Star Trek Getting the Star Wars Treatment

In time for the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek the Original Series is getting polished by being digitally remastered with new CGI effects. Many of the improvements will include The Enterprise is getting the CGI treatment based off the original model hanging in the Smithsonian Institution in DC, the opening sequence getting spiffed up with depth and dimension, most space shots improved, exterior matte paintings replaced with CGI versions and improved ships, battles and planets.

The television premiere of these changes seem to indicate early September starting with "Balance of Terror." The next batch of episodes will be chosen based on popularity rather then air order but the plan is to convert all 79 episodes.

The full press release from CBS is here.

Winners of 2006 Emmy Awards

NBC aired the 2006 Emmy Awards tonight. No real suprises and except for the opening clip and some amusment from Stephen Colbert and John Stewart, there wasn't much amusement. Really just a by the book award show.

A complaint I have is seeing the one off shows like Oscar Telecast and Barry Manilow being in the same category as the talk shows and late night programs. One is a one time a year event, planned months ahead and the other is cranked out on a daily basis and don't allow for quite the fine tuning. For them to produce gems on a daily bais deserves at least a seperate category but realistically these one-off programs shouldn't be nominated.

Final complaint, quit kissing movie star asses. I get tired of being able to predict a winner not because their television performance was that great but because their movie background gives them a one up. They neither deserve it and doing it cheapens the television medium.

The winners (with my predictions from July):
DRAMA SERIES
"24", FOX (should win)
COMEDY SERIES
"The Office", NBC (was wrong)
MINISERIES
"Elizabeth I", HBO (was wrong)
MADE FOR TELEVISION MOVIE
"The Girl In The Café", HBO (was wrong)
REALITY COMPETITION PROGRAM
"The Amazing Race", CBS (should win)
ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Tony Shalhoub, "Monk" (was wrong)
ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Kiefer Sutherland, "24" (will win)
ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Andre Braugher, "Thief" (didn't call)
ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, "The New Adventures Of Old Christine" (should win)
ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Mariska Hargitay, "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (should win)
ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Helen Mirren, "Elizabeth I" (didn't call)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Jeremy Piven, "Entourage" (was wrong)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Alan Alda, "The West Wing" (was wrong)
SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Jeremy Irons, "Elizabeth I"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Megan Mullally, "Will & Grace"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Blythe Danner, "Huff"
SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A MINISERIES OR MOVIE
Kelly Macdonald, "The Girl In The Café"
GUEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY
Leslie Jordan, "Will & Grace"
GUEST ACTOR IN A DRAMA
Christian Clemenson, "Boston Legal"
GUEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY
Cloris Leachman, "Malcolm In The Middle"
GUEST ACTRESS IN A DRAMA
Patricia Clarkson, "Six Feet Under"
INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE IN A VARIETY OR MUSIC PROGRAM Barry Manilow, "Barry Manilow: Music And Passion"
VARIETY, MUSIC OR COMEDY SERIES
"The Daily Show With Jon Stewart"

One thing learned, I can't predict a thing. I was called the Keifer win and not much else, good thing didn't place bets on this.

Marines to be Involuntarily Recalled

The Marine Corps authorized the recall of thousands of Marines to active duty, whether they want to go or not. The current estimated number is 2500 but it wouldn't surprise me if the number increases. The recall is a result of a shortfall in unit deployments and shortage of volunteers for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Nothing says a war is going well and the troops support like those very same troops having to be forced to go. Its a solid indication of the military rank and file's support waning along with the general public. This may be normal for any war, but almost 4 years in and Iraq doesn't even look close to be calm enough to allow for a organized withdrawal that the Bush Administration keeps claiming can occur.
(source)

Stargate SG-1 Cancelled

The Sci-Fi channel has announced that its decided to no renew Stargate SG-1 for an 11th season but will renew Stargate: Atlantis for its 4th season. This brings to a close the longest running sci-fi show in American television with 215 episodes. Ironically, the show just celebrated its 200 episode this weekend.

The reasons for the cancellation where not indicated but speculation is that MGM, owners of the series, are planning launch a feature film from the series. This has been off on on plans for the series for several years now with speculation for the end of the 7th and 8th seasons before plans fell through. The first half of this final season of Stargate ends in about two weeks before it takes it final bows in January 2007. What form the shows takes after that, only the producers now.

The announcement text can read here.

Nintendo Wii for $170?

