REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Update... Last week was another big week for news about Transformers 2 (TF2), which has about 5 more weeks to go in terms of filming...according to one of the movie’s writers, Roberto Orci. Here is the latest info about the sequel:

-Ain’t-It-Cool-News mentioned that the full theatrical trailer for Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) will premiere in front of J. J. Abrams’ Star Trek...which gets released in theaters next year on May 8.

-The teaser trailer will be released this November...though it hasn’t yet been revealed which movie it will debut in front of. The next James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace, is rumored to be the most likely film where you can see the TF2 teaser. Solace will be released in cinemas on November 14.

-The Decepticon ‘combiners’ known as the Constructicons will make an appearance in ROTF, with the main robot that they transform into, Devastator (the M1A1 Abrams tank of the same name in the first Transformers film should’ve actually been called Brawl), having "lots of upper body strength, like a gorilla".

Nice analogy...seeing as how I want to see this bad motha’-shut-yo-mouth go APE-S**T on the Autobots in ROTF!


Unlike the toy and cartoon versions, Devastator will be made up of 7 smaller robots in ROTF...instead of 6. The Constructicons will not just be green. Some of the vehicles will also be red and yellow, according to TFW2005.

-The concept artwork of one of the Constructicons, Long Haul (shown above), is said to be legit. It was created by Josh Nizzi...an artist who is currently on the concept team working on robot designs for Transformers 2. The CGI model of Long Haul, shown below, was made by a fan. I actually posted the artwork above in an earlier Blog.

-Transformers 2 is currently filming at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexcio. After that, production will move overseas to Egypt and possibly Jordan. And that will probably mark the end of principal photography for the sequel.

The Transformers Live Action Movie Blog has a lot more updates on TF2. Click here for additional info (and rumors).

Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times

USC: 35, Ohio State: 3... Yesterday, the University of Southern California turned what was supposed to have been the Game of the Year (for college football) into another Trojans rout. USC is still ranked No. 1 in the nation, while the Buckeyes sank from No. 5 to No. 13 in the Associated Press (AP) poll.

Here are the top five teams in the AP Top 25 poll:

1.) USC Trojans, 1,596 points
2.) Oklahoma Sooners, 1,485 pts.
3.) Georgia Bulldogs, 1,437 pts.
4.) Florida Gators, 1,414 pts.
5.) Missouri Tigers, 1,389 pts.
(Source)

On the opposite end of the spectrum (and city) from the Trojans, the University of California, Los Angeles, got whupped by Brigham Young University, 59-0, in Utah (making this UCLA’s worst football loss since 1929). The Cougars were ranked No. 14 after last night’s blowout of the Bruins...and BYU hopes this made the Cougars BCS-worthy. (BCS = Bowl Championship Series. I’ve written about college football on this Blog so many times, and only now I care about letting ya’ll know what these acronyms mean, haha.)

USC’s next game is against Oregon State on September 25. Give the Beavers hell, Trojans. Beavers and Trojans... If you know why I repeated those names, then you're as corrupted as I am.

GO ANGELS! Last night, the Los Angeles Angels (I’ll be nice THIS time, Arte Moreno) clinched the American League West division title after defeating the New York Yankees, 4-2, in Anaheim yesterday. The Angels currently lead the Major League with their 89-57 record...and became the first team in baseball to lock a postseason berth by winning their division for the fourth time in five years.

Here is a rundown of the most division titles won by an MLB team since 2000:

New York Yankees: 7
Atlanta Braves: 6
St. Louis Cardinals: 5
Los Angeles Angels: 4
Minnesota Twins: 4
Oakland A’s: 4
Arizona Diamondbacks: 3

Now IF ONLY the Angels can repeat that awesome postseason of 2002...and win it all...and change their name back to the Anaheim Angels. Do you think I was gonna stay nice forever, Moreno?



Both images courtesy of Karen Tapia-Andersen and the Los Angeles Times

TAKING SHAPE... Photos were recently released online showing that NASA’s next Red Planet rover, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), is finally becoming a reality as construction takes place at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. MSL is scheduled to launch on September 15, 2009, and will arrive at Mars between July 10 and September 14, 2010. For more information on why the arrival period lasts this long, click here.



