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Tuesday, October 31, 2006
This is just to note
That for the next week I am also going to be one of the 5 people guest-posting at Apropos to Something, the first time I've ever guest posted actually, and I already got into the spirit of things with an aside there.
My best Halloween Costume ever.
I wore this doozy about 3 years ago for an office party.
When I was a kid, I usually dressed up as the undead... vampires, zombies and the like because generally it was easy and it required little effort to pull that off, so when their was going to be an office party where I worked in 2003, well, I thought I would do something a little different. I strolled on over to a shop downtown and put together a costume.
radiation suit costume that was not designed for someone of my *ahem* frame: 10 dollars
Winter coat: It was my old Winter Coat
heavy winter boots: mine
Rubber gloves: 2 dollars
Having your boss swear and drop the phone in shock when you walk into the room: Priceless
Now, I sort of suffered for that shock too, because it was a day in the high 70's-low 80's, and wearing a winter coat, rubber gloves and boots and a polyester head covering and pants is not the most comfortable of situations. To put it mildly, I was dying in it.
But I did win best costume, so I guess that makes up for it. I just wish I would have had the foresight to dress up like this.
When I was a kid, I usually dressed up as the undead... vampires, zombies and the like because generally it was easy and it required little effort to pull that off, so when their was going to be an office party where I worked in 2003, well, I thought I would do something a little different. I strolled on over to a shop downtown and put together a costume.
radiation suit costume that was not designed for someone of my *ahem* frame: 10 dollars
Winter coat: It was my old Winter Coat
heavy winter boots: mine
Rubber gloves: 2 dollars
Having your boss swear and drop the phone in shock when you walk into the room: Priceless
Now, I sort of suffered for that shock too, because it was a day in the high 70's-low 80's, and wearing a winter coat, rubber gloves and boots and a polyester head covering and pants is not the most comfortable of situations. To put it mildly, I was dying in it.
But I did win best costume, so I guess that makes up for it. I just wish I would have had the foresight to dress up like this.
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Monday, October 30, 2006
Zombies and how to survive them--A Guide to British Comedy
I was just watching Shaun of the Dead on the weekend, and I went to Youtube to see if I could find the opening to the Simon Pegg/Nick Frost series Spaced which seemed to have been a contributing factor in the development of the film my weekend revolved around.
I found a hidden gem(at least for the North American audience I assume). It was an extra feature from the series Danger! 50,000 Volts from 2002, which was how to survive a zombie attack. Did I happen to mention the show was hosted by Nick Frost and his guest was a Dr. Fell, played by Simon Pegg? It is fried gold it is, fried gold!
Of course, knowing how you could survive a wave of beings that only want you for your flesh and are a little slow on the uptake could probably help a lot of people survive tomorrow night, especially those making the rounds of the party circuit, so watch it and learn, because no one wants to wake up the next day with a virus. No one.
Oh, and I did find that opening scene after all.
I found a hidden gem(at least for the North American audience I assume). It was an extra feature from the series Danger! 50,000 Volts from 2002, which was how to survive a zombie attack. Did I happen to mention the show was hosted by Nick Frost and his guest was a Dr. Fell, played by Simon Pegg? It is fried gold it is, fried gold!
Of course, knowing how you could survive a wave of beings that only want you for your flesh and are a little slow on the uptake could probably help a lot of people survive tomorrow night, especially those making the rounds of the party circuit, so watch it and learn, because no one wants to wake up the next day with a virus. No one.
Oh, and I did find that opening scene after all.
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Saturday, October 28, 2006
Walkin' Home: A Culture Kills Comic
Put together like an finely tuned Ford Pinto at the garage at Strip Generator
Yes, I feel a little dirty, but that is a good thing.
Yes, I feel a little dirty, but that is a good thing.
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Friday, October 27, 2006
Week 24: The Pageant of the Transmundane
Howdy from Taos, New Mexico and this week's blogcast of the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award. It is a chilly night, but somehow it seemed to be worth the trip.
Sometimes you are in awe of the way someone humiliated or humbled themselves, sometimes you are flabbergasted by a strange product and sometimes you are left scratching your head after seeing or reading about something so odd that it scars you for life.
And sometimes on the rarest of occasions, the creative spark can win the day for a contestant, and that is special too.
The mythical creature known as the Arthbard from over on down Ringing the Otter way accomplished that latter feat. How did he do it? He simply made a cartoon... a really good cartoon, the kind of work I thought I'd see on Moviola or as interstitial material on a movie or animated channel. It was a highly enjoyable feature and he should be commended for it. Bravo!
So congrats Arthbard... you done good, you done really good!
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Sometimes you are in awe of the way someone humiliated or humbled themselves, sometimes you are flabbergasted by a strange product and sometimes you are left scratching your head after seeing or reading about something so odd that it scars you for life.
And sometimes on the rarest of occasions, the creative spark can win the day for a contestant, and that is special too.
The mythical creature known as the Arthbard from over on down Ringing the Otter way accomplished that latter feat. How did he do it? He simply made a cartoon... a really good cartoon, the kind of work I thought I'd see on Moviola or as interstitial material on a movie or animated channel. It was a highly enjoyable feature and he should be commended for it. Bravo!
So congrats Arthbard... you done good, you done really good!
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Tags:
30 Rock: Much improved
I have been enjoying 30 Rock a lot more as of late, because it seems like it is finding its footing comedically. It is a lot more wry than the pilot would have had me believe and there has usually been at least 3 or 4 classic lines in each of the new episodes. While it isn't burning up the ratings dial, I do think they are doing some respectable comedic work on that little island of madness.
Of course, now they are going to move it onto Thursday with Scrubs into the 9 PM slot against let's see... CSI, Grey's Anatomy and The OC. Hmmm, now that is a recipe for success, isn't it? I mean, if the show is having problems beating Dancing with the Stars, Jericho and America's Next Top Model, throwing it into the crossfire of Thursday night is going to help it, isn't it? Nice One NBC, nice one.
Modern TV wasn't made for people without DVR's.
Of course, now they are going to move it onto Thursday with Scrubs into the 9 PM slot against let's see... CSI, Grey's Anatomy and The OC. Hmmm, now that is a recipe for success, isn't it? I mean, if the show is having problems beating Dancing with the Stars, Jericho and America's Next Top Model, throwing it into the crossfire of Thursday night is going to help it, isn't it? Nice One NBC, nice one.
Modern TV wasn't made for people without DVR's.
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Thursday, October 26, 2006
Slow Blog Day
I am sort of running on empty today, but I thought I would still leave you with something that might entertain you, even if I don't have the stuff to do it myself.
