Slashdot Mirror

Fairey Rotodyne was probably a more sucesfull example of those ideas. But...no, not really similar at all.

Similar would be Bell/Agusta BA609, V-22 Osprey, perhaps NASA Puffin. This one pretty damn close, ze Germans had something even closer, and here is almost the real deal, just not with turbines or ducted fans ("cancelled", riiight ;) )

Pretty close to proper aerial HK

A public service announcement.

http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/t3review.html

A review of

T3: Rise of the Machines

or the alternate title

"T3: WE REWROTE T2: JUDGMENT DAY AND TRIED TO SLIP IT PAST THE FANS FOR MORE OF THEIR MONEY"

Déjà vu is a funny feeling you get when you think that you have done or seen something before. Well, when I bought the T3 DVD and watched it for the first time I had a real case of déjà vu. Even though this was the first time that I had ever seen T3:ROTM, I knew that I had seen this movie before. Now, where was it that I had seen T3:ROTM before?

Hmmmm.

(insert sound of me snapping my fingers)

That's right! it was the Summer of 1991 and the movie was called Terminator 2: Judgment Day way back then.

T3 is a lampoon of T2, and a very bad one at that. From cheesy acting to laughable holes in both logic and plot, T3 fails as anything other than maybe a demo for some well done FX eye candy. The bad news is that it is official, it is canon, and it effectively beheads and neuters the first two movies in one fell swoop at the same time. T3 should be a lesson to all other film-makers of how not to make a movie using a vastly popular franchise. Big money and big star power couldn't save this stinker...

Let's recap the plot to T3:ROTM. SKYNET's attempt to kill Sarah Connor in 1984 fails. SKYNET then sends back through time an advanced prototype terminator to kill John Connor when he's older. The Resistance manages to send back a reprogrammed Terminator to protect John Connor. A chase ensues with the prototype Terminator pursuing John Connor while the reprogrammed Terminator protects him. A climatic battle between the two Terminators in the end results in the destruction of the prototype as well as the noble, self sacrifice of the guardian Terminator.

Notice any similarities there between T2 and T3? Sure you did because T3 is just T2 with more eye candy and a lot weaker plot. T3 could easily be considered a rejected script for T2: Judgment Day. At any rate, the abortion that is T3 should never have seen the light of day. There are numerous loop holes in the logic of T3 and several things that just really stood out as dumb. Let's review those now.

(Dumb)- the advanced prototype Terminator arrives back in modern day LA and immediately grabs a flashy, high dollar sports car then proceeds to drive like a maniac thus attracting all manner of public as well as law enforcement attention. The Terminator then proceeds to drive around and terminate people without any real regard for stealth. Sure, LA is a big, crazy place, but the amount of bosomy blondes in really tight red dress suits driving around at 90mph in a convertible Lexus and randomly capping people at burger stands can't be more than a hand full at any given time. Also, as a police officer, I know that when the officer pulled over the Lexus, he would have called in the make, model, and tag. Other officers would have been en route to back up the officer who stopped the Lexus, especially if it failed to yield to blue lights or he had to chase it a short bit. Once they arrived, or the dead officer failed to call in within two minutes (dispatch would check on his status often, especially on a traffic stop), other officers across the city would be on the look out or in pursuit of the Lexus. At least in T2:JD, the T1000 was smart enough to mimic a police officer, take the patrol unit, and access the LAPD central computer system in its quest to find John Connor.

(Dumb)- if the T-X can produce weapons out of its body, why does it need a Glock to carry out its mission? When it pulled up to the drive-thru at the burger joint to kill the first victim on its termination list, it would have made more sense if it had simply created a finger spike and run it through the eye socket of the kid at the window, like the T1000 did with the security guard at the insane asylum in T2. Tha

Personally, I love the first two. They're impressive, action-packed, and scary. I never even bothered to see the third one because it looked like it was going to suck right out of the gate. Turns out I was right.

The problem with T3 and any future project is that they're doing it for the bucks, not because there's any story worth telling. When it's about the money, the entire project will be permeated with a workman-like attitude. "Hey, don't complain, you're getting paid." "It doesn't have to get good, it just has to be finished." "Why invest any of myself in this? Nobody cares anyway."

