Goro's Blog of ....

American Attitudes

2011-08-26T11:18:00.000-10:00

A majority of Americans has a favorable view of American popular culture, though a large minority of the public is pessimistic about the quality of US movies and television. Americans are divided about the spread of American culture, but only a small minority considers the dominance of US culture a threat to other cultures. When it comes to globalization bringing greater cultural influences into the US, Americans express a positive attitude.

One of the most controversial aspects of globalization is the worldwide spread and dominance of American culture. Just as US goods flooded world markets in the post-Word War II era, US culture is now penetrating every continent through the dramatic growth of mass communications such as music, television, films and the Internet, as well as through the penetration of American corporations into foreign countries. From China to France to the Middle East, foreign leaders and activists have expressed fear that global culture may become too Americanized, destroying their own cultural, economic, and religious traditions. Where does the majority public stand?

Friends with Benefits

2011-08-26T11:17:00.000-10:00

Concubines

2011-08-12T11:39:00.000-10:00

New Wive

2011-08-05T09:55:00.001-10:00

Wives

2011-04-13T11:51:00.006-10:00

Street Fighter Alpha Movie

2007-03-08T22:20:00.000-10:00

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-388423705605180744&q=street+fighter&hl=en

A new trist

2007-03-08T22:14:00.000-10:00

I got to give these two credit. Putting a interesting twist to salsa dancing and video games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ4E2RQijh0

Street Fighter: The Later Years

2007-03-06T21:01:00.000-10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLrWgVPeCzI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyx4nETMVfc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5I0rTWPvH0

Chun Li

2007-03-05T22:00:00.000-10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyLmEU7v4hQ

Movie - updates

2007-03-05T21:55:00.000-10:00

Silver Talks "Wonder Woman" Progress Joel Silver has denied that the "Wonder Woman" WW2-set spec script he recently bought would be the basis for the movie. "I don't think so. We didn't buy it for that. There were some good ideas in it, but it was out there, and we wanted to just kind of not have it not floating around. We wanted just to acquire it and keep it" said Silver to Sci-Fi Wire over the weekend.With Joss Whedon now off the project, it isn't progressing very fast it seems - "We'll make it work. You know, it's going to [work]. ... We just couldn't figure it out, but we'll get there...we'll get back to it soon".

Mark Wahlberg In New "G.I. Joe"?

The IESB reports that at the press junket this weekend for the Mark Wahlberg drama "Shooter", producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed that as soon as "Transformers" wraps he will "immediately" jump onto a "G.I. Joe" film.di Bonaventura hopes Wahlberg will play Conrad "Duke" Hauser in the story, field commander and second-in-command of the G.I. Joe Team. Hawk and Snake Eyes are slated to stand in for the good guys, whilst Destro and Stormshadow will be the evil Commander's sidekicks.The general storyline will be set before the rise of COBRA, and focuses on how the future COBRA Commander started his terrorist group.

IMPS

2007-03-03T22:47:00.000-10:00

What Web 2.0 Can Teach Us About Learning

2007-03-03T21:33:00.000-10:00

The past 15 years have seen a significant increase in the use of technology in higher education. In fact, professors now find it difficult to imagine teaching without the Internet, course-management systems, Microsoft Office, e-mail, and other technological applications. Meanwhile prospective students and new faculty members increasingly judge colleges and universities based on the educational technologies they offer. And — especially in the wake of Hurricane Katrina — many administrators are seeing e-learning technologies as key components in academic continuity and emergency planning. Of course, the more we make those technologies part of the educational landscape, the greater their potential for changing the way people teach and learn. But except for a few small pockets of innovation, many of the technological tools we use in the classroom — from course-management systems to PowerPoint — help primarily not with teaching students to think, but with the most pedestrian (and often least effective) aspect of teaching: the delivery of content. Online course-management systems are perhaps the most pernicious in that respect, in part because IT departments across the country have made them the primary teaching-and-learning tool available to faculty members. The problem is not the idea of a course-management system itself — a basic set of tools for content delivery, evaluation, and communication — nor the various uses of such systems, many of which serve their purposes quite well. Rather, the problem is that most course-management systems were developed at a time when the Internet was seen primarily as a mechanism for information delivery. Course-management systems were not created to enhance learning, but to make it easier for a faculty member to deliver materials to students. Even though most of the systems now include basic tools that allow students to turn in assignments, take exams and surveys, and communicate with each other through discussion boards and chat programs, those tools tend to be limited in functionality, generic in form, and based on relatively old technology. Course-management systems are generally used in very basic ways. A recent study by the Educause Center for Applied Research, for example, suggests that the vast majority of students who use course-management systems do so simply to gain access to course materials and their grades. In other words, the role that the systems play most often is like that of an advanced photocopier, allowing faculty members to deliver materials to their students with greater ease than was previously possible. That use can be important, but it is only part of what the systems could do. The most significant problem with course-management systems is that they are built around the credit-based course, not the individual student. Although the systems may enable students to communicate with their professor and each other outside of class time, the assumption behind the systems is still that all learning takes place within the confines of the course, and during a semester or quarter. E-learning technologies have not managed to make the way we teach match the new learning styles of the current generation of students — see Robert Zemsky and William F. Massy's "Why the E-Learning Boom Went Bust" (The Chronicle Review, July 9, 2004) for some suggestions as to why. That leaves us with the question of whether the technologies can at least help improve the ways professors teach and students learn. One answer may be found in the latest evolution of the Web, often called the "read/write Web" or "Web 2.0," some of whose improvements are already available. That new Web is less a planned upgrade than a recognition of the way small technical developments, along with quite significant changes in practice, are altering how we interact with information and with each other in the electronic medium. One of the developments has been the ability of people to write to the Web without the specialized skills once necessary to create a Web page. The resulting change is that, rather than simply reading from the Web, people everywhere are now creating online content. What we can see in the Web's evolution is a new focus on innovation, creation, and collaboration, and an emphasis on collective knowledge over static information delivery, knowledge management over content management, and social interaction over isolated surfing. The jargon-laden stars of the second-generation Web — wikis, blogs, social networking, and so on — all encourage a more active, participatory role for users. Those new uses mirror much of what we know to be good models of learning, in that they are collaborative and encourage active participation by the user. Just as important, they offer us an opportunity to create still other models through the use of digital technology. One such model is the information "mash-up." Mash-ups are Web sites that take dynamically changing pieces of information from completely different sources and combine the data into an integrated user experience, one that continues to change and grow as the underlying information changes. For example, the group behind housingmaps.com created a mash-up that took the listing of apartments for rent on Craigslist and mapped them onto a Google map of each city. What makes that and other mash-ups possible is the willingness of companies such as Google, Xythos Software, and Yahoo to open up the programming interfaces of their applications to users. And what makes mash-ups interesting from a teaching and learning perspective is that they permit people with very little technical know-how to manage knowledge online, modeling solutions for others to see, collaborate on, and use in new ways. The mash-up is only one example of the possibilities of Web 2.0. Blogs, wikis, and online office applications also give users tools for creating information and collaborating in its management. Tagging technologies give users the ability to assign keywords, or tags, to all types of information — images, blogs, encyclopedia articles — and to share the tags and thus connected pieces of information. New communities of users have grown up around such collections of information. And social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook have shown, among other things, that students will invest time and energy in building relationships around shared interests and knowledge communities. People are using new technologies to look at problems in many different ways: to make new connections and form relationships between disparate, sometimes apparently contradictory, pieces of information, and ultimately to create something new that can be shared with others. All that is reminiscent of current approaches to learning, including student-centered and active-learning models that encourage students to solve meaningful problems and reflect on their thinking processes. The challenge that we now face is figuring out how to incorporate the paradigm-altering technologies of Web 2.0 into teaching and learning. At Georgetown University, we are trying to meet that challenge with our Digital Notebook project. As we envision it, the Digital Notebook will be an online space for students to learn, create, collaborate, and store the evidence of their work at the university. The Digital Notebook will not only enable students to take advantage of the types of interconnected services available in Web 2.0, but it will also give them a detailed portfolio of what they have learned when they graduate. Our hope is that the Digital Notebook will help students track how their thinking developed from their freshman to their senior year, in part by giving them the tools to map connections between the pieces of information they have learned and to share those connections and their knowledge with others — including potential employers and admissions officers for graduate programs. Most important, however, is the fact that the notebook shifts the emphasis from the course to the student and allows both students and professors to track intermediate stages of learning as well as final results. The Digital Notebook is just one model for thinking about how technology can enhance teaching and learning. Our challenge as educators is to put technological developments to use in that and other models, to continue to improve the educational process. (chronicle.com, By EDWARD J. MALONEY,1/5/07)

naruto Sippuuden #04 english sub

2007-03-02T20:38:00.000-10:00

All your Base - video

2007-03-01T10:32:00.000-10:00

Naruto sippuuden

2007-02-22T18:20:00.000-10:00

The second, continus, series of Naruto. Episodes 1-3

Aida

2007-02-17T20:29:00.000-10:00

Aida is a musical drama in two acts based on Giuseppe Verdi's Italian-language opera by the same name, which is in turn based on a story by Auguste Mariette. The musical was produced by Hyperion Theatricals, a unit within Disney Theatrical, with music by Elton John, lyrics by Tim Rice, and book by Linda Woolverton, Robert Falls, and David Henry Hwang. Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida had its world premier at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia with the production running from September 17 to November 8, 1998. A new, revised production opened on November 12, 1999 at the Cadillac Palace in Chicago. The Broadway production, named Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida, ran at the Palace Theatre between March 23, 2000 and September 5, 2004 for a total of 1,852 performances (and 30 previews) making it the 29th longest-running Broadway show ever. The production also produced a successful national tour and several international productions. Disney has granted production rights for various regional theater productions as well. This musical was nominated for five Tony Awards and won four. The following are a few examples from the Broadway Musical.

Andrew Lloyd Weber

2007-02-17T20:08:00.000-10:00

Andrew Lloyd Weber one of, if not, the best composer of Broadwar Musicals. He has written some of the best well known muscials around. Many have heard, seen, and watched some portion, part, or whole of his musicals.
He was the most popular theatre composer of the late 20th century and is arguably the most popular theatre composer of all time, with multiple showpieces that have run for more than a decade both on Broadway and in the West End. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. Several of his songs, notably "I Don't Know How to Love Him" from Jesus Christ Superstar, "Don't Cry for Me, Argentina" from Evita, "Memory" from Cats, and "The Music of the Night" from The Phantom of the Opera have been widely recorded and were hits outside of their parent musicals.

Whose Line is it Anyway - Robin Williams

2007-02-13T22:33:00.000-10:00

Salvatore & Tolkien

2007-02-13T21:55:00.000-10:00

Library Journal, on Feburary 7, 2007, stated via website (http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6413306.html) that

At the recent American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Seattle, best selling fantasy author R.A. Salvatore credited J.R.R. Tolkien for his writing career. Salvatore, who serves on the board of his local library, said that "school beat reading out of me," and Silas Marner and Moby-Dick might be great books but not for kids to read. Snowed in one week following the worst blizzard in New England history, Salvatore said he finally opened the boxed set of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings his sister had given him the previous Christmas. During that week he read the entire four-book set three times and then devoured every fantasy novel available. "When I ran out of fantasy books to read, I wrote one," he said.

I have read both authors and enjoy very much. Both have brought the genre of fantasy along way and brought joy to many readers.

The Last Unicorn

2007-02-06T21:10:00.000-10:00

The Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel written by Peter S. Beagle. It has sold more than five million copies worldwide since its original publication in 1968, and has been translated into at least 20 languages.
The story is about a unicorn who realizes that she is the last of her kind and then sets off on a quest to find out what became of all the other unicorns. The unicorn learns from an addled butterfly that something known as the Red Bull has herded her kind to the ends of the earth. She begins a journey to find them and bring them back. Along the way she picks up two traveling companions: the incompetent magician Schmendrick, and Molly Grue, care-worn lover of Captain Cully of Greenwood Forest.
When the unicorn nears the castle of King Haggard, supposed keeper of the Red Bull, she comes face to face with the great beast and learns she cannot withstand him. At the last moment before her final surrender and capture she is changed by Schmendrick's unpredictable magic into a mortal woman. In this form, the Red Bull is uninterested in her and leaves. Schmendrick, Molly Grue, and the strange young woman go to King Haggard's castle and seek entry. Schmendrick identifies the transformed unicorn to King Haggard as the Lady Amalthea. The wizard seeks a way for all three of them to stay there as members of Haggard's court, only to find that there isn't any such thing: the only occupants in the castle are Haggard, his adopted son Prince Lir, and four ancient men-at-arms. Haggard, for dark and mysterious reasons of his own, does allow them to stay, replacing his competent on-call wizard with Schmendrick, and setting Molly Grue to work in his scullery. Gradually forgetting who she was, Amalthea becomes more and more human with each day, and eventually falls in love with Prince Lir. Caught in a complex web of fate and feelings, she must struggle with losing her immortal self even as she continues to seek an answer to the mystery of what Haggard has done with her people.
In the end, Schmendrick, Molly, Lir, and Amalthea confront the Red Bull in his lair. Schmendrick reverses the spell, turning Amalthea back into the unicorn, but she is unwilling to leave Lir. The Bull drives her toward the ocean, as he drove all the other unicorns, but Lir comes between them and is killed. Grieving, the unicorn turns on the Bull and forces him into the sea. The other unicorns come out of the water, destroying Haggard's castle as they rush past; the unicorn restores Lir to life before she, too, departs for her forest.
Major themes
The central theme in the book is the tradeoff between immortality and love. Illusions, destiny, and satire are also present.
Years before, Schmendrick's teacher had cast a spell on Schmendrick, making him immortal until he finally realized his true potential as a magician (the spell was so he could live long enough, being so incompetent and such a slow learner). Schmendrick tells Amalthea that mortal things are more beautiful because they don't last forever.
Love, similarly, can only exist when it's temporary. The unicorn reveals that immortals cannot love, regret, or cry. When the unicorn is transformed into Amalthea she begins to fall in love with Lir, but the more she does, the more she becomes mortal.
Schmendrick accidentally enchants a tree, which falls in love with him and vows to "keep the color of your eyes when no one else in the world remembers your name." Various songs and poems throughout the book mention mortality ("the shackles of my skin", "what is gone is gone", "I will love you as long as I can/However long that may be").
There are many illusions in the story. Almost everything at Mommy Fortuna's Midnight Carnival is an illusion. Ironically, when the unicorn is on display at the carnival she is given an illusory horn so that carnival-goers can recognize her (most people can't see the unicorn's real horn because no one believes in unicorns anymore). Schmendrick conjures illusions of Robin Hood to distract Captain Cully and his men. The Lady Amalthea is a unicorn disguised as a woman. Schmendrick looks young but is much older than he appears. Schmendrick tricks a talking skull into thinking he's transformed water into invisible wine.
Several characters are affected by destiny. Schmendrick cannot escape his destiny to become a true magician because his teacher made him immortal. Lir fulfills a prophecy by doing things which lead to the destruction of King Haggard's castle. Mommy Fortuna realizes that her captive harpy is destined to kill her, but does not try to avoid her fate.
There's also satire. Hagsgate is a hilarious satire of Greek tragedy ("it was so obvious, so mythological"). Captain Cully is a takeoff on Robin Hood. Characters and events at King Haggard's castle poke fun at medieval stories ("Sorry for killing a dragon!").
The book is filled with religious undertones and symbology dating back to the 14th century, which it blithely mixes with modern references and deliberate anachronisms. The author did this because he wanted the book to be set in no discernable time, and so it could simultaneously be both a legitimate fairy tale and a satire on fairy tales. (Wikipedia)
In 2005, Beagle published a sequel story titled Two Hearts in Fantasy & Science Fiction magazine. Unlike The Last Unicorn, "Two Hearts" is written in first person from the point of view of Sooz, a nine-year old girl who finds her town plagued by a Griffin. Set when King Lir is nearing the end of his years, this story addresses themes of immortality and mortality, life and death, heroics, memory, love, and the order of things.
Two Hearts was first published as the cover story of the October/November 2005 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.

Several Songs that I really enjoy.

2007-02-04T19:54:00.000-10:00

Here are the lyrics to the songs: When the River Meets the Sea
When the mountain touches the valley All the clouds are taught to fly Thus our souls shall leave this land most peacefully Though our minds be filled with questions In our hearts we'll understand When the river meets the sea
Like a flower that has blossomed In the dry and barren sand We are born and born again most gracefully Thus the winds of time shall take us With a sure and steady hand When the river meets the sea
Patience, my brothers And patience, my sons In that sweet and final hour Truth and justice will be done
Like a baby when it is sleeping In its loving mother's arms What a newborn baby dreams is a mystery But his life will find a purpose And in time he'll understand When the river meets the sea When the river meets the almighty sea
When There Ain't No Hole in the Washtub*
Head full of good thoughts Belly full of grub Money in your pocket When there ain't no hole in the washtub
Your nails won't break and your toes won't stub You never get a fever When there ain't no hole in the washtub
If you look to the good side Fallin' down's a free ride Slippin' and a-slidin' in the mud If your back is hurtin' I can say for certain I'll be there to treat you to a soothin' back rub When there ain't no hole in the washtub
Lunch with the uppercrust Dinner at the club High on the hog When there ain't no hole in the washtub Watermelon gardens, berries on a shrub Cookies in the kitchen When there ain't no hole in the washtub
I'll be there to treat you to a soothin' back rub! When there ain't no hole in the washtub
If you look to the good side Fallin' down's a free ride Slippin' and a-slidin' in the mud So it twists and contorts you The barrel supports you You can feed and clothe yourself With a rub-a-dub-dub! When there ain't no hole in the washtub Ain't no hole in the washtub Ain't no hole in the washtub

Good Interpretations

2007-02-04T19:28:00.000-10:00

The above interpretation of Edger Allen Poe's The Raven, by The Simpsons, is one of if not the best version I have seen. True it is done via animation, but that shouldn't dismiss it.

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles

2007-02-02T20:52:00.000-10:00

On Tuesday Feb. 6, 2007 Robotech is finally releasing a new DVD. I am really happy about that and have been waiting for it as well.

