It’s a vampire book. Nothing new there. But from the reviews I’ve read, the real unique aspect of it may be the “technical nature” in which it’s written. Almost like a Tom Clany novel with vampires?

The book is just volume one of a trilogy, which makes it even more compelling to me.

SciFiWire reviewed it and gave us the opening scene that sets the stage for the story:

The Boeing 777 arrives at JFK but goes dark soon after touching down, and it doesn’t taxi to the arrival gate or respond to worried queries from the tower. A baggage handler is sent to investigate and reports that the window shades in the passenger cabin are all down, the lights in the cockpit off.

Nobody reports, or at least puts on the record, the sense of something profoundly wrong, of evil, emanating from the aircraft. They suspect that (unfortunately) mundane explanation, terrorism. Or, perhaps, a viral outbreak.

But once the emergency workers manage to get inside, where they find a packed plane filled with the corpses of international travelers who seem to have peacefully died in their seats … once a coffin-shaped box lined with dirt is found in the cargo hold … once autopsies reveal the passengers to have been drained of blood … canny readers will be screaming at those authorities for their refusal to recognize the symptoms that became familiar with Dracula.

Read the entire review over on SciFiWire.

For all the vampire fans out there, does this book look interesting to you? I think I’ll pick it up once it hits paperback, but the hefty $26.99 is a bit much. Of course, Amazon has it for $16 + shipping if you are looking to get it online.

I believe I read somewhere that these books will be turned into a movie or TV show, but I’ll need to dig further.

I gave it up last season, around midway point, only to come back for the finale and groan. I hadn’t missed much and the fact that the President’s daughter suddenly was acting Chief of Staff was confirmation enough that I had made a good decision.

The show has lacked imagination the last few years and refuses to change its ways to make the storylines more interesting.

Fast forward to yesterday and the breaking news that Starbuck herself, Katee Sackhoff, will be joining the cast next season. Looks like I wont be going anywhere, 24.

To quote Jim Halpert: “Congrats universe, you win.”

Sackhoff (last seen in Battlestar Galactica, may you rest in peace…we miss you already) will be playing Dana Walsh, a smart and competent expert data analyst at CTU with a secret past who is involved with CTU agent Davis Cole.

Cole is played by…umm….Freddie Prinze Jr., which is enough of a reason NOT to watch 24 that it almost cancels out the awesomeness of Sackhoff joining.

What about the fans out there? Do you watch 24 still? Does Katee Sackhoff joining make it more appealing?

If you have had the chance to see Twilight, I think you are going to enjoy the next one to hit theaters. The first movie in the series brought in over $69 million its opening weekend.

Some people were disappointed with the adaptation of the first book, but I enjoyed it well enough and am looking forward to the second movie. Here’s a preview of New Moon to wet your appetites.

Miley Cyrus plays as Hannah Montana with her father Billy Ray Cyrus on a Disney channel family sitcom of the same name. Season one of the show has already hit the shelves on DVD. After watching the first season of the show, I am ready to catch up on season two.

On Sunday, the young star earned the MTV Movie Award for best song with her tune The Climb. The song has reached #4 on the U.S. Top 100 list.

Who thought that Nashville’s little girl would become a household name? Look out Dolly Parton, Miley’s on your trail. In season one of Hannah Montana, Dolly plays Miley’s aunt for an episode. When putting the two of these ladies together, you definitely get your Tenessee pride and a “howdy” to go with it.

Miley was born on November 23, 1992, and is the daughter of singer/actor Billy Ray Cyrus and Tish Cyrus. She has five siblings, her favorite sport is cheerleading, and her favorite book is Don’t Die My Love. As of June 2007, Miley had never had formal singing lessons. (IMDB.com)

Being a singer is hard enough. I imagine it’d be even tougher adding an acting career to the list. Miley, or Hannah, really has the best of both worlds. When I first watched her show, I realized I had found something worth watching on Disney again.

This Tennessee girl knows what she wants in life and continuously puts on great performances. There are many kids that love the show, and we have Miley and Disney to thank for all the hard work they have done.

