In the not so distant future, a Marine squadron battles aliens in Los Angeles. That's what the commercials portray.
We've all seen the Independence Day and other alien invasion movies so what makes this one worthwhile? It's different. No, I mean it in the good way. Everyone has seen the humans fight off aliens but with the love romance (like ID4) or the kids being involved (like in Signs) but B:LA features realistic marines with modern day technology against the whole amazing alien armada.
I just saw this movie as a date night movie and well, all I can say is that this movie is great. Go see it!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Sony Xperia Play-Great New Gaming Technology or Another Driving Danger?
Sony announced it's new gaming phone the xperia play not too long ago, and it's generating some hype. Yes, it supports original playstation titles and is an interesting piece of technology incorporating gaming and phones, But, is it pushing phone features too far? Is gaming on your phone something we really need? We already have people concentrating on their phones too much while driving.
We already have people texting while driving. It seems we see it very often. Someone not watching while driving, and they are swerving between lanes. We pull up next to them at a red light. They are looking at their lap, not the road. Sometimes, shockingly, with a kid in the car. So, is serious gaming on a phone a great idea? Maybe it really isn't.
Think about it this way. If we already have people texting while driving, do you really think people won't drive while attempting to play a game on their phone? The sad truth is, thinking about it, it's very likely. Someone may favor creating their sackboy in a portable version of Little Big Planet over watching the road. These people who would come to have these phones may be a danger to themselves and others on the road.
So, what's your opinion? Is the xperia play another great piece of gaming technology or a danger to the road?
We already have people texting while driving. It seems we see it very often. Someone not watching while driving, and they are swerving between lanes. We pull up next to them at a red light. They are looking at their lap, not the road. Sometimes, shockingly, with a kid in the car. So, is serious gaming on a phone a great idea? Maybe it really isn't.
Think about it this way. If we already have people texting while driving, do you really think people won't drive while attempting to play a game on their phone? The sad truth is, thinking about it, it's very likely. Someone may favor creating their sackboy in a portable version of Little Big Planet over watching the road. These people who would come to have these phones may be a danger to themselves and others on the road.
So, what's your opinion? Is the xperia play another great piece of gaming technology or a danger to the road?
She Shook Her Peaches For Show
I tweet. I am on Twitter. Yes, I admit it: I'm a twit. What's worse, I follow mostly celebrities. If you'd told a young Ryan that he would turn out to be something of a celebrity media hawk, he would have been highly incredulous - and then he would have asked what video games were going to be like in the future, since you seem to know everything. Shocking as it is to admit even now, with the truth staring me in the face and tweets fed to me in real time through my internet IV, I find myself in my 30s and fascinated with, of course, your Charlie Sheen, and your 50cent, and even your Lady Gaga. I follow the RiffTrax performers (formerly of MST3K), as well as celebrity beauties like Kristen Schaal, Olivia Munn, and Mary Lynn Rajskub. I sat rapt as James Franco tweeted live video from his hosting of the Oscars, and laughed for the sheer joy of Schadenfreude as funny people like James Urbaniak tore him - and the whole show - apart as they watched from home. My list of followers definitely makes me seem like a little bit of a hipster/gossip hound, which is quite embarrassing, but I would like to point out that I do have standards. I refuse to follow Kanye West, and I would sooner die than click "Follow" on Snooki's profile. There, she describes herself thusly:
"reality star . ny times best selling author . business woman . boss lady"
For good measure, I suppose, she adds:
"♡Keep Talkin ;)"
The juxtaposition of this horrible train wreck of a person and the title of one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs is disturbing enough, but the fact that she lists herself as a New York Times bestselling author is, like some Lovecraftian elder god skulking through the streets of Innsmouth, enough to drive a person to madness by the sheer thought of it, and that is what this entry is about - not Twitter.
Nicole, "Snooki," Polizzi's book is a work of narrative fiction called A Shore Thing, and it was number 24 on the extended New York Times Best Seller list for January 30 of this year. It was published by Simon and Schuster, a company that has also published Ursula K. Le Guin and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough. When interviewed by Reuters, she had this to say about her novel:
"People would rather watch TV than sit down and actually read a book, so that's why I wrote this. It's just like my show, accept you're reading it, so I'm actually bringing back reading."
