While watching a new Sci-Fi TV series called The Strain, I couldn’t help but notice a tactful and apt social comment, about what sadly passes for modern day “journalism”. I put journalism in quotes because I believe anyone would be hard pressed to argue against the fact, that true journalism has been dead for years. Journalism is now a bastardized term that no longer has meaning.
“A good story always trumps the truth. Just give the press a villain to hate.”
The Strain (TV Show S01E02)
The story of a severely injured cop that is turned in a cyborg to enhance corporate profits.
I’m old enough to remember sitting excitedly in a theatre in 1987 with my buddy, waiting for the original movie version to start. Discussing how it might compare to the book version that we both had already read. We loved the original movie at the time. Which looks very dated by today’s standards.
In typical modern remake style, the basic original concept remains true. Yet they tweak the story enough to make it interesting and somewhat unique.
Early in the movie they have the fabricated Robocop all in brushed silver, and locked in his somewhat organic looking stasis stand. I couldn’t help notice the similarity of the two contraptions combined had to the robot in little movie called “Saturn 3”, staring Farrah Fawcett in 1980. Not a great movie, but it had cutting edge robotics and animatronics for the time. True Sci-Fi fans should be able to remember this arguably classic movie.
Our new Robocop is a pretty decent movie overall, with one major complaint and defect. Far too many current movie creators are using small SLR sized cameras for certain types of scenes. The problem occures when they do so without use of any “steady cam” equipment, meaning the camera is constantly shaking and moving about, causing distraction to the viewer and even headaches when watching on a large screen. Many of the indoor personal scenes are done with intolerable camera shake and unnecessary panning and awkward movement, ruining the scenes entirely. This type of moving making is for junior-high students making a school project, not for a major motion picture we are paying money for.
Other than the garbage camera work in many personal indoor scenes, this is a fun action movie, that does the original justice.
7.5/10
Have you ever heard a lot of hype about a movie that was based on a book that you haven’t read, and wondered what the fuss was about? Well Ender’s Game was one of those experiences for me. I knew the basic plot of the story, and even though I am an avid Sci-Fi fan, the concept held little interest for me. It seemed to be more of a Sci-Fi story for an eight or ten year old, since most the main characters and story heros are quite young.
It’s a story about a futuristic world where society has decided that video game playing children would make the best soldiers, if they could fight remotely, and be tricked into thinking it was simply a game.
Even though the movie is well made with excellent effects, it returned exactly what I expected, a completely predictable story with a juvenile plot. Perhaps the book is a great read, since many people that have read it tend to rave about it, but the movie is not a great watch overall.
4/10
My month long experiment to listen to the new Tech News Today podcast on the TWIT Network has ended. I can’t take it no more! The TNT feed is now deleted, and in hindsight I wish I had done it after 2 episodes as I intended. It’s been rather painful to endure the tedious dialog that now is TNT. It was a show I used to enjoy and look forward to listing to. I gave it a month to see if it would improve, and I have to say it didn’t even slightly. I found little to nothing of interest to take away from each episode, in fact it appeared to be little more than the current host’s personal opinion on two or three topics he cared to discuss that day, with the co-hosts either not bothering or struggling to add some input.
After Tom Merrit left TWIT TNT, I checked his personal web site a few times to see if I could glean where he would go next. I obviously hadn’t checked recently, as I just discovered yesterday that he has a new show called the Daily Tech News Show. And to my surprise it already has nearly a month worth of content. So I will attempt to listen to each show and catch up, as I did with TNT after Tom left CNet. To my delight it seems to have similar content to his TNT show, and with many of the old guests. While listening even to his first two shows of DNTS, I felt it had far higher quality of tech news, hosting skills, and content than any episodes of TNT since he was last there.
I use an app called BeyondPod on my Android phone to listen to my podcasts, and I was disappointed to see I was unable to search or find DTNS in the add feed search feature. So for anyone else that reads this and wants a quick link for the feed, I used:
http://feeds.feedburner.com/DailyTechNewsShow
I think that most tech geeks and IT people have likely heard of The TWIT Network and may listen or watch one or more of the shows they produce. My favourite TWIT show was Tech News Today, also known as TNT. This was a show developed around tech podcaster Tom Merritt after he left CNet. I have been a listener of TNT since day one, having been a fan of Tom’s previous show at CNet called Buzz Out Loud, or BOL.
I was an early listener of BOL, and watched the show that appeared to be a hobby that the hosts produced on their break time, to grow into a fairly big deal in tech podcasting. As a BOL listener I watched as it grew in content length and quality, plateaued for a while, and then went down hill and straight into the toilet, in my opinion. I stopped downloading and listening some time before Tom Merritt left the show and CNet. When he did, I followed him as a listener to TWIT and he carried on a very similar show, that for the most part I enjoyed, but regardless listened to on a daily basis.
At some point in December, Tom announced very briefly that TWIT (Leo Leport) was not renewing his contract and was instead bringing in someone to be an in house news journalist, or something to that effect. The way it was worded sounded to me to possibly reflect the fact that Tom originally worked from inside the TWIT building, and then later moved to another city, and did his part of the show remotely. I could very well be wrong about this, but that’s what crossed my mind. As an audio listener it made little difference to me where he was located. As a business owner or manager I could easily see where this could be a concern.
His replacement is someone that has been an guest on various TWIT shows from time to time. Someone that I felt made an okay guest, and better than many TWIT guests. But as a listener I find the “new guy” to have a tedious monotone voice that wears on me. And of course he has his own style and direction for how the show, now his show, should go.
