DEC 25 – The 12 Days Of Sci-Fi Christmas
On the First Day of Christmas my true love gave to me… a boatload of sci-fi awesomeness. From now until January 6 we celebrate the 12 Days Of Sci-Fi Christmas. Be sure to check back every day for a new entry. I'll know if you don't. I see you when you're sleeping, and I know when you're awake. I'm creepy like that.
Christmas is the First Day Of Christmas, and I got a ton of great sci-fi stuff for Christmas. I'm gonna stretch it out over the full 12 days, though, because I've got so much stuff to write about that if I don't have some kind of plan or structure my mind will collapse.
I was going to try to do a theme for each day based on the song, but "a partridge in a pear tree" doesn't provide a lot of inspiration for a sci-fi themed Christmas article. So fuck it; here's Space Ghost.
Goddamn, I love this thing. I never knew it existed, but Frog Boy and his new woman apparently shop at the most magical gift shop in all of Heaven and found this for me. Every year for a very long time Ma Sci-Fi has gotten me a Star Trek ornament, but this year she decided that I am not a worthy son, and left me out to dry. No ornaments for me. But Frog Boy stepped up and saved Christmas with his magical credit card. Then we all held hands and sang around the Christmas tree and the pureness of our hearts lifted the curse from the whole villiage. It was a Festivus miracle!
This is the only pic I could find, and since my camera's still out of commission, its the only pic I gots. Sorry that its all watermarked and stupid looking; the ornament is way cooler than this photo would lead you to beleive. I would have posted a better one, but Hallmark's website absolutely blows. There are no pics of ornaments online that I can find, and no way to order one. There's a Space Ghost thumbnail in their "Interactive Dream Book" but it's slow and useless and doesn't do anything when you try something crazy like clicking on the "click here" buttons. Running a search of the site for 'Space Ghost', with their own search engine mind you, either leads to a 'no results' message, or, more amusingly, returns a site error. What a piece of shit. I suggest skipping the site altogether if you want one and go through the watermarked site above, or visit a Hallmark store physically. I've always had a good time looking through their sci-fi merchandise in the stores. But their online presence sucks.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:00 pm
DEC 26 – Two Turtle Doves…
I don’t know where I got this, but its a pretty sweet DC Christmas card. I got one of the Marvel company Christmas cards in the mail last year (The Sci-Fi Guys: Membership Has Its Privileges.™
). It was a red and green Hulk, and while it was nice to get an actual card in the mail, I’ve gotta say it was pretty weak. The card itself looked… well, lazy is the best way I can describe it.
DC, on the other hand, clearly took some time with this. I don’t know who drew it or what year its from, but any time you get Green Lantern Jewing it up with the old Power Ring, I’m sold. Below is this year’s DC card, drawn by Matt Haley. Since I did not receive a Marvel card this year, I am going to go ahead and proclaim DC Comics the Official Comic Company Of Christmas, Forever And Ever, Amen.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
I crushed candy canes to make cookies this year and its a lot more of a messy, tedious pain in the ass than it sounds. If I were you I’d just mix up some regular table sugar with a drop or two of peppermint oil or extract and call it a day.
December 27th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
DEC 27 – Three French Hens…
Oh, hell yeah. Ma and Pa Sci-Fi hooked me up with the first season DVDs and I’ve already redevoured every second of Terminator love. This show is exceptional. It is so well done. It’s hard for any TV show to retain the mood and themes of a popular movie franchise, which is why so many movie spin-offs fail so disastrously. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles seemed like it would be particularly hard to bring to television. The format of the Terminator movies is essentially one long chase scene, a format which might work well for two-hour films, but would not translate to a television show meant to run for multiple seasons.
But they did it. They switched the format around to make the characters more proactive. And they did it very well. This show just plain old fucking works. I won’t give anything up concerning the plot, but Balthazar and myself get together on Tuesdays to watch the current season, so needless to say the premise works well enough to justify multiple years of programming. This show has my heartfelt devotion. Everyone involved has a lot to be proud of.
