Month: January 2005

A few weeks ago, I finished FIREFLY, the short lived series, which lasted only 12 episodes, by Buffy’s Joss Whedon.

To be honest, I was impressed at first buy the top notch effects and the scripts.. but the pilot episode really didn’t take any time to explain what was going on. It just assumed eventually that I would catch on.

I remember, actually, feeling a bit like this when I first started Buffy.

The scripts though had that snappy, smart, sometimes tongue in cheek, sometimes heartfelt dialogue I came to expect on Buffy and Angel, the action was amazing, and the characters were interesting and well acted. (The captain is “Caleb” from Buffy’s seventh Season, the 1st officer is “Jasmine” from Angel’s fourth, the ingenue is the ballet dancer from the Ballet episode of Angel.)

The one thing the first episode did do was to establish the “reavers” as terrifying villains without ever showing them.

The concept is this, in a bueareaucratic interplanetary “Alliance” a group of crooks for hire make what money they can pulling small jobs on border worlds. It has a deliberate western feel, with horses , gunfights, cowboys, and a fronteir feel. Still, its a rockin sci-fi show too. By the end of the fourth episode, I was hooked.

QUOTE: From a main character to an interloper on the ship SIMON: Are you alliance?” EARLY: Am I lion? SIMON: What? EARLY: I don’t think of myself as a lion. You might as well, though. I have a mighty roar. SIMON: (Pause) Umm… I said Alliance. EARLY: Oh..(pause) Thats weird

I would reccommend this show to anyone who is either a Whedon, Star trek, or Star Wars fan. It has all the elements I loved from Buffy, it has that 1977 star wars feel (a la tatoinne), and it seems like what Enterprise should have been. (But it has NO aliens).

Unfortunately, the show ends without resolving any of its thickening plot, as it was yanked from the air due to low ratings… but thats not the end of the story.

The good news is that the show is going to live again as a Major Big Screen Motion Picture Event next September. Non-fans have said it is better than seeing Star Wars for the first time. Fans are tripping out.. and it doesn’t even have the effects yet.

So, next September.. look for: SERENITY

Until then, check out Firefly. Its awesome.

You guys should appreciate this. Justin especially.

The Trial of Han Solo

Just a thought for the moment…

There is no “I” in “TEAM”. There is, however, a “ME”.

Delta slashed their fares in half today, more or less setting the ground for fare reduction across the entire air commuter industry. They call their new program “Simplifares”.

I couldn’t get through to Delta’s reservations phone line. Their website was timing out all day. I’m figuring that everyone is calling, trying to get on board at the new low fares.

A shame that I don’t live anywhere near a Delta hub.

Check this out..

Its a brand new picture of the entire cast of all 6 Star Wars films from Vanity Fair. Amazing to see all these people in the same room at the same time.. (Even included people from Episode 3 We Aren’t too familiar with yet.)

Click “Read More” to see the glory..

Here it is..` On order from left to right..

Young Adult Anakin, Young Obi Wan, George Lucas, Padme Amidala, Yoda, Darth Vader, R2D2, C3PO, Mace Windu, Jar Jar Binks, Bail Organa (EP 3), Count Dooku (Darth Tyrannus), Qui Gon Jinn, Childhood Anakin, Shmi Skywalker, Palpatine (Emporor or Senator or Chancellor, or whatever), General Grevious, Lando Calrissian, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker

(Click the image to enlarge to full-size)

AWESOME!!

EDIT by matthew: Changed image scaling to fit in page, made image a link to full-size.

DNA doesn’t lie.

Back in the late 1990’s, I watched the impeachment of President Bill Clinton due to the Monica Lewinsky Scandal with some incredulity. Ultimately, the impeachment was due to perjury and obstruction of justice.

The DNA evidence on Monica Lewinsky’s dress proved to be the key to those charges; were it not for definitive, absolute DNA evidence that the President had behaved improperly, it is unlikely the case could have been proven. It would have been a “he said, she said” situation. But DNA markers were proof positive that, at the very least, Clinton had been in a compromising position with Ms. Lewinsky.

In talking about this subject with relatives later, I submitted that “Bill Clinton was just following in the footsteps of many of the Founding Fathers. Thomas Jefferson had children by his slave, Benjamin Franklin was a well-known philanderer, and there are reasons to suspect other signers of the Declaration of Independence did not adhere to modern-day ‘traditional values’.”

In response, one of my relatives grew very upset at my allegation of infidelity on the part of the Founding Fathers, claiming those men were righteous, God-fearing individuals who did not deserve such horrible allegations levelled against them. He demanded a retraction, which I refused to provide, saying “I’ll look into it later”.

Well, “later” finally arrived. I was researching the origins of the terms “left-wing” and “right-wing” politics. Originally, these terms referred to where people sat in chambers after the French Revolution: members of the ruling aristocracy who favored the monarchy and traditional authority sat on the right, while those who favored democracy and individual liberty sat on the left. They were united in the fact they were wealthy landowners who would probably all today be labelled “right-wingers”.

Sorry for that tangent. Anyway, while researching, I came across a name I know: Fawn Brodie. Brodie is well-known in the LDS Apologist and Post-Mormon communities due to her 1946 biography of Joseph Smith, Jr., entitled “No Man Knows My History”. The book gained wide acceptance amongst many scholars as being the definitive work on Smith, while simultaneously being repudiated by church leadership. Though I’ve not read the book, it’s generally regarded as moderately authoritative, but a somewhat sloppy and unreliable work prone to selective source choice. However, there are several controversial aspects of the book, notably Joseph’s polyamory with several other men’s wives while those men were still living and/or on missions for the church, that have been thoroughly confirmed in the intervening fifty years of research.

