February 22, 2008
Whiz of the Web: Friday Fried Onions
A steaming hot pile of our favorite things from around the internets.

- UK researchers studying technology addiction are floating the idea that some devices like Blackberries should perhaps have labels on them warning that they may be addictive. (Via Jill, via Slashdot)
- CBS has just put up a bunch of episodes of their classic TV shows online, which can be streamed to your browser for free. This includes full-length episodes of Star Trek, Melrose Place, Hawaii Five-O, MacGyver, and The Twilight Zone. Check 'em out here. (Via Jill)
- Geekadelphia has a bunch of great stuff for us, including a pic of C3PO and a Clone Trooper done up in LEGO bricks from the NY Toy Fair, a pic of some fun Bobomb-inspired graffiti from around Philly, some video game-inspired cross-stitch from Sprite Stitch, and a look at how the death of HD-DVD is affecting Philly.
- A recently unclassified Pentagon report from 1998 reveals investigations into using lasers for non-lethal torture, with applications such as "putting voices in people's heads, using lasers to trigger uncontrolled neuron firing, and slowly heating the human body to a point of feverish confusion - all from hundreds of meters away." OK, that's totally horrifying. (Via)
- It almost goes without saying, but yes, Mitch Pileggi will officially be reprising his role as Walter Skinner in X-Files 2. What else is the guy doing, after all?
- OK, this is just pure brilliance: filming has just been completed on a new vampire comedy entitled Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead, starring Ralph Macchio, Jeremy Sisto (Six Feet Under), and Jake Hoffman (Arrested Development), with a score by Sean Lennon. Hoffman plays an out of work Lothario who lands a job as the director of an off-Broadway play which is a bizarre adaptation of Hamlet written by a pale Romanian (John Ventimiglia) who is actually a master vampire.
- A short plot synopsis has been released for Toy Story 3, and it goes like this: "Woody the cowboy and his toy-box friends are dumped in a day-care center after their owner, Andy, leaves for college." We're not sure we can handle another depressing metaphor for death. Although Toy Story 2 was really good...
- Scientists have found fragments of a skeleton of an enormous frog that lived millions of years ago in the area that is now Madagascar. They're calling it Beelzebufo, the "frog from hell." It was about a foot long, weighed over 7 pounds, had sharp teeth, and was arguably the largest frog that ever lived. (Via)
- Check out some just-released details about Sega's upcoming first-person shooter Aliens: Colonial Marines, based on the Aliens movie franchise.
- Rufus Sewell just landed the lead role in Jerry Bruckheimer's new CBS drama project Eleventh Hour, which is based on a British sci-fi series about a special science adviser to the government who, along with his feisty female bodyguard, saves people from the worst abuses of science.
- Some confused casting news is coming out for X-Men Origins: Wolverine. News outlets agree that Dominic Monaghan will be in the film, but Sci-Fi Wire says he'll be playing some guy who can manipulate energy, while Cinematical says he'll be a character we rather like called Beak, who was introduced by Grant Morrison as one of the few mutants who didn't have a useful ability - he's just a poor, ugly little chicken man. Meanwhile, everyone agrees that Daniel Henney will be playing Agent Zero.
- Some info on, and concept art from, the upcoming LEGO MMO, LEGO Universe.
- Harmonix is currently pursuing the possibility of allowing players to import their own music into Rock Band's inevitable sequels. That would be sweet.
- Inspired by Be Kind Rewind (which we reviewed earlier today), Shiny Shiny presents the top five make-your-own-movie gadgets.
- Jessica Simpson's critically reviled film, Blonde Ambition, has found its audience! And that audience is in the Ukraine.
- Hugo Weaving will be playing Detective Aberline in the upcoming remake The Wolfman.
- Joystiq got a chance to play Bionic Commando Rearmed at the GDC; here are pictures, and their impressions of the game.
- The first teaser for Neil Gaiman's Coraline is now available online. (Via)
Image Credit: Flickr user roland