Now, if Snooki reignites your interest in literature, there is a good chance that you were never that interested in it to begin with. I am writing a book. I'm pretty far into it, trying to make 2000 words a day every morning. I plot even in my sleep. I dream of my characters, my setting. It's a work of fantasy, and I have agonized over the naming conventions of my fictional race. I re-read it constantly as I go along, excising needless exposition, adding scenes that help clarify the justification for the carefully plotted action sequences, and generally criticizing myself excessively. I don't know Ms. Polizzi, and I understand how much of a snob I sound like saying this, but I cannot imagine her sitting at her computer in anguish over character development and plot arcs. I can't see her rewriting scenes to better communicate her main character's motivation. I doubt she was thinking about "bringing back reading" when she wrote such lines as:
"Yum. Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla."
Or:
"Gia danced around a little, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped. A fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."
I know there is a line between criticism and ridicule. I don't want to cross it. I don't want to sound like I'm taking pot shots at a goof-ball 20-something because I have had no amount of success whatsoever as an artist. Perhaps Polizzi wasn't trying to write The Great Gatsby. No, I think it entirely possible that she hasn't even heard of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Still, I must give her the benefit of the doubt and say that her artistic attempt is likely no less honest than mine have been. Nonetheless, pulp is pulp and crap is crap, and the fact that people have actually deliberately purchased Snooki's fictional autobiography is either an embarrassment to the august institute of literature itself or, from an optimistic standpoint, proof that I might actually have a shot at getting my silly novella published. I may, however, be forced to include descriptions on par with:
"He had an okay body. Not fat at all. And naturally toned abs. She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face."
God help us all.
"reality star . ny times best selling author . business woman . boss lady"
For good measure, I suppose, she adds:
"♡Keep Talkin ;)"
The juxtaposition of this horrible train wreck of a person and the title of one of my favorite Pink Floyd songs is disturbing enough, but the fact that she lists herself as a New York Times bestselling author is, like some Lovecraftian elder god skulking through the streets of Innsmouth, enough to drive a person to madness by the sheer thought of it, and that is what this entry is about - not Twitter.
Nicole, "Snooki," Polizzi's book is a work of narrative fiction called A Shore Thing, and it was number 24 on the extended New York Times Best Seller list for January 30 of this year. It was published by Simon and Schuster, a company that has also published Ursula K. Le Guin and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner David McCullough. When interviewed by Reuters, she had this to say about her novel:
"People would rather watch TV than sit down and actually read a book, so that's why I wrote this. It's just like my show, accept you're reading it, so I'm actually bringing back reading."
Now, if Snooki reignites your interest in literature, there is a good chance that you were never that interested in it to begin with. I am writing a book. I'm pretty far into it, trying to make 2000 words a day every morning. I plot even in my sleep. I dream of my characters, my setting. It's a work of fantasy, and I have agonized over the naming conventions of my fictional race. I re-read it constantly as I go along, excising needless exposition, adding scenes that help clarify the justification for the carefully plotted action sequences, and generally criticizing myself excessively. I don't know Ms. Polizzi, and I understand how much of a snob I sound like saying this, but I cannot imagine her sitting at her computer in anguish over character development and plot arcs. I can't see her rewriting scenes to better communicate her main character's motivation. I doubt she was thinking about "bringing back reading" when she wrote such lines as:
"Yum. Johnny Hulk tasted like fresh gorilla."
Or:
"Gia danced around a little, shaking her peaches for show. She shook it hard. Too hard. In the middle of a shimmy, her stomach cramped. A fart slipped out. A loud one. And stinky."
I know there is a line between criticism and ridicule. I don't want to cross it. I don't want to sound like I'm taking pot shots at a goof-ball 20-something because I have had no amount of success whatsoever as an artist. Perhaps Polizzi wasn't trying to write The Great Gatsby. No, I think it entirely possible that she hasn't even heard of F. Scott Fitzgerald. Still, I must give her the benefit of the doubt and say that her artistic attempt is likely no less honest than mine have been. Nonetheless, pulp is pulp and crap is crap, and the fact that people have actually deliberately purchased Snooki's fictional autobiography is either an embarrassment to the august institute of literature itself or, from an optimistic standpoint, proof that I might actually have a shot at getting my silly novella published. I may, however, be forced to include descriptions on par with:
"He had an okay body. Not fat at all. And naturally toned abs. She could pour a shot of tequila down his belly and slurp it out of his navel without getting splashed in the face."
God help us all.
FWD: Digest: Special Notifications/Achievements
I'm just happy to be nominated.
------Original Message------
From: Empire Avenue Accounts <accounts@empireavenue.com>
To: <scott.thomas.barnes@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 10, 4:00 PM +0000
Subject: Digest: Special Notifications/Achievements
a { color:#27647b; color:#27647b; color:#27647b; text-decoration: none; }
Special Notifications!
