Nothing To Write Home About

Ghandi was Straight Edge

2008-09-22T07:13:00.005-04:00

I'm not quite sure what the reason this video was made, but it is a bit of a mind boggling concept. Sir Ben Kingsley playing Ian MacKaye (front man for DC hardcore band Minor Threat), and miming the song Minor Threat (very poorly).

It's fun to watch, but Benny doesn't really get into the song too much. He looks like he's laughing, and having trouble remembering the (quite simple) lyrics. It seems like something someone put together for shits and giggles one weekend.

Still it's quite the juxtaposition of Classic Punk meets Classic Thespian.

Sir Ben Kingsley STOMPS into the shoes of Minor Threat's Ian MacKaye from Mean Magazine on Vimeo.

Bak in the saddle

2008-08-15T19:18:00.004-04:00

A couple years ago I was totally blown away by the martial arts action of Tony Jaa in Ong Bak.

Now Ong Bak 2 looks to blow away the first film. It appears to be not so much of a sequel, but another Tony Jaa film that happens to be called Ong Bak 2. It could be a prequel of sorts, as it appears to be set WAY before the original.

Thanks Twitch

The First Rule of Wizard Club...

2008-07-31T15:47:00.004-04:00

One of my favorite fantasy book series is being made into a TV series.

This November the first book in the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind, "Wizard's first Rule" will air as an ongoing series. And if it does well, we can expect the series continue on through the other books.

I can't say the show's title has me dancing with joy. While "Legend of the Seeker" is an accurate description, I'm not sure why they didn't use the already well know "Sword of Truth" that the book series is known under the world over. Originally the show was to be called "Wizard's first Rule", but as it's an ongoing series (hopefully), I can see why they didn't want to change it each season.

Show titles aside, the main point of my post is to let those of you that may not already know that the first trailer for the series is out.

Overall I'd say it looks pretty good, and has me excited. The production values look to be fairly decent from what was shown. As always with books transitioning to movies or TV some of the characters don't look like you may have imagined while reading, but for the most part they look pretty close. My only complaint is that Zedd looks a bit young, but I suppose that could be explained away as a wizardy thing.

Keeping my fingers crossed for November 1st.

Check out the show's official website for more info.

.

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

2008-06-29T09:29:00.007-04:00

It seems that during the writer's strike Joss Whedon set about writing a 3 part web musical, and the teaser is now online.

This looks like it could be quite the funny.

It stars Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser, How I met you Mother) as the title character and Nathon Fillion (Serenity, Buffy) as what appears to be a super hero.

Teaser from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog on Vimeo.

The official site is here, not much there but the teaser right now.

This from Joss's blog:

ONE WEEK ONLY! AN INTERNET MINISERIES EVENT!

"Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog" will be streamed, LIVE (that part’s not true), FREE (sadly, that part is) right on Drhorrible.com, in mid-July. Specifically:

ACT ONE (Wheee!) will go up Tuesday July 15th.

ACT TWO (OMG!) will go up Thursday July 17th.

ACT THREE (Denouement!) will go up Saturday July 19th.

All acts will stay up until midnight Sunday July 20th. Then they will vanish into the night, like a phantom (but not THE Phantom – that’s still playing. Like, everywhere.)

Then it will be a paid download and eventually a DVD chock full of super bonus material.
So mark your calendars, after July 20th YOU WILL PAY!!!! Mwahahaha!!

sorry 'bout that. got carried away a tisch

KITH me once...

2008-05-31T09:13:00.009-04:00

Last night we went to see the Kids in the Hall do a live show at the Royal Oak Music Theatre.

There was a 7 & 11 show, and we had opted for the later "adult" show. Not sure what the difference between shows was, but ours was hilarious, but I digress, let's wind back the story a bit.

We had plans to meet friends for dinner at 8, and we ended up getting to RO a half hour early. We decided to walk around the city a bit while we waited for them to arrive.

We only made it to the other end of the block from the theatre when we noticed a large group of people, some tents, and police holding back traffic. When I first realized it was a film crew, I thought "cool, they're shooting a commercial or something", then I noticed that there were quite a few movie style "director" chairs with "Prayers for Bobby" stitched along the back. This was a movie crew, not a commercial crew. It looked too small for a major motion picture crew, so I was wondering if this was some local independent film crew (with obviously waaaaay more money than we had with "broken"). As I was looking around to see what all was going on, and to see if I recognized anyone from anything, Anne called to me to point out that Sigourney Weaver was standing not 20 feet in front of her! We saw her for about a minute or two, and she was off. Apparently done for the day.

Clouds started rolling in, and they only had the time for two more takes before they started to wrap for the day. We watched them pack up some equipment, and right about that time our friends drove by looking for a parking spot. We headed to the restaurant to grab a table, and started looking up details about what we just saw on the internet via Anne's Blackberry. Ain't tech sweet!

We found that "Prayers for Bobby" is a Lifetime film based on a book of the same name, and Sigourney plays a mother coming to terms with the suicide of her gay son. IMDB doesn't have much info, other than to say that it's in production, and if you get their pro account you can find out more info. That sucked because we saw a few young actors that we thought looked kind of familiar, but couldn't quite place, and had hoped to find out who they were with the aid of good old IMDB. Anne took some pictures, but they are still on her camera as I write this.
EDIT: Anne's pics are now on her Flickr account.

After an excellent dinner, we saw the afore mentioned "hilarious" Kids in the Hall show. We had great seats in the center of the theatre, but unfortunately the theatre is configured for people to stand at music events, and as such the seats we had were folding chairs all on a level floor. Meaning we had to crane our necks left and right to see the stage around the people in front of us. Even so, the show was super mega funny, and the Kids couldn't help but interact with the audience as people spontaneously combusted with shrieks of laughter or screamed out they loved one Kid or the other.

There were a few moments where they would make each other break up on stage. In one sketch Kevin wore a sweater that turned out to be Scott's favorite sweater that he thought he had lost the night before at a bar while evidently quite drunk. After they were all breaking up at Scott's surprise, and lack of a decent comedy cover for same, they had to break out of the sketch, explain to us the significants of the sweater and then continue the sketch. Bits like that just made us feel "in" on things and made it that much more personal.

They have definitely aged a bit, but then haven't we all. But other than being a little more paunchy or wrinkly than they used to be, they were the same old troop, with the same sense of humor we loved. The show used some pre-taped bits on the screen behind them in between some sketches, used slides to set scenes, and had a good mix of new characters and ones from their TV show, and all the material was new stuff, nothing recycled from TV.

All in all it was an excellent night.

Picture this

2008-04-27T19:23:00.003-04:00

One of the pictures I took last summer while we were in Washington D.C. has been chosen for use in an online map/guide site called Schmap.

Evidently they search around through picture hosting sites like Flickr for photos that fill the need of their guide, and when they needed a picture of the International Spy Museum in D.C. they found one that I took, and asked if I would mind if they used it on their site. I said sure thing. There's no monetary compensation, but it's still kind of cool.

Your plastic pal that's fun to be with

2008-04-26T19:49:00.007-04:00

Last week Character Options made an announcement with the details of the upcoming line of classic Doctor Who action figures via the Toys and Merchandise section of the doctorwhoforum.

Over the past few months they had already let us know most of the figures in the set, but we now have more complete details on the first wave of classic figures, including there being a build-a-figure in this set.

The full release follows:

Character set to launch Classic Doctor Who range

Fans of all eras of Doctor Who can look forward to an incredible range of classic Doctor Who figures and monsters being launched by Character Options later this year.

Recreate scenes from the classic series of Doctor Who with the poseable action figures. Each figure pack comes with a different collectable part of the giant K-1 robot from the fourth Doctor’s first story in 1974. When all eight packs are collected, the giant robot will be complete.

Classic figures include Tom Baker, Peter Davison and Colin Baker. Other figures and monsters include a Sea Devil (1972), Zygon (1975), Magnus Greel & Mr Sin (1977), SV7 and D84 (1977).

Also being launched is a Doctor Who 5 inch Classic Dalek Set – this set of three poseable Classic Daleks includes Daleks from The Dead Planet, (1963), The Planet of the Daleks, (1973) and Genesis of the Daleks (1975).

As master toy licensee Character has enjoyed immense success alongside BBC Worldwide through its Doctor Who range of products and predicts a hugely positive response to the new collection, which is due to launch in August.

Not only did we find out about the previously unknown build-a-figure, but we also learned about the classic Dalek set.

Then, a few minutes later, the pictures started showing up.

WOW! (click on any of the above pics for bigger images in my Flickr account)

Every one of those figures look excellent!

The swappable heads for Tom are just too cool. The detail is just outstanding, I hope the final figures look as good as those prototypes.

I also really hope that they sell as well as I expect they will, so more and more are released.

And if that wasn't exciting enough for fanboys like myself, later that week they let us know what we can expect from the second wave of classic figures through a series of posts with cryptic hints that the forum members had to figure out.

After all the hints were solved The Character (one of the Character Options posters) summed up wave two as such:

Ok people so here we go

Wave II
Morbius Creature
Ice Warrior
10th Planet Cyberman
7th doctor
8th doctor
Mummy service robot

and collect the parts of?.......... now that you have to wait for but ..its original! lol lol lol

They have previously announced that the first three Doctor's figures are waiting until they can clear the likeness rights with the estates of the late actors. Also they say there are currently no plans for companions. Two reasons mentioned are that monsters sell better, and the whole likeness rights thing again. But if the classic range really takes off and makes them big money... *Fingers crossed*

Now I just have to wait until August.

Ugh!

No, I'm not dead

2008-04-25T06:44:00.004-04:00

I've just not gotten around to posting anything since November.

It's not that I haven't had a lot of post ideas, just that I haven't been able to pull myself away from whatever else I was doing. I've got a few post ideas lined up and hope to get back to at least a weekly post if not better. Some of the thoughts I want to share are this season of Doctor Who so far, the excellent looking new classic Doctor Who figures coming out, what I think of the Xbox 360 I was lucky enough to get for X-mas, the plethora of summer blockbusters this year, and a bunch of other random thoughts.

So for the 4 people who regularly check for updates;

STAY TUNED.........

Busy as a busy thing

2007-11-08T10:44:00.000-05:00

Lately I've had an excuse for not posting that much, well I always have an excuse, but this one is a little bit better than " I just haven't gotten around to it.".

Mid-October I got a seasonal job at a local KB Toys. This was like letting me loose in a toy store, 'cause, well, it is a toy store. One of the things I get to do is open all the boxes we get each week to price they toys. And while that may not sound too exciting, just imagine being in a room FILLED with boxes of toys, and tearing to them to see what you have. It's like x-mas every week! Of course it's a x-mas where most of the toys weren't what you asked for, are a couple years out of date, and most are cheap crap, but it's still opening boxes of toys! Toys you can't keep.

On top of that I finally got word back from a wedding photography/videography company about a potential editing job. They had asked me to edit together a 15 minute sample using some footage from a recent wedding they had shot. They liked what I did, so now I get to finish up that wedding video, and they'll be giving me more.

Also, about two weeks back (and not even two weeks into my job there) my manager from KB called to A. tell me that our store is being closed by January (bummer), and B. ask me if I would like to be an assistant manager until we close (not bad). I said sure thing, and promptly got tons more hours, and a pay increase. That's not too bad after only 6 actual work days.

So this week I need to finish up the first wedding video between working 38 hours at KB. Not that hard, but time consuming.

IMDB me!

2007-10-31T09:03:00.000-04:00

Looks like we finally got our movie "broken" up on IMDB (The Internet Movie Database). We are just one of 18 (as of writing) films with that title, so next time we need to come up with something a bit more unique me thinks.

