while i feel for you, i'd have to agree w/ the/. editors on the decision. when the m505 launches at cebit, i'm sure it'll hit the news. until now it's just a rumor.
for anyone really interested in all the latest, i've found the palminfocenter to be the best source of info. (pdabuzz, brighthand, and palmstation are some other good ones for ppl interested)
> No scientific evidence has ever been shown, by
> anybody, to indicate that second hand smoke is
> a health risk
on the off chance that you're not a troll and simply horribly misinformed, a quick google search turned up EPA 402-F-94-005, released in June 1994. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/strsfs.html
Here's an excerpt from the introduction:
In early 1993, EPA released a report (Respiratory Health Effects of Passive Smoking: Lung Cancer and Other Disorders; EPA/600/6-90/006 F) that evaluated the respiratory health effects from breathing secondhand smoke (also called environmental tobacco smoke (ETS)). In that report, EPA concluded that secondhand smoke causes lung cancer in adult nonsmokers and impairs the respiratory health of children. These findings are very similar to ones made previously by the National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Surgeon General.
The introduction also blows away your claims on metabolization of carcinogens. Here are there conclusions:
First, it is indisputable that smoking tobacco causes lung cancer in humans, and there is no evidence that there is a threshold below which smoking will not cause cancer.
Second, although secondhand smoke is a dilute mixture of mainstream" smoke exhaled by smokers and sidestream" smoke from the burning end of a cigarette or other tobacco product, it is chemically similar to the smoke inhaled by smokers, and contains a number of carcinogenic compounds.
Third, there is considerable evidence that large numbers of people who do not smoke are exposed to, absorb, and metabolize significant amounts of secondhand smoke.
Fourth, there is supporting evidence from laboratory studies of the ability of secondhand smoke both to cause cancer in animals and to damage DNA, which is recognized by scientists as being an instrumental mechanism in cancer development.
Finally, EPA conducted multiple analyses on the then-available 30 epidemiology studies from eight different countries which examined the association between secondhand smoke and lung cancer in women who never smoked themselves but were exposed to their husband's smoke. Since the epidemiology studies are the major thrust of the tobacco industry arguments against the EPA report, these studies are examined in more detail below.
- In the book, the Baron was identified as the grandfather first in the desert right after Paul and Jessica escape w/ Yueh's "help." Also, Alia informs Paul that she has killed their grandfather. Lastly, at the beginning of the duel with Feyd, Paul asks (for RM Mohiam's benefit) "Shall we fight, cousin?"
- the original Leto was killed by the Sardukar in the raid when they captured Alia, although he wasn't slain, but apparently collateral damage (the Sardukar used their jets as flamethrowers escaping)
- Yes, this was most definitely a Cliff Notes version, and a bad one at that. Omissions and paraphrasing really weren't as bad as totally changing the characters around and dropping the plot but leaving in "things happening" - ie, Yueh's only seen once and mentioned maybe twice before he's revealed as the traitor. Nothing makes sense. Just a bunch of stuff happening strung together badly.
I was really looking forward to this based on what I'd read and seen of it, and unfortunately I was a bit disappointed in the first part, but who knows, maybe the second and third parts will be better.
The lighting, sets, and costuming were all very well done (although I didn't care for the ultra-futurism look, it seemed inappropriate, especially in light of the Butlerian Jihad, blah blah blah).
Some things that irked me:
- Dr. Yueh is pretty much cut from the film. Also, they took away his death monologue - pretty integral to the character, but I guess if you've dropped him from the film already... Actually, this is just one example of tons of those little cuts/changes in the original dialogue that really end up making this version flat and uninspired
- I'm not really a big fan of Lynch's Dune, but a lot of it was just better directed. I found the pacing of the first part to be flaccid, and scenes that should have been exciting or tense simply weren't
- We have the Gurney/Paul training scene, and Gurney killing the Sardukar, but everyone else uses guns, which is pretty undramatic and silly. The Atriedes soldiers (or the Sardukar) are never shown to be any more skilled than Stormtroopers, and Duncan gets killed by a bomb!?! I really would have enjoyed it if they probably would have spent a bit more on gettting some bladed cqb going on. This of course would have fit the scenery better if the sets were less "hi-techy".
IBAD, EYES OF
characteristic effect of a diet high in melange wherein the
whites and pupils of the eyes turn a
deep blue (indicative
of deep melange addiction).
from the Terminology of the Imperium, emphasis mine. elsewhere in the books, it's mentioned that most eyes became so dark that the blue within blue makes the eyes appear practically black.
personally, from a visual perspective, i think the original (cryo) dune game is really the best of everything that's been put out there. except for their depiction of the emperor. could never figure out what was up with the horns.
