Three years ago I got shot through a wormhole. I’m in a distant part of the universe aboard this living ship of escaped prisoners … my friends. I’ve made enemies … powerful, dangerous. Now all I want is to find a way home to warn Earth. Look upward and share the wonders I’ve seen.

It would take an impossible level of stupidity to cancel a show that garners more critical acclaim than any show in the history of your network. But by golly Bonnie Hammer will be damned if she didn’t make the impossible possible! Good work. You sure showed us.

In a show of support that can only accurately be characterized as complete, rabid fanaticism the fans rebelled against their oppressor and got what we, the cast, the crew and the show itself deserved in the first place – an ending. Who knew that crackers really did matter?

The Peacekeeper Wars was a superior weekend of television and brought into sharp relief that which we, the fans, had seen all along. Farscape was one of the best hours of television of this or any other era. Who’d have thunk it? Muppets act gud!

To put it another way…

I’m just a regular nerd from Wisconsin and I am Farscape.

Headed out to Waukesha over the weekend to see Troy with the feebs out east.
Then saw it again the next day.

I have nothing more to say on the subject. Really, I don’t. Just go see it.

It’s like Gladiator. But better. Much, much better.

Today marked the release of Movable Type 3 Developer Edition. Normally such an event would be met with much rejoicing of the unwashed masses. Not so in this case as bloggers far and wide are making with the wails and gnashing of teeth usually reserved for MMO launches.While I don’t have some ultra-huge system happening here I do intend to add a few blogs/authors to the system in the not so distant future. Given my hosting situation I would be required, per the license, to use the (currently) $199.99 version. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a problem with people making money off of their creations but why fucking bother with the pretense of “free” versions if -5 users out of 100 are eligible?

There is nothing wrong with stating that your “personal” license precludes any and all commercial enterprises and then charging reasonable rates to anyone who wishes to use the product as a service offering. I’m not making money off this site. Nor would I be making money if I also happened to host a few blogs for my friends. This smacks of the same kind of stupidity running rampant over in the Ventrillo camp. I can’t really blame them though, who really gives a shit about people using your software for free anyway? MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY!

There are, however, a few layers of silver lining in these dark clouds. First and foremost – I don’t need to upgrade. I want to, that’s for damn sure, but 2.661 will function just fine for as long as I wish to use it. Secondly the trackback entries on very blog that inspired this post have an absolute bounty of suggestions for replacements. So at whichever arbitrary point that MT pisses me off I will look around for a replacement.

Just wish I had known about this new license before I spent 2 weeks importing historical posts into this damnable contraption.

edit (7/11/06): Obviously this site is and has been (for a while) wholly WordPressed. I couldn’t be happier. Well, I could, but that would only be if I could create/edit a theme even remotely close to my liking. Such is life.

edit (10/3/07): I have a theme I actually like now. So suck it!

So I unplugged last night and settled into the nice grooves on the couch for some must-see TV. With all the craptacular reality programming and mindless dren floating about the airwaves these days NBC has been one of the last bations of non-cable hope for those dwindling few of us who don’t mind thinking and/or having an emotional connection with a character. I have long feared that the quantity of garbage would continue to grow until achieving some sort of critical mass wherein cameras are simply installed in every living room in America just for the sake of convenience.
After the Friends finale and ER season finale (minus one) my typically dour outlook brightened. Considerably.

The first hour of the Friends series finale was one of those silly clip shows. For the life of me I can’t understand what the point of all that is. Do they honestly think anyone watching the series finale of a show ending its 10-year run needs a retrospective? We were there dumbasses. We remember just fine.

The actual hour-long finale episode was a peach. I caught myself laughing maniacally for just about the entire length. The writing was spot on and the cast clearly put everything they had into it. The story was essentially a 2-parter looking at Chandler and Monica’s incoming baby and the “about goddamned time” resolution to the whole Ross and Rachel thing.

It certainly was a significant improvement over the Seinfeld finale, and there’s no question which show I enjoyed more over the duration…

Leo Laporte is reporting that G4, the new owner of TechTV, gave everyone in San Francisco their walking papers. Between you, me and the fishes this has got to be one of the most inane decisions in media since Fox cancelled Firefly. I’m far from the target demographic for the shows but I have no problems whatsoever letting The Screen Savers play in the background while I work or flit around in whatever todays game du jour is.

Yes, yes, I realize that shows like TSS or TechLive have about as much replay ability as the last 10 minutes of CNN but they are still well done shows. If scheduled properly there’s no reason you can’t get 5 or 6 viable showings per each TSS episode in a 2-week period without sacrificing timeliness. Shows like Call For Help should last 2 or 3 times that before they lose their relevancy.

