Classic Films at The Paramount (and Internet Archive)

Tomorrow night the historic Paramount Theatre - Austin's Movie Palace - kicks off its annual Summer Film Classics series with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in Top Hat, followed by Casablanca and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre this weekend. Over 60 films will be presented all summer long through September 4, many presented as two-for-one double features with either an episode of the 1943 Batman serial or a vintage Warner Bros. cartoon. Tickets range $5-7, or you can buy a book of ten passes for just $45. (Check out the full line-up here.)

P.S.: In vaguely related news, you can download an amazing array of public domain vintage films from the Internet Archive - including silents like Nosferatu, cartoons like the Fleischer Studios' Mechanical Monsters Superman episode, serials like Radar Men From the Moon, and even features like His Girl Friday and Charade.

INTERVIEWS: Whedon, Roth, Bruckheimer, Kim, Spielberg

Some particularly interesting interviews have popped up online over the past few days, which I figured I'd share in case you haven't seen them.

First up, DarkWorlds News has an exclusive three-part interview with Joss Whedon. Part One is about Serenity (which apparently has locked picture). "You have to knock people for a loop every now and then to remind them that this is real and that the stakes are high, and that nothing is sacred and nobody is safe. If you believe those things then at the end of the movie, it’s exciting. If you don’t, then it’s just a bunch of noise." (Part Two is about Buffy and Angel, and Part Three will be published tomorrow - probably about Astonishing X-Men.)

Meanwhile, Patrick Goldstein at the Los Angeles Times profiles Revolution Studios chief Joe Roth today, and goes behind-the-scenes of his forthcoming Freedomland, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Julianne Moore. (Roth, speaking about his previous Christmas With the Kranks, reveals "I realized that I'd made a dismissable piece of lowbrow commercial entertainment that my friends didn't need to watch.") Also, yesterday's L.A. Times had a profile of uber-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who will oversee an unprecedented 10 primetime TV series next season.

Finally, The Washington Post has a really nice interview with Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Jin Kwon on Lost (which airs its first season finale tonight and is pretty much tied with 24 as my favorite series this season). And Wired has an in-depth feature on Steven Spielberg and the making of War of the Worlds, which opens June 29. "I've never prepped a movie this quickly, and I've never gone so fast in post."

P.S.: While you're at DarkWorlds, check out their freaky online store full of H.R. Giger goodies and the signed limited edition Wayne Barlowe Hellboy print.

Freaky. Japanese. Robot. Cat.

So it's called NeCoRo, and it has tactile, audio and motion sensors so it can interact with its environment (and its owner). It can vocalize 48 different cat sounds, and learn to respond to its own name. It costs around $1,700 (185,000 yen), and totally freaks me out. Check out these highly disturbing video clips.

Miyazaki/Takahata Exhibition at MoMA

All next month, The Museum of Modern Art presents Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata: Masters of Animation, a major exhibition honoring two of Japan's greatest filmmakers. MoMA will present a thirteen-film retrospective of their work - including the North American premiere of Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle on Monday, June 6. (There's no place in the world I'd rather be that day.)

Guy Juke Retrospective

The South Austin Museum of Popular Culture kicked off their Guy Juke Retrospective on Saturday, which runs until June 11th. Juke is a legendary illustrator who helped define the Austin music scene in the '70s through his (now highly collectible) silkscreened posters for the Armadillo World Headquarters and others. I've recently had the pleasure of working with him, as he's designed the logo for a top secret project I'm involved in. (His alter ego, Blackie White, plays a regular Thursday gig at Jovita's with "Country Music's Worst Nightmare", The Cornell Hurd Band.) Anyway, the Museum is at 1516 S. Lamar by Planet K, and open Tuesday through Sunday, 1-6pm. (The Chronicle has more info.)

John Lennon's Jukebox on PBS (and CD)

Tonight on PBS, Great Performances presents John Lennon's Jukebox, a fascinating new documentary (produced by Initial for The South Bank Show) that reveals and examines Lennon's pre-Beatles musical influences via the contents of his 30-pound portable jukebox - basically the '60s version of an iPod. Last March, The Guardian ran a great article about the jukebox, which you can buy as a 2-CD set at Amazon.com.

Expedition to Alien Planet

This weekend, Discovery Channel premiered Evergreen Films' ambitious two-hour adaptation of [Blade II, Hellboy and The Prisoner of Azkaban creature designer / concept artist] Wayne Barlowe's acclaimed (and sadly out-of-print) 1990 book Expedition. Retitled Alien Planet, it chronicles a speculative robotic expedition to Darwin IV, a fictional planet 6.5 light years away with two suns, 3/5 Earth gravity - and a menagerie of bizarre life. Director Pierre de Lespinois and producer John Copeland (who previously produced Babylon 5) bring Barlowe's designs vividly to life (via CG from Meteor Studios), interspersed with commentary from leading scientists (including Stephen Hawking and Michio Kaku). It's fascinating and engaging stuff, and airs again this Thursday night on Discovery. (You can watch a preview here.)

But wait, there's more! I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that Evergreen is pulling impressive double-duty on Discovery this week with tonight's premiere of their three-part Science of Star Wars series (hosted by C-3PO and R2-D2). The first installment, "Man and Machines", airs tonight, followed by "Space Cowboys" and "War, Weapons and The Force" tomorrow and Wednesday, respectively - and then all three re-air back-to-back on Sunday night.

