Ridley Scott to direct new Blade Runner.

Well, at least it's not a remake, or in this case, replicant. From Raw Story:

Nearly 30 years after making the sci-fi cult classic "Blade Runner," British director Ridley Scott has agreed to direct a new installment, the producers have said.

The new "Blade Runner," produced by Alcon Entertainment, will not be a remake but rather a follow-up or a prequel to the original. Scott has yet to decide between the two options, the company said in a statement.

"It would be a gross understatement to say that we are elated Ridley Scott will shepherd this iconic story into a new, exciting direction," said producers Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson.

"We are huge fans of Ridley's and of the original 'Blade Runner'." This is once in a lifetime project for us," they added.

No casting decisions have been made as of yet, and no release date has been fixed.

Coozer-Bits.

Eats: Unexpected fungus decimates Australia's pistachio crop.

Karaoke Kills: Karaoke killer gets 54 years to life.

Karaoke Kills: Neighborhood pulls together to reject restaurant's request for karaoke license.

Awesome: Scott Pilgrim finally comes to Japan.

Welcome Back, Kotter cast to reunite for award.

What about Juan Epstein?? From CNN:

It'll be a high-school reunion of sorts when John Travolta reunites with the cast of the '70s sitcom "Welcome Back, Kotter" at the 2011 TV Land Awards.

The classic series, which ran from 1975-1979, starred Gabe Kaplan as Mr. Kotter, an inner city high school teacher whose students include the underachieving misfits the Sweathogs.

Travolta, who played ladies' man Vinnie Barbarino, uttering classic lines like, "Up your nose with a rubber hose," is set to accept TV Land's 35th Anniversary Award alongside fellow Sweathogs Ron Palillo ("Arnold Horshack") and Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs ("Freddie 'Boom Boom' Washington"). Marcia Strassman, who played Mr. Kotter's wife Julie, will also join the guys.

It is not yet known whether Kaplan will attend the ceremony, to air April 17, but more cast members are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.

Firefly fans step up campaign.

Yes, please, make this happen! From CNN:

True Browncoats, like the fictional freedom fighters they named themselves after, don't give up easily.

Those diehard fans of "Firefly," the 2002 cult TV hit, have a history of turning to the internet to buck improbable odds in defense of their favorite show.

Now, they're at it again.

Just days after an apparently offhand comment from Nathan Fillion, who played Capt. Malcolm Reynolds on the short-lived Fox series, the Web has once again lit up with efforts to revive the sci-fi franchise.

Last week, Fillion, who now stars in ABC's "Castle," told Entertainment Weekly he'd love to play Mal again. Then, he ratcheted things up a notch.

"If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to "Firefly," make it on my own, and distribute it on the internet," Fillion told EW, a CNN.com partner.

Then, some possibly surprising online reactions started rolling in.

The next day, former "Firefly" writer Jose Molina wrote on Twitter: "For what it's worth, I've told him I'd drop what I was doing and follow."

Then, Jane Espenson, who wrote an episode, chimed in: "I'm there, if needed," she tweeted.

Jewel Staite, who played ace mechanic Kaylee on the show, had a simple answer when a Twitter follower asked if she'd be on board: "Is the Pope Catholic?"

That was more than enough for fans (whose "Browncoat" nickname, by the way, comes from the Western-style dusters worn by Fillion and others on the show).

A website, "Help Nathan Buy Firefly," popped up, under the title "Let's get the Captain his money."

The goal? To set up a means of collecting pledges that would turn into donations if a revived "Firefly" looks like it could become a reality.

The pledge system hadn't been officially created as of Tuesday, but fans were already writing in the site's comment section that they're willing to pony up.

In five days, the site's Facebook group had picked up more than 33,000 members -- about 10,000 of them in the past 24 hours.

The two creators of the site are remaining publicly anonymous for now. In an email to CNN (which came from an address linked to the site and was mentioned on the group's Facebook page), they said they work in the nonprofit field but "have no credentials to speak of" in the TV/film industry or "Firefly" community.

They acknowledged that the odds that Fillion was serious about buying the show's rights are "pretty low," but hope the community's willingness to support some sort of revamped "Firefly" will encourage creator Joss Whedon or someone else with the proper clout to make a move.

