Ok... I just had to post this here since you brought up the venerable Ralph Nader. This is from a speech that ironically ended up on one of his spoken word "songs" that one of the beastie boys worked on called "How Long?" (which of course is where I heard it:^)...
"Now, look at your late-evening news, if you can bear it. Look at it. It's 30 minutes. Nine minutes of ads; three minutes of street crime right at the beginning, never corporate crime, very superficially covered; one minute of impromptu chit-chat between the anchors; four minutes of weather; four minutes of sports and that's what happens in your town tonight. And we own the public airways. It's a disgrace. " -Ralph Nader
I agree. I was all excited when I saw the begining of that scene but it got cut short for some royal flirting. *sigh* What I did like, which was new, was the part where the sardarkar guards were nose to nose with the Gurney and his men. I liked it so much because symbolically, the Duke's men are the only ones at this time who could ever even think of standing up to the Sardarkar. Still, I digress. We only did get a glimpse of other political forces going with different agendas. Sadly, only a glimpse, tho.
True! That was more confusing than anything else. The ending was kind of hurried and sans the huge fremen/worm raid, but it did get really good on the dialog. Things like the last line of the movie is exactly the same as the book was nice. (Jessica to Chani "History will call us wives.") Nevermind a fantastic knife fight scene with Feyd.
*Ahem*
Please allow me to add my thoughts to this most worthy subject. I'd like to start by pointing out that (and its so obvious I shouldn't have to write it but...) the different mediums everyone is comparing against is quite different and should be treated differently. A book is much different than a movie. A movie is much different than a miniseries for different reasons. (Where else can we see so many dang Sun commercials for starters!) In this respect one can only pay homage and/or differentiate where the need arises. Having said that I'd like to say to all the naysayers (And there are so many of you), learn what you are looking at and try not to impose your net of thought onto it. The first step in understanding is knowing that you do not know. My greatest joy in watching this series so far is not knowing what exactly to expect next. Lines which are changed from both the book and movie ("Tell me of the waters of your home world, Muad'Dib") to be more poingnant and lean are both necessary and elegent. Scenes which are changed for the medium such as the hunter-seeker scene, which was probably the most to-the-book scene from David Lynch's Dune, was changed to get rid of those blasted voice-over-thoughts. ( Side note: The voice overs was the NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT from the series so leaving it behind was more than necessary). Other scenes were added compared to the movie and then changed from the book to get the point across (Dinner scene for example). Yet others where so to the book, it was beautiful (Jamis' fight and funeral). And still, yet other scenes where omitted due to their lack of addition to the plot point due to such a short amount of time. Witness that the first movie drastically cut down the scenes where Thufir is being manipulated by the Baron Harkonen and that the mini-series doesn't include it whatsoever as if they did it on cue. With all these points in mind, all in all what we are witnessing is probably most of what we can expect from a visual adaptation of dune.
The watermark by which you can identify a visual book interpreatation is how much you have invested yourself into what you are seeing and how much you can understand. If it gets the point across and you're on the edge of your seat, even if you haven't read the book, then they've succeeded. So now the question is, what is the main point of the book? And since the Sci-Fi Channel is going to the next two books, what is the main point of the series?
Well there are two points really. First theres the bigee...The Fallacy of the Messiah... The archetype of so many stories of our religions/myths and of course the cause of so many deaths of our people in his name. Paul doesn't want this but has no choice and the universe pays the price. The Bene Gesserit prepares DUNE with this classic myth and everyone falls hook line and sinker, including Paul.
Secondly, on the science fiction aspect, the whole book series can't get off the fact that a Kwisatz Haderach can "see" into the future. Later on, everyone is so scared that another KH will come along and lock them into a present where nothing is new. In other words, seeing into the future makes the present into the past and locks them forever out of the unknowable present such as the one we enjoy today where anything can and does happen. His son, Leto II, was the only one who could bring them out of what Paul Muad'Dib did to them. And if the Sci-Fi Channel is going to do the next two books, they MUST at least do God Emperor Dune which in my opinion is the most interesting and rewarding of all the books. The last two books which deal with the BG almost exclusively, I'll admit, would also be a good adaptation since they're getting hunted and lots of action can ensue.
Having said all that, I have only one gripe... an inconsistent use of the pre/post commercial "DUNE" screen. Some people are trying to tape these as best they can you know!
I was walking around the other day and looking all around me thinking "Wow... theres lots and lots of details!" Imagine what it would really take to present that? Throw on top of that sense stimulators, geez. This is when that old quote came back to me about god being the details. I wonder if we're getting closer and closer to understanding.
Also, just imagine what one could do in conjunction with music. Hell... the Ultimate
WinAmp plug-in is one step closer!