The DVD features are interesting, but the best one is hands down the commentary on the season finale, “What He Beheld.” The inclusion of Brian Austin Green in the cast seemed a little weird to me when he first came on the show. I thought the very idea of having Kyle Reese’s brother be a part of the franchise was hokey, but it has been so well written that quite frankly I think the show would be a little lost without him. He quickly became one of my favorite characters.
In any case, during the commentary, the show’s creator Josh Friedman, mentions his hesitancy to put too much emotionalism into the show, as he didn’t want the show to turn into something high schoolish and, as he put it, “Terminator 90210.” I guess he forgot that Green was a cast member of Beverly Hills 90210, because Green immediately jumps to the defensive. In the ensuing verbal bedlam Friedman’s foot-in-mouth stammering and backtracking and Green’s overly defensive comments are pretty fucking amusing. There’s a long, uncomfortable silence in the commentary immediately afterward, and I picture Summer Glau and the rest of the people in the room just sitting there awkwardly trying to figure out how to change the subject. Turn on the commentary just as John and Cameron get to the museum to catch this little exchange. Good stuff.
December 28th, 2008 at 10:07 am
DEC 28 – Four Calling Birds…
Frog Boy and his new woman, Brown Sugar, got me these four awesome Transformers from the Universe line of figures. TransFans will recognize these as originally being from the Cybertron series, but they were repackaged for sale in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, as well as limited release in the US, under the banner of the Universe series. Which is good, because I only got Backstop the first time around, and now my collection is that much more complete. Click the pics for a closer look.
Pictured above, left to right, are Brushguard, Lugnutz, Scattorshot, and Backstop. As usual, the pics don’t do the toys justice. These are very decent figures and can be found in the US at Family Dollar and Dollar General stores for $5, which is a welcome step down from their higher price under the Cybertron series. If any of you are missing these from your Cybertron collections, you can rest easy that the molds and colors are unchanged from that series, so if you try to pass them off as Cybertrons only I will know your dirty little secret. And I won’t tell anyone. For a price. This Christmas I give you the gift of blackmail. Ho, ho, ho, motherfuckers.
I have always had a soft spot in my heart for motorcycle Transformers, so it just figures that I couldn’t find a single pic of Lugnutz that doesn’t make him look like Quasimodo with a Harley Davidson glued to his back. Trust me, the toy is much cooler than these pictures appear.
December 29th, 2008 at 11:30 am
DEC 29 – Five Golden Rings…
This year Mark and PopRox got me the gift of movies; Netflix, to be exact. It took about ten minutes from me to go from a non-user to a guy with so many movies in his queue that he will almost certainly never get them all before his membership runs out. I don’t care. I love choosing movies to watch. I love watching movies that I don’t have to pay for. And I love rating movies. And guess what? Now I love Netflix.
In keeping with the theme of “five golden rings,” I decided to get five sci-fi movies with the word “gold” in the title. Furthermore, I wanted to get five movies I’ve never seen. It was harder than it sounds, but these are the ones I have queued up.
I’ll be honest, I’ve never been overly crazy about James Bond movies, but they always have elements of sci-fi in them (except the newest ones, I hear), so I figured this was a safe bet. Will I like it? Who knows. I’m not counting on getting too terribly excited, but what the hell, its free. That’s exactly the right price.
Again, whatever. But its got Sean Connery and a character named Pussy Galore, so how bad can it really be? I will, however, be very disappointed if there isn’t a guy with an actual golden finger. Maybe with some kind of gadget inside. I will report my findings once I see the movie.
Can you believe I still haven’t seen this movie? I liked the other two Austin Powers flicks, but I wasn’t at all interested in this. Mostly, I think, because Beyoncé is in it. I fucking hate that bitch. I’m sick of seeing her. She’s not hot. I don’t know how that rumor got started, or why everyone believes it in the face of all visual evidence, but she’s not. I’ve never seen her look more than slightly above average. Most of the time she looks frighteningly simian. And she has a shitty figure. Her tits aren’t nearly big enough to distract from her giant fat ass. Also, she’s not talented. Her songs are shit except for the ones other people write for her, and then she turns those to shit by singing them. She even has a shitty personality and a bullshit Hollywood sense of entitlement. She completely sucks. In almost all ways except for likeability and exceptional intelligence she reminds me of that gorilla from Congo. Why the fuck is she famous? Can somebody please explain this to me?
