VACATION!!!

I've blogged this before, and I'll blog it again.

Why do I like Pokemon so much? It's because Pokemon represents my ideal life.

People on that show have no want or care for money. Food and a warm bed are always around the bend. There is no care but what adventure lay beyond the horizon.

Joining you on the journey are your best friend, and a member of the opposite sex who's in the exciting, but confusing, place between "friend" and "more than friend."

That, my friend, is my ideal life. The magical, superpowered creatures are just icing. The closest I ever came to that was my final weeks in Japan, and I'll be trying to do it again next week.

I didn't want to take a vacation originally. I worked so hard and so long to get a job in radio that I didn't want anything to take me away from it. That and, you know, I'm the news guy. I'm afraid that if I'm gone for too long, I'll miss "the big story."

But now that the day is here, I'm really, really, really looking forward to it. I've been sharing bits and pieces of the plan here on the blog for the past few months. I'm going to head down to Red Deer to visit family, and from there make a day trip to Drumheller to see the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. After that, I'll be heading to home to Entwistle, where my parents have made mention that they might drag me out to Jasper for a couple of days.

And somewhere in there, I'm going to hook-up with my best friend, who's back in the province. We going to try to meet in West Edmonton Mall because, well, he had some relationship trouble a few months back, and I promised him a lunch at Hooter's.

And not to worry, I'll have Clippy with me the whole time, and I'm going to make a series of podcasts about it.

But because of my workaholic nature, I'm going to try to be as off the grid as much as possible on this holiday. Cuz I just know, after checking e-mail, it won't be long before I check my work e-mail and start fretting. So if there's no blog entries or e-mails from me for a week or so, don't worry. I'm relaxing.

but, before I go, I've got an episode of The Targ for you! This week, it's Episode 63: Vacation! Guess what it's about?

Listen to it!

And that's it. I'm off. See you soon.

What's My Hero Been Up To?

So, with the big vacation starting on Saturday, I think I've figured out a way to squeeze in a visit with the best friend. I'll just have to phone everyone tonight and make sure it works.

Anyway, there's been lots of news going on in regards to Kevin Smith, and I'm surprised I haven't blogged about it.

Mainly, Smith is exploding all over television.

Firstly, with season premiere season on the horizon, let me remind you that Kevin Smith directed the pilot episode of Reaper will be on soon. Kevin Smith directed the pilot, because he always wanted to try his hand at directing something he didn't write himself, and he figured that a 1-hour TV pilot would be the best way to go. What resulted is one of the best-reviewed new shows of the season. Long story short: It's about a 21-year old guy who learns that his parents sold his soul to the devil, and now the devil puts him to work as a bounty hunter...hunting down demons that have escaped from Hell. Watch your local listings!

And then came the announcement that Kevin Smith will be writing AND directing the first episode of Heroes: Origins. A spin-off of last year's smash hit show Heroes, Heroes: Origins is kind of like an anthology show. Each episode will follow the life of a person when they first discover their powers. Smith signed on to do this because he's a big fan of Heroes. Haven't watched it myself...now that season 1 is out on DVD, I should rent it.

Actually, Heroes: Origins has kind of a neat genesis. See, the trend is with all these story-arc-based shows, like Heroes, Lost, Prison Break and the like is to show all the episodes from the first half of the season in one long, uninterrupted streak. Then, take a brief hiatus, and come back and show the second of the season in another long, uninterrupted streak. Heroes: Origins was conceived to fill Heroes's brief hiatus.

And finally, it's been recently reported that Kevin Smith will be directing an episode of the new Battlestar: Galactica. That's another show I keep meaning to check out because a lot of geeks and TV critics have declared it THE GREATEST SHOW ON TELEVISION!!!!

A lot of trekkies follow that one, too, because the man responsible for it is Ronald D. Moore who wrote some of the best episodes of TNG, co-wrote Generations and First Contact, and was largely responsible for the glory years of DS9.

Sadly, though, that one is not to be. Moore just announced that a Smith-directed episode of BSG won't happen because of "scheduling conflicts."

Oh, well.

And, don't forget, Smith hopes to start making his next movie, Zack and Miri Make a Porno in January.

Planning a Trip

VACATION!!

Yay! I'm on holidays on Friday! Not that I'm counting down the days or anything. I thought things were planned out, but then I got thrown a curve ball.

