Geologists And Tech Industry Leaders Fear Mineral Trade Wars Imminent

The Geological Society Of America (also known as the Geosociety) completed the installation of a solar power generating rooftop at their Colorado headquarters yesterday. The project was funded by Xcel Energy and the City of Boulder, and installed by Bella Energy. Good thing they bought into renewables already. The price of solar photovoltaic panels could rise steeply if the Geosociety's predictions about mineral trade wars come true. The group of 17 minerals in the rare earth category go into everything from missile guidance systems and mobile phones, to flat screen TVs, lasers and new energy technology. Pending scarcity...

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Chargers vs. Texans: Philip Rivers Fills Holes in San Diego Lineup

Filed under: Chargers, Texans, AFC South, AFC West

Philip Rivers threw for four touchdowns, including a go-ahead score to Seyi Ajirotutu with 5:17 left and the San Diego Chargers rallied past the Houston Texans 29-23 Sunday. The Chargers played without star tight end Antonio Gates, top receivers Malcom Floyd and Legedu Naanee and lost running back Ryan Mathews during the game to an ankle problem.

But the Chargers fought through the injuries and more special teams mistakes to win back-to-back games for the first time this season. Their defense also came up with two critical fourth-down stops in the fourth quarter, the last time stuffing quarterback Matt Schaub's rushed sneak for no gain with 3:41 remaining.

Finally, with Houston driving and closing in on the potential winning score, San Diego safety Paul Oliver intercepted a pass that first went in and out of the hands of receiver Andre Johnson. The diving interception by Oliver in the final moments survived a replay review as San Diego ended a four-game drought without forcing a turnover.

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More coverage: Recap | Check Box Score

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Todd Pletcher Thrives at Breeders' Cup

Filed under: Horse Racing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Even before the Breeders' Cup Classic was run, a case could be made for this being Todd Pletcher's weekend. By the 10th race of the two-day, 14-race Cup program, Pletcher-trained horses had won three times, including one race that he had never won, the Juvenile. He crossed that off his list when Uncle Mo, the favorite, blew away the field down the stretch to win in a rout.

"You know, I don't get goosebumps very often watching a horse race, and that's not because I'm not a huge horse-racing fan -- but that was a pretty special performance,'' Pletcher said afterward. "I was literally shaking a little bit after the race. It was just unbelievable.''

On Friday, Pletcher-trained horses won the Juvenile Fillies Turf with More Than Real, and earlier Saturday, Pluck opened the day's card with a win in the Juvenile Turf. In each of the Saturday wins, his horse burst away late in the race to win, and Pluck was especially lucky because he was to the immediate left of Rough Sailing when that ill-fated colt fell, broke a bone in his right foreleg and had to be put down.

After the Juvenile win, Pletcher spent more time complimenting jockey John Velasquez and owner Mike Repole than talking about his own success. He did not, however, hesitate when asked about Uncle Mo's Kentucky Derby prospects.

"We're gonna do everything we can to make sure that Uncle Mo comes back here in May in great shape. if it happens, we'll be thankful,'' Pletcher said, adding, "While, obviously, we would all love to win the Kentucky Derby, we love winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, too.'' Pletcher's Super Saver won last May's Derby.

Pletcher's horse in the Classic, Quality Road, finished last, stopping six furlongs into the race. There was no word on whether he was injured. Quality Road was scratched at the gate in last year's Classic at Santa Anita after being unable to settle down.

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More Breeders' Cup: Zenyatta Falls Short | Jockeys in Fight | Full Breeders' Cup Results

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What you need to know from this week on 'The Ultimate Fighter'

This week, get ready for an overblown "fight," a fairly decent actual fight, and sad news for one of the fighters. Read on for spoilers and a full fight recap. 

-- Team GSP check-in of the week: The boys in red are not happy that their bro Dane Sayers did not get the wild card. Michael Johnson is also not happy with Alex "Bruce LeRoy" Caceres for shirking on training. They had more words back at the house, and hope to fight each other in the quarterfinal round. 

-- Team Kos check-in of the week: Wildcard discussion is rampant at Kos's practices, as well. Since Marc Stevens was choked out so quickly in his first-round fight, he has a lot to prove. While his team was working hard, Kos continued his verbal sparring with Tate, the medic from Team GSP. He continued to disparage his profession, and the two used a garbage can and a plunger to spar.

