Yep, meant to write a little entry about that.

Much as I'd love to see a decent Necroscope on a screen somewhere, the cynic in me suspects it would be more like the film adaptation of F Paul Wilson's The Keep.

Agreed; awesome pun.

I watched that movie and enjoyed it, PNB. The ex-Special Forces guy, with the help of some locals, confronting bands of Orcs coming thru a gate between the worlds and up to no good.

Just the trailer reminds me quite a bit of Bad Taste, a movie made in NZ in the 80s by a young Peter Jackson. Which is also totally worth watching if you can find it over the water there.

Anyhow, that leaves the question about "what the writer/director could do with more money" on the table without any specific answer, just a general impression.

Now that Margret and David Stratton are finishing up at the movie show. Any chance we could get prof Boylan to provide movie reviews? The question is who could possibly play Ying to prof Boylan's Yang, (don't be rude).

Barnesm, I think there is an obvious choice for PNB's co-reviewer and that would be PNB's wife. She would add intellectual weight and probably better jokes :)

My wife hates the movies I like - with the exception of Guardians of the Galaxy. For the most part, she is very happy to let me go and see them alone.

But Barnesy is right: her jokes would be better.

Actually, W made the observation about my wife's superior sense of humour. Sorry about that, W.

Just kidding, PNB. I hope I wasn't out of line. Your posts are often brilliant and amusing, just whenever you have quoted your wife, it's usually a pretty astute and funny observation.

No, no w from b, I've met the inestimable Mrs Boylan. She is a woman of great fortitude, patience, wit and humour. Well, she'd have to be wouldn't she?

But she's a mean drunk.

And she has a knife. She calls it a "shank." I don't question it.

I went into this with the same mindset - but worse because I've read the comics, and the character was awful, a play on "rocky raccoon" and an attempt to play to the youth movement.

Dumb, dumber and dumberer.

Those responsible for this film fixed all that.

"who the f**k is that?" does is rhyme with 'something to pluck'?

It sure as fuck does.

I felt it was the perfect ending. It poked fun at the big marvel post credits bonus scene previewing future movies.

Is it Avengers 2?

Could it be (be still my beating heart) Guardians 2??

No. It was Howard the Duck drinking martinis with the Collector - both trapped in a world they never made.

Yes, but unlike the typical green skinned space babe, this one refuses to succumb to the hero's pelvic sorcery.

"pelvic sorcery"? You have a way with words Paul. I do not say that it is a good way, but it is a way.

Though, in the classic form of the green skinned space babe, it is she who is the pelvic sorcerer.

Actually, that is my wife's only criticism:
"Where was she getting all those hot outfits?"

Greybeard - not my words: hers. Go see the film.

I do have a way with words (I am the bloke who coined the phrase "orgasmic hoodlum sundae") but I wish I could write as well as the team that wrote the screenplay for GotG.

Have Pelvis.

It is comments like this that make the Rhino one of the few people on this mudball I envy.

And hate, just a little bit. Fuck you for making my life feel pedestrian in comparison.

Oh I give it a seven.

I didn't think they we specifically saying the Enterprise was built at Axanar, just that was were the new Heavy Cruiser, which looks a lot like the Constitution Class of which the Enterprise was one. They could build the USS Constitution at Axanar and the Enterprise subsequently built at Earth.

Wikipedia says

To retcon is not the worst thing in the world though the registry clearly shows NCC-1701. If they followed convention then what we should see is NX-1700 of the U.S.S. Constitution. Once it went into service that would change to NCC-1700 followed on by others.

Mild mannered folks are always the most dangerous.

Except that no one is *earning* money doing this. It's high-tech amateur theatre.

I don't see how that is a valid critique. It may be high-tech amateur theatre, but it is really, really good high-tech amateur theatre impossible until very recently.

Nope - had a look & couldn't see it. Who was it?

I recognized it immediately - Rula Lenska, star of stage and screen.

Nice. Somebody put some serious thought into this!

Thought so, but how is that even possible. Look at the production values. It costs money to make. Otherwise they wouldn't be kickstarting it.

It'd be making profit, though a Ferengi would figure out how ;)

The assumptions around that general permission were those that existed prior to the broadcast nature of internet video. When Roddenberry was thinking about it, it was badly dubbed VHS cassettes being handed between fans. As long as no one was making a profit off those cassettes, no one seemed to care.

(Roddenberry gave this sort of general permission even though he created, but did not own, Star Trek)

Today those films can be seen by millions. As long as the don't tick the box where they get revenue ... though I suspect that given that Google still gets revenue ... that the new realities of mass distribution will eventually trigger a recalibration on the part of the owners of these properties.

