Slashdot Mirror

SoBeIcedT asks: "I just bought the third season of 24 [fox.com] on DVD and have begun to back it up to DVD+R using DVD-Shrink on Windows XP. Being the gadget loving guy I am, it makes sense that I would have multiple computers. The trouble is I can't make use of all of those CPU cycles and they go to waste. Is there a way (perhaps using clusterKnoppix or something of the sort) that I can easily use all of the processor power in my home to transcode the DVDs?" dvd::rip is one option that has clustering support. Are there any others?

_pruegel_ asks: "Most people will (if at all) use UML for documentation of software projects. Others come up with non-IT uses like writing poems. Now, I came up with some sort of collaboration diagram for The O.C. (as of episode 2.09). What funny or not so funny but non-IT uses for UML have you found?"

Ant writes "Futurama's last new episode airs tonight at 7:00 PM on Fox." If you're missing your fix, there's a Futurama website with entirely too much Futurama info.

Ant writes "Futurama's last new episode airs tonight at 7:00 PM on Fox." If you're missing your fix, there's a Futurama website with entirely too much Futurama info.

prostoalex writes "Online Journalism Review posted an interview with Matt Groening, the mastermind behind The Simpsons and Futurama. Matt lists his favorite comic sites, talks about how Internet changed the cartoons, shares his view on Fox Network's idea to put Simpsons on cell phones, as well as his own plans for Web cartoons."

Cyno01 writes "I was just watching Firefly and switching to Taken during commercials (i'm a thief i know), and I caught a commercial for Sci-Fi 2003. It looks like there's going to be a few new actual sci-fi shows, and some not. Tremors: The Series, Children of Dune and another talkshow-esq looking thing called The Dream Team with Annabelle and Michael. Also it looks like Stargate: SG1 and yes, Farscape, are still alive and kicking."

Slashback with a reader review of the IMAX version of Star Wars Episode Two,the continuing courtship of AIM and ICQ, episode 408 of Futurama, and more, including How to go around the world without going anywhere at all. Read on below!

Give me IV any old day. Rupert writes with a review of the newly IMAX-ified Episode II of the Star Wars saga:

"Since it was my wife's birthday today, last night I took her to see Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones: IMAX edition. Notwithstanding the overuse of colons, this is a movie worth seeing, even if you think you already saw the movie.

If you haven't already seen AotC, you no doubt have your reasons, and there isn't anything in this edition to make you change your mind. Likewise, the plot still has gaping holes and Anakin is still moody, so if those were enough to make you hate this movie, you won't want to see it again. The action sequences gain little from the new presentation, as objects move too fast across the large screen to follow.

On the other hand, if you want to see the pores in Natalie Portman's skin, or the individual hairs in Christopher Lee's beard, this is the movie you've been waiting for. I suspect that some time was spent re-rendering the digital characters. Yoda, Wattoo and Jex Dexter stood out in close up, looking more real than the human actors.

Some scenes were cut from this edition. Some I didn't miss, such as Ani and Amidala frolicking in the meadow with the giant bed bugs. Others, such as almost all the scenes in Palpatine's office, and many of the Jedi Council made it even harder to follow what was going on.

You might be wondering where you can see the movie."

Always cut with the Groenig. ari_j writes "It looks like Fox is giving us a new season of Futurama. From the page, "Season Premiere Sunday, Nov. 10th at 7PM/6C". Sure enough, my local Fox affiliate is carrying it as stated. From tv.yahoo.com: '"Crimes of the Hot", Episode #408.
Al Gore's head holds an emergency summit in Kyoto, Japan, to deal with global warming caused by robot emissions.'"

This does not look good on a resume. nautical9 writes "As a follow up to Henrick Schon's dismissal from Bell Labs last month for falsifying data, many of his former co-authors are retracting their articles from the AAAS's prestigious Science magazine. It's apparently the largest retraction for the journal ever. Bell labs is also pulling six different patent applications of his. Here's the Wired article."

