Apparently Tina Fey found out from me that Tracy Jordan would act out.
It took about ten minutes of research, but I found out she’s saying “‘Grizz’ and ‘Dot Com,’” not “rizzn.com.” Still, that may account for some of my increased traffic this month.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Elijah Wood – Yo! Numa Numa!
I’ve probably shown most of you this already, but darn it, it always makes me laugh.
Enjoy.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Lest we forget…
In a day and age where 1/4th of the US Population actually does not know what Memorial Day is about, we here at Recomedia and across the entire Rizzn network would like to say thank you to the Brave Men and Women of the United States Armed Forces for all they do to keep our country safe and free.
And to those we have lost. You are not forgotten.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Attack of The Lens Flare…
So a week without posts, bet you are wondering what I've been doing(no you don't). I've been sitting on my ass! But in between those counter-productive spurts of laziness, i took the time to check out Star Trek.
As you can tell, my week was sort of tame…
First on my list of things to talk about. Star Trek. Now admittedly I’m not a Trekkie, so if you are overwhelming retarded for the canon, don't expect me to be your guiding light. I have fond yet somewhat subtle memories of my father getting whatever he could done in time for The Next Generation, watching it gleefully like it was his final frontier friend. But me, I was a Star Wars kid. I like Star Trek however, its just not a lasting imprint.
So when i caught wind that J.J. “cloverfield” Abrams was pulling down a reboot of the franchise, my interest was peaked. Cloverfield was somewhat decent. It had a feeling of Suspense and Crazy Shit that I expected, But alot of the melodrama could have been spared. And a ton of useless dialog. So JJ takes the reigns and drags her in pretty smoothly. If not for Epic Lens Flare…
(SPOILERS LURK BEYOND THIS POINT! BEWARE!)
So the Movie is set pre-Enterprise completion. Apparently that gets built on earth. Iowa is full of alien rednecks and massive towering spires that loom in the distance, and Pre-Teen Kirk is a hotshot snot nose with a penchant for pissing off his Step-Father. We the audience know its a Step-Parent because the opening sequence of the movie shows Kirk’s Bio-Dad getting all sorts of dead at the massive weaponry of movie antagonist Nero.
Nero is a Romulan who fell through a time hole with Old Spock, and then waited for Spock 25 years at the hole in space, so he could steal his time hole stuff and destroy every planet in the federation…..taking his revenge for a serious indiscretion committed against his kind far into the future. It sounds convoluted for a bad guy backstory. But it just sort of works.
That's the thing about this movie, it just sort of works. I keep on trying to focus on rational and plot holes and trying to understand how any of the actual story information works……and i just stop being concerned. It’s Science Fiction, one of those things that doesn't have to rely on factoids and information. It breathes the essence of creativity. You can think and imagine anything and make it come to life. That’s why it works, because its the only medium in which it can work.
Its a fun and action packed romp through the possibilities of imagination. I have no qualms about the progression of story elements, the introductions of characters, or any other random nuance that might leave a hardcore-trek fan teaming with rage. I enjoyed the meet-up between Young Kirk and Old Spock, I enjoyed the random green babe who rooms with Uhura at the Academy, i enjoyed the random paratrooper jump onto a mining platform laser that hung like a ladder from miles in space way down to the atmosphere of a planet. It didn't have to make sense to me. And that's probably what ill take away from it when I'm years older and i recall the films of my youth. I enjoyed it, and i have a sneaking suspicion you will too.
Small outgoing deviation; The kid who plays Chekov, Anton Yelchin, is freaking outstanding and every thing I've seen him in thus far, is cinema gold. If this franchise is reinvigorated by this new Trek, i want him and every other character from the movie back for the second go-around. They are all stand outs, and I'm glad that Karl Urban actually proved me wrong and didn't lose all credibility after being in the Doom movie fighting Zombie Soldier Rock….
