Unimaginative Tripe

I seem to complain a bit about how horrible current entertainment has become. I have done it before so here comes another little bit of ranting.

Fox has a new science-fiction show starting tomorrow that is called Terra Nova. Like in the Lost in Space movie re-make, Earth is about exhausted and only finding a new place will save humanity. Unlike Lost in Space, in Terra Nova the humans are smart enough to invent a time machine. But the humans are not smart enough to colonize other planets. Unless they deal with that problem in the series premier, its pointless to keep watching.

Keeping with the lets rehash something that has already been done, lets talk movies. One would think after Howard Hawk's turned John Campbell's Who Goes There into a gem of a science-fiction/horror movie called The Thing from another World that it could not be topped. But then John Carpenter thought he could and gave us The Thing which really freaked people out. So like I Am Legend/Omega Man got badly trashed by Will Smith's third version, there is a new remake of The Thing coming out. I hold no hope out for it since it takes place in the Arctic, like the original movie, but has the shape-shifting alien from Carpenter's version. I detect no originality to this movie and will give it a pass.

Addendum - How can I forget the movie Real Steel coming out? If it had been called Rockem Sockem Robots it would have given away how unoriginal the movie is.

The Further Adventures of Captain Underpants

Ace over on Ace of Spades has been slogging and blogging on this story the whole long Memorial Day Weekend. Bascially Rep. Weiner has downgraded this malfunction of an eruption from being a hack to a prank, in fact he now wants all the media attention to go away. But it does not look like it will, when the LA Times produces an editorial stating Weiner's story smells fishy Weiner has trouble with a capital T and its not Twitter's fault.

A scandal has hit the mainstream with a few things occur. You get CNN interviewing you about it. O'Reilly says the FBI needs to investigate. And the likes of Amanda Marcotte try to make the innocent woman in Bellingham, WA the predator. And Weiner's wienertweet has gottan all three. To cap this major feat, someone subtitles the bunker scene from a Hitler movie about the scandal. And Weiner has arrived on this front also, behold the result -

About Television

"If television can bend minds and capture imagination while in its present rather primitive stage of development, what of tomorrow? It seems to me necessary that we begin to use today's telecommunications marvels to draw all of humanity together in a free exchange of ideas, art and knowledge ... or its great mind-bending potential will be used by a powerful few to own and manipulate the rest of us."

--- part of a Forward written by Gene Roddenberry January 1975 for the book Star Trek Lives! by Jacqueline Lichtenberg, Sondra Marshak and Joan Winston.

All Mighty Isis

Since Hollywood is on a big comic book kick as of late. With X-Men, IronMan, redo of Batman[again], imminent arrival of Thor, Green Latern[gag that CGI costume], and Captain America on the big screen. And Wonder Woman set to return to TV, hey wait a minute put Diana on the big screen you jerks! I have decided to campaign for one of the lesser known super heros that once graced that wasteland called Saturday morning television - Isis. How about it Hollywood, bring back Isis!

Yesterday Mut posted an obituary of Elizabeth Taylor and her centerpiece movie Cleopatra. Guess this is what allowed me to ferret out most agile the Secret of Isis. And on IMDB there was message board chatter about an Isis movie, but it quickly devovled into ancient Egyptians are black trope. *sigh* Anyone who has actually looked at the painted walls and know the stories of Egypt know such a sweeping generalization is truly simple-minded. Like the 4,000 year old tomb of Ka-Hay or the tenous linkage between Saharan culture and Eyptian culture that I have blogged on. Cultural cross-pollination in that area throughout history is rampant because it's a nexus of migrations.

Niqabs You Say

It seems the funny and irreverent blokes of the immensely popular BBC series Top Gear have found a demographic that is not amused by them. Whilst trying to follow the route of the three wisemen of the Bible, one of their cars got stuck in sand in Syria. As they tried to pull it out, James May, aka Captain Slow, got knocked off his feet by the tow rope. As the blood poured forth, they carted him off to a hospital. Here is where the story gets a bit dodgey as the other two decided to don the niqab to drive. Infidels in disquise, oh my. So after the Boxing Day airing of the episode, guess what happened.

