Reasons why I’m not thrilled about The Force Awakens

1)      Right out of the gate, the first thing that will be different is that it won’t start with Alfred Newman’s Fanfare (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DnpAQegDXE).  Yes, it’s 22 seconds of disappointment, but I’m scared of what they might replace it with (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMyHnZ4lV54 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC-eFU6OgxA).  Did you know that George Lucas (not John Williams) brought Newman’s Fanfare back to 20^th Century fox in 1977?  It hadn’t been used in over 10 years.

2)      While we’re on the topic of music, Disney hasn’t released the soundtrack yet.  And the only tidbits that they showed on 60 minutes really didn’t relate to the original scores much at all.  I know that the music to the prequels was quite a bit different as well, but the beauty of Revenge of the Sith was how the music tied the prequel themes to the original trilogy.

3)      Also related to music, while I’m glad that they hired John Williams to do the music, they are using a Disney studio orchestra instead of the London Philharmonic Orchestra.

4)       BB-8:  Let’s just say that I now understand everybody else’s hatred of Jar Jar  :)

5)      All of the other movies were released from May 16^th to May 25^th.  A December 17^th opening date just confirms that J. J. Abrams wasn’t paying any attention to details.

6)      There’s a character named Ello Asty – pronounced L-O S-T.  J. J. is more focused on self-promotion than the traditions of the saga.  (It’s minor, but how many other Abrams easter eggs are hidden in this movie?)

7)      A local concern:  All the good theaters are dead.  The Cooper and Century 21 have been gone for years.  The only good auditorium left in Denver for the Special Editions/Prequels was the Continental.  And now the Continental has been converted to stadium seating, and I just can’t bring myself to even go to see what it looks like.  I had a favorite seat at the Con – I sat in the same seat for all 6 of the Star Wars movies and the Lord of the Rings (and the extended editions).  I’m guessing that my seat is now about 12 feet below the stadium seat the proper distance from the screen.

8)      J. J. Abrams is known for not writing strong endings (Lost anyone?).  So why would Disney hire him to write the end of the greatest saga in movie history?

9)      Most of the people who are excited about the new movie are the same people who hated the prequels.  While I agree that there were things that I didn’t like about the prequels, the original trilogy wasn’t any better.  “But I was going into Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!” isn’t any better than “I don't like sand. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere.”  And Nien Nunb was worse than Boss Nass.  The Ewoks were just as silly as the Gungans.  And “It’s a trap!” became famous because it’s just as dumb as “Now this is podracing!”  Sorry folks, but the dialog and acting were not why we liked the original series.  It was the music and the great improvements in special effects. The prequels had better music and fantastic special effects if you were paying attention.  All that I have seen in the new movie is action, explosions, and I higher body count – which is the same thing that I’ve seen in every other movie coming out of Hollywood in the past 10 years.

In short, I’ll go, I’ll enjoy it, but there are just so many things that make this not a Star Wars movie.  Please don't screw it up Jar Jar Abrams.

The Crazy People's Lost Schedule

So, last night began our marathon of watching Lost. If you have nothing better to do, and want to try keeping up, please let us know, so we know who we can talk to.

A couple of notes: We wont be able to watch on Tuesdays, so our schedule does include 3 episodes of season 5 on Feb. 2nd. Also, the weekend of January 22nd, we know we won't be available to watch so you can adjust the schedule since you probably have  2 more days than us. (We are also taking New Year's Eve off.)

Finally, we won't be tying ourselves 100% to the schedule, so please know that we may watch 4 some nights so we can have more nights of just 2. But it is about a season a week....

Season 1

December 28

1 "Pilot: Part 1"

2 "Pilot: Part 2"

3 "Tabula Rasa"

December 29

4 "Walkabout"

5 "White Rabbit"

6 "House of the Rising Sun"

7 "The Moth"

December 30

8 "Confidence Man"

9 "Solitary"

10 "Raised by Another"

January 1

11 "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues"

12 "Whatever the Case May Be"

13 "Hearts and Minds"

January 2

14 "Special"

15 "Homecoming"

16 "Outlaws"

January 3

17 "…In Translation"

18 "Numbers"

19 "Deus Ex Machina"

January 4

20 "Do No Harm"

21 "The Greater Good"

22 "Born to Run"

January 5

23 "Exodus: Part 1"

24 "Exodus: Part 2"

25 "Exodus: Part 2"

Season 2

January 6

26 "Man of Science, Man of Faith"

27 "Adrift"

28 "Orientation"

January 7

29 "Everybody Hates Hugo"

30 "...And Found"

31 "Abandoned"

January 8

32 "The Other 48 Days"

33 "Collision"

34 "What Kate Did"

January 9

35 "The 23rd Psalm"

36 "The Hunting Party"

37 "Fire + Water"

January 10

38 "The Long Con"

39 "One of Them"

40 "Maternity Leave"

January 11

41 "The Whole Truth"

42 "Lockdown"

43 "Dave"

January 12

44 "S.O.S."

