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Which - to quote the tragically overlooked Star Cops - means "without ruler", not "without order".

I'm sure you knew that, but it's frustrating how many people don't.

Where do you get the idea that the USAFS period was "brief"? It lasted from the early 60s to the late 70s.

I suppose the navy has a monopoly on fighting ships. But why should they have a monopoly on other kinds of ships?

I don't see any of this as counter-intuitive. It's only strange if you have a superficial understanding of what something is. Like people who think that all finned sea creatures are fish, all non-human animals with hands are monkeys, all warships are battleships, etc.

We all make mistake like that. It's no big deal. Unless you're really lame about it. Like when Siskel and Ebert assumed that this movie took place in Alaska, despite a ton of references to Canadian places and institutions. Or the particularly stupid TV critic who thought this show was about the Air Force, despite a zillion references to the Army.

Because we all know that movie script writers always do their homework to get their science right and never ever engage in simple-minded fearmongering.

No, they would NEVER do that.

LK

I have never been a big fan of Martians since that incident at Grover's Mill that was covered up.

Burn aliens, burn!

In January this year I was in Berlin and we went to the DDR Museum (i.e. East Germany) and I remember seeing a list of job titles and what each of those titles earned in pay. IIRC doctors and skilled professionals did not earn the same wages as unskilled labourers, farmers, construction workers. I think farmers earned something like 800 Marks a month and doctors, engineers and people like that got like 2300 Marks a month. That's only for East Germany though, maybe the USSR was different.

It's not like life was all fun and games either. They had to wear the absolute crappiest polyester clothes (the museum had some on display that you could touch... terrible stuff), deal with constant shortages of various things, walls designed to keep them IN, not out, the border area was full of mines, electric fences, dogs, soldiers, and on top of all that, they had the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit, more commonly known as the Stasi (see the excellent film "The Lives of Others" / "Das Leben der Anderen")... and the list goes on.

I think the only way that communism can succeed is if the people in charge can manage to keep all outside influences from reaching their people. They also have to prevent dissenters from drumming up support against the regime by either imprisoning, killing or otherwise forcing them into silence (by threatening their family or something). All this while resisting international pressure to open up the country to democracy and to respect human rights conventions and stuff. I guess the nuclear deterrent would go a long way to help in that respect. An enormous standing army isn't a bad idea either. North Korea seems to be a doing all of these things, some very well.

That sounds a lot like the plot of the fucked-up version of The Andromeda Strain (2008)

And that counts as one of the stupidest scripts in Sci-Fi cinema history - definitely a let-down from the original. Two flying thumbs way down, for sure.

Getting closer every day

If there's one place where "pound in the ass" is what you get in prisons, it's Turkey

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/terminator_salvation/

Consensus: With storytelling as robotic as the film's iconic villains, Terminator Salvation offers plenty of great effects but lacks the heart of the original films.

I find it odd that a movie about giant killer robots (without hearts) would lack heart but I digress.

Here's some quotes from critics who didn't like it:

"Message to Hollywood: Stop with the time-travel stuff."

"I wish Bale had lashed out against the writers rather than the cinematographer."

"The artistry is top notch, but they've lost track of why the original Terminators were cyborgs and not robots, as they are here."

This isn't the intellectual or thinking person's science-fiction film like The Man From Earth.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0756683/
This is a Hollywood action movie.

Terminator Salvation is to science-fiction movies as Dodgeball was to sports movies...a joke, and maybe even a parody. I've saw T4 last night. I was dismayed by how far the franchise has fallen.

"Russian components...American components...ALL MADE IN TAIWAN!" -Lev Andropov, from Armageddon

The original mini-series had no such ending.

Couldn't reconcile your comment with my memory so I did some brief research: looks like here in the UK, "V" and "V: The Final Battle" were combined into one miniseries just called "V".

Angelina Jolie has a legitimate excuse to stop posturing as an actress and can pursue her true destiny...

They don't have to suck, either.

They don't have to suck, either.

They don't have to suck, either.

They don't have to suck, either.

Ditto, although most of the Batman ones have been *much* better...

Sorry, I should've quoted the whole part of the parent post that I wanted to refer to:

When was the last time you saw a cinematic remake of a 60s TV show which made hundreds of millions of dollars?

I was being facetious by pointing to the Adam West Batman though, since I know it was a comic book before then.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1122770/ save The Middleman his middlecar and his cute sidekick

The IMDB page lists him as 'rumored' as well.

