Hey cyberspace.
Just dashing off a quick post to let you all know that I’m still alive and planning to update this ol’ blog soon. (note keyword ‘planning’) Currently in the works is a three part review of those two wacky graphic novelists Alan Moore and Frank Miller and their finest works.
In the meantime though, I’ve recently started reading ‘Skeleton Creek’ by Patrick Carman, which is quite interesting. It follows Ryan and Sarah’s investigation into the mysterious goings on at the local haunt of the same name. Maybe it is for kids. I don’t care. The thing it sets it apart from most books is that you have access to the same videos that Sarah sends to Ryan. You need to enter a series of passwords found in the book (Mostly titles of Edgar Allen Poe stories) at the Sarah Fincher web-site and ‘take part in’ the book. Maybe it is gimmicky. I don’t care. I personally happen to find it quite clever. You don’t HAVE to see the videos to read the book, but I find it helps clarify things. As the tagline says “Read it. Watch it. Live it.”
That’s about it for now. Stay tuned.
-Professor Bear.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Raiders of the Last Crusade of Doom. (May contain traces of Spoiler)
So I was out at the Uni Library the other day when I found a Indiana Jones dvd Box set, that is to say the three original movies and another with bonus material or something like that who really gives a fig and I was totally all like OH YEAH THIS IS EPIC, INDIANA JONES IS THA MAN and so are Spielberg and Lucas and it is all FOR THA WIN and it’s gonna be flippin’ epic to see him swinging the whip and bashing heads in again because I really liked the two movies I already saw and get to see again and I FINALLY get to watch Temple of Doom. (Breathe. Sorry about that.)
So I put TOD in the machine, pressed play, pressed pause cause I had to go to the bathroom, pressed play again, got down with the THX ‘Deepnote’ and watched the movie I have been meaning to watch for a while now. And most of the way through I was like “Wha?” It was really confusing. In fact, upon reflection, I’m still not entirely sure what the go was, obviously he went somewhere to get something and ran into someone that did such and so to him. Not that this was a terrible movie by any means, being quite creative and had some hilarious moments, but it seemed a little ….I dunno…rushed… and weird. I don’t care if the rumours are true and if there are aliens in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, surely it can’t be as strange as this movie? And this is coming from a guy who thinks Monty Python is coherent and linear…
What’s going on?
I dunno.
Was that a Big-Lipped Alligator moment?
Possibly, but I dunno.
What happened to Marion?
I dunno.
Who is this kid anyway?
I dunno.
Where are the Nazis?
I dunno.
Do these people really eat all that weird crap and is there a point to seeing it?
I dunno.
What’s with the Mortal Kombat- style heart ripping-out-of-chest-cavity?
I dunno.
How does he do that with his bare hands?
Magic.
Magic?
I mean…I dunno.
Why was that guy still alive after aforementioned Mortal Kombat- style heart ripping-out-of-chest-cavity?
I dunno.
What’s with all those peasant dudes worshiping Kali? How come they don’t just mob Indy? Come to think of it, what happened to them? Did they all just decide to take a holiday? Did Scotty beam them up?
I dunno.
Where did all the Thuggees come from?
I dunno.
Where did the Deus- Ex…er…troops come from?
I dunno.
Why does Harrison Ford look so creepy in this movie, and not just when he is possessed?
I dunno.
How many more times are we gonna repeat this gag?
I…no that’s it, moving on now.
Maybe I just need to watch it again.
Personally, while she is a babe, that Willie Nelson chick is probably the most annoying thing to ever come from the mind of George Lucas. The man who gave us Jar-Jar for crying out loud. Actually I liked Jar-Jar…not the point.
I guess I couldn’t really get the transition they made from a smart, sassy, tough (relatively-she still needs saving by Indy) lead female character to this dippy show-girl who really had less idea of what was going on than I did. Even the kid wasn’t as irritating.
