NINJAS!

Ok, I'm trying real hard not to just (to just not? How are you supposed to write that? Is Spanish easier? I've already got my signs at Home Depot and the grocerey store, and plenty of billboards...) *cough* Sorry, start again.

Ok, I'm trying real hard not to just quote what I read on The Corner, but this is good. On The Da Vinci (sic) Code:

"People who liked the book will go and people who like Tom Hanks will go and dumb people will think that Jesus got married and others will join Opus Dei to become super secret Catholic ninjas and it will all be Bush's fault anyway."

I want to be a super secret Catholic ninja! (Scott's kind of ninja-like. But he's not secret. How can anything that tall be secret?) Ninjas! They're wacky!

United 93

We're going to see United 93 tonight. I'm really excited and dreading it all at the same time.

It's funny, the September 11th has become the new (pre-9/11) American Flag. Remeber that? When a flag meant that you were pro-American, and that was just an out-moded nationalist concept. (Don't worry, we're getting back there fast.) It was something you knew about, but it always stayed put away. You couldn't say you were against the flag. But that didn't mean you had to say you were for it, now, did it? That would be so gauche. Baby-killers and four dead in O Hi O and all that.

Sure it happened. Of course we think it was terrible. But don't talk about it. Don't show us anything about it (the History Channel, sure, but not on the NBC nightly news). If you show it, people get emotional. That will remind us of how we felt and acted on that day. Before we came to the conclusion that it was only a matter of time, we certainly deserved it, and it was all engineered by Karl Rove anyway so that people would like the fake election-stealing president. Only the right and the war mongers think now that this meant anything, and if you show it off people will get confused and then they'll think it still means something (stupid red-state Jesusland people).

Too soon? I think it's right on time.

Free Sketchup

Well, it finally happened. Google is offering a version of Sketchup for free.

http://sketchup.google.com/product_suf.html

I saw my nephew playing with this app a few months ago. He picked it up very very quickly. It's very simple and very powerful. It's certainly not Blender or Max or Lightwave, but it's so easy it's alarming. Now someone just has to write an import script for Blender.

So far it's Winders only, but a Mac version is coming soon.

New Ships

Here's the latest work. Some little guys to run around the dockyards of Starbase 12. they aren't that detailed becuase 1) my intention is that you'll never get that close to them (There's a great story on The Incredibles commentary about how Dash's teacher was kind of a last minute job made from the "generic" guy they had made for the crowd scenes. They told the model maker "Relax, it'll all be long shots." Remember when he puts his face right in the camera? "GUILTY I TELL YOU!" Niiiice long shot.) and 2) I want these to look like they came out of Desilu 1965. So nice clean lines. Not a lot of greebles. (Greebles is a technical term for nurnies.) (Ok, greebles and nurnies are all the futzy little detailed stuff. Go look at a Star Destroyer.)

Here's my first little guy. Cargo train. (All images are links to larger images.)












Used for schlepping stuff around the dock yard.













Short short range. From here to not as here as before.












My space truck. Little bit of Matt Jefferies original Enterprise design, little bit of Discovery, little bit of Mack. No Millenium Falcon.











Orbital / Interplanetary hauler. Grunt.













All of them (and my Original Series answer to the work bee) with the lovely lady herself, as well as the beginnings of my TOS drydock. (TOS is The Original Series. I won't explain it again.)







That's all for today. More to come later, I'm sure.

So say we all.

Have you seen it?

A friend of mine sent me this List of 102 Movies You Should See To Be Considered "Movie Literate". -It's not written by Roger Ebert, it's just on his site. So how do I stack up? I'm half-litterate I guess. Becoming less so all the time. I included the ones I've seen on the BIG screen. I'm holding my Cine Capri list for a later date. I didn't include "The Ones I Own" because there aren't nearly as many, and I'd feel obligated to list "The Ones I've Never Even HEARD of!" Also not that many.

Everyone notice what picture is at the top of the article? I mean, honestly, who remembers that scene?

Annie freaking Hall.

(Hey look! A whole post without- Aw, darn....)