The plan is to bring this site back to life. But, the entire format will be changing.

The original plan was to turn Pop Critics into more of a community-based site where we could have an open conversation on all things popular culture. This is what I’m moving toward at the moment.

The Pop Critics forums

Yesterday, I finally finished the initial design and opened the new forums. I want this to be a place where everyone is welcome to discuss what’s happening with celebrities, the hot movies of the summer, a favorite book, or the plot arc of a new television series.

I want it to be a place where you can be free to just be yourself and debate the finer points of the really important things in our culture. You know, stuff like the best science fiction show this past season. Like I said: things that really matter.

Take a moment to set up an account. It’s completely free to join and start posting.

Movie database

A little pet project we’ve been working on is the Pop Critics movie database. Mostly, we thought this would be something fun to do just to see if we can do it.

It’s far from completion, and we’ll likely take our time on building it. Right now, we’re still toying around with a lot of ideas on what it’ll look like in a few months, but it’s completely open to the public. You can rate movies, leave comments, and just browse around. Who knows? Maybe you’ll find a movie you’ve never seen before.

The resident redneck

Teaming up with me at the moment is a good friend and family member: Shannon Wood. I call him The Redneck because that’s what he is (he’ll probably hurt me later for this).

He loves watching TV and movies but can’t write worth a lick. I’m using my advanced English-teaching skills to teach him things like what uppercase and lowercase letters are right now. Next week, we’ll move over to punctuation marks.

Seriously, I hope he becomes a great asset to the team here at Pop Critics. He’s definitely put in some work in these last few days helping me get things running again. Please welcome him to the site.

Anything else?

I’m always on the lookout for new writers. I was recently contacted by someone who might start a fashion column, so I’m hoping we can welcome another team member soon.

There’ll also be some changes to the site’s design in the coming days to accommodate the new site features, so be ready. Don’t forget, sign up for an account and help us get the forums going.

Oh, and if you see something wonky with the site design, it’s just me working.

One of my favorites is Summer Catch, starring Freddie Prinze Jr. (She’s All That), Jessica Biel (7th Heaven), and Matthew Lillard.

Summer is just around the corner and baseball is one of America’s favorite summer sports. Why not put a little romance in it as well? Baseball is a sport, but in this movie, love is the game.

Ryan Dunne (Freddie Prinze Jr.) plays a local lawn boy just trying to make his pitching mark in the Cape Cod baseball league. Billy Bruebaker (Matthew Lillard) plays Ryan’s right hand man, who keeps him on the diamond and on the right track. But, Tenley Parrish (Jessica Biel), also known as the Shaw Road princess, falls for Ryan and that’s when things heat up.

Ryan pitches for the local Chatham A’s. Most of the players in the Cape Cod league are players fresh out of college who have not made it to a major league baseball team. The field in the movie was built from scratch in a little town called South Port, NC.

Early in the movie, Ryan meets Tenley Parrish, the rich girl that comes to Chatham for a summer break. Billy Bruebaker comes into view having trouble hitting the ball. As Billy struggles at bat, Ryan is trying for a win with Tenley. Ryan doesn’t really understand why Billy wants to quit, so he takes him under his wing and guides him to a better batting average.

Tenley’s father does not like the relationship his little princess has formed. She wants to prove her father wrong about Ryan. She wants him to know that Ryan’s not just another lawn boy but a young man that is going places with his baseball career.

As the end of the A’s season nears, Ryan’s career moves forward and the scouts of MLB are looking upon him.

Summer Catch is a movie that you should pop in the DVD player and gear up for the summer with. Where else can you see baseball, romance, and comedy all in the same movie?

I’m hoping you all will share what you pick up from your weekly entertainment shopping sprees as well.

I’m a sucker for all things entertainment. Send me to Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or any bookstore, I’m like a kid that just landed in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory — I can’t get enough. If I see a TV series on DVD that I like, it’s almost a guarantee that I’ll buy it. I’ve never walked out of a bookstore without adding at least one new book to my collection.

