I Pity The Fool

Mr T told The Sun Online: "I call all this stuff my resurrection, my second coming. There's a new generation out there and they like me and I'm honoured by that and grateful to God. We are going to start filming Rocky VI soon, with me as Clubber Lang again, and we're also starting work right now on my new show - which is called I Pity The Fool."

A new Mr. T reality show called I Pity The Fool. Guess we shoulda seen that coming.

Coolest Video Games

A website called Family Media Guide has released a list of what might be the coolest current video games. I am glad there are groups out there like this that can help me decide what games I want to buy, and I applaud the Family Media Guide for helping to increase the sales of these awesome games. I have played four of the games on their list, and they are indeed the shit.

Of course, they're not games intended for children, but that's why they're rated "M" and sold only to adults.

Another Romero Zombie Film?

I rented George Romero's Land of the Dead [imdb] recently (I love a good zombie movie). I respect Romero for sticking to the classic, slow-moving, shambling style of zombie, rather than joining in the recent trend of frantic, running (so-called) zombies.

The movie is fair overall, but has some delightfully gruesome scenes and as always, Romero's film comments on today's society. In the film, a group of wealthy humans is protected in a tower in downtown Pittsburgh, while outside the city walls, the world is apparently ruled by the walking dead. The world has changed drastically, but those in the tower try to live their affluent lives as if everything is the same as it ever was (this is an allegory for the behavior of a particular American president, ahem).

Well, joy of joys, I learned today that Land of the Dead has done very well in the overseas and DVD markets, and that there are rumors of another sequel. Woo hoo!

Thanksgiving Hobbits

I finally did it. In the company of the lovely and talented Alex, I watched all three extended version DVDs of the Lord of the Rings movies. The three films' running times of 208 minutes, 223 minutes, and 250 minutes add up to a total of 681 minutes, or 11 hours and 21 minutes of Middle-earth goodness.

I had seen them all before, of course, but never all in a row. We watched FotR on Thursday night, and then Two Towers and RotK on Friday. What a wonderful set of films. The extended versions are so much better than the theatrical cuts, in my opinion. Where the theatrical cuts sometimes seemed hectic and rushed, the smoother pace of the extended versions tells a richer, fuller story, with sub-plots intact. Still no Tom Bombadil or Scouring of the Shire, but what a great translation of Tolkien's work to the screen.

The Nameless Dread

What if the Family Circus were written by H.P. Lovecraft? This series of cartoons has apparently been around for a while, but I've just stumbled across them. This is unspeakably funny.

Update: Apparently they've been taken down, but you can find them here instead:

Crocheted Flying Spaghetti Monster Dildo Cozy

The title says it all, I think. Here's the link.

Bush vs. Door

This series of pics entitled "No Exit Strategy" shows Dubya screwing up the simple act of leaving a room.

Queen of the Damned

A Fark photoshop contest asked , "What would it be like if Anne Rice and Condi Rice switched jobs?" This photo was posted. I didn't even look at all the photos; I just knew I needed to share this one.

Turn left at the light, fool!

Soon you'll be able to get Mr. T's voice in your car's navigation system. Man, that would be the coolest to have Mr. T riding shotgun.

Calling out for more hecklers!

Vice President Dick Cheney was heckled by peace protesters Tuesday as he spoke at the groundbreaking for a public policy center honoring former Senate Majority Leader Howard Baker.

Cheney is an evil war profiteer that should be heckled everywhere he goes.

Photos at Flickr

scott and sage dc 2005 - 84.jpg

I've set up a Flickr account and will be adding photos to it gradually. The first set I've posted includes pics from my trip with Sage to Washington, DC, back in June, 2005.

Babylon 5 script books

One of my favorite TV shows is Babylon 5 [imdb], which told the story of humans and aliens aboard a five-mile-long space station, and which aired from 1994 to 1998. It was planned from the outset by its creator, J. Michael Straczynski (aka "JMS") as a five-year-long "novel for television," with a beginning, middle, and end. For the record, seasons 2 through 4 are my favorites.

There were a few problems that occured in Babylon 5's run. For one, a main character (the commander of the station) departed after the first season, due to the studio's insistence that a more suitable leading man be added to the cast. Another primary character (the station's second in command) departed after the fourth season, due to a breakdown in contract negotiations. Also, after the fourth season, it was unclear whether or not the show would be picked up for its fifth and final season, and as a result, a number of plot threads were resolved at the end of the fourth season, instead of continuing as originally planned into the fifth.

So basically, I have wondered for years how the original five-year plan compared to how the show actually played out. Clearly, the departure of major characters and the uncertainties of possible cancellation led to changes in the master plan, but wouldn't it be cool, I thought, to see that original plan, and see how JMS plotted it all out at the beginning?

Some time ago, JMS announced his intention to publish a set of Babylon 5 scripts, and the publicity for the set indicated that the original 5-year plan would be part of the set of scripts. I was excited to learn about this. Finally, my questions would be answered.

Or would they? Recently the set of script books was announced, and it turns out that the scripts will be released in fourteen volumes, with a special fifteenth volume not available for purchase. If you buy the first 14, you can get the 15th for free. Of course, it's the fifteenth volume that includes the original plot summary that I'm after.

So will I buy the 14 volumes? Ha ha ha, hell no. I imagine that eventually, it will be posted on the Net or up for sale on Ebay. I've waited this long; I can wait a bit longer.

Blue Ball Machine

This fun animation shows a series of little blue balls being put through a big machine of indeterminate purpose, all set to looped Danny Elfman music.

Hidden Hummers

The guy writing this story had heard rumors that Hummer dealerships were having trouble moving their merchandise, with the high gas prices and all, so he and some friends found out where the dealers were hiding all the Hummers that weren't selling. There are pictures of row after row of unsold Hummers, hidden behind a business-as-usual facade.

His last paragraph is great:

The reason that the story of rapidly rising Hummer inventory is so interesting and so amusing, is that America's most ostentatious Sport Utility Vehicle, the Hummer SUV, is a metaphor for America in the world today - overweight, overpriced, inefficient, and unloved.

Don't get me wrong, I love America, but it's time for us to take our deficiencies seriouisly and try to fix them, so that future historians don't write about how the 21st century saw America lose the "Resource Wars."

Dreams

I slept more soundly last night than I have in several nights, and had the most realistic, detailed dreams that I've had in a while. I'm not going to describe them here, because who likes reading about somebody else's dreams, but I tried to write them down, and I think I should get a voice recorder, so that the next time I dream so vividly, I can record it in words more quickly and accurately.

Posting has been sparse here for several days, but I'm still around.