Star Trek XI Casting Scoop!

From IGN.com

February 26, 2007 - IGN Movies has learned from studio sources which actors may play the Big Three in Paramount's Star Trek XI. By the "Big Three," we mean, of course, Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spock and Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

Confirming rumors that have been making the rounds for some months now, IGN has learned that Oscar winner Matt Damon is indeed in talks with Paramount about playing the role of Jim Kirk, previously immortalized onscreen by Emmy winner William Shatner.

Damon brings star power and an acting pedigree to the role that should convince audiences that this is a serious reboot of the beloved franchise.

For the part of Kirk's Vulcan first officer Mr. Spock, IGN has been told that none other than Oscar winner Adrien Brody (King Kong, The Pianist) is in talks with Paramount to play the role. If cast, Brody would succeed Leonard Nimoy in a role that forever marked Nimoy's career. But with a Best Actor award already under his belt and an eclectic mix of films on his resume, Brody wouldn't have as much to lose by taking on the iconic role as Nimoy had.

IGN has also been told that Oscar nominee Gary Sinise -- currently seen on the small screen in CSI: NY -- is in talks for the role of Dr. McCoy, the ornery and politically incorrect ship's physician aboard the U.S.S. Enterprise. McCoy's prickly relationship with Spock was the basis of much of the humor and humanity of the original 1960s series. The late DeForrest Kelley played "Bones" on TV.

Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise.Golden Globe and Emmy winner Sinise is no stranger to films about space flight, having previously appeared in Apollo 13 and Mission to Mars.

Those are the three actors that our studio insider advised us were the closest to being cast, with Damon's talks said to be further along than the rest. We have also heard of an actor being eyed for the role of Enterprise helmsman Lt. Sulu: Daniel Dae Kim ("Jin Kwon" on Lost). Sulu was played on the classic TV series by George Takei, who can now be seen on Heroes. We should stress, however, that Kim's possible casting is at a far earlier stage than that of the aforementioned three.

Lost, of course, was created and is executive produced by J.J. Abrams, who has just signed on to direct and produce Star Trek XI.Sources also advised IGN that Scottish thesp James McAvoy may indeed be in the mix to play chief engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in the film.

Neither Damon's reps at Endeavor nor Brody and Sinise's respective reps at CAA had responded to our inquiries for comment at time of publish.

Don't Eat The Nuggets!

I found this article on www.alnyethelawyerguy.com. Any igredient that is described as a quasiedible substance can't be good for you! It really makes you think twice about eating prepared foods anywhere!!!!

So What Really Is In A McDonald's Chicken McNugget?

The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan is a fascinating book that details the changing eating habits of Americans. I can't recommend it highly enough. It explains how, over the last 30 years, we have become a nation that eats vast quantities of corn – much more so than Mexicans, the original "corn people."

Most folks assume that a chicken nugget is just a piece of fried chicken, right? Wrong! Did you know, for example, that a McDonald’s Chicken McNugget is 56% corn?

What else is in a McDonald's Chicken McNugget? Besides corn, and to a lesser extent, chicken, The Omnivore's Dilemma describes all of the thirty-eight ingredients that make up a McNugget – one of which I'll bet you'll never guess. During this part of the book, the author has just ordered a meal from McDonald’s with his family and taken one of the flyers available at McDonald’s called "A Full Serving of Nutrition Facts: Choose the Best Meal for You." These two paragraphs are taken directly from The Omnivore’s Dilemma:

“The ingredients listed in the flyer suggest a lot of thought goes into a nugget, that and a lot of corn. Of the thirty-eight ingredients it takes to make a McNugget, I counted thirteen that can be derived from corn: the corn-fed chicken itself; modified cornstarch (to bind the pulverized chicken meat); mono-, tri-, and diglycerides (emulsifiers, which keep the fats and water from separating); dextrose; lecithin (another emulsifier); chicken broth (to restore some of the flavor that processing leeches out); yellow corn flour and more modified cornstarch (for the batter); cornstarch (a filler); vegetable shortening; partially hydrogenated corn oil; and citric acid as a preservative. A couple of other plants take part in the nugget: There's some wheat in the batter, and on any given day the hydrogenated oil could come from soybeans, canola, or cotton rather than corn, depending on the market price and availability.