Therefore I leave you with a video you may have seen already, but if not, you will be entertained. So I give you Street Fighter: The Later Years, which is hopefully the first in a series of movies based on that premise.
Therefore I leave you with a video you may have seen already, but if not, you will be entertained. So I give you Street Fighter: The Later Years, which is hopefully the first in a series of movies based on that premise.
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Wednesday, October 25, 2006
New Online Music Service: Finetune
I stumbled upon Finetune a few weeks ago, and at first it didn't really grab me, but I gave it another look earlier this week and I have to say that for what it is offering, it isn't half bad.After you register, you put together a playlist of 45 tracks with a maximum of three songs per artist, though you can fast track the selection process with a single press of a button and have the site build an initial playlist based on the selections you have already made(though I didn't really test this when I developed my playlist). However you aren't limited to just 45 songs on your playlist, so you can continue to add songs to the playlist, and I gather that you can make multiple playlists for moods or for variety's sake.
I was quite frankly surprised by the amount of music that is available to put together a playlist, as I was able to find nearly every artist that I entered, most with their full catalogs, which was one of my initial quibbles with Tornadostream At times the three songs per artist does seem a little limiting when you first start, but as you add more tracks to your playlist, you will be less likely to notice the limitation.
The thing I have seen is the algorithm for choosing which songs you are going to hear seems to be a little heavy on an all-or-nothing kind of model(if you have three songs rated by an artist, it seems you are more likely to hear the other songs by them in the playlist than perhaps another song by another artist). It is a small quibble to be sure, and an issue the designers may be working on, but it was noticeable to me.
That being said, while I still prefer the wide-open nature of Launchcast, Finetune does offer a nice change of pace, and with quite a large library of material to choose from, it is worth the time of most music lover to take a look.
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Tuesday, October 24, 2006
Are Video Games too long nowadays?
About a year ago Shigeru Miyamoto, the man behind some of Nintendo's most enduring characters and franchises lamented that modern games were too long, and at the time, I just rolled my eyes and wondered how having longer, more involving games could possibly be a bad thing. I should mention that I had just purchased my first PS2 about a week before Miyamoto made that pronouncement, so I couldn't see long games being a problem.
Skip ahead to today where I realize that yes, games can be too long... especially when you have too many quality titles vying for your attention along with a myriad of adult activities. As individual titles they are not problematic, and given the right amount of attention, their challenges can be met and bested, but much like a fistfight, the more games you try to tackle at once, the less effective you are in all of them, so none of them get finished.
And when I say finished, I don't mean get 100% of everything done in the game... I mean, at least finish the main story arc in a satisfactory way. I mean, who has the time to get 100% in Gran Turismo 4 and 3 Grand Theft Autos and still have a life? I have too much of a good thing and it is just bringing down the quality of my play experience in general... Madden and Kratos and Katamari, oh my.
I think Clive Thompson at Wired and I are in the same book at least when it comes to this matter. He is also having trouble completing a lot of games as an adult, though I think our problems diverge somewhat so we occupy different pages of that book. He is having problems with individual titles and I am having problem with the whole library. Sometimes it feels like I am Burgess Meredith in "Time Enough at Last"... with such an abundance to play but not enough time to do anything.
When I think back, I used to buy the bargain bin games near the end of the production life of my other systems, well, most of them were, to put it mildly, crap and truly deserving of being in those bins, so the quality titles were able to command more of my limited resources. But now, with the internet allowing me to be a much smarter consumer and the Greatest Hits collection keeping high quality titles in circulation, well, it is increasingly difficult to buy those outright clunkers... at least to me. I owned one game which I felt was subpar (Celebrity Deathmatch), out of about 40 purchases, only a few, were at worst, disappointing. I think that is a problem most people would like to have... owning too many enjoyable books, movies or what have you.
Of course, there are some ridiculously-long games if you played them through all the way to the end... like, for instance if you played every game of a single baseball team in a single level of competition until the functional end of the timeline in MVP Baseball 2005, you would end up playing around 19440 regular season games over a 120-year dynasty, and if you chose to play every game at every level of your organization, that total would be somewhere in the neighborhood of probably 60-70 thousand games. At an average of 45 minutes per game, that would work out to... about 5 and a half years of constant play to complete them all. And of course, that isn't including the post-season, spring training, all-star games, the draft etc. Of course, no reasonable person would be expected to complete such a herculean task, would they? Especially in an annual sports title.
In retrospect, games do seem like they were a lot shorter back on the older consoles, and it was Jess's post at Apropos to Something on Punchout that made me think about that, as I do remember getting stung really bad on a few titles based on their length, and playing quite a few long role-playing games (thank you Square) as well, so maybe long games aren't such a bad thing after all. I think just have to follow the golden rule... enjoy in moderation, and if that means I have to put a freeze on new acquisitions for the time being while I clear a little of the backlog, than I guess that is what I am going to have to do.
Skip ahead to today where I realize that yes, games can be too long... especially when you have too many quality titles vying for your attention along with a myriad of adult activities. As individual titles they are not problematic, and given the right amount of attention, their challenges can be met and bested, but much like a fistfight, the more games you try to tackle at once, the less effective you are in all of them, so none of them get finished.
And when I say finished, I don't mean get 100% of everything done in the game... I mean, at least finish the main story arc in a satisfactory way. I mean, who has the time to get 100% in Gran Turismo 4 and 3 Grand Theft Autos and still have a life? I have too much of a good thing and it is just bringing down the quality of my play experience in general... Madden and Kratos and Katamari, oh my.
I think Clive Thompson at Wired and I are in the same book at least when it comes to this matter. He is also having trouble completing a lot of games as an adult, though I think our problems diverge somewhat so we occupy different pages of that book. He is having problems with individual titles and I am having problem with the whole library. Sometimes it feels like I am Burgess Meredith in "Time Enough at Last"... with such an abundance to play but not enough time to do anything.
When I think back, I used to buy the bargain bin games near the end of the production life of my other systems, well, most of them were, to put it mildly, crap and truly deserving of being in those bins, so the quality titles were able to command more of my limited resources. But now, with the internet allowing me to be a much smarter consumer and the Greatest Hits collection keeping high quality titles in circulation, well, it is increasingly difficult to buy those outright clunkers... at least to me. I owned one game which I felt was subpar (Celebrity Deathmatch), out of about 40 purchases, only a few, were at worst, disappointing. I think that is a problem most people would like to have... owning too many enjoyable books, movies or what have you.