Well thats one theory that has some really big clues behind it. It seems that these junk DNA may contain all the "subtle" differences needed to make a human different than say an orangutan. We share about 95% of the same DNA with our closest evolution cousin and the difference may be in what the junk dna does (i.e. turn on certain enzymes, proteins, etc. at specific times). Damn, I just read something about this....
The article I read eluded to a "war on the molecular level" if that rings a bell. I'll post more later when I get home from work if anyones interested.
Alright... follow me folks. Neo was a super-computer in that he can natively de/encode the Matrix at will and on such a low level that it was his "nature" and not using any type of language. He was a freak. But theres much more to learn from this. Possibly after wars and much bloodshed his use of this new found ability will teach him to manipulate real space since it is actually based on physical rules. He is the spark for the next step in human evolution. And he couldn't have done it without the AI. Thats where the whole series should end... at the cusp of an evolutionary precipice with a child from Trinity and Neo. The stuff in the middle should be good though.
...if your in the SouthEast Wisconsin area would have to be the Theather on Downer street in Milwaukee where thats the ONLY MOVIE THEY ARE PLAYING (every hour they're open, to boot). And I can't tell you how amazing it is to see it with a whole bunch of people ready to be scared out of their minds. I do have a questions about the film. First of all I was scared out of my mind to the most primal sense of fear. And I was seriously affected for a while afterwards. I think the scarriest part of the movie is when they realized they were at the same fallen tree that they passed 15 hours before! Damn, I would have offed myself right then and there. What I wanted to know is whats with the rocks? And what was in that little package outside of their tent? Other than that, the film was exceptional and sooo much better than the usual hacker(you know... like the Net hehe) films or the self-aware ones (Scream, I Know...).
I do think that Jeanean Garaffalo would have been a better lead actress. Of course I think that about every movie.:)
Well you know what? South Park did its job if it pisses off folks not unlike yourself.:) Seriously though, if you don't see the humor of the show (or know the show even) of course this is going to trip your trigger. But let me reassure you that this is very funny stuff. Trust me. Jesus is very funny in the show even though he should have kicked Santa Clause's ass in an actual episode.
First of all, even though I was about 20 min. late, there was no topic. Linus was just up there with his sandals fielding questions. People asked about SMP (he said that it'll prolly be around 2-3 more years to *really* take advantage of SMP), the Microsoft paid for report (side note: He said that he got the report maybe 5 min. before the panel last week in atlanta where he had to defend it and he couldn't really debate it properly. He also said that a rematch will prolly happen soon), graphics, games and a little bit of Linux history.
By the way, Dan is not a spook. He was pretty cool to me considering I sent CLUG an e-mail asking if there was anything going on party wise in Chicago that night. He wrote back and invited me to the talk. Damn cool, I'd say. So Dan, THANKS!
The imagery was absolutely beautiful. What with the prophets/Oracle, John the Baptist/Morpheus, Judas/Cypher, the ressurection and the messiah figure in general. I'd say in that respect its a lot more like (the novel) DUNE. Very well thought out Science Fiction... not Sci-Fi.:)
Alright as far as I see it, the major difference b/n Dark City and Matrix is that Matrix scarred the crap out of me since it had a "virtual" world much more like our own... in fact we couldn't tell the difference. In DC, you have perpetual night and no one knows how to get to their Sunny memories. Weird. Matrix is the ultimate holodeck. The memories being "downloaded" was cool for both movies but one was dependent on alien technology the other was all us baby. As for CoLC, the old guy getting into "jacked" kids was similar but it ends right there.
Who didn't *die* when the unpronouncable last name computer guy (we've all worked with him... or you WILL) started busting a serious old school move in the living room. Down to the fscking popping! That was the best. Oh wait a minute... does anyone know what I mean?:)
If this thing can accept external devices, and I think it can, an orb drive would be the best. $30 bucks for 2.2G and you've got enough music a shot for most peoples CD collections (not mp3 collections mind you as per a recent poll:)...No skipping as opposed to playing CD-Rs.
I really hate to say it but RTFM. As for storing music you can hold up to 25G of data with 2 laptop HDs. On an average each MP3 is 5M and each CD is 10 songs. So each CD is about 50M. That means you can have an maximum capacity of about 512 CDs! Hows that for holding music? As for getting the music into the dang thing, I think you have to hold the CD up to it and let osmosis do the work for you...that and a cable to your pc and some software. =^)
Slashdot Mirror
Quote of the day:
"If Pac-Man affected us as kids, we'd be running around in dark rooms, munching pills and listening to electronic music."
Heehee
Ok... I just had to post this here since you brought up the venerable Ralph Nader. This is from a speech that ironically ended up on one of his spoken word "songs" that one of the beastie boys worked on called "How Long?" (which of course is where I heard it :^)...