I know almost nothing about this movie except there are bears and blimps and lots of snow, but based on Sci-Fi Girl’s recommendation of the book I’m willing to give it a shot. Again, its free. Free, free, free.
This is gonna be bad. It oozes bad. But it’s gonna be 80s bad, which is usually at least a little good. I’m not 100% sure I haven’t seen this. It seems like I may have. So just in case, I’ve got a sixth “gold” sci-fi DVD coming, one I’m sure I haven’t seen. And its MST3K, so you can’t go wrong.
December 30th, 2008 at 9:13 am
DEC 30 – Six Geese A-Laying…
I didn’t get these, mainly because I didn’t ask for them, because I didn’t know anything about them until a few minutes ago. It’s no secret that I’m much more geared toward DC comics than Marvel, but I’ve got to admit it: this is a pretty sweet ornament set. Each of the six Marvel superheroes can function as a separate ornament, but the bases are interlocking so that the group can be displayed as a whole. Consider these on next year’s wish list.
December 31st, 2008 at 9:15 am
DEC 31 – Seven Swans A-Swimming…
Once again, Ma and Pa Sci-Fi came through and hooked me up with the most militarily powerful psychopathic robot ever, Galvatron. This is part of the new Universe: Classic Series, in which toys from the 80s get an extensive and often much needed makeover in order to make it in today’s market.
As you can see, this release of Galvatron bears very little resemblance to his original 80s counterpart, which is good, because the original Galvatron toy was a big, ugly monstrosity. The original Galvatron transformed into a Cybertronic artillery unit with treads so small they seem completely inadequate to move something his size. He could also be transformed into an extremely stupid looking hand-held gun.
Galvatron was notable as one of the most well-articulated toys in the Generation 1 line, with ratcheting shoulders and hips, as well as swivel waist, elbows, mid-biceps, knees, and ankle joints. What he had in articulation, though, he lacked in style. He was blocky, stiff looking, and disproportionate. Like they did with many of the original figures, the animators of The Transfomers: The Movie wisely changed his appearance to make him more visually appealing, and the designers of the new tank version of Galvatron followed suit.
The original Galvatron had a light-up barrel in artillery and pistol modes, light-up eyes in robot mode, and made electronic noises. Although I have seen smaller modern toys with flashing LEDs, the new Galvatron is sadly lacking any light-up features. It’s easy to imagine how the barrel could have been slightly redesigned to allow for lights, so it’s a shame they didn’t go this route. Then again, these new toys are designed to sell for around $10, so Hasbro understandably has to minimize the number of features they put in. Still, it would have been nice.
All in all, the new Galvatron is a hell of a toy, and I can’t think of a kid who wouldn’t like this. I mean, come on, it’s a tank that turns into a robot with a giant gun on its arm. Who wouldn’t like that? Galvatron gets a hearty thumbs up from me. Click any of these pics to see more detail.
December 31st, 2008 at 10:17 am
Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen photo gallery
http://www.usatoday.com/life/l081229_transformers2/flash.htm?gid=831
December 31st, 2008 at 7:49 pm
So, we know that Jetfire will be in the next Transformers movie and his terrestrial mode will be a black SR-71 Blackbird. (I fondly remember owning the Cobra Raven, so this makes me warm and fuzzy inside.)
Well, according to these prototype toys (via tfw2005.com), looks like Jetfire and Optimus will be merging together.
December 31st, 2008 at 7:51 pm
Oh yeah, Happy New Year. I personally hope that 2009 doesn’t suck as bad as 2008 does. (Yes, “does”. There’s only 4 hours of it left and it’s still fucking me at every opportunity.)
Happy New Year!
January 1st, 2009 at 12:00 am
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
January 1st, 2009 at 11:31 am
JAN 01 – Eight Maids A-Milking…
I’m not going to lie to you… I got nothing.