It was a happy time, an educational time and I was utterly fascinated
with making a film of my novel, Dune.
Early in the experience, I reverted to my background as an
investigative reporter. What you read here is editorial comment
(subjective) and reportage (as objective as I can make it).
When Sterling Lanier bought Dune for Chilton in 1963 we
had no ideas about a movie. It was enough that the novel would be
published and I could make jokes about Chilton, publisher of many
how-to manuals, saying: "They'll want to retitle it How to Repair
Your Ornithopter."
My first visit to Churubusco Studios in Mexico City put a different
stamp on what it means to adapt a novel to the screen.
The snaking lines of electrical cables, the big yellow buses with
"Dune" on the front, the mobs of people in and around the
sound stages, the shops turning out props, costumes and special
effects, the pulsing sounds of machinery, the glaring lights, the
shouted orders -- all said "industry."
It was poetic justice that we should be in Mexico, which had given me
an inexpensive place to live when I began writing, and now
Dune was providing well-paid employment for more than a
thousand Mexicans.
I was glad to be back in Mexico and worried about it -- a worry borne
out by the troubles that plagued shooting the film there: the
necessity to bribe Mexican officials before you could work or ship
your film; shoddy equipment; some of the worst air in the world; and
something apparently no one considered when deciding on a location --
in at least some of the major cities, Mexican police are the
criminal syndicate and corruption goes very high in the government.
The problems created by that corruption were no surprise, but the film
industry itself? That was full of surprises.
I had heard many warnings about Dino De Laurentiis, yet I found him
honorable and trustworthy. He was a creative force, able to hold back
and allow others room to work. Daughter Raffaella was a hard-headed
business woman and an organizational powerhouse as concerned as a
mother would be about those who depended on her.
Director David Lynch and I hit it off because I understood film to be
a language different from English. He spoke it and I was a rank
beginner.
To make a film, you translate, as though from English to
German. Each of the world's languages contains linguistic experiences
unique to its own history. You can say things in one language you
cannot say in another. I was continually brought up short by the
process of taking pages from Dune and shifting them to
quick visual effects.
Example: Dune recreates a feudal society. To impress that
on you, the film decor echoes Renaissance (and feudal) Italy -- a
stroke of genius and visually exciting.
Filming Dune did something else. I have David to thank
for teaching me to write screenplays. During that education, I was
able to influence some decisions about the film, but I was unable to
influence the ending or how much would be cut for the theater. From
the approximately five hours of film in the original footage, only
about two-fifths emerged from the cutting room.
What was cut?
Here's a partial list for the aficionados:
The confrontation between Stilgar (Everett McGill) and Duke Leto
(Jurgen Prochnow) where Stilgar spits on the table -- the gift of his
water.
Development of the relationship between Shadout Mapes (Linda Hunt)
and Jessica (Francesca Annis).
Most of the love story between Paul Maud'dib (Kyle MacLachlan) and
Chani (Sean Young).
The fight where Paul kills a Fremen and cries (giving water to the
dead).
Development of Kynes (Max Von Sydow) as the Imperial Planetologist
and (most vital) the place of melange in a space-faring society.
The relationship between Paul and his mentors: Duncan Idaho
(Richard Jordan); Thufir Hawat (Freddie Jones); Gurney Halleck
(Patrick Stewart), and Dr. Yueh (Dean Stockwell).
The death of Thufir Hawat.
The relationship between Paul and the Fremen widow, Harah (Molly
Wryn).
Scenes with Jessica and The Reverend Mother Mohiam (Sian Phillips)
that would have made the Bene Gesserit sisterhood more understandable.
That's only a partial list.
Dino and Raffaella have talked about restoring the out-takes and
making a miniseries (à la The Godfather). This may
happen because Dino wanted a longer film all along.
The film of Dune is the result of a paradox -- product of
an industry that pretends to creativity and shies away from
risks. Creation takes risks and that's the movie industry's
dilemma. It's why so much control over creativity is in the hands of
noncreative people. The reasoning behind their decisions is
enlightening.
So many films are aimed primarily at early-to-late teens because this
age group is more easily seduced by hype. These also are viewers with
time and money and the inclination to join a date at the local
cineplex -- powerful forces in the entertainment business.
Why a film of only about two hours?
Because that length can be shown more frequently on a day-to-day basis,
returning the investment quickly.
