Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides is due out on May 20th, but that isn’t stopping Disney from going ahead and prepping the fifth installment in the adventures of Capt. Jack Sparrow.

According to an interview with Jerry Bruckheimer in USA Today, test screenings for the fourth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series have said they wouldn’t mind seeing more adventures for Capt. Sparrow, but they want them to be stand alone stories.  ”The audience told us what they loved about it is that it was fresh, it was new, it was a whole new story,” said Mr. Bruckheimer.  ”So that will carry over into the next one, too, to give it something fresh and different. As long as the audience embraces this one, we’ll certainly try to make another one. It’s really up to Johnny (Depp). He loves the character.”

With this in mind, Disney has already contracted Terry Rossio who scripted the first four films has already been signed for the fifth movie.  There is no indication of when the production could be released, and even though the script has been commissioned doesn’t guarantee that it’ll go into production.  Considering the length of time to write a script vs the cost to write it, it’s better to just get the process under way even if they never need it.

We’ll see if the fourth film brings in enough to warrant another one, but somehow we think it’s a safe bet that this isn’t the end of Capt. Sparrow.

Matt Smith is ready to don the bow tie for the sixth season of Doctor Who launching in April.

The new season of Doctor Who will see the return of Matt Smith (the Doctor) as well as his companions, Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) and Arthur Darvill (Rory Williams).  When we last saw the characters, the Doctor had saved the universe from the crack in time, Amy and Rory had gotten married, but we were still left the question of who or what The Silence is in the happenings of season 5.  Despite the holiday special, which was a totally standalone story, we haven’t seen what exactly we’re in for with a married couple in the TARDIS, and the Doctor off to face an enemy that seems to have been able to impact all of time at once.

Unlike previous seasons, the episodes this time will air in the United States on BBC America the same day as they premiere in the UK.  Considering the number of viewers they probably lost to piracy in past seasons, this makes a lot of sense.  Check out the trailer below, and yay to yet another return of Alex Kingston (River Song), especially since it seems like we’ll finally get some answers about who/what she is to the Doctor.  I am totally ready for this season, bring it on.

It would seem that being a woman beater is not harming Chris Browns career in any way, shape or form. Must be nice.

Following an appearance last week on Good Morning America where he was so enraged by an interview that he broke a window, Chris Brown was back on ABC tonight to appear on Dancing With the Stars.  Despite the fact that host Tom Bergeron and professional dancer Cheryl Burke both voiced opposition to his coming on the show, come on he did.

In case you’ve forgotten why this matters, while Brown has had some success as a singer, he became most well-known for beating his now ex-girlfriend Rihanna back in early 2009.  He got noticed again when American Idol singer Adam Lambert got pulled from some TV bookings due to kissing another man on sage at the American Music Awards.  Brown took over Lambert’s bookings, sending a signal that beating women was still better than being gay.  Good to know.

So, here we are with Brown still acting up, existing show personalities expressing their dismay at his coming on the program, and ABC just ignores it all.  Does he have incriminating photos on someone high up at the network?  Somehow he keeps getting on this channel even after he has thrown a hissy fit on another of their shows.  Does this make sense to anyone?  Was a guy who is simply out promoting a new really that necessary to appear on your show at the risk of alienating viewers and cast members?

Apparently so.  Apparently woman beating is perfectly acceptable in the eyes of the Disney-owned network.  Getting destructive after another interview on the same network?  Perfectly ok.

So glad to see ABC has a sense of moral direction

Superman has found his Lois Lane as Amy Adams has been cast as the intrepid female reporter that has always been by his side.

Back in Jan. Henry Cavill was cast as Clark Kent/Superman in Zack Snyder’s upcoming Superman: Man of Steel film reboot.  While the casting of Superman is always a big deal because of his iconic status, but you can barely ever finish a thought of the last son of Krypton without thinking of Lois Lane at the same time, so her casting selection is almost as important.

Amy Adams is best known for her roles in films such as Julie & Julia, Enchanted and Sunshine Cleaners.  She has shown an ability to play both dramatic and comedic roles, so she should easily be able to play the female journalist who always seems to find herself in dangerous situations.

The film is currently slated for a 2012 release, and is being directed by Zack Snyder.  It’s intriguing that this announcement was made this weekend, the same that his current film Sucker Punch is taking a critical and financial beating.  Considering he is connected to such a high profile project, Warner Brothers is sure to want to shove the memory of the failing film from the memories of the movie going public as quickly as possible.