This also means that I too have an entry on IMDB!
That's pretty sweet!

Now we just need to get the movie out to the masses. I know Derek and David are working on getting a distribution deal, and the latest I've heard is that we're getting close. Just nailing down some music rights and finalizing paperwork.

Jump on my head til it bleeds

2007-10-10T09:51:00.000-04:00

The teaser for the the movie Jumper, based on Steven Gould's books Jumper and Reflex, has hit the net.

I really, really like the books, so when I heard there was going to be a movie I was excited, and then worried. As with any book to film transition there is going to be changes. But they made some really big changes with this one.

In the original book, a teenaged Davey first learns of his ability to jump (aka teleport) when trying to get away from his physically abusive father. Through the two books he learns how to use his powers, falls in love, gets involved in thwarting some international terrorists, and tries to avoid an organization that has caught on to his unusual traveling capabilities. Throughout these books he is the only person to be able to teleport, and the government has one hell of a time trying to figure out what he is and how to detain him.

In this upcoming movie, he is but one of many teleporters that have been pursued throughout history by some secret society that kills any teleporters they find.

The original books had more than enough story to fill out a super exciting Hollywood crapfest,so I don't see why they had to add extra plot devices like this. Maybe if they made the first movie, and it did well, then wanted to expand upon it...

The author of the books, Steven Gould, wrote a new Jumper book to tie in with the new movie. Jumper: Griffin's Story gives the background for one of the newly fabricated characters for the movie. This book is as good as the original Jumper books, but obviously in a different universe than them. It all reminds me of the multitude of different universes in the comic book world.

After reading Griffin's Story I had higher hopes for the movie, knowing it wouldn't be a movie truly based on Gould's books, but inspired by them. But now after seeing the mess of a teaser they put up, I'm back to being worried it'll be any good.

I know the point of a teaser is to...tease, but all this was was a bunch of special effects strung together without any cohesive story.

In the end 20th Century Fox will most likely get my money, but I still think the fucked up perfectly fine story or three. Why must Hollywood keep saying "hey this is a really good/popular book, let's make it into a movie and change it from what made it so good."?

I don't understand you...

2007-09-10T08:28:00.000-04:00

Which ancient language am I?

You are Akkadian, a blend of the incomprehensible symbols of the Sumerians with the unwritable sounds of the early Semitic peoples. However, the writing just doesn't suit the words and doesn't represent everything needed, so you end up a schizoid mess. Invented in Babylon, you're probably to blame for that tower story. However, crazy as you are, you're much loved and appreciated, and remain actively in use by records keepers long after schools have switched to other languages.

Link: The Which Ancient Language Are You Test written by imipak on OkCupid, home of the The Dating Persona Test

The IT Crowd returns with a second series.

2007-08-27T12:55:00.001-04:00

The IT Crowd returns with a second series., originally uploaded by Hairboy.

One of the funniest new shows from last year, The IT Crowd started it's second series last week on Channel 4 in the UK.

The IT Crowd is a classic styled sitcom, set in the IT department of a large company, that tells the story of two stereotypical IT guys Roy and Moss.

The series is great, and as I have posted before, there is an American version of the show coming out, but it appears to be soo good that it got bumped from the fall line-up, and designated for mid-summer replacement status for next year.

The big bummer about the US show getting bumped back is that the US DVD release for series one of the British show has also been bumped back.

At least through the wonders of the internets us ex-IT guys can still watch a great show.

A+ for volume

2007-08-06T13:25:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone, got an update on how "broken" fared at the Trinity Film Festival in Detroit this past weekend.

We nabbed not only the award for Best Drama, but also the award for Audience Favorite.

So a giant huzzah to the cast, crew and everyone that supported us!

I know that Derek (at the Trinity Fest) and David (at the Indie Gathering) did a lot of networking over the weekend and as the awards from both shows attest, they were getting a lot of positive feedback from festival goers and runners.

It looks like Derek and I will be doing another local TV interview tomorrow evening. Derek failed to tell me who it's for or when it airs, but press is press.

So to recap that's 2 festivals in 2 cities, 4 nominations with 3 wins in 1 day.

Not bad.

Broken hits the film fest scene

2007-08-04T19:53:00.001-04:00

Broken cast and crew at the Trinity Film Festival in Detroit, originally uploaded by annethelibrarian.

"broken" hit it's first two film festivals today.

One in Detroit, one in Cleveland.

I went to support the film at the Trinity Film Festival in Detroit along with Derek Justice (one of the two directors), Steve Hopton (one of the lead actors), Jayk Hanna (actor), and Adam Hill (actor/P.A.).

We had a pretty good turnout, and after the showing the cast and crew were interviewed for a local cable program.

Hopefully the showing at The Indie Gathering in Cleveland went as well or better. The other director, David DeLeon, was representing the film there. We won an award at that festival so that's already pretty sweet. We got best Crime/Drama feature film.

We won't know until tomorrow if we won anything at Trinity.

Keep your fingers crossed.

It's about frelling time!

2007-07-19T11:04:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite shows of the last decade, Farscape, is coming back!

It's coming back via brand new live action webisodes on scifi.com.

There is still no word on who will be in it, but I would expect both Ben Browder and Claudia Black to be reprising their roles as their current Sci-Fi channel show Stargate SG-1 just ended it's run.

I really hope they bring back many, if not all the Australian cast from the series, and that this will lead Farscape back to television (and beyond).

It seems to me that this would be a sign that maybe the Sci-Fi channel is listening to fans and are starting to realize that they may have canceled the show a bit prematurely. This is a good way for them to test the waters a bit, and see how this project is received by the fans.

Thanks to:
Sci Fi Wire
GateWorld

Doctor Who series 3

2007-07-16T10:39:00.000-04:00

I figured as most of the traffic here of late has been people looking for Doctor Who related info/pics I would make a nice little entry that was links to all my series 3 posts.

Enjoy!

Smith and Jones
The Shakespeare Code
Gridlock
Daleks in Manhattan
Evolution of the Daleks
The Lazarus Experiment
42
Human Nature
The Family of Blood
Blink
Utopia
The Sound of Drums
Last of the Time Lords

"Simp"ly me

2007-07-16T10:28:00.000-04:00

I went and turned myself into a Simpson's character using the avatar creator on the Simpson's Movie website.

Let's hit the mall!

2007-07-07T20:53:00.000-04:00

53%

Last of the Time Lords

2007-07-06T07:35:00.000-04:00

Time has a funny way of getting away from you.

Here it is almost a full week since the final episode of series three, and I'm just getting around to posting my thoughts.

This final episode was a good overall representation of series three. Parts of it were great, and parts of it were, to put it kindly, not as great.

On to the spoilers and the ever popular whatnot.

Russell T. Davies keeps trying to outdo himself, and it doesn't always work. For the most part LotTL works as a spectacular end to series three. We see Martha come into her own, the defeat of the Master and the Doctor's triumph. It's just that the telling of these things leaves a bit to be desired.

"Doctor, look at all that destruction that the audience just has to take our word on that it's there."
I liked how the story picks up a year after the last episode, and we are made to feel (in a small TV show budget way) that that time has passed on Earth, but on the Master's flying fortress the Valiant, it feels as no time has passed. Sure the Doctor lives in a tent, and Martha's family are dressed as servants, but they could have redressed the set a bit more, make the Doctor's clothes shabbier or something.

The Master and Doctor Dobby
And while that is a minor nit, I really could have done without the Doctor turned into Dobby the house-elf. Why, when aged umteen years, does the Doctor shrink into a gnome-like creature? And why did they make him a little suit just like his normal clothes? That was just stupid. What, the Master felt the Doctor needed to be dressed well while being humiliated? If the guys at The Mill could have come up with an original look for the ancient Doctor, then maybe that bit might have worked for me, but as it was it was just silly.

The power of the Doctor compels you!
Then at the end, just because Martha traveled the world telling everyone about the Doctor, and to think about him at precisely the same time around the world, the energy of their thoughts somehow flows into the Master's satellite network and makes the Doctor de-age hundreds of years (not to mention makes his Dobby-sized clothes change back into Doctor-sized clothes), makes him fly, and gives him god-like powers and a glowy forcefield. As someone I know said it was the clap for Tinkerbell scene. "I do believe in the Doctor!"

The invading heads in balls from the future
And even though time gets spun back to before the invasion, and most of the world forgot that the Master took over the Earth and the Doctor saved them, I really really hope that they can come up with a better end for series four than to have the earth invaded yet again.

If you look closely, you might make out the devastation on Earth.
I would have liked to see some shots of the destruction the the world, rather than just hear about it. I know they have a limited budget, but it seems easy enough to slip in a couple quick shots. Maybe that would have been too horrific for a family show?

Who's picking up the Master's ring? Mrs. Saxon?
I'm glad that this doesn't really seem to be the end of the Master, but disappointed that it looks like John Simm won't be back in the role. That's the problem with casting a big, or rising, star. I felt that with just two episodes he didn't have enough time to flesh out his character. but that's the world of this new fast paced Doctor Who.

So how exactly did the Titanic crash into the TARDIS console room?
We'll have to wait until X-mas to find out.
Over all I'm happy with season three, and eagerly await the X-mas special, Torchwood series two, and season four of New Who.

It's good to have Doctor Who back on TV, and almost feels like it never went off. Tonight starts series three season on Sci-fi Channel here in the US, so I'm sure that'll bring in a few more hits to my blog. I know that there have been a few people checking out these reviews/thoughts of series three, and thanks for stopping by.

The Sound of Drums

2007-06-25T14:14:00.000-04:00

Even while in a Washington DC hotel I made sure we were able to catch Saturday's episode of Doctor Who. We had to watch it on my laptop, but it was worth it.

Yes, spoilers and etc as usual.

Part two of the three-part series three finale picked up with a super brief explanation of how the Doctor fixed Jack's Vortex manipulator to get them to current day London, England, Earth only to find that The Master is dum-dum-dummmmmm the new Prime Minister, Harold Saxon. Not much of a surprise, but it gets the story rolling along at the accustomed break-neck speed.

The latest Master is a gas.
John Simm offers a quite different interpretation of the Master than we've seen before. He's much more insane, and not quite as somber as previous incarnations. They also breeze past how the Master's even alive, with some brief mention about the Timelords resurrecting him to help fight the Time War, and him running away and becoming human to hide.

Greeting from sunny Gallifrey
There is some interesting revisionist history about Gallifrey and some background on how the Master may have become insane and evil.

The Doctor's looked better.
The Doctor and Master have some interesting dialog together, and I hope that John Simm as the Master becomes a reoccurring character.

Balls of death descend upon London.
This episode leaves us with yet another attack on Earth, and makes one wonder how long we can survive with all these invasions since the Doctor has returned to our screens (Slitheen, Daleks, Cybermen, Racnoss, etc.).

Just one more episode of this series, then it will be a long wait until X-mas for more Doctor Who.

Utopia

2007-06-19T10:31:00.001-04:00

Well season three started it's big 3-episode finale with last Saturday's "Utopia".

Quite a whirlwind episode that is classic New Who, and that's not exactly a great thing.

Spoilers ahead, not only for this episode, but also for Torchwood.
You've been warned.

"Utopia" started off running, and didn't stop for a breath much along the way.

The Doctor's not pleased to see Captain Jack
The Doctor and Martha stop off in Cardiff to let the TARDIS refuel on the time rift. When Captain Jack spots the blue box he makes a mad dash for it. The Doctor sees Jack on the monitor and tries to leave before he can get there, and in new series lunacy Jack somehow manages to not only grab onto the dematerializing TARDIS and ride it through the time vortex, it also seems that he causes the ship to travel to the end of known time. Further than the Timelords have ever been according to the Doctor.

