September 2004

So, I’ve been watching the Star Wars trilogy on DVD and I have a few comments to make. As a person who saw Star Wars as a boy, I feel a certain affinity for the way I first experienced the film. In fact, like many others of my generation, Star Wars was the film that inspired us to get into filmmaking.

After watching it I was struck with some things. First, it looks pretty good for a film shot in 1976. I know that George and company took a lot of time and effort to clean it up. They did a great job. The annoying audio problems that have plagued the film are also far less noticeable this time around. So kudos to Skywalker Sound for that. The film can now be presented in all of its THX enhanced glory.

As someone who has seen the film over a hundred times (I know, I know) I can say for certain exactly where the changes have been made and the film altered to more closely meet George’s “vision”. For the most part, the changes are subtle and provide a broader experience for the film. Wider shots of the Mos Eisley spaceport, for example, give the film a bigger scope than it previously had.

Plus, George is now able to have the Banthas actually move instead of seeing stromtroopers sitting on cardboard cutouts covered with fur in the distance. So that’s pretty cool as well. And many of the other “enhancements” don’t really hurt the film very much and some actually help it so I will leave them alone.

The one that bothers me is the one that bothers many other fans of the film. Yes, I’m talking about the scene where Greedo shoots at Han Solo first. All I can say is WTF is George thinking? This single act completely alters Han Solo’s character for the rest of the film and in the trilogy as a whole. It changes his entire arc. I don’t understand why that was necessary at all. Why do directors feel compelled the mess with their films and change things many years later? Yes Mr. Spielberg, I am talking about you. Walkie Talkies? Come on.

Although, if you look at how Han Solo evolves over the next two films maybe it isn’t hard to understand. By Return of the Jedi, Han has become a bumbling comic foil and really doesn’t have very much to do. Plus, Harrison Ford pretty much phones it in at that point. I’m sure part of the problem is that Han Solo was supposed to die in The Empire Strikes Back.

Harrison Ford had only signed on for two films so they planned to kill Han Solo which is why he is frozen at the end. This scene, of course, is one of Han and Princess Leia’s best as she finally tells him she loves him and he answers “I know”. Classic.

Did the change in Han Solo’s character ruin the DVD version of Star Wars for me? I guess not. Will I get over it? Sure. Besides, I can always watch the “Definitive” collection on Laserdisc anyway so what the hell.

But in the end, the movie is still fantastic. When the star destroyer flew over my head at the beginning I still got a chill. And for the next 90 minutes, I was that boy again. Changes or no changes, I wouldn’t trade that for anything.

Next – The Empire Strikes Back (really, the best of the series, IMHO).

And in other news:

Microsoft announced Monday that it’s going to start charging if you want to use Outlook or Outlook Express to access your Hotmail account. If you’ve ever used Outlook to get your mail you’ll have until spring 2005 to get over it. The rest of you will have to start paying $19.95/year right now. The company says it’s to thwart spammers.

Russians are pirating so many copies of Windows that Microsoft has decided to offer a low cost version to Russians to keep them from piracy, or worse, Linux. Russia is the fifth country to be offered Windows XP Starter Edition, a stripped down version of the operating system. It costs about $36 but the Russkies have to buy it with a new PC – standalone versions are not available. The Business Software Alliance and IDC reported that 97% of all software in the former USSR was stolen.

Virgin is getting into the download music business – choose from any of one million songs for 99¢ – monthly subscriptions are $7.99. Virgin Digital is based on MusicNet but offers a completely rewritten jukebox program. Files are encoded in protected Windows media format.

According to USA Today, a little known branch of the Department of Defense is pointing spy satellites at the US. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is paying particular attention to big events and public gatherings.

May the force be with you.

Not really. No fighting for me, thank you very much. I am currently at work right now in lovely Santa Monica, CA and am watching a progress bar go across the screen. Very exciting, I can tell you. Only 27 minute left. What Joy! What Bliss!

Seriously, I have been giving quite a bit of thought about my moods and ranting of late. It seems like the times have put me off. It feels like all the stupidity and moral decay in the world has had its way with me. Well, I am going to try to not let it get me down or get me too angry.

After all, things are going to be just fine. Especially if we end up with a new President and a new credibility in the eyes of the world. That would be a good thing. Ok, enough of that. Take a look at this. NASA will let you use their cool planetary imaging satellites to check out your house from space.

