what I was watching on TV last year

Here are some links to some of the things I’ve written about several different television shows from last year. You can read about how Fringe wants to be the new X-Files or the five best TV shows that we’ll never get to see. I also posted my first thoughts on Privileged, revisited Beverly Hills with the new 90210 and expressed my doubts about where Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles is headed. Also, Elizabeth compares True Blood to the Sookie Stackhouse books. There’s more, but I’ll share that later.

James Bond, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and you

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is close to $4 billion dollars in debt and they will soon be looking for a buyer. The studio owns – among other things – the rights to the James Bond franchise, but this situation doesn’t seem to be affecting the momentum of the next film in the series. Apparently, the 23rd Bond film is already in pre-production and will start filming in the latter half of 2010. We can expect it to come out sometime in 2011 if everything goes according to plan. If you can’t wait until 2011, here is a short review for Casino Royale and my thoughts about Quantum of Solace from the end of last year. Also, if you’re really impatient and you happen to have several billion dollars lying around I’m sure you could buy MGM and get things moving a little faster.

Should You Comment On That Facebook Status Update?

Not sure if you should leave a comment on someone’s Facebook Status?
Here’s a chart that may help you out:

Should You Comment On This Facebook Status Update? (via AlanaTaylor.com)

another change in direction

Okay, so I decided against using this site to update my life. Maybe somebody noticed, but I doubt it.

The new (and improved!) plan is to start sharing links to the reviews that I’ve been posting on a totally different site…a totally different site with reviews about everything, from the new items at your local convenience store to the expensive wines served in upscale restaurants…located in exotic countries. The Las Vegas Critics site is one of the reasons that this particular blog has stagnated, but Secret Undersea City will soon host links to all of the reviews I’ve been writing during the time I’ve been gone. Get ready.

want some good news?

you might want to try this:

www.goodnewsnetwork.org

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.

OiNK is dead, R.I.P. OiNK

I have no words to describe how the death of OiNK makes me feel, so I will share what some others have said:

Paraphrased Wikipedia: Copyright agencies described Oink as an online pirate pre-release music club; former users described it as one of the world’s largest and most meticulously maintained online music repositories. There were around 180,000 members at the time of closure and all of their avatars had to be cute.

“If you’re not familiar with Oink, here’s a quick summary: Oink was was a free members-only site – to join it you had to be invited by a member. Members had access to an unprecedented community-driven database of music. Every album you could ever imagine was just one click away.”

[Read the rest on: When Pigs Fly: The Death of Oink, the Birth of Dissent, and a Brief History of Record Industry Suicide.]

…and it wasn’t just me:

What do you think about OiNK being shut down?

Trent Reznor: I’ll admit I had an account there and frequented it quite often. At the end of the day, what made OiNK a great place was that it was like the world’s greatest record store. Pretty much anything you could ever imagine, it was there, and it was there in the format you wanted. If OiNK cost anything, I would certainly have paid, but there isn’t the equivalent of that in the retail space right now. iTunes kind of feels like Sam Goody to me. I don’t feel cool when I go there. I’m tired of seeing John Mayer’s face pop up. I feel like I’m being hustled when I visit there, and I don’t think their product is that great. DRM, low bit rate, etc. Amazon has potential, but none of them get around the issue of pre-release leaks. And that’s what’s such a difficult puzzle at the moment. If your favorite band in the world has a leaked record out, do you listen to it or do you not listen to it? People on those boards, they’re grateful for the person that uploaded it — they’re the hero. They’re not stealing it because they’re going to make money off of it; they’re stealing it because they love the band. I’m not saying that I think OiNK is morally correct, but I do know that it existed because it filled a void of what people want.

[the rest of the interview is on: Trent Reznor and Saul Williams Discuss Their New Collaboration, Mourn OiNK]

Disney cartoons, pretty girls, fair use and free culture?

How one Walt Disney Cartoon was made:

(Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs behind-the-scenes)

Here are a couple quotes from the documentary:
“…the thousands of pencil drawings go to the inking department. Here, hundreds of pretty girls…”
“The inked celluloids next go to the painting department where more pretty girls apply the final colors.”

Damn…Walt Disney was a bigger genius than I ever realized. Unfortunately, to some degree, we also have the Disney Company to thank for possibly being detrimental to cultural diversity. One can argue that a rich, continually replenished, public domain is necessary for continued artistic creation. Disney as we know it wouldn’t exist if the current copyright laws were in place years ago because many of Disney’s animated films are based on Nineteenth Century public domain works, including Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella, Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Alice in Wonderland, and The Jungle Book.

There has never been a time in history when more of our ‘culture’ was as ‘owned’ as it is now. And yet there has never been a time when the concentration of power to control the uses of culture has been as unquestioningly accepted as it is now. (pg. 28 of Free Culture)

Free Culture is a book about the social dimension of creativity: how creative work builds on the past and how society encourages or inhibits that building with laws and technologies.

get a digital copy of the book for free

 

And here’s a humorous, yet informative, review of copyright principles delivered through the words of the very folks we can thank for nearly endless copyright terms:

A Fair(y) Use Tale

the work that must have gone into this…woah.

Harry Potter Reviews: Deathly Half-Blood Phoenix Prisoner Secrets and a Stone Goblet

The post with the Order of the Phoenix trailer has been popular on here lately so here’s a small update with my ratings for the films and the books.

Agree? Disagree? Don’t care?
Get started on some comments. I’m eager to interact.

it’s good to love Luna

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
movie: 60 / book: 80

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
movie: 65 / book: 85

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
movie: 88 / book: 90

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
movie: 73 / book: 95

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
movie: 86 / book: 75

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
book: 85

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
book: 90

more movie ratings:

my criticker profile

13 most “important” 80s LPs of all time (according to mistersplice)

Because Jimi’s top 80s LPs of all time post has been getting so many hits lately I decided to share some of my eighties opinions. These are definitely not my favorite albums from the 80s though…I’m saving that for later.

These are the 13 albums from the 80s (listed in chronological order) that I think are the most “important”: the ones that were the most influential and had the biggest impact on pop culture. Feel free to point out anything that I may have missed…because I’m sure I missed something. And share your thoughts if you don’t agree.

AC/DC – Back in Black (1980)

Journey – Escape (1981)

Rush – Moving Pictures (1981)

Pink Floyd – The Final Cut (1983)

The Police – Synchronicity (1983)

Madonna – Like a Virgin (1984)

Metallica – Master of Puppets (1986)

Run-DMC – Raising Hell (1986)

Guns N’ Roses – Appetite for Destruction (1987)

U2 – The Joshua Tree (1987)

N.W.A – Straight Outta Compton (1988)

R.E.M. – Green (1988)

Pixies – Doolittle (1989)

(a response to Jimi and Christin. Also…I might have cheated with a few of these, but they didn’t seem to fit into my real “best of” list.)