As you can see from the photo above, the MSL is gonna be one huge vehicle. If the size of the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity can be compared to All-Terrain Vehicles, then the MSL can be compared to a Mini Cooper. Or even a Scion XB, haha.



Of course, the main reason why I’m talking about MSL is because of this. Spirit and Opportunity both carry the names of 4 million people and the Phoenix lander has 250,000 names onboard. And I believe the Sojourner rover that landed with Pathfinder on Mars in 1996 also carried the names of some well-wishers. There’s no reason why NASA wouldn’t allow the public to submit names to be placed on the largest moving land vehicle ever sent to the Red Planet. Or another world for that matter. *Crosses fingers.*


All images courtesy of NASA / JPL-Caltech

MSL Mission Highlight Video on Youtube:

Twentieth Century Fox

MORE ON TERMINATOR... Yesterday, I watched the Season 2 premiere of The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and needless to say... The T-1000 is BACK!! Well— Not as Robert Patrick from Terminator 2: Judgment Day, of course, but a female version played by Shirley Manson, the lead vocalist of the band Garbage.


Twentieth Century Fox

I’d like to see Manson’s liquid cyborg (whose human name is Catherine Weaver) go up against Summer Glau’s Cameron Phillips in upcoming episodes. And speaking of Cameron (or Summer. Whoever you prefer), is it just me or is she a lot hotter when her Terminator goes bad? Will we see John Connor get tempted to engage in some human/robot copulation with Cameron in a future episode, after she ‘professed’ her love for him in last night’s premiere? That’s something to think about... Oh, and if 'man-juice' can short-circuit the wiring inside Cameron after she performs— Nevermind. That's the corrupt part of my mind talking, haha.


Twentieth Century Fox

Back to the T-1000, I wonder if we’ll see some cool action sequences with Manson in ‘em. Like her walking through a chain-link fence as she chases after Sarah Connor and Company... Or impale BAG—err, Brian Austin Green—err, Derek Reese with a metallic finger blade... That would also be cool.


Warner Bros.

It’s interesting to see where this new season will lead...and how it will tie in with next May’s McG-directed film, Terminator Salvation (starring Christian Bale). Will Ms. Glau make a cameo in this flick? That’s all I care about. That— And hot liquid cyborg females and other evil robots that go shootin' and stabbin' in the night.

TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES... Tonight is the Season 2 premiere of the hit FOX TV series. Lena Headey reprises her role as the title character, Thomas Dekker returns as John Connor, Summer Glau is back as the cyborg heroine Cameron, Richard T. Jones once again plays FBI agent James Ellison, Garret Dillahunt is the evil Terminator known as Cromartie, and Megan Fox’s beau, Brian Austin Green, is back as Kyle Reese’s brother, Derek. Did I also mention Summer Glau is back as Cameron?



The Sarah Connor Chronicles airs at 8 PM, before Prison Break. Speaking of Prison Break, Season 4 started off on a promising note last week. I thought this season was gonna focus on Michael Scofield getting revenge for the alleged death of Sara Tancredi...which would’ve been interesting but something not worth watching for an entire season. But seeing as this was resolved in the first 30 minutes of the 2-hour premiere (Sara’s alive!!), it’s nice to see what the main story will focus on. The fact that all the convicts have to team up to bring The Company down is intriguing...but you know there will be twists and turns during the season where some of the convicts won’t stay loyal, or not survive. We’ll see.



Back to The Sarah Connor Chronicles... Cameron is like Wolverine. What with her having a metal skeleton like the X-Men hero (though Wolverine is still human), and apparently healing quickly after last season’s explosive finale. And she’s looking gorgeous as usual.



All images courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

BACK AT THE PAD... After several days of delays due to the approaching risk of Tropical Storm Hanna, space shuttle Atlantis finally rolled out to its Florida launch pad last Thursday. At first, I thought that NASA was being overly optimistic making this move...seeing as how there were two storms, Hurricane Ike and Tropical Depression Josephine, still brewing out there in the Atlantic. Judging from this page as of today, Josephine is gone, and Ike was only (but perilously) going to pass near the tip of southern Florida on its way to the Gulf of Mexico.