Now apparently there is a rule that in Trilogies, the third film always sucks. I find that to be incorrect for the Ice Age movies and the same goes for Indy. ‘Samatter of fact, Last Crusade is definitely my favourite flick of the bunch. It ditches the kid and the moron love interest, brings back Sallah and the Nazis, Elsa is hot as and I like seeing how Indy got his awesome hat and Ophidiophobia (don’t ask me how to spell or pronounce it, I just googled it.) I’m always amused by the doddering duo of Connery and Elliot, who despite their lack of grace on the battlefield, still manage to kick a lot of derriere. Sure there is a lot less bull-whipping, but it makes up for it by using more of Williams signature Indy music and is funny as all get out.
Welp, that’s about it for now. Play me out Johnny…
Daaaaaah-da da- da, dah da daaaaaaah.
-Professor Bear.
So I put TOD in the machine, pressed play, pressed pause cause I had to go to the bathroom, pressed play again, got down with the THX ‘Deepnote’ and watched the movie I have been meaning to watch for a while now. And most of the way through I was like “Wha?” It was really confusing. In fact, upon reflection, I’m still not entirely sure what the go was, obviously he went somewhere to get something and ran into someone that did such and so to him. Not that this was a terrible movie by any means, being quite creative and had some hilarious moments, but it seemed a little ….I dunno…rushed… and weird. I don’t care if the rumours are true and if there are aliens in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, surely it can’t be as strange as this movie? And this is coming from a guy who thinks Monty Python is coherent and linear…
What’s going on?
I dunno.
Was that a Big-Lipped Alligator moment?
Possibly, but I dunno.
What happened to Marion?
I dunno.
Who is this kid anyway?
I dunno.
Where are the Nazis?
I dunno.
Do these people really eat all that weird crap and is there a point to seeing it?
I dunno.
What’s with the Mortal Kombat- style heart ripping-out-of-chest-cavity?
I dunno.
How does he do that with his bare hands?
Magic.
Magic?
I mean…I dunno.
Why was that guy still alive after aforementioned Mortal Kombat- style heart ripping-out-of-chest-cavity?
I dunno.
What’s with all those peasant dudes worshiping Kali? How come they don’t just mob Indy? Come to think of it, what happened to them? Did they all just decide to take a holiday? Did Scotty beam them up?
I dunno.
Where did all the Thuggees come from?
I dunno.
Where did the Deus- Ex…er…troops come from?
I dunno.
Why does Harrison Ford look so creepy in this movie, and not just when he is possessed?
I dunno.
How many more times are we gonna repeat this gag?
I…no that’s it, moving on now.
Maybe I just need to watch it again.
Personally, while she is a babe, that Willie Nelson chick is probably the most annoying thing to ever come from the mind of George Lucas. The man who gave us Jar-Jar for crying out loud. Actually I liked Jar-Jar…not the point.
I guess I couldn’t really get the transition they made from a smart, sassy, tough (relatively-she still needs saving by Indy) lead female character to this dippy show-girl who really had less idea of what was going on than I did. Even the kid wasn’t as irritating.
Now apparently there is a rule that in Trilogies, the third film always sucks. I find that to be incorrect for the Ice Age movies and the same goes for Indy. ‘Samatter of fact, Last Crusade is definitely my favourite flick of the bunch. It ditches the kid and the moron love interest, brings back Sallah and the Nazis, Elsa is hot as and I like seeing how Indy got his awesome hat and Ophidiophobia (don’t ask me how to spell or pronounce it, I just googled it.) I’m always amused by the doddering duo of Connery and Elliot, who despite their lack of grace on the battlefield, still manage to kick a lot of derriere. Sure there is a lot less bull-whipping, but it makes up for it by using more of Williams signature Indy music and is funny as all get out.
Welp, that’s about it for now. Play me out Johnny…
Daaaaaah-da da- da, dah da daaaaaaah.
-Professor Bear.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Tomorrow...Today...er....Yesterday...uh...WHEN THE WAR BEGAN.
Today I learned in interesting fact. Australians, hardcore as we may be, aren’t actually bulletproof. (with the possible exception of James and Eddie out at Uni.)