Of course, there are some ridiculously-long games if you played them through all the way to the end... like, for instance if you played every game of a single baseball team in a single level of competition until the functional end of the timeline in MVP Baseball 2005, you would end up playing around 19440 regular season games over a 120-year dynasty, and if you chose to play every game at every level of your organization, that total would be somewhere in the neighborhood of probably 60-70 thousand games. At an average of 45 minutes per game, that would work out to... about 5 and a half years of constant play to complete them all. And of course, that isn't including the post-season, spring training, all-star games, the draft etc. Of course, no reasonable person would be expected to complete such a herculean task, would they? Especially in an annual sports title.
In retrospect, games do seem like they were a lot shorter back on the older consoles, and it was Jess's post at Apropos to Something on Punchout that made me think about that, as I do remember getting stung really bad on a few titles based on their length, and playing quite a few long role-playing games (thank you Square) as well, so maybe long games aren't such a bad thing after all. I think just have to follow the golden rule... enjoy in moderation, and if that means I have to put a freeze on new acquisitions for the time being while I clear a little of the backlog, than I guess that is what I am going to have to do.
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Monday, October 23, 2006
I have faith in Seneca Wallace
This is one of those rare purely sports-oriented entries, so if American Football isn't your thing, you've been warned.
I've followed the career of Seneca Wallace ever since he was the starter at Iowa State (as for some strange reason not attached to geography, I am a Cyclones fan), and I've seen him do some amazing things on the field... amazing isn't the word... spectacular is more like it, and yesterday after 4 years of waiting, he was called upon to take over in the huddle for the Seahawks after Matt Hasselback went down. Yes, he ultimately failed in his baptism of fire, but I have faith that he will find some success starting for Seattle for however long that is. Most QB's are shaky in their first game, but most shake the bugs out sooner than later.
I know he is many years since that game, that play, that run, and that struggle for the Heisman but some things are like riding a bike, and I do believe he has the strength of character to pull this off. And if Alexander comes back in two weeks, well, then things should be just fine.
I've followed the career of Seneca Wallace ever since he was the starter at Iowa State (as for some strange reason not attached to geography, I am a Cyclones fan), and I've seen him do some amazing things on the field... amazing isn't the word... spectacular is more like it, and yesterday after 4 years of waiting, he was called upon to take over in the huddle for the Seahawks after Matt Hasselback went down. Yes, he ultimately failed in his baptism of fire, but I have faith that he will find some success starting for Seattle for however long that is. Most QB's are shaky in their first game, but most shake the bugs out sooner than later.
I know he is many years since that game, that play, that run, and that struggle for the Heisman but some things are like riding a bike, and I do believe he has the strength of character to pull this off. And if Alexander comes back in two weeks, well, then things should be just fine.
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Saturday, October 21, 2006
Alley Oof: A Culture Kills Comic
Synthesized through the wonder of Strip Generator.
Maybe not as funny as some of my other ones, but perhaps a little cutting... to my own personality at least.
Maybe not as funny as some of my other ones, but perhaps a little cutting... to my own personality at least.
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Friday, October 20, 2006
Week 23: Pageant of the Transmundane
This was a very contentious week for this award, and I was truly torn between 4 exceptional entries, but in the end, weirdness won out over all else. Some of the candidates knew they were in the race while others were observed unnoticed. I just feel bad in these kinds of weeks that there can be just one winner.
So the 23rd awarding of the Homer Simpson Transmundanity award goes to...
Becca at No Smoking in the Skull cave discovered the music video for The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Leonard "I am not Spock" Nimoy. It is a legendarily bad song and I've heard it before, but never before had I witness the spectacle of the video, and that is what really puts it over the top. I don't know if it is his haircut, the surreal dancing or the wardrobe, but it just freaks me out a little too much. I will say this, Leonard Nimoy's face was never meant to be seen upside down singing. Ever.
For showing me something that will give me the creeps until the first of November, I am pleased to award Becca the Homie.
Congrats.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
So the 23rd awarding of the Homer Simpson Transmundanity award goes to...
Becca at No Smoking in the Skull cave discovered the music video for The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins by Leonard "I am not Spock" Nimoy. It is a legendarily bad song and I've heard it before, but never before had I witness the spectacle of the video, and that is what really puts it over the top. I don't know if it is his haircut, the surreal dancing or the wardrobe, but it just freaks me out a little too much. I will say this, Leonard Nimoy's face was never meant to be seen upside down singing. Ever.
For showing me something that will give me the creeps until the first of November, I am pleased to award Becca the Homie.
Congrats.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Tags:
Gamespot makes me wax elegiac for the Technos-inspired Bully
Gamespot said two things, two things that if I didn't know anything else about Bully, I would want it.
It's like a modern-day River City Ransom.
and
[Gym Class] serves as a bit of an homage to the classic '80s game Super Dodge Ball.
Two of my favorite NES games from Technos being honored by Rockstar. Ah nostalgia... and to think, Jack Thompson wanted to rob us adults of that experience. For shame, for shame.
It's like a modern-day River City Ransom.
and
[Gym Class] serves as a bit of an homage to the classic '80s game Super Dodge Ball.
Two of my favorite NES games from Technos being honored by Rockstar. Ah nostalgia... and to think, Jack Thompson wanted to rob us adults of that experience. For shame, for shame.
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Thursday, October 19, 2006
Things I'd like to see in a zombie movie
How come no one, when they are out of ammo, tries to bash a zombie's teeth out so they can no longer really bite or kneecap them so they can't walk anymore? Seems like a natural solution to the problem?
How about when zombies eat brains, they actually improve in health(so to speak), or get smarter(because really, that would make as much sense as zombies to begin with).
Or how about having a movie where there is an actual zombie culture and society which is parallel to our own(shopping malls excluded of course)?
4 words: Soylent Green for Zombies
Titles: The Zombie Crusade: The Pope's greatest mistake, Zombie House(with an animatronic John Belushi of course), Zombie Surf Beach, Zombies vs. Pedophiles, Caged Zombie in heat(Fire BAD!), The Zombie Menace eats the Beverly Hills Buffet, Debbie Does Zombies, Saving Zombie Ryan, Zombie vs. Zombie(a touching portrayal of undead divorce, where til Death do you part was only the beginning), Zombies of the Pac-10, It's a zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie world; Young Zombies in Love and of course, Zombie Fight at the OK Graveyard
How about when zombies eat brains, they actually improve in health(so to speak), or get smarter(because really, that would make as much sense as zombies to begin with).
Or how about having a movie where there is an actual zombie culture and society which is parallel to our own(shopping malls excluded of course)?