"Joss paid out of pocket to make [Web series] 'Dr. Horrible,' and it's not only paid him back, it's paid the folks involved," they said in the email. "We'd like to see him be willing to let fans become his pocket and revisit ['Firefly']."

They say they "won't take a penny" from anyone until someone like Whedon or Fillion gets involved in an effort to revive the show and would look to set up a not-for-profit foundation or something of the sort if that happens.

Other devotees of the cult favorite say they're not surprised by the quick Web action.

"I couldn't believe it when I first read the story," said Brian Harvard, co-creator of the 25,000-member-strong "Bring Back Firefly" Facebook page. "Then, all of a sudden, everyone's posting these links to the 'Help Nathan Buy Firefly' page and I said, 'We've got to help get the word out about this.' "

Even before "Firefly" was officially sacked in 2002, fans had taken to the Web to try to save it. Using the online tools of the early 2000s -- message boards, fan sites, chat rooms and LiveJournal blogs -- they organized. Call it an early example of crowd-sourcing.

They collected money for an ad in Variety, organized a postcard-writing campaign to Universal Pictures and, when the DVD box set was released, raised $14,000 to put copies on 250 Navy ships for the crews to watch.

The fan base's self-styled guerrilla marketing is widely considered to have helped Whedon get funding for 2005's "Serenity," a feature film that draws together some of the loose ends from the series.

"On the internet, that was one of the first times you've seen such a drive to bring something back," Harvard said. "Now, with the advent of Facebook? My goodness -- that's probably the most useful tool, next to the internet itself, to really bring some fire under this movement."

Harvard acknowledges that Fillion's comment sounds like an off-the-cuff quip. (And 20th Century Fox, which owns the rights to "Firefly," hasn't expressed any desire to sell them.)

But he says that doesn't mean nothing will come out of the internet reaction to it.

"Even if this project goes nowhere, at least it's something to show the powers-that-be that there's a product there that could be making them some money," he said.

Coozer-Bits.

Film: Just how many days does Bill Murray spend stuck reliving Groundhog's Day? (Thanks Mike!)

Lame: Bank of America pays $410m to settle overdraft fees row.

Duh: Shocked mother sues Nutella for not being healthy.

Coozer-Bits.

Health: 10 foods to help boost your brain power.

Awesome: Writer of the "jump the shark" episode of Happy Days speaks out.

Yipes: Two asteroids to buzz Earth today.

Transformers 3 extra in coma after accident.

Hopefully Transformers 3 doesn't cause brain damage for this poor woman as it will undoubtedly cause the audience. Item.

Indiana State Police say a movie extra was critically injured on the production set of a blockbuster sequel.

Spokeswoman Sergeant Ann Wojas said Gabriella Cedillo was in a critical condition, according to a family member in Chicago.

On Wednesday, she was driving her car through a scene of Transformers 3, filming in Hammond, Indiana, when a stunt for the scene went horribly wrong, MyFoxChicago.com said.

Witnesses said a cable snapped, whipping through her windshield and hitting her in the head. She is recovering from brain surgery at Loyola Medical Centre.

Neighbours said Ms Cedillo was excited to be working on the movie.
"It was a blessing to know she was going to be a part of it," Nate Smith told the TV station. "But then to find out she was part of the unfortunate accident, it set you back a few steps. ... Nothing you can do but sit and pray."

The last day of filming in Chicago had been scheduled for Thursday, but it was called off because of the accident.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with Gabriela, her family and loved ones," the film production said in a written statement. "We are looking into what caused the accident."

State workplace investigators in Indiana also are looking into the accident.

Police say Ms Cedillo was an extra, not a stunt professional.

A hospital official said she had no information about Ms Cedillo.

Toy sales stopped Return of the Jedi's dark ending.

Who doesn't love a good teddy bear dance party? From News.com.au:

Toy sales stopped George Lucas from ending his Star Wars saga on a downbeat note, the film's original producer has revealed.

As Lucas announced that his saga was finally coming to Blu-ray, and gave fans a sneak peak of a lost opening to Return of the Jedi, Gary Kurtz, who produced Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, talked about the film's lost ending.

Kurtz told The Los Angeles Times that Lucas had originally planned a much darker ending to Return of the Jedi: Han Solo was to die and a battle-weary Luke Skywalker was to have walked off alone "like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns".

