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ZarK writes “Technical Preview 2 of the upcoming Opera 9.0 browser is now available for download. In addition to the general bugfix and rendering improvements there’s also new features, like x-platform type widgets, improved content blocking, bittorrent support, thumbnail preview of tabs and more. Improved functionality also comes in the fact that a good lot of the scripts from userscripts.org will now work, advanced settings have improved in opera:config, and more browser customization is available at the opera community. However, some clear indications that this is still an alpha release is the experimental support for NTLM which breaks the proxy functionality for some users, and the fact that widgets are always on top.”

Victoria Pratt, who stars in the upcoming SCI FI original movie House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim, told SCI FI Wire that the movie shot in Los Angeles’ shuttered Ambassador Hotel, the last production in the historic building.

ABC is making three previously unaired episodes of its canceled supernatural TV series Night Stalker available for purchase for $1.99 per episode on the iTunes Music Store, the network announced.

Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who is currently a writer and supervising producer on ABC’s hit SF series Lost, told SCI FI Wire that he is also going strong with his independent comic book, The Middleman, for Viper Comics, with the first volume debuting as a trade paperback.

Freddy vs. Jason star Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) told the Bloody-Disgusting.com Web site that New Line wants to make another movie with his character.

Fantasy author Cecilia Dart-Thornton told SCI FI Wire that her new novel, The Well of Tears (a SCI FI Essential Book), will include an interactive CD-ROM created by Cyan Worlds, the creators of the video game Myst.

Multiple award-winning SF author Bruce Sterling told SCI FI Wire that he’s never had a broader range of topics in any story collection as he does in Visionary in Residence, which is due in April.

Zach Braff, James Woods, Haley Joel Osment and Mena Suvari will lend their voices to the video game Disney’s Kingdom Hearts II, which hits U.S. stores on March 30, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Filed under: Culture

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The Hollywood Byte is a weekly column on Yahoo! covering the convergence of video games and movies. This
week they talk with Scott Faye, producer of the movie adaptations of American McGee’s Alice and Max
Payne. Though they’ve been in development for about 6 and 8 years, respectively, Faye is confident they’ll get
made soon.

He says Alice could begin shooting as early as this summer, with Sarah Michelle Gellar
in the lead role, and be ready for a 2007 release. The adaptation of Max Payne is a little more tenuous. A
screenwriter has just been hired, and they hope to begin filming late 2006, early 2007. We’re not holding our breath at
this point.

[Via href="http://cathodetan.blogspot.com/2006/02/alice-and-max-payne-movie-updates.html">Cathode Tan]

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The conspirators used supremely inflammatory phony cartoons never published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten to gin up a campaign of violence and intimidation against Denmark, the EU, and the West.

The instantaneous availability of Danish flags for burning in obscure outposts of the Muslim world suggests a great deal of advance planning.

Samoa Joe confirmed he is renegotiating his contract with TNA and he hopes to accept the offer once both sides come to the negotiating table. He said he was upset with pay, which is why a more structured contract is currently being hammered out. Regarding his health following a staff infection, he said he has a “clean bill of health” and will be in good shape for the PPV on Sunday. He said he had very preliminary discussions with WWE in the past, but feels he is a better fit in TNA based on his prominent position in the X Division and scheduling.

Are the cartoons the cause of the continued violence, or were they the final straw? Ahmed Abu-Laban, the Muslim Cleric who began the cartoon protest now says:

This protest is not about the cartoons, offensive as they are,” he said. “The cartoons are merely the final drop that caused the cup to overflow. The Muslim faith has been under attack for years. There has been intense psychological pressure on Muslims. We have heard Western politicians relate our faith to terrorism, over and over again, and it is too much. This was the response.”

He also says he’s “crying for Denmark.”

[But he] also said Danish officials brought the crisis on themselves by not responding to initial protests and that he didn’t feel responsible for the way the dispute had developed.

The violent reaction to the publication of anti-muslim cartoons is growing and spreading. The United Nations, European Union and Organisation of the Islamic Conference have joined forces to plead for calm. The Prime Minister of Denmark said today it is a global crisis.