Remarkable

Is there nothing the Brits will not bet on?

Summertime

Few things say ‘Summer’ more than a cold, lively beer and a beautiful, blue sky day. I thought that thought as I lay on my terrace, drinking the aforementioned beer, sunning myself.

Life can be infinitely more complex, but why would anyone want it to be?

Mental Health Saturday

Saturday is generally my time to be with myself. Most of our lives we are working, forced to deal with people and situations that under other circumstances we would not be dealing with at all. Trying to accomplish this goal or that task, our lives a constant, seeming never ending rat-race.

Besides, between school and work I noticed that I am often racing around like some kinds of lunatic. I actually enjoy the activity, but know that there is more to my life than the chaos that surrounds me.

Down for Maintenance

Ran TechTool 5 Pro maintenance on computers and hard drives yesterday, will post today.

A Woman's Work

The famous poster, ‘Rosie the Riveter (to the left), created by J. Howard Miller during World War II seems to me to be remarkably similar in feel to the picture of Wanda Burke (below), which is part of a series of photos (there is at least one other) from the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), which promotes the building of wind turbines.

What I dig about both photos is that they both deal with women taking “untraditional” roles (one, the ‘Rosie the Riveter’ photo, could perhaps be described as a matter of necessity in that most men of age were fighting in WWII, so women had to assume many of their roles in the factories; while the photo of Wanda Burke is also necessary, and the ‘conflict’ she fights–a soldier in America’s march toward energy independence–is no less important).

The Crossing (don't go into the light)

I know that walking and reading aren’t the best things to do at the same time. After all, I work at a school and if you followed me around long enough you would probably catch me admonishing a student or two about it.

While that is good advice, for some reason I chose to ignore it today. This is probably because Bizarro, a comic by Dan Piraro, and Pooch Café, by Paul Guilligan, were particularly funny. So, as I read, I got closer and closer to the corner of East-West Highway and was about to cross over to Colesville Road. As I stepped into the street–still reading, by the way–a Honda Accord whizzed by, no more than five or six inches from slamming into me.

The light had not yet went green (it did a few seconds later. The car probably had sped up to make it before it changed).

Luckily I’m young enough to remember what it felt like to be invincible, but old enough to know that it isn’t so.

Despite occasionally walking and reading.

Dropping Class (still waters)

I dropped a Summer course that I registered for a few weeks ago at Georgetown, primarily because I missed the first class; though like still waters, there are deeper reasons. I would not have done so if this were a class that I was taking during the regular semester, but the Summer sessions are different. First off, it’s more concentrated, which means that you do more in less time. This equates to me playing a serious game of catch-up, which would have to have been the case being that I had not even purchased the books yet.

And while I hate catch-up, there’s more to it than that.

I also hate being ‘that guy.’ You know, the guy who seems clueless about what’s going on around him, the guy who has to get by guile and charm (not to pat myself on the back, but I can be when I need to) because the perception is that he cannot tow the load.

I think that I see this type of person a lot, and cannot stand the idea that that person is sometimes looking back at me from the mirror.

Unproven Speculation (talking out of my arse)

Did anyone else notice Tyler Perry in J.J Abrams’ Star Trek? He actually had a pretty substantial role, and quite possibly a re-occurring one. I was wondering if anyone else noticed this odd bit of casting. Either Mr. Perry is a serious Trekkie (not unusual at all), or I would keep an eye on his relationship with Lionsgate (the distributor of his films).

American Health Care

According to the news, the Obama Administration is preparing to tackle health care (hopefully single payer is on the table, but I have reason to doubt it). This is great news because it has never made sense to me that citizens in one of the most prosperous nations on earth are going bankrupt because their medical expenses are getting out of their control.

Though for some this is purely a hypothetical argument. By that I mean if you have no problems with your health or the quality of care you receive, the problems I refer to are things that happen to someone else.

This is a perspective that I get the feeling is common among our political class as well.