My brain is in need of constant entertainment.

Heroes: Season 2

If you don’t know what Heroes is, then you either don’t have a TV or have can’t tune into NBC. I feel a great sadness for anyone that’s not watching this show.

I’m still catching up on many of the series I missed last year on television. However, I did download quite a few of these episodes while in South Korea, but there were some I missed out on.

I’m actually taking a break from watching this season to write this. I just finished episode 6. So far, the season doesn’t disappoint. As soon as I’m finished writing this, I’m watching episode 7.

The Host

I admit it. I’m now a Stephanie Meyer addict. Well, I’m pretty much addicted to anything dealing with vampires. I’m on the third book in her Twilight series and am enjoying them, even if there are a few cheesy parts here and there.

She will long be known for her Twilight series, but I’ve always been more interested in reading The Host, which is a science-fiction book about invisble, alien invaders that take humans as hosts. The story follows Melanie, a human that refuses to allow Wanderer (one of the invaders) possess her mind.

The description alone promises a much better read. I’ve already bumped it up to the top of my must read list.

The Road

The Road is Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece. I don’t know how many times I thought about purchasing this book. I figured that I might as well drop the $5.97 for it. Most of my book collection is still in storage anyway, and I was starting to run out of things to read.

It is a post-apocalyptic novel about a boy and his father on a journey. Civilization has died out, along with pretty much any other species. It is an image of a future with no hope but this father and son.

There is a film adaptation of this book scheduled to be released sometime this year, starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the father and son.

The Shack

This was the third novel I picked up this week. It was also the third with the word The at the beginning of the title. That’s a bit odd.

I know we’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but every time I pass by this novel in a store, I’m instantly drawn by the image on the front cover. I finally caved and made the purchase.

The Shack was written by William Paul Young. The story promises to awaken your soul and provide some sort of answer for one of life’s ultimate questions — “Where is God in a world so filled with unspeakable pain?” (back cover).

Did you purchase anything interesting this week?

I’m always looking for new fixes for my entertainment addiction. Let me know if you’ve picked up anything good to read or watch this past week.

What about the things I purchased? Any opinions? I’m stoked that I found some great buys and have something to keep my mind occupied for at least a few days.

We’re still looking for new writers to join our team. Right now, we don’t have any regular writers, which is one reason for things being so slow. As always, check out the writing page if you want to write for the site.

The real reason for this article

I’m actually developing a new section of this site to house a large database of movies, books, and television shows, and I’d like some feedback. Basically, this section of the site will allow you to find these easily. There’ll be a place to discuss, rate, and get info on each.

Here’s an idea of what a post might look like:

Preview of the Pop Critics database

What I want from you

I need to name the new section of the site. Thus far, the only name I have is Pop Critics Database, which might work, but I’d be happy to hear any alternate suggestions.

What features should this part of the site include? Currently, I want to add a few things for each movie, book, and TV show:

• Director, Actors, Writers
• Release/publication date
• Summary
• Rating
• Useful links

I’m also open to any other suggestions you might have for this new section of the site.

Now that we’re really settling into the Christmas month and hitting the final stretch before the big day, you’ll probably be flipping over to the family Christmas channels on your tuner.

No matter how many times you watch classic Christmas movies, they never get old. Every year, these movies are shown countless times across the networks. Maybe you even own a few on DVD.

This week, my top movie pick is It’s a Wonderful Life. If I were to choose a favorite holiday movie, it would win, hands down.

When it was first released to audiences in 1946, It’s a Wonderful Life didn’t take over the box office. The film was directed by Frank Capra and was nominated for five Oscars, but failed to win even one. It is now on the AFI’s top 100 movies list. ¹

This is the movie I’ll be watching this week. It’s a great movie for the family as well.

What will you watch?

Honestly, I’d like to hear what your favorite Christmas movie is because I’m a sucker for favorite lists. Will you be watching a new movie? Will you stick with the classics? Or, will you just let fate determine it (or your kids)?