I’m too tired to write today. Here, make yourself a robot snowflake ornament. Just print the pic, cut along the dotted line, fold, glue, and booyah, your tree becomes ten times cooler than it was before. You’re welcome.
January 2nd, 2009 at 11:52 am
JAN 02 – Nine Ladies Dancing…
Click the pic to download the MP3.
January 3rd, 2009 at 12:19 pm
JAN 03 – Ten Lords A-Leaping…
Frog Boy gave me a giant Christmas tree he no longer wants, and I've already decided that next year I'm gonna sci-fi that mutha up. I've got a ton of sci-fi ornaments already, mostly of the Hallmark Star Wars and Star Trek variety, but this tree he gave me is BIG, so I'm going to need a lot more. I've been searching online for sci-fi ornaments and it turns out there are just a shitload of really great ones out there. Who knew?
If any of you out there want me to fall madly in love with you, buying me a Serenity ornament would not be amiss. I dig the laser etched acrylic and the shiny metallized versions, but the Reaver-ed version is the bee's knees. There are even tiny dead bodies on it. If that doesn’t scream “joy to the world, peace on Earth, good will to men,” then I don’t know what does. I also don't know who makes these, but it must be satisfying on some level to know that you are manufacturing what has to be one of VERY few Christmas tree ornaments that are model spaceships decorated with the corpses of slain holy men. That's something to really be proud of.
January 4th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
JAN 04 – Eleven Pipers Piping…
Lazy Sunday art gallery! Click for full size.
January 5th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
JAN 05 – Twelve Drummers Drumming…
Jimmy Olsen is captured by a mad scientist who has rigged the button that lights the White House Christmas tree to trigger an explosive ornament, hoping to kill the President and simultaneously launch nukes at the Soviet Union. Why? Cause he’s a mad scientist I guess. There’s no real reason given why this guy wants to kill 600 million Russians, but he’s pretty fucking serious about it. Superman has to save the President and prevent WWIII. Will he make it in time? Can the Man Of Steel triumph against this sinister plot? OMFG! Only this record will tell!
Next, Wonder Woman must stop a rogue nuclear sub crew who have kidnapped a hibernating Santa Claus – yes, seriously – and are holding him hostage on Christmas Island for a ransom of $500,000,000. This master plan was set into effect by Brünnhilde, a Teutonic goddess who hates Wonder Woman for some ill defined reason. At the request of the White House, Wonder Woman must save Santa in order to boost the spitits of the crippled/dying kids in the hospital she’s visiting on Christmas Eve. But Brünnhilde has no intention of releasing Santa; she instead plans to capture Wonder Woman and nuke the whole island, destroying Santa, Wonder Woman, and Christmas Island. Then she will nuke every major city on Earth from her orbiting robot satellites, causing the downfall of modern civilization and bringing about the domination of the German Master Race.
I don’t even know what to say…
Because Batman is such a badass, his story is a two-parter that takes up the majority of the album. That doesn’t mean its any less retarded than the other two stories, mind you. We open with Batman and Robin are chillaxing at Wayne Manor during an unusually peaceful Gotham Christmas Eve night, when the phone rings. I’ve transcribed the conversation that takes place verbatim, because there’s no way I can make it any more ridiculous than it already is.
WOW. Nice security measures, Bruce. “Yes, this is Batman. I’m at Wayne Manor and I answer the phone like I own the place. Draw your own conclusions, faceless voice on the telephone.” Why not just put out a bunch of neon signs that flash the way into the Batcave? This writing is TOP NOTCH.
The villain goes on to sing “I Wish You A Deadly Christmas” and tells Batman that if he leaves the house tonight, he’s a dead man. With no effort at investigation whatsoever, Batman shrugs it off as a prank call, and he and Robin head off to a charity fundraising party at a mission in Skid Row. In full Batman costume. On foot. Awesome.
He and Robin are soon accosted by Rudy Snow, better known as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Hitman, a Christmas carol singing, machine gun toting assassin. I’d write more, but you can see how this is going. Its bad. Its very very bad. And now you can own it for yourself. Click either pic to download the entire album in all its glorious vinyl poppy-clickiness.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
JAN 06 – And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!
