Just for the record...

This is not me. Nor is it She Who Is My Wife.

"Clark said Cisneros faces some $11,000 in fines and could have her license suspended." Could? COULD?

9/11 vs. 8/10

I just read that Paramount execs are worried how World Trade Center will play given the events of the week. "I think what it does is make the movie more relevant and will resonate with audiences in a profound way given these recent events."

Hmmm. I guess if you think that the... conflict? Erm, situation? Oh, I know- WAR! If you think that the war was this distant thing that happened 5 years ago then maybe it does seem a freaky thing to you that this movie comes out at the SAME TIME that wild stuff is happening on airlines again. And (here's the reeeeeally spooky part) it's these SAME KIND OF GUYS! (Hint: NOT Norwegian Grandmothers from Minnesotta.) I mean, what are the odds?

Orrrrr, maybe you think that this is an ongoing threat, and this doesn't surprise you at ALL! (And by you, I mean me. But you knew that.)

Which, by the way, movies about 9/11 are NOT "too soon". If you think that this is a far off event (that some people can't stop harping on) then maybe it's just in time.

(Having said that, I have no idea when we'll see this. But you know I'll tell you when we do.)

There's a MARKET for this?!?

"The keen thing about civilization is the fact that people can make their livings in hilarious ways." - Kurt Vonnegut

Like, say, this.

"I will not be pushed, stamped, indexed, filed...

"...briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own."

The rumor du jour is that Christopher "Batman Begins" Nolan is going to make a movie of The Prisoner.

I have two caveats: 1) That's really cool and I'll believe it when I see it and 2) keep the Bush administration out of it, thanks. Nobody looks at the series The Prisoner and thinks "Ahhhh, scathing commentary on the current administration!" (Plus, it's British.) There's scathing commentary, but nothing so focused. Nothing so specific. McGoohan spoke his mind, sure, but he was wise enough (or at least honest enough) to think that any world problems were a) not any one person's fault and b) that any of them were anything new. If the new movie wants to show that we're ALL nuts, I'm ok with that.

I don't want this to be the next Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Looking forward to The Prestige, though.

Fact Check? I'd Rather Not.

Oh, this is everything good in the world all in one topic! (Allright, chocolate is missing, so sue me.)

Here is the introduction to Dan "Fake but Accurate" Rather's book "America at War":

"Abraham Lincoln, author of a war we now regard as noble and necessary, perhaps put it best when he said: "There is no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy." "

Wow. That Abe. He was profound. (Well, he WAS.) Only this would not be a quote from Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States of America. This would be a quote from Eugene Wesley Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek.

Way to go Dan! Maybe protest signs and t-shirts aren't the best place to fact-check your book?

Would you like to play a game?

Weeelllll, if this isn't fun for the whole family, I don't know what is! "Nobody wins. But maybe you can lose the least!" Heh heh heh.

Doesn't "Global Thermonuclear War" seem like such a quaint and cudly concept these days? I mean, those Soviets, you knew where you stood with them! They pointed missiles at us, we pointed back, wash rinse repeat. On a good day there were submarines involved. Ahhhh, wacky fun.

Here are some videos.

I never played thier other game, Darwinia. Jeff said it was quite the wheeze.

Hailing frequencies open - I'm listening

Ahhh what did we do before YouTube? Have I said that before? Bet I say it again.

Reuters Photos

Not seeing a lot about this. (If you don't know what I'm talking about, try and find out. That's my point.)

Not a big deal, I'm sure. I mean, the Pope himself has denounced the "massacre" in Qana based on this kind of information. Why should it matter if the footage coming out of Lebanon might be exagerated a smidge? We all know it's terrible. So what if this guy made it hit home a little harder? Just gave it a bit more POP is all. Certainly not worth a headline.

http://www.laweekly.com/news/news/reuters-image-problem/14170/

Oooooh, SO close!

Saw this on Yahoo just now.

"Little is off limits for artists at the Edinburgh Fringe, with a record 50 shows about religion, covering Islam, Christianity and Judaism." Islam, up FRONT! See? We're BALANCED! We make fun of everybody! Bully for you guys!

-- "Petrol Jesus Nightmare," a dark play about two Israeli soldiers holed up under fire, is among the most prescient plays. -- Ok, Christianity (how BOLD!) and possibly Judaism.

-- "The playwright Henry Adam doesn't spare any of the world's faiths in his onslaught. All religions ask you to kill in God's name." -- Kind of everybody here, but no examples.

-- Abie Philbin Bowman, whose one-man show "Jesus: The Guantanamo Years" is playing to sell-out houses, says comedy can be an effective weapon if used responsibly. -- Christianity, AND anti-Bush administration. Again, how DARING! Show me the Yasir Arafat satire!

