* Jane Espenson talks to SciFi Wire about her script for the upcoming Battlestar Galactica TV movie The Plan. As SciFi Wire puts it:

Jane Espenson, who wrote the upcoming movie Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, said that the telefilm will retell the initial story of the SCI FI Channel series, but from the perspective of the Cylons, and that it will take advantage of revelations that will come in the upcoming new episodes of the show’s fourth and final season.

But you should read the whole thing because it’s interesting to hear her talk about the process, which heavily involved director and star Edward James Olmos.

* Clive Thompson offers the best explanation I’ve yet seen about the use of torture in World of Warcraft, and suggests how it could have been done better. Because I’m thick, I’m only now grokking that torture was mandatory across all character types, not just the “evil” ones. That seems pretty dopey to me. Regardless of its provenance in fantasy literature–Gandalf and Aragorn at the very least credibly threatened to torture Gollum for information–I think most of us look at torture in fiction differently than we might have decades ago. (Via Bryan Alexander.)

* I loved Tom Spurgeon’s review of Mesmo Delivery because it’s like a much more cogent and pleasantly written version of exactly what I said about Mesmo Delivery.

* Here’s a great photoparade from the Kramers Ergot 7 signing at Desert Island in Brooklyn. I actually did the responsible thing and canceled my pre-order in hopes that someone would get it for me for Christmas. Fingers crossed! (Via Tom Spurgeon.)

* Brian Eno and Peter Jackson: two great tastes that taste great together. (Via Whitney Matheson.)

* Worn Free specializes in reproducing T-shirts worn by rock stars. I didn’t see anything that said “must buy!” to me, but I’d imagine some people reading this blog wouldn’t mind grabbing that Lester Bangs “FREEDOM OR DEATH” shirt.

* I remember reading textbooks that said “nobody knows why the dinosaurs died out.” Since then we’re now on our second prevailing theory: Looks like the asteroid idea is being phased out in favor of massive volcanic eruptions in India. Meanwhile, scientists in the Sahara have found the remnants of a prehistoric river chock full of fossils, including those of a 60-foot crocodile. Six-year-old “I Want to Be a Paleontologist When I Grow Up” Sean T. Collins is tickled pink by all of this. (Via HuffPo.)

* Here’s an insane CBS News story about a cult called SIST from a small town in Wisconsin and how they allegedly tried to hire a hitman to kill 60 people in the town, including pretty much the entire local government. It sounds a little like the “hitman,” who was actually just a motorsports salesman who says he played along with the group for a while in order to recoup $100K they owed him, sort of entrapped them into the scheme. But even so, the group appears to be really nuts and the mayor has installed bulletproof glass on her door and the group’s lawyer wears a fedora and calls CBS a communist organization…it’s fantastic.

* Not to be confused with the star of Crank, Jason Stratham of The Cold Inclusive specializes in extremely detailed and bizarre accounts of fictional sexual encounters with celebrities. “The Very Last Fucking of Steven Tyler” has a dystopian science-fiction feel to it, for example, while “Everyone Says I Love You” contains the following passage:

So. You’re on top of [Drew Barrymore], “giving her one,” as they say in post-war British literature, and she stares right up at you and says “You like that? You like fucking People magazine’s most beautiful person?”

How to respond to a question like that?

After a yearlong hiatus, he’s returned with a little something entitled “Christmas in L.A. with Julia Roberts.”

Afterwards, lying on the bed, both catching your breath, Julia says “Whew! And…scene!” and laughs. That unashamed, open-mouthed laugh she has.

I wish I’d thought of this.

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