Unsought Input

I came across a site today with concept art for the extremely hyped new movie, Transformers. As usual the nerds were all up in arms over the changes made to their beloved Autobots and Decepticons. But what none of these morons bothered to mention is that these were merely concept sketches and might not be anything like the finished product in the movie. By constantly having to take criticism about a movie before it is done directors are feeling pressure to alter their movies.

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Do you work in an office? Do you work for a large company? Does your company have a mission statement, core values, or a bold declaration of what principles that it holds dear?

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9076288729387457440

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This one ought to get all you nerdwads’ Spider-Man undies in a bunch. Apparently, CBS Paramount plans to rejig the original Star Trek with new CGI graphics and a new main title sequence – a la George Lucas’s re-release of Star Wars Episodes IV, V and VI. The revamped episodes will appear on HDTV this fall.

A lot of good chatter on the subject, as usual, over at Slashdot. I tend to agree with whichever of those pasty-skinned monitor monkeys argued that the whole shame of this is that we’re losing an artifact of cultural history. It’s as if every Model T were modified into a street rod today, rather than keeping a few original or restored. Sure, we might view them as obsolete today, but to rewrite or cover up history in such a way does a disservice to us all.

But I’m also (unsurprisingly) disappointed that fresh, intelligent, imaginative, original programming so seriously lacks from mainstream media that, rather than attempt something new, they simply rehash their successes of old. It’s why we have “reality” TV, celebrity gossip columns and sequels sequels sequels.

Perhaps it’s just time to turn off the TV.

I’ve noticed that a lot of the reviews that I have read on this series are very negative saying that this series is very boring and hard to “get in to”. I have to strongly disagree. This series is an exciting story with memorable characters who are full of life, with an intricate storyline that keeps the reader engrossed in this exciting saga. If you don’t like to read long epics, then this series is probably not for you. But if you love grand stories where the characters seem to come to life, this is a great series that you will not want to put down.

Summary

Click here, you know you want to see how it scored!

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I am writing this article as a companion piece to Jason’s “Why we need the Metric System�, and because I am too lazy to think up an original topic. As hotly contested as the subject is of Standard vs. Metric, Fahrenheit vs. Celsius is even more so. Why, how many times a day do you ask, how many kilometers is that dog or how many yards is that telephone pole? Or I wonder how many micrograms is that fly is or I am curious as to the poundage of that phat ass. If your like me than hardly any at all. But people are constantly asking what the temperature is. It drives what they wear, where they go and what type of food they eat. That is why it is so imperative to have a reliable temperature system.

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I am writing this expose about a disturbing trend in today’s modern society, namely the Hoeffecation of America. This phenomenon has been steadily gaining in popularity in recent years and shows no signs of slowing down. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment that this trend began, but most attribute its emergence to one event in the late nineties. Britney Spears’ first video “Hit Me Baby One More Time�, was the catalyst for the so called Hoe movement. Dressed in a risqué school girl outfit and shaking her coochie for the faculty of the school, Britney showed that by being a total hoe you could become rich and famous. Quickly many young girls jumped on this train and never looked back on actually trying to develop a personality.

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One of the more interesting aspects of the Batman / Bruce Wayne character is that in addition to fighting crime, he also runs a large, multinational corporation. Actually, it’s not so much interesting as it is an excuse for him to have enough money to constantly buy bat-supplies.

But you have to wonder what it must be like to work for Wayne Enterprises. Since you are reading this, instead of doing work, it is probably more pertinent to wonder what it’s like to get fired from Wayne Enterprises.

Below are 10 ways to get fired from Wayne Enterprises. Note to fanboys: all the items below are strictly in canon (see references in (parenthesis)). (more…)

I am writing about my extreme odious loathing of the fire maned humanoid-like blob of cellulite, Harry Knowles and his ilk. My main problem with him, besides his physical repugnance that would cause the most staunch conservative to support a broad eugenics program, is his crappy uber-nerd inspired “movie reviews”. Movie reviews is in quotations because they are not so much reviews as his own retarded opinions on the latest hollywood comicbook/videogame/sci-fi/fantasy novel movie crapfest. His like or dislike of movies are based on his extreme obsessiveness for the movie being as close to the source material as possible (sorry that Wolverine didn’t have enough chest hair for your liking shitdick). My other problem is that this so called “film lover” has no idea what even constitutes an actual good movie. His movie knowledge only goes back to 1977 not surprisingly the year the first Star Wars was released (yes I know it is episode IV nerdlings, but to the vast majority of the population that actually has had intercourse no one gives a fuck). Apparently the greatest directors of all time are George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg, fuck those guys like Coppola, Hitchcock, Scorcese, etc. they don’t have enough laser swords or nazis on zeppelins to be real auteurs.

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I’ve never been one to wave the flag. Yes, maybe I take living in the United States for granted sometimes, but if you play the cards you’re dealt, you don’t whine when you get a couple aces.