Is this the basket you ordered for all your eggs? With regard to the AOL / ICQ integration CowboyNeal mentioned the other day, nxtw writes "At this moment, ICQ users can send messages to AIM users, but AIM users cannot send messages to ICQ users or be seen on your buddy list. However, AIM automatically postpends any screenname or group consisting of all numbers with -ICQ when added to your buddy list. (This applies to the beta AIM 5.1.3009 client.)"

They're in Australia, of course they have flying dreams. VileScum writes "Back in May a reader posted this story of an Australian Guy who built a 747 Sim in his garage. As reported in the Sydney Morning Hearld The builder and a group of his friends are now doing a round the world sim flight for charity. The full story can be found here. The details of the actual flight can be found here."

fm6 writes "Firefly, Joss Whedon's 'anti-Trek drama' premieres tonight, on Fox, 8 E/P. I normally despise hypespeak, but this time it's the only language that fits: this is groundbreaking, mind-boggling, totally original. I've seen a bootleg of the pilot (which, unfortunately, the network is holding back) and I promise you this is the most geek-friendly SF you've seen in a long time. Yes, more so than Star Trek and B5, and way past Star Wars. I've never seen the future so skillfully, realistically, and lovingly portrayed. Here is the Official Site and a leading fan site." This is the single new show this season I have added a season pass for to the old Tivo. But I'll probably watch it live. This looks like it could be as good as we hope.

So the night after the live action Tick debuted on Fox, we rounded up 10 questions and sent them off to Ben Edlund, the Tick's original creator. Here are his answers. And you can download your official Tick poster (pdf format) here.

1) copyright issues?
by turbine216
Now that we're all aware of the still-pending copyright issues between Sony and Fox concerning certain Tick characters and trademarks ("Spoon!"), is there any hope in sight for a resolution that would allow the use of these copyrights? Or is this a totally dead issue?

Ben:
If the show proceeds, it's not impossible that the wheels of justice will turn back in our direction. Actually, "Spoon" is not held by the company that owns the Saturday-morning cartoon rights. The rule is, anything which appeared in the 12-issue comic book series I did is free from the constraints of the cartoon contract. This includes Tick, Arthur, Spoon, and all the heroes and villains in those books. Incidentally, Spoon appeared first in the 7th issue of the comic, and the thirteenth episode of the cartoon.

2) Timeslot
by ReadbackMonkey
What evil Fox executive stuck you in such a lethal timeslot? Why didn't they slot you behind the Simpson's then move you to the lethal Thursday timeslot?

I had to fight with my girlfriend to watch the show last night since 'Will and Grace' was on.

Ben:
We're part of a large group of shows, all vying for the most favored programming scraps from Fox's big table. Where we've been placed on the Fox schedule is both challenging (or if you take a darker view, prohibitive) and advantageous, at least in that Fox will have lowered expectations for the Tick in a timeslot ruled by Survivor, Must-See TV, and other stiff competition. But I can't say that we've been given a red carpet by the network. So I won't.

3) DVD?
by Count Fecal
When will the cartoon series Tick be available on DVD?

Ben:
I don't know, Count Fecal. I don't know.

4) Hero/Villain Iconography
by kaladorn
Tick, to my mind, is an ideal hero icon for the current generation. He has good intentions, but isn't too aware of the fine details (well, even some gross details) of the world around him. He tries hard, and things tend to work out after a fashion, but usually not as a result of any particular brilliance on his part. Tick fulfills the iconic image of style over substance, of good intentions versus understanding, of the brawn and machismo not directed by a terribly powerful cranium, and of accidental destruction as a consequence of his good intentions and bungling execution.

His sidekick Arthur, of course, is more down to earth and aware. He's a bit of a geek (though I have yet so see him hack a kernel) with less-than-stellar social skills. He too seems to fill an iconic image in modern-day society - the nerdy brains-behind the brawn.

When these characters evolved, were they merely an attempt to poke fun at Superhero archetypes, or were they consciously intended to be more "in touch" with and to more closely parallel today's society? Or do you consider such analysis to be far deeper than the subject matter merits? Is the Tick just good humored fun, or is it perceptive art?

Ben:
The Tick is a work in stupid. Just as others may choose clay or stone or paint, I and my compatriots have chosen stupidity as our medium. But stupid must be worked and mastered like any other material; during this experimental stage, the viewer of the work may feel he or she is observing "perceptiveness" or "art." This is simply an illusion.