This was brought home to me when I met an acquaintance that I had not seen in awhile. He said that he was in the hospital, after he had pains in his abdomen that refused to go away.

Eventually it was discovered that he had an appendicitis, and it was removed.

Now here is where things get wonky. The surgeon who preformed the surgery requested that my friend come back for a follow-up visit.

The first appointment had to be rescheduled because the surgeon could not make it–as to why I am not sure, my friend did not make this clear–and another appointment was made.

Which the surgeon also missed.

My friend is not a native of this country (he may be applying for citizenship, but I don’t know for certain), but that doesn’t excuse how shabbily he was treated.

Do you literally have to be running around on fire–or be very rich–to get quality health care in this country?

New Look

Still trying to find a look for my blog site that works best. The plan is to stay consistent, but when I find something that I think works best, I change.

The Gideon Plan

And like the Cylons, the Gideons too have a plan (and probably not as sinister). According to Wikipedia, they are an evangelical Protestant group that distributes bibles all over the world for the purpose of spreading Christianity.

What caught my attention was that the Gideons also distribute bibles to the military. This is bothersome to me because recently the American Army in Pakistan was playing a similar role in Afganistan, which is not their job.

Here’s video from Al-Jazeera:

I Saw

I saw Tom Ridge yesterday, near Farragut North Metro station. He’s definitely bigger than he looks on television.

Who Are These 'Gideons' And Why Do They Leave Bibles In Hotel Rooms?

Who are these ‘Gideons’ and why are they leaving bibles in my (albeit temporary) hotel room? What if I were to leave a copy of the Koran in each hotel room? Why is it that Christians have this franchise opportunity locked down? What about the Jewish holy book? I don’t recall what that is, and to be honest I don’t really care all that much, though I would like to have a choice.

Who knows? I might be curious about some other religion. If that happens to be the case it would be really good if I could just open a drawer, and find a copy.

Though if hotels start to include the holy books from other religions, I still don’t know if they should include that from Scientologists because they haven’t in my view reached the critical mass of believers necessary to move beyond cult status.

UFO News!

According to Variety there will indeed be a film version of UFO! This news rocks and can only be made better if Gerry Anderson plays a role, perhaps as Executive Producer. If this film is handled well, and is a hit, perhaps a movie version of Space: 1999 will not be far behind.



And if those two wishes pan out, then perhaps Mr. Anderson will get the resources he needs to bring Eternity to the small screen.

Time To Move On, Part 2

Then there is Shia LaBeouf. As an actor I think that he’s relatively non-offensive and easy on the eyes, though here he manages to irritate at almost every turn in this film.

In fact, his presence in the movie doesn’t seem to have any other purpose than to introduce audiences to the potential heir to Indy’s bullwhip, as opposed to creating a character that actually ‘exists,’ lives and breathes.

If so, this franchise is doomed because Harrison Ford is getting on in years (and doesn’t appear to be aging as nearly as well as Sean Connery, who, ironically, played his father in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom; which tells you how long it takes for these films to come together) and Shia isn’t (yet) the box office draw that Harrison Ford is, though I would like to see him in a film that was less of a summer blockbuster-type film and more of a character piece because I am not entirely sure that he can act.

Then there’s the script. Shia appears to be attempting to speak in the fashion of the period, and comes off as someone who is OBVIOUSLY ATTEMPTING to speak in the fashion of the period he’s in, as opposed to someone that actually exists in the time period who happens to be talking.

It may sound like I am picking nits here, but it really makes a difference. For example, think about Martin Scorsese films like Casino and Goodfellas. The dialog rings true, and plays well on the ear. By way of contrast, when Shia speaks in City of the Crystal Skull, it just sounds awkward and false.

Time To Move On, Part 1

Dragonslayer, a Paramount/Disney co-production, came out in 1981, the same time as Raiders of the Lost Ark, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out which film grossed more at the box office.

At the time, a critic–whose review The Google cannot even seem to find–thought that Dragonslayer was the better film, and one reason I recall him writing that was that he believed that Raiders was “machine-tooled” which I took to mean lacking in heart and passion.

