Slashdot Mirror

An anonymous reader writes "Snake is back from the ashes, and this time it's gonna be a videogame made by Namco! It is based off the new comic book, and John Carpenter, Debra Hill and Kurt Russell all seem to be involved! 2005 is a long time to wait, but here's hoping it is better then Escape from LA." Another reader points out an MSNBC article discussing the resurgence of the un-Solid Escape From New York character, whose videogame adaptation looks to be courtesy Namco Hometek, US-based developers of Dead To Rights.

An anonymous reader writes "Snake is back from the ashes, and this time it's gonna be a videogame made by Namco! It is based off the new comic book, and John Carpenter, Debra Hill and Kurt Russell all seem to be involved! 2005 is a long time to wait, but here's hoping it is better then Escape from LA." Another reader points out an MSNBC article discussing the resurgence of the un-Solid Escape From New York character, whose videogame adaptation looks to be courtesy Namco Hometek, US-based developers of Dead To Rights.

An anonymous reader writes "Snake is back from the ashes, and this time it's gonna be a videogame made by Namco! It is based off the new comic book, and John Carpenter, Debra Hill and Kurt Russell all seem to be involved! 2005 is a long time to wait, but here's hoping it is better then Escape from LA." Another reader points out an MSNBC article discussing the resurgence of the un-Solid Escape From New York character, whose videogame adaptation looks to be courtesy Namco Hometek, US-based developers of Dead To Rights.

ff_cid writes "Reuters reports on the poor box office results of Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life and how Paramount executives are pointing the finger at the mediocre reception of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness: "The Cradle of Life," the second film based on games heroine Lara Croft, opened in fourth place at the U.S. box office last weekend with sales of $21.7 million, well below the opening weekend of 2001's "Tomb Raider." "The only thing we can attribute that to is that the gamers were not happy with the latest version of the 'Tomb Raider' video game, which is our core audience," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said." It couldn't possibly be that because the first movie was such a stellar work of cinematography, no one raced out to see the sequel.

Ryan Barrett writes "The Associated Press reports that retired WCW wrestler, actor, and voice actor Maxx Payne is suing a group of game developers and publishers over the game Max Payne. In Payne's words, "I left wrestling to come home to Utah and be with my family and I find myself in the biggest battle of my life - to save my identity." This raises an interesting question: in most cases like this, we Slashdotters are quick to speak out in Payne's defense. But when the big bad corporations are game developers, do we still take the little guy's side?" Is this suit exposing a genuine rip-off, or is it just a naming coincidence?

Thanks to GameSpot for their new mini-feature discussing movie licenses that might actually make decent games, as opposed to "every big-budget blockbuster getting a cheap and dirty game that is less a game and more a lackluster piece of promotional material." The suggested movies include Run Lola Run as a game "with hundreds of available outcomes", Battle Royale as a "twisted and sadistic" action title, and Fletch with "a Max Payne style of narration.. to represent Fletch's internal dialogue." But, the big question - do Slashdot Games readers have any better suggestions?

Thanks to GameSpot for their new mini-feature discussing movie licenses that might actually make decent games, as opposed to "every big-budget blockbuster getting a cheap and dirty game that is less a game and more a lackluster piece of promotional material." The suggested movies include Run Lola Run as a game "with hundreds of available outcomes", Battle Royale as a "twisted and sadistic" action title, and Fletch with "a Max Payne style of narration.. to represent Fletch's internal dialogue." But, the big question - do Slashdot Games readers have any better suggestions?

Thanks to GameSpot for their new mini-feature discussing movie licenses that might actually make decent games, as opposed to "every big-budget blockbuster getting a cheap and dirty game that is less a game and more a lackluster piece of promotional material." The suggested movies include Run Lola Run as a game "with hundreds of available outcomes", Battle Royale as a "twisted and sadistic" action title, and Fletch with "a Max Payne style of narration.. to represent Fletch's internal dialogue." But, the big question - do Slashdot Games readers have any better suggestions?

Slashback is back, with more this time around on NASA's G5 benchmarks, an in-depth look at the Sobig.E virus, an update on the Internet Book List (growing rapidly), the fate of both the Microsoft-purchased Virtual PC and one very unlucky sperm whale, and more. Read on for the details.

A good excuse to file purchase orders, too. Eug writes "Writing in this Ars thread, Craig Hunter of NASA gives details about his much-quoted dual-G5 Power Mac benchmarks listed here. This should answer some of the questions posed around the net about the methodology and potentially the validity of his benchmarks."

The lines between viruses and spam is thin enough already. Joe Stewart writes "There have been a lot of news stories lately about how Sobig and spam are tied together. I actually revealed this in a paper two months ago. Now with the widespread Sobig.e, it seems to have become a topic again. However, the major antivirus companies have once again left out the whole story - most of them currently rate Sobig.e as 'low damage.' This is because they haven't fully understood how the real payload of Sobig.e is delivered. I've written a followup paper describing the entire mechanism that Sobig.e uses to facilitate spam, identity theft and bank fraud. Sobig has evolved, and it is much harder to stop than before."

Is this the beginning of a long goodbye? inertia@yahoo.com writes "Microsoft has updated their Mactopia Web Site to include a section on Virtual PC. It's taken them since February 2003 to do this. On the site, they mention, 'In August 2003, Virtual PC for Mac will be available through standard Microsoft channels of distribution.' So it looks like they aren't killing it after all."