How did I learn this….by being dragged to…uh… going to see Tomorrow When the War Began, a prime example of Australian film at its best. Sorry Baz.
Based on the book of the same name by John Marsden, it follows the misadventure of Frankie from the Sleepover Club, Lincoln Lewis, Wendy from the 2003 Peter Pan and some other randoms, returning from a camping trip to find their town has been overtaken by foreign hostile forces as part of an invasion on Australia (oh noes.)
Without giving too much away, here is an overview of what to expect.
“All your ladders are belong to us”
“Whoohooooo, we’re going camping!”
“No boys allowed…”
“But Daaaaad!”
“Oh Okay…I trust you.”
“OMYGOSH WE’RE IN HELL…it’s quite nice actually…and not hellish…”
“SNAKE (mushroom, mushroom)”
“HELOOOOOOOO NURSE!”
*Crashtackle*
*Neeeeeeeooooorrraaaaarrrr*
“What was that?”
“Nothing, go to sleep”
“WAAAAAH where did everybody go?”
“I’m a Doctor, and a dick…”
*bang bang bang*
“Ouch, boy that smarts.”
*VROOOOOM*
“Woa…I am so high”
“Woof Woof….dogs are funny.” (actual line)
“SMOOCHES TIEM”
*mwah mwah mwah*
“HOLY DOODIE! SHORTY’S PACKING!”
*akakakakakakakakakaka*
A THOUSAND BLOOMIN MOO COWS!
“Whoohoo”
“Oh wow, bummer!”
“MOTOBIKEZ!”
I did have one or two gripes. There a scene (you’ll know it when you see it) where the characters are totally bad-ass, but instead of having an awesome backing track (ACDC preferably), we got some other random song that completely messed up the whole vibe. And I’m not a big fan of Missy Elliot, but her song is only in the beginning bit.
Otherwise, it’s a very worthy adaption, faithful to the book, great acting and cinematography and best of all….POOP BLOWS UP…HELZ YEA! Four thumbs up, golden star, epic win… I highly recommend it.
I figured that by this point, I’d be able to but my opening statement in context for you, but I am too lazy. Just go see the movie.
-Professor Bear.
How did I learn this….by being dragged to…uh… going to see Tomorrow When the War Began, a prime example of Australian film at its best. Sorry Baz.
Based on the book of the same name by John Marsden, it follows the misadventure of Frankie from the Sleepover Club, Lincoln Lewis, Wendy from the 2003 Peter Pan and some other randoms, returning from a camping trip to find their town has been overtaken by foreign hostile forces as part of an invasion on Australia (oh noes.)
Without giving too much away, here is an overview of what to expect.
“All your ladders are belong to us”
“Whoohooooo, we’re going camping!”
“No boys allowed…”
“But Daaaaad!”
“Oh Okay…I trust you.”
“OMYGOSH WE’RE IN HELL…it’s quite nice actually…and not hellish…”
“SNAKE (mushroom, mushroom)”
“HELOOOOOOOO NURSE!”
*Crashtackle*
*Neeeeeeeooooorrraaaaarrrr*
“What was that?”
“Nothing, go to sleep”
“WAAAAAH where did everybody go?”
“I’m a Doctor, and a dick…”
*bang bang bang*
“Ouch, boy that smarts.”
*VROOOOOM*
“Woa…I am so high”
“Woof Woof….dogs are funny.” (actual line)
“SMOOCHES TIEM”
*mwah mwah mwah*
“HOLY DOODIE! SHORTY’S PACKING!”
*akakakakakakakakakaka*
A THOUSAND BLOOMIN MOO COWS!
“Whoohoo”
“Oh wow, bummer!”
“MOTOBIKEZ!”
I did have one or two gripes. There a scene (you’ll know it when you see it) where the characters are totally bad-ass, but instead of having an awesome backing track (ACDC preferably), we got some other random song that completely messed up the whole vibe. And I’m not a big fan of Missy Elliot, but her song is only in the beginning bit.
