michaelxaviermaelstrom's Recent Comments
Manic Maniac: Mania news with a cynical twist - Jun 12, 2008 - 08:11am
Good big-testicles call on Minority Report and The Matrix, pop opine threatened to diss both for extraneous reasons once upon a midnight dreary, and it's good to see more peoples raising their purple gloved (index -Ed) fingers and saying, "woah there sparky, just because it stars Cruise does not (necessarily - Ed) auto-correlate to endemic suckitude" and "whether or not one felt `there was no spoon' in the Matrix followups, the level of a sequel (or two - Ed) ought not alter the quality of the first entry, particularly when it is imo, a masterpiece, or at least as close as one is likely to get in the pop culture device known as mainstream cinema...bitch" (don't mince words bones tell us what you really think - Ed) Go Away Ed. re: The future of mankind and of SF I think we're off in an overtly-complicated and wrought with disaster direction, if it's immortality that we seek. bio-cellular (and/or artificial cell) manipulation carries with it the problem of cascading coding errors in both design and replication, and opens the portcullus to man-as-upgradable software. We can't even get computer software to work properly! What will the human equivalent of the BSOD be? will we all act like David Hasselhoff when we crash? Besides we all know where this will lead when the dna can be re-sequenced on the fly by hackers. Yes, Giant-Octo-Titties (designed my males) 8.5 foot dicks (designed by teens and The Madonna/Carmen Electra/XtinaAguilera/EltonJohn consortium) and tight vaginas (designed by women that underwent natural child-birth who are fed up with Dr. Kegel -Ed) This isn't going to end well. (Future Stock Tip: invest in the lube industry now - Ed) unfortunately arguably the single worst episode of Star Trek TOS (Spock's Brain) had it mostly right imo, brain-transplanting (preferably into exo-skeletons rather than jars - Ed) while oxymoronically perceived as SF retro-future, would seem to moi to be a more achievable or at least less Brundle-Fly telpod start to longevity. Looooooove your style Joe, particularly that you aren't afraid to exercise your brain on the web, and also nice to see that you assume that netizens likewise 'ave brains (brain, brain, brain, what is brain! -Ed); if you're new, welcome aboard, hope to be inhaling more of you! Now watch this drive. -- Michael X. Maelstrom.
Good big-testicles call on Minority Report and The Matrix, pop opine threatened to diss both for extraneous reasons once upon a midnight dreary, and it's good to see more peoples raising their purple gloved (index -Ed) fingers and saying, "woah there sparky, just because it stars Cruise does not (necessarily - Ed) auto-correlate to endemic suckitude" and "whether or not one felt `there was no spoon' in the Matrix followups, the level of a sequel (or two - Ed) ought not alter the quality of the first entry, particularly when it is imo, a masterpiece, or at least as close as one is likely to get in the pop culture device known as mainstream cinema...bitch" (don't mince words bones tell us what you really think - Ed) Go Away Ed. re: The future of mankind and of SF I think we're off in an overtly-complicated and wrought with disaster direction, if it's immortality that we seek. bio-cellular (and/or artificial cell) manipulation carries with it the problem of cascading coding errors in both design and replication, and opens the portcullus to man-as-upgradable software. We can't even get computer software to work properly! What will the human equivalent of the BSOD be? will we all act like David Hasselhoff when we crash? Besides we all know where this will lead when the dna can be re-sequenced on the fly by hackers. Yes, Giant-Octo-Titties (designed my males) 8.5 foot dicks (designed by teens and The Madonna/Carmen Electra/XtinaAguilera/EltonJohn consortium) and tight vaginas (designed by women that underwent natural child-birth who are fed up with Dr. Kegel -Ed) This isn't going to end well. (Future Stock Tip: invest in the lube industry now - Ed) unfortunately arguably the single worst episode of Star Trek TOS (Spock's Brain) had it mostly right imo, brain-transplanting (preferably into exo-skeletons rather than jars - Ed) while oxymoronically perceived as SF retro-future, would seem to moi to be a more achievable or at least less Brundle-Fly telpod start to longevity. Looooooove your style Joe, particularly that you aren't afraid to exercise your brain on the web, and also nice to see that you assume that netizens likewise 'ave brains (brain, brain, brain, what is brain! -Ed); if you're new, welcome aboard, hope to be inhaling more of you! Now watch this drive. -- Michael X. Maelstrom.
Ratner Set for Incredible SHRINKING Man - Apr 19, 2008 - 01:53pm
And I still say if you took "Changing Places" and had the 2 old farts make a bet that they could pluck a chronic masturbating perverted vagrant out of an alley (while he was trenchcoat flashing a dilapidated poster of a moose -Ed) and turn him into a big movie director, you'd wind up with Brett Ratner. NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo well. I thought his best film was Red Dragon, not just his best film, but a bloody good film - there's real talent in that movie. (AHA so apparently chronic masturbating perverted moose-flashing vagrants can direct good movies - Ed) and? most of Hollywood's directors are chronic perverts Ed. But X3? ^Raise-Baseball-Bat NEIN! *WHAM*WHAM*WHAM* it's the flippant megalomaniacal Schumacher-like disrespect for the comic book legacy on display in the X3 film that warrants Ratner the or at least my baseball-bat bashings. Also at last call, Halle Berry was begging convention fans to petition Fox to make an X-men 4 movie. As they're apparently not returning the original casts calls. Look, of all the ways I wanted to see Halle Berry Beg, that was not the one on the top of my butterscotch pudding fantasy list. I'm with *gaze back* uh that bloke wot said I hope the "all new, all younger" (all not related to the original franchise because after what Ratner did, we're not risking it - Ed) all-new X-men franchize isn't going to be a repeat of the D-EVOLUTION that I felt took place when the 90's X-Men animated series was needlessly replaced by that apparently-drawn-by-your-kid-brother-while-he-was-OD'ing-on-Riddlin "X-Men Evolution" series. But you know, to each their own opine. (.."however inferior to his it may be" - Ed) however inferior to mine it ma.. *WHAM* I hate it when he does that. [Pathud]
And I still say if you took "Changing Places" and had the 2 old farts make a bet that they could pluck a chronic masturbating perverted vagrant out of an alley (while he was trenchcoat flashing a dilapidated poster of a moose -Ed) and turn him into a big movie director, you'd wind up with Brett Ratner. NoNoNoNoNoNoNoNoNo well. I thought his best film was Red Dragon, not just his best film, but a bloody good film - there's real talent in that movie. (AHA so apparently chronic masturbating perverted moose-flashing vagrants can direct good movies - Ed) and? most of Hollywood's directors are chronic perverts Ed. But X3? ^Raise-Baseball-Bat NEIN! *WHAM*WHAM*WHAM* it's the flippant megalomaniacal Schumacher-like disrespect for the comic book legacy on display in the X3 film that warrants Ratner the or at least my baseball-bat bashings. Also at last call, Halle Berry was begging convention fans to petition Fox to make an X-men 4 movie. As they're apparently not returning the original casts calls. Look, of all the ways I wanted to see Halle Berry Beg, that was not the one on the top of my butterscotch pudding fantasy list. I'm with *gaze back* uh that bloke wot said I hope the "all new, all younger" (all not related to the original franchise because after what Ratner did, we're not risking it - Ed) all-new X-men franchize isn't going to be a repeat of the D-EVOLUTION that I felt took place when the 90's X-Men animated series was needlessly replaced by that apparently-drawn-by-your-kid-brother-while-he-was-OD'ing-on-Riddlin "X-Men Evolution" series. But you know, to each their own opine. (.."however inferior to his it may be" - Ed) however inferior to mine it ma.. *WHAM* I hate it when he does that. [Pathud]
No Vaginas For Michael - Apr 19, 2008 - 11:03am
Addendum: After having consulted with my chef, the lawyers, Ann Coulter and a patent clerk I am now the proud founder of an ALL NEW tax-exempt organization! -------------- *don bathrobe* *mount unicorn* *gallop into Maniac Asylum center square* -------------- Hear Ye, Here Ye! "THE MICHAEL CONTINUUM" (apparently for people named Michael, (c)Maelstrom Ink -Ed) has now given birth to a sister organization! -------------- Yes, a new chapter (apparently dedicated to solving the plight brought to our attention in this article by "The Virgin ..At-The-Time-of The-Writing-Of-This-Article-But-We're-Not-So-Sure Now" Mary Magdalene Smith., yes, an organization whose time has uh come., dedicated to raising.. ..The Vagina-to-Michael ratio! - Ed) -------------- Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today is born: "THE MICHAEL CUNTINUUM" -------------- *Blow gazoo* -------------- Special consideration for prompt uh entry will be given to the uh ..*gaze down from unicorn* *reach down and pluck up applicant from crowd* ..private-girl-school-outfit-clad femmes. *gallop* *gallop* *gallop*
Addendum: After having consulted with my chef, the lawyers, Ann Coulter and a patent clerk I am now the proud founder of an ALL NEW tax-exempt organization! -------------- *don bathrobe* *mount unicorn* *gallop into Maniac Asylum center square* -------------- Hear Ye, Here Ye! "THE MICHAEL CONTINUUM" (apparently for people named Michael, (c)Maelstrom Ink -Ed) has now given birth to a sister organization! -------------- Yes, a new chapter (apparently dedicated to solving the plight brought to our attention in this article by "The Virgin ..At-The-Time-of The-Writing-Of-This-Article-But-We're-Not-So-Sure Now" Mary Magdalene Smith., yes, an organization whose time has uh come., dedicated to raising.. ..The Vagina-to-Michael ratio! - Ed) -------------- Yes, ladies and gentlemen, today is born: "THE MICHAEL CUNTINUUM" -------------- *Blow gazoo* -------------- Special consideration for prompt uh entry will be given to the uh ..*gaze down from unicorn* *reach down and pluck up applicant from crowd* ..private-girl-school-outfit-clad femmes. *gallop* *gallop* *gallop*
No Vaginas For Michael - Apr 19, 2008 - 10:08am
Dear Mary, I love Virgins. Come to big purple daddy. ------------------------- (you ol smoothy, ..eesh - Ed) Go Away Ed. WTF kind of world are we livin in when there's No Vagina for Michaels? Look Mary, as the founder of "The Michael Continuum" I would like to register this official complaint: *punch Ed in the face* and I'd like to eruditely state this: "This town needs an enema.," *pause* "only lower down then up a bit" "yes, right there, oo that's a nice one baby" v-*lower blind* (insert the sounds of seduction: you know, hammering, chain-sawing, Benny Hill chase music, an aardvark screaming, penguins dancing and birds moo'ing) ^-*raise-blind* So, *puff on Mr. Bubble pipe* what are you thinking? I'll tell you wot I'm thinkin Mary, I'm thinkin I have an IQ of 169 (allegedly, you know according to one of those online IQ surveys which are about as reliable as Commissioner Gordon's Joker-apprehension-squad junior-police-force anti-skidmark underwear -Ed) you'll pay for that later Ed *drop anvil on Ed's foot* (OW MOTHERF*CK - Ed) I lied about the Later part Ed. AND YET despite my having an IQ (allegedly - Ed) higher than Einstein's, after this clarification, I STILL don't 'ave a clearer freakin bloody clue wot all this is about. You know beyond my initial expostulate, which as near as I can tell has been _both_ simultaneously confirmed and denied. But I do love your style Mary. And of course, in particular, your virgin vagina. --michaelXmaelstrom.
Dear Mary, I love Virgins. Come to big purple daddy. ------------------------- (you ol smoothy, ..eesh - Ed) Go Away Ed. WTF kind of world are we livin in when there's No Vagina for Michaels? Look Mary, as the founder of "The Michael Continuum" I would like to register this official complaint: *punch Ed in the face* and I'd like to eruditely state this: "This town needs an enema.," *pause* "only lower down then up a bit" "yes, right there, oo that's a nice one baby" v-*lower blind* (insert the sounds of seduction: you know, hammering, chain-sawing, Benny Hill chase music, an aardvark screaming, penguins dancing and birds moo'ing) ^-*raise-blind* So, *puff on Mr. Bubble pipe* what are you thinking? I'll tell you wot I'm thinkin Mary, I'm thinkin I have an IQ of 169 (allegedly, you know according to one of those online IQ surveys which are about as reliable as Commissioner Gordon's Joker-apprehension-squad junior-police-force anti-skidmark underwear -Ed) you'll pay for that later Ed *drop anvil on Ed's foot* (OW MOTHERF*CK - Ed) I lied about the Later part Ed. AND YET despite my having an IQ (allegedly - Ed) higher than Einstein's, after this clarification, I STILL don't 'ave a clearer freakin bloody clue wot all this is about. You know beyond my initial expostulate, which as near as I can tell has been _both_ simultaneously confirmed and denied. But I do love your style Mary. And of course, in particular, your virgin vagina. --michaelXmaelstrom.
DreamWorks Grabs Rights for SHELL Manga - Apr 16, 2008 - 11:00pm
AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah you tell em Kaybar! no wait. that was about moi. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) OK, I really can't take issue with that because that is precisely Why I require paragraphing und spacing control. Take note Maniacs! If I 'ave to storm the Cine/Mania bastille again to get paragraphing back I bloody well will! and this time I have my trusty horse Camilla (Parker Bowles - Ed) prepped and my bathrobe ironed and ready to go.
AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA yeah you tell em Kaybar! no wait. that was about moi. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) OK, I really can't take issue with that because that is precisely Why I require paragraphing und spacing control. Take note Maniacs! If I 'ave to storm the Cine/Mania bastille again to get paragraphing back I bloody well will! and this time I have my trusty horse Camilla (Parker Bowles - Ed) prepped and my bathrobe ironed and ready to go.
DreamWorks Grabs Rights for SHELL Manga - Apr 15, 2008 - 10:29pm
RELAAAAPSE! Yeah, I seem to remember this bloody NON-paragraph'ing from much earlier along Cine/Mania's temporal axis, possibly as far back as Cinescape, if not then the very first Mania. For the often or even occasionally verbose Maniacs amongst us, we _need_ control over comment spacing/layout aesthetics, and IIRC it took for-bloody-ever before Paragraphing was implemented into the comments here at Cine/Mania! I hope this isn't going to be a repeat of that, it drove me quite batty.
RELAAAAPSE! Yeah, I seem to remember this bloody NON-paragraph'ing from much earlier along Cine/Mania's temporal axis, possibly as far back as Cinescape, if not then the very first Mania. For the often or even occasionally verbose Maniacs amongst us, we _need_ control over comment spacing/layout aesthetics, and IIRC it took for-bloody-ever before Paragraphing was implemented into the comments here at Cine/Mania! I hope this isn't going to be a repeat of that, it drove me quite batty.
New Poster for Norton's HULK - Apr 15, 2008 - 03:23pm
I'd just say to give it a chance Nrollins. I'm in the minority I think, I don't prefer the "look" of the new design to the last one, but I'm lovin the "effect" the new design has. Uh I'd explain but there's a lot of math I don't quite get involved. :) I tried to explain my POV in the Dreamworks Ghost in the Shell acquisition news article feedback section. (Chip doesn't have comment'ability turned on for his new-design blog post, so like most of the rest of the maniacs, I'm dropping my comments 'ere and there, to and fro, appended to other article's comment sections, no doubt completely inappropriately, because, well, look, it's not like Mania can claim they didn't expect us to behave like lunatiks, this is a freakin Asylum! so shoot me too if necessary, I'm good for it!) The Hulk poster is snarfy, the casting in the first Hulk left me cold, and Norton is a fave, so this poster is workin the mojo for me. Also is it just moi or can you not hear the melancholic "da na na na" music ringing in the background, just lookin at it? michael maelstrom
I'd just say to give it a chance Nrollins. I'm in the minority I think, I don't prefer the "look" of the new design to the last one, but I'm lovin the "effect" the new design has. Uh I'd explain but there's a lot of math I don't quite get involved. :) I tried to explain my POV in the Dreamworks Ghost in the Shell acquisition news article feedback section. (Chip doesn't have comment'ability turned on for his new-design blog post, so like most of the rest of the maniacs, I'm dropping my comments 'ere and there, to and fro, appended to other article's comment sections, no doubt completely inappropriately, because, well, look, it's not like Mania can claim they didn't expect us to behave like lunatiks, this is a freakin Asylum! so shoot me too if necessary, I'm good for it!) The Hulk poster is snarfy, the casting in the first Hulk left me cold, and Norton is a fave, so this poster is workin the mojo for me. Also is it just moi or can you not hear the melancholic "da na na na" music ringing in the background, just lookin at it? michael maelstrom
DreamWorks Grabs Rights for SHELL Manga - Apr 15, 2008 - 02:52pm
I love Ghost in the Shell, the first movie is up there with Blade Runner in my personal genre lexicon, and as far as I'm concerned Stand Alone Complex is one of the most neurochemically satisfying anime TV series (you know minus the Tachikoma kiddie crap) ever produced, or at least shown on western TV, but uh wtf do they mean by "3D Live Action" here? You know, specifically. VR? CG tracing? photo-realistic texture mapping? Norman Co-Ordinate. mXm --- New Mania Design Feedback: Chip's blog (und for that matter all blog entries) don't have comment'ability turned on, so I'll drop my opine in 'ere, too. 'natch, it's impossible to know the long-term effects of any new design, because you don't know what influence it has on you until the effect has had an opportunity to kick in and warp your fragile little mind, but at first head-tilting side-glance.. ..after an initial misfire.. (during which he stabbed his monitor in the head when Mania crashed IE, and refused to let him log in for more than a minute with Firefox -Ed) *cough* yes., following having my clown posse nick me a new less stabby monitor, I have to admit I'm slowly diggin the new mania. Preliminary Effect: Oddly if pressed I would say I liked the previous design-aesthetic better, it was cleaner, yet it's noticeable that I find myself checking out the new site and reading _more_ articles and ultimately am enjoying the visit here _more_ than I did with the previous design. (norman co-ordinate - Ed) It seems contradictory but it's probably because previously, the design was so clean, there was little need to go exploring off the front page, where as now, it feels a bit more subterranean and layered and consequently I find myself digging down into the bowels of mania/you know into the non front page crap and otherwise exploring and reading more articles. I prefer labyrinthine environments tho. Always have. (however, keep in mind, he's insane - Ed) Anyway, long term effects require longer periods of time to pass before (this - Ed) one can REALLY know whether (this - Ed) one likes a given design or not, so preliminary opine heretountofor profferred let me just say, KEEP UP THE STRANGE WORK! or something. michael maesltrom.
I love Ghost in the Shell, the first movie is up there with Blade Runner in my personal genre lexicon, and as far as I'm concerned Stand Alone Complex is one of the most neurochemically satisfying anime TV series (you know minus the Tachikoma kiddie crap) ever produced, or at least shown on western TV, but uh wtf do they mean by "3D Live Action" here? You know, specifically. VR? CG tracing? photo-realistic texture mapping? Norman Co-Ordinate. mXm --- New Mania Design Feedback: Chip's blog (und for that matter all blog entries) don't have comment'ability turned on, so I'll drop my opine in 'ere, too. 'natch, it's impossible to know the long-term effects of any new design, because you don't know what influence it has on you until the effect has had an opportunity to kick in and warp your fragile little mind, but at first head-tilting side-glance.. ..after an initial misfire.. (during which he stabbed his monitor in the head when Mania crashed IE, and refused to let him log in for more than a minute with Firefox -Ed) *cough* yes., following having my clown posse nick me a new less stabby monitor, I have to admit I'm slowly diggin the new mania. Preliminary Effect: Oddly if pressed I would say I liked the previous design-aesthetic better, it was cleaner, yet it's noticeable that I find myself checking out the new site and reading _more_ articles and ultimately am enjoying the visit here _more_ than I did with the previous design. (norman co-ordinate - Ed) It seems contradictory but it's probably because previously, the design was so clean, there was little need to go exploring off the front page, where as now, it feels a bit more subterranean and layered and consequently I find myself digging down into the bowels of mania/you know into the non front page crap and otherwise exploring and reading more articles. I prefer labyrinthine environments tho. Always have. (however, keep in mind, he's insane - Ed) Anyway, long term effects require longer periods of time to pass before (this - Ed) one can REALLY know whether (this - Ed) one likes a given design or not, so preliminary opine heretountofor profferred let me just say, KEEP UP THE STRANGE WORK! or something. michael maesltrom.