"Now, look at your late-evening news, if you can bear it. Look at it. It's 30 minutes. Nine minutes of ads; three minutes of street crime right at the beginning, never corporate crime, very superficially covered; one minute of impromptu chit-chat between the anchors; four minutes of weather; four minutes of sports and that's what happens in your town tonight. And we own the public airways. It's a disgrace. " -Ralph Nader
I agree. I was all excited when I saw the begining of that scene but it got cut short for some royal flirting. *sigh* What I did like, which was new, was the part where the sardarkar guards were nose to nose with the Gurney and his men. I liked it so much because symbolically, the Duke's men are the only ones at this time who could ever even think of standing up to the Sardarkar. Still, I digress. We only did get a glimpse of other political forces going with different agendas. Sadly, only a glimpse, tho.
True! That was more confusing than anything else. The ending was kind of hurried and sans the huge fremen/worm raid, but it did get really good on the dialog. Things like the last line of the movie is exactly the same as the book was nice. (Jessica to Chani "History will call us wives.") Nevermind a fantastic knife fight scene with Feyd.
Leto
*Ahem*
Please allow me to add my thoughts to this most worthy subject. I'd like to start by pointing out that (and its so obvious I shouldn't have to write it but...) the different mediums everyone is comparing against is quite different and should be treated differently. A book is much different than a movie. A movie is much different than a miniseries for different reasons. (Where else can we see so many dang Sun commercials for starters!) In this respect one can only pay homage and/or differentiate where the need arises. Having said that I'd like to say to all the naysayers (And there are so many of you), learn what you are looking at and try not to impose your net of thought onto it. The first step in understanding is knowing that you do not know. My greatest joy in watching this series so far is not knowing what exactly to expect next. Lines which are changed from both the book and movie ("Tell me of the waters of your home world, Muad'Dib") to be more poingnant and lean are both necessary and elegent. Scenes which are changed for the medium such as the hunter-seeker scene, which was probably the most to-the-book scene from David Lynch's Dune, was changed to get rid of those blasted voice-over-thoughts. ( Side note: The voice overs was the NUMBER ONE COMPLAINT from the series so leaving it behind was more than necessary). Other scenes were added compared to the movie and then changed from the book to get the point across (Dinner scene for example). Yet others where so to the book, it was beautiful (Jamis' fight and funeral). And still, yet other scenes where omitted due to their lack of addition to the plot point due to such a short amount of time. Witness that the first movie drastically cut down the scenes where Thufir is being manipulated by the Baron Harkonen and that the mini-series doesn't include it whatsoever as if they did it on cue. With all these points in mind, all in all what we are witnessing is probably most of what we can expect from a visual adaptation of dune.
The watermark by which you can identify a visual book interpreatation is how much you have invested yourself into what you are seeing and how much you can understand. If it gets the point across and you're on the edge of your seat, even if you haven't read the book, then they've succeeded. So now the question is, what is the main point of the book? And since the Sci-Fi Channel is going to the next two books, what is the main point of the series?
Well there are two points really. First theres the bigee...The Fallacy of the Messiah... The archetype of so many stories of our religions/myths and of course the cause of so many deaths of our people in his name. Paul doesn't want this but has no choice and the universe pays the price. The Bene Gesserit prepares DUNE with this classic myth and everyone falls hook line and sinker, including Paul.
Secondly, on the science fiction aspect, the whole book series can't get off the fact that a Kwisatz Haderach can "see" into the future. Later on, everyone is so scared that another KH will come along and lock them into a present where nothing is new. In other words, seeing into the future makes the present into the past and locks them forever out of the unknowable present such as the one we enjoy today where anything can and does happen. His son, Leto II, was the only one who could bring them out of what Paul Muad'Dib did to them. And if the Sci-Fi Channel is going to do the next two books, they MUST at least do God Emperor Dune which in my opinion is the most interesting and rewarding of all the books. The last two books which deal with the BG almost exclusively, I'll admit, would also be a good adaptation since they're getting hunted and lots of action can ensue.
Having said all that, I have only one gripe... an inconsistent use of the pre/post commercial "DUNE" screen. Some people are trying to tape these as best they can you know!
Duke Leto
I was walking around the other day and looking all around me thinking "Wow... theres lots and lots of details!" Imagine what it would really take to present that? Throw on top of that sense stimulators, geez. This is when that old quote came back to me about god being the details. I wonder if we're getting closer and closer to understanding.
Also, just imagine what one could do in conjunction with music. Hell... the Ultimate
WinAmp plug-in is one step closer!
-DL
Well thats one theory that has some really big clues behind it. It seems that these junk DNA may contain all the "subtle" differences needed to make a human different than say an orangutan. We share about 95% of the same DNA with our closest evolution cousin and the difference may be in what the junk dna does (i.e. turn on certain enzymes, proteins, etc. at specific times). Damn, I just read something about this....
