Links: Lost pirates, Han Solo candy bar, and that Mary Jane statue

Pirates

• Just when it doesn't look like Lost can get any better, Grant Gould goes and offers reasonable speculation that it may involve pirates now.
• And speaking of pirates, Disneyland is offering lots of Pirates art and merchandise in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

Mystery

• Looks like there's a new Hawaiian Dick mini-series in the works called Screaming Black Thunder. Good news for fans of pulp mystery, tiki, and horror.

Horror

• Just because Rachel Weisz isn't coming back for Mummy 3 doesn't mean that her character, Evelyn Carnahan O'Connell, isn't. She'll just be played by Maria Bello (A History of Violence, World Trade Center). I'm going to miss Weisz, but I don't know Bello very well. Maybe I'll like her.

Fantasy

• Today is L. Frank Baum's birthday. He would've been 151 years old.

Science Fiction

• You know you've always wanted to know how to make your own Han Solo chocolate bar.

Superheroes

• There's a large brouhaha going on in the comics blogosphere over this statue. And it certainly deserves some hullabaloo. The problem though, as this blogger points out, is that "while it is undeniably offensive, there are too many opinions on why for it to be of any use." For instance, a couple of bloggers find the very notion of Cheesecake demeaning to women and want to prove it by calling for illustrations of men in cheesecake poses to show how ridiculous it looks. My problem with that is that there already is a male equivalent to cheesecake, so there's nothing particularly insightful about turning the tables. Also, I agree with Kady Mae that Cheesecake itself isn't the problem: "Cheesecake has a certain playfulness, a certain light-hearted mischief to it that pandering lacks ... The subject of cheesecake is always a person." That fits girlontheleft's description of Adam Hughes' concept drawing for the statue: "MJ looks cute and human and a bit goofy, and I can imagine she's just teasing an unclad Spidey who's just out of frame." In other words, it isn't that Mary Jane is in a sexy pose that's the problem with the statue, it's that -- unlike Adam's version -- she doesn't appear to be in on the joke. Her eyes are lifeless and her smile is uncomfortable, as if everyone around her is laughing and she's pretending to understand why. Those features, plus the elongated body make the statue look like it's not based on the Hughes drawing, but on a Michael Turner re-imagining of the Hughes drawing.
• The colorist of DC's upcoming Black Canary mini-series is showing the covers to all four issues and there's at least one, huge spoiler amongst them. Go take a look before someone gets wise and makes him take them down.

Stuff Nobody Cares About But Me

• It's official. Studio 60 is done.
• I talked before about how TiVo and other new ways of watching TV are screwing around with the Nielsens and advertisers. According to the New York Times, it looks like the networks and advertisers are getting smart: "'They have control,' (ABC 's executive vice president for marketing Michael) Benson said of viewers, 'and we’re not going to fight that. We want to make it easy for them to get what they want, where they want, when they want.' At the same time, ABC and the four other big broadcast networks are working on methods to hold the attention of TV viewers throughout the commercial breaks that interrupt the shows they want to see ... One way that many networks hope to engage viewers during commercial breaks is by wedging original content into the blocks of advertising time, so that viewers will anticipate seeing something fun if they sit through a few ads." I'm all for it. I don't mind watching commercials at all as long as they're entertaining. In fact, I'll often rewind the TiVo and watch one that catches my eye as I'm fast-forwarding through it.