Celestial Agriculture - Apr 07, 2008 - 01:53pm
Post Script. 'aye, as far as I know the Maranatha contest is still going on with the $1,000,000 prize unclaimed and/or ungranted. However the whole thing looks a bit dodgy and/or un-nerving to moi. One of the 2 main Maranatha web pages is now missing (the UK version IIRC) and it's difficult to get straight info on prize-claims from the re(main)ing website. Still, if I had the time or the inclination and most importantly SOME VERIFICATION that this 23.5 column had something to do with the or any contest, I'd be more inclined to develop the inclination and find the time to play. As I'm sure others might too. It's the lack of framing here for the 23.5 column that makes it unclear what all of her contents relate to. (And gives rise to crazy theories like Maelstrom's - Ed) aye, guessed 23.5 might relate to the Maranatha prize because I noticed it features prominently in the Mania 23.5 msg forum. In any case, party on. mXm
Post Script. 'aye, as far as I know the Maranatha contest is still going on with the $1,000,000 prize unclaimed and/or ungranted. However the whole thing looks a bit dodgy and/or un-nerving to moi. One of the 2 main Maranatha web pages is now missing (the UK version IIRC) and it's difficult to get straight info on prize-claims from the re(main)ing website. Still, if I had the time or the inclination and most importantly SOME VERIFICATION that this 23.5 column had something to do with the or any contest, I'd be more inclined to develop the inclination and find the time to play. As I'm sure others might too. It's the lack of framing here for the 23.5 column that makes it unclear what all of her contents relate to. (And gives rise to crazy theories like Maelstrom's - Ed) aye, guessed 23.5 might relate to the Maranatha prize because I noticed it features prominently in the Mania 23.5 msg forum. In any case, party on. mXm
Celestial Agriculture - Apr 05, 2008 - 09:30am
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) I may 'ave been on to something last 23.5 installment. (but we doubt it. - Ed) Piss off Ed. Stella certainly does seem to be doing a good job of implying/feeding into my expostulate that this DOES having something to do with the Maranatha Prize. I don't have the Maranatha book, but if I did, I'd now be looking at the book for plot points/co-ordinates to graph onto a map of the local galaxy/stars. This "Celestial Agriculture" text here seems to be implying (in title and content) that certain religious locations (temples/churches on earth) line up with celestial bodies, yes? so, *scribble* *scribble* erase carry the 42 .. *tap mic* Here Ye, Hear Ye! Hunh-Hunh-Hem. *tug down on purple shirt* *punch Ed in the nose* This'd be my first working Maranatha solution theory: so without further adieu or ado even.. MICHAEL MAELSTROM'S AMAZING MARANATHA PRIZE..Mmm.. (*snap finger* uh quick Ed, you're allegedly my EDitor, give me another word that begins with M?) (..Malarchy - Ed) *WHAM* It'll 'ave to do. 1. find co-ordinates in the book, by taking note of religious locales mentioned in the book. 2. Graph those co-ordinates onto a celestial map. (question: where is the rosetta stone for Earth2Space co-ordinate graph alignment? -Ed) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) must be in the book, since at cursory glance I noted that it claims that all the clues necessary to solve the puzzle can be found in the first book. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) yes, that would also explain the co-ordinates added at the end of these installments too. They'd be evidence of the technique at play at any rate. Finally I would take the photo linked to in this installment (above) as a hint to look for the geographic location of "the-secret" on Earth by finding the central spot on the co-ordinates derived from the book. (In other words, by utilizing 3 dimensional triangulation as implied in the photo? - Ed) Precisely Ed. You get a cookie. (no thank*cough* *extract cookie from throat* I don't think they're meant to go in sideways Maelstrom. Plus don't you know I'm hyperglycemic? Ooo double stuff Orio's, yum! *munch* - Ed) Yes. Anyway, it's unlikely for this to be the entirety of what's involved in solving the or any million dollar prize puzzle, but if there's anything in this, I expect my cut. Say 66,666 dollars from anyone that uses my solve theory here to claim the Maranatha prize. or I'll find you. oh I will. I most certainly will. And you will scream when I do. oh you will. you most certainly will. (OKAY then, um where are the Maniac Asylum guards when you need em? also oo, payin for that cookie now, could someone call me an ambulance? - Ed) Okay Ed, you're an Ambulance. [Pathud -Ed] You may groan now. Lord knows I do whenever possible. AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA michael maelstrom
Hmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) I may 'ave been on to something last 23.5 installment. (but we doubt it. - Ed) Piss off Ed. Stella certainly does seem to be doing a good job of implying/feeding into my expostulate that this DOES having something to do with the Maranatha Prize. I don't have the Maranatha book, but if I did, I'd now be looking at the book for plot points/co-ordinates to graph onto a map of the local galaxy/stars. This "Celestial Agriculture" text here seems to be implying (in title and content) that certain religious locations (temples/churches on earth) line up with celestial bodies, yes? so, *scribble* *scribble* erase carry the 42 .. *tap mic* Here Ye, Hear Ye! Hunh-Hunh-Hem. *tug down on purple shirt* *punch Ed in the nose* This'd be my first working Maranatha solution theory: so without further adieu or ado even.. MICHAEL MAELSTROM'S AMAZING MARANATHA PRIZE..Mmm.. (*snap finger* uh quick Ed, you're allegedly my EDitor, give me another word that begins with M?) (..Malarchy - Ed) *WHAM* It'll 'ave to do. 1. find co-ordinates in the book, by taking note of religious locales mentioned in the book. 2. Graph those co-ordinates onto a celestial map. (question: where is the rosetta stone for Earth2Space co-ordinate graph alignment? -Ed) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) must be in the book, since at cursory glance I noted that it claims that all the clues necessary to solve the puzzle can be found in the first book. Hmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) yes, that would also explain the co-ordinates added at the end of these installments too. They'd be evidence of the technique at play at any rate. Finally I would take the photo linked to in this installment (above) as a hint to look for the geographic location of "the-secret" on Earth by finding the central spot on the co-ordinates derived from the book. (In other words, by utilizing 3 dimensional triangulation as implied in the photo? - Ed) Precisely Ed. You get a cookie. (no thank*cough* *extract cookie from throat* I don't think they're meant to go in sideways Maelstrom. Plus don't you know I'm hyperglycemic? Ooo double stuff Orio's, yum! *munch* - Ed) Yes. Anyway, it's unlikely for this to be the entirety of what's involved in solving the or any million dollar prize puzzle, but if there's anything in this, I expect my cut. Say 66,666 dollars from anyone that uses my solve theory here to claim the Maranatha prize. or I'll find you. oh I will. I most certainly will. And you will scream when I do. oh you will. you most certainly will. (OKAY then, um where are the Maniac Asylum guards when you need em? also oo, payin for that cookie now, could someone call me an ambulance? - Ed) Okay Ed, you're an Ambulance. [Pathud -Ed] You may groan now. Lord knows I do whenever possible. AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA michael maelstrom
Interlude: Eggsistential - Apr 02, 2008 - 12:21am
Ah Finally, some Maranatha info, jolly good. *scribble* *scribble* *erase* carry the 42 .. *pause contemplatively* Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn(n) *scribble* *scribble* *pause slightly less contemplatively* Hmmmmmmmmmmm(n) *snap pencil in two* *punch Ed in the nose* Look 'ere Stella, I've planned heists (mostly banks and government contracts - Ed) that raked in more money than the piddling Million Dollars these Maranatha Prize twonks are offering! This is too freakin 'ard! Ed, new pencil please. extra leaded. B. (oh ok *toss* - Ed) *snap pencil again* *pause* *toss vase to ground* Besides, did you see the 41 step solution to David Blaine's puzzle prize? Shitcock that guy re-defines annoying across multiple mediums now. Also makes a good legal case for justifiable homicide. Damned if I'm going through all those hoops just for a million Maranatha bucks. and the right to release "the secret" to the world. Besides, why do I have a feeling that "the Maranatha secret" is in some way going to be a large steaming golden-shower over Christianity or some other world religion type affair? I figured out what the Maranatha secret was in the first 5 minutes of scanning. But I'm NOT releasing it or claiming the prize. Would you take a million bucks to be the world's Judas to some religion? I certainly wouldn't. You gotta draw a line someplace. I make my money the normal way, I steal it outright. But I totally dig your narrative here. I particularly like the central antagonist. All villains initials should be MM. regards, michael maelstrom. P.S: so, when's the girl with the exploding car coming back? I liked her. Do you have a photo? P.P.S: Yes, this was a convoluted way of saying I found the 23.5 Forum here at Mania and have a bit of a better idea what's going on. P.P.P.S: Yes, I realize that this probably doesn't have anything to do with the Maranatha Prize, but let's face it, there is not much point in having any sort of linear conversation 'ere, because no one here is sane. Certainly not you, your druids *bow*, Slamshut *wave*, Mnemosyne ("Hi there your loveliness") or moi *punch Ed in the nose*. So, you know, Greetings. P.P.P.P.S can someone validate my parking? mXm
Ah Finally, some Maranatha info, jolly good. *scribble* *scribble* *erase* carry the 42 .. *pause contemplatively* Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmn(n) *scribble* *scribble* *pause slightly less contemplatively* Hmmmmmmmmmmm(n) *snap pencil in two* *punch Ed in the nose* Look 'ere Stella, I've planned heists (mostly banks and government contracts - Ed) that raked in more money than the piddling Million Dollars these Maranatha Prize twonks are offering! This is too freakin 'ard! Ed, new pencil please. extra leaded. B. (oh ok *toss* - Ed) *snap pencil again* *pause* *toss vase to ground* Besides, did you see the 41 step solution to David Blaine's puzzle prize? Shitcock that guy re-defines annoying across multiple mediums now. Also makes a good legal case for justifiable homicide. Damned if I'm going through all those hoops just for a million Maranatha bucks. and the right to release "the secret" to the world. Besides, why do I have a feeling that "the Maranatha secret" is in some way going to be a large steaming golden-shower over Christianity or some other world religion type affair? I figured out what the Maranatha secret was in the first 5 minutes of scanning. But I'm NOT releasing it or claiming the prize. Would you take a million bucks to be the world's Judas to some religion? I certainly wouldn't. You gotta draw a line someplace. I make my money the normal way, I steal it outright. But I totally dig your narrative here. I particularly like the central antagonist. All villains initials should be MM. regards, michael maelstrom. P.S: so, when's the girl with the exploding car coming back? I liked her. Do you have a photo? P.P.S: Yes, this was a convoluted way of saying I found the 23.5 Forum here at Mania and have a bit of a better idea what's going on. P.P.P.S: Yes, I realize that this probably doesn't have anything to do with the Maranatha Prize, but let's face it, there is not much point in having any sort of linear conversation 'ere, because no one here is sane. Certainly not you, your druids *bow*, Slamshut *wave*, Mnemosyne ("Hi there your loveliness") or moi *punch Ed in the nose*. So, you know, Greetings. P.P.P.P.S can someone validate my parking? mXm
Anime Myths - Apr 01, 2008 - 10:47pm
I have no idea how I wound up here today but being insane has its benefits one of which is that you stop worrying about things like why you're in the middle of Times Square, riding a unicorn in your bathrobe. Anyway, Good article. Enjoyable; informed; informative, consequently BANGed. (for newbies, welcome! see that BANG at the top of the page? that's your power button, it's there for us to HIT, on articles that we enjoy or want to see more of, it lets the author (and the rest of the site) know what we like, so ostensibly, eventually, the more we bang, the more we let em know what we like, the more we get more of what we like. So, you know, Use The Power of Teh Bang! (protective latex trojan Bang Button sheaths will be supplied free of charge, for anyone concerned - Ed) Ah frag that Ed, I'm a Bareback Banger all the way baby! (ew, so ew - Ed) Anyway, waiting to find out what they've settled on calling non-Japanese produced manga and anime. Is it still OEL? (Original English Language) And because I'm like all Americans (who when asked for a map of the world, immediately produce a map of the U.S -Ed) I'd like to nominate "Americanimeation" as my entry for original non-Japanese-produced anime. Sure, it's a misnomer, that's even worse than OEL, but it should really piss off the French, and that has its merits. AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh do excuse me. Good article Oxford. michael X. maelstrom
I have no idea how I wound up here today but being insane has its benefits one of which is that you stop worrying about things like why you're in the middle of Times Square, riding a unicorn in your bathrobe. Anyway, Good article. Enjoyable; informed; informative, consequently BANGed. (for newbies, welcome! see that BANG at the top of the page? that's your power button, it's there for us to HIT, on articles that we enjoy or want to see more of, it lets the author (and the rest of the site) know what we like, so ostensibly, eventually, the more we bang, the more we let em know what we like, the more we get more of what we like. So, you know, Use The Power of Teh Bang! (protective latex trojan Bang Button sheaths will be supplied free of charge, for anyone concerned - Ed) Ah frag that Ed, I'm a Bareback Banger all the way baby! (ew, so ew - Ed) Anyway, waiting to find out what they've settled on calling non-Japanese produced manga and anime. Is it still OEL? (Original English Language) And because I'm like all Americans (who when asked for a map of the world, immediately produce a map of the U.S -Ed) I'd like to nominate "Americanimeation" as my entry for original non-Japanese-produced anime. Sure, it's a misnomer, that's even worse than OEL, but it should really piss off the French, and that has its merits. AAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA oh do excuse me. Good article Oxford. michael X. maelstrom
RETURN OF THE SWAMP THING - Mar 30, 2008 - 01:30pm
I heart Swampy, can Toxic Avenger reviews be far behind? ^Raise-Eyebrow. Also banged for inspiring/adding an entirely new form of laugh to my Jokertoire., the one that spontaneously occurred when I read, "There will be a Criterion Collection DVD of Swamp Thing" It was a strange sort of giddy-stunned-paused-disbelief-doubletake-re-read-muaha laugh. I think I'm going to call it "The Trate" in honor of Rob. AAAAHEEEEEHEEEEEHEHWAAAAAAH?MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yeah, anyway, 'bout time we had a B-genre-film reviewer here that isn't ashamed to admit it and is willing to back it up with COMMENSURATE (to reviewer enjoyment levels) review-grades. I'd give it a B but F'in A for giving it an A. mXm
I heart Swampy, can Toxic Avenger reviews be far behind? ^Raise-Eyebrow. Also banged for inspiring/adding an entirely new form of laugh to my Jokertoire., the one that spontaneously occurred when I read, "There will be a Criterion Collection DVD of Swamp Thing" It was a strange sort of giddy-stunned-paused-disbelief-doubletake-re-read-muaha laugh. I think I'm going to call it "The Trate" in honor of Rob. AAAAHEEEEEHEEEEEHEHWAAAAAAH?MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Yeah, anyway, 'bout time we had a B-genre-film reviewer here that isn't ashamed to admit it and is willing to back it up with COMMENSURATE (to reviewer enjoyment levels) review-grades. I'd give it a B but F'in A for giving it an A. mXm
Top SF Awards - Mar 25, 2008 - 03:26pm
AAHAHAHA Thanks Kaybar, *pause* I think. Still the master of the backdoor (that's backhanded - Ed) if you say so Ed, the backdoor compliment, I see Kay. But like you, there's only 1 Stella! I dig Stella, I have no bloody idea why or what the fuck s/he is on about half the time, but I'm clinically insane, and in any case, I dig Stella's style. That or I dig intelligent hyper-paranoid femmes, largely because 8 times out of 2, they're glorious freakozoids in the sack, trampoline and harness. (Allegedly - Ed) mXm
AAHAHAHA Thanks Kaybar, *pause* I think. Still the master of the backdoor (that's backhanded - Ed) if you say so Ed, the backdoor compliment, I see Kay. But like you, there's only 1 Stella! I dig Stella, I have no bloody idea why or what the fuck s/he is on about half the time, but I'm clinically insane, and in any case, I dig Stella's style. That or I dig intelligent hyper-paranoid femmes, largely because 8 times out of 2, they're glorious freakozoids in the sack, trampoline and harness. (Allegedly - Ed) mXm
Top SF Awards - Mar 25, 2008 - 02:14am
/and BEGIN Excerpt from "From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust. A geometry of shadows—onyx curves, lines, and planes—congealed in front of me, composing themselves into the finned sleekness of a shining 1955 Ford Fairlane. X-Man and his elder jumped inside, rocketing down the cracked and splintered highway. Meanwhile, Brotherfly wrapped his arms and legs around Power Grrrl to fly her away, scraping the ground occasionally with her legs from bearing the additional weight. Clicking forward several miles, I found Iron Lass and Omnipotent Man swirling like chaff in a dust devil, desperately dodging deathbeams from the sinister spokes of the Cyclo-Tron. The wheel’s blinding neon rays slashed mile-long smoking scars into the badlands, the rubble reeking of sulfur. Omnipotent Man was virtually invulnerable, but Iron Lass lacked the protection of her impregnable wings while airborne, and was ignitable as a chicken breast marinated in ethanol. After witnessing Cyclo-Tron nearly incinerate the Brotherfly and Power Grrrl, Iron Lass swooped down to where they were flying mere inches above the badlands floor of cactus and purple sage. “Get her out uff here, you verdammt ik-noramus!” she yelled. “Like, we have every right to be here?” shouted Power Grrrl, clinging to the Brotherfly’s midsection like a baby possum to its mother’s belly. Even while furious, she intoned her statements like questions, as if expressing uncertainty or seeking the permission of some unknown agency. “You cannot do any goot here, Broderfly!” yelled Iron Lass. “Get aheadt to Los Ditkos—get ze civilians out of ze way!” “But damn, Lass,” said the Brotherfly, “you c’n fly faster than I can, specially with this lil girly-girl weighin me down!” “Omnipotent Man unt I vill slow Cyclo-Tron down—now you get her out uff here!” Off flew the two youngest members, and Iron Lass shouted to her partner to follow her lead. Zooming miles ahead on the highway and then hovering low, she swung her black longsword Darkalfheimsdottir toward the road. Muspells-fire belched from her blade, turning a hundred-yard stretch into a hundred-foot-deep flaming crater. Streaking back another mile, the valorous Valkyrie dragged her white Grendelsmuter shortsword with her, the entire distance crackling into ice in her wake. “Vally, rip it up!” Sweeping low like a stealth bomber, Omnipotent Man dug his arms beneath the skin of the road, ripping it into the air like grass clippings. Cyclo-Tron rolled right through their speed bump, slowing slighty but not stopping. Iron Lass: “Odin damn it!” Omnipotent Man: “Hnossi, I unnerstand y’upset, but there’s never any need for that kinda language, even if y’are invokin’ your heathenish blasphemy again—” “Vally, for ze love of fuckink Loki, just do sumsing!” “Roger that, Iron Lass, ma’am,” he said, streaking off. /END excerpt from "From The Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust/ Begin Opine (mine) (no really? - Ed) *pause* AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So let's see. Hilariously Self-Centric Megalomaniacal Superheroes. Check. Outrageous Supervillains. Check. Author is insane and actually writes novels and signs them under the name "Minister Faust". And., apparently on closer examination the book is actually a loosely veiled commentary on the absurdity of existence and the lunacy of the mental health-speak professionals. Plus a PKD nom nod for (From The - Ed) Notebooks of Dr. Brain? *pause* there may be hope for the sorry assed human species yet. (but he doubts it - Ed) but I doubt ih ..*tap foot* *WHAM* (ow - Ed) I hate it when he does that. Michael X. Maelstrom.
/and BEGIN Excerpt from "From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust. A geometry of shadows—onyx curves, lines, and planes—congealed in front of me, composing themselves into the finned sleekness of a shining 1955 Ford Fairlane. X-Man and his elder jumped inside, rocketing down the cracked and splintered highway. Meanwhile, Brotherfly wrapped his arms and legs around Power Grrrl to fly her away, scraping the ground occasionally with her legs from bearing the additional weight. Clicking forward several miles, I found Iron Lass and Omnipotent Man swirling like chaff in a dust devil, desperately dodging deathbeams from the sinister spokes of the Cyclo-Tron. The wheel’s blinding neon rays slashed mile-long smoking scars into the badlands, the rubble reeking of sulfur. Omnipotent Man was virtually invulnerable, but Iron Lass lacked the protection of her impregnable wings while airborne, and was ignitable as a chicken breast marinated in ethanol. After witnessing Cyclo-Tron nearly incinerate the Brotherfly and Power Grrrl, Iron Lass swooped down to where they were flying mere inches above the badlands floor of cactus and purple sage. “Get her out uff here, you verdammt ik-noramus!” she yelled. “Like, we have every right to be here?” shouted Power Grrrl, clinging to the Brotherfly’s midsection like a baby possum to its mother’s belly. Even while furious, she intoned her statements like questions, as if expressing uncertainty or seeking the permission of some unknown agency. “You cannot do any goot here, Broderfly!” yelled Iron Lass. “Get aheadt to Los Ditkos—get ze civilians out of ze way!” “But damn, Lass,” said the Brotherfly, “you c’n fly faster than I can, specially with this lil girly-girl weighin me down!” “Omnipotent Man unt I vill slow Cyclo-Tron down—now you get her out uff here!” Off flew the two youngest members, and Iron Lass shouted to her partner to follow her lead. Zooming miles ahead on the highway and then hovering low, she swung her black longsword Darkalfheimsdottir toward the road. Muspells-fire belched from her blade, turning a hundred-yard stretch into a hundred-foot-deep flaming crater. Streaking back another mile, the valorous Valkyrie dragged her white Grendelsmuter shortsword with her, the entire distance crackling into ice in her wake. “Vally, rip it up!” Sweeping low like a stealth bomber, Omnipotent Man dug his arms beneath the skin of the road, ripping it into the air like grass clippings. Cyclo-Tron rolled right through their speed bump, slowing slighty but not stopping. Iron Lass: “Odin damn it!” Omnipotent Man: “Hnossi, I unnerstand y’upset, but there’s never any need for that kinda language, even if y’are invokin’ your heathenish blasphemy again—” “Vally, for ze love of fuckink Loki, just do sumsing!” “Roger that, Iron Lass, ma’am,” he said, streaking off. /END excerpt from "From The Notebooks of Dr. Brain" by Minister Faust/ Begin Opine (mine) (no really? - Ed) *pause* AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. So let's see. Hilariously Self-Centric Megalomaniacal Superheroes. Check. Outrageous Supervillains. Check. Author is insane and actually writes novels and signs them under the name "Minister Faust". And., apparently on closer examination the book is actually a loosely veiled commentary on the absurdity of existence and the lunacy of the mental health-speak professionals. Plus a PKD nom nod for (From The - Ed) Notebooks of Dr. Brain? *pause* there may be hope for the sorry assed human species yet. (but he doubts it - Ed) but I doubt ih ..*tap foot* *WHAM* (ow - Ed) I hate it when he does that. Michael X. Maelstrom.
Show Your Expertise in Mania Properties! - Mar 24, 2008 - 11:49pm
Greets Chip, Mania changes lookin good. Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for but I'd be interested in heading up an GenreFanFilms section at Mania. You know, a focus on fan made amateur genre films or shorts, by up'n'coming or student/amateur Directors. The caveat emptor for Mania is that I wouldn't expect it to get trafficked anywhere near en par with mania major motion picture property pages, because, well obviously, there's no global multi-billion-dollar advertising industry (repeatedly -Ed) getting the word out about amateur and student directed films, so if that's not a deep concern and Mania is willing to give the small-fry a shot, then count me in for a Student GenreFanFilms section spin. Michael X. Maelstrom.
Greets Chip, Mania changes lookin good. Not sure if this is the sort of thing you're looking for but I'd be interested in heading up an GenreFanFilms section at Mania. You know, a focus on fan made amateur genre films or shorts, by up'n'coming or student/amateur Directors. The caveat emptor for Mania is that I wouldn't expect it to get trafficked anywhere near en par with mania major motion picture property pages, because, well obviously, there's no global multi-billion-dollar advertising industry (repeatedly -Ed) getting the word out about amateur and student directed films, so if that's not a deep concern and Mania is willing to give the small-fry a shot, then count me in for a Student GenreFanFilms section spin. Michael X. Maelstrom.