Seeing as this is the last film of the character to be produced before the rights to the character revert back to the families of the original creators, there is a lot riding on this production, so having your director having a massive flop on his hands as he’s about to go into production can’t be good for morale of those involved.  Announcing a high profile casting such as Amy Adams as your female lead is a good way to help direct the coverage and get people to begin paying attention to other things than what failed.

Personally I think this is the perfect casting for this role and I look forward to seeing her take on the character.

Luis over at BlogD points us towards a new video of the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami hitting the town of Kesennuma in Miyagi prefecture.

While this video misses a lot of the action, who can blame them?  You have torrents of water coming, and I’m sure it was also running through their head, “Am I high enough?”  Whatever the case may be, this really gives you a sense of just how powerful this event was.

Please remember you can help by checking out the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Relief.

[via BlogD]

Only 26 this week, which should be about normal as a transition more to editing.

FunJug.com

• Kinect Self-Awareness Hack
• Conan the Barbarian: The Musical
• Completely Honest Job Interview
• Rebecca Black – Friday
• Getting morning love from the lions
• Death Metal Friday
• Saturday Shorts: Snap Out of It! (Emotional Balance)

SeanPAune.com

• Radiation Spreads Within Japan and Beyond
• Death Toll and Financial Bill Rises in Japan
• Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant
• Royal Wedding Refrigerator Will Make Your Family Fear For Your Sanity
• Japan: The Earthquake & The Tsunami [infographic]
• Scattercast Episode #137: Land of the Rising Sun
• OMG, the English Language is Falling Apart! LOL!

TechnoBuffalo.com

• Boxee Box Review – Jack of All Trades, Master of None
• Crysis 2 Gate Keeper Trailer
• Android Nom Technobuffalo Wallpaper
• Firefox 4 Officially Launches
• Sprint Announces HTC EVO View 4G Tablet
• Samsung Throws Down The Gauntlet to Apple in the Tablet Wars
• iPad 2 (or Cash) Giveaway Reminder!
• Mortal Kombat Adds Kratos From God of War (video)
• Bertrand Serlet to Leave Apple
• Analyst Predicts Apple Sales Boom to Continue Through 2012
• ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Mixes Tablets and Netbooks
• Apple Smart TV Rumored to Be In the Works

I think it’s official that the English language is falling apart.

The Oxford English Dictionary recently made some announcements about new … “words” … that have once again left me puzzled.  Like four years ago when “w00t” was made into a word (yes, with zeroes for the letter “o”), I have just been left me scratching my head.  This time around it has apparently been decided that abbreviations count as words.

From the official announcement from the dictionary:

…such as OMG [OMG int. (and n.) and adj.]: ‘Oh my God’ (or sometimes ‘gosh’, ‘goodness’, etc.) and LOL [LOL int. and n./2]: ‘laughing out loud’—are strongly associated with the language of electronic communications (email, texting, social networks, blogs, and so on). They join other entries of this sort: IMHO (‘in my humble opinion’) [IMHO at I n./1], TMI (‘too much information’)  [TMI at T n.], and BFF (‘best friends forever’) [BFF at B n.], among others.

BFF?  Are you kidding me?  The Oxford folks give some weak excuses for why these can be included, but I’m sorry, these are just getting to the point of silly.  Apparently if you say anything like an abbreviation enough times it can be made into an official part of the English language.  I am now making my pledge to create a word just to see if I can get it in there for the heck of it.

Adding even more insult, they have now decided to give “heart” a verb form.  I’ll just let them explain it for themselves.

The new sense added to heart v. in this update may be the first English usage to develop via the medium of T-shirts and bumper-stickers. It originated as a humorous reference to logos featuring a picture of a heart as a symbol for the verb love, like that of the famous ‘I ? NY’ tourism campaign. Our earliest quote for this use, from 1984, uses the verb in ‘I heart my dog’s head’, a jokey play on bumper stickers featuring a heart and a picture of the face of a particular breed of dog (expressing a person’s enthusiasm for, say, shih-tzus) which itself became a popular bumper sticker.  From these beginnings, heart v. has gone on to live an existence in more traditional genres of literature as a colloquial synonym for ‘to love’.

Well let me tell you this, I don’t ? this decision.

Apparently there are a bunch of people work at dictionaries adding things to them just to prove that they are doing some work, so why not just start randomly throwing things in.  I mean, why not next year including ROFL?  ROFLMAO?  I know, how about you GTFO and stop screwing up the English language?  Kthxbai!

