If Microsoft poos in the woods, does anyone care at this point?

In an all serious "WTF This Sucks" note... Yesterday it was reported James Gandolfini, Tony Soprano himself, died while traveling in Rome. As far as I've read, it sounds like a stroke or heart attack or a combination of the two were factors. The guy was only 51! Damn. The good go far too soon. I was a fan of the first couple seasons of Sopranos(didn't see the rest out of sheer laziness), I loved the guy in his limited role in True Romance even though he was beating the crap out of Patricia Arquette. I especially loved the crazy intensity he brought to that role, but also to other great films like A Civil Action, The Mexican, and The Man Who Wasn't There. And I especially enjoyed the lovable side he rarely got to display, but got a chance to showcase in fine form with Get Shorty as the ex-stuntman Bear. I recently caught him in Killing Them Softly and he was as always, excellent. I myself am pulling out my copy of Crimson Tide right now in a sad effort to give him an appreciative sendoff. Go slow up there big guy.

 Okay, I'm going to try and be funny now...


BIG Not Sad News of the Day!

Well technically it was reported yesterday, but whatever. Microsoft, in a brain fart of wisdom has officially reversed most of their controversial features for their upcoming Xbox One system. That's right, it no longer needs to connect to the internet at least once a day, and you can openly trade and resell your games! Unknown to me at this point is whether or not you still have to have that lame ass Kinect thing plugged in and facing you so Big Brother can catalog your face and voice tones when they need to create their army of cybernetic doppelgangers. But... Yippee, I guess! Too late to the party there Microsoft, maybe you can help clean up the mess you made? Oy has this been a thorn in the sides of gamers. As a casual gamer myself, I thought it was great watching a company shoot themselves in the foot over and over again, reload the gun, and then empty the clip into the other foot with their craptastic PR campaign. Glad they straightened out in time for launch, otherwise they were going to have a REAL hard time of it come fall. As with any system it's going to come down to games, if Sony wants to be smart, since they've already got a $100 price advantage, they should price their game exclusives cheaper than Microsoft's by a solid $10.

50 Shades of More News!

Yes! That is correct! The official 50 Shades of Grey adaptation has a director with Sam Taylor-Johnson. I say the "official" adaptation because as anyone with a broadband internet connection already knows, the stuff in that book has been done before... by a LOT of people, and can be easily seen with a simple search engine query. But who is Sam Taylor-Johnson? Well she's the wife of Kick Ass actor Aaron Taylor Johnson who is like 20+ years her junior. Beyond that I know she's a photographer... She also directed the 2009 indie darling Nowhere Boy, haven't seen the flick myself, but I've heard good things so maybe she'll bring something interesting to this coming of age story. It'll be really awkward if she casts her husband as the guy in the movie! Collider has it that Felicity Jones is in the mix as leading lady Anastasia.

Do I really care? Not really, but I think it's funny the number of A-list directors and talent that have been circling this thing from Gus Van Sant to Joe Wright. Especially odd is the fact that Universal Studios who is producing and distributing this opus is intent on releasing it as a straight-up NC-17 sexy pseudo porn adventure! Good luck getting that in theaters, since most theater chains absolutely refuse to project any movie with an NC-17 rating. I'm sure they'll make an exception since statistically 1 in 6 people in this country bought at least 1 of the 3 books! The fun is just beginning, since it's targeting a mid-late 2014 release, we should get final casting announcements around the time the first trailer is available, because after thumbing though the book and reading several uses of a triple-negative(seriously), there isn't all that much to shoot. They should make it a comedy to give it some social substance. That said this is going to sell like crazy on home video. I can picture it already, the 4 disc 3D Blu-ray will be called the "Special Whips and Chains Edition" 

Non-News Star Wars News!

Per Variety, it's being reported of a leaked casting breakdown for the new Star Wars Movie. You can read it here, but basically they're looking for young people and an old guy... so yeah... there you go. I know that spoiled the movie right there for you.

Well, that is it for today. Thanks for dropping by, and remember Dear Readers, that donut is not a substitute for human affection, it's infinitely better! Humans put up a tremendous fight if you try to dunk them in a piping hot cup of coffee and eat them. Donuts won't do that. They won't judge you or press charges if they manage to escape the cement cellar you secretly built in your basement and chances are they'll bring 11 more of their friends to keep making you feel better about yourself.