Seen It (50)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott
"Annie Hall" (1977) Woody Allen
"Apocalypse Now" (1979) Francis Ford Coppola*
"Bambi" (1942) Disney
"The Big Sleep" (1946) Howard Hawks
"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott
"Casablanca" (1942) Michael Curtiz
"Chinatown" (1974) Roman Polanski
"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick
"The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) Robert Wise
"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) Stanley Kubrick
"Duck Soup" (1933) Leo McCarey
"E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg
"Easy Rider" (1969) Dennis Hopper
"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner
(Obviously the better movie, but I still consider Star Wars to be more essential.)
"The Exorcist" (1973) William Friedkin
(Only on broadcast TV - almost not sure that counts)
"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
"Fight Club" (1999) David Fincher
"Frankenstein" (1931) James Whale
(NO BRIDE OF?!?!)
"The Godfather," "The Godfather, Part II" (1972, 1974) Francis Ford Coppola
"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming
"GoodFellas" (1990) Martin Scorsese
"The Graduate" (1967) Mike Nichols
"Halloween" (1978) John Carpenter
"It's a Wonderful Life" (1946) Frank Capra
"Jaws" (1975) Steven Spielberg
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean
"Mad Max 2" / "The Road Warrior" (1981) George Miller
"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston
"The Manchurian Candidate" (1962) John Frankenheimer
"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang
"Modern Times" (1936) Charles Chaplin
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
"North by Northwest" (1959) Alfred Hitchcock
"Psycho" (1960) Alfred Hitchcock
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino
"Rear Window" (1954) Alfred Hitchcock
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"The Searchers" (1956) John Ford
"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) Stanley Donen & Gene Kelly
"A Streetcar Named Desire" (1951) Elia Kazan
"Taxi Driver" (1976) Martin Scorsese
"The Third Man" (1949) Carol Reed
"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles
"The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" (1948) John Huston
"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming

BIG SCREEN (23)
"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968) Stanley Kubrick
"Alien" (1979) Ridley Scott
"Apocalypse Now" (1979) Francis Ford Coppola*
"Bambi" (1942) Disney
"Blade Runner" (1982) Ridley Scott
"Casablanca" (1942) Michael Curtiz
"Citizen Kane" (1941) Orson Welles
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971) Stanley Kubrick
"Dr. Strangelove" (1964) Stanley Kubrick
"E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" (1982) Steven Spielberg
"The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) Irvin Kershner
"Fargo" (1995) Joel & Ethan Coen
"Gone With the Wind" (1939) Victor Fleming
"Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) David Lean
(Oh, yes!)
"The Maltese Falcon" (1941) John Huston
"Metropolis" (1926) Fritz Lang
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) Terry Jones & Terry Gilliam
"Pulp Fiction" (1994) Quentin Tarantino
"Schindler's List" (1993) Steven Spielberg
"Touch of Evil" (1958) Orson Welles
"Vertigo" (1958) Alfred Hitchcock
"West Side Story" (1961) Jerome Robbins/Robert Wise
"The Wizard of Oz" (1939) Victor Fleming

And of course that leaves

The Ones I Haven't Seen (52)
"The 400 Blows" (1959) Francois Truffaut
"8 1/2" (1963) Federico Fellini
"Aguirre, the Wrath of God" (1972) Werner Herzog
"All About Eve" (1950) Joseph L. Mankiewicz
"The Battleship Potemkin" (1925) Sergei Eisenstein
"The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) William Wyler
"The Big Red One" (1980) Samuel Fuller
"The Bicycle Thief" (1949) Vittorio De Sica
"Blowup" (1966) Michelangelo Antonioni
"Blue Velvet" (1986) David Lynch
"Bonnie and Clyde" (1967) Arthur Penn
"Breathless" (1959 Jean-Luc Godard
"Bringing Up Baby" (1938) Howard Hawks
"Carrie" (1975) Brian DePalma
"Un Chien Andalou" (1928) Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali
"Children of Paradise" / "Les Enfants du Paradis" (1945) Marcel Carne
"The Crying Game" (1992) Neil Jordan
"Days of Heaven" (1978) Terence Malick
"Dirty Harry" (1971) Don Siegel
"The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie" (1972) Luis Bunuel
"Do the Right Thing" (1989 Spike Lee
"La Dolce Vita" (1960) Federico Fellini
"Double Indemnity" (1944) Billy Wilder
"The General" (1927) Buster Keaton & Clyde Bruckman
"A Hard Day's Night" (1964) Richard Lester
"Intolerance" (1916) D.W. Griffith
"It's a Gift" (1934) Norman Z. McLeod
"The Lady Eve" (1941) Preston Sturges
"M" (1931) Fritz Lang
"Nashville" (1975) Robert Altman
"The Night of the Hunter" (1955) Charles Laughton
"Night of the Living Dead" (1968) George Romero
"Nosferatu" (1922) F.W. Murnau
"On the Waterfront" (1954) Elia Kazan
"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968) Sergio Leone
"Out of the Past" (1947) Jacques Tournier
"Persona" (1966) Ingmar Bergman
"Pink Flamingos" (1972) John Waters
"Rashomon" (1950) Akira Kurosawa
"Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) Nicholas Ray
"Red River" (1948) Howard Hawks
"Repulsion" (1965) Roman Polanski
"The Rules of the Game" (1939) Jean Renoir
"Scarface" (1932) Howard Hawks
"The Scarlet Empress" (1934) Josef von Sternberg
"The Seven Samurai" (1954) Akira Kurosawa
"Some Like It Hot" (1959) Billy Wilder
"A Star Is Born" (1954) George Cukor
"Sunset Boulevard" (1950) Billy Wilder
"Tokyo Story" (1953) Yasujiro Ozu
"Trouble in Paradise" (1932) Ernst Lubitsch
"The Wild Bunch" (1969) Sam Peckinpah

