The Union of Concerned Scientists have signed a letter accusing the Bush administration of suppressing scientific data that might contradict their environmental and reproductive policies. The group consists of 58 leading scientists including “Nobel-winning researchers as well as environmental and political activists.”
George Lucas has held out releasing the original Star Wars trilogy on DVD for a long time, but, apparently against his hopes, demand has not dwindled. The good news is that the wait will end this September. The bad news is that the DVDs will have the Special Edition (”special” here meaning what it does in “Special Olympics”) versions of the films only. Even though some of the space battles are a helluva lot more dynamic with modern F/X, they look just as crappy as the kid-friendly lounge singer at Jabba’s in the updated ROTJ. Then there are the breaks in logic: like how could Han let Greedo shoot first!? And: how could Jabba grow from human-sized to Winnebago-sized over the course of the series!? And what’s up with the sappy galaxy-wide 4th of July party at the end of ROTJ!? (Here’s a list of the alterations.) To me the Special Editions are a slap in the face to all the fans who want to remember those movies the way they were when we saw them the first time. The F/X model techniques Lucas and his team improved upon and pioneered in late 1970s and early 80s may now be obsolete, but they raised the bar for the future of filmmaking and forever changed how stories are told in moving pictures. I wish moviemakers still used those techniques because they had a unique texture that computer models never will have. Unfortunately CG effects have made the cost of using real models so prohibitive that they may never be used again. All I can say now is that I’m glad and proud to have bought the THX letterboxed VHS version of the trilogy when they said it would never be available again. Let’s hope, however, that Lucas doesn’t make good on that threat.
Shoshana Johnson, the former POW shot in the ankles by Iraqis after her convoy was ambushed, is making speaking rounds on college campuses and appearing on TV. Under the banner of Black History Month she provides a fresh and down-to-earth role model as a strong, independent woman, though she is quick to call her rescuers the real heroes. Her struggle to get a disability pension comparable to the one Pfc. Jessica Lynch got was politicized by her family and Rev. Jesse Jackson as racial discrimination. Johnson has since denied that she thinks race was an issue, has no animosity toward Lynch, and said that “it’s routine to have to fight the military for benefits.” She spoke Wednesday at a Long Island community college where she said:
“You dream of being the first black woman president, of being the first black woman billionaire, but the first black woman POW — that’s a title they could have kept.”
Are you having trouble surviving the menacing Bookcases of DOCENT or the evil Armchairs of BOHUSLÄN? Seek a winning strategy from a non-expert with the IKEA WALKTHROUGH v2.3.1!
The Tranformers universe has gone through a lot of shifts since the animated 1986 feature. Attempts to make Rodimus Prime and Galvatron stick as the new leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons flat out failed and cartoons about the battling Cybertronians disappeared from TV for a while. What happened to the Transformers since then is best left to an expert to describe, so I will defer to this IGN.com article introducing the newest Transformers video game, Transformers Armada: Prelude to Energon, made by the company now calling itself Atari. Video games based on hot pop commodities are often pure shit (i.e., Enter the Matrix), but from the description and video clips of gameplay, Prelude to Energon appears to be the real deal: a good video game that happens to be based on a popular pop phenomenon. It may not be a perfect integration of all the capabilities of the Transformers (their vehicle modes were primarily for staying camouflaged within a human population, although their battles instantly defeated any stealthiness) but it appears extremely playable. In a post GTA3 world, one of the most important elements a video game can have is a fully 3D, non-linear environment, which Prelude to Energon’s missions appear to have. Players also get to choose their weapon in the form of three playable characters with distinct advantages and disadvantages: Red Alert, Hot Shot, and Optimus Prime.
|