According to the handout, McNuggets also contain several completely synthetic ingredients, quasiedible substances that ultimately come not from a corn or soybean field but form a petroleum refinery or chemical plant. These chemicals are what make modern processed food possible, by keeping the organic materials in them from going bad or looking strange after months in the freezer or on the road. Listed first are the "leavening agents": sodium aluminum phosphate, mono-calcium phosphate, sodium acid pyrophosphate, and calcium lactate. These are antioxidants added to keep the various animal and vegetable fats involved in a nugget from turning rancid. Then there are "anti-foaming agents" like dimethylpolysiloxene, added to the cooking oil to keep the starches from binding to air molecules, so as to produce foam during the fry. The problem is evidently grave enough to warrant adding a toxic chemical to the food: According to the Handbook of Food Additives, dimethylpolysiloxene is a suspected carcinogen and an established mutagen, tumorigen, and reproductive effector; it's also flammable. But perhaps the most alarming ingredient in a Chicken McNugget is tertiary butylhydroquinone, or TBHQ, an antioxidant derived from petroleum that is either sprayed directly on the nugget or the inside of the box it comes in to "help preserve freshness." According to A Consumer's Dictionary of Food Additives, TBHQ is a form of butane (i.e. lighter fluid) the FDA allows processors to use sparingly in our food: It can comprise no more than 0.02 percent of the oil in a nugget. Which is probably just as well, considering that ingesting a single gram of TBHQ can cause "nausea, vomiting, ringing in the ears, delirium, a sense of suffocation, and collapse." Ingesting five grams of TBHQ can kill.”

Bet you never thought that was in your chicken McNuggets!

Comic Book Fun

Bruce (I would have put a link to his blog here, but the silly biatch took it down) sent me this link. Even though I am not a big comic book fan, I spent a great deal of time looking and laughing at the content here. The “Seduction of the Innocent” section is the most entertaining!

Mayans to 'cleanse' Bush site

From cnn.com

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (CNN) -- Mayan Indian leaders have vowed to "spiritually cleanse" an ancient site in Guatemala after U.S. President George W. Bush visits during his seven-day, five-nation tour of Latin America.

Bush's visit to the ruins at Iximche, a one-time capital of a Mayan group, is part of an effort to show the administration is interested in all its neighbors in the hemisphere.

But many Mayans are angry that Bush is visiting Iximche, founded as the capital of the Kaqchiqueles kingdom before the Spanish conquest in 1524.

Mayan priests say they will purify the sacred archaeological site to rid it of any "bad spirits" after Bush is there.

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Wii Win, Wii Win, Wii Win, Wii Win, Wii Win

In news that will make David happy, Yahoo is reporting:

Nintendo's Wii game console outsold its competitors in January, keeping its lead against rivals Sony and Microsoft, according to new sales figures from analyst firm NPD.

Nintendo sold 436,000 units during the month, with Sony's previous iteration of its console, the PlayStation 2 coming in second place. Microsoft's Xbox 360 was third, followed by the PlayStation 3.

Nintendo has maintained its lead primarily through ease-of-use, a lower price, and strong game titles at launch time, analysts have said. Sony and Microsoft, in contrast, have tried to develop consoles that are cutting edge, which has increased the price of the units.

Down Not Out

But just because Nintendo is ahead does not mean that its rivals have thrown in the towel. Sony has announced that it is giving away freebies in an attempt to win users to the PlayStation 3 platform. In March, the company will give a Blu-ray Disc version of the movie "Casino Royale" to the first 30,000 Australian PS3 buyers.

It is likely that Sony is attempting to demonstrate why the PlayStation 3 is worth the higher price by showcasing the quality of Blu-ray movies on the console. It remains to be seen, though, whether Australians will agree. Although the device is $600 in the United States, gamers down under will end up paying closer to $750.

In a recent report, TheStreet.com analyst Michael Comeau predicted that Nintendo's momentum should have Microsoft thinking about a price cut for the Xbox 360. But he expects that move could be delayed until 2008, when "surefire hardware mover" Halo 3 is released.

Console Wars

As the console wars rage, it is likely that over the next year, the major manufacturers will keep stressing their benefits over the competition and adding more services and functions. Nintendo, for example, could take advantage of the amusing and anecdotal stories of weight loss as a result of using its Wii controller, noted Forrester Research analyst Paul Jackson.

"Instead of going to the gym, you can just play a game, like boxing or tennis," he said. "There are people who have blogs about losing weight with these games and are proud of how they break a sweat and get their heart rates up."

Could the Wii replace Jared and the Subway sandwich phenomenon as an easy-to-follow, non-gym weight loss plan? Time will tell, but Jackson added that if there is a perceived benefit, Nintendo will likely tout it before long.

"Nintendo already has an excellent start in the marketplace, and has sold a great deal of hardware," he noted. "But to maintain a lead in this industry, you can't rest on your success."