I guess anyone who does this sort of thing has to do it with the knowledge that should the owners ask for it to be taken down, that they don't have a leg to stand on legally.

The real pity is that you have all these creative and talented people who aren't creating their own new universe and stories, but are instead farting about in the Star Trek universe making high quality fan fiction.

The other pity is the market which exists for this farting around, not being serviced by the mainstream production houses.

Respectfully disagree. This farting around provides the experience needed to transition into mini production houses that will challenge the mainstream production houses - even if it is similar to the death of a thousand cuts. These mini production companies won't produce commercial Trek material, but their advent will result in more general content created by people who know what they are doing. There will always be mega productions. What I want is more inspired, smart, independent stuff.

There are more people who support a middle class (or better) lifestyle as Astronauts than there are people making a middle class lifestyle creating content for YouTube. That should give you an idea of the future of independent production.

You're either insanely successful, or you are faffing about forever in someone's garage. The small independent productions that existed even a few years ago are disappearing. Those are the ones that are necessary to support those "small production houses".

Spielberg talked a bit about it in some of the interviews he gave around Lincoln - that even he had trouble getting funding for a small production that wasn't going to cost much.

I think it was someone talking with Kevin Smith about his film Clerks, which Smith made on a shoestring. This person mentioned that for more than a decade, the average person has had access to high quality production movie making and editing equipment. And even though access to the means of production have been "democratized" - there has been very few breakout high quality independent films. The cheap to make "Clerks" type films have almost disappeared.

(it doesn't help that something like Clerks could be discovered at the video store - whereas today something is likely to be discovered on torrent - which doesn't lead to the original creators getting paid)

I'm talking about TV not film

I've just lost thousands of dollars and seen things no one should see

Spam shields need more powaaahhh!

The spam shields held!

Dino

MickH,

Fkn brilliant idea!

Permission denied.

I agree with JB, you'd hurt yourself with it

Charles Bronson?

You on twitter, Legless?

On the related topic, some might have seen a retweet of Bette Midler's tweet on 4 Apr 2014.

@Bette Midler
@Spotify and @Pandora have made it impossible for songwriters to earn a living:
three months streaming on Pandora, 4,175,149 plays=$114.11.

Which is why I buy all my music at full price.

What Stirling said, per books.

On the other hand, this hypocrite is presently listening to Pharell's Happy on Spotify.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

only ONE thing?

I believe, "Where do they get their funding?" covers my overall concerns.

Wasn't there a line in 'Armageddon' about this? Something about $4000 toilet seats?

I'm still trying to figure out why the rovers had gatling guns in that movie.

In fact, I want to know why Hollywood, when they are at a loss for a plot says, "I know, gatling guns, fuckahs!!!!"

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

Because:

Ever since Richard Gatling's 1861 invention, the rapid-firing rotary gun has had a special place among BFGs. Because it's basically the gun equivalent of a chainsaw, there is an undeniable attraction to a gun which can produce high enough rates of fire to cleanly trim hedges, cut down trees, or, in the case of the GAU-8 Avenger, cut tanks in half. Just imagine what they do to human flesh.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GatlingGood

A pyramid scheme. That explains everything.

No they didn't :( I was thinking that in the MCU they could have really made a Cap cartoon series in the 1960's and have Steve encounter it ansd the theme song, perhaps at the museum exhibit about him LOL

One problem with the mythology versus reality (not helped by historical revisionism) is that many present day history professors avoid matters military like the plague, preferring instead to focus on social history.

Worse, if you try to teach military history in a standard survey course you find that there is considerable resistance to the material because they've been taught over and over and over again that, "War is bad, evil and we don't learn evil things."

So instead we focus on the lives of fishmongers, skirt makers and other unsundry bits of social history.

Or to put it another way, most of the military history I know I've had to acquire on my own through my own research without mentorship.

Anyway, if there is rampant ignorance about Field Marshall Douglas Haig out there (and I confess to skimming the wiki entry on me after I read your post, Steve) it is part in parcel due to what passes for history classes today.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

""War is bad, evil and we don't learn evil thing" so is disease but I don't see calls for doctors to take it from th curriculum in medical schools.

Surely the US with as long a military history as it has, been involved in so many conflicts must have dedicated, professional miltary historians?

Murphy, for a fully-rounded picture of history one probably needs to look at both (as well as others). I think there was a long period (very long: I got some it in my 1980s schooling) when history was taught as military & government only.

Lulu, you'd think but trust me, most of the historians I encountered tend to avoid it in the classroom.