Otherwise, it’s a very worthy adaption, faithful to the book, great acting and cinematography and best of all….POOP BLOWS UP…HELZ YEA! Four thumbs up, golden star, epic win… I highly recommend it.
I figured that by this point, I’d be able to but my opening statement in context for you, but I am too lazy. Just go see the movie.
-Professor Bear.
E.R.R- a Dramatic Drama, that may or may not be medically accurate...
“Doctor, he’s…”
“Professor!”
“Right. Professor, pressure’s dropped to fifty, we’re losing him!”
“The hell we are. Charged at 350, clear!”
*zzzzzFROOMP*
“Come on, fight damn you, DO NOT DIE ON ME!”
“Still nothing Professor…and I am strangely becoming attracted to you, can we go out for lunch?”
“Dammit woman, this is no time to give in to your basic human desires. This man is dy…hey, why are you leaving? Well that’s just great. Charged at 450. Clear!”
*zzzzFROOMP*
“Well that did nothing. Ygor, come quickly, bring the electrodes!”
“The what?”
“The Sticky-Stringy-Thingies.”
“Ohhh...”
“Now we attach them like so..., NOW YGOR, PULL ZA ZVITCH!
“Yeeeeeth Mathhhter…”
*crackle crackle crackle, zzzzzzZZZZZZFROOMP*
“YES! IT IS ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE”
So, uh it looks like I’m back for the time being. I haven’t updated the blog in like, forever.
This is my attempt to revive it. Then I’ll probably make two more posts then leave it for another year. Thank-you to my one loyal reader….If you are still around.
I had something else to say, but I forgot.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go try and find that nurse…
-Professor Bear.
“Professor!”
“Right. Professor, pressure’s dropped to fifty, we’re losing him!”
“The hell we are. Charged at 350, clear!”
*zzzzzFROOMP*
“Come on, fight damn you, DO NOT DIE ON ME!”
“Still nothing Professor…and I am strangely becoming attracted to you, can we go out for lunch?”
“Dammit woman, this is no time to give in to your basic human desires. This man is dy…hey, why are you leaving? Well that’s just great. Charged at 450. Clear!”
*zzzzFROOMP*
“Well that did nothing. Ygor, come quickly, bring the electrodes!”
“The what?”
“The Sticky-Stringy-Thingies.”
“Ohhh...”
“Now we attach them like so..., NOW YGOR, PULL ZA ZVITCH!
“Yeeeeeth Mathhhter…”
*crackle crackle crackle, zzzzzzZZZZZZFROOMP*
“YES! IT IS ALIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE”
So, uh it looks like I’m back for the time being. I haven’t updated the blog in like, forever.
This is my attempt to revive it. Then I’ll probably make two more posts then leave it for another year. Thank-you to my one loyal reader….If you are still around.
I had something else to say, but I forgot.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go try and find that nurse…
-Professor Bear.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Green Lantern
Okay time for another rave.
One of my favourite past times is, always has been and probably always will be, reading comics. I just love ‘em (without going as overboard as some people- after all I do have my dignity….more or less). Tintin, Garfield, Asterix and just about anything from DC, Dark Horse and sometimes Marvel. Okay maybe the occasional Vertigo or Image….but I digress.
I especially love superhero comics; Batman, Superman the whole shebang. And if do happen to have crossovers and team-ups, all the better, I say.
Perhaps no more than twenty minutes before I began writing this, I finished a particularly interesting Green Lantern comic. It must be said that the Green Lanterns have probably one of the coolest powers in the world of comics. With their power rings and a decent amount of willpower, they can fly, shoot lasers and conjure up just about anything they can think of. Imagine how awesome it might be to finally unleash a 30 metre tall, sabre toothed rabbit on an unsuspecting Tokyo. Or how liberating it would feel to flip the world the biggest greenest bird anyone has ever seen. Or you know…using your powers ‘responsibly’ to fight crime and save lives instead of carving your initials all over Mt. Rushmore.
Of course, having one of the coolest powers means that there are really BIG drawbacks.