(From Robotech.com)

ROBOTECH: The Shadow Chronicles DVD After 20 years, ROBOTECH is back with a vengeance with this special DVD release from FUNimation Entertainment!SYNOPSIS: In the year 2044 AD, the human race has reached out to the stars through the miracle of ROBOTECHNOLOGY, but not without bringing intergalactic war upon the Earth itself. A heroic cast of returning characters led by SCOTT BERNARD and VINCE GRANT fight to end a decades-long struggle against an enigmatic alien race known as the INVID. However, the mysterious disappearance of the legendary ADMIRAL HUNTER will unfold in a treacherous mystery that could tear apart our young heroes and threaten their very survival! Featuring the voices of Mark Hamill (Star Wars) and Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space 9), Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles features cutting edge CG animation beautifully composited with vibrant anime characters. Leaping forward beyond the original series, the heightened production values showcase anamorphic widescreen video, 5.1 digital surround sound, and an incredible musical score performed by the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

SPECIAL FEATURES: Robotech: Birth of a Sequel, a 45-minute production featurette that documents the making of Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with the cast and crew. Also includes The Shadow Chronicles trailer and Funimation promotional trailers.

RUNNING TIME: Approx. 88 min. (movie) + 48 min. (extras)VIDEO FORMAT: NTSC DVD Region 1ASPECT RATIO: 16x9 anamorphic widescreenAUDIO FORMAT: English 5.1 surround, 2.0 stereoSUBTITLES/CAPTIONS: English (optional)RELEASE DATE: February 6, 2007

The storyline is described as a direct continuation from the 85th (and final) episode of the original Robotech television series, and perhaps also The Sentinels in an indirect way. The main plot seems to revolve around the Robotech Expeditionary Force's search for the missing Admiral Hunter and the SDF-3, but there are reports of a new adversary behind the scenes.

Several Cool Anime Videos

2007-02-01T10:08:00.000-10:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5EIGsUj6V2E

The first link and video is from Cowboy Bebop and the last two videos is from Record of the Lodoss War.

Cowboy Bebop, Dragonball Fights

2007-01-27T20:36:00.000-10:00

some of the cool anime music videos I have seen around.

Favorite Movies

2007-01-26T18:31:00.000-10:00

I have been think about my favorite movies. The reason I started thinking about this was from a talk with a friend on this subject. Here is what I ended up with in no particular order and the top five. Of course there are many other movies I enjoy but these are the top in each category given.

Favorite: 1) Finding Forester 2) Secondhand Lions 3) Empire of the Sun 4) Rudy 5) Sound of Music

Sci-fi/Fantasy 1) Star Wars (1-6) 2) Lord of the Rings 3) Indiana Jones (1-3) 4) E.T. 5) Close Encounters

Anime: 1) Ghost in the Shell 2) Tenchi Muyo 3) Record of the Lodoss War 4) Naruto 5) DragonBall

TV: 1) Simpsons 2) Seinfield 3) Family Guy 4) South Park 5) Whose Line is it

War: 1) Patton 2) Saving Private Ryan 3) Gettysburg 4) Flags of our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima 5) Patriot

Scary/Horror: 1) Aliens (1-4) 2) Predator (1-2) 3) Jaws (All) 4) Gremlins (1-2) 5) Resident Evil (1-2)

Foreign: 1) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 2) Hero 3) Curse of the Golden Flower 4) Protector 5) Devadas

Ghost in the Shell

2007-01-23T23:04:00.000-10:00

Ghost in the Shell a Japanese cyberpunk manga created by Masamune Shirow. A sequel, Ghost in the Shell 2: Man/Machine Interface and Ghost in the Shell 1.5: Human Error.

The series has also been adapted into several anime adaptations which includes two theatrical films and two seasons and a movie of an anime television series, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2. The films Ghost in the Shell and Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence were also produced.

"Ghost in the Shell is a futuristic police thriller dealing with the exploits of Motoko Kusanagi, a member of the covert operations section of the Japanese National Public Safety Commission, Section 9, which specializes in fighting technology-related crime. Although supposedly equal to all other members, Kusanagi fills the leadership role in the team, and is usually referred to as "the Major" due to her past rank in the armed forces. She is capable of superhuman feats, and cybernetically specialized for her job; her body is almost completely mechanized, only her brain and a segment of her spinal cord are human.

The setting of Ghost in the Shell is cyberpunk or postcyberpunk, similar to that of William Gibson's Sprawl trilogy and other post/cyberpunk works. However, Shirow's work is focused more tightly on the ethical and philosophical ramifications of the widespread merging of humanity and technology. The development of artificial intelligence and an omnipresent computer network set the stage for a reevaluation of human identity and uniqueness. More so than the films, the manga tackles these questions head on: Kusanagi and her colleagues face external threats and also suffer internal conflict over their own natures."

The Matrix, a very successful 1999 sci-fi action movie, contains imagery strongly influenced by Ghost in the Shell (as well as other anime). Major Motoko Kusanagi: "If we all reacted the same way, we'd be predictable, and there's always more than one way to view a situation. What's true for the group is also true for the individual. It's simple: Overspecialize, and you breed in weakness. It's slow death."

Gorillaz

2007-01-20T21:29:00.000-10:00

Library Musical

2007-01-19T18:28:00.000-10:00

Cowboy Bebop

2007-01-15T15:48:00.000-10:00

Into to the Movie Knockin' on Heaven's Door A Cool Video

Star Wars

2007-01-11T20:09:00.000-10:00

"Harrison Ford Turned Down Han Solo Role 'It's being widely reported that Harrison Ford turned down a £20 million deal to play Han Solo once again in a George Lucas spin off of Star Wars. The source of this information seems to be a tabloid called bangshowbiz. Harrison was approached by Lucas with two roles but instead opted for the same amount to play Indiana Jones for the fourth time. Could the spin off centered on the rugged Han Solo save the Star Wars franchise from its prequels or would it have been another mediocre release disappointing demanding fans?'" (Slashdot)

Patton - Speech

2007-01-07T21:41:00.000-10:00

Wired Al

2007-01-04T16:36:00.000-10:00

White and Nerdy Amish Perdise I'm Fat

Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas

2007-01-01T13:58:00.000-10:00

A great song from the movie. The second song I really like of the whole movie. Please wait for it.

Silent Star Wars

2006-12-23T19:16:00.000-10:00

Family Guy - Shipoopi

2006-12-09T14:52:00.000-10:00

Now a woman who'll kiss on a very 1st date, Is usually a hussy, And a woman who'll kiss on the second time out, Is anything but fussy, But a woman who'll wait 'till the 3rd time around, Head in the clouds, feet on the ground, She's the girl he's glad he's found, She's his Shipoopi. Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi, The girl is hard to get. Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi, But you can win her yet. Walk her once just to raise the curtain, Then you walk around twice and you make for certain. Once more in the flower garden, She will never get sore if you beg her pardon. Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do, Si, la, sol, fa, mi, re, do. Squeeze her once when she isn't lookin'. If you get a squeeze back that's fancy cookin'. Once more for a pepper-upper, She will never get sore on her way to supper, Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do, si, do, Now little ol' sal was a No-gal, As anyone could see, Look at her now, She's a Go-Gal, Who only goes for me, Squeeze her once when she isn't lookin'. If you get a squeeze back that's fancy cookin'. Once more for a pepper-upper, She will never get sore on her way to supper, Do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, si, do, si, do, Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi, The girl is hard to get, Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi, But you can win her yet. (Musical/Dance Break) Shipoopi, Shipoopi, Shipoopi, The girl is hard to get. Shipoopi, shipoopi, shipoopi, But you can win her yet. You Can Win Her Yet! Shipoopi

Library of Congress

2006-12-02T21:11:00.000-10:00

The Library of Congress is the de facto national library of the United States and the research arm of the United States Congress. It is one of the largest and most important libraries in the world. Its collections include more than 29 million catalogued books and other print materials in 470 languages; more than 58 million manuscripts; the largest rare book collection in North America, including a Gutenberg Bible; over 1 million US Government publications; 1 million issues of world newspapers spanning the past three centuries; 33,000 bound newspaper volumes; 500,000 microfilm reels; over 6,000 comic book titles; the world's largest collection of legal materials; films; 4.8 million maps; sheet music; and 2.7 million sound recordings. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress. Holdings Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building. The Library developed a system of book classification called Library of Congress Classification (LC) which is used by most US research and university libraries, although most public libraries continue to use the Dewey decimal system. The Library serves as a legal repository for copyright protection and copyright registration, and as the base for the United States Copyright Office. Regardless of whether they are seeking copyright, all publishers are required to submit two copies of their copyrightable works to the Library - this requirement is known as mandatory deposit. Nearly 22,000 new items published in the U.S. arrive every business day at the Library. Contrary to popular belief, however, the Library does not retain all of these works in its permanent collection, although it does add an average of 10,000 items per day. Rejected items are used in trades with other libraries around the world, distributed to federal agencies, or donated to schools, communities, and other organizations within the United States. As is true of many similar libraries, the Library of Congress retains copies of every publication in the English language which is deemed significant. The Guinness Book of World Records currently lists the Library of Congress as the "World's Largest Library". This apparently is based on the shelf space the collection occupies; the Library of Congress states that its collection fills about 530 miles (850 km), while the British Library, reports about 388 miles (625 km) of shelves. The Library of Congress holds about 130 million items with 29 million books against approximately 150 million items with 25 million books for the British Library. It is estimated that the print holdings of the Library of Congress would, if digitized and stored as plain text, constitute 17 to 20 terabytes of information. The Library makes millions of digital objects, comprising tens of terabytes, available at its American Memory site. American Memory is a source for public domain image resources, as well as audio, video, and archived Web content. Nearly all of the lists of holdings, the catalogs of the library, can be consulted directly on its web site. Librarians all over the world consult these catalogs, through the Web or through other media better suited to their needs, when they need to catalog for their collection a book published in the United States. They use the Library of Congress Control Number to make sure of the exact identity of the book. The Library of Congress also provides an on-line archive of the proceedings of the U.S. Congress at THOMAS, including bill text, Congressional Record text, bill summary and status, the Congressional Record Index, and the United States Constitution.

Annual events include:

The National Book Festival
Founders Day Celebration
Archives Fair
Judith P. Austin Memorial Lecture
Davidson Fellows Reception

Links

Resources for Comics, Graphic Novels & Manga

2006-12-01T17:53:00.000-10:00

There's lots of people--librarians included--who don't know much about comics. But even if you consider yourself an expert, here are some resources that can come in handy when people start talking about Civil War (no, nothing to do with the North vs. the South) or whether Batman Begins or Hellboy is the better movie.Print There are several professional journals that review graphic novels and manga, like Library Journal and Boolist. I really like Voice of Youth Advocates, because not only do they review several graphic novels in each issue, they also have a GN column, called "Graphically Speaking," written by expert Kat Kan.Another good resource is the comics magazines themselves. Wizard has tons of graphic novels and comics news. It's truly one of the best places to get news about all facets of comic creation.For the anime and manga folks, there's Newtype USA, which has all the newest manga and anime news. While pricey, this magazine is worth checking out occasionally--and the teens at your library (and maybe even some adults) would love to see this magazine, too. Wizard also produces an anime magazine, called Anime Insider.Online In the "more information than you ever thought was available" category, there'sComic Book Resources, which presents a seriously dizzying range of news and information. This would be a great site to steer people to, who want more info on comics, graphic novels, and manga.I'm a huge fan of comic book movies, or movies that have been made from comic book stories. I'm not alone in that, as so many movies within the last few years have been adapted from graphic novels. E.Favata's Comic Book Movies site helps you keep track of what's been released and what's coming, including plenty of interesting rumors.Finally, there's two sites that are helpful for us librarians who are looking for info on what to buy for our libraries. No Flying, No Tights, run by librarian Robin Brenner, has three separate sub-sites, reviewing graphic novels/comics/manga for teens, for children, and for older teens and adults. There's also the Diamond Bookshelf, from Diamond Comic Distributors. Diamond is the one that supplies comics, graphic novels, and manga to pretty much any retail outlet that wants to sell comics, as well as to wholesalers like Baker & Taylor, BWI, etc. The Diamond Bookshelf features reviews and other information on including graphic novels in your library. They even have an e-newsletter now, called the Diamond Bookmark.Hopefully, this is enough to get you started, either researching for yourself or for passing along to patrons. Have fun! (By melissa, Pop Goes the Library Blog)

Dilbert

2006-11-29T09:10:00.000-10:00

To Web Fans, Peter Jackson Is the One True Director

2006-11-29T08:08:00.000-10:00

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 28 — When it comes to power games, some in Hollywood are beginning to learn a basic lesson of digital politics: the Internet plays rough. Such is the case with a growing spat between New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson, the A-list director of the “Lord of the Rings” movies and a savvy player when it comes to the power of the Web. Last week Mr. Jackson posted a letter on a fan Web site, theonering.net, explaining that he had been dumped by New Line from “The Hobbit,” a movie based on the book by J. R. R. Tolkien, and still in the planning stages. “This outcome is not what we anticipated or wanted, but neither do we see any positive value in bitterness and rancor,” Mr. Jackson wrote with his producing partner and wife, Fran Walsh. “We now have no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go and move forward with other projects.” But to legions of avid Jackson and Tolkien fans, the news was a bombshell that went whizzing through cyberspace. “This is a big blow to the LOTR community, I feel like there has been a death in the family,” wrote a Web master called Xoanon, referring to the “Lord of the Ring” trilogy by its initials. “Why couldn’t New Line come to an agreement with P J? Is there really a time option on the film rights for New Line? Who will they get to direct?” Within hours thousands of other fans weighed in on lordotrings.com, onering.com and other sites, worrying about the future of the Tolkien enterprise and asking New Line, which has an option to produce the film until 2009, to back down. Theonering.net was among those calling for a boycott of any Hobbit film not made by Mr. Jackson. “The fan community as a whole is up in arms about the way Peter Jackson has been treated,” said Chris Pirrotta, a founder of theonering.net site, which has faithfully followed Mr. Jackson for years, even posting his video diary during the making of last year’s “King Kong.” “Fans are very distraught to see someone who’s created something so wonderful being treated so poorly by the studio.” On the heels of the protest, reporters and entertainment bloggers called the studio to ask about the film’s fate. In what was once an insular club of power brokers and back-stabbers, the voices of outsiders — dancing across the globe at the speed of a modem — have begun to penetrate. New Line declined to comment on “The Hobbit,” but said in a statement to The Times that the situation was complicated by the lawsuit of Mr. Jackson’s company, Wingnut Films, against the studio over revenues from the “Lord of the Rings,” which New Line produced. “We are in litigation with Wingnut Films, and have been unsuccessful despite a formal mediation, as well as discussions with Wingnut directly to settle the matter; therefore, we cannot comment at this point,” the studio said this week. But anxiety continued to reverberate in cyberspace. Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the Rings series, wrote on his Web site, mckellen.com: “I’m very sad as I should have relished revisiting middle Earth with Peter again as team-leader. It’s hard to imagine any other director matching his achievement in Tolkien country.” And Saul Zaentz, the veteran producer who holds the underlying rights, was quoted on yet another Web site, this one in German, saying Mr. Jackson would indeed direct “The Hobbit,” which still has no script, no budget, no cast and no production date. In an interview from Italy Mr. Zaentz said he was misquoted, but that Mr. Jackson should be the one to direct “The Hobbit.” “We would like to see it done, of course with Peter Jackson,” he said. “He’s a good film director. He’s the right guy. He knows it too. But it’s a hard thing to do, when you feel you didn’t get the money you were supposed to get.” The contretemps over “The Hobbit,” those involved say, is really about the lawsuit over revenues from the “Lord of the Rings” series, which has taken in a staggering $2.9 billion in box office receipts alone. In February 2005 Mr. Jackson sued New Line, saying he was owed money from the trilogy. Mr. Jackson has said he sued over profits from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” after he was unable to get New Line to submit to an independent audit of its books. The lawsuit, which was unsuccessfully mediated, still has no court date, and so far no audit has taken place. New Line executives have complained that Mr. Jackson has become vastly wealthy from the Tolkien trilogy and is unjustifiably portraying himself as a victim. In his letter Mr. Jackson said New Line was holding the new movie hostage to his lawsuit, saying that Michael Lynne, the New Line co-president, told Mr. Jackson’s manager, Ken Kamins, “that the way to settle the lawsuit was to get a commitment from us to make the Hobbit, because ‘that’s how these things are done.’ ” Mr. Jackson added: “Michael Lynne said we would stand to make much more money if we tied the lawsuit and the movie deal together and this may well be true, but it’s still the worst reason in the world to agree to make a film.” Neither Mr. Jackson nor the studio would comment publicly on the lawsuit. The final straw in continuing tensions between the two sides came earlier this month, when Mr. Jackson declined to contribute a video salute to New Line for the celebration of the 40th anniversary of its founding, planned for next year, according to two people familiar with the matter. Days later a New Line executive called Mr. Kamins to say that the studio would be seeking another director for “The Hobbit.” So while New Line accused Mr. Jackson of trying to negotiate the lawsuit through the Internet, Mr. Jackson’s camp accused the studio of brinksmanship in a fit of pique. It was left to another studio entirely, MGM, which owns the distribution rights to “The Hobbit,” to step in and calm the raging waters — and the Web sites. “We expect to partner with New Line in financing ‘The Hobbit,’ ” a spokesman for MGM said. “We support Peter Jackson as a filmmaker, and believe that when the dust settles, he’ll be making the movie. We can’t imagine any other result.” (NYTimes, Sharon Waxman)

Work, Life, and Humor!