But reading Daniel Howes’s article in the Detroit News today about Washington’s attitude toward Detroit’s number one industry has me thinking about some recent comments by Bob Lutz, GM’s main product man and a longtime employee of the global auto industry. Lutz – born in Switzerland, I might add – gave a rousing speech defending the concept of “economic patriotism” and noting that we as Americans simply suck at it.

Who more exemplifies how economically unpatriotic we are as Americans than big man George Bush himself, who, as Howes mentioned,

won’t meet with the bosses of General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group. But he’ll sit astride a Harley, visit a Nissan truck plant, herald the Toyota engine that won the Indy 500, campaign for Republicans and then have his press secretary swear there’s no snub of Detroit.

Sure, he drives a big ‘ol pickup at his ranch in Texas and Cadillac builds his limos, but those press opps mean nothing when he won’t say carburetor to Rick Wagoner, Tom LaSorda and Bill Ford.

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I decided to name my little ideas here so that every time I write about the top 100 Sci-fi list it’s going to be listed under “fill in the blank”, Top 100 fantasy will be “awesome catchy title” and top 100 sci-fi movies will be “insert really good name here”. Obviously, I have not thought of good names yet and was wondering if people would give me some suggestions.

Also, I have made a few decisions about how the point system will work. Now, don’t hate on me later if I change it, I have never done anything like this before. I figure that I will start out on this system and if I find something that works better, I will make appropriate changes. Basically here is what I was thinking. There are currently five areas of focus. So, How about a basic 100 point system (to keep with the 100 theme. Clever, don’t you think? You didn’t even notice!). So, with five areas that would make it about, let’s see, 20 points a category. See, my schooling did pay off.

Just to give an example of how it might work:

Fictitious book title.

Synopsis (short if possible)

Category 1: Readability-15 out of 20 My explanation of why it rated so…

Category 2: Story Quality – 10 out of 20 My explanation…

(more categories) Summary and questions to the public about something in the book, topics of conversation

So, I think that is basically how it will work. Any suggestions? Also, kids, don’t forget to help me think of names!!!

Holy Christ on a cracker!

The ultra fundies are at it again. Now they want to remove porn from hotel rooms.

“There’s porn in hotel rooms?” you say. No, not in the nightstand (there’s a Bible there) and no, you can’t get complimentary strippers.

They want to get rid of the porn that’s hidden deep inside the Idiot Box. The Boob Tube. The TV. That porn that you can’t get unless you turn on the TV, go through 10 menus, choose the right one and put in a PIN to get. The porn you get charged megabucks for.

From the article:“These are places that you take your family — these are respectable institutions,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council. “Anything that brings porn into the mainstream is a concern. It just desensitizes people.”

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There is a problem facing society, but no one is willing to talk about it. Virtually every journalist, television reporter, and blogger has personally encountered this problem, and yet – silence.

The problem is the metric system. Not just the metric system, but the US customary units as well. Basically, in order to be useful, a measurement system must:

1. Have well-defined units that everyone agrees on.

2. Give people the ability to measure things and understand quantities.

Neither system really meets both of these criteria. The metric system, although it meets the first point, fails miserably on the second. The US system fails the first point semantically, and does a really poor job on the second point.

Allow me to illustrate:

Scenario 1: The news has just reported that a 4,081,440 – foot wide asteroid is heading toward the Earth.

Scenario 2: You just heard on the radio that a 695,622 km² area of the ocean has become an oxygen-free dead zone.

Now, think quickly – how do you react to this news? Do you panic? Do you relax, secure in the knowledge that the asteroid will burn up in the atmosphere and the dead zone will clear up in the spring?

Nobody knows! What the hell is a kilometer? How I measure something be that many feet wide, when I only have two feet, and neither one is a foot long anyway?

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If anybody reading this is a liberal youngin’, eyes ablaze with the fire only a passion for social justice ignites, extremities tingling with the desire to get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD, I have a bit of advice for you. Don’t get a public service job. At least not over the phone. At least not right away. Give your do-gooder feelings some time to settle in, establish residency, maybe get themselves a library card and learn directions to the nearest UDF.

I’ve been working at a phone-oriented public service job for almost a year now. There are good days and bad days, but not a day goes by that doesn’t find me thinking thoughts more at home in the head of a flag-waving soccer mom, her banana-yellow hummer coated with camo-colored ribbons and a big fat W, most decidedly not in the head of a proud’n'loud liberal bisexual atheist feminist trying to worm her way into a career in public interest advocacy. E.g.: “Jaysus. If you can’t AFFORD mortgage payments, don’t buy a HOUSE, then come crying because you can’t PAY.” It’s offending my better nature even typing that, knowing what I know about predatory lending practices and the effects bad education and mistrust of authority can have on someone making an honest effort to establish a family and equity. But there it is. You listen to the general public’s complaints all day and you begin to resent their ignorance, their bitterness at how life’s treated them, their lack of the social niceties my mommy taught me growing up in suburbia (would it kill people to say thank you? Or, hey, just don’t scream obscenities at me. I’d settle for that.). The ringing of your work phone begins to rank higher than a colicky baby or dentist’s drill in your continuum of Sounds That Make Me Want to Poke Out My Eye. My inner liberal’s voice, though still the voice of reason and still retaining control of the whole operation, is at times shut out by this disturbing newcomer, this person who just wants to shout “Shut UP! You’re so STUPID! GAAAAHHHHH!!!!!”