-- Lame Kos prank of the week: Koscheck depantsed Tate as the two walked into weigh-ins for Stevens and Wilkinson. This led to Kos and Tate jawing (again), Kos bringing up the greasing allegations levied on GSP, and then Kos grabbing Tate by the neck. While breaking up the fight, Kos also elbowed Sayers in the face. Through it all, GSP sat calmly. THIS is why the man's the top ranked fighter in the world.

-- Conspiracy theory of the week: Kos said that GSP hired Tate just to come in and get underneath Koscheck's skin.

-- Sadness of the week: Not long before his fight with Stevens, Wilkinson found out that his Nana died. His mother called him to tell the news and said, "Nana would kick your ass if you came home." 

Wildcard bout: Marc Stevens (Team Koscheck) vs. Aaron Wilkinson (Team Koscheck)

Round 1: The gym was eerily quiet, as Koscheck and his coaches didn't corner either fighter since they were both from Team Kos. GSP and his team stayed silent, so the only two voices were those of the fighters cornering Stevens and Wilkinson. Stevens used an early takedown to take Wilkinson's back, move to full mount for a moment then return to controlling the back. Wilkinson reversed to get top position, and finished out the round by throwing elbows and knees, but Stevens clearly owned the round.

Round 2: Stevens grabbed a kick for a takedown and was (again) caught in a guillotine. He was forced to tap.

"I guess I need to work on my guillotine defense," Stevens said after the fight. That's probably a good idea.

Quarterfinal discussion of the week: GSP and his fighters want Johnson to fight Bruce LeRoy, which Koscheck sees as a ploy to get rid of LeRoy and protect Johnson. After that, Kos starts asking questions of GSP's fighters, and surprisingly, GSP gives up the goods on all his fighters.

Not surprising? That Dana White gave GSP the fights he wanted in the quarterfinals. 

Jonathan Brookins (GSP) vs. Sako Chivitchian (Kos)

Cody McKenzie (GSP) vs. Nam Pham (Kos)

Kyle Watson (GSP) vs. Aaron Wilkinson (Kos)

Michael Johnson (GSP) vs. Alex "Bruce LeRoy" Caceres (GSP)

The show ended with a shot of GSP smiling, and Koscheck scowling.

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U.S. News & World Report Joins The Print Deadpool

Another major magazine will stop printing its editions and move completely online. U.S. News & World Report, the USA Today of weekly news magazines, will no longer be found on subscriber's mailboxes after its December issue. According to an employee memo obtained by Poynter Online's Romeneso blog, subscribers will no longer get print issues. Instead, U.S. News & World Report will focus all of its efforts on its Website, and on occasional print issues sold at newsstands for its annual lists and guides, including Best Colleges. Those tend to sell well. But the main thrust going forward will be on the Web and digital products. From the memo:

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How RIM?s PlayBook Could Have Succeeded

Editor's note: Guest author Jon Evans is a novelist, journalist, and software engineer. Oh, Research In Motion. You never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity. RIM was born in my home town, at�my alma mater, so it's depressing watching their empire rot and crumble before the Android / iPhone onslaught. I had high hopes for their new tablet, a potential game-changer - but alas, they've hamstrung it before it's even been released. Here's what they�should�have done with it:

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MMA Top 10 Pound-for-Pound: Cain Velasquez Belongs

by Michael David SmithWhen it comes to pound-for-pound rankings, the biggest question is always how to deal with heavyweights. Some people think a pound-for-pound list should never include any heavyweight champions at all. Others say if you're the heavyweight champ, you belong in the Top 10, just as the champions at bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight, welterweight, middleweight and light heavyweight belong.

When Fedor Emelianenko was the heavyweight king, I always had him on my pound-for-pound list. But when Brock Lesnar took Fedor's place as the sport's top heavyweight, I didn't list Lesnar. My feeling was that Lesnar's greatness was much more about size and strength than skill, and therefore Lesnar wasn't really suited to being in the pound-for-pound Top 10.

Now that Cain Velasquez is the heavyweight champion of the world, I'm back to having a heavyweight in my Top 10. Find out where and why below.

 

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Contender or not? Couture wants UFC, fans and media to make a decision

Randy Couture is in a holding pattern. The 47-year-old doesn't want to retire from fighting, but he also wants folks in and around the MMA world to show him some respect. In his last two fights, he smashed one older dude in Mark Coleman and buried James Toney, an unqualified opponent. UFC president Dana White said Couture is top five or six at light heavyweight, so he wants to be in there with one of the best.  

It sounds like he's done with fights booked primarily to help sell pay-per-views. 