45 "Two for the Road"

46 "?"

January 13

47 "Three Minutes"

48 "Live Together, Die Alone"

49 "Live Together, Die Alone"

Season 3

January 14

50 "A Tale of Two Cities"

51 "The Glass Ballerina"

52 "Further Instructions"

January 15

53 "Every Man for Himself"

54 "The Cost of Living"

55 "I Do"

January 16

56 "Not in Portland"

57 "Flashes Before Your Eyes"

58 "Stranger in a Strange Land"

January 17

59 "Tricia Tanaka Is Dead"

60 "Enter 77"

61 "Par Avion"

January 18

62 "The Man from Tallahassee"

63 "Exposé"

64 "Left Behind"

January 19

65 "One of Us"

66 "Catch-22"

67 "D.O.C."

January 20

68 "The Brig"

69 "The Man Behind the Curtain"

70 "Greatest Hits"

January 21

71 "Through the Looking Glass"

72 "Through the Looking Glass"

Season 4

73 "The Beginning of the End"

January 24

74 "Confirmed Dead"

75 "The Economist"

January 25

76 "Eggtown"

77 "The Constant"

78 "The Other Woman"

January 26

79 "Ji Yeon"

80 "Meet Kevin Johnson"

81 "The Shape of Things to Come"

January 27

82 "Something Nice Back Home"

83 "Cabin Fever"

84 "There's No Place Like Home: Part 1"

January 28

85 "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2"

86 "There's No Place Like Home: Part 2"

Season 5

87 "Because You Left"

January 29

88 "The Lie"

89 "Jughead"

90 "The Little Prince"

January 30

91 "This Place Is Death"

92 "316"

93 "The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham"

January 31

94 "LaFleur"

95 "Namaste"

96 "He's Our You"

February 1

97 "Whatever Happened, Happened"

98 "Dead Is Dead"

99 "Some Like It Hoth"

100 "The Variable"

February 2

101 "Follow the Leader"

102 "The Incident"

103 "The Incident"

Inching toward Netflix

Well, Blockbuster and I are no longer getting along.

The first irritation was more my fault and so I was a little more accepting - I let a gift card sit too long and they decided to wipe it clean. It's their policy - a well stated policy - but a policy that states that money is more important than the client relationship and trust. I through away my membership card on that one - so I'm already pretty much done. I figured that this was a personal decision - it was mostly my fault and so no sense to blog it....

However, this week, I was receiving 60 to 100 spams a minute for several hours from an email address that I only ever gave to Blockbuster. (Sometimes it's nice to have your own email server.) I know that Blockbuster is struggling to stay alive, but to sell email addresses is a very poor business decision.

I'm really liking the Netflix/XBox partnership that has begun this month. The only struggle is value - obviously we don't rent that many movies....

An update

So, I know it's not earth shattering, but in case you've been wondering what I've been up to....



I was really close to getting a perfect 5280, but I accidentally got 2 achievements at the same time and overshot. Luckily Viva Pinata: Party Animals, a perfect 6000 wasn't too far away. (And thanks to silly games like Yaris, 5 point achievements still exist in the world.)

Well, I think I knew that before the test...

Which Lost Character Are You?

More on Lost. Created by BuddyTV

Today in History

1966 John Lennon says "We (Beatles) are more popular than Jesus"

Ironically nobody has to ask, "Jesus who?"

1950: Walt Disney's feature-length animated motion picture Cinderella is released.

She doesn't look a day over 20.

Some more movie reviews...

Over the break, I did get an opportunity to see several movies. I have a few comments to make about some of them.

National Treasure 2: I really liked it. I did like Riley Poole's role in the first one a lot better. Probably because I connected with his character a little more. Possibly because he gave in a bought a Mac.... My one major comment: If you buy the 32-ounce Coke, visit the restroom around the time that you go west of the Mississippi. There's a LOT of water in the last hour of this movie....

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Enjoyable. Although it was done really well, I love these stories - I know it's cliche, but the books are better. I do like their casting for Trillian. To quote the Commentary on the DVD: "Those eyes! C'mon they were made for each other...." And a personal quote that I use a lot that I think I must have picked up from this movie the first time that I saw it: "It's the best I could do at short notice."