Tick and Arthur, as archetypes, are less an intentional reflection of today's society, and more an adaptation of classic comedy teams: Laurel and Hardy, Hope and Crosby, Quixote and Panza. The dynamic -- A big, goofy, charismatic lunatic, unharmable and often unreasonable, paired with a small, rabbity, very sane and very vulnerable guy -- is just another interpretation of those comedy teams where the idea of dominance is expressed and played with.

5) Target Audience
by rnb
Judging from the first episode alone, it seems like the live-action Tick is automatically shooting for an older audience than the cartoon was (for perhaps obvious reasons). Arthur getting drunk, The Tick using the word "bitch," some of Batmanuel's references to Captain Liberty, etc. I always got the feeling from the cartoon that it was aimed at both adults and kids, with some jokes perhaps flying over the kids' heads while the adults would get them (a snake accusing The Tick of not dating much during a wrestling match in The Tick vs. Proto-Clown comes to mind). Will the live-action series be aimed more at adults and less at younger viewers? I'm not really complaining if that is the case, it just seemed like there was definitely a shift in tone.

Ben:
I did not want The Tick to say "bitch" in the first episode. That I was not given the power to remove it as I saw fit offers some insight into the range of my control over this massive undertaking. The mandated presence of other hands and shared authority in television is inevitable. The show wouldn't be here without it. But I digress.

The tone was intentionally spiced up a bit, and I was right there with my attempts at sexy talk and jokes and so forth. But the Tick's tonal tolerance (especially a live-action version) is something we had to experiment with. There are episodes that go wildly off the mark where Tick's innocence and the credible warmth of his world are concerned. Just wait, they'll come on your tv and accost you in your living room...

These nine episodes are postcards from the brink of nothingness, giving filtered snapshots of Tick, Arthur, and their universe. We will need more shows to truly nail down what works tonally.

6) The Tick's Language
by quiller
While I'm a big fan of the Tick and enjoyed the show last night, I found one thing discordant while watching it. The Tick using words like bitch, and gonads. He has always struck me as having very anachronistic language. Stuck back in the Father Knows Best days. Spreading his brand of creamy justice on the toast of the city, sure. Make Evil my Bitch, doesn't work for him. Borderline profanity might work for some of the other characters, particularly Bat Manuel, but it seems wrong for the well intentioned, but naive hero that is the Tick. Is this a direction they are trying to take the Tick for some reason, or just a matter of unfamiliarity with the characters that will be ironed out over time?

Ben:
Partly answered in the previous question. Unfamiliarity, yes.

7) The Beginning
by Prof_Dagoski
I wish I still had my first Tick comic. It was a freebie from New England Comics, announcing that they were going to try publishing their own comics. I thought it pretty decent, but had to make more strategic decisions in my collecting habits at the time. Sorry Ben, I just had to have Akira. Fast forward a few years and suddenly I see the tick everywhere. So my question is this: Where did you think this comic would end up way back at issue one? Were you jsut hoping to have some good stuff in your portfolio by the time you got out of college(or wherever)? Were you hoping for a moderately successful underground classic? Just when did you realize that the Tick was a big hit? What happened then in your life and how did it affect your creation(the comic as well as the character)?

Ben:
No need to apologize about your preference or spending habits! When I started doing the first issue of the Tick I was 18 (I had invented him the year before, in high school). New England Comics hadn't ever published a comic. We were at the crashing and burning stage of the black-and-white explosion (the glut of independent low print-run comics spurred to crazed heights of speculative collectability by the successes of Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles ) and figured we'd probably get to issue three if we were lucky, then can the book for lack of sales. But that didn't happen.

This thing has been a source of remarkable successes and relatively painless failures. I've lived with Tick for almost sixteen years. Who I am as an adult human is greatly affected by this character and his strange course. And passing as he has through comics, cartoons, and now live action, The Tick has given me access to many of the skills and opportunities I was hoping for in film school. My big blue meal ticket never seems to die!