Simplicity itself is a nice ideal. webword writes "Building Accessible Websites by Joe Clark is now available online. As you might recall, Joe was interviewed on Slashdot back in December. Good stuff if you care about accessibility."

Not yet billions and billions served, but getting there. nzilla writes "The Internet Book List, which announced its creation earlier this year on /. has now reached 10,000+ entries and is still going strong. The Internet Book List (IBList) strives to be the IMDb of books. IBList is maintained exclusively by volunteers around the world."

Girlfriends drive strange endeavors. ceejayoz writes "This interesting article on MSNBC.com details the Degree Confluence Project - a project to gather a photographic record of the points on Earth where latitude and longitude lines meet. The article has links to some of the more interesting points. The project's website also has an interesting map showing all the completed confluence points."

We mentioned this project quite some time ago, and it's progressed quite a bit since then.

Uh, sir, you have some blubber on your collar there. Scoria writes "Chilean scientists have determined that a 12-meter mass of flesh discovered recently on a Pacific beach is actually a sperm whale, not an obscure 'giant octopus' as many researchers speculated. Scientists performing research at the Museum of Natural History in Santiago were the first to develop this conclusion after observing the presence of dermal glands unique to the species."

Code that pays tribute to the money in television. mondainx writes "Following(?) in the footsteps of Linksys, Tivo has made their source available for versions 2.0 through 4.0. Get the GPL source here. Sweet!"

Peter Wayner writes: "When I mentioned the Mad Scientist Club short stories to a co-worker, he rolled up his sleeve and showed me the burn scars on his arm. The books, he said, did this to him. Not literally, but by misguided inspiration. In one of the tales, the boys in the Club launch a fleet of fake flying saucers to frighten their hometown of Mamouth Falls. The scars came when the colleague tried to imitate the book, but used real gasoline to add a bit of zip to plastic cleaner bags turned UFOs. Now, that the rediscovered full-length novel about the Club, The Big Kerplop is being republished with a bit of a splash, some adults may look at stories like this and decided that there's a danger that kids might start imitating the novels. The bigger danger, though, may come if they don't." Read on for the rest of Peter's review. The Big Kerplop author Bertrand R. Brinley pages 217 publisher Purple House Press rating 9 reviewer Peter Wayner ISBN 1930900228 summary The Mad Scientists rediscovered, in greater depth -- fun reading for kids and adults.

This novel isn't really new, although it is for all practical purposes. The author, Bertrand Brinley, had much success with the collections of short stories about the seven boys who dreamed of being scientists one day. The short stories continued to stay in print and even seemed to inspire a hack Disney adaptation, but only rumors about The Big Kerplop circulated on the Internet. When the copies of The Big Kerplop would trade on Ebay, they often closed at prices in the hundreds of dollars. Free markets can't ignore messages like that and the Purple House Press purchased the rights and relaunched the books.

It's easy for a Slashdot reader to understand how the stories could command such affection. The boys in the stories live in the netherworld between capability and responsibility. (Enjoy it if you're still there.) They have ham radio sets, fishing boats, weather balloons, and plenty of other gadgets to put to use in tweaking the noses of their buffoonish elders and only a few chores to get in the way.

The books are set in the early 60's before Bhopal, Three Mile Island, and Agent Orange rained on the big Science parade. Brinley worked for Lockheed and Martin during one of the the most romantic periods in aviation history, save perhaps the early days of the Wright Brothers. The books are infused with a certainty that rational thought guided by the scientific method and salted with a bit of pluck and wit could solve any problem. I think everyone here can agree that the entire club would be open source coders today, although it's not clear if they would embrace the BSD or GPL license. It may not even be stretching things to say that groups who wrote and distributed DeCSS are working through the same themes as the Mad Scientist Club, albeit on a global scale.

The novel is prequel to the collection of short stories that tells the backstory of how the boys found each other and discovered how a firm devotion to scientific principles could be put to work showing up the grownups. As they say on Fark, hilarity ensued many times.

The earlier short stories took up only 20-30 pages apiece, but this novel stretches to more than 200 pages, making it an entirely different animal. The characters are better drawn, the scenes are set with more than a sentence or two, and the plot twists back upon itself a few times. It's a leisurely read that makes the earlier stories seem a bit cartoonish or slapstick. This sophistication is a pleasure for me to read at my technically grownup age, but it may be why the novel didn't gain the same traction as the short stories. The laughs are driven more by character and dialog than by the setting and action. The short stories are basically set pieces, but the novel is more of a study in character. That's good for anyone who grew up loving the books, but it may mean that the current crop of 8-12 year old boys should wait a year or two before diving in.

The length of the novel also gives Brinley more room to flesh out the adults and let them play more than rubes to the Mad Scientists' schemes. The town's politicians are still a bit overstuffed, but Colonel March, the commander of the local Air Force base, is hardly a foil or a nemisis. Constable Billy Dahr, though, is still around to be the goat.

I suppose I should say something about the story. The Club, or at least the early core of what would become the Club, is out fishing on Strawberry Lake when a fleet of B52s flies over. Something makes a big kerplop in the lake and the Club spends the rest of the book saving the day, defying their elders and deploying some cool gadgets and the scientific method. This is a deeper, richer and very satisfying return for the characters.

