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Star Wars Tidbits
peterjm sent us
a link to a CNN article about
the prequel trailer
threatening networks as people keep emailing that 25 meg
file around. I'm also hearing rumors that Menace tickets
will be sold a week early, and not held off until the last
minute as originally planned. Can anyone confirm this? This
might help matters for those of us planning on
being out of town that
week.
Star wars I am afraid is overhyped.
tell you what: I will wait for my friends to see it before I go
What the hell does it take to get a score of -1 nowadays? Do I have to use vulgarity? shit? fuck? damn? cunt?
I have to say initially Matrix is an appealing movie, but "IT?", not hardly! Visually it wins the day and stuns you enough to think a little less about everything else. The plot device also had an interesting premise, which seemed to act as a cataract for many people.
The general plot was pretty thin beyond allowing for their cool scenes strung together in little mini montages of homages to other films.
Plot problems? Try these:
Humans at rest are less useful as humans at work, we can produce much more energy if we are active. So why would a machine race 'grow us' in little atrophy pods siphoning what little biochemical overflow we happen to produce from an eternal dream-sleep. Ridiculous, but oh so convenient to fill in the need to create their vision of you waking up into a true reality.
If this machine race had half a Pentium's processing power they would have just scooped out the unnecessary brain in the humans and repeatedly stimulated their spinal cord, forcing these automatons to endlessly work treadmills hooked up to battery!! Much much more power would be produced per unit! Obviously that is a dumb example but the point is this is the fundamental premise of why the humans are in this fake reality. And it stinks!
There are so many more efficient methods of producing energy. Geothermal, hydro, and many many more. Also after so many years you would think these ultra smart machines would have either repaired the damage to the atmosphere or just launched themselves into space to directly benefit from solar energy (the most plentiful energy source!) So if you accept this major plot assumption is ridiculous, it starts the dominoes for the rest.
I could start the long list of subsequent plot holes and failures but I only have so many hours in the day. I heard someone compare Matrix to BladeRunner, saying how it may be better! I just shook my head. I think everyone is suffering from some form of Y2K brain disease.
I did like the film, but it is not all that. It was lots of fantastic eye candy with a cute plot device (which doesn't hold up well under any form of analysis) but that was it. A year from now, you say "oh yea I think I remember that film...what was it called?"
Yeah, the inherent bogosity of the "battery" thing bugged the living daylights out of me, especially since they could have used the far-more-conducive-to-continued-suspension-of-disb elief explanation of the AI using humans for _processing_ power. Course, the whole "God eats humans!" thing they were going for wouldn't have been nearly as...vivid, but what the hell. Literal sense before metaphorical sense, I say!
Especially after seeing the Matrix, which kicked it.
Eat Chihuahua!
LOL!
AC. Not that AC, but another.
From a friend who works at a local United Artists theater, she told me that Lucas is making UA sign all sorts of agreements about the release of the movie. Tickets can NOT be sold sooner than the day of release. The movie MUST be shown on more than one screen. NO previews for other movies are allowed to be played before the actual movie begins.
I for one feel a little chill about Lucas being this controlling...
P.S. I liked it, but I thought they ended it too soon. God Save Us From Sequels.
what are you talking about it was 3 hours long. Also I thought the plot was as solid as it gets.
You monkey, Starwars is not even out.
I believe SW might be a DUD!!! A looser!
Matrix came out WITH NO HYPE, and was a killer movie, the best in ages, great plot, fantastic editing, killer Fx, StarWars has got the bar set high, and I don't think it will make it.
There is so much hype that Starwars better not fumble that one, any cuteness like the fuzzy zeewoks in this one and I start shooting people in the theater.
USA today has been wrong about way too many things to trust them. As far as ET or any other fake news shows who believes them either. I will trust Lucas and the star wars web site at http://www.starwars.com/episode-i/news/1999/12/ for correct news on advanced tickets.
I think mailing theater advertisments and also posting might qualify you. Posting them on the web might too. Placing them in a news site might also qualify. Thinking they matter, almost definately.
In all honestly, do you think it's going to be a problem for ANY theater to fill up to capaccity for at least the first month of showing, no matter how many screens they use? This is the first movie in a long time that is this much of a SURE THING, and possibly the first movie of its type, period.
