| PAGE GENERATED BY comments.pl v1.6 |
|
View Current Posts |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Thursday November 30 2006 11:33am |
|
get ready for the AMD monster truck 4x4, they launched the quad fx platform today, and expect up to 8 cpu cores per motherboard with a 4ghz hyper transport bus by 2007q3(june/july). for all of you counting that is 8 fully working cores on a single system, cough, thats more than PS3 can offer, as rumor has it that the ps3 has narrowed the core allowance to 6 working cores from 7 which was originally 8 to make launch. in comparison to the ps3 you will be able to buy in volume this platform, it will cost less than $3000, and come equipped with 8 cores and 2 gpu card slots, with most likely a total of 4gpus between 2 cards. Thats 2.2 TeraFlops of floating point goodness, or 1/150th of IBM's bluegene $290 million price tag, or about $2 million dollars worth of performance for $3 thousand dollars. Go, stream processing. http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/30/amd_launches_quad_fx/ |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday November 28 2006 7:03pm |
|
Coke: Offical Beverage of Japanese Azeroth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxglTzzyTQA&NR |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday November 27 2006 12:59pm |
|
Be careful DBBQC! I hear St. Louis is the most dangerous city in America! http://www.morganquitno.com/cit07pop.htm#25 |
|
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday November 27 2006 11:52am |
| 360voice.com | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday November 27 2006 10:29am |
| 12k+ daily gamers for "gears of war" it looks like the most popular game on this site that gives your x360 its own blog. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Sunday November 26 2006 10:35pm |
| Move Zig, DBBQChild. Move Zig for great justice! | |
| Posted by: Dream BBQ Child | Posted on: Sunday November 26 2006 10:33pm |
|
Greetings from some little suburb of St. Louis! At least at this install I have a floor beneath me and don't have to stand in a canyon of wires right outta the gate. So, there's that. Oh, and we get signal this time too. It is good to get signal. It makes it go. And we don't have Jordi's visor or a deflector dish. If we don't get signal and it doesn't go we're boned. |
|
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Sunday November 26 2006 5:08pm |
|
gears and 1600 MS points with this BB deal for ~$57 http://digg.com/tech_deals/Gears_of_War_Xbox_360_and_1600_Xbox_Marketplace_Points_for_56_99 |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday November 21 2006 8:05pm |
|
Leaked Spiderman III commercial: check it out before it goes goodbye! http://scrutinyhooligans.blogspot.com/2006/11/spiderman-3-trailer-leaked.html |
|
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Tuesday November 21 2006 3:43pm |
|
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-43Cu_3TQ3g wow comercial |
|
| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Tuesday November 21 2006 2:19pm |
|
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS03/611190639 Hurry up Johnney! |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Monday November 20 2006 4:30pm |
|
NS, I actually have never read an issue of "Rising Stars", but I was aware that some of the same premises were being drawn (comic - drawn, get it?!) here. Also, the fact that co-creator, executive producer, (and artist of some of Issac's paintings) Jeph Loeb used to work on X-Men among several other popular superhero comics leads me to believe that multiple influences from comics were used to make Heroes, not just JMS's book. Besides, I thought JMS would be used to that by now, what with the whole Paramount making DS9 out of JMS's B5. |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Monday November 20 2006 2:21pm |
|
Heroes is pretty great, right? That seems to be the consensus. At lunch today an EW was going around the office with everyone's favorite salariman, Masi Oka on the cover, so I had to flip through it. Apparently everyone who knows something about comics (not me, obviously) has acknowledged that the show is pretty much "Rising Stars", the JMS book. Did you catch that, Peter? For his part, Straczynski says he's not ruffled: ''Everybody in comics...looks to what came before and builds upon it,'' says the writer, who's now — in a circuitous turn of events — shopping a Rising Stars TV series with director Sam Raimi. And what if the networks say, ''Sounds too much like Heroes''? ''Well, there's always seppuku,'' jokes Straczynski. http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1555891_3_0_,00.html |
|
| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Monday November 20 2006 2:06pm |
|
I have seen all this talk of movie trailers, and have an observation of my own. For the films I like to see, the trailer is most of the time more intriguing than informative. (ex. hard candy, jackie brown) 'That's the way I likes it.' However, for the more mainstream films, it seems like the trailer gives TOO much away. Almost tells you the whole story INCLUDING the plot twist. (ex. lady in the water) When I see trailers like that I rarely see the film, becuase WHAT'S the point? So, I actually avoid trailers, expecially if I am thinking about seeing the film. It's supposed to excite, not spoil. In those cases, the trailer does show the quality of the film, good or bad...most of the time bad. |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Monday November 20 2006 10:18am |
