With enhanced special effects

This has been an unusual week. Prayers for people needing help, famous people dying, news stories that I have to share. This entry is a mixture of unrelated topics, but about half of them unintentionally refer to Sci-Fi movies and shows.


Stan Winston dies at 62.

Stan was a special effects master responsible for countless movie experiences, including most recently Iron Man. Many of my favorite movies are because of his work.


The Andromeda Strain

Today were planning to go to Star Wars weekend at Disney World, but a storm rolled in so we stayed home and watched the remake of The Andromeda Strain. This new version was faithful to the original movie for the first half, then moved into this weird "the life form is from the future and intelligent", and this politically correct "farming the ocean is bad and almost killed us" story. Combined with the scene of a car blowing up by shoving a lit rag into a gas tank (in reality, gas tanks just catch fire), and several scientists dropping like flies in the last few minutes it lost my interest.

The research facility and the characters in the original movie were more interesting, and except for two items the older version holds up even today. The first is the old ASR33 teletype that gets jammed by a sliver of paper. I got my start in computers using an ASR33 and seeing them always brings back fond memories for me, but in today's computer world most people cannot relate to it. BTW - a sliver of paper would never jam like that. The second item is declaring that the computer displaying "601" means it's overloaded. That would only be true if the system was created by Microsoft.

It's been done for the original Star Trek series, Star Wars, and Blade Runner; I wonder when old movies like this will just receive minor update tweaks like digitally replacing scenes with a modern computer instead of just remaking the whole movie. A whole industry of rereleasing updated movies in theaters for modern generations could be profitable.


Doctor Who

Dr Who was very riveting because of his meeting someone from his future (I don't want to give it away) and the interplay of that plot line. I confess that I couldn't wait to learn more about her and instead of waiting until next week to watch part II, right after the episode I went to the internet and watched it. Yeah for the BBC showing episodes first.

If you haven't seen it, there is a video on YouTube of Catherine Tate and David Tennant in a comedy sketch together. And if you search, you'll find a episode of "The Weakest Link" with the cast from Doctor Who (including K9)

There was no Battlestar Galactica or Sarah Jane Adventurers this week.


Monsters and Robots

Two exciting things are happening this week at work. The first is that our team will get a backstage tour of the "Monsters Inc Laugh Floor" attraction at the Magic Kingdom. It is going to be fun seeing the technology and talent that goes into producing that experience. The second is that our department gets to take time from work to go see the premiere of "WALL-E". How cool is that!


Candlelight Processional

Is it getting near that time again already? August 1st is sign-up for the 2008 Candlelight Processional Cast Choir. Disney fan sites have already published a preliminary list of celebrity narrators:

• Nov 28-30 John O'Hurley (Seinfeld)
  
• Dec 1-3 Patti LaBelle (Tentative)
  
• Dec 4-6 Brian Stokes Mitchell
  
• Dec 7-9 Virginia Madsen
  
• Dec 10-12 Monique Coleman (High School Musical)
  
• Dec 13-15 <tbd>
  
• Dec 16-18 Chita Rivera
  
• Dec 19-21 Abigail Breslin
  
• Dec 22-24 Steven Curtis Chapman
  
• Dec 25-27 Edward James Olmos (Battlestar galactica)
  
• Dec 28-30 Marlee Matlin
  

No Gary Sinese or Rita Moreno so far :-(


Police reject people with high IQs

Something I've always suspected, and growing up in CT I find it easy to believe.

People with intelligence confront questionable actions or orders. They are less of a blind follower. They are less likely to resort to force. They are more likely to understand technology. They are less likely to accept things people tell them as factual without investigating for themselves. Yeah; you wouldn't want that if your goal was to serve the public and protect their rights and freedom.

And they would be far less likely to intentionally run over citizens


Miscellaneous Items

• The Walt Disney Co. is buying back the Disney Store chain from the Children's Place.
  
• Give Kids The World was very busy Thursday night. The intense rain storm meant all the guests gave up their park plans and came into the cafeteria to dine instead.
  
• I still have not lost the weight I gained on the Phoenix trip.
  
• I have started my 5th year with Disney. I've been in Orlando for 6 years?!
  
• Facebook tweets and RSS feed photos apear to be working for me now.
  
• We are going to visit relatives in Atlanta soon.
  

Syndicated 2008-06-22 06:08:43 (Updated 2008-06-23 04:16:04) from Keith