4 words: Soylent Green for Zombies
Titles: The Zombie Crusade: The Pope's greatest mistake, Zombie House(with an animatronic John Belushi of course), Zombie Surf Beach, Zombies vs. Pedophiles, Caged Zombie in heat(Fire BAD!), The Zombie Menace eats the Beverly Hills Buffet, Debbie Does Zombies, Saving Zombie Ryan, Zombie vs. Zombie(a touching portrayal of undead divorce, where til Death do you part was only the beginning), Zombies of the Pac-10, It's a zombie, zombie, zombie, zombie world; Young Zombies in Love and of course, Zombie Fight at the OK Graveyard
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Wednesday, October 18, 2006
South Park Guys + Corporate Master + Stars = Big Funny
For some strange reason back in 1995, Universal Studios thought it would be a great idea to let Matt Stone and Trey Parker, who would soon go on to South Park fame, direct an employee video to ease the transition after Seagrams bought a controlling interest in the company.
So many cameos(Spielberg, Michael J. Fox, Sly Stallone, Demi Moore), and so much industrial film satire, especially at Universal's expense. I liked a quip I saw about it... that the funniest thing about the movie is the fact that the Universal Executives had to watch it before they decided that it really wasn't for them.
Watch it while you can, and I have a feeling that the genie will soon be going back into the bottle through the magic of litigation.
So many cameos(Spielberg, Michael J. Fox, Sly Stallone, Demi Moore), and so much industrial film satire, especially at Universal's expense. I liked a quip I saw about it... that the funniest thing about the movie is the fact that the Universal Executives had to watch it before they decided that it really wasn't for them.
Watch it while you can, and I have a feeling that the genie will soon be going back into the bottle through the magic of litigation.
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Remembering The Thing (1982)
I was fortunate to catch one of my favorite science fiction-based horror movies last night and what I think is one of John Carpenter's best movies. In The Thing, he manages to transcend his source material (1951's The Thing from Another World ), and create a film that is both iconic and whose thrills and tricks were rarely imitated. It is one of a few remakes that I've actually loved. Now I must confess, the supernatural doesn't really scare me at all... I mean, I watched Poltergeist as a little kid and I was fine. I am not including zombies in this classification however, because that is a beautiful, bloody world onto itself. Aliens I could go either way on.
But what does freak me out though is isolation and there are few places on Earth as remote as the icy wastes of Antarctica. It is in this setting where we first meet the members of an American research team, who discover that a seeming act of animal kindness may be the key to their unwitting doom at the hands of an parasitic alien lifeform that is taking over members of the team. And because it is freezing cold outside, the team is stuck in a claustrophobic compound with no escape. In that kind of situation, the question you are left with is: Who can you trust?
Watching this movie really makes me miss the use of models, makeup and creature design from the pre-CGI days. I mean, the visual effects in this movie are pitch perfect and just plain disturbing. It also makes me miss the days where a trailer didn't tell you the whole story before you've seen the movie.
The Thing is also a very male-centered movie, with the only female presence being the uncredited performance of John Carpenter's then-wife Adrienne Barbeau as the voice of the computer near the beginning of the movie. With Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley and Keith David in his first high-profile role, it is quite a first line cast for this type of movie in the early 1980's, and Carpenter uses them to the best of their abilities without going overboard like he may have if The Thing had come out later in his career.
And despite the fact that Ennio Morricone was nominated for a Razzie for the score of the picture, I think it has also stood the test of time, especially the atmospheric "Humanity (Part II)" which serves as the opening theme for the film. It reminds me of a strange heartbeat, and for a movie about an alien lifeform, it is very fitting. I mean, I'll put it this way... how bad could he really score a movie? He is a modern master of that art.
The movie also spawned one of the best movie-based games I've ever played in 2002.
So all-in-all, The Thing gives you all the thrills, the gore and suspense that a horror fanatic may be looking for this Halloween, so if you haven't seen it, you should take a gander.
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Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Is Conan O'Brien also the Seed of Philip J. Fry?
You know when you have those moments where a bunch of little pieces all of a sudden just fall together and something seemingly makes a lot more sense? I just had one of those moments.
You see, I was just watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and he was interviewing Tina Fey and they were discussing Halloween and what their kids are going to be wearing and he just happened to mention that when he was a kid, all he ever wanted to be was a robot, and it is like it all of a sudden just clicked.
I mean, Conan was a long time writer and producer on the Simpsons, which like Futurama, was a Matt Groening creation. Both are lanky red-haired characters with odd hair and goofy personas. I am not saying that Fry is an approximation of Conan... but that perhaps he was some inspiration for the character.
Of course, it probably doesn't hurt my case that Conan's sister Jane is a writer-producer for Futurama either.
You see, I was just watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and he was interviewing Tina Fey and they were discussing Halloween and what their kids are going to be wearing and he just happened to mention that when he was a kid, all he ever wanted to be was a robot, and it is like it all of a sudden just clicked.
I mean, Conan was a long time writer and producer on the Simpsons, which like Futurama, was a Matt Groening creation. Both are lanky red-haired characters with odd hair and goofy personas. I am not saying that Fry is an approximation of Conan... but that perhaps he was some inspiration for the character.
Of course, it probably doesn't hurt my case that Conan's sister Jane is a writer-producer for Futurama either.
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3 Anti-Television videos
That's the best title I could come up for this little grouping. I am sort of thinking this is a media-related counterargument to all the gushing I've been doing as of late about television, a bit of penance. Whether it helps me avoid television hell remains to be seen.
TV Party by Black Flag, a group fronted by the electric Henry Rollins. While at first blush, this doesn't really seem to be slamming television, by the time you get to the line "Don't even bother to use my brain anymore / There's nothing left in it!", I think there is little doubt left that the band doesn't have a high opinion of early 1980's television. Looking at the comments for the video at Youtube, there was an interesting question being posed... if someone redid this song for today, what shows would be part of the chorus now.
I remember a few months back I was looking for the video for 57 Channels by Bruce Springsteen to give one of my BlogExplosion tenants a fine send-off, but alas, at the time, I couldn't find it then. However, time has remedied that. Now the first thing the present-day version of me would say is: who has only 57 channels on their cable system now... seriously. That being said, it does paint a rather grim picture of the medium as a whole, doesn't it, because after all, it ends up with their being nothing on, though it still has a little bit of lightness about the subject, after all, it ends with an Elvis-like moment, so it is a little more satirical than sorrowful.
