Warehouse 13 role no stretch for Saul Rubinek - Magic

LOS ANGELES (Back Stage) - Canadian actor Saul Rubinek may have theater in his blood, but he is no stranger to the demands of sci-fi TV shows.
He can currently be seen on the Syfy cable channel in "Warehouse 13," where he plays Dr. Arthur "Artie" Nelson, the mysterious yet methodical Secret Service agent. The show, now in its second season, evokes "The X-Files" with a touch of humor.
Rubinek, 62, says much of the acting is "shmacting. Acting-shmacting ... There should be a class called Schmacting 101."
But don't be deceived by his seemingly dismissive tone. Like so many of the show's fans, he marvels at its many elements -- from fantasy adventure to comedy with no shortage of wonderful villains. Rubinek talks about how it appeals to women and families without losing its male base. He comments on how rare it is in an actor's career to be in a program that is well-written, well-acted, and wildly popular -- not only in the States but globally. It is now being telecast in 50 countries, he says.
The actors' challenge is to maintain a light touch and at the same time be truthful. "It's walking a tightrope," he remarks. "If we fall off the tightrope, it would no longer be interesting. The stakes have to be high. We can't take ourselves too seriously, but we have to take seriously the characters' situations."
Rubinek's sci-fi credits also include "Star Trek: The Next Generation," "Stargate SG-1," and "The Outer Limits," among others. Paradoxically, he has little interest in special effects: "I think there is magic onscreen when two people have great dialogue in a great story with humor and depth."
Which possibly explains why he was suited to guest-starring roles on shows like "Frasier" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm."
For the first 20 years of his career, theater was his home base. He was 27 years old before he performed in front of a camera. To this day he believes any good stage actor can do film, though the reverse is not necessarily true.

� Continued...
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Inception, Toy Story 3 lead foreign box office - Sci Fi

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Inception" led the foreign box office for a second weekend on Sunday after earning about $46.6 million from 58 markets.
A No. 1 Spain opening tallied $4.5 million, while a No. 2 Brazil debut provided $2 million.
After a month, director Christopher Nolan's sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio has drawn a total foreign box office take of $250 million, with the U.K. ($39.4 million) and Japan ($23.7 million) throwing off a good chunk of the total action.
"Toy Story 3" followed with $29.4 million from 49 markets, pushing its foreign gross to $498.7 million. In Japan, the Pixar threequel etched its fifth consecutive No. 1 weekend with $5.4 million for a market total of $77.5 million.
Third-ranked "Salt" opened at No. 1 in Thailand, Singapore and the Philippines, and drew $16.9 million in 39 markets. The Angelina Jolie spy thriller has tallied $62.8 million since its foreign opening on July 21.
"Grown Ups," the new champ in Russia, followed with $12.7 million from 30 markets. Total gross for the Adam Sandler comedy is $33.5 million.
"Step Up 3D," the third installment of the urban dance franchise, opened at No. 5 with $12.3 million from 11 markets; it also bowed to an underwhelming $15.5 million in North America.
Other foreign totals include: "Shrek Forever After," $426.7 million; "The Twilight Sage: Eclipse," $372.8 million; "Knight and Day," $128 million; "The Karate Kid," $94.7 million; "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," $54.2 million; "The Last Airbender," $53 million; "Despicable Me," $43.5 million; and "Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore," $11.1 million.
Foreign sales are booming so far this year. According to studio figures through the end of July, the six Hollywood majors -- 20th Century Fox, Disney, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal and Sony -- have tallied $7.9 billion, 32% ahead of last year's pace. Fox, bolstered by "Avatar," leads the pack through July with sales of $2.2 billion followed by Disney ($1.7 billion), Warner Bros. ($1.5 billion), Paramount ($1.3 billion), Universal ($726 million) and Sony ($494.5 million).
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Fuel TV - Tv Series

If you're into skateboarding, surfing, snowboarding, BMX, motocross, and/or wakeboarding, you probably already know what Fuel TV is, and you are probably psyched to see a Fuel TV app coming to Android. For those who don't know, Fuel TV is a cable and satellite TV specialty channel based in the U.S. that covers extreme sports such as those mentioned above. Programming features original series, exclusive events, licensed films, music, and more.
The Fuel TV app for Android promises nine video channels, live event streaming, news, TV show info, PhotoBlog, ringtones/wallpapers, and more, which would be great--but it just doesn't deliver.
As a surf fan, I know that Fuel broadcasts many live surf contests, and I was excited by the promise of being able to watch them on my phone while I'm out and about. No such luck. The live events on offer are so few and far between it's comical. The News section is also fairly lousy, with a small choice of stories, and those that make it are added a lot later than they should be.
One of the things I was most excited about (apart from live events) was the videos section. This, again, was a major letdown. You get a handful of videos of the sport of your choice, and when you click one, you'll be greeted with grainy, low-resolution video that doesn't even utilize the whole screen (on a Motorola Droid, running Android 2.1). That's just silly. If you're only going to offer a few videos, why not make them look gorgeous? There is no "high quality" mode as in the YouTube app, and as a result, YouTube's video quality annihilates that of the Fuel TV app.
Though I was very excited about this app, it's a nonstarter. While it is only version 1.0.0 now, when you're Fuel TV, people are going to expect much, much better. Hopefully Fuel will make some serious improvements.
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