most of these will be unbelievably terrible, just like the Transformers movies or the recent Battle of LA movie. Or that Number 4 movie.
Sci-fi is very, very difficult to translate to the screen. Hollywood has shown no interest in doing it right except in spite of itself when an unusually talented director with loyal producers and deep pockets reigns control of the project (Alien, Bladerunner, etc). A typical Hollywood sci-fi production simply takes the place of a summer action blockbuster. There's very little interest and profitability in making good or even passable sci-fi.
I'm pretty happy with sci-fi literature and comics. These forms work well both economically (small production not indebted too deeply to publishers) and artistically (no CGI, no egotistical actors). Dunno, but everytime I see "upcoming scifi movie" I cringe at how terrible its going to be and I'm almost always right.
George Lucas did something right in the first of the Star Wars films - his cast were largely unknown, Sir Alec Guinness aside. Harrison Ford had resorted to his other trade - carpenter, which is why there are kitchens in the Los Angeles area with cabinets made and installed by him.
It is a truly big distraction to see Big Star XYZ in a film - unfamiliar actors keep your attention on the story.
Weak story? Use big stars - it's how things are done.
o_o "You found a treasure chest." O_o "It's a big SHINY treasure chest." O_O "It's probably full of really neat stuff!" @_@ "Buy a key? Only $10. (Y/n)"
I wonder if there's a $1 fee for prompting for password in-game? That could balance things out for their books, royalty wise, wouldn't it? Of course, it's venal, but hey, who said they were saints anyway?
I won't be watching that piece of fei-oo. Finish Firefly. I can kill you with my brain.
Call me crazy, but could we please have a space-based scifi show which would be closer to the realities of space travel and habitation? I'm sure it would be more gripping than the cartoonish series we have had to put up with (Firefly aside, it's actually the one bright spot in the past 30 years.)
How about this? The sum total of Entertainment Value based upon Development and/or Possession of Natural Talent is being further diluted. The revolving door in Hollywood will spin faster as more young, pretty and vacuous actors enter the medium. At some point watching this media will compare unfavorably to watching a tomato rot in real time.
Now, on the other hand, if you lay down on the floor from a standing position, you have had an impact on speeding up the rotation of the Earth.
Ultimately the net effect of all of us moving ourselves (and apples) around all day has little cumulative effect. However, if you engage in the fun activity of burning petrol in your automobile, which was once deep in the ground, you have actually contributed to change in the Earth's rotation. Also, if you climb a hill, pick up a hand full of rocks and move then down the hill, you have also had an effect. I'd go so far as to say the erosion of mountains, if not offset by new mountains rising up, is having a rather large effect and has been going on for quite a long time.
This fits neatly into my theory that the Earth once spun slower and has since sped up, thus casting the last living dinosaurs into space.
There's a reason I don't watch TV anymore, the creativity of the medium is approaching zero. Movies are pretty well already at zero, unless you indulge in the independent cinema, which is still capable of surprising you.
Will Netflix go with risky indy thinking or will it hedge with Tried and True Copy-Cat entertainment?
Someone else let me know, 'K? I'll be outside watching for rattlesnakes along the trail.
Tepid? We used to dream of tepid. Our dad used to come home and drown us in liquid nitrogen, then smash us to bits like an empty bottle after we'd gone all brittle. But we were happy....
Luxury! Oh, have less than tepid! When our CEO came back from a public flogging at a trade show, flogged by the sweepers, 'cuz they were the only ones to be found around in and around our gigantic booth, our CEO would force us into team building exercises while boiling in vats of molten lead. How we fantasized about a less than tepid reception. We didn't complain though...
Hey, I have an idea, why don't they focus on their core products and stop messing around with things they're no good at - everything where they don't hold a near monopoly.
Among all the other bad things about such a proposal, there's the problem that it would require a mechanism as powerful as the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's _1984_ to pull it off.
You can remove your mark, but it's a big SQL sentence.
The worry is who holds the right to commit and whether they preserve rollback.
Slashdot Mirror
The best directors and actors do not guarantee anything, and massive marketing is why (how?) utter crap becomes popular.
The craptacular approach is rewarded by audiences who are undemanding in their entertainment. If we stop watching cack they'll have to stop making it.
most of these will be unbelievably terrible, just like the Transformers movies or the recent Battle of LA movie. Or that Number 4 movie.
Sci-fi is very, very difficult to translate to the screen. Hollywood has shown no interest in doing it right except in spite of itself when an unusually talented director with loyal producers and deep pockets reigns control of the project (Alien, Bladerunner, etc). A typical Hollywood sci-fi production simply takes the place of a summer action blockbuster. There's very little interest and profitability in making good or even passable sci-fi.
I'm pretty happy with sci-fi literature and comics. These forms work well both economically (small production not indebted too deeply to publishers) and artistically (no CGI, no egotistical actors). Dunno, but everytime I see "upcoming scifi movie" I cringe at how terrible its going to be and I'm almost always right.
George Lucas did something right in the first of the Star Wars films - his cast were largely unknown, Sir Alec Guinness aside. Harrison Ford had resorted to his other trade - carpenter, which is why there are kitchens in the Los Angeles area with cabinets made and installed by him.