You have been promoted to to the rank of President in the "Science Fiction" Index.
As President you report directly to the CEO and only to the CEO. Of course, in reality you are just waiting to "take down" the CEO and take over the top spot right? But still being President is no small task, you've gained more 2-Weekly earnings gains and share price rank than almost everyone but the CEO!
Do not reply to this e-mail it has been automatically generated. Manage your email settings.
Copyright (C) 2009-2011 Empire Avenue Inc. All rights reserved.
Suite 339, 14032 23rd Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, T6R 3L6, Canada
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Crack The Skye
So, I figured I'd give my opinion on an album I've recently gotten semi back into.
The album is progressive metal, a unique sound I happen to like. The album even tells a slight story involving wormholes and astral travel. It has a really cool sound to it. I've even tried listening to the album released previous to this album and it sounds different. Three members of the band share vocals, another thing not seen frequently in music today. If your into some metal, you may want to check this out. The version I have even came with a DVD that shows the band recording the album and going over the songs. It's different then your standard metal album.
The album is progressive metal, a unique sound I happen to like. The album even tells a slight story involving wormholes and astral travel. It has a really cool sound to it. I've even tried listening to the album released previous to this album and it sounds different. Three members of the band share vocals, another thing not seen frequently in music today. If your into some metal, you may want to check this out. The version I have even came with a DVD that shows the band recording the album and going over the songs. It's different then your standard metal album.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Re: £1,500,000.00 GBP has been granted to your E-MAIL:
I think these email spam places have gotten lazier. Just saying...
On Mon, Mar 7, 2011 at 5:52 PM, liverwood <web4638@btinternet.com> wrote:
Sunday, March 6, 2011
What's Your Weekend Like?
I'm preparing to interview the Axe Cop team on Monday via email. What are you guys up to?
Friday, March 4, 2011
Fwd: Unsung 80's Action Figures...Reborn
Just got this in as an email. It looks awesome!
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: GeekChicDaily <today@geekchicdaily.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Subject: Unsung 80's Action Figures...Reborn
To: scott.thomas.barnes@gmail.com
From: GeekChicDaily <today@geekchicdaily.com>
Date: Fri, Mar 4, 2011 at 11:00 AM
Subject: Unsung 80's Action Figures...Reborn
To: scott.thomas.barnes@gmail.com
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All's Quiet On The Western Front...
So today we've asked Axe Cop for an interview and we got accepted. I'll be emailing him the questions this weekend for fun and disaster! Check out Axe Cop in the mean time at www.AXECOP.com!
Also, Friday's night picks for television are as follow: GIJoe: Renegades on HUB, Transformers: Prime on HUB, and Supernatural on CW. Check your TV guide for listings.
Weekend movies suggestions? We'll got them too.
The Adjustment Bureau looks promising but I'm tired of psychological thrillers so if anyone sees this movie, please let me know how it is. Rango seems to be my safe bet of all the movies coming out this weekend. Check out the rest of the movies for this weekend and the rest of March via Moviefone.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The Ring Goes South -or- A Grumpy Old Man Complains About Hippies
Despite the fact that I have contracted a virulent and miserable cold and that my throat is swelling closed as we speak in apparent mockery of the healing orange juice I've been consuming and the salt water with which I have recently gargled, I am intent on making a post today! The days blur together when you're a chronic insomniac, but I'm relatively certain that I haven't missed a week since I agreed to contribute. (Feel free to correct me.)
I recently watched all 3 movies in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings super extreme blockbuster trilogy, the extended editions, for what is roughly the twelve-thousandth time. My father read The Hobbit to me when I was a child, and I have been fascinated with Tolkien ever since. I'm such a Tolkien dork that I pronounce his last name as he did - toll-KEEN - even though I know it makes me sound like a hipster doofus. I love the movies, I really do; the visuals are stunning, the casting is great, and the music is excellent. There is no question that Peter Jackson knows how to make a good movie. (Hipster doofus says: see The Frighteners.) I squirm a bit at the changes made, though I understand most of them. The book as it is would be unfilmable. Part of me wants to cry out that it is Glorfindel who faces the Nazgûl at the Ford of Buinen, that the Argonath should depict Anárion and Isildur and not Isildur and Elendil, that Haldir was not present for the Battle of the Hornburg, and that Aragorn actually summons the Oathbreakers from the Stone of Erech, but I'm not a purist by any stretch. I understand that, in any adaptation, there will be deviations from the source material. There is, I admit, a certain galling conceit when drastic changes are made; Faramir is shown to covet the Ring of Power in the movie when he never does so in the book, and Jackson's explanation for this is that Faramir "needed a character arc." To make judgments upon the work of Tolkien, as if one could write The Lord of the Rings better than he did, seems to require a rationalization that I cannot even imagine anyone making. Still, I watch. I watch the films again and again. I love what I love about them and I try not to gripe.
