Dr. Horrible Is Up And It's Wonderful

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

I finally saw it. Act I anyway. It’s Wonderful! I can’t wait for the next two parts. All I can say is … The World needs more super-villain Musicals … and curtains, lacy, gently wafting curtains… what!?

It's the tale of a romantic but evil mad scientist, Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris), who wants nothing more than to snag the attention of a cute girl named Penny (Felicia Day) who goes to his laundromat. Sure, he has a few other goals: He wants to join Bad Horse, leader of the Evil League of Evil; and he's hoping to take over the world, if only oafish super-hero, Captain Hammer would let him. The songs, are witty, and well placed. I love that Whedon turned Dr. Horrible's blog description of his freeze ray into a love song. Inspired!

Neil Patrick Harris. a veteran of Broadway musicals, needs to be nominated for an Emmy or a Grammy or Webby or something. The beauteous and elfin Felicia Day’s voice is pleasant and melodious. Nathan Filian (Desperate Housewives & Firefly) plays the cloddish, self-absorbed, pretty-boy super-hero perfectly. (Could I have had more hyphens in that last sentence?)

The site is up and Act I is great, but the site was down most of the day. Yup. It got slash/dotted. Horrible created quite the stir on the Internets. So many people tried to watch the first episode that it crashed their server. Not only their server, but Felicia Day’s site, whedonesque, etc…. It’s been added to iTunes. The cost is $1.99 per episode, $3.99 for all three. The iTunes link is here. Here’s a great story from the LA Times about Dr. Horrible’s site crashing success!

Jamie Weinman's blog on Macleans.CA said this about trying to get on the site:

This is the internet equivalent of the old urban legend that after a much-viewed series finale ... everybody in the world goes to flush the toilet at the same time. Think of the internet as a toilet and bandwidth as toilet water. I could try to come up with an analogy that isn’t toilet-related, but why?

As of 11:15 PM (E) the guys at Dr. Horrible tweeted this. Here's the full story and more links on the other site.

"You're Gonna Die" from Act II

Technorati Tags: joss,joss whedon,nathan fillion,felicia day,neil patrick harris,doctor horrilble’s sing along blog,slash/dot

closing in on mars: where to watch

It's almost time!! As NASA attempts a first-ever landing near the polar ice cap of another world.

Phoenix Mars Lander will enter Mars' atmosphere at almost 13,000 miles per hour Sunday evening and then undergo what NASA engineers refer to as "seven minutes of hell" as it deploys a heat shield, then a parachute, and fires thrusters to touch down at just before 8 PM. (EDT). At least that's when NASA first learns if the landing was a success--it takes the signal 15 minutes to reach Earth.

The Phoenix Mars Lander should land about 7:53 PM (EDT), 4:53 (PDT).

Follow these historic and nail biting events (only 55% of all International Mars missions have succeeded) at these links.

Live coverage televised and online can be watched on the Canadian Discovery Channel (7-9 PM), The NASA Channel here in the States and Science Channel on some services. You can go to NASA TV and watch it streamed live online. NASA is expecting upwards of 500,000 to tune in to its live coverage on the Web. Those tuning in will see the images at the same time as NASA, and get the analysis in real time. Phoenix's mission: Dig for ice that scientists believe exists just below the surface, and determine if it has ever, or could ever, support life. If you are a member of Second Life, you can watch here. Link.

For a great overview of the Phoenix and the mission, go to the JPL Phoenix site. Link: JPL When at this site don't miss the Video: Guided Tour of Mars Landing. I linked to it - just in case. You can also follow the Phoenix on Twitter here. Link.

Another good video can be found here. It should start when page is loaded. Link.