2006-11-19T19:14:00.000-10:00

Cyber-Neologoliferation

2006-11-06T21:22:00.000-10:00

(NYTimes, By James Gleick) When I got to John Simpson and his band of lexicographers in Oxford earlier this fall, they were working on the P’s. Pletzel, plish, pod person, point-and-shoot, polyamorous — these words were all new, one way or another. They had been plowing through the P’s for two years but were almost done (except that they’ll never be done), and the Q’s will be “just a twinkle of an eye,” Simpson said. He prizes patience and the long view. A pale, soft-spoken man of middle height and profound intellect, he is chief editor of the Oxford English Dictionary and sees himself as a steward of tradition dating back a century and a half. “Basically it’s the same work as they used to do in the 19th century,” he said. “When I started in 1976, we were still working very much on these index cards, everything was done on these index cards.” He picked up a stack of 6-inch-by-4-inch slips and riffled through them. A thousand of these slips were sitting on his desk, and within a stone’s throw were millions more, filling metal files and wooden boxes with the ink oftwo centuries, words, words, words. But the word slips have gone obsolete now, as Simpson well knows. They are treeware (a word that entered the O.E.D. in September as “computing slang, freq. humorous”). Blog was recognized in 2003, dot-commer in 2004, metrosexual in 2005 and the verb Google last June. Simpson has become a frequent and accomplished Googler himself, and his workstation connects to a vast and interlocking set of searchable databases, a better and better approximation of what might be called All Previous Text. The O.E.D. has met the Internet, and however much Simpson loves the O.E.D.’s roots and legacy, he is leading a revolution, willy-nilly — in what it is, what it knows, what it sees. The English language, spoken by as many as two billion people in every country on earth, has entered a period of ferment, and this place may be the best observation platform available. The perspective here is both intimate and sweeping. In its early days, the O.E.D. found words almost exclusively in books; it was a record of the formal written language. No longer. The language upon which the lexicographers eavesdrop is larger, wilder and more amorphous; it is a great, swirling, expanding cloud of messaging and speech: newspapers, magazines, pamphlets; menus and business memos; Internet news groups and chat-room conversations; and television and radio broadcasts. The O.E.D. is unlike any other dictionary, in any language. Not simply because it is the biggest and the best, though it is. Not just because it is the supreme authority. (It wears that role reluctantly: it does not presume, or deign, to say that any particular usage or spelling is correct or incorrect; it aims merely to capture the language people use.) No, what makes the O.E.D. unique is a quality for which it can only strive: completeness. It wants every word, all the lingo: idioms and euphemisms, sacred or profane, dead or alive, the King’s English or the street’s. The O.E.D. is meant to be a perfect record, perfect repository, perfect mirror of the entire language. James Murray, the editor who assembled the first edition through the final decades of the 19th century, was really speaking of the language when he said, in 1900: “The English Dictionary, like the English Constitution, is the creation of no one man, and of no one age; it is a growth that has slowly developed itself adown the ages.” And developing faster nowadays. The O.E.D. tries to grasp the whole arc of an ever-changing history. Murray knew that with “adown” he was using a word that could be dated back to Anglo-Saxon of the year 975. When John Updike begins his New Yorker review of the new John le Carré novel by saying, “Hugger-mugger is part of life,” it is the O.E.D. that gives us the first recorded use of the word, in 1529 (“... not alwaye whyspered in hukermoker,” Sir Thomas More) and 27 more quotations from four different centuries. But when The New York Times prints a timely editorial about “sock puppets,” meaning false identities assumed on the Internet, the O.E.D. has more work to do. The version now under way is only the Àhird edition. The first, containing 414,825 words in 10 weighty volumes, was presented to King George V and President Coolidge in 1928. Several “supplements” followed, but not till 1989 did the second edition appear: 20 volumes, totaling 21,730 pages. It weighed 138 pounds. The third edition is a mutation. It is weightless, taking its shape in the digital realm. To keyboard it, Oxford hired a team of 150 typists in Florida for 18 months. (That was before the verb keyboard had even found its way in, as Simpson points out, not to mention the verb outsource.) No one can say for sure whether O.E.D.3 will ever be published in paper and ink. By the point of decision, not before 20 years or so, it will have doubled in size yet again. In the meantime, it is materializing before the world’s eyes, bit by bit, online. It is a thoroughgoing revision of the entire text. Whereas the second edition just added new words and new usages to the original entries, the current project is researching and revising from scratch — preserving the history but aiming at a more coherent whole. The revised installments began to appear online in the year 2000. Simpson chose to begin the revisions not with the letter A but with M. Why? It seems the original O.E.D. was not quite a seamless masterpiece. Murray did start at A, logically, and the early letters show signs of the enterprise’s immaturity. The entries in A tended to be smaller, with different senses of a word crammed together instead of teased lovingly apart in subentries. “It just took them a long time to sort out their policy and things,” Simpson says, “so if we started at A, then we’d be making our job doubly difficult. I think they’d sorted themselves out by. ...” He stops to think. “Well, I was going to say D, but Murray always said that E was the worst letter, because his assistant, Henry Bradley, started E, and Murray always said that he did that rather badly. So then we thought, ‘’Maybe it’s safe to start with G, H. But you get to G and H, and there’s I, J, K, and you know, you think, well, start after that.” So the first wave of revision encompassed 1,000 entries from M to mahurat. The rest of the M’s, the N’s and the O’s have followed in due course. That’s why, at the end of 2006, John Simpson and his lexicographers are working on the P’s. Their latest quarterly installment, in September, covers pleb to Pomak. Simpson mentions rather proudly that they scrambled at the last instant to update the entry for Pluto when the International Astronomical Union voted to rescind its planethood. Pluto had entered the second edition as “1. A small planet of the solar system ... ” discovered in 1930 and “2. The name of a cartoon dog ...” first appearing in 1931. The Disney meaning was more stable, it turns out. In O.E.D.3, Pluto is still a dog but merely “a small planetary body.” Even as they revise the existing dictionary in sequence, the O.E.D. lexicographers are adding new words wherever they find them, at an accelerating pace. Beside the P’s, September’s freshman class included agroterrorism, bahookie (a body part), beer pong (a drinking game), bippy (as in, you bet your — ), chucklesome, cypherpunk, tuneage and wonky. Every one of these underwent intense scrutiny. The addition of a new word is a solemn matter. “Because it’s the O.E.D.,” says Fiona McPherson, a new-words editor, “once something goes in, it cannot ever come out again.” In this respect, you could say that the O.E.D. is a roach motel (added March 2005: “Something from which it may be difficult or impossible to be extricated”). A word can go obs. or rare, but the editors feel that even the most ancient and forgotten words have a way of coming back — people rediscover them or reinvent them — and anyway, they are part of the language’s history. The new-words department, where that history rolls forward, is not to everyone’s taste. “I love it, I really really love it,” McPherson says. “You’re at the cutting edge, you’re dealing with stuff that’s not there and you’re, I suppose, shaping the language. A lot of people are more interested in the older stuff; they like nothing better than reading through 18thcentury texts looking for the right word. That doesn’t suit me as much, I have to say.” Cutting edge, incidentally, is not a new word: according to the O.E.D., H. G. Wells used it in its modern sense in 1916. As a rule, a neologism needs five years of solid evidence for admission to the canon. “We need to be sure that a word has established a reasonable amount of longevity,” McPherson says. “Some things do stick around that you would never expect to stick around, and then other things, you think that will definitely be around, and everybody talks about it for six months, and then. ...” Still, a new word as of September is bada-bing: American slang “suggesting something happening suddenly, emphatically, or easily and predictably.” “The Sopranos” gets no credit. The historical citations begin with a 1965 audio recording of a comedy routine by Pat Cooper and continue with newspaper clippings, a television news transcript and a line of dialogue from the first “Godfather” movie: “You’ve gotta get up close like this and bada-bing! you blow their brains all over your nice Ivy League suit.” The lexicographers also provide an etymology, a characteristically exquisite piece of guesswork: “Origin uncertain. Perh. imitative of the sound of a drum roll and cymbal clash.... Perh. cf. Italian bada bene mark well.” But is bada-bing really an official part of the English language? What makes it a word? I can’t help wondering, when it comes down to it, isn’t bada-bing (also badda-bing, badda badda bing, badabing, badaboom) just a noise? “I dare say the thought occurs to editors from time to time,” Simpson says. “But from a lexicographical point of view, we’re interested in the conventionalized representation of strings that carry meaning. Why, for example, do we say Wow! rather than some other string of letters? Or Zap! Researching these takes us into interesting areas of comic-magazine and radio-TV-film history and other related historical fields. And it often turns out that they became institutionalized far earlier than people nowadays may think.” When Murray began work on O.E.D.1, no one had any idea how many words were there to be found. Probably the best and most comprehensive dictionary of English was American, Noah Webster’s: 70,000 words. That number was a base line. Where were the words to be discovered? For the first editors it went almost without saying that the source, the wellspring, should be the literature of the language. Thus it began as a dictionary of the written language, not the spoken language. The dictionary’s first readers combed Milton and Shakespeare (still the single most quoted author, with more than 30,000 references), Fielding and Swift, histories and sermons, philosophers and poets. “A thousand readers are wanted,” Murray announced in his famous 1879 public appeal. “The later 16th-century literature is very fairly done; yet here several books remain to be read. The 17th century, with so many more writers, naturally shows still more unexplored territory.” He considered the territory to be large, but ultimately finite. It no longer seems finite. “We’re painting the Forth Bridge!” says Bernadette Paton, an associate editor. “We’re running the wrong way on a travolator!” (I get the first part — “allusion to the huge task of maintaining the painted surfaces of the railway bridge over the Firth of Forth” — but I have to ask about travolator. Apparently it’s a moving sidewalk.) The O.E.D. is a historical dictionary, providing citations meant to show the evolution of every word, beginning with the earliest known usage. So a key task, and a popular sport for thousands of volunteer word aficionados, is antedating: finding earlier citations than those already known. This used to be painstakingly slow and chancy. When Paton started in new words, she found herself struggling with headcase. She had current citations, but she says she felt sure it must be older, and books were of little use. She wandered around the office muttering headcase, headcase, headcase. Suddenly one of her colleagues started singing: “My name is Bill, and I’m a headcase/They practice making up on my face.” She perked up. “What date would that be?” she asked. “I don’t know, it’s a Who song,” he said, “1966 probably, something like that.” So “I’m a Boy,” by P. Townshend, became the O.E.D.’s earliest citation for headcase. Antedating is entirely different now: online databases have opened the floodgates. Lately Paton has been looking at words starting with pseudo-. Searching through databases of old newspapers and historical documents has changed her view of them. “I tended to think of pseudo- as a prefix that just took off in the 60’s and 70’s, but now we find that a lot of them go back much earlier than we thought.” Also in the P’s, poison pen has just been antedated with a 1911 headline in The Evening Post in Frederick, Md. “You get the sense that this sort of language seeps into local newspapers first,” she says. “We would never in a million years have sent a reader to read a small newspaper like that.” The job of a new-words editor felt very different precyberspace, Paton says: “New words weren’t proliferating at quite the rate they have done in the last 10 years. Not just the Internet, but text messaging and so on has created lots and lots of new vocabulary.” Much of the new vocabulary appears online long before it will make it into books. Take geek. It was not till 2003 that O.E.D.3 caught up with the main modern sense: “a person who is extremely devoted to and knowledgeable about computers or related technology.” Internet chitchat provides the earliest known reference, a posting to a Usenet newsgroup, net.jokes, on Feb. 20, 1984. The scouring of the Internet for evidence — the use of cyberspace as a language lab — is being systematized in a program called the Oxford English Corpus. This is a giant body of text that begins in 2000 and now contains more than 1.5 billion words, from published material but also from Web sites, Weblogs, chat rooms, fanzines, corporate home pages and radio transcripts. The corpus sends its home-built Web crawler out in search of text, raw material to show how the language is really used. I’m too embarrassed to ask the lexicographers if they have a favorite word. They get that a lot. Peter Gilliver tells me his anyway: twiffler. A twiffler, in case you didn’t know, is a plate intermediate in size between a dinner plate and a bread plate. “I love it because it fills a gap,” Gilliver says. “I also love it because of its etymology. It comes from Dutch, like a lot of ceramics vocabulary. Twijfelaar means something intermediate in size, and it comes from twijfelen, which means to be unsure. It’s a plate that can’t make up its mind!” Fiona McPherson gives me mondegreen. A mondegreen is a misheard lyric, as in, “Lead on, O kinky turtle.” It is named after Lady Mondegreen. There was no Lady Mondegreen. The lines of a ballad, “They hae slain the Earl of Murray,/And laid him on the green” are misheard as “They have slain the Earl of Murray and Lady Mondegreen.” “A lot of people are just really excited by that word because they think it’s amazing that there is a word for that concept,” McPherson says. I have my own favorites among the newest entries in O.E.D.3. Pixie dust is, as any child knows, “an imaginary magical substance used by pixies.” Air kiss is defined with careful anatomical instructions plus a note: “sometimes with the connotation that such a gesture implies insincerity or affectation.” Builder’s bum is reportedly Brit. and colloq., “with allusion to the perceived propensity of builders to expose inadvertently this part of the body.” It is clear that the English of the O.E.D. is no longer the purely written language, much less a formal or respectable English, the diction recommended by any authority. Gilliver, a longtime editor who also seems to be the O.E.D.’s resident historian, points out that the dictionary feels obliged to include words that many would regard simply as misspellings. No one is particularly proud of the new entry as of December 2003 for nucular, a word not associated with high standards of diction. “Bizarrely, I was amazed to find that the spelling n-u-c-u-l-a-r has decades of history,” Gilliver says. “And that is not to be confused with the quite different word, nucular, meaning ‘of or relating to a nucule.’ ” There is even a new entry for miniscule; it has citations going back more than 100 years. Yet the very notion of correct and incorrect spelling seems under attack. In Shakespeare’s day, there was no such thing: no right and wrong in spelling, no dictionaries to consult. The word debt could be spelled det, dete, dett, dette or dept, and no one would complain. Then spelling crystallized, with the spread of printing. Now, with mass communication taking another leap forward, spelling may be diversifying again, spellcheckers notwithstanding. The O.E.D. so far does not recognize straight-laced, but the Oxford English Corpus finds it outnumbering strait-laced. Similarly for just desserts. To explain why cyberspace is a challenge for the O.E.D. as well as a godsend, Gilliver uses the phrase “sensitive ears.” “You know we are listening to the language,” he says. “When you are listening to the language by collecting pieces of paper, that’s fine, but now it’s as if we can hear everything said anywhere. Members of some tiny English-speaking community anywhere in the world just happen to commit their communications to the Web: there it is. You thought some word was obsolete? Actually, no, it still survives in a very small community of people who happen to use the Web — we can hear about it.” In part, it’s just a problem of too much information: a small number of lexicographers with limited time. But it’s also that the O.E.D. is coming face to face with the language’s boundlessness.The universe of human discourse always has backwaters. The language spoken in one valley was a little different from the language of the next valley and so on. There are more valleys now than ever, but they are not so isolated. They find one another in chat rooms and on blogs. When they coin a word, anyone may hear. Neologisms can be formed by committee: transistor, Bell Laboratories, 1948. Or by wags: booboisie, H. L. Mencken, 1922. But most arise through spontaneous generation, organisms appearing in a petrie dish, like blog (c. 1999). If there is an ultimate limit to the sensitivity of lexicographers’ ears, no one has yet found it. The rate of change in the language itself — particularly the process of neologism — has surely shifted into a higher gear now, but away from dictionaries, scholars of language have no clear way to measure the process. When they need quantification, they look to the dictionaries. “An awful lot of neologisms are spur-of-the-moment creations, whether it’s literary effect or it’s conversational effect,” says Naomi S. Baron, a linguist at American University, who studies these issues. “I could probably count on the fingers of a hand and a half the serious linguists who know anything about the Internet. That hand and a half of us are fascinated to watch how the Internet makes it possible not just for new words to be coined but for neologisms to spread like wildfire.” It’s partly a matter of sheer intensity. Cyberspace is an engine driving change in the language. “I think of it as a saucepan under which the emperature has been turned up,” Gilliver says. “Any word, because of the interconnectedness of the English-speaking world, can spring from the backwater. And they are still backwaters, but they have this instant connection to ordinary, everyday discourse.” Like the printing press, the telegraph and the telephone before it, the Internet is transforming the language simply by transmitting information differently. And what makes cyberspace different from all previous information technologies is its intermixing of scales from the largest to the smallest without prejudice, broadcasting to the millions, narrowcasting to groups, instant messaging one to one. So anyone can be an O.E.D. author now. And, by the way, many try. “What people love to do is send us words they’ve invented,” Bernadette Paton says, guiding me through a windowless room used for storage of old word slips. Will you put the word I have invented into one of your dictionaries? is a question in the AskOxford.com FAQ. All the submissions go into the files, and until there is evidence for some general usage, that’s where the annabes remain. Don’t bother sending in FAQ. Don’t bother sending in wannabes. They’re not even particularly new. For that matter, don’t bother sending in anything you find via Google. “Please note,” the O.E.D.’s Web site warns solemnly, “it is generally safe to assume that examples found by searching the Web, using search engines such as Google, will have already been considered by O.E.D. editors.” James Gleick, the author, most recently, of “Isaac Newton,” is working on a book about the history of information.

Rogue Gets Lost In "Castlevania"

2006-11-02T13:31:00.000-10:00

Rogue Pictures has picked up domestic and some international distribution rights to Paul W.S. Anderson's $50 million video game adaptation "Castlevania" reports Variety.Anderson's script spans many time periods but mostly takes place in 15th century Transylvania where it mines the Dracula legend's genesis in the form of Romanian prince Vlad the Impaler."Castlevania" is a long-running game franchise which focuses on the duel across the centuries between Dracula and the vampire-hunting Belmont family, played out within Dracula's vast, labyrinthine castle.Shooting is slated to begin next Spring in Hungary and Romania for exteriors, and Budapest for interiors.

Soft Tissue Discovered In T-Rex Bone

2006-10-01T20:41:00.000-10:00

kubla2000 writes, "Paleontologists have discovered soft tissue inside the fossilized thigh bone of a T-Rex. The tissue included blood vessels, bone cells, and perhaps even blood cells." From the article: "When paleontologists find fossilized dinosaur bones during a dig, they usually do everything in their power to protect them, using tools like toothbrushes to carefully unearth the bones without inflicting any damage. However, when scientists found a massive Tyrannosaurus rex thigh bone in a remote region of Montana a few months ago, they were forced to break the bone in two in order to fit it into the transport helicopter. This act of necessity revealed a startling surprise: soft tissue that had seemingly resisted fossilization still existed inside the bone. This tissue... was so well preserved that it was still stretchy and flexible."