"My last two fights were of the novelty nature," Couture told Joyce Valdes from RawVegas.tv (3:22 mark). "I've been through the wars; I've had the battles. I don't know if I see myself stepping up for any more of those kinds of battles. And there's a lot of tough guys in the division at 205 [pounds] right now."

Fans, media and the UFC need to decide whether they want to see Couture make another championship run. 

"I think style-wise I match up better against [Mauricio] "Shogun" Rua or [Lyoto] Machida but I don't know if the UFC wants to throw me in for a title fight right away,"  said Couture (3:36 mark).

If he doesn't get a big fight, Couture sounds like he's comfortable walking away from MMA. When he said this to a British blogger around the time of UFC 120, fans freaked out.

"The chatter is always funny because when I'm actively fighting, they're like 'we think Randy should retire' and then [when there's] the inkling that I might actually retire, and everybody goes 'no, no, no stay in, fight some more.' You know, make up your mind,"  said Couture.

It appears that the retirement talk was an attempt to send the message -- it's a big-name opponent or bust.

Can Couture beat guys in the top five like Rua, Machida, Quinton Jackson or Rashad Evans? Don't scoff. Back in 2007, most of us thought that he had no shot to regain the UFC heavyweight title at age 44 and he did. Couture's been a good company man and is far from finished. He deserves to go out on his own terms.

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Lily Allen Back In The Hospital

British singer is suffering from a blood condition, septicaemia, after her recent miscarriage.
By Mawuse Ziegbe

Lily Allen
Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

British singer Lily Allen has been hospitalized for treatment of a blood condition, days after enduring her second miscarriage.

"Lily Allen is back in hospital, where she is being treated for septicaemia," her rep told U.K. publication the Daily Mail on Saturday (November 6) "She is responding well to treatment and her condition continues to improve."

Septicaemia also known as Septicemia, is a dangerous infection characterized by the presence of bacteria in the blood. It can be brought on by other infections in the body, such as conditions in the abdomen, lungs and urinary tract.

The condition has occurred just days after the singer confirmed she had suffered a second miscarriage after losing a child in 2008.

"It is with great sadness that we have to confirm that Lily Allen and Sam Cooper have lost their baby," her rep Murray Chalmers said Monday, according to People.com. "The couple ask that their privacy be respected and that they be left alone at this deeply distressing time. No further comment will be made."

Allen and Cooper, who owns a building company, have been dating since July 2009. The couple announced the pregnancy in August after getting the all-clear from her doctor following her first trimester. The pair was expecting a son.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Allen has endured a miscarriage. The singer lost her first child with her then boyfriend, Ed Simons of The Chemical Brothers, two years ago.

On Friday, the singer expressed her gratitude for all the well-wishes she had been receiving from fans during this difficult time.

"Thank you for all your kind messages," Allen tweeted.

Leave your get-well wishes for Allen below.

Related Artists

• Lily Allen

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Google ?Nexus Two? Hardware Issue Delays Launch

Google is working with Samsung on a new Android phone that will have a "clean install" of Android, and the release was at least initially planned to coincide with the launch of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. The fact that the device will have a clean version of Android is why people are excited about the device, and calling it the "Nexus Two." The Nexus One was a clean install Android device that Google sold directly to customers. The additional layers of software carriers and handset manufacturers put on their phones are generally a mess, in our opinion, and detract from the user experience.

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Happy Halloween

From Beverly Bieber!

"Baby, baby, baby... ohhh!"

My friend Cristin was like, "How are you going to get the wig to stay on her head?"

I said, "That's the beauty of the costume... she doesn't need a wig."

Beverly Bieber from Karyn Bosnak on Vimeo.

 

 

 

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WWE SmackDown Results 11/5: Team SmackDown vs. The Nexus

Filed under: Pro Wrestling

FanHouse has complete results for the 11/5 edition of WWE Friday night SmackDdwn, featuring an invasion by The Nexus (minus Wade Barrett) and a five-on-five impromptu main event. Also on the card, "Latina Heat" Vickie Guerrero takes on her NXT rookie Kaitlyn, Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre face MVP in a triple threat match, and Dolph Ziggler takes more time than anyone in history has taken to beat JTG (two minutes).

Complete Friday night SmackDown results are below.

SmackDown results:

1. Edge vs. Alberto Del Rio went to a no contest after interference from The Nexus. Nexus announce that they are taking over SmackDown. The Big Show, Kane, and Rey Mysterio run them out of the ring.

