RIP Janet Van Dyne (The Wasp)

When my friend Ray told me that Janet Van Dyne, aka The Wasp, was recently killed in the course of the foolish and unnecessary Secret Invasion "mega-event," I felt like I'd taken a brutal body blow. Jan was not only the finest leader the Avengers ever had, for 45 years, she was one of the hottest babes in the entire Marvel Universe. Damn you, Marvel Comics!

Whedon squashes SERENITY sequel rumors

Since Comic-Con in San Diego three weeks ago, there have been rumors circulating again about a Serenity sequel. You see, Summer Glau, sitting on the Sarah Connor Chronicles panel, made the mistake of saying she was ready, willing, and able to do another Firefly-based movie, although she added that if there wasn’t a Serenity sequel, she’d “feel at peace” with that. Of course, rabid browncoats heard the first part of Glau’s statement and, while gasping with excitement, totally missed the second half.

Anyway, Firefly creator Joss Whedon, now immersed in his new Fox TV series Dollhouse, has put the kibosh to Serenity sequel rumors. He says that although he and the cast are ready to make another film, no studio is willing to launch one.

Ah, well… We can always stick Serenity back in the DVD player anytime we want. And if you’d like to watch that movie with ten other diehard browncoats, why not download the feature-length fan commentary available right here at Hey, Want to Watch a Movie? It’s a long podcast — about two and a half hours — with almost 22 minutes spent on everybody getting their favorite beverages in hand and cueing up the DVD, so the MP3 file is pretty gorram big. But it’s all a lot of fun.

My favorite tax protester

Read about Lady Godiva here.

A perfect combination

I think I've known all of you long enough now to let you in on this little secret: I'm a very big Jodie Foster fan. Yep. Always have been. Ever since those Courtship of Eddie's Father days on TV. Sadly, I don't think Jodie's appeared in a good movie for almost a decade. But this one, which I missed during its recent theatrical run, I'm definitely gonna see. I love Jodie. I love guns. I'm off to Netflix it right now. And don't anyone try to stop me.