[there is no movie that is better than 2001]

2001: A Space Odyssey, Alien, Aliens, and The Thing.

Yes I like Sci-Fi a lot and no there is no movie that is better than 2001. Avatar is spectacular but 2001 is still much better.

Well thats certainly a matter of opinion, I know a lot of people who felt that 2001 was a convoluted, pretentious piece of crap  ( I am not one of them )  Its a great movie IMHO but it definately seems to be one of those movies you either love or hate, not a lot of middle ground for that one.


Oh on a separate note, any Western Movie list that doesnt include The Good , the Bad and the Ugly seems a bit lacking to me.

Yeah I remember reading that somewhere, still many promising games have failed to see the light of day so its nice to see a strong sales opening for ME2. 

I have no real problem with the MS points system.  It would be nice if the points had a direct correlation to cash, just to simplify things, and a $1 minimum would be nice as well.  They would still get thier interest free loan but people could put out a bit less at a time that way.  Still things are pretty easy to figure out at 80 points per dollar (US).   

2 million sold in less than a week
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=233156

it was released in Europe just yesterday(Friday)so that number is sure to rise

Wow.    Well done Bioware.

Im thinkin that if there was any doubt that ME3 would get made this has completely stomped it.

Well after a couple of hours the game is looking good.  I have the pc version thru a digital download  (D2D) and had issues with the DLC and the Cereberus network.  Im still not sure if its working correctly.  I wanted to map movement to the arrow keys and for some reason I cant so I guess Im gonna have to get used to WASD all over again.

Speaking of release dates why is that stores can hold these midnite openings, which gets the game to people about 12 hours prior to companies like D2D and Steam who are held fast to "official" release time?  Not that its a big deal to me,  I would be sleeping and working during that time window and wouldnt have time to play it anyways,  Im just curious as to why.

if those are not illegal, I can almost guarantee they will be soon, especially the red/blue combo.... they are pretty sweet looking tho!

Well I am disappointed that this is still over a year away but Id rather they get this thing done right than push it out the door early and incomplete ( Im looking at you STO )  While not many games will have a chance at kicking WoW in the jublies, this game may just have the pedigree.  The fantasy MMO thing is getting tiresome and a future/ space based MMO may be just what we need.    Now just implement some small ship space combat along with the planet based stuff and Ill be ecstatic.

Playing the beta.  I have to say that while the game has potential, it should be months away from release, not weeks.  Ship to ship combat looks like the key focus of the game and it can be fun.  Definitely need to learn shield management.  That is critical to survival.  Away missions seem very basic and not too much fun.  This feels like it will devolve to a "free to play" with microtransactions game in order to survive other wise Im afraid it will go the way of Tabula Rasa.   These of course are impressions based on a very small amount of play time and its possible ( and I hope it happens ) that this game may suprise me and prove to be something special.  We could sure use a future/ space based MMO. The whole fantasy genre has become stagnant.   If this Star Trek thing doesnt work then I vote that the next Space MMO be based on E.E. "Doc" Smiths Lensman series.  Just so I can toss a moon at another planet through a hyper-spatial tube.  

ok heres my problem.  I have ME1 on xbox but I lost my saves due to a RROD issue.  Also I am interested in getting the PC version.  I have a newer computer with very nice graphics. So, should I replay ME1 for the saves transfer or is it really not that important or am I better off just getting the PC version of ME2 and going from scratch? Will I miss alot doing that?

I care!  Unwrapping the present is half the fun of getting the gift.

Ok watched the trailer and for the first time in A Team history, they are going to kill someone... thier audience.  This has crap written all over it.  the A Team was total camp and tounge in cheek humor.  The trailer delivers lines like "I love it when a plan comes together" in full serious drama mode.  The tone is all wrong.  Usually hollywood takes a dramatic series and makes a comedy out of it,  this time it looks like they are taking a comedy and trying to make a drama out of it.  Bad idea.

I tried it last nite and liked the changes.  I always felt that Dominos sauce was basically tomato paste with little flavor.  I can see why some wouldnt like it now though because it is now very flavorful and Im sure some find it overpowering the pizza instead of enhancing it.   BTW  if you didnt know, you can still get Dominos origional sauce on the pizza instead.

Got to love that they listen to the fans too.  There was a point where they introduced 2 new characters, a man and woman con artist team.  Abc recieved a such deluge of hate mail for these 2 new intruders that they did a special episode devoted to eliminating them in an extremely insidious manner.  There was much rejoicing!    I really hope that they do the series justice and end it in style.