2. Dolph Ziggler defeated JTG with a sleeper. After the match, Ziggler breaks up a dispute between Vickie Guerrero and Kaitlyn.

- The Nexus attack Rey Mysterio backstage, injuring him and keeping him from competing in the show's main event.

3. Triple Threat Match: MVP defeated "Dashing" Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre after a running boot to the head of McIntyre. This victory makes him the number one contender to the Intercontinental Championship.

4. Vickie Guerrero defeated Kaitlyn with her feet on the ropes. It was what you'd expect it to be.

5. Tyler Reks defeated Chris Masters with an inverted Attitude Adjustment.

6. Edge, Kofi Kingston, Alberto Del Rio, Kane, and The Big Show defeated The Nexus (David Otunga, Heath Slater, Justin Gabriel, Michael McGillicutty, and Husky Harris) when Edge pinned Otunga with a spear. Kofi Kingston replaced the injured Mysterio. Alberto Del Rio walked out on Team Smackdown in the middle of the match.

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The First Lady of Hoops, Nancy Lieberman Prepares for D-League Season

Filed under: Mavericks, WNBA, NBA D-League, Texas Legends

PLANO, Texas -- Nancy Lieberman is big news these days.

Just ask President Obama.

Lieberman, the Hall of Famer whom Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry calls the "Michael Jordan of women's basketball,'' was named last November as the first woman to coach in the NBA D-League. Last May, the Texas Legends boss was made to feel rather legendary when she visited the White House in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month.

"I was invited and I went there and all he wanted to do (was talk basketball),'' Lieberman said of Obama. "It's weird. I felt this pull. He was shaking hands with all these people, in Congress, Senate, and then he looks at me and says, 'Nancy Lieberman.' I go, 'Hi Mr. President.' And he grabs my hand and he kind of pulls me. And I go out and we take a picture. And he's like, 'You've got to come play ball (on the White House court).'''

It was the same day as Obama's BP press conference to reassert his commitment to cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. But Lieberman said Obama, who plays basketball and is a big fan, was quite willing to talk hoops.

"You know he's just being crucified (regarding the oil spill), but you could see that he felt a comforting place because of hoops and the connection,'' Lieberman said. "And the lady (who attends to Obama) is going, 'Mr. President, Mr. President.' He's like, 'One second.' He's like, 'Give Reggie Love (Obama's special assistant) your number so you can come back and play ball.'''

 

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Notre Dame President Admits Responsibility in Declan Sullivan's Death

Filed under: Notre Dame, Police Blotter

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) -- The president of the University of Notre Dame sent an e-mail to students, faculty, staff and alumni Friday saying that the school is responsible for a student videographer's death because it failed to protect him.

"Declan Sullivan was entrusted to our care, and we failed to keep him safe," the Rev. John Jenkins wrote. "We at Notre Dame and ultimately I as president are responsible. Words cannot express our sorrow to the Sullivan family and to all involved."

Declan Sullivan, 20, a student videographer was killed Oct. 27 when a hydraulic lift he was on toppled over while he was filming football practice. The National Weather Service reported gusts of up to 51 mph at the time. The school and state regulators are investigating the accident.

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More: Full Letter From President on School's Responsibility
Walters: Declan Sullivan Was 'Truly Original' | Sullivan Remembered
Sullivan Killed in Video Tower Collapse | Unanswered Questions

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Jenkins also voiced support for football coach Brian Kelly, who has said it was his decision to hold practice outdoors on the day that Sullivan died.

"Coach Kelly was hired not only because of his football expertise but because we believed his character and values accord with the highest standards of Notre Dame. All we have seen since he came to Notre Dame, and everything we have learned in our investigation to date, have confirmed that belief," he said. "For those reasons, I am confident that Coach Kelly has a bright future leading our football program."

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Grizzlies' Michael Heisley Dismisses Contraction Talk, Excited About Conley

by Chris Tomasson

Filed under: Grizzlies, Lakers, Sports Business and Media

NBA commissioner David Stern doesn't believe fans in Memphis should be worried about talk of contraction. Neither does Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley.

"No. 1, I don't think David Stern would do that,'' Heisley said in an interview with FanHouse on Tuesday about possible contraction. "And, No. 2, I think it's speculation. I'm not even sure that the league has the authority to shut a franchise down without the cooperation of the owner.''

On a recent national conference call, Stern said talk of eliminating teams would be discussed in negotiations for a new collective bargaining agreement but that he's "not spending a lot of time on it.'' He was asked if contraction should be a "chilling word'' in Memphis, a small-market team that was 28th in the 30-team NBA last season in attendance and is losing money.