It’s really cool. Although, I would not try to do it over dial-up or with a computer with a crappy video card. The images are pretty big and pretty complex so only more recent hardware and broadband need apply.

In other news, Microsoft has announced it won’t update Internet Explorer unless you’re using Windows XP. The company said in a statement, “We do not have plans to deliver Windows XP SP2 enhancements for Windows 2000 or other older versions of Windows. The most secure version of Windows today is Windows XP with SP2. We recommend that customers upgrade to XP and SP2 as quickly as possible.”

Well, good for them. I think. With all the problems that plague Windows, I understand them wanting to put all their effort into Windows XP. It’s also another incentive for people to upgrade to XP, which is good for Microsoft. Who stands to benefit? Microsoft, of course.

And, those closed-minded dolts at Sony have finally pulled their collective heads out. In addition to supporting its proprietary ATRAC audio compression, new Sony music players will finally support MP3 files.

If they want to compete with the iPod, this is the right move. I’m still going to use an iPod, however. And you should too. They rock. But kudos to Sony for finally seeing the light.

Finally, a recent survey of web users says nearly half couldn’t go two days without the net without suffering withdrawal symptoms.  The “Internet Deprivation Study” from Yahoo and media group OMD said that respondents felt that they couldn’t function without the net. Participants in the study “experienced withdrawal and feelings of loss, frustration and disconnectedness when cut off from the online world.” They felt helpless, too, apparently having lost the ability to use the phonebook and newspapers to fetch information. They had to pay people $950 just to participate in the study.

I will be testing that research when I go to Mexico next month for my friend Kris’ wedding. 6 days, no internet. How will I ever make it? We’ll see if I do. . . I’m sure the resort has a T1 line somewhere.

Good, only 5 more minutes. Damn progress bar!

Later.

Eddie Adams, famous war photographer, died a few days ago. His photos, including this one:

showed the horrors of war. The Washington Post has the story.

In other news, our latest war in Iraq has claimed the lives of another American hostage and two-dozen others across the country. Again, check out The Washington Post’s story.

Pioneering “Adult” filmmaker Russ Meyer also died in the last few days. Who can forget such classics as “Beyond the Valley of the Dolls” and of course, “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”, one of the great films of all time? If you like chicks who kick ass, which I do. Just look at some of my photographs sometime.

Well, at least the work of Eddie Adams and Russ Meyer will live on so they will be remembered. The people who died in Iraq today and the people who will die in Iraq tomorrow and the next day and the next day, they don’t have that.

Let’s not forget them, even though they aren’t famous. We owe them that much.

Later.

Now, is it any wonder that I always say Macintosh is better than Windows? Take a look at this if you don’t believe me.

Glad I wasn’t on one of those planes. Although, I will be doing some traveling soon. Wish me luck.

Later.

With props to Andrew Sullivan, whom I agree with. John Kerry is getting better at taking the fight to President Bush. Here’s a great example of that from his speech at New York University.

Here’s the best part:

The administration told us we’d be greeted as liberators.  They were wrong.

In fact, the only officials who lost their jobs over Iraq were the ones who told the truth.

That’s a little more like it. Now, if we could just do something about his hair.

Later.

Sorry, can’t help myself. This guy is a complete idiot. How he got his job I just don’t understand.

Please, Mr. Hastert, lower your head in shame and just walk away. Don’t touch anything. Don’t take anything. Just go. Away. Far away. And never, ever, ever come back.

That is all. Hope you all had a great weekend and have a great week. I will be avoiding responsibility as much as possible this week. What else is new, right?

On the bright side however, you gotta love John McCain sometimes. Whatever your politics, he seems like a good guy who tells it like it is. Especially when he agrees with me. Maybe this is the start of a trend? Fingers crossed.

Later.

Here’s what’s up in the tech world of late. Lots of interesting stuff. Good and not so good.

Wal-Mart is taking orders for the new Gameboy. Apparently the Nintendo DS will cost $200 and arrives November 30.

There’s another significant security flaw in Windows that could allow a worm to be hidden inside a JPEG image. The bug is in GDI+ so any application written in Visual Studio or using the .net framework is vulnerable.  Microsoft rates this as a critical vulnerability because a hacker could use it to infect your computer without any action on your part. The company has released a fix for Windows via Windows Update, but you’ll have to update Office and other applications individually. In addition there’s a scanner available that will pinpoint other vulnerable applications.

And, another reason to run Windows Update: the new sdbot or spybot worm uses the same flaws as Sasser and MSBlast to sneak a password stealing program on your computer without user intervention. Updated systems and those behind firewalls are not vulnerable.