8) Two questions
by Flounder
Ben, been a huge avid fan of The Tick since issue 1. Still got all my issues (including my uncut #2) and still read them on occasion. Got every episode of the cartoon series, still watch them on occasion (and to introduce my 4 year old boys to The Tick).

Here's my questions...

As the creator / executive producer / high goddess of all that is Tick-y, what would be the one thing you wish to be done with the new live action show? Guest appearances? (BTW, nice shot of you and Barry on the couch) Better special effects? Hot dog cut into a little octopus?

And second, since it appears that characters from the cartoon exclusively will not be appearing due to copyright issues, can you give us a brief list of those that might appear from the comic? Chairface Chippendale? Chainsaw Vigilante? Paul the Samurai? Man Eating Cow?

Thanks for making Thurday night TV watchable again.

Ben:
The most important change would be budgetary. During shooting, it became necessary to make many concessions, to sometimes drastically change elements of story because we couldn't afford to shoot the script. This extended to sets, scenery, special effects both practical and computer-generated, costumes -- pretty much everything. An increase of 100,000 dollars would suffice, thank you.

A version of The Terror appears in one episode.

9) Sources of inspiration
by MikeyNg
To me, the Tick was always a satire of his genre. You made fun of Batman, Wonder Woman, Galactus, etc., etc. My question would be: With the series moving to live-action TV, would you be satiring other things? Making fun of Galactus would go over the heads of most your audience. However, targetting Friends or Survivor would surely hit the spot. (Survivor especially, given your current time slot.) Where is the comedy and the storyline going to come from?

Ben:
A lot of the comedy in the Tick stems from translating real life situations into their superheroic correlaries. Married life becomes the vocational marriage of superhero and sidekick, for example. For the most part, parodying specific heroes is "over the heads" of the mainstream audience. Only those few who've achieved widespread iconic status (Batman, Superman, The Hulk, etc) are relevant to the masses. Over the course of these episodes, we play with the judicial system, death, old age, issues of identity, and more!

10) Creative Control
by CleverNickName
How much creative control do you have, and how much will you maintain, if the show is a success?

I have firsthand experience with the idiocy of networks, so I'd be very interested to hear how you pitched the idea.

I'd also like you to know that I have been a fan from issue number 1, and used to curse your being in college, and not being able to put out new issues. Paul the Samurai is one of my favorite characters, in any medium, of all time.

Ben:
As I mentioned above, I do not reign supreme. But in general, I was given enough influence to make things happen, sometimes to steer the show away from material I disliked, sometimes not. In fairness I should say that were I capable of writing at a higher speed, I'd have probably been able to control more. The more you make, the more it's you.

Pitching this was greatly simplified by the enthusiastic presence of Barry Sonnenfeld, who shepherded the show from inception to fruition. His clout, insight, and ability made this thing happen. Having Barry attached to a project makes it less of a pitch and more of a negotiation. People are ready to sign him up!

College was a poor excuse for the irregularity of the Tick comic. The real excuse was my dreamy, immature work ethic, which still has yet to fully bloom.

So the night after the live action Tick debuted on Fox, we rounded up 10 questions and sent them off to Ben Edlund, the Tick's original creator. Here are his answers. And you can download your official Tick poster (pdf format) here.

1) copyright issues?
by turbine216
Now that we're all aware of the still-pending copyright issues between Sony and Fox concerning certain Tick characters and trademarks ("Spoon!"), is there any hope in sight for a resolution that would allow the use of these copyrights? Or is this a totally dead issue?

Ben:
If the show proceeds, it's not impossible that the wheels of justice will turn back in our direction. Actually, "Spoon" is not held by the company that owns the Saturday-morning cartoon rights. The rule is, anything which appeared in the 12-issue comic book series I did is free from the constraints of the cartoon contract. This includes Tick, Arthur, Spoon, and all the heroes and villains in those books. Incidentally, Spoon appeared first in the 7th issue of the comic, and the thirteenth episode of the cartoon.

2) Timeslot
by ReadbackMonkey
What evil Fox executive stuck you in such a lethal timeslot? Why didn't they slot you behind the Simpson's then move you to the lethal Thursday timeslot?