|
Well...it is official. Sadly, Peter Jackson is off "The Hobbit". Thanks to film studio bureacracy, Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh will not be able to work on the Hobbit, having received the courtesy call from Mark Ordevsky that New Line will be shopping around for a new director, cast, and crew. The striking news is that there are actually 2 LOTR prequels planned - 1 being the Hobbit, the other being the story of Sauron's rise to power and Isildur's defeat of Sauron. It sounds like both movies ae moving ahead with out Peter Jackson's Wingnut film involvement. It seems that the real enemy here is TIME. According to OneRing.net, because of Wignut Films current lawsuit with New Line, they are forbidden from working on the LOTR prequels. The rights over the two LOTR prequels will expire soon (apparently before this lawsuit will be completed). Rather than lose the rights to another studio, New Line is going to go ahead with a new director, cast, etc (The lawsuit doesn't prevent the cast of LOTR applicable to the Hobbit - Ian McKellan (Gandalf), Ian Holm (Bilbo), Andy Serkis (Gollum),Hugo Weaving(Elrond,)and Viggo Mortenson (Aragorn) (depending upon some interpretations of a scene from the Hobbit, Aragorn was present for a battle)- but since the entire cast claimed that they would not work on the Hobbit unless Peter Jackson was directing, I don't see them joining up with the new production. Interestingly enough, WETA might still do production and visual effects but it all depends upon just how sincere Peter Jackson is in wishing the new production "Good Luck". You can read Peter Jackson's letter to the Ringers here about not being able to do the Hobbit here: http://www.theonering.net/staticnews/1163993546.html |
|
| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Monday November 20 2006 9:38am |
|
People say President Bush is ignorant about the 'Internets' but this takes the cake! http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/11/17/larry_king_internet/ "No, thanks" and "No, I wouldn't (like it)[.]" --How can you be an informed media personality in this day and age without the internet? I wouldn't know where to begin to look up news stories from different sources, information about celebrities, movie reviews, information about televison. I mean, that's who Larry IS talking to!?! So, if you're not net seaching, where DO you get your info? From the three newspapers you have sitting in front of you? Or is it his staff that does all the internetzing and Larry just parrots back what his people tell him to? WOW! B_W |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Saturday November 18 2006 2:46pm |
|
Peter: I'll gladly give it a chance if they ever release some, you know, content. If they are having a problem getting a TV station to air it and they need to get some public support to pressure them, then they can go to YouTube or GoogleVideo and post the first episode. Instead, they release a poorly made trailer and expect that with that being the sum total of public knowledge of the series that people will write in support of it. Your Matrix: Reloaded and Fantastic Four analogies do NOT apply as there was far more to go off of than the trailers. Their were critical reviews, there was a ciriculum vitea behind them. But let's go with it, let's say that, knowing nothing about the show, the entire SciFi community bands together and lobbies for this show to be broadcast. We succeed, the show airs, and it turns out that we knew nothing about the series because the series sucked. The series bombs, the network takes a bath. Are they going to listen to the SciFi community when the next series comes along? Only if they're complete morons and couldn't even make it through the first semester of buisness school. If you want to support the genre, then you demand that Starhype prove its entertainment value before you even begin to try to rally the community behind it, as lord knows there is a ton of crap SciFi out there. Mindlessly promoting anything just because of its genre will simply get you ignored by those who make the decisions. And yes, I am assuming that the trailer is an indication of the quality of that outfit. Why? Because they are low budget and doing this over the internet: they probably do not have the cash to get another company to produce it. So if the staff who is producing the series is the same staff that produces the trailer, the trailer that they need to generate enought hype that this show airs and they get paid, and yet the trailer sucks... well, 1+1=2. The same equation does not hold for Matrix: Reloaded, Starsky and Hutch, Austin Powers, etc, where the studios send the movie to people who specialize in making trailers, thus meaning that different people are working on the trailer than on the movie. |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Saturday November 18 2006 10:59am |
|
Brilliant use of inductive reasoning, Crow. It's nice to see that your typical line of reasoning extends beyond your usual political argument to other more paltry points (which I suspect political debate can fall under as well). I did not intend to make the point that the trailers I listed were dialogueless or confusing trailers, simply the fact that trailers do not always adequately represent what the film actually entails. Can you honestly tell me that you have never seen a film misrepresented by its trailer? (You want a better example? How about the Fantastic Four? What about Matrix Reloaded? Or was it obvious from the trailers that these films would be less than stellar?). This entire discussion got started from the most menial of points and it's only becoming more pedantic. I asked that people just watch the trailer and give it a shot. You watched it, didn't care for it and that's your prerogative. You can continue on this if want, but I rescind the argument. |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Friday November 17 2006 4:55pm |