But there is one aspect of the movie that I cannot help but complain about every time, in spite of myself: the anachronistic dialogue.
Some of the lines in the movie are pulled directly from Tolkien's story. Many, of course, were written by screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. When you must compare Tolkien's lines with theirs, Tolkien ends up blasting them out of the water, which is only understandable. Tolkien had a unique voice; his narratives read like history, and he had a way with words that one would expect from a professor of philology. He had the unique ability to make himself disappear from the story almost entirely, leaving the reader with only elves, hobbits, dwarves, and other such creatures to escort you though his imagination. But his characters do not speak in normal ways. Their diction is outmoded and, apparently, unsuitable for blockbuster crowds. When you hold lines like "You cannot pass, I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor," up to such gems as "Let's hunt some orc," or "Nobody tosses a dwarf," the comparison almost seems unsporting. And I'm not just talking about corny lines here: I'm also talking about sentiments that Tolkien very probably never intended to convey.
In the mid 60s, The Lord of the Rings became wildly popular in the United States. It was embraced by many followers of the burgeoning hippie movement, who saw it through their particular lens and occasionally touted it as a kind of hippie manifesto. As is common when a work is embraced as a cultural phenomenon, the book was reinterpreted by biased parties who projected their own values onto it. The hippies saw in The Lord of the Rings messages and ideals that seemed to coincide with their own, and that has left its mark on certain individuals who might be referred to today as neo-hippies. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens definitely fall into that category, and it is evident in their treatment of Tolkien's intellectual property that they are either unable or unwilling to separate the work from the movement that embraced it. Tolkien's work did have allegorical elements, despite his claims that he despised allegory and did not intend The Lord of the Rings to be allegorical, but the parts of this great novel that seem to refer to modern society are merely reflective, being designed not to comment on any contemporary issue but to bind his expansive mythology to the vaguely remembered names and stories that seem to linger in our collective consciousness. It's not so much allegory as it is allusion that we see in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's worlds seem strangely familiar, and, unfortunately, this has led many an interpreter to conclude that the author intended to take sides in certain argument. Peter Jackson's films carry moral themes about following one's heart and believing in one's ability to affect change in the world: "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." There is a floweriness to their message which is entirely modern, and I may be alone in saying that this is pretty obnoxious. The fact is that The Lord of the Rings has no more of a moral than a history documentary might have, and it detracts from the story when the literary voices of those who adapted it blare so unabashedly out at the audience.
I maintain that The Lord of the Rings was not written to be a series of super blockbuster films. No, the characters do not speak in a normal-sounding way, but neither do those of Shakespeare. The book has been in publication since 1954; it clearly does not need to be dumbed down to appeal to a larger audience. That may seem unfair, because Jackson's film really is masterfully-crafted and it fully lives up to Tolkien's high-fantasy in many ways. But so much of the dialogue is grating and out of place that, try as I might, I cannot enjoy the film as much as I feel that I should being a fan of all things Tolkien.
-Namárië-
I recently watched all 3 movies in Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings super extreme blockbuster trilogy, the extended editions, for what is roughly the twelve-thousandth time. My father read The Hobbit to me when I was a child, and I have been fascinated with Tolkien ever since. I'm such a Tolkien dork that I pronounce his last name as he did - toll-KEEN - even though I know it makes me sound like a hipster doofus. I love the movies, I really do; the visuals are stunning, the casting is great, and the music is excellent. There is no question that Peter Jackson knows how to make a good movie. (Hipster doofus says: see The Frighteners.) I squirm a bit at the changes made, though I understand most of them. The book as it is would be unfilmable. Part of me wants to cry out that it is Glorfindel who faces the Nazgûl at the Ford of Buinen, that the Argonath should depict Anárion and Isildur and not Isildur and Elendil, that Haldir was not present for the Battle of the Hornburg, and that Aragorn actually summons the Oathbreakers from the Stone of Erech, but I'm not a purist by any stretch. I understand that, in any adaptation, there will be deviations from the source material. There is, I admit, a certain galling conceit when drastic changes are made; Faramir is shown to covet the Ring of Power in the movie when he never does so in the book, and Jackson's explanation for this is that Faramir "needed a character arc." To make judgments upon the work of Tolkien, as if one could write The Lord of the Rings better than he did, seems to require a rationalization that I cannot even imagine anyone making. Still, I watch. I watch the films again and again. I love what I love about them and I try not to gripe.