I had to fight with my girlfriend to watch the show last night since 'Will and Grace' was on.

Ben:
We're part of a large group of shows, all vying for the most favored programming scraps from Fox's big table. Where we've been placed on the Fox schedule is both challenging (or if you take a darker view, prohibitive) and advantageous, at least in that Fox will have lowered expectations for the Tick in a timeslot ruled by Survivor, Must-See TV, and other stiff competition. But I can't say that we've been given a red carpet by the network. So I won't.

3) DVD?
by Count Fecal
When will the cartoon series Tick be available on DVD?

Ben:
I don't know, Count Fecal. I don't know.

4) Hero/Villain Iconography
by kaladorn
Tick, to my mind, is an ideal hero icon for the current generation. He has good intentions, but isn't too aware of the fine details (well, even some gross details) of the world around him. He tries hard, and things tend to work out after a fashion, but usually not as a result of any particular brilliance on his part. Tick fulfills the iconic image of style over substance, of good intentions versus understanding, of the brawn and machismo not directed by a terribly powerful cranium, and of accidental destruction as a consequence of his good intentions and bungling execution.

His sidekick Arthur, of course, is more down to earth and aware. He's a bit of a geek (though I have yet so see him hack a kernel) with less-than-stellar social skills. He too seems to fill an iconic image in modern-day society - the nerdy brains-behind the brawn.

When these characters evolved, were they merely an attempt to poke fun at Superhero archetypes, or were they consciously intended to be more "in touch" with and to more closely parallel today's society? Or do you consider such analysis to be far deeper than the subject matter merits? Is the Tick just good humored fun, or is it perceptive art?

Ben:
The Tick is a work in stupid. Just as others may choose clay or stone or paint, I and my compatriots have chosen stupidity as our medium. But stupid must be worked and mastered like any other material; during this experimental stage, the viewer of the work may feel he or she is observing "perceptiveness" or "art." This is simply an illusion.

Tick and Arthur, as archetypes, are less an intentional reflection of today's society, and more an adaptation of classic comedy teams: Laurel and Hardy, Hope and Crosby, Quixote and Panza. The dynamic -- A big, goofy, charismatic lunatic, unharmable and often unreasonable, paired with a small, rabbity, very sane and very vulnerable guy -- is just another interpretation of those comedy teams where the idea of dominance is expressed and played with.

5) Target Audience
by rnb
Judging from the first episode alone, it seems like the live-action Tick is automatically shooting for an older audience than the cartoon was (for perhaps obvious reasons). Arthur getting drunk, The Tick using the word "bitch," some of Batmanuel's references to Captain Liberty, etc. I always got the feeling from the cartoon that it was aimed at both adults and kids, with some jokes perhaps flying over the kids' heads while the adults would get them (a snake accusing The Tick of not dating much during a wrestling match in The Tick vs. Proto-Clown comes to mind). Will the live-action series be aimed more at adults and less at younger viewers? I'm not really complaining if that is the case, it just seemed like there was definitely a shift in tone.

Ben:
I did not want The Tick to say "bitch" in the first episode. That I was not given the power to remove it as I saw fit offers some insight into the range of my control over this massive undertaking. The mandated presence of other hands and shared authority in television is inevitable. The show wouldn't be here without it. But I digress.

The tone was intentionally spiced up a bit, and I was right there with my attempts at sexy talk and jokes and so forth. But the Tick's tonal tolerance (especially a live-action version) is something we had to experiment with. There are episodes that go wildly off the mark where Tick's innocence and the credible warmth of his world are concerned. Just wait, they'll come on your tv and accost you in your living room...

These nine episodes are postcards from the brink of nothingness, giving filtered snapshots of Tick, Arthur, and their universe. We will need more shows to truly nail down what works tonally.

6) The Tick's Language
by quiller
While I'm a big fan of the Tick and enjoyed the show last night, I found one thing discordant while watching it. The Tick using words like bitch, and gonads. He has always struck me as having very anachronistic language. Stuck back in the Father Knows Best days. Spreading his brand of creamy justice on the toast of the city, sure. Make Evil my Bitch, doesn't work for him. Borderline profanity might work for some of the other characters, particularly Bat Manuel, but it seems wrong for the well intentioned, but naive hero that is the Tick. Is this a direction they are trying to take the Tick for some reason, or just a matter of unfamiliarity with the characters that will be ironed out over time?

