Bull. While there may have been a drought in the past 20 years, there's a ton of good authors out right now. John C. Wright, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, James Alan Gardner, Charles Stross, Simon R. Green, Iain Banks (_I_ don't think so, but a lot of people do), Ken MacLeod, L.E.Modesitt Jr., Jack Campbell, Alastair Reynolds, Thomas Harlan[...]
Re:The best indicator of my enjoyment of a film...
on
Iron Man Released
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· Score: 1
Big deal that it's "Fresh" - anything over 60% gets that. The fact that it got a 94% is impressive.
I saw it on Saturday (and I, like CmdrTaco, had to get a sitter), and LOVED it. That is what I want a superhero movie to be. Plenty of action, decent sense of humor, a little romance, and a lot of "kickass!" from the audience. Better than Xmen 2/3 or that last Superman. Actually, Iron Man's one of the best I've seen in a while.
Glad it was as good as the trailer made it seem. Now go make me another sequel, Favreau(/Hogan)!
I disliked V for Vendetta, because that truly was an film which took serious liberties with the source material (to the point where the original author declined to be credited).
Along with every other movie, though, to be fair (Constantine, League, From Hell). Personally, I'm not sure if that says more about Hollywood, or Moore.
You haven't met one of my mother-in-laws. She believes (and trust me, she's not alone) that the bible was Written By God's Hand, through the various authors. That it is God's Word. All Of It. Don't get me started about the inconsistencies.
I don't think I've ever found a band that I listen to that's carried at Wal-mart. I never even look anymore. That being said, I'm not buying from local stores, independent or not. It's all about the internet... there's a guy in California who runs a brisk mail-order with just my music, and he's even knowledgable about it. http://synphonic.8m.com/
I remember seeing a TV show recently (on Discovery?) on one of the air-powered cars, and while I don't remember the PSI, I do remember them talking about using carbon-fiber tanks that are basically two halves, joined (as opposed to one gigantic carbon fiber tank, it's two "u"s, joined). If it gets hit, it splits across its long axis - so you shouldn't have an explosion. I also seem to remember that the motor works as a compressor, not as any sort of auxilliary engine - its purpose is to repressurize the tank as you use up air.
then we got hit with the anti-slammer worm. The slammer worm hadn't infected us, but the anti-slammer did, and wound up rebooting about 20 servers (which begs the question "why weren't they already patched?"), during the middle of the day. Pure panic mode as they started spontaneously rebooting.
Can't forget the Magic: The Gathering we saw late one night. Complete with color commentary, whiteboard, instant replays, etc. It was both hysterical and sad at the same time.
After that was marbles. One cool thing was that a 10-year-old beat out all the 40-year-olds.
I suspect Mike Judge saw that too, and that's where The Ocho came from.
What is a good alternative? I really want those physical dimensions, a decent-display (480-by-320 seems pretty good), WiFi, a Touch screen (not to mention some of those widgets), and at least 4gb of space.
I'm sure it's changed (okay, I _hope_ it's changed), but there was a discussion _years_ ago about what Microsoft had actually invented (this was around when Cleartype came out), and the answer was: a particular type of two-way door hinge.
Actually, I seem to remember that Dragon _won't_ get better over the years - the core software and algorithms haven't changed any, they just got bought and changed hands, and (again, IIRC) the people who bought it didn't know how it worked, just that it did, and that they owned the code to do so.
All I can find offhand is the wiki page, which says "Lernout & Hauspie bought Dragon Systems in 2000. The dictation system bubble burst in 2001, and Lernout & Hauspie had a spectacular bankruptcy. ScanSoft Inc. bought the rights for Dragon products. In 2005, ScanSoft bought Nuance Communications , and changed the name of the newly combined entity to Nuance."
What the parent said, but doubly so because, IIRC, the original Archos' were basically saved by the homebrew community, who came up with new, better, firmware for their products. It was a win-win... so why is the new stuff so anti-modder?
if you missed it in the theatre 2 months ago Actually, it was airing last week. Saw it at the Inwood Theater in Dallas. There's a website that lists where it's going next.
I told several friends, and we all got together and watched it on the big screen. Still, after all this time, absolutely mesmerizing.
Not right now, not at T1-speeds, no. FWIW, though, I am seeing x264 posted at 720p. However, they're about 1gb for an hour, way outside what you can reasonably stream. (What, 352 doesn't count as hi-def?:-b)
Hi-def? No. Adequate? Yes (provided you're at 150K/sec, and not 150k/sec). Most of the TV shows that are (*ahem*) available on the internet are at a low bitrate, but use DIVX and XVID and the like to provide perfectly-fine looking TV. The average for a hour-long TV show is 350mb. Granted, that's sans commercials, but even with an extra 30% of commercials it's now 455mb (and, okay, add another 10% for overhead), and a 150K/sec pipe is 540mb in an hour. (If you're at 150k/sec, or 54mb in an hour, then you're screwed.)