Don't condemn this out of hand. If investors had not been found to put
up about forty million dollars, Dune would never have
been filmed. And all of the essentials in the book are on film, even
though all of it did not get to your screen.
Never forget it's an industry.
There is more here than meets the eye. One of the most important
things is corporate politics. Big corporations are bureaucracies that
often promote people who are best at covering their asses. Such people
run scared, fearful of any suggestion they can make mistakes. And they
surround themselves with others who run the same way.
Don't take risks.
Find out what succeeds and copy it.
Some of the most successful practitioners plagiarize and steal without
a qualm, knowing they can stall their victims for years with expensive
legal maneuvers. Creativity often has little to do with movie-making
except when writing promotional copy.
So what happened with the movie of Dune, the sixth
biggest money-earner of 1984? What happened to the film that, at this
writing, is still number two at the box office in Germany, Japan and
France? I can only tell you what I saw.
There was scrambling and many false starts around the film's release,
a clear signal of nervousness to audiences, including critics.
Critics who were inclined to be sympathetic were not permitted to see
advance screenings.
The hype machine grinded into action, telling people to expect the
complete Dune. My efforts were enlisted. I joined in wholeheartedly
because I enjoyed the film even as cut and I told it as I saw it: What
reached the screen is a visual feast that begins as Dune
begins and you hear my dialogue all through it.
Overseas there were none of these negative signals and
Dune set box office records. It was up 29 percent the
third week in Great Britain. There were some 40,000 viewers each day
the first three days in Paris alone, and to quote a French
commentator: "Visually magnificent, rich enough for many repeat
viewings."
In Europe you did not find critics bragging (as did one closet
aristocrat on CBS): "I don't like movies that make me think." (He
wants to feed you "bread and circuses" and keep you docile.)
Was it a success or a failure as a movie? I'm the wrong person to
ask. Like me, Dune movie audiences, fans and newcomers,
wanted more. They would have returned many times to see that "more."
What they saw was true to my book, even though most of it stayed on
the cutting room floor. Dune fans could supply the
missing scenes in imagination but they still longed for those
scenes.
Investors will get back their investment. There will not be large
immediate profits as there might have been had they risked a longer
film and satisfied the expectations they raised.
Catering to the lowest common denominator is the way you play the
no-risk movie game, and David, with agreement from Dino and Raffaella,
went against that directive.
I have my quibbles about the film, of course.
Paul was a man playing god, not a god who could make it rain.
Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible
leader because my view of history says mistakes made by a leader (or
made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow
without question.
That's how 900 people wound up in Guyana drinking poison
Kool-Aid.
That's how the U.S. said "Yes, sir, Mister Charismatic John
Kennedy!" and found itself embroiled in Vietnam.
That's how Germany said "Sieg Heil!" and murdered more
than six million of our fellow human beings.
Leadership and our dependence on it (how and why we
choose particular leaders) is a much misunderstood historical
phenomenon.
You see, we often get noncreative leaders, people most interested in
preserving their own positions. They flock around centers of
power. Such centers attract people who can be corrupted. That is a more
descriptive observation than to say simply that power corrupts and
absolute power corrupts absolutely.
If you are corruptible and your imagination is confined to worries
about loss of power, you exist in a self-destructive
system. Eventually, as all life does, you must encounter some thing
you did not anticipate, and if you have not strengthened your creative
resources, you will have no new ways for adapting to change. Adapt or
die, that's the first rule of survival.
The limited vision of noncreative people is not difficult to
understand. Creativity frightens the unimaginative. They don't
know what's happening. Things new and unexpected arise
from creativity. This threatens "things as they are." And (terrible
thought) it underlines illusions of omnipotence.
Besides, at least in the movie industry, they "know" an audience can
be enticed into the theater by the right promotion. It's all a matter
of "hype." You buy an audience.
The next time you watch a political campaign, ask yourself
if that sounds familiar.
There is more.
David had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so
much of Dune. We found sixteen points of identity between
my novel and Star Wars. That is not to say this was other
than coincidence, even though we figured the odds against coincidence
and produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe.
The fact that David was able to translate the written words into
screen language speaks of his visual genius. If you were disappointed
or wanted more, chalk it up to "That's show biz" and pray for the
miniseries.
So much for the wonderful world of film and corporate decisions. I
recommend you read Ed Naha's "The Making of Dune" and
Harlan Ellison's two-part essay in the Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction. Screen them through my comments.
Don't get the idea from any of this that I'm ungrateful. Making that
film was a superb education. And don't take this as a swan song. I'm
alive and well and intend to stay that way while I continue writing as
long as possible.