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Real-Time Environmental Movie Recreations [Freakin’ Pretty]
I happened to be surfing through my gadgets RSS category today, and caught this post over at DVICE:
A site called Game Artist just announced the winners from their "Scene from a Movie" real-time environment competition. Participants used the Crysis and Unreal engines to recreate a moment from a movie. The results are nothing short of impressive. The winner was a scene from Blade Runner (pictured), which has the added advantage of being a really flashy movie. That's going to be a tough one to beat when you're doing a basement from X-Men 2 (the fourth place winner). Still, you can't argue with the amazing amount of work that obviously went into recreating Blade Runner's dystopian Los Angeles. Click on the image below for a better look.
Two things before I deluge you with images:
- The work is absolutely great – I never knew a real time game engine could produce such beautiful results.
- You should page through the forums, yourself. There were tons of teams working on their entries, and each one did a great job – looking at their output threads on the forums shows you the progress from concept to completion, and gives you a sense of what went into making this.
Now – the images…
Bladerunner:
Hook:
Wolverine:
I Am Legend:
Aliens:
Fifth Element:
Back to the Future (unfinished):
Clerks:
Monday, May 4, 2009
Wolvie proves piracy works
“I make piracy more lucrative! SNICKT!!”
So while i sat here in this chair figuring out new ways to turn cheese into a lucrative biofuel, X-Men Origins: Wolverine made 87 million dollars at the box office this weekend. That’s right, the movie that was released to much fanfare over a month ago on the internet as a leaked workprint copy which was then downloaded by MILLIONS of people……made almost a hundred million in three days.
Never mind that the movie blew chunks, (its currently running a 36% Rotten rating on rottentomatoes.com, being panned and beaten all over the site), the movie itself is proof positive that no piracy in the internet is not about stealing or ripping people off, its about sharing content with people who enjoy something, knowing full well that they will most likely pay for what they are given if they have an option.
I’m starting to think that downloading these days is exactly as it was when i was doing it. Its a passion to grab something new and have an archived copy of it more than it is to steal and never pay for it. I’ve paid for countless cd’s from the bands that i love over the years, bought movies that i love twice or more depending on condition and other standards. I think that pirates these days are more content with having the newest thing more than they are content with stealing and never paying for something. We have giant TV’s, thundering sound systems, and the ability to watch almost anything with the click of a mouse button. Its just a question of when and how…
Let this serve as a reminder. Movies, regardless of their quality, will always make money, no matter how many people download a copy.
Star Trek Official Canon [Too Much Time]
I’ve been watching Star Trek: Voyager as it’s being replayed on Spike. I vaguely remember a few of the final episodes, but I missed most of the last few seasons due to probably many of the same reasons most of you missed it: I just didn’t care at the time.
But earlier this year, I made my way through a thorough re-watching of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space 9.
So when I realized that the re-runs I was watching were only Season Five, and I’d have to wait until Season Seven to see the whole ending, I cheated and looked for some spoilers on the net. I turned to Memory Alpha, the official canon wiki of all things Star Trek.
I started by looking at the final episode of Star Trek Voyager – and of course like millions of Star Trek fans, was sorely disappointed by the contrived ending.
Of course, I ended up spending a lot of time clicking from here to there on the official Star Trek Canon Timeline, at which point, I had to start sharing my discoveries with co-cynic, Sean P. Aune.
Then this chat conversation happened.
rizzn: I've been watching voyager reruns as they come on Spike every week… as it turns out, there's a buttload of them I've missed.
sean: do you hate yourself?
rizzn: well, I want to finally get the full story - i never saw how it ended.
i'm looking at the episode guide - apparently, i'm only in the middle of season 5. I apparently missed the last four seasons entirely.
sean: good point for you to notice how Chakotay became set dressing
rizzn: hehe
sean: I kept expecting an ensign to walk by and dust him
rizzn: did he have a drug problem or something?
couldn't rely on him to show up for shooting?
sean: no, they just really had no clue what to do with his character
rizzn: well, in terms of superpowers relative to star trek's universe, the only thing he has going for him is that tattoo and his meditation. not that stellar.
sean: exactly
rizzn: "hey, I'm chakotay. wanna smoke some electronic peyote?"
