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!!!

JZ pulled down my Val Lewton box set the other night, determined to watch The Seventh Victim (bleakest movie EVER. Okay, maybe in a tie with the Dutch version of The Vanishing.)

It's still gorgeous and gothy and haunting. Then I watched it with the excellent commentary track and was digging it even more. There are so many fascinating minor characters in the movie which are ripe for slash goggles and that sort of textual interpretation.

I always find those kinds of characters and their scenes so memorable (The farmer's wife in The 39 Steps being my go-to example.) It's a counter to the constant insistence towards narrative streamlining, the function of echoing sub-plots and minor characters.

::really wants Scrappy to comment on this with her script-doctor hat on::

Also, it's impossible to think that Hitchcock never saw The Seventh Victim because the shower scene is so similar to the one in Psycho. Not a direct rip-off, but very similar in menace and tone, and even some visuals.

One thing I'd never quite understood, was Lewton's role as producer over his B-movie unit at RKO. The short answer, as it turns out, is that Lewton was Joss. Lewton had originally been the story editor under David O. Selznick (including work on Rebecca and Gone With The Wind - that pull back shot of the wounded in Atlanta was Lewton's). At RKO he worked with a variety of directors and writers, but Lewton himself always did the final shooting draft of the script, tweaking it up with detailed description and dialogue. Lewton's mark was on everything, even when working with talented directors like Jacques Tourneur or Robert Wise.

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."

Ummmm, (1) isn't Matt Damon already older than William Shatner was when the series started? (2) isn't Matt Damon a little bit old to be at any West Point like academy? I mean, he's 35+, right?

Captain Kirk never struck me as the sort for post-doc work, if you know what I mean.

I am a HUGE fan of strong supporting characters--it adds depth and life and makes it feel as if the film takes place in an actual world. I love the Farmer's Wife Hec mentioned, and many, many tiny-but-vibrant characters in Altman films. The screenwriter has to know juist how much time to give these characters so they don't derail the forward momentum of the story, but well done they become indelible.