Maybe that’s showing my age, too, even calling it liberalism. I had a friend, younger than I by about four years, get very upset when I called him a liberal and not a progressive. Apparently, progressive : liberal :: feminist : suffragette. It just doesn’t apply anymore. But I still believe in breaking the cycle of poverty and ignorance. I believe in civil liberties and ye olde “I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” I believe in live and let live. This is liberalism still, to me.

So how about it, kiddies? How do we get that shameful inner voice to simmer down, or go away entirely? How DOES a liberal age gracefully into her late twenties, as life and reality make awfully destructive inroads on increasingly tattered beliefs? Your thoughts, please.

Recently I have felt that I have not been reading enough. I already feel that I have become very stupid since I graduated from college, but now I feel even dumber. My job is simple and under stimulating, so I really don’t have anything to keep me from becoming slightly less intelligent each day. Anyway, I just wanted a short introduction to why I am doing this, not a personal bio on myself which I am assuming you could care less about (I know I wouldn’t).

So….I have decided that I want to read the entire top 100 list for BOTH fantasy and sci-fi novels. I also think I would like to watch the top sci-fi movies. Now, mind you, I realize that this is quite a lofty goal seeing as how I have 200+ novels and some amount of movies ahead of me. And recently I have also come to realize that there aren’t a lot of authoritative lists of the top 100 novels in either category. I have found a few on the internet but I don’t know that I agree with the lists. I understand that these lists are all rated on someone’s opinion but I feel that it would be much better if we could come up with some way to create a rating system to make it a little more scientific.

Anyway, I am rambling. Basically through this blog I want to do three things: 1^st: I want to read and review the ‘supposedly’ top 100 novels in both lists (here is the link to my lists, if you wanted to follow along.

Top 100 sci-fi novels: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_books_rank1.html

Top sci-fi movies: http://home.austarnet.com.au/petersykes/topscifi/lists_film.html

Top Fantasy novels: http://www.geocities.com/area51/cavern/6113/t100256.txt).

These are the best lists I could find, and actually my friend gave me the Sci-fi list. Anyway…

2^nd: I want to create a rating system to neatly rank the novels so the rankings are a little less opinionated and a little more scientific. It is science fiction. I am still playing around with the ranking topics but I think that basically it will fall into these categories:

-Overall readability (if you can’t get through it, it doesn’t matter how

good it is),

-Story quality (is it just cut and paste basic plot or is it creative and

different)

-Originality quality (have you heard this story before)

-Character believability (do you feel for the characters, sympathize

with them, love/hate them, feel part of the story because of them)

-Overall effect of novel (does it compel you to continue reading the series?

3^rd: I want other people’s opinions of my rating and possibly other people’s ranking of these novels so we can create an authoritative list. Also, if people have novels they want to add to the list (both of these lists aren’t exactly updated regularly anymore and don’t include newer books) that would be awesome.

Well, I think that’s it for my first post. It would be really cool if people wanted to participate. Please leave me comments!

YouTube is incredibly popular. Add in other services like Google Video, and you have a genuine phenomenon. People are marching in droves to the web to watch video. Why is online video taking off now? Part of the answer must be because most people have broadband now. I doubt that is the main cause, though.

YouTube has made three main innovations:

1. Making it incredibly easy for users to contribute videos
2. Making a central location to find video clips, with lots of good ways to find them (browsing, searching)
3. Giving the Internet a way to link to videos, and giving television clips a way to exist on the Internet.

The first two points are fairly clear, but the third could be the most important. That last point can best be explained by thinking about who who really benefits from YouTube. The users that post video and now have access to thousands of viewer obviously benefit, but I would argue they are not the big winners, because they don’t usually make a lot of money from their 15 minutes of fame.

The real beneficiaries are the commercial TV stations and production companies that find their content pirated on YouTube. Piracy is always a big concern, but it seems that long, full-episode videos do not work very well-not so much because of bandwidth but rather usage patterns. In my experience, most people bounce around YouTube and similar sites looking at a moderate number of shorter clips, rather than sitting down for an evening and watching Schindler’s List.

So the majority of the commercial content seems to be clips from shows. Shows that can be broken down into smaller segments see the biggest benefit. Comedy Central and Cartoon Network are two very good examples of commercial producers with content perfect for this medium.

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