What audiences ended up getting was dancing Ewoks and a happy ending.

Kurtz, who rarely speaks about his involvement in Star Wars, told the Times that after Empire came out in 1980, he and Lucas started discussing ideas for a third film but it soon became apparent that they were heading in different directions.

"We had an outline and George changed everything in it," Kurtz told the Times.

"Instead of bittersweet and poignant he wanted a euphoric ending with everybody happy. The original idea was that they would recover Han Solo in the early part of the story (Solo had been kidnapped at the end of Empire) and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base.

"George then decided he didn’t want any of the principals killed. By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason."

Kurtz, who had been Lucas's producing partner for more than a decade, decided to part company with Star Wars and move onto other projects.

He said that by the time Empire Strikes Back came out, the toy business was starting to drive Lucas's empire, which has made $18 billion on a Star Wars franchise that includes not just films but TV series, toys, books and clothes.

"The first film and Empire were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing.

"It's a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It's natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that's not the best thing for making quality films."

Uh huh huh... Beavis and Butt-head returning to MTV.

From the NY Post:

"Beavis and Butt-head" -- the show that celebrated the slacker way of life and helped make MTV into a network that did more than just play music videos -- is coming back.

The move to resurrect the hugely popular 1990s animated anti-heroes has been rumored for several days. But yesterday, sources at MTV confirmed that a new batch of "Beavis and Butt-head" episodes are in the works.

The new series would keep Beavis and Butt-head in their perpetual high-school state, but it would be updated so that the pals -- who obsessively watch music videos on a battered TV set -- could lob their snarky comments at more current targets like Lady Gaga.

The show's minimalist animated style is also expected to remain intact.

The return of "Beavis and Butt-head" will be a backdoor means for MTV to return to showing music videos -- something the network was founded upon but abandoned in the last decade to make room for popular reality shows like "Laguna Beach," "The Hills" and "Jersey Shore."

"Beavis and Butt-head," which premiered in 1993, began as an animated short called "Frog Baseball," which aired on MTV's "Liquid Television."

The basic plotline revolved around two shorts-wearing, spectacularly immature teenage pals whose banter was delivered against the backbeat of their constant idiotic laughter.

Series creator Mike Judge, who's also creating the new episodes, voiced both characters.

The guys worked at a fast-food joint and were always out to "score" with "chicks" when they weren't sitting on a ratty couch watching music videos.

Beavis, the blond half, usually wore a Metallica T-shirt and would morph into his crazed, gibberish-spewing alter-ego, "Cornholio," when he ingested too much sugar.

Butt-head was the "cooler" of the two. He usually wore an AC/DC T-shirt and often picked on Beavis in much the same way Moe would slap around Curly, Larry and Shemp on "The Three Stooges."

The duo was so successful they were spun off into a 1996 big-screen movie, "Beavis and Butt-head Do America" and a marketing juggernaut of T-shirts and character trinkets.

A recurring character on the show, high-school classmate Daria (whom they called "Diarrhea"), eventually got her own MTV series.

After MTV canceled "Beavis and Butt-head" in 1997, Judge went on to create "King of the Hill" for Fox.

He also wrote the cult-classic movie comedy "Office Space" and last year's big-screen movie "Extract."

MTV officials had no comment yesterday.

Judge is "not commenting at this time," his publicist said.

Vatican blesses Blues Brothers.

From the NY Post:

They really were "on a mission from God."

In a stunning move by the Vatican, the classic Dan Aykroyd-John Belushi comedy film "The Blues Brothers" was declared a "Catholic classic" alongside more pious films such as "The Ten Commandments" and "The Passion of the Christ."

The announcement was made in the Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano, corresponding with 30th anniversary of the release of the film.

"As a former altar boy from age 6 . . . but a somewhat lapsed Catholic, I was delighted with the endorsement," Aykroyd said in a message to The Post yesterday.

"My local monsignor will immediately be receiving a check for parish needs."

L'Osservatore editor Gian Maria Vian praised the flick for its plot, in which Jake Blues (Belushi) and his brother Elwood (Aykroyd) battle cops, neo-Nazis and crazed country fans in a bid to save the Catholic orphanage where they were raised.

