I’ve seen some pointless cuts taken out of movies when shown on tv.

But its after 11pm.  On cable.  And Bravo cut the scene where McCloud cuts off Ahman Faziel’s head in the garage.  What travesty is this?  Why bother showing The Highlander at all?

I picked the link to this test up from Ghost of a flea.  It is an entertaining way to kill 5 minutes. 

You scored as United States. Your army is the American army. You want your home front to support the G.I.’s in their pursuit to liberate world from more or less evil tyrants.   United States 88% British and the Commonwealth 81% Finland 75% Poland 75% Italy 69% France, Free French and the Resistance 63% Germany 63% Soviet Union 50% Japan 38% In which World War 2 army you should have fought? created with QuizFarm.com

I was browsing around on Slashdot this morning, and happened upon this little blurb by Tony Pascale.

“Star Trek is the latest sci-fi classic to get the CGI ’special edition’ treatment. According to rumors picked up by TrekMovie.com, CBS and Paramount have been secretly working on a new version of Star Trek: The Original Series for HDTV. The shows will feature the original episodes with brand new state-of-the-art CGI visual effects, including a a redone title sequence (with re-recorded music). The effects are likely to be limited to the space scenes and not effect the live action scenes, so Edith Keeler will not shoot first. The HDTV Star Trek series will begin broadcasting this fall just in time for the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek.”

WTF?!?!

Why in the he|| do some people think that it’s necessary to screw with a time-honored classic?  Just because new technology has become available that could make old effects look better does not mean that you should mess with an old favorite.  By all means, use that technology from this point forward (especially if it makes the effects better and cheaper).  I’m all for that.  However, do NOT ruin that which has come before.

By adding “new effects” into an old movie or television show you are altering the artistic vision originally set down by those who created it in the first place.  Yes, some of those effects may look a bit cheesy by today’s standards.  However, there was probably a lot of time, thought, and sweat issued to make that original special effect.  By overlaying a CGI effect in it’s place, you’re basically tossing all that effort into the bin.  If I had created a piece of art that was well liked… and that artwork were suddenly tossed aside because someone else could have done what I did “better” (which is a relative term in my judgement), then I can honestly say that I’d be very upset.

For too long, I have watched people ruin old classics.  I’ll site two examples.

• Ted Turner spent many years adding sickened shades of color to old black-and-white MGM, Warner Bros., and RKO classics.  I never liked colorization.  I always found it very distracting from the films.  The off-color complexions that the colorization process gave to the actors always seemed to make them look like jaundice was setting in.
• George Lucas felt it was necessary to tweak the original Star Wars trilogy, and then he used the excuse that he could not accomplish his original vision with the technology that was available at the time.  OK… whatever.  I did like the addition of the verbal confrontation between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt in “A New Hope”.  However, it was a piece of the film that was actually missing from the original release, so I could accept it.  However, I felt that Lucas was disrespecting the original body of work with some of the other bits that just did not need to be changed.  I’m only going to say this once… Han shot first!

Leave the old classics be!  Just because you can do something does not necessarily mean that you should do it.

Would you give eyebrows to the Mona Lisa?  No.
Would you add a heart-tugging step-father-and-son moment to Shakespeare’s Hamlet?  No.
Would you replace the Shroud of Turin with an Iron-On Transfer on a piece of stain resistant polyester?  No.

If it isn’t broken, then don’t fix it!

Neil Boorman at the BBC NEWS has had all he can stand…

We are surrounded by myriad brands, flashing neon signs, billboards, labels on our heads, feet and bodies, and the objects we hold in our hands. But what happens when one man tries to live without them?

No more “brand awareness” for him.  He’s going generic in his life, which is a good thing.

Basically I feel the same way, but there are a few brands that I do respect, if only because there is a noticable quality difference.

Honda, Columbia, and Coca Cola.  Nike is good, only because their shoes last, not because they’re generally frickin’ ghetto ugly anymore.

Can’t for the life of me right now think of any other brands I *must* have over any others… I get my clothes at Walmart and Kohls.  I have no problem buying the grocery store brand food.

What brands are worth buying above all else?  And for what other reason other than “its the in thing” or something stupid like that?

That time of the week again.  Post your masterpiece, or even your slop, and link to it here.  Someone will follow and find it enjoyable!

Just remember:

The only 2 tools you will ever need are WD-40 and Duct Tape. If it moves and it shouldn’t, use the duct tape. If it doesn’t move and it should, use the WD-40.

9> Raiders of the Lost Arrrrrrk
8> Jason and the Arrrrrrrrgonauts
7> Arrrrmageddon
6> Eyepatch Adams
5> Wench Kiss
4> The 40-Year-Old Bourbon
3> 50 First Mates
2> Forget Parrot
and the Number 1 Favorite Movie of Pirates…
1> Peggy Leg Got Married

Not after what their damn government has done!

China has added strippers at funerals to its burgeoning list of proscribed activities, the BBC reports.

From the Delaware News Journal, which is typically full of whiney people going me me me…

Democrats responsible for dumbing down schoolsDemocrats are the party of racial balance, school busing, the redistribution of both wealth and middle-class income, softness in dealing with our nation’s sworn enemies, and an unconstitutional government by a majority of nine members of the Supreme Court that forces others to play the same game in opposition.

Thirty-two long years of busing brought me to the conclusion that, on most issues, the liberal media lies.

