Christian Slater’s new split personality spy drama “My Own Worst Enemy” debuts on NBC Monday, October 13 at 10/9C. Here is the series’ first webisode. Like the “Heroes” webisodes, most of what takes place online doesn’t involve the show’s main characters, however, if this first webisode is any indication, then fans could be in for a real treat with both the TV show and the online offering.

You can also check out the official website of the consulting firm where Slater’s Henry Spivey is VP.

What:
Los Angeles Comic Book & Sci-Fi Convention

When:
Sunday, October 12th 2008

Where:
At Shrine Hall - 700 W. 32nd Street
Los Angeles, California — (across from the USC campus)

Cost:
Admission: $8.00

Special Guest:
Brent Spiner — Appearing 1:00 P.M.-3:00 P.M. To sign his new “Dreamland” CD

Brent Spiner starred as Data on the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” TV series and in four Star Trek movies, quickly becoming one of that show’s most popular characters. You’ve also seen Brent in SF movies such as “Independence Day,” and as Doctor Nigel Fenway in the short-lived but popular television series “Threshold.” He returned to the Star Trek universe guest starring as Dr. Arik Soong on “Star Trek: Enterprise.”

Brent is also an accomplished singer/songwriter, having released his “Ol’ Yellow Eyes Is Back” CD several years ago, and now he’s just released his second CD titled “Dreamland” that he will be signing at this event.

Brent performs several songs on “Dreamland,” while also incorporating a storyline throughout. Also performing songs along with Brent is Maude Maggart, and Mark Hamill (”Star Wars,” “Batman: The Animated Series”) performs several roles in the story. If you haven’t picked up the “Dreamland” CD yet, here’s a great opportunity to pick up a personally signed copy directly from the man himself. The “Dreamland” CD is only $25.00 which includes his autograph on the CD, and Brent has agreed to sign one additional item.

About:
The Los Angeles Comic Book and Science Fiction Convention features one of the largest Dealer’s Rooms on the West Coast full of Comic Books and Collectibles. A wide range of stuff is for sale at all price ranges, Old and New Comic Books, Toys, Action Figures, Hot Wheels, Star Wars, Simpsons, Family Guy Collectibles, Non Sport and Sport Trading Cards, Marvel Legends, Japanese Animation merchandise, the latest as well as classic action movies on DVD from Hong Kong, and maybe that Special Item that you’re looking for!

Mandalay Pictures has picked up film rights to Liquid Comics’ 2006 graphic novel “Ramayan 3392 AD” from Deepak Chopra and will be turning the story into a major motion picture.

“Ramayan” has already been transported from the page into a successful MMORP by Sony in 2007.

Based on an epic Hindu poem, the story follows the exploits and adventures of Prince Rama, India’s legendary blue-skinned warrior, on a quest to rescue his wife from the clutches of a demon king.

Scribe John Collee (”Happy Feet,” “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” “Creation”) has been tapped to adapt the graphic novel for the screen.

Stay tuned to Slice of SciFi for updates.

The oldest-known tracks of a creature apparently using legs have been discovered in rock dated to 570 million years ago in what was once a shallow sea in Nevada.

Scientists think land beasts evolved from ancient creatures that left the sea and evolved lungs and legs.

If the new finding is real — the discoverer says it will fuel skepticism — it pushes the advent of walking back 30 million years earlier than any previous solid finding.

The aquatic creature left its “footprints” as two parallel rows of small dots, each about 2 millimeters in diameter.

Scientists said today that the animal must have stepped lightly onto the soft marine sediment, because its legs only pressed shallow pinpoints into that long-ago sea bed.

The tracks were made during what is called the Ediacaran period, which preceded the Cambrian period, the time when most major groups of animals first evolved.

Scientists had once thought only microbes and simple multicellular animals that existed prior to the Cambrian, but that notion is changing, said Ohio State University Professor Loren Babcock.

“We keep talking about the possibility of more complex animals in the Ediacaran — soft corals, some arthropods, and flatworms — but the evidence has not been totally convincing,” Babcock said. “But if you find evidence, like we did, of an animal with legs — an animal walking around — then that makes the possibility much more likely.”

Soo-Yeun Ahn, a doctoral student at Ohio State, presented the discovery Sunday at a meeting of the Geological Society of America. Co-authors included Margaret Rees of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and J. Stewart Hollingsworth of the Institute for Cambrian Studies in Boulder, Colo.

Babcock was surveying rocks in the mountains near Goldfield, Nev., with Hollingsworth in 2000 when he found the tracks.

“This was truly an accidental discovery,” he said. “We came on an outcrop that looked like it crossed the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary, so we stopped to take a look at it. We just sat down and started flipping rocks over. We were there less than an hour when I saw it.”