I have got to say I hope not!! I (the projectionist that posted the first msg) Have nightmares about lucas doing that and mobs of people w/ no sound, out of focus, movie crashing in the middle of the climax and leaving ~2min completely destroyed, etc, etc.......
Lord help me because my boss would skin me alive and then use it as splicing tape!!
ok, now I must go before I get even more frantic.
Tickets go up for sale one (1) week before opening, per source cited above.
Same lines, just the goal-state alters....
Cheers,
Drieux
kick ass!!!!
although, if the computers want to kill humans, why don't they do it from the beginning?
what????? sequels????
You mean like the 3 SW movies (soon to be 4) they aren't sequels (or prequels for that matter) at ALL!!
prick
The new SW movie will probably suck, especially since expectations are so high.
Ok, c'mon, maybe now he's computer rendered, but Yoda STILL looks like a smurf on crack.
MUST CONTROL... FIST OF DEATH!
I work at a movie theater as a Projectionist and can tell you that FOX just called us a few days ago to say that was untrue and that NO tickets will be sold before opening day.
Furthermore they are not going to be delivering the print to the theaters untill ~1-4am opening day to try and prevent employees from watching it early. I personally am planning on getting very little sleep that night!!
According to Coming Attractions, a well known and accurate movie rumor page, there will be a release ahead of time, in selected cities, such as LA. Ticket prices are in the range of thousands of dollars, with procedes to go to charity.
Naw.. the last Seinfeld sucked. Don't blame the hype.
Maybe I should get an account, or 10 of them. Then I could give the previous post a proper score. I find it hard to believe that it went to 4 spontaneously. I smell conspiracy.
Berkley sees a solution in newer e-mail servers that allow administrators to nip these abuses in the bud.
"Many Simple Mail Transfer Protocol servers are now letting you limit the size of inbound messages, and some -- such as [Novell's] GroupWise -- let you limit it for certain users or groups of users," he says. "So target your 'problem children' and leave the legitimate users free and clear."
I agree that mailing such a large attachment is dumb. But I also hate self-righteous attitudes like this, that anyone who ever makes unofficial use of computers, or the 'net -- just like you're probably doing right now, reading /. at work! -- is a "problem child." And anyone so intellectually bereft that they have no curiousity about the great stuff out there on the 'net is a "legitimate user."
Okay. No one said Lucas was evil, but people are constantly complaining about the restricive contact terms. I would say it's good for fans and non fans(the very few?).
After having to stand through 3 hr. lines before each for Star Wars,Empire and Jedi, I actually appreciate being able to know if I stand in line for this one I'll actually get to see it on the actually day.
Nothing burns me more than when some preordering BOZO just WALKS RIGHT INTO THE THEATER after I spend 3 OR MORE HOURS WAITING PATIENTLY. Dedication should have some payback.(I know spoken like a true drooling slobbering fan.)
I just hope that pre-opening day sales don't cause the afore mentioned problem. Guess we'll just have to be like a midget at a urinal, and keep on our toes!
Releasing this film seems to be like landing a plane. You have to tilt the wings one way or the other to keep it on the level. Albeit, Lucas is trying to make some money. He is also actually looking out for the moviegoer. The idea is to try and keep things fair for the theaters and the fans. Lucas being a little restrictive, probably. Preventing nasty mobs scenes, yes.
The computer was initially only semi-sentient and had the directive to protect the humans and to provide for maximum efficiency due to scarce resources. The sun was blocked by nuclear winter so there was only fossil and nuclear fission/fusion - both very scarce resources. At first, all was well. The humans slept/dreamed/experienced in the virtual reality world designed to keep the civilization and bodies alive. The computer, in it's ever present search for efficiency, begins to upgrade itself to the point where it is sentient and desires to survive. It fears that the humans will abandon it once they leave thier protective nest and seeks to prolong thier captivity. The computer harnesses the human minds for addition processing power and abstract algorithms for further upgrades of itself. Eventually, the computer sees the humans as a liability as they require large amounts of resources to sustain and it no longer adheres to it's original purpose of protector. The computer seeks to phase out the human component of it's percieved self. The computer fears that the humans would compete with it and seeks to eliminate them slowly, one by one. The humans are aware of the changes going on in thier virtual world and begin to react to it. The computer reacts to the humans' reactions which eventually bring about a virtual war with super-elite operatives on both sides. The humans learn that they have the power to focus thier computing power, inside the matrix, and they construct a super-program to battle the master core system. The master system is then deprived of it's stores of extra processing power, it's entropy pool, and it's chaotic algorithms while those same resources coalesce into the new super-program of the humans. The final battle has the super-program overloading the master system's interrupts, overflowing it's buffers, and finally, terminating it's memory core refresh. As I said before, the computer did back itself up into a subsidiary system with control of some minor robotic machinery. The humans move out onto the surface and begin building a new civilization while the former protector computer plots to take over thier computer systems again.