But there is one aspect of the movie that I cannot help but complain about every time, in spite of myself: the anachronistic dialogue.
Some of the lines in the movie are pulled directly from Tolkien's story. Many, of course, were written by screenwriters Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, and Peter Jackson. When you must compare Tolkien's lines with theirs, Tolkien ends up blasting them out of the water, which is only understandable. Tolkien had a unique voice; his narratives read like history, and he had a way with words that one would expect from a professor of philology. He had the unique ability to make himself disappear from the story almost entirely, leaving the reader with only elves, hobbits, dwarves, and other such creatures to escort you though his imagination. But his characters do not speak in normal ways. Their diction is outmoded and, apparently, unsuitable for blockbuster crowds. When you hold lines like "You cannot pass, I am a servant of the Secret Fire, wielder of the flame of Anor," up to such gems as "Let's hunt some orc," or "Nobody tosses a dwarf," the comparison almost seems unsporting. And I'm not just talking about corny lines here: I'm also talking about sentiments that Tolkien very probably never intended to convey.
In the mid 60s, The Lord of the Rings became wildly popular in the United States. It was embraced by many followers of the burgeoning hippie movement, who saw it through their particular lens and occasionally touted it as a kind of hippie manifesto. As is common when a work is embraced as a cultural phenomenon, the book was reinterpreted by biased parties who projected their own values onto it. The hippies saw in The Lord of the Rings messages and ideals that seemed to coincide with their own, and that has left its mark on certain individuals who might be referred to today as neo-hippies. Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens definitely fall into that category, and it is evident in their treatment of Tolkien's intellectual property that they are either unable or unwilling to separate the work from the movement that embraced it. Tolkien's work did have allegorical elements, despite his claims that he despised allegory and did not intend The Lord of the Rings to be allegorical, but the parts of this great novel that seem to refer to modern society are merely reflective, being designed not to comment on any contemporary issue but to bind his expansive mythology to the vaguely remembered names and stories that seem to linger in our collective consciousness. It's not so much allegory as it is allusion that we see in The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien's worlds seem strangely familiar, and, unfortunately, this has led many an interpreter to conclude that the author intended to take sides in certain argument. Peter Jackson's films carry moral themes about following one's heart and believing in one's ability to affect change in the world: "Even the smallest person can change the course of the future." There is a floweriness to their message which is entirely modern, and I may be alone in saying that this is pretty obnoxious. The fact is that The Lord of the Rings has no more of a moral than a history documentary might have, and it detracts from the story when the literary voices of those who adapted it blare so unabashedly out at the audience.
I maintain that The Lord of the Rings was not written to be a series of super blockbuster films. No, the characters do not speak in a normal-sounding way, but neither do those of Shakespeare. The book has been in publication since 1954; it clearly does not need to be dumbed down to appeal to a larger audience. That may seem unfair, because Jackson's film really is masterfully-crafted and it fully lives up to Tolkien's high-fantasy in many ways. But so much of the dialogue is grating and out of place that, try as I might, I cannot enjoy the film as much as I feel that I should being a fan of all things Tolkien.
-Namárië-
Introduction
Hello there, fine people. My name is Josh and I have just joined Scott's blog. I do not know much about comic books but I would definitely like to learn all about their amazingness and see everybody else's point of views on them.
My interests include pro wrestling, video games (mostly RPG, wrestling and adventure games), driving to fun places such as New York or any other adventurous places in New Jersey and I enjoy making HTML profiles.
My favorite movies are American Psycho, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and of course the James Bond series. I will try to update what else I like a little bit later, for I must get to sleep. I hope I have an awesome time here. :)
My interests include pro wrestling, video games (mostly RPG, wrestling and adventure games), driving to fun places such as New York or any other adventurous places in New Jersey and I enjoy making HTML profiles.
My favorite movies are American Psycho, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and of course the James Bond series. I will try to update what else I like a little bit later, for I must get to sleep. I hope I have an awesome time here. :)
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
THE INFESTATION HAS BEGUN!
So the Infestation from IDW started in January with IDW's own first issue of INFESTATION and then carried into February with Transformers and Star Trek taking weekly turns for updates. Tomorrow, for NEW COMIC BOOK DAY WEDNESDAY, we see more updates with GIJOE and then, GHOSTBUSTBUSERS. Cool deal, eh brah?
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