|
Peter, I don't really know where you're getting that Office Space and Austin Powers had pointless, dialogless, or confusing trailers. Every one I saw actually let me know what the movie was about and had something funny associated with it and made me want to go see it. Maybe, somewhere in Chicago, some lonely TV station played a muted version of the Austin Powers trailer, but that's beside the point because other good trailers did exist. For Spacehyke, you got 1.25 trailers to go off of, and they don't tell you anything. If they come out with something that tells me anything about it, I'll be happy to reasess my position. As it is, I'm witholding any recomendation. And you could tell instantly that Starsky and Hutch was going to be bad right from the trailer, as it told you that Ben Stiller was in it. And how you could think Showtime or Elf could have been good from their trailers... you gotta bring up some better examples here. |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Friday November 17 2006 11:06am |
|
"Pole Halts Would-Be PS3 Owner" http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=4228&Itemid=2 |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Friday November 17 2006 9:05am |
|
Crow, trailers are rarely valid predictors of a movie (though the public seems to think they are), especially of comedy movies. I have seen several comedy trailers that were brilliant, only to find out that the trailer showed every funny scene in the movie (Exemplified by: Starsky and Hutch, Showtime, Elf)-End Result GOOD TRAILER/BAD MOVIE. I have also seen films that had pointless, dialogueless, and/or confusing trailers, but ended up being amusing or even incredibly funny (Exemplified by: Office Space, Austin Powers, Quick Change)-End Result: BAD TRAILER/GOOD MOVIE. Trailers don't speak much of movies because with the right editor you can achieve some amazing stuff with horrible material (and some worthless garbage with brilliant material). The same is true of TV series previews/trailers. Basing a TV Series or Movie by its trailer is like judging a book by its cover, to adopt the old adage. While you may not subscribe to a show purely on its genre, I am trying to foster watching the show primarily because of it. No other genre of movie/television starts out at such a distinct disadvantage as Science Fiction. First off, Sci-Fi is usually much more expensive to make than your typical sitcom (which means that less of them get started in the first place because not many studios want to provide that kind of financial backing). Secondly, Sci-Fi always suffer in the ratings market. According to the Nielson Ratings (which I fully understand have several problems on their own that I can talk about later), Sci-Fi viewership is significantly less (based on a 4-way ANOVA it seems), than comedy, drama, or even reality shows (I thought we were done with that garbage already!). There is no significant difference between viewership of the top rated comedy, drama, and reality TV show, but there is a significant difference between the top rated Sci-Fi show and the rest of the individual categories. Why is that? Blame it on sampling errors, invalid data collection, abused marketing tactics, whatever. Regardless, the business side of television only looks at those numbers as a predictor for whether or not they will keep a show and since Sci-Fi starts out a distinct disadvantage both in ratings and in cost, Sci-Fi is usually the first to go. So if it seems like I'm backing a show without having all the facts of the situation, you're right I am. Heck, I figure if people will watch 5 lawyer dramas/dramedies, 4 crime scene investigation shows, and 4 shows about doctors and their problems/love affairs every week, there is room for at least a few more sci-fi shows. It's time to level the playing field. |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Thursday November 16 2006 11:32pm |
| Peter: They can't even make a decent trailer. That does not bode well for the series. And in my experience, creating entertaining comedy trailers is one of the easiest things to do. Does Starhyke deserve a chance? I don't know, as I haven't seen anything that gives me a feel for the series. But I don't back things simply because of the genre they occupy, I need something more. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Thursday November 16 2006 10:15am |
| Crow and NS, I don't know if it will be good or complete bantha poodoo, but I think it at least deserves a chance to air! What if B5, Farscape, or SG-1 wasn't given a chance to air? What if the BBC decided never to show a single episode of Red Dwarf. More importantly, what if NBC decided that StarTrek was worthless back in the '60s? Some of the Sci-Fi that's come out has been excellent, others...not so much. But the point is, at least they had a shot at getting a TV audience. At least give this show a chance. If they fail, then they fail and they join the ranks of numerous Sci-Fi shows that never made it past episode 5 (M.A.N.T.I.S and VR5 come to mind). At least that's my perspective on it. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Thursday November 16 2006 10:06am |