World of Warcraft Comes to South Park

2006-10-01T12:44:00.000-10:00

lmd writes "The first episode of South Park Season 10 is this Wednesday, October 4, at 10:00 PM Eastern/Pacific Time on Comedy Central. It will be called "Make Love, Not Warcraft". A sneak peek in Quicktime and DivX is available." Flash version of the blurb courtesy of Kotaku.

High-Definition DVD War: Over Before it Starts?

2006-09-23T18:28:00.000-10:00

(By JONATHAN SILVERSTEIN, ABC NEWS, http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/print?id=2478759) Warner Bros. Files Patent to Create Universal High-Definition DVDs Warner Bros. recently filed a patent application for a new type of DVD that could end the next generation DVD format war before it begins. Blending aspects of the new HD DVD and Blu-ray technologies, the proposed discs would be playable in both types of players, eliminating the need for consumers to invest in one format over the other. "If they can come up with the technology and figure out a way to create a hybrid disc, that would go a long way with consumers unsure about which direction to go in," said Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director for Jupiter Research. Proponents of high-definition DVDs argue that the improved picture quality and increased storage capacity of the discs make them a worthwhile investment for HD TV owners, and justifies the price of having to invest in updating their DVD libraries. But others argue that a high-end current generation DVD player, which costs significantly less, will generate a picture that's just as good, without forcing one to repurchase movies consumers already own. The discs are only in development right now and are not likely to be released anytime soon. For consumers unsure about which technology to invest in, though, the introduction of a hybrid DVD format could ease concerns and confusion. A New Format or Vaporware? Because high-definition DVD formats require new players and new discs, the price tag associated with jumping into the next generation can be staggering. Current Blu-ray and HD DVD players range in price from about $500 to $1,000 with discs generally costing over $25. "Until something shakes out in the marketplace, consumers for the most part are going to wait this one out," Gartenberg said. The keys to success for the two formats are support from movie studios and retailers, and the ability to manufacture the players and discs to keep the price low and store shelves stocked. "Either we'll see the center of gravity tilt in one direction or specific titles will draw interest or studios will throw weight behind one format or the other or price point will drop," he said. But Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester Research, says his company has already crowned a prospective winner -- Blu-ray -- and doesn't think we're going to see a universal disc like the one Warner Bros. is working on. "I think we'll see a universal player before we see universal disc," Schadler said. "It's very hard to produce Blu-ray and HD DVDs, so it must be even harder to produce a hybrid disc." Though he thinks it's a good idea, Schadler points out that Warner Bros. engineers have only filed a patent application and that it can take years for a product to be granted a patent and get to market, and that many don't make it there at all. He says that aside from having a great deal of support from studios, retailers and manufacturers, one big reason Forrester believes the Blu-ray will rule the high-definition DVD market is Sony's Playstation 3. When the PS3 hits retail stores in North America on Nov. 17, the video game console will feature a built-in Blu-ray player. "They plan on selling a couple of million of those by the end of January," he said. "No way they can sell a couple of million HD DVD players within the same time frame." Though Microsoft plans to release an HD DVD add-on for owners of the Xbox 360, Schadler doubts it'll give HD DVD the push it needs to overtake Blu-ray. A Fourth Competitor? Apple's recent foray into the movie download business may have some of the studios banking on creating a new revenue stream from next generation DVDs a little on edge. Earlier this month, the Silicon Valley trendsetter announced the company's plan to offer movies for download via its popular iTunes online store. Less than a week later, Disney -- whose various movie studios were the only ones to offer films initially -- announced that it had already sold 125,000 films. With Amazon's Unbox movie download service already online and others following suit, it's possible that consumers will choose to pass on high-definition DVDs altogether, sending them the way of the laser disc. "Consumers have been through VHS and Beta," Gartenberg said. "They've been through 8-Track, and they've come to recognize generally that they're better off waiting for better and cheaper." Though movie downloads are still not significantly cheaper than DVDs and there is not yet an intuitive way to get downloaded movies onto TV sets, there are some products on or close to market that could change that. When Apple announced movie downloads at the iTunes store, it also announced an as-of-yet unreleased product nicknamed iTv that can stream video from iPods and computers to television sets. In addition, Windows Media Center offers a way to view media saved on computers on a TV. Because of the sheer size of a high-definition movie file, and the amount of time and effort it could take to get one from the Internet, to a computer and then to a TV, some are not convinced that digital downloading will catch on quickly enough to keep the next generation DVDs from taking over our living rooms. "I think that consumers will grow to love high-definition DVD formats and HD quality," Schadler said. "They can't really get that in a download."

The fortune is with USC

2006-09-19T22:45:00.000-10:00

(http://www.theage.com.au/news/people/the-fortune-is-with-usc/2006/09/20/1158431755483.html) It helps to have a rich graduate. Star Wars creator George Lucas announced today that his private foundation will give his alma mater, the University of Southern California (USC), $US175 million ($A233.35 million) to endow and rebuild its School of Cinematic Arts in what amounts to the largest donation in USC history. The School of Cinematic Arts is the oldest film school in the United States. "I discovered my passion for film and making movies when I was a student at USC in the 1960s, and my experiences there shaped the rest of my career," Lucas said in a statement.

Unfinished Tolkien work to be published in '07

2006-09-18T21:25:00.000-10:00

(AP, CNN) NEW YORK (AP) -- An unfinished tale by J.R.R. Tolkien has been edited by his son into a completed work and will be released next spring, the U.S. and British publishers announced Monday. Christopher Tolkien has spent the past 30 years working on "The Children of Hurin," an epic tale his father began in 1918 and later abandoned. Excerpts of "The Children of Hurin," which includes the elves and dwarves of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" and other works, have been published before. "It has seemed to me for a long time that there was a good case for presenting my father's long version of the legend of the 'Children of Hurin' as an independent work, between its own covers," Christopher Tolkien said in a statement. The new book will be published by Houghton Mifflin in the United States and HarperCollins in England. J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" has sold more than 50 million copies and was also adapted into a blockbuster, Academy Award-winning trio of films. A stage version is scheduled to open next year.

War, Whimsy, Wrestling and the New Zelda

2006-09-09T19:06:00.000-10:00

(NYTimes, By Seth Schiesel) FOR video game fans the final months of 2006 are shaping up as the most exciting season in recent years. The big reason is that one year after Microsoft released the Xbox 360, the titans of Japanese gaming — Sony and Nintendo — are finally scheduled to introduce their contenders for the next generation of interactive digital entertainment. For Sony that means the PlayStation 3, an expensive ($500 and up), powerful console that is meant to deliver the most detailed, realistic graphics and sound that gamers have experienced. For Nintendo that means the Wii, a much less expensive unit (under $250) that is meant to make up in innovation and fun what it lacks in sheer silicon horsepower. But all the snazzy hardware in the world won’t mean a thing unless there are captivating games actually to play on the new machines. On that front Nintendo seems to have the lead for now on Sony, its much larger rival. Nintendo has shown off rafts of interesting Wii games, while Sony has been fairly quiet about the PS3’s lineup (though that will probably change in the next month). Meanwhile Microsoft, never content to sit still, plans a major marketing campaign this fall to promote the world’s most popular gaming machine: Windows PC’s. And now that the Xbox 360 has been out for almost a year, developers are learning to make better use of that console’s capabilities. So below, in alphabetical order, are a baker’s dozen of new games to watch this fall. This list focuses on games for PC’s and the new generation of consoles, so those like Rockstar Games’ Bully that are meant only for older machines are not included. Happy gaming. CALL OF DUTY 3 A few years ago game publishers were falling all over one another pushing out World War II games. The flood has slowed recently, but Call of Duty has established itself as the premier franchise in the genre and one of the top first-person shooter series of all time. The major draw for Call of Duty has always been a simulated realism that ensures that if you charge that Nazi machine-gun nest Rambo style, guns blazing, you will be shot down without ceremony. But if you creep around the back side of that burning building, pick up a few grenades and think your way through the encounter, you can succeed. Call of Duty 3 is set during the Allied breakout shortly after the Normandy invasion. For PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360 and Xbox. Publisher: Activision. GEARS OF WAR Halo 3 will not be out until next year, but fans of hard-core console shooters will get their fix for 2006 with Gears of War, the long-anticipated game from the makers of the original Unreal. But while Unreal is a total fragfest that is all about over-the-top, arcade-style action, Gears of War is meant to be a more deliberate, thoughtful sort of shooter. Of course that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of action and gore. After all, what else can you expect from a game where your machine gun can morph into a futuristic chainsaw? For Xbox 360. Publisher: Microsoft. THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TWILIGHT PRINCESS Practically guaranteed to be a monster hit, Twilight Princess will probably be the top draw for Nintendo’s new Wii console. Zelda is one of the premier game franchises and remains one of Nintendo’s showcase properties. The genius of Zelda has always been in mashing together different sorts of game experiences — action, puzzle-solving, exploration, character development — into an overall narrative that is both rich and easily accessible. With the Wii’s new “freehand’’ controller, which a user can merely tilt and point to control action on the screen, Twilight Princess has at least the potential to be an all-time classic. For Wii and GameCube. Publisher: Nintendo. LEGO STAR WARS II: THE ORIGINAL TRILOGY Yes, the entire concept is almost unbearably geeky: a video game based not only on “Star Wars,” but also a Lego representation of “Star Wars.” When the first such game was introduced last year, it seemed almost impossible that it could be any fun. Yet the skeptics were spectacularly wrong. Like peanut butter and chocolate, Lego and “Star Wars” ended up being two great tastes that go together. The key was that LucasArts embraced the whimsy inherent in Lego figures rather than trying to create a completely serious game. The big question now is whether the company can recapture that magic or whether the second go-around will be yet another of the tired, uninspired sequels that have littered game bargain bins for years. For Xbox 360, Xbox, PS2, GameCube and PC. Publisher: LucasArts. NBA LIVE 07 It is both the curse and blessing of the big sports game franchises that their publishers release a new installment every year. It is a blessing because every year the rosters are updated and new features added. It is a curse because with new versions all the time it is natural for consumers to tune out and begin to experience “update fatigue.” Last year’s version of NBA Live seemed a bit slipshod and failed to impress many gamers, so this year Electronic Arts is under a lot of pressure to step up and produce a quality product. One of the innovative new features is the product of a deal with ESPN to incorporate real-world, real-time updates from the sports media behemoth directly into the game. For Xbox 360, Xbox, PS3, PS2 and PC. Publisher: Electronic Arts. NEVERWINTER NIGHTS 2 It has been four years since the original Neverwinter Nights came out, and in all that time the game’s fervent online community has never slowed down. The original concept behind the first NWN was that it would allow players to create the “pen-and-paper” Dungeons & Dragons experience online rather than around a kitchen table. The idea was that a real-life online Dungeon Master could alter and shape the fantasy on the fly to create a personalized experience for each set of players. That original vision never really panned out, but the rich tools that NWN provided allowing users to create their own stories fostered a serious and creative online fan base that has made thousands of unique adventures. The sequel promises even more robust tools for users to create their own worlds for the public to enjoy. For PC. Publisher: Atari. RESISTANCE: FALL OF MAN It is still unclear just what the overall lineup for the PlayStation 3 will look like, but one of the big PS3 titles that is known, and which Sony really needs to be a hit, is Resistance. At first Resistance looks like yet another first-person shooter, this time featuring aliens (or is it mutants?) that are infesting an alternate-history version of 1950’s Britain. The big questions are whether Sony will be content to release a game that is merely visually stunning or whether Resistance will include any truly innovative new features. At a minimum Resistance has to be at least as good as Gears of War or Sony is in big trouble. For PS3. Publisher: Sony. SAINTS ROW This may be the one game that is easiest to describe: it is a blatant, unrepentant knockoff of the wildly popular Grand Theft Auto series but with the snazzy new graphics one would expect of a game for the latest generation of gaming systems. All the elements of the formula are here. Pimps and prostitutes? Check. Smack-talking protagonist? Check. Glamorized gang violence galore? Check. All in all, Saints Row is no more salacious than your typical episode of “The Sopranos.” For Xbox 360. Publisher: THQ. SUPER MARIO GALAXY Yet another legendary franchise from Nintendo, Mario is perhaps the best known character in all of video games. As with the new Zelda, Nintendo is counting on the latest Mario installment to anchor the Wii’s introduction this fall. Anything is possible, obviously, but it is almost inconceivable that the company would drop the ball with such a crucial property as it introduces a new console. For Wii. Publisher: Nintendo. UNTOLD LEGENDS DARK KINGDOM One of the great mysteries of the video game business is why Sony’s Computer Entertainment division, the folks who make the PlayStation, have not worked more closely with Sony Online Entertainment, publishers of EverQuest and one of the pioneers in online gaming. It seems typical of Sony’s byzantine corporate structure and politics that rather than work hand-in-hand, the two gaming units seem to operate almost completely separately. Sir Howard Stringer, Sony’s new chairman, is, theoretically, changing all that. One way to judge will be the quality of Dark Kingdom, a hack-and-slash role-playing game à la the famed Diablo series that is being made by S.O.E. in time for the PlayStation 3’s arrival. Previous Untold Legends games have been minor sleepers for the handheld PlayStation Portable. Now S.O.E. will try to replicate that success on the big screen in the living room. For PS3. Publisher: Sony. VIVA PIñATA Aimed primarily at children, Viva Piñata will also be trying to seduce unshameable, or especially confident, adults. Basically, Viva Piñata is Microsoft’s gussied-up, tricked-out riff on Animal Crossing, the hit game for Nintendo’s DS handheld machine. Instead of harboring and managing a colony of “real” animals as in Animal Crossing, in Viva Piñata the player harbors and manages a colony of piñata animals. The most important parts of these kinds of games are their visual style, sense of humor and ability to mask deep strategic game play behind a veneer of simplicity. For Xbox 360. Publisher: Microsoft. WWE SMACKDOWN VS. RAW 2007 Jerry Garcia is often quoted as saying that people who like the Grateful Dead are a bit like people who like licorice. “Not everybody likes licorice, but people who like licorice, really like licorice.” The same thing goes for professional wrestling. It gets almost no respect from people who aren’t fans, but people who like pro wrestling really like pro wrestling. That is why the World Wrestling Entertainment video games are perennially top sellers. There are far better fighting games out there (like Dead or Alive), but no one does tights better than the WWE. For Xbox 360 and PS2. Publisher: THQ. WORLD OF WARCRAFT: THE BURNING CRUSADE As the first expansion pack for the most successful video game ever made, World of Warcraft, it is a foregone conclusion that Burning Crusade will sell millions of copies within days of its release. Anyone who has a computer, an Internet connection and even a passing interest in electronic entertainment ought to give World of Warcraft a try (can almost 7 million paying subscribers worldwide be wrong?), and the new areas and races in Burning Crusade should provide an ample excuse. This is the one game on this list that I will be taking time off from work to play. For PC and Macintosh. Publisher: Blizzard Entertainment.

"Bond 22" Delayed Six Months

2006-09-01T16:24:00.000-10:00

In one of the more reasonable delays I've heard recently for a major film, the 22nd James Bond film originally scheduled for May 2nd 2008 has been pushed back six months to November 7th 2008 says Sony Pictures.The project, the follow-up to this Fall's upcoming "Casino Royale", was originally to have had Roger Michell ("Notting Hill") direct it. When the May 2008 date was announced, it came as a surprise to many that the studio was moving forward that quickly. The push to November 2008 now puts a two year window between the films, the standard two year gap that was afforded to the first three Bond films that starred Pierce Brosnan. With Michell gone, the studio is now out seeking a director.

Nolan Talks The "Knight" & The Joker

2006-08-23T10:32:00.000-10:00

(http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060823j.php) A couple weeks ago Better than Fudge spent some time chatting with director Christopher Nolan about his new flick "The Prestige", and of course talk about the Batman Begins sequel "The Dark Knight" came up.Whereas the first film dealt with fear and the line between revenge and justice as themes, Nolan says the second deals with escalation and in loose terms "[how] things have to get worse before they get better". He also suggests the title plays a key part - "The title has been chose very specifically. It's quite important to the film".Also interesting is what's planned for his take on The Joker - "I would certainly point to The Killing Joke but I also would point very much to the first two appearances of the Joker in the comic. If you look at where the Joker comes from there's a very clear direction that fits what we're doing very well".Fans who were worried about Nolan making the character a more light hearted comical type like Jack Nicholson can rest easy it seems. The first two appearances of the character portrayed The Joker as a straightforward mass murderer and master thief who left smiling corpses in his wake. It was only a good dozen issues down the track that the character was changed to become a more comical and less deadly buffoon.Also for those unfamiliar, 'The Killing Joke' was a famous and well-known one-off comic in which a back story of The Joker was mixed with a main story in which he tried to drive Commissioner Gordon insane through various ways, most notably shooting his daughter Barbara (aka. Batgirl) and leaving her a paraplegic.The full interview appears in Mean Magazine which hits the streets October 23rd and will include a large lengthy dialogue on the subject.

Top Ten Signs You Play Too Much ADnD

2006-08-18T20:00:00.000-10:00

1. Someone says "Why do you have all those numbers tattooed on your hand?", and you reply "Those aren't tattoos, they're die imprints." 2. Your elven fighter has had sex within the last six years - and you haven't. 3. You decide to play a zombie, just so you and your character can have the same skin color. 4. You've been surviving so long on Doritos, Coke, and pizza that your body now contains more plastic than your dice. 5. You can recite, verbatim, every single rule from the DMG….but you can't remember how many kids you have. 6. You sign personal correspondences with your character's name. 7. After months of work, you have made up the entire dwarven language - words, rules of vocabulary, the whole lot. You are bilingual, and can now speak fluid dwarven. Your friends stare at you strangely, and no one will sit on the same side of the table as you. 8. Drug addict and alcoholic friends of yours often stop you to say "Dude, get a grip". 9. Your "If I won the lottery" plans involve creating: (a) a really cool AD&D room, or (b) hiring actors to play monsters so that you and your friends can play AD&D for real. 10. You'd rather get a natural 18 when rolling character statistics than win the lottery.

