Scrivener

Whenever you hear the Betty and Barney Hill case on TV (and any time you watch something on UFOs they bring up this case) - it's always dramatized so as to seem unbelievably hokey - with tons of major innaccuracies. This was something that the couple spent most of their lives trying to debunk. There is just so much BS out there that it's tough to distinguish the real cases from the false ones. The passing of Mrs. Hill is truely a sad loss for the Ufology community.

Is anyone else watching this? I have to admit that my preconceptions were totally wrong about this one. It's actually a fantastic show and I enjoy it at least as much as LOST. I love character driven shows and Desperate Housewives has got it in spades. I can't really put my finger on it, but it's basically a semirealistic spoof about suburban familial stereotypes. I think what makes it funny is that anyone can see a piece of their own lives in it. 10/10

1) The Longest Journey 2!!! 2) Gothic 3 3) NEXUS: The Jupiter Incident 4) Half Life 2 5) STALKER (provided there is co-op) 6) Vampire the Masquerade: Redemption 7) Troika's untitled post-apocalyptic RPG 8) Superpower 2 9) LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth 10) Goldenland (if it ever comes out) 11) Destroy all Humans (if released on PC) 12) Parkan 2 *) The Fall - This was supposed to be the spiritual successor to Fallout, but thanks to a school shooting in Germany a couple months ago - the government passed laws that forced the devs to remove every depicition of blood, period. I'm not talking gore. I'm talking not even little pink puffs. Oh yeah - and all the language got cut too... but 'at least they left in the nudity.' What a joke. This one is no longer on my watch list. Currently playing: 1) MYST 4 - Great fun! A much more interactive world than in previous games (Myst 2,3). Still prefer Uru's real 3D worlds, though. 2) Leisure Suit Larry - It's like a classic National Lampoon movie in game form. With a quick little hex edit it becomes an UNRATED classic National Lampoon movie (devs had to add censor bars to keep from getting an A rating). Funny as hell, but not for the kids. 3) Beyond Good and Evil - Fun little action-adventure game. Reminds me a LOT of Titan AE. All adventure games too. I hope to see a lot more of these in the near future - looks like the game industry is starting to fall back on fun, original, story-intensive games where problem solving is more important than blowing things up =)

Supersize Me - After seeing this documentary I don't think I'll ever eat fast food again. Scared the bejezus out of me. Basically, McDonalds is more deadly than cigarettes. Time to start looking up those vegetarian recipes. The movie is, fortunately, really funny as well -and reveals some of that capitalistic two-faced hypocrasy that makes America to great (italics for sarcasm). Definately recommend. 10/10 Thriller: A Cruel Picture - An old exploitation movie from the 70s, this serves as the inspiration for such films as Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs. It shows it's age, and it's very - um... unrated... but it's a fun look at pulp exploitation cinema. 8/10

Wild Boars are somehow more bizarre than a Polar Bear? Boars make way more sense, and they occupy just about every part of the world. Too bad they weren't werewolves, but there's still plenty more to figure out.

Too bad I hate football movies. ;[

So today I had my face-to-face interview with the guy from Sony (this was the 3rd interview). I think it went pretty well. It really seemed like one of those interviews where they just try to size you up and get a handle on your personality. No trick questions or anything like that. Just discussing the job, what it's about, and some Q&A (mostly me asking the questions). I should hear back in about a week. If he decides to persue me for the position, I'll have ONE MORE interview with his boss. All in all, I think it went really well... and the interview list this time is very small (about 5 people, I think). I should hear back from him in about a week. Give me your prayers and thoughts, guys. I really need this job. The one down side: I have to take a qtr off of school (starting immediately) and switch to night classes. I was planning on doing this anyway next qtr, so it's not a big deal. But I'd have to negotiate with the school to not lose my money for classes this qtr (ie- roll the tuition over to next qtrs night classes). Fortunately, this is more of a career move than a job. Sony is a great company to work for considering my filmmaking aspirations.

Wow. That looks like loads of fun. Great video too. Does anyone recognise the music? Sounds like Delerium, but I know its not them.

Been waiting for this one for some time. It's been sitting in a studio vault since last year. I'm really hoping I don't have to drive all the way out to the Arclight to see this one. The drive to Hollywood is never fun.

I never liked the whole Japanese anime style - the storytelling/art design turns me off in ways I really can't pin down. I'm just starting to lose my faith in games altogether. Was expecting The Fall to be the next Fallout - and I just learned that they cut out all the offensive language and ANT representation of blood. They did. however, leave in naked women. "WTF?" You say. Yeah, that's what I thought. Apparently it's okay to include porn, but God forbid you see BLOOD or say the F word. The industry is totally upside down and backwards right now. It dosnt make any sense at all. On a related note, been playing some Beyond Good and Evil - fantastic game. Sort of like Titan AE if I had to make a comparison. It's nice to see Adventure games are slowly but surely starting to make a real comeback. I desperately missed my adventure games. A shame they ruined Broken Sword by making it a worthless console port, but hopefully those experiments taught them that the majority of retarded console-monogamous gamers really dont appreciate non-action games.