Captain Jack's wild ride
How is it that we keep going "further than we've ever been"? To the end of the Earth, the creation of the Earth, the end of time. We can't always be going the furthest we've ever been. Can we?

Hail, hail, the gang's all here.
And when they land on this far future planet, Jack seems to recognize the Doctor right off, fully aware of regenerations. There are some good moments that explain how Jack became un-killable, got off the space station in the far future, and has had to live through the past one hundred years on Earth to catch up with the Doctor again, but there isn't too much time for chatting as, per usual, the Doctor and his companions end up in the middle of a major fuster-cluck.

I have pointy teeth, tattoos, and piercings, I MUST be evil, huh?
It seems that in this far distant future the normal humans are being threatened by mutated/evolved humans that have pointy teeth. That's all the info we get. That they have pointy teeth. Why do they want to attack the regular humans? No clue. But it makes for a lot off running, shooting, and things that go boom.

I exist to become a toy.
Meanwhile the local scientist, Professor Yana, is working with his insectoid assistant ( gotta have an alien) to finish a rocket that will take everyone to Utopia. What is Utopia? It seems to be a place they heard about on the radio, and it's supposed to be swell. End of story.

The Doctor and Professor Yana make a spaghetti computer.
There is next to no character development for anyone other than the leads. We are given no reason why the pointy teeth people hate the regular people. We don't really know what Utopia is, but we do get to see Jack come back from the dead a few times, and the big thing, the one that this whole 45 minutes of TV was designed to do was to re-introduce the Doctor's old foe, The Master.

Thus setting up the final two episodes, and hopefully a re-occurring villain.

Yana's not here anymore.
You see, Professor Yana was actually the Master, but using the DNA changing pocket watch that was first mentioned in the story before last he was made human, and didn't know who he was. Then the Doctor showed up and changed all that.

It's still a mystery as to who changed the Master and why, but hopefully that will be addressed. We also don't know how this all fits into classic continuity, as the last time the Master was on screen (in the TV movie, which is cannon despite some fans wishes), he was absorbed into the TARDIS.

While I think that that was a good story idea, I really wish they could have introduced the magic pocket watch earlier in the series to make it more established before using it again, and I thought it was absolutely STUPID that he was named Yana, just so when the doctor realized who Yana was we saw flashbacks of The Face of Boe saying You Are Not Alone, aka YANA. Hit us over the fucking head with it why don't you?

Cha-cha-cha-changes...
The episode ends on a cliffhanger as a mortally wounded Master locks himself in the Doctor's TARDIS, regenerates, and then buggers off, leaving the Doctor and crew stranded in the future (not counting Jack's magic time travel watch).

The Master reborn
I did really enjoy this episode, but as with so many new series episodes, it needed to be fleshed out WAY more. Some of the classic eps can be plodding when they try to fill up 4, 6, 8, or more 25 minute episodes, but most all of the new episodes that are only 45 minutes are too rushed. They try to fit too much into the alloted time.

The Doctor is stranded.
We don't get to know these future humans, or who they're fighting, so other than they are humans, why do we care if they live or die, or if they head off to Utopia or Mars? This episode could have have had any random situation calling for the Doctor's help. The only key points are bring back Jack and the Master. Kind of sad that this was the best they could do.

After the last three exceptionally well written episodes this one only had the wow factor of those two characters coming back to the show, along with some flashy special effects.

But bottom line is we have new Who, it's doing great in the ratings, and that means more stories, and more chances for greatness.

I can live with that.

Bride of What Lies Beneath

2007-06-17T19:07:00.000-04:00

Last Wednesday saw the final visit of Mr. Plumberman. The final official visit that is (more on that later).

He and helperboy showed up around 3PM and they filled the holes with pea gravel, hauled away all the debris, and plumberman broke out some more floor and replaced the floor drain near the washtub. The old drain had a hole in the side from when the floor drainage system was installed piss-poorly.

Filling in nicely
So now everything drains the way it's supposed to, and the only thing left to do is for us to put down the new cement to fill the holes.

He suggested that we wait a week or more to make sure everything works as expected (and tested) before putting down the cement. We sure don't want to have to have him bust it all back out if there was a problem. I really don't foresee any problems, but we will wait a couple weeks to be safe.

Some mopping to be done yet
They did leave quite a mess on the floors from all the sludge that had been piled up there. It will take a hefty bit of mopping and scrubbing to get it all up.

And luckily there was just enough space to get the washer and dryer hooked up, but we had to put some plywood down to get the washtub back in place.

Not pretty, but it works.
Plumberman gave me his cell number so once we get all the cement down, he can come out and install the cleanout covers and cut down the drain pipes. He left the drain pipes long to cement around. He said that he could do that for no charge, so that's nice.

So, while we are not 100% done, we are in much better shape than we have been in a while.

Uncle of What Lies Beneath

2007-06-12T10:42:00.000-04:00

Yesterday saw the return of plumber man to finish up the basement.

Or at least that was the plan.

Last Thursday he came out for day two, and was planning on returning the next day to finish it up, and bring a "kid from the yard" to clean up all the debris while he worked.

Well, he was unable make it out Friday, but they scheduled him for Monday morning between 9 and 10. We also had the installation of new windows scheduled for 10, but as plumber man was going to be in the basement, and window men upstairs, they could work at the same time.

Window man 1 showed at 9:57 and promptly got to work, with window man 2 showing up 30 minutes later. At 11 I called the plumber man's boss to inquire and was told he was on an emergency call, and they would let us know what time he'd make it out.

Holey Holes!
He eventually made it out around 2:30 and stayed until almost 7. We still have holes in the floor, very large holes. We have less holes than last week, but that is because some holes have joined forces to become one big hole.

He did get everything all tied together though. Now we have a drainage system that circles the entire basement, and is tied into the storm drain. So any water that get under the basement will drain away. Huzzah!

Piles and holes and pipes and things.
We also have the aforementioned holes still, as well as piles of nasty sludgy gravel, concrete chunks, and clay.

The only thing left to do is to remove/replace the floor drain by the washer, as he found that one also had a hole knocked in the side of it to (theoretically) tie into the old drainage system, finish installation of the cleanouts, fill in all the holes with pea gravel, and haul away all the sludgy piles.

The plumber gave us piles.
That was supposed to be today's task, but as he left so late last night, he ended up booked for today already, and it has now become tomorrow's task.

Fingers are crossed that we will have this finished by the end of the day tomorrow.

Then we will still need to let everything sit a week or so to make sure everything stays dry like we expect, then we get to put in the concrete ourselves to finish it up, but that should be no problem. We just have to be able to move the washer and dryer back into place before then so we can have some clean clothes.

The more I saw as he opened up the floor to fix this thing, the more I understand why the company that initially put in the drainage system are no longer in business.

What a mess, but the new windows are great!

As usual there are more pictures to see. Just click on any pictures to go to my Flickr account.

Blink

2007-06-12T10:00:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday was this season's Doctor Lite episode.

I'm not certain why when they only do 13 episodes a year, 14 if you count the X-mas eps, there is a need to do an episode without much of the Doctor and his companion.

And after last series lite episode, I had hoped they'd not try again this year. But it seems that they want to make 13 episodes, and want to give the lead actors some time off.

So as this episodes started I was well ready to not like it. As it started with characters we had never heard of, I was thinking why not tell a story that gives more background to Martha's family a bit as they are actually connected to the show already, and that could flesh out more of what's to come for the rest of this series.

But as the episode progressed, I was soon hooked.

Spoilers and timey-wimey stuff follows.

This story was so far above last years lite episode that it's not even fair to compare the two.

An important message from 1969.
The premise that there are creatures that send people back in time was an inventive way to trap the Doctor and Martha in the past and have to communicate with someone in the future to get the TARDIS back.

"It's a timey-wimey detector. It goes ding when there's stuff."
While it would be fun to see more of the Doctor and Martha's adventures in 1969, the actual story unfolds much better when told as a mystery being unraveled in the present. And the Doctor communicating via DVD easter eggs was very inventive.

You know this will be an easter egg on the season 3 set.
This was probably the most creative use of time travel in a Doctor Who story to date. And as such it may leave some people scratching their heads, but that's a good thing. get them thinking a bit.

Blink and they'll getcha!
This story is already one of my all-time favorites.

If the final three eps are as good as these last three, and I have to admit my hopes are up after these, this season will be the best of the new Who.

Fingers crossed.

Son of What Lies Beneath

2007-06-10T16:55:00.000-04:00

Day two of the basement breakthrough extravaganza has come and gone, and we still have holes in the floor. One of the holes from the other day was made larger, and three new hole have been added.

The plan was for the plumber to come out and dig up the biggest hole (where one end of the black pipe ended) to break out the clay pipe back to where (he hopes) it connects to the black drainage pipe on that side of the basement.

Still digging, still finding clay.
He realized that it was going further than he had expected, and did a few exploratory holes to see just how far the black pipe comes toward where it needs to tie in to the storm drain.

In doing so he realized that when they put the system in they couldn't dig under the hot water tank, and most likely it just stops on one side, and continues on the other. And as we got rid of that tank and replaced it with a tankless, there is no longer a tank in the way.

Digging around the water heater.
So no the plan is for him to return Monday, dig back from the big hole about 4 feet to tie into the black pipe in that area, dig up where the water tank was and make sure that there is continuous black drainage pipe in that corner, and then put in all the drains cleanouts and tie it all into the storm drain.

And while he's doing that we should have a crew upstairs replacing our circa 1968 aluminum single pain windows with some shiny new fiberglass double pain windows.

Hoorah!

What Lies Beneath

2007-06-04T16:42:00.000-04:00

This Wednesday it will be one year since we purchased a nice little house in Canton, MI. In that year we have made some major and minor improvements. Painting rooms, replacing hot water heaters and circuit breakers, planting and removing things throughout the yard. New windows are also on the way very shortly (hopefully).

One thing that we have had a problem with since last November is some minor flooding in the basement. When we bought the house we were happy to find out that the previous owners had a basement drainage system installed, so when water appeared we were concerned. No fear though as the system came with a LIFETIME guarantee. As luck would have it we could not get in touch with the company using the numbers on the original paperwork, and and after much investigation, we found that not only was the company no longer in existence, the address listed on the paperwork was a residence in a nearby subdivision.

We've had a few plumbers out to look things over and give us an idea of what can be done. We weren't sure if we could salvage the system, or if maybe we should get a sump pump installed. The plumber we decided to go with suggested, after trying to run a camera through the drainage system, that our best bet was to open up the floor in a couple places so he could a.) install some drainage cleanout areas, as there were none, and b.) remove a grate in one of the drains that was preventing him from getting a snake through to clear it.

Holes number one (foreground) and two (in proccess)
This morning he started the work. When he opened up the floor around the drain with the grate, he found that rather than having a grate, it actually had a slice of corrugated drainage pipe blocking the drain along with a 5x7 sheet of thick plastic.

So basically if you stuck your hand down the floor drain prior to the opening of the floor, rather than there being a trap (like in any drain) your fingers would hit the slice of corrugated pipe (which felt like a grate) and behind that was the sheet of plastic. What the?! OK, very odd, but as he was planning on removing the grate and replacing the drain, not that bad.

The little floor drain that couldn't
Next he opened up the floor where that drain connected to the rest of the drainage system that runs around the entire perimeter of the basement. Nothing weird or shocking there, other than the water level was very high, and had also been so when he opened up the aforementioned drain.