The current rumor circulating the internet is that the Nintendo Wii will retail for $170. That is an excellent price point that would probably get all gamers to at least sample the machines, especially in light of the $400 X-Box 360 and $600 PS3. So far the only thing Nintendo has confirmed is a price point of below $250, which basically means anywhere from $.01 to $249.99 in price. Personally I think the price point will either be $199.99 or $249.99, with the higher price being the most likely outcome. Time will tell as the system is planned on being released in November.
(source)

Bush Admits Iraq and 9/11 Not Related

Bush finally just out right admited that Iraq and 9/11 where not related. This is after years of the administration trying to hit at connections with outright saying it. Glad thats cleared up, but doesn't that beg the question of why Iraq instead of say Iran?

BUSH: I square it because imagine a world in which you had Saddam Hussein, who had the capacity to make a weapon of mass destruction, who was paying suiciders to kill innocent life, who had relations with Zarqawi.

You know, I’ve heard this theory about, you know, everything was just fine until we arrived [in Iraq] and — you know, the stir-up-the-hornet’s- nest theory. It just doesn’t hold water, as far as I’m concerned.

The terrorists attacked us and killed 3,000 of our citizens before we started the freedom agenda in the Middle East. They were …

QUESTION: What did Iraqi have to do with that?
BUSH: What did Iraq have to do with what?

QUESTION: The attacks upon the World Trade Center.

BUSH: Nothing. . . . .Except for it’s part of — and nobody’s ever suggested in this administration that Saddam Hussein ordered the attack. Iraq was a — Iraq — the lesson of September the 11th is: Take threats before they fully materialize,

I seem to remember Dick Cheny, Condi and Bush trying link Iraq to 9/11 way back when:

Russert: Do you still believe there is no evidence that Iraq was involved in September 11?

CHENEY: Well, what we now have that’s developed since you and I last talked, Tim, of course, was that report that’s been pretty well confirmed, that he did go to Prague and he did meet with a senior official of the Iraqi intelligence service in Czechoslovakia last April, several months before the attack

- from CrooksAndLiars.com

RIAA Going After Dead Defendants Heirs

Out of "kindness" the RIAA files a motion to give the heirs of Larry Scantlebury 60 days to grieve before they continue legal action against the now dead defendant for illegally downloading music. I guess they want to continue to make an example for him having the indencency to die before the RIAA could squeeze their bit from him.

Whether he actually committed a crime can't be proven as the RIAA has a tendency to be wrong when it goes after grandparents who don't own a computer, other dead defendants or little children. So the lawsuit, in an of itself, indicates nothing due to the RIAA's horrible track record.

Sadly a court of law will probably side on whatever the RIAA chooses to do. This despite the fact that the RIAA can't even prove actual harm was done by the defendant himself. Most of the "harm" they indicate is more wide scale in the sense of lost record sales, not what one individual might have done as I doubt one individual could have harmed an entire industry. If only where that easy, I think the RIAA would have ceased to exist a while back. On the other hand, you have Ken Lay of Enron. With his death, its assumed that his illegally gotten gains can be fully enjoyed by his heirs. Pretty much untouchable, even though actually harm can be proven as a direct result of this person's action. From a law perspective, two similar cases yet two difference courses.

Now many believe this action is necessary. Must make examples of the "bad" guys. We hear on the news all the time about the billions lost due to piracy both online and real world. For software the claim is $29 billion, music $4.5B, movie industry its $6.1 billion. Something must be done, right?

However, there is the problem with how the media reports these figures. Namely what is the motive behind the reports and where did the numbers come from? Those are just two of many questions that should be automatic for these kinds of statistics based surveys.

For all the above examples, the impacted industry paid for the surveys to be done. Therefore its in the best interest of the survey company to produce results their customer expects if they want to continue to get business. You don't get paid X dollars to the customer and report that their entire belief is incorrect. No, report they are not only dead on but its worse then they think. You don't tell your boss he is wrong if you don't have to, he figure out a way to give him what he wants.

Now the numbers. These are big numbers. Where do the dollar amounts come from? For example, the RIAA seem to consider the cost of a CD to be around $18-20. When was the last time people even paid that? If get them at Target, the cost is close to $12, iTunes its $10. What about single sales where the person wants only the one song? Is that taken into account? The same for movies. What is the cost of a DVD to them? $30, $20, $10? A ticket? Is it $5, $10, $15? Those kind of differences could change the final total by billions. What if the number of the initial cost is inflated? Does that mean the $6.1 billion lost is really more like $2billion? Still large but just doesn't quite the same grandeur and therefore the same impact does it.