Little can be gleaned about what sort of creature it was, but Babcock “reasonably certain — not 100 percent” that it was an arthropod, such as one resembling a centipede or millipede, or by a leg-bearing worm.

It might have been about one as wide as a pencil and may have had multiple, spindly legs.

In 2002, other researchers reported a similar fossil trail from Canada that dated back to the middle of the Cambrian period, about 520 million years ago. Another set of tracks found in South China date back to 540 million years ago.

At approximately 570 million years old, this new fossil not only provides the earliest suggestion of animals walking on legs, but it also shows that complex animals were alive on earth before the Cambrian.

“I expect that there will be a lot of skepticism,” Babcock said about the discovery. “There should be. But I think it will cause some excitement. And it will probably cause some people to look harder at the rocks they already have. Sometimes it’s just a matter of thinking differently about the same specimen.”

Source:

Check out this TV Guide interview with Smallville’s Erica Durance (Lois Lane):

[Headline Photo of Erica Durance courtesy of LEXA]

The third annual “SCREAM,” Awards, a celebration of the best in horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comic genre premiering on Spike TV Tuesday, October 21 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) from The Greek Theater in Los Angeles, CA. With categories including The Ultimate Scream, Best Superhero, Best Villain, Best Director, Most Memorable Mutilation and Best Fantasy Movie – Spike believes it’s about time that someone paid homage to the incredible talent involved in this industry.

This summer’s mega-blockbuster “The Dark Knight” tops the list with 21 nominations including The Ultimate Scream, Best Superhero, Best Villain, Best Director, Most Memorable Mutilation and Best Fantasy Movie. “Iron Man” came in second with 14 nominations and “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” is next in line with 13 nominations.

Ballots were sent out to Spike TV’s “SCREAM 2008” advisory board, made up of respected and well-known members of the horror, sci-fi, fantasy and comic book worlds who were responsible for advising on categories and determining nominees in each category. All films, television shows and comic books were deemed eligible for inclusion if they were released between August 11, 2007 and August 8, 2008 and were representative of the genres listed. Winners will be determined by online voting at spike.com.

Go HERE for a full list of nominees and vote for your favorite.

Reviewed by: Joe Russo (Film Critic & SoSF Contributor)

“Feast II: Sloppy Seconds”

The original Feast, was a joy to watch. The best film to come out of the Project Green Light series, Feast helped writers Patrick Melton and Marcus Dunstan carve names for themselves in the lucrative Saw franchise and established John Gulager as a zany, yet aggressively stylistic filmmaker.

Bringing back some of the original cast and taking the horror comedy series to new heights (or lows depending on your perspective), Gulager managed to secure distribution from Dimension Extreme to make not only a sequel, but a third installment of Feast as well. While Feast III: The Happy Finish is having the finishing touches put on it, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds hits DVD just in time for Halloween.

Old characters meet a fresh and zany batch of victims as the flesh eating monsters come back to, well, feast some more! This time Melton, Dunstan and Gulager included everything but the kitchen sink. Featuring midget wrestlers, sacrificing infants, catapulting grandmothers, blatant and unnecessary, gratuitous nudity and larger monster genitalia. There is plenty of camp and gore for horror fans to love. However Feast II: Sloppy Seconds lives up to its name, as this sequel lacks the polish of the original. The acting is infinitely inferior, the monsters don’t look nearly as menacing in the daylight and blatant green screen sets hurt the overall production value. Of course if you can look past all that, Feast II: Sloppy Seconds is an amusing way to spend an hour and forty minutes. Just don’t expect it to leave you overly revved up for the third installment.

Russo Rating = 6/10
Buy the DVD

“The Sixth Sense”

Everyone gives The Sixth Sense a lot of slack. Most people say the film is lacking in replay value, and that knowing the surprise ending makes the film grating to watch. It has become such a rampant joke that it was the brunt of a running gag in 50 First Dates. It also doesn’t help that each of director M. Night Shyamalan’s subsequent features haven’t come close to achieving the same critical and commercial success. However, there is a reason that The Sixth Sense launched Shyamalan into the upper echelon of Hollywood so quickly; it really is a masterpiece.

From the fantastic story, to the stunning performances from Bruce Willis, Toni Collette and Haley Joel Osment, plus the brilliant cinematography from veteran Director of Photography Tak Fujimoto, The Sixth Sense is a chilling achievement. Now on BluRay High Definition, The Sixth Sense is flawlessly transferred. While the narrative still brings the frights, the picture is outstandingly perfect. Though the special features remain the same, the ported 40 minute Making-Of documentary, Reflections From the Set, is well worth the price of admission, especially with Disney’s DVD to BluRay rebate program. Do yourself a favor, relive the scares this Halloween in high definition!

Russo Rating = 9/10
Buy DVD Collector’s Edition
Buy Blu-ray 1080p Edition

All totals are U.S. box office only. SF and genre-related films in bold.

