201

(11 replies, posted in Off Topic)

OK, this is a stab in the dark smile

I finished the third book in my "Saga of Nowy Poland" last month. It's a series about two modern day college kids who find themselves in an unknown fantasy-ish world with the decedents of Poles who left our world around the year 1000 CE. I've deliberately tried NOT to have the story devolve into bringing modern tech into this society, mostly by not having our two heroes know how. They know what is possible, but not how to recreate it. Changes have been minor, if profound (hand washing, canal locks, some political changes). I want to start playing with that, but in a somewhat organic way. Over the weekend I visited the Henry Ford museum, including Greenfield Village. As I was walking from Edison's workshop to the Wright Brother's home, I had an idea: what if the next book was about a Polish Edison? A "Wizard" of Nowy Warsaw? Someone who could take the knowledge of what CAN be done, and using what is around him work toward it? How many centuries of technical development can be skipped just by knowing what is possible?

Damned if I know. Hence, this cry for help. While I can research, dick around, and write around what I don't know (I'm very skilled at that), I'd love to find someone knowledgeable in things mechanical, perhaps chemical, to help. Be my scientific advisor. Payment, at most, will be the adoration of forwarded fan letters and a physical copy of the eventual book. If you're interested, drop me a line. You can find the first three books at http://www.asstr.org/~Invid_Fan/series/a-leader-born/

The article I saw said part of this was in response to people sharing their HBO Go password. Expect that to no longer be possible smile

203

(991 replies, posted in Off Topic)

C-Spin wrote:

Who cares if the characters behave consistently and have believable motivations, they're not real people.

There's a difference between believable and consistently. Doctor who has always had unbelievable science, and has been quite consistent in that. It got so you dreaded the writers discovering some new scientific term, as it would be abused horribly. 70's Who was much like Next Gen Trek in that regard smile

Haven't seen any of the new episodes, but if the Doctor wasn't scared of giant spiders I'll be very disappointed. They killed his third incarnation, after all.

204

(2,068 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Outland is a movie I loved without ever seeing it. Just like with Alien, I discovered Outland through the novelization, which was among the many SF books my older cousin sent me when he was done with them. Alan Dean Foster wrote both adaptations, and reading them together, it seemed like both movies were set in the same universe. You had the same level tech, the same view of space and corporations. I was so excited at the idea that there was this movie universe being created with "unrelated" films. Unfortunately, it turned out that wasn't the case  sad

205

(248 replies, posted in Off Topic)

I feel he should be told about the new movie as if it is a joke. He catches on, you admit you were pulling his leg about the whole thing... only for him to find out later it's true.

206

(8 replies, posted in Off Topic)

paulou wrote:

Are you a bot

His name would be "JimBOT" in that case. I mean, really.

207

(10 replies, posted in Episodes)

Especially if they do/don't want kids popping out.

Kickstarter for video games is, to me at least, interesting. I mean, on the one hand you're helping these games get funding they may need to finish the thing, often for just the cost of the game itself. On the other hand, the idea that pre-ordering games is a horrible thing is catching on, and what's a kickstarter but a very long range pre-order? You never know what you're going to get in the end, and even with games that end up being good rarely do they match what was promised. I may very well back this, but with the expectation there in fact may not be a game at the end.

209

(2 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Depends. My niece, when she was around six, called bullshit on the anime TV series Nadia because the trio of adults who had been chasing her turned out to be good people, and in fact became friends to Nadia. That was NOT how stories worked to her. Evil people were evil, case closed.

210

(10 replies, posted in Episodes)

The idea that the zombies "are us" also comes up at the end of the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, directed by Tom Savini (and surprisingly good). There it refers to the surviving humans acting as mindlessly as the undead.

Romero basically split the creative rights to do sequels to the original film with co-writer John Russo. Romero made his films with the phrase "of the Dead", while Russo used "Living Dead". He did the comedy horror series "Return of the Living Dead."

211

(10 replies, posted in Episodes)

A minor correction as I start listening, which there's a good chance you guys discover later on so this will be pointless. Only the exteriors were done in Florida. All the underground stuff was done outside Pittsburgh, so Brian is right in that those aren't Florida caves. Also, according to the commentary, this is the cut down version of the story. They had planned to have an epic, big budget film, and the script for that is out there, but to get the money they had to deliver an R rated version. To get it unrated, the finance people were only willing to give them around a third of that, so they went with what you see.

212

(991 replies, posted in Off Topic)

C-Spin wrote:

Under the right leadership Capaldi could flourish and outlast Tom Baker, but series 8 is so far from the proper way to do that.

