Anthony Wesley reports that he noticed the spot (seen at the top of the photo above) while observing Jupiter yesterday from his home observatory near Murrumbateman in New South Wales, Australia. Wesley, who had observed the planet two days earlier but had not seen the black spot, speculates that the spot might be an impact spot, possible the result of a comet or asteroid strike.

And, while Phil Plait, Bad Astronomy blogger and author of Death from the Skies!, initially cautioned excited armchair astronomers that the spot might be a mere weather event, he agrees that the emerging data seems to point to an actual impact.

Impact Mark on Jupiter

SAG members have in fact been working under the terms of an expired contract since June, when the AMPTP made them a "final offer" they didn't accept. A federal mediator stepped in, attempting to repair the damage and restart talks for a new contract, but yesterday's announcement represents the failure of that plan. According to the SAG statement, discussions reached a breaking point at 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, so it's a pretty good bet that tensions were high.

Management continues to insist on terms we cannot responsibly accept on behalf of our members. As previously authorized by the National Board of Directors, we will now launch a full-scale education campaign in support of a strike authorization referendum. We will further inform SAG members about the core, critical issues unique to actors that remain in dispute.

We have already made difficult decisions and sacrifices in an attempt to reach agreement. Now it's time for SAG members to stand united and empower the national negotiating committee to bargain with the strength of a possible work stoppage behind them.

In the current weakened economy, "the strength of a possible work stoppage" certainly carries with it no small amount of dread. To approve a strike, SAG will need a yes vote from 75 percent of its 120,000 members, and it's anyone's guess how that will go. Once again, the dispute is payment and union coverage for internet broadcasts of shows; SAG is seeking a better deal than the so-so ones garnered by the WGA and other Hollywood unions, but the AMPTP won't budge. Though SAG has not yet revealed when they will be sending out strike authorization ballots, it's clear that we are steamrollering toward that point. It doesn't seem like anybody is looking forward to a repeat of the writers' strike, or the Hundred Days of Sadness that had me watching Daily Show reruns.

Then again, some good did come out of the writers' strike as far as the viewing public is concerned: Without the buildup of Joss Whedon's frustrated creative energy, we wouldn't have Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. To be honest, though, I'd rather have Dollhouse — and a full slate of other new movies and TV besides, with crews and casts being paid what they deserve.

Hollywood actors guild to seek strike [via MSNBC, Associated Press]
Important Message Regarding Mediation [Screen Actors Guild]

On Tuesday the studios made their final offer to SAG. Of course the actors are all still mulling over the negotiations, but no word yet if there will be a strike. That being said, many movies are moving forward with filming schedules.

Terminator 4's John Connor and Dark Knight's Batman, Christian Bale didn't seem to pleased about the possibility of a strike. In an interview with ReelComix he tried to blow it off, but you could see he yearns for work, "I mean clearly I hope there is nobody out there who wants to have a strike. I hope that everybody wants to be able to make a deal. The industry has been reeling from the writers strike, people have barely recovered from that. [So] I cannot understand why anyone would be desiring a strike rather then make a deal."

Even pugnacious Hellboy star Ron Perlman hoped for peace and told the Associated Press, "I hope that cool heads prevail and that people get a chance to work...I'm hoping and praying that they find some middle ground."

I think Batman and Big Red's sentiments are shared with much of Hollywood. Didn't they punish the middle guy enough? Think of the grips, makeup artists and set designers and artists that would have to go with out movie money again. With the ever impending recession, it's no wonder that half of Hollywood isn't living in a old timey Hoovervilles anyways. But if it happens, they'll both be prevented from talking to the press or working on any upcoming projects at all. Heroes producer Tim Kring says the show's third season will be totally ruined if the strike goes forward.

Big-budget scifi films Terminator 4 and Transformers 2 have decided to push through the strike as of right now. (Although Transformers 2's filming schedule built in a "hiatus" around now to work on visual-effects stuff without any actors, in case the worst happens.) According to the New York Times both studios seem to believe it will all work out. But just in case both movies have been filming at a feverish rate (Transformers 2 almost constantly) is this a mad dash to finish what they still can before the actors whose egos are bruised cause an all out riot?

So it looks like the big scifi movies will keep burning the candle at both ends until they can't anymore, but what of our beloved Comic-Con?

Slash film speculates that we could be seeing a celebrity-free Comic-Con. Which they deem a positive thing, and I tend to agree. Why waist time standing in line for a pictures with a celebrity when you can now spend countless more hours bothering writers and producers for spoilers. Plus imagine the fan boy riots when they find out Leonard Nimoy isn't coming — priceless!