Title (Dist)….Reported Weekend Box Office….# of Engagements….Total Since Premiere

1. Beverly Hills Chihuahua (Disney)….$29,300,465….3,215….$29,300,465

2. Eagle Eye (DreamWorks/Paramount)….$17,709,817….3,516….$54,614,521

3. Nights In Rodanthe (Warner Bros.)….$7,368,259….2,702….$25,088,183

4. Appaloosa (Warner Bros.)….$5,050,310….1,045….$5,605,167

5. Burn After Reading (Focus Features)….$4,120,129….2,397….$51,678,103

6. Fireproof (IDP/Samuel Goldwyn Films)….$3,987,509….852….$12,410,216

7. An American Carol (Vivendi)….$3,656,000….1,639….$3,656,000

8. Religulous (Lionsgate)….$3,409,643….502….$3,428,633

9. Flash Of Genius (Universal)….$2,251,075….1,098….$2,251,075

10. Blindness (Miramax)….$1,950,260….1,690….$1,950,260

Data from Rentrak

With “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” being box-office gold this summer, it seems inevitable that we’ll be treated to a fifth installment of the chronicles of Indiana Jones.

In fact, actor Harrison Ford told the Los Angeles Times last Friday that momentum is building for a new Indy movie and that writer George Lucas is already working on the script.

“It’s crazy but great,” Ford said. “George is in think mode right now.”

“It’s automatic, really, we did well with the last one and with that having done well and been a positive experience, it’s not surprising that some people want to do it again,” Ford said.

Ford did express that he had doubts about the fourth installment at times.

“It was never a lead-pipe cinch,” Ford said. “It was a calculated business risk but I believe it paid off. I was somewhat surprised and gratified to see it did the business that it did. It was successful in almost every market. The first time we showed it to a disinterested outside audience was at Cannes. That’ s a crap shoot of the first order. Not only is that audience sophisticated and film-knowledgable, it’s French! And it’s their country and their festival and we somewhat expected to be seriously slapped around. But we were not, we were embraced…it was very gratifying.”

When asked who had the idea for the next installment–himself, Lucas or Stephen Spielberg, Ford replied, “Really, it comes from the ethos, from the ether. It’s natural. It’s a way of nature, of course, success breed opportunities … also we don’t stay as closely in contact as have in the last year, that’s part of it.”

And while the “Star Wars” universe has expanded with a new animated series, Ford doesn’t expect Dr. Jones to follow that path.

“I’m not philosophically against doing animation roles but not for Indiana Jones,” Ford said. “I’d hate to see it reduced in any way from the movies that we have done and the way we have done them.”

One of the few bright spots this season on “Heroes” has been the storyline of Hiro and his new nemesis, the speedy Daphne.

Played by actress Bea Grant, who was spotted by producers during her multi-episode run on “Friday Night Light,” Daphne has proved to be the yin to Hero’s yang this year.  The speedy Daphne has, so far, thwarted Hiro at every turn, stealing both halves of a vital formula, all while mocking Hiro’s desire to be a hero.

“It’s been really fun to play out the comedy, in that he thinks he’s a hero and she’s not having it,” Grant told USA Today.

The actress has been signed on for thirteen episodes this season, ensuring that fans will get to see more of the speedy lady.  Grant told USA Today that future episodes would reveal who Daphne works for and a bit more about her past.

“Daphne gets a little more serious, but she’s still sort of spacey and funny,” says Grant, who is on board for at least 13 episodes. “She definitely has to deal with a lot more drama. This is ‘Heroes’, after all.”

Fans can also look forward to finding out how her future intertwines with Matt Parkman.  Last week, Parkman saw a potential future in which he and Daphne could end up together and with a baby.  Does this mean Parkman goes bad or does it mean Daphne will give up her life of crime?

Daphne’s character is part of producer Tim Kring’s stated objective of returning “Heroes” to what worked in season one.  Kring said that Daphne was an example of creating a new character who could quickly be incorporated into an existing hero’s storyline, thus giving audiences the chance to connect with the character.

“Because we had Hiro on this quest to find this formula, we thought we would give him an arch-nemesis because he speaks in such comic-book terms,” Kring said. “We came up with the idea of somebody who could move fast enough that if Hiro stopped time, (she) could still move at regular speed, slowed down enough so the two could have scenes together.”

And Kring says this role was created with Grant in mind.

“We wanted an attractive actress, but somebody who stood out a little bit. There’s the quirky quality of her looks and a spunky energy to her,” Kring said. “There’s also an instant likability (and) a kind of vulnerability. We knew we were going to end up with someone who was not evil at heart.”

Grant is pleased with the power of speed, which she calls “one of the best abilities. You’d never be late.”