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Thomas Lipscomb writes a scathing critique of the Ancient Media, The Dog That Didn't Bark. He also mentions the good work by some bloggers:
There are bloggers out there today with more credibility than Dan Rather, Mary Mapes, Eason Jordan, and Linda Foley combined, and their audiences are growing.
I think I'm blushing.
Via Reverend Reynolds.
As has been stated by others, this is the best of the prequels. Not a high standard to clear, to be sure. Still, George Lucas manages to entertain on occasion.
The dialog was simply painful. It reminded me of how dialog might be written by someone who doesn't interact with people much. Say, for example, a young dork who sits in his room drawing spaceships and imagining being loved by a beautiful girl. I, on the other hand, imagine the painful expressions and tears of Natalie Portman resulted from having to repeat those lines over and over.
Also, Lucas never really grasped the rythm and cadence of Yoda's speach patterns that Lawrence Kasdan created in Return of the Jedi. All Lucas did was rearrange the sentence structure but it sounds forced, unnatural. Kasdan is a far superior writer and is responsible for the two best scripts in the series.
Hayden Christiansen shows what happens to sullen teens if they don't get a dose of reality before reaching adulthood. Guess what? They continue their spoiled, put-upon ways only on a larger scale. Who would have thought? I won't judge the young man's acting skills based on his work with Lucas. Maybe he has talent, or maybe the pouting comes from growing up in Canada.
The story moves haltingly from dizzying fight sequences to people standing around blabbing about one thing or another and back again. I like the idea of watching the progression of a man who follows a trail of choices that lead him to ultimate evil. Fascinating concept.
Lucas has a problem, however, in that everybody knows how it will turn out. This is a monumental obstacle but other directors have skillfully shown how this can be overcome. Lucas does not have the ability to inject tension into a story where the audience knows the ending before it starts.
I noticed a couple of awkward attempts to force a parallel between Lucas' fantasy world and the War on Terrorists but they were so hamhanded as to be embarrassing.
If the Star Wars saga is a metaphor for anything it must be Lucas himself. No, not Luke Skywalker, not even Han Solo [what, no Lea jokes? --ed]. He is Vader, the young man of ability who throws his skills in with the Empire (Hollywood) and betrays all that is good in the endless quest of approval from his master. Like Vader, he would have a justification for it as well.
Neal Bortz describes his reasons why movie attendence is down, down, down.
Actually, I think he has the order backwards. If there were less dreck in the theaters the DVDs would hold less interest. The last time I saw a preview that I felt I really wanted to see was Return of the King.
Everything today is a derivative, carefully calculated non-risk.
For a more in-depth look at why movies suck, go to my pre-Oscar post.
The Sonics magical run is over, the Seahawks are several weeks away from training camp and the Mariners are, well, let's just say they aren't taking up much of my time.
These are the days when the local sports page fails to draw much interest. Good thing, as I have several goals (not the least of which is finishing the next screenplay) and having a hot baseball team would put my resolve to the test.
I'd laugh if this didn't make me cry. The Brit's are seriously calling for a ban on kitchen knives to stop stabbings. I wonder if we should start by simply registering them. Then maybe banning the cheap ones. I mean those $20 knife sets at Target are clearly made just to kill people. I mean, look at how they display the stabbing knife so prominently. Why not the paring knife? If a person really wanted to cook, they would buy Wusthof.
Hat tip to Drudge.
DIRECTOR ADDS: Sharp rocks are pretty dangerous, too. To paraphrase a line from Jurassic Park, death will find a way. Humans have been killing each other from the beginning using the best available technology of the day. Rolling back technology will not alter human behavior one whit.
I was waiting for the Director to review this but he hasn't so I will. I'm sure he'll chime in with his review here soon too.
In a lot of ways, this was the best of the first three episodes. That's not saying a whole lot, but it didn't have the low points of the first one (jar-jar, pod race) and it wasn't quite as bland as the second. On the other hand, it also didn't have the highlights of the first one. The ending light saber duel in TPM was probably the best such fight in the whole of the series.