I direct your attention to this FAQ on the G4 site which pretty much spells out what the future holds. San Fran is kaput, anyone not willing to work in LA (assuming they’re even offered the chance) is boned. The only two TechTV shows listed in their proposed lineup are X-Play, TSS and Fresh Gear. Anyone have the odds on Fresh Gear becoming the on-air propaganda wing for worthless shit like the N-Gage or Phantom? No mention of some of TTV’s more off-beat titles like Big Thinkers or Nerd Nation.

Oh well, I guess some things have to be culled when you’re desperate to give shows like this to desperate and apparently net-retarded viewers what they “want”.

To the cast and crew of the various TechTV shows I’ve fancied over the last couple years – thanks.
I hope you land on your feet.

City of Heroes launched publically today, much to the fanfair of it’s players. Never have I bore witness to such a smooth launch.

We’ll see if the NCSoft billing servers hold up as well as everything else did so far.

Thread In Progress <– edit (10/3/07) I actually had forums when I wrote this. durrrr

I saw the Punisher not long ago and for the most part enjoyed the experience. I went in to the movie with full knowledge of the more juicier tidbits of Frank Castles origin and where the movie was supposed to be going.

Little did I know that the real Punisher was 2 weeks away.

In simplest terms the plot of Man on Fire is the story of how a drunken former commando (Denzel) gets a job as a bodyguard for a little girl. What follows is an intricate tale of abductions, conspiracy, duplicity and revenge.

The first half hour of the film is almost entirely exposition but it is handled in such a way as to allow the viewer to absorb the information at the same time as the actual story is unfolding. Denzel’s character, Creasy, is a drunk. This fact is reinforced consistently throughout the opening scenes. We are shown images of a man who has done things that he can not escape; Things for which he believes there is no penance. The situation comes to a head one night when Creasy simply gives up, puts a gun to his temple and pulls the trigger. Over the next few minutes we hear explanations of what failure to fire is and the prophetic theme of “A Bullet Never Lies”. Creasy sees the evening’s events as a sign. He is meant to be where he is. He is meant to protect this little girl.

Needless to say when she is subsequently kidnapped and murdered he becomes upset. The scenes following this point in the story are what Punisher could have and should have been. His actions are justified, if not specifically just. The viewer is left to simply watch in awe as he carves a path through those people responsible. Watching the next hour of the movie you truly feel what he is feeling. You know he can and will do whatever it takes to see his task completed.

Technically speaking the movie is a bit heavy-handed at times in its cinematography but only to a minor degree. I did like the almost over-use of subtitles/text on screen to reinforce specific details. I believe the point was to tie the on-screen text to Pita’s (the little girl) notebook, which Creasy commandeers and becomes a recurring item in the story.

Overall I can’t say any of the negatives even approach the caliber of the positive aspects. The chemistry between ten year-old Dakota Fanning and Denzel is worth the price of admission alone. Worth noting as well, I don’t work for any of the above-mentioned parties. Even though with this much metaphorical wang in my metaphorical mouth it’s hard to tell.

Still, this is easily the best summer popcorn movie I’ve seen thus far.

I watched Ebert & Roper’s review of part 2 of Tarantino’s latest creation with great hope. Both loved the movie, going so far as to say that after seeing volume 2 they liked volume 1 even more.

Well 1 out of 2 ain’t bad, I guess.

The film opened with a blissfully short recap of the events in volume one. While I am normally against such moron-heavy devices in movies I accept the need for them and just let it pass. Looking back at the entire experience now I wish that recap had lasted longer. Much, much longer. Going back over the celluloidic gold that was KBv1 was the best part of the “sequel”.

Volume 2 lacked the style that made V1 an instant classic. Gone are the scenes of ultra-violence so extreme that they evolve into caricatures of themselves. They were replaced by droning dialog that dragged the viewer along and added nothing to the overall story. What little combat there was seemed abbreviated and lacked the raw emotion that made first movies scenes even more potent.

The best/worst example of this absurd abbreviation is the plot points and scenes related to Pai Mai, the Kung-Fu master who trained Uma Thurman’s character. Throughout the movie, and I believe even at brief times in the last one, Pai Mai’s teachings are referenced along with a bond shared between master and student. One would think that the perfect opportunity to expose this bond would be during the chapter titled “The Cruel Tutelage of Pai Mai”. One would be wrong. The all too short scenes with the master serve only show how Uma would escape the coffin Budd had buried her in. That’s the kind of slack-jawed plotting I expect from a Karate Kid movie, not a Tarantino joint.