It's my opinion that David's film of Dune will also be
alive and well long after people have forgotten the potboilers that
come out of corporate boardrooms. This is based partly on the
reactions of everyone who worked on the film: They were sad to be
parting when it was over and glad they had done it. The wrap party was
a rare scene of happy nostalgia.
Francesca labeled it: "Hard work but great work."
Dune is a film addressed to your audio-visual senses in a
unique way, forcing you to participate and not just sit there while it
is "done to you." A miniseries restoring the out-takes would make this
even more apparent.
That's how I wrote the novel, wanting you to participate with the best
of your own imagination. I did not aim for the lowest common
denominator and 'write down" to anyone. You and I have a compact and
my responsibility is to entertain you as richly as possible, always
giving you as much extra as I can. I assume you are intelligent and
will enlist your own imagination. You'll see that when you read the
Dune excerpt and the other stories in this collection.
Don't ask yourself if I succeeded or if the film succeeded.
The only valid critic is time. Does it endure? We can only guess and
give our opinions. No one living today really knows, but people in the
next century certainly will.
most of the cnn pictures didn't seem to correspond with what they were talking about. from the picture, it looks like that's a kindjal (fits the descrption for to the t: "double-bladed short sword (or long knife) with about 20
centimeters of slightly curved blade.")
I definitely hope that that's not a crysknife, at least...
http://www.bootdisk.com/ is all you need. very useful, w/ tons of different boot disk configs (including cd support, etc.)
buying a copy of w98se just to boot to the dos prompt legally seems kind of... well, if not silly, at least overly anal. if it's that important, freedos works too.
hmm, "sites with unlawful content" would remove all the decss sites currently listed, and anything else that falls under the dmca, correct?
and, although it may be perfectly legal to talk about suicide online now, it may not be legal for long (ie, judge kaplans ruling on special case restrictions of free speech online has set a precedent for defending civil rights infringing bills like the metamphetamine anti-proliferation act, etc.)
in other words, my opinion, is that the new policy seems to be very very bad, and will most certainly conflict w/ the odp's goals (of being the "most complete directory").
what would be interesting would be to see some extra threading that would go on so anyone hitting up the old stories could see the followups. probably would demand a much more robust content management model though. oh well, maybe on the next overhaul of the slash code...
While we're on the topic, it might be of interest that a screenplay for Vernor Vinge's seminal work True Names was adapted as a screenplay last year and may eventually go into production sometime. (it's also finally getting republished)
'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE 2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
btw, 'sär-"ka-z&m 1 : a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain 2 a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual
i'm also curious as to what software he's using. the only dj software i've seen for windows in virtual turntables.. which has been kinda iffy with me... a big problem is that you can't cue (listen to one song while playing another) unless you do a setup where the right channel out gets the cue and the left channel out gets the signal, which just isn't acceptable to me. anyone found anything better?
the better way to do it is with multiple soundcards. one device pipes to your headphones, and the other out the speakers. vtt can do that, i believe.
No, you got it all wrong. What we need to do is to encourage contribution from the Chinese users--spread the meme of freedom of information and communication. That's the real way to subvert their government and hopefully, in some small way, effect change. (well, either that or write in subversive subliminal messages into the kernel...)
Capitalism is the only moral system in existance...
And why is it so important to "serve society?" Think of this: If every person in the world concetrated only on serving the needs of himself, what would "society" have left to do? We wouldn't need welfare, or any kind of social programs of that sort becuase everyone would be responsible for themselves.
By that logic, it is alright for m$ to use it's market position to destroy all the competition, and then extract maximum profit from users w/ minimum quality if they see that as serving its need. Also by that logic, it is alright for me to murder you if it serves my needs.
Capitalsim as a moral system makes for a sad world. I for one am glad that it is not the only moral system in existence.
To use your analogy of the printing press, the invention itself can be compared to the internet in that it changed the way information was forever created and shared. But, do you think that the printing press spurred people to suddenly start thinking new thoughts all of a sudden? No. Change would have occured, albeit at a much slower pace.
i think that the point that is being made, and that in your reply you seem to have missed, is that the internet allows new modes of thought that wouldn't otherwise happen. The tools we use affect how we think of things, and what we think is possible.
it's although worth noting your comment about the printing press: without the printing press, even if the thoughts were there, change wouldn't happen at a slower pace, but most likely not at all because there would be no way to effectively communicate these thoughts (many of the changes brought about were dependent on a large number of people being informed at the same time).