| Before NS chides me over this...yes, I made a mistake. It's Claudia Christian, not Christiansen. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday November 16 2006 9:17am |
| Indeed. Red Dwarf wasn't made great by pretty people and fancy CGI. It has funny dialogue and wacky outside-the-universe plots. Unfortunately, their not giving us any evidence of that here. :( | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday November 15 2006 5:58pm |
| I'm just not seeing what's so great about it. Maybe if, you know, they included some funny material instead of an anoying musical tune, I could start to care. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Wednesday November 15 2006 5:25pm |
|
Oh...and for those who want to watch a STARHYKE trailer with dialogue and CG shots, you may also want to watch their second trailer: GoogleVideo: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-9076269723077244148&q=STARHYKE YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DK6TVqUOO4 So get watching already!!! They are a long way off from the 100,000 views that they need to make it! From the STARHYKE official site: We still need to get the numbers up if we’re going to convince a channel that you want Starhyke on TV. It’s up to you, spread the word and help to get the number of downloads up to 100,000. Don’t forget to rate the trailer! Ratings are important to raise our profile on the streaming sites. So… watch, rate and pass the word about Starhyke and let’s get the show on air! |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Wednesday November 15 2006 5:11pm |
|
Speaking of B5 - CLAUDIA CHRISTIANSEN NEEDS OUR HELP! Claudia Christiansen (best known for her role as Ivanova on B5) and Jeremy Bullock (Boba Fett from Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) are in a new British Sci-Fi comedy (think Red Dwarf for those familiar with that BBC sci-fi comedy) called "STARHYKE". Here's where we, the fans, come in. The BBC has posted the "trailer" for this new show on the web and the decision about whether to air the episode or not comes from the number of positive comments and fan ramblings that the BBC gets about this show. Here are the trailers: YOUTUBE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AL5sOalus4o GOOGLE: http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-3814519384657636878&q=STARHYKE Also visit the show's official site: http://www.starhyke.com So start talking about this show to all of you sci-fi loving (and sci-fi tolerant) friends, family, and co-workers. Let them know we want Ivanova back on the air, and we want to hear more of Jeremy Bullock's actual voice than the 1 line he had as the Tantive 4 (Bail Organa's Corelian Corvette) pilot in Revenge of the Sith. STARHYKE! |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Wednesday November 15 2006 2:46pm |
|
"In the spring of 2005, Tim Sweeney [Unreal 3 Engine lead programmer] led the charge to get Microsoft to put more memory in the Xbox 360. At first, the console designers had planned on 256 megabytes. But Sweeney’s team sent over screen shots that showed what Gears of War would look like with 256 megabytes of main memory and with 512 megabytes. Microsoft gave in and doubled the memory. That decision cost the company an estimated $1 billion in higher component costs." http://blogs.mercurynews.com/aei/2006/11/cliffyb_and_the.html |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Wednesday November 15 2006 9:26am |
| Eh, you know...war is bloody. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 7:14pm |
| Sorry, I did not mean for my last post to be so bloody. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 7:13pm |
|
What the heck, I like giving away B5 spoilers too! We also have to keep in mind that not everyone in the PsiCorps is in on the conspiracy, only the PsiCops are, and we don't even know if they are all in it. The first rule of conspiracy is that the degree of secrecy is inversely proportional to the square of the number of conspirators. Thus, most of the members of the Corps would have to remain in the dark, which means they cannot be counted on in an attempted coup. But, PsiCorps needs a large contingent of troops in order to take over Earth: they can't do it with a handfull of PsiCops, no matter how powerful they are. Thus, as the conspiracy expands, the more risk there is that the conspiracy is blown. It could be that news leaks out before the PsiCorps is in position to move, giving even Mundanes a chance to overwhelm them without the help of Teeps. If things were to get really bad, there is still the Alliance. Alien forces played a support role in the Earth Civil War, and I'm sure that the Rangers would not be too keen on having PsiCorps officers opperating White Stars. So, even if the majority of Teeps side with the PsiCorps, they must still deal with Membari Teeps. Basically, I cannot see how the PsiCorps could win, so I don't know what JMS's hangups are. |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 6:22pm |
|
