Archive for March, 2010
Friday, March 19th, 2010
Princess of Mars
A deliciously low budget adaptation of the Edgar Rice Burroughs classic. Updated a bit, John Carter is no longer a Civil War veteran (from the losing side), but a Marine in Afghanistan. Traci Lords was the “name” actor in this flick, but poorly cast as Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Helium. The movie was shot on an obvious shoestring budget and was shot in an amazing short time. Just 12 days to shoot a SciFi adventure story by one of the classic writers of the genre. Ya, the acting was bad, the script so-so, and the Tharks only have two arms. Still, not too shabby for the budget they had. I’m betting most Hollywood “indies” couldn’t pull off a feature film with the time and budget constrants this crew had to work with.
Friday B-Move Archive
Posted in Movies, Science Fiction | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, March 17th, 2010
Howard Tharp makes the following interesting comment on what he calls “Team Player 2.0”
Thinking lately about the different kinds of team players.
It’s not about coming to eat birthday cake in the break room.
(Staying at your desk is fine. As a manager, I sincerely don’t see this as anti-social, though I myself like birthday cake. 😉 )
Another kind of team player is one committed to an overarching vision, one who won’t shut up about his or her ideas.
Evangelizing IS a team component. Doing what you’re told without engagement is not. And I don’t feel comfortable when I see staff members get accused of “not being a team player,” when they resist the status quo of more senior staff.
I’m starting to study how to cultivate and reward this new team player.
I think he is on to something here.
Posted in Working Stiffs | No Comments »
Monday, March 15th, 2010
Pretty damn spot on.
Posted in Movies, Video | No Comments »
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
Bladerunner, the 1981 SciFi classic movie based on the Philip K. Dick novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. A groundbreaking movie that features Harrison Ford getting beat up a lot.
Jason Calacanis has found a letter Philip K. Dick wrote after seeing Bladerunner.
To put it mildly, he liked it. Way cool, cooler than an Oscillation Overthruster sighting.
Posted in Science Fiction, Sunday SciFi | No Comments »
Sunday, March 14th, 2010
In St. Louis, a Tea Party protest was planned, 600 people were expected to show up. In reality 2,225 people showed up! A grassroots movement in action.
Also in St. Louis, there was a small amount of leftist Astroturfing. The so called “coffee party” met for a bit of “latte liberal” whining. A whopping thirty people, including the people who were already at the restaurant and the tea party infiltrators.
Posted in Politics, Tea Party | No Comments »
Saturday, March 13th, 2010
Teleread has a very good interview with Toni Weisskopf, the publisher of Baen Books. Now, as those of you who have followed my ramblings for a while know, I’m a fan of Baen and their policies on e-books. Go read the whole article, but here are some of the “money quotes.”
TW: Well, part of the “secret” there is that we don’t pay for expensive DRM (“digital rights management”) schemes. I’ve never understood why we should add to our costs with the sole outcome that it’s harder for readers to buy and read the books we want to sell. On the contrary, I want to make it as easy as possible for my readers to find, purchase and read my books. That goal influences every publishing decision I make from our marketing to what typefaces we use.
…
Specifically, I think ebooks will extend the market for books, not reduce it. But then what I am selling is good stories; I don’t care what medium I sell those stories in. If my readers tell me they want it chipped on stone, I will find some way to do that. If they want me to beam the story directly to a chip in the brain, I will do that.
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In a nutshell, the problem of the midlist author or publisher is not piracy, but lack of exposure.
…
The other side of the coin is that Jim Baen didn’t believe our readers are thieves and neither do I. I believe they will buy the book when they have the money. And I don’t believe our readers are ignorant. The understand TANSTAAFL. Our readers understand that we can’t continue to find great books and the authors continue to write them if we don’t get paid. So we don’t treat our readers badly by trying to micromanage the use of the ebooks, and we have been amply rewarded for that trust.
Posted in Baen Books, E-Commerce | No Comments »
Friday, March 12th, 2010
The January Man
From 1989 comes this nicely done murder mystery, were tracking down the serial killer is only half the mystery. The cast is top notch. It includes Kevin Kline, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Susan Sarandon, Harvey Keitel and Danny Aiello. They really breath some life into a so-so script and make this movie worth watching.
Friday B-Movie archive
Posted in Movies | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
The most serious injury was to Mrs. Reid, who suffered a broken neck and back in an auto accident today though her injuries are not life-threatening according to a report in Business Week.
May all the injured parties recover swiftly.
Posted in Politics | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
“The reason the first three Star Wars movies were so terrific, and the second three sucked so bad, is actually very simple. The first three were about rebels, shooting guns and driving fast, and speaking with American accents. The second three were about politicians, discussing treaties and holding court, and speaking with British accents.”
Bill Whittle, LAND OF THE MOSTLY FREE, HOME OF THE OCCASIONALLY BRAVE
You can also watch Mr. Whittle deliver the entire speech at PJTV.
Posted in Movies, Politics, Science Fiction | No Comments »
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
Barbara Hollingsworth reports in the DC Examiner:
The Obama administration’s six-month delay in approving new offshore drilling leases in federal waters will become a new three-year ban, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar quietly told reporters last Friday. Which means that no new oil and gas leases will be approved during President Obama’s term even though two –thirds of the American public supports such activity, according to a December 2009 Rasmussen poll.
…
“Secretary Salazar has finally confirmed what had long been feared – that the Obama Administration has no intention of opening up new areas for offshore drilling during his four-years in office,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.
So for the next three years and probably more, trillions of dollars in domestic energy assets will remain untouched while billions of dollars more are spent on foreign oil.
Clearly, as in the Health Care “debate”, our Dear Leader has absolutely no interest in what the American People, whom he was elected to represent, care about in a vitally important subject. The President’s ban on domestic energy sources also tells us that he has no interest in halting rising energy costs or taking any steps toward improving the economy. Opening up these resources will immediately create many “shovel ready” good paying jobs, providing a short term benefit to the economy as well as long term benefits. Why is our Dear Leader opposed to actually improving the US economy?
Posted in economy, energy, Our Dear Leader, Politics | No Comments »