(c)1999 Codifex Maximus
The computer was initially only semi-sentient and had the directive to protect the humans and to provide for maximum efficiency due to scarce resources. The sun was blocked by nuclear winter so there was only fossil and nuclear fission/fusion - both very scarce resources. At first, all was well. The humans slept/dreamed/experienced in the virtual reality world designed to keep the civilization and bodies alive. The computer, in it's ever present search for efficiency, begins to upgrade itself to the point where it is sentient and desires to survive. It fears that the humans will abandon it once they leave thier protective nest and seeks to prolong thier captivity. The computer harnesses the human minds for addition processing power and abstract algorithms for further upgrades of itself. Eventually, the computer sees the humans as a liability as they require large amounts of resources to sustain and it no longer adheres to it's original purpose of protector. The computer seeks to phase out the human component of it's percieved self. The computer fears that the humans would compete with it and seeks to eliminate them slowly, one by one. The humans are aware of the changes going on in thier virtual world and begin to react to it. The computer reacts to the humans' reactions which eventually bring about a virtual war with super-elite operatives on both sides. The humans learn that they have the power to focus thier computing power, inside the matrix, and they construct a super-program to battle the master core system. The master system is then deprived of it's stores of extra processing power, it's entropy pool, and it's chaotic algorithms while those same resources coalesce into the new super-program of the humans. The final battle has the super-program overloading the master system's interrupts, overflowing it's buffers, and finally, terminating it's memory core refresh. As I said before, the computer did back itself up into a subsidiary system with control of some minor robotic machinery. The humans move out onto the surface and begin building a new civilization while the former protector computer plots to take over thier computer systems again.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
Posted by Danger Tenor:
Check out Cinescape Online for the latest information. The rumor posted is basically that movie theatres that always sell all (or most) of their tickets in advance will be able to apply for a special-case exemption from Lucasfilm. Call your theatre and ask them.
About the email, it's because, unfortunately my friend Utox, people are idiots and will email it even when it's in the globally accessible folder.
I thought that there were no new trailers after latest one - however a cinema near me is advertising "4 minute star wars trailer coming soon" (it's the Odean in Edinburgh). Anyone know anyting about this?
--Michael
how do you say this and still look at yourself in the mirror everyday??????
the matrix (while being an excellent movie, and one of my instant all time favorites) was no starwars!
...are a reality, according to USA Today. No details as to the specifics, but it's going to happen.
-Virgil
--
The Future: Some assembly required; batteries not included.
Again a problem of lack of education. People just don't understand that they are sitting on LOCAL NETWORKS. I finally convinced people that I worked with that rather than sending the dancing baby to 15 people at work all at once, it's entirely possible to SHARE the damn thing on the network and let people download it.
Unfortunately giving people technology without telling them how to use it is like giving people lightsabers and not telling them not to chop veggies with it.
Okay. I had to toss in a random reference.
i've just discovered this in my slashdot cookie, it's fun :o)
iq
income_bracket
religion
sexual_orientation
high_school_gpa
last_time_you_brushed_teeth
mothers_maiden_name
visa_num
soc_sec_num
what is high school gpa?
PS: we need a forum to talk on another things that story/poll, like a forum in www.delphi.com
--
"Science will win because it works." - Stephen Hawking
Whether they sell them on the 19th or the 12th or the 1st, the hard-core folks will just re-arrange their schedules and camp out earlier. All this would do is add in the opportunity for a profit motive, adding a different type of "hard-core" to the mix already there. Bad move on Lucas's part, I say.