And while I also enjoyed Dragonslayer, I also thought that Raiders of the Lost Ark was an enjoyable, edge-of-your-seat adventure.

Though after seeing Indiana Jones and the City of the Crystal Skull (or Indy 4) recently on DVD, I think that the reviewer was referring to this film, despite the fact that the review came thirty years too late.

While it starts promisingly, Indy 4 quickly went downhill, turning silly (and considering that they were searching for a crystal skull–which is what the aliens in the film are underneath their skin, according to the story–is saying a lot)

That being said, there were some curious decisions made by all those involved. First off, why were the villains made to be Russians? I guess after using Nazis, crazed Indians, and ambitious Britons, there were few nationalities left (?), though it feels more like desperation than inspiration.

Then there’s a scene that takes place at Area 51, of Roswell fame.

Now keep in mind, this was the storage place of the Ark of the Covenant, the artifact that caused all that trouble in the original Raiders; yet in that film there was no mention–that I can recall–that the Ark was being stored at Area 51.

This would have been worth a few geek points, at the very least; though it does remind me about what bothers me about films that George Lucas tends to be involved with.

Namely, he has this tendency to revise, to alter history, within his films. This is the reason I suspect that some were put off by his changes to the digital effects and the addition of scenes in his original Star Wars trilogy.

The technology available for the latter Star Wars films was not present for the first three, so why Mr. Lucas felt the need to alter effects that were at the time ‘state of the art’ is beyond me.

Quality Inn

Quality Inns really live up to their name. I had to stay in one last night because I lost my apartment keys. Usually, a place with the word “Quality” in the title would be anything but, but that wasn’t the case here. In fact, it was kind of like a micro-vacation, which is another way of saying that I lazed around and watched quite a bit of cable television, which I don’t tend to do under normal circumstances.

The ‘cable television’ part, not the lazing around, that is.

After staying in that room for only a night, when I got back to my apartment it looked as if a bomb had gone off. Though to be fair the piles of clothing on the floor of my apartment I had made with the intention of going to the laundry–they were divided into whites, colors, and colds–but I was locked out before I was able to do so.

Though keep in mind, that other than the mounds of clothing on the floor, my apartment was at the point of what I like to call ‘acceptable clutter’ (which I define as having stuff out of place, but not so much that you would be ashamed to have a parent over).

Who am I kidding; if I had an inkling that my parents were in the city, never mind my apartment, I would be hiding the porn and putting everything away just so.

Customer Care

At work I often deal with automated help lines, be they tech support or sales, and I find few things quite as maddening. Sometimes I speculate what is it about them that bothers me so much. Part of it I think is that the voices, be they male or female, tend to be somewhat monotone, which almost immediately put me on edge. That’s not the main irritant, but it does feed the flames. And there’s the sense of powerlessness in that you know exactly what is going to come next, which is a seemingly endless list of options–delivered in the same monotone–and you can’t do a thing about it.

And it goes without saying that whatever the purpose is that you’re calling for, it’s going to be the last option presented. So you have to sit for what feels like an eternity till you option comes up.

In my book Fed Ex is has almost made this form of torture–I mean “enhanced interrogation” an art form.

This is why the latest commercial from Apple particularly resonates with me. It’s titled ‘Customer Care’ and it’s the only commercial I have seen that knows what that feeling is like.

Apple Knows All

I was running a few hours ago, and noticed something...in the past I have always had problems with the standard headphones that came with my iPod, and always assumed that this was a design flaw on the part of Apple.

Now keep in mind, this is a company known for their industrial design, so it’s pretty interesting that they would mess up something as integral to the music experience as the headphone.

Guess what? They didn’t.

I can’t speak for everyone that had problems with the comfort and wearability of Apple’s standard headphone (now the sound quality is another matter. it’s by no means bad but could be improved with perhaps greater bass response. As it stands the sound is relatively warm with decent high and low ends) but my problems were due to human error, as opposed to industrial design.

