Worth Your Consideration #020

• There are lots of interesting Lost links popping up. Among them, the scoop on a casting call for an Arabic-fluent 12-year-old that might be a younger version of the show’s resident Iraqi assassin; two new(ish) trailers for season five; a full scene from the fifth season premiere; a transcript of a chat with show producers Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof; and news that Evangeline Lilly and Jorge Garcia were spotted filming a scene together that somehow involved a vehicle that shall remain nameless, so as to not cross that line between teasing and spoiling.
• In comics news, the first official photo of Gambit from the upcoming Wolverine film has made its online debut, courtesy of IESB.net. Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool delivers a predictably snarky micro-review of the news. I don’t think the image is half as bad as Mr. Knowles apparently does. But, regardless of which side of the debate you come down on, you have to agree: it’s only one picture! It’s not enough to base expectations on, as Knowles suggests we do.
• Newsarama has a positive review of Secret Invasion #8, the conclusion of Marvel’s Secret Invasion crossover and the beginning of their new line-wide Dark Reign storyline. I, for one, loved Secret Invasion, and think that the Marvel Universe it is leaving behind in its wake is a far more compelling milieu than the one we were reading about pre-Invasion.
• Jeff Bridges rules for many reasons—his performance in The Big Lebowski comes to mind—and here’s a new reason: He shot a shitload of behind the scenes photos while on the set of Iron Man, and he’s decided to share them with the world. [link courtesy of Colin Devroe]
• Harry Potter fans are rejoicing this week, thanks to the release of the latest Potter spinoff book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard. But there has also been news on the film adaptation front. Daniel Radcliffe and Alan Rickman have each done interviews on the end of the series (to E! Online and SciFi Wire, respectively). [Thanks to Mugglenet and The Leaky Cauldron, as always, for pointing the way.]
• I’ve never been a big fan of BusySync or SpanningSync, a pair of services which charge for something I’ve always felt should be easy and free: Google Calendar-to-Apple iCal synchronization. That’s why this week’s news that Google Calendar and iCal are now “officially” playing nice together was awesome to hear. This functionality is going to play a big role in how I manage calendar synchronization and sharing between Stephanie’s account and my account on our iMac.
• Boxee, a service which I’ve used to add new functionality to my awesome Apple TV, has just launched a new version which integrates support for online streaming from TheWB, from MTVMusic.com (MTV’s place for music videos online), and from Boston.com’s Big Picture photo-blog. I’m wicked psyched to install the update over the weekend. I loved my Apple TV, and Boxee is only making the experience that much better.
• There’s very disappointing news from the Nine Inch Nails camp this week. A planned film project, which would have documented the amazing show the band is putting on during its current North American tour (see my review here), has been scrapped. Trent Reznor broke the news on nin.com in a post where he also reiterated that this tour will probably be the last time the band does something of this size and scope. An update to the story notes that the camcorder policy at tonight’s stop in Victoria, BC will be “very relaxed”. My Canadian brothers and sisters: you know what to do.
• In happier NIN news, the band is up for two Grammys this year, one for “34 Ghosts IV” (Best Rock Instrumental Performance) and one for Ghosts I-IV as a whole (Best Boxed Set or Limited Edition Package).
• And, in closing, Jason Kottke points us in the direction of a video that spoils 100 movies in less than four minutes. Definitely check that out. And when you’re done with that, be sure to visit Metafilter for links to a slew of people covering the Kermit the Frog classic, “The Rainbow Connection”.