I blanch at the idea of another set top box.

Isn't your home entertainment system already at risk of attaining sentience and naming itself SKYNet? I seem to remember a confusing array of devices being mentioned.

Isn't your home entertainment system already at risk of attaining sentience and naming itself SKYNet? I seem to remember a confusing array of devices being mentioned.

I think I've dealt their plans a blow by disconnecting the VCR. That should buy me some time...at least until TiVO releases their new box.

I'll probably be buying a HDTV soon. I plan on having exactly two things plugged into it; a cable box/DVR and my computer.

Having surround-sound makes things a whole lot more complicated. It's difficult, maybe impossible, to get a home theater system that doesn't come with an extra DVD player and a whole bunch of legacy ports that I don't need.

Most Onkyo Home Theater Systems do not come with a DVD player - they're just Onkyo receivers packaged with systems at a reduced price. Most receivers come with lots and lots of ports, true, because they'd rather you have too many than too few - I've appreciated that in the past. When you add something you didn't expect at buy-time, it's nice.

I've currently got the lowest-end of those systems, the 5.1 one, and I'm incredibly satisfied with it. $300 for the reciever and speakers, and it sounds fantastic (in my admittedly small Manhattan apartment). The receiver doesn't come with anything fancy - you can't route HD signals through it, or upconvert S-Video signals to 720p, for example, like you can with more expensive receivers - but it works. Some of the higher-end systems DO give you that capability if you need it.

Honestly, though, I think you're better off with a dedicated DVD player anyway. Fewer compatibility issues than you might run into with a computer. Just sayin'. The Onkyo L970 system comes with a nice DVD player and a very small, cute, few legacy-ports receiver. I don't know that it's good - check reviews - but it probably is.

Eric Bana and Natalie Portman are going to star in a film adaptation of The Other Bolyn Girl.

The LotR films are being re-packaged with a previously unreleased documentary.

The tv show Hustle is being made into a movie.

From Yahoo insider:

Will MATT DAMON get beamed up? Could happen. I'm told J.J. ABRAMS is very interested in casting the Oscar-winning Damon as a young Captain Kirk in the upcoming 'Star Trek' movie that he's directing and producing. He's so interested that he's apparently already sought support from the original Kirk, WILLIAM SHATNER. "Shatner gave his blessing," my source says. "J.J. got his approval." Damon first popped up in Trekkie circles as soon as the Abrams-'Star Trek' deal was announced. Rumor had it that the new movie would center on Kirk and Spock's early days at a space academy. "J.J. wants Damon as Capt. Kirk," my source reports. "He really loves the idea."

Does that mean Ben Affleck will be Spock?

Rumor had it that the new movie would center on Kirk and Spock's early days at a space academy.

I thought J.J. Abrams denied this rumor. Or maybe he just said that the plot hadn't been decided on?

If I were directing, I would have Kirk and Spock meeting when they both were working at Wal-Mart to pay their way through space-college. Oh, or maybe they would work at a fast-food restaurant!

"Since any intelligent life form could easily determine its makup, calling it 'Secret Sauce' is illogical."

I'm told J.J. ABRAMS is very interested in casting the Oscar-winning Damon as a young Captain Kirk in the upcoming 'Star Trek' movie that he's directing and producing.

Aiiieeeeee.

Does that mean Ben Affleck will be Spock?

BWAH!!!