But their choice of attire caused a storm online on Twitter and other discussion sites.
On the Yahoo! forum, someone wrote, 'Death to America', which another, called Rebecca Liberty, said mocking burkas is 'ugly'.
But a user called BussW spoke up for the show and said: 'Why are so many people offended. it's just a piece a clothing. the Burka is not in the Quaran at all. if people are so offended why dont they switch over the TV?'
Some viewers also took to Twitter to blast the burka stunt with one saying: This is probably the worst top gear special. Y the f*** r they wearing burkas!!?’

Naturally the BBC is reviewing the whole mess and has not issued an official statement. I guess the US version won't try this stunt, though they may go the whole nun habit route since that has been done so many times in mockery its passe now.

P.S. I hope Clarkson and company dumped the whole shoddy attire before they got to Israel. Bloke over six feet tall with a pot-belly in a niqab? Even the TSA would be thinking there is something wrong with this picture.

Tribute to Mel Brooks

I laughed, I cried, and I smiled during this. Mel Brooks is just awesome. Glad I stumbled across this. This is from the Kennedy Center. Enjoy.

We're In A Lot of Trouble!

For your viewing pleasure and to think on. From the movie Network, Howard Beale lays out all the problems we are suffering now. Be warned there is language. You will have to go to YouTube direct since embedding is disabled.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFvT_qEZJf8

Amazing this movie came out in 1976. And since the advent of CNN, the amount of time people spend thinking on things before the next gotcha is flashed at them has shrunk. Thanks to TV and the Internet the global village has shrunk so we now think what happens in Jakarta Indonesia is happening right next door. Which has also shaped how we think or not think on things. Thanks to Karagush for ferreting out this gem.

Further Dimutation

As if what I posted previously was not enough, we got some more news. It seems the sitting president is very good at digging a deeper hole for himself while reducing even further the esteem of the office of President of the United States.

President Barry Obama is now scheduled to appear on an episode of the Discovery Channel show Mythbusters. I am mystified how Popular science can call Obama a geek when he flip-flops on ownership of an iPod, though he gave the Queen of England an iPod full of his speeches along with a stack of DVDs to former Prime Minister Brown that were incompatible with Region 2 and PAL.

What is he supposed to test on the episode that will air December 8th? Why Archimedes and his solar powered heat ray. Obama should be comfortable with this, since it requires mirrors.

Star Trek: TOS Red Shirts Montage

If you ever wanted to know how many different ways the Red shirts of Star Trek died, then this video gives a pretty good clue.



Now how many of the episodes can you identify? Come on you Trek fans. And no, do not Google or pull from the bookshelf your copy of Bjo Trimble's Concordance. This is a test of memory, which should be a snap for all the Vulcans out there.

History Channel Info-tainment

This past weekend caught a repeat showing of what was sold as a sensational take on the Mayan Long-Count calendar by visiting a mysterious island. I should have known better as it was short on real information and long on faux-drama. This two hour show is called Apocalypse Island and is supposed to recount the quest of a chap named James Turner.

It seems back in 1996, after coming off two years at the Palenque Mayan site in the Yucatan peninsula, Turner took a break to visit Juan Fernandez Island. After a bruising tumble and a night asleep he wakes to behold what he takes to be a monument to the Mayan sun god with a crouching jaguar behind it. So he spends the next decade plus doing research. So History Channel decides to broadcast his quest. Including way too many minutes getting from Valparaiso, Chile to the island on a small fishing boat. Along the way, they interview such heavyweights in Mayan lore as Whitley Streiber. Turner opines that a Mayan king from Palenque built the monument and his tomb, which has never been found, might be on the island. And then when they reach this monument, they clamber atop it. And thus ends two hours of your life.

Now there are lots of issues with this whole theory that I have not found addressed in Turner's web-site yet. And it seems others also have issues as this History Channel forum bears out. I will give Turner some kudos for logging in there to defend himself.

My largest issue I have with this show is, they never show how the Mayans got from Yucatan, across the Equator, and south to flyspeck islands off Chile that a guy named Selkirk got abandoned on for four years. Which explains why one island is called Alexander Selkirk Island and another is Robinson Crusoe Island. There is evidence or suggestions the Mayans made it to Florida, but no evidence is offered in the show on how the Mayans got to these islands. Unless they hopped a ride on Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki, except Thor left from Peru on the Humbolt current.