The original plan was to head down to Red Deer, set up base camp at my sister's place, hang out with my brother and sister, and maybe take a day to head down to Drumheller to see the Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology. I have seen that Tyrrell Museum since I was but a lad of 10, and I'd always wanted to head back. And now, I'm old enough to appreciated it.

And then, once I had my fill of Red Deer and the Tyrrell Museum and all that, I'd head home to Entwistle for a few days, resting in the green, green grass of home.

It's that second part that's leaving me all discombobulated. My parents recently revealed that they want to squeeze in one last camping trip to Jasper National Park, and they've invited me along.

Now, in my childhood, every vacation was punctuated with a camping trip to Jasper, and I haven't been out to Jasper since before Japan. Damn tempting.

So, my dilemma is how to divide time between Red Deer/Drumheller and Entwistle/Jasper.

Darn it! I should have taken a full 2 weeks, but no! I had to take a couple days off to go meet my hero.

By the way, my day in the city was lovely, thanks for asking. About the only thing I didn't get that I wanted was 300 on DVD. Every where I went was sold out of the 2-disc special edition, and if you can't get the 2-disc special edition, what's the point?

And, I was perplexed by a dilemma in HMV. There's one DVD I want that's in their "2 for $30" bin, and one I want in their "2 for $25" bin. What's a man to do? Next time I go in, I might have to head to their customer service desk and try to do a little haggling.

Also started pricing out a new DVD player. No offence to my old one, but I think it's on its last legs. A lot of older DVDs that I've had forever are starting to have a little trouble in it, and when I play said discs in my secondary player, they're OK. And you can get a frairly top-of-the-line model for around $100 now. Just might be getting a new one this fall.

And now, I'm not ready to upgrade to HD DVD or Blu Ray just yet. As one man said on a message board back at Christmas, I'm waiting to see which one becomes Beta.

Oh, and yes, I got my tacky tourist shots of the mall. They'll be online tomorrow.

Latest Targ's Up!

Ah, I think today, I'll have a day in the city. I actually haven't done one in so long. Besides, this time next week I'm going to be on holidays, and I might be going some where where I need a swimsuit. Time to get a new one!

Plus, you know, ever since I got my new digital camera, I've been looking forward to taking some tacky tourist shots of West Edmonton Mall. I don't care what you say, I love the mall!

But, before I take off, I've got to take a minute to upload this week's episode of U62: The Targ. This week, I've got Episode 62: Request Show #2. As I was cleaning out my hard drive, I noticed two requested songs still lying around, and since I only play about 2 songs per show now, I figured it was time to do a second one!

Give it a listen!

And, don't forget, if you have a request that you'd like to hear on the eventual Request Show #3, just send that MP3 to requests@chaosinabox.com.

Wiener Stick Parking Lot

I needed to get out of town for a little bit yesterday, so I went to my thinking place.



Lawrence Lake is a little tiny campground about a half-hour north of Athabasca on Highway 2. I don't think I'm really revealing a big secret here, because it's right on the highway.

But when I was a kid, the province of Alberta was dotted with little roadside campgrounds like this. Most of my summer vacations were spent going from one of these campgrounds to the next, all across the province.



My mother was fond of quoting one MLA who sarcastically referred to these facilities as "wiener stick parking lots." Said the MLA, "People park their RV there, jump out, roast their wieners, then hop back in and drive away."



But then, we had to bow to progress. Ralph Klein came to power, and the Alberta government was "no longer in the business of making business." High on the list of things that the government wanted to sell off and privatize: campgrounds.



The wiener stick parking lots were a tough sell to a lot of private contractors. Firstly, a lot of them were free or on the honor system. Not a lot of profit in that. And, if they were free to begin with, the government wasn't going to let them march in and start charging. So, a lot of the ones that didn't sell were closed down. There was a large public outcry, causing the government to re-open some of those free ones almost immediatly. And then, they were quietly closed down with no fanfare (and thus, no outcry) about a year later.



I was reflecting on this as I wandered around the Lawrence Lake campground. When I was a kid, I was kind of mad at the government for selling off the campgrounds. "You're selling out our heritage!" and all that jazz. But then, I was thinking, that maybe it's just an idea whose time has passed. I chided my parents last year for their new trailer: a 50-foot monster unit complete with microwave, TV, and DVD player. "But Mark," the said. "This is considered a very basic model these days." I have relatives that consider the concept of an outhouse archaic and they refuse to go to any campground that doesn't have flush toilets and/or a shower building.



