James Horner 1953-2015

Oscar winner and decades long composer James Horner died Monday when his plane crashed near Santa Barbara. The composer, probably most famous for the score to Titanic, was 61. He probably wasn't world famous but should have been for his music was some of the greatest created in the modern era. His scores include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (whose queues continued to be use for decades after), Avatar, Aliens, A Beautiful Mind, An American Tail, Fields of Dreams, Apollo 13, The Rocketeer, and many more. Some of my favorite music includes his scores including Searching for Bobby Fischer, Glory, Bicentennial Man, and Braveheart. He really was one of Hollywood's great composers and a loss to music in general. Even without you knowing it he probably helped play a strong part into why you enjoyed some of your favorite movies as his beautiful music accompanied a favorite scene. Condolences to his family.

Linkfest - Happy July 4th

Happy July the 4th! This week's link fest remains politics free with links to an amusing Star Wars parody music video, Atari's 40th, Snorkisms, YouTube 301 views, and SDCC schedule.

RIP Andy Griffith
An icon died today as Andy Griffith died at the age of 86. For your parents’ generation he was known as the town sheriff in The Andy Griffith Show. For me, I grew up on him as defense attorney Matlock. His 60+ year long career included movies, specials, radio, and a whole lot more. Condolences to his family.

The Star Wars That I Used To Know
Take the Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know" music video, and some Star Trek fan frustration and here is the result. Pure gold, if only to hear "George Lucas" sings his response to the complaints.

Links of the Day

Fox News' Black Panthers Video Faked by GOP
An investigation into the "New Black Panther" video that Fox News, especially Megyn Kelly, spent months used as "proof" of some grand country wide "voter intimidation" conspiracy has turned out to be a complete fake. The video was actually the creation of GOP attorneys and the full video proves it (at the link). Something that Fox News probably is completely aware of but edited for their narrative of fear. After all the only party historically to engage in tactics to prevent people from voting is the Republican Party. They often support any initiatives that would restrict voting to white Republicans. However, "they do it too!" is a great way to warp the conversation is even there is only one example to hundreds and even if that one example turns out to be a fabrication.

Sony's PSP2, NGP Announcement Video
Hit the link to watch Sony's entire press conference where it announced its Next Generation Portable device as a successor to the PSP. The device is expected to have the near graphic power of the PS2 and probably cost twice as much when released around this Christmas.

John Barry Dead at 77
Oscar-winning composer John Barry died Monday of a heart attack in New York. He won five Oscars over his career for Born Free, The Lion in Winter, Out of Africa, and Dances with Wolves. He also scored almost all of the James Bond films and is responsible for pretty much ever musical queue that makes you think "007". Condolences to his friends and family.

Links of the Week

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen
The now late, great comedian and movie star Leslie Nielsen died Monday from complications with pneumonia. The actor starred in the Airplane, Naked Gun and many other hilarious movies. Thanks for the laughs

Republicans Vote Against Tax Cuts for 98% of the Country
You know that issue that Republicans ran on, claiming fiscal responsibility with tax cuts? The issue that helped give birth to the Tea Party (because frankly they are stupid)? Yeah that one. It turns out; to no surprise (if now historically the GOP has never been fiscally responsible and only care about the rich) none of the GOP and Tea Party elected officials really believes in it. The House passed bill to make the Bush tax cuts for 98% of the country. All but 3 Republicans in the House voted against it. Why? Because the bill didn't include a $700 billion bonus tax cut for the other 2% of the country. A bonus that would go straight to the deficit, therefore not be fiscally responsible. The GOP claims giving tax cuts to the rich helps everyone. I point to the last 10 years when the rich got way richer while everyone else's wages and job security remained static or got worse. For 10 years we already had those Bush tax cuts and all we got was two recessions, stagnant job growth, stagnant wages and $3.5 trillion added to the deficit. How dumb does someone have to be to believe that continuing them will suddenly bring different results? Ten years, $3.5 trillion added to the deficit and what do we have to show for it? Not much? Exactly. So why support giving the rich another $700 billion bonus? So the GOP is on the record for being against tax cuts for 98% of the country. Why in the world did Democrats not try this before the election when those votes might have been used against the GOP?