When I wore them in the past I would try to insert the earphone (the round section) into the opening of my ear canal, like below, in an attempt to seal my ear canal with the headphone and isolating me more from outside noises.





Of course this did not work, since it was not designed to be used in this manner. During my run I tried it like this:




Notice that the second method that the round section of the headphone is supported by my ear, and is actually very secure. And keep in mind, my routine includes sprinting as well as jumping, so if I say that this was secure I mean it and it would be perfect for anyone just walking about.

My only issues were that sometimes sweat would run into my ear canal, muting the sound from my left earphone.

I Am Sorry...

to be the prophet of Doom, but Transformers was an awful movie. And what makes matters significantly worse is that the cartoon that proceeded the film was hardly Akira, yet it somehow managed to have more depth that the multi-million dollar film version. And understand, this is coming from a guy that will see a movie just because there’s a spaceship, or an alien (as long as it is not played by Keanu Reeves, that is), or a monster of some sort, in it. Yet Transformers, chock full of brilliant CGI with two groups of robots; one interested in destroying the human race, the other trying to save it, was akin to what I imagine a root canal to be like.

Namely remarkable, seemingly unending pain.

This movie was one of the worse I had seen in quite awhile. I generally don’t leave a movie, be it on television or in the theater, but I was sorely tempted. Instead I just commented–a lot–on how unbearably silly this movie was.

Nothing seemed to make sense and characters seemed to do really dumb things as a matter of course.

And there was Optimus Prime and his moving mouth, which is a blog post all it’s own.

Now keep in mind, this is a movie about sentient robots from a world called Cybertron. I easily suspended my disbelief in reference to that, yet I can be pushed only so far.

Why am I writing this? Because I met an acquaintance at the gym earlier today, and he seems extremely psyched that Transformers: The Revenge of the Fallen, is coming out soon.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but I haven’t forgiven Michael Bay for bringing us the first one, never mind the sequel. I mean, it boggles my mind that this film wasn’t brilliant. I mean, there were tons of robots. Skating robots, robots that turn into cars, fighter planes, scorpions, and so on.

How do you mess that up? I mean, you just let Industrial Light & Magic do their thing, sit back, and just rake in the dough.

Walking on Glass

I am about half way through graduate school, and have–almost literally–been taking it a day at a time. I haven’t begun to seriously think about what I will do when I complete the program, which is never as far down the road as I sometimes think it is. But that’s not an accident; I am self-aware enough to know that I tend to be overwhelmed by too many details at once. I have to take large things and break them into smaller pieces, then I am better able to digest them.

Otherwise, I choke, literally and figuratively. And when that happens a paralysis–of sorts–sets in and my movements become very tentative; I am overwhelmed by caution.

This is why I am creating momentum–in this case, continuing with school–and letting it carry me forward. I honestly believe that most of us have great destinies ahead of us, but like anything else, it is not an easy path, smooth and without risk. Besides, the field of Journalism is currently undergoing a transition, and this is not a time to be out there searching for work. I mean, the field is hemorrhaging jobs like a character from a Sean Cunningham film. That being the case–and let’s be honest, I knew that well in advance–why did I major in Journalism in the first place?

One reason is that I like writing, and this was a way to make it ‘real.’ I don’t do a lot of writing at work (if truth be told, virtually none) and i had to move to make it real.

Invest something.

Take a risk because there are no guarantees that what I am doing will bear fruit, But then again, if I do nothing, I unequivocally know where I would be.

I am not very religious, but I do believe in Hell. Not the whole “red dude with a pitchfork” type of Hell, which to be honest is rather silly, though it did frighten me when I was a child. Instead the Hell I believe in is the one we make of our own lives right now.

I believe that we are all eternal, in the sense that we are creatures of energy made manifest, and energy never dies. Instead it changes form, alters frequency, and goes on.