The entire concept of camping has changed. No one wants a wiener stick parking lot anymore. They just want a parking lot. Preferrably one with full hook-ups. How else can they have their hot showers and microwave popcorn?

Did you know that Wal-Mart allows free camping in all their parking lots? It's true. There are people who plan whole camping trips from Wal-Mart to Wal-Mart. That may be your idea of camping, but I'll always prefer my wiener stick parking lots, where the views are a might better.

A Real American Hero: Coming Soon to a Theatre Near You

A couple of weeks ago, he was in negotiations.

Then, he was off the project because he wanted too much money.

Now, it's 100% confirmed and official.

Stephen Sommers, the man who brought us The Mummy, the Mummy Returns, and Van Helsing, has just signed on to bring us the live-action movie version of....

G.I. Joe

In a statement released to the press, Sommers says he's not doing this just because Transformers was such a big hit. "Remember, Pirates of the Carribean was a big hit, but the Haunted Mansion, not so much," Sommers reminds us.

Sommers also says, "Our vision (for 'The Mummy') was clear the time the first trailer played during the Super Bowl, and by the time this one plays a Super Bowl, you'll see the coolest characters and visuals you can imagine, and beyond-state-of-the-art equipment."

Filming starts in February for a Summer 2009 release.

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And in other news, Drew Carey begins his stint as host of the Price is Right on October 15.

Yesterday's Double Dips

With yesterday being new DVD day, there were a couple of double-dips I wanted to report on, but never got around to.

First up, Joss Whedon's big screen version of Firefly, Serenity, finally gets a 2-disc special edition. The original, single-disc version only had a running commentary from Whedon, a featurette about how the show got resurrected into a movie, and a handful of cut scenes.

On this new 2-disc edition, you get all that stuff, plus a second running commentary with Whedon and the cast, a documentary about the making of the film, a featurette about the ship itself, a few more cut scenes, the online webisodes that chrocincled River Tam's conditioning, and the Sci-Fi channel TV special about the show.

I like this universe, but not enough to buy it again.

And the second one...well, you know you have to report it when Ebert and Roeper make it their DVD pick of the week.

That would be RoboCop: 20th Anniversary Edition. RoboCop hasn't had a decent DVD special edition since DVD was young and new 10 years ago.

The big thing about this 2-disc edition is you get both the original theatrical version AND the original, X-rated director's cut. For those who don't know their history, RoboCop was originally rated X for its excessive gore and violence. So, director Paul Verhoven did some editing and got it down to an R. He only had to a cut a minute's worth of stuff, but there was a lot of blood in that one minute.

Plus, you know, there's also the fun stuff like featurettes and running commentaries. Seeing as to how I don't own RoboCop at all, this might be the one worth getting.

Latest Targ's Up!

Argh!

I gotta get our of here! I gotta get out!

Don't get me wrong, I love living in my basement suite. It's cozy, it's private, and it's one of the last truly affordable rental properties in Athabasca. Only thing is, the house itself is a bit of a fixer-upper, and my landlord loves fixing-up.

Case in point: this Sunday afternoon. My idea of a quiet afternoon is lying on the couch, watching DVDs, and focusing all my energy on fighting this cold.

His idea of a quiet afternoon is laying his new hardwood floor. Just as I'm getting snug...BANG BANG BANG!! Another plank gets nailed down.

So I'll be getting out of the house this afternoon. Looks like a good day to drive down to Westlock and satisfy my cravings for KFC.

But before I go, I do have this week's episode of The Targ up!

This week, it's Episode 61: 10 Seconds at a Time, in which I complain about the landlord, give you an update on Indiana Jones 4, and celebrate the anniversary of the CD!

Listen here, and don't forget to look us up on iTunes!

Next for JK Rowling

Watching a bit of Princess Mononoke on TV right now...God, how come I don't own this soundtrack? The music in this film is right up there with Jurassic Park and Indiana Jones for "music I like to listen to while walking in the woods."

Anywho, got an interesting news story coming out of England today. JK Rowling, she who wrote those Harry Potter books, has recently been spotted in some Edinburgh cafes, hunched over a notepad, writing her next book. It's notable in that this is how Harry started out.