Life Stinks: Really, really, really good. This might be in my favorite movies of all time. (Along with The Princess Bride, L.A. Story, Better Off Dead, and Scrooged - in case you cared.) I saw this movie in the theater back in '91 - it was as good as I remembered. I had to introduce the wife to this one - she didn't believe me that a Mel Brooks movie entitled Life Stinks would be worth seeing at all. I tried to tell her that it would be a good one for new years, but she didn't go for it, now she wishes she had. (Hitchhiker's won that vote...) It's not at all a traditional Mel Brooks movie - that's why it's not in any collections - it's also why it is so hard to find - nobody saw the movie the first time and nobody knows that they want to see it now. I wanted to put in my favorite quotes, but I couldn't do it without ruining the movie. It's worth seeing and, naturally, it really resonates if you are already a pessimist.

Alan Menken Redeemed

I loved Alan Menken's work in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. In subsequent movies where he worked with Tim Rice, it became more obvious to me that I liked Howard Ashman more than I actually liked Alan Menken.

This was confirmed to me when I saw the theatrical version of Beauty and the Beast in which Alan made a few musical changes. Since I know the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack so well, the changes were painfully obvious to me. The first act I actually liked better than the movie and at the intermission, I even made a few comments to people that I think that Menken has possibly redeemed himself. The second act however confirmed to me that I really don't like Menken's musical style.

Tonight I went to Enchanted. This soundtrack has totally redeemed Alan Menken in my mind. It was so good that I did not even consider that he could have been involved until his name showed up in the end credits.

The best song on the soundtrack, That's How You Know, almost ranked him up there with with Hans Zimmer - well almost. Unfortunately, Alan has Home Alone 2 smeared across his resume - and that's going to take a lot of really good writing to cover up.

Halo Flu - a month late...

So, for the last month or so, I've been working my way through Halo's 1 and 2 in preparation for the release of Halo 3. One of the things I like about the Halo series is that it's not a "kill everything that moves" game - there's actually a plot. I wanted to catch up on the story line before I got moving. I remembered most of the plot of 1, but since I had a one-year-old around the house when Halo 2 came out I wasn't able to play it at full volume and missed some of the story. I still have small kids in the house, but I figured out a way to hook headphones up to my 360. When it came to replaying the games, I knew that I wasn't in a hurry to finish because I wasn't going to be able to get Halo 3 until Christmas anyway.

Well, Wednesday of last week, I received a copy of Halo 3 mailed to me in an unmarked envelope. A gift I do appreciate (in case the random gifter reads my blog - you can consider this post to also be my thank you note), but it gave me a bit more incentive to finish Halo 2.

Well, I finished Halo 2 last night. Then I got "sick". My wife said that the smells eminating from the bathroom and passing out around midnight were convincing enough to take a day off from work.

So, I got to play a while today. My favorite part so far is a little Easter Egg that I found wandering down a random hallway. Two characters with voices STRIKINGLY similar to Simmons and Caboose on Red vs Blue arguing over knowing the password necessary to open a door. I got myself clobbered just so that I could share the moment with Melissa.

So long and thanks for all the fish....

*sniff*

My Song....

Hey look - somebody wrote me a song! (All except the bubblewrap part...)

Be afraid!

Be very afraid!

Random movie quotes

Take your best guesses...

1) Stop helping me!
2) But... its got 11.
3) Claire, the whole world. Whole world, Claire.
4) Pie Jesu domine, dona eis requiem.
5) Oureyay oingay otay etgay itay in the airchay.
6) It's not the volts - it's the amps that'll get you.
7) Don't make me waste letters - R U O K?
8) How do you read this? There's no pictures!
9) It's possible... pig...
10) I gave her my heart - she gave me a pen.
11) You know better than to trust a strange computer.
12) You believe in the Users?
13) If anything gets in your way, turn.
14) Sorry guys. You're just too darn loud.
15) The world's first unmanned flying desk set.
16) If that's the way it must be done, then that's the way you must do it!
17) They keep creating new ways to celebrate mediocrity.
18) I'll have you Longshanks!
19) Cue the sun!
20) Dude! What happened to your dog!
Bonus) You take the front nine, I'll take the back nine, and I'll meet you back at the clubhouse.

Thanks for the great seats, Poole!

So, we went to the Michael W. Smith concert last night at the Denver Pavillions - the friends we went with bought the tickets... I pulled out the new cell phone and got a picture of the stage from our seats - second row - right behind a lighting support post. (You can almost make out Smitty's shoulder right next to the post.) I was able to see the rest of the band pretty good though. (And Melissa was sitting next to me and could actually see pretty well.)