I’ve listened to the first episode of the revamped TNT and their pre-show New Years episode. And I’m very disappointed with the changes TWIT has made with TNT. Not only is Tom gone, but so is one of the co-hosts, Iyaz Akhtar, who has left for CNet. There was no mention of this prior to the new guy taking over. Leaving only one co-host behind, a very smart and capable co-host named Sarah Lane, a well known cord-cutter, but also very long winded at times. I’ll miss Iyaz on the TNT show, as he developed into a competent and interesting co-host.
Unlike Tom, the new guy is painfully monotone, long winded and currently seems to not have the journalist skills of knowing when to cut a guest off and inject some content, or change a subject, letting the guest go on and on far too long.
All these changes are very disappointing, not only due to simple change, but a change to a less interesting and pleasantly sounding host, but also a loss of a good co-host. It obviously isn’t going to be the same show at all. So why keep the same name? I suppose to keep the existing podcast feed followers.
Unless miracles happen with TNT, I’m pretty certain I’ll be deleting the TNT feed from my list soon. And if not it certainly won’t be at the top of my listening list anymore. I no longer look forward to listening to TNT once a weekday. It will now be an experiment to see how long it will take till I remove the feed from my phone.
The sequel to “The Chronicles of Riddick” from 2004. One of my favourite Sci-Fi movies of all time. The previous movie ends with Riddick becoming the ruler of the most powerful society in the known universe. With that in mind, and the possibilities that this leaves us for a sequel, this instalment in the series is incredibly sad. In fact this is more a sequel to “Pitch Black” which is equally slow and boring and took place on a barren planet with every creature wanting to eat him. Riddick is basically a remake of Pitch Black.
Our sequel to the bigger than life “Chronicles” is a low budget flick with only a handful of actors on a conveniently barren planet, so most sets are computer generated on a green screen. Audio quality is horrible. Not that you can’t hear the actors, you can hear them very clearly, however in most scenes they sound like they are in a small room, and you can clearly hear the faint echo of them speaking in a small space. Especially when they are out in the wide open plains of a desert. There is rarely the sound effects of wind or actions around them. Generally you only hear perfectly clear voices and the obvious sound effects of what you are looking at, rarely any background noise, so most scenes seem strange to the ear. So you sit there wondering why it looks so real but feels so fake.
Action is decent and special effects and CGI are quite good. In particular his “dog” ends up being a fun and key character. The writing is barely passable. The story line is weak, obvious and completely predictable from start to finish. This movie should be rated a 3, but I enjoyed the action and computer generated characters and effects.
5/10
This Lone Ranger is a very inventive re-telling of the classic story of the western era crime fighter.
This version is a comic satirical romp. Johnny Depp is brilliant with perfect comic timing as Tonto. You barely recognize him. Tonto/Depp carefully and discretely guides the plot from beginning to end.
The humour is obvious yet far from slapstick. Funny, entertaining and intelligently written with twists that hold your attention throughout.
9/10
A broke universally student goes to Costa Rica to out an online gambling tycoon for cheating him.
The title should be Mediocre Mediocre, because that’s the theme of this movie in every way. Justin Timberlake compliments Ben Affeck’s acting skills almost perfectly, as they are both mediocre actors at the best of time. Timberlake might outshine Affleck just slightly, but it’s hardly a compliment. To say the writing is mediocre would be a stretch, and the plot is thin and completely predictable.
Overall movie quality is below average, and scenes of back-water Costa Rica are often highlights of the cinematography. It’s head shaking how Affleck coasts through this movie mumbling and barely moving in most scenes, his part could be played by anyone, and better by most any actor. He definitely brings this movie down a point or two.
If someone were to ask you what you thought of this movie after it was done, you’d likely say, “Ummm, I guess it was okay.”
4/10
(Reposted from Discovery.com News)
NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY, LONDON
Computer scientist Alan Turing, born in 1912, was a man light years ahead of his time. He performed groundbreaking computer science work long before the concept even existed. An artificial intelligence test he developed remains relevant today. During World War II, his cryptanalysis work helped Allied convoys safely cross the Atlantic.
Turing was also openly gay. In 1952, he was convicted for homosexuality and punished by being chemically castrated. Just two years later, he died after eating a cyanide-laced apple. An inquest ruled the death a suicide, but friends and family dispute the finding.
Now, finally, after several petitions, appeals and even an apology from prime minister Gordon Brown in 2009, Turing has finally received a pardon. It was granted on December 24 under the Royal Prerogative of Mercy after a request by Justice Minister Chris Grayling.
Turing was not the only gay man persecuted at the time. More than 50,000 other were convicted of “gross indecency,” for being homosexual. Advocates for Turing hope the pardon will be extended to others.
In the meantime, Turing’s legacy in computing and beyond should not be overlooked.
James Sumner, a lecturer in the history of technology at the University of Manchester, helped plan the Manchester Museum’s centenary Turing exhibition. “Alan Turing is somebody who, in recent years, has gone from being almost written out of the story of the computer’s origins to being given a very, very strong starring role,” Sumner said.
Sumner highlights Turing’s contribution here.
A snitch mob family in Protected Custody that has to move from town to town on a regular basis, due to their dysfunctional and violent tendencies.
Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer play the strong willed parents in this dark comedy. The daughter is one of the stars in the TV series Glee.
Entertaining, amusing, and fun to watch. The story takes place in France, but could be anywhere. The fact that the family is hiding out in a small French (and expectedly obnoxious) town, is an odd distraction that gives the movie a somewhat unique flare from the usual main stream film.
8/10