It’s episode #137 of Scattercast … and it is total and utter randomness!

I’m back from Oakland, which means it’s time for a new episode!

Some talk about the Oakland trip.

The rest of the episode is Japan Earthquake-Tsunami info and a lot of me reflecting on my love of Japan.

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Infographics have become all of the rage in the world of blogging, so it isn’t all that surprising that someone made one in regards to the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami.

All of the data in the below image was current as of March 22nd, 2011, so a few things have changed since then, but not much. There is additional information at the bottom to how you can assist in the relief efforts.  And I do highly recommend you read through all of the information in it as there are a lot of little facts in it that even I hadn’t heard and I’ve been following this whole situation pretty closely.

It’s amazing what an impact numbers can have when you just let them speak for themselves.

[via Cool Infographics & Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins; source Digital Surgeons]

Have you ever walked into your kitchen and thought, “I wish I had a way to quickly tell my friends and family that I’m not totally right in the head … oh, I know, I’ll buy a 5′, 9″ refrigerator with a gigantic picture of the latest royal couple on it!”

If you’re super excited about the impending wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, you can now mark the occasion by buying a refrigerator with one of the royal couple’s official engagement photos emblazoned across the dual doors.  Apparently this design was the winner of a poll conducted by GE on its Facebook page for its UK branch.  The appliance maker is launching a line of customizable appliances, and they asked fans to vote on a design they would love to see, and somehow this is what won.

David Garden, Commercial Director for GE at Glen Dimplex Home Appliances told Get Connected, “As expected, the Royal Wedding has really captured the UK’s imagination and it was no surprise that a William and Kate commemorative fridge was a popular choice.”  He went on to add, “It certainly wipes the floor with your usual commemorative tea towels and mugs and is most definitely one of the most novel Royal Wedding products we have seen. Who knows, it may appeal to die-hard fans or maybe even Prince Charles and Camilla will order one as a wedding gift for the couple.”

What it really is is a way to advertise a new refrigerator that can be customized for color and other specs using panels you can change on the front of it.  All it does for me is make me want to check anyone who orders this version into a mental hospital.  Do you really need to acknowledge the marriage of two people you don’t even know by having them stare at you every time you go to get cream for your coffee?  No, I don’t think you do.

As someone who has taken a lot of ribbing over the years for his love of Star Wars and comic books, even I have to say there is a line I would never cross in my fandoms.  Pasting an image on my refrigerator would be a good guess as one of those lines.

As the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami saga continues on, but there may finally by some good news unlike the usual events we’ve been seeing.  It appears some things are getting better at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.

It seems that power has been restored to some portions of the devastated Fukushima nuclear power plant which will allow for lighting while teams work longer hours.  There has also been power restored to some of reactors which will allow for them to finally be shut down in the proper manner.  This certainly does not make the situation over and done with as of yet, but it is a definite step in the right direction.

However, all of this good news was followed up an aftershock measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale. While no discernible damage has been reported, all of these aftershocks have to be weakening the structures that remain.  While it hasn’t hampered their progress yet, it wouldn’t be surprising if it did at some point.

On a side note, I do plan on ending the daily Japan updates this week as I don’t want to drive all of you insane with it.  That being said, these problems are not going away any time soon.  People still need our help, and I again will ask that you donate what you can to help out the people of this country that I care so much about.  You can find resources to make donations at Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Relief.

Hopefully the news will be dying down soon to where I don’t feel like I have to constantly report on it.

As the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami saga continues on, the tally of the losses to both human life and financially continue to rise.

The latest estimates from the tragedy indicate that over 18,000 people were killed between the earthquake and the resulting tsunamis.  This number is arrived at by combining the total of known dead and those that are still considered missing.  While there is every chance some of the missing will still be found, hope is dwindling that they will be found alive.

Also devastating, but in a different way, are the estimates of the financial toll.  Currently it is estimated that the property damage total is around $235 billion USD, with the cost to private insurers being an additional $33 billion and $12 billion coming from the government budget with much more over the years.

Also of concern is more reports of radiation being found in food and drinking water through out portions of the country.

The after effects of this disaster are going to be felt for years to come, and considering the unstable nature of the Japanese economy over the past several years, things are only set to get worse for the country as a whole.  One has to remember that Japan is a country about roughly the same size as the state of California, so it isn’t surprising to think how the impact of a tragedy of this size could easily rock the entire nation.

Please remember you can help by checking out the Japan Earthquake-Tsunami Relief.