Details off a random show I found that seems an average posting: XviD at 1055 kbps Audio : MP3 127kbps 2ch 48khz Aspect Ratio : 16:9 Resolution : 624x352 Frame Rate : 23.976024 fps
While he made some decent points in the video, if it truly was a 6/10 game, then that review was more than a little over-the-top. Based off his video, I would say that Kane & Lynch was a 3/10 or 2/10. A 5 should be an "average" game of that genre. He said repeatedly it was not up to that standard (bad AI, no characters to root for, poor mechanics and crass dialog). Maybe that's his way of saying "yeah, I have to say it's a 6. It's not.".
But maybe not. And the whole tone of the review, to be honest, was lazy. Crass. Informal. It didn't seem like it was a review that he'd written down and practiced, just a "what can I come up with real quick", and he comes off as unprofessional and a bit of an ass.
(Disclaimer - none. I was trying to figure out whether I needed to cancel any of my magazines- I thought Gamespot used to be the web site for one of the video game mags, but that doesn't appear to be the case.)
The Fifth Element. I think it's because it's a mixed-genre movie. Not action, not comedy, somewhere in between. Both star Bruce Willis, interestingly enough.
"Hey mister, are you gonna die?" "Do you know what it's like to be called Chlamydia for a year?" "You are a slender reed compared to that guard"
Both HH and 5E are in my top 10 movies. And the commentary on Hudson Hawk is great - they talk about how they hired the narrator from Rocky & Bullwinkle, so that you'd know the tone they were taking. Fun stuff.
If Warren's not involved, then let me reiterate the FP: please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck (yeah, I know - he was involved with DX2 and Thief 3, but still...)
Depending on what they were looking for, I have an idea how they looked. Years ago, I interviewed for a job offer from a branch of A.C.Nielsen. They paid grocery stores for their register tapes and then did analysis on them for the vendors (like Frito-lay). Credit cards seem likely, but this gives you a more granular look - especially if you then tie it to credit cards.
Slashdot Mirror
Maybe it's not Apocalypse in 9/8, but the part from Marillion's Grendel?
Bull. While there may have been a drought in the past 20 years, there's a ton of good authors out right now. John C. Wright, John Scalzi, Cory Doctorow, James Alan Gardner, Charles Stross, Simon R. Green, Iain Banks (_I_ don't think so, but a lot of people do), Ken MacLeod, L.E.Modesitt Jr., Jack Campbell, Alastair Reynolds, Thomas Harlan[...]
Big deal that it's "Fresh" - anything over 60% gets that. The fact that it got a 94% is impressive.
I saw it on Saturday (and I, like CmdrTaco, had to get a sitter), and LOVED it. That is what I want a superhero movie to be. Plenty of action, decent sense of humor, a little romance, and a lot of "kickass!" from the audience. Better than Xmen 2/3 or that last Superman. Actually, Iron Man's one of the best I've seen in a while.
Glad it was as good as the trailer made it seem. Now go make me another sequel, Favreau(/Hogan)!
I disliked V for Vendetta, because that truly was an film which took serious liberties with the source material (to the point where the original author declined to be credited).
Along with every other movie, though, to be fair (Constantine, League, From Hell). Personally, I'm not sure if that says more about Hollywood, or Moore.
You haven't met one of my mother-in-laws. She believes (and trust me, she's not alone) that the bible was Written By God's Hand, through the various authors. That it is God's Word. All Of It. Don't get me started about the inconsistencies.
I don't think I've ever found a band that I listen to that's carried at Wal-mart. I never even look anymore. That being said, I'm not buying from local stores, independent or not. It's all about the internet... there's a guy in California who runs a brisk mail-order with just my music, and he's even knowledgable about it. http://synphonic.8m.com/
I've heard of this. But honestly, I don't want the possibility of Hillary winning. So I voted last night.
I remember seeing a TV show recently (on Discovery?) on one of the air-powered cars, and while I don't remember the PSI, I do remember them talking about using carbon-fiber tanks that are basically two halves, joined (as opposed to one gigantic carbon fiber tank, it's two "u"s, joined). If it gets hit, it splits across its long axis - so you shouldn't have an explosion. I also seem to remember that the motor works as a compressor, not as any sort of auxilliary engine - its purpose is to repressurize the tank as you use up air.
IANAmechanicalengineer
then we got hit with the anti-slammer worm. The slammer worm hadn't infected us, but the anti-slammer did, and wound up rebooting about 20 servers (which begs the question "why weren't they already patched?"), during the middle of the day. Pure panic mode as they started spontaneously rebooting.
Can't forget the Magic: The Gathering we saw late one night. Complete with color commentary, whiteboard, instant replays, etc. It was both hysterical and sad at the same time.
