[Earlier this month], Apple Computer filed a patent application covering the iTunes Producer application and backend architecture, used for managing and sending music to the iTunes Music Store. The patent includes screenshots of the application, which Apple only distributes to authorized musicians and record labels.
“Great,” I said when I saw the Cinescape headline. “It looks like I’m going to have to drop FF again with Waid and Wieringo off the book.”
But hold on a sec… What’s this?
Beginning with issue #527, J. Michael Straczynski will pick up the reins as writer Marvel Comics’ longest running title, Fantastic Four.
Sweet, dude! Yes! YES! 
Wanna know more? JMS talks FF over at Newsarama.
A view of the Financial District and surrounding areas from space:
[San Francisco] is also argueably (sic) one of the most beautiful cities in the United States, sitting right on the San Francisco Bay. The city’s climate is moderated by its closeness to the Pacific Ocean, and the relative warmth of the Pacific air that flows toward the city over the cold water currents near the coastline is resposible for the city’s famous fogs. The city is bounded on the east by the rocky and forested hills of the Coast Range Mountains.
There was no such fog on August 28, 2004, when the IKONOS satellite took this unusual oblique-angle image of the city’s financial district. By aiming its sensors off nadir, IKONOS was able to capture a sense of the city’s tall skyscrapers: a unique perspective on a unique city.
Victims of the World Trade Center attacks, September 11, 2001: 2,996 [source]
Victims of the earthquake/tsunami, December 26, 2004: 33,000 56,000+ [source]
From today’s IMDb Studio Brief:
New York Post TV writer Linda Stasi was among those who called coverage of the disaster a disaster in its own right. Pointing out that a CNN anchor, after asking a seismologist what fascinated him most about the tsunami, quickly switched to a report about travelers dealing with holiday delays at airports, Stasi commented: “Think about the difference in the solemnity with which 9/11 was reported and how this disaster was reported. Can you imagine switching from Ground Zero coverage in the first few days to, say, back-to-school shopping sprees?“
(emphasis mine)
(One of the reasons, anyway.)
You’ll never guess who I heard from!
What?
How’d you know it was Becky Girardin?
Oh, that’s right. She left a comment.
Cooooool. 
(Yeah, that’s right: Peaches and Herb. Deal with it.)
{{Lee Wilkins}} and Jenny Patten have been reunited with Alfie and Benson, and have posted a recap and slideshow of the happy event.
A heartfelt thanks to all the Soul Cookie readers who joined me in helping out some good folks.
25 downloads of my preliminary podcast in the 16 or so hours it’s been posted.
Not a lot, but it’s way more than the two test downloads that I was expecting to find.
The geeky comedy ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’ a little movie that made a big splash at the summer box office, sold 60% of its initial shipment during its first day on video store shelves December 21, 2004 according to executives at 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.
Rachel Maddow of Unfiltered Radio very aptly described this picture as looking like a cross between Nosferatu and Liberace.
Picture links to the full-size original.