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Had you any business acumen, you'd realize that your short-sighted vision will bite you in the bum long-term. "Yes, we suck, but the other guys suck worse" Eventually, someone will come along/transform to provide a better solution and eat your lunch.

Young Doc: No wonder this circuit failed. It says "Made in Japan".

Marty McFly: What do you mean, Doc? All the best stuff is made in Japan.

Young Doc: Unbelievable.

Back to the Future Part III

Everyone should watch 'Please Remove Your Shoes' http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1600841/ as the Israelis do it MUCH better

Canadian Bacon anyone?

Satan? Seriously?

You equate the one character from the Bibble that had the balls to stand up against the divine tyranny to this Mark Zuckerberg? That's offensive to Satan.

In all seriousness, as an atheist I don't much care about the feelings of imaginary beings, but looking at the bibble as a story and comparing the characters, there is 1 divine "big brother", who watches everything you do and one guy who tells you to oppose such foolishness.

To quote great speech by Al Pacino ('John Milton'), whose in fact Satan (in the movie), in The Devil's Advocate

John Milton: Let me give you a little inside information about God. God likes to watch. He's a prankster. Think about it. He gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do, I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste. Taste, don't swallow. Ahaha. And while you're jumpin' from one foot to the next, what is he doing? He's laughin' His sick, fuckin' ass off! He's a tight-ass! He's a SADIST! He's an absentee landlord! Worship that? NEVER!

Kevin Lomax: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven", is that it?

John Milton: Why not? I'm here on the ground with my nose in it since the whole thing began. I've nurtured every sensation man's been inspired to have. I cared about what he wanted and I never judged him. Why? Because I never rejected him. In spite of all his imperfections, I'm a fan of man! I'm a humanist. Maybe the last humanist."

Just sayin: you should reconsider things if you think satan's the bad guy in the """good""" book.

The Americans have already faked a Mars landing :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077294/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

Does Rhinehart know what soylent was made of in the original story. ref

Doctor Flamond: You see, a year ago, I was close to perfecting the first magnetic desalinization process so revolutionary, it was capable of removing the salt from over 500 million gallons of seawater a day. Do you realize what that could mean to the starving nations of the earth?

Nick Rivers: Wow. They'd have enough salt to last forever.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088286/quotes?item=qt0358683

I hold out hope.

You *DO* know Iron Sky was just a movie, right ?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1034314/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

I don't agree. For all that I've no use for people who don't realize that, unlike many recent ventures, the US fought WWII for very good reasons, and probably saved millions of lives by doing so

Since you seem a bit confused about the reason the United States of America joined the war effort let me educate you. The USA practised an isolationist policy and refused to join World War II to defeat Germany and its allies until Japan carried out an attack on Pearl Harbor. The entire attack would not have happened except for a delay by some US political figure whose name I forget at the moment to see the Japanese Ambassador. When the Japanese Ambassador and his aid heard of the attack from the person they were meeting they were gravely disappointed. There is a fact-based movie about the events leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor; not the crap movie made of recent vintage. You really ought to read a few non-fiction books about World War II before posting on the subject.

See the movie Tora! Tora! Tora! It portrays the Americans as being dumb beyond reason, but shows that the talks with the Japanese Ambassador were a sham. I've heard that the attack on Pearl Harbor was to buy Japan more time to invade the Philippines before the US got involved.

...our mass transit systems will become self sustaining.

Fit for a movie.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/

How could anyone ever not get it?

A space-warring world forcibly united under a pax (versus bugs) (US-)americana, kept in check through brainwashing highschools (with a nod to Pink Floyd) and psi-ops staring at no goats at all, as well as gamified, interactive global military-state television (nicely imagined when few people had ever seen such things, Fox, or even always-on internet) - full of overidentification that probably even North Korea would recognize&ban, and not-too-subtle references to world events, history and plenty of other notably (anti-)war movies...

The big mistake (like for Highlander) was ever making sequels of it.

How could anyone ever not get it?

A space-warring world forcibly united under a pax (versus bugs) (US-)americana, kept in check through brainwashing highschools (with a nod to Pink Floyd) and psi-ops staring at no goats at all, as well as gamified, interactive global military-state television (nicely imagined when few people had ever seen such things, Fox, or even always-on internet) - full of overidentification that probably even North Korea would recognize&ban, and not-too-subtle references to world events, history and plenty of other notably (anti-)war movies...