The internet functions in the same way of expanding the realm of the possible. (at no point does the ac mention anything about the internet being the end all be all of anything--i think that was a notion that you've simply been projecting).
It's true that sans serif fonts are in fact easier to read in large sizes and at a distance. That's why many people use helvetica in headings and times roman as body text, which I think generally looks pretty good (or rather it would, if the Linux helvetica wasn't so ghastly).
Actually, on the normal display screen, the general rule of thumb, is for using a san-serif font for any text displayed under 12 pixels.
Although serifs work great for print, there is a huge difference in resolution between the computer screen and paper/ink. While on paper the serifs may add visual distinction ease reading, it mostly ends up just being visual noise when displayed on screen.
Lastly, is that generally Unix/X has really crappy font rendering compared to m$/mac systems, and also generally the fonts on X have inferior hinting.
Who, might I ask, are geek girls supposed to find a date with? Your "traditional" male is frightened of geek girls due to superiority/inferiority of intellect issues and now geek males have been informed that geek girls are undesirable.
Is it just me, or does it make more sense for micropayments based on delivered content?
the overview states: "There is an alternative. Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: "When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series."
Sorry, but the street performer doesn't ask for money first, they do their thing and accept donations. People don't need a new paradigm, just a standard protocol to be able to easily pay an artist.
Slashdot Mirror
while i feel for you, i'd have to agree w/ the /. editors on the decision. when the m505 launches at cebit, i'm sure it'll hit the news. until now it's just a rumor.
for anyone really interested in all the latest, i've found the palminfocenter to be the best source of info. (pdabuzz, brighthand, and palmstation are some other good ones for ppl interested)
> anybody, to indicate that second hand smoke is
> a health risk
on the off chance that you're not a troll and simply horribly misinformed, a quick google search turned up EPA 402-F-94-005, released in June 1994. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/strsfs.html
Here's an excerpt from the introduction:
The introduction also blows away your claims on metabolization of carcinogens. Here are there conclusions:
for more information, including numerous studies and references to studies, check out the dmoz category on secondhand smoke.
- In the book, the Baron was identified as the grandfather first in the desert right after Paul and Jessica escape w/ Yueh's "help." Also, Alia informs Paul that she has killed their grandfather. Lastly, at the beginning of the duel with Feyd, Paul asks (for RM Mohiam's benefit) "Shall we fight, cousin?"
- the original Leto was killed by the Sardukar in the raid when they captured Alia, although he wasn't slain, but apparently collateral damage (the Sardukar used their jets as flamethrowers escaping)
- Yes, this was most definitely a Cliff Notes version, and a bad one at that. Omissions and paraphrasing really weren't as bad as totally changing the characters around and dropping the plot but leaving in "things happening" - ie, Yueh's only seen once and mentioned maybe twice before he's revealed as the traitor. Nothing makes sense. Just a bunch of stuff happening strung together badly.
I was really looking forward to this based on what I'd read and seen of it, and unfortunately I was a bit disappointed in the first part, but who knows, maybe the second and third parts will be better.
The lighting, sets, and costuming were all very well done (although I didn't care for the ultra-futurism look, it seemed inappropriate, especially in light of the Butlerian Jihad, blah blah blah).
Some things that irked me:
- Dr. Yueh is pretty much cut from the film. Also, they took away his death monologue - pretty integral to the character, but I guess if you've dropped him from the film already... Actually, this is just one example of tons of those little cuts/changes in the original dialogue that really end up making this version flat and uninspired
- I'm not really a big fan of Lynch's Dune, but a lot of it was just better directed. I found the pacing of the first part to be flaccid, and scenes that should have been exciting or tense simply weren't
- We have the Gurney/Paul training scene, and Gurney killing the Sardukar, but everyone else uses guns, which is pretty undramatic and silly. The Atriedes soldiers (or the Sardukar) are never shown to be any more skilled than Stormtroopers, and Duncan gets killed by a bomb!?! I really would have enjoyed it if they probably would have spent a bit more on gettting some bladed cqb going on. This of course would have fit the scenery better if the sets were less "hi-techy".
Oh well, I'll be watching tomorrow anyway.
yah, the glowing eyes are really annoying.
from the Terminology of the Imperium, emphasis mine. elsewhere in the books, it's mentioned that most eyes became so dark that the blue within blue makes the eyes appear practically black.
personally, from a visual perspective, i think the original (cryo) dune game is really the best of everything that's been put out there. except for their depiction of the emperor. could never figure out what was up with the horns.
By Frank Herbert
It was a happy time, an educational time and I was utterly fascinated with making a film of my novel, Dune.