After that was marbles. One cool thing was that a 10-year-old beat out all the 40-year-olds.
I suspect Mike Judge saw that too, and that's where The Ocho came from.
What is a good alternative? I really want those physical dimensions, a decent-display (480-by-320 seems pretty good), WiFi, a Touch screen (not to mention some of those widgets), and at least 4gb of space.
What's out there that's worth getting?
"Microsoft did invent a lot too."
I'm sure it's changed (okay, I _hope_ it's changed), but there was a discussion _years_ ago about what Microsoft had actually invented (this was around when Cleartype came out), and the answer was: a particular type of two-way door hinge.
What's the model?
Actually, I seem to remember that Dragon _won't_ get better over the years - the core software and algorithms haven't changed any, they just got bought and changed hands, and (again, IIRC) the people who bought it didn't know how it worked, just that it did, and that they owned the code to do so.
All I can find offhand is the wiki page, which says "Lernout & Hauspie bought Dragon Systems in 2000. The dictation system bubble burst in 2001, and Lernout & Hauspie had a spectacular bankruptcy. ScanSoft Inc. bought the rights for Dragon products. In 2005, ScanSoft bought Nuance Communications , and changed the name of the newly combined entity to Nuance."
What the parent said, but doubly so because, IIRC, the original Archos' were basically saved by the homebrew community, who came up with new, better, firmware for their products. It was a win-win... so why is the new stuff so anti-modder?
Perhaps something more like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias
No, I'm still voting for "stupidity".
if you missed it in the theatre 2 months ago
Actually, it was airing last week. Saw it at the Inwood Theater in Dallas. There's a website that lists where it's going next.
I told several friends, and we all got together and watched it on the big screen. Still, after all this time, absolutely mesmerizing.
Not right now, not at T1-speeds, no. FWIW, though, I am seeing x264 posted at 720p. However, they're about 1gb for an hour, way outside what you can reasonably stream. (What, 352 doesn't count as hi-def? :-b)
Hi-def? No. Adequate? Yes (provided you're at 150K/sec, and not 150k/sec). Most of the TV shows that are (*ahem*) available on the internet are at a low bitrate, but use DIVX and XVID and the like to provide perfectly-fine looking TV. The average for a hour-long TV show is 350mb. Granted, that's sans commercials, but even with an extra 30% of commercials it's now 455mb (and, okay, add another 10% for overhead), and a 150K/sec pipe is 540mb in an hour. (If you're at 150k/sec, or 54mb in an hour, then you're screwed.)
Details off a random show I found that seems an average posting:
XviD at 1055 kbps
Audio : MP3 127kbps 2ch 48khz
Aspect Ratio : 16:9
Resolution : 624x352
Frame Rate : 23.976024 fps
While he made some decent points in the video, if it truly was a 6/10 game, then that review was more than a little over-the-top. Based off his video, I would say that Kane & Lynch was a 3/10 or 2/10. A 5 should be an "average" game of that genre. He said repeatedly it was not up to that standard (bad AI, no characters to root for, poor mechanics and crass dialog). Maybe that's his way of saying "yeah, I have to say it's a 6. It's not.".
But maybe not. And the whole tone of the review, to be honest, was lazy. Crass. Informal. It didn't seem like it was a review that he'd written down and practiced, just a "what can I come up with real quick", and he comes off as unprofessional and a bit of an ass.
(Disclaimer - none. I was trying to figure out whether I needed to cancel any of my magazines- I thought Gamespot used to be the web site for one of the video game mags, but that doesn't appear to be the case.)
The Fifth Element. I think it's because it's a mixed-genre movie. Not action, not comedy, somewhere in between.
Both star Bruce Willis, interestingly enough.
"Hey mister, are you gonna die?"
"Do you know what it's like to be called Chlamydia for a year?"
"You are a slender reed compared to that guard"
Both HH and 5E are in my top 10 movies. And the commentary on Hudson Hawk is great - they talk about how they hired the narrator from Rocky & Bullwinkle, so that you'd know the tone they were taking. Fun stuff.
If Warren's not involved, then let me reiterate the FP: please don't suck, please don't suck, please don't suck
(yeah, I know - he was involved with DX2 and Thief 3, but still...)
Given that both of the people behind Old Man Murray work at Valve, this is probably deliberate.
Depending on what they were looking for, I have an idea how they looked. Years ago, I interviewed for a job offer from a branch of A.C.Nielsen. They paid grocery stores for their register tapes and then did analysis on them for the vendors (like Frito-lay). Credit cards seem likely, but this gives you a more granular look - especially if you then tie it to credit cards.
Ya know, I _wanted_ to like Drive. But the show was MEAN - it had a cruel streak. That was enough reason to stop watching.