Share and enjoy!

Supply and what?

Ok, this is a rant since I'm referencing NO sources to back it up.

But the crisis du jour (FRENCH! NOOOO!) is gas prices. And they say they have to be fixed. Why is this a good idea? Gas prices are too high! So why fix the prices? Because I NEED my gasoline! Ok, so leave the prices alone. (Hey, look! Rhetoric! I'm just like St. Paul!) But what happens when gas reaches $20 a gallon? Maybe folks will not use it as much? Maybe they'll stop investing in THE ULLLLLLLLTIMATE EEEEEEEEEVIL (the SUV). Maybe we'll get serious about an alternative fuel? Maybe we'll drill in ANWR? (The U.S. must keep its preserves pristine. Let all of those unwashed heathen savage countries go drill in THIER nature preserves, ok?) Maybe Barbera Streisand and Ted Kennedy will take a bus? (Bahahahahaha! Somebody photoshop that, please!) (I want to invent a product that becomes a verb!)

Do I like high gas prices? No, faithful reader, but I address that point shortly.

Instead, we're talking about subverting supply and demand. That worked real well for the Soviets. And the Germans c. 1935. The way it's SUPPOSED to happen, prices go WAY up, demand falls off. Prices come back down. Life is good. Instead, we're going to keep the prices the SAME and then nobody will CHANGE and then we'll just run OUT OF GAS. (My favorite episode of Firefly, btw.) (See? No links whatsoever!) Or the demand will stay stay the same and we'll at least need to keep fixing the prices. So the problem goes on LONGER. (Told you I'd get to it.) We're not fixing it, we're extending it.

Here in the Valley of the Sun (not a hundred degrees yet, and it's April! What the heck?) we had a MAJOR crunch a couple of years ago when a pipeline burst. Nobody did anything about the crazy prices. Plus, prices be darned, we were just OUT. You waited in line for hours and the pumps were just empty. Can't overcharge for NOTHING. (Unless your name is Lucas.) You know what happened? People started working from home if they could. They rode bikes. The BUSSES GOT CROWDED (we in Phx etc. are not known for our transit system). (Monorail!) (I almost linked to something. Go look it up.)

So all we're really going to do is maintain the status quo (Latin, not French) and keep the same problem. Grrr. Arrgh.

And it looks like the President is going to go for this. I haven't been this disapointed since Attack of the Clones.

(Did you know they now make Coke-a-Cola with COFFEE in it?)

I'm OFFENDED that you're offended!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060421/od_nm/benjerrys_dc

Whatever happened to "sticks and stones (and suicide bombers)"? Good grief. If people had thinner skin, they'd have parchment! They're overlooking the greater issue: THERE IS GUINNESS FLAVORED ICE CREAM?!?

According to this "Is there any meaning to the Black & Tan name other than its obvious reference to the colours of the beers? - Yes. The first known reference to the expression Black & Tan was in reference to a breed of beagles used as hunting dogs in Ireland." Emphasis added. Yes, they also reference the regiment. "Should I order a Black & Tan in Dublin? - Some have posted that this is not advisable, as you might stir up tempers. Steve Glover and others post that ordering a Black and Tan is no problem." (Ok, I'm less likely to go looking for trouble in a room of drunk Irishmen than on a blog, but still...)

Tiger Woods says he's acting like a spaz and people freak out. (Is "freak" derogatory? I dunno, check out these guys.) Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, says that Israel cannot continue to exist (as his country pursues NUCLEAR WEAPONS) and nobody really does more than tsk tsk tsk. (Guinness to golf to nukes. Welcome to my head.)