The article I read eluded to a "war on the molecular level" if that rings a bell. I'll
post more later when I get home from work if anyones interested.
Alright... follow me folks. Neo was a super-computer in that he can natively de/encode the Matrix at will and on such a low level that it was his "nature" and not using any type of language. He was a freak. But theres much more to learn from this. Possibly after wars and much bloodshed his use of this new found ability will teach him to manipulate real space since it is actually based on physical rules. He is the spark for the next step in human evolution. And he couldn't have done it without the AI. Thats where the whole series should end... at the cusp of an evolutionary precipice with a child from Trinity and Neo. The stuff in the middle should be good though.
-Leto
*SPOILER*
:)
...if your in the SouthEast Wisconsin area
would have to be the Theather on Downer street
in Milwaukee where thats the ONLY MOVIE THEY ARE PLAYING
(every hour they're open, to boot). And I
can't tell you how amazing it is to see it with a whole bunch of people ready to be scared out of their minds.
I do have a questions about the film. First of all I was scared out of my mind to the most primal sense of fear. And I was seriously affected for a while afterwards. I think the scarriest part of the movie is when they realized they were at the same fallen tree that they passed 15 hours before! Damn, I would have offed myself right then and there. What I wanted to know is whats with the rocks? And what was in that little package outside of their tent? Other than that, the film was exceptional and sooo much better than the usual hacker(you know... like the Net hehe) films or the self-aware ones (Scream, I Know...).
I do think that Jeanean Garaffalo would have been a better lead actress. Of course I think that about every movie.
Well you know what? South Park did its job if it pisses off folks not unlike yourself. :) Seriously though, if you don't see the humor of the show (or know the show even) of course this is going to trip your trigger. But let me reassure you that this is very funny stuff. Trust me. Jesus is very funny in the show even though he should have kicked Santa Clause's ass in an actual episode.
PS - Slashdot could use a full dictionary of terms from around the site... That'd rule..."
... Then you may want to check out What is it -
a really good web dictionary.
http://www.whatis.com/default.htm
First of all, even though I was about 20 min. late, there was no topic. Linus was just up there with his sandals fielding questions. People asked about SMP (he said that it'll prolly be around 2-3 more years to *really* take advantage of SMP), the Microsoft paid for report (side note: He said that he got the report maybe 5 min. before the panel last week in atlanta where he had to defend it and he couldn't really debate it properly. He also said that a rematch will prolly happen soon),
graphics, games and a little bit of Linux history.
By the way, Dan is not a spook. He was pretty cool to me considering I sent CLUG an e-mail asking if there was anything going on party wise in Chicago that night. He wrote back and invited me to the talk. Damn cool, I'd say. So Dan, THANKS!
The imagery was absolutely beautiful. What with the prophets/Oracle, John the Baptist/Morpheus, Judas/Cypher, the ressurection and the messiah figure in general. I'd say in that respect its a lot more like (the novel) DUNE. Very well thought out Science Fiction... not Sci-Fi.
My favorite was:
:)
"Theres a difference between knowing the path
and walking it".
This whole movie was so much food for thought that afterwards I had to take a nap.
Alright as far as I see it, the major difference b/n Dark City and Matrix is that Matrix scarred the crap out of me since it had a "virtual" world much more like our own... in fact we couldn't tell the difference. In DC, you have perpetual night and no one knows how to get to their Sunny memories. Weird. Matrix is the ultimate holodeck. The memories being "downloaded" was cool for both movies but one was dependent on alien technology the other was all us baby. As for CoLC, the old guy getting into
"jacked" kids was similar but it ends right there.
Very impressive. Although, of course, Redhat seems to be only distribution.
"...their operating systems suck" -Linus
Who didn't *die* when the unpronouncable last name computer guy (we've all worked with him ... or you WILL) started busting a serious old school move in the living room. Down to the fscking popping! That was the best. Oh wait a minute... does anyone know what I mean? :)
-Put your right hand in the box.
-What's in the box?
-Pain.
If this thing can accept external devices, and I think it can, an orb drive would be the best. $30 bucks for 2.2G and you've got enough music a shot for most peoples CD collections (not mp3 collections mind you as per a recent poll :)...No skipping as opposed to playing CD-Rs.
I really hate to say it but RTFM. As for storing music you can hold up to 25G of data with 2 laptop HDs. On an average each MP3 is 5M and each CD is 10 songs. So each CD is about 50M. That means you can have an maximum capacity of
about 512 CDs! Hows that for holding music? As for getting the music into the dang thing, I think you have to hold the CD up to it and let osmosis do the work for you...that and a cable to your pc and some software. =^)
I think the point of that article should be that its generated $33 Million in the first place... all for pure freedom. I love that.
Leto