The days of a long running Doctor are probably over. Actors get too demanding the longer they stick around (as we saw from Baker). When Colin Baker was fired it was with the excuse that no Doctor should last more than 3 years (and they counted the year the show was off the air), and we seem to be sticking to that trend. Just be glad the trend is also to limit the reign of show runners.

213

(248 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Trey wrote:

It occurs to me that we have a rare opportunity here.  What scenario should we have ready for when Mike wakes up?

Hang a calendar up from around 2000.

214

(6 replies, posted in Episodes)

You know, Guttenburg's Wiki page has no mention of No Soap, Radio. Someone should fix that smile I looked for episodes on youtube, but could only find two short chips. None had Trey.

215

(248 replies, posted in Off Topic)

bullet3 wrote:

I wanna think he would laugh at the irony of it, a confirmation that the universe doesn't care and wants to kill you.

dorkman

216

(248 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Because I can, I posted links in my blog over on Storiesonline.net. So, with luck that will bring in a few donations. I actually mentioned Dorkman in one of my stories, A Leader Born. It was a fun throwaway bit as we were introduced to a character:

    The second source of her training was a pair of YouTube videos of some guys fighting with light sabers.

    She had watched those two fight over and over. One reason, of course, what that the guy with the glasses was damned cute. He was gay, yes, as she'd found out tracking him down to this movie podcast he did, but she could change that. Shanna had the half-written fanfic to prove it. The other reason she loved those fights was the style. Not so much the actual light saber stuff, but what they did apart from that. The two guys, whenever there was an opening, would punch and kick each other. The idea wasn't to score style points, it was to beat the other guy however possible. Punch them in the kidney, kick them in the knee, whatever. Just win.

    Before the green guy could react to her block of its attack, Shanna kicked her foot out, catching him in the leg. She jumped back.

217

(248 replies, posted in Off Topic)

Damn.

It's a weird thing, when someone you know well yet have never met has something like this happen. They in all honesty are a stranger, yet are a bigger part of your life than many around you. I remember when the co-host of Skepticality had a brain aneurism, having to learn to talk again, or a local DJ hit a deer with his motorcycle. I wish Mike the best. If there are any particular demonic beings we should be sacrificing things to, let us know.

218

(6 replies, posted in Episodes)

I haven't heard of Podcast Pickle in a decade. What it is, or was, is a site for discovering new podcasts. Back in the day, when the iPod was this 5gig Mac-only device and iTunes just a program for ripping mp3's from your CD's, it was hard to learn about these new things called podcasts. Various sites sprung up which gathered info on them, sorted them by genre, and let you browse and search. Podcast Pickle was one of the better ones. Now that you can find them in the iTunes store, there's less of a need.

219

(39 replies, posted in Episodes)

Dorkman was at least familiar with it, if I recall. What you're saying is they shouldn't do the commentary for any adaptation if they haven't read the source material. It's a valid point of view, but it would mean we would have never had the commentary for The Cowboys as none of them had read the book.

220

(39 replies, posted in Episodes)

Then again, as they've said what matters is how it holds up as a movie. That it's an adaptation doesn't matter one whit.

221

(20 replies, posted in Episodes)

I still think that if they ever wanted to do some sort of fundraiser, going through the episodes and editing together a "Story Time With Trey" episode would be a good idea smile

222

(20 replies, posted in Episodes)

I wonder how much of that comes from the creative side. Given it's all work for hire, if you come up with a new, brilliant idea for an attraction, Disney owns it and you see no royalties. Why give them your best stuff? Unless that's not the case.

Regarding animation, Hullabaloo is a crowd funded cel animated project a bunch of Disney animators are putting together.
https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hull … mated-film
Their pitch is they're trying to save cel animation by showing what it can do for a small budget, to get the kids into it. Given most anime is still 2D, I'd say it's not dying. Miyazaki's last film, The Wind Rises, cost $30 million for two hours of animation and looks incredible. Frozen cost $150 million. If you have the artists, you can do a good hand drawn cel animated film for a reasonable amount of money.

223

(20 replies, posted in Episodes)

Tricky Dick. The Tricky Dick song. That's what he meant. No reason for you to listen to the episode, Trey. Just move along...

224

(20 replies, posted in Episodes)

My question was laughed at and dismissed, which was fun smile

This is the first I'm hearing of an Avatar land in Disney World. While I love the idea, every time they do something like this I pull out Walt Disney's original pitch of what that land was going to be used for, and shed a tear for what could have been...

Then I laugh at how it could have crashed and burned spectacularly if they had tried  tongue

https://sites.google.com/site/theoriginalepcot/

225

(44 replies, posted in Episodes)

As a control, listen to a commentary which says the film sucks and see if you then hate the film. It might be you more than this podcast smile

(this is the first test of a new keyboard. So far, sFG*_@@@@+-!)