How do the come up with the number of lost sales? No one even has a handle on how much piracy occurs. So do they assume a million copies that where not sold that would have been if not for piracy?? A billion copies? Or a 100 million less tickets sales? Where do they derive the numbers from? I suspect they pull them at random. Whatever will give the highest yet believable lost in sales for the PR and media machine. On top of that, those numbers assume that if piracy wasn't available, that people 100% of the time would have bought the object through legitimate channels. That means in their minds there is a one to one ratio of sales loss to piracy.

To illustrate, lets assumes 1000 people don't buy the Paris Hilton CD and instead download it illegally (who knows why, but work with me). To the RIAA that is $20 in CD cost times 1000 people not buying = $20,000 in lost sales. 100% of the pirates that would have bought the CD otherwise.

Now, lets pretend for these 1000 potential buyers, the RIAA just really scares them and they decide that illegal tactics are a no go. Will all 1000 go to the store and spend $20 for the CD? Highly unlikely. Lets be generous and say 10% are willing or 100 of the 1000, that means they really only would have only had $2000 in sales.

Of course who really pays $20 for CDs anymore? Since the people are savvy enough to download illegally they are savvy enough to go to Target or iTunes, so really those 100 real world buyers (rather then the RIAA's imaginary 1000 buyers) only would have spent $1000 dollars to buy Paris Hilton's CD. $1000 dollars in lost sales just doesn't read as sexy as $20000 in lost sales does it? Now multiple my hypothetical by about a million and you get an idea about how easy it is to come up with the hypothetical billions that the entertainment industry uses.

When it comes to statistics and reports, don't just take the numbers at face value. To evaluate the legitimacy of the number you first have to know where they came from and also what is the motive of the company compiling the report. These are questions the media should ask and doesn't. Probably out of practice as the media has become more regurgitator and less reporter and searchers for truth.

Lieberman, McKinney Defeated in Primary Run-Offs

Over in Georgia, Democrat Representative Cynthia McKinney was handed a sound defeat by opponent Hank Johnson. The theory is the loss came about because of her antics and behavior including the recent capital hill tussle. I say its because she has proven to be so ineffectual a Representative. She may have gone to Washington DC, but she didn't do a whole hell of a lot other then make noise while over there. Actions speak louder the rhetoric. McKinney needs to tuck tail and never disgrace another public position again. She is the example of what we don't want in our leaders. Lets not make that mistake anymore.

Speaking of mistakes, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman was defeated yesterday in a primary run-off. After a tense battle against Ned Lamont, Lieberman has decided to run for office as an Independent in an effort to hold his office. Usually when someone loses the primary, they have enough sense to bow graciously and accept the loss, knowing its a sign that those the represent clearly no longer require their services.

Joe Lieberman apparently doesn't believe in the will of the people. He only believes the will of himself. He pretends to couch it in terms of doing it for the good of state, country and party. However the state has clearly said no thanks, the party has begged him to step down, and the country already chose not to elect him as Vice President back in 2000. The message is clear, the people don't want Joe Lieberman and the only one he isn't listening is Joe who clearly and desperately wants to hold onto the power and prestige (plus kickbacks etc) that he has grown accustomed to.

The sad fact though is that thanks to his antics, he could help turn the tide for the Republicans. How often does a Democrat candidate get a call from Karl Rove and President Bush after they lose? Well Joe did. It seems that Republicans are in fact quite pleased at his bid for a seat as an Independent. The conventional wisdom is that he will split the Democrats' votes allowing for a cakewalk to office for the Republican choice, whoever that is. On top of that, the Republicans can use Lieberman as the poster child for how much dissent there is within the Democrat party. Why this is bad I don't know since the unified Republican "whatever Bush says" Party hasn't exactly done wonders for this country.

I propose that the Republicans are wrong. Joe "Rate and Censor" Lieberman in fact will split the votes of both parties. He has clearly identified himself with Republicans on many issues these last few years. It has been suggested that Karl Rove has even offered assistance to Lieberman in his reelection campaign. In addition, senior GOP officials have suggested that they going to encourage Republican members to support Joe. Take a second for that to sink in.

The Republicans are so convinced of their man, Democrat Senator Joe Lieberman, the architect of the Bush Administration campaign and other officials are going to support his Independent bid for office. This despite already having their own candidate. That is the entire story, even Republicans think Lieberman is a Republican.

Despite this, there are probably many in the electorate that just find things like this just so confusing. This confusion over his party affiliation will only hurt the parties, the question is really how much. Joe thinks enough to get him back into office. I hope he is wrong. The country doesn't need another Bush Yes-Man nor does it need a Senator who has made it clear that he doesn't hold value to the Constitution.

