Sunday at the pool

Keep forgetting to post updates when things are happenin’
I shall attempt to remedy that soon.

There’s a new sheriff in town.

I’ve been neglecting this blog for a while now, but I’ve decided to make some changes in order to get things running again.
Since I’m now publishing my opinions on media on a different website the focus of this site is going to have to change. I’m taking things in a more personal direction and now I will be posting random things from the app on my phone. Hope you enjoy the chaos.

Remember Jean-Claude Van Damme?

You do? Well…do you remember liking any of his movies? Because I don’t. And I never thought I would say this, but:

I want to see the next Jean-Claude Van Damme movie.

JCVD (click for trailer)

(a quick update because I haven’t completely given up on this blog…even though I have tons of other web-related stuff going on at the moment.)

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

The widget wasn’t working out for me, so here’s a direct link to the site:

Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Starring: Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, Felicia Day as Penny
Screenplay By: Joss Whedon, Maurissa Tancharoen, Jed Whedon, and Zack Whedon
Directed By: Joss Whedon
Produced By: David Burns, Michael Boretz, and Joss Whedon
Plot Outline: The story of a low-rent super-villain, the hero who keeps beating him up, and the cute girl from the laundromat he’s too shy to talk to.

Music by: Joss Whedon and Jed Whedon
Lyrics by: Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen
Score and Orchestration by: Jed Whedon

damn you, Charlie Kaufman

Hulu sent me an email mentioning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and then all of a sudden I seem to have just watched it again. I guess it’s almost been a year since my last Eternal Sunshine viewing, so maybe it was time. And I can’t wait for Synecdoche, New York even though it might be overly long.

want some good news?

you might want to try this:

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

more Tower Defense flash games

If the hits on my post about Onslaught 2 are correct, then a decent number of you have apparently been letting flash games eat away your time. Here are a few more that have kept me occupied for way longer than I should have let them.

Budapest Defenders:

Budapest Defenders by TNT

Molotov cocktails, machine guns, snipers and roadblocks with enemies coming from multiple directions. I just wish the graphics were as slick as the intro page.

Turret Tyranny:

Turret Tyranny by Matt Jones

Freeze guns, obstacles that block your shots and evil space bubbles give this one a unique twist. I never got too far on this one though.

Vector TD X:

Vector TD X by David Scott

Two different enemy paths make this one even more addicting than the original Vector TD, which I liked quite a bit. The graphics might not be for everyone, but they remind me of Tron and I dig ‘em.

the freedom to choose Devo

 

It seems that some of you have discovered my set of “Top 80s” posts by searching for Devo. Maybe the recent interest has something to do with these new bits of information:

Devo recorded a new song titled “Watch Us Work It,” which was featured in a commercial for Dell. The band has announced in a July 23, 2007, MySpace bulletin that a full length music video for the song is forthcoming. Casale said that this song was chosen from a batch of songs that the band was working on, and that also this is the closest the band has been to a new album.

In an article called Are You Not Devo? You Are Mutato, LA Weekly says that “After touring sporadically over the past decade but not releasing any new material, Devo are spending December at Mutato trying to create an album’s worth of new material and contemplating a method of dispersal in the post-record-company world.”

recipe for Doomsday (with posters!)

Neil Marshall’s simple recipe for

Doomsday:

Should we add some High Tension to the recipe? (click for trailer)

4 cups of 28 Days Later…
2 pounds of Mad Max
5 pints of Thunderdome
2 1/2 cups of District 13
fresh squeezed official* Rhona Mitra
2 tablespoons of Running Man
3 1/2 teaspoons of Resident Evil
4 ounces of Aliens
1/2 tablespoon of Equilibrium
1 teaspoon of V for Vendetta
1 small can of No Escape
some dried Abyss
1/2 ounce of Silent Hill
a dash of 300
3 teaspoons of Gladiator
1/4 teaspoon of Ultraviolet
a dollop of Judge Dredd
a dash of Tank Girl (optional)
a sprinkle of Underworld

Mix all of the futuristic elements in one bowl and all of the apocalyptic elements in another. Slowly fold the dystopic items into the futuristic mixture and carefully combine them all into one script, being careful not to add too much wirework. Drizzle the official Rhona Mitra (see below) throughout and be sure to throw in a gratuitous ass shot. Make sure plenty of the people involved have cool accents and then give it to Neil Marshall (the guy that wrote and directed Dog Soldiers and the Descent) and hopefully it will turn out to be half as good as either of those movies.
I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad one, but I’ve never seen a trailer that reminded me of so many other things. I have faith in the writer/director based on his previous projects though, so this film’s definitely going on my to-see list. Besides…Rhona Mitra looks like a girl that I could freshly squeeze watch for way, way longer than movies ever last.

Garnish with The Transporter and add some bikers from Weird Science to taste.

Serves millions.

*the official website of Rhona Mitra

edit:

Sci-Fi is the Rodney Dangerfield of the book world

a completely sci-fi idea: the FT (FemaleType) robot

I just encountered an interesting article (that has absolutely nothing to do with robots) by Clive Thompson on WIRED. He says: “If you want to read books that tackle profound philosophical questions, then the best — and perhaps only — place to turn these days is sci-fi. Science fiction is the last great literature of ideas.” I completely agree…and that’s probably why I’m such a huge fan of science fiction. It’s all about the ideas.

He also asks: “So, then, why does sci-fi, the inheritor of this intellectual tradition, get short shrift among serious adult readers?” …and that is a question I’ve thought about many times. (Mostly when I recommend some type of sci-fi story to a friend and they act like I just asked them to eat their own poop. The only thing I’ve encountered that gets less respect than science fiction is comic books. And sci-fi comics? I keep those to myself…some of you just aren’t ready for things like Dreadstar. At least not until someone makes a movie. Anyway, I digress.) I’m sure the pulp adolescence of science fiction doesn’t help it’s credibility, but it seems like somebody might have noticed that sci-fi authors think. And the readers do too.

The evidence is right here: Sci-Fi Is the Last Bastion of Philosophical Writing

edit 1-29-08:

I just finished reading Children of the Mind by Orson Scott Card and in the afterword he mentions the term “junbungaku“, which apparently means “pure literature or belles lettres“. He then goes on to say:

“I do not believe the tools of science fiction are any less suitable to the task of creating junbungaku than the tools of contemporary serious literature, though of course we who wield the tools may fail to use them to best advantage.”

I completely agree…and that’s probably why I believe that science fiction is as equally valid as contemporary serious literature. We just need more great minds wielding those sci-fi tools. And the best way for that to happen is to remove the stigma on science fiction.