Sometimes You Can't Go Home Again

“Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere The ceremony of innocence is drowned; The best lack all conviction, while the worst Are full of passionate intensity”

---William Butler Yeats

The quote above I recall principally from the book ‘Things Fall Apart’ by Chinua Achebe, which I encountered when I served in the Peace Corps, along with ‘The River Between’ by Ngugi Wa Thiong’o (forgive me for not including umlauts in ‘Ngugi.’ There are two, though I have not found out the keyboard commands to do so yet). I have tried to read The River Between again a few years ago, to perhaps capture the feeling that I got from the first reading, but it wasn’t there.

I think that I am about to start it again tomorrow, but this time I will read it on it’s own terms, let it create memories and associations anew, instead of imposing those upon it that exist in a space and time long past.

In other words, I am going to read it again, for the first time.

Because sometimes you can’t go home again, but that only means that you have to make where you are now, home.

Sometimes You're The Guy (Or Gal)

Have you been on your way to somewhere, when someone, in an effort to get by, virtually runs you down? These are the people that, when driving, are usually in a great hurry to gain just a few yards of space, racing to–I’ve always assumed–nowhere.

Usually I somewhat smugly sit in silent judgement over such people, as if on some level I was convinced of their actions being the result of a lack of some essential motivating force, or perhaps moral turpitude manifesting in a flaw that lie hidden just below the surface, till now.

Conversely, this enhanced my own feelings of rightness.

Such thoughts never left the privacy of my head, though I imagine that a perceptive person could have picked up on some reveal in the way I held my head, or the tilt of my mouth.

That is, till for a moment I became that person.

I was on the way to work, and the train had stopped at Fort Totten Station where I transfer from the Red to the Green Line; the next to last leg of my daily commute to work. There’re three escalators, one that leads to an upper level, which is soon followed by two more that lead to opposite ends of of the Red Line tracks. As I got on the escalator on the right, I looked up, and saw a flash of light on the grey concrete canopy that covered the platform against weather as the motorized staircase bore me upward.

I had seen this flash of light before, and I always connected it with the arrival of a train.

There were numerous people ahead of me, all of which happened to be women. From my perspective, none of the seemed particularly cognizant of the fact that a train had just pulled into the station.

Or perhaps they were taking the Red Line in the opposite direction, in which case that the train had pulled into the station going in the my way didn’t matter.

Though at that moment I wanted few things more than to catch that train. I knew that my feeling were somewhat irrational, though I had to film a presentation at work, and didn’t want to be late.

So I forced my way forward, engaging in way too much contact with these ladies as I tried to get around them.

I made the train, as did some of the women who were a few steps ahead of me, though my actions so shamed me that I did not sit anywhere near them.

Because, for a small moment, I had become those people I thought so little of.

Will Someone Please...

give Guillermo his own movie, or at the very least his own television series, he’s hilarious!. Here is again in a Star Trek (I almost typed ‘Star Wars’ ) trailer parody.



This guy is too funny, and still seems relatively shocked that what is happening to him (namely becoming a staple on the Jimmy Kimmel Show), which means that he probably isn’t acting like a dick as his relatively new-found fame rises to his head faster than cheap domestic beer moves through your system.

And while you’re at it Hollywood, consider this lady, whose name happens to be Stephanie Courtney, as well. She seems like she would be just perfect as the ’wacky friend’ on a sitcom.

Bear With Me A Moment

I could be wrong, but bear with me a moment. Isn’t hair dead? I mean, what’s the point of strengthening the roots of your hair, if the hair that emerges is dead? Isn’t hair like fingernails (in reference to fingernails I don’t mean below the cuticle, for if anyone has cut their nails too short knows, really hurts) in that sense? Which begs the question: What is the point of the various hair care products out there, when all one probably needs is something to clean your hair.

I mean, it’s not like there’s anyone out there with hair like Medusa (pictured on the right) who had hair so alive that it literally had a life of its own.