Atlantis is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center at 9:33 PM on October 9 (California time), on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope one last time. Hubble should last for 5 more years beyond 2008 if the repairs go smoothly on STS-125.


NASA / Kim Shiflett

REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Update... As part of the promotional campaign to commemorate this week’s release of Transformers on Blu-Ray DVD, Wal-Mart has posted exclusive video content on its website. One video (the second one on the page, actually), shows how Industrial Light & Magic created the robots in the first film. The other video—which is the first of a series of new videos that will supposedly be posted every week—chronicles the first day of shoot for Revenge of the Fallen, which took place at Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in early June.



This video shows Michael Bay displaying the "Bayos" (as in "chaos"...since Bay likes to operate fast on the film set, and stated he's gonna be 'all up on' his crew's 'asses' to get work done on the movie) shoes that Nike made for him, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura showing his excitement for Day 1 of the production, military soldiers on the attack (one troop is using a Gatling gun...as shown above. Pretty cool), and 3 motorbikes that will supposedly form Arcee in action! We also see an Audi R8 going through the motions on set...though we do not yet know if it’s a Decepticon or an Autobot. Though it must obviously be a 'Con if Arcee (an Autobot) is being chased by it...



CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE TWO VIDEOS. The code to put at the bottom of the page is AllSpark62609. Can’t wait to see what next week’s video will show! Hopefully some behind-the-scenes footage with Megan Fox in it. Speaking of Fox, here's a sexy photo of her from her upcoming flick, How to Lose Friends & Alienate People. Totally hot.


Courtesy of The Sun

PHOTOS OF THE DAY... I don’t have time to type anything as meaningful(?) as the hurricane blog I posted yesterday, so I thought I’d just show these cool pics I found online. Well— They're cool if you’re a warmongering, victory-minded American (which I am...err, kinda), but an extreme turn-off if you’re a no-good, pacifist, non-Yankee beatnik. Which would be anyone not voting for John McCain. Haha, just kidding. I really dug myself into a hole with that comment.


U.S. Navy photo - Chief Photographer's Mate Todd P. Cichonowicz

This image, which is 100% real, was taken during a photo op that kicked off a U.S. military exercise known as Valiant Shield on June 19, 2006. The war games took place near Guam in the Pacific Ocean. The photo would’ve been even better if there were F-22 Raptors in it. Oh well. That’s what the pic below is for.

DESPITE THE FACT TROPICAL STORM FAY put a damper on my plans to go to Cape Canaveral and visit tourist sites in Orlando about 2 weeks ago, I actually developed a newfound interest in tropical storms and hurricanes (but YES, I’m still pissed over Fay). Obviously overlooking the amount of death and destruction they (always) wrought, hurricanes themselves are awesome forces of nature (and NO, I wouldn’t tell that to someone who lived in New Orleans during August of 2005). On the ground, it looks like your average rainstorm (albeit with 100+ mph winds and a 14-feet storm surge), but from outer space, they appear as amazing behemoths. I mean... A spiraling mass of cloud that is on average 400 miles in diameter, with arm bands extending thousands of miles across the eastern United States and over the Atlantic Ocean? Sure beats the dull earthquakes we get here in southern California. Just being facetious.



I’d much rather be caught by surprise by a large tumbler (won’t elaborate on the magnitude) in the Southland than having to worry about boarding up windows, putting my most valuable belongings in my car and getting the hell out of there.



Other than that, hurricanes are amazing. I’m also reading up on levees. That’s how bored I am right now.



First it was Fay, then Gustav, and now it’s Hurricane Hanna looming in the Atlantic, as well as Tropical Storm-most-likely-to-become-a-Hurricane Ike next to it (and don't forget Josephine). If you ask me, I prefer being a tourist in The Bahamas, not a resident...thank you. And don’t even get me started on living in Cuba right now. That’s all.



This journal entry sure is inconsistent.