IAAL,BIANLY
--
--
This signature left intentionally blank.
where do you live so I can avoid that theater :)
... and missing.
I do believe the bar has been set very high. It will be a challange to 'jump' that high. I just hope it meets the hype and thus is a kick ass movie.
---------------------------------------
The art of flying is throwing yourself at the ground...
--Bitscape
With presales, the kids who would have sat in line all night for tickets will whine to their parental units about using their credit cards to buy tickets in advance. Presales caters to the older crowd who'll snatch up the first five days worth of tickets and leave the kids whose parents can't or won't use their cards on some silly Star Wars movie tickets out in the cold.
All of this is being done for the theaters' sake. I appreciate the fact that Lucas promotes a better viewing experience for our benefit, but maybe he can take the extra step and let the faithful sit in line to get in first.
-S. Louie
"I may be Love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
.....seeing The Matrix, we asked the ticket boy when tickets went on sale. His face went pale for a moment and he replied "Ummmm..I dont know that information". Then he turned around and traded looks with his manager. I mean he seemed really shaken up about it. Kinda funny if you ask me.
Clearly, there is some kind of plot here. Movieboy thought he was being cool, but prolonged exposure to the toxic grease known as "hot butter" has numbed his brain cells.
You should have used the Jedi mind trick and forced him to tell you the truth. Give me the name of the theatre and I'll go down there and find out for myself.
That was very funny. Thanks.
Microsoft aggravates my tourettes syndrome.
Please choose one:
P.S. I liked it, but I thought they ended it too soon. God Save Us From Sequels.
In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is kinky.
I mailed Rob about this when I saw /. sending me these cookies. He said it was an April fools' joke.
There is so much hype that Starwars better not fumble that one, any cuteness like the fuzzy zeewoks in this one and I start shooting people in the theater.
:)
I guess i'd better buy some body armour for the opening night then. (preferably something more durable than stormtrooper armour
No no no no no... they are allowing multiple screens... but a theater must have one copy of the film for each screen. Some of the newer theaters have the film strung all around the place and can show it simultaneously on multiple screens.
Wow... ya know, this sounds a lot like what happens in the software industry...
I heard (on Ent. Tonight) that Fox sent out some regulations, and one of them was that the theatres had to show Menace on the largest theatre they had. So if they've got one theatre that's big and a bunch of small ones, then they'd only be able to show it on one screen. But if they've got several large theatres, they could show it on all of them.
http://www.figures.com/databases/action.cgi?setup_ file=ssnews2.setup&category=starwars&top ic=12&show_article=242
Check it out. Not exactly *reliable*, but promising.
-Chris
Of course they'll be able to fill up to capacity. But they're corporations. They're afraid of the world. Risk is bad in the corporate mind-set. And anything you haven't done before appears risky, even if it isn't really.
What I saw --- at www.scific.com, which may or may not be reliable --- is that lucas has said:
(1) one print per theatre. sharing prints among multiple theatres degrades quality.
(2) multiplexes must show in largest theatre.
(3) theatres can get multiple prints, but they have to agree to show each print for a full 8-week run.
Requirement #2 doesn't seem too difficult --- of _course_ they're going to put it in the biggest theatre.
#3 might be tougher: multiplexes have to commit, and that's something all corporates hate doing.
SW:TPM is going to suffer from the same problem that the last Seinfeld had. It's being hyped as the greatest thing since sliced bread. And if it's the second greatest thing since sliced bread, people are going to be pissed. The only reason I think that it might hit all the expectations is that George Lucas is in charge of it. He is one crazy, obsessive dude. He knows full well how much hype is involved (having created most of it) and knows the severity of the backlash if he doesn't live up to said hype. All I know is that the guys in our IT department told our office manager that there's a Microsoft SQL training session on May 19th. We're going to get paid to ditch work and go try and see it. Sweet.
I caught Access Hollywood on TV today. They stated that Lucas had a change of heart. Tickets will be available before opening day.