"No, it shouldn't be,'' Stern replied. "It's a good word to use, especially in collective bargaining.''

Heisley said he wasn't at last month's owners meeting in New York in which contraction was brought up. But he's not about to cooperate with anything that has to do with the Grizzlies leaving Memphis. He reiterated the team, in its 10th season in Tennessee after moving from Vancouver in 2001, isn't going anywhere any time soon.

 

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Declan Sullivan Was 'Truly Original'

Filed under: Notre Dame

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- During their freshman year at Notre Dame, Shane Steinberg, Declan Sullivan and three other friends from section 4B in Fisher Hall entered a team in the school's famed Bookstore Basketball tournament. The largest outdoor five-on-five basketball tourney in the world, Bookstore stokes the fires of countless "Domers" who seek to evoke memories of their high school glory days.

But not all of them. Sullivan (pictured above, on left, with his sister Gwyneth and brother Mac) was one of the exceptions.

"It was a close game late in what you'd consider the second half and Declan was urging me to call a timeout," recalled Steinberg of their first-round contest in the event where the winner is the first team to 21.

"In the huddle, he pulls a cigar out of his pocket. The rest of the game he played point guard, puffing on the cigar as he dribbled up court."

On a campus that all too often can be its own homogeneous zone, Sullivan, the student videographer who died during football practice on Oct. 27 when the scissor lift from which he was filming toppled over onto a service road, was defiantly uncommon.

"To know Declan was to know someone who was truly original," said Steinberg, a junior from Fresh Meadows, N.Y., who is majoring in finance. "You encounter people here and you think, I've met you 42 times already, you just had a different face. But you never met anyone quite like Declan."

The two met on the very evening Steinberg arrived on campus in 2008. Steinberg, who was nursing strep throat and a 103-degree fever at the time, was sitting in his dorm room late that Sunday night when a stranger popped his head into the room.

 

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Kevin Garnett: Charlie Villanueva's a Team Cancer, Not 'Cancer Patient'

Filed under: Celtics, Pistons, NBA Rumors

Following Tuesday's game between the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, Charlie Villanueva took to Twitter to vent frustrations at an alleged insult Kevin Garnett hurled his direction.

"KG called me a cancer patient, I'm pissed because, u know how many people died from cancer, and he's tossing it like it's a joke," Villanueva wrote before adding, "I wouldn't even trip about that, but a cancer patient, I know way 2 many people who passed away from it, and I have a special place 4 those."

Clearly upset, Villanueva also wrote that he "would love to get in a ring with him. I will expose him."

In response, Garnett issued a statement to clarify his comments. Garnett claims that yes, he did intend to insult Villanueva -- just not in the way Villnueva perceived.

"I am aware there was a major miscommunication regarding something I said on the court last night," Garnett's statement read, according to the Boston Herald. "My comment to Charlie Villanueva was in fact 'You are cancerous to your team and our league.' I would never be insensitive to the brave struggle that cancer patients endure. I have lost loved ones to this deadly disease and have a family member currently undergoing treatment. I would never say anything that distasteful. The game of life is far bigger than the game of basketball."

Clearly there is no love lost between the two players. The Celtics and Pistons next play each other on Dec. 29 in Detroit. If there is any good that comes of this childish battle of the words, it's the amusing #PoliticallyCorrectTrashTalk hashtag that erupted on Twitter.

Update: Villanueva isn't buying Garnett's explanation. "I know exactly what I heard," he said, according to Pistons beat reporter Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press.

 

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Wade Phillips Will Finish Year as Cowboys Coach, Jerry Jones Says

Filed under: Cowboys, NFC East

If you have any date before the end of the year in your office's "When Will Wade Phillips Get Fired Pool," now's a good time to stop making plans with the money you thought you'd win.

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones told KRLD-FM in Dallas Friday that Phillips will finish the year as the team's coach, settling a bit of uncertainty that cropped up earlier in the week when he seemed to leave the door open to a coaching change. The Cowboys, who dropped to 1-6 with last week's loss to the Jaguars, play the Packers in Green Bay on Sunday night.

The news isn't particularly surprising. While Jones did a lot of talking about making changes and difficult decisions that needed to be made, he never really came close to putting his coach in the crosshairs. The reason why people felt free to speculate was mostly because he also stopped short of giving the vote of confidence that had become a weekly ritual after Dallas losses.