Already done Bubba Ho-Tep --> http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0281686/

What makes you think that there was not a Terminator 3 ?!?!?!

You should try to know before you speak.

Yes, that would be hard.

Already been done.

You do know that he is merely referencing a hilarious line from The Big Lebowski, right?

Ditto, although most of the Batman ones have been *much* better...

When was the last time you saw a cinematic remake of a 60s TV show

Not too long ago, actually...

Then call the new one by its actual title.

Sounds like a WOPR of an idea.

It was a good advertising, a nice marketing move to promote the new Terminator movie. Here are the release dates: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0438488/releaseinfo Except for the Premiere, the movie will show up on 21 May 2009. oh... wait... what day is it today ?

Need to get somewhere quickly due to medical emergency

I suspect more peoepl are killed in traffic accidents speeding to hospitals than lives saved by taking a couple of extra minutes.

Need to outrun someone chasing you.

Need to quickly pass some vehicle for safety reasons.

How about dropping back instead. Seems a bit safer, if less macho.

Duel was a great movie, though, wasn't it?

Upon what do you base your speculation about speeding to the hospital? Thin air?

About dropping back behind another driver.... Driving slower than the speed limit is supposed to be safe? That's one of the most unsafe driving practices there is. It causes long lines of cars, impatience among the drivers caught in that long line, and someone in that long line is going to take a chance on passing quite a few cars at one time. The further back in the line they are, the more risk they take of causing a multi-car accident. However, the drivers really responsible for causing the accident are the slow driver at the head of the line and every driver at the front of the line who won't pass because it isn't being "safe" to go faster than the speed limit to pass. They are the ones who create the problem. If every driver who came up behind the slow car had simply passed at the first available chance the line would never have formed and no one would have had to take a chance just to get past the line and be able to drive at a reasonable rate of speed.

I've been that driver who passes 4 or 5 cars to get moving again. You know what happens? After I break the spell the slow driver creates by passing him, all the cars in the line pass the slow driver at their first opportunity. I've watched this in my rear view mirror many, many times. In fact, I've never known it to fail. It's like there's some kind of psychological dam that gets broken and traffic starts to flow normally again.

Long time reader, pretty much from the beginning, but only been reading the comments and getting involved, or whatever you want to call it for about the last 5. I am new to Rand philosophy, but enjoying it. I look at Howard Roark and really don't see where there could be any controversy; isn't this exactly the American Hero type we have always loved in so many other contexts? Fountainhead was just more technical and dry (just what I love). I can think back to those days long ago that got me always far more interested in what people were commenting than the actual articles, though sometimes I still read them; I can easily see how a Rand reference on ANY topic would make you a karma whore.

Think more geeks out of work is turning them into whores for the welfare state? Yeah, times are tough. I got it hard at home too because of a lot of this. I am just grateful that in this current mess of things, at least the price of gas isn't what it was a year ago. I want to start a business, but it isn't more lack of available credit or any 'issue' the administration is dealing with I want to see fixed, I am just scared to death of how they are going to fuck with it in a way that is going to make my job unnecessarily harder, mostly for the sake of wondering what the hell they are going to make a crisis out of next. I can't see myself ever falling into the trap of trying to get big government to fix my problems; have you ever read the book or seen the movie Needful Things? Sorry, can you know what happened in that town and then have things get so bad you would go back and give him "another chance"? WTF???

I am HAPPY for Obama, and I am delighted he stands up for what he believes in. We need more Americans like him in that respect. BUT, following blindly is to completely ignore what he represents! The highest respect you can ever give a great leader is a thoughtful debate. A great leader doesn't want to be lead some sheep, he wants to lead soldiers. If you love Obama, give him the respect he deserves and allow him to be the leader of a people that still believe in the American Dream of working as hard as you please to determine the outcome of your own circumstances.

I was really hoping it was a reboot of that classic TV show "Salvage 1"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078681/

a supreme being waving his finger at us from 2000 years ago saying "Do it and I'll spank you!"

You should at least cite the source of your dogma.


*by the way, I'm not trolling you, I love that flick too.

I suspect more peoepl are killed in traffic accidents speeding to hospitals than lives saved by taking a couple of extra minutes.

Need to outrun someone chasing you.

Need to quickly pass some vehicle for safety reasons.

How about dropping back instead. Seems a bit safer, if less macho.

Duel was a great movie, though, wasn't it?

"How do porcupines make love? Very carefully."

Ah, Gia. That was back when Angelina Jolie looked perfect.