One other movie I always find myself watching this time of the year (though not strictly a Christmas movie) is Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.

If you’re not watching anything or haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life, then it’s the movie for you this holiday season.

1. Source: It’s a Wonderful Life on Wikipedia.

Did anyone else find yesterday’s episode enormously underwhelming as far as mid-season cliff-hangers go?  I would have liked to see a bit more action—this is still Terminator, after all—and I would have liked more resolution to the John/Riley/Cameron storyline.  But, those are minor gripes, because what we got was still pretty okay, and I’m not sure I’m at the point where I’m ready to admit to the world I want to see John and Cameron ditch Riley and get together (let’s keep that between you and I, hm?)

First:  Sarah and the UFOs.  This was strange to me, but strange is okay because it means new ideas.  And normally I love UFOs and anything to do with aliens, but, like I said—this is Terminator—and I’m not sure aliens have a place in the franchise.  In fact, I know they don’t.  (Hypnotism certainly doesn’t either, but I’ll let that slide just this once.)  The minute aliens show up is the minute the show has lost all credibility.  And the Sarah Connor Chronicles is the only show I’d say that about… I’d be thrilled if they turned up in Lost, Battlestar Galactica (though it would admittedly cheapen it a bit), or even House.

However, I have a lot of faith in the showrunners, so I’m sure what Sarah saw was not aliens.  That being said, I’m sure she saw something.  I don’t think when the show comes back in February that we’ll discover it was all “just a dream,” or some other hallucination.  I think whatever it was hovering above her is a major turning point for the whole shebangabang.

Has anyone seen the photos of these UFOs before

I first saw these photos a few years ago, and they remain some of the best UFO photos I’ve seen.  I ask if anyone has seen them because I’m pretty sure they were pinned up on Lady Abraham’s wall.  Either way, the thing Sarah saw shares a similarity with these photos, which, since they’ve been on my mind for a few years, was immensely cool to say the least.

So what the flip is it?  Since I’m ruling out aliens, my next choice is obviously some kind of reconnaissance drone from the future.  The problem there, of course, is that if we abide by the time travel rules established by the franchise, you can’t take raw materials back with you, and a huge flying drone would fit that bill.  Assuming there is a pilot in there somewhere, he or she’s naked figure would be the only thing left if they tried to move it through time.

So, no aliens, and no Skynet either, at least not as we know it.  Perhaps the design is from the future, and Skynet (or even the resistance) sent some people back to build it.  If so, the past (and future) will never be the same.

Second:  John and Riley.  It would have been a better mid-season ender had the big reveal of Riley’s true history been saved until now.  But since we found out she was from the future a few episodes back, witnessing how it happened just felt like filler.  However, it did have its moments—seeing her react to flowers and soft linens for the first time was kind of moving.

It does add depth to the Riley character, though.  When she was added simply as John’s love interest she was cliché and stale, but now she actually has a purpose:  keep John away from Cameron.

But away, how?  Just physically?  Is Cameron a danger to John?  (She’s still having to override that Terminate John Connor directive, right?)  Or is Riley supposed to completely turn him away from Cameron… emotionally, too?  I can’t help but think that, his mother aside, the best relationship he’s had in his developmental years was with a machine (Terminator 2).  I think that John has a soft spot for them in some way, and while he may recognize the danger, accepts them more readily than most.  Add to this Cameron’s declaration of love, and there’s a real possibility John may want to start something up with Cameron.

They’ve hinted around that they are very close in the future.  Maybe something goes wrong, and Jesse came back to sour machines for John.  Maybe he needs to learn machines are tools, not people.

Either way, I’m more eager to see this plot thread develop than Sarah’s UFO, to be honest.

I’m certainly looking forward to February, when new episodes start again.  According to Josh Friedman (the producer), the last half of the season will wrap up most of what’s been established in the first half.  Since moving the show to Fridays seems like a cancellation notice, especially since it’s FOX, that bit of news is bittersweet to me:  I’m looking forward to answers, but don’t want it to end.

NO FATE.