But that is not the case for TV, Drug Of The Nation by the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and this was probably the closest thing they had to a hit, though even then, that is overstating the popularity of the tune. The song and video are bitterly cynical, and that is a good thing with this group. As interesting as the song/video is, the verse that didn't make the video cut also paints quite a picture in this American election year.
T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politics
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture
Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
That is some Howard Beale-type truth there, though it is almost sad that someone wrote those words around 1991-92. Have things not changed that much since 1991?
TV Party by Black Flag, a group fronted by the electric Henry Rollins. While at first blush, this doesn't really seem to be slamming television, by the time you get to the line "Don't even bother to use my brain anymore / There's nothing left in it!", I think there is little doubt left that the band doesn't have a high opinion of early 1980's television. Looking at the comments for the video at Youtube, there was an interesting question being posed... if someone redid this song for today, what shows would be part of the chorus now.
I remember a few months back I was looking for the video for 57 Channels by Bruce Springsteen to give one of my BlogExplosion tenants a fine send-off, but alas, at the time, I couldn't find it then. However, time has remedied that. Now the first thing the present-day version of me would say is: who has only 57 channels on their cable system now... seriously. That being said, it does paint a rather grim picture of the medium as a whole, doesn't it, because after all, it ends up with their being nothing on, though it still has a little bit of lightness about the subject, after all, it ends with an Elvis-like moment, so it is a little more satirical than sorrowful.
But that is not the case for TV, Drug Of The Nation by the Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy and this was probably the closest thing they had to a hit, though even then, that is overstating the popularity of the tune. The song and video are bitterly cynical, and that is a good thing with this group. As interesting as the song/video is, the verse that didn't make the video cut also paints quite a picture in this American election year.
T.V. is
the stomping ground for political candidates
Where bears in the woods
are chased by Grecian Formula'd
bald eagles
T.V. is mechanized politics
remote control over the masses
co-sponsored by environmentally safe gases
watch for the PBS special
It's the perpetuation of the two party system
where image takes precedence over wisdom
Where sound bite politics are served to
the fastfood culture
Where straight teeth in your mouth
are more important than the words
that come out of it
That is some Howard Beale-type truth there, though it is almost sad that someone wrote those words around 1991-92. Have things not changed that much since 1991?
Tags:
Monday, October 16, 2006
If you would have told me....
If you would have told me 5 years ago that two of the actors in Big Momma's House (Paul Giamatti and Terrence Howard) would be nominated for Oscars in the same year no less, I wouldn't have believed you. And a decade ago, I that same skepticism would be applied to In Living Color. And the fact that the winner was Jamie Foxx makes it ever more shocking.
If you would have told me when the movie The Wizard came out that the female lead would be transformed just over a decade later into an indie/alt-country star, I would have told you you were crazy.
If you would have mentioned to me in the year 2000 that Kiefer Sutherland, James Woods, Hugh Laurie, Dennis Leary, William Petersen, Gary Sinise and Mary Louise Parker would all be doing dramatic episodic television in 2006, I would have had you checked into an asylum.
If you would have told me when Dennis Miller Live first started in 1994 that the host would a) become one of the most maligned people to ever sit in the Monday Night Football booth and then b) that he would become a frequent guest on a conservative political talk show I would have thought you had dropped acid. By the same token, if you had told me that Jon Stewart was going to become one of the most sought-after political comedians after this, I would have probably thought you needed medication.
And finally, if you would have told me in 1987 that a few 30-second animated bits from the Tracey Ullman Show would transform into the longest running cartoon of all time by over a decade, I may have been just a little wary.
If you would have told me when the movie The Wizard came out that the female lead would be transformed just over a decade later into an indie/alt-country star, I would have told you you were crazy.
If you would have mentioned to me in the year 2000 that Kiefer Sutherland, James Woods, Hugh Laurie, Dennis Leary, William Petersen, Gary Sinise and Mary Louise Parker would all be doing dramatic episodic television in 2006, I would have had you checked into an asylum.
If you would have told me when Dennis Miller Live first started in 1994 that the host would a) become one of the most maligned people to ever sit in the Monday Night Football booth and then b) that he would become a frequent guest on a conservative political talk show I would have thought you had dropped acid. By the same token, if you had told me that Jon Stewart was going to become one of the most sought-after political comedians after this, I would have probably thought you needed medication.
And finally, if you would have told me in 1987 that a few 30-second animated bits from the Tracey Ullman Show would transform into the longest running cartoon of all time by over a decade, I may have been just a little wary.
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Saturday, October 14, 2006
No Silent Witness: A Culture Kills Comic
Produced in the fine state of Wisconsin, a 100% food product, with the fine cheesemaking equipment of Strip Generator.
Dr. Mephisto vs. the State of California... now that will be an epic battle of justice!
Dr. Mephisto vs. the State of California... now that will be an epic battle of justice!
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Week 22: Pageant of the Transmundane
I stumbled up The Sneeze this week, and I was mightily impressed by what I saw... especially in one category - Steve, Don't Eat It.
Steve's consumed a lot of things that honestly put him into a class by himself. Whether it is tackling a 13-year old box of Urkel-o's, trying to make prison wine or sampling some of his wife's breast milk, he seems to have a fearlessness about him that is intriguing. He would be a shoe-in for any fraternity out there... or to win Fear Factor for that matter
Of course, there had to be an item that just... well, just made me up and gag really. And the most wretch-inducing thing I saw in this menagerie of unusual and evil culinary treats was a little product called Cuitlacoche, which is basically corn that has been infected by a certain strain of black fungus and then canned in its various forms of decay. Of course, he goes through the process of eating it in a very detailed way.
For disgusting me and taking many culinary hits for the rest of us, I award Steve and The Sneeze the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award.
Congratulations Steve.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Steve's consumed a lot of things that honestly put him into a class by himself. Whether it is tackling a 13-year old box of Urkel-o's, trying to make prison wine or sampling some of his wife's breast milk, he seems to have a fearlessness about him that is intriguing. He would be a shoe-in for any fraternity out there... or to win Fear Factor for that matter
Of course, there had to be an item that just... well, just made me up and gag really. And the most wretch-inducing thing I saw in this menagerie of unusual and evil culinary treats was a little product called Cuitlacoche, which is basically corn that has been infected by a certain strain of black fungus and then canned in its various forms of decay. Of course, he goes through the process of eating it in a very detailed way.
For disgusting me and taking many culinary hits for the rest of us, I award Steve and The Sneeze the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award.
Congratulations Steve.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Tags:
Friday, October 13, 2006
Pacxon- Great Classic Arcade Mashup
Someone decided to take two classic arcade games and mash them together to come up with a nice hybrid concept.