Some of these tricks could get you some scars I guess but that's not the worst future awaiting a young reader. First, chicks dig scars -- although that theorem lies well outside of the scope of this book. Second, this may be the adult in me, but kids today seem fatter, lazier, and more hogtied than ever before. Yes, these words will haunt me when my children get bigger, but I think that Brinley hits the sweet spot between obedience and irreverence. Forethought and care save the day in these books, not caprice and whim. The characters are neither insolent nor cowed by authority. The important thing to remember is that the scientific method celebrated by the books does not suggest replacing a few candles with a burning pie plate filled with gasoline. At least not without first doing a bit of research on the safest way to ensure all of the energy turns into hot air.

You can purchase The Big Kerplop from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page. Peter Wayner is the author of several dangerous and incendiary books like Disappearing Cryptography and Translucent Databases . Don't burn them without standing at a safe distance.

anvilmark asks: "Sci-Fi and sci-fi games often incorporate the romantic idea of 'free trader' ships with ports of call on a myriad planets across the galaxy. Recently I was toying with the physics of propelling such ships and their cargos out of a gravity well and realized the astronomical amounts of power it would take to do it (not to mention interstellar travel). This led naturally to contemplating how cheap energy would have to be in order to make this activity profitable. To make a long story short (too late!), I began wondering what would happen if the introduction of fusion power takes energy costs from pennies per kilowatt hour to pennies per megawatt hour (or GWH)? How do you envision the world changing if energy costs became a trivial part of economic equations?"

The Terminator movie series offers explosions and cyborgs galore, but you knew that already. Guns too, and cool special effects involving R-rated nude people in electrified spheres, but you probably guessed that too. So you've seen the trailer and are wondering whether "T3: Rise of the Machines" is worth seeing. Short answer: eh, whatever, it's big and dumb. For the long answer, keep reading. (No real spoilers.)

Let me first draw your attention to CNN's review. The CNN reviewer tells you this "darker and slicker" sequel is "worth the wait," gives you the long-form plot setup, shows you the sexy look of the "babe-a-licious" babe, and promises you "emotional weight" with "wit" and a "stunning and thought-provoking" climax. What he doesn't mention is that CNN and the movie's producer/distributor are both owned by AOL Time Warner.

It's been ten years since I watched the first Terminator and maybe I'm remembering it better than it was. But it had an emotional depth, a heart that neither of its sequels matched. T3 is slicker, yes, but darker!? It's light fluff. The nightmare of nuclear destruction in the original was rendered without CG effects, but I'll remember the skeleton clutching the chain-link fence long after I've forgotten this week's pixel-perfect explosions. And the "storm is coming" ending of the original was genuinely thought-provoking, with a chilling resolve that just embarrasses this week's Hollywood ending. Claire Danes is no Linda Hamilton.

The effects are what you'd expect from a modern zillion-dollar action movie, but not groundbreaking the way that T2's were at the time.

I found nothing about it witty. I chuckled through the chase scenes -- it's mostly chase scenes -- because they were so over-the-top and the plot holes were so glaring. Apart from that, there was only one funny line. (I assume everyone else is as bored as I am with the "dry cool wit like that" dialogue.)

Best unintentionally funny line: "I've got enough C-4 to blow up ten supercomputers!"

Best unintentionally funny visual: tie between fumble for the car keys, and offscreen killing sprays blood across photo.

Dumbest joke: gratuitous mocking of effeminate guy.

Best absurd effect: missile blows apart the wall in a small office ten feet from our heroes, they avoid injury by diving to floor. Duck and cover!

Best plot hole: Terminatrix's chronic failure to remember that she can run fast.

Heavy on the exposition, light on brains and heart, forgettable. See it if you really jones for big trucks smashing stuff. If you just have to see a movie, see "28 Days Later" instead. Rated R, not recommended for anyone whose mental age matches their valid ID.

Gudlyf writes "Sci Fi Wire is reporting that executive producers of 'That 70's Show,' Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach, are doing a CGI-animated midseason replacement show for UPN called 'Game Over,' which is best described as a sitcom spoofing 'Tron.' The show centers on the Smashenburns, an ordinary suburban family who live in an alternate video-game universe inhabited by action heroes, monsters and cartoon characters. Patrick Warburton and Marisa Tomei will be voicing the husband Rip and wife Raquel respectively."

Gudlyf writes "Sci Fi Wire is reporting that executive producers of 'That 70's Show,' Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach, are doing a CGI-animated midseason replacement show for UPN called 'Game Over,' which is best described as a sitcom spoofing 'Tron.' The show centers on the Smashenburns, an ordinary suburban family who live in an alternate video-game universe inhabited by action heroes, monsters and cartoon characters. Patrick Warburton and Marisa Tomei will be voicing the husband Rip and wife Raquel respectively."

Gudlyf writes "Sci Fi Wire is reporting that executive producers of 'That 70's Show,' Marcy Carsey, Tom Werner and Caryn Mandabach, are doing a CGI-animated midseason replacement show for UPN called 'Game Over,' which is best described as a sitcom spoofing 'Tron.' The show centers on the Smashenburns, an ordinary suburban family who live in an alternate video-game universe inhabited by action heroes, monsters and cartoon characters. Patrick Warburton and Marisa Tomei will be voicing the husband Rip and wife Raquel respectively."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the Gamerfeed report that reveals the full cast for EA's next Bond videogame, James Bond 007 : Everything or Nothing. In keeping with their already-announced casting of the real Shannon Elizabeth as a virtual Bond girl, they've also announced that Pierce Brosnan will again return as Bond, Willem Dafoe will be the virtual bad guy, Heidi Klum the virtual Eastern European bad girl, and John Cleese and Dame Judi Dench will be reprising their regular movie roles. Finally, and best of all, Richard Kiel's metal-toothed bad guy Jaws will be making a re-appearance (after his secret character unlock in the Goldeneye game), something that would be impossible in the real movie series due to Kiel's advancing age.