• The budget: According to several different sources, the budget on the film was spiraling out of control. Although we wonder what "out of control" really means, because the effects powerhouse Weta was onboard to do the costumes, and "maybe" some digital effects... if they had time. If a studio waves a $25 million dollar check at you, we have a feeling you'd make the time.
• The rumblings from the Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman camps: Christian Bale was not happy that they were making a movie that would feature another Batman in it, saying it'd screw up what they'd been working on as part of the whole Batman Begins / The Dark Knight series. Plus with the constant rumors that Warners wants to return to basics with a new Superman movie (sans Bryan Singer and Brandon Routh), and a Wonder Woman flick, then it doesn't make any sense to populate a big budget film with other actors playing the parts of the Big Three members of the JLA.
• The cast: Director George Miller wanted this film to be huge, which could account for the budget being pushed up, but his cast was cast with a slew of B-list actors, at best, and didn't feature a name that would draw masses of people to the theaters. Did you want to shell out $12 bucks to go see some unknown amateur magician play Batman, or would you rather wait for Christian Bale? That's what we thought.
• The script: Apparently everyone and their mom thought the script needed work, and this will probably be the ultimate reason for the movie coming to a dead stop. Due to the strike, no rewrites can happen no matter how hard anyone begs. It's the kryptonite to this project, and maybe that means we'll get a quality JLA movie sometime down the road. Probably after Marvel releases The Avengers and it rakes in a boatload of cash.

• Tim Kring and Jeph Loeb explained they'd literally pried the footage out of NBC's hands to bring it to us at the Jules Verne Festival. It's never been seen before, and might be the only new Heroes footage for weeks or months.
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• The footage starts out by summing up the tail end of Volume Two. Nathan Petrelli gets shot, Noah Bennet (HRG) leaves his family to go back to work for Bob and the company, and Sylar gets his powers back.
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• Then we move into the new stuff when Angela Petrelli says "There's going to be some changes around here." Based on what we can see, she's moved into a powerful role at the company.
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• Sylar confronts Elle (Kristen Bell) and she tells him, "I'm not scared of you." To which Sylar says, "You should be. I'm a psychopathic killer." She retorts, "Takes one to know one."
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• Angela explains that the prisoners kept on Level Five, one of The Company's prison areas, are "The most dangerous, the most powerful: rapists, arsonists, killers." And guess what: Level Five gets breached.
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• There are shots of most of the major Heroes all dead. Peter as a corpse in a pool of blood, Hiro is pinned to the wall with his own sword, lifeless. Matt Parkman has his throat torn open.
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• Noah Bennet says, "It's like twelve Sylars running free."
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• While there might be a lot more villains, it's doubtful they've cast them all yet. There's one new African American bad guy running amok who seems to have the power of super-strength and speed, but it's not totally clear in the clips. Although he does rip one guy's heart out, which can't be good.
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• Sylar is all over the place in this one. At one point, he's held captive in a room which looks like another Company cell and has tubes running up his nose. Maybe he has some sinus problems, who knows.
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• At one point, Sylar puts his arm around Angela's shoulders, in a friendly way. So either they're working together now, or they both have some creepy dating habits.
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• Several villains are walking towards the camera, Reservoir Dogs style, but they're all in shadow so we don't know who they are. Yet.

In Saving Charlie, fans will discover why Hiro has gotten more action on the show than the hormonal Peter Petrelli. The plot features Hiro's missing six month time-travel adventure with Charlie the cute waitress, when he went into the past to try and save her from Sylar. While he ultimately had to let her die in one of those "it was meant to be" moments, they did fall in love.

The novel is being put out by Del Rey Publishing, and is written by Aury Wellington, who seems to be best-known for her novelizations of teen angst drama The O.C. . It also features one of the dullest book covers we've ever seen. But we're trying not to judge. We need our Heroes fix.

Apparently he's been fairly busy, having served as a writer and performer on Sabrina, The Teeange Witch and the brilliant but canceled Invader Zim on Nickelodeon. But fear not, because he'll be rejoining MST3K cast members Joel Hogsdon, Trace "Crow " Beaulieu, J. Elvis "Tom Servo" Weinstein, and Mary Jo Pehl for "Cinematic Titanic," which sounds like a lot like MST3K Version 2.0, minus the robots and the mads.

While he says residuals aren't really about the money, the translation is: yes, it's all about the money. He uses the analogy of a baker getting paid for the first loaf of bread he bakes, but not for every loaf of bread he makes after that, which doesn't make sense logically. Now, if that original loaf of bread was given to the person who ordered it, who then invented a bread cloning machine that could churn out copies of that loaf with no further income due to the baker then yes, we would see his point. Speaking of which, his point seems to be: that baker ain't getting paid.

Anyhow, if you've been scratching your head over what the writers are really wanting out of this strike, Jossadile Dundee does a good job and presenting it in a clear and calm manner that trumps anything you'll see on your local news station. Now settle this thing already so we can watch someDollhouse.