The big mistake (like for Highlander) was ever making sequels of it.

I saw the number 500, and immediately thought of this. While not quite 500 MPH, this one got up to 378 km/h, which makes me think 500 km/h isn't impossible. Living in Canada, in an area where there fiercest winds we have are 100 km/h, It's hard to imaging how strong a 378 km/h wind is. Especially since E = (m * v^2)/2. which means the Energy of the wind is increases as a function of the square of the speed.

Well said. The analysis of the rationale for allowing veterans to vote was especially interesting, thanks.

Actually, I liked both the book and the movie, but for obviously very different reasons. Suffice it to say that the book was mined for characters, names, and context, and then an entirely different story was told. That sometimes happens in movies. An example of that happening in a good way is in Children of Men, which is really a terrific riff on the ideas and characters in the novel of the same name by PD James, but isn't the same story at all.

Why I liked Starship Troopers, the movie, is because the acting is superb. The plot is childish, the Nazism stupid, the splatterfest is stomach-turning, and the gratuitous nudity is sophmoric, but those actors are terrific, across the board. If you want to see the difference between having an A-team ensemble cast vs. a partial A-team, just watch any of the two sequels.

The movie, by contrast, discards every trace of what makes the book effective as a coming-of-age tale, replaces Heinlein's social model with a truly fascist one, and makes the military's leadership a clown college (Space marines using carbines against the Bugs? Really?), to boot. It has NOTHING to do with the book, besides sharing a title.

If you look at other 'serious' films that Verhoeven has directed, you'll quickly see that he's got a major bee in his bonnet about the effects of Nazism on his birthplace, the Netherlands. Take a look at Soldier of Orange or The Black Book. They're brilliant, subtle and morally complex treatments of life (and death) in a time when the world was turned upside down by a sadistic totalitarian regime.

Clearly, Verhoeven appropriated the frame that Starship Troopers provided for his own purposes: to satirise not only fascism and the incipient militarism of American society, but also the wanton war-porn that Hollywood loves so much. It is a bitter, bitter film.

The movie, by contrast, discards every trace of what makes the book effective as a coming-of-age tale, replaces Heinlein's social model with a truly fascist one, and makes the military's leadership a clown college (Space marines using carbines against the Bugs? Really?), to boot. It has NOTHING to do with the book, besides sharing a title.

If you look at other 'serious' films that Verhoeven has directed, you'll quickly see that he's got a major bee in his bonnet about the effects of Nazism on his birthplace, the Netherlands. Take a look at Soldier of Orange or The Black Book. They're brilliant, subtle and morally complex treatments of life (and death) in a time when the world was turned upside down by a sadistic totalitarian regime.

Clearly, Verhoeven appropriated the frame that Starship Troopers provided for his own purposes: to satirise not only fascism and the incipient militarism of American society, but also the wanton war-porn that Hollywood loves so much. It is a bitter, bitter film.

Car insurance would still exist. Robot cars won't stop vandalism.

I beg to differ.

It's also the basic plot to a movie, The Purge.

I guess he hasn't heard of the "Three Screens."

Me neither. Is that something like three seashells?

You do know that all three books of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy have film adaptations, albeit Swedish ones. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just has a Hollywood version as well as the 2009 Swedish adaptation.

You do know that all three books of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy have film adaptations, albeit Swedish ones. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just has a Hollywood version as well as the 2009 Swedish adaptation.

You do know that all three books of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy have film adaptations, albeit Swedish ones. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just has a Hollywood version as well as the 2009 Swedish adaptation.

You do know that all three books of Stieg Larsson's Millenium Trilogy have film adaptations, albeit Swedish ones. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just has a Hollywood version as well as the 2009 Swedish adaptation.

I bet Douglas Adams is ROLLING FURIOUSLY IN HIS GRAVE after what those hack Hollywood Screenwriters did to his most holy and sacrosanct scripture ... ohhh wait ...

Well, that screen writer having the name "Douglas Adams" is surely some freak coincidence.