My future Wife!

2006-08-18T19:48:00.000-10:00

What a hot sexy female that is my fiancee.

Nintendo Confirms Free Online Play For Wii

2006-08-15T09:27:00.000-10:00

Via Gamasutra, an interview in USA Today with Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime confirms that the Wii's online component will be free to play. The outspoken Nintendo advocate says "We will offer online-enabled games that the consumers will not have to pay a subscription fee for. They'll be able to enjoy that right out of the box. The Wii console is going to be Wi-Fi enabled, so essentially, you'll be able to plug it in and go. It won't have hidden fees or costs."

The Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord

2006-08-14T15:41:00.000-10:00

My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear Plexiglas visors, not face concealing ones.
My ventilation ducts will be too small to crawl through.
My noble half-brother whose throne I usurped will be killed, not kept anonymously imprisoned in a forgotten cell in my dungeon.
Shooting is not too good for my enemies.
The artifact which is the source of my power will not be kept on the Mountain of Despair beyond the River of Fire guarded by the Dragon of Eternity. It will be in my safe-deposit box. The same applies to the object which is my one weakness.
I will not gloat over my enemies predicament before killing them.
When I've captured my adversary and he says, "Look, before you kill me, will you at least tell me what this is all about?" I'll say, "No." and shoot him. No, on second thought, I'll shoot him and then say "No."
After I kidnap the beautiful princess, we will be married immediately in a quiet civil ceremony, not a lavish spectacle in three weeks' time during which the final phase of my plan will be carried out.
I will not include a self-destruct mechanism unless absolutely necessary. If it is necessary, it will not be a large red button labelled, "Danger: Don Not Push". The big red button marked "Do Not Push" will instead trigger a spray of bullets on anyone stupid enough to disregard it. Similarly, the ON/OFF switch will clearly not be labelled as such.
I will not interrogate my enemies in the inner sanctum - a small hotel room well outside my border will work just as well.
I will be secure in my superiority. Therefore, I will feel no need to prove it by leaving clues in the form of riddles or leaving my weaker enemies alive to show they pose no threat.
One of my advisors will be an average five-year-old child. Any flaws in my plan that he is able to spot will be corrected before implementation.
All slain enemies will be cremated, or at least several round of ammunition emptied into them, not left for dead at the bottom of the cliff. The announcement of their deaths, as well as any accompanying celebration, will be deferred until after the aforementioned disposal.
The hero is not entitled to a last kiss, a last cigarette, or any other form of last request.
I will never employ any device with a digital count-down. If I find that such a device is absolutely unavoidable. I will set it to activate when the counter reaches 117 and the hero is just putting his plan into operation.
I will never utter the sentence "But before I kill you, there's just one thing I want to know."
When I employ people as advisors, I will occasionally listen to their advice.
I will not have a son. Although his laughably under-planned attempt to usurp power would easily fail, it would prove a fatal distraction at a crucial point in time.
I will not have a daughter. She would be as beautiful as she was evil, but one look at the hero's rugged countenance and she'd betray her own father.
Despite its proven stress-relieving effect, I will not indulge in maniacal laughter. When so occupied, it's too easy to miss unexpected developments that a more attentive individual could adjust to accordingly.
I will hire a fashion designer to create original uniforms for my Legion of Terror, as opposed to some cheap knock-offs that make them look like Nazi stormtroopers, Roman foot soldiers, or savage Mongol hordes. All were eventually defeated and I want my troops to have a more positive mind-set.
No matter how tempted I am with the prospect of unlimited power, I will not consume any energy field bigger than my head.
I will keep a special cache of low-tech weapons and train my troops in their use. That way -- even if the heroes manage to neutralize my power generator and/or render the standard-issue energy weapons useless -- my troops will not be overrun by a handful of savages armed with spears and rocks.
I will maintain a realistic assessment of my strength and weaknesses. Even though this takes some fun out of the job, at least I will never utter the line "No, this cannot be! I AM INVINCIBLE!!!" (After that, death is usually instantaneous.)
No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible spot.
No matter how attractive certain members of the rebellion are, there is probably someone just as attractive which is not desperate to kill me. Therefore, I will think twice before ordering a prisoner sent to my bed chamber.
I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.
My pet monster will be kept in a secure cage from which it cannot escape and into which I could not accidentally stumble.
I will dress in bright and cheery colors, and so throw my enemies into confusion.
All bumbling conjurers, clumsy squires, no-talent bards, and cowardly thieves in the land will be preemptively put to death. My foes will surely give up and abandon their quest if they have no source of comic relief.
All naive, busty tavern wenches in my realm will be replaced with surly, world-weary waitresses who will provide no unexpected reinforcements and/or romantic sub-plot for the hero or his side-kick.
I will not fly into a rage and kill a messenger who brings me bad news just to illustrate how evil I really am. Good messengers are hard to come by.
I won't require high-ranking female members of my organization to wear a stainless-steel bustier. Morale is better with a more casual dress-code. Similarly, outfits made entirely from black leather will be reserved for formal occasions.
I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.
I will not grow a goatee. In the old days they made you look diabolic. Now they just make you look like a disaffected member of Generation X.
I will not imprison members of the same party in the same cell block, let alone the same cell. If they are important prisoners, I will keep the only key to the cell door on my person instead of handing copies to every bottom-rung guard in the prison.
If my trusted lieutenant tell me my Legion of Terror is losing a battle, I will believe him.. After all, he's my trusted lieutenant.
If an enemy I have just killed has a younger sibling or offspring anywhere, I will find them and have them killed immediately, instead of waiting for them to grow up harboring feelings of vengeance towards me in my old age.
If I absolutely must ride into battle, I will certainly not ride at the forefront of my Legions of Terror, nor will I seek out my opposite number among his army.
I will be neither chivalrous nor sporting. If I have an unstoppable super-weapon, I will use it early and as often as possible instead of keeping it in reserve.
Once my power is secure, I will destroy all of those pesky time travel devices.
When I capture the hero, I will make sure I also get his dog, monkey, ferret, or whatever sickeningly cute little animal capable of untying ropes and filching keys that happens to follow him around.
I will maintain a healthy amount of skepticism when I capture the beautiful rebel and she claims she is attracted to my power and good looks and will gladly betray her companions if I just let her in on my plans.
I will only employ bounty hunters who work for money. Those who work for the pleasure of the hunt tend to do dumb things like even the odds to give the other guy a sporting chance.
I will make sure I have a clear understanding of who is responsible for what in my organization. For example, if my general screws up I will not draw my weapon, point it at him and say "And here is the price for failure." then suddenly turn and kill some random underling.
If an advisor says to me "My liege, he is but one man. What can one man possibly do?", I will reply "This." and kill the advisor.
If I learn that a callow youth has begun a quest to destroy me, I will slay him while he is still a callow youth instead of waiting for him to mature.
I will treat any beast which I control through magic or technology with respect and kindness. Thus if the control is ever broken, it will not immediately come after me for revenge.
If I learn the whereabouts of the one artifact which can destroy me, I will not send all of my troops out to seize it. Instead I will send them out to seize something else and quietly put a Want-Ad in the local paper.
My main computers will have their own special operating system that will be completely incompatible with standard IBM and Macintosh powerbooks.
If one of my dungeon guards begins expressing concern over the conditions of the beautiful princess' cell, I will immediately transfer him to a less people oriented position.
I will hire a team of board-certified architects and surveyors to examine my castle and inform me of any secret passages and abandoned tunnels that I might not know about.
If the beautiful princess that I capture says "I'll never marry you! Never, do you hear me, NEVER!!!", I will say "Oh well" and kill her.
I will not strike a bargain with a demonic being then attempt to double-cross it simply because I feel like being contrary.
The deformed mutants and odd-ball psychotics will have their place in my Legion of Terror. However before I send them out on important covert missions that require tact and subtlety, I will first see if there is anyone else equally qualified who would attract less attention.
My Legion of Terror will be trained in basic marksmanship. Any who cannot learn to hit a man-sized target at 10 meters will be used for target practice.
Before employing any captured artifacts or machinery, I will carefully read the owners manual.
If it becomes necessary to escape, I will never stop to pose dramatically and toss off a one-liner.
I will never build a sentient computer smarter than I am.
My five-year-old child advisor will also be asked to decipher any code I am thinking of using. If he breaks the code in under 30 seconds, it will not be used. Note: This also applies to passwords.
If my advisors ask "Why are you risking everything on such a mad scheme?" I will not proceed until I have a response that satisfies them.
I will design fortress hallways with no alcoves or protruding structural supports which intruders could use for cover in a firefight.
Bulk trash will be disposed of in incinerators, not compactors. And they will be kept hot, with none of this nonsense about flames going through accessible tunnels at predictable intervals.
I will see a compentant psychiatrist and get cured of all extremely unusual phobias and bizarre compulsive habits which could prove to be disadvantageous.
If I must have a computer system with publicly available terminals, the maps they display will have a room clearly marked as the Main Control Room. That room will be the Execution Chamber. The actual main control room will be marked as Sewage Overflow Containment.
My security keypad will actually be a fingerprint scanner. Anyone who watches someone press a sequence of buttons or dusts the pad for fingerprints and then subsequently tries to enter by repeating that sequence will trigger the alarm system.
No matter how many shorts we have in the system, my guards will be instructed to treat every surveillance camera malfunction as a full-scale emergency.
I will spare someone who saved my life sometime in the past. This is only reasonable as it encourages others to do so. However, the offer is good one time only. If they want me to spare them again, they'd better save my life again.
All midwives will be banned from the realm. All babies will be delivered at state-approved hospitals. Orphans will be placed in foster homes, not abandoned in the woods to be raised by creatures of the wild.
When my guards split up to search for intruders, they will always travel in groups of at least two. They will be trained so that if one of them disappears mysteriously while on patrol, the other will immediately initiate an alert and call for backup, instead of quizzically peering around a corner.
If I decide to test a lieutenant's loyalty and see if he/she should be made a trusted lieutenant, I will have a crack squad of marksmen standing by in case the answer is no.
If all the heroes are standing together around a strange device and begin to taunt me, I will pull out a conventional weapon, instead of using my unstoppable super weapon on them.
I will not agree to let the heroes go free if they win a rigged contest, even though my advisors assure me it is impossible for them to win.
When I create a multimedia presentation of my plan designed so that my five-year-old advisor can easily understand the details, I will not label the disk "Project Overlord" and leave it lying on top of my desk.
I will instruct my Legion of Terror to attack the heroes en masse, instead of standing around waiting while members break off and attack one or two at a time.
If the hero runs up to my roof, I will not run up after him and struggle with him in an attempt to push him over the edge. I will also not engage him at the edge of a cliff. (In the middle of a rope-bridge over a river of molten lava is not even worth considering.)
If I have a fit of temporary insanity and decide to give the hero the chance to reject a job as my trusted lieutenant, I will retain enough sanity to wait until my current trusted lieutenant is out of earshot before making the offer.
I will not tell my Legion of Terror "And he must be taken alive-" the command will be "And try to take him alive if it is reasonable practical."
If my doomsday device happens to come with a reverse switch, as soon as it has been employed it will be melted down and made into limited edition commemorative coins.
If my weakest troops fail to eliminate a hero, I will send out my best troops instead of wasting time with progressively stronger ones as he gets closer and closer to my fortress.
If I am fighting with the hero atop a moving platform, have disarmed him, and am about to finish him off and he glances behind me and drops flat, I too will drop flat instead of quizzically turning around to find out what he saw.
I will not shoot at any of my enemies if they are standing in front of the crucial support beam to a heavy, dangerously unbalanced structure.
If I'm eating dinner with the hero, put poison in his goblet, then have to leave the table for any reason, I will order new drinks for both of us instead of trying to decide whether or not to switch with him.
I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite sex.
I will not use any plan in which the final step is horribly complicated, e.g. "Align the 12 stones of power on the sacred altar then activate the medallion at the moment of total eclipse." Instead it will be more alone the lines of "Push the button/"
I will make sure that my doomsday device is up to code and properly grounded.
My vats of hazardous chemicals will be covered when not in use. Also, I will not construct walkways above them.
If a group of henchmen fail miserably at a task, I will not berate them for incompetence then send the same group out to do the task again.
After I capture the hero's super weapon, I will not disband legions and relax my guard because I believe whoever holds the weapon is unstoppable. After all, the hero held the weapon and I took it from him.
I will not design my main control room so that every workstation is facing away from the door.
I will not ignore the messenger that stumbles in exhausted and obviously agitated until my personal grooming or current entertainment is finished. It might actually be important.
If I ever talk to the hero on the phone, I will not taunt him. Instead, I will say that his dogged perseverance has given me new insight on the futility of my evil ways and that if he leaves me alone for a few months of quiet contemplation I will likely return to the path of righteousness. (Heroes are incredibly gullible in this regard.)
If I decide to hold a double execution of the hero and the underling who failed or betrayed me, I will die first.
When arresting prisoners, my guards will not allow them to stop and grab a useless trinket of purely sentimental value.
My dungeon will have its own qualified medical staff complete with bodyguards. That way if a prisoner becomes sick and his cell mate tells the guard it's an emergency, the guard will fetch a trauma team instead of opening the cell for a look.
My door mechanisms will be designed so that blasting the control panel on the outside seals the door and blasting the control panel on the inside opens the door, not vice versa.
My dungeon cells will not be furnished with objects that contain reflective surfaces or anything that can be unraveled.
If an attractive young couple enters my realm, I will carefully monitor their activities. If I find they are happy and affectionate, I will ignore them. However, if circumstances have forced them together against their will and they spend all their time bickering and criticizing each other except during the intermittent occasions when they are saving each other' lives at which point there are hints of sexual tension, I will immediately order their execution.
Any data files of crucial importance will be padded to 1.45Mb.
Finally, to keep my subjects permanently locked in a mindless trance, I will provide each of them with free, unlimited internet access.

Sega Genesis Collection for PSP and PS2

2006-08-14T15:28:00.000-10:00

An anonymous reader writes: "Sega has announced what may be the coolest retro collection yet in a compilation of 30 Sega Genesis games for the PSP and PS2. 1up has a great breakdown of the games in the collection, which features everything from the Phantasy Star games to the Golden Axe games, to the Shinobis, to the Vectormans. Pretty cool stuff." From the article: "Sega's doing its part to give these games context with numerous unlockable interviews with the original developers and a museum with trivia on the disc. According to Sega, the games will be reproduced with 'the utmost accuracy to the originals as possible' by developer Backbone Entertainment. And as a special cool bonus, the PSP version will allow -- for the first time ever -- wireless multiplayer for several of the games. "

Wii's MASSIVE Launch Lineup: 27 Titles

2006-08-14T12:40:00.000-10:00

(http://www.nwizard.com/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=245&Itemid=2) With the Wii launch hiding somewhere in the next 3 months, we can't help but to brim with excitement while thinking about what we'll be playing on Wii-day (which is our favorite term for the day the Wii launches). If your worried about the Wii suffering from the lackluster launch day the DS did, you can put all those fears to rest. We went back to count just how many games had been confirmed for the Wii so far, and were wonderfully surprised to find 27 confirmed launch titles coming to the Wii. Can you say 'biggest game console launch in history'? This isn't a little collection of obscure third-party games nor two-thirds of sports titles either, we're talking a list with some serious big-hitters. Metroid Prime 3, Zelda, and Red Steel top a list of widely diverse and interesting titles. Some quick comparisons. The Xbox 360 launched last year with 18 games in the US, although only a handfull were exclusive, and 11 of them were sports games. The Wii counters with it's games spanning numerous genres (maybe even inventing some new ones) and over 20 exclusive titles. The PS3 is currently sitting at 15 confirmed games on it's November 17th launch day. Of course, this is expected to increase in the next few months. That said, the current Wii launch list (which you can see below) is far from final, and we wouldn't say it's a stretch to expect to see at least 30 games on launch day. If that doesn't get you excited about the Wii, you have no soul. Title Publisher Avatar: The Last Airbender THQ Blazing Angels: Squadrons of WWII Ubisoft Blitz: The League Midway Call of Duty 3 Activision Cars THQ Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 Atari Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors //Square Enix Elebits Konami Excite Truck Nintendo Far Cry Ubisoft GT Pro Series Ubisoft Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers //Square Enix The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Nintendo Madden NFL 07 EA Marvel: Ultimate Alliance Activision Metal Slug Anthology SNK Metroid Prime 3: Corruption Nintendo Monster 4x4 World Circuit Ubisoft Need for Speed: Carbon EA Open Season Ubisoft Rayman Raving Rabbids Ubisoft Red Steel Ubisoft SpongeBob SquarePants: Creature from the Krusty Krab //THQ Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz Sega Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam Activision Trauma Center: Second Opinion Atlus Wii Sports NintendoOne last note of interest. Worried about that post-launch drought? Well, if we don't see 'em at launch, remember Super Mario Galaxy, WarioWare, Fire Emblem, Prince of Persia, Sonic, and of course Super Smash Bros. Brawl aren't very far behind.