It is a truly big distraction to see Big Star XYZ in a film - unfamiliar actors keep your attention on the story.
Weak story? Use big stars - it's how things are done.
The bar, after all, is so low.
Yeah, I was thinking it's a bit premature to visualize the Devil ice skating.
o_o
"You found a treasure chest."
O_o
"It's a big SHINY treasure chest."
O_O
"It's probably full of really neat stuff!"
@_@
"Buy a key? Only $10. (Y/n)"
I wonder if there's a $1 fee for prompting for password in-game? That could balance things out for their books, royalty wise, wouldn't it? Of course, it's venal, but hey, who said they were saints anyway?
Exactly. I've been saying that iProducts are weapons of mass extinction events for years, but people just wouldn't listen.
No... The dinosaurs had less sampled, repetitive and mind-numbing music, so their brains woke up and started to function.
The first thing they did was realize they didn't get along with each other.
The second thing they did was become polarized politically.
The third thing they did was elect that stupid diplodocus from Gondwanaland as President.
The forth thing they did was a huge military build up.
The fifth thing they did was use it against themselves.
Meanwhile, the early mammals saw this coming and hid in their burrows until it was all over.
This is EXACTLY what lead to the big die-off of the dinosaurs.
I won't be watching that piece of fei-oo. Finish Firefly. I can kill you with my brain.
Call me crazy, but could we please have a space-based scifi show which would be closer to the realities of space travel and habitation? I'm sure it would be more gripping than the cartoonish series we have had to put up with (Firefly aside, it's actually the one bright spot in the past 30 years.)
How about this? The sum total of Entertainment Value based upon Development and/or Possession of Natural Talent is being further diluted. The revolving door in Hollywood will spin faster as more young, pretty and vacuous actors enter the medium. At some point watching this media will compare unfavorably to watching a tomato rot in real time.
Simple equal and opposing forces.
Now, on the other hand, if you lay down on the floor from a standing position, you have had an impact on speeding up the rotation of the Earth.
Ultimately the net effect of all of us moving ourselves (and apples) around all day has little cumulative effect. However, if you engage in the fun activity of burning petrol in your automobile, which was once deep in the ground, you have actually contributed to change in the Earth's rotation. Also, if you climb a hill, pick up a hand full of rocks and move then down the hill, you have also had an effect. I'd go so far as to say the erosion of mountains, if not offset by new mountains rising up, is having a rather large effect and has been going on for quite a long time.
This fits neatly into my theory that the Earth once spun slower and has since sped up, thus casting the last living dinosaurs into space.
There's a reason I don't watch TV anymore, the creativity of the medium is approaching zero. Movies are pretty well already at zero, unless you indulge in the independent cinema, which is still capable of surprising you.
Will Netflix go with risky indy thinking or will it hedge with Tried and True Copy-Cat entertainment?
Someone else let me know, 'K? I'll be outside watching for rattlesnakes along the trail.
This is the type of science that wins an Ig Noble.
Nope. It's far too useful. It also connects nerdy mathematicians with the general public, which isn't a bad thing.
A bit too late for this St. Patrick's Day, but maybe next year.
More of a Twisted Thistle man, myself these days.
I re-installed Windows and cleared up the infestation last year. Not a particularly happy episode.
Use fixed-bitrate encoding for VoIP.
Better still, two cans and a length of string.
Teh Recognisining.
"I'd like to order pizza, with pepperoni, pineapple, mushroom and an Iludium Pu-36 space modulator delivered to Hall of Justice."
Were any Rambus people within earshot? Any patent applications suddenly filed by them?
Network traffic has moved 8 feet to the east.
Those aren't crickets! That's a WMA file of recorded cricket sounds being streamed from Microsoft directly to my Zune!
They actual crickets have been fed to the office toad, but the service lives on ...
Expect some delays if you ever need help, though.
Tepid? We used to dream of tepid. Our dad used to come home and drown us in liquid nitrogen, then smash us to bits like an empty bottle after we'd gone all brittle. But we were happy....
Luxury! Oh, have less than tepid! When our CEO came back from a public flogging at a trade show, flogged by the sweepers, 'cuz they were the only ones to be found around in and around our gigantic booth, our CEO would force us into team building exercises while boiling in vats of molten lead. How we fantasized about a less than tepid reception. We didn't complain though...
"...I Am Sparta!" at the top of his lungs.
More like "iSparticus!"
Hey, I have an idea, why don't they focus on their core products and stop messing around with things they're no good at - everything where they don't hold a near monopoly.
Because this xG marketing nonsense is useless... and always has been.
As long as it sells units and makes money it has a purpose.
You're just not ruthless or cynical enough to see that.
As for me, I'm jaded by the knowledge.
Public relations.
Also helps to have a non-discerning customer base who are too willing to believe every iteration is better than the last instance.
Among all the other bad things about such a proposal, there's the problem that it would require a mechanism as powerful as the Ministry of Truth in Orwell's _1984_ to pull it off.
You can remove your mark, but it's a big SQL sentence.
The worry is who holds the right to commit and whether they preserve rollback.
In a way, the internet is a lot like real life. If you do or say something really stupid, chances are nobody will ever let you live it down anyway.
The internet allows you to be stupid and observed being so at the speed of light, around the world.
This ain't yer grandaddy's world.