Zounds were abound this week when it was let out that the casting currently going on this week for a female lead in Superman wasn’t for Lois Lane. The initial speculation was that Snyder may have been kicking the script over to Lana Lang, the other alliterative female in Clark’s life. Not to be! Not to be at all. Snyder is currently casting for the role of Ursa, who is General Zod’s b-girl. According to reports, Alice Eve, Diane Kruger and Rosamund Pike are all in the running for the part.

Don’t know who Ursa is?

Slashfilm Cares:

[Ursa] first appeared in the Richard Donner’s  Superman and  Superman II as one of a trio of Kryptonians, lead by General Zod, who are sentenced to live in the Phantom Zone by Superman’s father Jor-El, before breaking out and ending up battling Superman on Earth. Ursa’s most noteworthy quality in the films is her hatred of men and that she collects badges/symbols of her kills. She didn’t appear in the comic books until only a few years ago.

Well, there you go. This news makes everything a bit interesting though, considering that Snyder said that Zod wasn’t going to be in the flick. Is Ursa running ahead, preparing the pathetic fleshsacs for Zod’s arrival? Or is the dude actually in the movie? Only Frat Boy Rock (Snyder) knows for sure. Oh, and I suppose those who have read the script.

Cobie Smulders is going to be Maria Hill in the Avengers flick. I had no idea who Smulders was until I googled her, and it turns out she’s in How I Met Your Mother…That explains why I had no clue. Nonetheless, according to Deadline:

I’m hearing that How I Met Your Mother star Cobie Smulders has emerged as the front runner for the role of SHIELD Agent Maria Hill in the Joss Whedon-directed The Avengers and that a deal could be done before the weekend is out.

Whelp! Don’t know her, but she is certainly pretty. Also, for what its worth, she looks excellent with hair that resembles Hill’s.

Thoughts? Anyone actually watch that show?

[images & words is the comic book pick-of-the-week at OL. equal parts review and diatribe, the post highlights the most memorable/infuriating/entertaining book released that wednesday]

Have you ever loved a series? Not enjoyed or flirted with, but truly loved a series? If you have, you’ll know it.

When you’re enamored of a narrative, the viewing of every episode isn’t just a desire, but a gahddamn need. After all, if the L-word’s being tossed around then you’ve become personally invested. Characters are no longer the fabrications of creators, but representatives of your own struggles. As symbols that have entrenched themselves within your own imagination, the characters are not caricatures, but as archetypal placeholders.

At that point, it’s not just about entertainment. It’s also about self-discovery.

What brings about this rumination? A cold brew and the realization that I’m in love with Sweet Tooth.

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Enlarge. | Via.

Ah, bulges. Oft, where I want one, I cannot get one. But point a finger at me and you’ll hit my central abdominal bulge. Home of the fourteen pieces of pizza from last night. NGC 3621 doesn’t have my problems. No sir. You see unlike most galaxies, NGC 3621 doesn’t have a central bulge.

Bad Astronomy:

At 22 million light years away, NGC 3621 looks like your usual big spiral galaxy: flat disk, arms sweeping out majestically, central bulge… hey, hold on there a second.  Where’s the central bulge?

Turns out, this galaxy doesn’t really have one. There’s a brightening to the center, sure, but no actual spheroidal region of old stars like in most spirals. That’s weird, and something I hadn’t heard of before! A galaxy that’s all disk.

Spirals can have all manners of central bulges.  Andromeda, for example, has a nice puffy one.  The Milky Way has a compact core but has a rectangular bar going across it. Some have huge bulges, some tiny. But I thought there always  was one. But that’s not the case.

NGC 3621 is the talk of the universe. Other galaxies gawk in jealous rage. I’m just blathering. For more on this, read the full article “A galaxy that’s all hat and no head” by Phil Plait.

The more I read about Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome, the more excited I get. Will I accept any excuse to return to the worlds colonized by my good ancestors from Kobol? Hell fucking yes, I will.

io9:

According to this review of the pilot script, the show feels very much like a return to the military space opera of  Battlestar Galactica, although it’s also clearly influenced by the  Star Trek reboot – complete with a visit to an ice planet.

First off: awesome. Secondly, yo! Straight up Star Trek reboot? Let’s not get into some sort of mimetic spiral into nothingness following the originations of certain tropes. But! But still. That ice planet from the Star Trek reboot was fucking Hot. Also, the new Kirk was Han Skywalker. Which is why I liked the movie so much. Anyways.

We meet Adama as a cocky new pilot who graduated at the top of his class and is convinced he belongs on the front lines – even if his battle-hardened superiors aren’t so sure. Adama is assigned to the Galactica, which even then is an old, beat-up ship under the command of the similarly ground down Silas Nash. Adama isn’t pleased when he’s sent on a mission in a Raptor – he’s a Viper pilot and believes he should only be flying Vipers. This is where he meets the old vet Coker, who becomes something of a gruff mentor to Adama and even gives him the Husker callsign that we saw in BSG.

Oh lord. My hogsworth begins spurting the gunk just thinking about returning to some Viper battles. Please let this be dope.

Yo! Spoiler whores! You interested in seeing the cover to Marvel’s Fear Itself #1? If so, hit the jump.

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Marvel’s released the official Captain America poster, as well as dropping the first high-res look at the costume. Hit the jump to dive on in.

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Oh don’t you love shortlists and speculation? I mean, weren’t you getting worried with the hammering out all the details of The Dark Knight Rises would leave us in Speculation Limbo? Fear not, true mouth breathers such as myself! And innocent bystanders. Coming off of Samuel Jackson stating on Jimmy Kimmel that he’d be screen testing actresses for the role of his sidekick, today we have a purported list.

You ready for this shit?

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Welcome to the fucking future! It’s a glorious place to be. Even if we haven’t figured everything out, goddammit we’re capable of some truly amazing things. Case in point: the stem cell gun.

Kotaku:

Most of the damage from serious burns doesn’t come from flames. It comes from infections brought on by a lack of protection due to damaged skin. The lengthy healing process associated with major burns can leave patients open to such infections for months, even with proper care and wound dressing.

Doctor Jörg Gerlach of the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine has created a method that has patients regenerating new skin in days using stem cells.

Now before everyone flies off the handle, these aren’t the embryonic stem cells that have been so controversial over the past decade. These are skin stem cells harvested from the patient themselves; adult stem cells.

The cells are applied via a spray mechanism over the area damaged by the burn, and the results speak for themselves.

Fucking amen. I don’t know if I’m happy or disappointed that these cells aren’t culled from embryonic cells. Controversy!, it excites me.

Hit a jump for a video of the STEM CELL GUN in action.

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You can’t seem to go a week or two these days without some ridiculous news coming out regarding the Kepler telescope. The son of a bitch has been in orbit for something like two years, and the intrepid son of a bitch just keeps finding planets. It’s a planet finding motherfucker. Today it was dropped that Kepler has found in excess of 1,200 possible planets.

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