Episode three was gorgeous. The use of CGI was everywhere and well blended with filmed elements. It was rarely noticeable. Sometimes though, it was over-done. Why are all of the clones CGI? Why not have real people dressed up in storm trooper costumes? Even close-up scenes are done with CGI characters and, as good as they are, it doesn't come off quite right.
What was done with the CGI, on the other hand, was often dumb. Two examples: The buzz droids in the opening space combat sequence (probably the 2nd-worst of the series) were the stupidest weapon ever introduced in the series. It's a missle that, when it gets close, shoots out little droids to then cut apart your ship with saws. Huh? Why not just have the missile explode?!? The second example is the lizard Obi Wan rides in the General Grevious (sp?) scene. Why in the world is he riding a lizard on what looks like an otherwise technological planet? Why is the lizard keeping up with what is essentially a motorcycle of sorts? It looks fine, but makes no sense.
The real downfall of the movie is the dialogue. It continues the tradition of Episode II and is really, really bad. Lucas should stop writing and stop directing. Let Speilberg or Scott try their hands. Let Shane Felux direct. Someone to help this thing out.
The movie wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. It had no life, no soul. It just trudged along until it stopped.
In an article discussing Al Franken's contemplated move to Minneapolis as preparation for a possible senate run, there is this note:
Franken, 53, also plans to relocate his Air America radio show to Minnesota early next year.
Via Malkin
Excellent article from YAFLtm (Yet Another Former Liberal): Leaving the Left. Here are some of the many good quotes.
In short, I became a card-carrying liberal, although I never actually got a card. (Bookkeeping has never been the left's strong suit.)
And:
When I casually offered that the surviving relatives of the more than 20 million people murdered on orders of Joseph Stalin might not find "evil'" too strong a word, the room took on a collective bemused smile of the sort you might expect if someone had casually mentioned taking up child molestation for sport.
Plus:
A left averse to making common cause with competent, self- determining individuals -- people who guide their lives on the basis of received values, everyday moral understandings, traditional wisdom, and plain common sense -- is a faction that deserves the marginalization it has pursued with such tenacity for so many years.
Via PowerLine
Oversimplified, to be sure, but just for laughs go take the quiz and see where you fall.
Your Political Profile |
| Overall: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Social Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Personal Responsibility: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Fiscal Issues: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Ethics: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
| Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal |
National Treasure is a national disgrace.
First of all, Nick Cage is neither an action hero nor suave. Whenever he tries to play above his IQ, things go badly. He struggled just to spit out the lines in this turkey so forget about saying them in a convincing manner. It seems doubtful he understood all of the words the writer put together for him. I think some of his lines might have been interesting but Cage just destroys them.
Nick, please, just stop, OK? You've got enough dough socked away. Please retire to Italy.
This is on top of a production that would embarass Saturday morning cartoons. The whole thing is a bad copy of Indiana Jones. It's too bad, since the premise of having to steal the Declaration of Independence holds so many possibilities. And yet, this is what the writer and producer decided on. Come on, Jerry, it didn't have to be this way.
I've been playing around with the Hipster PDA for a couple of weeks now. Here's my take:
I have a Palm Pilot (my second) and have considered buying a Windows CE device. I'm also a fan of Getting Things Done but find my adherence fluxuates. Right now, the Palm is idle and has been for several weeks.
The problem I find is keeping straight the tasks from different parts of my life. Even though I've used the GTD Outlook plugin, it proved unworkable between different Outlook installations. Using index cards and binder clips allows me to keep different groups of actions separated.
I also created a Word document to print a form on the blank side. So far, I'm liking this a great deal. The simplicity is astonishing and actually makes using the system more likely.
I've been neglegent in mentioning the good works over at No New Gas Tax. Get your butt over there and pitch in.
Look, the Liberals in the state house (on both sides of the aisle) don't ask whether or not to create a tax or increase an existing one. The only debate is over how much.
Whacking them over the head with the initiative bat, again, will help get the point across: the Legislature does not have a blank check on citizens' money. Admittedly a bizarre concept to most in Olympia.
I don't think tossing gas cans into Elliot Bay is feasible so supporting the initiative is the best equivalent of the Boston Tea Party.
If you find yourself taking a sick day with cold or flu symptoms, perhaps this isn't the best viewing choice. I'm just saying.