-- He said Jews had developed an incredible siege mentality after 2,000 years of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust "and now they are surrounded by people who want to destroy them."

He added: "You have got to try and understand where they are coming from sympathetically and try to show them they are sowing the seeds of their own future destruction." -- They? Them? Who are these pronouns talking about? I'm not being sarcastic, I don't know. Is he saying that those surrounding the Jews are sowing the seeds of thier own destruction? That IS a little edgy (and not what I usually read in the papers). No names are named, so I'm not giving points.

-- On the other side of the religious coin, "We Don't Know Shi'ite" uses vox pops conducted by a troupe of young actors in the streets of Britain to highlight ignorance about Islam. -- Very noble. How about ignorance of Christianity? Or Judaism? (Maybe something about Jews do NOT drink the blood of Muslim children? That would be enlightening, wouldn't it?) Not exactly PUSHING THE LIMITS kind of stuff, is it?

Ok, scanning the article again... Using my search function... Jesus - 5 times. Mohamed - ZERO! "South African playwright Michelle van Rensburg said: "People have always been searching. It has just come to the fore. But I must say there are an awful lot of Jesuses at this year's Fringe." Why is that, if it's open season on everybody?

It's official: They're full of crap. But it was a nice try.

Look, not every episode can be City On the Edge of Forever, Okay?

These are awesome! I can't even pick a favorite.

It's 3AM

...and the lobby Muzak is playing a jazz band version of A Day in the Life. Thought you should know.

Late

Sorry I didn't post this a few weeks ago.

This is the teaser for the new Star Trek movie that is being made. Looks like they're definitely going for an Original Series look. Or (as I've read in interviews with producer J.J. Abrams) at least going for creating Original Series buzz. (Or to be a little more cynical about it, they're shouting "It's not Enterprise! It's not Nemesis! Please come see our movie!")

I'm all in favor of them just making a Star Trek movie. Recast Kirk and the Gang. There have been six James Bonds - we can't have two Spocks? Heck, there have been three Kitty Prydes and two Hank McCoys. And of course two Buffy Summers. (But only one Malcolm Reynolds.) Just make a good Star Trek adventure. Of course, this will lead them to a big build up before someone says "He's DEAD, Jim!" or "Beam me up Scotty." Then a pause and a look.

OR they'll play it pretty straight without the winks and nods and just concentrate on making something as fun and as cool as Star Trek used to be. That would be nice. But hey, I'm a blogger not a bricklayer.

Tallguy's Tall Stuff

We were informed Saturday night that the first Skyscraper was built in 1873 without being told where or what.

Wonder no more.

1873 - Equitable Life Building - New York, U.S.A.

Now you know.

Toaster Media

Monday morning and the Cylons are at it again! This is just swell. This is the World Press. The International Community. This is neutral.

Dick van Dyke - CGI nut

Ok, how cool is this? I particuarly like where he did the CG for his own show. (It's pretty funny that his name gets censored. I hope that doesn't draw a bunch of weird links to my blog.)

Nearly good news

Well this is a relief. Except they haven't caught the guy that's, you know, NEAR MY HOUSE.

Ah, well. At least Mel Gibson isn't in my neighborhood.

Blender Demo Reel

This year's Blender reel for Siggraph. Really cool.

Last year had good stuff too, with a markedly less powerful app. (This year has been really good to Blender-heads.) I don't know if that is still floating about anywhere.

Maybe next year it'll have some of my stuff? (This year promises to be interesting 3D-wise.)

A Whole Bag of Shhh! Sith Style!

This is so incredibly stupid. And it made me laugh like a little boy. (Especially when Veers just stares and waits.) Thanks Bob!

p.s. I know (and you probably do too) that they mix and match Veers and Piet. I still laughed.

Thataway

Good morning. 3D modeler extraordinaire Dennis Bailey (also writer of the TNG episode "Tin Man" for the trivia minded, as well as modeler / writer of Starship Exeter) created and released a model of the U.S.S. Enterprise from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Somebody finally did a Blender conversion of it so I finally got to play with it. Gosh, that's a pretty ship.



The mesh can be found here. (Hey! I just noticed that my mesh is now the ONLY TOS Enterprise on the site. I'm official! Jinkies!)

(I'll tell you how much Hezbollah sucks later. Cause they do.)

"A legend, Mr. Wayne"

The next Batman movie is now officially "The Dark Knight". (TOO cool!)

The bad guy is officially The Joker.

And The Joker is officially Heath Ledger.

No "Brokeback Gotham" jokes, please.