Film


Geek news

To save the rest of you some time I present the latest geek headlines:

Star Wars DVD’s will be a 4 disk box set released on Sept 21st. It will almost certainly be the ’97 Special Editions plus a making of disk but unconfirmed rumors of additional changes continue.

Sci-Fi Channel has ordered a 13 episode follow up to the Galactica mini-series. Some of the surviving cast from the original 1978/9 series will be approached for guest roles.

Trip and T’Pol will get it on in Enterprise (season 3 episode 15)


Han shoots first!

This started out life as a comment to Ian’s post about the Star Wars DVDs but as it got longer and more bilious I decided to make it a post.

I’m not happy about the Star Wars DVDs. Not even nearly. They’ve been surrounded by a shitstorm of rumours recently. It’s generally accepted now that we will never get to see these movies in their original form again. Lucas has even gone as far as preventing a film festival from showing a print of the original version of Star Wars. The DVDs will almost certainly be the Special Editions. But it doesn’t stop there. There have been rumours (since Clones was in production) that Lucas is making even more changes to the movies and is even going as far as trying to get the AFI to credit him as co-director on Empire and Return. These extra special editions may actually be a second set of DVDs to be released after the third prequel is out on disk. I know I’ll end up buying them as well bringing the total number of times that I’ve bought these movies to 4 (THX remaster of the original movies on VHS, Special Editions on VHS, Special Editions on DVD and extra mucked around with version on DVD). After Lucas has finished taking all my money the only place where I’ll get to see Han shoot first is on my oldest, crummiest VHS version.


Always read the print

This guy has obviously never read or seen anything by Michael Moore. One paragraph contains a rather rousing call to arms which is then spoiled by the writers lack of a clue and blindness to how well it describes the attitude of the man he’s trying to mock-

To hell with neutrality, I say. Let’s say a fat No to even-handedness and step bravely into this new year with prejudice, passion and a handful of beliefs, no matter how ridiculous, and the strength to stand up for them.

With journalism this opinionated and weak he should really get a job with Fox News.


101 continued

Following Ian’s example here’s six of the worst from me:

Scooters

I don’t have a problem with motorbikes or bicycles (as long as they remember that the highway code actually applies to them) but scooter riders are the most unpredictable on the road. They’re worse than taxis. Plus they make a noise like an angry bee in a biscuit tin.

George Lucas

I spend way too much on Star Wars crap. I once joked that I might as well set up a monthly direct debit to George Lucas as it would save time and effort. With the release of Galaxies (the on-line Star Wars game) that has actually happened. He needs to be banished for my own good. That and his refusal to release the trilogy on DVD in its original form. See, I’m trying to give him money again!

Snooker as a spectator sport

It’s boring to watch. Even worse than cricket. Also the controllers of BBC2 seem to think it’s important enough to drop Buffy from the schedules which is utterly unforgivable.

The Atkins Diet

If I have to hear one more bad breathed fad dieter evangelise about Atkins I’m going to knock them to the ground and force feed them a kilo bag of sugar. If they’d shut up about it and eat the occasional breath mint (probably too much carb) it wouldn’t be so bad. Just eat less crap and get some exercise you fat f**ks!

Looking busy

I currently have 5 active projects (plus tech support) at work. However, if for a brief moment I don’t look busy I’ll get another project dumped on me. One day I hope to work for someone who acknowledges that I have a variable workload and it’s okay for me not to look busy at all times.

Happy People

Not all happy people, just the ones who insist on trying to cheer me up when I’m feeling depressed and/or stressed. It’s a bit like someone repeatedly telling you that it’s wrong to feel the way you do. It really doesn’t help.


Beating up the Bush

There are already ample plans to protest Bush’s PR visit to the UK next week. Michael Moore is all for us booing Bush.

in Britain, [..] Stupid White Men was this year the most popular book after Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and the highway code.

The Highway Code? I see the standard of drivers on our roads, and no way are that many people reading the Highway Code.


He must be doing something right

Michael Moore has reached the level of success and exposure where there are sites dedicated to hating him. There’s even a guy who wants to shoot a film called “Michael Moore hates America”. I don’t think he needs to worry about any of them being effective though, all they seem capable of is pouring out bile and insults and that favourite old phrase ‘liberal media’.


Other People's Blogs

Just a few branched wanders away from blo.gs

The Passionate Skeptic has found interesting commentary about the difference between French and American school meals and what it says about the two cultures.

Pixelforge wonders why we’re afraid of the chemical weapon boogeyman

The Daily Dystopian reminds us of the cowboy code

Rachel (or one of the other Gaggle of Girls) tries to Fisk Michael Moore, but just proves irony deficient.


Techno-vote

The US midterms last year used electronic polling, which was great from a geeky point of view. But there were errors, a lot of errors. I’ve screwed up enough software to know that a few things will go wrong, more the larger the system. But, when most, if not all, of the errors are in the Republicans’ favour and so many of the companies providing the systems are owned by their cronies, you begin to wonder.

via Michael Moore


The Empire Strikes Back!

Star wars fans would have made ‘Jedi’ Britain’s 4th largest faith ahead of sikhism, if the census takers had recognised it as a seperate religion. More than 390,000 people claimed to be followers of fictional Jedi master Yoda. An e-mail campaign wrongly stated that it 10,000 people said they were Jedi, it would be recognised as a religion. In the end, the Jedi were categorised as atheists. So will there be a return of the Jedi?


Hail to the king?

At last the first benchmarks for the new GeForce FX video card are out. I’m a bit disappointed by the results, it’s the fastest card on the market but only just. It’s a bit like the last two Star Wars movies: it’s okay but you were hoping for something more. Such are the disappointments of the geek lifestyle.

Meanwhile, if tales of impending war are keeping you awake at night then maybe you need a flashing blanket to lull you to sleep.


Click the image for the full picture

I went to see Bowling for Columbine today. This is Michael Moore on top form, highlighting the lunacy of gun culture and raising other issues that aggravate the problem of violence. It made me incredibly angry, even though I’m on the other side of the Atlantic.

I’m currently reading about how the military weapons manufacturers lobbied and helped distort American policy just so they could keep on feeding at the trough, even after those policies were shown to backfire so horribly in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. Perhaps the NRA is just the small arms industry’s way of keeping business flowing, arm them all and damn the consequences so long as the balance sheet looks good.