George W. Bush was an infant when dumbing down curriculum to a lowest common denominator and other schemes by egalitarian zealots were introduced. Who were these schemers? Why, they were liberals.

William D. D’Onofrio, President, National Association of Neighborhood Schools, Wilmington

Pirates can sign up anywhere

Shuhe Hawkins wanted to be a pirate when he grew up. Apparently, he was not alone.Hawkins is part of a subculture of pirate lovers across the globe, a growing tribe that encompasses history buffs, musicians, actors and hipsters.

Across the United States, from New York City to Portland, Oregon, the pirate movement has spawned pirate bars, social circles, bands, festivals, magazines and apparel.

Devotees are attracted by pirate fashions, the spirit of rowdiness and the opportunity to engage in anti-establishment behavior. It’s unclear where it began, but pirates are clearly in vogue.

They did forget about pirate bloggers damn them…

Once again Monday is here, and so it’s time for Open Trackbacks. Come up with your masterpiece of blogging, and then track it here for more exposure. Especially if you’re low on the ecosystem. Every little bit helps you know!

To all your MechWarrior / BattleTech fans out there…

I found this slick little video on YouTube. I just wish MechWarrior would make it’s way to the big screen someday.

I yearn for a Cockpit-mounted ferro-fiberous armor-plated Beer Meister.

I was so damn close to just walking away from a home depot purchase today. Several hundred dollars worth, almost left at the register.

If you could call those crappy self service machines a register.

Those things are horrible. For a few small items, maybe they’re OK to get people processed faster.

But I had a cart full of heavy items (ceiling fans, etc) and the machine kept going back and forth between “Put the item on the shelf” and “Item was taken off the shelf” or whatever the hell it said. After the fourth or fifth time the item I had wouldn’t scan right, I was ready to leave everything right where it was at, unpaid, and walk out the damn door. People next to us were having the same problems with the thing.
So why did I use the damn thing? Because they closed ALL the other registers at 4:30pm on a Saturday. The only other thing open was the single contractor line, which was about 10-12 people deep. Good 1/2 hr wait based on what I saw.

No more home depot for me. They’ve just lost my business because they wanted to save a coupla bucks on cashiers. Lowe’s is only about a mile further, so no major loss.

Oh, and to the snotty girl behind the counter… rolling your eyes because you think your customers are idiots is pretty dumb, when you’re working the counter at a home depot late on a Saturday night.  One step up from “do you want fries with that?”  So its not like the fate of the world rests on your shoulders or anything.

I was reviewing the Samuel Adams listing on Beeripedia.com… and I’m fairly confident that the Scotch Ale is my favorite. Part of this decision is based on the harsh, smoky bite it has… and the rest of the decision was made because of the really cool tartan label.

However, I wanted to ask… has anyone out there tried the Utopias? Or the Chocolate Bock? Or the Triple Bock? Can you tell us about them? I have been toying with the idea of questing for these beers so I might try them. However, I’m looking for an informed opinion before I start dropping dollars on them. Can anyone tell me what they thought of these beers?

What’s your favorite?

My wife just said:  “Didn’t you learn square dancing in school?  I thought everyone learned square dancing in school.”

I got the link to this little quiz from Ghost of a flea… my first thought was… NEAT!!!

You are a HOUND OF TINDALOS, a fearsome quadroped that travels between dimensions by materialising through corners and angles, from which the only hiding place is within a sphere. The hounds hunt the dimensions in search of food, humans being a particular favourite, whom it devours with its huge conical tounge through which the victims’ vital essences are sucked.
Take this quiz! Quizilla | Join | Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning.
He told Bush that 3 Brazilian solders were killed in Iraq. To everyone’s amazement, all the color drained from Bush’s face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost in tears.

Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld, “Just exactly how many is a brazilian?”

It’s not often I root for AOL… but the more they do to ruin these people’s life the better.  From CNN.com

AOL is preparing to dig for buried gold and platinum on property in Massachusetts owned by the parents of a man it sued for sending millions of unwanted spam e-mails to its customers.

I think they should give these people an 800 number to call, where they can go through the painful process of trying to cancel this dig.  “Why do you want to cancel this dig?  I’m just trying to be your friend here.  Is your father home?”

Once again Monday is here, and so it’s time for Open Trackbacks. Come up with your masterpiece of blogging, and then track it here for more exposure. Especially if you’re low on the ecosystem. Every little bit helps you know!

The View From The Nest reports…

An exceedingly “must read” column by Ken Allard appeared in the Express News on 10 Aug. Top of page 7b. American Support For Troops Another Wartime Myth.

Denver International Airport. Last Sunday, 3 p.m., Gate B-21, United Airlines flight to Boise. An Idaho reservist and Army medic, who we’ll call John, is coming home on leave, following six months of combat duty in Iraq. He’s set to arrive just two days after the birth of his son.

John is a lieutenant, he has been traveling for 20 hours and just missed an earlier flight. So he approaches the gate agent and asks if any upgrades are available on the next one. Gate agent sees he has no frequent flyer points, checks out his uniform and says that since she doesn’t believe in murder, she won’t bump him up to first class just because he’s a soldier.

I really don’t look forward to flying again in the first place, but hope this isn’t true. Then again, I can’t stand most of the old airlines, like United, Delta, etc.

Woo hoo, Joe Publicus is back posting!