Archive for March, 2009

On the Battlestar Galactica finale

Monday, March 30th, 2009

The questions I would have liked answered did not get answered. Instead we got some silly quasi-religious themes, complete with angels. The show went out with a whimper instead of a bang. My take on the ending below.

[Spoiler alert]

Finding a habitable planet (a new Earth) with pre-technology natives, the people leave technology behind, fly all the technology into the sun, and help repopulate humanity by blending in with the locals (or not). We then flash-forward 150,000 years, and left with a prophetic warning (complete with a cameo by co-producer Ronald Moore) about the dangers of robots. Then exit with Jimi Hendrix doing “All Along the Watchtower.” The Jimi Hendrix Experience - Electric Ladyland (Remastered) - All Along the Watchtower Maybe more fully channeling the end of The Matrix by playing Rage Against the Machine Rage Against the Machine would have been too much to ask. A little wink with someone keeping some advanced technology around would have been slighly more interesting.

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March Badness

Monday, March 30th, 2009

As I have done for about the last 20 years, I filled out a complete NCAA Tournament bracket. This year, in another attempt to win some money in the office pool. As typical of my picking, I did OK in the first round (24 correct), and turned in an impressive (for me) 14 of the Sweet Sixteen. I even managed to stay respectable with 6 of the last 8. Then the wheels fell off – I only got one of the Final Four entrants, and did not pick the national champion. Coupled with Duke’s embarassing loss (An aside: Karen didn’t stay up to watch that game. She asked me in the morning how it went. I said, “Villanova’s defense was incredible. Like gnats. Or piranhas. Or piranha-gnats.”), I’m not sure which is worse:

  1. Not winning the office pool, or
  2. The insufferably bad puns used as headlines in the Inquirer (can’t find links to the headlines).

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What I’d like in the Battlestar Galactica finale

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

Tomorrow night is the series finale for Battlestar Galactica. I have watched the entire series, even suffering through some of the worst dialogue in the history of television. (I refer to the “frakking” episode, where about every 5th word was some variation of “frak”. I guess they were channeling Deadwood or something.)

There are a few open issues I would like to see resolved. In no particular order:

  • Will Baltar’s treachery (deactivating the planetary defense shields from the miniseries) be revealed to everyone? He destroyed the only video evidence in Season One (I think it was then). But will Six rat him out?
  • What happened to Baltar’s nuclear weapon? He got one to do some of his Cylon testing and it was last seen in the possession of one of the Sixes on a civilian ship.
  • What exactly happened to Starbuck? Was that really her corpse she found?
  • Will Roslin finally friggin’ die? Enough already. Can’t stand the character.

I would have preferred to have seen what happened if the mutiny on Galactica had succeeded. I think it would have been interesting to watch Zarek and Gaeda try to lead while everything is crashing down around them. It likely would have meant the end of the human race, but what the heck.

Lastly, I hope there will be some finality. I don’t want loose ends, with the possibility of a follow-up movie or something. Just end it.

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What I want in an electronic reader

Saturday, March 14th, 2009

Now that Amazon’s Kindle 2 (electric boogaloo) is out, I’ve decided that I don’t like it. It’s not what I would consider to be an ideal electronic reader. I’m looking for the following features, and I’m not buying one until somebody meets these criteria.

  1. Color screen. This is a must. Why? See #2 below.
  2. Standard magazine-size. I read more magazines than books of late, and it would be far easier to carry around a single device that had all my magazines on there. Magazine publishers should be jumping at the idea (like Hearst is; see this Fortune story).
    (more…)

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Why I think the Watchmen movie will suck

Wednesday, March 4th, 2009

First, some preliminaries:

  1. Did I read the graphic novel?  Yes, first in early 1991 and re-read it in late December 2008. So the story is fresh in my mind.
  2. Did I like the graphic novel?  Heck, yes. It is truly a monumental work, both in terms of graphic novels and “regular” novels.

So what’s the problem?

I see a few:

  1. The story itself. It is a very complicated story, on several levels. First, the non-linear nature of the storytelling. It jumps back and forth through time, with little or no explanation of what time period you’re in. It’s not too difficult to figure out while reading it, but may be more difficult on screen. Second, the story is heavy on character development. Their motivations, neuroses, psychoses, etc. are all on display. Character development doesn’t translate well onto screen; at least, not with a $150 million budget and an audience expecting lots of things to blow up (it’s a superhero movie, and that’s what they do: blow stuff up). Third, one storytelling technique used in the graphic novel was a character talking about something while we’re looking at the action happening somewhere else; yet the two relate well (like a third party narrator). Not sure how effective that would be on screen without being confusing.
  2. The characters are unknown. The average person on the street has heard of Batman, Superman, Spider-Man, etc. Not so with these characters. This movie has an appeal to the fan-geek base. Beyond that, it will be a big stretch. I predict a large opening weekend and then a significant drop-off (at least 40%) heading out of weekend #2.
  3. Story changes to suit the screen. The big story change (and I’m trying not to give anything away here) is that the giant squid has been cut out. For the ending of the story, getting rid of the squid isn’t that big of a deal. The problem comes up with the other plot threads around the squid, which are very relevant to the overall story, will also have to be changed. That’s where the problem could come in. Also, the Black Freighter comic within the comic has been left out and is to be added as a special feature on the DVD.
  4. No big-name stars. At least that might draw some casual viewers in.
  5. The director. Zack Snyder is not “visionary”. 300 was a piece of crap.

All that aside, I would still like to see the movie. But my expectations are very low. I hope I’m wrong, and I do hope that it’s good.

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