Brodie was further known for biographies of other obscure historical figures; due to her choice of little-known individuals, like Smith, her books gained little scholarly inquiry or publicity. No other work of hers caused as much furor as NMKMH until her 1974 publication of Thomas Jefferson: an Intimate History. Her most controversial allegation was that he had carried on an extended affair with Sally Hemings, his slave. Ultimately, it is probably due to Brodie’s work that I had ever heard the rumor I stated as fact before my relatives that forgotten day.

Well, anyway, I finally found it: strong DNA evidence that Jefferson fathered at least one child by Sally Hemings. DNA doesn’t lie, and there is now no doubt that at least one of Hemings’ children was closely related to Jefferson — vindicating Brodie’s work on Jefferson, and her publishing of it despite extreme opposition to sullying the name of a Founder.

As always, there are those who oppose the conclusion. Jefferson traveled extensively and was rarely home for more than a few weeks at a time. Combining DNA evidence with the fact that he was home exactly nine months before the birth of several of Hemings’ children, unless his brother chose those particular times to sneak in some romance with Jefferson’s slave, seems to make it self-evident that he was the father. The 2000 Thomas Jefferson Memorial Foundation report makes this very clear. On the other hand, the Monticello Organization (descendants of Thomas Jefferson) voted in 2002 not to allow Hemings’ descendants into their club, and persuaded the Memorial Foundation to change their statement.

Yeah, I know, I’m six years late on the research, which was performed in 1998 and widely published in 2000. At the time I made the statement, six years ago, it was probably still recent news.

I’m the kid that always thought up the perfect retort for an insult several weeks later.

Just wanted to ring in the New Year by imploring both Uncle DOW and Aunt NASDAQ to make a nice run in 2005.

In the last couple of years, I’ve gotten very into listening to commentaries by cast and crew available on DVD movies.

For the unititiated, commentaries are alternate audio tracks you can select on many DVDs, with the cast or sometimes the director talking during the movie as he/she/they watch it.. talking about what how they did what they did.

So, I thought I might list my top 10 all time favorite commentaries.

10) Braveheart – Realy only because Gibson gets caught up in making the film and sits and watches it in silence soemtimes.. its really lamost like you’re watching it with him.

9) JFK – Mostly because Oliver Stone doesn’t talk about the film at all. He instead tells the inside scoop on info he didn’t put in the film, further enhancing his conspiracy theory.

8) Bubba Ho Tep – There are a number of commentaries here.. but my favorite is Bruce Campbell playing Elvis watching the film.. which stars Bruce Campbell as Elvis. Whats fun is when “Elvis” comments on how Bruce Campbell does as an actor impersonating him.

7) Fight Club – Without breaking the first rule, I can say that the rapport between Ed Norton and Brad Pitt is obvious here, and it makes for an interesting listen. Its been a while, but I think that there is also snippets from Helena Carter sitting by herself that seem a bit out of place.

6) Freddy Got Fingered – The commentary is as funny as the movie, Tom Green fans. Of course, if you thought the movie was abysmal (as many – not me – did), then you will think the commentary is too.

5) Kung Pow: Enter the Fist – The only commentary I know where someone takes a cellphone call during the film and has a conversation. This is just like hanging out with a buddy (Oedekerk, whom I LOVE) and its a good, easy listen.

4) The Evil Dead Trilogy: Sam Raimi (now of Spider Man fame) and the aforementioned Bruce Campbell, soemtimes together, sometimes on seperate tracks, Narrate Evil Dead 1, 2, and Army of Darkness.. and its really very good. They’re charming, and also honest about their feelings on the movie.

NOW.. before my top 3.. others that could have made it into the top 10.. Nightmare on Elm Street 1, Star Trek Generations, The Lion King, Good Will Hunting, The Matrix, The Blair Witch Project, XMEN 1 and 2, and the commentaries on the Buffy and Highlander TV shows.

NOW: THE TOP 3

3) The Star Wars Movies. All 5 have commentary by a number of people. The original trilogy especially has good commentary by Lucas, but also honest and sometimes scathing commentary by Carrie Fisher. If you really want to know these movies, listen to these.. they’re great.

2) The View Askew Films. Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Dogma, and Jay and Silent Bob strike back all have loads of cast members recounting, joking, Jason mewes sleeps through two of them, they;re honest, funny, and almost as good as the movies themselves. The rerelease of Clerks and the Clerks Cartoon also include new, additional Commentaries.

1) Is there any Question? THE LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY – Extended editions. In terms of sheer numbers, each 4 hour movie has 4 commentaries.. but the only really good ones are the Cast and Writers/Director. Still, thats 2 per film.. and that makes 24 hours of excellent, honest, insightful, often funny commentary. Special notice has to be given to Merry And Pippin for being hilarious throughout, and to andy Serkis for participating not only as himself, but as Gollum and Smeagol as well.

THE NEXT COMMENTARIES I WANT TO HEAR… I may have to get the Matrix Trilogy rerelease if only to hear this.. Maybe its a rumor, but I hear they actually got a pair of critics that hated the films and just let them rip them apart as the movies play. Its brave, and, as I was not a Reloaded fan, I want to hear them.

Happy listening!!

Hey, Humbugs. Happy New Year. May you love the stars too fondly to fear the dark, deal with very few jerks, and enjoy prosperity throughout 2005.