Links of the Whatever

One of these days I will figure out what direction I want this blog to go in but for now it remains focused on whatever thing that grabs my interest on any particular day. I seem to give good rants on forums, maybe just copy and paste those here :D.

RIP Nate Nielson, Lego Builder Extraordinaire
If you like Legos, especially ships, then the link above is worth checking out. It is the Flickr stream of "nnenn" who sadly died a few weeks ago in a car accident. Over the years he created hundreds of Lego crafts that are so good; it makes you wish that Lego might contact his family to create a line from his creative efforts. (via Gizmodo)

GM's Phony Loan Repayment
You know that commercial from GM where they brag that they paid off their government loans, with interest, five years ahead of schedule? Turns out they are lying. In reality they paid back $6.7 billion of the $52 billion they were loaned. What they claimed to pay back was one of several loans and to do that they used money from one loan to pay off another. Basically what they are doing is the equivalent of you bragging that you are debt free because you used one credit card to pay off another credit card. I guess this is Detroit math at work.

Supreme Court Stuck in 1960s Tech Wise
Considering the new frontier of the law will be based on technology and the internet, it’s particularly disturbing that the US Supreme Court has no meaningful knowledge of current technology. "Chief Justice John Roberts asked what the difference was “between email and a pager?"" I wish I was kidding. Yet these are the people that will decide what is legal or not with digital information. Giant corporations probably did back flips when they heard this.

4 Chords...36 Songs
Amusing bit from Australian comedy team Axis of Awesome as they point out that 4 chords are the fundamental underlying sound of 36 pop songs, many of them familiar hits.



Everybody Draw Mohammed Day
As the recent South Park episode proved, despite two wars and constant threats of killing Muslims, Americans' are still very afraid of them. This extends for showing a "respect" for their messiah that isn't shown for any other religion in the world. One interpretation of Islam law (of which there are thousands) is that Mohammad should never be seen, be it on TV, movies, or in a drawing. South Park theoretically violated this when the story supposedly put Mohammed into a bear costume (yeah apparently proxy use also violates their "law"). This lead to a radical Islamic group to threaten the lives of South Park creators. This caused Comedy Central to bleep the word Mohammed. The outrage over that led to the suggestion of Draw Mohammed Day. As the drawing shows, thanks to the radical Islamics rather wide interpretation drawing anything under the sun and calling it "Mohammed" violates their law, might as well have fun with it. It seems like a good idea to me as there is quite simply nothing anyone, even non-radical Islamics, can do that will satisfy the radicals (except all die of course) then there is no point in playing their game. If doomed to fail and get attacked anyway, might as say screw it and treat them with the same respect (or lack of) that is shown to other religions.

Warner Bros. Signs 20-Film IMAX Deal
I hope you are not tired of IMAX films especially the ones that are really just bigger versions of their regular film counterparts as WB has agreed to release such upcoming titles as Harry Potter 7 Part 1 and 2, The Hobbit Part 1 and 2, Happy Feet, Batman 3, Superman, and more for the screens. I want to be excited but I doubt that most filmmakers will take advantage of the format due to the cost and the reality that it doesn't really convert in any meaningful way to home movie release so hard to convince the studio to foot the bill for the expensive 70mm cameras.

Links of the Day - Video Edition

What You See Isn't Always What You Get - A pretty sweep video that shows off just how extensively green screen is now used on television, often in places wouldn't think even necessary.


Blame It on the Pop Mashup - Very slick mashup of the top 25 songs of 2009 that creates a brand new song that is actually pretty good sounding. Shame radio and MTV is so out now as this should be on their rotation.


Lego Universe Trailer - Look at a cinematic for the upcoming MMORPG that takes place entirely in the Lego world. Details of the game are unknown but if this trailer is accurate, it might just be worth checking out.


How Tough are NES Games? - It turns out the games, even 25 years later, can take a heck of a beating and keep on working. Games today practically break if look at them to hard, once again reminding us that they really don't make things like they use to (more money in replacing things).