Tumblin'

I went for my usual run today, but there was a difference (other than quite possibly losing my favorite pair of sunglasses, that is). During one of my ‘leaps’ (I integrate a series of jumps in to my run for the purpose of building ‘explosive’ energy, as opposed to running just for endurance. Usually that consists of a series of six to seven fences) there were quite a few people on one of my sprint points, and I wanted to get around them, so I leapt over the nearest fence to my right.

Which, unfortunately I did not clear.

A variation of this had happened once before: I was running in Belgium, though a beautiful forest. I was approaching some posts, and before I knew what was happening I was on my arse. What had happened was that those posts that I mentioned earlier had wire strung between them. I was running in a park with lots of foliage, so I could not see them.

Luckily, I fell to the grass, which absorbed the impact of the fall, tumbled head over foot, then came to my feet and kept on running. Unfortunately a pair of headphones I was wearing got caught on the fence, breaking them. Luckily they were Ear Pollution headphones by iFrogz–which not only are not very durable, but they come with a somewhat substandard warranty. My advice is in reference to them is that if you need headphones, save up for some Shures, which are not only awesome headphones, but extremely durable–though what amazed me most about the moment was that, instead of caring about what the people around me might saw me challenging the laws of gravity, I kept moving. What interested me most was that I barely noticed the impact.

Though I was very fortunate to fall to the grass, I noticed that the impact was on my right arm almost entirely, so if I had fallen on a harder surface I like to think that the impact would have been not too bad.

Though it would have hurt.

A lot.

Twist On A Old Theme

Here’s the text of an email that I got a few days ago. It somehow looks familiar, though I had not seen it before it turned up in my mailbox.


Dear Friend,

My name is Major,Amy Robinson. I am an American soldier with Swiss background,
serving in the military with the army 3rd infantry division.With a very
desperate need for assistance, I have summed up courage to contact you. I found
your contact particulars in an address journal. I am seeking your kind
assistance to move the sum of ( $ 3.2 million u.s.dollars )three million, two
hundred united states dollars to you, as far as  I can be assured that my share
will be safe in your care until I complete my service here, this is no stolen
money, and there are no danger involved. I am presently in a hospital
recovering from injuries sustained in a suicide bomb attack.

Source of money:

Some money in various currencies was discovered in barrels at a farmhouse near
one of Saddam's old palaces in Tikrit-Iraq during a rescue operation, and
it was agreed by staff Sgt Kenneth buff and I that some part of this money be
shared among both of us before informing anybody about  it since both of us saw
the money first. This was quite an illegal thing to do, but I tell you what? No
compensation can make up for the risk we have taken with our lives in this hell
hole. Of which my brother in-law was killed by a road side bomb last week.

Please view website for confirmation;

http://www.voanews.com/burmese/archive/2003-04/a-2003-04-20-1-1.cfm

The above figure was given to me as my share, and to conceal this kind of money
became a problem for me, so with the help of a British contact working here and
his office enjoy some immunity, I was able to move the money to a security
company in bangkok thailand as a diplomatic baggage. They are now waiting for
us to provide the name of beneficiary who they will transfer the funds to. The
reason i want you to claim the funds on my behalf is that as a soldier, i
cannot present a concrete evidence on how i made such a big amount of money
down here. Besides the US Government is trying their best to keep their eyes on
soldiers here inorder to effect a high level of discipline among us.The moment
i
am sure that you are willing to assist me, i will give you the information of
the security company and the security code of the baggage.I want
you to tell me how much you will take from this money for the assistance you
will give to me.

One passionate appeal I will make to you is not to discuss this matter with
anybody, should you have reasons to reject this offer, please and please
destroy this message as any leakage of this information will be too bad for us
soldiers here in Iraq. I do not know how long we will remain here, and i have
been shot, wounded and survived two suicide bomb attacks by the special grace
of God, this and other reasons i will mention later has prompted me to reach
out for help, i honestly want this matter to be resolved immediately, please
contact me as soon aspossible, my only way of communication is email.

Yours in Service.