"For them, this Catholic institution is their only family," Vian wrote. "And they decide to save it at any cost."

L'Osservatore's editorial lavishes praise on the 1980 comic romp, in which Aykroyd and Belushi say that they're "on a mission from God." The writers call it "incredibly shrewd" noting that in one scene a picture of Pope John Paul II could clearly be seen.

Coozer-Bits.

Hero: Man saves dozens of people from suicide.

Tech: Top 10 stupid Hollywood hackers.

Science: Prehistoric mammal hair found in amber.

Health: How to slow hair loss.

Gross: Woman finds mutant blob in Capri Sun.

D'oh: Sand drives army to ditch Velcro in favor of the simple button.

Lame: GOP operative embezzles $1m from Bloomberg.

Physics professor writes open letter to Hot Tub Time Machine.

Great letter from a real professor. Click here to read the whole thing.

Dear Sirs:

As a noted time-travel expert, I looked forward to your new film, "Hot Tub Time Machine" with great anticipation. Of course, one expects a fair amount of artistic license in movies. For example, even in 1985, the most energy efficient flux capacitors could be powered at far less than 1.21 Gigawatts of electricity. It is also wholly understandable that you have ignored (or are perhaps ignorant of) the vast literature on time machine design and have therefore built yours around a hot tub, which has been shown to be unstable, rather than around the more conventional wormhole. Further, you exhibit an admirable attention to detail on many particulars. Following on the Terminator model, you correctly realize that time travel may only be undertaken while in the nude.

However, I cannot stand idly by as you subject your characters to a number of inviolable paradoxes. Considered from least to most egregious:

1. Predestination Paradoxes. In models of time travel with a single timeline, a traveler who has already experienced the past has no choice but to repeat his/her actions. It is troubling to me that you address predestination in matters of only the most trifling detail, such as whether John Cusack is destined to get a fork in the eye or the fate of Crispin Glover's arm, all while allowing gross details of history to be changed with impunity. Tinkering with history isn't a matter of "close enough." Once things are changed, however slightly, they're changed for good.

Your characters, showing better temporal intuition than you, yourselves, comment on this point, and warn of the "Butterfly Effect." A couple of observations are in order. First, the movie of that name was unspeakably terribly, and you do yourself and your characters a disservice to speak of it approvingly. Secondly, the changes wrought in the past would have so changed the future that any foreknowledge would quickly become worthless. If you don't make your fortune in the first couple of days, it's already too late. The alternate future you will have created will likely have everyone running around in goatees and building doomsday devices.

Coozer-Bits.

Film: Battlefield Earth's screenwriter pens hilarious apology.

List: 10 big rules of small talk.

Religion: Colbert Report guest (and not Colbert himself) is secretly the messiah.

Creepy: Exotic plant takes over dunes in southern Spain.

Robot Uprising Watch: Researchers equip robot sub with wacky sensory system.

Prophesy: Underwater volcano may destroy Italy.

Zombie Watch: Ancient Egyptian door to the afterlife found.

Coozer-Bits.

Rush: Great article on Rush and their awesome fans. (Thanks Banjo Dan!)

TV: Top 25 TV flops.

WTF: Man defends family from rapist murderers. He almost gets 8 years while thugs get off free.

ZombieWatch: Scientists resurrect 4400-year-old Neanderthal.

Yipes: Talk about nuts! Packet of peanuts sparks 50-person street brawl.

Sad: Where's the love? Sharp decline in V-Day spending.

Batman & Robin voted worst movie ever.

I can think of worse. From The Sun:

GEORGE CLOONEY's comic book adventure Batman And Robin has been voted the worst movie of all time.

The 1997 film - which cost £90million to make and also starred CHRIS O'DONNELL and UMA THURMAN - was blamed for almost killing off the Caped Crusader franchise.

It was slammed for its camp "Batsuits" - which had nipples - and an "overblown" script.

Empire magazine, which ran the "most disastrous movie" poll, said: "It has become a byword for franchise-killing and bad movie-making."

The film got almost three times as many votes as the next entry - JOHN TRAVOLTA's bizarre sci-fi flick Battlefield Earth.

And Austin Powers funnyman MIKE MYERS' comedy The Love Guru came in third place.