The moment they announce that it's being developed simultaneously for "PC and next generation consoles", you will know that it is going to be sheer and utter crap. Mark my words well, I'm rarely wrong in this.

That's an interesting conundrum, Hellbinder. In sooth, I hate censorship. I hate when people/films/etc are afraid of doing/saying/showing what they really mean because 'someone might be offended.' I hate the stifling of creative expression. It's not that it takes gratuitous content to make me happy, it's that so many films are short changed by holding back. Let me put it this way - if Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was presented to todays MPAA, it would get an R. I see too many movies suffer because of the anal retentive fascist morally superior MPAA dogs. The ratings system is a joke. It has become a tool by which those in authority can force their ideals on the general populace, without regard to freedom or free thought. I like a movie with balls, that's not afraid to wear its mind on its sleeve. Not all movies need to so stark - LOTR did a fantastic job, I think, of walking the fine line - but then there's movies like 'Chronicles of Riddick', 'AvP', 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre,' 'The Ring', and the upcomming 'The Grudge.' These are all movies that simply cannot accomplish what they need to under the restrictions of the current PG13 rating. Prohibiting anyone from entering an R or NC17 movie is, IMHO, not only utterly wrong, it's also unconstitutional. Again, I lay the burden of shielding ones children on the parents. The government should have never been given the power they have - to make those decisions for us - for our children. It's WRONG. A movie without any language, gore, sex, nudity, or offensive language can still earn a higher rating JUST BECAUSE OF THE EMOTIONAL RESPONSE IT ILLICITS. To horror movies, that is a DEATH SENTENCE. The simple act of being genuinely terrifying is an instant PG13/R... even if the actual content is as innocent as an episode of Spongebob Squarepants (A movie I am genuinely looking forward to BTW). Take a look at G rated movies from 20 years ago. 30 years. Compare them to the G movies of today. Do that across the board for each rating. Todays R rated movies cover yesteryear's PG13 AND R ratings. PG13 movies consist of yesteryear's PGs. PG movies consist of yesteryear's Gs. And todays Gs are gobbledygook toddler trash. And it never ceases to amaze me that any person/kid anywhere could walk into any book store, and buy American Psycho, IT, or the Bible. But God forbid you see the MOVIE. Not that - who knows how it might damage our moral fabric or perceptions of reality. No, it's not that I can only appreciate movies with hard-R ratings, I appreciate movies that aren't afraid to tell a story the way it's supposed to be told - with detail, reverence, and honesty.

Clarification - If you couldn't deal with the Feebles, you might want to pass on this as well. They may be puppets but... yeah. It's a very very very hard R. The rare movie that totaly restores my faith in cinema. At least for a week or two. Team America is bloody FANTASTIC. I have slipped it in my all time #2 spot. Just under Kill Bill and just over Moulin Rouge. Whats most fantastic about this - is that it's treated like a SERIOUS REAL MOVIE. More impressive, is that it has STAYING POWER. I can see TA being as relevant 8-16 years down the line as it is today. Better yet, it's friggin hilarious. Wonton, gratuitous, and over-the-top yes, but also genuinely funny. As far as I'm concerned, this is Oscar material, and the second best movie ever crafted. Will you like it? Well, that's a tough question, but I've crafted a little worksheet to help you decide. Scriv's Guide to "Can Yo Handle Team America?" A1) Do you find Rocky Horror Picture Show entertaining? A2) Did you enjoy Meet the Feebles? A3) Do you enjoy South Park? B1) Are you offended by frequent use of 'strong language' or graphic sexual situations? B2) Are you sensitive about topics concerning AIDS or other life threatening terminal illnesses? B3) Are you easily 'disgusted' or 'made ill'? Add 1 point for every YES in the A category. Add 1 point for every NO! in the B category. A score of 4 or greater means you will likely enjoy Team America. The problem is, there are going to be tons of people out there who 1) are too damn sensitive for their own good or 2) have no sense of humor - and they will find this movie in VERY poor taste. But that's one of the nice things about America - not everything has to be custom tailored to please EVERYONE. At least - not yet.

OH MY GOD 15/10

The game looked AMAZING at E3. If your curious, a demo has been released where you play as Russia. The interface and AI have been DRASTICALLY improved. Check out www.superpower2game.com for demo mirrors. Simply cant wait to get my hands on this since I'm a little dissapointed with ROME TW.

quote:Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr: aha!! Thank you!! We can all go home now. I clearly missed that and I can't imagine why these folks simply didn't understand wtf I was asking. Him listening to the beeps intervals on the transciever won't tell him squat. Now if the intervals he's talking about is the duration of the repeating message and each repeat is ~30 secs long, thats a whole different story. Thanks alex. Man, I'm getting pretty annoyed at having to wait a WEEK between episodes. I just want to watch the whole thing back to back. Stupid Tivo cut off just as the bald guy watches the dad and his kid walk on the beach with the dog, so I missed the bloody preview for next week Oh the anticipation! Ai!