"Hellboy" Sequel Plot Details

2006-08-08T19:04:00.000-10:00

Ain't It Cool News has posted the first details on the storyline for the "Hellboy" movie sequel now underway at Universal:"Hellboy is chasing down some monsters and comes right across a news crew; the secret is out and the FBI has to eat crow and go public with their secret unit. This puts a lot of pressure on Hell and Liz, who were already expriencing serious problems. When Hell doesn't do much of a good job coming off for the public, a suave character named Johann is brought it. He's dressed like an old detective and has a glass bubble for a head that's filled with what looks like gas. In some weird manifestation, Johann is actually free energy, more or less, contained in a suit.Johann delights Liz, who's tired of Hell's brash behavior (shades of the previous film), but the gang has to team up to fight a rogue Prince. He's the son of the King of the woodland ghouls, a group of "monsters" that include gnomes, trolls, fairies, tooth fairies, and all other minor imps that roam through the forest. A long time ago there was peace between the humans and the woodland creatures, but then there was a war.To win the war the King conjured the Golden Army, a group of metallic soldiers that were invincible. Sadly, he couldn't control them, and the Army ended up killing innocent human women and children. The King split the key that controlled the Army into three pieces and buried them across the globe. Now the Prince wants the war renewed and has captured two of the pieces of the key. The last piece is held by his sister, the Princess, and the Prince is out to capture her. Unfortunately for him, Abe has fallen in love with her...so Helboy and the crew have to protect her and stop him".For more on the script, click here (from Dark Horizons, http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060808i.php)

Potter films due out 2007, 2008

2006-08-08T13:50:00.000-10:00

(From correspondents in Los Angeles, http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,20068044-5005961,00.html) SPECTACLED boy wizard Harry Potter will return to US theatres in July 2007 and again in November 2008 with the newest installments of the hit movies which have earned more than $US3.5 billion ($4.6 billion) worldwide, the Hollywood press reported today. Warner Bros Studios will release the fifth Potter film in mid-summer next year, with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The studio will time the following movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, for the lucrative Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday seasons at the end of 2008, the newspaper said. Warner Bros officials could not immediately be reached for comment. Potter has become a virtual global phenomenon since he was introduced to the world in British writer J K Rowling's 1997 book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Sorcerer's Stone, in the US version). Rowling has gone on to publish five other volumes, which have sold 300 million copies in 63 languages. The films of the first four tomes, starring Daniel Radcliffe as Harry, have also been massive hits around the world. Rowling's seventh and reportedly final volume in the series is expected by next year, with great anticipation and trepidation among fans that she might let the hero die in the end.

Jackie Chan & Jet Li Team-Up

2006-08-06T13:19:00.000-10:00

(source: dark horizens) A movie costarring two of the biggest names in kung fu cinema - Jackie Chan and Jet Li - is nearly a sealed deal, with the only outstanding issue being the script Chan said Tuesday. "All the hurdles have been overcome. The only problem left is the script. We need a script that he approves and I approve. If that goes well, shooting will start in March or April in Shanghai" Chan told The Associated Press after a press conference to promote his new action comedy, "Rob-B-Hood." Chan suggested it will be action-oriented fare, saying he and Li must defer to the movie's Hollywood backers - "It will be more American-style. It will be more suited to foreign audiences than Chinese audiences". He also revealed his "Rush Hour 3" schedule, spending about a dozen days in France starting in September, followed by ten days of shooting in New York and further filming in Los Angeles. He said the movie will wrap by March or April next year. He is also due to shoot a film in Japan that translates as "Shinjuku Incident" with Hong Kong director Derek Yee.

Sony Says Disc Drive for PlayStation 4 Unlikely

2006-08-06T12:25:00.000-10:00

(Brandon Hill, Daily Tech, http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=3664) No discs for PS4When it comes to disc technology in the next-generation console market, Sony is making a Blu-ray drive standard on both the $499 and $599 versions of its PS3, whereas Microsoft has decided to play it safe by using traditional DVD-9 media with its XBOX 360. While many like to point to a “Blu-ray vs HD DVD” battle in the console arena, one must take into account that no XBOX 360 games will use HD DVD media and the HD DVD drive will be an optional, external USB unit aimed at playing back high-definition movies. Microsoft has also stated that it has no plans to offer an XBOX 360 with an integrated HD DVD drive. With that being said, even though Sony's PlayStation 3 has yet to hit store shelves, Sony is already talking about its successor. Sony's Phil Harrison believes that the PlayStation 4 will forgo discs altogether.With the rising popularity of using an online marketplace to download games, additional game content, demos and movie trailers, many are questioning the need for physical media in the future. “I’d be amazed if the PlayStation 4 has a physical disc drive,” said Harrison to Wired Magazine. While the market may not be quite to the point where a 100% digital distribution model would be feasible for console gamers, it may be ripe for the picking when the PlayStation 4 is released. Looking at the PS2, it has been on the market for 6 years. Both NVIDIA and Sony have stated that the PS3 will have a shelf life of 10 years -- that pushes us to 2016 for PS4. Perhaps by 2016, large-scale digital distribution of game and movie content and high-speed Internet connections will be at a point where such a model would be feasible for a home console. No discs. How can we then play PS1-3 games on the PS4?

Another New Tomb in the Valley of the Kings?

2006-08-06T12:17:00.000-10:00

(Source: Slashdot) Praxiteles writes "A radar survey in 2000 found KV63, the tomb excavated near King Tutankhamen's tomb earlier this year. (KV stands for Valley of the Kings). Just announced is that this same radar survey shows an image of what appears to be a shaft to another tomb just 15 meters north of KV63. Will radar stratigraphy change the multi-millennial tradition of destructive excavation and open new opportunities in the search for buried treasure?"

"Hellboy" Resurrected At Universal

2006-08-05T16:58:00.000-10:00

Universal Pictures will fully finance and distribute a sequel to 2004's "Hellboy" with a Summer 2008 slot targeted reports Variety.The Guillermo del Toro-directed, Dark Horse Comic-spawned original was made by the now defunct Revolution Studios. The sequel has been available for a while now, a script apparently ready and the stars locked with only funding and distribution unsure - now at least one on of those has been settled.In a script by del Toro, Ron Perlman returns as Hellboy, the humanoid creature born in the flames of hell who was deposited on Earth's doorstep as an infant and battles otherworldly evil for a covert government agency. Selma Blair returns as the horned hero's pyrokinetic love interest.Production starts in April in Budapest and London. (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060804g.php)

Movies

2006-08-05T16:55:00.000-10:00

Found this information on Dark Horizens. (http://www.darkhorizons.com/news06/060804h.php) Some big release dates changes changes and announcements have been made in the past few days for assorted major movies opening in 2007 and 2008. Here's a breakdown of the most recent shifts, with Warner Bros. in particular announcing most of its line-up for the next two years: The Roland Emmerich-directed epic "10,000 B.C." has been delayed six months from July 27th 2007 to December 14th 2007. Jodie Foster revenge pic "The Brave One" has been delayed four months from June 22nd 2007 to October 12th 2007. The Nicole Kidman/Daniel Craig "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" remake "The Visiting" has been pushed back from early 2007 to November 2nd 2007. Kal Penn-led comedy "The Namesake" has been delayed six months from September 20th to March 9th 2007. The Kevin Kline gritty drama "Trade" has been delayed six months from October 13th to April 2007. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", the sixth film in the series, has already set a November 21st 2008 release date. A sequel to CG animated comedy "Madagascar" is aiming for a November 7th 2008 release. Will Smith-led post-apocalyptic "I Am Legend" hits November 21st 2007. Vince Vaughn comedy "Fred Claus" has been set for November 9th 2007. Dimension is set to release their remake of the classic "Halloween" on October 19th 2007. Universal has set a release date for the Justin Timberlake led ensemble drama "Alpha Dog" on January 12th 2007. The Gerard Butler-led thriller "Priest" opens August 17th 2007. Sony's children fantasy epic "Waterhorse" is now scheduled for a December 7th 2007 release. Horror remake "One Missed Call" is scheduled for August 24th 2007. Parker Posey & Amy Poehler comedy "Spring Breakdown" will party on April 20th 2007. Billy Bob Thornton comedy "The Astronaut Farmer" is now scheduled for launch on January 12th 2007. Rom-com "License to Wed" will open next July 4th, the move seen as counterprogramming to big budget actioneer "Transformers".

Nope!

2006-08-04T12:31:00.000-10:00

Sorry. That should not happen.

A History of Wizards of the Coast

2006-08-04T04:28:00.000-10:00

(From Slashdot) HerderOfCats writes "Shannon Appelcline has written up an excellent independent history of Wizards of the Coast, the company that brought us Magic: The Gathering, eventually acquired TSR and D&D, transformed the paper RPG game industry with d20 and the Open Game License, and eventually was acquired by game giant Hasbro." From the RPGNet article: "Overall, Hasbro was looking to make Wizards meaner and leaner, and thus a better profit making machine. In 2001 and 2002 Habro also divested themselves of their conventions. Origins went to GAMA and GenCon to Peter Adkison. Around the same time they also outsourced their magazines by licensing Dungeon, Dragon, Polyhedron, and Amazing Stories to Paizo Publishing, who continues to publish the RPG magazines today. Two years later another pruning would come. Wizards had also been running 85 'Game Keeper' and 'Wizards of the Coast' retail stores, but in early 2004, Hasbro shut them all down. Together with selling the conventions, this relieved any concerns that Wizards might be developing a vertical monopoly, like that controlled by Games Workshop in the UK--and really such a monopoly wouldn't have made sense given the d20 strategy. "

Another Dilbert!

2006-08-03T18:41:00.000-10:00

Does this feel like you? When you ask someone to look over your powerpoint presentation.

THE TOP 100 GAMES OF THE 21st CENTURY

2006-08-01T12:35:00.000-10:00

(By Colin Campbell & Joe Keiser, http://www.next-gen.biz/page1.html) I saw this list of games and thought yes there are several I have played, remember, and have. All with descent to great memories of playing, frustrating, and beating. You would have to click the link above to see the list.

Fan-created Star Wars Spinoff in The Works

2006-07-31T11:49:00.000-10:00

Found this on Slashdot. "According to an article from the Edmonton Sun, director Mark Twitchell from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology has begun filming Star Wars: Secrets of the Rebellion, a non-profit venture expected to be released in 2008. From the article: "The 27-year-old Edmonton director begins shooting a feature-length independent Star Wars spin-off film at NAIT Saturday, and has amassed $60,000 to bring his dream to life. "I'm the only guy crazy enough to do this, because I'm not allowed to turn a profit. The film is for hardcore fans who miss the character development of the original trilogy.""

Hearst Castle

2006-07-30T15:42:00.000-10:00

The home along with 200,000 acres! Dang. All I have to say is " 2 Please!"

To you IT people out there!

2006-07-30T11:01:00.000-10:00

Does this look and sound familiar?

Just one question?

2006-07-27T15:56:00.000-10:00

How?

MegaTokyo

2006-07-19T18:49:00.000-10:00

A cool daily picutre from the folks at MekaTokyo! I enjoy it and jope you do to.

Lord Of The Rings goes back in time

2006-07-14T04:24:00.000-10:00

Brand new details on The White Council: pre-LOTR trilogy RPG set to challenge Oblivion? Following on from yesterday's official announcement of The Lord Of The Rings: The White Council, we're pleased to report that we've unearthed even more juicy info on this luscious looking RPG.Set eighty years before The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, the game is set to ship on Xbox 360, PS3 and possibly PC too, though according to executive producer Steve Gray - and contrary to yesterday's press release - this isn't yet official. Go figure.The game will place you firmly in the sweaty socks of a hardy adventurer charged by Gandalf and the rest of the White Council to help save Middle-earth from a sinister evil. According to Gray, the game will be a cross between Oblivion and The Two Towers/Return Of The King and will focus primarily on NPC interaction based on AI technology borrowed from The Sims franchise. Of course there'll be plenty of goblin bashing to be had too, with the combat system based on a combination of behind-the-scenes stats and your own personal skill with a controller.Despite the fact that The White Council is set eight decades before Frodo sets off on his adventures, there'll still be plenty of your favourite characters reprising their roles, including Sauron and Galadriel, while you'll also get to enjoy a vast collection of Middle-earth locales such as Grey Havens and Rivendell.As well as getting our mitts on all this new info, we also got a sneak peek at the stunning trailer in which the characters looked so real you could practically reach out and slap the beard off Gandalf's face. Gray was keen to point out that he and his team were aiming to recreate this level of detail in-game, with HD 720p milked to within an inch of its life in order to create some of the most realistic visuals ever seen.It's all sounding very promising so far, but we'll reserve judgement until we've seen some proper in-game footage and had a chance to sample the delights of the gameplay for ourselves. But if Gray and his team deliver on their promises, we reckon Oblivion might just start getting a bit clammy under the pits. (http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=142945)

A Good Ukulele Player

2006-07-10T15:11:00.000-10:00

Now if only I can play like him.

a funny clip about a man scremaing

2006-07-09T18:25:00.000-10:00

As seen on Break.com

Record booty for "Pirates"

2006-07-09T12:15:00.000-10:00

(BY GREG HERNANDEZ Staff WriterLA Daily News, http://www.dailynews.com/ci_4030850) "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" forced the box office competition to walk the plank with its unprecedented three-day opening of $132 million, the biggest debut of any film in history. "Pirates" set a treasure trove of box office records in its debut weekend, but the three-day mark is the movie industry's most coveted. The action-adventure yarn starring Johnny Depp easily sailed past the $114.8 million earned by 2002's "Spider-Man," the first movie to ever cross the $100 million mark in its first weekend. Amazingly, the Walt Disney Pictures release managed to cross the $100 million benchmark Saturday night. No other movie has ever accomplished that feat in just two days. "I always thought `Spider-Man' might have an untouchable record, so $132 million is just mind-numbing," said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution division. "I don't think anyone could have anticipated being this wildly successful." The film, also starring Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightly and directed by Gore Verbinski, kicked off its heroic run Friday with ticket sales adding up to $55.5 million - the biggest opening day ever and the largest single day in history. On Saturday, "Pirates" added $44.6 million to its treasure chest for a two-day booty of $100.2 million. With the World Cup final taking place Sunday, Viane was conservative in his estimates for ticket sales for day three. Still, when final numbers are released today, the opening weekend numbers for "Pirates" could be even higher. "This is a record that is the stuff of legend," said box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Co. "It is such a monumental achievement. How high can the bar be raised? Everything came together for this film, from great marketing to huge awareness levels to excitement created in the marketplace." The sequel to 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was booked into a massive 4,133 theaters, a Disney record. It is not known exactly on which how many screens the film played since many multiplexes expanded the number based on audience demand, especially during the first showings at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Even rival studios were in awe Sunday of the records. "It's a pretty exciting weekend out there, and you have to take your hat off to Disney," said Warner Bros. distribution head Dan Fellman, who saw his studios' "Superman Returns" relegated to second place after nine days at number one. "Pirates" indeed proved to be Kryptonite for The Man of Steel, with "Superman" earning just $21.85 million in ticket sales, a 58 percent drop from its debut weekend. The revival of a franchise that had been absent from the big screen for nearly 20 years has now earned $141.7 million domestically in 12 days. It had a production budget of $250 million-plus. Fellman said now that "Pirates" has had its debut, he expects things to settle in a bit and for "Superman" to eventually cross the $200 million mark. It is also doing solid business in foreign markets and on the giant IMAX screens, where a special 3-D version is being played to sold-out audiences. Third-place "The Devil Wears Prada," the comedy starring Meryl Streep that opened with surprising strength over the Fourth of July weekend, took less of a hit than "Superman," with a respectable 43 percent drop in business. "Prada," released by 20th Century Fox, grossed an estimated $15.6 million for a two-week total of $63.7 million. Adam Sandler added another $100 million-grossing hit, his seventh, to his already impressive box office resume with "Click," which took fourth place. The Sony Pictures entertainment comedy took in an estimated $12 million in its third weekend and has earned $105.9 million to date. "Certainly it was a great weekend for us, an amazing weekend for Disney and an amazing weekend for the entire industry," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of domestic distribution. As if the phenomenal numbers for "Pirates" weren't enough, Disney could also boast that its CG-animated hit "Cars" from Pixar Animation Studios became only the third 2006 release to cross the $200 million mark domestically. Fifth-place "Cars" took in an estimated $10.3 million to push its total to $205.5 million overall. "It has a lot of life left in it," Viane said. "Pirates" led the movie industry to its eighth consecutive weekend, and 14 out of the last 15, of revenue exceeding that of the same weekend a year earlier. It's the continuation of a dramatic turnaround from summer 2005, when the very future of the movie exhibition industry was being questioned because of a record 19-weekend slump. Year-to-date revenue is now ahead of last year by 6.41 percent while actual attendance is up 3.19 percent, according to Exhibitor Relations Co.

How Dilbert explains work projects!

2006-07-09T12:05:00.000-10:00

PvP

2006-07-08T05:40:00.000-10:00

Penny Arcade

2006-07-08T05:35:00.000-10:00

Have this happened to anyone? Also, how come this sounds so familiar!

Calvin and Hobbies

2006-07-07T04:33:00.000-10:00

Stormtrooper on Vacation

2006-07-05T18:09:00.000-10:00

Dilbert

2006-07-05T13:02:00.000-10:00

Is this familiar? I do like Dilbert!

