CW’s “Supernatural” Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki are scheduled to play new roles that are far removed from werewolf and demon slaying. Ackles will co-star with Lou Diamond Phillips in a theater remake of A Few Good Men, playing the part of Lt. Daniel Kaffee, an inexperienced Navy lawyer who defends two Marines charged with murder. The play will open on June 5 at the Casa Mañana Theatre in Fort Worth, Texas.

He also stars as hippie surfer, Priestly, in the independent film Ten Inch Hero. If you enjoyed movies such as Mystic Pizza or The Breakfast Club, you’ll probably like this one. Just don’t expect to find normal people. For instance, Ackles sports a blue mohawk and some interesting sideburns.

As for Ackles’s Supernatural sidekick, Jared Padalecki will star in The Christmas Cottage (part of a trilogy), which portrays the famous Thomas Kinkade as a teenager on the verge of becoming an artist. Curious, I did a bit of research on the artist to see how interesting his life was. I knew he was a very popular artist in the U.S. and with the evangelical Christians. What I didn’t know was how he became so successful.

“There’s been million-seller books and million-seller CDs,” Kinkade said. “But there hasn’t been, until now, million-seller art. We have found a way to bring to millions of people, an art that they can understand.”

Indeed, Kinkade has done very well for himself. But I don’t know if this one movie will be successful, let alone a trilogy. Will this be an inspirational piece or the typical celebrity tell-all smut?

Andrew and Tonya Keyser began researching paranormal phenomena for a book project, only to toss the idea when they felt a book would be too dry. They turned their focus onto making a film, which they called The Other Side: Giving up the Ghost. The 80-minute documentary contains interviews with people who run or attend ghost tours, paranormal research teams, paranormal organizations, skeptics and psychology experts. It was filmed mostly in Gettysburg over the summer and fall of 2006. Other locations include Allentown; Amherst, N.Y.; Philadelphia; Richmond, Va.; and St. Louis.

There are a great number of people Adams County who are interested in the paranormal. However, Tonya wasn’t sure if this interest is because they experienced paranormal phenomena or because they are seeking to experience such phenomena. This was one aspect she and her husband covered in the film, which is due for release in DVD format on May 1, 2007. They will sell this DVD directly from their website, but hope to sell it on Amazon soon.

Scientists Travis Taylor and Bob Boan came up with the concept for this book during a discussion about defending ourselves against terrorist attacks. How would we defend ourselves should a squadron of aliens descend upon our planet for an aggressive attack? The table of contents is as follows:

The Statistics - Probability of an Alien Invasion; Warfare with ET - Humans vs. Aliens Weapons, Tactics, & Strategies for Human Defense; Motive Based Classification of Extra-Terrestrials; The “Need to Know”; First Response, Second Response, Third Response - Did We Get It Right? Did We Win?; The Sixth Column - Somebody Should Be Preparing; Conclusions and Discussions; Bibliography; Index

After reading the preview on Amazon, I find the material rather dry and highbrow, which is typical of textbooks. However, I found myself intrigued by the subject of ET’s motives. Why would they want to visit us? Are they as hostile as we are? We don’t know.

If you’re looking to write a killer sci-fi novel or screenplay about alien invasions, this promises to be a great reference.

Book Description

What are the implications for Humankind of alien civilizations that may be “out there?” In thinking about contact with extraterrestrials, we have to grapple with a host of philosophical, religious, and societal questions. The biggest is whether the outcome of contact will be beneficial or harmful. Will contact uplift us, bringing a golden age of wisdom and prosperity? Or will it demoralize, even destroy us?

This thought-provoking book presents a rainbow of opinions expressed by scientists, sociologists, historians, legal and political thinkers, and many others. The author takes into account not only scientific speculation, but also fiction and popular opinion. He challenges the most frequent assumptions that unerlie our thinking. He looks at both sides of the “where are they” debate, questioning the alleged paradox and proposing new ways of thinking about the issue.

The serious practical questions raised by extraterrestrial intelligence are becoming harder to avoid as our search technologies and methods improve, as we identify ever-greater numbers of planets orbiting other stars, and as the wave front of our radio, television, and radar signals reaches out into the Galaxy. How should we deal with contact if it happens? What do we want to say to an extraterrestrial civilization? Will we speak as one, or as many? What should we do if we find alien technology in our solar system? Should we simply be watchers and listeners, or should we actively seek contact by sending out messages proclaiming our presence? Our answers reveal our hopes and our fears.

After reading the glowing reviews of this book, I wish that there had been a preview to read. This looks like an equally fascinating book and one I’d consider reading because it is written for the layperson.

“As soon as I entered, something was weird,” she said.
“I took a couple of steps in (and) the hair on the top of my head stood on end – footsteps upstairs; undeniably footsteps. A slow cadence of footsteps.
“I froze. It went from the back of the building to the front.”

Ghostly sightings on Ross Island are often attributed to the 257 victims of the 1979 Air New Zealand plane crash on Mount Erebus. Workers have experienced strange sounds and sensations while working at McMurdo, where the bodies were stored before they were returned to New Zealand.

Source: The Dominion Post