Slashdot Mirror
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.
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.
No, that's not it. It's a showing at 4 theatres endorsed by Lucas. Tickets cost $500. That money goes into the hands of the official ticket seller and then into the hands of starving people or something. It would be really stupid to try to scalp those.
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