The left has been trying to years to make the energy task force headed by Cheney into a problem for the White House. Cheney met with, get this, people in the energy industry. Gasp! The horror! How dare he get advice from anyone other than a blowhard Washington lawyer. The claim was that this was some illicit meeting and showed a conflict of interest or some such. Today the D.C. Court of Appeals said unanimously that the White House had a right to do what it did. Good for them.
Some parts of me pity the left. They are trying so hard to find a scandal in this White House but, well, there just isn't one. So far (knock on wood) they have played everything straight up.
The theater was curiously empty for opening weekend for this blockbuster. Perhaps 100 people rattled around the largest room at the gigaplex. Granted, it was a dry and fairly warm spring evening in Seattle and yet there was a sense that this film was not the big deal it should be.
Now, the Spousal Unit loves this stuff. She would devote an entire room to functional swords and daggers (none of that decorative junk for her) if space permitted. Unsurprisingly she was much less concerned with the niceties of storytelling than usual.
I am a huge fan of director Ridley Scott. Every time I see him on TV or a DVD special feature I am more impressed than before. This time out I kept waiting for the big conflict with the big payoff but it never happened.
Problem is, there isn't really an antagonist. The scheming Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) is sort of jealous towards Balian (Orlando Bloom) but they don't come into direct conflict, at least not much. Also, Guy is taken out of the way prior to the major battle sequence so he has no influence on the outcome.
Saladin is not the antagonist, either, played magnificently by Ghassan Massoud. He just wants to maintain the tenuous peace with the Christians, some of whom are tired of the peace.
Maybe the antagonist is War itself. Still, as the film amply displays, war or peace is made through choices with either state turning on the word of the right person. So, War isn't it, either.
This lack of a clear antagonist drained most of the drama from the story. The protagonist Balian found himself in deadly peril, to be sure, except that it was against men who didn't really mean him harm.
The score recalled Blackhawk Down, which I consider a better film. Visually, Kingdom of Heaven will be familiar to fans of Mr. Scott's recent works. Terrific detail in every frame, wonderful performances from every face on the screen, and still won't be enough.
A word regarding the speculation that this is a message film. It is not, in the sense that many hoped it would rail against the War on Terror. There is a fine speech near the end where Balian explains that Jerusalem has been changing hands for so long nobody really has a claim, and everybody does. Salidin is portrayed as a cunning warrior but one who understood the cost of war and so preferred to avoid it. Is that being overly kind? No more than omitting the butchery of the Crusades themselves.
I liked the movie but Mr. Scott should have done better.
Godshatter comes from the Vernor Vinge Novel, A Fire Upon the Deep. In that world, there are extremely intelligent beings that live on the edges of the galaxy. They cannot travel to the center so they send normal beings who they use as emmissaries. These human beings have much of the superintelligence crammed into their head and their real personality is thus shattered.
I highly recommend the book by the way. If you want some hard science fiction with an amazingly detailed and alien world, check it out.
I happened to be watching MSNBC this afternoon. I don't frequent that channel (perhaps because of stories like this) so I don't know which show it was. The hosts were Ron Reagan and some woman I didn't recognize. Anyway, the subject was reality television. They talked about the American Idol expose tonight on ABC and then began to complain about how the media was wrong to cover things like reality TV instead of real news, "especially today with the news regarding Al Quaeda" (in case you didn't see the memo, we caught the 3rd highest ranked Al Quaeda member today). Pot...Kettle...Black. How can you, with a straight face, impugn the media for doing something that you--a member of the media--are doing at that very moment?
Moral of the story: Watch Fox News. When I flipped the channel I found John Gibson interviewing former secretary of state Lawrence Eagleburger about the Al Quaeda capture.
I'm all for the idea of privatizing social security. I'd be for a Chilean system where the whole thing is privatized but I would settle for at least some of my money in my control. The return on investment of Social Security is terrible and will be much worse by the time I retire in over three decades. There may be trouble in paradise, however. This article from Econopundit (if you don't read them, you are missing out) tells of the trouble. It turns out that private accounts may be an administrative nightmare. Then again, so are taxes and we live with them. If Chile can do it with their whole system, I'm sure the U.S. can do it with part of ours.