Paramount Prepping New HEAVY METAL - Mar 15, 2008 - 10:04pm
Thanx Wood, right back atcha 'mate. I think the first HM was in a league of its own. Can't really comment on the second, rented it twice, fell asleep twice and wound up returning it both times unseen. It's not the only film that's happened to, so not sure if it's a comment on the movie or on my sleeping habits at the time. Until I actually see the whole thing I'll have to defer to others view of HM2. mXm
Thanx Wood, right back atcha 'mate. I think the first HM was in a league of its own. Can't really comment on the second, rented it twice, fell asleep twice and wound up returning it both times unseen. It's not the only film that's happened to, so not sure if it's a comment on the movie or on my sleeping habits at the time. Until I actually see the whole thing I'll have to defer to others view of HM2. mXm
Paramount Prepping New HEAVY METAL - Mar 15, 2008 - 12:59am
Interesting, recently noticed HM magazine was on the racks at the local video store for the first time in *scribble* *scribble* *erase* carry the 12 .. eons. Nominally, I only ever find it at a multi-mags, low profile, a single copy, dog-eared and consequently unpurchasable, it hasn't been "mainstream" around here in an uh ..parsec. (totally inappropriate star wars misnomer joke - Ed) Yes, thank you Ed. Shoulda smelled something was cookin when it was let out of the cathouse and given prime real estate on the racks at Blockbuster a couple of weeks ago. (yeah, I still go to blockbuster, you wanna make something of it!) Excellent news. The zine is solid, but a caveat to the release story above for the unawares or those lookin to impress their cohorts when the movie comes out: HM: The movie was based on HM: The U.S magazine yes, but that was in turn culled directly from the pages the original magazine nomened: Metal Hurlant (france) which as you have no doubt guessed translates to "Heavy Metal" in English. The artists and writers in her pages virtually ALL became major influences on SF here in the Americas (H.R Giger, Bilal, Giraud (aka Moebius -Ed) Liberatore, Druillet, Lindall and on) so it's about freakin time Hollywood gave HM some respect. I collect old copies of HM (and other zines) whenever I can at UBS's.. (on that note, Starlog's warehouse burned down awhile ago, so those old copies of Starlog and Fangoria are bloody gold, the original publishers don't have [many -Ed] back copies left, at least not many that don't reak of fire and water) That's an informational aside for collectors as yet unawares of the horror story, doesn't apply to old HM issues AFAIK. Anyway, not only was the HM art great and the stories compelling, but Lou Stathis wrote some of the best stylistically writ music reviews. Smoke back issues if you can get em, the late 70's/early 80's issues of HM are my faves, real temporal period pieces with great art stories, video game reviews, music reviews and interviews with SF grandmasters. A really well rounded zine. I find. I think a case could be made that HM was inversely effected by the rise of anime, that is as anime (or japanimation as it was then called) rose, HM seemed to suffer, so it should be interesting to see if HM can pull off a comeback. Why not, we don't have to be total whores to foreign anime (I love the stuff too, and if you ask me, anime, at least one major branch of the successful tech brand of it, owes alot to America's William Gibson) ..my point being, good animation and competent story-telling shouldn't have to have a particular stylistic presentation to be successful. HOWEVER, if I were a betting man, I wouldn't want to play those odds, the mainstream are a fickle audience, and currently anime is popular, word to the obviously-scouring-mania-for-idea movie-exec wise: might be a good idea to include some cross-cultural/anime artists in HM. (or alternatively, we better start a pre-release campaign now: support HM, support American! - Ed) Yeah Ed, or Euro-American anyway. There's room for all, in my world, but I'm insane. Bring HM on! Post Script: new HM, a FINCHER project? the odds just went up, in my book. Say what you will of his post Fight Club career, but imo, some of his movies are let's say "ocassionally uneven" but I find them virtually all -visually- stunning. Panic Room was an obvious "one for the studio one for me" slash one for the studio movie for example, but that opening scene, widescreen in the theatres, was impressively hitchcockian. Anyway, Great pairing. This one is going on my things-to-look-appreciably-increasingly-forward to list. (hmm,, I think you might have actually pulled off a somewhat sane or at least less homicidally insane than your usual insane type of insanity., for the first time in an insanely long, marginally coherent insane time - Ed) 2 points Ed. 1. could you possibly shove the word insane in there one more time. 2. I wouldn't worry Ed, it won't last. It never does. (and your 3rd 2nd point, with you there's always a 3rd point on a 2 point list - Ed) You know me well Ed. The 3rd point is of course, ^Raise-Baseball-Bat *WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM**WHAM**WHAM* but apparently not well enough to know better than to ask. AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (-- *point left* ... *jog right* --) mXm
Interesting, recently noticed HM magazine was on the racks at the local video store for the first time in *scribble* *scribble* *erase* carry the 12 .. eons. Nominally, I only ever find it at a multi-mags, low profile, a single copy, dog-eared and consequently unpurchasable, it hasn't been "mainstream" around here in an uh ..parsec. (totally inappropriate star wars misnomer joke - Ed) Yes, thank you Ed. Shoulda smelled something was cookin when it was let out of the cathouse and given prime real estate on the racks at Blockbuster a couple of weeks ago. (yeah, I still go to blockbuster, you wanna make something of it!) Excellent news. The zine is solid, but a caveat to the release story above for the unawares or those lookin to impress their cohorts when the movie comes out: HM: The movie was based on HM: The U.S magazine yes, but that was in turn culled directly from the pages the original magazine nomened: Metal Hurlant (france) which as you have no doubt guessed translates to "Heavy Metal" in English. The artists and writers in her pages virtually ALL became major influences on SF here in the Americas (H.R Giger, Bilal, Giraud (aka Moebius -Ed) Liberatore, Druillet, Lindall and on) so it's about freakin time Hollywood gave HM some respect. I collect old copies of HM (and other zines) whenever I can at UBS's.. (on that note, Starlog's warehouse burned down awhile ago, so those old copies of Starlog and Fangoria are bloody gold, the original publishers don't have [many -Ed] back copies left, at least not many that don't reak of fire and water) That's an informational aside for collectors as yet unawares of the horror story, doesn't apply to old HM issues AFAIK. Anyway, not only was the HM art great and the stories compelling, but Lou Stathis wrote some of the best stylistically writ music reviews. Smoke back issues if you can get em, the late 70's/early 80's issues of HM are my faves, real temporal period pieces with great art stories, video game reviews, music reviews and interviews with SF grandmasters. A really well rounded zine. I find. I think a case could be made that HM was inversely effected by the rise of anime, that is as anime (or japanimation as it was then called) rose, HM seemed to suffer, so it should be interesting to see if HM can pull off a comeback. Why not, we don't have to be total whores to foreign anime (I love the stuff too, and if you ask me, anime, at least one major branch of the successful tech brand of it, owes alot to America's William Gibson) ..my point being, good animation and competent story-telling shouldn't have to have a particular stylistic presentation to be successful. HOWEVER, if I were a betting man, I wouldn't want to play those odds, the mainstream are a fickle audience, and currently anime is popular, word to the obviously-scouring-mania-for-idea movie-exec wise: might be a good idea to include some cross-cultural/anime artists in HM. (or alternatively, we better start a pre-release campaign now: support HM, support American! - Ed) Yeah Ed, or Euro-American anyway. There's room for all, in my world, but I'm insane. Bring HM on! Post Script: new HM, a FINCHER project? the odds just went up, in my book. Say what you will of his post Fight Club career, but imo, some of his movies are let's say "ocassionally uneven" but I find them virtually all -visually- stunning. Panic Room was an obvious "one for the studio one for me" slash one for the studio movie for example, but that opening scene, widescreen in the theatres, was impressively hitchcockian. Anyway, Great pairing. This one is going on my things-to-look-appreciably-increasingly-forward to list. (hmm,, I think you might have actually pulled off a somewhat sane or at least less homicidally insane than your usual insane type of insanity., for the first time in an insanely long, marginally coherent insane time - Ed) 2 points Ed. 1. could you possibly shove the word insane in there one more time. 2. I wouldn't worry Ed, it won't last. It never does. (and your 3rd 2nd point, with you there's always a 3rd point on a 2 point list - Ed) You know me well Ed. The 3rd point is of course, ^Raise-Baseball-Bat *WHAM*WHAM*WHAM*WHAM**WHAM**WHAM* but apparently not well enough to know better than to ask. AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA (-- *point left* ... *jog right* --) mXm
Make This a Better World for Maniacs - Feb 13, 2008 - 05:27am
ALERT: Indexing update problem seems to be occurring here, on last msg (in here) Mania reported 28 messages on the Mania front page when there were 29. Also I haven't been able to get to any of my profile (new or old) private messages past page 1. 1. it no longer reports how many private msgs there are. 2. it displays the first 10 private msgs with no option to move to page 2/continue accessing the other/newer private msgs. mXm
ALERT: Indexing update problem seems to be occurring here, on last msg (in here) Mania reported 28 messages on the Mania front page when there were 29. Also I haven't been able to get to any of my profile (new or old) private messages past page 1. 1. it no longer reports how many private msgs there are. 2. it displays the first 10 private msgs with no option to move to page 2/continue accessing the other/newer private msgs. mXm
Make This a Better World for Maniacs - Feb 13, 2008 - 02:48am
My sugg is: (insane - Ed) please stop helping me Ed. 1. A Mania MASCOT design contest. The Mascot to be incorporated into the Mania front page logo? Winner selected from Mania contest entries, scores bragging rights, and 1.5 million dollars. Failing the latter, some sort of genre related prize. I'd go for a good DVD package or some Mania paraphernalia or a date with Jessica Chobot. (one that doesn't involve kidnapping ..this time - Ed) in my view, Mania is constantly improving and is doing a good job of late. KUTGW. Michael X. Maelstrom.
My sugg is: (insane - Ed) please stop helping me Ed. 1. A Mania MASCOT design contest. The Mascot to be incorporated into the Mania front page logo? Winner selected from Mania contest entries, scores bragging rights, and 1.5 million dollars. Failing the latter, some sort of genre related prize. I'd go for a good DVD package or some Mania paraphernalia or a date with Jessica Chobot. (one that doesn't involve kidnapping ..this time - Ed) in my view, Mania is constantly improving and is doing a good job of late. KUTGW. Michael X. Maelstrom.
Clip from DIARY OF THE DEAD Online - Feb 01, 2008 - 09:40am
Romero's going back to the original way the Zombies were portrayed + using a hand-cam along with other cams. Diary's full title should probably read: "21st Century video diary of the dead" It seems to be constructed along the lines of: imagine if the original Night of the Living Dead Zombie outbreak took place in today's (consumer electronics inundated monitored + gadgeted) post-modern camera-in-every-orifice world. Would Zombie footage show up on Youtube? and warnings surface on blogs? and if they did, would anyone believe it? who do we trust? I can guess some of the answers to those questions might be. 1. We'd trust the government just slightly less than Mephistopheles, who would be less inclined to answer every inquiry with "it's a weather balloon" 2. nobody would notice what AICN's Harry said because it'd be buried by 400 exclamation marks. Plus we'd all suspect "Zombie's are coming!!!" "Zombie's are at my door!!!!" "Zombies are eating me and I still hate Uwe Boll more than them!!!!!!" you know, was all part of a marketing gimmick that he was involved with anyway. 3. Dark Jedi would release an impressive number of Zombie statistics that would ultimately further be used to prove that those bastards didn't know what the fuck they were doing when they released Grindhouse. (and he'd be right - Ed) My expectations are low to middling after Land, but it does sound like Diary has good potential to be something that Land wasn't, and that's "fun" and uh..biting. mXm
Romero's going back to the original way the Zombies were portrayed + using a hand-cam along with other cams. Diary's full title should probably read: "21st Century video diary of the dead" It seems to be constructed along the lines of: imagine if the original Night of the Living Dead Zombie outbreak took place in today's (consumer electronics inundated monitored + gadgeted) post-modern camera-in-every-orifice world. Would Zombie footage show up on Youtube? and warnings surface on blogs? and if they did, would anyone believe it? who do we trust? I can guess some of the answers to those questions might be. 1. We'd trust the government just slightly less than Mephistopheles, who would be less inclined to answer every inquiry with "it's a weather balloon" 2. nobody would notice what AICN's Harry said because it'd be buried by 400 exclamation marks. Plus we'd all suspect "Zombie's are coming!!!" "Zombie's are at my door!!!!" "Zombies are eating me and I still hate Uwe Boll more than them!!!!!!" you know, was all part of a marketing gimmick that he was involved with anyway. 3. Dark Jedi would release an impressive number of Zombie statistics that would ultimately further be used to prove that those bastards didn't know what the fuck they were doing when they released Grindhouse. (and he'd be right - Ed) My expectations are low to middling after Land, but it does sound like Diary has good potential to be something that Land wasn't, and that's "fun" and uh..biting. mXm
Clip from DIARY OF THE DEAD Online - Feb 01, 2008 - 03:46am
I saw Land in a dilapidated run-down dollar theatre 3 times. And the fact that the theatre was run down and dilapidated augmented the film experience and atmosphere for me quite nicely. Thank you very much. I would not use the term "enjoyable" to describe my viewing of Land of the Dead; it's more that I found the dilapidated theater house, bad lighting and slowly sickening-feeling I had while watching the movie, not entirely inappropriate for a certain type of horror movie. It certainly made the experience disturbing and memorable. Ultimately I thought, critical-analysis aside, viewing the evolution of Romero's social-commentary and message was worth the price I paid to see Land. Yes, I'm one of "those" that really enjoys that part of Romero films as much as I do the kick-ass Zombie aspect. ..even if watching me trying to "enjoy" Land, was probably not unlike that scene in Austin Powers, you know the one, where he puts a CD on a record player and tries valiantly to like the scratched silicon shit that comes out. That was basically me while watching Land for the first time. By the end of the 3rd time, I just couldn't find an "in" to like it as "cinema" or "a movie" but I loved the social commentary. I love that you can dress up as the undead and party your ass off at a Romero film with your mates and then after when the party's over and you're hung over and the sun is coming up, you can then have an early-mornin serious discussion with your clown posse about whatever issues and themes Romero injected. Finally, I don't think I've ever left a Romero Zombie film without feeling sick and disturbed (an experience which he enjoys - Ed) Yes I do, and I don't expect it'll be any different this time. if that 30 seconds is any indication Diary looks like a cinema verite Zombiemania flick. (..that leaves you feeling slightly sick afterwards - Ed) With any luck, hell yeah. Bring it on. mXm
I saw Land in a dilapidated run-down dollar theatre 3 times. And the fact that the theatre was run down and dilapidated augmented the film experience and atmosphere for me quite nicely. Thank you very much. I would not use the term "enjoyable" to describe my viewing of Land of the Dead; it's more that I found the dilapidated theater house, bad lighting and slowly sickening-feeling I had while watching the movie, not entirely inappropriate for a certain type of horror movie. It certainly made the experience disturbing and memorable. Ultimately I thought, critical-analysis aside, viewing the evolution of Romero's social-commentary and message was worth the price I paid to see Land. Yes, I'm one of "those" that really enjoys that part of Romero films as much as I do the kick-ass Zombie aspect. ..even if watching me trying to "enjoy" Land, was probably not unlike that scene in Austin Powers, you know the one, where he puts a CD on a record player and tries valiantly to like the scratched silicon shit that comes out. That was basically me while watching Land for the first time. By the end of the 3rd time, I just couldn't find an "in" to like it as "cinema" or "a movie" but I loved the social commentary. I love that you can dress up as the undead and party your ass off at a Romero film with your mates and then after when the party's over and you're hung over and the sun is coming up, you can then have an early-mornin serious discussion with your clown posse about whatever issues and themes Romero injected. Finally, I don't think I've ever left a Romero Zombie film without feeling sick and disturbed (an experience which he enjoys - Ed) Yes I do, and I don't expect it'll be any different this time. if that 30 seconds is any indication Diary looks like a cinema verite Zombiemania flick. (..that leaves you feeling slightly sick afterwards - Ed) With any luck, hell yeah. Bring it on. mXm
The Best of Anime, Sort Of (Part Two) - Jan 31, 2008 - 09:08am
I'd agree that over-all Bebop is the greatest pound for poundings anime series, but the one I would feed into my cerebral cortex with an razor blade and an IV drip would be, ][Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex][ Completely under-appreciated in its time (read: ignored by the Cartoon Network's younger Pokemon and Naruto viewing demographic., apparently for being "too boring") ..and yet it absolutely heads my list of recent fave anime series. I'm still viewing episodes of GiTS: 2nd Gig, and so I haven't yet decided if it will replace Bebop as my all-time fave anime series, but it's making a good run for the title so far. It slices into the pleasure center of the/my brain; I enjoy it more than 99.99% of the excrement (animated or live action) that is on the idiot box at any given moment. Such is my unabashed love for GiTS:SAC. Anyway, Bebop's great. I'm partial to some Bubblegum Crisis and Lodoss War, and an no doubt easily dismissed yet quite atmospheric anime that I stumbled onto in an old VHS bin, nomened "Darkside Blues" - that baby unexpectedly frequently finds itself going on replay at many a sleepless Ante Meridian. Good list of top-key-anime-moments. mXm
I'd agree that over-all Bebop is the greatest pound for poundings anime series, but the one I would feed into my cerebral cortex with an razor blade and an IV drip would be, ][Ghost in the Shell - Stand Alone Complex][ Completely under-appreciated in its time (read: ignored by the Cartoon Network's younger Pokemon and Naruto viewing demographic., apparently for being "too boring") ..and yet it absolutely heads my list of recent fave anime series. I'm still viewing episodes of GiTS: 2nd Gig, and so I haven't yet decided if it will replace Bebop as my all-time fave anime series, but it's making a good run for the title so far. It slices into the pleasure center of the/my brain; I enjoy it more than 99.99% of the excrement (animated or live action) that is on the idiot box at any given moment. Such is my unabashed love for GiTS:SAC. Anyway, Bebop's great. I'm partial to some Bubblegum Crisis and Lodoss War, and an no doubt easily dismissed yet quite atmospheric anime that I stumbled onto in an old VHS bin, nomened "Darkside Blues" - that baby unexpectedly frequently finds itself going on replay at many a sleepless Ante Meridian. Good list of top-key-anime-moments. mXm
Forte Beams Crew in STAR TREK - Jan 28, 2008 - 09:50am
P.S: not sure which goofy ST rumours you're referring to? a few weeks ago when (transformers and) Trek scribe Bob Orci came under attack for the elements purportedly containted in the trek film script (Kirk a bad student, students picketing SFA because he cheated on the Kobayashi Maru, et cetera) Orci brushed aside ALL the rumours by laughing at the ludicrous'osity of it all and stating that the leak-bloke clearly hadn't read the script and was making it up. He then told everyone that if they didn't piss off he was going to put flame decals on the side of the Enterprise.
P.S: not sure which goofy ST rumours you're referring to? a few weeks ago when (transformers and) Trek scribe Bob Orci came under attack for the elements purportedly containted in the trek film script (Kirk a bad student, students picketing SFA because he cheated on the Kobayashi Maru, et cetera) Orci brushed aside ALL the rumours by laughing at the ludicrous'osity of it all and stating that the leak-bloke clearly hadn't read the script and was making it up. He then told everyone that if they didn't piss off he was going to put flame decals on the side of the Enterprise.
Forte Beams Crew in STAR TREK - Jan 28, 2008 - 09:34am
re: it can't get much goofier ^Raise-Eyebrow. 2 words: ..New ..Starfleet ..Uniform. (that's 3 words - Ed) White Diaper, Red Dinner Tie. Make it so. *point forward* mXm
re: it can't get much goofier ^Raise-Eyebrow. 2 words: ..New ..Starfleet ..Uniform. (that's 3 words - Ed) White Diaper, Red Dinner Tie. Make it so. *point forward* mXm
Resident Evil: Extinction - Jan 24, 2008 - 10:45pm
I'm with Peak, I find The Resident Evil Games to be heavier and darker and thus more compelling (to moi) in terms of the over-all Zombosphere, but the RE films have carved out a distinctly slick Cyber-Zombi-SF hybrid niche that I really enjoy. Also, in terms of video-game based film franchizes out there, it's gold baby; although the comparative bar is set very low given the monkey-tossing excrement-infested competition.. (he means most Game2Films suck, I think- Ed) yes moose testicles, but thank you for explaining the obvious Ed, piss off back to your Reagan inaugural speech replays would you please. (can't., you shot my beta-max VCR last time I had it on, what do you have against Reagan anyway? - Ed) Nothing, he's great, I've used his face mask to rob banks before, I was drunk and aiming at you Ed. uh right, sorry bout the tangent, To conclude: my RE flick rank order: 1, 3, 4, prequel, re-launch, 7,8,9 ..2. Still waiting for the world's greatest video game based film to be made! I hear it's in pre-production. Yes, Pong: The Movie. Oh Yeah. mXm
I'm with Peak, I find The Resident Evil Games to be heavier and darker and thus more compelling (to moi) in terms of the over-all Zombosphere, but the RE films have carved out a distinctly slick Cyber-Zombi-SF hybrid niche that I really enjoy. Also, in terms of video-game based film franchizes out there, it's gold baby; although the comparative bar is set very low given the monkey-tossing excrement-infested competition.. (he means most Game2Films suck, I think- Ed) yes moose testicles, but thank you for explaining the obvious Ed, piss off back to your Reagan inaugural speech replays would you please. (can't., you shot my beta-max VCR last time I had it on, what do you have against Reagan anyway? - Ed) Nothing, he's great, I've used his face mask to rob banks before, I was drunk and aiming at you Ed. uh right, sorry bout the tangent, To conclude: my RE flick rank order: 1, 3, 4, prequel, re-launch, 7,8,9 ..2. Still waiting for the world's greatest video game based film to be made! I hear it's in pre-production. Yes, Pong: The Movie. Oh Yeah. mXm
Update: Ledger's Autopsy Is Inconclusive - Jan 23, 2008 - 01:27am
I agree Merin, there isn't any need to come down on people that don't show any emotion. Some reactions might even appear callous to others and yet even then it doesn't necessarily mean that it was. I also think the flip side holds true, some people are going to go the other emotional way, and they're going to get angry. Depending on how empathic or invested they are; how personally the death hits them. (that's what I meant to imply by extremes beget extremes, when the re-action appears too detached or appears too callous, it brings out those that are more emotionally invested, because we all feel a need to create balance, that's been my observation of human dynamics on the net at any rate) Anyone who has suffered any kind of death in their life will know that the first re-action is disbelief, but that's not sustainable, reality has a way of collapsing that defense, the next re-action is often ANGER. That anger is going to be misdirected. It almost always is because this issue runs deep. That rage stems from the sense of pointless loss, of life, of hope, but it also seems to incorporate our anger at life, mortality, justice, balance; it taps all those elements deep inside us, all those things that we feel are wrong with the world. People want to blame someone for all those things. Some get angry at their God, most select between the choice of blaming the person that died or trying to find someone else to blame. In the case of suicide or drug use you also have to deal with the pious-brigade who will be out in full force condemning the person, given half a chance. Ostensibly it's to re-enforce society's moral codes, there is some merit to that, but it also is invariably abused by religious evangelical activists and politicians looking to capitalize on the person's death for their own empowerment ends. 8 times out of 2, when it's a suicide I find the public figure reaction highly distasteful because it is so disingenuously motivated. Luckily it looks like those twonks will have to slither off to another example case, as the story that's shaping here is an unfortunate accidental prescribed medication overdose. In any case, you're correct, those that show no emotion should be able to, just as I think we need to cut those that get angry some slack too. Give em time to calm down. Because we all will, one day, when a death hits us as personally. Count on it. I'm not saying the anger is right or wrong, in fact it's almost always misdirected, but I'm saying it's human and understandable. I also think as DJ has said, that the reaction here, where Maniacs are, at the end of the day, reining ourselves in and are attempting to give everyone else some room to say their bit, is highly laudable and commendable. Pity, we don't represent the web. If I had to repeatedly deal with the crap I've seen elsewhere, I'd fly into a rage myself. As it stands, I'm just proud to be a Maniac, in your respective good companies. mXm.
I agree Merin, there isn't any need to come down on people that don't show any emotion. Some reactions might even appear callous to others and yet even then it doesn't necessarily mean that it was. I also think the flip side holds true, some people are going to go the other emotional way, and they're going to get angry. Depending on how empathic or invested they are; how personally the death hits them. (that's what I meant to imply by extremes beget extremes, when the re-action appears too detached or appears too callous, it brings out those that are more emotionally invested, because we all feel a need to create balance, that's been my observation of human dynamics on the net at any rate) Anyone who has suffered any kind of death in their life will know that the first re-action is disbelief, but that's not sustainable, reality has a way of collapsing that defense, the next re-action is often ANGER. That anger is going to be misdirected. It almost always is because this issue runs deep. That rage stems from the sense of pointless loss, of life, of hope, but it also seems to incorporate our anger at life, mortality, justice, balance; it taps all those elements deep inside us, all those things that we feel are wrong with the world. People want to blame someone for all those things. Some get angry at their God, most select between the choice of blaming the person that died or trying to find someone else to blame. In the case of suicide or drug use you also have to deal with the pious-brigade who will be out in full force condemning the person, given half a chance. Ostensibly it's to re-enforce society's moral codes, there is some merit to that, but it also is invariably abused by religious evangelical activists and politicians looking to capitalize on the person's death for their own empowerment ends. 8 times out of 2, when it's a suicide I find the public figure reaction highly distasteful because it is so disingenuously motivated. Luckily it looks like those twonks will have to slither off to another example case, as the story that's shaping here is an unfortunate accidental prescribed medication overdose. In any case, you're correct, those that show no emotion should be able to, just as I think we need to cut those that get angry some slack too. Give em time to calm down. Because we all will, one day, when a death hits us as personally. Count on it. I'm not saying the anger is right or wrong, in fact it's almost always misdirected, but I'm saying it's human and understandable. I also think as DJ has said, that the reaction here, where Maniacs are, at the end of the day, reining ourselves in and are attempting to give everyone else some room to say their bit, is highly laudable and commendable. Pity, we don't represent the web. If I had to repeatedly deal with the crap I've seen elsewhere, I'd fly into a rage myself. As it stands, I'm just proud to be a Maniac, in your respective good companies. mXm.