 

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Johnny Depp And Tim Burton's 'Dark Shadows': What We Know So Far

Adaptation of 1960s-era soap opera set to begin production in April 2011.
By Eric Ditzian

Tim Burton and Johnny Depp
Photo: Francois G. Durand/ Getty Images

Johnny Depp's word is his bond. In June 2009, the three-time Oscar nominee promised us that "Dark Shadows" — the Tim Burton-directed, Depp-starring adaptation of the 1960s-era soap opera — was going to shift into production, despite years of delay.

Depp wouldn't steer us wrong. "Dark Shadows" now has an official start date courtesy of Warner Bros., a development first reported by Deadline Hollywood. Burton and Depp will begin production in April 2011.

That's almost four years since the project was first announced. Depp has long spoken of his childhood obsession with the ABC soap and said he always fostered the hope of becoming Barnabas Collins, the vampire at the center of the series. Running from 1966 to 1971, "Dark Shadows" spun supernatural tales of ghosts, zombies, vamps and time travel over its 1,225 episodes. In December 2008, Richard D. Zanuck, a producer on the film, said that shooting would begin in London in the summer of '09, but that seemed ambitious given Depp's schedule and the task of adapting the series.

"It was a soap opera — it was a daily show," Sam Sarkar, Depp's producing partner, told MTV News in March '09. "That's something people forget. It's one thing to adapt a weekly television series into a movie — it's another thing to take a soap opera that's been serialized daily and try to boil it down to two hours."

Still, Sarkar assured us the project was still on track, and when we asked him about rumors that Burton would direct, he said coyly, "I can neither confirm nor deny that. But I know it's out there in the ether."

Burton himself offered MTV News the confirmation a few months later, when he said that "Dark Shadows" would shoot in 2010.

"One of the biggest challenges on ['Dark Shadows'] is to just capture that weird tone of the show," he said.

By the end of 2009, though, that rumored production start had shifted back to late 2010. This was hardly encouraging, and months passed without any news. Then this past July, Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" and "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," came aboard to pen the script. This, of course, was very encouraging.

"Part of the energy of it was the tone and weirdness of it," Burton told us. "That's our challenge, to try to capture that vibe. ... It's always a fine line. That remains to be seen. That's a question and a challenge we talk about a lot. I haven't arrived at the answer. That's definitely a main issue, the tone and the vibe of it because as we all know melodrama can cross over. It's one of the more interesting things about it."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Related Photos

• The Evolution Of: Johnny Depp
• A Look Back On Tim Burton's Movies

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Marquardt won't blame Sonnen loss on steroids

After his last second loss to Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen tested positive for high levels of testosterone. Without knowing the reason, it's taken a lot of the string away from his great performance. It also begs the question -- was this the only time his testosterone was at a high level for a fight? Nate Marquardt was upset by Sonnen at UFC 109. That win led to Sonnen's title shot. But Marquardt has no interest in connecting the dots.

"My thinking is, it doesn't matter if the guy I'm fighting is on steroids," Marquardt told the Las Vegas Sun. "I don't care about that. I should be able to beat him either way. I feel like I can fight someone on steroids and still have them at a disadvantage.

"If you're a true athlete, the best way is to be natural. Anything you get from steroids you're trading off somewhere else, whether it's your cardio or longevity in the sport. You need all those things."

It sounds like Marquardt is also uncomfortable with judging Sonnen before all the facts come out.

"Honestly, I really don't know what to think. I don't know the facts," Marquardt said. "Either way, he's a tough guy and he's going to be back before long."

That's probably from experience. Marquardt had his own run-in with a state commission back in 2005 at Ultimate Fight Night 1. He tested positive for high levels of nandralone and received a six-month suspension. Marquardt fought the suspension, saying the positive result came from taking an over-the-counter supplement, and it got reduced to five months.

Marquardt places the blame for the Sonnen loss squarely on his own shoulders saying he lost some of his fire before the fight.

Another positive steroid test turned up Tuesday. Yahoo! Sports' Kevin Iole confirmed with Marc Ratner, UFC's VP of Regulatory Affairs, that Vinicius Quieroz tested positive for Stanozolol at UFC 120. The UFC rookie is done with the promotion. UFC U.K. chief Marshall Zelaznik told MMAjunkie that Quieroz also forfeited the discretionary bonus that he received for his loss against Rob Broughton.

FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR FINISAR FEI COMPANY FAIRCHILD SEMICONDUCTOR INTERNATIONAL FAIR ISAAC