Yeah, I admit it would very likely take a LOT more than 4-5 seconds to figure that out. But if Chavik's number is right, it does add up. 17,294,531 iterations Each transmission lasts ~30 seconds That's 518,835,930 seconds OR 8,647,265.5 minutes OR 144,121.092 hours OR 6,005.05 days OR 16.45 years It just wouldn't be that interesting to see some characters standing around solving a math problem for 10mins w/o a calculator. But then again, maybe there's something about that Republican Guard guy that we don't really know just yet...

As a matter of fact, yes. I have the Criterion box set. Great stuff, as usual from Criterion.

That might just be it, Massa. Who knows? The Polar Bear in the comic and the *real* Polar Bear was just too much of a coincidence. I was a little confused about the *other* transmitter running for 16 years (battery?), but the math makes sense. The thing satates the number of transmissions. Let's say 1,533,533 times (not what was in the show, but I'm just making an example) and the message lasts 32 seconds. That's 49,073,056 seconds or 817,884.3 minutes or 13631.4 hours or 567.9 days or 1.5 years. I needed a calculator for that. But I actually have mathematically inclined friends who can do that kind of math off the top of their heads. Or at least very accurate aproximates.

Well, Grayfox, they are led by flip-flopper extraordinaire John Kerry, himself. SEE THIS LINK! So that must be what he plans to do in Iraq!

Documentaries were the flavor of the week, but all in all, good time. 1) 500 Nations - This is actually a 4 disc miniseries centering on the native peoples of the americas. I found the entire series extremely fascinating (a word which will be used more than once in this thread). Although one pervading theme is how the easter world singlehandedly destroyed native western societies. Disc 2, especially, casts shocking new light on popular 'american hero' Christopher Columbus. Really, this set is a must-own for anyone remotely interested in native history. 9/10 2) Occult History of the 3rd Reich - Here it comes: Fascinating. So you may think the nazis were evil bastards... but do you have any idea what their values actually were - or where they came from? This is an excellent primer for any student of history, and gives you an understanding of the nazi party that history books wont touch. 3 discs in all, this has some great historical value and excellent period footage. Highly recommended. 9/10 3) The Endurance - This docudrama focuses on the unforunate Shackleton Antarctic expedition in 1914. There is oodles of surviving historic footage and photography, which this film weaves together into an interesting story of how the crew survived when their ship became trapped and crushed in ice. It shares some distinct similarities to Touching the Void (another fantastic docudrama) and tells a very compelling story. 7.5/10 4) Dogville - I garauntee that 90% of you would HATE this movie. On that note, I thought it was bloody fantastic. My only complaint - I wish it was filmed on proper sets. If you dont already know, Dogville was filmed on a sound stage using only actors and a handfull of props - like a broadway play. This forces to movie to rely solely on the strengh of the acting which, I might ad, is absolutely top notch. It's a harrowing tale about the oppression of the minority by the majority. Some might call that anti-democratic/anti-american, and it sort of is. But so what. I'm not the biggest fan of America myself. It the worst nation in the world, except for all the others. Anyhoo, the movie is pretty twisted, but I dont want to spoil anything. Suffice it to say, many bad things happen to Kidman on her journey. 9.5/10

After the whole Polar Bear thing... and the nonstop Flash Gordon references... I'm starting to think we're in for something a little more... science fiction. They might not be on earth at all. Another dimension maybe? An alien 'wildlife preserve'? I'm intrigued. Also note: In Pilot Part 1, one of gals on the show said "Slow down there, Flash" to one of the other guys. Unfortunately I already deleted that episode from my Tivo, but keep that in mind. Last thing - did anyone manage to translate that Flash Gordon comic? If not, I'll have my sis do it for me tomorrow. How I love a good puzzle =P

Grizzle is right. It's garbage. The Star Wars mods for 1942 are way better than Battlefront even aspires to be. It's like the devs didn't even try. Pass on this one, it's not worth your time or money. BTW - is it just me or is there a startling lack of vehicles in the game?

quote:Originally posted by Cmdr Chavik: I love shows where people play off each other as in the relationships building or tearing down. I just love strong believable characters. It's one of the charms with old movies - because of technological constraints, it's all they had to work with. Cary Grant est mort, vive le Cary Grant.

I miss Journeyman Project... at least the first two (implants + death + adventure = fun++). RIP Presto Studios. I will never forget you.