Click the pic to download the MP3.
And that’s all she wrote, folks! Hope you guys had a great Christmas. Be sure to leave a message and tell us what Santa left you. Sci-fi or not, we want to hear about your Christmas loot.
January 8th, 2009 at 9:58 am
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/56652
Ghostbusters Video Game has a release date. On June 16th will be bust some heads (in a spiritual sense, of course).
January 9th, 2009 at 9:04 am
New Transformers poster:
http://movies.yahoo.com/photos/movie-stills/gallery/1360/transformers-revenge-of-the-fallen-stills#photo0
January 11th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
New Movie…
I don’t know home many other people have heard about this but I finally saw a preview for the movie “Push”. It was screened at science fiction conventions last year and met with a cool reception. However, I like anything involving people with awesome powers…and that’s what “Push” is all about.
It’s coming out in February so there’s not too long a wait…here is a link to one of the many websites with a little synopsis of the movie. This is one of the more in-depth ones. The movie has Dakota Fanning in it…I’m not so sure about that. She’s little and sneaky looking.
http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1809922967/details
Mark
January 13th, 2009 at 8:22 am
I like the concept for that movie, but as you said Mark, Dakota Fanning? Not feeling it.
New show coming to sci fi:
http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/exclusive-a-sneak-peek-at-sci-fis-new-warehouse-13.php#more
January 13th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Mandy would kill me if I did this. Plus my daughter would probably destroy it before I could finish.
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/01/asgard_flagship.php
January 14th, 2009 at 5:41 am
That Warehouse 13 series reminds me a lot of the made for TV movies of the “Librarian” staring Noah Wylie. However, as a total sci-fi junkie, I’ll watch it!
January 14th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Pulled from a CNN breaking news banner:
Actor Ricardo Montalban, star of the hit TV series “Fantasy Island,” died today in Los Angeles, a family spokesman says.
January 15th, 2009 at 7:53 am
Ricardo Montalban (KHAN!!!!) Dies At 88
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20252685,00.html
January 15th, 2009 at 7:54 am
RE: Asgard Flagship
Wait!! That looks a lot like our living room!!! DAN!!!!
January 15th, 2009 at 8:25 am
http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/wrath-of-khans-ricardo-montalban-is-dead-at-88.php
January 15th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Ricardo Gonzalo Pedro Montalbán y Merino
November 25, 1920 – January 14, 2009
January 15th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Hmmm…wonder what the Christian Right will say if this turns out to be true:
Life on Mars
ALIEN microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, Nasa scientists believe.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2133475.eceJanuary 15th, 2009 at 11:55 am
No one wants this to be true more than me, but I would be very skeptical about beleiving anything “top space expert” Nick Pope says. He runs a website about UFOs, crop circles, and the paranormal. I think it may be profitable for him to say that this proof, and where there’s profit to be had, its time to be very suspicious about any definitely worded but unproven assertions. We really need to see what NASA has to say about all this, not Nick Pope. Just look at some of the logical inaccuracies in his statements:
FALSE – This has not been verified. Scientific rigor demands verification via observation. We’ve seen no proof yet that there is life anywhere else but here on Earth. We’ve seen evidence, but not proof. There is no “absolute certainty” here.
FALSE – That is in no way a logical conclusion. That’s nothing but conjecture wrapped up in words that hint at absolutes. Unless Nick Pope has been given far more information than it appears, this statement is not only scientifically inaccurate and logically flawed, it’s completely ridiculous. Again, where is the proof?
FALSE – How is that implied? Statements like this are how snake-oil salesmen, religions and cults work. They present wishful thinking surrounded by a facade of false reasoning. Here he uses the old trick of posing a legitimate question, followed up by a somewhat related statement that relies upon the tone, not the substance, of the preceding question to give the unproven statement the apparent weight of a fact.
How it works is fairly simple. You pose a question which is worded in a way that makes the conclusion you wish the person to come to seem inevitable. It also helps if the target cannot possibly answer the question in a reasonable manner. “If it’s happened here on Earth, then why shouldn’t it happen anywhere?” sounds reasonable, unless you know a good deal about astrophysics, cellular biology, and evolution. Then you know that there are tons of reasons life as we know it can’t pop up just anyplace. But people who know such things are not his target audience. He’s looking for people who don’t know any better.
