Marvel comics writer Brian Bendis interviews Joss Whedon:

WHEDON: I just did that tribute thing they’re doing to Stan [Lee]. I did a story for that with Michael Gaydos.

BENDIS: I know. I’m right after you with [Mark] Bagley.

WHEDON: Oh cool! Oh my God! Gaydos’ pencils were so amazing.

BENDIS: Aren’t they so nice? He doesn’t get nearly enough credit.

WHEDON: [Gaydos’s art] is so textured and so rich and so on the edge of comic books and so human. I was loving life because, you know, the story is really silly, so that’ll sort of help cover it.

BENDIS: What’s your story?

WHEDON: My story? It involves a comic convention of alternate dimensions where people are comparing their comic in worlds where there was no Stan.

Pretty hot, actually.

Also, this Whedon quote:

Sublimating yourself to a story is sort of the opposite of the Quentin Tarantino school. When I watched “Kill Bill,” it was like sitting next to Quentin Tarantino and having him go, “Alright, cool! Check out my music that I love!”

Galley Brother B.J. sends this story about Sony and Pioneer delaying the launch of the BDPP-HD1.

The Atlantic has a great story by Tom Perrotta on how racket technology saved the men’s tennis game. Lots of physics and sports-junkie goodness.

Little known fact:

[C]omposite rackets help players hit better ground strokes, impart more spin, and return rocket serves, but they do very little to speed up serves. In 1997, in a comparative test done by Tennis magazine, Mark Philippoussis, the six-foot-five, 217-pound Australian renowned for his powerful serve, averaged 124 mph when serving with his own composite racket. With a classic wooden racket, he averaged 122 mph.

Who knew?

The Transformers movie website is up.

Justine Henin-Hardenne may be a big cheater, but she’s got plenty of moxie. She was the first womens player to attack the Williams sisters at the height of their powers and show no fear of them. As she’s gotten older, she’s gotten better. Her footwork has improved and she knows how to counter-punch now, too.

With her impressive win over Kim Clijsters today, JHH is poised to win her third French. She already has wins at the Australian and the U.S. Open, as well as an Olympic gold medal.

So how good is she? You could argue that she has a shot to be a top 15 all-time player. On the women’s side, the list is:

1) Graf
2) Navratilova
3) Court
4) King
5) Evert

After that, slots are pretty much up for grabs, with players such as Althea Gibson making as much of a claim as Gaby Sabi. You might even have pre-stabbing Monica Seles and a Williams. But how far down would you have to go to put Henin-Hardenne on the list? Even today, I’d say not very far. And if she wins a couple more majors–or a Wimbledon–you might even be able to argue her for the 7-8-9 slots.

Update: For those of you who don’t remember her 2003 French Open semi against Serena Williams, here’s the Wiki account of JHH’s underhanded antics:

Henin-Hardenne won the first set with 6-2 but lost the second 4-6. In the deciding third set, Justine showed all her talent and fighting spirit to prevail 7-5. However, there was some controversy in the third set with Serena leading 4-2 at 15-love. Williams started to hit a first serve, but Justine put up her hand to indicate that she wasn’t ready. Williams netted the serve. The umpire did not see Justine’s gesture and when he asked her about it she did not respond. The umpire ordered a second serve, and a visibly upset Williams lost the game and later the lead and the match. After the match the replay indicated that Serena was correct, Justine did put her hand as Williams was serving. This win ended Serena’s 33-match winning streak in Grand Slam events.

Just when I thought there couldn’t be bigger news today than the death of Zarqawi and Abdul Rahman, I come across this from the New York Post‘s Page Six:

Former Full House child star and crystal meth addict Jodie Sweetin is getting back to work. Sweetin has signed on to host the strip-tastic new show on Fuse, Pants-Off Dance-Off. The show, taped at Fuse music TV’s Midtown studio, features people of all ages taking off their clothes to their favorite music videos. No word yet if Sweetin plans to doff her duds, but Fuse says it hopes she will use her connections to get her former little TV sisters–Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen–to join in the freaky fun.

Little Steph? Say it ain’t so!

New Line is remaking the Japanese juvie snuff film Battle Royale.

I don’t know what will be worse for the culture: the movie or the chorus of independent-minded dolts insisting that the splatter-fest is really an incisive cultural commentary and if you don’t like it, you’re just one of the lemmings who can’t handle the truth!

Finally saw it last night and it’s pretty good. Especially the part at the end where Dark Willow geets all veiny and Wolverine brings her back to reality by telling her that he loves her before he has to impale her to close the mouth of Acathla.

I kid! Obviously Marvel’s Dark Phoenix saga came first and Joss Whedon was leaning heavily on it for the sixth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in much the same way that he leaned on the Teen Titan’s Judas Contract for season three). But it was striking how much similarity there was between Ratner and Whedon’s envisioning of “Phoenix.”

It also struck me that the script Ratner and Fox settled on was particularly self-destructive for the future of the franchise. There’s nothing wrong with killing major characters–in fact, that’s a virtue. But why loose all of the interesting major characters? ***SPOILER TO FOLLOW***

Magneto, Xavier, Jean Grey, and Rogue are the four most interesting characters in the series. They have the most compelling motivations and internal conflicts and the most intriguing powers. The X-Men franchise will soldier on in the next trilogy and certainly there are no shortage of good characters: Ice-man, Kitty Pride, and Gambit are great. But they’re ornaments; the stories are going to need dramatic foundations. Turning the series entirely over to Storm and Wolverine seems like a mistake.

There is much to dislike Last Stand–the way the studio cheaped out on the final fight at Alcatraz; the continuity problems with simple things, like time of day; not bothering to have Beast’s hair obey the laws of gravity when he’s hanging upside down–for that matter, the movie’s incoherent representation of his abilities; the spots of bad dialogue; etc.

But there was much to like, too. Kitty Pride was beautifully realized, as was Juggernaught. The great Bill Duke got to do his thing. And how about the way Magneto crushes the first two cars in the motorcade?

In the end, it isn’t quite fair to compare Last Stand to Return of the Jedi, as many have. Jedi left such a sour taste in your mouth that there was no need to see what happens next. I still haven’t gotten my fill of the X-Men series. It’s easy to see where they go from here, but hard to figure out how they’ll do it well.