Ha! I just read the headline: Iran Hints at Exiting Nuclear Treaty. Is that the same way that someone hinted that Theo van Gogh's films might not be appreciated by all? (Wow, I just linked to the Moscow Times! What a country!) (Oooh! Gratuitous Eighties reference. And it's so early.)

Be careful out there. And good hunting. So say we all.

Are you of the body?

Do you realize that one of the candidates for Mayor of New Orleans is Mitch Landrieu?

As in "It is the will of..." Oh sure, it's a meaningless coincedence (and not even the same spelling). And I don't know anything about him (and I know too much about Nagin). It's still weird to hear about.

It's like (politics aside) as a nerd I tend to be very uncomfortable with Joe Lieberman in office. One never knows when he'll declare emergency powers and make a really awful movie.

Prayer, Mr. Saavik, Simon Cowell does not take prisoners...

This one's for my sweetie. (No, I didn't do it.)

Denny Crane.

Sick and tired

Ok, how many of you just finished that subject with "I don't remember anything else that happened that day"?

I have the teeniest of colds. I mean if I was any less sick I would be curing cancer. So naturally I feel the weight of the world on me! "Wooooah unto me, for I am ill!" It makes me cranky, is all.

I am now catching up on some of my comics after lent. PvP was first up, now I'm going through Dilbert. This one is good for the iPod obsessed among us. OTOH, if you get this you can listen to the soundtracks to Brazil and Blade Runner all night long! (Braaaaaaaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil!) You know, it occurs to me that I am annoyed that I can't get the original theatrical cut of Blade Runner on DVD. It also occurs to me that I must be in a pretty good place if that's what annoys me.

Oh, I was wrong. This is what annoys me. Flags and the pledge of allegiance are bad.

Tallguy Movies - The Collection

Here is the Tallguy collection. All movies are in Quicktime 7 (or if they're not, they will be). For best results, right click the pictures and "Save As" and play from your desktop.

The Enterprise fires phasers and torpedoes at an unknown foe. Take that Johnny Picard!
My nice little short for the 39th anniversary of Star Trek. 40th will be a slightly bigger deal. (See below)
How big is the Enterprise? Well it's not 938 feet, that's for darn sure. It is 289.5 meters though. The foot measurement was a typo. 947 feet. Know it. Live it.
Ahhh, the first trailer for the 40th Anniversary. Must be making some of you (us) feel oldish.
And here, for your Blending pleasure is the mesh itself. Save the .zip and got get Blender to view the enclosed .blend file. View it, fly it, blow it up. Do with it as you will (as detailed in the included README).

Happy Blending!

Nothing is Lost

Wow. Everything turns up on the internet. I give you the U.S.S. Enterprise, modeled and animated by William Thomas, age 20. It was posted on a site of animated gifs in the UK!





I have a lot of these on VHS. One of these days I'll transfer them to the computer. Ahhhh, mis-spent youth.

Monday Monday

Post Easter Monday

Well, I haven't been as liturgically productive as my siblings, but it was still a great weekend. Friday and Saturday we got the house ready (learning how to trim hedges without killing them - in the dark!) and I finished up the movie.

Sunday: Got up before the sun (but not the Son <- oooooh, Jesus pun) and went to Mass. Changes changes changes. No baptisms at 6am Mass. Actually, no Mass at 6am, it was at 7am. Our pastor did baptisms of all ages at the Vigil on Saturday, so was probably very asleep during the 7am. But Matt and the band still sounded great, and Jesus still showed up. (Actually, he doesn't. The Gospel on Sunday is a big cliff-hanger, to be continued. The Gospel According to Moore, as it were.)

Had friends over for dinner. Gorged ourselves on ham and mashed potatoes, and the entire U.S. Reserve of Mike and Ikes. We played lots of games from the category of "Games Bill Will Win At". (I never win at Monopoly. Honest!) It was a great day. I'd like to thank all involved.

Especially my wonderful, wonderful, wonderful wife.

Set Sail - Trailer One

Here it is! Here is the first trailer for my Star Trek 40th Anniversary project. (Or the Big Damn Animation as I affectionately refer to it.)

Quicktime 7. (SEVEN - It's about 75% smaller this way.)http://www.fourmadmen.com/mirror/~wpthomas/movies/setsailtrailer1.mov

Orange

I don't know why, but I just just love this character. I've seen some other shots and animations of him and he's got such a strong sense of weight and emotion. Maybe it's just cause he looks like the doctor from Space: 1999. Who knows?