Once again, spoiler alerts for those who didn't follow B5 NS, While I can accept your explanation (I oversimplified when I said that a bunch of ragtag gaggle of normal humans take out the teeps), but I still don't think the rogue element of teeps is that great in number that they can take down Psi Corps. Even with Lyta as their most powerful ally, the non-PsiCorps faction still needs something else to fully take down the Corps. I always envisioned the "Dark Angel" scenario whereby the Teeps of Psi Corps have a genetic weakness (such as in the show where Max and her collegues could not produce Tryptophan). Without a given supplement, the teeps would eventually die out. I envision one big raid by the Non-PsiCorps faction on the primary warehouse stocking the supplement leaving the Corps helpless. I know that Teep on Teep can't be the complete answer to the "How does PsiCorps lose the Teep War" question because one of the resounding themes of the series (and of Star Wars as well) is that the spirit will prevail over abilities. It's why G'Kar and the Narn despite not having any telepaths prevail over the teep-ridden Centauri, it's why Captain Johnny prevails over the Shadows at Z'ha'dum, it's why and it's why Garibaldi wins back Lise (okay...that last part got away from me). So therefore, in keeping with the themes that JMS himself has set up, there must be someway in which the normal humans (with the aid of some rogue teeps including Lyta and possibly Bester/Black Omega for the reasons you provided) take down the teeps through indirect combat. By the way, it's good to "geek out" (you should do so more often)! |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 4:42pm |
| Wow, I haven't geeked out that hardcore in a long time. Invigorating! | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 4:10pm |
|
Heh, that's the question that has been going around pretty much since the show ended. And there are many fans that suspect he has written himself into a corner regarding the teep war. However, I don't think it's that bad; in fact he's already shown that the plot is not "a ragtag gaggle of normal people beat the superior Telepaths". The war is actually Teep on Teep in its essence, which makes much more sense. So here's what we got... If by some chance there's someone here who cares about B5 spoilers, you should probably move along. 1. The Byron thread demonstrates that Rogues are starting to organize, yet Byron's ultimate failure implies that the pro-violence side of the movement will win out over the hippies. 2. In "The Corps is Mother, the Corps is Father" we see that the Black Omega elements (presumably under Bester's direction) are building military weapons, in clear violation of their charter. This act of hubris will ultimately work against the Psi Corps: the governments of the Mundanes support (read: pay for) the Psi Corps only because they believe it lets them control telepaths. When this comes out, the governments will cease all funding and presumably throw their non-negligible support behind the Rogues instead. http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/101.html 3. This official support will be added to the existing support of the private sector (like Garibaldi/Edgars), which has been eating away at the Psi Corps for years. 4. In "The Path of Sorrows", the Psi Corps base Matheson worked at was destroyed not by mundanes, but by telepaths. http://www.midwinter.com/lurk/countries/us/guide/504.html 5. In the Psi Corps book trilogy, which JMS considers canon, Bester is shown to have survived the war, which, reasonably, he is unlikely to do if he stays with the Psi Corps. So I suspect that Bester leaves, and takes Black Omega with him. This leaves the Psi Corps not only without money, but without teeth as well. If you watch his development throughout the series, there are only two times when his faith in the Corps is visibly shaken. First, when he is unable to prevent Shadow-based corruption from infiltrating the Corps (ultimately costing him his wife). Second, the telepath mass-suicide on Babylon 5. So that's two strikes before the war even starts. See where I'm going? When you add this all up, I don't think it's a stretch to say that the Psi Corps is out-gunned, not at all. Most of the criticism is based on the assumption that the telepaths as a whole somehow lose a war, but JMS has never said that. He has only said that the Psi Corps loses. I suspect it's more through attrition than direct conflict. As for why he hasn't just shown this? The realities of production. He didn't think he could do it on a TV budget. Then he didn't want to pit a movie against Star Wars. Then Crusade came and went, which was not only a creative distraction but a financial disaster for WB. And then Andreas died. Which is really the final nail in the coffin. See, you can't show the Teep War without showing Lyta. But the problem is that when Lyta was exiled, G'Kar went with her. So he's pretty much fucked. If we ever get the whole story, it will almost certainly be on paper, or it will be after JMS is dead as well. Because he's said very clearly that as long as he lives, G'Kar will not be recast. |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 2:22pm |
| So NS, why is JMS tip-toeing around the Teep War? Is it because he can't think of a plot line believable enough that could legitamately explain how a ragtag gaggle of normal people beat the superior Telepaths? (I smell Ewoks!) Also, rumor has it that more of the original cast than just Capt. Johnny and Lockley would return (with 2 notable exceptions - see my previous post). While there's not a whole lot of info about what these new stories will entail, it was implied from what I read about JMS's 2006 SD ComicCon panel that the Teep War would not be covered. Oh well.. | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 9:35am |