The show also pitches this hazardous trip by boat is the first time Turner has returned to these islands since 1996. As Turner's own postings in the History Channel forum shows, he has used the airstrip many times to get back to the islands and his monument. Which shows how deceitful this show is. Again it purports this is Turner's first return visit. And it endangers Turner's basic premise, this is Mayan built for the solar and Venus transits in 2012. If Turner has visited here many times, then why hasn't he taken some random debris samples from the base of his sun-god/crouching jaguar to see if there are signs of humans working the rock. Oh wait, its a UNESCO site these islands. But would it be truly hard to get permission to take a few rocks for study? Its the hummingbird that is endangered. And it seems an American millionaire, Bernard Keiser, easily got permission to search the island for lost pirate gold.

Before I forget, the whole story angle of the island being the burial place of a lost Mayan king from Palenque. How can anyone categorically state that everywhere in Palenque has been explored and no tomb has been found hence this king must be buried elsewhere? It is very strange considering only recently the Valley of the Kings in Egypt surrendered another tomb, KV-63, for study. And before Howard Carter found KV-62, King Tutankhamun, everyone in 1921 thought the valley was fully explored. I have to place this as another example of shoddy reasoning for simple sensationalism.

And again I return to the History Channel forums and Turner's own web-site where he says that what ended up on the screen was not what he wanted. That they dictated what would be shown because they did not want it to be boring. I have to wonder what kind of contract Turner signed that would prevent him from yanking his name from this show if he thought this show was truly bad since what is in the show reflects upon his professional reputation.

So overall, everyone involved in the making of this show come off as shabby and unprofessional. I have to wonder if this is the same crew that gave us Simcha and his Lost Tomb special on the James ossuary. Seems that way.

You Know It's Bad When

the likes of Bill Maher tell President Obama he needs to cut back on the TV appearances.

Gangstabillies

With all the whispers and press releases that are issuing almost every hour from Chicago and Washington DC, I have to ask a question. Who needs West Wing or Soprano re-runs?

We got this fabulous couple from the East Side, aka Chicago, who are moving on up to the big leagues in DC politics. But just when they thought they had moved away from Chicago; guess what, problems from back home arise. That mean ol Mr. Fitzgerald is after all of Jed Obama's relatives like Jethro 'F-bomb' Blago and his lovely wife Patty-Sue who helped the Obama's close a house deal. Jessie 'whut?' Jackson Jr and his wife Sandi are the Obama's ne'er do well kinfolk. Never mind that irascible Rev Wright who just sends shivers down your spine with every thundering sermon. Or Obama's friendly banker Tony 'location location location' Rezko that helped him swing a sweet deal. And how can we forget Rahm 'Mr. 21' Emanuel as Obama's would-be bag-man.

This is a killer TV political/comedy concept that needs to be put on the air. It even has some aw shuck moments like Obama will be on vacation when his faithful mouthpiece will announce the findings of an internal review crucial to Mr. Fitzgerald's crusade. I really need to set the Tivo for this.

The Test Has Come

How can one forget Senator, now Vice President elect, Joe Biden's warning that the Obama administration would be tested within the first six months by some manufactured crisis.

Less than twenty-four hours after President-elect Obama's victory speech before the adoring voters in Chicago, that test has come. It comes as a freezing wind blowing out of Siberia and threatens to shatter all of Obama's aspirations.

President Medvedev of Russia announced today that his country is deploying to the isolated enclave of Kaliningrad short range ballistic missiles. Russia also plans to deploy a jamming system in Kaliningrad to degrade the ballistic missile defense systems the United States is deploying in neighboring Poland and the nearby Czech Republic.

Don't take this personally President-elect Obama, its just Medvedev and Putin sizing you up in the great game of Real Politik. And if you come across as a wimp, expect more provacative actions to emerge from Russia and others who are thusly emboldened. The ball is now in your court, may Divine Providence have mercy upon you and assist you in keeping the United States and its allies safe.

Special Song Dedication

To the one time Saturday Night Live alumni who is trying to become a U.S. Senator, this song is dedicated to you. For your horrible skit depicting Todd Palin as a monster preying upon his own daughters. Frak off!



I hear Woody Allen was not available for comment on this skit.