The waitress who peeked over Rowling's shoulder is telling the press that Rowling is apparently trying her hand at writing a crime thriller.

In interviews to plug the last Harry Potter book, Rolwing said that she still has stories to tell and novels to write, but she seriously doubts she'll hit the heights of Harry Potter again.

Happy Anniversary, CDs!

First, big news about Transformers.

I think it's safe to assume we've all seen Transformers by now. But when you were watching it, were you thinking, "Hey! You know what would make this movie even better? If the giant robots were EVEN BIGGER!"

Well, you're getting your wish. On September 21, Transformers gets re-released in IMAX.

Anywho, on to the anniversary that I mention in the heading.

It was on this day - August 17 - back in 1982 that the very first compact discs rolled off the assembly line.

That makes today the 25th anniversary of the CD.

In case your curious, those first CDs contained a recording of classical music...a recording of Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony.

Yeah, I'm geek enough to have read up on the CD's history. You know why they're 75 minutes long, instead of something easy to round off, like an hour? It's because most of the engineers who developed the CD were classical music enthusiasts, and they went, "Hey! If we could make these things 75 minutes long...they'd be big enough to hold entire pieces of classical music! We wouldn't have to cut them off and spread them over 2 discs!"

Another plan in the beginning was to make them as big as vinyl records...you know, cuz consumers were used to that size.

So, yeah. Celebrate by cranking up one of your favourite albums.

Tons of Movie News

Wow! I haven't blogged in 5 days! You'd almost think I have a life or something....

First up, about a week ago, I passed along that Stephen Sommers, the guy who did the Mummy movies and Van Helsing, was in negotiations to do the live-action movie version of GI Joe.

Well, it turns out that Mr. Mummy is NOT doing GI Joe. Turns out he wanted too much money, so Hasbro told him to...go away.

But that hasn't stopped the rumor mill from spinning. The ol' Internet was reporting yesterday that Marky Mark himself, Mark Whalberg, is in the running to play Duke. Now, I can't see him as Duke. For Duke, you need your blonde-haired, blue-eyed all American boy. However, Whalberg just might be able to pass himself off as Flint....

There's also a rumor going around that British action star Jason Statham just might be popping up as GI Joe's British counterpart, Action Man. I hereby call BS on that one.

And speaking of The Mummy, here's evidence that Hollywood is out of ideas. They're going to be doing a prequel to a prequel to a sequel.

Let me take you through it. The Mummy spawned a sequel, The Mummy Returns. The Mummy Returns spawned a prequel, The Scorpion King.

And now, The Scorpion King has spawned a prequel, The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian.

It's going to be directed by Russel Mulcahy, who directed the first Highlander film and one of my favourite guilty pleasures, The Shadow. Mulcahy's been doing nothing but straight-to-DVD stuff for the past few years, so many are predicting this to have it's world premiere in your neighbourhood's video rental place.

Oh, no wait. I'm wrong. Mulcahy's next film is Resident Evil 3, coming out in theatres next month.

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But let's move on to one of the biggest blockbusters of next year, the new Indiana Jones movie.

We're all a twitter waiting to see what the title's going to be. And now, it's come forward that George Lucas has copyrighted several potential titles. You may remember he did the same thing with all the Star Wars prequels...just think! Attack of the Clones could have almost been called Jar Jar's Big Adventure.

Anywho, the title for the next Indiana Jones movie just might be on this list....


Indiana Jones and the Fourth Corner of the Earth

Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Covenant

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Indiana Jones and the Lost City of Gold

Indiana Jones and the City of Gods

Indiana Jones and the Destroyer of Worlds


For what it's worth, City of Gods is the one that's been rumored online for the longest.

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And, one last thing....

Roland Emmerich, who directed another of my guilty pleasures, Independence Day, has just been tapped to do a remake of the sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage.

This is interesting in that Emmerich was rumored to be doing this ten years ago, but he put it on hold and then eventually left to go make the American Godzilla.

But that's not all! Oscar-winning director James Cameron, who gave us Titanic and the first two Terminator films, is also on board as a producer. Cameron, too, was rumored to be directing it for a while.

For those who don't remember, Fantastic Voyage was about a group of scientists who are miniaturized and injected into a comatose patient so that can remove an inoperable brain clot. But there's a sabatour on board....

Never saw the movie, but I read the novilization in junior high.