And this is really comforting I can tell you: A former credit card help desk employee has plead guilty to selling 30,000 credit card numbers, causing $2.7 million in losses. He faces 14 years in prison and a one million dollar fine.

The British Consumers’ Association is complaining to the government that Apple’s iTunes Music Store is a ripoff.  It costs UK customers about 11 pence more to buy songs than their European cousins (79p vs 120 Euro cents). Apple says blame the British music industry. I blame society.

Slashdot notes that Firefox is gaining on Internet Explorer. According to the latest info, only 57% of their users are using IE.Less than 2 years ago, IE had a 95% lock on the market. Where is my favorite browser of choice, Safari? 11.5%. Not bad considering Firefox works on both Mac and Windows. So that means that 11.5% of the visitors are using a Mac and not only that, a Mac running OSX. Cool.

Lastly, the high tech sector lost 403,300 jobs in the past three years, and according to researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago the market remains bleak. Neat. Glad I don’t work in the tech sector. Oh, wait. . . . Crap.

Later.

I just found this. Thought I would share.

So, bad news for me. The thing I was waiting to hear about isn’t going to happen. Too bad, so sad. They couldn’t really give me a reason it just didn’t work out. Well, their loss. Screw ’em.

In other news, my friend Tony has decided to take a two-week trip through New Mexico and Nevada and is leaving tomorrow. I wish I had the time to go as it seems like fun. He will be taking pictures and visiting some old friends that he hasn’t seen in many years. I guess he too is looking back and wanting to re-connect with people. I hope it works out for him.

I have started to watch some of the new TV shows for the fall season and here is my take so far:

“Joey” – Pretty funny. I like Matt LeBlanc and he has the character down. I will watch it again. However, I don’t think Drea De Matteo has very good comic skills. I feel like she is struggling a bit. It was the pilot so we’ll see how it develops. I’m sure it won’t be the monster hit that “Friends” was but it may have legs.

“Medical Investigations” – Pretty good. I like the lead guy, Neil McDonough (also from the short-lived but great “Boomtown”). I don’t really care for Kelli Williams but I think I can get past it. Their is also the supporting cast of characters who all do a fine job. It’s nice to see Anna Belnap on another show. She was on the wife’s old show “The Handler” so it’s nice to see her again.

“LAX” – Not good. I don’t feel like the people who wrote and produced this show have ever spent much time in LAX. I also have a hard time believing that all the things that happened in the pilot in one day would ever happen in a month (or longer) at the real LAX. Plus, as much as I like Heather Locklear and Blair Underwood I would not want their characters running anything for me, least of all LAX. So, I won’t be giving it another chance probably as it was just not good and their are only so many hours in a day.

However, I realize how shows are made and I also realize that pilots are not always an indicator of how the show will go so I may give it one more chance. I don’t know. I really wasn’t very good and doesn’t really seem to take things like airport security as seriously as it should.

I also watched the season premiere of “Las Vegas” and the season finale of “Six Feet Under”. It’s amazing how two shows can be so different in terms of not only content but in quality. “Six Feet Under” is a well-written, well-acted, poignant and provocative show whereas “Las Vegas” is a 40 minute music video with about as much substance as the air in my favorite basketball. It does have pretty girls, which is always a plus. But little else. Oh, and James Cahn. Who always looks like he ate something that didn’t agree with him.

Oh well, I won’t be tuning in again so no harm done. I didn’t watch the premiere of “Apprentice-2” because really, who cares? Nor did I waste my time with most of the other crap that passes for entertainment these days. I think most of these shown like “Big Brother” or “Extreme Makeover” or “Fear Factor” must be targeted at the so-called “undecided” voters. In other words, at those with below-average smarts.

I say that because how can anyone today be undecided about voting. The upcoming election is probably one of the most important in a long time. We are talking about shaping the future of our county here. Stop watching “Wife Swap” or “Extreme Makeover” or whatever the hell, put down the remote, get off your ass and go vote. And, I would prefer it if you voted for someone other than Bush. Like John F. Kerry for example.

One more thing. I have also been watching two great shows that have great humor but are also quite serious and insightful when it comes to politics and the upcoming election. If you haven’t already, go check out “The Daily Show with John Stewart” and “Real Time with Bill Maher”. Good stuff. You will laugh and you might even learn something too. What could be better than that?

Later.