read further if you do not want to know the spoiler!!
Who is David Tennant standing next to in that photo? The answer reveals a lot about the storyline of Tennant’s final adventure as the time-traveling eccentric in Doctor Who, and its impact on the show’s mythos.
OK, this is your absolute last chance to turn away…
Do not read further if you do not want to know the spoiler!!
Here’s a set picture from Tennant’s final episodes.
Yes, that’s John Simm, probably returning as the Master, the Doctor’s arch nemesis and fellow Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey. And on the other side of Tennant? Timothy Dalton, having a view to a kill as some kind of Time Lord dignitary, complete with Gallifreyan bathrobe and medallion. It’s been rumored for ages that Simm was coming back for Tennant’s finale. And it’s also been rumored that Dalton will be showing up, playing the Chancellor of the High Council of Time Lords. This picture, which appears to show Tennant, Simm and Dalton clowning around between takes, seems to clinch both of those rumors.
I personally think that Timothy Dalton will be the new body of the Master.
I also have learned that Gillian Anderson from The X-Files will be in this episode as The Rani, along with John Barrowman as Captain Jack and Billie Piper as Rose (previously mentioned in an earlier Blog of mine), Elizabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, Tommy Knight as Luke Smith, Catherine Tate as Donna Noble and many more. This will be a must see episode.
TWJ – 2009-06-16 Staybridge Suites Laredo, Texas
Because of mechanical problems with my van, I had to stay in a hotel in Laredo, TX. My van is being fixed at a local Dodge dealer and there are not many hotels near by. There is one right across the street, and it would have been great, however they only rent rooms by the week. I could not afford that, so the dealership called around and only found one that was kind of close by and would drive the few miles down the road to pick me up and it is the Staybridge Suites.
The hotel itself seems to be a pretty nice hotel. It has a pool (which I didn’t use), and a fitness center (also didn’t use) and the rooms themselves are pretty nice with a small refrigerator, dishwasher and dinnerware provided. One big problem with the place is the wall are really thin and I heard the people above me playing the tv and walking around all day and night, even above my tv. You could also hear people talking and shutting doors in the hall all the time as well. For me, those are MAJOR problems. If it had been a 30 a night motel, that might have been acceptable, but for 99 bucks a night it was not.
So, overall, I can not recommend staying here unless you have earplugs and don’t mind spending all that money.
Primeval Cancelled
BBC News confirmed a rumor that ITV has canceled its sci-fi series Primeval after three successful seasons.
Starring Ben Miller, Douglas Henshall and Hannah Spearritt, the show followed a group of scientists studying prehistoric creatures.
“High quality drama remains a key part of the ITV schedule, although our current focus is on post-watershed production,” ITV said in a statement.
The show had an average audiences of about 5 million this year in the United Kingdom. The figure was down from around 6 million for the first two series.
I wonder if this has anything to do with my earlier Blog with information that Warner Brothers bought the rights to the show. Maybe it will be redone in America. If so, I really hope they use the same cast and don’t screw it up. It is a very good show the way it is.
