Egads but it's been a lousy week for genre film fans. We'll get around to all the unjoy as soon as possible, but for the moment we'll lead with the sad news about the notorious Bettie Page. The iconic, Fiftes-era pin-up queen and pop-cultural touchstone is in a coma following a heart attack on Dec. 2. Page, 85, is presently listed in critical condition at a Los Angeles hospital, as reported by Aint It Cool News and more retro geek-chic, Bettie-friendly blogs than we can count on ten cat o' nine tails. For those of you living in the Bible Belt (or thereabouts), here's a sampling of what the hubbub's about, the classic PG-13-friendly stag loop "Bettie Page's Fireplace Dance." This being Austin, the raven-haired goddess has a local connection, of sorts, in the form of author/publisher Rick Klaw, whose grandfather Irving Klaw was the photographer behind many of Page's most famous photo shoots and nudie-cutie film reels. We rang up Klaw, who's working on a mammoth Bettie-related project of his own, to get his take on Page's enduring (and endearing) pop-culture status.

Not for the squeamish or Morrissey, but still, in the spirit of the season...

It's official: A feature in the Chronicle is the kiss of death to anything or anyone video-game oriented in Austin. First came the news that game-publisher Gamecock Media lost its financial backer and sold to SouthPeak (read my story on those clowns during their salad days). Now, following the recent news that Austin gaming god Richard Garriott – after returning to Earth from his space flight – would be leaving NCsoft, the company announces it is pulling the plug on its online game (and Garriott's most recent hurrah) Tabula Rasa due to sales that have slumped from the onset. You can read Joey Seiler's article on that crew, too. Compounding the already dour situation, NCsoft will be sacking employees. This on top of a previous round of layoffs a few months back.

Tabula Rasa is slated to go out with a bang offering free online service to players starting Jan. 10 and all manner of virtual-world antics.

I blame the parasitic alien that has clearly taken control of Garriott's mind for the entire economic downturn. Who flies into space when your company is going under? A man controlled by aliens, that's who.

As last night's sold-out Alamo midnight screening of Jean-Claude Van Damme's newest, JCVD, proved the muscles from Brussels has returned from the cinematic D-list he's been inhabiting for much of his career. Alamo founder Tim League put it best when, during the film's Fantastic Fest screening earlier this year, he said: "Somebody write this guy a good script, because the man can fucking act!" Oui, c'est vrai. JCVD can fucking act, and this is most definitely something of a career resurrection/persona redefinition we're witnessing. The film rocks, balls out, no apologies. But it was not always thus for the kickboxer nonpareil, who once sported a mullet so gaudy that it murdered John Woo's stateside film career before it even had a chance to begin. And, too, are the reams of quasi-zen aphorisms that surely made more sense in his native French than they do in English. JCVD? Don't call it a comeback, he's been weird for years....

Chip Rosenthal writes about the local impact of Prop. 8 over at the Slackerwood blog. How close to home? Well, apparently Alan Stock, the Plano-based CEO of the Cinemark movie theatre chain, personally donated $9,999 to the "Yes on Prop. 8" campaign, which led to the banning of gay marriage in California. If you follow movie news at all, you've already heard about the continued fallout from Prop. 8, in which contributors to the "Yes on Prop. 8" campaign are being publicly outed. Some call it a witch hunt; others say it's just desserts for those who helped fund the stripping of civil rights from a whole swath of American citizens. Frankly, I've got no problem asking contributors to put their mouth where their money was – I bet it was a lot more fun being "Yes on Prop. 8" when it just involved writing a check and not, you know, having to actually say out loud why you think gay people aren't good enough to get married.

Current Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin spoke at UT last week. He was the 2008-09 recipient of the William Randolph Hearst Fellow Award, given by the College of Communication to “individuals whose distinguished careers in communication make them outstanding role models for students.”

While the good PR folks at the College of Communication tried to wrangle an interview for me, when it was all said and done, I was given the big blow off by Martin’s people. After dutifully submitting my proposed questions — many of which had to do with the future of grassroots media, and relating that to the upcoming Texas Cable Association Lawsuit hearing (Texas Cable Association Hearing set for Nov. 14 post) — and after a flurry of e-mails, the response was pristine silence. Not a peep, not so much as a, “thanks, but no thanks.”

Steven Spielberg is all about the sequels. And the voting.

2K Sports has really done it this time. Their newest NBA sim re-creates the look of televised broadcast so accurately that my girlfriend was utterly shocked when I told her it was a video game on the screen, and not an actual TV broadcast. If this game continues to improve visually at this rate, it's gonna be hard for fans to turn off their Xbox 360s and flip over to TNT for the real deal. In my opinion, this is the real deal. Accurate facial details, signature moves, awesome arenas, realistic lighting, etc. 2K Sports has truly won me over with this game and I'll be wearing it out now through the playoffs. And the gameplay isn't half bad either. While not quite as mind-blowingly stunning as the graphics, the gameplay is still solid and the players strengths and weaknesses are reflected in the game. For fans hooked up to Xbox Live, this year's model features roster updates (I love this) and allows for up to 10 Xboxes to compete simultaneously. Sounds like that might get a little crazy but you gotta love the roster updates. That along with improved graphics are the two biggest draws for me in buying the latest model of whatever sports game is in season.

The Austin Film Festival announced this morning the audience award winners for its 2008 fest. Out of Competition Feature: Slumdog Millionaire
Writer: Simon Beaufoy
Director: Danny Boyle Narrative Feature Competition: A Quiet Little Marriage
Writer/Director: Mo Perkins Documentary Feature Competition: Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman
Director: Eric Bricker Narrative Short: “Pop Art”
Writer/Director: Amanda Boyle Narrative Student Short: “Miracle Investigators”
Writer/Director: Jeremy Dehn Documentary Short: “Road To Tlacotepec”
Director: Berndt Mader Animated Short: “The Inquisitive Snail”
Director: Flemish Beauty