Update: Ledger's Autopsy Is Inconclusive - Jan 22, 2008 - 06:20pm
Extremes beget extremes. I don't agree with the blanket condemnation of anyone (that I've seen in this thread) as I can see no rational for it, but I respect the people that showed some emotion in this thread as equally as I do those that ran off on a tangent. Those that were only on the periphery of interest in Ledger's career rise, will likely never understand quite why there is the potential for such strong emotion over his death. The bloke had such promise; he had to overcome great odds.. (people sometimes forget that only about 2 of us on the entire net were pulling for him when the Joker casting announcement was first made - he had to overcome a distaste that the majority of people had for him, either because of subcutaneous Brokeback prejudices bleeding through or because he wouldn't be _their_ first, second, or 50th choice for Joker. We're talking about Netizens here, who are famous for being opinionated and unlikely to budge once their opines have been set. Ledger had virtually nothing but disinterest at best and animosity at worst, towards him when his casting was first announced, and yet over the course of approx half a year he 180'd the opinions of one of the hardest demographics to accomplish that with. That's quite a bloody impressive feat. More impressively, I dare say, people weren't just passively interested, they were actually pulling for him to carry it off. Even those that may have begun hating the casting. There was something, ..impressive, recognizable, ..endearing about Heath Ledger. I don't think he really understood that we really were pulling for HIM. Not just the character he was to play. I wish someone could have told him that. Some of us may be about as subtle as a naked midget urinating on a church altar and some anger misdirected (imo - as I can see no reason why Gauleyboy should be singled out) but there's a REASON for that anger, many reasons in fact, and I share them. I'll take some bloody emotion over this, certainly over the "so, what time is it?" reaction, anyday. mXm
Extremes beget extremes. I don't agree with the blanket condemnation of anyone (that I've seen in this thread) as I can see no rational for it, but I respect the people that showed some emotion in this thread as equally as I do those that ran off on a tangent. Those that were only on the periphery of interest in Ledger's career rise, will likely never understand quite why there is the potential for such strong emotion over his death. The bloke had such promise; he had to overcome great odds.. (people sometimes forget that only about 2 of us on the entire net were pulling for him when the Joker casting announcement was first made - he had to overcome a distaste that the majority of people had for him, either because of subcutaneous Brokeback prejudices bleeding through or because he wouldn't be _their_ first, second, or 50th choice for Joker. We're talking about Netizens here, who are famous for being opinionated and unlikely to budge once their opines have been set. Ledger had virtually nothing but disinterest at best and animosity at worst, towards him when his casting was first announced, and yet over the course of approx half a year he 180'd the opinions of one of the hardest demographics to accomplish that with. That's quite a bloody impressive feat. More impressively, I dare say, people weren't just passively interested, they were actually pulling for him to carry it off. Even those that may have begun hating the casting. There was something, ..impressive, recognizable, ..endearing about Heath Ledger. I don't think he really understood that we really were pulling for HIM. Not just the character he was to play. I wish someone could have told him that. Some of us may be about as subtle as a naked midget urinating on a church altar and some anger misdirected (imo - as I can see no reason why Gauleyboy should be singled out) but there's a REASON for that anger, many reasons in fact, and I share them. I'll take some bloody emotion over this, certainly over the "so, what time is it?" reaction, anyday. mXm
Update: Ledger's Autopsy Is Inconclusive - Jan 22, 2008 - 05:11pm
Goatartist: Why So Serious indeed. Despite that I feel somewhere between impenetrably sad and like beating the shit out of someone with a baseball bat, that's actually smile-worthy. :) Well, Ledger may not be a Kennedy, but.. re: Where-Were-You-When-You-Heard-Ledger-Was-Found-Dead? moi had just installed Chatzilla and was testing the connection, subsequently in an attempt to discover if the app was working, I broke the (apparent -Ed) code of silence in the room and inquired, "where the naked women at?" this brought some life into the room and a few lines of joking about later, from out of nowhere one bloke interjects "this is SHOCKING" and tosses out a link to a people magazine article. It's been awhile since I've frequented Relay Chat, but I am disinclined to hit any link sent on IRC, and so I simply ask what is shocking? he replies, "click the link". I ignore it for a few minutes, and then something tells me to hit it and uncharacteristically I do (after verifying that it's a proper link). Headline News: Ledger Dead. That was a shocking, unexpected and surprisingly devastating piece of news to me. On many levels. And it's only going to get worse. If he did drugs, the anti-drug people will begin attacking him in short order. if he committed suicide, the planets religious extremists will be out in full force condemning him. ..in general if you were a Ledger fan, were looking forward to his portrayal in TDK or are simply respectful of what has happened, you're going to have a hard couple of days as the world's fuktards crawl out of the woodwork. mXm
Goatartist: Why So Serious indeed. Despite that I feel somewhere between impenetrably sad and like beating the shit out of someone with a baseball bat, that's actually smile-worthy. :) Well, Ledger may not be a Kennedy, but.. re: Where-Were-You-When-You-Heard-Ledger-Was-Found-Dead? moi had just installed Chatzilla and was testing the connection, subsequently in an attempt to discover if the app was working, I broke the (apparent -Ed) code of silence in the room and inquired, "where the naked women at?" this brought some life into the room and a few lines of joking about later, from out of nowhere one bloke interjects "this is SHOCKING" and tosses out a link to a people magazine article. It's been awhile since I've frequented Relay Chat, but I am disinclined to hit any link sent on IRC, and so I simply ask what is shocking? he replies, "click the link". I ignore it for a few minutes, and then something tells me to hit it and uncharacteristically I do (after verifying that it's a proper link). Headline News: Ledger Dead. That was a shocking, unexpected and surprisingly devastating piece of news to me. On many levels. And it's only going to get worse. If he did drugs, the anti-drug people will begin attacking him in short order. if he committed suicide, the planets religious extremists will be out in full force condemning him. ..in general if you were a Ledger fan, were looking forward to his portrayal in TDK or are simply respectful of what has happened, you're going to have a hard couple of days as the world's fuktards crawl out of the woodwork. mXm
Update: Ledger's Autopsy Is Inconclusive - Jan 22, 2008 - 03:54pm
People generally don't give a fetid dingo's kidney about other peoples shit, so please move on to the next post, THIS IS FUCKING PERSONAL. This is messed up, it's hitting me like losing a member of the family. Again. The same one. MOTHERFUCK!!!! You have a viciousness inside you God, you knew Ledger reminded me of my brother; that he had become my brother re-animated and re-manifest. If you think this drives some point home that suicide isn't alright (again) I'll tell you this, the only thing this re-enforces is my determination to see to it that I go out the same fucking way. The difference is I'm going to put it off until I can feel the end coming, but when it does, when I'm an old fart in high purple pants, at the last minute, I'm taking _myself_ out. Why? Just to show you. That I didn't need to. That I spent 99% of my life not breaking your suicide law, and then at the very last moment, I willingly SMASHED it. I choose to go wherever my brother is, and if Ledger committed suicide, also wherever Ledger is, I choose Them over you. You can have your fucking sanctimonious heaven where good people that were in pain are not welcome, my heaven is wherever my brother is at. WTF Heath Ledger 'mate, you were on the verge of having it all, why couldn't you just accept that you were worthy of your success? that people really liked you for who you were in addition to who you portrayed? why couldn't you have had more faith in yourself? Anyway you really shouldn't have tried to get inside Joker's head for the movie, I think you stayed too long, and some places were only meant to be visited ..briefly. RIP Ledger mate, you will be missed. See you on the other side, brother. mXm
People generally don't give a fetid dingo's kidney about other peoples shit, so please move on to the next post, THIS IS FUCKING PERSONAL. This is messed up, it's hitting me like losing a member of the family. Again. The same one. MOTHERFUCK!!!! You have a viciousness inside you God, you knew Ledger reminded me of my brother; that he had become my brother re-animated and re-manifest. If you think this drives some point home that suicide isn't alright (again) I'll tell you this, the only thing this re-enforces is my determination to see to it that I go out the same fucking way. The difference is I'm going to put it off until I can feel the end coming, but when it does, when I'm an old fart in high purple pants, at the last minute, I'm taking _myself_ out. Why? Just to show you. That I didn't need to. That I spent 99% of my life not breaking your suicide law, and then at the very last moment, I willingly SMASHED it. I choose to go wherever my brother is, and if Ledger committed suicide, also wherever Ledger is, I choose Them over you. You can have your fucking sanctimonious heaven where good people that were in pain are not welcome, my heaven is wherever my brother is at. WTF Heath Ledger 'mate, you were on the verge of having it all, why couldn't you just accept that you were worthy of your success? that people really liked you for who you were in addition to who you portrayed? why couldn't you have had more faith in yourself? Anyway you really shouldn't have tried to get inside Joker's head for the movie, I think you stayed too long, and some places were only meant to be visited ..briefly. RIP Ledger mate, you will be missed. See you on the other side, brother. mXm
Top 6 Reasons 2008 Could be the Year of PS3 - Jan 15, 2008 - 03:55pm
(- almostunbiased -) AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *pause* you bastard. (notice he's not disagreeing with you AU? - Ed) *WHAM* (ow. what was that for?) 2 reasons. 1. Please stop helping me Ed. 2. don't think I didn't notice you jumping ship to AlmostUnbiased's post. (and the 3rd second reason? - Ed) 3. *WHAM* (I had to ask, hey Almost, can I move in? - Ed)
(- almostunbiased -) AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *pause* you bastard. (notice he's not disagreeing with you AU? - Ed) *WHAM* (ow. what was that for?) 2 reasons. 1. Please stop helping me Ed. 2. don't think I didn't notice you jumping ship to AlmostUnbiased's post. (and the 3rd second reason? - Ed) 3. *WHAM* (I had to ask, hey Almost, can I move in? - Ed)
Top 6 Reasons 2008 Could be the Year of PS3 - Jan 15, 2008 - 03:10pm
I'm not personally invested in any, though I will take my kudos for having predicted Nintendo would dominate this war, back when everyone thought I was insane and Nintendo didn't have a chance. I'm waiting. I'm WAITING. (oh look, nope, false alarm, still no ice in Hades - Ed) Failing that, I will no doubt offend everyone equally with my views on the current state of gaming affairs. 1. There's only 1 major reason why the PS3 is (I agree) going to increase in sales and that's Blu Ray - it is the new HD standard and it's built in. The PS3 will now officially be let out of the dog-house in the U.S. That's about as much as I can agree 100% with in the article because the rest of the Top 6 list while well thought out are either _current_ positions or they are offshoots of the Blu Ray player no longer acting to inhibit PS3 sales. ie. you don't care about the specs of a system you aren't considering buying. The PS3's specs become an issue in its favour (though not to the 360's detraction since it's impressive too) but any PS3 spec analysis gains occur -after- people are willing to consider buying it, where they weren't interested before, if you see my point. The rest of the Top 6 list presupposes MS will remain stagnant, which is not an assumption I would make for any major market player. They *could* not re-act, but is it likely? (honestly, I don't presume to know, major companies have in the past not reacted quickly enough to new market realities, so it IS possibile that MS won't react) In my view, Microsoft is unlikely to remain unchanged, it will very likely move to adapt to the new market reality. 6 Point analysis: re: 6. The processing power of the PS3 will finally be unleashed. Agreed. All pro PS3 arguments for that matter are now valid because the *New console consumer will now seriously consider purchasing a PS3 to far greater degree than they were inclined to, up until now. read: up until Blu Ray's emerged as victor in the HD war. The built-in Blu Ray just switched from a consumer PS3-sales blocking aspect, to a boon. Very smart move on Sony's part. No doubt it's why they played hard-ball and in cohorts with the megacorporations overshot the consumer-selection-process part of the HD war _early in the game_ and instead made agreements with major media companies., for exclusive Blu Ray support. but Sony's gain doesn't necessarily translate into a loss for Nintendo or Microsoft. There is room for 3 consoles, imo the trick is to market each to its own audience. re: 5. The 360 is too expensive. That's going to change. Microsoft can continue to compete head-2-head with the newly unleashed Sony, but if it wants to continue to do that it will need to (see final point at end of these ramblings) otherwise, option 2: Microsoft can re-position itself as the middle console price-wise. I would expect to see an across the board price-drop for the 360, read: machine and games, to secure its position in the pricing middle. 4. Microsoft is going into 2008 with a broken Xbox Live. That'll be fixed. If there's one thing that Microsoft doesn't have a shortage of, it's a gogolplex of programmers to throw at a problem. 3. The 360 doesn’t have enough system selling exclusives in the pipeline. MS has proven it can market its own killer app titles (Halo notably) so I'd expect to see them capitalize on their top selling titles with spin-offs and Live content, and no doubt they'll have a few other surprise hits. All consoles do, eventually, provided they live long enough. Final Fantasy and Zelda are difficult to compete with in terms of system draws, but to Microsoft's credit, they have shown they can effectively market 360 titles into solid hits. re: 2. Microsoft hasn’t conquered it’s hardware issues (OR Screen Freeze is the new RRoD) New console buyers rarely believe that their system will not work when they get it home. I agree it is a danger, but this is an issue that occurs -after- MS has already sold a system, so it's not a sales inhibiting draw-back. If you get my meaning. If it becomes systemic, perceived as uncorrectable and front-page news everywhere, it's a problem, but that hasn't happened. 1. Overconfidence Microsoft or Sony's? no one has a monopoly on that. :) Finally, MS can cut to the quick of it and go for the pricing middle now and leave Sony to the higher end that it usually dominates, or if MS is feeling particularly megalomaniacal and unwilling to cede the higher ground to Sony, the 360 can inject itself back into the game head-2-head against Sony's upcoming upswing quite effectively by releasing a *wait for it* Xbox 360 Blu Ray HD add-on. Having equally offended everyone, I will now bugger off. [Pathud] mXm.
I'm not personally invested in any, though I will take my kudos for having predicted Nintendo would dominate this war, back when everyone thought I was insane and Nintendo didn't have a chance. I'm waiting. I'm WAITING. (oh look, nope, false alarm, still no ice in Hades - Ed) Failing that, I will no doubt offend everyone equally with my views on the current state of gaming affairs. 1. There's only 1 major reason why the PS3 is (I agree) going to increase in sales and that's Blu Ray - it is the new HD standard and it's built in. The PS3 will now officially be let out of the dog-house in the U.S. That's about as much as I can agree 100% with in the article because the rest of the Top 6 list while well thought out are either _current_ positions or they are offshoots of the Blu Ray player no longer acting to inhibit PS3 sales. ie. you don't care about the specs of a system you aren't considering buying. The PS3's specs become an issue in its favour (though not to the 360's detraction since it's impressive too) but any PS3 spec analysis gains occur -after- people are willing to consider buying it, where they weren't interested before, if you see my point. The rest of the Top 6 list presupposes MS will remain stagnant, which is not an assumption I would make for any major market player. They *could* not re-act, but is it likely? (honestly, I don't presume to know, major companies have in the past not reacted quickly enough to new market realities, so it IS possibile that MS won't react) In my view, Microsoft is unlikely to remain unchanged, it will very likely move to adapt to the new market reality. 6 Point analysis: re: 6. The processing power of the PS3 will finally be unleashed. Agreed. All pro PS3 arguments for that matter are now valid because the *New console consumer will now seriously consider purchasing a PS3 to far greater degree than they were inclined to, up until now. read: up until Blu Ray's emerged as victor in the HD war. The built-in Blu Ray just switched from a consumer PS3-sales blocking aspect, to a boon. Very smart move on Sony's part. No doubt it's why they played hard-ball and in cohorts with the megacorporations overshot the consumer-selection-process part of the HD war _early in the game_ and instead made agreements with major media companies., for exclusive Blu Ray support. but Sony's gain doesn't necessarily translate into a loss for Nintendo or Microsoft. There is room for 3 consoles, imo the trick is to market each to its own audience. re: 5. The 360 is too expensive. That's going to change. Microsoft can continue to compete head-2-head with the newly unleashed Sony, but if it wants to continue to do that it will need to (see final point at end of these ramblings) otherwise, option 2: Microsoft can re-position itself as the middle console price-wise. I would expect to see an across the board price-drop for the 360, read: machine and games, to secure its position in the pricing middle. 4. Microsoft is going into 2008 with a broken Xbox Live. That'll be fixed. If there's one thing that Microsoft doesn't have a shortage of, it's a gogolplex of programmers to throw at a problem. 3. The 360 doesn’t have enough system selling exclusives in the pipeline. MS has proven it can market its own killer app titles (Halo notably) so I'd expect to see them capitalize on their top selling titles with spin-offs and Live content, and no doubt they'll have a few other surprise hits. All consoles do, eventually, provided they live long enough. Final Fantasy and Zelda are difficult to compete with in terms of system draws, but to Microsoft's credit, they have shown they can effectively market 360 titles into solid hits. re: 2. Microsoft hasn’t conquered it’s hardware issues (OR Screen Freeze is the new RRoD) New console buyers rarely believe that their system will not work when they get it home. I agree it is a danger, but this is an issue that occurs -after- MS has already sold a system, so it's not a sales inhibiting draw-back. If you get my meaning. If it becomes systemic, perceived as uncorrectable and front-page news everywhere, it's a problem, but that hasn't happened. 1. Overconfidence Microsoft or Sony's? no one has a monopoly on that. :) Finally, MS can cut to the quick of it and go for the pricing middle now and leave Sony to the higher end that it usually dominates, or if MS is feeling particularly megalomaniacal and unwilling to cede the higher ground to Sony, the 360 can inject itself back into the game head-2-head against Sony's upcoming upswing quite effectively by releasing a *wait for it* Xbox 360 Blu Ray HD add-on. Having equally offended everyone, I will now bugger off. [Pathud] mXm.
Christopher Nolan Talks DARK KNIGHT - Jan 15, 2008 - 02:13pm
Ja, "he's got no story arc" - read: the studio nixed making Joker too 3-dimensional. BastaAAAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAArds. Can't say I'm surprised, for reasons I've outlined before (a fuly 3-dimensional Joker is dangerous to the proletariat's state of mind, apparently) but I'm not going to fall prey to judging the film before I see it. I will say though that judging from the poster, you know the one, both Nolan and Ledger have got Joker's "presence" down, and that in itself is worth the price of admission, if done right. And Nolan does appear to be stating that Ledger has done it justice. Can't wait. mXm
Ja, "he's got no story arc" - read: the studio nixed making Joker too 3-dimensional. BastaAAAAAAAaaaAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaAArds. Can't say I'm surprised, for reasons I've outlined before (a fuly 3-dimensional Joker is dangerous to the proletariat's state of mind, apparently) but I'm not going to fall prey to judging the film before I see it. I will say though that judging from the poster, you know the one, both Nolan and Ledger have got Joker's "presence" down, and that in itself is worth the price of admission, if done right. And Nolan does appear to be stating that Ledger has done it justice. Can't wait. mXm
The Next Batch of Film Adaptations - Jan 15, 2008 - 01:36am
Completely agree with you Axia777, Ridley Scott would be the absolute perfect match for Gibson's Neuromancer. We have to find a way to make this happen. (we must operate from the premise that it has already happened, and that we're simply waiting for the universe to unfold as it should - Ed) Alright Mr. Ed, while you're doing that, I'll prepare the smilex bombs. You know just in case.
Completely agree with you Axia777, Ridley Scott would be the absolute perfect match for Gibson's Neuromancer. We have to find a way to make this happen. (we must operate from the premise that it has already happened, and that we're simply waiting for the universe to unfold as it should - Ed) Alright Mr. Ed, while you're doing that, I'll prepare the smilex bombs. You know just in case.