Conan O'Brien Refuses Tonight Show Move - Today Conan officially confirmed that he is not willing to move to the midnight time slot to accommodate Jay Leno after his program failed at 10pm. What this means is unknown, I guess depends on the particulars of the various hosts contracts but sounds like Leno will probably be handed The Tonight Show again. Despite Leno's claims of being the victim of NBC's incompetence, he is the one that created this situation to begin with when he refused to retire as promised five years ago. The entire reason for the change was Leno decided to step down. When the time was up he changed his mind but contracts had already been signed. So rather than risk him going to another network and to save money the NBC powers gave him the 10pm slot. That move completely failed, mostly because Leno simply isn't funny. At this point Leno should be the gentlemen and simply take a bow and exit stage left but clearly he refuses to and NBC is enabling his egotistic behavior. It is shameful what is occurring and seriously believe that if a Jay Leno Tonight Show starts airing, a boycott should begin. Not just with viewers refusing to watch but websites, no matter what he does, should not so much as write one sentence about his program. It is time the public stopped putting up with the egos of the filthy rich. Also keep in mind the issue isn't just one fired host; it is also the dozens of staff for the show that will be out of jobs. As for the video portion, click here to watch video of the various night time hosts weighing in on the debacle.

Links of the Day - New Year Edition

Never A Year Like '09 - The creative folks at JibJab have put together a very amusing music video that does a great job of summarizing the year 2009 with its many ups (election of Obama) and downs (economy).

Zelda Reorchestrated - Celebrate the New Year with a Zelda marathon of music and check out this site which created the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time soundtrack. The goal was apparently to take the music from the game and make it sound have if played by an orchestra rather than an electronic creation. Click the link, about halfway down is streaming of 22 classic tracks.

70-Minute "Review" of The Phantom Menace - Click the link for a video that tears the Star Wars movie apart for its many story mistakes, casting mistakes, decisions and more. It is an amusing, strange but very entertaining trashing of a film that to me was written with a tin ear for merchandising rather than trying to tell a story.

Same Old Lang Syne - A classic New Year's themed song from Dan Fogelberg. Have a Happy and safe New Year.

Links of the Day

YouTube Feather - It’s the same YouTube, but now many of the videos have a lightweight page load version that strips away elements of the page to encourage faster load times. This is a solid solution for those with slow internet connections (say 3G), netbooks and the like. It’s actually just great if your one those that watches the video but not into all the social aspects of the site.

$10 USB Power Outlets - In an idea long time coming, a company will start selling power outlets with two usb ports, perfect for those that have lot of things that charge via a USB port (like me).

Look into Music Industry Accounting - At the link is an example of the rather strange accounting practices that occur in the music industry that essentially results in a "poor me" attitude of the studios even though they rarely have that much to complain about. This is especially when take in account that while they complain they are being screwed by pirates, they themselves often screw the artists even more.

Next Gen Netbooks - You might have noticed lots of sales going on with netbooks and the reason is simple - starting in January the next generation of them will begin hitting stores shelves. These new models will have faster chips, more RAM, slightly larger screens and more. At the link is a more detailed look into the specifics of what is coming.

Lego Matrix Reenactment - Creative use of Legos to create the first bullet time sequences from the first movie.


Queen Automatic Mario - A fan made level of Super Mario Bros that follows the beat and pitch of the Queen song "Don't Stop Me Now". Impressive work overall.

Links of the Day

Art of Nicole Brune - Just got back from Las Vegas for a vacation (only lost a few hundred to the tables). As part of that got to see the fantastic art of Nicole Brune, who recently got a contract with Spencer's for a line of Alice in Wonderland posters (with a sexy twist of course). I was lucky enough to talk to the stunningly beautiful and sweet Nicole who revealed a geek side with familiarity with Transformers, comics (she is a Marvel girl) and more. Sadly married but that didn't stop me from taking a photo of her, shortly thereafter my iPhone broke (dropped) and the picture lost ($200 flushed) to my great irritation. Click the link above for a look at her efforts (more here). To see why she will be the most memorable part of the trip, hit her bio link or do a Google for her modeling name Nikki Christian. If you like sexy pin-up art, be sure to check her out.