Early in the experience, I reverted to my background as an investigative reporter. What you read here is editorial comment (subjective) and reportage (as objective as I can make it).
When Sterling Lanier bought Dune for Chilton in 1963 we had no ideas about a movie. It was enough that the novel would be published and I could make jokes about Chilton, publisher of many how-to manuals, saying: "They'll want to retitle it How to Repair Your Ornithopter."
My first visit to Churubusco Studios in Mexico City put a different stamp on what it means to adapt a novel to the screen.
The snaking lines of electrical cables, the big yellow buses with "Dune" on the front, the mobs of people in and around the sound stages, the shops turning out props, costumes and special effects, the pulsing sounds of machinery, the glaring lights, the shouted orders -- all said "industry."
It was poetic justice that we should be in Mexico, which had given me an inexpensive place to live when I began writing, and now Dune was providing well-paid employment for more than a thousand Mexicans.
I was glad to be back in Mexico and worried about it -- a worry borne out by the troubles that plagued shooting the film there: the necessity to bribe Mexican officials before you could work or ship your film; shoddy equipment; some of the worst air in the world; and something apparently no one considered when deciding on a location -- in at least some of the major cities, Mexican police are the criminal syndicate and corruption goes very high in the government.
The problems created by that corruption were no surprise, but the film industry itself? That was full of surprises.
I had heard many warnings about Dino De Laurentiis, yet I found him honorable and trustworthy. He was a creative force, able to hold back and allow others room to work. Daughter Raffaella was a hard-headed business woman and an organizational powerhouse as concerned as a mother would be about those who depended on her.
Director David Lynch and I hit it off because I understood film to be a language different from English. He spoke it and I was a rank beginner.
To make a film, you translate, as though from English to German. Each of the world's languages contains linguistic experiences unique to its own history. You can say things in one language you cannot say in another. I was continually brought up short by the process of taking pages from Dune and shifting them to quick visual effects.
Example: Dune recreates a feudal society. To impress that on you, the film decor echoes Renaissance (and feudal) Italy -- a stroke of genius and visually exciting.
Filming Dune did something else. I have David to thank for teaching me to write screenplays. During that education, I was able to influence some decisions about the film, but I was unable to influence the ending or how much would be cut for the theater. From the approximately five hours of film in the original footage, only about two-fifths emerged from the cutting room.
What was cut?
Here's a partial list for the aficionados:
That's only a partial list.
Dino and Raffaella have talked about restoring the out-takes and making a miniseries (à la The Godfather). This may happen because Dino wanted a longer film all along.
The film of Dune is the result of a paradox -- product of an industry that pretends to creativity and shies away from risks. Creation takes risks and that's the movie industry's dilemma. It's why so much control over creativity is in the hands of noncreative people. The reasoning behind their decisions is enlightening.
So many films are aimed primarily at early-to-late teens because this age group is more easily seduced by hype. These also are viewers with time and money and the inclination to join a date at the local cineplex -- powerful forces in the entertainment business.
Why a film of only about two hours?
Because that length can be shown more frequently on a day-to-day basis, returning the investment quickly.
Don't condemn this out of hand. If investors had not been found to put up about forty million dollars, Dune would never have been filmed. And all of the essentials in the book are on film, even though all of it did not get to your screen.
Never forget it's an industry.
There is more here than meets the eye. One of the most important things is corporate politics. Big corporations are bureaucracies that often promote people who are best at covering their asses. Such people run scared, fearful of any suggestion they can make mistakes. And they surround themselves with others who run the same way.
Don't take risks.
Find out what succeeds and copy it.
Some of the most successful practitioners plagiarize and steal without a qualm, knowing they can stall their victims for years with expensive legal maneuvers. Creativity often has little to do with movie-making except when writing promotional copy.
So what happened with the movie of Dune, the sixth biggest money-earner of 1984? What happened to the film that, at this writing, is still number two at the box office in Germany, Japan and France? I can only tell you what I saw.
There was scrambling and many false starts around the film's release, a clear signal of nervousness to audiences, including critics.
Critics who were inclined to be sympathetic were not permitted to see advance screenings.
The hype machine grinded into action, telling people to expect the complete Dune. My efforts were enlisted. I joined in wholeheartedly because I enjoyed the film even as cut and I told it as I saw it: What reached the screen is a visual feast that begins as Dune begins and you hear my dialogue all through it.
Overseas there were none of these negative signals and Dune set box office records. It was up 29 percent the third week in Great Britain. There were some 40,000 viewers each day the first three days in Paris alone, and to quote a French commentator: "Visually magnificent, rich enough for many repeat viewings."