> I don't want Christopher's money grabbing bastardization. I wanted the Hobbit. A fun story with Epic bits about a hobbit./
Not Oakenshield's really, really, really serious adventures about really really serious stuff with serious people who seriously want to be serious.

Fair enough. (And very glib. You made me laugh. And you're right, they do tend to take seriousness way to seriously.) And for you, there will always be this version. Richard Boone is great as the voice of Smaug. But the rest of the film makes my teeth hurt. Your mileage may vary.

> Plus the movie had bits that were outright stupid.

Agreed. This seems to often be the fate of books translated to film -- there will inevitably be some parts that make you squirm in your seat and check the exits. An argument could be made that The Hobbit had more than its share.

> The Ending of Enders is pretty lame to anyone with a lot of reading experience. It's great for kids; which then remember it with overly found memories of their past.

Daughter and I discussed Ender's Game after we saw it, and one thing was that some points, like "third child" and the twist at the end, had become common scifi plot points to the extent that for most people they didn't need to be explained. I think the revelation at the end was needed because it prompts Ender's way way WAY overdue revolt from manipulation by his handlers. But not having read the books, I can't say how it compares.

....... How about The Piano?

You mean the Pianist., not The Piano.

....... How about The Piano?

You mean the Pianist., not The Piano.

I had the same thought. When was the last time someone had to fight off a crow infection?

1963

Bots are necessary, but can be dangerous if you don't account for them.

Well, yes.
But to say they're dangerous because their visits influence reports of visitors in completely obvious ways which can easily be filtered out... I fail to see the Robot Apocalypse in that one.

Prior to computers we had to use pull-string dolls.

Our methods were presented in this documentary:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194017/

but during the course of filming we had to use live bait and then the operation went down the tubes.

Sure, haven't you seen West Side Story? The crack must have been responsible for all the dancing and singing.

Fsck Yeahhh!!

Or to compare him with another sitcom actor: Mayim Bialik, despite playing a neurologist in a sitcom, has an actual PhD in neurology.

I I beg to differ.

Clayvon.

(Credited as "Trashy Guy" here, for some reason.)

In all fairness, he was busy being one of the men who stared at goats. That book/movie was closer to fact than fiction in many, many areas.

Well, maybe in reality the NSA is a Russian agency masquerading as an American agency, with the goal to make the USA look bad.

There's only one man who can figure this one out ... the original Agent 86

Somehow the article neglected to mention the biggest risk of them all ... the local wildlife!

... not completely unrelated and not exactly offtopic, but if we ever land there, I'd like the footage to resemble this: Europa Report.

Haven't you ever lost anything? Your purse, your car keys? Well, its rather like that. Now you have it, now you don't.

Sean Connery talking about the cure for cancer in the 1992 flick Medicine Man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOQOpuD2b3M

Demolition Man (1993)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106697/?ref_=nv_sr_1

... Dennis Weaver wished this technology was around in his day.

For you. You don't see you getting it anytime time soon.
You can already buy movies in 4K.

http://www.imdb.com/list/cTLrg_0aolM/

"The only 1080p content I have that gets displayed on my TV is blu-ray, video games, and digital downloads."
and? What the hell else is their?

Amusing fact about that - the guy that plays Scotty is actually Jimmy Doohan's son.

I personally couldn't watch it because I was never a fan of TOS. It definitely succeeded in emulating it, though.

I just hope we get to see more of the buxom Dr. McKennah in these episodes. I mean see her in more episodes. Not her naked. Or naked is fine too.

Her IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1073676/?ref_=tt_cl_t8

I think you meant "Animal Farm" (book link), not "Animal House."

But the mental image of wikipedia admins as insufferable pigs is something I can totally get behind.

I think you meant "Animal Farm" (book link), not "Animal House."

But the mental image of wikipedia admins as insufferable pigs is something I can totally get behind.

If you want a sure way to get kids to not want to behead themselves or anyone else, showing them a real beheading is a pretty good way of doing it.

That's the most hilarious idea I've seen all day. Where did he get the data to support that assertion?

Probably from A Clockwork Orange.

I would have thought Richard Branson would be the eccentric billionaire most like a bond villain. Tell me his life doesn't remind you of the villain from Moonraker.