Latest Targ's Up

I don't know about your corner of the world, but here in Athabasca, it's a cold, grey, rainy day. Prefect for sitting inside and listening to the radio!

Good thing I've got this week's episode of The Targ up! This week, it's Episode 60: Lots of Stuff. I share the latest news on Weird Al, show off my new digital camera, continue planning my vacation, and reflect on my high school grad.

Listen to it!

Little Bits o' Saturday News

So, when my brother and I finished watching Transformers, we both said the same thing.

"Bring on G.I. Joe!"

Rumors are going around today that Stephen Sommers, the guy who brought us The Mummy films and Van Helsing, is in negotiations with Hasbro to do just that.

Yeah, cartoons of the 80s are getting big now. Warner Brothers is working on He-Man, and 20th Century Fox just picked up Voltron.

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Reading a current interview with my hero, "Weird Al" Yankovic. In the interview, Yankovic reveals his plans for utilizing current technology....

"maybe now I'll take advantage of iTunes, if I can work out some sort of arrangement with my record company. Maybe I can come up with a song, record it and have it on iTunes later that week, which would allow me to be a whole lot more timely and topical instead of waiting until I have an album's worth of parody, hoping that at least one or two of them are still valid."

New Weird Al songs every week? The 21st Century rocks, even if we don't have flying cars.

Working on the railroad

Yay! The high speed rail link between Edmonton and Calgary has just been declared...economically feasable!

In an Alberta government report that'll be officially released later this month, the long-proposed high speed rail link has been declared affordable. That's very significant seeing as to how one of the major stumbling blocks has always been the belief that it wouldn't be affordable.

The report says it'll only take 84 minutes to zip from Edmonton to Calgary, and that a round trip ticket would cost $130. Oh, and there would be a stop in Red Deer.

When confronted with the leaked report, Premier Ed Stelmach once again supported a high speed rail link, saying that if a high speed rail link could take 25% of the cars off of Highway 2, that would significantly reduce CO2 emissions and reduce highway maintenance costs.

The report was compiled by interviewing 5000 motorists, 1000 air travellers, and 700 bus riders.

My only question: Why stop at Calgary? Why not extend it just a little more south to Lethbridge?

Read it all at Yahoo!

A Russian as Checkov? The Mind Boggles....

It was announced today that Russian-born actor Anton Yelchin will be playing the one, the only Pavel Chekov in the new Star Trek movie.

I've blogged it before, and I'll blog it again...as big a Trekkie as I am, I'm just not getting excited about this.

Spider-Man 3 on DVD...and TMNT...and a crazy Star Trek movie rumor

This news is a couple days old, but I'm only just now getting around to blogging it.

You can tell that summer's drawing to a close when they start announcing when all the summer blockbusters will be coming out on DVD. And, the first one out of the gate is Spider-Man 3. Spider-Man 3 drops on October 30.

It'll be available in single-disc movie-only versions and 2-disc special editions.

On the single-disc version, you'll get a blooper reel, the Snow Patrol music video, a running commentary with director Sam Raimi and stars Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard, and a second running commentary with Producers Laura Ziskin, Avi Arad and Grant Curtis, Editor Bob Murawski and Special Effects Supervisor Scott Stokdyk.

On the 2-disc special edition, you get all that stuff, plus 11 featurettes covering all aspects of the film and trailers from all around the world.

Oh, and for those of you who've already made the Great Upgrade, the 2-disc version will also be on Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

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But that's, like, 2.5 months from now! What's on DVD today?

Why, that would be TMNT, the new computer animated film version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. For bonus stuff, you get a running commentary with writer/director Kevin Munroe, a bunch of cut scenes, including an alternate opening where Splinter recounts the Turtle's origins, a storyboard-to-finished-animation comparison, and a bunch of featurettes on the making of the film.

In stores now!

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And let's end things off with the crazy rumor going around today about the new Star Trek movie.

Are you ready for this crazy rumor? Here we go.

Tom Cruise as Captain Pike.

Latest Targ's Up...as are a couple of movie reviews

Got this week's episode of The Targ up!

This week, it's Episode 59: The Simpsons Show. Upon seeing The Simpsons Movie, I reflect on this cornerstone of pop culture...and let you know about and episode of the show coming up next season.

By the way, I looked it up. They guy who did Ghost World was Daniel Clowes. That'll make sense when you listen to this week's show.