Now don’t get me wrong, superhero’s need weaknesses. Without them, they just wouldn’t be as interesting. Superman has kryptonite, Wolverine has issues with magnets and Batman….well he’s kinda vulnerable to just about anything. But that doesn’t stop him from kicking the proverbial backside.
And what is the weakness of the emerald knights? Why that is simple.
Yellow.
Yep…yellow. A colour. Anything that is coloured yellow.
HELLLLOOOOO? Does anyone else think that’s just a little dumb? I mean as if there aren’t any limitations already.
Firstly, you have to recharge the ring every 24 hours. To do that, you have to find a special lantern and chant a mantra while it charges up. What if you forget the words? What if in the time it takes for the ring to charge, someone decides to shoot you? What if you lose the lantern in a bet? What if your mum thought it was just some tacky knick-knack that was lying around and sold it for five bucks on eBay? You’re pretty much screwed.
Second, there are restrictions in place as to what you can and can’t do. For example…using lethal force is strictly prohibited and will lock the ring. Which is fair enough I suppose, but what if some gigantic, mindless, planet-eating, space slug was intent on devouring earth? You’ve thrown everything at it and still it approaches. Your ring scans the slug and you find out it’s weakness is something that you need the ring to do. Sorry….lethal force is prohibited, ring shutting down….goodbye earth.
Next problem. You need total concentration and ‘pure’ willpower. If there was say some kind of physiological disturbance like, I dunno, a neural scramblising ray or an Angelina Jolie lookalike prancing around in skin-tight spandex, the ring will cut out. Sure you might be able to regain control just you hit the ground after a 5,000 foot drop, but what if you are deep underwater our in outer space? You’d probably implode from the intense pressure or your blood would boil. Lovely.
Then your ring is ineffective against yellow? That’s like being allergic to water. There is a whole heck of a lot thing that are yellow. All your enemies would have to do is wear yellow clothing and paint their bullets yellow and that’s that. How could you stop a raging mutant canary? Or a humongous yellow meteorite? Answer- you can’t. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest weaknesses ever.
Or think about this. According to most comics, how is it that Superman is super? Why due to basking in the rays of our yellow sun of course! Wait….yellow? So technically, Green Lanterns should be completely powerless. Well thanks a lot guys! Now we all gonna die and you can’t do squat!
Now supposedly the reasoning behind this weakness, is that yellow represents fear (is it just me or does that sound kinda racist?) Which is why the rogue Corps founded by ex-lantern Sinestro, use yellow power rings. Finally the writers decided that the more powerful Lanterns such as Hal Jordan could overcome the ‘yellow impurity’ if they purged all fear from themselves. Not at all easy I’d say, especially when surrounded by thousands of monstrous beings trying to shoot, eat, disintegrate, stomp or otherwise obliterate you.
In short, I wonder if the writers ever gave any thought to this weakness. Surely there are plenty of ways to take down Green Lantern without having to resort to having an entire colour as a weakness. Now yellow radiation…that I could understand.
Ah well…
- Professor Bear
One of my favourite past times is, always has been and probably always will be, reading comics. I just love ‘em (without going as overboard as some people- after all I do have my dignity….more or less). Tintin, Garfield, Asterix and just about anything from DC, Dark Horse and sometimes Marvel. Okay maybe the occasional Vertigo or Image….but I digress.
I especially love superhero comics; Batman, Superman the whole shebang. And if do happen to have crossovers and team-ups, all the better, I say.
Perhaps no more than twenty minutes before I began writing this, I finished a particularly interesting Green Lantern comic. It must be said that the Green Lanterns have probably one of the coolest powers in the world of comics. With their power rings and a decent amount of willpower, they can fly, shoot lasers and conjure up just about anything they can think of. Imagine how awesome it might be to finally unleash a 30 metre tall, sabre toothed rabbit on an unsuspecting Tokyo. Or how liberating it would feel to flip the world the biggest greenest bird anyone has ever seen. Or you know…using your powers ‘responsibly’ to fight crime and save lives instead of carving your initials all over Mt. Rushmore.
Of course, having one of the coolest powers means that there are really BIG drawbacks.