Futurama Star Billy West Answers Slashdot Questions

2006-07-05T12:55:00.000-10:00

(http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/05/1555200&mode=nocomment) So. You had some brilliant, whacky, and insightful questions for Futurama star Billy West last week. Today we have his brilliant, whacky, and insightful answers. Thanks go to long-time Slashdot reader Kevin Day for arranging the interview, but the real thanks goes to Billy, who was so excited about doing this that he and I ended up talking about Slashdot via cell phone -- and he caught me while I was at a local lumberyard, thinking about plywood, not Slashdot or Futurama. I wish I'd recorded the conversation. It was totally surreal. But reading Billy's answers -- and using your imagination -- will give you a good idea of what it was like. :) 1) Question number plz99(Score:5, Interesting)by ak_hepcat Who are some of your favorite voice actors to work with, obviously not limited to just the Futurama cast, and what are your favorite moments or stories with them? Billy: I love the group of voice actors I'm privileged to work with every day. I don't give a shit what ANYONE says -- these people are all trained actors. The best I've ever seen. I will get back to the question after this not so brief announcement. Celebrities are not superlatives in our field of expertise. If celebrities that are schnoring in on our field started out trying to do what we do and were held to the standards we started out upholding, a great many of them would've never made it. It's easy for a celebrity to audition for a character who looks and sounds just like him or her. Now the studio creates characters based upon who they had in mind for the role in the first place, like a rigged fight. There is no magic, no transformation or sonic alchemy, no voices we've never heard before and no chance for most journeymen who are voice artisans to work in animated features. The general consensus is "Why?" Kids and adults pay no mind to whether Brad Pitt, David Schwimmer or Spade or Will Smith is blessing the project with their "magic" talent. For the characters they play, it could be my brother in law or the plumber. It is what it is and it will never change. This is because the folks in question know that every other huge movie is now a CGI movie. It eliminates the need for on-camera performers including stars and celebrities. Being a star or celeb does not equal the God-given gifts of those in the real craft. I'm waiting for the professional athletes to "eminent domain" us. But in general, I enjoy and respect these folks at the work they do best. Now, back to our originally scheduled question! All of the VO's (the usual subjects) I get to play with ARE my favorites. Every day one of us raises the bar and inspires everyone else, I think. I don't ever want to stop learning or getting better. I learn every day from all my peers. Women and men. Their unique and perfectly defined voice characterizations leave me in amazement. Most can do impressions if they are called upon to perform sound-a-likes, craft original characters with upwards of hundreds of personalities and sounds. Don't forget about killer instincts. I witness it everyday. Fave moments--When I was doing Futurama we'd be recording and it was so hard to continue once because John Di Maggio couldn't stop bursting out into laugher every half hour or so. He'd get hung up on something wickedly funny from the script and it would set him off. Matt G. and David X enjoyed it even when I plunged in and started my nonsense riffing. We had to be shushed repeatedly. Then all in the room would start up at some point later when the "call-back to the joke fever" set in. It was so funny to see John in the corner of the room with his bead buried in a pillow so his thunderous guffawing couldn't be heard! Too many stories to mention... 2) Re:Question number plz99(Score:5, Interesting)by dr_dank This leads to a bigger question: does Billy actually get to work with his castmates? Especially on an ensamble show like the Simpsons, its extremely common to have voice actors record their bits at different studios or at different times of day. When the cast of the Simpsons did "Inside the Actors Studio" a couple of years ago, they joked that that was one of the few times in the run of the series that the cast was all in the same room together at the same time. -- Billy: In a cartoon show we work with almost all the actors and sometimes the whole cast would be present. There are exceptions when people have other work or time constraints that keep them from being at the session. Sometimes they will work with one or two actors to play scenes off each other and sometimes a performer records solo. I have a question. If all the Simpsons could show up for the "Actors Studio" with no problem, why couldn't they......... I'm just being silly. 3) Well...(Score:5, Interesting)by Black Parrot Leela or Amy? Billy: Leela. She has more sweater meat than Amy. Uh..I think. That was Fry not me! 4) Hank vs. Billy(Score:5, Funny)by Lev13than In a cage match of you vs. Hank Azaria, who would win? How about your characters vs. Hank's characters? What if it was in jello instead of a cage? Billy: I know that would be FUN! Can you imagine me and Hank in a cage pissing circles around each other with voices? Yeow! 5) New Series: Writers(Score:5, Interesting)by justinstreufert Billy -- We've heard a lot about the original voice actors who are returning to Futurama. This is great, and I believe it is absolutely essential to the success of the new season. However, what about the other staff? Are the writers of the Fox episodes returning for the new season? Is there anyone who isn't coming back to the show who you'll miss? Thanks! Can't wait for the new season!! Can I be cryogenically frozen until 2008? Billy: Outside of the voices, I don't know if ALL the writers and artists are on board, but I'm guessing most of them are. Greetings from the year 3000. It still sucks! BTW you can be cryogenically frozen. Walt Disney was. They trot him out every year for "Disney on Ice." 6) "Pirates"(Score:5, Interesting)by TheRequiem13 How you you (not your employers) feel about consumers downloading episodes of Futurama and watching them on their personal computers or portable media player of choice? In particular, I mean those that pay for cable TV, but don't enjoy being bombarded with ads interupting the shows every 5 minutes, and find major network schedules highly restrictive. Billy: I was always poor, but I was pretty much raised to try to pay for everything that I wanted and don't recall ever conscientiously wanting something for nothing. Of course, it depends on an individual's situation. We're all in the same boat no matter what happens. We all wish on the same stars. I do know that a lot of advantages in technology are spurred forward as an answer to a company's perceived infringement on their product. Then there's another advance to make the former technology obsolete and on and on. But you will ALWAYS have to buy SOMETHING no matter how you feel about it. Unless you're just a dyed in the wool crook. I always hope everyone finds their happiness in a way that hurts no one. Thanks for your question. 7) Writing(Score:5, Interesting)by captnitro Do/did you ever get to work with the writers on material, or improvise something on your own that makes it into the show? It seems like separating the inherent humor of many of the voices (Zoidberg comes to mind) and the way they speak, and the written material itself, would be hard. Billy: I don't work as a writer along with the writers on the show. But I do offer ad-libs or different ways of talking for the characters. That's easy for me to do. I just want to bring as much to the table as possible. We all do. 8) The Web(Score:5, Interesting)by ThePolkapunk You're one of the few actors I know of with a web site that includes the actor's involvement. How important do you think this has been in your career and continued fame? Do you think this will become important for all successful actors to have? How important do you feel the internet has been in the success of Futurama? I know there are tons of references to fan postings and web sites on the Futurama DVDs. Do you think Futurama episodes online contributed to the continuing success of Futurama after it was cancelled? I'm sure there are plenty of people who weren't significantly exposed to Futurama until the episodes began making their way online... Billy: I wanted to be able to talk to everyone that was into what I do. My guests are very smart, not war-like or malcontents, they're funny and imaginative and great people in general. I post all the time. I have never posted on anyone else's website ever. My page is where I say what I want to say. Every now and then a sniper from the Internet's grassy knoll breezes in, barges onto my site, takes a dump on the carpet and runs. "Just because." I hate to say it, but it's mostly a very FEW 1st, 2nd or 3rd time posters. They show up with a full metal jacket of either a Howard Stern agenda or a Ren and Stimpy agenda. This tiny group of people harasses me about the Stern show and the time I spent there. It began 13 years ago and ended 10 years ago. I'm all done there. Most folks from the Stern groups thank me for making them laugh back then, and for that I am forever grateful to them. All I did for ten years was explain over and over why I left. Same thing with a very FEW but active spastic dogs with an R&S boner that came on basically to pick a fight with me. I won't take any shit from anyone, but they would also attack my guests trying to get to me. I was very upset over that aberrant behavior. I can tell an innocent post from a loaded one. What do you think I am? Iggorrrent? As far as the return of Futurama, I think it had everything to do with the Internet and the voluminous amount of fans around the world. That and the DVD sales. It was because of you all that the show is back! Thank you for the question. 9) Futurama Flavored Humor(Score:5, Interesting)by eldavojohn What exercises (if any) do you use to warm up your voice when you perform? Is it just something you're naturally good at or do you go through daily techniques and practicing like a musician or singer? Billy: I never had any vocal training. I guess I was just a freak. I did things then the same way as I do now. With cosmic abandon. Think I share this with a lot of other VO's. I just found myself in the church chorus and in public school it was the glee club and school plays. I don't think a lot about it. It's in the head mostly and you try like the devil to replicate the sound that originates there. The voice somehow always finds new places to go to accommodate your ideas. There was a time when it was a little difficult to do the blood-curdling screams and those high pitched "genderless" voices. So I went to the best guy in the biz. Gary Catonah is a "voice-builder" who showed me the very precise vocal exercises to build up the little-used muscles around the throat. It was like a miracle! I wound up even better vocally than I'd ever seen before! Little known fact: I did an entire season of Futurama with one vocal chord because the other one had constricted up into itself. I think it was collateral damage from a nasty, nasty flu I had caught. I saw a doctor and squared it away but it took a long time. 10) Your projects(Score:5, Interesting)by AiY I saw something a few months back about a project you were trying to get off the ground called "Billy Bastard - Amateur Human Being." It sounded like a great premise and promised me something better than most television. Any updates? Air dates? General info? Billy: Billy Bastard was what I was 21 years ago when I was cross-addicted to alcohol and cocaine. A very volatile mix. I would wind up in the most bizarre situations and have NO recollection for the most part of what had gone down. I was a fierce rock n' roller and had just gotten into radio in Boston. I've been clean for 21 years now, but I had written down stuff that happened. It was tragic until I read it to a friend here and there. They would break up with laughter. To me it wasn't funny, but they reminded me that if it all happened to someone else -- I would be in hysterics as well. I guess "Seinfeld" was pitched 100 times before someone saw a diamond on the floor and had the sense to pick it up. A few people have seen the 11 minute pilot, but we couldn't work anything out so far. We'll keep pitching it until we meet the right folks for this. Myself, Jim Gomez, Bill Wray and Dave Guppel believe in it strongly and I think it's really funny. My VO friends, the incomparable Jim Cumings, the mighty voice of Moe La Marche, and the facile and talented lightning in a bottle Rob Paulsen were so gracious to add their magic to this show. I will always post relevant bulletins as to where we are with the project. I won't hold a press conference if I get a great meeting with someone. 11) Leave it at the beep(Score:5, Funny)by El_Smack What's the message on your answering machine? Billy: Ocean's 11...uh, I mean chapter 11--no! I left witty little voices on my machine, but I would come home to 16 hang ups. Callers checking in and out just to hear the message and end the call. Nowadays it's just "Hi. Please leave a message" in a deep friendly disarming voice. ----- Thanks for making this fun for me, guys, B-dub

Spider Man 3 Trailer

2006-07-02T18:58:00.000-10:00

http://www.apple.com/trailers/sony_pictures/spider-man_3/

Hawaii Islands Named World's Largest Marine Sanctuary

2006-06-23T12:18:00.000-10:00

(James Owenfor National Geographic News, June 15, 2006) A scattered chain of Hawaiian islands today became the largest marine sanctuary in the world. Surpassing Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) will form part of a 140,000-square-mile (362,580-square-kilometer) protected area nearly the size of California. )Watch a video about the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands National Monument.) The announcement was made today by U.S. President George W. Bush, who has designated the wildlife-rich islands and surrounding seas a national monument. The move follows a long campaign by Hawaiians and conservation groups for federal protection of the NWHI, a 1,200-mile-long (1,930-kilometer-long) chain of islands, atolls, and coral reefs. (Download and print a map of the Hawaiian Islands.) The region is home to more than 7,000 marine species, about a quarter of which are found nowhere else on Earth. The islands are also a breeding site for millions of seabirds and endangered animals, including the Hawaiian monk seal—one of the world's rarest marine mammals—and the Hawaiian green sea turtle. (See a National Geographic magazine feature on the wildlife of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.) National monument status gives the archipelago and its wildlife immediate protection and provides more protection than the national marine sanctuary designation many had expected. The move will further restrict access to the remote region, and commercial and sportfishing will be phased out over five years. Marine Refuge "Landmark" "This is a landmark conservation event," Joshua Reichert of the Pew Charitable Trusts told the Washington Post. "It is important to restrict activities that have the potential to damage the marine environment, of which fishing is a big one," said Reichert, who heads the nonprofit's environmental program. The Antiquities Act of 1906 gives the U.S. President the executive authority to set aside objects of historic or scientific interest as national monuments. The Ocean Conservancy, which along with other conservation groups says it was caught off guard by Bush's announcement, says monument status will help safeguard one of the world's last pristine ocean ecosystems. "A national monument designation is the strongest level of enduring protection we can provide," said Ellen Athas, director of ecosystems protection for the Washington, D.C.-based group. The group's president, Roger Rufe, described the NWHI as a "national treasure" on par with Yellowstone and Grand Canyon National Parks. "The marine ecosystem around the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands is one of the most biologically diverse areas in U.S. oceans," he added. Although the Bush Administration has been widely criticized for its record on environmental protection, Rufe praises its latest decision. "Teddy Roosevelt is largely considered the father of our national park system," he said. "President Bush may be securing a similar legacy in our oceans." Reports suggest that under the new status, taking fish, wildlife, corals, and minerals from the region will be completely prohibited. Native Hawaiians will have access to the area for traditional activities. Visitors wishing to snorkel, dive, or take photographs around the islands will have to first obtain a permit. Commercial Fishing Conservationists say the threats to marine life in the NWHI include small-scale commercial fishing operations that target lobsters and seabed-dwelling fish. Damage caused by discarded fishing gear and other debris has been highlighted as a concern. At least 155 Hawaiian monk seals have reportedly become entangled in such debris since 1982. The Ocean Conservancy says tourism in the islands brings additional noise and water pollution, including effluent discharges from cruise ships, and the threat of introductions of non-native species. The NWHI support many endemic species found nowhere else, including four birds, three land snails, 12 plants, and more than 60 invertebrates. "Ocean islands in general tend to have high levels of [unique species], due largely to their isolated nature, and the Hawaiian archipelago is the most isolated in the world," Jason Baker told National Geographic News earlier this month. Baker is a scientist at the Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, who has been researching the NWHI. "These little islands are important nurseries for monk seals, sea turtles, and millions of seabirds," he added. A recent study led by Baker suggests the islands, many of which are low lying, are at risk from rising sea levels caused by global warming.

A very beautiful scene in Bavaria!

2006-06-23T12:17:00.000-10:00

USS Regan

2006-06-23T06:43:00.000-10:00

I enjoy this picture of the USS Regan.

More Dilbert

2006-06-23T04:33:00.000-10:00

A good example to always read the small print in any contract.

Futurama Returns

2006-06-23T04:30:00.000-10:00

Posted by CowboyNeal on Friday June 23, @12:34AMfrom the now-zoidberg-is-the-popular-one dept. GrumpySimon writes "Good news everyone! Straight from a one-eyed alien's mouth - 13 new episodes of Futurama have been confirmed by Katey Sagal on Craig Ferguson's Late Late Show. All the original actors have signed up too."

Dilbet

2006-06-22T18:34:00.000-10:00

Nice Resturant Name!

2006-06-21T19:47:00.000-10:00

Microsoft Workers Prefer Google

2006-06-21T19:23:00.000-10:00

Posted by samzenpus on Wednesday June 21, @11:06PMfrom the best-of-breed dept. dhollist writes "A story just released by the Inquirer shows that 80% of incoming search requests from Microsoft's domain arrived via Google's search engine. In contrast, 64% of Yahoo! staff and 100% of Google staff use their own company's search engine. How's that for a product endorsement? I'd guess that Microsoft may soon add google.com to the list of blocked URL's on their intranet."

2006-06-21T04:23:00.000-10:00

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson The joys of fathers teaching their kids how to ride bikes.