Thanks to the Gaming-Age forum regulars for pointing to an interview with David Hayter, the voice of Metal Gear Solid's Solid Snake, over at OperationMGS.com. The chat covers what Hayter, also the successful screenwriter of both X-Men movies, thought of the two games so far ("..the game play in the second game is superior to the first, I think, but I think I like the story of the first better than the second"), and also mentions that he's recorded new voiceovers for the updated version of the original MGS, Metal Gear:The Twin Snakes for Gamecube, but is tantalizingly coy on details ("Everything we did for the remake just made the game better.")

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to an ESCmag feature interviewing Jonathan Sale, the motion-capture actor for Tommy Vercetti in GTA:Vice City. The talk includes some illuminating details on the actual capture sessions for the Ray Liotta-voiced lead character: "The getaway car that the lawyer uses to help Tommy escape at the beginning after the coke deal goes bad was just four metal folding chairs, a Fisher-Price steering wheel (literally) and a wrestling mat covering the 'back seat' so that I didn't hurt myself jumping in."

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Magic Box article showing screenshots from the bootleg arcade game Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon 2003. Although there are few details on this title, it seems to be a South American-sourced Neo-Geo cartridge that doesn't actually have the actual movie license, but is 'borrowing' its name, along with most of the gameplay of King of Fighters 2001 and a bunch of backgrounds from the Street Fighter series. So many years after the Street Fighter II bootlegs, it's amazing to see people are still 'enhancing' arcade games for cultures where the 2D arcade fighter is still popular.

Thanks to the Gaming Age forum regulars for pointing to a newly optioned videogaming movie called Rad Brad: Modern Warrior. According to the article, the movie, possibly set to star Jack Black of Tenacious D fame, will "..revolve around Rad Brad, the world's most accomplished and beloved video game player, who gets recruited to save the world from a rogue military faction that has developed a robot with superhuman destructive powers." Since the movie is written by the creator of Dude, Where's My Car? and its forthcoming sequel called, uhm, Seriously Dude, Where's My Car?, hilarity is 'bound' to ensue - but can any gaming flick stand up to the epochal The Wizard?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to Gamespot's new interview with Metal Gear Solid creator Hideo Kojima. It was conducted at E3, and he discusses his light-sensitive GBA game, Boktai, as well as the Metal Gear Solid remake/enhancement for Gamecube, Metal Gear:The Twin Snakes. Kojima particularly notes Japanese film director, Ryuhei Kitamura, who is directing the new real-time cut-scenes for the game, and says "Mr. Kitamura really respected and honored the original work... but what you'll see later on in the game is totally different. You'll be shocked." He also talks a little about Metal Gear Solid 3, saying "This time we said keep it nice and simple and go back to the basics."

mhesseltine writes "According to United Press, researchers in Japan are developing transparent transistors. This could bring about see-through screens like those in Minority Report. Also, I imagine would be better heads-up displays (HUDs) for vehicles, layered flat panel displays, and new methods of interfacing with information screens."

flipkin writes "MobyGames, an IMDb-inspired database of video games, has now surpassed the significant milestone of 10,000 game entries. The stated goal of the site has been to meticulously document and catalog every single game ever made, and while they still have a long way to go, 10k is an impressive start." Apart from this site and the excellent Gamefaqs, what other online game databases do you find handy?

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing out that Comingsoon.net has a story about the announcement of a live-action film of Onimusha, currently early in the planning stages, from the producers of Brotherhood Of The Wolf and the Resident Evil movie. The movie is slated to have a 50 million dollar budget, and the article mentions "..the subsequent episodes of the Onimusha game allow the story to be moved through both time and space, so the sequel possibilities are extensive."

hondo77 writes "Researchers have reported at Digestive Disease Week (catchy name, eh?) that a human volunteer has swallowed a "video-equipped capsule -- about half the size of a grape" and that they were able to maneuver it. Sure, it's minus Raquel Welch and the rest of the crew but it's a promising start."

EpsCylonB writes "The IMDB is reporting that the London Daily mirror has the first review of the Matrix Reloaded. Sounds like the Wachowski borthers have gone for an all out action movie which is a shame if true. What I liked most about the original was the way it blended stunning action with a subtle philosphical theme about how we percieve reality." I'll hold judgement until the closing credits myself.

Yort writes "There's a little blurb over at the IMDB about customers at Blockbuster now generally preferring the widescreen, or letterbox, format over full-screen. This after Blockbuster tried to only stock full screen versions of movies a few years ago. I guess now the wife will have to let me buy that new widescreen TV, right?"

Yort writes "There's a little blurb over at the IMDB about customers at Blockbuster now generally preferring the widescreen, or letterbox, format over full-screen. This after Blockbuster tried to only stock full screen versions of movies a few years ago. I guess now the wife will have to let me buy that new widescreen TV, right?"

