So. I heard about the passing of Ray Harryhausen, and my mind immediately spun back to 1963.
It’s the first year of my life I remember with any clarity, the year that my Dad would move us out of the elm-lined avenues of River Forest and into the corn-and-soybean-surrounded spankin’ new…
These are some wonderful words about a special effects pioneer.
STOP IT, self-help manatee. I actually just cried because of LAST MONTH.
Thank you, self-help manatee. I needed that.
This is just beautiful.
/salute
This. Story link: http://www.pcgamer.com/2012/12/20/maxis-explains-the-use-of-simcity-always-online-drm/
Edit: Ah, so when the servers are down I just can’t claim another region spot. Still, shows how much bullshit we were fed beforehand.
I just wanted to get this down somewhere, since I and some of my closer friends use it. And it’s also generally present on my tweets as well.
TURTH began as an accidental typo of “truth” on the part of my friend Bawdy Scoundrel. However, we decided it would become a word to express extreme truth because why the hell not?
As I set to work creating Sci-Fi Showdown and was giving an acronym to everything I could, we decided turth needed its own acronym too.
Therefore, TURTH actually means:
True Understand Relayed Through Harm/Humor/Honesty
The last word is interchangeable depending on the situation.
That’s all, enjoy.
This is a topic I’ve been considering for a good while. Well, ever since it was announced of course.
I have not made it a secret how much I am not a fan of Star Trek 11 (aka. JJTrek). There’s really only three things I enjoyed about it: Karl Urban’s “Bones”, Simon Pegg’s “Scotty” and Michael Giacchino’s soundtrack.
What I dislike about it also falls into three categories: over emphasis of action, absolute lack of any real character development and an abandonment of everything Star Trek was supposed to represent.
I could fill pages with my dislikes of Star Trek 11, just sticking to why the Enterprise was horrible. However, this article is about the man that brought this to us originally, JJ Abrams and the announcement that he’ll be the one directing Star Wars Episode 7.
All joking about lens flares aside, Abrams will undoubtedly do better with Wars 7 than he’s done with Trek. This is primarily because he has openly admitted to being more of a fan of Star Wars than Star Trek. This fact is highlighted by how much more of a resemblance to the Star Wars movies Star Trek 11 was than to anything remotely Star Trek.
In all of his projects, Abrams has proven himself to be much more of a visual/set piece director than a character/story director. This ability is actually a perfect fit for Star Wars. Much more than it was for Star Trek.
Let’s face it, Star Wars has NEVER been about deep, engrossing character development or story lines. It is an epic space opera. It is about as basic of a mythological story as you can get. It’s popcorn sci-fi. It always has been. This is not a bad thing at all.
I have grown up an equal fan of Star Wars and Star Trek for as long as I can remember. Loving both sagas for different reasons. Wars for the ships and action, Trek for the ships and characters (sensing a pattern here?).
I’m still going to see Episode 7 when it comes out. This has always been certain. It still stands that Episode 3 was the last film in the saga and no one wants it to go out on the pathetic piece of celluloid THAT was. I will also be seeing Star Trek 12, despite my absolute loathing of the pun title they gave it. I shudder every time I say it, so it will not be written here.
What ultimately concerns me about JJ, though, is that he’s taking on the two of the biggest franchises in film/television history. The man is going to be making both Star Trek 13 AND Star Wars 7 over the next two to three years. I wouldn’t wish such a task on my worst enemy. I’m also afraid that this lack of focus will also lead to a greater loss of quality.
It all comes down to right now that Abrams is trying to become the next Spielberg/Lucas/Cameron. I know he won’t be able to do that by riding solely on the back of established franchises like he’s been doing. But I don’t think he can coast along purely on pretty visuals. Although that HAS been what Michael Bay’s been doing. But he’s stuck in Transformers hell right now.
My primary concerns right now with these two sagas is the way movies like these have been trending lately. Inspired by Nolan’s Batman series, movies, especially superhero movies and now Star Trek are trending towards the dark, brooding anti-hero-type characters. This is evident in both the latest Superman and Star Trek trailers.
What I find most humorous about this situation, though, is that these two franchises have LONG been vehicles for a degree of hope and optimism. Trek for the future and Superman for the present. Both have been twisted into this dark and brooding mythos that I don’t think we really need as a society right now.
But I digress.
In short, the ultimate point is that I think Abrams will do much better with Wars than he’ll EVER do with Trek. I just heartily wish that he had gotten Star Wars first so that he could have left us without the current Trek saga that we’re going to have to sit through until at least 2015 when the last in the trilogy comes out.
Maybe then we can get someone in there who understands Star Trek and can give us more Wrath of Khan and less Attack of the Clones.
You know what…
Forget deleting the video.
Not going to let them win this little victory. If I have to post longer videos, then I’ll make sure that they stop at exactly 14:59 and post them up in multiple parts until this is resolved.
Toho, I liked and respected your Godzilla films. You can bet there will be another Godzilla film and I won’t be nearly as cordial.
Let the Age of 14:59 Begin!
The photo evidence of the previous copyright claim I mentioned in the last post. Just wanted to immortalize it here before I deleted it.
On July 2 I got a “copyright” notice from Toho Inc. on my YouTube channel (Here: http://www.youtube.com/user/GearStikProductions?feature=mhee) claiming that this video (linking to the Blip.tv video since my one on YouTube is blocked): http://blip.tv/sci-fi-showdown/sci-fi-showdown-episode-v-gojira-6096783 is a violation of their IP.
I cited the US copyright laws allowing fair use under parody and review laws. However, YouTube claims it’s awaiting a response by August 3. This, of course, means now that my YouTube account is “not in good standing” which also means I cannot upload videos greater than 15 minutes until it’s back in good standing.
I’ve been working since May 2 to stand this channel up, and now because of this stupidity on both Toho and YouTube’s part, I’ll have to delete one of my videos in order to upload any future ones because if I don’t, my future production may be stunted.
So what I’m going to do is delete the video and then re-upload it later. If they decide to pursue this, than I will do this again and again and again until they eventually realize they can’t just dick around with people like this.
For anyone who watches my channel or my videos, thank you for your viewership and I hope to continue entertaining and informing you as we work towards the ultimate goal of a douchebag-free gaming experience.
Until next time, game on and take care.
-N’Eligahn
THE PLEDGE: As a gamer, I realize I contribute to an incredibly diverse social network of gamers around the world, and that my actions have the ability to impact others. In effort to make a positive impact, and to create a community that is welcoming to all, I pledge to not use bigoted language while gaming, online and otherwise. Bigoted language includes, but is not limited to, slurs based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and disability.
In other words, Don’t be a Dick.
My goal of “Don’t Be A Douchebag” in pledge form!