Apple WWDC 2006 - Mac Pro, OS X 10.5

Today Apple had its annual Steve Jobs Keynote/New Stuff Address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). There are lots of links below about the event, but here are the highlights to me.

Mac Pro (standard config: $2499.00)
- The Power Mac is no more. The last bit of Apple hardware has made the conversion to the intel chipset with the introduction of the Mac Pro. A screaming fast machine for the high end graphics developer, user, gamer (except of course no games for the Mac).
- Basic configuration has 2 x 2.66 GHz Dual-core Intel Zeon chipset
- 1 GB RAM
- 250 GB Hard Drive
- NVIDIA GeForce 7300GT, 256MB RAM
- 16 Superdrive (think PC DVD/RW-CD drive)
- Machine is upgraded with 4 harddrive slots for 2 terabytes of data and 16 GB of RAM! I don't think its even possible to do that for current PCs without some extreme customizations.
- Cost to max out the Processor, RAM and data: $12,876.00 (hmm new computer or new card?)

Leopard - OS X 10.5
- Expected release is Spring 2007
- Supports 64-bit applications (without requiring separate version of OS like XP)
- Time Machine - Think traditional backup combined with MS System Restore. Backup computer plus data with ability to restore entire computer or just an individual file from various times frames (probably defined on how often you decide to back up to a drive)
- Space - Basically various "desktops" as you define it, each with the ability to change apps window to window dynamically. Can do same with XP, but have to download a tweak and it doesn't work all the great since its just a throwaway program.
- Updates on Photobooth, Spotlight, Safari, Mail, iChat and improved user support with Braille, voiceover, etc.
- Core Animation - Method to make animation easily.
- Dashcode - Update to Dashboard so that users can make easy personal widgets for themselves including creating widgets around sections of a website such as a comic or other data that may update on a site periodically.

There you go. New Apple high-end computer that is priced competitively with the PC versions and a new update of OS X that will probably compete directly with Windows Vista. No new changes to existing Intel Macs and no new iPod models announced (dang). The Mac Pro on paper sounds like a screaming fast, graphics loving machine. Since I don't do movie designs or other high end graphics stuff, the only thing that matters is how does the machine handles games in both Mac OS and booting in Microsoft XP. Hopefully soon there will be some benchmarks to see how well this machine does compared to other PCs.

Some links of note:
Keynote blow by blow
Mac Pro Hands-On
Mac Pro site
Apple Store link to buy

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and 9/11

While looking at Kevin Smith hilarity, I found some more serious videos, two involving 9/11 and one with the 1992 Barcelona Olympics.

One video that I hadn't seen but is very moving is the return of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart from September 20th 2001. It was the first show since the 9/11. He basically just laid it all out there, coming very close to crying on camera, and really he just tells it how it is. Its a very moving that shows the hope that can be found even during a very dark time.

"The reason I don't despair is because. This attack happened. Its not a dream. But the aftermath of it. The recovery is a dream realized. That is Martin Luther King's dream. Whatever barriers we put up are gone. Even if just momentary. We are judging people not by the color of their skin but the content of their character. ...any fool can blow something up, any fool can destroy, but to to see these guys, these firefighters, these policeman, people from all over the country, literally with buckets, rebuilding, that that thats extraordinary. Thats why we already won. Its light, its democracy, we already won, they can't shut that down."
- Jon Stewart 9/20/01

That video is here.

Another video is something I remember vividly from events around 9/11. This occurred on 9/12 I think, maybe the 13th. Its was really an event of history, a sign of the solidarity, at least briefly, that existed worldwide. For the first time, during the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, a different anthem was played. With scores of American's watching, stuck in the country due to the no-fly order, on orders of the Queen, the Star Spangled Banner was played.

That video is here.

Finally, a video from 1992. I remember this event when watching it "live" on American television. To me, when asks to describe the Olympic spirit, this is what I think of. Its the moment during the Barcelona 1992 Olympics, the 400M semi finals, Derek Redmond of the UK tore a tendon (I think) and could not complete the race. Instead of just being helped across the field, he was determined to finish the race. With the assistance of a stadium cheering him on, and his father at his side, he crossed the finish line. This version is from Japan, the American recording is much better but not online that I am aware of.

The video is here.