From here he was able to run a camera both ways along the drainage tubing. one way he was able to go about 30 feet before hitting what looked like a wall of gravel. The other way he was able to go about 14 feet until the tubing was crushed a little. Not so bad that water wouldn't flow, but too much for the camera to pass by.

He decided to see if the snake would clear the gravel area as we still hadn't seen how this could connect with the storm drain. He was able to get the snake to the gravel area, and asked me to listen by the storm drain to see if I could hear the snake. I could hear it, but saw no resulting water flow in the storm drain.

As I could hear the snake right next to where we wanted the system to drain off, he decided to open the floor next to the storm and sanitary cleanouts. When he did, he found something very curious. The drainage tubing led right up to the outside of the sanitary pipe, and just ended in gravel. That's why I could hear the snake over there, and why the camera showed a wall of gravel when it stopped.

This is where the drainage system was meant to go?
So when they put in this drainage system they never tied it into anything to actually drain it anywhere. All they seemed to do was to put a 4 inch moat around the basement. Did they think that this would hold all the water that would seep under the house, or did they not care and this is why they are no longer in business?

See that pipe buried in the water?
Anyway, we now know why the water wasn't draining away. The plumber snapped the top of the storm drainpipe off so the excess water would drain away. He will return in a day or two to tie the drainage tubing into the storm drain, put in the cleanout, replace the floor drain, and close everything back up nice and neat.

This is the same pipe after letting the water drain.
The water level in the areas he opened up has dropped dramatically now that the drainage system is actually able to drain someplace. I can't wait until we are able to work on the basement without any worry of water damage to our things.

Owning a house is fun.

The Family of Blood

2007-06-04T14:19:00.000-04:00

With last Saturday's follow up to Human Nature I'd have to say that this was one of the best of the new series of Doctor Who, and surely the best this season. Not to say it's a perfect story, but the best overall story we've had thus far.

Can you guess what's to follow?

Off to see the Wizard?
This episode picks right up where last week's left off, and if they were edited together you wouldn't even know where one ended, and the other began.

By the power of Graywatch!
We got a really good look at what the Doctor would be like as a human, and maybe just how much he would like to be able to settle down, and not have to be the savior all the time. This story really showed just how alien and alone he is.

He's old!
There really isn't a whole lot more new story points added to this episode, rather just closing up all the open ones from last week. I had hoped for a little more explanation about who/what the family of blood are, but I suppose a mystery is good at times also.

Whoosh!
Out the door wit ya!
At the end of this episode we see a very vindictive side to the Doctor. One that has thus far only been hinted at with some of his dialog early on in season two. The fact that he doesn't kill The Family is in keeping with his personality, but to keep them alive for eternity, trapped in various states of being is a cruel side we have not seen before. Maybe this will come back to haunt him in the future, or past.

Farewell, for now

Fungeon Dungeon

2007-05-31T18:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to an article over at 1up.com, I just found a pretty sweet MMORPG. And the best thing about it is it's absolutely free. Free to download, free to play, just free.

Spooky Skeleton King
The game is called Dungeon Runners, and it plays just a very bit exactly like you would expect Diablo to play if it were a 3D MMORPG. I didn't team up with any other players, but had a blast running through the woods, dungeons, rocky landscapes, etc. killing Wargs, Oroks, and various other nasties. They also got some experience with killing me as well.

That's my Framston
Of course there is a small catch to the whole "free" aspect of the game, but not a deal breaking one. For a small fee of US $4.99/month you can get a "Membership Package" that includes; Access to the higher level loot in the game (you can still get these items from monsters etc. and sell them with the free account, but you just can't equip them), Log-in queue priority (not a problem right now), Bank Storage, and Stacking Potions (this would really help conserve space in your inventory). More members only perks are rumored to be forthcoming.

Framston takes in Townston and shows off his new hat.
The game has a pretty good sense of humor and some bad puns throughout. There are NPCs that speak in a bad imitation of Sean Connery's voice with lame, but funny Bond references, the main town is called Townston, and the items and equipment you pick up have some truly bizarre names.

Intergalctic Tarnished Decoder Ring of the Rabble-rousing Crocodile
Wacky name, sweet stats, and members only
I decided I wanted a magic user. The only other choices were Warrior and Ranger. I liked the idea of trowing around fireballs and lightning (which you just happen to start with as a Mage). As you earn money and experience you can train in many other spells or skills depending on your class. You can even learn skills from the other classes if you like.

My favorite magic attack.
Lightning can hit up to 5 enemies at once.
The game is nowhere near as deep or diverse as the big MMORPGs like WoW or Everquest, but for a dungeon crawler it's pretty fun, and for free it's a great way to pass a few hours/days.

Human Nature

2007-05-29T09:05:00.001-04:00

The latest episode of Doctor Who was in my opinion the best episode this season, and maybe the best of David Tennant's run so far. That's only based on one viewing, and as it's a two-pater, the second half will have an affect on my feelings for the first in a small part. Because if they can't end it well, it will taint the beginning in my opinion. But I'm expecting a good follow up.

Spoiler to follow.

The Doctor's life in a watch, how fitting.

This is the first story to use one of the original Doctor Who novels as it's basis. Season one of the new series used one of the Big Finish audios, "Jubilee" as a very loose basis for the episode "Dalek", but even though I haven't read the novel "Human Nature" I believe that this stays truer to the original story. And it seems that having a novel to start from, this story is much more fleshed out than a lot of recent episodes have been. There is still some rushing along of the plot, but as they have two episodes to work with, I am expecting it to be suitably wrapped up next time.

Maid Martha delivers John Smith his paper and breakfast.
Having said that, I'm not sure they can make me fully understand why the Doctor seems to have always had a device hanging above the console that could change his DNA, or the Timelord equivalent, into that of any other species. I'm guessing it was for budget and episode time restriction reasons. No time for the Doctor to build it in the episode, and no budget to show a science lab in the TARDIS. But as it's Doctor Who, I let it slide.

John Smith teaches a class.
The storytelling is very good in this ep as well. I like the fact that it begins as a flashback/dream, and not like so many other shows have been doing so much of, starting the show with some big predicament, then cutting to show "six hours/days earlier" and leading back up to the opening scene. While that's not a bad storytelling style, it's way overused.

John Smith's sketches are the first visions of past Doctors in the new series.
There is very little of the actual aliens in this episode, and a lot of period drama as the human John Smith teaches at a boys school in 1913 England. They save a lot of budget by having the aliens take over people's bodies, although they do have some creepy scarecrow monsters, although it hasn't been explained why the aliens use scarecrows.

Martha alone in the TARDIS
It's quite interesting seeing Martha being the one in the know, and trying to keep the Doctor safe for a change, and on top of that, having to deal with being a black woman in 1913 England, while knowing she is smarter than most everyone around her.

Nurse Redfern and John Smith get a little closer.
As John Smith falls in love with a nurse at the school, you have to wonder what will become of her once he gets his memory, and DNA, back where it belongs. I fear it will mean the death of her in the end. Unless he has Martha jump ahead 40 years or so, so he can live out a full life with his new bride, then once she dies he could change back into a timelord, and be his old self again. I'm sure it will be an emotional event however it ends up.

These aliens are just plain cruel!
I can't wait until next week to see how it all wraps up, and then not long after that, the return of Captain Jack, and just who is Mr. Saxon?

Fido is coming

2007-05-25T08:06:00.000-04:00

Back in January I heard and posted about a little film called "Fido" that tells the heartwarming tale of a boy and his zombie.

Now there is a US release date, June 15th, and better yet a US trailer for all to check out.

Not only does it look to be a hilarious film, it also answers the question " What ever happened to Carrie-Ann Moss?". Something else I didn't realize until I started checking the credits, because it's hard to recognize him under the make-up and mostly because he's clean shaven (I'm sure due to the aforementioned make-up), Billy Connolly stars as Fido.

This is one film I want to see in the theatre, and my fingers will be crossed that it's as good as the trailer makes it look.

42

2007-05-24T15:46:00.000-04:00

After a week without the Doctor, thanks to Eurovision, Doctor Who returned to BBC1 last Saturday with the episode "42". And while not a masterpiece, I thought it was much better than the last couple of episodes.

Spoilers and whatnot

As well as being a nod to HHGG "42" was an attempt at a new way to tell a Doctor Who story. The title refers to the 42 minutes left until the spaceship the Doctor and Martha land on crashes into a star. So other than the short bits at the beginning and end of the story, the 42 minutes in the middle are told in just about real time with shots of the countdown clock every few minutes.

This seems to be a decent idea for the new series as it usually seems rather rushed anyway, and this time there is a decent excuse for it. Even so, this episode has the same problems as most of the new series, you don't get to know the guest cast well enough to care if they live or die.

Because of the whole crashing into the sun scenario, from the moment Martha and the Doctor arrive on the ship they are rushing around trying to keep it it from burning up. And while they do save the day, I believe that 5 of the 7 people on board the ship die, and for the most part we don't really have much reason to care. Martha makes a friend with one of the crew, and he gets to survive. The Doctor gets to know a couple of the crew, and they get to die.

Martha's life is put in danger, and the Doctor saves her of course. The Doctor is also put in a couple life threatening situations, and the seemed like regeneration causing threats, but somehow he made it through them without snuffing it.

We also had some more teases about the mysterious Mr. Saxon, and how he is manipulating Martha's Mum, but it will be a few more eps before that unfolds.

And fun was had by all

2007-05-18T13:29:00.000-04:00

Last night was the Detroit premiere of "broken" and turnout was great.

The audience really got into the film. They laughed, cheered, and gasped in all the proper places even.

If you were one of the lucky ones that came, Thanks!

If you couldn't make it, and easily could have, SHAME ON YOU!

There are plans for premieres in Grand Rapids, MI and Ohio in the works, so if you missed seeing "broken" on the big screen this time, you still have a chance.

DVDs will be forthcoming, but we don't have a date yet.

You can check out hundereds of pictures from behind the scenes of the filming of "broken" here.

Just Shows To Go Ya

2007-05-14T16:56:00.000-04:00

NBC announced it's new fall lineup of shows, and there are a few shows that have me interested.

Two are remakes, and one is a new show, but very similar to an old show. And oddly enough they all star an English person.

Starting with the new we have Journeyman, which on the surface, has similarities to Quantum Leap, but looks to be more interesting than the solve the problem of the week QL stuck with.

The first of the remakes is really a re-imagining, ala Battlestar Galactica and even from one one of the producers of BSG. Bionic Woman sees a completely updated telling of Jaime Sommers, apparently without the help of Steve Austin. Definitely going for the Alias vibe with this one.

The other remake is the American version of the very funny British sitcom The I.T. Crowd. But rather than totally recasting the show like they did with The Office (which became funny after they stopped trying to copy the original scene for scene) they kept one of the funniest actors from the original, Richard Ayoade. Unfortunately they put in one of the lamest people to ever grace, well anything, Joel McHale from E!'s The Soup.

Here are NBC's blurbs about the shows. Click on the show titles to check out the NBC show sites and watch some clips from the shows, and interviews from the stars/creators.

Journeyman

Dan Vassar thought he had it all: a loving wife, a great son and a steady job. But life suddenly throws him a curve ball. Dan finds himself traveling into the past with a purpose – impacting people's lives for the better – and sometimes the worse. While doing so, Dan reconnects
with Livia Beale, his ex-fiancée whom he lost in a mysterious plane crash. Now armed with the knowledge of the present, will he be able to save her? What would that mean to his own future? And how would it change a man who thought he had it all?

Bionic Woman

Struggling as a bartender and surrogate mom to her teen-aged sister, Jaime Sommers didn't think life could get much harder. But when a devastating car accident leaves her at death's door, Jaime's only hope of survival is through a cutting-edge, top-secret technology that comes at a hefty price.