Now don’t get me wrong, superhero’s need weaknesses. Without them, they just wouldn’t be as interesting. Superman has kryptonite, Wolverine has issues with magnets and Batman….well he’s kinda vulnerable to just about anything. But that doesn’t stop him from kicking the proverbial backside.
And what is the weakness of the emerald knights? Why that is simple.
Yellow.
Yep…yellow. A colour. Anything that is coloured yellow.
HELLLLOOOOO? Does anyone else think that’s just a little dumb? I mean as if there aren’t any limitations already.
Firstly, you have to recharge the ring every 24 hours. To do that, you have to find a special lantern and chant a mantra while it charges up. What if you forget the words? What if in the time it takes for the ring to charge, someone decides to shoot you? What if you lose the lantern in a bet? What if your mum thought it was just some tacky knick-knack that was lying around and sold it for five bucks on eBay? You’re pretty much screwed.
Second, there are restrictions in place as to what you can and can’t do. For example…using lethal force is strictly prohibited and will lock the ring. Which is fair enough I suppose, but what if some gigantic, mindless, planet-eating, space slug was intent on devouring earth? You’ve thrown everything at it and still it approaches. Your ring scans the slug and you find out it’s weakness is something that you need the ring to do. Sorry….lethal force is prohibited, ring shutting down….goodbye earth.
Next problem. You need total concentration and ‘pure’ willpower. If there was say some kind of physiological disturbance like, I dunno, a neural scramblising ray or an Angelina Jolie lookalike prancing around in skin-tight spandex, the ring will cut out. Sure you might be able to regain control just you hit the ground after a 5,000 foot drop, but what if you are deep underwater our in outer space? You’d probably implode from the intense pressure or your blood would boil. Lovely.
Then your ring is ineffective against yellow? That’s like being allergic to water. There is a whole heck of a lot thing that are yellow. All your enemies would have to do is wear yellow clothing and paint their bullets yellow and that’s that. How could you stop a raging mutant canary? Or a humongous yellow meteorite? Answer- you can’t. It’s gotta be one of the dumbest weaknesses ever.
Or think about this. According to most comics, how is it that Superman is super? Why due to basking in the rays of our yellow sun of course! Wait….yellow? So technically, Green Lanterns should be completely powerless. Well thanks a lot guys! Now we all gonna die and you can’t do squat!
Now supposedly the reasoning behind this weakness, is that yellow represents fear (is it just me or does that sound kinda racist?) Which is why the rogue Corps founded by ex-lantern Sinestro, use yellow power rings. Finally the writers decided that the more powerful Lanterns such as Hal Jordan could overcome the ‘yellow impurity’ if they purged all fear from themselves. Not at all easy I’d say, especially when surrounded by thousands of monstrous beings trying to shoot, eat, disintegrate, stomp or otherwise obliterate you.
In short, I wonder if the writers ever gave any thought to this weakness. Surely there are plenty of ways to take down Green Lantern without having to resort to having an entire colour as a weakness. Now yellow radiation…that I could understand.
Ah well…
- Professor Bear
Monday, May 18, 2009
Trek to the cinemas ....Fantastic...
Today I boldly went to where no-one has gone before. Well, at least from my family.
Yep, today I entered the world of the Trekkie - however briefly- and went to see J.J. Abrams take on the Star Trek franchise.
Now let it be clear that I am a fan of sci-fi, however I’ve always been more of a Star Wars/ Doctor Who guy. Although I quite liked the first trailer I saw, I had my doubts, after all we all know how well remakes stand up to the classics…..not very. And as I said, I’m not really into ST….
….BUT THIS MOVIE WAS ACTUALLY REALLY GREAT!
With a solid storyline, heart-pumping action and spectacular effects, this film that chronicles the formation of the U.S.S Enterprise, is a breath of fresh air to what some people consider to be a franchise that doesn’t know when to just lay down and die. (Of course, some people believe the same is true for TMNT, but I disagree.) In short, though roughly enjoyable.