Hmm, I'm not sure if Lucas is being smart by not delivering the prints to theaters until ~1-4 am. Everyone I know who works at a movie theater will probably be like this Anonymous Coward and go without sleep for a pre-dawn screening, which leads us to disaster:
Angry Mob: "Hey! Focus! FOOOOCUSSSSS!"
Projectionist: "zzzzzzzzzzzzzLeiazzzz."
I myself am wondering about Lucas's plans to re-edit and tune the movie up to the release week. Will we see different versions of the movie during different weeks, ridden by splices applied by the projectionist, a la Kubrick's re-edits of _2001_?
Apparently, CNN had an article up for a short time about Lucas reconsidering the no early sales policy. They pulled it, so maybe Lucas nixed it. Who knows? *laugh* I'm not suprised about the trailer threatening networks... But I don't see why people are emailing it. :) Why not just stick it on a globally accessible folder, and let people copy it?
--
Matthew Walker
My DNA is Y2K compliant
Matthew Walker
http://www.tweeterdiet.com/ - My Diet Tracking Tool
I read an article somewhere saying that Lucas told theaters that had already made/promised advance ticket sales that "something would be worked out" or something like that.
My sig is on vacation right now.
Mine wasn't that great, but I do brush my teeth weekly.
"If I am such a genius, how come that I am drunk and lost in the desert with a bullet in my ass?" --Otto (Malcom ITM)
I hope nobody combines the prequel and the Melissa 'virus'. Now that would cause trouble.
I don't really have an opinion either way about preselling tickets. The problem -I- have is that not standing in line for a week makes me less of a fan than someone who knows half as much about the movies. Lets face it... The people who will be sitting in line for a month are people either not yet old enough for a job, or don't care whether they have a job. The former are Star Wars newbies, who probably hadn't heard about it until the Special Edition was released, and the latter are the kind of people that William Shatner spoofed on his infamous SNL skit. I find it disturbing that I have to put myself through hell to prove that I am a fan. I miss the good old days when it wasn't cool to be a Star Wars geek.
Fortunately.. I procurred a job at a movie theatre running projectors just for this occasion.
I live in Toronto and an article in the paper mentioned Episode 1 coming to town 3 days earlier for some sort special fundraising event for children's charities. For more details,(check out, http://www.thestar.com/back_issues/ED19990408/news /990408NEW01c_CI-STARWARS8.html) This event will only go to chosen cities, and have only one showing on the 16th.
The down side: the tickets are $100.00
CNN also reported that tickets will be sold 1 week in advance. I wasnt paying attention to the first part of the segment but I ran into the room once I realized what they were talking about. The reporter indicated that the decision was a done deal and had been made earlier in the day. This was on the Monday night entertainment show that comes on about 3:00AM Eastern.
My point is this: Those of you who have talked to theatre employees before Monday may want to check with them again to see if anything has changed. It might take a few days for the info to trickle down from LucasFilm to the theatre managers to the ticket rippers, so give it some time and ask your theatre contacts again.
It was mentioned in last night's Access Hollywood as well.
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
True but untrue. Apparently Lucas is airing limited showings of the movie beginning May 16 in selected cities to benifit charities. The tickets to these showings will not have any press or VIP passes. Tickets will range from $500 to $50,000 depending on extra pluses you buy (catered dinner affairs afterwards, etc). For the LA showings (I can't remember what theater though) the proceeds are to benefit the Glasser Pediatric AIDs foundation and there will (was?) 1,400 tickets available. They gave a socal number this morning to call to purchase tickets so I assume they've sold out already.
I like toast!
Big nuclear war. Nuclear Winter - radiation. Survivors build underground complex with human contents - semi-sentient computers and robotics to sustain human (and other) life until crisis is over. Computer is designed to keep humans stimulated both physically and mentally by instituting a virtual reality world. Computer uses some (or all) the human minds to develop and maintain itself. Computer harnesses the hive mind of all the connected humans to run the virtual reality world and to augment it's own limited computing resources. The computer develops into a more sentient entity - feeding off the processing power of the humans and begins to look for ways to disconnect the humans from the core because the humans require too many resources i.e.: inefficiency is to be eliminated. The humans, however, still have the ability for abstract and chaotic thought that the computer will never have. The humans form a hive mind and focus thier mutual mental energies into one super program that infiltrates the computers core and does battle with it's defenses. (The nuclear winter is long over and the world above is a paradise as the computer has long since released all the other unnecessary lifeforms to once again populate the planet.) The super program, under the direct control of the hive human minds, defeats the computer core that then is downgraded to what it once was. But before going offline, the main computer core has backed itself up into a subsidiary system that still has control of some minor robotic machinery. This leaves the door open for a sequel.