With a whole new existence and a debt to repay, Jaime must figure out how to use her extraordinary abilities for good, while weighing the personal sacrifices she will have to make. Ultimately, it's Jaime's journey of self-discovery and inner strength that will help her embrace her new life as...The Bionic Woman.

The IT Crowd

You know those cool guys who charm the ladies, have tons of friends and get invited to the hottest parties? Roy and Moss are not those guys. A night of fun for these I.T. nerds means getting dressed to the nines for the latest iPhone webcast. But Jen, their new office manager, is going to change all that. Tech-savvy, she’s not, but she knows how to win people over and get ahead. After living for years in oblivion, Roy and Moss hope Jen can help them get the recognition they so desperately long for.

I'd love for all of these shows to be good and last, but knowing how American television works, I don't have high hopes.

7 Days And Counting

2007-05-10T08:42:00.000-04:00

Yes, that's right, It's only a week away!

What, you ask?

Why the Detroit premiere of "broken", that's what!

As I mentioned a couple months back, the Detroit area premiere of the independent film that I did the camera work for is premiering a week from today, May 17th at the Emagine Theatre in Novi, MI.

This will be the very first time that anyone will see the completed final edit of the film. It's taken over two years from the first day of shooting until this point, and we are very happy with what we were able to accomplish, and want as many people to come and check it out.

Doors will open at 7PM, and we will be showing some short films and trailers for other local independent film makers before the premiere. Then directly following the film we will move next door to Lucky's for an after party that everyone is encouraged to attend.

So head on over to the "broken" website and get some tickets and join us next week for a great time, and a great movie!

The Lazarus Experiment

2007-05-08T20:39:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday's episode of Doctor Who continued the recent trend of stories that leave you wanting more. More entertaining stories that is.

Spoilers may settle in shipping.

The Doctor finally brings Martha back home to present day London. And just like he told Rose before her, he tells her she's only been gone 12 hours. Although this time he's correct.

As is becoming all to common of late, the story opens well, and just seems to go nowhere exciting. Kind of like Gridlock before it, this story's most interesting bits are the few minutes of foreshadowing for the series story arc rather than the actual episode itself. For Doctor Who, and sci-fi in general, the story has been done in oh so many ways before. Tell me if this sounds familiar at all.

A scientist has come up with an amazing device that will change the world. He tests it on himself, and becomes a monster. He attacks people and drains their life. The hero appears to defeat said monster, but the monster escapes and heads for (drum roll) a huge gothic church. The hero follows, hero's friend is in imminent danger, and then the monster is vanquished, only to turn back into the scientist as it dies.

Even though this story is nothing new, it could have been done in a much more interesting way. I know the BBC has a limited budget, but the monster looked like any of a dozen other CG monsters out there. Very lackluster. And, as is the whole of this new incarnation of Doctor Who, the story is way too rushed for us to get a feeling of why we should care about any characters other than the Doctor and his companion.

The interesting bits were, as I mentioned, the bits that alluded to the mysterious Mr. Saxon, who is to be played by John Simm (Life on Mars) in upcoming episodes, if rumors are correct. And also if rumors are correct, he could end up being one of the Doctor's oldest foes returned to the new series.

The best part of the broadcast was in fact the trailer for the rest of the series. As the show will not air this Saturday due to Eurovision being on in it's place, the BBC ran a trailer that makes the rest of the series look really exciting.

Here are some screen grabs, with more on my flickr account;

We need a Timelord

It all took place in the future

Aaargh!

Who could this be then?

The Captain is back

Mr. Saxon?

Why Doesn't the Doctor look so happy?
And where is Martha?

And here is the trailer itself on Youtube;

I just hope that it lives up to the expectations the trailer gives.

Evolution of the Daleks

2007-05-08T12:16:00.000-04:00

Two Saturdays past now the second half of the Dalek two parter aired, wrapping up the pepperpots wacky adventures in 1930's New York.

Yes, I'm a bit behind again.

Sue me.

Spoilers to follow.

Part of the reason it keeps taking me a while to get around to writing up these reviews is that the last group of episodes just haven't wowed me.

This episode sees the Daleks coming to terms with the new hybrid human/dalek they have created. And rather than becoming the future of the Daleks, or a warring offshoot, or some other interesting idea, they just end up killing off the hybrid.

There was a lot of potential there, but they just tossed it away.

When they brought back the Daleks (or rather a single Dalek) in the first new series, they made them out to be so horrible that even one Dalek was no match for the near future's military force to deal with. But now we see that four Daleks have to hide away in the basement in the 1930s.

They are not doing a very good job of making them any scarier in my opinion, but as they were voted scariest Doctor Who monster recently I may be in the minority. I wonder how that vote would go now, or after this series finishes.

Anyway, overall, not a horrible story, but not a great one either. At the end of it all the Doctor Dalek relationship hasn't changed, and once again there is supposedly only one Dalek and one Timelord left. That is if you don't think about the fact that the TARDIS travels in time, and just because there planets have been destroyed, that doesn't mean every TImelord or Daleks have been completely wiped from history.

Does it?

Realm of Darkness

2007-05-03T09:11:00.000-04:00

The past few weeks I have been busy working on a short film for a local haunted house called The Realm of Darkness.

Steve Hopton, one of the lead actors in "broken", the upcoming independent film I worked on, asked "broken" director Derek Justice and myself if we could put together a new film for the haunted house for which he works. Derek also enlisted Michigan filmmaker Douglas Akers to help shoot footage for the film. This film is meant as an introduction to the house, and helps get the visitors into the proper mood.

The Realm of Darkness is one of two featured houses for Hauntcon 2007 going on this weekend in Dearborn Michigan. We will be promoting "broken" at a table outside the house Friday night, as well as selling tickets for the "broken" Detroit premiere, which is just 2 weeks away now!

Here's our finished work for The Realm of Darkness.

It looks much better when shown on a big widescreen TV, and not compressed for Youtube.

Not too shabby

2007-04-30T12:08:00.000-04:00

I'd say I'm pretty happy with our DL speed. Upload could be better, but eh.

According to this site we are 97% faster than the world average, and 96% faster than the US average. I find it hard to believe that that many people have such slow connections.

My Daemon and me...

2007-04-30T11:55:00.000-04:00

Daleks in Manhattan

2007-04-23T16:11:00.000-04:00

This past Saturday saw the return of the Doctor's oldest foes.

Don't cry over spoiled episodes.

As the title may imply, the Doctor and Martha land in New York, and what a refreshing local it is. As much as I love England, and London, I am getting very tired of that being the most visited place on the Doctor's recent journeys.

They did a very good job of realizing New York of the 1930's, and I didn't hear any accents that stood out as "fake"

As for the story itself, it felt like a classic series story to some degree, but not in as positive a way as "The Shakespeare Code" did. It wasn't a bad episode, but there was a lot of running around corridors/sewers and a lot of setup, as it is the first of a two-part story.

My two main gripes are the pig men and the Daleks.

The Daleks need lackeys, but rather than make robomen (mind controlled men from classic series), they somehow think it would be a good idea to kidnap homeless people and turn them into pig headed creatures. Literally men with pig heads! Aside from the lameness of this idea, we already had a pig man created by the Slitheen in series one. Why the same idea? Will all be explained in episode two?

And then there is the Daleks themselves. I know they are very popular, and the BBC has a limited time to use them based on the agreement with the estate of the Daleks original creator, but we don't need them in every series. There are only 13 episodes a year, and they featured in 3 episodes in series one, two episodes in series two, and so far, two episodes in series three.

At least the whole basis of their appearance is that they realize that they need to evolve to survive, and my guess is that this may be the BBC's way to change them into new monsters that they would own the rights to, and maybe retire the Daleks for a bit. I can't see them doing away with them all together as they are immensely popular, and just ranked number one in a poll of scariest Doctor Who monsters.

David Tennant continues to impress me episode after episode. I had a feeling I'd like him when I first saw a pic of him as the new Doctor. He's fast becoming one of my all time favourite Docs.

Freema Agyeman is also impressing me as Martha. Rose was all right, but the clingy relationship was a bit over the top for me. And in my mind it helps that she has been able to just be off adventuring with the Doctor, rather than being back at home every other episode like Rose was.

Overall, not a bad episode, but not a great one on it's own either. We'll just have to see how things pan out next week.

Gridlock

2007-04-23T15:43:00.000-04:00

Ok, time to catch up a bit.

Two Saturday's ago the third episode of the third series of the current run of Doctor Who aired.

"Gridlock" saw the Doctor's return to New Earth, first introduced in the last series mighty lame first episode.

Unfortunately this episode wasn't much better.

Spoiler alert and what not.

Following the previous weeks rousing and fun adventure with Billy Shakes, The Doctor decides to take Martha on a trip into the future.

The episode starts off promising with some really good bits in the TARDIS about the destination, and Martha asking if they could go to the Doctor's home planet. Some angsty stuff that's fun for fans, and is all part of the setup for the rest of series three.

Then they land on New Earth and things get boring, and really go no where. Which, if you think about it, makes a strange kind of sense. The main bulk of this episode is all about a huge traffic jam. What could be more fun and exciting than that. It sure jumps to the top of the list of ideas for a fun filled action packed adventure to me! Not!

It turns out that somehow, and I'm not sure of the how or why, the planet's air is toxic or something. It wasn't explained to my satisfaction, maybe a repeat viewing will help? But anyway, people are all sent into this underground flying bus motorway travelling for years going nowhere, so that the Face of Boe can use his life giving gas to keep every one alive until the Doctor can arrive and save the day. Oh, and there are giant crab monsters underneath all the flying buses to add some sort of danger/suspense element.

The whole story makes no sense really. It was just lights and sounds in the background while the Doctor realizes that Martha is a person, and to stop pining after Rose. And as set up in the last two series, the Face of Boe gets to impart his final message to the Doctor. After it was established in the first series that the Doctor's homeworld was destroyed, and he was the last of the Timelords, most fans expected that Boe's last word's would be "You are not alone", so it was kind of anticlimactic when that is exactly what he said.

So in summary, there was about 10-15 minutes of interesting/fun show, and the rest was highly forgettable/boring/no purpose.

I hope we never return to New Earth, it is a boring/lame place.

10 of mine

2007-04-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

I know I'm behind on my Doctor Who review/opinions, but after A posted this, I had to have my go at it as well. I'll get to the Who and other planned posts soon.

Go to IMDB.com and look up 10 of your favorite movies.
Post three official IMDB "Plot Keywords" for these 10 picks.
Have your friends guess the movie titles.

As I have so many favorite films I made sure I didn't knowingly duplicate any of A's. (I actually figured out another one of hers by getting info for the first movie that came to my mind, then I decided not to use any on her list.)

In no particular order, but numbered for guessing's sake.

Hungarian/Police Station/Cripple
Horseback Riding/Racism/Based on Novel
Remake of French Film/Hearing Voices/Tooth Extraction
Feral Child/Crossbow/Gyrocopter
Shrubbery/Coconut/Hand Grenade
Time Lapse Photography/Inventor/Subterranean
Corporate/Overdose/Beach
Microwave Oven/God/Dwarf
Hockey/William Shakespeare/Brewery
Stepmother/Rock Music/Water Park

Enjoy

TV theme song quiz

2007-04-12T11:03:00.000-04:00

Waaaaay too easy, but still kinda fun and nostalgic.

TV theme songs I

Score: 100% (15 out of 15)

The Shakespeare Code

2007-04-09T13:44:00.000-04:00

Another Saturday, and another new episode of Doctor Who.