Major Amy Robinson Camp MXP-512 Third Infantry Division Unit(T.I.D.U),
Abul Uruj,bagdad,irag

It sounds so familiar because I–as well as millions of others–have seen it before. If you recall an email from an African nation (generally Nigeria, but there have been others) then you have indeed seen this before, because it’s essentially the same sort of scam. There was an email from Nigeria with essentially the same text but this one is on another level in a sense that it plays with patriotism and our soldiers under fire in a distant nation–which is much closer to home than a disposed king, prince or whatever.

It’s actually somewhat fascinating in that if you look at it closely there are some interesting misspellings. ‘US’ as in ‘United States’ is spelled ‘us’; ‘Iraq’ is spelled ‘irag, and ‘Baghdad,’ is spelled ‘bagdad.’

What’s most interesting is that ‘Baghdad’ is phonetically speaking, spelled ‘bagdad.’

Which makes me think that the writer of this email is not an American, and like the Nigerian scam, this originates elsewhere, as in overseas.

I put my money on Russia, but that’s a guess.

I Think I Will See 'Wolverine' This Weekend

Call me a glutton for punishment, but I really need to see this for myself. I am going in not expecting too much, so unless it’s Uwe Boll awful then I will probably enjoy it. And as much as I hate to spotlight illegal footage, here’s Wolverine.



Did I write ‘Wolverine?’ I meant ‘Wolberine!’

Why The Star Wars Sequels (After The Original Trilogy) Sucked

There are probably many reasons, though there a few that come to mind. First I would have to say would be too great a reliance on CGI (computer generated images). There was a coldness, an emptiness to the proceedings that was certainly not present in the first three films in the series.

There was also that that later films (The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith) were clearly an afterthought. George Lucas may have been thinking about extending his first trilogy of films, but it seems relatively apparent that his ideas did not exactly gel before he went about actually making them. This was the very tendency that hurt the two sequels to the Matrix (in and of itself an incredible film, it’s sequels not so much as well. In both cases I think money was the motivator for the series moving forward so relatively quickly, though in the case of George Lucas it doesn’t appear to be that simple because his original trilogy made billions (this is not even including merchandising), so I get the feeling that if George Lucas wanted to take a few years longer to churn out the second series of films, I suspect that no one on at Twentieth-Century Fox would have made a peep.

So why rush it?

Though I think the greatest error made by Mr. Lucas was the casting of Hayden Christensen as the person who would become Darth Vader. Now keep in mind, I am not saying that Mr. Christensen is a bad actor, indeed, he was really excellent in Shattered Glass, directed by Billy Ray.

Which makes it even stranger that he was so whiney and irritating in the Stars Wars films. I also get the feeling that he was giving what the director asked for, which is the saddest part.

Though worse of all they reduced one of the most fascinating characters in the entire Star Wars mythos to little more than a sad–unfortunately not in a tragic sense–in a very pathetic sense. Such an elemental being, such a personification of evil and sinister intent, was reduced to a immature child.

That is the greatest tragedy of the later sequels to the original Star Wars films.

Final Multimedia Assignment

I just finished my last multimedia assignment for MPJO-781 and Keith Jenkins. I think that it worked really well. It started out as an assignment on homelessness, and evolved somewhat. I am glad that I let it do so, as opposed to sticking rigidly to my original idea. I was really nervous about my use of music, but I think that it doesn’t distract and enhances the impact of project.

Wolverine Ripped The BO A New One

Now, I wish Gavin Hood the best. After all, he’s a South African director (I have been nursing a fondness for that nation since I was in the Peace Corps, in Lesotho, a few years back. The relevance of that is that Lesotho is a kingdom within a country; the country being South Africa) and his first film, Tsotsi, won the Academy Award in 2005 for Best Foreign Film.

His last film, and as far as I am aware his first studio film, Rendition, did not do so well. I cannot speculate on why because I did not see it myself.

Now Mr. Hood’s (it’s apt that he’s directing a film about a superhero because his surname sounds like one. “Look! The Hood is getting away!” I can imagine someone shouting) next studio film, X-Men Origins: Wolverine has opened to the tune of $87 Million.

