Level Orange

Reports are in that ABC has cancelled Life on Mars after only one season. However, in a bit of an unprecedented move, the network will let the show wrap up and bring its main storyline–how detective Sam Tyler found himself transported back in time to 1973–to a fitting conclusion. Apparently ABC was pleased the show’s creative spin, but couldn’t continue to back its falling ratings, so perhaps allowing a series finale is a move to reward those viewers that stuck with the show.

Frankly, I’m surprised that more viewers didn’t get into Life on Mars. While it’s yet another British remake and was hampered by a complete revamp before even airing (including reshoots and recasting), I thought there was enough great writing and performances to keep viewers engaged. And while the show revolves around a central mystery, it never went so far into LOST territory that new viewers couldn’t check in and still enjoy it. Maybe that was a mistake on ABC’s part. After all, the show had excellent production quality (and exceptional music selections), but it was nothing like LOST, and perhaps aligning the two shows worked against Life on Mars. Either way, I thought it was a great run and will be happy to see things wrap up.

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According to an announcement today by Great American Group, one of the firms liquidating the remaining Circuit City inventory, over $1 billion of product has been moved in the last month. After the announcement on January 17 that Circuit City would be closing its 567 stores, sales have apparently been brisk on discounted consumer electronics.

While that’s all well and good, deeper discounts and even lower prices are on the way, starting this Thursday, February 19th, and will continue for the next month or so until all inventory is gone. So, for those shoppers who didn’t bite at the “going out of business” prices, maybe now they’ll be able to find some real deals worth their time.

Hot on the heels of last year’s big release of Battlefield: Bad Company, DICE has announced the release of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 this winter. Once again, gamers will ride or die with B Company and fight their way through more of the intense, totally destructive environments that only the Frostbite engine can deliver. Also announced is the new Battlefield 1943 title, following in the footsteps of the wildly successful Battlefield 1942 WWII setting and gameplay. Bad Company 2 will be available for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC, while Battlefield 1943 will find its way to gamers online through Xbox Live Marketplace, Playstation Store and PC.

I played a fair share of Bad Company and even though some of the weapons frustrated me to no end, it was endlessly amusing to see what can happen when you take all manner of weapons to any given structure. So while the promise of more vehicles, more team play and more mayhem in Bad Company 2 is a no-brainer, I’m more curious to see how Battlefield 1943 will fare, both in terms of being yet another WWII game and with online distribution for such a massive game.

Nominations for Best Picture include The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon, Milk, The Reader and Slumdog Millionaire. Despite campaigns to land nominations, The Dark Knight and WALL•E were shut out, although WALL•E seems to be a shoo-in for Best Animated Feature. Also of note, Heath Ledger nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his role of the Joker in The Dark Knight. Also also, Tropic Thunder’s Robert Downey Jr./Kirk Lazarus nabbed a nom too.

Personally, this will mark the first year that I haven’t seen a single one of the nominees for Best Picture. I’m not exactly in a hurry to see any of them, although I’ll probably catch Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and Slumdog Millionaire on DVD someday. However, I’m excited to see Ledger, undoubtedly the best part of the year’s biggest film, receive some even-higher-profile recognition for his performance. 

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With Barack Obama about to take office, he’s definitely bringing a new type of swing to government, including a full-fledged soundtrack. Featuring cuts by Black Eyed Peas, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Lionel Richie and others, the first single to drop is Stevie Wonder’s new original song “All About the Love Again”.

Apparently, Obama’s quite the Stevie Wonder fan:

“If I had one musical hero, it would have to be Stevie Wonder. When I was at that point where you start getting involved in music, Stevie had that run with Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Fulfillingness’ First Finale and Innervisions, and then Songs in the Key of Life. Those are as brilliant a set of five albums as we’ve ever seen.”

I’m all for breaking new ground and achieving some new firsts, but having your own administration soundtrack? Yes, he can!

It’s All About the Love Again – Stevie Wonder (Download MP3)

Erika Olsen from Redbox’s Redblog shares photos from her trips around the world to find and document locations from movies like Jurassic Park, Godzilla, Master and Commander and The Lord of the Rings. There’s also the bonus photos from the set of LOST. Fun stuff!

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Every year, the US Library of Congress selects films of importance for its National Film Registry film preservation project. This year, classic films like The Asphalt Jungle, In Cold Blood, Deliverance, Sergeant York, and others from the early 20th century were added to the list, guaranteeing their physical preservation and a place in national history as significant contributions to our national culture. 

Perhaps the most intriguing of the selections, was James Cameron’s The Terminator from 1984. It’s the only film of this year’s selections that still has an active following, including a third sequel due next year and a great (albeit-struggling) TV series airing on broadcast TV. While most sci-fi fans would easily consider the low-budget, visionary flick a classic, it says a lot that the federal government considers it a national treasure worth preserving for all time. I mean, that’s, like, forever.

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Today Disney announced a new high-profile promotion for their Blu-ray titles, marking a big end of year push for new adopters of the high-def format. The price-dropping promotion, which lasts from December 26, 2008 until January 10, 2009, includes some of the studio’s biggest hits like Cars, The Chronicles of Narnia series, the Pirates Of The Caribbean series, Ratatouille, Sleeping Beauty: Platinum Edition, The Nightmare Before Christmas: Special Edition and Wall·E.

I know I’ll be looking for some of these, especially The Nightmare Before Christmas and Wall·E, which have apparently been deemed to of the best Blu-ray releases of 2008.

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Design firm Turner Duckworth announced today that its work on the packaging for the latest Metallica album “Death Magnetic” has been nominated for a Grammy award. Yes, a Grammy. For packaging. Turner Duckworth, known for its work with Coca-Cola and Motorola, made some unconventional design choices in the face of traditional music packaging, including the ambiguous/not-so-ambiguous cover image and a rather intrusive die-cut that pays no mind to photos or text in the liner notes.  

I’m not sure what’s more surprising for me; the fact that Metallica is still bothering to put out music or that they turned to a design firm to build and market their “brand” or that there’s even a Grammy award for packaging design. Anyone recall who won last year or the year before that?

According to Variety, Relativity Media is working to get its hands on rights to The Crow license, with plans to bring self-exiled director Stephen Norrington (Blade, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen) to reboot the franchise.

Boo that that shit, I say. While I can understand that the death of Brandon Lee was tragic and unfortunate, I honestly think it made The Crow stronger and far more poignant, to the point where I don’t see why anyone would ever want to remake the film. Sure, Lee wasn’t exactly a star like The Dark Knight’s Heath Ledger, but just like with Ledger, there’s something to be said for leaving a man’s legacy–the one truly excellent film he made in his career–intact. Don’t let his death be in vain, Hollywood.  How about just putting together another sequel, but this time like you give a damn?

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