(c)1999 Codifex Maximus
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
MATRIX was one of the most visually stunning flicks I've seen in years. It was, in my opinion, scientifically void.
:)
CAUTION: If you haven't seen the movie... stop reading now!
Firstly, nuclear winters don't last forever so the idea of a perpetual dark sky would be hard to prove. Secondly, the energy to be gained by absorbing the electrical activity of the brain along with the heat of the body for power is extremely far fetched. The body is a very poor converter of energy. Even *IF* the energy to be gained from the body were usable, the body would need to be fed which requires *MORE* energy than the energy you get out of it. Thirdly, the energy gained, assuming a near 100% efficiency, would probably not be enough to run the MATRIX itself.
Now for the positives! It was fun. I liked the feeling of being in the Virtual Reality world it portrayed, the choice of actors was very good (especially the leather clad leading lady), the bad guys (the agents) were done well too. I kept expecting the agents to say that they were on a "Mission from God" every time I saw them. They never did.
I give it an 8.5 on a scale of 1-10. Easily the best action movie this year.
Codifex Maximus ~ In search of... a shorter sig.
That's not been in any of the restrictions that I've seen. Something close to that is the restriction that if a multiplex theatre is going to show Episode 1, they have to show it on the biggest, best screen (for 2 months?). I didn't see anything saying they couldn't show it on the next-biggest screen too.
As well all know, Lucas doesn't need the money, so the argument that he's hurting himself with these restrictions doens't make sense. It seems that he's trying to bring back the movie-going experience of the first shows. Sure, it cuts down on the convenience of modern movie-going, but the people who need that don't need to see the show when it first comes out anyway. They just keep telling the people in the theatre to stop clapping so they can hear. As a student a Duke, where camping out for tickets is very much a reality, I understand. I just wish I hadn't signed up for that summer job now.
I'll email a location for my report to 15 different people, and only the HW and SW guys ever find it. So I email the whole thing to the drones, and they use MSWord to comment on my FMaker doc. Go figure.
A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
LUCAS SCRAMBLES TO MAKE LAST MINUTE MOVIE CHANGES
MARIN COUNTY, CA (AP) - George Lucas and his entire "Phantom Menace" production crew are working around the clock, making last minute changes to the film after an unnamed poster on a widely-read Web site suggested that some of the movie's existing material might be undesirable.
"The decision to include the Fuzzy Zeewoks was controversial from the start," explained an exhausted Lucas on his way from the cutting room to a sound stage. "In the end, we decided to keep them in, and thought we had done the right thing. However, as this particular post has shown, we were wrong. As a result, we are writing the Zeewoks out of the script, and replacing them with the Exploding Toxic Womprats, which are less cute."
The post that started this entire debacle was written by Anonymous Coward, a prolific contributor on the Internet's popular Slashdot (http://www.slashdot.org) web site. Coward, who can type at upwards of 1200 words per minute (estimated), is responsible for nearly one-third of the material posted there. In his Star Wars-related post, Coward claimed that he would "start shooting people in the theater" if he saw any "cuteness" such as the Fuzzy Zeewoks. This pushed Lucas over the edge, and prompted the cutting of the entire Fuzzy Zeewok subplot.
"What a blow!" said Lucas ruefully. "When you get advice from a person with the influence and social standing that Anonymous Coward has, you had better follow it." And following it he is! The long days of reworking the film has been an unprecedented, grueling trial for Lucas' production crew. However, he hastens to add: "We'll be ready by the original release date."
Although Lucas refuses to elaborate on the details of the subplot involving the Fuzzy Zeewoks, sources close to the film tell the Associated Press that it had something to do with six feet of rubber tubing, a quart of 10W-30 motor oil, and a yak.
Jesse Berst contributed to this story.
We're going down, in a spiral to the ground