So I watched G.I. Joe Saturday night. Yes it was a very bad movie, but despite the bad acting bad lines I really enjoyed it. Having grown up in the eighties and having nearly all of the first 4-5 years of the action figures and toys and an avid watcher of the cartoon the movie brought back much of those good memories. The massive submarine battle at the climax was very reminiscent of the cartoon. It all it was a pretty good conversion of the cartoon feel into a live action movie.

I did find it funny how many actors from The Mummy movies was in G.I. Joe it almost became a distracting trying to see who would show up next.

It appears that Mechwarrior 5 will be set early enough to be all inner sphere, no lousy clans. And it appears that at least some of the old classic chassis are back. I thought Battletech had lost the rights to the Warhammer mech (the mech who's perspective you are viewing from in the video.)

I haven't bought a new computer game in many years and the only new game I have played recently was Halo 2 my brother got me for Christmas. If this games becomes reality I will be spending money on it. No doubt with much consternation from GFWTR. The game, a new video card and a good joystick.

ETA: Apparently they will be giving away Mechwarrior 4 free as a way to generate interesting in the new game. BattleTech.com supposedly will have it for download "shortly".

-Friday took GFWTR out for a nice dinner while Na'nah watch Abby.

-Saturday me and Abby hung out all day. Went shopping in the morning and that afternoon tried out my big wheeled stroller I got for father's day with a little exploring off road at an old park near our house.

-Sunday was a USPSA match at the local club. Got beat in Limited-10 by 0.38% by a high-school kid. Good match the kid and I were squaded together and egging each other on all match.

-That afternoon did a little more shopping and out for dinner with both GFWTR and Abby.

-That even cleaned guns and watch Aliens, again. I forgot how good that movie was I hadn't watched it in nearly two years.

-Monday night GFWTR and I went on a double date with the new priest and her husband, went out to dinner and saw the new Star Trek movie. Overall it was enjoyable. Felt rushed at the beginning and weak on plot but I thought the new versions of the characters were pretty good. I especially liked the new Bones.

-Abby is going to walk any day now. She has taken as many as three step on her own before converting back to linoleum lizard mode.

-The large aperture on a standard rear AR-15 battle sight does not work at 200 yards. This cost me second place at last weekend's three gun when I got a big fat zero on the long range rifle stage.

-My aunt is still using a broadcast TV signal, on a 46 inch 1080p capable TV. I installed the a new antenna to help boost reception of the new digital signal this weekend.

-I finished slogging through Charles Stross' Accelerando. It is a neat interpretation of the technological singularity. That said, my "Leave it to Beaver" childhood clashed severely with the painfully dysfunctional family that was the focus of the story. In addition my desire to shoot cats and drowned kitten was also accentuated, greatly. I can not recommend the book.

-The Ohio BMV does not send a reminder until after your driver's license has expired.

-The Element needs tires badly, almost 70K on the OEM ones. 215/70R16, any recommendations?

A short story by Vernor Vinge. I read True Names on the way home from the Rochester Brooks three gun match this weekend. The story is a moderately good cyberpunk genre short story (actaully a novella but who's countin'?). The cool part is that it was written in 1981. At that time ARPANET was only a bit over 200 host on the network. This story pre-dates William Gibson's work and in someways seems to more accurately predict what the network would become a bit more accurately then Gibson did IMHO. It's a pretty good story and when you read it now some 28 years later it has aged well. If your interested you can find a link to the full text at the bottom of the wiki entry for True Names.

First Indiana Jones, we went and saw the latest installment of Indiana Jones, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Overall I was a bit disappointed, not horribly so and I did find it entertaining but definitely disappointed compared to the rest of the series. The opening scenes I found too many things that just broke my suspended disbeliefs. It just seemed not well thought out and just sort of a series of kludged together scenes going for wow factor rather than staying true to the genre. Also the theme of the movie over all was just too overt grand and momentous for Indiana. Aliens don't fit with Indiana Jones IMHO. The movie was not pulp fiction enough for me. I wanted a movie that tied up the loose ends the way this movie did in many ways but with a more Raiders of the Lost Ark feel. In the end it was entertaining but did not come close to the first or third movie as far as representing the true Indiana Jones feel and story.