This week Martha gets her first trip in the TARDIS, and meets William Shakespeare.

Oh yeah, Spoilers etc. blah, blah, blah.

So far this season is two for two for good episodes. This episode really felt like a classic episode for me. Not meaning that it will be remembered as a classic (although to some it might), but that it felt more like one of the episodes from the classic series. There was a nice mix of humor and scary bits, the meeting of historical figures, and witchcraft explained as a science different than our own.

One of the nitpicky things for me was the constant running jokes of the Doctor or Martha quoting the bard, and Shakespeare saying something along the lines of "Oh that's good, I'll use that." It was a bit annoying, while at the same time funny. I guess it's just one of those silly bits that you just let be, because it's Doctor Who.

The witches were fitting villains for an episode set in 1599, but how many ancient aliens that were banished before time began or whatever are there? And why do so many of them find a way back through Earth? Even though, and because, that is a plot device used many times in the past with Doctor Who, it adds to the classic feel.

Martha is developing into a good companion, and seems to be asking the same type of questions I would see myself asking. If I became a fictional character and started traveling with the Doctor that is.

Overall a fun episode, and hopefully a good sign of the season to come.

Aw hell! It's done.

2007-04-04T13:45:00.000-04:00

The fourth and final episode of Hellholes is up on Atomfilms.com, and it lives up to my expectations.

I really like the style and sense of humor that this team have, and hope that they will get an ongoing series picked up by some smart cable station. Edited together, this would make a nice little pilot, but I rather think that was the idea all along.

Smith & Jones

2007-04-04T11:31:00.000-04:00

I am going to try and offer up my opinions on each new episode of Doctor Who this season. I tend to procrastinate quite a bit when it comes to making blog entries, and even more so with KVBlog entries. So I hope to keep these posts weekly and within a few days of the episodes airing, in the UK that is.

Praise be to the wonder that is the interwebs for allowing us to keep up to date with the new episodes.

Last Saturday saw the start of the new series of Doctor Who in the UK. The 3rd series by new series numbering, and the 29th if you count the original series, and you really should as it is a continuation of that, not a "reboot" as some series have done.

IF YOU HAVE ONLY SEEN UP TO DAVID TENNANT'S SECOND SERIES OF DOCTOR WHO, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS BELOW.

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Last season ended with the Doctor's companion Rose transported to an alternate Earth with no way to return, and separated from the Doctor forever (time will tell, it always does).

We had a new companion briefly in the Christmas Special "The Runaway Bride", but last Saturday's "Smith and Jones" introduced the Doctor's new regular traveling companion Martha Jones.

While she is still another "pretty young lady" to travel in the TARDIS, she is quite different from Rose. For one she is a medical student studying to become a doctor. And while Rose lived with her widowed mum, Martha lives on her own and tends to be the mediator for her family. Yes, they gave Martha a big dysfunctional family for the writers to play with. Her parents are divorced, and her middle-aged father has a young girlfriend that appears to be around Martha's age. She also has a brother and sister, and from what I have read they will all feature throughout this series.

On one hand it's a nice change from classic Who where the doctor would get a companion, and there would never be any mention of a family left behind, but to have them feature in so many episodes gets old and ties the show to earth in the present. I was getting tired of seeing Jackie, Roses mum, show up all the time. Hopefully Martha's family won't be in every other episode.

On to the episode proper.

In a whirlwind beginning we meet Martha, and her family as she tries to mediate between family members about her brother's upcoming 21st b-day party and who should attend i.e. Mom doesn't want Dad's new girlfriend there.

While Martha is on duty, the hospital she works in is transported to the moon. The Doctor, who has been posing as a hospital patient, shows up and is impressed with Martha's cool assessment of their predicament. With her help he uncovers the reason the militaristic Judoon have transported the hospital to the moon, and finds the being truly responsible for the Judoon's actions.

I'm getting used to the 45 minute single episode story format, but it still moves a bit faster than I'd like.

When I first heard that they were replacing Billie Piper (Rose) with another young actress (Freema Agyeman) I was worried that they were just going have the same type of character, but so far it looks like Martha will indeed be a different character completely. I still think they shouldn't limit it to cute young girls. I liked the dynamic in the second half of Christopher Eccleston's season when there was the Doctor, Rose, and Captain Jack. And with Jack coming back later this season, that dynamic may be back, but it's a different Doctor, and a different companion, so all bets are off.

The Judoon were very well realized, but with their helmets on they were too much like classic series monsters the Sontarans to be original. I think a little more thought could have gone into that as many people working on the new series are big fans of the old, and should know comparisons would be made.

Over all I thought it was a very good start to a new season, and new companion, and I am looking forward to what lies ahead for the rest of this series.

Busy Bee

2007-04-04T09:10:00.000-04:00

The last week has been a regular whirlwind of activity.

Wednesday, Derek and I went to check out a haunted house in Pontiac to talk to the owner about shooting a new intro for them. It will be a short film shown to the customers as they enter to give them the back story of the house.

This haunt is particularly sweet in that it has several branching points where you could collect up to 3 special coins if you made the correct choices along your journey. When you arrive at the final door you then have up to three chances, depending on how many coins your group collected, to open a secret chamber and meet the wizard. If you do make it into the secret room, you also get double your money back.

This is one of the largest haunted houses I've been through as it fills an old grocery store. They were working on adding new rooms and features for a Haunted House convention coming in May where their house will be featured. Our work is part of that update as the video they currently have isn't the greatest.

Thursday found me in Frankenmuth to shoot video of journalist and author Anastasia Goodtein as she spoke to the Michigan Library Association. She was promoting her new book “Totally wired: What teens and tweens are really doing on the internet".

Saturday night Derek and I were at The Ritz Rocks in Warren to shoot video of Dedura for an upcoming video for his feature film "broken". Dendura's lead singer Aziza is one of the stars of "broken". We had a tv playing the trailer for the film and sold some tickets to the premiere.

Also last week I received a call from someone that got my name from Specs Howard for a video shoot. I met with them this week, and my first gig is set for tomorrow. It's a local video production company, and most of the shoots look like they will be church services to be shown on cable tv. This first shoot however is going to be for an author that wrote a book about how you could write your own books based on your life experiences. For this first shoot I will be one of two camera people, and it's an afternoon shoot so that's pretty nice. Hopefully this will become a regular gig.

Right now I'm fighting off a cold or something, so hopefully I won't be coughing tomorrow during the shoot. That would royally suck.

Keep your fingers crossed.

Mego Madness

2007-03-23T09:56:00.000-04:00

This spot is just hilarious. It's way too long for it to be an actual TV commercial, it was most likely a spot to sell the toys to the stores or distributors.

The descriptions of some of the characters range from hilarious to inaccurate or plain old wrong, and in one instance comically racist (more accurately just really not PC by todays standards).

And some of the "action" shots of the heroes are pretty lame. The Hulk seems to be drunkenly leaning into the rocks that I think he's supposed to be smashing through.

I used to have a ton of different Mego figures as a kid, and they fetch big bucks with collectors now.

YO! HO!

2007-03-22T17:07:00.000-04:00

The trailer for the third and final? Pirates of the Caribbean flick is on the web, and you can check it out below.

But if you really want to see it in all it's glory, check out the HD trailer here.

I REALLY REALLY recommend checking out the much larger HD version.

This movie looks uber sweet!

Stargate meets Jurassic Park

2007-03-19T16:29:00.000-04:00

This past weekend saw the sixth and final episode of ITV's new sci-fi action series Primeval.

I thought it got off to a shaky start, but it really developed into a fun adventure.

The basic premise is that strange portals to the past are appearing in England, and dinosaurs, and other now extinct creatures are coming through them. A team of scientists are put together to investigate these anomalies, as the portals are called by the team. As the episodes unfold, we learn that the long missing wife of the team's leader has been living the past and knows more about these anomalies than she will say.

The special effects are actually pretty good for the most part, but there are a few times you just need to look the other way and let things be. This IS British TV after all. The creatures are realized by some of the same people that worked on the Walking with Dinosaurs series'. So for the most part there are some very believable creatures lurking about.

The series really started getting good the last few episodes, and I was really disappointed and surprised when at the end of the fifth episode the preview for the next episode said it would be the series finale. Curse those short British series.

I just hope it did really well over there, and a second series will be coming soon. Because they of course ended the episode with a big cliff-hanger.

Also, I found it interesting that the series is out on DVD today in the UK. I know they tend to get things to DVD much sooner than we do, but this could be really good for the next series if a lot of people that missed the show on TV watch the DVDs.

Here's hoping they make more soon, and they make it to the US.

They make great gifts

2007-03-15T07:59:00.000-04:00

Tickets are now available for the Detroit premiere of "broken".

We want to pack the theatre, so if you can be in Novi, Michigan on May 17th, head on over to the official "broken" website and grab yerself a ticket. You might want to grab one for a friend also.

We want the theatre filled to capacity!

Don't forget that there will be an after party immediately following the movie. Hang out with the cast and crew (that's me), and tell us what you thought of the film.

KVBLOG #03

2007-03-13T20:37:00.000-04:00

It's the return of KVBlog!

A laid back recap of the flicks I saw last weekend.

With a special guest!

Save the date

2007-03-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Hey Everyone,

The feature film I spent most of my weekends on throughout 2005, and into 2006 is finally premiering in an actual movie theatre.

As some of you know I was the camera operator on a independent film called "broken" that was written and directed by my friend Derek Justice and his cousin David Deleon.

We wrapped photography this past summer, and David has been busy editing the film between work and school.

We will be premiering the film on May 17th, 2007 at the Emagine Theatre in Novi, Michigan. The Emagine is a large theatre much like the Celebration or the AMC. Showtime will be at 8pm with most likely some sort of Q & A at the end, and then an after party to follow.

As soon as tickets are available you will be able to purchase them from the official "broken" site. In the meantime head over to check out the trailer, then stop by the "broken" and "broken street team" Myspace pages.

We want a really huge crowd at the show, so tell all your friends to head over to Novi to check it out.

We hope to have further showings, and possibly one on the west side of the state, but you really don't want to miss the premiere, do you?!

Loathe Me Tender

2007-02-24T12:36:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I stumbled upon a new online game via an article over at 1up.com.

It's called Kingdom of Loathing, and is a totally free online RPG that doesn't take it's self too seriously. It's a throwback to the old MUDs and MUSHes of yore. It has amazing stick figure artwork, and a sense of humor to make you groan. For example, your first task is to climb Mt. Noob and speak to the Toot Oriole, who will give you some training and start you adventuring.

I've only been playing a day, but it sure is addicting.

You can get a familiar to fight along side you. I currently have a 7 pound mosquito named Knee-biter that helps me with my battles. It's nice because he will sometimes suck the enemy's blood, then heal me with it. What a nice guy.

You only start out with a limited number of adventure points (you need at least one of these points for each adventure you start), but you can earn more along the way. It helps keep you from playing all day long, so that's a plus.

If you like olde time RPGs, then you really should give it a look see.

The hotter, the fuzzier

2007-02-09T08:00:00.000-05:00

There is a new internet only trailer out for the forthcoming Hot Fuzz. The follow up film from the same people who made Shaun of the Dead and Spaced.

The film opens up next week in England, but we have to wait until April.

Not Fair!

Check out the trailer here.

Thanks to Chud.com and Empire Online.

Return to Mars

2007-02-07T21:11:00.000-05:00

My favorite new show from last year returns February 13th at 9pm on BBC1.

Life on Mars is a police drama, but not your run of the mill drama.