So anything the studios put out will suck, suck, suck. But there's a theoretical question, is there anything left to explore in the Terminator universe? To that I would have to say yes: the machine war. They already did time travel in the first two movies. Doing it again in the third was a stupid and hackneyed idea. So, what stories are there to tell in the future? This guy has some ideas.

http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/contents.html

His birth of skynet story here is suitably terrifying and well-written. You could just imagine what something like this would look like on film.

http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/skynet.html

Any future Terminator storyline should discard T3, start with a new numbering scheme, and go with all new characters. The Machine War. The rise of the human resistence. The eventual defeat of Skynet. Not even a hint of time travel until the end of the third movie where John Connor leads the assault on the Skynet time portal. Use some CGI to make a new actor's face look like Kyle Reese from the first film. They enter the portal room. The instruments say that something has already gone back. Kyle strips down and goes through the portal. Connor orders the device reset for another transfer. "Wait, we're still here, aren't we? Didn't Kyle save you?" "Yeah, but Skynet sent two back. Prep the T800 we captured." Why only send one each time? Why not send more soldiers? They have the facility, they could send back an army. "Because only four were ever sent back in time, one human, three terminators. It worked out well enough for us then, I see no reason to risk changing things now."

Bah. The new Terminators are going to suck shit through a straw.

Personally, I love the first two. They're impressive, action-packed, and scary. I never even bothered to see the third one because it looked like it was going to suck right out of the gate. Turns out I was right.

The problem with T3 and any future project is that they're doing it for the bucks, not because there's any story worth telling. When it's about the money, the entire project will be permeated with a workman-like attitude. "Hey, don't complain, you're getting paid." "It doesn't have to get good, it just has to be finished." "Why invest any of myself in this? Nobody cares anyway."

So anything the studios put out will suck, suck, suck. But there's a theoretical question, is there anything left to explore in the Terminator universe? To that I would have to say yes: the machine war. They already did time travel in the first two movies. Doing it again in the third was a stupid and hackneyed idea. So, what stories are there to tell in the future? This guy has some ideas.

http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/contents.html

His birth of skynet story here is suitably terrifying and well-written. You could just imagine what something like this would look like on film.

http://www.goingfaster.com/term2029/skynet.html

Any future Terminator storyline should discard T3, start with a new numbering scheme, and go with all new characters. The Machine War. The rise of the human resistence. The eventual defeat of Skynet. Not even a hint of time travel until the end of the third movie where John Connor leads the assault on the Skynet time portal. Use some CGI to make a new actor's face look like Kyle Reese from the first film. They enter the portal room. The instruments say that something has already gone back. Kyle strips down and goes through the portal. Connor orders the device reset for another transfer. "Wait, we're still here, aren't we? Didn't Kyle save you?" "Yeah, but Skynet sent two back. Prep the T800 we captured." Why only send one each time? Why not send more soldiers? They have the facility, they could send back an army. "Because only four were ever sent back in time, one human, three terminators. It worked out well enough for us then, I see no reason to risk changing things now."

Bah. The new Terminators are going to suck shit through a straw.

Your average pushrod tech Harley produces around 80hp, and your average 600cc sportbike produces ~105hp from HALF the displacement. Harleys used to be fast, but the Japanese bikes are eating your lunch. Sorry about that.

And as far as the "sewing machine buzzy" motors, I think a water cooled inline 4 is a LOT smoother than that air cooled chrome vibrator your Americruiser comes with. At a light, you can't even see out of your mirrors because they shake so bad!

The REAL reason Harleys still use pushrod tech is because: (1)their riders bought the bike for image which would be ruined if it went high tech (2)less money spent on R&D that way (those motors are still using 30's tech except for the Porsche purchased VRod motor) (3)cheaper to manufacture, keeping costs down and profits high (4)the people who ride them don't know any better anyway, they are happy with what they have

You can spout your drivel about how great the American lead sled is to most people, but those of us who know any better are just going to scoff at you. I wish Harley would build a decent bike, I wish they'd catch the rest of the world on their tech, I wish they'd have let Erik Buell have the funding he needed... Right now though, the company is just an embarrasment to me as an American.

This sums it up:http://www.goingfaster.com/angst/noharley2.html

• Man in liquid armor walking down the lab hallway.
  This is joey, the lab assistant, going on a coffee run.
  
• Man in liquid armor enduring heat.
  This test killed a few of our volunteers, but after many tries we finally worked out all the kinks.
• Liquid armor on half a face
  We do half the face in case the armor blinds the test subject, at least he'll have one good eye left. (Lessons learned from the "heat" test, we apply the same principal for the genitals as well.)

I don't give a fuck what your or my national origin is; that's immaterial to the argument. The term is offensive to some people, and has offensive roots. The fact that you know a few people that are not offended by the term does not scale to everyone.

As for your argument that you only use the term in the company of people that you know aren't offended by it . . . do you carefully check with each person within range before saying it? Including the vast hordes of Slashdot readers that may or may not have been reading our little discussion?

You might be a ricer if...

Or check out the Hall of Shame at the Rice-Boy page.

wanna learn about redneck colonists?