The Next Batch of Film Adaptations - Jan 14, 2008 - 10:53pm
As a long time Gibson and Scott fan, I 'ave this answer on speed-dial. Excerpt from The Blade Runner FAQ: http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/movies/blade-runner-faq.html Did Blade Runner influence William Gibson when he wrote his cyberpunk classic, "Neuromancer"? Did Blade Runner influence cyberpunk in general? It seems that both William Gibson and Ridley Scott were, at the time, both very much influenced by much of the visual styles and artwork featured in the magazine "Heavy Metal", notably the work by French artist Jean Giraud, AKA "Moebius". One story in particular called "The Long Tomorrow", written by Dan O'Bannon and drawn by Moebius, was a major influence on the visual design of BR. Ironically, this story was in fact a parody of early American Film Noir. Gibson, in an interview by Lance Loud in an article on the 10th anniversary of "Blade Runner" for the magazine "Details" (October 1992 issue), had the following to say: "About ten minutes into Blade Runner, I reeled out of the theater in complete despair over its visual brilliance and its similarity to the "look" of Neuromancer, my [then] largely unwritten first novel. Not only had I been beaten to the semiotic punch, but this damned movie looked better than the images in my head! With time, as I got over that, I started to take a certain delight in the way the film began to affect the way the world looked. Club fashions, at first, then rock videos, finally even architecture. Amazing! A science fiction movie affecting reality!" "Years later, I was having lunch with Ridley, and when the conversation turned to inspiration, we were both very clear about our debt to the Métal Hurlant [the original Heavy Metal magazine] school of the '70s--Moebius and the others. But it was also obvious that Scott understood the importance of information density to perceptual overload. When Blade Runner works best, it induces a lyrical sort of information sickness, that quintessentially postmodern cocktail of ecstasy and dread. It was what cyberpunk was supposed to be all about." Also, here is an excerpt from an introduction Gibson wrote for the graphic novel adaptation of his own "Neuromancer" book: "So it's entirely fair to say, and I've said it before, that the way Neuromancer-the-novel "looks" was influenced in large part by some of the artwork I saw in 'Heavy Metal'. I assume that this must also be true of John Carpenter's 'Escape from New York', Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'", and all other artefacts of the style sometimes dubbed 'cyberpunk'. Those French guys, they got their end in early." --- End BR FAQ excerpt. Begin Opine (mine) It comes as no surprise to me that both William Gibson and Ridley Scott would have been influenced by the work in Metal Hurlant (France) and the American version: Heavy Metal magazine. I still have some of my HM issues, dog-eared though they may be, and snap up older issues whenever I can (particularly the late 70's to early 80's period - they're uniformly brilliant imo) and re-read them regularly. They not only contain some of the most compelling illustrated works, but I'd also add that the music review section (although it consisted of 1 short column) was as informed as /and/ (in my aural view) better writ than any other I've come across, including the dedicated scribes at Rolling Stone magazine. I look for old issues of HM as equally for the art as I do for Lou Stathis' music reviews. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) I can't believe I'd never thought of this before, next time Gibson is in town for a book signing, I'm going to ask him if he was influenced by Lou Stathis music reviews, they had an ebb and flow and an linguistically-innovative style, that may have also inspired Gibson, towards developing his own brilliant and unique prose style. mXm
As a long time Gibson and Scott fan, I 'ave this answer on speed-dial. Excerpt from The Blade Runner FAQ: http://faqs.cs.uu.nl/na-dir/movies/blade-runner-faq.html Did Blade Runner influence William Gibson when he wrote his cyberpunk classic, "Neuromancer"? Did Blade Runner influence cyberpunk in general? It seems that both William Gibson and Ridley Scott were, at the time, both very much influenced by much of the visual styles and artwork featured in the magazine "Heavy Metal", notably the work by French artist Jean Giraud, AKA "Moebius". One story in particular called "The Long Tomorrow", written by Dan O'Bannon and drawn by Moebius, was a major influence on the visual design of BR. Ironically, this story was in fact a parody of early American Film Noir. Gibson, in an interview by Lance Loud in an article on the 10th anniversary of "Blade Runner" for the magazine "Details" (October 1992 issue), had the following to say: "About ten minutes into Blade Runner, I reeled out of the theater in complete despair over its visual brilliance and its similarity to the "look" of Neuromancer, my [then] largely unwritten first novel. Not only had I been beaten to the semiotic punch, but this damned movie looked better than the images in my head! With time, as I got over that, I started to take a certain delight in the way the film began to affect the way the world looked. Club fashions, at first, then rock videos, finally even architecture. Amazing! A science fiction movie affecting reality!" "Years later, I was having lunch with Ridley, and when the conversation turned to inspiration, we were both very clear about our debt to the Métal Hurlant [the original Heavy Metal magazine] school of the '70s--Moebius and the others. But it was also obvious that Scott understood the importance of information density to perceptual overload. When Blade Runner works best, it induces a lyrical sort of information sickness, that quintessentially postmodern cocktail of ecstasy and dread. It was what cyberpunk was supposed to be all about." Also, here is an excerpt from an introduction Gibson wrote for the graphic novel adaptation of his own "Neuromancer" book: "So it's entirely fair to say, and I've said it before, that the way Neuromancer-the-novel "looks" was influenced in large part by some of the artwork I saw in 'Heavy Metal'. I assume that this must also be true of John Carpenter's 'Escape from New York', Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'", and all other artefacts of the style sometimes dubbed 'cyberpunk'. Those French guys, they got their end in early." --- End BR FAQ excerpt. Begin Opine (mine) It comes as no surprise to me that both William Gibson and Ridley Scott would have been influenced by the work in Metal Hurlant (France) and the American version: Heavy Metal magazine. I still have some of my HM issues, dog-eared though they may be, and snap up older issues whenever I can (particularly the late 70's to early 80's period - they're uniformly brilliant imo) and re-read them regularly. They not only contain some of the most compelling illustrated works, but I'd also add that the music review section (although it consisted of 1 short column) was as informed as /and/ (in my aural view) better writ than any other I've come across, including the dedicated scribes at Rolling Stone magazine. I look for old issues of HM as equally for the art as I do for Lou Stathis' music reviews. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) I can't believe I'd never thought of this before, next time Gibson is in town for a book signing, I'm going to ask him if he was influenced by Lou Stathis music reviews, they had an ebb and flow and an linguistically-innovative style, that may have also inspired Gibson, towards developing his own brilliant and unique prose style. mXm
The Next Batch of Film Adaptations - Jan 14, 2008 - 01:30am
re: "Unlike British director Chris Cunningham, TORQUE director Joseph Kahn may succeed where so many others have failed by developing a filmic adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Though little is known about the production thus far except for its targeted 2009 release, there are rumors that Hayden Christensen will play the role of Case, the cyber-savvy protagonist of the Sprawl Trilogy. So you see the word “succeed” here may be very loosely defined, because it seems Neuromancer is already on par to rival Gibson’s other film adaptation, JOHNNY MNEMONIC. When I first read Neuromancer I thought the director best suited for the job would be Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, AVALON) or SUNSHINE’s Danny Boyle, but I sure as hell never thought about Joseph Kahn, a man who’s made his name in the biz by shooting music videos for Britney Spears. What next, a casting call to Jessica Alba for the role of street samurai Molly?" - Pat KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHN. Joseph Kahn. 2009 Release? in the middle of a strike? when Bats' flies without the aid of my size 13 clown shoe. Britney Spears may be doing a great impersonation of a nicely formed vagina held hostage by insane hillbilly white trash, but her music videos have almost uniformly been fairly slick works of cinematic pop culture. It would probably help my argument here if I knew which Joseph Kahn directed, but I'm faaaar too lazy to go look it up at the moment, so we're all going to assume I'm essentially correct, right, good. OK. David Fincher started as a music video director. (and he went on to make that cinematic work of feature film art: Alien3 - Ed) *WHAM* (ow. OK, bad example - Ed) Go Away Ed. Moi, is not an Alien3 hater. I am in the minority I guess in that over-all I enjoy the atmosphere and I think it has some of the better thespian acting in the Alien franchise. Fincher's music-video roots really showed in the incredibly annoying (read: repetitive, redundant and for this viewer unenjoyably nauseating) (as opposed to enjoyably nauseating - Ed) ..upside down chase scenes in Alien3. Yet he then went on to make the impressive Se7en and the imo 90's decade-defining and brilliant Fight Club. So I won't defacto be holding the mv's against Joseph Kahn...either. I'm more concerned with the cast and the budget. The cheap-shit route doesn't work for Gibson's work and neither does the art-school-excuse-for-cheap-crap approach either, largely because in my observation, the only reason any major studio will greenlight either sort of cheap-shit movie, is because they're _solely_ interested in banking on the hardcore fans, name recognition and buzz from the former, making it an extremely modest couple of million greenbacks globally. You know, they figure they can make back slightly more money than it costs to make. If you're a starving multi-millionaire with a string of trim on the side to upkeep, a couple of extra million dollars, even if it's only 1 million dollars, doesn't hurt. That Frederick's of Hollywood pleather lingerie and Colt-45 isn't cheap, you know! I'll look to the budget, if Neuromancer is in the 75+ million range, we're good to go, otherwise, I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist. I am already preparing my alibi for when the studio head is found in Larry Craig's washroom with a vibrating tap-dancing clown shoe inserted into an orifice. Neuromancer is my all-time favorite genre novel, and so, not unlike a penis approaching Britney Spears' vagina, I remain cautious and apprehensive, and yet I am in the process of serenading her with romantic Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car-chase-music and am putting on 13 condoms just in case I give in. OK, I think I lost the metaphor somewhere there. (-- *point left* *jog right* --) regards, Michael X. Maelstrom
re: "Unlike British director Chris Cunningham, TORQUE director Joseph Kahn may succeed where so many others have failed by developing a filmic adaptation of William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Though little is known about the production thus far except for its targeted 2009 release, there are rumors that Hayden Christensen will play the role of Case, the cyber-savvy protagonist of the Sprawl Trilogy. So you see the word “succeed” here may be very loosely defined, because it seems Neuromancer is already on par to rival Gibson’s other film adaptation, JOHNNY MNEMONIC. When I first read Neuromancer I thought the director best suited for the job would be Mamoru Oshii (GHOST IN THE SHELL, AVALON) or SUNSHINE’s Danny Boyle, but I sure as hell never thought about Joseph Kahn, a man who’s made his name in the biz by shooting music videos for Britney Spears. What next, a casting call to Jessica Alba for the role of street samurai Molly?" - Pat KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHN. Joseph Kahn. 2009 Release? in the middle of a strike? when Bats' flies without the aid of my size 13 clown shoe. Britney Spears may be doing a great impersonation of a nicely formed vagina held hostage by insane hillbilly white trash, but her music videos have almost uniformly been fairly slick works of cinematic pop culture. It would probably help my argument here if I knew which Joseph Kahn directed, but I'm faaaar too lazy to go look it up at the moment, so we're all going to assume I'm essentially correct, right, good. OK. David Fincher started as a music video director. (and he went on to make that cinematic work of feature film art: Alien3 - Ed) *WHAM* (ow. OK, bad example - Ed) Go Away Ed. Moi, is not an Alien3 hater. I am in the minority I guess in that over-all I enjoy the atmosphere and I think it has some of the better thespian acting in the Alien franchise. Fincher's music-video roots really showed in the incredibly annoying (read: repetitive, redundant and for this viewer unenjoyably nauseating) (as opposed to enjoyably nauseating - Ed) ..upside down chase scenes in Alien3. Yet he then went on to make the impressive Se7en and the imo 90's decade-defining and brilliant Fight Club. So I won't defacto be holding the mv's against Joseph Kahn...either. I'm more concerned with the cast and the budget. The cheap-shit route doesn't work for Gibson's work and neither does the art-school-excuse-for-cheap-crap approach either, largely because in my observation, the only reason any major studio will greenlight either sort of cheap-shit movie, is because they're _solely_ interested in banking on the hardcore fans, name recognition and buzz from the former, making it an extremely modest couple of million greenbacks globally. You know, they figure they can make back slightly more money than it costs to make. If you're a starving multi-millionaire with a string of trim on the side to upkeep, a couple of extra million dollars, even if it's only 1 million dollars, doesn't hurt. That Frederick's of Hollywood pleather lingerie and Colt-45 isn't cheap, you know! I'll look to the budget, if Neuromancer is in the 75+ million range, we're good to go, otherwise, I'm going to pretend it doesn't exist. I am already preparing my alibi for when the studio head is found in Larry Craig's washroom with a vibrating tap-dancing clown shoe inserted into an orifice. Neuromancer is my all-time favorite genre novel, and so, not unlike a penis approaching Britney Spears' vagina, I remain cautious and apprehensive, and yet I am in the process of serenading her with romantic Dukes of Hazzard General Lee car-chase-music and am putting on 13 condoms just in case I give in. OK, I think I lost the metaphor somewhere there. (-- *point left* *jog right* --) regards, Michael X. Maelstrom
Navigating the Mania Map - Jan 06, 2008 - 05:50pm
(- DaForce -) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) *don spectacles at obtuse - yet nevertheless quite aesthetically pleasing - professorial right angle* ..indeed ol chap., in fact the sum of the square is equal to the inverse of the *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM**WHAM**WHAM**WHAM**WHAM*.. Ooo *tilt head* do excuse me. Sorry bout that. Of course you're right, about the meds. Also pssst "midichlorians". BAHAHAHAHAHAHA (- GimpyTheWonder -) re: Plants and Fruits. Hail Gimpy! Merin stole my line (MEEEERRRRRIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHNNN - He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round my cousin Michael Antares Maelstrom and round Merin's flame before I give him up!" (oh brother - Ed) *KBLAM* (you shot my framed photo of Ronald Reagan! You Bastard - Ed) FTR I've always been a sucker for this sort of mind-challenging clue-based thing. I have a Star Trek TNG version of the VCR game "Clue" to prove it. However I got the game 10 years ago, the fast-forward button on my remote has been missing for at least 15 years and I don't have a VCR. ..Best ..game ..ever. Also I would prefer it if in some manner this involved vaginas but we take what we can get. (and the day is young - Ed) No I'm not a plant. or a fruit...Merin. or a vegetable...DJ and the rest of you lot of malcontents. (- Galaga51 -) Howdy Galaga! Atari2600 Forever Baby! oh right, I see you're still quite bonkos, WTFG! *points at foot* call me. Looks like it's you and me then willing to give this thing a go. I think you may be right about the connection to National Treasure 2 thing, or at least National Treasure hunting, because through an incredible feat of intellectual prowess neverbefore seen, heard or dreamed, the highest I, Mudd reality! where was I? (he punched the terms "www.Mania.com : HBB" into the google search engine - Ed) Git. *push button, drop Anvil on Ed'* right, and I FOUND the illusive, or elusive, December 20th Mania Article in Question. and it is here: ((( http://www.mania.com/56976.html ))) also "HBB" apparently stands for "Hill Billy Bob - Brewer" or possibly HillBillyBob Treasure, as I found the link to Mania's Dec 20th National Treasure article on the infobahn, here: ((( http://hillbillybobtreasure.blogspot.com/ ))) So this is apparently a TREASURE HUNT..of sorts but for what? (advanced knowledge? - Ed) Eh. (Revlelations of the Illuminati ? - Ed) Eh. (Rebel Gold hidden in the American wild? - Ed) Eh. (Vaginas? - Ed) I'm in. mXm
(- DaForce -) Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm(n) *don spectacles at obtuse - yet nevertheless quite aesthetically pleasing - professorial right angle* ..indeed ol chap., in fact the sum of the square is equal to the inverse of the *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM* *WHAM**WHAM**WHAM**WHAM**WHAM*.. Ooo *tilt head* do excuse me. Sorry bout that. Of course you're right, about the meds. Also pssst "midichlorians". BAHAHAHAHAHAHA (- GimpyTheWonder -) re: Plants and Fruits. Hail Gimpy! Merin stole my line (MEEEERRRRRIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHNNN - He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him. I'll chase him round the moons of Nibia and round my cousin Michael Antares Maelstrom and round Merin's flame before I give him up!" (oh brother - Ed) *KBLAM* (you shot my framed photo of Ronald Reagan! You Bastard - Ed) FTR I've always been a sucker for this sort of mind-challenging clue-based thing. I have a Star Trek TNG version of the VCR game "Clue" to prove it. However I got the game 10 years ago, the fast-forward button on my remote has been missing for at least 15 years and I don't have a VCR. ..Best ..game ..ever. Also I would prefer it if in some manner this involved vaginas but we take what we can get. (and the day is young - Ed) No I'm not a plant. or a fruit...Merin. or a vegetable...DJ and the rest of you lot of malcontents. (- Galaga51 -) Howdy Galaga! Atari2600 Forever Baby! oh right, I see you're still quite bonkos, WTFG! *points at foot* call me. Looks like it's you and me then willing to give this thing a go. I think you may be right about the connection to National Treasure 2 thing, or at least National Treasure hunting, because through an incredible feat of intellectual prowess neverbefore seen, heard or dreamed, the highest I, Mudd reality! where was I? (he punched the terms "www.Mania.com : HBB" into the google search engine - Ed) Git. *push button, drop Anvil on Ed'* right, and I FOUND the illusive, or elusive, December 20th Mania Article in Question. and it is here: ((( http://www.mania.com/56976.html ))) also "HBB" apparently stands for "Hill Billy Bob - Brewer" or possibly HillBillyBob Treasure, as I found the link to Mania's Dec 20th National Treasure article on the infobahn, here: ((( http://hillbillybobtreasure.blogspot.com/ ))) So this is apparently a TREASURE HUNT..of sorts but for what? (advanced knowledge? - Ed) Eh. (Revlelations of the Illuminati ? - Ed) Eh. (Rebel Gold hidden in the American wild? - Ed) Eh. (Vaginas? - Ed) I'm in. mXm
Update: WB Is Now Blu-Ray Exclusive, HD-DVD Responds - Jan 05, 2008 - 06:05pm
WARNING to the megacorporations: I don't like the corporate structuring behind this. It's not lost on me that you've effectively decided that the way to win this war was to COMPLETELY ERADICATE THE CONSUMER's CHOICE and to instead decide the format war by bringing > number of companies onboard with 1 format instead. WHY I HATE THIS: That's the structure of a _MEGA-MONOPOLY_. ..just waiting to call up the -same- corporate partners that now belong to the Blu-Ray Alliance, to effectively PRICE-FIX the high definition video market, right across the board, in the near future. (read: once no one has any other choice but to go Blu Ray + HD) Just remember, dear Megacorporations, IF you do take advantage of the situation and your current corporate alliances, to PRICE-FIX (as the RIAA did with CDs - Ed) I promise you, you're going to see a blu ray HD PIRATE MARKET that is going to make the music pirating ship look like a fucking tugboat. This concludes this Maniac's public service announcement. Arrrrrr. mXm
WARNING to the megacorporations: I don't like the corporate structuring behind this. It's not lost on me that you've effectively decided that the way to win this war was to COMPLETELY ERADICATE THE CONSUMER's CHOICE and to instead decide the format war by bringing > number of companies onboard with 1 format instead. WHY I HATE THIS: That's the structure of a _MEGA-MONOPOLY_. ..just waiting to call up the -same- corporate partners that now belong to the Blu-Ray Alliance, to effectively PRICE-FIX the high definition video market, right across the board, in the near future. (read: once no one has any other choice but to go Blu Ray + HD) Just remember, dear Megacorporations, IF you do take advantage of the situation and your current corporate alliances, to PRICE-FIX (as the RIAA did with CDs - Ed) I promise you, you're going to see a blu ray HD PIRATE MARKET that is going to make the music pirating ship look like a fucking tugboat. This concludes this Maniac's public service announcement. Arrrrrr. mXm
Navigating the Mania Map - Jan 05, 2008 - 03:19pm
STELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Please don't reference National Treasure 2 again wench, because if I have to pay to see any movie to figure this out, I'm going to take a vicegrip to someone's ballsack or clitorus. Otherwise I've got some time to kill before my next heist, so my purple ass is in. Titular Reference: "23.5 degrees" The Earth's angular Tilt, which results in the seasons. Mania Writer Nomenclature: "Stella Maris" 1. Mary Pickford Role in movie of same name. Amazon.com overview: http://www.amazon.com/Stella-Maris-Mary-Pickford/dp/B00004S89T quote "Mary Pickford plays two roles in this film; it is a testament to her phenomenal acting talent that we really see her as two completely different characters. In the title role of Stella Maris, Pickford portrays a lovely young woman, paralyzed from childhood, whose wealthy, aristocratic parents have kept her utterly sheltered from the ugly realities of the outside world. As poor little orphan girl Unity Blake, Pickford is literally unrecognizable" Preliminary Conclusion: Possible Reference to Duality. 2. Catholic Schools and/or reference to religious organizations. 3. Gregorian Chant album (titled Stella Maris) by Trio Mediaeval --- Possible Leading-Lines from Stella Maris Text on Mania. re: Stella Maris' Mania Article Dec 29 titled: Prelude: Geburah is a Bitch subtitle: A file recovered from Stella's defunct Newton. http://www.mania.com/57013.html quote: "What was the point (in italics) of bloody hamster harmonies screaming in parallel fifths?" Google Search: 5th Parallel: Result: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52514.html Quote: "One of the most fascinating aspects of mathematics is that there exist statements that are both true and false. Perhaps the most famous of these is Euclid's controversial fifth postulate." wiki result: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_postulate not sure that helps wench, also not entirely sure it was meant to be self-referential, so much as point to the parallel uh points, at the end of the text. but in any case, that's the second possible reference to duality. next (current) article titled: 23.5 Degrees - Navigating The Mania Map. ** Of note: Now shows up under "Books" section at Mania. re: "our patron at Mania who, according to Accepted Newton Protocol has adopted a code name based on the definition of the "unit that contains the complete logic and arithmetic of a computer", has assured us that we will be accommodated sufficient free Will in order to conduct our sensitive program of works without obstruction." I take that to mean "Chip" is onboard with this. Well, he would be. He's insane. (And that's a good thing? - Ed) *WHAM* Yes. My Firefox addons blew up when I upgraded, so my 200% image explosion software is unavailable to me at the moment, and the brooding-git isn't taking visitors at brooding-gitCave at this time, otherwise I'd see if the top most scales in the "red herring" contain mini photos of a clown-face. But there's a problem with that. 1. Even if they are clown-faces, it's a "red herring". 2. You understand I see clown-faces everywhere anyway, so without that software I'm going to assume it's my own insanity. (at least until later today when he capitulates and re-downloads the FF add-on -Ed) Otherwise I'm not entirely convinced this is intended entirely as an "42 Entertainment"'esque (The Dark Knight, Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails) viral campaign. There do seem to be clues, but do they lead anywhere outside of the actual narrative? for example to web locations with further clues/pieces from this work? At this point, it may simply be that the writing is intended to be self-referential perhaps as foreshadowing. id est. you can figure out what the clues mean, but they're generally leading to the revelation of where this story is going and what this work is. Possibly an upcoming novel? In any case, taken strictly on the level of its own narrative, I'm enjoying the story for itself so far. We have a Screaming-Hamster pop music composing protagonist that someone apparently attempted to scare off by fragging with their brakes. THEORY: Perhaps the "hit" was put out by their arch musical-rivals: The Screaming Richard Gere Gerbils. AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Go on wench. I'm interested. Michael X. Maelstrom
STELLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Please don't reference National Treasure 2 again wench, because if I have to pay to see any movie to figure this out, I'm going to take a vicegrip to someone's ballsack or clitorus. Otherwise I've got some time to kill before my next heist, so my purple ass is in. Titular Reference: "23.5 degrees" The Earth's angular Tilt, which results in the seasons. Mania Writer Nomenclature: "Stella Maris" 1. Mary Pickford Role in movie of same name. Amazon.com overview: http://www.amazon.com/Stella-Maris-Mary-Pickford/dp/B00004S89T quote "Mary Pickford plays two roles in this film; it is a testament to her phenomenal acting talent that we really see her as two completely different characters. In the title role of Stella Maris, Pickford portrays a lovely young woman, paralyzed from childhood, whose wealthy, aristocratic parents have kept her utterly sheltered from the ugly realities of the outside world. As poor little orphan girl Unity Blake, Pickford is literally unrecognizable" Preliminary Conclusion: Possible Reference to Duality. 2. Catholic Schools and/or reference to religious organizations. 3. Gregorian Chant album (titled Stella Maris) by Trio Mediaeval --- Possible Leading-Lines from Stella Maris Text on Mania. re: Stella Maris' Mania Article Dec 29 titled: Prelude: Geburah is a Bitch subtitle: A file recovered from Stella's defunct Newton. http://www.mania.com/57013.html quote: "What was the point (in italics) of bloody hamster harmonies screaming in parallel fifths?" Google Search: 5th Parallel: Result: http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/52514.html Quote: "One of the most fascinating aspects of mathematics is that there exist statements that are both true and false. Perhaps the most famous of these is Euclid's controversial fifth postulate." wiki result: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parallel_postulate not sure that helps wench, also not entirely sure it was meant to be self-referential, so much as point to the parallel uh points, at the end of the text. but in any case, that's the second possible reference to duality. next (current) article titled: 23.5 Degrees - Navigating The Mania Map. ** Of note: Now shows up under "Books" section at Mania. re: "our patron at Mania who, according to Accepted Newton Protocol has adopted a code name based on the definition of the "unit that contains the complete logic and arithmetic of a computer", has assured us that we will be accommodated sufficient free Will in order to conduct our sensitive program of works without obstruction." I take that to mean "Chip" is onboard with this. Well, he would be. He's insane. (And that's a good thing? - Ed) *WHAM* Yes. My Firefox addons blew up when I upgraded, so my 200% image explosion software is unavailable to me at the moment, and the brooding-git isn't taking visitors at brooding-gitCave at this time, otherwise I'd see if the top most scales in the "red herring" contain mini photos of a clown-face. But there's a problem with that. 1. Even if they are clown-faces, it's a "red herring". 2. You understand I see clown-faces everywhere anyway, so without that software I'm going to assume it's my own insanity. (at least until later today when he capitulates and re-downloads the FF add-on -Ed) Otherwise I'm not entirely convinced this is intended entirely as an "42 Entertainment"'esque (The Dark Knight, Trent Reznor/Nine Inch Nails) viral campaign. There do seem to be clues, but do they lead anywhere outside of the actual narrative? for example to web locations with further clues/pieces from this work? At this point, it may simply be that the writing is intended to be self-referential perhaps as foreshadowing. id est. you can figure out what the clues mean, but they're generally leading to the revelation of where this story is going and what this work is. Possibly an upcoming novel? In any case, taken strictly on the level of its own narrative, I'm enjoying the story for itself so far. We have a Screaming-Hamster pop music composing protagonist that someone apparently attempted to scare off by fragging with their brakes. THEORY: Perhaps the "hit" was put out by their arch musical-rivals: The Screaming Richard Gere Gerbils. AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA Go on wench. I'm interested. Michael X. Maelstrom
Golden Globes Seek Deal with WGA - Jan 03, 2008 - 03:36pm
The way I see it, the WGA went for the deal primarily because Letterman's WWP agreed to their contract terms. The same contract terms that the AMPTP rejected. The more companies that do that, the more the AMPTP's argument is weakened. It may not have a direct bearing on what the AMPTP do, but it is an important public precedent in support of the WGA. You can see from the GG admin letter, that it also has the effect of leading to other companies publicly stating their support for the WGA's position. re: "We strongly support the WGA and the efforts they are making on behalf of writers" as seen in the letter above. That also serves to goose the elephant in the room, to put a chink in the `climate of fear' that subcutaneously surrounds this issue. People are looking around, wondering if they should speak up against the megacorporation's position publicly, when they see others doing it, the fear is reduced a bit. At this point in time, it's probs nothing more than a sideline moral-support issue more than anything else, but it could conceivably snowball into more public support for the WGA, which in turn would put more pressure on the individual corporate members of the AMPTP to at least consider that "maybe" the AMPTP's position isn't as solid as they'd been led to believe. Possibly in turn leading to at least one megacorp disconnecting from the AMPTP position. moral-support is not likely as loud a msg to the megacorporations as losing money would be, but it seems an OK start. to me. mXm
The way I see it, the WGA went for the deal primarily because Letterman's WWP agreed to their contract terms. The same contract terms that the AMPTP rejected. The more companies that do that, the more the AMPTP's argument is weakened. It may not have a direct bearing on what the AMPTP do, but it is an important public precedent in support of the WGA. You can see from the GG admin letter, that it also has the effect of leading to other companies publicly stating their support for the WGA's position. re: "We strongly support the WGA and the efforts they are making on behalf of writers" as seen in the letter above. That also serves to goose the elephant in the room, to put a chink in the `climate of fear' that subcutaneously surrounds this issue. People are looking around, wondering if they should speak up against the megacorporation's position publicly, when they see others doing it, the fear is reduced a bit. At this point in time, it's probs nothing more than a sideline moral-support issue more than anything else, but it could conceivably snowball into more public support for the WGA, which in turn would put more pressure on the individual corporate members of the AMPTP to at least consider that "maybe" the AMPTP's position isn't as solid as they'd been led to believe. Possibly in turn leading to at least one megacorp disconnecting from the AMPTP position. moral-support is not likely as loud a msg to the megacorporations as losing money would be, but it seems an OK start. to me. mXm
Top Performers for 2007 & A Look at 2008 - Jan 03, 2008 - 01:55pm