From the BBC press machine:

Sam Tyler (John Simm), a cool, sharp young detective, is working hard to keep the streets of 21st century Manchester safe from crime. But his world is turned upside down when the hunt for a serial killer becomes a personal vendetta after Maya (Archie Panjabi, The Constant Gardener), his girlfriend and colleague, goes missing. Desperately afraid she has been kidnapped by the killer, he sets out to find her, only to become involved in a near-fatal car accident. When he wakes, he finds himself in a different era - 1973. Is this reality, madness or a dream? Sam struggles to understand what is happening to him.

Thanks be to the internets.

If you haven't seen series one of Life On Mars, keep your eyes on BBC America, and hope they rerun it. I would expect a US DVD release is forthcoming, but nothing has been announced yet.

Yes, Thanks be to the internets for allowing us to watch the second, and unfortunately final series mere hours after it airs on Aunty Beeb.

3 of 4, just one more

2007-02-03T11:25:00.000-05:00

As I was putting together the previous post, noticed that episode 3 of Hellholes was up.

According to the commentary on episode one, this is only a four part series. This episode is the weakest of the 3 so far in my opinion. It's not bad, but I felt that it added too much unneeded dialog to "fill us in" on what is happening. If the series was edited together into a complete film, this section would flow better, but as a single episode it just come up weaker than the first two eps.

Go Speed Go

2007-02-03T11:16:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post about this short film for a while, buuut kept forgetting.

It's a great parody of the classic anime (and we thought it was a cartoon back then) Speed Racer. The live action/cartoon mix is just side splittingly excellent.

Februarwii

2007-02-01T16:02:00.000-05:00

Persistence and perseverance have paid off.

After weeks of calling and calling, and revisiting every store around us, I finally found a Wii. It was sitting all alone in the Walmart display cabinet. The lady that sold it to me said that they got a few in a shipment last night, which is funny in that when I called them a few hours earlier today I was told they had no idea when they would get more systems. Of course I have learned that people are stupid and lie a lot, so I stopped by any way. It was the last place on my list though.

If you want to find a Wii, your best bet (short of knowing someone at a store/nintendo) is to keep visiting the stores. I've found that department stores like Target and Walmart tend to be more helpful than game stores like EB or Game Stop. And very few are of any help over the phone.

Anyway, enough blogging, it's time to hook this puppy up and Wii all over the living room.

Sit Fido, sit

2007-01-31T08:42:00.000-05:00

I found this potential gem via Twitch and it looks to be quite an entertaining little film.

From Moviesonline.ca:

Welcome to Willard, a small town lost in the idyllic world of the 50's, where the sun shines every day, everybody knows their neighbour, and rotting zombies carry the mail. Years ago, the earth passed through a cloud of space dust, causing the dead to rise with an insatiable hunger for human flesh. Terror spread across the land, until a collar was invented that made the zombies docile, even useful. A company was born: ZomCon. Thanks to their patented domestication collar™, zombies became gardeners, milkmen, butlers, and even pets. ZomCon would like everyone to believe that they have the world under control - but do they?

Moviesonline.ca have quite a bit of info about this upcoming film along with some stills and quite a few clips.

This film just earned a place high on my *"must see" list.

*"must see" list is in no way an actual list, only a theoretical concept at best.

Who's Animated

2007-01-27T11:00:00.000-05:00

The BBC announced that there will be a serialized Doctor Who cartoon to air on the upcoming series of Totally Doctor Who. This 13-part serial will feature the voices of both current Doctor Who actors David Tennant and Freema Agyeman as The Doctor and Martha.

Anthony Head, who played evil headmaster Mr Finch in last season's School Reunion, and whom many will remember as Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, will guest star as a a new character, Baltazar - Scourge of the Galaxy.

For those not in the know, Totally Doctor Who is a magazine style show aimed at kids that covers all things Doctor Who. It started last season and airs wid week between airings of Doctor Who. Each episode features interviews with actors, directors, prop makers, and so on from the Doctor Who team, as well as a quiz contest between two young Who fans, and now some animated adventures as well.

Heres hoping the cartoon is good enough to warrant a separate show. Although as pressed for time as the normal DW production gets, that might not be feasible. It would be a great way to bring back old Doctors and companions though.

KZAPP!

2007-01-26T16:46:00.000-05:00

These have to be some of the neatest things I've seen in a long time.

These are a couple of the examples of WETA Collectibles new line of raygun props.

The detail and design is right out of some old pulp magazine or Flash Gordon serial. The guns alone are friggin awesome, but add the cool boxes that they come in, and you have something that would look great in any sci-fi fan's collection.

The drawback is of course the price tag. At $690.00 a pop they sure ain't cheap, but just think how cool they'd look on your shelf or in the display case.

KVBLOG #02 - Seattle

2007-01-25T18:22:00.000-05:00

Don't Cat

2007-01-19T11:52:00.000-05:00

When we got into Seattle yesterday we walked around and did some looking at the shops. In one shop that I can only describe as sort of a Japanese dollar store (yen store?), I found this odd product that appears to be some sort of spikey plastic matt to keep cats off of things.

I mean really, the name says it all. But the picture makes me think that if the cat steps on the matt, a saw blade will shoot out and lop off it's head.

KVBLOG #01

2007-01-17T22:37:00.000-05:00

This may end up as a double post as Youtube's "post to blog" feature is flaky at best.

Enjoy!

MOTHERFUCKING BLOGGER!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-01-11T08:45:00.000-05:00

I had a huge post, then while typing, Blogger jumped to the dashboard and it was all gone.

FUCK YOU BLOGGER!

Helen Bakkegan

2007-01-10T09:23:00.000-05:00

Episode 2 of "HellHoles" is up over at Atom Films.

If you missed my post about episode one, or you just didn't watch it, then first get thee to the post or Atom Films and check it out, and second feast your eyes on eplisode 2.

I liked the first episode a little bit better than the second, but I'm definitely looking forward to the rest of this series. It's very well made with just my type of humor.

More than meets the eyes

2006-12-21T08:54:00.000-05:00

The new trailer for the live-action Transformers movie is out.

Yep, Optimus Prime, Megatron, toy cars that turn into toy robots, those are the ones.

The teaser that came out earlier this year was lame at best, but this full trailer has me excited for more.

It's much, MUCH darker looking than the original cartoon. It's been compared to a cross between a disaster & horror film. And with Micheal Bay at the helm, you know it's gonna be full of action and explosions.

Head over here and check out the trailer. I recommend the full screen HD version myself.

Let's just hope it's actually good.

I got game!

2006-12-20T16:28:00.000-05:00

Checked the mail today, and there was a little package from Playstation Underground (if you have a PS2, and are not an Underground member, head over and sign up). They frequently send out new game announcements, fancy glossy PS3 ad magazine/book/things, and most importantly, game demos.

This was the latter.

It was a nice little CD sized package, that when opened revealed a folded up pirate flag, poster, and of course the game demo. The demo is for Level 5's latest RPG Rogue Galaxy, due out next month.

Level 5 brought us the wonderful Dragon Quest VIII, as well as the Dark Cloud series.

I have wanted this game from the moment I heard about it. I really like the other games that Level 5 has produced, and this one looks to be as good as, or better than those.
I was heading out to the store when I checked the mail, so didn't have time to try the demo then, and when I got home there was a package in the door.

Another game.

This time it was a full game. I had entered a contest at 1up.com to win a copy of a game called Thrillville, and I won!

I hadn't heard of the game before entering, but it was a themepark construction sim made by Lucas Arts, and I tend to like their games, so I entered. The game came with a Thrillville folder and a congratulatory note from the evil Usagi-san of whom I had to become a minion of in order to enter the contest.

So now I have to decide which to try first.

I will probably go with the demo, as that will be shorter, but I know it will leave me wanting and waiting for more.

Keep on Trekkin'

2006-12-15T04:44:00.000-05:00

It looks like the world of Star Trek may be coming back into the spotlight in a big way soon.

Not only is there a new Trek film in development with J.J.Abrams (Alias, Lost, MI:III) producing and directing, there is also talk of a new animated series in the works.

I am very hopeful about the new film being in the hands of Abrams as I really liked Alias (for the first 3 or so seasons, at least), love Lost so far, and thought MI:III was a fun roller coaster ride. Rumors abound about what the new film will be about, with the front runner being a prequel to the original series with a recast young Kirk and Spock. With Matt Damon's name being bandied around for Kirk's role. I could see that working. Just PLEASE not Affleck as Spock.

The other possible new Trek, the animated series, I'm not as sure about.

The basic idea I really like, but they want to do 6 minute mini-episodes for the web, with TV and DVD releases later, similar to the Star Wars: Clone Wars series. I'm not as keen on the need to shorten everything into bite sized pieces, as that tends to leave you with a not as fleshed out story or characters. But the plan is to flesh out the new series with various web content on the Star Trek site.

If they planned on doing the series based in an already established Trek time period that would better suit this shorter format, as the core audience would already be familiar with characters and conflicts, but the plan is to base it 150 beyond the Next Generation time period. It could still be good, I would rather have at least half-hour episodes to tell the stories.

You can read more detailed information on the proposed new animated series, as well as any other new Star Trek news over at The Trek Movie Report.

Have a Coke and a smile

2006-12-15T04:33:00.001-05:00

I found this wonderful little piece of art the other day, and it just brought a smile to my face (and made me thirsty).

Click on the picture for a better look, then check out the artist's website for other heartwarming comics and paintings.

Hell Yes

2006-12-07T11:15:00.000-05:00

This is just the type of film I'd like to be working on. Just need a lot more money and know how for the special effects they used.

This is the latest project from the Second season of Project Greenlight directors.

They just started a new Comedy/Horror series over at Atom Films called HellHoles.

I think this first episode is great, and I hope they can keep up this quality.

Rock Spectacular

2006-12-04T12:56:00.000-05:00

This Friday is the loooong awaited Skatey-Eight CD release show.

Everyone head to Rubbles in Mt. Pleasant, Michigan for a wild night of music.

Here are a couple of live songs to tide you over until Friday.

The first from Skatey-Eight and the second from Friday's headlining band, The Burning Bushes. Eventually these full shows will be available on DVD.

Adventure!

2006-11-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

While playing around with the green screen, I decided to do an animation test. I liked the results enough to polish it up with a bit of music, sound effects, and titles.

There's more where that came from, or at least there will be.

20-0-3-15

2006-11-21T10:01:00.000-05:00

And another book list thinger from the wife.

Below is a Science Fiction Book Club list most significant SF novels between 1953-2006. The meme part of this works like so: Bold the ones you have read, strike through the ones you read and hated, italicize those you started but never finished and put a star next to the ones you love.

*1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov
*3. Dune, Frank Herbert
*4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Le Guin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson
*7. Childhood’s End, Arthur C. Clarke
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender’s Game, Orson Scott Card
*23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman
*25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
*26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
*27. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
*28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson
*29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
*38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien
*42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester
*46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
*49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
*50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

Shaken and stirred

2006-11-19T19:06:00.000-05:00

Last night we went to see the latest James Bond flick "Casino Royale" starring Daniel Craig as the latest incarnation of 007.

The trailers made it look like this was going to be a really good Bond film, and all the reviews I've read say how great it is and how the series has returned to the roots of Ian Flemming's books.

I'm very happy to say this movie was everything and more than I had hoped it would be. Gone are cars that can turn themselves invisible. No cheesy one liners after every kill. No scene where James gets a collection of gadgets that just happen to be exactly what he needs to get out of a jam.

Instead we get a spy story, that while it does have some fantastical elements, is mostly grounded in reality. When Bond gets into a big fight with some baddies, he ends up with bruises and cuts like anyone else would. We know he's not going to die (Craig has at least 2 more 007 films in his contract), but this Bond could get really hurt while fighting the bad guys (and he does). In one scene that will have the toughest of men squirming in their seats, he takes much more punishment than ANY previous film has dished out before.