Moses Lawn asks: "With the impending re-release of Spirited Away, I've been wondering about this. There are a lot of movies I love that no one else seems to know about. Some of them disappeared from theaters within a week, some came out years ago and seem to have been forgotten. Here are a few of my favorites: The Hot Rock, The Pope Must Diet (formerly 'The Pope Must Die'), They Might Be Giants, and The Big Hit. Maybe you like these, too. Maybe you think they stink up the joint. So what are your favorite forgotten movies?"

Moses Lawn asks: "With the impending re-release of Spirited Away, I've been wondering about this. There are a lot of movies I love that no one else seems to know about. Some of them disappeared from theaters within a week, some came out years ago and seem to have been forgotten. Here are a few of my favorites: The Hot Rock, The Pope Must Diet (formerly 'The Pope Must Die'), They Might Be Giants, and The Big Hit. Maybe you like these, too. Maybe you think they stink up the joint. So what are your favorite forgotten movies?"

Moses Lawn asks: "With the impending re-release of Spirited Away, I've been wondering about this. There are a lot of movies I love that no one else seems to know about. Some of them disappeared from theaters within a week, some came out years ago and seem to have been forgotten. Here are a few of my favorites: The Hot Rock, The Pope Must Diet (formerly 'The Pope Must Die'), They Might Be Giants, and The Big Hit. Maybe you like these, too. Maybe you think they stink up the joint. So what are your favorite forgotten movies?"

Moses Lawn asks: "With the impending re-release of Spirited Away, I've been wondering about this. There are a lot of movies I love that no one else seems to know about. Some of them disappeared from theaters within a week, some came out years ago and seem to have been forgotten. Here are a few of my favorites: The Hot Rock, The Pope Must Diet (formerly 'The Pope Must Die'), They Might Be Giants, and The Big Hit. Maybe you like these, too. Maybe you think they stink up the joint. So what are your favorite forgotten movies?"

DavidBrown writes "Moments ago, Hayao Miyazaki won the Best Animated Picture award for 'Spirited Away.' It's about time."

Kappelmeister writes "The idea of giving Andy Serkis a nomination for The Two Towers is gone, but not forgotten. This New York Times article (FRRBBB) examines the many fine lines that the Academy must draw in the coming years: how physical must the set design, the cinematography, the acting and -- as in the case of Donald Kaufman -- the writer be before a film is shunted into a specialty category like "Best Animated Film?" I think that they will continue to fork with the times; there used to be separate Oscars given out for "one reel" vs. "two reel" shorts, color vs. B/W cinematography, and even director vs. assistant director."

Aspherical Cow writes "A New York Times Magazine article about how a London surgeon is planning on performing an experimental full-face transplant. The face would be harvested like any other donor organ and used on a disfigured person. Lots of issues of identity come up with something like this, but they say that this won't turn Nicholas Cage into John Travolta."

darkgray writes "After years of reading books and never really knowing which books were, perhaps, the best out there, and in the meantime getting more and more impressed by sites like the Internet Movie Database, I decided to start a project of my own. I named it the Internet Book List, and now it needs people to vote on books they've read, and even more it needs dedicated people to submit books and author information. Help out Humanity: Add a Book!"

Makarand writes "In a study published recently in the journal Science, a team of researchers say that they are 95% sure the universe is between 11.2 billion and 20 billion years old according to this article on Space.com. The new calculations from cosmologists at Case Western Reserve University and Dartmouth College involved new information about old star clusters in our galaxy and a better understanding of how stars evolve." Which blows my theory that the Universe is predated by Zsa Zsa Gabor, but oh well.

May Kasahara writes "Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away just won the Best Animated Feature award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Note that last year's winner in this category was Shrek, which then went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. The article says it's still too soon to detect a pattern, but IMHO, Spirited Away is the best film among this year's eligible Oscar selections, and at any rate, it's good karma :)" And rnb writes "I'm not sure when the listing was created, and unfortunately, I don't have much more information, but imdb has a January 2003 release date for the Cowboy Bebop: Knocking On Heavens Door. Yahoo also has a listing that seems to indicate this limited release may only be in LA and NY, but I'm still hoping to get it in at least one theater here in Philadelphia."

May Kasahara writes "Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away just won the Best Animated Feature award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Note that last year's winner in this category was Shrek, which then went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. The article says it's still too soon to detect a pattern, but IMHO, Spirited Away is the best film among this year's eligible Oscar selections, and at any rate, it's good karma :)" And rnb writes "I'm not sure when the listing was created, and unfortunately, I don't have much more information, but imdb has a January 2003 release date for the Cowboy Bebop: Knocking On Heavens Door. Yahoo also has a listing that seems to indicate this limited release may only be in LA and NY, but I'm still hoping to get it in at least one theater here in Philadelphia."

