Rock Slide Could Block B.C. Highway for Five Days

As NowPublic reported yesterday, a massive rock slide closed the Sea to Sky highway between Vancouver and Whistler and officials are now stating that it could take until mid-next week before the highway is able to be reopened.

It could be five days before the Sea to Sky Highway near Vancouver is reopened following a massive rock slide on Tuesday night.

Highway 99 is the only direct route between Vancouver and Whistler, the intended venue for many of the 2010 Olympic events.

Source: ctv.ca via Jarrett Martineau

Unfortunately for those affected by the closure, the only alternate route available to motorists is a lengthy detour through Lytton, Lilloet, and Pemberton:

All lanes of traffic and a rail line were blocked with truck-sized boulders, which B.C.’s Transportation Minister Kevin Falcon said likely won’t be fully cleared until next week.

By Thursday, officials were preparing the site for blasting to begin clearing the roadway to allow traffic to once again use the vital artery. Stabilization and bolting must also be completed before the roadway is reopened.

In the meantime, motorists’ only other option is to take an eight-hour detour between the two cities.

Source: ctv.ca via Jarrett Martineau

In order for clean up efforts to continue, crews are preparing to blast a large piece of rock overhanging the site of the slide:

Crews are preparing to blast a dangerous piece of rock overhanging the site of a massive rock slide that closed the Sea-to-Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler, B.C.

An entire cliff face collapsed late Tuesday night near Porteau Cove, between Lions Bay and Furry Creek, burying the two lanes of Highway 99 and a nearby railway line under as much as 10 metres of rock.

Source: cbc.ca via Jarrett Martineau

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Johnny Depp To Play The Riddler?

Now this is some juicy movie gossip: Johnny Depp may play the Riddler and Philip Seymour Hoffman may play the Penguin in the next Batman film. They would easily put to shame Jim Carrey’s overblown comic version of The Riddler and Danny Devito’s slithery stint as the Penguin and, in my view, a Depp, Hoffman, Christian Bale cast could make the next Batman film even more successful than record-setting Dark Knight.

What’s your take? Would Depp and Hoffman make good villains?

Johnny Depp is reportedly going to be a part of the next Batman installment playing the Riddler. And not only that, but execs want Philip Seymour Hoffman to play the Penguin.

Them, plus Christian Bale…talk about an all-star cast!

The Dark Knight has brought in $440 million worldwide so far, so they have their work cut out for them for the next Batman to be just as successful.

Source: movies.hollyscoop.com via Jarrett Martineau

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Tags: Culture | Entertainment | hollywood | celebrity | Batman | movie | United States | Johnny | cast | actor | dark | HOFFMAN | philip | seymour | depp | Knight | penguin | riddler

Twenty Percent of U.S. Primetime TV is Watched Online

Even for a pseudo-internet nerd like me, I’m amazed to see a survey that puts Americans’ online television viewing habits as high as 20%. Just think where it will be in a year or two. It won’t be long before we reach 100% hybrid tv/internet viewing ubiquity. And likely sooner than any of us think.

Pundits argue that the computer is quickly on its way to becoming the primary source of delivering audio-visual entertainment. Others will argue that it’s already happened. With over 12 billion videos watched online in the U.S. during the month of May, its hard to argue against the ubiquity of the PC as the king of media. To further this claim, market research company, Integrated Media Measurement Inc. (IMMI), has released a study that claims that almost 20 percent of primetime “episodic” television shows are watched online.

This number is an average representing IMMI’s measurement of “3,000 teens and adults’” viewing habits of “fourteen primetime shows on two major networks during the fall of 2007 and spring of 2008.” We feel that this dataset of only 14 primetime shows and two networks is actually too small to accurately generate an overall sense of people’s viewing habits. As the report itself states, online viewing depends on “the genre of the content and the amount of time the show has been on the air.” In other words, not all TV shows are created equal. In fact, as we reported last month, the season finale of Lost had almost as many people downloading the episode via BitTorrent as watched it live during the original broadcast.

Source: hothardware.com via Jarrett Martineau

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Tags: Culture | TV | television | online | BitTorrent | broadcast | Lost | download | Computer | viewing | primetime | watched

Joke Fiends Cheech & Chong Reunite

The infamous pothead comedy duo, Cheech & Chong, have set aside their creative differences and are reuniting after more than 25 years to head out on tour, claiming that “it’s time for a revival of dope jokes”. But will their marijuana-infused humour be readily inhaled by audiences in 2008? Or will their comedic supply have gone stale?

Now that their feud is over, Cheech and Chong are high on plans to reunite for their first comedy tour in more than 25 years.

Cheech Marin told AP Radio that he and Tommy Chong “looked at each other going, ‘If we’re ever going to do something it has to be now because you’re not getting any younger and neither am I.'”

The duo who gained fame for their marijuana humor tossed around some ideas and figured a comedy tour would be “the most fun” and “the least hassle,” the 62-year-old Marin said.

Marin and Chong, who broke up amid creative differences, have tried to reunite before, but have always fought too much. Marin laughed and said: “It takes about 3 minutes for that to happen. There’s this veiled hatred.” But he added: “We’ve kind of resolved that.”

“We’ve gotten to the age where we don’t feel like fighting anymore because the end is a lot closer than the beginning,” he said.

Marin said he thinks pot humor can be as funny today as it was back in the ’70s.

“I think it’s time for a revival of dope jokes. It’s a much bigger audience now, it’s much more widespread and institutionalized,” he said in an interview earlier this month.

Source: iht.com via Jarrett Martineau

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Tags: Culture | Entertainment | Humor | marijuana | comedy | jokes | dope | pot | Marin | comic | over | tommy | feud | duo | reunite | Chong | cheech

Jack White, Alicia Keys Bond Over New 007 Theme

For all of the James Bond fans out there, “Quantum of Solace” will include the first-ever theme song performed as a 007 duet  between the inimitable White Stripe/Raconteur Jack White and the unbreakable, R&B star Alicia Keys.

Alicia Keys and Jack White have teamed up to record the theme song for the new James Bond film, “Quantum of Solace,” the producers said Tuesday. It’s the first time in the 22-film Bond franchise that the theme will be a duet.

The song, called “Another Way to Die,” was written and produced by White, best known for his work with the White Stripes. The movie soundtrack will be out Oct. 28, a few weeks before the film.

Source: chron.com via Jarrett Martineau

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Tags: Culture | Entertainment | Film | movie | United States | Spy | James | song | JACK | white | BOND | soundtrack | Keys | theme | 007 | duet | Alicia | white stripes | another way to die | quantum of solace