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Linux Based HD DDR used on Starship Troopers 2
Psinatmium writes "LinuxDevices is currently running a story about a Linux based, uncompressed high definition video DDR/Editor that I have been working on called RaveHD. The article also goes on to talk a little about how it was used at Tippett Studio in the upcoming feature "Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation"."
My, yes, that warrants an "informative".
The movie, my lad, was ironic. Verhoeven lived with fascism when he was young, and could see it all too clearly in the book. Hence the brilliant satire that is Starship Troopers.
But hey - I won't be seeing it unless Paul H. is at the helm. Only the Master Of Excess could top the original.
I have not read the book (yet, it's on the stack).
I absolutely love the movie. It's a biting sarcastic attack on societies that worship war and the military, very well executed. War looks like an episode of 90210 mixed with an infomercial, just like it does on Fox.
My view of the book was always that it made idols of the military, only giving the right to vote to the military, etc. So Verhoeven used the book to make a statement that says the opposite. Which I think he did rather well.
That doesn't mean I think the book can't be good, when it has a different message. I'll still read it and then I'll judge.
I believe posters are recognized by their sig. So I made one.
My personal favorite is "Job: A Comedy of Justice." Deals with God, the Devil, myths alternate realities. I am surprised it is not more popular (not to discount Heinlein's other works, I just so rarely hear Job come up in conversation)
IMHO, this is a large setback for 'Linux Based HD DDR'. It's like a new printing press having its first major publishing run be the inaugural issue of 'Fat & Horny Magazine'.
I know we all need to work toward using open software wherever we can, but good lord, have some taste!
The meek shall inherit the earth, in 3 by 6 plots. - Lazerus Long
I worked on some of the special effects for Starhip Troopers. While I didn't particularly like the story or acting, my biased opinion is that the film broke new ground when it came to effects. Both the bug/swarm scenes and the outer-space sequences were incredibl well done. If only they'd had a storyline that didn't involve Doogie Howser M.D. to back them up. I tend to object to straight-to-video sequels ... but I guess the die-hard fans of the first one will probably like it ... and hey, they get to reuse our special effects. If only I received royalties!
I can answer that one. In an interview, Groening explained that it was a joke that didn't quite work.
The idea was that Bart had no respect at all for his father, yet he idolized someone who was exactly the same except dressed as a clown. Nothing will make kids respect their parents, yet they'll worship any schmuck on TV.
Obviously over time Krusty developed his own personality, history and so on, and turned into more than an obscure joke.
GCHQ Quantum Insert installed. If only our tongues were made of glass, how much more careful we would be when we speak
Heinlein waxes enthusiastically about "earning citizenship" and everyone in the book has an unquestioning loyalty to the (slightly Fascist) cause.
A defining aspect of Fascism is the close cooperation between government and business that it engenders. The extreme example us Hitler supplying slave laborers to German industry, but it's also seen in Hitler's crackdown on the unions (ironically the day labor's traditional celebration, May Day, in 1934), and big business support of Nazism in the early thirties, through contacts of Goring and von Papen.
Heinlein, in the Starship Troopers novel, makes it clear that there's no real coordination between business and government: the main character, Juan Rico, comes from a wealthy, big-business owning family, which family, Juan's father makes clear has long prided itself on staying out of politics and the military. (Although after Juan Rico has joined the military and after losing his wife in an enemy attack, Juan's father will eventually join up too.)
If you must see the book as reflective of the times in which it was written, a better analogy is to America's fight against Japan in the Second World War. During the war, U.S. propaganda depicted the Japanese as an "insect-like" society with a rigid hierarchical system, with soldiers, like the Bug worker and soldier classes, who couldn't or wouldn't surrender. (and in fact, few Japanese soldiers did surrender -- and even Japanese civilians on Okinawa preferred suicide to surrender.)
The Mobile Infantry's landings and relatively brief firefights on various planets as they move steadily closer to Klendathu, the Bugs' home planet, is strongly reminiscent of the Marines' and Army's island and atoll-hopping campaign against the Japanese in that War.
Finally, the apathy shown about the military by Juan Rico's family reflects U.S. feeling about its all-volunteer army between the wars, an army that w, in the interwar years, considered essentially the preserve of people who couldn't succeed in the civilian world. (Read James Jones's From Here to Eternity for a good portrait of the U.S. Army immediately prior to WWII.)
The change in the Ricos', father and son, opinions is in accordance with the change in opinion in America as a result of the widespread American military servce required by the Second World War. With their service, americans had indeed earned their citizenship, had realized what "refresh[ing] the tree of liberty with the blood... of patriots" really is all about.
Heinlein, while respectful of the military, was consistently suspicious of government, so it's very difficult for me to see any Fascism in his works.
Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
I have not read the book...
...My view of the book...
Spare us, please, until you have read the book. Heinlein had an extremely romanticized view of honor and obligation, and imagined a military where honor and obligation superceded the ideals of glory and profit. Typical Heinlein.
Minus the hot nubile incestuous women.
Why should I argue rationally with someone being irrational? I'll just mock them instead.
With quality tools like Slapt-Get, Slackware is going to continue to reclaim users.
I have not read the book
Please do. You may very likely reconsider what you said below. And if you have even a slightly open mind, it will challenge many of the assumptions that you may have made about the purpose of violent conflict in human societies.
My view of the book was always that it made idols of the military, only giving the right to vote to the military, etc.
The point here was that if you are not willing to give service to your nation; in its defense, or in some other way, then you should have no say in the allocation of resources. I view paying taxes the same way. Why should someone who didn't contribute have any say in how the money is used? A famous Scottish historian (I forget his name) pointed out that the American Experiment would last only until the people discovered that they could vote themselves money out of the treasury. Heinlein simply points out that adherence to some basic principles would go a long way to preventing things like that.
As for idols, I think you overstate the case, but what's wrong with honoring people (of all nations) who go and get themselves shot at, and often killed, so that we can all sit around and sip lattes and take freedom for granted.
It's a good story even without the politics. But if you think as I, that it's axiomatic that you must be ready, willing, and able to soundly defeat aggressors and then be willing to help them change for the better, then you will particularly like it.
This article breathlessly tries to hype the fact that Linux was used in an "upcomming feature."
Turns out that's a complete, absolute lie--it's not a feature, it's a shitty direct-to-video release that often blue-screens unknown actors in front of footage from the first film.
Not exactly something to be bragging about...
Might we see a Linux HD PVR based off this work?
Doc -
I'm commenting on this topic late, so no one will ever read this except maybe you. But it is gratifying to know that at least one other person can look at the movie and say "Taken at face value, it sucks. Oh, it's satire, you say? Well as satire, it *also* sucks."
It has been noted many times that a work of satire cannot be too close to the thing it is satirizing, or it will simple *become* that thing. As far as I am concerned, Exhibit A would be this movie.
In fact, the last time I saw it, I remember thinking "I honestly cannot remember a movie that was more of a sneering insult from the director to his audience."
- Alaska Jack