| I also see on JMSnews that Chris Franke has been hired. Excellent! | |
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Tuesday November 14 2006 9:27am |
| I knew about production, but I didn't know that Peter Woodward was on board. That's pretty fucking awesome! | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Monday November 13 2006 9:01pm |
|
Nearscape, just in case you missed this: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/30691 Press release about the direct to DVD B5 movies. I guess they started production today! Still won't be the same without Stephen Franklin or G'Kar. |
|
| Posted by: CrowSacpe | Posted on: Sunday November 12 2006 12:50pm |
|
Intrigue, I hate to break it to you, but military force IS a negotiating tactic. "War is the continuation of politics through other means." - Clauswitz It's a good thing that Bush doesn't "believe in war," as that would just make him evil. However, that he believes war is a negotiating tactic means that he has had some experience in an obscure field called International Politics. |
|
| Posted by: adam | Posted on: Sunday November 12 2006 12:30am |
|
Ok... To change things up a bit... I'm seriously looking at a new computer this winter. Suggestions to what to look for? (I'm thinking a PC this time around... I have no incentive to stay with Mac right now) -A |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 2:25pm |
|
B_W: If the earth doesn't open up and swallow you first, that is! ;) Intrigue, for the last time, Gears of War is not an FPS. I'll let Tycho do the reviewing on this one, since he has actually played the game, and you have not. "Without embellishments: you have not played this before. Build a room exclusively made of friends (or the friends thereof) and tell me if you don't rock back and forth on the couch between matches, like a lunatic, in anticipation of the next round." This from a man who has demonstrated considerable immunity to hype, and a clear preference for PC gaming. Curious. |
|
| Posted by: B_W | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 10:44am |
|
Greetings from La La Land, Seriously, I thought Palance died years ago... shows how much I know. Now it makes me sad I didn't congradulate him in person for this tour de fource roll in Solar Crisis. LA is weird. I have driven it's crumbling highways myself. It's not THAT bad... well... Anyway, korporate media rolls on upon my return. Godspeed, B_W |
|
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 9:26am |
| http://www.apple.com/jp/getamac/ads/ | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 9:17am |
| first off, i don't think that bush is an idiot, i never did, stupid people can not lie worth a damn. i think that bush is an arrogant ass that thinks that morality and values can be sacrificed to an end that justifies the means, and to that extent, he does not believe in war, but rather military force as a negotiation tactic. it has become clear to me that Iraq, was a way to threaten, Iran, and North Korea, and not to eliminate terrorism. its a political move, plan and simple. | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 9:11am |
|
gears of war seems like every other FPS to me, i would rather spend money on a Nintendo wii game like operation, than on gears of war. Cliffy B. seems to think that the chainsaw was the cooooooolest feature, to me, i have fragged all of you soooooo many times, even with chainsaws that i don't find anything interesting in killing you with a chainsaw again. the fps genre is pretty much dead to me until something interesting comes along. PORTAL looks like a hell of a good time. Prey was lackluster and more of the same, i dont see how this 50$ will be any different than the 50$ i spent on prey. Supreme commander on the other hand is SWEEEEEEEEETTTTTTTTTTTTT. And even though many of the features Feel like TA, i kinda like that, it is a different game like warcraft, and starcraft are different. Savage 2 is looking good and i can't wait for it to go gold. The first game was a great idea with limited execution, the sequel will be more of the same with stunning graphics and some added gameplay. Will Wright's Spore is also on my list of must haves. This game from guild software seems kinda fun, and when everything goes dx10 and vista only, i might have something to play on my linux box, because this space mmog from guild software, vendetta online, runs on everything. It will be interesting to get wow and vent to run on linux. |
|
| Posted by: cornstarch | Posted on: Saturday November 11 2006 8:53am |
| http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2XQ97XHjVw | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Friday November 10 2006 4:58pm |
|
Wow....Jack Palance has died. We have lost one of our great "Tough Guy" actors. I know that Big_Whisky especially will be in mourning. The sad thing is he will probably be forever remembered as "Curly" from City Slickers despite a very distinguished career. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Movies/11/10/palance.death/index.html We are losing a lot of icons lately. First Ed Bradley, now Jack Palance! These are dark times indeed. |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Thursday November 9 2006 10:37pm |
| Well DBBQC, the ease of telling the truth depends entirely on how big the lie is and how long you intend to keep it going. If it's a huge lie but you don't intend on keeping it going for longer than thirty seconds, it's probably a lot easier than telling even a small truth. | |