There are big action pieces in the film that Bond fans expect, but there is also a lot more story than these films have been offering as of late. As this is a reboot, taking the story from Fleming's first Bond novel of the same title, we see how James gets to become a double-O agent, and see some of the things that shape him into the secret agent we know he becomes.

There was a bit a fan backlash at the casting of Craig. Some fans thought he wasn't right for the part. One reason being that he is blonde. Personally, I though he was great in the role. He was tough, debonair, but rough around the edges, as I would expect from someone just being promoted to super-spy status. I've heard other say it, and I have to agree, I think Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery, and if his follow up films as the super spy continue in the same league as "Casino Royale", he will definitely tie him.

Bottom line: I would highly recommend this film to anyone that likes action, adventure, spy, and of course Bond films. This IS something to write home about.

Adventures of Space Tree

2006-11-17T09:52:00.000-05:00

Last night we got to see an advance screening for the new film "The Fountain". I was eager to see it as the buzz I heard about it made it sound really different and interesting.

For the most part it was a good film, but left me and most everyone else (judging by the comments of the people around us after it ended) scratching our heads.

Some spoilage may occur below:

The film might be about a Spanish Conquistador (Jackman) that is sent by the queen of Spain (Weisz) to find the fountain of youth; or it might be about a modern day doctor (Jackman) whose wife (Weisz) is dying from a brain tumor; it could also be about an unnamed man (Jackman) traveling through space in a soap bubble with a tree (Weisz?) in it; or it could be about all three of these.

The film gives an explanation for Jackmanquistador that works for me, but the bubble boy bit left me wondering too much. I don't usually need things spelled out for me, and in fact I hate it when film makers feel the need to explain every minute detail of what is happening, but a little more background into this character, or at least how he got into the bubble would have been nice.

I know they were going for a "new take" on the sci-fi genre, but this didn't work for me. I'm sure they wanted it to make people really think about and discuss the story with each other, but it just left most people scratching their heads. It seems like one of those stories that the writer totally knows what is going on, but doesn't realize he hasn't given enough information to the audience for them to get it as well.

I know there are reviewers out there that just love the film, and I was really hoping to be one of them, but alas it really was Nothing To Write Home About.

Would you cluck like a chicken?

2006-11-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

Derek did indeed know that the PS3 wouldn't be available until tomorrow morning. He also got to Best Buy around 3PM yesterday, rather than 8:30 as I thought. And they don't go on sale at midnight either. He has to wait til 7AM to get a ticket that says he's guaranteed one. I'm not sure how long the wait continues after that.

He spent most of the night sitting bundled up in his camping chair while the rain drizzled down. Best Buy told everyone that they could pull their cars up along the building if they wanted to sleep in them.

This morning he set up a tent, and is now cold, but dry. He also was able to run home and take a shower this morning thanks to a friend that is waiting with him.

I decided to go visit him today to see how the wait was going.

While he and about 30 other people have been waiting, all the local news teams have been by to interview people. Most of the stations are less than a mile away from the store. Derek was one of the folks who made it on TV. He found out when a friend called him to say she just saw him on the news with all the other nerds.

To keep themselves amused, some of the other people in line have been telling people who asked what they were waiting for that Best Buy was going to be giving away 60 inch plasma TVs. One lady even came back to the store a couple hours later with a big pick-up truck for her TV.

What would you do-oo-oo....?

2006-11-16T07:31:00.000-05:00

I really like video games.

I really want the new PS3 and the Wii.

I'll pay the high prices they ask to play these (unless someone else would rather pay).

But I will not spend almost a day and a half sitting outside a Best Buy in the rain with temps ranging between 46-37 degrees.

My friend Derek doesn't feel the same way.

This was the scene last night of the people behind him in line at his local Best Buy.

They are all waiting to be some of the first people to get a PS3.

He got there around 8:30 last night, and was only fourth in line. So if he can stay in line until midnight tonight, he should be able to get one.

I'm not certain he realized when he got into line last night that it IS tonight at midnight that they go on sale, NOT last night. Maybe he did, but I hope he has people to relieve him, or it could get messy.

Then the question is: After waiting so long for a PS3, does he keep it, or does he sell it on ebay? The deluxe PS3 sells for $600, and is currently getting bids in the $1,000 - $3,000 range.

I'll have to call him later today, and see if he's still in line.

7

2006-11-15T20:26:00.000-05:00

I'll also give the grown-up version of that last list a shot, again from LibrariAnne

In 2005, Time magazine picked the 100 best English-language novels (1923-present). Mark the selections you have read in bold. If you liked it, add a star (*) in front of the title, if you didn't, give it a minus (-). Then, put the total number of books you've read in the subject line.

The Adventures of Augie March - Saul Bellow
All the King's Men - Robert Penn Warren
American Pastoral - Philip Roth
An American Tragedy - Theodore Dreiser
-Animal Farm - George Orwell
Appointment in Samarra - John O'Hara
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret - Judy Blume
The Assistant - Bernard Malamud
At Swim-Two-Birds - Flann O'Brien
Atonement - Ian McEwan
Beloved - Toni Morrison
The Berlin Stories - Christopher Isherwood
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler
The Blind Assassin - Margaret Atwood
Blood Meridian - Cormac McCarthy
Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
The Bridge of San Luis Rey - Thornton Wilder
Call It Sleep - Henry Roth
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
A Clockwork Orange - Anthony Burgess
The Confessions of Nat Turner - William Styron
The Corrections - Jonathan Franzen
The Crying of Lot 49 - Thomas Pynchon
A Dance to the Music of Time - Anthony Powell
The Day of the Locust - Nathanael West
Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather
A Death in the Family - James Agee
The Death of the Heart - Elizabeth Bowen
Deliverance - James Dickey
Dog Soldiers - Robert Stone
Falconer - John Cheever
The French Lieutenant's Woman - John Fowles
The Golden Notebook - Doris Lessing
Go Tell it on the Mountain - James Baldwin
Gone With the Wind - Margaret Mitchell
The Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
Gravity's Rainbow - Thomas Pynchon
The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
A Handful of Dust - Evelyn Waugh
The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter - Carson McCullers
The Heart of the Matter - Graham Greene
Herzog - Saul Bellow
Housekeeping - Marilynne Robinson
A House for Mr. Biswas - V.S. Naipaul
I, Claudius - Robert Graves
Infinite Jest - David Foster Wallace
Invisible Man - Ralph Ellison
Light in August - William Faulkner
*The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe - C.S. Lewis
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
*The Lord of the Rings - J.R.R. Tolkien
Loving - Henry Green
Lucky Jim - Kingsley Amis
The Man Who Loved Children - Christina Stead
Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie
Money - Martin Amis
The Moviegoer - Walker Percy
Mrs. Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Naked Lunch - William Burroughs
Native Son - Richard Wright
*Neuromancer - William Gibson
Never Let Me Go - Kazuo Ishiguro
*1984 - George Orwell
On the Road - Jack Kerouac
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey
The Painted Bird - Jerzy Kosinski
Pale Fire - Vladimir Nabokov
A Passage to India - E.M. Forster
Play It As It Lays - Joan Didion
Portnoy's Complaint - Philip Roth
Possession - A.S. Byatt
The Power and the Glory - Graham Greene
The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie - Muriel Spark
Rabbit, Run - John Updike
Ragtime - E.L. Doctorow
The Recognitions - William Gaddis
Red Harvest - Dashiell Hammett
Revolutionary Road - Richard Yates
The Sheltering Sky - Paul Bowles
*Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut
Snow Crash - Neal Stephenson
The Sot-Weed Factor - John Barth
The Sound and the Fury - William Faulkner
The Sportswriter - Richard Ford
The Spy Who Came in From the Cold - John Le Carre
The Sun Also Rises - Ernest Hemingway
Their Eyes Were Watching God - Zora Neale Hurston
Things Fall Apart - Chinua Achebe
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
To the Lighthouse - Virginia Woolf
Tropic of Cancer - Henry Miller
Ubik - Philip K. Dick
Under the Net - Iris Murdoch
Under the Volcano - Malcolm Lowry
*Watchmen - Alan Moore & Dave Gibbons
White Noise - Don DeLillo
White Teeth - Zadie Smith
Wide Sargasso Sea - Jean Rhys

Well, it looks as if what Time magazine calls the best aren't really my kettle o' fish. I surmise that the reason my number was higher with the children's books is because as a child I read what I was given, and as an adult I get to choose my own books.

26

2006-11-15T20:07:00.000-05:00

I got this from LibrariAnne.
To be honest, I may have read more of these, but don't remember. Some were published years after I was reading these type of books.

Mark the selections you have read in bold. If you liked it, add a star (*) in front of the title, if you didn't, give it a minus (-). Then, put the total number of books you've read in the subject line.

Charlotte's Web by E. B. White
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
*Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
*The Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss
*Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
Love You Forever by Robert N. Munsch
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
The Mitten by Jan Brett
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Hatchet by Gary Paulsen
*The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
Where the Sidewalk Ends: the Poems and Drawing of Shel Silverstein by Shel Silverstein
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss
Strega Nona by Tomie De Paola
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do you see? by Bill Martin, Jr.
*Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
*How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by John Archambault
*Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
*The Complete Tales of Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne
The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner
Sarah, Plain and Tall by Patricia MacLachlan
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli
The BFG by Roald Dahl
*The Giver by Lois Lowry
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff
*James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor
*The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien
*The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C. O'Brien
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
Corduroy by Don Freeman
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
Math Curse by Jon Scieszka
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Summer of the Monkeys by Wilson Rawls
*Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing by Judy Blume
Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
The Trumpet of the Swan by E. B. White
Are You My Mother? by Philip D. Eastman
*The Chronicles of Narnia by C. S. Lewis
Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
*One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish by Dr. Seuss
*The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats
The Napping House by Audrey Wood
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt
*The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery
*Horton Hatches the Egg by Dr. Seuss
Basil of Baker Street, by Eve Titus
The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
Curious George by Hans Augusto Rey
Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Partridge by Mem Fox
Arthur series by Marc Tolon Brown
The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson
Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton
The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown
Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar
Amelia Bedelia by Peggy Parish
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard Atwater
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Stuart Little by E. B. White
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
The Art Lesson by Tomie De Paola
Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina
Clifford, the Big Red Dog by Norman Bridwell
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss
The Sign of the Beaver by Elizabeth George Speare
The Watsons Go to Birmingham-1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney
The Paper Bag Princess by Robert N. Munsch

In arms way

2006-11-15T19:47:00.000-05:00

I found this over on my friend Les' blog and thought it was quite funny.
If only I had a green screen....

It's not easy being green

2006-11-15T12:03:00.000-05:00

My latest (and by far not my greatest) bit of video is me setting up and testing my green screen at home for the first time.

It takes up a fair amount of the basement designated as my videogame/tv space, but it's easy enough to take down.

Once I get the lighting better situated, I'll be able to do more.

First entry

2006-11-15T08:36:00.000-05:00

As my first post, I'd like to share with you my earliest surviving short film.

It was one of four such films shot in 1984 or 85 for a film making class I was taking at O.C.C. with my friend Brett. A few years later it was transferred from super 8 film to VHS video via my old video camera aimed at a movie screen. That accounts for some of the horrible lighting.

After this transfer, Brett and I timed these films and selected music from our collection of movie soundtrack records, and using a feature from a now ancient VCR, we recorded a new audio track to the previously silent films.

So here is the short I call "Jett and the Power Crystal"