This is from the Blender Orange project. What they did was get a bunch of funding, hire a bunch of animators (modelers, texture guys, sound folk, scriptwriters, etc.) and said "Make a movie with Blender. If you need it to do anything it doesn't do yet, we'll write it for you." And away they went. Now they will be releasing this industrial strength code to the public next month, and the short that they made will be on DVD. Not only the short, but also all of the source files that made the movie! Imagine if when you bought The Incredibles you also got all of the models, textures, and lighting setups? Huzzah!

American Idol Tuesday

SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT!

Anyone who wants the song selection on tonight's AI to be fresh and crisp, do not read.

(Anyone who doesn't give a fig about American Idol, go play the sand game some more.)

Tonight's songs on American Idol.

Hrmm. I thought Ace would do a sappier song. "My Best Friend" or some such.

Paris is doing "The Show Must Go On"!!! Whooo Hoooo! Freddie's "I'm dying and it pisses me off" song! (I'm not sure it was the last song he wrote, but it's on the last album.) Nice peppy little tune for a 16 year old. Heh.

"Who Wants to Live Forever" is off of the Highlander soundtrack and is one of the slowest songs ever written. Can you already hear Simon saying "I was bored to tears, quite frankly, not to be rude, apalling" ?

I don't think Pickler will do well at all. She's only good when she can belt. Bohemian Rhapsody has lots of soft sublte stuff that she's no good at.

Taylor will have a lot of fun (and he has to be better than he was last week), Elliot will be awesome, Chris will be dark and soulful (for a change?), and Bucky will be unitelligible.

(Did I mention Paris is doing "The Show Must Go On"? Yaaaaay!)

We have pay or play contracts!

Hellooooooooooooooo nurse!

It doesn't look like this one will have the "Please Please Get a Life Foundation" ("Is this you?") (Aaaagh! A paranthesis!) (Hey look, it's my blog's first running gag!) but it does have Yakko's World.

Check out that first site, they have a script so you can't highlight and copy. Wild.



And speaking of wild... Well, now I'll have that theme song stuck in my head all day. Or at least on my iPod.

BTW - Scarecrow and Mrs. King is still not on DVD.

Happy Birthday Elena Grace!

Drat! I missed by two days. My niece (one of the cutest little girls in the whole world) (my other niece is the other one) Elena Grace turned four the day before yesterday.

Since her dad reads this, hopefully he'll show her. Am I subtle or what?

(Not only did I miss her birthday, but now I must write up a bug report on Yahoo's calendar, like the conscientious citizen I am.)

(Heh, Blogger doesn't know how to spell "Yahoo" either. Makes sense, I suppose.)

(Maybe next week I'll do a whole post in paranthesis.)

Inside a Mac

Following on with the Mac theme from yesterday.

(I'll write some actual content again someday, really.)

(And I'll whine that I'm not writing actual content again too, really.)

American Idol 9

Wow. I'm glad I voted for Paris. (Bottom three?!?) I'm a Taylor fan through and through, but boy did he suck last night. From here on out it gets tough.

Mac, Windows, and Calvanism?

My dear brother Scott posted this today. (That's right, it's a link to a link. Sue me.)

I think it's even better if you read it with this. Hee.

Gotta admit though, Macs are almost looking attractive. Guess that means I should go build a Linux box...

The Final Battle

Well, that'll teach them to try that mamby-pamby "we have no more right to exist than they do" 24th century nonsense.

Nerd Humor

Cue "Also Sprach Zarathustra".

Ladies and gentleman: Arthur C. Clarke.

For those with squinty eyes, his t-shirt says "I invented the satelite and all I got was this lousy t-shirt.

It's not enough that he has the shirt, but he wears it for interviews. Way to go, Art!

At the sound of the tone

Tonight at two minutes and three seconds past 1 am, the time will be:

01:02:03 04/05/06

This has been another... Useless Fact.

(We're going to have a cooler date than the Brits and so forth. 01:02:03 05/04/06. I guess thiers is next month.)

You totally stormed that level!

Lemmings!

Have fun. Good news is: I don't thing that it has all bazillion levels that the original did. Bad news? It's still Lemmings!

Must Love Jaws

Well this is just wrong.

Not as good as the Sleepless in Seatle: The Thriller trailer, but probably as good as Shining. The Quint bit is a tad overlong.

I'm sure we'll see more of this sort of thing. Yay!