The game is called Pacxon though it has nothing to do with Zaxxon, but rather it is the combination of the characters and powerups of Pacman with the gameplay of Qix, and what you end up with is a lot of unpredictable fun.
I loved Qix as a kid(which really shows my geek age there), and I think the underlying play concept still works, and it is refreshing to play this kind of game again after the flood of tetris/bust-a-move clones out there.
I've been having quite a bit of mindless fun playing this afternoon. In fact, I had trouble completing this entry because I was playing it a little too much. Sorry about that.
The game is called Pacxon though it has nothing to do with Zaxxon, but rather it is the combination of the characters and powerups of Pacman with the gameplay of Qix, and what you end up with is a lot of unpredictable fun.
I loved Qix as a kid(which really shows my geek age there), and I think the underlying play concept still works, and it is refreshing to play this kind of game again after the flood of tetris/bust-a-move clones out there.
I've been having quite a bit of mindless fun playing this afternoon. In fact, I had trouble completing this entry because I was playing it a little too much. Sorry about that.
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Thursday, October 12, 2006
Newish Futurama Ad in Bendervision!
I don't know if this ad for Futurama has been showing on Comedy Central or not, but frankly, I think it is pretty damn cool. So for the people who haven't seen it... check it out.
http://www.speedbumpstudios.com/futurama/
I think this is exactly the kind of hope for the future the world needs!
http://www.speedbumpstudios.com/futurama/
I think this is exactly the kind of hope for the future the world needs!
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30 Rock vs. Studio 60... how do they stack up?
Well, I am sure many other bloggers are discussing this topic right now, but you all had to know this was coming from me as well.
As someone who knows the SNL half of the equation quite well(I did a speech on it in the 8th grade for one thing) having seen so many hours of the show even through the less than stellar years, so I do feel somewhat qualified to judge both shows on how they manage to play to my expectations.
I've been very pleased with the development of Studio 60, and I have been vocal in professing that, though it has come to my attention that perhaps I enjoy it more because I don't know the Aaron Sorkin backstories. That being said, I have to say that I am looking forward to where this series is going, as I laughed heartily with the last episode. While there are storylines that you can see coming that are pretty standard dramatic fare, it does seem to be developing well for this Sorkin novice at least.
30 Rock on the other hand is supposed to be the comedic interpretation of the same kind of backstage action. I know that Tina Fey had originally wanted to remain behind the scenes from the conception of this show, but really, Liz Lemon is SO in keeping with her persona, it would be hard to see anyone else play that role. Tracy Morgan is surprisingly funny in the role of a quite clearly (and self-professed) mentally ill person in keeping with Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle and even Eddie Murphy, and at first, I thought that he perhaps couldn't pull it off, but manages to be believable as that character. And Alec Baldwin proves once again that he can pull of the SNL-type character comedy as he plays a corporate loon with a perfectly straight face, and in all honesty, I don't think the show would work without him. I am however disappointed that Rachel Dratch was replaced by Jane Krakowski in the best friend role, because I thought it would have been interesting to see real life best friends Dratch and Fey play that on the screen as well. That is not a knock against Krakowski mind you, rather just wistfulness that another talented actress was passed over for that role.
But in the end, there was just something about it that just didn't click for me. Maybe The Larry Sanders Show amongst others has set an artificially high bar for me, but at the moment it isn't hitting on all cylinders just yet, so at the moment I can only give it a moderate recommendation. Perhaps it will get better, perhaps not. I do think that part of the problem may be the fact that Lorne Michaels produces the show, so on some level it has to pull its punches about the show it is critiquing so it can't be as sharp as it could be given Tina Fey's wit and experience in that arena. I am still recommending Studio 60 highly though.
I will say that 30 Rock was more entertaining than the pilot of Smith was.
As someone who knows the SNL half of the equation quite well(I did a speech on it in the 8th grade for one thing) having seen so many hours of the show even through the less than stellar years, so I do feel somewhat qualified to judge both shows on how they manage to play to my expectations.
I've been very pleased with the development of Studio 60, and I have been vocal in professing that, though it has come to my attention that perhaps I enjoy it more because I don't know the Aaron Sorkin backstories. That being said, I have to say that I am looking forward to where this series is going, as I laughed heartily with the last episode. While there are storylines that you can see coming that are pretty standard dramatic fare, it does seem to be developing well for this Sorkin novice at least.
30 Rock on the other hand is supposed to be the comedic interpretation of the same kind of backstage action. I know that Tina Fey had originally wanted to remain behind the scenes from the conception of this show, but really, Liz Lemon is SO in keeping with her persona, it would be hard to see anyone else play that role. Tracy Morgan is surprisingly funny in the role of a quite clearly (and self-professed) mentally ill person in keeping with Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle and even Eddie Murphy, and at first, I thought that he perhaps couldn't pull it off, but manages to be believable as that character. And Alec Baldwin proves once again that he can pull of the SNL-type character comedy as he plays a corporate loon with a perfectly straight face, and in all honesty, I don't think the show would work without him. I am however disappointed that Rachel Dratch was replaced by Jane Krakowski in the best friend role, because I thought it would have been interesting to see real life best friends Dratch and Fey play that on the screen as well. That is not a knock against Krakowski mind you, rather just wistfulness that another talented actress was passed over for that role.
But in the end, there was just something about it that just didn't click for me. Maybe The Larry Sanders Show amongst others has set an artificially high bar for me, but at the moment it isn't hitting on all cylinders just yet, so at the moment I can only give it a moderate recommendation. Perhaps it will get better, perhaps not. I do think that part of the problem may be the fact that Lorne Michaels produces the show, so on some level it has to pull its punches about the show it is critiquing so it can't be as sharp as it could be given Tina Fey's wit and experience in that arena. I am still recommending Studio 60 highly though.
I will say that 30 Rock was more entertaining than the pilot of Smith was.
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Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Say what?!?
I got a surprise last night when I was watching the Late Show with David Letterman... Nicky Hilton isn't a complete dolt.
I was actually shocked that not only could Nicky Hilton talk without sounding like a completely brain dead moron, but that she is actually trying to accomplish something with her life. I guess she decided college would be better for her than starring on The Simple Life with her older sister.
I am not obsessed with the soap opera that is the Hilton family, so I am surprised by this. I guess being the sister of Paris Hilton sets the bar REALLY low.
I was actually shocked that not only could Nicky Hilton talk without sounding like a completely brain dead moron, but that she is actually trying to accomplish something with her life. I guess she decided college would be better for her than starring on The Simple Life with her older sister.