May Kasahara writes "Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away just won the Best Animated Feature award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Note that last year's winner in this category was Shrek, which then went on to win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. The article says it's still too soon to detect a pattern, but IMHO, Spirited Away is the best film among this year's eligible Oscar selections, and at any rate, it's good karma :)" And rnb writes "I'm not sure when the listing was created, and unfortunately, I don't have much more information, but imdb has a January 2003 release date for the Cowboy Bebop: Knocking On Heavens Door. Yahoo also has a listing that seems to indicate this limited release may only be in LA and NY, but I'm still hoping to get it in at least one theater here in Philadelphia."

cybrpnk2 writes with the review below of Michael Crichton's latest book, Prey, which he says is "classic Crichton." Only your thoughts on Crichton can determine whether that's an endorsement or a warning. Read on for the review. Update: 12/07 15:29 GMT by T : The link I originally placed to the movie Them "is some 1996 made-for-TV junk, not the 1950s classic." The link has been updated. Prey author Michael Crichton pages 367 publisher Harper Collins rating Excellent - Among his best reviewer cybrpnk2 ISBN 0066214122 summary The latest sci-fi on nanotechnology from the author of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park Michael Crichton has gone full circle and done it again, effectively updating his original sci-fi novel The Andromeda Strain for the 21st century. In his latest book Prey, he has gone from using gigantic T. Rex dinosaurs as the big bad back down to microscopic agents once more. All the classic Crichton trademarks are here -- the race against time, the super-hi tech, the twists in plot and theme. It's his best and in some ways most original novel since Jurassic Park and just as likely to be made into a smash motion picture now that morphing animation is well established. In fact, several scenes in the book almost seem gratuitously tacked on to ultimately make use of some special video effect rather than advance the plot, but that's a minor criticism. Overall this is a great, fun read that's destined to be a SF classic.

In some ways willing suspension of disbelief has to be applied less to the technology depicted and more to the relationships between our protagonists Jake and Julia. They're the typical Silicon Valley couple, all right, but oh how conveniently their relationship advances the plot. He's the between-jobs programming team manager who's specialized in code that models distributed processing and genetic algorithms. She's the cute PR talking head who is lining up funding for the revolutionary Xymos nanobots. He's the cool, loving house-dad that takes care of the cute kids. She's the always-working cold bitch who's having an affair -- isn't she? With the tanned surfing god Xymos exec we hiss at as soon as we meet him? Or is this whole plot line perhaps a little too obvious after being set up by page 18? Maybe Crichton has something a little more twisted in mind for the 350 pages that follow ...

Yep, he sure does, and as fast as helicopters can fly we're at the secretive Xymos desert lab in Nevada where nothing is as it seems. Those swirling little dust devils out there on the parking lot security cameras are considerably more menacing than Taz in a Loony Tunes cartoon, but damned if anybody will give Jack a straight answer about just how ... or especially why. Seems the escaped particles that make up the clouds have been programmed with distributed computing algorithms Jack came up with in his last job -- Xymos wants HIM to tell THEM what's going on. Uh, oh -- Jack used the concept of predator / prey stalking dynamics to keep distributed agents focused on a concrete goal.

Jack's subsequent experiences, experiments, thought processes, and realizations lead the reader into a fascinating exploration of the concept of hive mind. In one sense this is a book about prejudice -- people are the most evolved social mammals on Earth, and as such are always misinterpreting the capabilities, actions and behaviors of a swarm that has neither leaders or followers, only members. As such, Prey is a rare SF book that truly does explore a uniquely alien life form with some very interesting twists. It's also a thought-provoking possible example of Vernor Vinge's technological singularity concept.

It's a good book and it's going to make a great movie. If you just can't wait for the movie, though, no problem. Crichton's three-act structure for Prey follows the well-trod path of a trio of 50s-style sci-fi movie classics: Tremors , Them! , and Invasion of the Body Snatchers . Check 'em out and watch 'em in order after you read Prey for a fun follow-up. To include the tension of Jack and Julia's romantic triangle, watch Casablanca first ... and remember, a kiss is just a kiss, as time goes by.

You can purchase Prey from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

cybrpnk2 writes with the review below of Michael Crichton's latest book, Prey, which he says is "classic Crichton." Only your thoughts on Crichton can determine whether that's an endorsement or a warning. Read on for the review. Update: 12/07 15:29 GMT by T : The link I originally placed to the movie Them "is some 1996 made-for-TV junk, not the 1950s classic." The link has been updated. Prey author Michael Crichton pages 367 publisher Harper Collins rating Excellent - Among his best reviewer cybrpnk2 ISBN 0066214122 summary The latest sci-fi on nanotechnology from the author of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park Michael Crichton has gone full circle and done it again, effectively updating his original sci-fi novel The Andromeda Strain for the 21st century. In his latest book Prey, he has gone from using gigantic T. Rex dinosaurs as the big bad back down to microscopic agents once more. All the classic Crichton trademarks are here -- the race against time, the super-hi tech, the twists in plot and theme. It's his best and in some ways most original novel since Jurassic Park and just as likely to be made into a smash motion picture now that morphing animation is well established. In fact, several scenes in the book almost seem gratuitously tacked on to ultimately make use of some special video effect rather than advance the plot, but that's a minor criticism. Overall this is a great, fun read that's destined to be a SF classic.

In some ways willing suspension of disbelief has to be applied less to the technology depicted and more to the relationships between our protagonists Jake and Julia. They're the typical Silicon Valley couple, all right, but oh how conveniently their relationship advances the plot. He's the between-jobs programming team manager who's specialized in code that models distributed processing and genetic algorithms. She's the cute PR talking head who is lining up funding for the revolutionary Xymos nanobots. He's the cool, loving house-dad that takes care of the cute kids. She's the always-working cold bitch who's having an affair -- isn't she? With the tanned surfing god Xymos exec we hiss at as soon as we meet him? Or is this whole plot line perhaps a little too obvious after being set up by page 18? Maybe Crichton has something a little more twisted in mind for the 350 pages that follow ...