Ben:
Partly answered in the previous question. Unfamiliarity, yes.

7) The Beginning
by Prof_Dagoski
I wish I still had my first Tick comic. It was a freebie from New England Comics, announcing that they were going to try publishing their own comics. I thought it pretty decent, but had to make more strategic decisions in my collecting habits at the time. Sorry Ben, I just had to have Akira. Fast forward a few years and suddenly I see the tick everywhere. So my question is this: Where did you think this comic would end up way back at issue one? Were you jsut hoping to have some good stuff in your portfolio by the time you got out of college(or wherever)? Were you hoping for a moderately successful underground classic? Just when did you realize that the Tick was a big hit? What happened then in your life and how did it affect your creation(the comic as well as the character)?

Ben:
No need to apologize about your preference or spending habits! When I started doing the first issue of the Tick I was 18 (I had invented him the year before, in high school). New England Comics hadn't ever published a comic. We were at the crashing and burning stage of the black-and-white explosion (the glut of independent low print-run comics spurred to crazed heights of speculative collectability by the successes of Teen Age Mutant Ninja Turtles ) and figured we'd probably get to issue three if we were lucky, then can the book for lack of sales. But that didn't happen.

This thing has been a source of remarkable successes and relatively painless failures. I've lived with Tick for almost sixteen years. Who I am as an adult human is greatly affected by this character and his strange course. And passing as he has through comics, cartoons, and now live action, The Tick has given me access to many of the skills and opportunities I was hoping for in film school. My big blue meal ticket never seems to die!

8) Two questions
by Flounder
Ben, been a huge avid fan of The Tick since issue 1. Still got all my issues (including my uncut #2) and still read them on occasion. Got every episode of the cartoon series, still watch them on occasion (and to introduce my 4 year old boys to The Tick).

Here's my questions...

As the creator / executive producer / high goddess of all that is Tick-y, what would be the one thing you wish to be done with the new live action show? Guest appearances? (BTW, nice shot of you and Barry on the couch) Better special effects? Hot dog cut into a little octopus?

And second, since it appears that characters from the cartoon exclusively will not be appearing due to copyright issues, can you give us a brief list of those that might appear from the comic? Chairface Chippendale? Chainsaw Vigilante? Paul the Samurai? Man Eating Cow?

Thanks for making Thurday night TV watchable again.

Ben:
The most important change would be budgetary. During shooting, it became necessary to make many concessions, to sometimes drastically change elements of story because we couldn't afford to shoot the script. This extended to sets, scenery, special effects both practical and computer-generated, costumes -- pretty much everything. An increase of 100,000 dollars would suffice, thank you.

A version of The Terror appears in one episode.

9) Sources of inspiration
by MikeyNg
To me, the Tick was always a satire of his genre. You made fun of Batman, Wonder Woman, Galactus, etc., etc. My question would be: With the series moving to live-action TV, would you be satiring other things? Making fun of Galactus would go over the heads of most your audience. However, targetting Friends or Survivor would surely hit the spot. (Survivor especially, given your current time slot.) Where is the comedy and the storyline going to come from?

Ben:
A lot of the comedy in the Tick stems from translating real life situations into their superheroic correlaries. Married life becomes the vocational marriage of superhero and sidekick, for example. For the most part, parodying specific heroes is "over the heads" of the mainstream audience. Only those few who've achieved widespread iconic status (Batman, Superman, The Hulk, etc) are relevant to the masses. Over the course of these episodes, we play with the judicial system, death, old age, issues of identity, and more!

10) Creative Control
by CleverNickName
How much creative control do you have, and how much will you maintain, if the show is a success?

I have firsthand experience with the idiocy of networks, so I'd be very interested to hear how you pitched the idea.

I'd also like you to know that I have been a fan from issue number 1, and used to curse your being in college, and not being able to put out new issues. Paul the Samurai is one of my favorite characters, in any medium, of all time.