The Rise and Fall of Sega

2006-06-20T04:31:00.000-10:00

(by Corcki,www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=323&mode=nested&order=0&thold=0) We take a look into the past of Sega and where they went wrong in the console wars. Techmo Bowl sucks, I got Joe Montana. You’re still playing Mario, Dude! Ask your Mom if you can come over. I’ll let you play on a real video game system. My Genesis has 16-bit graphics, what’s yours again? 8-bit, that’s funny. Oh the good old days of harassing Nintendo players. Being the first kid to own a Sega Genesis on my block was the biggest thrill of my adolescent life. Until Mark “My Parents are so Rich” Bradley brought in his Neo Geo instruction manual, everyone was my friend. But that’s another story for another time. It was a time when wearing British Knights and Air Jordans was as important as having a Triple Fat Goose and a Starter hat to be in the upper echelon of public middle school society. It was the pinnacle of Sega’s Pax Romana. Sadly, like a VH1 “Behind the Music” episode, the downward spiral soon began. After being released in Japan back in 1985, the Sega Master System was brought to the United States with no great success. Almost every one I talk to fails to remember it at all. “What’s this?” I remember asking when I opened a present from my Father. Being rather disappointed that all my friends had the NES with “Rob the Robot” and I got stuck with some crappy black brick, I barely played it. While everyone else was getting it on with Super Mario Brothers, Excite Bike, and Legend of Zelda, I was sulking in the shadows with the likes of Rambo and Alex Kidd. Let’s just say, as a venture console here, it was a flop. Third party games were flocking to the NES while Sega was producing only their own games. With mediocre sales in Japan and U.S. markets, Nintendo was looking down its nose at Sega. European sales of the Master System, strange as that sounds, brought Sega enough money to give birth to the greatest of its consoles, the Genesis. I literally shredded the box opening it when it released in1989. My hands were shaking so bad I could barely open the packaging. In minutes I was punching and kicking my way through Altered Beast in search of those magic blue floating orb thingies filled with super steroids. After gaining 50 lbs of muscle and some mystical glow around my fists and feet with the first two juice injections, I found the third one and got taken to an awe-inspiring cut scene of my guy morphing into a werewolf (Hooowwwlll). That’s when I knew Nintendo’s days were numbered. Genesis games were averaging $50 at Toys’R’Us. I begged and pleaded to get Styrder, which was the most expensive game out at $69.99, and finally got it and Streets of Rage for Christmas that year. Phantasy Star, Sonic the Hedgehog, Pat Riley’s Basketball, Shinobi 3, Truxton, Shining Force, I could go on and on about all the awesome games that came out. Sega became number one here in the U.S with a battle cry of “Genesis does! Genesis does! You can’t do this on Nintendo,” and the “Sega!” Yell. Come on, who doesn’t remember those commercials? They were great. I was a little daunted about my Genesis’ console supremacy when the Turbo Grafix 16 came out, but laughed when I saw how rushed and full of bugs it was. I continued in my reverie until Nintendo struck back with the Super NES in 1994. It came with a six button controller and was the first system to bring Street Fighter 2 and Mortal Kombat to home gaming. Not to be outdone, Sega ported the games and made a redesigned controller housing six buttons, but this did little to bring back Sega’s dominance. While everyone was playing their new Super Nintendo, I was thinking of what Sega was going to unleash next. Boy was I disappointed in the end, but I’ll get back to that ballyhoo later. I’m going to rewind, then fast-forward a little here. See, there was this thing called the “Gameboy,” and Nintendo was making a killing with it. There was no such thing as mobile gaming on your cell phone back in the late 80’s early 90’s. Cell phones then were owned by rich people who wore power suits and rode around in limos. So, if you didn’t have a “Gameboy,” you had Tiger handheld games if you wanted mobile games. Well, that and thumb wrestling. Sega thought since they were dominating the home gaming industry, and 99% of people already have thumbs, then they should try and dominate mobile handheld games too. In 1991, Sega unveils its own hand held. Sound the trumpets; here comes the “Game Gear.” Good idea, but if you weren’t near a wall socket with the AC adapter or just happen to be carrying a pound of AA batteries with you, you were sucking. They said it had a three-hour power capacity with new batteries, but I think it was more like 20 minutes. Energizer must have had stock in that thing, I swear. There weren’t many new or innovative games for it either. Most of them were just Genesis games formatted into 8-bit graphics. Basically, crappier looking games you’ve already played, on a battery-devouring black brick. I don’t know who devised the design, but it seems the black brick thing is here to stay. I was not impressed when I got this, but it was in color. That’s right color… oooh… ahhh. Next, we fast-forward four years to the Nomad. Of course Sega didn’t learn their lesson with the Game Gear. Instead of crappy looking 8-bit versions of Genesis games, they made a hand held that you could play all your Genesis games on. All right sweet, I can play my Genesis games on the bus…what the…man this thing eats more batteries than the Game Gear. I guess Duracell found out about Energizer’s stock in the Game Gear and wanted to get in on the action too. I didn’t own one, but my friend Kevin did. I’ll give you one guess on what it looked like. That’s right a black brick. How’d you guess? Now, I am going to bring up the dumbest, bass-ackward, WTF time period for Sega or any video game company for that matter. I’m sure at the time it must have sounded like a great idea, but why would any company make itself a competitor? I guess when you’ve been backed into a corner you’ll do anything to fight your way out. They’d try one thing and when it didn’t get results right away they brought out something new. After the huge loss of revenue at the hands of the SNES, Sega tried to return to its powerhouse sales - and failed horribly . Let’s begin in 1992 shall we? Genius idea #1: Sega CD. As the name implies, the games were on CD; hurray! Who’s laughing now Turbo Grafix 16? It was an add-on, or should I say large black brick looking tray thing, that the Genesis sat on top of and slid over to connect them via a side port. It costs a wallet-raping $299.99. The Sega CD had its own games. About the only one I liked was Lethal Enforcers, but it was really expensive too. You had to buy the gun(s) to really play the game. The Sega CD had a very limited run of games because Sega was really stingy with its development tools. With so few games and a huge price tag it flopped horribly, driving profit further into the red. Genius idea #2: The 32X. It was another add-on that plugged into the cartridge slot of the Genesis, doubled the bit rate, and cost a measly $159.99. It had its own games with their own special cartridges. It did have a few cool games like Afterburner, Doom, and my personal favorite Space Harrier. Initially the Sega CD and 32X were supposed to be compatible, but that fell through. So, those of us who picked tobacco, mowed lawns, and bucked hay in the middle of summer to earn money so our parents would buy us this got screwed. The result of such a poor idea and implementation was mass revenue loss. Genius idea #3: Enter the Dragon of the Sega Saturn. For only $399.99 you could own the newest installment of Sega consoles. If gamers and parents weren’t already confused and unsure in 1995, they were after Sega released the Saturn. “Which system does my kid own?” I heard in many game stores from parents not in the know. I never bought a Saturn because I was about to finish high school and go off to the Navy. Other than getting to play Panzer Dragoon at a friend’s, I didn’t get a lot of exposure with the system. The biggest problem besides all the different consoles Sega manufactured was an upstart in the gaming industry called Sony. That and the fact Sega still hadn’t learned to make it easier for developers to make games. Sony’s debut of the Playstation that year was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sony quickly grabbed Sega’s reeling gamers who felt betrayed and used by the company. I was one of those gamers who cut my losses and turned my back on a franchise I had loved for years. After almost four years of nothing, Sega announced the Dreamcast woud go on sale on 9/9/99. A lot of gamers felt the same as I after the CD/ 32X/ Saturn fiasco: “Why should we show you any brand loyalty after everything you put us through?” . Undaunted, with the backing of Microsoft and with their super-hyped “Next-Gen” system as a bayonet, Sega rallied for one last charge into the trenches of the console war. They had great first year release games like Soul Calibur, Sonic Adventure, Crazy Taxi, House of the Dead 2, Power Stone, and Sega Bass Fishing. With that, Sega seemed on the rebound sporting the best controller ever made to date (It is the best and I don’t care what anyone else says on the matter), an innovative memory card which you could play mini games on, and online play forecasted in the “then” near future. My faith returned to the Sega name after a short stint with my new Dreamcast. I brought my Dreamcast and game collection with me when my ship was being deployed to the adulation of the rest of the crew. Not since Golden Eye for the N64 had there been gaming marathons onboard. Young, old, enlisted, and officers alike waited their turn to take on the current champ of Soul Calibur or in some 4-way Power Stone. I remember getting woken up many times by people asking to borrow it so they could try their luck at fishing or owning some zombies. When the PS2 dropped in 2000, I laughed at the release games and left EB Games without one. I did eventually buy one, but I used it as a DVD player for the longest time. In 2001, good games did start coming out for the PS2 and Sega was once again cast from the forefront. After two years of production Sega pulled the plug on the Dreamcast and sold off many of its franchises. Sega started as a small business from which spawned a gaming giant. As with all great Empires, they eventually rot, crumble, and fall from their own ever-grasping hand. After the Genesis they tried to go in too many directions at once and spread their resources too thin. They knew they would have major competition from other game developers, but I bet when they started, they never imagined they would be their own worst enemy. If Sega had used the CD unit as a springboard until perfecting the Saturn, things might have gone differently. Alas, you can’t re-fight Sunday’s battle on Monday, for which I’m sure the then CEOs are still kicking themselves. I still have fond memories of my childhood and younger adult life playing some of the greatest games ever made. Sega had numerous wonderful ideas, but none ever came to profitable fruition.

Four Villains In "Spider-Man 3"

2006-06-19T17:03:00.000-10:00

Posted: Friday June 2nd, 2006 10:56pm Source: iF Magazine Author: Garth Franklin iF Magazine has more from ex-Marvel Studios chief Avi Arad. Yesterday it was "X-Men" talk, today it's the currently filming "Spider-Man 3" and they confirmed a rumour that FOUR villains will appear in the film.When asked "There are four villains this time, Venom, Sandman, and Green Goblin and when is the fourth going to be revealed?", Arad replied "Right we have four villains. Pretty soon [we'll reveal the fourth villain] I believe. Maybe around Comic Con we'll reveal something and the madness will begin". Many expect the fourth to be a cameo by The Lizard, the alter ego of Dr. Curt Conners played by Dylan Baker in the first two films. If four sounds like too much, its expected several of these roles are going to be minor with Sandman by far being the biggest. Arad also commented on the hot debate over the black costume and how it lacks the giant white spider motif from the comics. When asked why wasn't it used, he says "We reserved the white spider for something else".Our first look at "Spider-Man 3" will come with a teaser trailer at the end of the month attached to "Superman Returns".

'Star Trek' Fans, Deprived of a Show, Recreate the Franchise on Digital Video

2006-06-18T12:42:00.000-10:00

(June 18, 2006, By DANNY HAKIM, NYTimes) MASON NECK STATE PARK, Va. — Paul Sieber was wearing a "Star Trek" uniform in the deep Virginia woods when he found himself surrounded by a leathery-looking gang. Fortunately, the ruffians were dressed up as Klingons, and Mr. Sieber, with a cigarette dangling from his mouth, was preparing to film them with a $6,000 digital video camera. At times like this, Mr. Sieber, the writer and director of "Starship Farragut," must come to grips with the obvious — not all Klingons are trained actors — and bellow, "Quiet on the set!" From these Virginia woods to the Scottish Highlands, "Star Trek" fans are filling the void left by a galaxy that has lost "Star Trek." For the first time in nearly two decades, television spinoffs from the original 1960's "Star Trek" series have ended, so fans are banding together to make their own episodes. Fan films have been around for years, particularly those related to the "Star Wars" movies. But now they can be downloaded from the Web, and modern computer graphics technology has lent them surprising special effects. And as long as no one is profiting from the work, Paramount, which owns the rights to "Star Trek," has been tolerant. (Its executives declined to comment.) Up to two dozen of these fan-made "Star Trek" projects are in various stages of completion, depending what you count as a full-fledged production. Dutch and Belgian fans are filming an episode; there is a Scottish production in the works at www.ussintrepid.org.uk. There is a group in Los Angeles that has filmed more than 40 episodes, according to its Web site, www.hiddenfrontier.com, and has explored gay themes that the original series never imagined. Episodes by a group in Austin, Tex., at www.starshipexeter.com, feature a ship whose crew had the misfortune of being turned into salt in an episode of the original "Star Trek," but has now been repopulated by Texans. "I think the networks — Paramount, CBS — I don't think they're giving the fans the 'Trek' they're looking for," said Mr. Sieber, a 40-year-old engineer for a government contractor who likens his "Star Trek" project, at www.starshipfarragut.com, to "online community theater." "The fans are saying, look, if we can't get what we want on television, the technology is out there for us to do it ourselves," he added. And viewers are responding. One series, at www.newvoyages.com, and based in Ticonderoga, N.Y., boasts of 30 million downloads. It has become so popular that Walter Koenig, the actor who played Chekov in the original "Star Trek," is guest starring in an episode, and George Takei, who played Sulu, is slated to shoot another one later this year. D. C. Fontana, a writer from the original "Star Trek" series, has written a script. For many Trekkies, contemporary science fiction on television — like "Battlestar Galactica" and the more recent Star Trek spinoffs — are too dark. "Modern science fiction takes itself too seriously," said Jimm Johnson, 37, who presides over Starship Exeter. John Broughton Jr., who founded the Farragut project, agreed. "One thing about the classic 'Star Trek' is at the end of the episode, it was pretty much a happy ending," he said. "It was sort of like 'The Brady Bunch.' It was all tidied up." Mr. Broughton, a wiry Navy veteran with spiky hair, is a serious collector of all things "Star Trek." His avocado tunic, he said, is made from bolts of the nylon used for the original "Star Trek," purchased at $100 a yard. His boots are made by the son of the man who made the boots used in "Star Trek," he said. His megaphone, bought for $325 on eBay, was the one used by William Shatner when he directed "Star Trek V." In the woods with the Klingons, Brad Graper, 52, finished detailing a pair of Nerf guns painted gray, with sections of chrome tailpipe added to them as gun barrels. Mr. Graper sat at a cluster of picnic tables in this lush 1,814-acre park. Klingon re-enactors from Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania played extras. "I'm General DuraD," Mr. Graper said. "The D and the D are capitalized." Around him, Klingons applied swarthy face paint and black hair dye, adjusted silvery sashes, and tottered in platform boots. They usually portray the more heavily costumed Klingons from "Star Trek: The Next Generation," the series spinoff that started in 1987. Those Klingons had big ridges on their heads requiring elaborate prosthetics. "This is the first time I've ever done an original Klingon," said Sally Arkulari, 46, who works on a large farm in Lancaster, Pa. "It's a lot less work." Ms. Arkulari is a tall woman, in a shimmering green dress, heavy eyeliner and orange hair extensions. What's her view on the Klingon woman? "Love 'em because they're so tough," she said. "Part of that is not my personality. I need to be more aggressive as a person, and I'm not, so I like that." The couple of dozen people on the set are either related, are friends or met at a Star Trek convention. David Sepan, 31, who plays a security officer, is a spacecraft analyst at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory and monitors a space probe heading to Mercury. Mr. Sieber is a family friend. Mr. Sepan's sister Amy, 29, is Farragut's makeup artist and costume designer. "I'm also Dr. Christina Hawley," she said, and then performed a line from her script: "Captain — he's dead!" Holly Bednar, 42, who plays an engineer, is the executive director of a theater in southern Maryland and one of the few participants here with theater experience. Her husband, Mike Bednar, 45, is the prop man, cameraman, science officer and a friend of Mr. Broughton's. The Bednars were childhood sweethearts who lost touch for 23 years and then reconnected and got married in 2004. Ms. Bednar came late to "Star Trek" and considers herself in the married-to-Trekkie category. "It was kind of a nice thing for Mike and I to work on together," she said. "For Mike, it's the 'Star Trek' stuff. For me, it's the acting." At 11 a.m., Mr. Sieber rounded up the Klingons and explained plot points. "You guys are generating a cloaking field from the planet around the orbiting weapon," he explained. Heads nodded. "They heard a rumor from some Orion spies that you guys might be trying to do something on this planet, not knowing that there's this many of you here, and that's why they end up getting ambushed." Fair enough. The group packed into a caravan of cars and headed into the woods at the park south of Washington. They had the camera, a boom mike, even a Hollywood scene marker. Mr. Sieber yelled "Action!" A trio of Klingons charged a gully, crouched into firing positions and tumbled as they pretended to be shot. Later, they filmed 12 takes of a scene in which Mr. Broughton, as the captain of the Starship Farragut, and the Bednars walk through the gully, talking. There are sound problems, battery problems, glare problems. Next scene: the three jump behind a fallen tree. They pretend to be pinned down by Klingons. "Reinforcements! Crossfire!" In a quiet moment, Mike Bednar reflected on what brings a man into the woods, wearing a form-fitting blue tunic, jet-black pants and shiny ebony boots, and carrying a camera. He recalled meeting Mr. Broughton years ago, when his friend was ending his stint in the Navy. "I used to joke with him, 'You'd never get me in a "Star Trek" uniform, even on Halloween, it's not going to happen,' " he said. "Next thing I know, I'm wearing a uniform."

Windows Vista's OEM hardware requirements give glimpse of new hardware adaptation

2006-06-16T15:03:00.000-10:00

(6/14/2006 7:27:45 PM, by Ken Fisher, http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060614-7060.html) Come 2007 when you pick the Windows Vista box off shelves, the printed requirements on that box will be simple: 800MHz CPU, 512MB RAM, and a DirectX 9.0-Capable graphics card. Users who want the "premium experience" (read: Aero interface) will need 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, and plenty of RAM for that DirectX 9.0-Capable graphics card. Those requirements will likely never change, at least not for the first release of Vista. If you're an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) like Gateway or Dell, it gets much more complex than that, however. For OEMs, there is a higher standard to meet if they wish to place a "Vista Premium" sticker on a laptop or desktop computer. The logo sticker is meant to assure consumers that Microsoft's Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) have validated a machine's configuration, and OEMs use the process, even if they don't love it. Microsoft recently informed system builders as to what the company considers to be the optimal configuration for the "Premium" Windows Vista experience, and it will use these standards to govern its logo certification program. For us, that means we have a glimpse of what we can expect to see shipping from OEMs in a few short months, as they traditionally have hastened to meet logo certification requirements. In no particular order, these are the notable additional requirements for Premium certification: Effective now: HD Audio support that passes a "high-fidelity audio experience" test (exception: Business class systems have until June 1, 2007). Support for Direct3d 9 and DXGI feature sets (Direct3d 10 mandated by June 1, 2008). At least one digital output (e.g., DVI-D) for all add-in video adapters (not integrated video: that doesn't change until June 1, 2008). 100Mb Ethernet and/or and WiFi (802.11g must be supported; 802.11a can be supported only in addition to 802.11g). USB 2.0 ports throughout System resumes from ACPI S3 state ("suspend-to-ram") in <2 seconds (does not include user mode initialization, i.e., total "wake" time will be longer than 2 seconds) June 1, 2007, or later: A Green Driver Quality Rating for all drivers. If Serial ATA is used, Serial ATA 2.5 must be supported. "Protected Video Path" (PVP) support, including HDCP. Support for booting from USB drives, including flash drives Hiccup-free HD playback, including hardware-based H.264/MPEG-4 decoding. At least one digital output (e.g., DVI-D) for all integrated video adapters (June 1, 2008). It has been erroneously reported elsewhere that Premium certification requires multi-monitor support. This is not the case. Microsoft only requires that if dual monitors are supported by a dual-head graphics adapter, the primary monitor output must meet certain specifications. (Microsoft here is concerned that users' display capabilities not sink below Aero-support levels should a second monitor be attached, and a card's resources are taxed.) Additionally, it has also been erroneously reported that "Vista Premium" systems will require hybrid hard drives. This is incorrect, as I have noted on M-Dollar. Observations There are no major surprises here in my opinion, but a few of the choices are worth commenting on. First, I was surprised to see 802.11a support tied to 802.11g support, if only because Microsoft pushes 802.11a for wireless media streaming. Singling it out for support might have made sense for the company's own goals, but perhaps the ubiquity of the 802.11b/g family played a factor here. It's certainly the better choice. Also, I'm sure some readers are surprised to see that support for next-generation video "protection schemes" such as HDCP and PVP (along with HDMI, by definition) not required until later this year, and in the case of integrated digital outputs, not until 2008. The primary reason for this, I suspect, is the fact that the Image Constraint Token is "on hold," as I previously reported. With 2011 looking more and more likely for a true cutoff date for HD analog outputs, Microsoft appears confident that 2008 is adequate lead time to build in support. But again, add-in video adapters will require digital outputs and HDCP support by the middle of 2007. There are a number of other changes, but none as important as those I have listed above. Generally speaking, the requirements are cautious when you keep Vista's normal graphics requirements in mind (Direct X 9-class, plenty of RAM). On the other hand, they aren't required for "Vista Basic" computers, which I find disappointing. My recommendation: if you go OEM, and you want to run Windows Vista, go for the systems that are certified for Premium.

All D&D Books To Be Available As PDFs

2006-06-16T04:31:00.000-10:00

(http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=165678) "DriveThruRPG has just announced that it will be selling all of WotC's 3.5 Edition D&D products in e-book format - over 90 books. Wizards has elected not to make the three core rulebooks for Dungeons & Dragons available as eBooks at this time, but almost every other current Dungeons & Dragons title will be available from DriveThruRPG. New titles are scheduled to release one each weekday on DriveThruRPG: Some of the titles to be released first include: Book of Vile Darkness, Heroes of Horror, Arms and Equipment Guide, d20 Apocalypse, Champions of Ruin, Complete Arcane, Unearthed Arcana, Masters of the Wild and Book of Challenges. The books are still full price and are DRM protected." I'd be happier about this if they were even slightly discounted, but it's a good step. Heroes of Horror is worth every penny.

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