Yep, he sure does, and as fast as helicopters can fly we're at the secretive Xymos desert lab in Nevada where nothing is as it seems. Those swirling little dust devils out there on the parking lot security cameras are considerably more menacing than Taz in a Loony Tunes cartoon, but damned if anybody will give Jack a straight answer about just how ... or especially why. Seems the escaped particles that make up the clouds have been programmed with distributed computing algorithms Jack came up with in his last job -- Xymos wants HIM to tell THEM what's going on. Uh, oh -- Jack used the concept of predator / prey stalking dynamics to keep distributed agents focused on a concrete goal.

Jack's subsequent experiences, experiments, thought processes, and realizations lead the reader into a fascinating exploration of the concept of hive mind. In one sense this is a book about prejudice -- people are the most evolved social mammals on Earth, and as such are always misinterpreting the capabilities, actions and behaviors of a swarm that has neither leaders or followers, only members. As such, Prey is a rare SF book that truly does explore a uniquely alien life form with some very interesting twists. It's also a thought-provoking possible example of Vernor Vinge's technological singularity concept.

It's a good book and it's going to make a great movie. If you just can't wait for the movie, though, no problem. Crichton's three-act structure for Prey follows the well-trod path of a trio of 50s-style sci-fi movie classics: Tremors , Them! , and Invasion of the Body Snatchers . Check 'em out and watch 'em in order after you read Prey for a fun follow-up. To include the tension of Jack and Julia's romantic triangle, watch Casablanca first ... and remember, a kiss is just a kiss, as time goes by.

You can purchase Prey from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

cybrpnk2 writes with the review below of Michael Crichton's latest book, Prey, which he says is "classic Crichton." Only your thoughts on Crichton can determine whether that's an endorsement or a warning. Read on for the review. Update: 12/07 15:29 GMT by T : The link I originally placed to the movie Them "is some 1996 made-for-TV junk, not the 1950s classic." The link has been updated. Prey author Michael Crichton pages 367 publisher Harper Collins rating Excellent - Among his best reviewer cybrpnk2 ISBN 0066214122 summary The latest sci-fi on nanotechnology from the author of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park Michael Crichton has gone full circle and done it again, effectively updating his original sci-fi novel The Andromeda Strain for the 21st century. In his latest book Prey, he has gone from using gigantic T. Rex dinosaurs as the big bad back down to microscopic agents once more. All the classic Crichton trademarks are here -- the race against time, the super-hi tech, the twists in plot and theme. It's his best and in some ways most original novel since Jurassic Park and just as likely to be made into a smash motion picture now that morphing animation is well established. In fact, several scenes in the book almost seem gratuitously tacked on to ultimately make use of some special video effect rather than advance the plot, but that's a minor criticism. Overall this is a great, fun read that's destined to be a SF classic.

In some ways willing suspension of disbelief has to be applied less to the technology depicted and more to the relationships between our protagonists Jake and Julia. They're the typical Silicon Valley couple, all right, but oh how conveniently their relationship advances the plot. He's the between-jobs programming team manager who's specialized in code that models distributed processing and genetic algorithms. She's the cute PR talking head who is lining up funding for the revolutionary Xymos nanobots. He's the cool, loving house-dad that takes care of the cute kids. She's the always-working cold bitch who's having an affair -- isn't she? With the tanned surfing god Xymos exec we hiss at as soon as we meet him? Or is this whole plot line perhaps a little too obvious after being set up by page 18? Maybe Crichton has something a little more twisted in mind for the 350 pages that follow ...

Yep, he sure does, and as fast as helicopters can fly we're at the secretive Xymos desert lab in Nevada where nothing is as it seems. Those swirling little dust devils out there on the parking lot security cameras are considerably more menacing than Taz in a Loony Tunes cartoon, but damned if anybody will give Jack a straight answer about just how ... or especially why. Seems the escaped particles that make up the clouds have been programmed with distributed computing algorithms Jack came up with in his last job -- Xymos wants HIM to tell THEM what's going on. Uh, oh -- Jack used the concept of predator / prey stalking dynamics to keep distributed agents focused on a concrete goal.

Jack's subsequent experiences, experiments, thought processes, and realizations lead the reader into a fascinating exploration of the concept of hive mind. In one sense this is a book about prejudice -- people are the most evolved social mammals on Earth, and as such are always misinterpreting the capabilities, actions and behaviors of a swarm that has neither leaders or followers, only members. As such, Prey is a rare SF book that truly does explore a uniquely alien life form with some very interesting twists. It's also a thought-provoking possible example of Vernor Vinge's technological singularity concept.

It's a good book and it's going to make a great movie. If you just can't wait for the movie, though, no problem. Crichton's three-act structure for Prey follows the well-trod path of a trio of 50s-style sci-fi movie classics: Tremors , Them! , and Invasion of the Body Snatchers . Check 'em out and watch 'em in order after you read Prey for a fun follow-up. To include the tension of Jack and Julia's romantic triangle, watch Casablanca first ... and remember, a kiss is just a kiss, as time goes by.