I am not obsessed with the soap opera that is the Hilton family, so I am surprised by this. I guess being the sister of Paris Hilton sets the bar REALLY low.
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006
He's a Pop Sensation! He's a Pop Sensation!
What happens when you combine a Bloodhound Gang song with the wit and wisdom of Ralph Wiggum?Pure Genius, that's what.
Jess over at Apropos to Something discovered this gem, so why not check out his place as well?
Of course, the song is a little too catchy for its own good, so be forewarned.
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Monday, October 9, 2006
The Director's Cut of The Joy of Coffee.
Dutchy asked to see the director's cut so to speak of the last comic, and since this feels like such a lazy Thanksgiving day for me, I thought, why not?
You see, when I sit down to do the comic, I have absolutely no idea what it is going to be, so most of the process is discovering something I feel like doing. Some weeks it is easy and some weeks it is like pulling my own teeth. But as the whole thing gets finalized, well, I go through a lot of different lines and approaches, most of which don't make the cut, usually because they are really pushing the edges of taste, so they tend to be a little milder than I am capable of. And even then, I get away with the double entendre because it doesn't get picked up by the search engines since they are embedded in the image.
So, just so you can see how this works, these are some of the phrases that didn't make it to the middle panel of this week's comic. Some of these get really dirty, and frankly, I am sort of ashamed that some of these almost made it.
Deeply ashamed,
MC
You see, when I sit down to do the comic, I have absolutely no idea what it is going to be, so most of the process is discovering something I feel like doing. Some weeks it is easy and some weeks it is like pulling my own teeth. But as the whole thing gets finalized, well, I go through a lot of different lines and approaches, most of which don't make the cut, usually because they are really pushing the edges of taste, so they tend to be a little milder than I am capable of. And even then, I get away with the double entendre because it doesn't get picked up by the search engines since they are embedded in the image.
So, just so you can see how this works, these are some of the phrases that didn't make it to the middle panel of this week's comic. Some of these get really dirty, and frankly, I am sort of ashamed that some of these almost made it.
"I'd like to dip my biscotti in something, but it certainly isn't coffee."
"I had another coffee-related activity in mind, but I don't smell a burro in there"
"I like my coffee like I like my women: short, thick and capable of taking a lot of cream."
"Yeah, like I am going in there so you can eat my soul. Nice try."
"I've watched you drive, so I really don't think you can handle a coffee maker."
"The smell of coffee reminds me of psych ward."
"Coffee is pure concentrated evil"
"If you drink coffee, you are murdering people throughout the third world."
"I am still traumatized by that stupid foo fighter video for learning to fly"
"I am in Coffee Drinker's Anonymous. I show up at a meeting once a week to talk about my struggles not drinking coffee while imbibing large quantities of alcohol and betting on who is going to fall off the wagon first."
"Coffee makes me impotent"
"That's Mr. Hankey's swimming pool!"
"Every time I drink coffee, I wake up the next day in a strange bed."
"Only if it is in enema form... because, hey, it works for Janet Jackson."
Deeply ashamed,
MC
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Saturday, October 7, 2006
Friday, October 6, 2006
Week 21: Pageant of the Transmundane
Greetings from the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. It is this committee of one's pleasure to present this award in yet another college town, don't you know.
This week's winner allowed me to see just how committed someone could be to both the fantasy that is marriage and to providing a special memory above that of a larger wedding ceremony.
You see, Melanie in Orygun brought to my attention a sweet sweet cake, in the shape of one of my most beloved of fantasy worlds, the Discworld.
How could I fail to recognize that, especially given the quality of the work involved? Therefore, I am pleased to award Melanie for this great find.
Congratulations Melanie on winning your first Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award.
The approximate coding is available here.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
This week's winner allowed me to see just how committed someone could be to both the fantasy that is marriage and to providing a special memory above that of a larger wedding ceremony.
You see, Melanie in Orygun brought to my attention a sweet sweet cake, in the shape of one of my most beloved of fantasy worlds, the Discworld.
How could I fail to recognize that, especially given the quality of the work involved? Therefore, I am pleased to award Melanie for this great find.
Congratulations Melanie on winning your first Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award.
The approximate coding is available here.
The rules of this little contest: Every week I will be selecting one blog post that I have seen from the vast reaches of the blogosphere to bestow with the Homer Simpson Transmundanity Award for being one of the freakiest(in a funny way) things I've seen or read during a 7 day period. It doesn't necessarily have to have been written during the week, I just had to have encountered it. That means that if you find something interesting and repost it like a movie or whatever, if I saw it at your blog first, you get the prize. Of course, creating your own content is also a very good way to win.
Now, if you see a post that you think is worthy of this illustrious prize, just drop me a line at campybeaver@gmail.com and we'll see if we can't get your suggestion up and award-ready while giving you some credit and a link to your own blog.
Tags:
The Television Season's First Victim
I remember I wrote the following a few week's ago:
Well, it looks like I have indeed been left disappointed, as CBS has chosen to take Smith off the schedule. I had quipped that time would tell me if I would still be watching the crime series by the time 24 premiered in January, and I guess the answer is an emphatic no.
So I guess I won't see a good heist this year... at least on the small screen. Bobby and Hope Stevens, I hardly knew ya.
Smith: It sort of makes me sad to say this but... well, the pilot was a little boring really. Despite the star power of Ray Liotta, Virginia Madsen and Amy Smart, this show didn't seem to get me going. Maybe it will get better, but I have a feeling I am going to be left disappointed... perhaps to the point of giving up.
Well, it looks like I have indeed been left disappointed, as CBS has chosen to take Smith off the schedule. I had quipped that time would tell me if I would still be watching the crime series by the time 24 premiered in January, and I guess the answer is an emphatic no.
So I guess I won't see a good heist this year... at least on the small screen. Bobby and Hope Stevens, I hardly knew ya.
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Thursday, October 5, 2006
Last Day for the Illustrated Movie Review Blog
Well, my current tenant is entering their last day here at Casa Culture Kills.
Visit the Illustrated Movie Review Blog or else Bucky Katt is coming to your house to slap you with a fish, and no one wants that.
Look, he is already on the march. Go, click now!
Visit the Illustrated Movie Review Blog or else Bucky Katt is coming to your house to slap you with a fish, and no one wants that.
Look, he is already on the march. Go, click now!
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Feast and Famine at Blogmad
Who could have predicted that giving every member on Blogmad 50 free credits would result in the complete reversal of the credit drain for everyone.