| Posted by: Dream BBQ Child | Posted on: Thursday November 9 2006 8:54pm |
|
I assert it's a lot easier to just tell the truth. As the old saying goes, "Honesty is the best policy." I'm just glad for a move toward the middle. The partisanship has been too ARRRGHHHH for the last too long. There will likely be, and in my opnion, should be heated debate now between the Executive and Legislative branches. The Veto pen should come out from time to time too. This one party p0wnership thing we've had for the last too long as well, I'm glad it's over for the moment. With way-to-be-ness governemnt will now SLOW DOWN and ideas will be more carefully thought/fought out before they become law. Seriously, if we must have political parties the Executive and Legislative branches being in diffrent hands is a fine thing for our democracy and I welcome it. Cause both sides have their points and so neither should be drowned out and they should work together. And Legislative branch should do it's job. Checks n' balances ya know. I suppose since I'm leaving for Georgia in a few hours here I should throw an "I tell you what" in this post here as well. Oh, and a Git er' Done! |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Thursday November 9 2006 6:53pm |
| I'm with the conservatives who are wondering why the hell Bush didn't replace Rumsfeld 6 months ago. It almost certainly would have improved the Republican election results; shown that Bush may not have his blinders on after all. Now he looks like the last person in the country to notice that Rumsfeld's been out of useful idea since the capture of Saddam. | |
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Thursday November 9 2006 8:28am |
| Adam, please note that there are plenty of times where it is socially acceptible to lie (even if you are the president). I don't believe Bush did anything inappropriate or out of the ordinary in any way here. Let me posit an analogy which should clarify things. Suppose you had a close family member (brother/sister or mother/father)who was the victim of an tragic accident. Would you prefer it if you found out about the passing of a loved one from watching it on the news rather than hearing it from other family members or the doctor himself/herself? In this case, I fully believe that while events were set into motion that Rumsfeld might be leaving, nothing was confirmed. Having Bush tell the press "He will be staying on" was not completely inaccurate (he was still on for short time - but that is not crux of my point) but was primarily a gesture of respect to Rumsfeld and his family. It's for this reason that I find it perplexing that you brought up this issue. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 8:05pm |
| And I still assert it's perfectly okay to lie to reporters. The more lies, the closer they are together and the more they contradict, the better. Basically, make it plainly obvious that they can't trust anything they get from informal channels, although the New York Times will still run everything on the front page, because they have a collective IQ equal to a jar of Smucker's preserves. Heck, give your entire staff the job of trying to get the most factually-challenged story published in a Sunday paper. Then, run a "serious" probe to find out who the source was, threaten to serve affidavits to reporters, and then "punish" the staffer with a President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service in view of the many reporters who loiter around the White House (or arrest the reporters for vagrancy, which can also be fun). Make sure the staffer uses the publicity to try to convince reporters of his information's validity. Then, do the same when real stories are published. Think of it as a safeguard against leaks. Just don't lie through formal channels. | |
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 7:47pm |
|
If there's an intelligent reporter out there, then I haven't seen any evidence of it. You'd think that they'd be writing good copy somewhere. Maybe the system just keeps intellect relegated to the boonies and sends the drooling morons to the major papers. Of course, I'm also bitter because I had to deal with the disgraced producer of CNN's "Operation Tailwind" for a semester, and the veteran reporters he brought in, the "good newmen," were of the tinfoil-hat wearing variety. Oh, and read Walter Cronkite's A Reporter's Life. There's a fine amount of asshattery in there. I didn't hate Cronkite until after I read it. As long as the profession holds him in high regard, it deserves no respect. |
|
| Posted by: adam | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 6:46pm |
|
@CS... Hey now... I know some pretty smart reporters. It's traditionally your anchors that are the airheads. A great and wise man, Dr. Michael Havice, once said "talent are just talking props." Now as for the lie... The following is an exceprt from Bush's presser this morning: Q Thank you, Mr. President. Last week you told us that Secretary Rumsfeld will be staying on. Why is the timing right now for this, and how much does it have to do with the election results? THE PRESIDENT: Right. No, you and Hunt and Keil came in the Oval Office, and Hunt asked me the question one week before the campaign, and basically it was, are you going to do something about Rumsfeld and the Vice President? And my answer was, they're going to stay on. And the reason why is I didn't want to inject a major decision about this war in the final days of a campaign. And so the only way to