In their minds he’s stated not a question, but a fact. Human brains are good with facts and other definite, quantifiable data that can be squirreled away for later use. That’s one of the reasons we’re one of the dominant lifeforms on this planet. When people hear “If it’s happened here on Earth, then why shouldn’t it happen anywhere?” stated not as though its an assertion but rather the proof of an implied assertion, they don’t hear a question. They hear a statement. What they hear is “If it’s happened here on Earth, then it could happen anywhere.”
Then all the mental defenses of reason and thought are stripped away. The person has been opened to suggestion by placing them on an unsteady footing of half-truths and illogic. And then you lay it on them, the big false conclusion you want them to jump to, the thing that will take away all the uncertainty and give them what every human brain wants to cling to – a good solid fact. “The implication is this is a universal law.” There it is, stated as a fact, backed by absolutely no evidence whatsoever. There is no such fact, implied or otherwise. Only the speaker has implied it. There is a word for this sort of purposefully propagated lie – pseudoscience. Faulty thinking resulting in false knowledge. It’s reprehensible.
Seriously, if you want any sort of concrete information, my advice is that you wait for NASA to tell you. Actual scientists work there. I don’t trust The Sun or this Nick Pope character at all.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
I just watched part of the NASA briefing and all they are confirming is the presence of methane in various amounts at various times across the surface. What’s causing it is unknown, however they did say that volcanic activity is unlikely because additonal gases usually generated in such a process have not been detected.
Incidentally, NASA’s been studying the methane presence since it was first detected in 1999.
January 15th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Anyone who visited The Sun’s website should immediately be wary of the information contained within. It screams “I’M A GIANT SENSATIONLIST TABLOID”
January 15th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
Dude, I cannot wait to see this briefing. This is cool fucking news.
January 16th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Is it Sci Fi. No.
Is it fucking genius. Yes.
Enjoy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ISBnx0xUss
January 19th, 2009 at 8:36 am
acts about Khan:
http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/16-things-you-might-not-know-about-star-treks-beloved-villain-khan.php#more
January 19th, 2009 at 8:41 am
ummmm….ok…..
http://scifiwire.com/2009/01/spacemen-vs-vikings-watch-the-new-outlander-trailer.php
January 19th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Wow…aliens and vikings. I wonder why this movie has a “limited” release!
January 19th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Just so we’re all up to speed:
I can tell you right now without a shadow of a doubt I’m going to see this movie. I don’t care how bad it looks, this is exactly the kind of over-the-top weird sci-fi I’m into at the moment. I’ve lately steeped myself in some very bizzare underground science fiction, and this looks right up my alley. Besides, its got John Hurt and Ron Perlman, and they were great together in Hellboy. Plus the lovely Sophia Myles is in it – and as a redhead, no less – so even if the movie blows there’s a hot piece of Viking warrior princess ass to keep my mind occupied. Win!
January 19th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Hopefully a theater near us will actually show it.
January 20th, 2009 at 8:51 am
Oh, I’m not going to PAY to see it. Perish the thought. I’m still unemployed, sir; there will be no money exchanging hands over this movie. I will Netflix it when it becomes availble.
Speaking of movies I didn’t pay to see, Frog Boy, Brown Sugar and I watched a free sneak preview of Taken last night at La Maison Grenouille Garçon, which is rapidly becoming one of my favorite theatres. HOLY SHIT. What a good flick. Liam Neeson is a BADASS. Definitely need to see this. And it was good to see Maggie Grace working again since she was canned from Lost. She looks much better as a brunette. I didn’t even know it was her until I happened to see her name on Wiki a few minutes ago.
Also saw Hellboy 2. I didn’t hate it as much as they did, which was completely and vehemently, but it was very disappointing. Not nearly up to the standard the first one set.