In Europe you did not find critics bragging (as did one closet aristocrat on CBS): "I don't like movies that make me think." (He wants to feed you "bread and circuses" and keep you docile.)
Was it a success or a failure as a movie? I'm the wrong person to ask. Like me, Dune movie audiences, fans and newcomers, wanted more. They would have returned many times to see that "more." What they saw was true to my book, even though most of it stayed on the cutting room floor. Dune fans could supply the missing scenes in imagination but they still longed for those scenes.
Investors will get back their investment. There will not be large immediate profits as there might have been had they risked a longer film and satisfied the expectations they raised.
Catering to the lowest common denominator is the way you play the no-risk movie game, and David, with agreement from Dino and Raffaella, went against that directive.
I have my quibbles about the film, of course.
Paul was a man playing god, not a god who could make it rain.
Dune was aimed at this whole idea of the infallible leader because my view of history says mistakes made by a leader (or made in a leader's name) are amplified by the numbers who follow without question.
That's how 900 people wound up in Guyana drinking poison Kool-Aid.
That's how the U.S. said "Yes, sir, Mister Charismatic John Kennedy!" and found itself embroiled in Vietnam.
That's how Germany said "Sieg Heil!" and murdered more than six million of our fellow human beings.
Leadership and our dependence on it (how and why we choose particular leaders) is a much misunderstood historical phenomenon.
You see, we often get noncreative leaders, people most interested in preserving their own positions. They flock around centers of power. Such centers attract people who can be corrupted. That is a more descriptive observation than to say simply that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
If you are corruptible and your imagination is confined to worries about loss of power, you exist in a self-destructive system. Eventually, as all life does, you must encounter some thing you did not anticipate, and if you have not strengthened your creative resources, you will have no new ways for adapting to change. Adapt or die, that's the first rule of survival.
The limited vision of noncreative people is not difficult to understand. Creativity frightens the unimaginative. They don't know what's happening. Things new and unexpected arise from creativity. This threatens "things as they are." And (terrible thought) it underlines illusions of omnipotence.
Besides, at least in the movie industry, they "know" an audience can be enticed into the theater by the right promotion. It's all a matter of "hype." You buy an audience.
The next time you watch a political campaign, ask yourself if that sounds familiar.
There is more.
David had trouble with the fact that Star Wars used up so much of Dune. We found sixteen points of identity between my novel and Star Wars. That is not to say this was other than coincidence, even though we figured the odds against coincidence and produced a number larger than the number of stars in the universe.
The fact that David was able to translate the written words into screen language speaks of his visual genius. If you were disappointed or wanted more, chalk it up to "That's show biz" and pray for the miniseries.
So much for the wonderful world of film and corporate decisions. I recommend you read Ed Naha's "The Making of Dune" and Harlan Ellison's two-part essay in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Screen them through my comments.
Don't get the idea from any of this that I'm ungrateful. Making that film was a superb education. And don't take this as a swan song. I'm alive and well and intend to stay that way while I continue writing as long as possible.
It's my opinion that David's film of Dune will also be alive and well long after people have forgotten the potboilers that come out of corporate boardrooms. This is based partly on the reactions of everyone who worked on the film: They were sad to be parting when it was over and glad they had done it. The wrap party was a rare scene of happy nostalgia.
Francesca labeled it: "Hard work but great work."
Dune is a film addressed to your audio-visual senses in a unique way, forcing you to participate and not just sit there while it is "done to you." A miniseries restoring the out-takes would make this even more apparent.
That's how I wrote the novel, wanting you to participate with the best of your own imagination. I did not aim for the lowest common denominator and 'write down" to anyone. You and I have a compact and my responsibility is to entertain you as richly as possible, always giving you as much extra as I can. I assume you are intelligent and will enlist your own imagination. You'll see that when you read the Dune excerpt and the other stories in this collection.
Don't ask yourself if I succeeded or if the film succeeded.
The only valid critic is time. Does it endure? We can only guess and give our opinions. No one living today really knows, but people in the next century certainly will.
Copyright © 1985 by Frank HerbertAll rights reserved. Reprinted without permission. Originally published in Eye, copyright © 1985 by Byron Preiss Visual Publications, Inc.
most of the cnn pictures didn't seem to correspond with what they were talking about. from the picture, it looks like that's a kindjal (fits the descrption for to the t: "double-bladed short sword (or long knife) with about 20
centimeters of slightly curved blade.")