Upper Class Twits

For Stengel of Time and other journalists who think like he does:

Suffer The Innocent

Before I could adequately comment on this news story, I had to re-acquaint myself with the definition of what makes an essay an essay. Judging by what is presented on this web-site, there is no definition of a fictional essay.

The mother should be taken out to the public square and locked in the stockade for a day while her neighbors throw all their rotten vegetables at her. As for the daughter, good grief where is her real father and not the fictional one that was invented to be killed in Iraq to win free concert tickets to Hannah Montana, four tickets at that. Who was going to use the other tickets or was the mother going to sell them and then pass the winners off as family? Frankly judging by the mother's lack of character and willingness to lie to win the tickets, I bet she would have tried.

The mother had an opportunity to back out gracefully when Club Libby Lu asked for the name of the deceased father. Instead of trying something like this essay is dedicated to all of the fallen in Iraq or actually admitting her daughter's essay was made up of falsehoods, she gave them a name that Club Libby Lu checked with the Department of Defense on and found there had been no soldier killed by that name in Iraq. So instead of being a minor footnote in TV contest fraud history, it is a story being carried by the likes of CNN. So now everyone in the world knows who Priscilla Ceballos is and where she lives.

To Club Libby Lu, kudos for being deliberative in your handling of this matter and for revoking the tickets. Lies with the intent to defraud should never have any reward. Which now means any entry to any essay contest will have to be vetted for truthfulness before any award can be given, all because Priscilla Ceballos decided to "We did whatever we could do to win."

Blink

Well that had to have been one of the more imaginative Dr. Who episodes ever. The episode is called Blink, hence title of this post.

It starts out with an inquisitive young lass named Sally Sparrow who stumbles across a long abandoned house. Imagine her surprise when, after snapping a picture in a room, she peels off some of the wallpaper to eventually reveal 'Beware the weeping angel Sally Sparrow. And Duck. Really Duck. Now Doctor Who 1969.' And then she ducks as a rock goes whizzing over her head to strike the wall. And out in the overgrown garden is seen a statue of a weeping angel who's hands are covering her whole face.

These angels, we learn as the story progresses, are in fact assassins created in the far past who are virtually unbeatable. As long as a living person observes such a creature, the creature freezes into stone. But beware if someone takes their eyes off the angel or even blinks, for like when a boojum strikes, they will find themselves thrown into the past to die while the assassin feeds off the temporal energy.

Unfortunately for Doctor Who and Martha, the angels struck and sent them into the past. So using his wits, a bit of future tense knowledge of Sally Sparrow, and some luck; the Doctor rescues himself and Martha from 1969 while saving Sally Sparrow and defeating the weeping angels before they could pinch his TARDIS and destroy two-thirds of the universe.

I may not be able to look at another statue in the same light ever again as the ending plays on nicely. As I said, this was a bloody good episode.

Star Wars Legacy

I just caught the last 30 minutes of this two hour extravaganza on History Channel. It was amazing. We had the usual allusions to the coal skuttle helmet and Darth Vader. The love of red/black/white between Palpatine and ol'Adolph.

The gamut of names interviewed was interesting. They interviewed Tom Brokaw. Dan Rather. And even Newt Gingrinch. But I think the piece de la resistence was the last politician interviewed, it was none other than House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talking about the power of the people.

Yes, you heard me right. Nancy Pelosi was interviewed. She found time to give this interview for the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars but had no time to give General Petreaus a chance for a face to face meeting.

Saddam's Tribe

Hopefully I am not the only one to be heartily sick of the marketing push Discovery/New York Times is doing for their show on Saddam Hussein and his murderously dysfunctional extended family that airs June 4th.

I am not sure it is deliberate, but from the commercial promoting the show, it seems they have tried to make a Mexican soap-opera version of the Godfather. The sets are artificial, so phony because of the lighting and camera placement they remind me of the sets from Missiles of October. The guy they have playing Saddam looks more like a corpulent Latin gangster than Saddam; whatever happened to Saddam's doubles? But they manage to get a ringer for Uday.

Naturally I do not plan to watch this thing. Shoddy production values. Poor choice in actors. Almost comic in menacing over-bearing as they have Saddam whisper to a small child family is everything juxtaposed with Iraqi soldiers doing a Mexican firing-squad on Saddam's son-in-laws.

Monty Trek

Camelot song set to scenes from the original Star Trek series. Much silly.