re: Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Gauleyboy: Howdy 'mate. it's not directed at you or anyone specifically, it's just a good debate tactic to follow, imo. There's no moderator here, so I'm not going to go back over the messages and point out where personal-attacks took place or by whom. Take it for what it's worth, which is a fellow Maniac's opinion, but I notice that when people inject personal-attacks _against other members_ (we can attack movies/directors/celebrities all we like!) ..personal-attacks along-side an argument, no matter how solid the argument will invariably de-rail the topic and it often turns into a flame-war. Aside from how flame-wars don't tend to bring out the best in people, it also needlessly weakens whatever position it is that they're/we're either intending to agree with (which ought piss off the person that made the original argument, if you ask me) or are stating for the first time. I've been a moderator, and I can tell you, that it's my experience that no matter how surprising it may seem, 8 times out of 2, that's what happens when personal-attacks-against-fellow-members are injected into a debate. friendly Ribbing is cool, zings are cool, but when the personal-attack shit comes flying out, it degenerates quickly. Anyway, on the plus side it's also my observation that in the end I think the better parts of people surface, wind up recognizing when they/we have gone overboard anyway, so some balancing does seem to take place, naturally. That's probably the only good reason for why there isn't a moderator here putting a stop to the personal-attacks wherever, whenever and by whomever they're made. If a Moderator were activated here, there is no doubt there would be mod-warnings flying about, and no doubt temporary suspensions and account deletions following for those that insisted on continuing to engage in the personal attacks and creating animosity. The freedom/gunslinging western town, aspect of this part of Mania is extremely RARE on the web, possibly because some people tend to abuse that freedom, hey human nature, and it's also an aspect that I enjoy about Mania, but that shouldn't mean we can't control ourselves a bit, and attempt to bring balance back, when we go overboard. Luckily, imo, it's observable that good people do. This also isn't directed at you or anyone specifically, the serial personal-attackers (if there are any) will eventually come to light, just as those that rise above it and at the end of the day, bring out the better parts of themselves, also shine through. imo. mXm
re: Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Gauleyboy: Howdy 'mate. it's not directed at you or anyone specifically, it's just a good debate tactic to follow, imo. There's no moderator here, so I'm not going to go back over the messages and point out where personal-attacks took place or by whom. Take it for what it's worth, which is a fellow Maniac's opinion, but I notice that when people inject personal-attacks _against other members_ (we can attack movies/directors/celebrities all we like!) ..personal-attacks along-side an argument, no matter how solid the argument will invariably de-rail the topic and it often turns into a flame-war. Aside from how flame-wars don't tend to bring out the best in people, it also needlessly weakens whatever position it is that they're/we're either intending to agree with (which ought piss off the person that made the original argument, if you ask me) or are stating for the first time. I've been a moderator, and I can tell you, that it's my experience that no matter how surprising it may seem, 8 times out of 2, that's what happens when personal-attacks-against-fellow-members are injected into a debate. friendly Ribbing is cool, zings are cool, but when the personal-attack shit comes flying out, it degenerates quickly. Anyway, on the plus side it's also my observation that in the end I think the better parts of people surface, wind up recognizing when they/we have gone overboard anyway, so some balancing does seem to take place, naturally. That's probably the only good reason for why there isn't a moderator here putting a stop to the personal-attacks wherever, whenever and by whomever they're made. If a Moderator were activated here, there is no doubt there would be mod-warnings flying about, and no doubt temporary suspensions and account deletions following for those that insisted on continuing to engage in the personal attacks and creating animosity. The freedom/gunslinging western town, aspect of this part of Mania is extremely RARE on the web, possibly because some people tend to abuse that freedom, hey human nature, and it's also an aspect that I enjoy about Mania, but that shouldn't mean we can't control ourselves a bit, and attempt to bring balance back, when we go overboard. Luckily, imo, it's observable that good people do. This also isn't directed at you or anyone specifically, the serial personal-attackers (if there are any) will eventually come to light, just as those that rise above it and at the end of the day, bring out the better parts of themselves, also shine through. imo. mXm
Top Performers for 2007 & A Look at 2008 - Jan 02, 2008 - 06:13pm
Impressive DJ, that has to be one of the best stat-based 2007review/2008preview eye-chart-in-one-article uh articles, I've yet seen. Bloody 'ell you've gotten good at this. (don't act so surprised - Ed) Go Away Ed. Indy4 vs TDK for top summer Box Office. Betting odds on favorite would go to Indy4 for the win. Box Office History for Indiana Jones Movies (if these come out all warped, I'll try to fix them later) Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 6/12/1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark $8,305,823 $245,034,358 $386,800,358 $20,000,000 5/23/1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $25,337,110 $179,880,271 $333,080,271 $28,000,000 5/24/1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade $37,031,573 $197,171,806 $474,171,806 $48,000,000 5/22/2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - - - - Hmmmmmmmmm(n) 197 million in the U.S alone in --) 1989! (-- dollars, for the last Indy film. Unless this movie sucks larks vomit, Indy4 is going to do KILLER box office. The Die Hard nostalgia niche market comparison/effect had me worried too, so I looked up the numbers, for Die Hard, it actually did better than it's presumed to have done., for Die Hard. Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 7/15/1988 Die Hard - $81,350,242 $137,350,242 $28,000,000 7/4/1990 Die Hard 2 $21,744,661 $117,323,878 $237,523,878 $70,000,000 5/19/1995 Die Hard: With a Vengeance $22,162,245 $100,012,499 $365,012,499 $90,000,000 6/27/2007 Live Free or Die Hard $33,369,559 $134,527,196 $380,927,196 $110,000,000 Die Hard's Box office did go UP in relation to itself, it's only in relation to the other big box office hits, that it looks dwarfed. The point being, the recognizable-film-franchise numbers show an upward trend when you look at them solely in relation to themselves. Ergo, if you look at Indy's numbers, in relation solely to itself, it's going to break 200 million easily, 300 million+ is quite possible. These studio gits know what they're doing. Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 6/23/1989 Batman $40,505,884 $251,188,924 $413,200,000 $35,000,000 6/19/1992 Batman Returns $45,687,710 $162,833,635 $282,801,937 $80,000,000 12/25/1993 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm $1,406,291 $5,617,391 - - 6/16/1995 Batman Forever $52,784,433 $184,031,112 $335,000,000 $100,000,000 6/20/1997 Batman & Robin $42,872,605 $107,325,195 $237,300,000 $125,000,000 6/15/2005 Batman Begins $48,745,440 $205,343,774 $371,824,647 $150,000,000 7/18/2008 The Dark Knight - - - $150,000,000 TDK's viral marketing has been brilliant (so far -Ed) it's going to do killer opening weekend, let's say it pulls in an extra 30-40 million opening weekend (assuming they don't ass it up between now and opening day) that pushes it up to say the 250 million level if it's considered at least as good as Batman Begins. Then the question is can it sustain the numbers over the long term to push into 300 million territory? that will depend on how good it is/word of mouth plus repeat viewings. So yes, prediction: #1 Indy4, #2: *TDK. *a kid/family flick might cause an upset here for the number 2 spot, since they can make 300 million based strictly on the numbers game: family movie = an average automatic 3.5 tickets sold. (Mom, Dad, Junior) (junior's half brother. Literally. Apparently - Ed) [Pathud] Oh and lighten with the personal attacks. (aw oh. Shields UP - Ed) Repeat after me: Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Attack the ..(incoming! *dives behind counter* you're on your own Maelstrom - Ed) uh. (--- point left. jog right ---)
Impressive DJ, that has to be one of the best stat-based 2007review/2008preview eye-chart-in-one-article uh articles, I've yet seen. Bloody 'ell you've gotten good at this. (don't act so surprised - Ed) Go Away Ed. Indy4 vs TDK for top summer Box Office. Betting odds on favorite would go to Indy4 for the win. Box Office History for Indiana Jones Movies (if these come out all warped, I'll try to fix them later) Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 6/12/1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark $8,305,823 $245,034,358 $386,800,358 $20,000,000 5/23/1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom $25,337,110 $179,880,271 $333,080,271 $28,000,000 5/24/1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade $37,031,573 $197,171,806 $474,171,806 $48,000,000 5/22/2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - - - - Hmmmmmmmmm(n) 197 million in the U.S alone in --) 1989! (-- dollars, for the last Indy film. Unless this movie sucks larks vomit, Indy4 is going to do KILLER box office. The Die Hard nostalgia niche market comparison/effect had me worried too, so I looked up the numbers, for Die Hard, it actually did better than it's presumed to have done., for Die Hard. Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 7/15/1988 Die Hard - $81,350,242 $137,350,242 $28,000,000 7/4/1990 Die Hard 2 $21,744,661 $117,323,878 $237,523,878 $70,000,000 5/19/1995 Die Hard: With a Vengeance $22,162,245 $100,012,499 $365,012,499 $90,000,000 6/27/2007 Live Free or Die Hard $33,369,559 $134,527,196 $380,927,196 $110,000,000 Die Hard's Box office did go UP in relation to itself, it's only in relation to the other big box office hits, that it looks dwarfed. The point being, the recognizable-film-franchise numbers show an upward trend when you look at them solely in relation to themselves. Ergo, if you look at Indy's numbers, in relation solely to itself, it's going to break 200 million easily, 300 million+ is quite possible. These studio gits know what they're doing. Released Movie Name 1st Weekend US Gross Worldwide Gross Budget 6/23/1989 Batman $40,505,884 $251,188,924 $413,200,000 $35,000,000 6/19/1992 Batman Returns $45,687,710 $162,833,635 $282,801,937 $80,000,000 12/25/1993 Batman: Mask of the Phantasm $1,406,291 $5,617,391 - - 6/16/1995 Batman Forever $52,784,433 $184,031,112 $335,000,000 $100,000,000 6/20/1997 Batman & Robin $42,872,605 $107,325,195 $237,300,000 $125,000,000 6/15/2005 Batman Begins $48,745,440 $205,343,774 $371,824,647 $150,000,000 7/18/2008 The Dark Knight - - - $150,000,000 TDK's viral marketing has been brilliant (so far -Ed) it's going to do killer opening weekend, let's say it pulls in an extra 30-40 million opening weekend (assuming they don't ass it up between now and opening day) that pushes it up to say the 250 million level if it's considered at least as good as Batman Begins. Then the question is can it sustain the numbers over the long term to push into 300 million territory? that will depend on how good it is/word of mouth plus repeat viewings. So yes, prediction: #1 Indy4, #2: *TDK. *a kid/family flick might cause an upset here for the number 2 spot, since they can make 300 million based strictly on the numbers game: family movie = an average automatic 3.5 tickets sold. (Mom, Dad, Junior) (junior's half brother. Literally. Apparently - Ed) [Pathud] Oh and lighten with the personal attacks. (aw oh. Shields UP - Ed) Repeat after me: Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Attack the argument, not the person that makes the argument. Attack the ..(incoming! *dives behind counter* you're on your own Maelstrom - Ed) uh. (--- point left. jog right ---)
A look ahead... - Jan 02, 2008 - 10:33am
re: "theres a huge difference between Paul WS Anderson and Uwe Boll. Paul WS Anderson is a unoriginal unimaginative hack that makes pretty pictures like Event Horizon and Resident Evil while Uwe Boll is completely useless and talentless as a director. one is a hack, the other is a Village Idiot with rich movie producers for friends." *pause* AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *tilt head* I personally find absolutes rarely turn out to be 100% uh absolute. (right, I'd say he's 99.998% correct here - Ed) but, I like your style Mckracken! *lower zipper* (mine) (this time) (no, bad - Ed) Merin! *slide zipper down* (no, no, bad; would you stop doing that! - Ed) Bloody Republicans. TiredJay: Alright, The 2001 _Live Action_ Swamp Thing TV Series! That makes much more sense. WooHoo! (you haven't seen that one either have you? - Ed) Nope, right, just as lost, but I'm making good time. I do recall a Swamp Thing Live Action TV series but I'd have placed it in the early 90's someplace. (why don't you just google it and sort this out? - Ed) Faaar too lazy for that at the moment. I will be looking for it though, I'm going to assume whichever one appears on the new-release shelf this month at the DVD shop, will be the Swamp in question. UPDATE: OK, I caved and went looking. Apparently Amazon's fact-check department for this entry is about as solid as the White House's. (The White House has an entry for Swamp Thing? - Ed) *WHAM* I'm not sure they got a single fact right on the Amazon listings page. Animated? nope. 2001? nein. 22 episodes? eh. I'm going to assume that's correct, but just to make sure you weren't sure of anything Amazon said of this entry, one bloke in the correction section claims its going to actually be the 1st 2 seasons from the 90's live-action TV series, so that'd make 44 episodes if he's right and the Amazon listing wrong (again - Ed). For all that, I'm strangely looking forward to picking this DVD up. I have a sneaking suspicion that after viewing the 1st season again (or in my case, after about half of the first episode of the first season - Ed) I will be wondering why I spent Ed's lifted money on this (hey! - Ed) but some thing's were never meant to be explained. I find.
re: "theres a huge difference between Paul WS Anderson and Uwe Boll. Paul WS Anderson is a unoriginal unimaginative hack that makes pretty pictures like Event Horizon and Resident Evil while Uwe Boll is completely useless and talentless as a director. one is a hack, the other is a Village Idiot with rich movie producers for friends." *pause* AAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *tilt head* I personally find absolutes rarely turn out to be 100% uh absolute. (right, I'd say he's 99.998% correct here - Ed) but, I like your style Mckracken! *lower zipper* (mine) (this time) (no, bad - Ed) Merin! *slide zipper down* (no, no, bad; would you stop doing that! - Ed) Bloody Republicans. TiredJay: Alright, The 2001 _Live Action_ Swamp Thing TV Series! That makes much more sense. WooHoo! (you haven't seen that one either have you? - Ed) Nope, right, just as lost, but I'm making good time. I do recall a Swamp Thing Live Action TV series but I'd have placed it in the early 90's someplace. (why don't you just google it and sort this out? - Ed) Faaar too lazy for that at the moment. I will be looking for it though, I'm going to assume whichever one appears on the new-release shelf this month at the DVD shop, will be the Swamp in question. UPDATE: OK, I caved and went looking. Apparently Amazon's fact-check department for this entry is about as solid as the White House's. (The White House has an entry for Swamp Thing? - Ed) *WHAM* I'm not sure they got a single fact right on the Amazon listings page. Animated? nope. 2001? nein. 22 episodes? eh. I'm going to assume that's correct, but just to make sure you weren't sure of anything Amazon said of this entry, one bloke in the correction section claims its going to actually be the 1st 2 seasons from the 90's live-action TV series, so that'd make 44 episodes if he's right and the Amazon listing wrong (again - Ed). For all that, I'm strangely looking forward to picking this DVD up. I have a sneaking suspicion that after viewing the 1st season again (or in my case, after about half of the first episode of the first season - Ed) I will be wondering why I spent Ed's lifted money on this (hey! - Ed) but some thing's were never meant to be explained. I find.
A look ahead... - Jan 02, 2008 - 12:21am
Jakester! baby, where you been. *lower zipper* (no, bad, down - Ed) oh right, not in front of the Klingons. I can't disagree, as that's the order I'd place the RE's in myself: 1,3,2. With a sidenote that it's good to see an example where the 3rd franchise installment is better than the 2nd. If only for waving its dick at the oft quoted law-of-diminishing-quality that is associated with sequelitus. Still wouldn't rank any of them as anything beyond popcorn 4th gen Video-Games-based-on-Films B-level Zombie flicks., you know, for what they are. Neither deserving of excessive masturbatory love, nor hate. 2. Sonya: You are the most egotistical, self-deluded person I have ever met! Johnny Cage: Yeah, well you forgot good-looking. Mortal Kombat 1 is one of those films that grew on me (like fungus? - Ed) *WHAM* (ow - Ed) not sure I'd rank it above RE1 on a Top VideoGame-based-movies list, but I wouldn't kick the testicles out of anyone that did. Yeah, I forgot all about the anti-Paul W.S Anderson brigade. I believe the next one that follows on the omni-shit-list is Uwe Boll, apparently we all must hate everything they do and will ever do, with equal fervor or risk summary execution. That doesn't really work for me in this particular case because I don't consider the RE movies to be director vision driven. or more to the point, to be worth remembering who directed which one. AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh do excuse me. Hey, it's not Hitchcock. Mckracken: Hi, yes, and there's good reason why we don't see that term tossed out in relation to Resident Evil.,the entire RE series could never be considered even by the widest stretch of the imaginative anus as "original". Hell the Resident Evil _video games_ were based on Romero's Zombie films! IIRC the VideoGame developers did try to get Romero to pen the script for the 1st RE movie, as one of those full-circle-jerk-of-life payback things, but apparently Sony shitcanned the idea when they saw Romero's script. Still, essentially the RE movies are Zombie films based on the Video Games based on Romero's Zombie Films. So yes, I'd have to agree with you, they're not particularly "original". They are however, I would argue slick and well executed, for what they are. Love brainfuck films, loved Mulholland Drive, enjoyed Lost Highway. IIRC Drive was originally writ as a Twin Peeks'esque TV series pilot; when the network shitcanned his pilot, Lynch turned it into a movie, so some points were apparently deliberately left nebulous and/or open-ended. Moi, I see it as a Memento Mori (memory of the dead -Ed) structured film. I have no evidence to support this other than that I suspect a David Lynch Post-Twin-Peeks-Laura-Palmer writing offshoot effect. So take it for what it's worth (which is absolute zero - Ed) I just find it makes sense to me this way: X is dead. (crap, character name edited out as I just realized that although 1. this is _only_ a theory and the film is several years old, nevertheless to anyone that hasn't seen the film as yet that could have constituted somewhat of a SPOILER. *Character Name heretountofor deleted throughout this theory's text* The film then would be X's after-life attempt to make sense of their life, and death, and to come to terms with it. A portion of the after-life would then be comprised of a surreal dream like state where the newly-dead person, for lack of a better term, "lives" out their dreams, dreams which, like live-people's-dreams are attempts by the subconscious to understand their life. ..through a mix or re-enactment, role-play switching/perspective switching, metaphor and symbolism. Parts of the movie would contain actual versions of moments relating to and from X's life, but *most* of the movie (particularly the surreal parts) would be taking place while X is laying there dead, and would involve their post-mortal-coil attempt to make sense of their life and death. Ostensibly, once X does that, grabs the metaphoric key, X would then move on to the next stage of existence. That's my interpretation anyway. mXm
Jakester! baby, where you been. *lower zipper* (no, bad, down - Ed) oh right, not in front of the Klingons. I can't disagree, as that's the order I'd place the RE's in myself: 1,3,2. With a sidenote that it's good to see an example where the 3rd franchise installment is better than the 2nd. If only for waving its dick at the oft quoted law-of-diminishing-quality that is associated with sequelitus. Still wouldn't rank any of them as anything beyond popcorn 4th gen Video-Games-based-on-Films B-level Zombie flicks., you know, for what they are. Neither deserving of excessive masturbatory love, nor hate. 2. Sonya: You are the most egotistical, self-deluded person I have ever met! Johnny Cage: Yeah, well you forgot good-looking. Mortal Kombat 1 is one of those films that grew on me (like fungus? - Ed) *WHAM* (ow - Ed) not sure I'd rank it above RE1 on a Top VideoGame-based-movies list, but I wouldn't kick the testicles out of anyone that did. Yeah, I forgot all about the anti-Paul W.S Anderson brigade. I believe the next one that follows on the omni-shit-list is Uwe Boll, apparently we all must hate everything they do and will ever do, with equal fervor or risk summary execution. That doesn't really work for me in this particular case because I don't consider the RE movies to be director vision driven. or more to the point, to be worth remembering who directed which one. AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Oh do excuse me. Hey, it's not Hitchcock. Mckracken: Hi, yes, and there's good reason why we don't see that term tossed out in relation to Resident Evil.,the entire RE series could never be considered even by the widest stretch of the imaginative anus as "original". Hell the Resident Evil _video games_ were based on Romero's Zombie films! IIRC the VideoGame developers did try to get Romero to pen the script for the 1st RE movie, as one of those full-circle-jerk-of-life payback things, but apparently Sony shitcanned the idea when they saw Romero's script. Still, essentially the RE movies are Zombie films based on the Video Games based on Romero's Zombie Films. So yes, I'd have to agree with you, they're not particularly "original". They are however, I would argue slick and well executed, for what they are. Love brainfuck films, loved Mulholland Drive, enjoyed Lost Highway. IIRC Drive was originally writ as a Twin Peeks'esque TV series pilot; when the network shitcanned his pilot, Lynch turned it into a movie, so some points were apparently deliberately left nebulous and/or open-ended. Moi, I see it as a Memento Mori (memory of the dead -Ed) structured film. I have no evidence to support this other than that I suspect a David Lynch Post-Twin-Peeks-Laura-Palmer writing offshoot effect. So take it for what it's worth (which is absolute zero - Ed) I just find it makes sense to me this way: X is dead. (crap, character name edited out as I just realized that although 1. this is _only_ a theory and the film is several years old, nevertheless to anyone that hasn't seen the film as yet that could have constituted somewhat of a SPOILER. *Character Name heretountofor deleted throughout this theory's text* The film then would be X's after-life attempt to make sense of their life, and death, and to come to terms with it. A portion of the after-life would then be comprised of a surreal dream like state where the newly-dead person, for lack of a better term, "lives" out their dreams, dreams which, like live-people's-dreams are attempts by the subconscious to understand their life. ..through a mix or re-enactment, role-play switching/perspective switching, metaphor and symbolism. Parts of the movie would contain actual versions of moments relating to and from X's life, but *most* of the movie (particularly the surreal parts) would be taking place while X is laying there dead, and would involve their post-mortal-coil attempt to make sense of their life and death. Ostensibly, once X does that, grabs the metaphoric key, X would then move on to the next stage of existence. That's my interpretation anyway. mXm
ALIENS VS. PREDATOR: REQUIEM - Jan 01, 2008 - 04:55pm
(- The Sleeper -) I frequently enjoy B genre movies within their context, as B movies, with expectations subsequently often low to middling, and this one hits the lower end of low for me, but fills enough of the bill to avoid making my shit-list. (- All and sundry -) I'm going to TRY to be sane for as long as I can here, in the interest of trying to get my point out there. In the broader sense, in my view, a balanced view based on context is oft best achievable when extremes are given an opportunity to express themselves. The Digg comment-section phenom was amongst the first big locations where you could see the _merits_ and benefits of that dynamic in action, on the net. Often it related to politics, but it's as applicable to -any- topic. You'd watch as the extreme left and the extreme right would present themselves, and by the end of it all, if you had any sensory apparatus, you were able to come to a far MORE balanced opine, than if you'd for example, simply stuck to environments with the people that agreed with you. I find it's often through the expression of _extreme_ positions that we learn how to sharpen and center our own opinions. When I was a Cinescape Moderator (back when he was sane, a loooong looong time ago in a head-space far far away - Ed) my number 1 rule was "attack the argument, not the person" but that didn't/doesn't/wasn't meant to mean that ONLY carefully-balanced views were welcome, it just means we should make an effort to try to _not_ take an attack on a movie as an attack on ourselves, and likewise to make an effort to _not_ attack someone because they attacked our favorite movie. It's better/healthier/more productive to draw a distinction, or if not, then to assume one. All that shit is off-topic anyway, sidetracks and degenerates the quality of the debate. It's not lost on this viewer either that it depends where you go as to what views are considered "extreme" consider that it probably drives Sleeper batshit to know that over in Hollywood critic-land/RottenTomatoes his view would be accepted as the norm, where as over here, the same view is considered an extreme. Of course, this IS a genre site, with one would hope a predisposition towards a different contextual view of genre movies. The reason that I like Ebert and over at Rolling Stone, Travers, is that they were amongst the first to review a film within _its own context_. Back on intended point, although a balanced opine is an laudable upshot, nothing BUT centered opinions that mesh with the majority from the get-go is boring as all abaddon and I think, as dishonest as it is counter-productive. We don't hone our abilities (other than the one for bonding & friendship -Ed) when we wind up with 10 posts of "I agree, I agree, I agree, go away dissenting git you're not welcome here, I agree, I agree, I agree".. Also, don't we all have movies we hate with a passion? It seems to me, to deny Sleeper his or to characterize anyone who expresses what we consider to be an extreme view as someone to be entirely dismissed (or on the other side, to attempt to characterize someone's view as that of a covert studio lackey) is to deny ourselves _our own_ passioned views. Not that that stops the braver amongst us/You from expressing passioned views, when our time comes, though does it? but consider if you will that it might stop the less uh..what's the word I'm looking for Ed? (megalomaniacal maniacs - Ed) amongst us from daring to express their passioned views when they see how sledgehammer negatively people react to them. So, if you're not convinced of the "balance via extremes" dynamic, then if for nothing more than pure self-interest, I don't think it's in anyone's real interest to completely drown out and ostracize passioned-views. EVEN and particularly when we don't agree with them. In any case, color me an arse too if any must, but Sleeper "friend-request" sent. Because I think we're stronger with him, than without. mXm
(- The Sleeper -) I frequently enjoy B genre movies within their context, as B movies, with expectations subsequently often low to middling, and this one hits the lower end of low for me, but fills enough of the bill to avoid making my shit-list. (- All and sundry -) I'm going to TRY to be sane for as long as I can here, in the interest of trying to get my point out there. In the broader sense, in my view, a balanced view based on context is oft best achievable when extremes are given an opportunity to express themselves. The Digg comment-section phenom was amongst the first big locations where you could see the _merits_ and benefits of that dynamic in action, on the net. Often it related to politics, but it's as applicable to -any- topic. You'd watch as the extreme left and the extreme right would present themselves, and by the end of it all, if you had any sensory apparatus, you were able to come to a far MORE balanced opine, than if you'd for example, simply stuck to environments with the people that agreed with you. I find it's often through the expression of _extreme_ positions that we learn how to sharpen and center our own opinions. When I was a Cinescape Moderator (back when he was sane, a loooong looong time ago in a head-space far far away - Ed) my number 1 rule was "attack the argument, not the person" but that didn't/doesn't/wasn't meant to mean that ONLY carefully-balanced views were welcome, it just means we should make an effort to try to _not_ take an attack on a movie as an attack on ourselves, and likewise to make an effort to _not_ attack someone because they attacked our favorite movie. It's better/healthier/more productive to draw a distinction, or if not, then to assume one. All that shit is off-topic anyway, sidetracks and degenerates the quality of the debate. It's not lost on this viewer either that it depends where you go as to what views are considered "extreme" consider that it probably drives Sleeper batshit to know that over in Hollywood critic-land/RottenTomatoes his view would be accepted as the norm, where as over here, the same view is considered an extreme. Of course, this IS a genre site, with one would hope a predisposition towards a different contextual view of genre movies. The reason that I like Ebert and over at Rolling Stone, Travers, is that they were amongst the first to review a film within _its own context_. Back on intended point, although a balanced opine is an laudable upshot, nothing BUT centered opinions that mesh with the majority from the get-go is boring as all abaddon and I think, as dishonest as it is counter-productive. We don't hone our abilities (other than the one for bonding & friendship -Ed) when we wind up with 10 posts of "I agree, I agree, I agree, go away dissenting git you're not welcome here, I agree, I agree, I agree".. Also, don't we all have movies we hate with a passion? It seems to me, to deny Sleeper his or to characterize anyone who expresses what we consider to be an extreme view as someone to be entirely dismissed (or on the other side, to attempt to characterize someone's view as that of a covert studio lackey) is to deny ourselves _our own_ passioned views. Not that that stops the braver amongst us/You from expressing passioned views, when our time comes, though does it? but consider if you will that it might stop the less uh..what's the word I'm looking for Ed? (megalomaniacal maniacs - Ed) amongst us from daring to express their passioned views when they see how sledgehammer negatively people react to them. So, if you're not convinced of the "balance via extremes" dynamic, then if for nothing more than pure self-interest, I don't think it's in anyone's real interest to completely drown out and ostracize passioned-views. EVEN and particularly when we don't agree with them. In any case, color me an arse too if any must, but Sleeper "friend-request" sent. Because I think we're stronger with him, than without. mXm
A look ahead... - Jan 01, 2008 - 01:39pm
Good to see some RE lovin. I don't know who the people are that urinate on Resident Evil, but if you give me their home addresses I promise to stand over them while they're sleeping and return the favour. I enjoy the The RE film series, and am not remotely concerned about saying so publicly. For what they are: stylized slick genre B movies., I would argue that they're -above- average, if categorized as zombie flicks, again, above median average, and in terms of the video-game based film sub-genre they belong to? Top of the line baby. (with the possible exception of one: Tron - Ed) OK, I'll grant that Ed, with the caveat that I couldn't say for sure, because although Tron registers the single highest hit on my VG-based critical mnemonics, I haven't seen it for quite awhile, and that view may be tainted by blood (rose - Ed) colored spectacles. Conversely, and this may say something all on its own: on those insomniac nights at mXm HQ, The Resident Evils still enjoy frequent post-midnight repeat-viewings. Anyway, the intricacies don't really matter, I'd place the RE's on the very top tier of VG based movies, #1 or #2 spot. re: Swamp Thing: The (animated 2001) Series Holy (unclean, disgusting-and-yet-strangely-erotic) sex in a bog, how did I miss that series the first time around?! love Swamp, but I always found the attempt to market him to the kiddies to be slightly strange. Even when I was a young toddling homicidal maniac, I knew that Swamp Thing was tapping something primordial, something that sane people ought not talk about aloud let alone try to package with breakfast cereal. Anyway, I recently picked up 2 retro hand-held Swamp-Thing action figures, love em, but you know, for some reason they remind me of puberty. Will be looking for that Swamp Thing animated series. michael X maelstrom.