So, what are you waiting for? Go listen to it!

And, do you know what I like to do when I'm listening to the radio? Well, actually, I like to take lots and lots of notes to see what I can learn from the announcer I'm listening to. The second thing I do is read. So, while you're listening to The Targ, you can go read my movie reviews for The Simpsons Movie and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

You can read those over at the main site.

A Day in the City

Ah, I do so love my days in the city.

Finally got a chance to spend my birthday gift cards. As per my family's instructions, I went to Best Buy and used the Best Buy gift card to get me a digital camera...gonna have a lot of fun spending the rest of my long weekend breaking that in.

And, of course, it just wouldn't be a day in the city without seeing a couple of movies. Took in The Simpsons Movie. I kind of got mixed feelings on that one. On the one hand, my fears were confirmed. They really don't push it much further than what you see on the show. On the other hand, the animation is kicked up a notch, and, as movies go, it's still pretty darn funny. I give it 3 out of 4 nibs.

I also stuck around and saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Now, I know this comes as a shock to some, but my exposure to Harry Potter is still purely cinematic. I have not read the books. (Well, I have read the first one. I found it to be such an easy read, I read it three times in a week.) I have found the movies to be enjoyable. I have to agree with other critics that they're kinda starting to blend together at this point...but still, lots of fun. Again, 3 out of 4.

I might have to pick up the books, now. I've grown fascinated with Luna Lovegood.

Stuff and Such

Well, here's where I'm going to be spending a lot of time the next few days.

Over at the official Ebert and Roeper website, they just launched what they call "the Balcony Archives."

In YouTube-style videos, they just posted every movie review from the show for the past 20 years!

Ever wonder what Siskel and Ebert thought of Toy Story, Batman or Who Framed Roger Rabbit? It's all there and easily searchable!

First thing I did was look up UHF. Yup, they hated it.

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And in the latest news on Smallville, another former Superman will be showing up next season.

It was announced today that Dean Cain, who played Clark Kent/Superman on Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman has signed on to play Dr. Curtis Knox, a murderous scientist who falls in league with Lex Luthor.

And - SPOILER WARNING - Dr. Curtis Knox just might turn out to Vandal Savage.

Smallville has its season premiere on September 27.

Tons of DVD News

Wow, lots of cool DVD news is coming out.

First up, Chasing Amy X. Ever since Kevin Smith started pumping out the 10th anniversary editions of all his films, there's been rumors of a 10th anniversary edition of Chasing Amy. Cuz, you know, 2007 is the 10th anniversary. Smith has also said that he wouldn't put out a 10th anniversary edition of Chasing Amy, because he likes the edition that's out now, and doesn't want to do a needless double dip. But, the fans have been asking for it.

So here's what he's going to do. He's going to come out with a special DVD of nothing but new Chasing Amy bonus material. New interviews, film a special anniversay Q&A after a special anniversary screening of the film, and all more. But, absolutly no movie. The closest concept I can think of is The Matrix Revisited.

That's kind of cool. That'll be out next year some time.

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Next up, we've finally got DVD release details for Grindhouse. As previously rumored, each film is getting released on DVD individually.

First out of the gate is Death Proof on September 18. This 2-disc special edition bosts an "unrated and extended" edit of the film...they say it's 30 minutes longer. The announced bonus features list 5 featurettes and an international poster gallery. I'm sure more are expected.

Almost a month later - October 16, to be specific - we get Planet Terror. Again, this'll be a 2-disc special edtion, boasting an "unrated and extended" edit of the film....they promise us that the missing reel will be edited back in. There's a running commentary with director Robert Rodreiguiz, some deleted scenes, a featurette, "and more!"

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Here's one that we Pixar geeks have been waiting for. On November 6, we get The Pixar Short Film Collection. Finally, all 13 Pixar short films get their own super-genius edition DVD! Each film will have a running commentary by its respective director, animation test footage, a featurette about the history of the Pixar shorts, "and more!"

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And finally, for all my fellow Futurama geeks...the first straight-to-DVD movie, Futurama: Bender's Big Score, comes out November 27. Apparently, the plot is that the Planet Express crew has to fight "nudist alien Internet scammers to save planet Earth." Special guest voices include Coolio, Al Gore, and Sarah Silverman.

The other 3 Futurama straight-to-DVD movies are all coming out in 2008.