Put it this way... the day before the giveaway, I used over 100 credits. In the past 48 hours I've used 15. Of course, I am still building up my credits, so I am prepared for the hour when the madness begins again. And if you use Blogmad, you know that day is fast approaching, probably sooner rather than later.
Anyone else going through the Blogmad surfing withdrawals?
Put it this way... the day before the giveaway, I used over 100 credits. In the past 48 hours I've used 15. Of course, I am still building up my credits, so I am prepared for the hour when the madness begins again. And if you use Blogmad, you know that day is fast approaching, probably sooner rather than later.
Anyone else going through the Blogmad surfing withdrawals?
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Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Little Superstar: I found that which many seek
I think all of us have seen the phenomenon that is Little Superstar by now, and if you haven't, well, here is a taste of that Tamil treat. Now, a lot of people have been asking what movie those scenes come from, and after a little digging(I mean, minimal really), I not only found out what exceptionally entertaining film the clips are from, but I also found a blog that has the entire thing.
The movie is called Adhsaya Piravi, and it is a Tamil movie from 1990. So go on, enjoy it all... and thank the person who put this together for inquiring minds. I certainly will.
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Tuesday, October 3, 2006
The Worst Review/Critique you've ever gotten
After reading one of the more recent blog entries at Pointless Drivel, I began thinking about some of the things that have been said to me as a writer, whether it be in workshops or amongst my peers or even from editors. For the most part, even when these people were being their most negative, I was able to take their constructive criticism in the spirit in which it was given, and their occasional scorn with grace and good nature. But of course, there is always going to be at least one thing someone has said to you that really sticks in your craw, and you have a hard time letting it go. The words that haunt me are from nearly 4 years ago, when as a young writer, I was a member of Zoetrope Online. It's true I made quite a few friends while I was there, but the person who gave me this review was not one of them. Instead, it was penned by the editor of a poetry journal, so it made what he said that much worse, as I couldn't really tell myself they didn't know what they were talking about. In addition, he was a bit of a lurker, so I had to really think that he really objected to my poem. The review reads as follows:
Now by no stretch of the imagination do I believe that the submitted piece was the best poem in creation, or even the best poem I have ever written, but those last two lines of that review... ouch. I've shown it to friends, and ask them if you got a review like that, wouldn't it make you not want to write anymore; and most of them say yes. But for me, it would be too easy to just quit, and it isn't in my nature to do that. Instead of depressing me, it just really pissed me off. It made me want to do it even more, just to spite him, and even though it did have a positive outcome, it still pisses me off a bit even to this day.
So the question I ask my fellow writers is this... what is the worst review/critique you've ever gotten... and what was its effect on you?
It's not impressionistic, it's a lot of abstraction and generalized description. An excess of adjectives also. Look at all those adjective noun constructions throughout: Yawning canyons, rocky lips, starry abyss, single sliver, glacial teeth. Pretty cliched as well (cliched here as an overuse of dead metaphor). The poem needs specific images and concrete particularities. The use of the pathetic fallacy turns this into one high rhetorical move after another. This piece strikes me as an "idea" of poetry rather than the poem itself. There's no sense of an experience here in the generalities.
To say I think it's not working would be a reasonable deduction. I have to wonder what contemporary you're reading after a piece like this. Do you read any?
Now by no stretch of the imagination do I believe that the submitted piece was the best poem in creation, or even the best poem I have ever written, but those last two lines of that review... ouch. I've shown it to friends, and ask them if you got a review like that, wouldn't it make you not want to write anymore; and most of them say yes. But for me, it would be too easy to just quit, and it isn't in my nature to do that. Instead of depressing me, it just really pissed me off. It made me want to do it even more, just to spite him, and even though it did have a positive outcome, it still pisses me off a bit even to this day.
So the question I ask my fellow writers is this... what is the worst review/critique you've ever gotten... and what was its effect on you?
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Monday, October 2, 2006
Damn you Ugly Betty, damn you ABC!
A few months ago I criticized Ugly Betty because of the perpetuation of a Hollywood standard of beauty because its star, even with the makeup, was not an unattractive person. But I would have been a hypocrite if I had slammed the show without watching it, so I did just that last Thursday night.
And I liked it. No... I LOVED it, because America Ferrera as Betty Suarez is just so compelling to watch, and given the ratings from last week, apparently a lot of other people did as well. Her mission to succeed at her job while being beset by people who want to see her fail is noble despite the reasons why they want her to fail being merely superficial. It sort of reminds me a bit of Revenge of the Nerds, truth be told, because much like the protagonists of that particular film were outsiders trying to break into and succeed in a superficial society, and as a protonerd, I have to get behind that.
So, now I have to know how this all turns out, which means that I have another show that I have to watch. Damn you network execs for bringing the quality this year.
I am a recovering soap addict, so watching a telenovela is probably not a good idea for me, but I just can't help myself. And given my history with shows like Alias, 24 and Prison Break, I haven't done a good job of keeping myself unentangled by serialized drama.
And I liked it. No... I LOVED it, because America Ferrera as Betty Suarez is just so compelling to watch, and given the ratings from last week, apparently a lot of other people did as well. Her mission to succeed at her job while being beset by people who want to see her fail is noble despite the reasons why they want her to fail being merely superficial. It sort of reminds me a bit of Revenge of the Nerds, truth be told, because much like the protagonists of that particular film were outsiders trying to break into and succeed in a superficial society, and as a protonerd, I have to get behind that.
So, now I have to know how this all turns out, which means that I have another show that I have to watch. Damn you network execs for bringing the quality this year.
I am a recovering soap addict, so watching a telenovela is probably not a good idea for me, but I just can't help myself. And given my history with shows like Alias, 24 and Prison Break, I haven't done a good job of keeping myself unentangled by serialized drama.
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Sunday, October 1, 2006
From the old news department
Apparently Victor Garber, the spy daddy of Alias and the current hot-shot defense lawyer of Fox's Justice, had been asked to do a favor.
That favor was to become ordained and officiate over the wedding of his former television daughter Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. Of course, if Ben Affleck is starring in this production, it is going to end in failure.
But seriously, I think my best comment on the whole thing is based on the fact that one of Victor Garber's first movie roles was that of Jesus Christ in Godspell, which in the fictional sense at least, makes him the ideal candidate to marry two people, would it not?
That favor was to become ordained and officiate over the wedding of his former television daughter Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck. Of course, if Ben Affleck is starring in this production, it is going to end in failure.
But seriously, I think my best comment on the whole thing is based on the fact that one of Victor Garber's first movie roles was that of Jesus Christ in Godspell, which in the fictional sense at least, makes him the ideal candidate to marry two people, would it not?
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