This review isn’t going to get any better so I?m just going to stop right here and call it an afternoon.

Kill Bill v1 was a hurricane, a tsunami, a deluge of such power that were you to be swept under by it your family would die. Volume 2? No so much.

Someday I hope Quentin revisits this project with a critical eye and re-cuts the entire thing into the singular movie experience it was meant to be. A five hour flic is a small price to pay when creating a masterpiece.

Last night I was able to see the latest Marvel page-to-screen adaptation. As the title suggests it was The Punisher and, well, me rikey.

Note: For title complaints please see DiscoKid of #p2p “fame” (sorcery.net).

Thomas Jayne plays the title character facing off against his arch nemesis played by John Travolta. Rebecca Romijn (now single) and Laura Harring “round” out the cast. Yes, yes, I skipped a few people, but you shouldn’t need more info after Rebecca and Laura. For those of you cinematically deficient she was 1/2 of the most glorious sammich ever (with Naomi Watts) in Mulholland Drive.

The movie starts off fairly slowly, giving neophytes to the world of Frank Castle a chance to acclimate and get their bearings before it wades into the good stuff. We begin with a blonde Castle as an undercover officer brokering an arms deal in a FBI sting. The plan is that Castle will be “killed” by the feds during the deal giving his character a clean exit from the operation. The plan goes south when one of the crooks loses it and opens fire on the police. We learn that this (now dead) man is the son of John Travolta’s character and wealthy banker/mafia don/crime lord/etc. Needless to say he’s not pleased. He does what any good crime lord does and learns the identity and location of Castle and sends his troops to eliminate him along with a special request from his ravishing wife – “kill his family”.

We cut through some touchy-feely stuff to a family reunion of Castle?s family hosted by his father, the Captain of the SeaQuest, Roy Schnider. We see the black-clad forces approach the 30-strong party with Castle and his father in the house looking over some conveniently placed weaponry. Fast-forward and everyone save Castle and his wife and son are dead. They flee, pursued by the remaining baddies pursued by Castle himself. Let?s just say it ends badly.

The remainder of the movie his Castle exacting a special kind of vengeance punishment for the crime. I spent a lot of time on the exposition because I plan to breeze through the rest of the movie rather quickly. A considerable amount of information would be lost in the translation. Castle wades through the hit-men and muscle Travolta sends his way and sets up detailed revenge scheme resulting in Travolta himself killing his best friend and wife for cheating.

The plot after the initial exposition is silly. Quite frankly it?s my only real beef with this movie. Frank Castle, The Punisher, is not about elaborate plots or tricky bullshit. He?s about death; however that?s accomplished is not a matter for much forethought. The only scene that lived up to this was the long brawl with a Russian assassin at the halfway point. The fights before and after were simply eye-candy and gunplay.

It?s fitting that this movie was released the same week as the Kill Bill v1 DVD and the same day as Kill Bill v2 ? they are all nasty gore-fest-slasher-flics gone amok. It?s good shit, but be prepared.

A few things to note: We saw the movie in the AMC theater in one of the Milwaukee Mayfair mall. It was expansive, clean and a most excellent experience. The seats could have reclined like in my beloved Marcus, but generally speaking they were dandy. I had no idea that you could see a movie and have food DELIVERED. The only knock I have against said theater is that it suffers from the same wussy attitude regarding children in movies that shouldn?t have children in them.

PROTIP: DO NOT BRING YOUR TWO FUCKING TODDLERS TO A MOVIE THAT IS LUCKY TO ONLY BE RATED R YOU STUPID WHORE.

Doesn’t everybody?

A wanker from Milwaukee, who will go unnamed, has been gushing like a little schoolgirl about City of Heroes for a couple weeks on a near-daily basis. Combined with the unholy amount of BEST GAM EVAR I hear in IRC all day long these days a situation was created for which there is only one response – preorder.

At present I am just passing the first hour mark of the download and as luck would have it my super l337 bandwidth pulls it down at 60 whole k/s. 60! I know, I know – but HF how can you possibly be downloading a file at that speed? It’s unbelievable!

Some of us are just blessed with fat pipes I guess.

I’ll post something sane after this pig finishes… 2 nevers from now.

edit: Blessed be, the game doesn’t suck. The controls are a bit nuanced but once you get used to them it’s not bad. The game systems seem serviceable and I dare say even the Wolverine and Hulk knock-offs on every corner aren’t nearly as offensive as say a horde of Drizzzt, Drizzyt, Drizit’s, et al.