answer that question and to get you on to another question was to give you that answer. The truth of the matter is, as well -- I mean, that's one reason I gave the answer, but the other reason why is I hadn't had a chance to visit with Bob Gates yet, and I hadn't had my final conversation with Don Rumsfeld yet at that point. I had been talking with Don Rumsfeld over a period of time about fresh perspective. He likes to call it fresh eyes. He, himself, understands that Iraq is not working well enough, fast enough. And he and I are constantly assessing. And I'm assessing, as well, all the time, by myself, about, do we have the right people in the right place, or do we -- got the right strategy? As you know, we're constantly changing tactics. And that requires constant assessment. And so he and I both agreed in our meeting yesterday that it was appropriate that I accept his resignation. And so the decision was made -- actually, I thought we were going to do fine yesterday. Shows what I know. But I thought we were going to be fine in the election. My point to you is, is that, win or lose, Bob Gates was going to become the nominee. The part in red is where he basically admitted to lying. By the way, the official transcript is at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/11/20061108-2.html Now.. On to general things... Apparently, there was a tornado in the Orlando area last night. See http://weatherfirst.blogspot.com/2006/11/election-night-tornado-strikes-orlando.html for more details. -A |
|
| Posted by: CrowScape | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 4:32pm |
|
It's okay to lie to reporters. They aren't that intellegent (especially if they're journalism majors) and reality will tend to crush them. You know when they do those Christmas reports about Santa being tracked by NORAD? Well, the reporters aren't in on the joke. I once saw someone tell Peter Jennings that the Easter Bunny wasn't real. You've never seen a grown man cry so hard. He had to be put on suicide watch. One time, just for fun, I produced a bunch of obviously fake documents in Word and sent them to Dan Rather. Wooo-boy! That was a ride! I've got a few other friends in New Jersey that sent in a news tip about something they called "Global Warming," which was based on a sci-fi story my friend was writting for the school's prose publication, and the press hasn't stopped talking about it! Sure, the tip came from a twelve-year-old, but it was an anyonymous twelve-year-old who said he was a senior researcher at the University of Jupiter, so they bought it! Good times! But no, I haven't been able to watch TV today. Please provide a link. |
|
| Posted by: adam | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 3:41pm |
|
The Rummy story broke about 11:30... It came across the wires as an orange alert (highest priority - normal alerts are yellow). Seriously, you've never heard cheering as loud as the control room when it broke. Speaking of Rummy... Anyone see Bush admit to blatantly lying to reporters about him? -A |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 12:50pm |
|
It's not just a big day in gaming, but a big day politically too! http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/11/08/rumsfeld/index.html Rumsfeld stepped down as Defense Secretary and Robert Gates is taking his place. Not smart on any front... |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 9:42am |
|
I guess it's a big day in gaming...Unreal Engine 3 has finally shipped a game, Gears of War. http://gearsofwar.com/Emergenceday/ So "next gen" is finally here. For real, this time. Intrigue seems down on the subject, so I'm wondering if anyone else is planning on picking it up? Because I'd kind of like to see it. |
|
| Posted by: nearscape | Posted on: Wednesday November 8 2006 9:26am |
|
I think the new album is doing well because he's now got a few generations of fans, and he's injected some more mature topics here and there to cater to the older crowd (subjects like the Duodenum, DRM, and Canadia). He's always appealed to, as he says, the 12-year-old boys. Now he's also got a bunch of old farts like us (and even the gen-Xers before us) with more money to spend. Unfortunately your class is probably right at that in-between age where nothing is funny, and they are very insecure about being "cool". I remember when I was an ANGRY ANGRY 18-year-old; I wasn't listening to much Wierd Al back then either (my loss). But I did have Tribes and Starcraft to take my frustrations out on. Something tells me these kids aren't so lucky. :( |
|
| Posted by: Peter | Posted on: Tuesday November 7 2006 4:26pm |
| That's the last time I do anything nice for my students.... Last night Nearscape showed me Weird Al's great music video for "Pancreas" which ironically enough was part of the topic of my lecture today. I played it for a less than amiable crowd of freshman that quite audibly proclaimed that Weird Al was "lame" amongst other less than savory descriptions. Kids these days...no appreciation for the finer things...Which leads me to a question: If Weird Al's music isn't popular with today's youth, how is his "Lynwood" album such a best seller? | |
| Posted by: intrigue | Posted on: Monday November 6 2006 11:32am |
|
supreme commander, does have one major bug, it provides a user interface feature that is able to control your life from within the AI, the developers describe this functionality as FUN. jon has found a few hacks for the beta that enable lan play and play against the AI |
|