Why Different Power Plugs for Different Countries - Click the link for a straight forward explanation on why it seems nearly every country in the world has its own standard on power plugs (therefore requiring adapters for travelers). It essentially comes down to no real attempt at creating a worldwide standard (such ideas didn't exist nor really necessary then) when the power grid was being built and the high cost to introduce it now.

Lego Bone Dragon - Not sure how it was built, but it looks great. This Lego Bone Dragon would make a great store style set, maybe even a new line. Click the link for more pictures.

Steven Tyler Quit Aerosmith - After ending their latest concert tour, it appears that lead singer of the group has quit. At least that is what the group's guitarist Joe Perry is saying. I assume this means the group is defunct again until the inevitable reunion 5-10 years from now. Considering the band hasn't really produced anything new in quite a while, it doesn't seem like the lost to the music world that it might have been a decade or so ago.

Bizarre Scientology Conversation - Video of a really a conversation with a Scientologist. Notice the strange use of English, odd sentence structure, the constant inability to answer simple direct questions, and constant unnecessary personal attacks. This style of deflecting is actually taught (for a fee of course) and encouraged by the cult. Pay special note is the comment about hitting his wife. Another favorite is "why did you kill your baby" and other made up accusations to get the questioner to back down.


SNL's Fox Skit - Amusing bit from this week's SNL that makes fun of Fox's coverage of their recent election coverage that took minor events (election of two governors) and turned it into something akin to a presidential election. The best part is the spot on nail of the crazy that is Glenn Beck.

Links of the Day

Olivia Munn, Playboy Cover Girl - The gorgeous and hilarious Olivia Munn is on the cover of Playboy. Amazingly enough she managed to do that by not being an A-list star nor appearing nude in the magazine (sadly) as she refused to do that.

Pixar Grants Girl's Dying Wish - A girl on her deathbed wanted to see Pixar's Up before dying but unable to get to the theatre to do so. When informed of her plight, the company flew an employee to her bed with a DVD copy of the movie for her to watch (but she couldn't as too much pain so had to go with descriptions instead). Seven hours later she died.

Georgia Theatre Burns - A 19th century theatre near the University of Georgia campus has essentially burned to the ground. The theatre, actually a bit of a dump, was the center of the Athens music scene that gave rise to REM, B-52s and the Indigo Girls. The assumption is they will rebuild but I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't bother unless one of those bands stepped in to pay for it.

Starcraft Battle Report III - A new battle report that shows off the game play elements of the upcoming sequel to Starcraft.


God of War III Gameplay Footage - Thirteen minutes of God of War III for the PS3 that will be released next year. This game might just be enough to get me to finally get a PS3.

Video Games - E3 2009 - G4 Web Exclusive

Movies Trailers and Other Junk

Da Vinci Code Sequel Sidekick - The lovely Ayelet Zurer, recently Munich and Vantage Point, has been cast as the female lead in Angels and Demons. The movie is a sequel of the Da Vinci Code. Book order wise it was the prequel.

Three Iron Man TV Spots - Click the link to find three new spots for Iron Man. Like most spots of this nature, its mostly reused footage from the trailers with milliseconds of new. Also, the release date of the movie has been moved to May 1st, usually around 8:00pm.

Second Prince Caspian Trailer - A new trailer for the May 16 release of Prince Caspian.
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian Trailer


The Spirit Teaser Trailer - A teaser trailer for a movie coming out next year called the Spirit. Its based on a comic book series by Will Eisner . Even though the trailer looks like Sin City, the character is actually more like Batman-lite. Usually a teaser makes you curious about movie, this one does nothing for me.

Stargate Continuum Trailer - The trailer for the upcoming direct to DVD release of the second Stargate SG-1 movie. I am a fan of the show so will probably get it on day one. Plus I think Amanda Tapping (Samantha Carter) is hot. The DVD comes out July 29th.


