It's been piling up these last few days, so let's knock 'em down:

• The Sci Fi Channel has announced that production on "The Dresden Files" TV show (based on the popular contemporary fantasy novels by Jim Butcher) has just begun in Toronto. The channel has ordered eleven more episodes (after the already-shot pilot), which are now in the works as we speak.
• Sci Fi Wire reports that Chris Palmer (who he?) will direct A Spell for Chameleon, the movie adapration of the first book in Piers Anthony's long and pun-filled Xanth series.
• Zack Snyder, the director, gave Sci Fi Wire an update on the progress of the Watchmen movie.
• Sci Fi Wire also reported on preview screenings of 300 given by director Zack Snyder (him again?) and original writer/artist Frank Miller in Hollywood on Wednesday.
• Casting news: Sam Elliott will play the role of "Lee Scoresby" in the film version of The Golden Compass, said the ubiquitious Sci Fi Wire.
• And, finishing out Sci Fi Wire's streak, we learn that Devil's Due Publishing has licensed fil, TV and merchandising rights to R.A. Salvatore's "DemonWars" series.