[editor’s note: for other related reading, see Chakotay, the walking plot hole.]
sean: they really did think out his limitation. kind of the same with Kim.
"Hello, I'm Lt. Kim, you'll be torturing me this week"
rizzn: well, Kim was an ensign. that was his job.
sean: was he an ensign?
rizzn: just like wil wheaton
sean: I thought he was a Lt, oh well
rizzn: his job was to barely avoid dying. he may have been promoted at some point. but for the majority of it, he was an ensign.
sean: it was an okay series, it just could have been a lot more
sean: I -really- wanted Voyager to look more and more messed up as the series went on. like, pipes sticking out of the walls where they had to rig fixes.
rizzn: I'm reading the summary of the finale. is it just me, or is this BS.
sean: oh it was total BS.
rizzn: did they get cancelled out of the blue or something? seems like a patchwork ending
sean: nope, they knew it was coming?
rizzn: really.
wow.
And they couldn't magically find out how to fix up the warp core to do transwarp in the middle of season 7? I mean seriously. That's shite.
sean: yeppers
32 minutes later..
rizzn: are there any future star trek series in planning you know of?
sean: none
rizzn: or did Enterprise pretty much kill that idea.
sean: blame Archer
rizzn: heh
sean: but no, they're waiting to see how the movie does before they try anything.
rizzn: hrm. hopefully it isn't all remakes from here out.
sean: agreed
rizzn: i will say this, surfing "Memory Alpha" is fun.
sean: heh, yeah, been there a few times
14 minutes later…
rizzn: hah! never knew there was a "memory beta" that included non-canon stuff. wonder if that includes all the porno fanfic
sean: oh good lord.
rizzn: or is that reserved for memory gamma
7 minutes later …
rizzn: btw, yes, it includes fanfic, but only published fanfic, i think.
sean: oh good god
rizzn: i.e. http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Strange_New_Worlds_VII
sean: -shakes head- That's just insane
rizzn: you think that's bad - imagine how bad it's going to be when UGC powered immersive worlds are feasible.
sean: eek!
rizzn: you know that every contributor to those wikia's dreams for that day.sean: oh yeah
rizzn: the irony is, they'll spend most of their time creating holodeck simulations.
sean: more than likely, and I am sure 99.8% of them will involve sex
rizzn: haha, indeed. probably ‘7 of 9’ fantasies, or stuff involving alt.sexy.bald.captains
sean: hehehehe
18 minutes later …
rizzn: ok, i've got to quit
sean: lol
rizzn: i'm reading so far into the future, they're discussing timeline discrepancies in the 31st century
sean: ROFL .. damn those 31st century problems
rizzn: well - the thing is i knew what they were talking about when it was mentioned in the article. What does that say about me?
sean: lol i know the feeling
rizzn: hrm - apparently the timeline stops at the 31st century.
Oh good grief.
Non-canon stuff goes to the year 1,012,260
15 minutes later …
no no.. one more thing, you gotta hear this synopsis.
“In the year 1012260, the crew of the Mega-Federation starship USS UberEnterprise (NCC-1701-∞), under joint command of James T. Kirk and Jean-Luc Picard, after nearly a million years of exploring most of the universe, at long last encounters the Milky Way Galaxy in the Bootes Void, millions of light-years from where it should exist in this time. Most of the crew is happy at this, but Data, who has not left his quarters in five thousand years, has become something of a crazy hermit, and acting as if their mission is useless.”
sean: WTF?
rizzn: haha
sean: the UberEnterprise... god bless geeks. I am going to write a fic that features the MegaNiftySuperDuperEnterprise.
(NCC-1701-∞X2)
rizzn: bwahaha. this is so going into a blog post.
sean: lol
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