The Rhythm: Random entertainment news from around the net in new bite size quantities.
I apologize for the lack of a post yesterday. Being a graduate student can catch up with you at times and having to deal with classwork to grade and my own homework to do, plus telescope proposals, international tech support, and lots of snow, a strong desire to favor procrastination kicks in. But never fear, I figured I would serve up a short entry today detailing a few interesting bits of news around the series of tubes we know as The Net. No, not the 1995 movie staring Sandra Bullock. The internet. Read on.
Iron Man 3 is suddenly less Happy
Yes, Jon Favreau, the awesome cheaufer of Tony Stark named Happy, oh and the director of the two previous Iron Man films, is indeed stepping down from the director's chair for the third installment. Why you ask? Disney is why. Favreau has signed on to work on Magic Kingdom, which sounds like Night at the Museum in Disneyland (which they claim is not the case). It's not a huge stretch for Favreau to leave Marvel Studios considering the parent company, Marvel Entertainment, was bought out by Disney, so he's basically just heading up the block, but leaving such a big franchise definitely had people suspecting some sort of conflict, be it money or otherwise. It turns out Favreau just wanted a new project that could inspire people the same way Disney entertainment did for him as a kid, which admirable I suppose. While I may personally be disappointed (and worried) about his departure from Iron Man, Favreau's track record speaks for itself.
The Big Games of 2011
I mentioned in my previous post about the big sequels coming out this coming year, but of course I neglected to tell you when they were meant to hit the shelves. Well, click the image below to get a look at a timeline of upcoming big release for 2011. Big games like the The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and other 3DS titles are missing since publishers have neglected to nail down any sort of accurate dates for those games, but never fear, when I know, you'll know.
Australian Nerds Out(land) of the Closet
The ABC Network out of Australia has clearly been looking for something akin to the American CBS show The Big Bang Theory. What network wouldn't want a version of that show? Nerds and the girl next door and science jokes. Sounds like a winner to anyone. Well the Down Under is taking that concept and running with it, but not in the direction you might think. Outland will feature a group of friends, much like Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj but with the added twist that they are all gay. This isn't really a huge leap according to Queer Sighted, since "anyone who has been to a Comic-Con knows you can find plenty of gay and lesbian fans milling about". I've had first hand experience with this (oh yes, there's a story) and I do think that this is a great concept for a show. Today we still don't see a lot of TV shows with gay characters, but shows like Stargate Universe have taken a step in that direction (albeit a small one) and Outland could definitely be another step in that direction. The point I'd like to make here is we're all nerds, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation, let's just enjoy it. If this series ever hits state side, I'd definitely check it out.
HIV Cured
So yeah, apparently they cured HIV earlier this week. You didn't know? Timothy Ray Brown was diagnosed with leukemia in 2007. He had been previously diagnosed with HIV, which is considered a manageable disease by today's standards, but once diagnosed with the immediate threat of cancer he went under the care of Germany's Charite Universitatsmedizin Berlin hospital. The extreme procedure of total body irradiation completely destroyed his immune cells and more importantly the subsequent stem-cell transplant-of which 2 in 3 survive-rid Brown's body of HIV. Apparently, the donor of the stem-cells had a unique genetic mutation which makes him nearly resistant to HIV. The introduction of the HIV invulnerable stem-cells rejuvinated Brown's immune system and it wasn't until recently that doctors found no sign of HIV in his system. To put it simply, he's the first man to be cured of HIV. This is pretty big news, especially since this is a step toward eventually curing AIDS. So, was this donor an X-man or something? It seems that a small, very small part of the population actually carries this HIV resistant code in their DNA. Identifying it and replicating it would definitely be a key towards curing and eventually eradicating HIV. Props to the Germans on this one.
As always, here's a little something to brighten your day.
Dream on.
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