Ben:
As I mentioned above, I do not reign supreme. But in general, I was given enough influence to make things happen, sometimes to steer the show away from material I disliked, sometimes not. In fairness I should say that were I capable of writing at a higher speed, I'd have probably been able to control more. The more you make, the more it's you.

Pitching this was greatly simplified by the enthusiastic presence of Barry Sonnenfeld, who shepherded the show from inception to fruition. His clout, insight, and ability made this thing happen. Having Barry attached to a project makes it less of a pitch and more of a negotiation. People are ready to sign him up!

College was a poor excuse for the irregularity of the Tick comic. The real excuse was my dreamy, immature work ethic, which still has yet to fully bloom.

abde writes "The Tick finally premieres this Thursday on FOX at 7:30 PM CST. Looks like Patrick Warburton finally gets to spread some creamy Justice on our toast!" Here's hoping that this show comes close to it's source materials. It's in a tough time slot, so I really hope it sticks around long enough to find a footing. Good luck to you Ben (I know you're reading!) In other TV news, Salon reviewed The buffy musical which aired on tuesday. Since my local basic cable doesn't provide UPN, I haven't seen it. I've been loving FX syndicating what is easily among my favorite shows: hot chicks, sharp humor, and monster killing. It may be the perfect show. I just wish TV was available via FTP.

Shturmovik[KGB] writes "It's official - Scully and her assistant, what's his name, that guy, umm, Mulder, that's right, are back for another season, though it looks as if Agent Mulder will appear in only 6-9 episodes: but then, as long as we have Agent Scully, who cares...? Check out the official announcement here at the FOX XF Web site. "

Jason Shindler writes "Looks like Yahoo! is back on the "real" bandwagon -- they will continue offering Real as an option to broadcast.com customers. Slashdot earlier reported that they were switching exclusively to Windows Media Player (yuck!)" Internetnews.com story here. Another quick followup: Fox got lambasted here on Slashdot earlier this month for denying www.fox.com access to people who don't use Windows or Mac operating systems. Later they apologized and said they'd fix the problem. They have kept their word. Thanks, Fox people!

synthetic writes "If you go to Fox's website Fox.com, with Netscape in Linux, you get a page saying you are not running a PC or a Mac..." Very disappointing to see such a major website disregard a whole OS...the odd part is that apparently this is over Flash plugins (which actually work). Read on for more.

Additional info by roblimo: Okay, in the spirit of fairness we tried to contact Fox and ask what was going on before we ran this. The media relations department had no idea what I was talking about, almost to the point of "You mean we have a Web site?" but since it involved the word "computer" they referred me to Fox's internal tech support desk, where a courteous rep named Brian told me, "That's the way the Javascript on the site was written. That's the breaks."

Since Brian was an internal tech support guy, he had no idea who was responsible for the company's external Web site. He promised to find out who was and to have them get back to me. No one has.

I'm assuming this "Can't see our Web site with Linux or Unix" thing is a corporate oversight, not some sort of evil conspiracy. Don't forget: Fox brings you The Simpsons, so "Doh!" has got to be a word heard commonly around their offices and studios.

Perhaps if a whole bunch of Slashdot readers call and e-mail Fox politely requesting changes to their Web site so that we Linux and Unix users can view it, someone at Fox will utter a big "Doh!" and a change will be made. Let's try it, anyway.

Please start by reading at least this section of the Linux Advocacy mini-HOWTO. Then call the following phone numbers and/or write to the following e-mail addresses. Politely.

1) Fox Network main phone = 310-369-1000
2) News Corp. (parent company) = 212-852-7017
3) e-mail publicity@foxinc.com 4) e-mail askfox@foxinc.com

Perhaps none of this will do any good, but it's worth a try. And if anyone else has useful contact info for Fox, please post it below. The more the merrier!

Following yesterday's Quake2.com hack, both bmw.com and Fox.com have been hacked. Fox was replaced with this X-Files Image sent to me by Scott Miga.

Troy Solo wrote in to tell us that BMW's hackers left a new page saying "Let's Have Fun with German Cars" and a flaming image linking to Ferrari's web site.