(And if you really want to know what I thought of Star Wars: Rots, I recommend Peter Travers' spot-on review for Rolling Stone, and Anthony Lane's in The New Yorker.)

Cassini finds moon hidden in Saturn's rings

Last week NASA announced that the Cassini space probe has found a 4-mile wide moon hidden in the Keeler gap of Saturn's rings that leaves a trail of gravitational ripples in its wake. Provisionally named S/2005 S1, it is the second such moon found to exist within Saturn's rings (after the 16-mile long Pan, located in the Encke gap). On top of 12 other new moons confirmed two weeks ago, there are now 47 known moons orbiting Saturn - though several, like Phoebe, are now believed to be captured satellites that originated in the Kuiper Belt region of the outer solar system.

Shopping with Dany Levy

Fashion Wire Daily goes shopping with Dany Levy, the founder and editor-in-chief of DailyCandy. "I'm not a hardcore fashion person," she says. "It's more that I'm fascinated by what makes people want things - what makes something 'of the moment' and then pass. That's what I'm interested in." (And she really wants a pug.)

Disneyland 50th Anniversary Collectibles

If you're anything even approaching a Disneyland geek, go feast your eyes on the official limited edition Disneyland 50th Anniversary Collectibles now available at Disneydirect.com. The first three collections have already been unveiled, commemorating Disneyland as a whole, Main Street, U.S.A. and Tomorrowland. Frontierland and Adventureland items will be released on July 15, with New Orleans Square and Fantasyland to follow in August and October, respectively. Jim Hill Media has a fantastic two-part sneak preview of the entire collection. Pretty amazing stuff. (Oh, and you can request a catalog here.)

Hand gestures linked to language, memory

Science Daily reported last week on a couple of fascinating University of Alberta studies that have revealed a connection between language, memory and hand gestures. In one, bilingual children were observed to employ significantly more gesturing when relating a story in their stronger language. In another, Chinese women who spoke English better than Chinese men were observed to use more hand gestures when doing so. "What we think is going on here," says Dr. Elena Nicoladis, "is that the very fact of moving your hands helps you... access memory and language." (I'm feeling a deep sense of metaphysical validation right now...)

TRAILERS: Narnia, The Goblet of Fire, Batman Begins, and HD

Three particularly cool trailers popped up online this past week, starting with the first trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which opens this Christmas. (You can guess who my favorite character from the books is.) There are also three interesting behind-the-scenes featurettes and a pretty nifty website.

Meanwhile, the first trailer for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is out, as is the international trailer for Batman Begins. Both look pretty damn good. Also, Apple's HD Gallery now features select trailers in glorious 1080p HD H.264, including Serenity and Batman Begins. (QuickTime 7 and a G5 required.)

Oh, and if you haven't been watching the Superman Returns Video Journals at BlueTights.net, you're really missing out. The two most recent ones have featured behind-the-scenes footage of the gorgeous Daily Planet set, and some impressive visual effects tests of Superman flying.

Arrested Development Saved?

In a semi-miraculous and utterly confounding turn of events, Kristin over at E! Online giddily reports that Arrested Development is getting renewed by Fox for not just one, but two more seasons - after looking Very Much Dead back in February. Official confirmation should come in a week, at which point there will be much robo-rejoicing.

Free Jr. Frostys at Wendy's

All weekend long, Wendy's is giving away free 6 oz. Jr. Frostys to anyone who asks - no purchase necessary. (They're tiny, but yummy!)

Lockheed's Proposed Shuttle Replacement

The June issue of Popular Mechanics has an exclusive inside look at Lockheed Martin's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) designed to replace the space shuttle. (Northrup Grumman and Boeing are also submitting a design, and NASA will choose the winner in 2008 for scheduled launch in 2014.)

I have seen Serenity (and Star Wars: Rots)

Holy crap! So sorry I've been remiss in updating the past few days, but things have been crazy busy in roboworld.

Anyway, last Thursday I got to go to a press screening of Star Wars: Rots and a test screening of Serenity, which made for quite a day. I plan to eventually write up full reviews of each as soon as I have time, but in the meantime I went ahead and posted a mini-review of the latter on Whedonesque last week, which you can read here. (And if you're a Mac user who's upgraded to OS 10.4, you can download a Serenity Countdown widget for Dashboard here.)

The Big Lebowski Rolling Roadshow!

This Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema's always awesome Rolling Roadshow will present The Big Lebowski in a glorious outdoor screening at Dart Bowl. Tickets are $17.50, and include a costume contest, free bowling, shoe rental, and White Russians - in other words, an evening of boundless bliss! (I'll be attending on Saturday.)

Stephen Colbert is getting his own show!

Oh, happy day! The Daily Show's relentlessly and diabolically funny Stephen Colbert (who also voices Mr. Impossible on "The Venture Brothers") is finally getting his own show. It will be called "The Colbert Report", and premieres this fall on Comedy Central. Dance, TiVo, dance!

Daily Weather Reports... by David Lynch

Twitch (and, actually, the IFC Blog) informs me that we can now all get daily weather reports online in QuickTime video... from David Lynch. Holy crap! I of course bookmarked it immediately, and will be checking in with Mr. Lynch every single day from now on. (I strongly recommend that you all do the same.)

P.S.: Twitch (one of my daily reads, btw) also has a really cool interview with one of my all-time favorite people in the known universe, Ron Perlman, who should be filming Hellboy 2 this time next year. (Happy belated birthday, Ron!)