(Still learning to use the camera phone - somehow the resolution on the camera got set to "crappy". Better luck next time.)

The Father's Day present

Those who know me best got me Season 4 of Red vs Blue for Father's Day. It was great. Even Melissa laughed at several episodes.

Since I didn't find a list of Easter Eggs anywhere else on the Internet yet, I thought I would post them.

The traditional "Pick an Option" comes up when you sit on the main menu for too long.
In scene selections on the episode 63-68 screen, highlight the 69-74 on the bottom and move down. A continuity video will play.
In scene selections on the episodes 69-74 screen, highlight episode 70 and move up and press ok. This brings up Church's Easter Egg.
On the bonus features menu, highlight Deleted Scenes and press left. It will bring up Tex's version of the same bonus features menu.
On the special videos menu, highlight The Winter Lames video and press right. This brings up Sarge's Easter Egg.
On the outtakes menu, highlight The New Guy and press right. This brings up Andy's Easter Egg.
On the deleted scenes menu, highlight Alien Hunt and press left. This brings up Caboose's Easter Egg.
On the character profiles menu, highlight main and press right and ok. This brings up Pvt. Jimmy's profile.

Not really an Easter Egg since it comes up by default:
The first main menu states:
Standard Definition
Foreign Language
Ultra Super High MegaDef++ (The menu is huge)
Mini Micro Portapods (the menu is tiny)

Choosing Foreign Language brings up the main menu links with the "alien" titles:
Blarg
Honk Blarg
Blarg Honk Blarg
Blarg Honk Honk
Honk on Blarg vs Blarg

Red vs Blue

Simmons: Do you ever wonder why we're here?
Grif: One of life's great mysteries isn't it? Why are we here? I mean, are we the product of some cosmic coincidence? Or is there really a God, watching everything. You know, with a plan for us and stuff. I don't know man, but it keeps me up at night.
Simmons: What? I mean why are we out here, in this canyon.
Grif: Uh... Oh... Yeah...
Simmons: What's all this stuff about God?
Grif: Uh... um... Nothing.
Simmons: Seriously, though. Why are we out here? As far as I can tell, it's just a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. No way in or out.
Grif: Mm-hm.
Simmons: The only reason that we set up a Red base here is 'cause they have a Blue base over there. And the only reason they have a Blue base over there is 'cause we have a Red base here.
Grif: Yeah. That's because we're fighting each other
Simmons: No, but I mean, even if we were to pull out today, and they were to come take our base, they would have two bases in the middle of a box canyon. Whoop-dee-@$&#* doo.

---

Simmons: His armour is PINK.
Church: Pink? I wouldn't say pink. More of a... slightly less red.
Simmons: It's pink, okay? I know pink when I see it!

---

O'Malley: I agree! Except, replace the word "non" with "extremely".

---

Sarge: May I introduce the our new light reconnaissance vehicle! It has four-inch armour plating, mag bumper suspension, a mounted machine gunner position, and total seating for three. Gentlemen, this is the M12LRV! I like to call it the Warthog.
Simmons: Why Warthog, sir?
Sarge: Because "M12LRV' is too hard to say in conversation, son.
Grif: No, but... Why Warthog? I mean, it doesn't really look like a pig.
Sarge: Say that again.
Grif: I think it looks more like a puma.
Sarge: What in Sam Hell is a puma?
Simmons: You mean like the shoe company?
Grif: No. Like a puma. It's a big cat. Like a lion.
Sarge: You're makin' that up.
Grif: I'm telling you, it's a real animal.
Sarge: Simmons, I want you to poison Grif's next meal.
Simmons: Yes, sir!
Sarge: [Points at front of the Warthog] Look, see these two tailhooks? They look like tusks. And what kind of animal has tusks?
Grif: A walrus.
Sarge: Didn't I just tell you to stop makin' up animals?

---

Sarge: Simmons, Grif, we're out of luck. Get ready to open fire. Today is a good day to die.
Grif: Wait! I think today is actually a good day to RETREAT. Can't we push dying to a week from Friday?
Simmons: Yeah... let's all take dying as an open-action item, and come back with suggestions next meeting.

---

Caboose: [Trying to calm Andy down, to stop him from exploding] Come on Andy, think of a happy place. What makes you feel happy?
Andy The Bomb: ...being in the middle of big explosion!
Church: Less happy place, less happy!

---

Simmons: A good password should contain at least one letter and one number. For example, your password would be '2dumb2live'.

Happy π day (3.14) eve

http://www.vvc.edu/ph/TonerS/mathpi.html

(March 14th is also Einstein's birthday.)

Yeah...

I caught you a delicious bass.