From The Earth To The Moon Spider Theme - If you have watched the HBO mini-series that dramatizes the quest for the moon then you know what an excellent series the show is. Sadly the soundtrack release with the DVD sets is pretty bad. On the plus side, thanks to Flying Dreams, I was able to find the score to one of the theme songs for my favorite hour of the series, Spider. The score is by Mason Daring. Click the link to hear it.

RIAA, ABBA, Recession and Battlebots

RIAA Racketeering Lawsuit - A woman in Oregon is attempting to resurrect a class action lawsuit against the RIAA for racketeering the various tactics it is using in the attempt to curtail file sharing. Of significance is this lawsuit could lead to the revealing of the secret data the RIAA uses to justify its actions and lawsuits. Data that up to know has been shielded. Of course the "totals" from that data is occasionally released to the press to help its cause but what, wheres and hows is not and the press usually doesn't have enough sense to ask or question. This lawsuit could be just the first as it turns out an artist group may also sue the RIAA. Despite claiming the fight is to protect the artists, the RIAA has not paid the artists from the more then $400 million in settlement money it’s received over the years.

ABBA Drummer Dead - Ola Brunkert, drummer for the famed group ABBA, has died from apparent home accident. He was found dead on his porch from a cut throat that is believed to have been caused when he fell through a glass portion. Sad day for music fans everywhere.

3/4 American's Think US in Recession - While Bush continues to label the economy as a "slowdown" in an attempt to protect his tax cuts that help his rich brethren, it appears that most American's know what is going on, i.e. that the US is in a recession with multiple months now. The importance of this survey is it means that things could get worse as people start hunkering down and stop spending quite as freely as they have in the past. Disposable income and the williness of Americans to "dispose" of it is the oil that keeps the economic engine churning and with this lack of confidence it could deepen problems. Sadly the Bush admin refuses to respond beyond the usual "make my tax cuts permanent" calls and a Fed rate cut (on a Sunday no less) while not reducing spending. Bush believes that if companies make more money (with fewer taxes) this will "trickle down" to the common worker in the form of re-investment in the business (more jobs) and raises (more disposable income). Of course the companies instead just used the tax cuts to pad the profits, increase value of the stock and pay the upper echelon of the company’s greater bonuses. None of the money "tricked down" as the concept fails to take in account greed. Of course it’s more complicated then that but that is the gist of why one of the economic pillars is falling part.

Battlebots Returns - ESPN and Battlebots will return to TV starting in November. I remember watching the show when it was on TechTV and looking forward to the return of watching robots tear into each other.

End of Music DRM

Sony BMG has agreed to official start selling DRM-free MP3s through Amazon later this month. With this agreement, all of the four major music labels are providing DRM free music for the first time. DRM stands for Digitial Rights Management and basically its what prevent you from playing your music where you want, when you want. DRM-free music means what you buy is now yours to do with as you see fit (except share/sell to others). Hopefully this practice will continue with other digital content.

Dixie Chicks Win Five Grammys

Maybe it "revenge" against Bush and the republican establishment, maybe it was the lack of competition, or maybe it was because the album was that good, but the Dixie Chicks reigned supreme at the 07 Grammy Awards with wins in the biggest Grammy categories of Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year, Country Album of the Year, and Country Performance of the Year for "Not Ready to Make Nice" single and album Taking the Long Way.

These wins came despite the abandonment of the country genre they once ruled over due to comments by Natalie Maines that criticized Bush on the eve of the Iraq War claiming she was ashamed that Bush was from Texas. This kicked off a campaign in country music to basically destroy the careers of the Dixie Chicks with fans and country music radio stations refusing to play their music. An apology days later did little to stop the backlash.

The wins yesterday, especially the two country wins are probably not going over well for the fans of country music as the boycott by fans and radio against the Chicks continue despite and 70%+ of the country not satisfied with the Iraq War and about the same not please with Bush. In effect, the comments Maines had made in 2003 have become the common sentiment for most of the country. As the Chicks pointed out during one of their award wins, they don't really have a genre as country has rejected them and pop/top 10 hasn't made up its mind. The awards will probably help many stations get off the fence on playing their music. So congrats to the Dixie Chicks for standing tall and getting the chance to give a collective finger to all those that tried to destroy them three years ago.