Good to see some RE lovin. I don't know who the people are that urinate on Resident Evil, but if you give me their home addresses I promise to stand over them while they're sleeping and return the favour. I enjoy the The RE film series, and am not remotely concerned about saying so publicly. For what they are: stylized slick genre B movies., I would argue that they're -above- average, if categorized as zombie flicks, again, above median average, and in terms of the video-game based film sub-genre they belong to? Top of the line baby. (with the possible exception of one: Tron - Ed) OK, I'll grant that Ed, with the caveat that I couldn't say for sure, because although Tron registers the single highest hit on my VG-based critical mnemonics, I haven't seen it for quite awhile, and that view may be tainted by blood (rose - Ed) colored spectacles. Conversely, and this may say something all on its own: on those insomniac nights at mXm HQ, The Resident Evils still enjoy frequent post-midnight repeat-viewings. Anyway, the intricacies don't really matter, I'd place the RE's on the very top tier of VG based movies, #1 or #2 spot. re: Swamp Thing: The (animated 2001) Series Holy (unclean, disgusting-and-yet-strangely-erotic) sex in a bog, how did I miss that series the first time around?! love Swamp, but I always found the attempt to market him to the kiddies to be slightly strange. Even when I was a young toddling homicidal maniac, I knew that Swamp Thing was tapping something primordial, something that sane people ought not talk about aloud let alone try to package with breakfast cereal. Anyway, I recently picked up 2 retro hand-held Swamp-Thing action figures, love em, but you know, for some reason they remind me of puberty. Will be looking for that Swamp Thing animated series. michael X maelstrom.
WGA and AMPTP Aim Parting Shots Before Christmas - Dec 24, 2007 - 08:16am
re: "I don't. They did a job, they got paid for it. If they want to see more money because the "evil, greedy" corporations found new venues for the "evil, greedy" corporations product they should invest in the stock. It wasn't the writers that took the risk in the new tech, or did the work involved in making it happen. Nope, they just want the money now that it has proven to be profitable, even though they didn't do anything, as a group, to make it happen." - Necronomitron. (- Necronomitron -) Good alias, writer or an aspiring writer? No? aspiring Exxon/Wal-Mart/Halliburton exec-employee-of-the-month? Either way, to each their own vocation. I think Merin already covered the yes-but-the-corporations-didn't-develop-the-new-distribution-environment-(the net)-either so I'll spare you my going over it again. (oh thank gawd - Ed) Piss off Ed. If you mean that the corporations do a lot of work to secure new means of making money off of a product and therefore deserve the profit they make, I would _agree_ with you. In principle and practice and up to a point. The trying-to-put-your-peepee-in-the-bumhole-of-the-people-that-made-the-thing-you're-selling point. AISI no corporation, no matter how innovative its sales and marketing dept deserves ALL the money derived from a product _that is made by someone else_. The corporations are selling a product that they _didn't make_ and that they are incapable of making on their own. Or of making as well on their own. They're not art craftsmen, the corporation's forte is sales. They have nothing to sell without the people that make the thing that they sell so well. Try selling nothing and see how many new markets you open up for it. I agree with you, with the principle that when the corporations do a good sales job, they deserve the profits they make. I'm not pro-union or anti-corporation. I prefer to kick the shit out of whichever side deserves it at the moment. Currently that'd be the AMPTP. These guys are currently at bend-you-over-and jackhammer-you-in-public levels of out of control megalomania. A ZERO-payment-to-the-writer 100%-to-the-corporation internet-revenue system? Really? Bad business, untenable, farcical, cannot stand. It will not stand because no matter how insulated they are from the real world; no matter how many politicians they buy off, not a single one of them can pull off selling a 100%-for-me, nothing-for-you line to the American public. They will be stoned or ridiculed out of the public arena for attempting to sell it with a straight face. The AMPTP's argument and business model won't stand up to even the dimmest of lights being shone upon it. Let alone the full glare of an intense stare. imo. mXm.
re: "I don't. They did a job, they got paid for it. If they want to see more money because the "evil, greedy" corporations found new venues for the "evil, greedy" corporations product they should invest in the stock. It wasn't the writers that took the risk in the new tech, or did the work involved in making it happen. Nope, they just want the money now that it has proven to be profitable, even though they didn't do anything, as a group, to make it happen." - Necronomitron. (- Necronomitron -) Good alias, writer or an aspiring writer? No? aspiring Exxon/Wal-Mart/Halliburton exec-employee-of-the-month? Either way, to each their own vocation. I think Merin already covered the yes-but-the-corporations-didn't-develop-the-new-distribution-environment-(the net)-either so I'll spare you my going over it again. (oh thank gawd - Ed) Piss off Ed. If you mean that the corporations do a lot of work to secure new means of making money off of a product and therefore deserve the profit they make, I would _agree_ with you. In principle and practice and up to a point. The trying-to-put-your-peepee-in-the-bumhole-of-the-people-that-made-the-thing-you're-selling point. AISI no corporation, no matter how innovative its sales and marketing dept deserves ALL the money derived from a product _that is made by someone else_. The corporations are selling a product that they _didn't make_ and that they are incapable of making on their own. Or of making as well on their own. They're not art craftsmen, the corporation's forte is sales. They have nothing to sell without the people that make the thing that they sell so well. Try selling nothing and see how many new markets you open up for it. I agree with you, with the principle that when the corporations do a good sales job, they deserve the profits they make. I'm not pro-union or anti-corporation. I prefer to kick the shit out of whichever side deserves it at the moment. Currently that'd be the AMPTP. These guys are currently at bend-you-over-and jackhammer-you-in-public levels of out of control megalomania. A ZERO-payment-to-the-writer 100%-to-the-corporation internet-revenue system? Really? Bad business, untenable, farcical, cannot stand. It will not stand because no matter how insulated they are from the real world; no matter how many politicians they buy off, not a single one of them can pull off selling a 100%-for-me, nothing-for-you line to the American public. They will be stoned or ridiculed out of the public arena for attempting to sell it with a straight face. The AMPTP's argument and business model won't stand up to even the dimmest of lights being shone upon it. Let alone the full glare of an intense stare. imo. mXm.
WGA and AMPTP Aim Parting Shots Before Christmas - Dec 24, 2007 - 03:13am
(- Kentmid -) Thanks and right back at you. Your straight-shooting approach is appreciated. (particularly by me because anyone that shoots at Maelstrom and ISN'T a straight shooter, frequently hits me instead! - Ed) Go Away Ed. You appear to be remarkably sane for a maniac Kentmid. Stop that immediately. FTR my comments were not directed at anyone in particular on here. (unless Leno is lurking or shows up -Ed) To the point: AISI the AMPTP's position in this case is untenable and at the end of the day, will not stand. Not in the U.S at any rate. The AMPTP's position is at face-value capitalism-gone-mad yet at close examination it is ANTI-AMERICAN at its core. The AMPTP are effectively proposing that the (professional WGA - Ed) writers should provide them with revenue-generating content FOR FREE. That's NOT American. Although that may appear facetious on moi's part, the point is that I can't see that there's any other conclusion to this issue, other than that THE WRITER'S WILL BE PAID for their work. Attempting to slip a *ZERO-payment clause into the contract (directly, by omission and/ or by AMPTP clarification statement) was a "nice try" by the AMPTP, but its original success relied ENTIRELY on it not being spotted and highlighted BEFORE the contracts were signed. IF one is generous or inclined to stand in as a neutral-negotiator, one might even say that it might not have been _entirely_ greed motivated; it is possible that the AMPTP did/do _not fully understand_ how the web works. There is for example some evidence to support that, the music industry heads of these same corporations have displayed a lack of net savvy. And it has often been attributed to the median average (octogenarian -Ed) age of the heads. But I would submit, that at the end of the day, there is no other conclusion possible in a Capitalist society backed by law, other than that _the worker will be paid for their work_. I think the corporations full well know this. The current posturing is pure bravado based, in my observation. AISI it's a foregone conclusion, barring a collapse of the central tenets and structure of capitalism in the U.S. A collapse which isn't going to happen anytime soon. That the worker will be paid for their work. If any of us had an ear in the corporate washrooms at Sony, Paramount, Disney et al, I would wager you would hear that admission beneath the din of the removal of the catheter and the heavy flowing discolored streaming piss. The longer the _current_ heads of the corporations drag this out, the more MONEY they are pissing down the tank and losing for the company that they _currently_ run - as TV shows go dark; there is a substantially reduced fall TV season, advertising revenue drops; new films are put on hold and therefore the full potential of the upcoming Film&TV seasons are needlessly economically reduced. In total, globally we're talking at conservative estimates a multi-BILLION dollar loss of income for megacorporations over the short_term. All as a result of _needlessly_ dragging on what is an otherwise inevitable conclusion. The upshot of which is that those _current_ corporate heads are on a very thin IV here. They're observably (imo) desperate to convince the public that they're "standing firm and are as immovable as they are omnipotent" but they must know that the longer this goes on, the higher the probability that opportunistic younger-fasts in their corporations, will stand up at _1_ shareholder board meeting and point out the obvious: _how much money the current company head has lost them_. At which point that _current_ head will be at substantially increased risk of becoming a prime target for forced retirement and replacement. It might be a golden parachute retirement, but it will not be of their own volition, though it WILL be of their own (un)doing. As you say, to them, it is not about "right or wrong" the one thing these corporations DO understand, is money. And they're not particularly fond of any _current_ company-head that has placed his ego so far up his anus, that he not only costs the company reputation, respect and prestige in the world, but far worse, costs them MONEY as well. No other conclusion as I see it is likely, the professional WGA-writer will be paid for their corporation internet-revenue-generating work, in the end. Just as they're paid for their work in every other medium. I don't think that's optimism, I think that's realism. Michael X. Maelstrom.
(- Kentmid -) Thanks and right back at you. Your straight-shooting approach is appreciated. (particularly by me because anyone that shoots at Maelstrom and ISN'T a straight shooter, frequently hits me instead! - Ed) Go Away Ed. You appear to be remarkably sane for a maniac Kentmid. Stop that immediately. FTR my comments were not directed at anyone in particular on here. (unless Leno is lurking or shows up -Ed) To the point: AISI the AMPTP's position in this case is untenable and at the end of the day, will not stand. Not in the U.S at any rate. The AMPTP's position is at face-value capitalism-gone-mad yet at close examination it is ANTI-AMERICAN at its core. The AMPTP are effectively proposing that the (professional WGA - Ed) writers should provide them with revenue-generating content FOR FREE. That's NOT American. Although that may appear facetious on moi's part, the point is that I can't see that there's any other conclusion to this issue, other than that THE WRITER'S WILL BE PAID for their work. Attempting to slip a *ZERO-payment clause into the contract (directly, by omission and/ or by AMPTP clarification statement) was a "nice try" by the AMPTP, but its original success relied ENTIRELY on it not being spotted and highlighted BEFORE the contracts were signed. IF one is generous or inclined to stand in as a neutral-negotiator, one might even say that it might not have been _entirely_ greed motivated; it is possible that the AMPTP did/do _not fully understand_ how the web works. There is for example some evidence to support that, the music industry heads of these same corporations have displayed a lack of net savvy. And it has often been attributed to the median average (octogenarian -Ed) age of the heads. But I would submit, that at the end of the day, there is no other conclusion possible in a Capitalist society backed by law, other than that _the worker will be paid for their work_. I think the corporations full well know this. The current posturing is pure bravado based, in my observation. AISI it's a foregone conclusion, barring a collapse of the central tenets and structure of capitalism in the U.S. A collapse which isn't going to happen anytime soon. That the worker will be paid for their work. If any of us had an ear in the corporate washrooms at Sony, Paramount, Disney et al, I would wager you would hear that admission beneath the din of the removal of the catheter and the heavy flowing discolored streaming piss. The longer the _current_ heads of the corporations drag this out, the more MONEY they are pissing down the tank and losing for the company that they _currently_ run - as TV shows go dark; there is a substantially reduced fall TV season, advertising revenue drops; new films are put on hold and therefore the full potential of the upcoming Film&TV seasons are needlessly economically reduced. In total, globally we're talking at conservative estimates a multi-BILLION dollar loss of income for megacorporations over the short_term. All as a result of _needlessly_ dragging on what is an otherwise inevitable conclusion. The upshot of which is that those _current_ corporate heads are on a very thin IV here. They're observably (imo) desperate to convince the public that they're "standing firm and are as immovable as they are omnipotent" but they must know that the longer this goes on, the higher the probability that opportunistic younger-fasts in their corporations, will stand up at _1_ shareholder board meeting and point out the obvious: _how much money the current company head has lost them_. At which point that _current_ head will be at substantially increased risk of becoming a prime target for forced retirement and replacement. It might be a golden parachute retirement, but it will not be of their own volition, though it WILL be of their own (un)doing. As you say, to them, it is not about "right or wrong" the one thing these corporations DO understand, is money. And they're not particularly fond of any _current_ company-head that has placed his ego so far up his anus, that he not only costs the company reputation, respect and prestige in the world, but far worse, costs them MONEY as well. No other conclusion as I see it is likely, the professional WGA-writer will be paid for their corporation internet-revenue-generating work, in the end. Just as they're paid for their work in every other medium. I don't think that's optimism, I think that's realism. Michael X. Maelstrom.
WGA and AMPTP Aim Parting Shots Before Christmas - Dec 22, 2007 - 12:50am
Ah I see. Leno's not hurting the writers by crossing the picket lines and coming back without them, he's "helping" the camera-men! and the lovely make-up people! and everyone else on his show! (uh hello, except for the writers - Ed) shhh. ..by bravely! ..standing up! ..for! ..his corporate bosses! Now I see. Thanks for clearing that up. Well done Leno. *clap* *clap* *clap*. Do Leno's corporate PR people REALLY think that spin is going to work with anyone with an IQ density above balsa wood? This isn't complex. Leno is a member of the WGA; when Leno returns -without- the writers as he has announced he will do, when he crosses _his own union_ and his own showwriters picket lines in January, he will have backstabbed the WGA and his own writers. Period. End of line. Whether he "helps" anyone else as a byproduct of backstabbing the WGA and his showwriters is hardly to the point. Except of course as a tool for misdirection. (the caveat being, as I believeI originally stipulated, I thought generously, in my text, that if Leno uses his scab position/January WGA-busting shows to boisterously support _the writers_ then the larger good may outweigh the damage he will have caused and in which case, I would applaud Leno) As it currently stands however, as announced, Leno's move is 100% in support of the AMPTP and 100% against the WGA. Yes, I readily concede that not helping your friends/your union/a group invariably helps _another_ group. Of course it does. It certainly helps the corporate bosses for example. It certainly helps anyone trying to break the back of the union and its members and the working people, for example. And yes, it also helps the lovely make-up person. Ostensibly. Assuming s/he is also not a member of the WGA. and/or assuming s/he doesn't have any WGA friends to support. and/or assuming s/he doesn't need help at some point when the corporate bosses decide to add a clause to their contract which states, THE LOVELY-MAKE-UP-PERSON CONTRACT CLAUSE: "under subsection 4 paragraph 2 of the new lovely-make-up-person contract, you will receive ZERO payment for your work in *select cases. See *select cases Zero-payment model. *select cases Zero-payment model. The lovely-make-up person shall receive NO PAYMENT for their services, where s/he does the make-up for a client who has ever, does now, or will ever, also appear on the internet. Have a nice day lovely make-up person. --- Yes, not supporting one group does invariably help another. but when you don't support your friends/your union/a group, as a general rule of opposable thumb you do not also attempt to proclaim that you are helping them. I say, make a decision one way or the other, stand behind it and shoot straight. Ultimately all such attempts at misdirection and obfuscation are based on the (megalomaniacal -Ed) concept that people are idiots. And some people may well be, but most people are not blind. Even the high school gym teachers among us are vaguely aware of the notion that You are defined by who your ACTIONS support, not who you -say- you back. If Leno (or any other WGA member) doesn't want to support his own team/writers then he/they simply need to tear up his/their WGA membership card and renounce the writers and the WGA publicly. Anyone that outright doesn't want to support the writers and their desire to be paid for internet content here, needs simply stand up and say that. That is what this issue is about. We've all had quite enough of the double-speak spin-zone duplicity game that goes on for "the hearts and minds" of the public. I say, we pick a side. A side on the issue preferably, not a side on a misdirecting side-issue. THE MAIN ISSUE is whether you support the WGA's position that writer's should be paid their royalties for the internet-broadcast content that they wrote and/or write VS the AMPTP's position that the writers should not be paid royalties for *Internet broadcast content. *The AMPTP has stated that they mean that they won't pay writers their royalties ..for any WGA-writ show/content that they (studios and other corporate members of the AMPTP) don't charge the public for. Which sounds reasonable if you haven't been on the internet in the last 10 years. If ever. Where if you have frequented the net, you quickly note that most sites don't charge for content anyway. It's almost ALL FREE. Charging for content isn't how the internet makes money for corporations. The FREE content draws the netizen in, it's the ADVERTISING MONEY that makes the net its money. Anyway, I say pick a side and be clear why you support that side and stand behind em. Id est: in this case, I pick the writers. I support them here because the issue is simple: payment for one's work. The AMPTP is well aware of the cash-cow the internet has become. They know this because they've been cashing cheques by the truckload derived from internet advertising revenue (see statistics on internet revenue for fiscal 2006) that money is derived from click-throughs generated by ads placed on websites with WGA-member-writ content. Such as web-broadcast TV shows. Those shows didn't write themselves. (though some may appear to have been written by a mildly retarded computer AI - Ed) Those internet shows and that internet-broadcast WGA-writ content generates revenue for the studios and the corporations in the AMPTP. The AMPTP is trying to reap the financial rewards of broadcasting WGA-member-writ content on the web, while shutting-out and plainly put, robbing, the WGA-writers of their royalties/the source of income for their work. The AMPTP is clearly trying to squeeze the writers out of the internet financial equation. They AMPTP argue that there's no money to be made on the internet while they're cashing the cheques and drooling at the historical upward spike and the likewise spiking web revenue forecast models, as the internet has steadfast over the last 10 years become one of, if not the, largest economic industries. If anyone wants to argue that the writers DON'T deserve to be paid royalties for their internet-broadcast content, that's fine by me. AISI the same rules apply as to any other position one takes, the better thought out the argument, the more resonance it will have. Certainly to me. but please Hollywood PR people, spare us the transparent duplicitous doublespeak misdirecting fooltrop. Michael X. Maelstrom.
