Granted, I haven't read the books, but what the heck is the plot? Kid displays odd properties, gets sent to wizard's school, nefarious hijinks ensue? Oh brother...
No, there is actually a pretty good, multi-layered mystery plot -- none of which comes across in the trailers.
That hasn't stopped Terry Pratchett from building a respectable adult following. And the Harry Potter books didn't strike me as being any more juvenile than, say, Equal Rites.
Indeed. I read the first one or two Discworld books -- that was enough for me, thanks -- and I find the Harry Potter books much more mature and engaging.
Cool murder mystery from Analog science fiction magazine, some 20 years ago: Revenge-seeker kills his target by carefully pivoting the computer-controlled climate-regulating windows of the office building across from the target's apartment, turning the building into a giant parabolic sun-miror.
Enough with every race having weird ears and bad noses. CGI, puppetry and the popular imagination are good enough we can have a few more "Horta" races. There was a hint that the next destination will be non-humanoid, hoorah!
I recall hearing (can anyone corroborate?) that Roddenberry -- for TNG, at least -- established a rule for alien makeup that the audience should always be able to see the actor's eyes and expressions. I guess this leaves nose, ear and forehead appliances as the most likely ways of making aliens look clearly non-human.
Either that, or Trek makeup artists are all They Might Be Giants fans. Aftrer all, "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads."
Hate to break the news, but apparently the pilot hinges on the introduction of some time-travelling aliens who are trying to change history for some unknown purpose.
DISCORDIAN SOCIETY SUPER SECRET CRYPTOGRAPHIC CYPHER CODE,
Of possible interest to all Discordians, this information is herewith released from the vaults of A.I.S.B., under the auspices of Episkopos Dr. Mordecai Malignatius, KNS.
SAMPLE MESSAGE: ("HAIL ERIS")
CONVERSION:
[Simple letter-to number conversion: A=1, B=2, etc.]
STEP 1. Write out the message (HAIL ERIS) and put all the vowels at the end (HLRSAIEI)
STEP 2. Reverse order (IEIASRLH)
STEP 3. Convert to numbers (9-5-9-1-19-18-12-8)
STEP 4. Put into numerical order (1-5-8-9-9-12-18-19)
STEP 5. Convert back to letters (AEHIILRS)
This cryptographic cypher code is GUARANTEED TO BE 100% UNBREAKABLE.
Honestly, I am so disappointed that the story is altered. I don't want to go see what some hollywood producer wants to say -- I want to see what the author has to say.
You can -- by reading the originals. Tolkein didn't make movies, he wrote books, and thus there is no way that a movie could possibly be "what the author had to say." The movie is a different work of art, created by different people.
C'mon, you know what a demo is! Like a tech sales pitch -- somebody shows you a pretty user interface, and makes all kinds of promises about how the system is going to work. But somehow the production version never quite lives up to the promises.
IANALMLAL (I am not a literate, much less a lawyer) but isn't RAV being used in a lot of campus free speech issues? Granted, it's not a contract, but it's not u.s, state, or local governments, either.
Schools do become a fuzzy issue. I seem to recall that universities that take government money (even in the form of student loans) can be made to toe the same line as the government.
(IAALawyer, but haven't dealt with this kind of question in a while. And oh, yeah -- this post is for general information only, it's not intended as legal advice, consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction, eat your veggies, and so on and so forth.)
It seems a clear violation of the first ammendment to me,
The First Amendment is a restriction on the power of the federal government. It has nothing at all to do with agreements among private parties. Citing the First Amendment with regard to a private contract is like citing the rules of Rugby in a chess match.
Nope. That case is about an ordinance -- i.e., a kind of law promulgated by a government. The First Amendment says that Congress can't restrict free speech. The Fourteenth Amendment imposes similar limits on state and local governments. But nothing in the constitution says that private contracts, including license agreements, can't include restrictions on speech.
The FrontPage EULA provisions are lousy, but they're not in the Constitution's ballpark.
Slashdot Mirror
No, there is actually a pretty good, multi-layered mystery plot -- none of which comes across in the trailers.
SPOILER WARNING
.
.
.
.
.
The Balrog is actually a giant robot. But they won't reveal that until the fourth movie.
Indeed. I read the first one or two Discworld books -- that was enough for me, thanks -- and I find the Harry Potter books much more mature and engaging.
Blonde bombshells in sparkly catsuits, on alien worlds, capturing virile yet helpless Earth men to be their love slaves.
Why aren't more of our scientists working to makes this a reality?!
Cool murder mystery from Analog science fiction magazine, some 20 years ago: Revenge-seeker kills his target by carefully pivoting the computer-controlled climate-regulating windows of the office building across from the target's apartment, turning the building into a giant parabolic sun-miror.
Sounds great! Count me in!
Of course, the Morlocks will get hungry from time to time...
1) Doesn't necessarily work for all suicide terrorists, only certain Islamic terrorists.
2) It's a damn nasty thing to do to peaceful Muslim passengers, if the plane should happen to crash (with or without terrorist help).
