Mike DeWolfe : The Daily Edition

Another invention from the re-invention mill. But this one has super-cool potential: Todd McFarlane (Spawn) and Josh Olson (A History of Violence) have pitched an idea to Warner Brothers about a "revisionist" take on L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Olson will write the screenplay and McFarlane will produce. Variety reports that they are still working out the tone. They want it to be "Harry Potter dark, not Se7en dark." The characters will all essentially be Baum's but Olson and McFarlane will be creating plots all their own. Olson also wants this new version to be more akin to Lord of the Rings and promises Dorothy will be more like "Ripley from Alien than some helpless singing girl." These are all very helpful illustrations as far as what they are trying to accomplish, but don't you just hate it when writers/people speak entirely in references?

This from Wired News: MJ Safety Solutions is a company banking on irrational fear to push it's bullet resistant Ballistic Bookbag, a 20oz schoolbag with an integrated ballistic panel. How likely is it that your kids will end up getting shot? According to MJ Safety Solutions' own figures, 229 deaths have occurred in school shooting since 1999. That sounds pretty bad, right? Compare that to 838 deaths caused by falling out of bed in 2003 alone . Or accidental strangulation or suffocation (still in bed): 497 deaths in 2003. Still, if you have to protect little Johnny from an almost non-existent risk, the Ballistic Bookbag will get the job done. Check the video to see the $175 bag shrugging off 9mm hollow point bullets. Who can afford a bulletproof backpack but still can't afford to move their kid to a school where they can't be shot? Drug dealers? For that matter, wouldn't a piece-of-crap get a few of these (they may even purchase them rather than steal them), cut out...

On this special episode of NBC Dateline... a reporter in cognito is outted at Defcon 15. She could have gotten a press pass, but she declined. She decided to sneak in a digital camcorder. Then, the speaker urged people to usher her out. Then they hounded her like they were reporters. Tee. Hee.