Ah I see. Leno's not hurting the writers by crossing the picket lines and coming back without them, he's "helping" the camera-men! and the lovely make-up people! and everyone else on his show! (uh hello, except for the writers - Ed) shhh. ..by bravely! ..standing up! ..for! ..his corporate bosses! Now I see. Thanks for clearing that up. Well done Leno. *clap* *clap* *clap*. Do Leno's corporate PR people REALLY think that spin is going to work with anyone with an IQ density above balsa wood? This isn't complex. Leno is a member of the WGA; when Leno returns -without- the writers as he has announced he will do, when he crosses _his own union_ and his own showwriters picket lines in January, he will have backstabbed the WGA and his own writers. Period. End of line. Whether he "helps" anyone else as a byproduct of backstabbing the WGA and his showwriters is hardly to the point. Except of course as a tool for misdirection. (the caveat being, as I believeI originally stipulated, I thought generously, in my text, that if Leno uses his scab position/January WGA-busting shows to boisterously support _the writers_ then the larger good may outweigh the damage he will have caused and in which case, I would applaud Leno) As it currently stands however, as announced, Leno's move is 100% in support of the AMPTP and 100% against the WGA. Yes, I readily concede that not helping your friends/your union/a group invariably helps _another_ group. Of course it does. It certainly helps the corporate bosses for example. It certainly helps anyone trying to break the back of the union and its members and the working people, for example. And yes, it also helps the lovely make-up person. Ostensibly. Assuming s/he is also not a member of the WGA. and/or assuming s/he doesn't have any WGA friends to support. and/or assuming s/he doesn't need help at some point when the corporate bosses decide to add a clause to their contract which states, THE LOVELY-MAKE-UP-PERSON CONTRACT CLAUSE: "under subsection 4 paragraph 2 of the new lovely-make-up-person contract, you will receive ZERO payment for your work in *select cases. See *select cases Zero-payment model. *select cases Zero-payment model. The lovely-make-up person shall receive NO PAYMENT for their services, where s/he does the make-up for a client who has ever, does now, or will ever, also appear on the internet. Have a nice day lovely make-up person. --- Yes, not supporting one group does invariably help another. but when you don't support your friends/your union/a group, as a general rule of opposable thumb you do not also attempt to proclaim that you are helping them. I say, make a decision one way or the other, stand behind it and shoot straight. Ultimately all such attempts at misdirection and obfuscation are based on the (megalomaniacal -Ed) concept that people are idiots. And some people may well be, but most people are not blind. Even the high school gym teachers among us are vaguely aware of the notion that You are defined by who your ACTIONS support, not who you -say- you back. If Leno (or any other WGA member) doesn't want to support his own team/writers then he/they simply need to tear up his/their WGA membership card and renounce the writers and the WGA publicly. Anyone that outright doesn't want to support the writers and their desire to be paid for internet content here, needs simply stand up and say that. That is what this issue is about. We've all had quite enough of the double-speak spin-zone duplicity game that goes on for "the hearts and minds" of the public. I say, we pick a side. A side on the issue preferably, not a side on a misdirecting side-issue. THE MAIN ISSUE is whether you support the WGA's position that writer's should be paid their royalties for the internet-broadcast content that they wrote and/or write VS the AMPTP's position that the writers should not be paid royalties for *Internet broadcast content. *The AMPTP has stated that they mean that they won't pay writers their royalties ..for any WGA-writ show/content that they (studios and other corporate members of the AMPTP) don't charge the public for. Which sounds reasonable if you haven't been on the internet in the last 10 years. If ever. Where if you have frequented the net, you quickly note that most sites don't charge for content anyway. It's almost ALL FREE. Charging for content isn't how the internet makes money for corporations. The FREE content draws the netizen in, it's the ADVERTISING MONEY that makes the net its money. Anyway, I say pick a side and be clear why you support that side and stand behind em. Id est: in this case, I pick the writers. I support them here because the issue is simple: payment for one's work. The AMPTP is well aware of the cash-cow the internet has become. They know this because they've been cashing cheques by the truckload derived from internet advertising revenue (see statistics on internet revenue for fiscal 2006) that money is derived from click-throughs generated by ads placed on websites with WGA-member-writ content. Such as web-broadcast TV shows. Those shows didn't write themselves. (though some may appear to have been written by a mildly retarded computer AI - Ed) Those internet shows and that internet-broadcast WGA-writ content generates revenue for the studios and the corporations in the AMPTP. The AMPTP is trying to reap the financial rewards of broadcasting WGA-member-writ content on the web, while shutting-out and plainly put, robbing, the WGA-writers of their royalties/the source of income for their work. The AMPTP is clearly trying to squeeze the writers out of the internet financial equation. They AMPTP argue that there's no money to be made on the internet while they're cashing the cheques and drooling at the historical upward spike and the likewise spiking web revenue forecast models, as the internet has steadfast over the last 10 years become one of, if not the, largest economic industries. If anyone wants to argue that the writers DON'T deserve to be paid royalties for their internet-broadcast content, that's fine by me. AISI the same rules apply as to any other position one takes, the better thought out the argument, the more resonance it will have. Certainly to me. but please Hollywood PR people, spare us the transparent duplicitous doublespeak misdirecting fooltrop. Michael X. Maelstrom.
WGA and AMPTP Aim Parting Shots Before Christmas - Dec 21, 2007 - 02:37pm
I don't think Letterman ought be lumped in with Leno. Leno has announced he will be heading back -without- the writers in January, as opposed to Letterman whose is making WGA-negotiation news and possibly history. Letterman owns his own show via World Wide Pants; his WWP is attempting to bypass the major studios (who own the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and is negotiating -directly with- the writers/WGA to bring them back to work. Letterman's proposal makes an end-run around the studio and attempts to bring the writers back in via a direct contract. (eliminating the AoMPaTP middle-man - Ed) It remains to be seen whether this sort of approach can work. Apparently the WGA would require many -other- production companies to step up and negotiate in Letterman kind, for it to be a viable approach, but for what it's worth, Letterman's approach strengthens the writer's position. Leno's approach conversely (returning without the writers in January) effectively weakens the writers position and bolsters the AoMPaTP's. It's at times like these that you really see what people are made of. Letterman has aged well imo, he shows character. Leno not so much, though he may yet redeem himself. Perhaps he'll use his show as a central stage to support the writers? he can't possibly be as self centered, short-sighted and thick as to believe he's going to cross his own WGA picket lines without being called what that makes him: a scab. mXm
I don't think Letterman ought be lumped in with Leno. Leno has announced he will be heading back -without- the writers in January, as opposed to Letterman whose is making WGA-negotiation news and possibly history. Letterman owns his own show via World Wide Pants; his WWP is attempting to bypass the major studios (who own the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers) and is negotiating -directly with- the writers/WGA to bring them back to work. Letterman's proposal makes an end-run around the studio and attempts to bring the writers back in via a direct contract. (eliminating the AoMPaTP middle-man - Ed) It remains to be seen whether this sort of approach can work. Apparently the WGA would require many -other- production companies to step up and negotiate in Letterman kind, for it to be a viable approach, but for what it's worth, Letterman's approach strengthens the writer's position. Leno's approach conversely (returning without the writers in January) effectively weakens the writers position and bolsters the AoMPaTP's. It's at times like these that you really see what people are made of. Letterman has aged well imo, he shows character. Leno not so much, though he may yet redeem himself. Perhaps he'll use his show as a central stage to support the writers? he can't possibly be as self centered, short-sighted and thick as to believe he's going to cross his own WGA picket lines without being called what that makes him: a scab. mXm
Fun with Retconning - Dec 21, 2007 - 09:29am
Good article. was over at Marvel a week or so back (attempting to bypass their Marvel Digital Comics page 4 limitation on "free" digitized comics -Ed) and noticed in the letters column that a bloke recently pointed out an historical Wolverine error yet he provided no alternate explanation for the error. Consequently he was awarded a No-Prize. Yes, apparently the retcon No-Prize has been ret'coned to no longer require ret'coning. or something. I suspect the industry goes the various 'retcon' routes described in article largely because they're motivated by (an) analysis of their core reader demographic. Apparently much like Star Trek, the most likely paying customer, is an older/long time fan of the comics medium, disinclined to want to toss their 'investment' (read: financial, temporal and literary) out the window. When we display a willingness to invest in reboots, I'll wager they'll as readily abuse that route. Caveat: Sapiens nihil affirmat quod non probat. (Scio cur summae inter se dissentiant, Numeris Romanis utor - Ed) Semper ubi sub ubi ubique, Ed. Add me to the L*E*G*I*O*N shoutout woot brigade. regards, Michael Xavier Maelstrom.
Good article. was over at Marvel a week or so back (attempting to bypass their Marvel Digital Comics page 4 limitation on "free" digitized comics -Ed) and noticed in the letters column that a bloke recently pointed out an historical Wolverine error yet he provided no alternate explanation for the error. Consequently he was awarded a No-Prize. Yes, apparently the retcon No-Prize has been ret'coned to no longer require ret'coning. or something. I suspect the industry goes the various 'retcon' routes described in article largely because they're motivated by (an) analysis of their core reader demographic. Apparently much like Star Trek, the most likely paying customer, is an older/long time fan of the comics medium, disinclined to want to toss their 'investment' (read: financial, temporal and literary) out the window. When we display a willingness to invest in reboots, I'll wager they'll as readily abuse that route. Caveat: Sapiens nihil affirmat quod non probat. (Scio cur summae inter se dissentiant, Numeris Romanis utor - Ed) Semper ubi sub ubi ubique, Ed. Add me to the L*E*G*I*O*N shoutout woot brigade. regards, Michael Xavier Maelstrom.
Castlevania: Two Fates - Dec 20, 2007 - 11:03pm
Warren Ellis is one of the comic book industry's top 3 shitkickin writers in my view, but never leave the man entirely alone with a script, or a goat either. Will there be a flashback? a slow motion romantic collage leading into the goat-lovin? mXm
Warren Ellis is one of the comic book industry's top 3 shitkickin writers in my view, but never leave the man entirely alone with a script, or a goat either. Will there be a flashback? a slow motion romantic collage leading into the goat-lovin? mXm
Meany, O'Mara Join LIFE ON MARS - Aug 18, 2007 - 01:59am
LIFE ON MARS is one of my favorite shows, FYI whether or not he is actually in the 70's, in another dimension, on another planet, or is in a coma and dreaming, is a MAJOR plot point/the series main mystery. Myself, I can see a U.S version working, or at least a point - to the remake - beyond simply swiping yet another successful U.K series and retrofitting it for an American audience. (_providing_ the writing and acting remains as solid as the BBC version -Ed) ..yes, provided., then one of the series' (other - Ed) major drawing points imo is the potential viewer interest in seeing the 70's faithfully recreated on screen. The B.B.C version focuses on the _British_ (technically "English" - Ed) 70's milieu, so the American version 'natch ought conceivably have its own _U.S 70's_ centric depiction appeal. Should be interesting. With one caveat from this viewers perspective: IIRC while culturally America kicks post-modern ass *most* decades (and the French can lick my left testicle as they snootily nobbily guffaw at that statement) in my view the U.K had an edge on America that particular decade, in that while the U.K came out of the 60's and into the 70's with an extension of the 60's anti-"The-Man" take-no-shit demeanor; with their boots and fists swinging slash an edgy U.K Punk milieu., over here in the 70's conversely we apparently largely went ..uh.. commodified Disco. I can take The Bee Gee's in moderation, maybe a bit of Saturday Night Fever provided its accompanied by a Tony Montana character (pre 1980 Miami -Ed) shooting up the disco tiles, but please don't focus on that bell bottom plastic jeans quassi-Disco Duck derivative excrement. Let's all just pretend that never happened OK. Stick with the Pong/Atari 2600/Adidas speed lines/Amazing Spider-Man/Rocket-Robin-Hood (even if they were technically late 60's shows they owned 70's kidtv); toss in some Elvis and Frank Sinatra in Vegas, and of course, The Six Million Dollar Man. You know stick with the relatively cool 70's SF electronic astronaut stuff and pretend the derivative plastic disco phase excrement never happened. *pause* Else I shall rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon! (with regards to the Vogons - Ed) Post Script: The Award Winning original BBC version of Life on Mars is also currently airing on SHOWCASE, 5pm Saturdays (in Canada - Ed). michaelXmaelstrom.
LIFE ON MARS is one of my favorite shows, FYI whether or not he is actually in the 70's, in another dimension, on another planet, or is in a coma and dreaming, is a MAJOR plot point/the series main mystery. Myself, I can see a U.S version working, or at least a point - to the remake - beyond simply swiping yet another successful U.K series and retrofitting it for an American audience. (_providing_ the writing and acting remains as solid as the BBC version -Ed) ..yes, provided., then one of the series' (other - Ed) major drawing points imo is the potential viewer interest in seeing the 70's faithfully recreated on screen. The B.B.C version focuses on the _British_ (technically "English" - Ed) 70's milieu, so the American version 'natch ought conceivably have its own _U.S 70's_ centric depiction appeal. Should be interesting. With one caveat from this viewers perspective: IIRC while culturally America kicks post-modern ass *most* decades (and the French can lick my left testicle as they snootily nobbily guffaw at that statement) in my view the U.K had an edge on America that particular decade, in that while the U.K came out of the 60's and into the 70's with an extension of the 60's anti-"The-Man" take-no-shit demeanor; with their boots and fists swinging slash an edgy U.K Punk milieu., over here in the 70's conversely we apparently largely went ..uh.. commodified Disco. I can take The Bee Gee's in moderation, maybe a bit of Saturday Night Fever provided its accompanied by a Tony Montana character (pre 1980 Miami -Ed) shooting up the disco tiles, but please don't focus on that bell bottom plastic jeans quassi-Disco Duck derivative excrement. Let's all just pretend that never happened OK. Stick with the Pong/Atari 2600/Adidas speed lines/Amazing Spider-Man/Rocket-Robin-Hood (even if they were technically late 60's shows they owned 70's kidtv); toss in some Elvis and Frank Sinatra in Vegas, and of course, The Six Million Dollar Man. You know stick with the relatively cool 70's SF electronic astronaut stuff and pretend the derivative plastic disco phase excrement never happened. *pause* Else I shall rend thee in the gobberwarts with my blurglecruncheon! (with regards to the Vogons - Ed) Post Script: The Award Winning original BBC version of Life on Mars is also currently airing on SHOWCASE, 5pm Saturdays (in Canada - Ed). michaelXmaelstrom.
DOKTOR SLEEPLESS #1 - Aug 07, 2007 - 06:13am
Transmetropolitan was bloody brilliant. Probably the single most real-world socio-politically relevant (non-underground -Ed) comic series I've ever read. ..and mindnumbingly despite my heralding it to whomever would listen, I watched it and its sales languish at my local comic book shop, due either to the local dunderheaded readership or perhaps to Ellis missing deadlines., not entirely sure which applied more. (and don't even get me started on the post-911-environment corporate-merger-concern motivated cancellation of The (original brilliant) Authority. Anyway, I've heard Ellis state that Doktor Sleepless is somewhat of a return to Transmet territory, with more of a politic-speak bent, so if so, hell yeah. mXm
Transmetropolitan was bloody brilliant. Probably the single most real-world socio-politically relevant (non-underground -Ed) comic series I've ever read. ..and mindnumbingly despite my heralding it to whomever would listen, I watched it and its sales languish at my local comic book shop, due either to the local dunderheaded readership or perhaps to Ellis missing deadlines., not entirely sure which applied more. (and don't even get me started on the post-911-environment corporate-merger-concern motivated cancellation of The (original brilliant) Authority. Anyway, I've heard Ellis state that Doktor Sleepless is somewhat of a return to Transmet territory, with more of a politic-speak bent, so if so, hell yeah. mXm
Spook Country - Aug 07, 2007 - 02:23am
Too bloody right Pat. I particularly like the idea that _Gibson_ had no idea what was in the shipping container for a hundred or so pages into writing the book. That takes some serious writing testicles. Caveat Emptor/Cave Canem/Head Smackus/Ass Kickus/Unlicensed Medical Exploratory Surgery With a Tuning Fork Resultus: To fellow potential SC readers: Watch out for SPOILERS in reviews out there on the infobahn; came across one reviewer who began listing what -wasn't- in the shipping container. Apparently under the auspices of the view that it wasn't as bad as revealing what was IN the container. Apparently he didn't get the "don't be an experience-spoiling fuktard" memo. (he can breath OK so long as no one unplugs him - Ed) In any case, if history is any guide Gibson's Spook Country is going to define the mirrorshaded umbrella'd-alcoholic-beverage-imbibing lawnchair-lizzard'ing portion of the lazy dog daze of summer over 'ere at mXm HQ. (and that the lawnchair is situated for optimum bikini-clad-next-door-neighbor-daughter-vantage'ing., that's just a coincidence right? - Ed) weeeell, A bloke cannot live on prose alone Ed. Personally I find Gibson verbiage and Bikini clad cleavage make for an excellent combination. Now it just remains to decide what aural accompaniment to use when reading Spook Country. I'm thinkin a toss-up between Lacuna Coil, N.I.N, Radiohead and/or Miles Davis. auf wiedersehen von toodles, michaelxaviermaelstrom
Too bloody right Pat. I particularly like the idea that _Gibson_ had no idea what was in the shipping container for a hundred or so pages into writing the book. That takes some serious writing testicles. Caveat Emptor/Cave Canem/Head Smackus/Ass Kickus/Unlicensed Medical Exploratory Surgery With a Tuning Fork Resultus: To fellow potential SC readers: Watch out for SPOILERS in reviews out there on the infobahn; came across one reviewer who began listing what -wasn't- in the shipping container. Apparently under the auspices of the view that it wasn't as bad as revealing what was IN the container. Apparently he didn't get the "don't be an experience-spoiling fuktard" memo. (he can breath OK so long as no one unplugs him - Ed) In any case, if history is any guide Gibson's Spook Country is going to define the mirrorshaded umbrella'd-alcoholic-beverage-imbibing lawnchair-lizzard'ing portion of the lazy dog daze of summer over 'ere at mXm HQ. (and that the lawnchair is situated for optimum bikini-clad-next-door-neighbor-daughter-vantage'ing., that's just a coincidence right? - Ed) weeeell, A bloke cannot live on prose alone Ed. Personally I find Gibson verbiage and Bikini clad cleavage make for an excellent combination. Now it just remains to decide what aural accompaniment to use when reading Spook Country. I'm thinkin a toss-up between Lacuna Coil, N.I.N, Radiohead and/or Miles Davis. auf wiedersehen von toodles, michaelxaviermaelstrom
Final BLADE RUNNER Hits Dec 18 - Jul 27, 2007 - 08:14pm
(- Ponyboy -) one of your all-time favorite movies? there's hope for the man(iac - Ed) yet! :D in the interest of full (if largely pointless - Ed) disclosure Blade Runner ranks as moi's #1 fave movie of all time, I'd go as far as to amend: no SciFi delineator required. (- CkShark -) I hear that, my original copy of Blade Runner de-rezzed from years of abuse - (sed libera nos a malo. - Ed) Gloria Patri. It's not so much that I prefer it, as I prefer to own ALL versions of Blade Runner and likewise miss the voice-over (when absent for a prolonged period of time) as you say. but then, a glorious spirit - Spiritui Sancto Bit Torrent - allowed moi to purloin a DIGITAL (the LaserDisc format) version of the original theatrical release of Blade Runner, complete with Voice-Over. Ready for re-insertion into my library. (Nice. I'm sure the pirate police won't notice that carefully hidden hint up there on where to go to get ahold of the no-longer-publicly-distributed Voice-Over'ed version of Blade Runner - Ed) Special Case imo. Since AFAIK no voice-over'ed version of Blade Runner is currently available for sale here, I don't consider it piracy in any meaningful sense of the term. I'd absolutely buy it if it were for sale, but since it isn't, I consider it fair-personal-use to download an digital Laserdisc version and burn it to DVD. Likewise, even IF the new final-cut release of Blade Runner does include an optional voice-over track (unlikely, Scott disliked the Voice-Over and forcibly discontinued sales of the theatrical release version over a decade ago -Ed) yet even if so, the existence of my laserdisc-burned-to-DVD copy is NOT going to stop me from purchasing the upcoming Deckard Briefcase
(- Ponyboy -) one of your all-time favorite movies? there's hope for the man(iac - Ed) yet! :D in the interest of full (if largely pointless - Ed) disclosure Blade Runner ranks as moi's #1 fave movie of all time, I'd go as far as to amend: no SciFi delineator required. (- CkShark -) I hear that, my original copy of Blade Runner de-rezzed from years of abuse - (sed libera nos a malo. - Ed) Gloria Patri. It's not so much that I prefer it, as I prefer to own ALL versions of Blade Runner and likewise miss the voice-over (when absent for a prolonged period of time) as you say. but then, a glorious spirit - Spiritui Sancto Bit Torrent - allowed moi to purloin a DIGITAL (the LaserDisc format) version of the original theatrical release of Blade Runner, complete with Voice-Over. Ready for re-insertion into my library. (Nice. I'm sure the pirate police won't notice that carefully hidden hint up there on where to go to get ahold of the no-longer-publicly-distributed Voice-Over'ed version of Blade Runner - Ed) Special Case imo. Since AFAIK no voice-over'ed version of Blade Runner is currently available for sale here, I don't consider it piracy in any meaningful sense of the term. I'd absolutely buy it if it were for sale, but since it isn't, I consider it fair-personal-use to download an digital Laserdisc version and burn it to DVD. Likewise, even IF the new final-cut release of Blade Runner does include an optional voice-over track (unlikely, Scott disliked the Voice-Over and forcibly discontinued sales of the theatrical release version over a decade ago -Ed) yet even if so, the existence of my laserdisc-burned-to-DVD copy is NOT going to stop me from purchasing the upcoming Deckard Briefcase
LOUUUUUUU FERRANGO .. why don't you come to your senses? Come down from your fences, open the gate It may be rainin', but there's a rainbow above you You better let somebody love you, (you better let somebody love you) You better let somebody love you, before it's too late. Oh you were all thinkin it bitches. (I'm pretty sure it's Lou Ferrigno - Ed) Yes, but Kurt's version is funnier Ed. [Pathud] Michael X. Maelstrom.