Barnes, yes, we have competent military historians. They generally tend to be in the military though not all of them are. In fact, they tend to be everywhere but in a college classroom teaching their subject matter.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

Damn doesn't that mean that college class rooms are missing a significant chunk of history in their history classes?

Yes.

As I mentioned upthread, there is significant resistance to the topic among students and faculty.

I had an undergrad professor who said, "Nothing important happens during the wars."

Now, maybe he simply didn't like talking about them. I have my topics that I prefer not to talk about. That preference doesn't override actual necessity concerning the coverage of a topic. For instance, I can't skip American Reconstruction in my American History since 1865 course nor can I brush it off with, "Read it out of the book."

Moreover, in survey courses, which is what most college students will take (the mandatory minimum exerting as little effort as possible in order to maintain a passing average) it is impossible to cover every valid topic in detail. So some instructors try different things to compensate.

Personally, I prefer to pick an historical figure who can serve as a focal point for a given period of history, using them as a tour guide to illustrate problems, challenges, potential solutions and conflicts. That option is not always possible with each topic but when it is an option and I use it, students seem to dial into the material better.

Anyway, Captain America was great.

And Carthage must be destroyed!

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

'78 Records.

Posnamo, come no?

Bob, why do you hate America?

Its an impresive techical achievement and will chnage how tech is build in ways we can not even yet imagine.

"Bob, why do you hate America?"

60% jealousy

30% fear

10% other

I was kidding. I never really suspected you of hating America (just Kansas, Arizona and Missippippi).

I don't think I'll ever ask that question in jest again.

Those Kansans did carry out Order Number 11.

I thought that happened in Missouri.

Do you think there was a more immediate and effective way to respond to the Lawrence Massacre?

I just realized we opened the door for a discussion that includes Jayhawkers, Bushwhackers and Redlegs but excludes just about everyone here. I deeply regret doing so. Let's not go there, shall we?

PNB,

1. Yes.

2. No.

3. OK.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

" but excludes just about everyone here" hey I may be ignorant of all the facts, details and issues. Doesn't mean I don't have an opinion on the matter on which I will carry out long, text heavy posting about.

I stand corrected: everybody here but Barnesy.

Speaking of Missouri, I never realised that Kansas City was also known as the "Paris of the Plains".
That does make me wonder what Murph, aka 'Frenchy', has been complaining about all these years. It must be a product of his innate Parisian hauteur.

We're called that because of the proliferation of fountains, many of which often do not work.

As for French food, Aixois is worth a visit.

Respects,

Murph

On the Outer Marches

It's actually Oreganics & Washingtonians* that truly Sh!t me. Their superscillious attitude "we're so clever" "We make boeings" that grates.

*Note: the State, not the Disctrict of Columbia. East coasters are generally more humble, gracious and they have the Smithsonian.

The state of Rhode Island always seems short of fans.

That'd be because it barely qualifies as a Zip code. Whomever granted State-hood must have had an agenda.

I am shocked no one here knows that Kansas City was known as "the Paris of the Plains" due to the availability of inexpensive, but skilled, prostitutes.

A joint project of UCLA and the University of Tennessee has successfully reconnected the spinal cords of four men totally paralyzed from the waist down for 2-4 years.

(They tried the new technique of four men; all four recovered showed about the same response. The program will now be expanded.)

The men have recovered sensation and mobility in the lower limbs, bladder and bowel control, and sexual function.

@ W. It's pretty simple;

1 There is a Maguffin (Spider-bite etc) that sets limits on the degree of superhero-ness, unlike in Magical stories where there is no *logical* limitation of powers.

2 No hobbits, sprites, elves or other punchable little F*kers.

The problem with the superhero genre is not the Maguffin itself but when they are a medium that has been running a continuous story for 70years and you have to keep inventing new ways of using, challanging the character.

Imagine fantasy telling one continuous story for 70years with the same characters and settings at times it would have to dig into the grab bag that DC and Marvel have had to resort to.

Not so big an issue with the movies sinec they can simply choose the best stories and ignore any bits that make things ridiculous/too fantastic.

Actually, no, they weren't. The principle was understood as far back as the Renaissance, and working models were demonstrated in the 1840's. The main problems were stability and a power source with a sufficiently high power-to-weight ratio, which was just engineering.

Seeking Female,

Intelligent, nice, likes good food, honest, good fighter.

I met her when she was a kid but she (probably)won't remember it.

it was too fast for me to catch any oz specific reference. There is a reddit thread devoted to this topic.

Australia & New Zealand

AC/DC
Space travel
Steve Irwin
Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
Tim Tams
Thai Food
Star Wars/Trek
Nirvana (band)
Rocky (Rocky II?)
Troubleman (soundtrack)

You missed "cashed up bogans."