So for those not in the know, it follows the story of soon-to-be-legendary James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) and his early days in the Starfleet Academy. (Look it up) He is joined by everybody’s favourite Vulcan- Spock (Zachery Quinto), Doctor Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) and the rest of the gang. Despite initial conflict, they all band together to stop the dastardly Romulan Nero (An almost indistinguishable Eric Bana) from destroying Earth with stolen Vulcan technology.
The movie has some spectacular fight scenes, one of my favourites is the high altitude sword-fight between a Romulan and Pilot Hiraku Sulu (John Cho). There are quite a few laughs, mainly provided by Simon Pegg as Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Ensign Checkov. Mainly because of their outrageous accents. There are also nods to the original series – I’ll let you figure them out- including what was probably the first of untimely red-shirt demises, you know, the cannon fodder.
Another high point is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy (looking a little like Exidor to me) , also reprising his role of Spock, combining the old with the new. I’m kinda glad Shatner didn’t do the same thing, that may have had some serious physiological trauma on young Kirk. (Kidding of course- no offense man.)
Star Trek is defiantly a must see this year, I would give and easy 10/10. It’s a fantastic way to introduce the characters and who knows, maybe I’ll even track down and watch some episodes. Or if they make a spin off TV series, I’d probably watch that.
Well that’s about it for me….
-Professor Bear
Live long and Prosper
(PS. I really must figure out how to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch!)
Yep, today I entered the world of the Trekkie - however briefly- and went to see J.J. Abrams take on the Star Trek franchise.
Now let it be clear that I am a fan of sci-fi, however I’ve always been more of a Star Wars/ Doctor Who guy. Although I quite liked the first trailer I saw, I had my doubts, after all we all know how well remakes stand up to the classics…..not very. And as I said, I’m not really into ST….
….BUT THIS MOVIE WAS ACTUALLY REALLY GREAT!
With a solid storyline, heart-pumping action and spectacular effects, this film that chronicles the formation of the U.S.S Enterprise, is a breath of fresh air to what some people consider to be a franchise that doesn’t know when to just lay down and die. (Of course, some people believe the same is true for TMNT, but I disagree.) In short, though roughly enjoyable.
So for those not in the know, it follows the story of soon-to-be-legendary James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine) and his early days in the Starfleet Academy. (Look it up) He is joined by everybody’s favourite Vulcan- Spock (Zachery Quinto), Doctor Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) and the rest of the gang. Despite initial conflict, they all band together to stop the dastardly Romulan Nero (An almost indistinguishable Eric Bana) from destroying Earth with stolen Vulcan technology.
The movie has some spectacular fight scenes, one of my favourites is the high altitude sword-fight between a Romulan and Pilot Hiraku Sulu (John Cho). There are quite a few laughs, mainly provided by Simon Pegg as Scotty and Anton Yelchin as Ensign Checkov. Mainly because of their outrageous accents. There are also nods to the original series – I’ll let you figure them out- including what was probably the first of untimely red-shirt demises, you know, the cannon fodder.
Another high point is the appearance of Leonard Nimoy (looking a little like Exidor to me) , also reprising his role of Spock, combining the old with the new. I’m kinda glad Shatner didn’t do the same thing, that may have had some serious physiological trauma on young Kirk. (Kidding of course- no offense man.)
Star Trek is defiantly a must see this year, I would give and easy 10/10. It’s a fantastic way to introduce the characters and who knows, maybe I’ll even track down and watch some episodes. Or if they make a spin off TV series, I’d probably watch that.
Well that’s about it for me….
-Professor Bear
Live long and Prosper
(PS. I really must figure out how to do the Vulcan Neck Pinch!)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
First Rave!!!
Time for a rave.
This has been bugging me for quite some time now, trivial as it may seem.
I believe I was in grade three (or was it grade 5?) when the substitute teacher was handing out permission slips for an excursion some days later. The destination escapes me, but I remember we departed at 9:00 am and arrived back at school around midday. Seeing the time listed as 12:00pm, I put up my hand to reveal my discovery of this blunder.