Kevin Smith on YouTube

I went to Egotastic earlier and discovered that they had a Q$A video from YouTube where Kevin Smith explains his bit in the process of getting Superman on the screen. Before the current incarnation of Superman Returns, there where several aborted attempted to get it to the screen, one of which is Kevin's. Its worth watching as you get a little insight in just how strange Hollywood can be and why such utter obvious crap seems to make it to big screen. The story involves many execs, a no flights or tights policy for the movie, Sean Penn, and Jon Peters. Truly hilarious.

Even more fun was finding other Q&A videos on YouTube.com from various sessions he has done. I highly recommend going hunting for them as Kevin Smith has a gift in telling stories to an audience. Just go to youtube.com, search for Kevin Smith and check out the videos where the thumbnails tend to have a single color background.

Some videos to check out with Kevin Smith:
On "Superman Reborn"
On Prince
An Evening with Kevin Smith

DeLay Remains on Texas ballot

Tom Delay, corrupted and embattled ex-Senator from Texas, still has a chance for office since 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals ordered Tom DeLay's name remain on the November congressional ballot. The Texas GOP wanted to replace another name on the ballot to fight Democrat nominee Nick Lampson. However, since DeLay retired June 9th, months after he won the March Primary, the judge decided that is name should remain regardless of DeLay's move to Virginia.

Texas GOP chairwomen Tina Benkiser has tried to remove DeLay's name after he moved but the court ruled the move unconstitutional, "Proof of DeLay's present residency may suggest where he will be in the future; however, it does not put the matter beyond dispute or question."

Democrats are pleased with the decision as it may help them gain a seat in Texas and allows them to continue to use DeLay as a whipping boy through the elections. More then likely the Republican Party will appeal the decision, possibly to the Supreme Court, who I believe will overturn the decision. That, however takes time that the GOP don't have with only election day only 4 months away.

(source)

E3 is Dead, Long Live E3 Media Festival

The Entertainment Software Association announced Monday that the gigantic circus of video game fun that is E3 is no more. The are now going to evolve to a more intimate event focused on targeted, personalized meetings and activities." This change was mostly driven by top game makers not liking the millions of dollars they spend every year on the event, money they feel could be better spent elsewhere (I suspect on executive bonuses).

The complaints are valid. E3 is an enormous affair of lots of noise and fanfare. Products get lost, annoucements quickly forgotten, and the spotlight shifts constantly which can be really annoying if your the big three annoucing the next big thing. Sometimes the gems get lost for this reason. Yet sometimes the gems get discovered for this same reason. The press gets overwhelmed. The goal sometimes failed. Simply put, E3 did become too big. The complaints are valid.

However, this "intimate" affair, at the behest of the big companies, does not seem to be the best solution. They are over correcting the problem, possibly to extinction. Right now, the plans for the new E3, now called E3 Media Festival are up in the air. How will the meetings be handled? How big? Who is invited? Who is not invited? How will the large companies be handled versus the small companies? Will the small companies even get a chance? What impact will this have on sales and the early buzz that E3 generates for games? Will E3 become extinct as a result. Thanks to E3, Nintendo once become king of the console wars in buzz, when before everyone was thinking "wtf is a Wii?!?". Can this kind of turnaround still happen?

It seems the complaints are less about money and more about being stingy. The big companies, Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft, EA, etc, don't want to share the spotlight. They want it all to themselves and with the previous E3 coverage, they often had to share it with everyone, big and small. The playing field, at least for most participants, was mostly level. An example is Spore. Its the little game that could. Just based on a booth and a demo conference, it was the talk of many journalists and blogs. I doubt that sat well with executives. With this new E3, why should the companies even participate? Where is the value?

E3 was a weekend long event like the San Diego Comic Con. They are now taking away what made it such an event. In turn they are taking away why its news. Where is the incentive for media companies to commit resources and personnel to cover the Expo, excuse the Festival? Seems like with this new plan, they can send a few AP reporters, let them file their reports and editors can use them if they want. Must cheaper then sending a report like they use to.

I think the real failure is with ESA and the very complainers they are attempting to appease. They responsible for E3 becoming so unmanageable. They are the ones that started the booth wars and the conference wars. If the big companies had managed their budgets, if ESA had created booth restrictions and guidelines, this situation would never had occurred. Instead they let them run rampant, with it escalating year after year until finally they decided to do what sounds like a poorly thought out reset.

I think E3 is now on its death bed and doesn't even know it. At this point, there is simply no reason for retailers to send their reps, the media to report on it and the big companies to spend time on it when they can all get the same results with a simple press conference for a fraction of the cost.

I guess we will all find in the next few years starting in July 2007 when 5,000 of the invited meet at some Los Angeles hotel to have their "intimate [non-]event".

(source)(pic source)