I am legend, the book not the movie, was very good. I finished reading the short novel last Thursday and it was very enjoyable. I found Richard Matheson writing very easy to read and his level of detail and laying out a scene very good. He captures the feel of being the last man on the planet very well. The despair, frustration and self destructive bouts of depression come through very real. The combination of the vampire theme and science (I believe Matheson was a pioneer in this science based vampire genre) was very good. The ending, although I knew what it was going to be from reading too much of the Wiki entry turned out to be far more bitter sweet than I thought it was going to be even just pages before it happened while reading the book. The ending was not exactly how I would have written it but I think in the end it fit the rest of the novel very nicely.

Took gfwtr and Little Miss (tough time leaving her at the baby-sitter yet) to see Iron Man this evening. We both liked the movie, a rarity for us as I usually like the movie and she doesn't, especial when it comes to Sci-Fi, Action movies.

All in all I though it was pretty good. The beginning strained my own level of suspended disbelief (which is pretty generous by most standards if I like the premise). Particularly the power source for the suit. The trillion actuators on the second generation suit and can believe, if only because my own real life work would be so much easier of actuators of that small size and high force density really existed. The power source on the other hand is a source of constant embitterment to me and the antonymous systems I work on (not to mention that much power coming through those little wire, come on!). Ahhh..., but enough of the negative technical crap.

Robert Downey Jr does a great job with Stark/Iron Man. That has to be the most attractive role I have ever see Gwyneth Paltrow play. (gfwtr reply it was the red hair when I made a similar comment on the way out of the theater, she's no doubt right given my fondness of redheads, but I liked the character too.) Jeff Bridges always bring an interesting quality to his characters that I like. The story line was predictable but satisfying. It is a super hero movie what can you expect.

Back to the tech, the good side, the Iron Man suit was awesome. I love all the complexed articulated surfaces, actuators galore and the animation of the suit was superb. In general I love the idea of the exo-skeletons and Iron Man was an excellent example of one. The heads up display gave a good feel for the imersiveness of the suit. The scenes were Stark is perfecting the second suit are some of the most funny scenes in the entire movie. The constant damage and repair throughout the story was great too. Nothing better than battle scared high-tech to make it and the story gritty and real.

My only complaint is that modern movies always happen to fast in story time. Things that should have taken weeks and months happen to the characters in hours and days. It seem that modern directors and writers have lost the ability to show time pass in the story without boring the audience. There was a time when directors could put together scenes that on screen only take seconds, maybe a minute or so and yet the audience feel months have passed for the characters and that something of great effort has been accomplish through the expenditure of time. You can tell a story in a short amount of time, that take a long time with respect to the characters, and not have the audience feel rushed, that art need to be re-found.

We don't go to see movies often. The last one in theaters was Transformers IIRC. The next movie will most likely be the fourth Indiana Jones. We both liked the first three (GFWTR really likes the first and third, not so much for her on the second) and so we are both anticipating the fourth movie. GFWTR will be pissed if it ends up like the second movie.

I finally read the second, and final, book in Scott Westerfeld Succession Series, The Killing of Worlds. I had been slogging painfully through Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Despite my fondness for Gibson’s writing and what I thought was a fondness for the steam punk setting I finally gave up about 60 pages short of the ending. I may return to it but I doubt it. The killing of Worlds on the other hand read much much easier. It’s just over 400 pages (paper back) and I read it in 6 sessions. That is very fast for me. The only book I think I read faster was Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card and I did it in three sessions (the first time, re-read in one long sitting later) but it was almost half as long.

( rambling review behind the cut )

All in all this was one of the easier reading and more enjoyable bits of Sci-Fi I have read in quite a while. I have to thank madeofmeat for the recommendation to read The Risen Empire and then this follow on book The Killing of Worlds by Scott Westerfeld.

In response to Steaming Turd's entry of the same title, "OMG HAN SHOT FIRST" I give you the following image:



more info

keep them busy for a very long time. The past two weekend I have watch the Sci-Fi original movie late Saturday evening. Last week was Ogre and this week was Rock Monster. Wow are these bad. The story lines are passable but the acting and special effect ruin any mild merit the plot might have warranted. You would think the Sci-Fi channel could produce slightly better movies. I mean at least campy B movie Sci-Fi are suppost to be that way most of this stuff is C- at best given that they seem to be trying to be better than campy but failing. Uhgg