January 20th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Are you on fucking crack??? Hellboy 2 was an AMAZING film. In the couple days I had it rented I watched it no less than three times. There are very, VERY few moments in that movie that can be considered “less than awesome”. The set design was brilliant, the characters were deep and real enough that you could sympathize with every single one – even the villains were more than cookie-cutter monsters. God damned depth from every angle in that movie.
The only possible reason I can see anyone not liking it would be someone who’s so caught up in the “original comic book stories” that they can’t allow another vision of the franchise.
Hellboy 2 is securely placed into my top fifteen movies.
January 20th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
Yeah, Q, but you’re forgetting one key piece of info: you have extremely shitty taste.
For the record, I’ve never read a single Hellboy comic. Not one. Ever. I had no “vision of the franchise” except for the first film. I can’t speak for Frog Boy and Brown Sugar, but I’d be very surprised if they have read the comics, either. So your theory is not going to cut it here.
You were also the person who loved Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull, the second and third Pirates Of The Caribbean films, and two of the most suck-filled movies ever put to cellulose, the god awful Matrix sequels. All of those movies were 100% diarrhea (except for the first half of Crystal Skull and Keith Richards’s scenes from At World’s End), and yet you have repeatedly told me how good they are. In light of these crimes against cinematic judgment, I see no way in which I can take your arguments seriously.
Except for the bit about set design. For the most part those sets were pretty sweet, I’ll give you that.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:30 am
Interesting:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/180103?gt1=43002
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:11 am
Do you see now why I hate reading the news? Why I just flat out refuse?
I don’t understand why 200 years later people can’t seem to understand that we have moved on from Darwin’s original theory. We know so much more now. It has been refined and polished. Evolution itself is a fact, but we’re constantly discovering new things about its mechanisms. No one believes Darwin had all the answers. Darwin didn’t even believe that. Know why? Because he knew what fucking science was.
We know, for example, that genetics aren’t only transmitted linearly from parent to offspring. Some bacteria can laterally transmit DNA from one living specimen to another, requiring no creation of offspring whatsoever. That’s why when you introduce an antibacterial resistant specimen into a colony of certain bacteria, the entire colony can become resistant without becoming larger.
As for the reports that the experiences of the mother effect her offspring – no fucking shit?! Really?? If the mice are well-fed their eggs do not get damaged and they therefore give birth to healthy babies? Wow. And if mothers soak their bodies in poison it actually harms their eggs and babies? What hard-hitting journalists at Newsweek stayed up all night to bring us this piece of late breaking news? This is not at all something that has been known since 2000 fucking BC. Thanks for the heads up, guys! I could have learned as much by reading the side of a pack of cigarettes, or just by knowing there is a thoroughly well-documented condition called Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.
And the report that food shortages and smoking can fuck up your sperm – brilliant. Ignoring the fact that these studies say nothing of the environmental conditions of the subjects and their pregnant mothers, who are more than likely constantly exposed to the same conditions during the child’s development, it’s no great secret that what fathers do can fuck up their sperm. These results are already known. Sperm are incredibly easy to damage. Here are just a few of the things that we know fuck sperm up: saunas, prolonged exposure to hot water, tanning beds, tight pants/underwear, fever, polychlorinated biphenyls, DDT, hexachlorobenzene, dioxin, airborne plutonium from nuclear weapon tests, anabolic steroids, your body’s own natural fluxuation of hormone concentrations, coffee, alcohol, obesity, too short a period of time since last ejaculation, too long a period of time since last ejaculation (even more dangerous), tobacco, marijuana, long-term stress, malnutrition (especially zinc deficiency), time of day (sperm quality is better in the afternoon than in the morning), lack of exercise, excessive exercise, duration of sexual stimulation before ejaculation, and dehydration (long term dehydration is particularly damaging). THIS IS NOT NEW INFORMATION.
Once again, we have sloppy science presented as news. Fuck you, Newsweek. Fuck you very much.
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:29 am
This was more an example of good scientifics research (at least I’m assuming so since I didn’t referee the original articles) packaged together as popular science for the masses. I thought it was an interesting article.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:02 pm
You are an angry man.