“Shouldn’t it be 12:00 am?” I asked.
After all, I was no fool and knew something about time. AM being from the early hours of the morning until noon and PM the afternoon and following night-time. I was feeling rather chuffed about the fact that I had spotted a mistake, made by the all-seeing, all-knowing beings called teachers. Until the sub brought me down like an leak brings down a zeppelin.
“Not unless you want to come back at midnight” she replied, accompanied by the sniggers of my classmates. As I later found out, that at 12 o’clock we shift from AM to PM, and vice versa at night.
To which I must say: WHAT THE HECK?
Seriously, who’s bright idea was that? I mean technically that means that we go 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 and so on! It defies everything taught in pre-school mathematics! Did we learn how to start counting by going to the biggest number first, skipping to straight to the bottom and work our way up? I doubt it. Does this mean that when folks over at NASA do their countdowns, they should go
“One…ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…Lift Off?” Surely it would make sense to start AM at 1:00 and finish at 12:00 instead of finishing the cycle off early and sticking the last hour onto the next one. Frankly, I think it’s just plain dumb, because it’s like starting a new day when the other one hasn’t finished yet.
Now before you start rattling off an email saying that I am the dumb one, let me expand.
Time is a funny thing. Technically, like actual counting, the new cycle of either AM or PM starts at 00:00, and works it’s way up. Fine, I get that. But why call it 12:00 AM. Who decided that 12 would be the new zero?
It’s like in 1984, with the whole ‘2+2=5’ shtick. It messes with my brain.
Kinda like daylight savings. But that’s an issue for another blog.
In conclusion, I reckon the military and relative parties are the only ones with their heads screwed on the right way. Start at 00:00 hours and work your way up to 23:59 hours before starting again the next day at 00:00.
But hey….maybe it’s just me.
-Professor Bear.
This has been bugging me for quite some time now, trivial as it may seem.
I believe I was in grade three (or was it grade 5?) when the substitute teacher was handing out permission slips for an excursion some days later. The destination escapes me, but I remember we departed at 9:00 am and arrived back at school around midday. Seeing the time listed as 12:00pm, I put up my hand to reveal my discovery of this blunder.
“Shouldn’t it be 12:00 am?” I asked.
After all, I was no fool and knew something about time. AM being from the early hours of the morning until noon and PM the afternoon and following night-time. I was feeling rather chuffed about the fact that I had spotted a mistake, made by the all-seeing, all-knowing beings called teachers. Until the sub brought me down like an leak brings down a zeppelin.
“Not unless you want to come back at midnight” she replied, accompanied by the sniggers of my classmates. As I later found out, that at 12 o’clock we shift from AM to PM, and vice versa at night.
To which I must say: WHAT THE HECK?
Seriously, who’s bright idea was that? I mean technically that means that we go 12:00, 1:00, 2:00 and so on! It defies everything taught in pre-school mathematics! Did we learn how to start counting by going to the biggest number first, skipping to straight to the bottom and work our way up? I doubt it. Does this mean that when folks over at NASA do their countdowns, they should go
“One…ten…nine…eight…seven…six…five…four…three…two…Lift Off?” Surely it would make sense to start AM at 1:00 and finish at 12:00 instead of finishing the cycle off early and sticking the last hour onto the next one. Frankly, I think it’s just plain dumb, because it’s like starting a new day when the other one hasn’t finished yet.
Now before you start rattling off an email saying that I am the dumb one, let me expand.
Time is a funny thing. Technically, like actual counting, the new cycle of either AM or PM starts at 00:00, and works it’s way up. Fine, I get that. But why call it 12:00 AM. Who decided that 12 would be the new zero?
It’s like in 1984, with the whole ‘2+2=5’ shtick. It messes with my brain.
Kinda like daylight savings. But that’s an issue for another blog.
In conclusion, I reckon the military and relative parties are the only ones with their heads screwed on the right way. Start at 00:00 hours and work your way up to 23:59 hours before starting again the next day at 00:00.
But hey….maybe it’s just me.
-Professor Bear.
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