I definitely hope that that's not a crysknife, at least...
buying a copy of w98se just to boot to the dos prompt legally seems kind of... well, if not silly, at least overly anal. if it's that important, freedos works too.
hmm, "sites with unlawful content" would remove all the decss sites currently listed, and anything else that falls under the dmca, correct?
and, although it may be perfectly legal to talk about suicide online now, it may not be legal for long (ie, judge kaplans ruling on special case restrictions of free speech online has set a precedent for defending civil rights infringing bills like the metamphetamine anti-proliferation act, etc.)
in other words, my opinion, is that the new policy seems to be very very bad, and will most certainly conflict w/ the odp's goals (of being the "most complete directory").
XML based allows easier xDOM scripting (SVG to HTML-page interactions)
what would be interesting would be to see some extra threading that would go on so anyone hitting up the old stories could see the followups. probably would demand a much more robust content management model though. oh well, maybe on the next overhaul of the slash code...
While we're on the topic, it might be of interest that a screenplay for Vernor Vinge's seminal work True Names was adapted as a screenplay last year and may eventually go into production sometime. (it's also finally getting republished)
According to MW:
'I-r&-nE also 'I(-&)r-nE
2 a : the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning
btw, 'sär-"ka-z&m
1 : a sharp and often satirical or ironic utterance designed to cut or give pain
2 a : a mode of satirical wit depending for its effect on bitter, caustic, and often ironic language that is usually directed against an individual
the better way to do it is with multiple soundcards. one device pipes to your headphones, and the other out the speakers. vtt can do that, i believe.
No, you got it all wrong. What we need to do is to encourage contribution from the Chinese users--spread the meme of freedom of information and communication. That's the real way to subvert their government and hopefully, in some small way, effect change. (well, either that or write in subversive subliminal messages into the kernel...)
Capitalism is the only moral system in existance...
And why is it so important to "serve society?" Think of this: If every person in the world concetrated only on serving the needs of himself, what would "society" have left to do? We wouldn't need welfare, or any kind of social programs of that sort becuase everyone would be responsible for themselves.
By that logic, it is alright for m$ to use it's market position to destroy all the competition, and then extract maximum profit from users w/ minimum quality if they see that as serving its need. Also by that logic, it is alright for me to murder you if it serves my needs.
Capitalsim as a moral system makes for a sad world. I for one am glad that it is not the only moral system in existence.
To use your analogy of the printing press, the invention itself can be compared to the internet in that it changed the way information was forever created and shared. But, do you think that the printing press spurred people to suddenly start thinking new thoughts all of a sudden? No. Change would have occured, albeit at a much slower pace.
i think that the point that is being made, and that in your reply you seem to have missed, is that the internet allows new modes of thought that wouldn't otherwise happen. The tools we use affect how we think of things, and what we think is possible.
it's although worth noting your comment about the printing press: without the printing press, even if the thoughts were there, change wouldn't happen at a slower pace, but most likely not at all because there would be no way to effectively communicate these thoughts (many of the changes brought about were dependent on a large number of people being informed at the same time).
The internet functions in the same way of expanding the realm of the possible. (at no point does the ac mention anything about the internet being the end all be all of anything--i think that was a notion that you've simply been projecting).
It's true that sans serif fonts are in fact easier to read in large sizes and at a distance. That's why many people use helvetica in headings and times roman as body text, which I think generally looks pretty good (or rather it would, if the Linux helvetica wasn't so ghastly).
Actually, on the normal display screen, the general rule of thumb, is for using a san-serif font for any text displayed under 12 pixels.
Although serifs work great for print, there is a huge difference in resolution between the computer screen and paper/ink. While on paper the serifs may add visual distinction ease reading, it mostly ends up just being visual noise when displayed on screen.
Lastly, is that generally Unix/X has really crappy font rendering compared to m$/mac systems, and also generally the fonts on X have inferior hinting.
Who, might I ask, are geek girls supposed to find a date with? Your "traditional" male is frightened of geek girls due to superiority/inferiority of intellect issues and now geek males have been informed that geek girls are undesirable.
I believe you're answer lies with the Weekly World News. ;-P
the overview states: "There is an alternative. Using the logic of a street performer, the author goes directly to the readers before the book is published; perhaps even before the book is written. The author bypasses the publisher and makes a public statement on the order of: "When I get $100,000 in donations, I will release the next novel in this series."
Sorry, but the street performer doesn't ask for money first, they do their thing and accept donations. People don't need a new paradigm, just a standard protocol to be able to easily pay an artist.