Imagine if you could play GTA but across the whole world, dealing with drug cartels in Columbia and making weapons trades with the Russian mafia. Or recreate a WW2 battle. Google earth could become a platform for any game that is based in real world geography.

The potential is pretty exciting...

Sounds like a harsh realm to me.

The wider the age range, the less room there is for typical plot elements, because younger audiences get bored quickly

I have to disagree with you on that. My favorite movie is Rio Bravo, which I first saw when I was nine years old. By current standards, that movie is slooooowww. It goes for over two hours and it's only about five minutes after the titles that someone first speaks something. But it's a wonderful film.

I loved it the first time I saw it because I became immersed in the action, I never realized time was passing. I remember it was only after the film ended and my father remarked on how long it was that I realized that nearly two and a half hours had passed.

It's a simple plot, but it's so good that the director Howard Hawks did the same thing again, not once but twice. All three movies are great and all star John Wayne doing a similar plot. I still have to see a film that I liked on Fx alone.

The wider the age range, the less room there is for typical plot elements, because younger audiences get bored quickly

I have to disagree with you on that. My favorite movie is Rio Bravo, which I first saw when I was nine years old. By current standards, that movie is slooooowww. It goes for over two hours and it's only about five minutes after the titles that someone first speaks something. But it's a wonderful film.

I loved it the first time I saw it because I became immersed in the action, I never realized time was passing. I remember it was only after the film ended and my father remarked on how long it was that I realized that nearly two and a half hours had passed.

It's a simple plot, but it's so good that the director Howard Hawks did the same thing again, not once but twice. All three movies are great and all star John Wayne doing a similar plot. I still have to see a film that I liked on Fx alone.

The wider the age range, the less room there is for typical plot elements, because younger audiences get bored quickly

I have to disagree with you on that. My favorite movie is Rio Bravo, which I first saw when I was nine years old. By current standards, that movie is slooooowww. It goes for over two hours and it's only about five minutes after the titles that someone first speaks something. But it's a wonderful film.

I loved it the first time I saw it because I became immersed in the action, I never realized time was passing. I remember it was only after the film ended and my father remarked on how long it was that I realized that nearly two and a half hours had passed.

It's a simple plot, but it's so good that the director Howard Hawks did the same thing again, not once but twice. All three movies are great and all star John Wayne doing a similar plot. I still have to see a film that I liked on Fx alone.

"Bake the hall in the candle of her brain". from The (muppet) Frog Prince http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068613/

Angelina was hot in Hackers but doesn't do much for me now.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091498/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091498/

In England we have politicians to protect us from the tyranny of the majority, and the civil servants to protect us from the politicians. Try watching Yes Minister, you won't regret it.

Phillip.

Real Men (TM) should use web frameworks named after western movies!

The GP was probably quoting the American version.

As to whether pulling a gun is always a bad idea... I've had to use threat of deadly force to run off scum four times myself... twice saving someone's life (one being my own). IMO, getting beat up or robbed or killed because you won't defend yourself is a worse idea. :)

My point

Actually, The Stars My Destination (Tiger Tiger) has had the movie rights recently purchased. I'm frightened that it will almost certainly fail to live up to the book... but one can always hope for some goodness from it. http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117940125.html?categoryid=13&cs=1(variety.com)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0783588/Here's the imdb link but it's locked to Pro only... It used to say 2010... now it says 2012. Guess Jumper sort of messed up the jaunting storyline.

According to the Variety article, it's being produced by http://www.variety.com/profiles/people/main/47298/Lorenzo%20di%20Bonaventura.html?dataSet=1Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Variety) who brought us Doom, Transformers (1 and soon 2), and GI Joe... so it might have enough special effects to look cool at least.

Isn't it funny that the more one knows about computers the less one trusts the answers they bring us? To all those climate-change advocates out there, where's your healthy mistrust of the unknown?

I've coded an evolutionary model that predicts that this loss of fear of the unknown has a >95% chance of causing the extinction of all human life on earth within the next 3 decades. Someone's got to do something about that.

Oh, wait, Gore already did. When people realize CO2 isn't making WaterWorld a reality, we'll all stop trusting science. That will be just about the time when we get the computer models right and they tell us we're headed for an ice age due to decreasing solar input. But all the funding for atmospheric research that might have helped us figure out how we COULD use CO2 to maintain the planet's temperature will be cut due to our newly rediscovered mistrust of the unknown, so it looks like we're doomed either way.

Quick! Everyone start having lots of end-of-the-world sex!