The Teletubbies are just dupes of the real ring-leader of the operation: Barney!
Sing it with me now:
Barney is an evil beast
The scourge of every nation,
You may have read about him
In the Book of Relevation
Barney comes to play with us
though we do not deserve him.
Barney will be your friend too
If you'll bow down and serve him!
Solution: Winking with the left eye is a "left click", winking with the right eye is a "right click", and blinking is just ignored.
Darn - there goes three-button-mouse emulation for Linux.
I can guarantee that among the stamps for british achievements, there will not be one for Orthodontics. :)
But what about Lemming of the BDA!
Am I the only one who absolutely hates the term "killer app?"
And why hasn't it been used as a horror movie title yet?
seems to have missed a few
:)
1 masturbating or 3 sex
2 cooking / eating
2 getting to / from work (not me though
If those don't all fall under "play," you're not doing them right.
The rest of us are reeling in shock from it.
Now, don't get too upset. If you need to talk it out with someone, online counselors are available at www.tld-trauma.info.Honest.
Or it that
Maybe it's
Ah, hell. Forget it. Just deal.
But there's a lot on TV that I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.
I recall hearing (can anyone corroborate?) that Roddenberry -- for TNG, at least -- established a rule for alien makeup that the audience should always be able to see the actor's eyes and expressions. I guess this leaves nose, ear and forehead appliances as the most likely ways of making aliens look clearly non-human.
Either that, or Trek makeup artists are all They Might Be Giants fans. Aftrer all, "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads on their real heads."
Let's see...
Getting kissed by alien hotties...
Running, two-gun Western-style shoot-outs...
Caution-be-damned attitude...
Oh, yes -- Jim Kirk is back!
(Now they just need to build a decent show around him...but I think they're on their way.)
Hate to break the news, but apparently the pilot hinges on the introduction of some time-travelling aliens who are trying to change history for some unknown purpose.
And then a guy dressed like a pirate and a history geek from the early 80's have to get things back on track!
You can always rely on the Official Discordian Super Sercret Cryptographic Cypher Code, from the Principia Discordia:
DISCORDIAN SOCIETY SUPER SECRET CRYPTOGRAPHIC CYPHER CODE,
Of possible interest to all Discordians, this information is herewith released from the vaults of A.I.S.B., under the auspices of Episkopos Dr. Mordecai Malignatius, KNS.
SAMPLE MESSAGE: ("HAIL ERIS")
CONVERSION:
[Simple letter-to number conversion: A=1, B=2, etc.]
STEP 1. Write out the message (HAIL ERIS) and put all the vowels at the end (HLRSAIEI)
STEP 2. Reverse order (IEIASRLH)
STEP 3. Convert to numbers (9-5-9-1-19-18-12-8)
STEP 4. Put into numerical order (1-5-8-9-9-12-18-19)
STEP 5. Convert back to letters (AEHIILRS)
This cryptographic cypher code is GUARANTEED TO BE 100% UNBREAKABLE.
BEWARE! THE PARANOIDS ARE WATCHING YOU!
Honestly, I am so disappointed that the story is altered. I don't want to go see what some hollywood producer wants to say -- I want to see what the author has to say.
You can -- by reading the originals. Tolkein didn't make movies, he wrote books, and thus there is no way that a movie could possibly be "what the author had to say." The movie is a different work of art, created by different people.
Is demo some large unit of currency or something?
C'mon, you know what a demo is! Like a tech sales pitch -- somebody shows you a pretty user interface, and makes all kinds of promises about how the system is going to work. But somehow the production version never quite lives up to the promises.
Democracy indeed!
IANALMLAL (I am not a literate, much less a lawyer) but isn't RAV being used in a lot of campus free speech issues? Granted, it's not a contract, but it's not u.s, state, or local governments, either.
Schools do become a fuzzy issue. I seem to recall that universities that take government money (even in the form of student loans) can be made to toe the same line as the government.
(IAALawyer, but haven't dealt with this kind of question in a while. And oh, yeah -- this post is for general information only, it's not intended as legal advice, consult a lawyer licensed in your jurisdiction, eat your veggies, and so on and so forth.)
*sigh.*
It seems a clear violation of the first ammendment to me,
The First Amendment is a restriction on the power of the federal government. It has nothing at all to do with agreements among private parties. Citing the First Amendment with regard to a private contract is like citing the rules of Rugby in a chess match.
The FrontPage EULA provisions are lousy, but they're not in the Constitution's ballpark.
The U.S. military has routinely censored the mail of combat troops -- certainly in World War I and II, and I believe as recently as the Gulf War.
(Which seems reasonable to me. It does not seem reasonable to restrict the rights of civillian citizens to communicate in whatever way they choose.)
You just threw away the resume of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Wozniac, Linus Torvalds, Alan Cox, etc...
Right. But he's looking for EMPLOYEES, not wizards or entrepreneurs. These call for very different skills sets and personalities.
If I owned a company, and was looking for employees, the last thing I would want is a Bill Gates or a Steve Jobs.