You can purchase Prey from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

cybrpnk2 writes with the review below of Michael Crichton's latest book, Prey, which he says is "classic Crichton." Only your thoughts on Crichton can determine whether that's an endorsement or a warning. Read on for the review. Update: 12/07 15:29 GMT by T : The link I originally placed to the movie Them "is some 1996 made-for-TV junk, not the 1950s classic." The link has been updated. Prey author Michael Crichton pages 367 publisher Harper Collins rating Excellent - Among his best reviewer cybrpnk2 ISBN 0066214122 summary The latest sci-fi on nanotechnology from the author of Andromeda Strain and Jurassic Park Michael Crichton has gone full circle and done it again, effectively updating his original sci-fi novel The Andromeda Strain for the 21st century. In his latest book Prey, he has gone from using gigantic T. Rex dinosaurs as the big bad back down to microscopic agents once more. All the classic Crichton trademarks are here -- the race against time, the super-hi tech, the twists in plot and theme. It's his best and in some ways most original novel since Jurassic Park and just as likely to be made into a smash motion picture now that morphing animation is well established. In fact, several scenes in the book almost seem gratuitously tacked on to ultimately make use of some special video effect rather than advance the plot, but that's a minor criticism. Overall this is a great, fun read that's destined to be a SF classic.

In some ways willing suspension of disbelief has to be applied less to the technology depicted and more to the relationships between our protagonists Jake and Julia. They're the typical Silicon Valley couple, all right, but oh how conveniently their relationship advances the plot. He's the between-jobs programming team manager who's specialized in code that models distributed processing and genetic algorithms. She's the cute PR talking head who is lining up funding for the revolutionary Xymos nanobots. He's the cool, loving house-dad that takes care of the cute kids. She's the always-working cold bitch who's having an affair -- isn't she? With the tanned surfing god Xymos exec we hiss at as soon as we meet him? Or is this whole plot line perhaps a little too obvious after being set up by page 18? Maybe Crichton has something a little more twisted in mind for the 350 pages that follow ...

Yep, he sure does, and as fast as helicopters can fly we're at the secretive Xymos desert lab in Nevada where nothing is as it seems. Those swirling little dust devils out there on the parking lot security cameras are considerably more menacing than Taz in a Loony Tunes cartoon, but damned if anybody will give Jack a straight answer about just how ... or especially why. Seems the escaped particles that make up the clouds have been programmed with distributed computing algorithms Jack came up with in his last job -- Xymos wants HIM to tell THEM what's going on. Uh, oh -- Jack used the concept of predator / prey stalking dynamics to keep distributed agents focused on a concrete goal.

Jack's subsequent experiences, experiments, thought processes, and realizations lead the reader into a fascinating exploration of the concept of hive mind. In one sense this is a book about prejudice -- people are the most evolved social mammals on Earth, and as such are always misinterpreting the capabilities, actions and behaviors of a swarm that has neither leaders or followers, only members. As such, Prey is a rare SF book that truly does explore a uniquely alien life form with some very interesting twists. It's also a thought-provoking possible example of Vernor Vinge's technological singularity concept.

It's a good book and it's going to make a great movie. If you just can't wait for the movie, though, no problem. Crichton's three-act structure for Prey follows the well-trod path of a trio of 50s-style sci-fi movie classics: Tremors , Them! , and Invasion of the Body Snatchers . Check 'em out and watch 'em in order after you read Prey for a fun follow-up. To include the tension of Jack and Julia's romantic triangle, watch Casablanca first ... and remember, a kiss is just a kiss, as time goes by.

You can purchase Prey from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.

Solaris was one of several movies to hit the theaters this Thanksgiving weekend, and it won't be the most successful. The 1961 sci-fi novel has also been the source material for a 1972 film. There are numerous reviews - far more for Solaris than Die Another Day, suggesting that the critics were hopeful (Salon, NY Times), or maybe just tired of Bond, James Bond. I saw DAD as well this weekend, and my capsule review is simple: it sucked, the Bond franchise has definitely jumped the shark (two words: invisible car). But Solaris is worth a few more words.

Lem's novel is a really good work of sci-fi, not light reading but worth the effort to comprehend. The new Solaris movie is only 90-odd minutes long, and at that it's too long.

Comparisons will be made to 2001 and Apocalypse Now, two other slow-moving, philosophical movies. The problem is that both of those movies actually had interesting things to say, and managed to keep the viewer's attention despite being slow-paced. Solaris is simply slow. Long sections of the movie have no dialog and no background sounds whatsoever. When there is background music, it lacks the classical majesty of 2001 and is actually a bit annoying. These flaws might be forgivable if we were truly interested in the plot, but we aren't: it's a trivial love story, told many times before. (Most of the interesting parts of Lem's book have been sliced away to leave only the love tale, and the sci-fi twist is not enough to save it, IMHO.) I found myself nodding off during parts of the movie.

A couple of the reviews I read didn't quite grasp what was going on, especially the end. I found it quite clear and straightforward: the movie gives you plenty of clues so there shouldn't be any doubt left in your mind when the credits roll. Admittedly I approached the film with substantial knowledge about the book, but... it should have been clear to anyone.

Overall: it's pretty. The effects are well-done, at least you aren't short-changed there. As far as sci-fi movies go, it isn't bad - there have been so many worse sci-fi movies that I'll take whatever I can get. And at least they had the decency to make it short; if this movie were 2.5 hours long instead of 1.5, it would be intolerable. I'd recommend it to sci-fi fans. I'm not sure I'd recommend it for non-fans, however; if you want a love story, go see Ghost or something.