Avenue Q meets LA Confidential? Yespleasethankyou

The best news in an otherwise rather-challenging week is this: Lionsgate has picked up Happytime Murders, a dark comedy about muppet murder.
Jim Henson's son, Brian, is set to direct this tale of a world where muppets and humans coexist but the fuzzy folk are treated like second-class citizens (or third-class citizens, depending on your view of how we treat various minority elements in this country). When the puppet cast of an old kids TV show get murdered one by one, it's a disgraced LAPD puppet detective pairs up with a human to solve the case. This makes me think three things (1) MUPPETS CAN DIE? WHAT THE HELL?! That's a heck of a thing to burden me with when I'm already fussy. I thought those things were immortal! (2) I hope this is rated R and we get to hear muppets curse. The only thing funnier than muppets saying dirty words is a homophobic senator who is revealed to be gay. (3) I know they aren't ACTUALLY using recognized muppets in this movie, but how great would it be if Gonzo was the killer? Years of pent up rage released in glorious felt murder. I cannot wait for this movie. God bless Lionsgate for greenlighting this one!

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Can we call fans of Atlas Shrugged "Shrug Huggers?"

One of the things I like to do when nobody's watching is Google myself. You should try it. The first thing I found when I did this awhile back is that there is a dogged watchgroup with eyes trained on all things Ayn Rand, and they reposted something I wrote about the stalled-out film version (then starring Angelina Jolie). I thought that was cool and vowed I would cover any advances in the development of that film. That was three years ago. But I am nothing if not vigilant (that means lazy, right?), and today The Hollywood Reporter rewarded my vigilantism by letting me know that Charlize "One-step-better-than-Cameron-Diaz" Theron is meeting with producers and wants to star as Dagny Taggart. Theron is supposedly concerned about "losing the many nuances of the novel," despite having failed to prove in the past that she is familiar with what a "nuance" is (maybe she's thinking of nougat, you know, like in candy bars). So the idea is to turn it into a miniseries on a new pay-cable network that Lionsgate is forming with MGM and Paramount. In order to cover all of the material, the miniseries will last approximately 87 years. Also, Shrug Huggers should beware: This ruse IS designed to get the book's fans to subscribe to the pay site, Epix, which is not spelled right. Time is of the essence, as the deal mandates that filming must start before 2010, or rights issues get tricky (like rocking around the clock). So, Shrug Huggers, the official update is that a star who isn't Angelina Jolie is having meetings to maybe play the lead in what may be a miniseries that may shoot sometime in the next few months on a channel that doesn't exist yet. Sadly, this is somehow forward movement for this project. Until the next update: I remain vigilantic.