Now keep in mind, this movie has been getting ‘mixed’ reviews, with the majority of them being, well...bad across the board. Even the hardcore fan sites, like Ain’t It Cool News, weren’t terribly enthusiastic about it. Here’s an example:

Yet it still managed to pull in almost a $100 Million.

During it’s premiere, which was from Friday to Sunday.

$87 Million in three days. Oh, yeah I think that there’s a sequel Wolverine’s future.

Though not to disparage Mr. Hood here, but I think that we might be seeing ‘Ratner Syndrome’ in effect here.

‘Ratner Syndrome’ takes it’s name from the director, Brett Ratner, who also happens to be the director of the third X-Men film, which also went on to make a bundle of dough.

Mr. Ratner, who I have never met and is perhaps a great person, is a hack. He brings everything but vision and passion to a project, yet he was able to bring in a mint directing X-Men: The Last Stand.

Why is this? Probably because the characters themselves have reached such an iconic status that Alfred E. Newman could probably direct a film based upon the X-Men, and if it were not total shite, probably make a bazillion dollars.

Are You Fraggin' Kidding....

I was shopping at my local Safeway, when I saw this:

The first thing that came to mind was: “Are you fraggin’ kidding me?” I don’t know, but to my jaded eyes those look like Christmas decorations on Kleenex containers. Now there’s nothing wrong with Christmas decorations on products or the motif per se, though it’s May.

May! (visualize Sam Kenison at this point. If you haven’t seen ‘Back To School,’ rent it. It’s worth it for him alone)



Not September, not October, but May! I could be wrong, and the current climate change is perhaps disrupting my perception of the season, but isn’t it about to become summer?

I mean, it isn’t even winter yet!

UFO

I get the feeling that–in this country at any rate–people have forgotten about Gerry Anderson and how influencial his work has been in the world of science fiction (Sci-Fi). From Star Wars to Team America: World Police, his influence can be seen. A month or so ago I learned that he is moving out of Pinewood Studios (where I assume most of his films and television series have been produced), and working from home. I don’t quite know what to think of this development. I mean, perhaps it’s a good thing in that...you know, I can’t see how this is a good thing. I mean, how can it be a good thing that he’s auctioning off the props from some of his productions?

To me that sounds as if James Cameron were selling off some of the endoskeletons–that I am sure he has–from the Terminator films. Sure he could, but why would he have to if money weren’t an issue?

His last production, The New Captain Scarlet ran from 2003-2005, not too long ago but I haven’t even heard rumors of anything new.

Which is not the same as saying that nothing is happening.

Perhaps Jonathan Frakes had something to do with his current low profile. After all, his version of a Gerry Anderson property, The Thunderbirds, was so bad that Mr. Anderson would have nothing to do with it.

Which in hindsight was a very smart move.

The picture above is my version of SkyDiver from UFO, which I would like to imagine it would have looked like if the UFO feature film had come to fruition.

Rainy Days and Sundays

Another rainy day in Washington, DC. Saturday was a bit overcast, though what rain there was did not last long nor was it very heavy. I was able to do my weekly run with little in the way of water running down my face like a waterfall in miniature, obscuring my vision and making my footing less than sure as I raced across the grass. Today is different though. It has been raining since this morning, pretty heavy for the most part. As you can see from the picture to the left, the clouds remain ominous, and we probably are not yet done with the waterworks, though for the moment the rain god appears to have closed the tap.

Lately I am taking to heart the role rain plays in regulating the outside temperature, cleaning the air, as well as the water it provides to plants and animals. This way I am less ‘put out’ by the inconvenience of it.

Odd Coincidences

I just happened to be watching Student Bodies, for my money one of the better slasher movie parodies out there (not ‘Airplane!’ good, but pretty close) when toward the end one of the characters mentions ‘swine flu.’

Now, in the movie it was caused by sexual repression though I suspect that the swine flu that is being faced all over the world has little do to with delayed gratification.