Given our educational system’s extremely poor performance in math and science (in comparison to other nations) I wouldn’t be surprised if this was new information to a lot of people.
January 23rd, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Interesting, yes, but also displying a complete ignorance of the functions and mechanisms and genetic transmission and replication. I’m not geneticist, so I’m not speaking from any professional standpoint here, but whenever a science article is written to sound edgy and controversial, I get very skeptical. Real revolutionary science doesn’t use such tricks to draw attention to itself. It doesn’t need to. It will be undeniably important. Star Trek II was also an interesting look at the possible future of evolution, but I don’t give any credibility to the existence of genetic supermen. Science doesn’t work based on what sensational or cool. Writing an article like this to tout the possibility of Lamarckian evolution is misleading, especially in an era when the American public’s scientific knowledge is in such dire need of repair. Nonsense like this is why we are laughed at worldwide. This is not good science, I don’t care how interesting it is. Nor is it good journalism. Shit like this belongs in a tabloid, not a news magazine.
If you want to see what kind of damage articles like this do to scientific understanding and the ability of the American public to reason, go to the article and look at the third comment, the one left by valerie_dlp. That’s the kind of ignorant shit articles like this one promote. By presenting tenuous reasoning and shaky evidence as legitimate science you get people whom honestly think that comments such as “evolution is a THEORY…great!!! so prove it =}.” are logical, well-stated, valid scientific arguments.
Yes, I am angry. Angry that I have to share a planet with stupid fucks like this. They are using my oxygen, water, and food. They are walking around with huge brains in their heads which are being used for nothing. These people would function just as well, if not better, with just simple upper spinal cords with a slightly larger than normal nerve cluster at the top. The rest is a waste of valuable protein.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Chris…I read the comments section of that article and all I have to say is “WOW”! There is an amazing amount of ignorance involving basic genetics, evolution, mutation and day to day to life that was vomited forth all over that page.
It’s unfortunate that articles like this…articles that should create some well reasoned interesting discussion…end up being the “holy bible” for people who want to tout their own theory or viewpoint. The article was interesting and though provoking…but it should be read critically and with some basic knowledge of the subject. It’s obvious that was not the case for many of the people commenting!
On another point…I believe that the example of the water flea *IS* an example of Lamarckian evolution as the actions or experiences of the parents had an effect on the offspring. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to whole heartedly accept this viewpoint of inherited characteristics. I just think it means that the whole science of genetics and development of the individual, influenced by both interior and exterior factors, is more complicated than initially believed. I think both Darwin and Lamarck had a few parts of the puzzle…a puzzle to which we are finding and fitting pieces everyday.
January 23rd, 2009 at 6:11 pm
BTW…CKScoop7′s post on “The Invisible Horse” is AMAZING. I loved it!
January 26th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Obvioulsy you haven’t looked at newsweek in a while Chris….otherwise you would have expected nothing less than tabloid journalism. We get it here at work and I occasionaly read it, but most of the stuff is fluff reporting even on serious topics it’s just fluff.
January 28th, 2009 at 11:11 am
I’ll be honest with you, babe, I’m not sure if I’ve seen Newsweek in the last ten years. I just don’t bother with news magazines anymore, because it seems like half of their content is dedicated to celebrity “news,” and I’m just not interested. I don’t need to know who Madonna or Lindsay Lohan is fucking or what crazy ass things Tom Cruise or Mel Gibson are saying this week. For the most part celebrities can go fuck themselves, and so can the news rags that are obsessed with them. If you say Newsweek is a tabloid now I have absolutely no problem believing you. For the most part almost every fucking news broadcast and news magazine I’ve paid attention to in the last few years sound like they were written by some girly gossip columnist from Seventeen magazine.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
I think the term that is used for it now is newsetainmnet or something like that. I think Don Henly’s song “Dirty Laundry” sums it up perfectly.
February 2nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
It’s ok to have a comment.
March 18th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
science fiction bookshop…
This is a great new fantasy sci-fi book……
September 21st, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I find all well-connected low-down at sci-fi-guys.com! Express you bridle
Chris’s note: Hellz to the yeah! We gots ALL the well-connected low-down, bitches.