The top 10 bad movies: 1. Batman and Robin; 2. Battlefield Earth; 3. The Love Guru; 4. Raise The Titanic; 5. Epic Movie; 6. Heaven's Gate; 7. Sex Lives Of The Potato Men; 8. The Happening; 9. Highlander II: The Quickening; 10. The Room.

Avatar audiences depressed by real life.

From CNN:

James Cameron's completely immersive spectacle "Avatar" may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

On the fan forum site "Avatar Forums," a topic thread entitled "Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible," has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

"I wasn't depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ," Baghdassarian said. "But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don't have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed."

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

"That's all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about 'Avatar.' I guess that helps. It's so hard I can't force myself to think that it's just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na'vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie," Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site "Naviblue" that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

"Ever since I went to see 'Avatar' I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na'vi made me want to be one of them. I can't stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it," Mike posted. "I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in 'Avatar.' "

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Coozer-Bits.

Science: Huge breakthrough on how a protein is liked to the spread of viruses.

Science: Hubble finds most distant galaxies.

Lame: Restaurants and packaged foods have more calories than noted on nutrition labels.

Prophesy: Runaway anti-matter destroys star, explosion can be seen halfway across galaxy.

Hot Cha Cha: $30m Senegal statue shows too much thigh.

Film: Dune being remade for some reason.

ESPN to launch 3D TV network.

Finally, I can watch hours of poker in thrilling 3D! From Reuters:

The Walt Disney Co's sports unit said on Tuesday it will launch ESPN 3D, which it claims is the industry's first 3D TV network, in June and will air a minimum of 85 live sporting events during its first year.

"This will be a meaningful step to drive adoption of 3D television sets and afford opportunities for our affiliates to create value through new product offerings, and our advertisers, who want fresh sponsorship opportunities," Sean Bratches, ESPN's executive vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement.

Already a hit in movie theaters, many believe 3D is poised to take over the home market as the display technology to watch this year. Many 3D technologies will be on display at the annual Consumer Electronics Show this week in Las Vegas.

A lack of 3D programing, in particular for sports, has been one of the key barriers to adoption of 3D TV, analysts have said. Having to wear special glasses is another.

In addition, sports, perhaps even more than movies, is a prime driver of consumer sales for screen technology, including flat-screen TVs.

ESPN said its first broadcast will be a June 11 World Cup soccer match between South Africa and Mexico. Other events to be produced in 3D include up to 25 World Cup matches, the Summer X Games extreme sports, college basketball and football, including the BCS National Championship game in Glendale, Arizona, on January 10, 2011.

Coozer-Bits.

Local: Terrorism, swine flu, girlfriend-beating politicians put my home in the national spotlight! Yeah, Queens Pride! Up yours, Brooklyn!!

Science: The Year in Space.

Film: Half of the movies coming out in 2010 are from 2008.

Duh: Dumbest quotes of the 2000's. (Somehow, not all are from Bush!)

Trends: Anti-energy drinks. (Isn't that called "beer"?)

RUW: Robot helps grandma shop. Our elderly are doooooomed!!

Awesome: Italy gets $95 billion from illegal money held in Swiss banks!

Science: Scientists discover how wild mushroom cancer drug works.

Sandra Bullock in custody battle with porn star.

On one hand, you've got a woman who may be surrounded by drugs, pornographers, instability, and disease. On the other hand, you've got a woman partially responsible for The Net and Speed 2: Cruise Control. Hmm. From News.com.au:

Miss Congeniality star Sandra Bullock is in a custody battle with her husband’s porn star ex-wife.

Bullock is trying to prove that she is a better parent for her husband’s five year-old daughter, Sunny, than the girl’s mother, 40-year-old Janine Lindemulder, who has just served six months in prison for tax evasion.

Lindemulder is currently in a halfway house and can apply for custody of her child at the beginning of next year but Bullock’s husband, US television star Jesse James, has already taken action to keep the child with them.

Bullock, James and Lindemulder all have homes in the wealthy Los Angeles beach front suburb Orange County.

“Good cause exists for the court to conduct a review to determine if (the girl) will be safe with (Lindemulder),” James said in a statement to the court. “She should be restrained from allowing the child around pornographers, drug addicts, guns and firearms, felons and other unsafe environments.”