Im going to hit the way back machine and mention a few old flicks that are awesome and definately worth watching. 

Arsenic and Old Lace     hilarious flick that everyone should see

Dr Strangelove ( or how I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb )  One of the best movies ever and shows the absolute genius of Peter Sellers which leads me to:

A Shot in the Dark    one of the Pink Panther movies and just plain awesome!

and to jump genres for a second:

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly   it doesnt get any better than this flick!

and since I cant leave without tossing out a Hitchcock flick or two  check out North by Northwest and Frenzy

While the technology today is incredible, they just dont write movies like they used to.

lol  the Last Supper thing has been done tons of times.  Everyone has ripped it off from DaVinci so dont get yer panties in a bunch.  Hes been dead for centuries, Im pretty sure hes no longer offended.   

there is this nice little out for insurance companies.  Its called "you were not driving in a manner that was safe for the current conditions."  You can in fact get a ticket for that, even if you were following all speed limits etc.  Its very subjective and an easy card to play to avoid liability.  In other words I doubt very much pursuing the Apt. complex owner will have a positive yeild.  You can certainly ask your insurance company about the possibility but dont expect it to happen.

I almost hope Moon Bloodgood isnt back.  Its seems almost every series she touches suffers a premature death.  Remember Journeyman and DayBreak?  It did seem that they may have wrapped up her arc this summer though.  Looking forward to its return tho,  its fun escapism done right.

This is one of those movies you must experience at the Imax 3-d theatre.  It was an incredible experience and it definitely raises the bar for CGI entertainment by a quantum leap.  The 3-d effects add ambiance to the film without distracting you.  The movie's plotline is exactly what youve heard but its well done and the visual ride is so effective and realistic you can almost feel like youre there.  As mentioned my others the dust motes, pollen, flaming ash and water were extremely well done.  I was blown away by this movie and will see it again soon.  The only other movies Ive watched more than once in the theatre were the 3 origonal Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade.  Dont buy into the negative backlash that Cameron was getting pre-release, youll only punish yourself for missing this fantastic film they way it was meant to be seen.

It appears doing game voices has become an acceptable paycheck for hollywood stars.  Thats a helluva line up theyve pulled in there.

For the most part I agree with these but there are some exceptions to these things.  For one I felt the reboot of Star Trek was a good idea and the only real hope of reviving the franchise.  So reboots can be OK... sometimes.   Regarding CGI, I think Avatar is going to make us rethink that concept as well.  Unfortunately if its a rousing success, it will certainly spawn a rash of CGI from hell and then that one will apply more than ever.  The rest, yeah  they got those dead on.  I mean really? a film based on Monopoly?  Maybe it will be a comedy and then it can be really annoying!   

Ill have to go with Dustin Hoffman!    Ok of the two  I think DeNiro has the better range.  Its really splitting hairs though as they both have iconic moments.  I went with Bobby by the slimmest of margins

Well now  theres an interesting developement in the NFL.  We have 2 undefeated teams in December.  It is possible that New Orleans and Indianapolis could both meet up in the superbowl as undefeated teams.  This would take place in Miami.  How much fun would that be?  A game between two undefeated teams in the home city of the last undefeated team?  The best part would be knowing those arrogant bastards from the 72 dolphins would have no hope of busting out the champagne this time.  ITs great to have the record and all but its always annoyed me that these guys have the lack of class to publically defame any team that gets close to that record.  I would very much like to see this scenario play out. 

I read on Sci-fi.com that theyve extended the series finale from a 1 hour episode to 2 hours, so there is 11 more "hours" of BSG left in the series  ( disclaimer:  TV hours are actually about 42 mins)

the old lady in A Fish called Wanda as she walks around the concrete block...

"you owe me a p-p-pound!"

Or when KKKKenny  KKkills KKKevin KKKLine!  Awesome scene!

Anyway,  back on topic :    for those who know what a real dessert is I give you Key Lime Pie!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (3 to 4 limes)

Just to clarify...are you using key limes when you make your key lime pie?  Because getting 1/2 cup juice out of 3-4 limes sounds like you're using regular limes.

Sorry I wasnt clear on that.  You use 6-8 "Key" limes but I set the recipe up for common limes as its very difficult to get Key Limes in Michigan.

Very well done BSG!   I thought the whole reveal thing between Tigh and both Adama's was awesome.  The knowledge that his XO and best friend is a cylon and how it may have affected every decision hes made had to be the greatest mind-phuk Adama ever faced.  Tigh was fantastic also, demanding Lee sacrifice him for the good of the fleet and humanity right up to giving up the remaining Cylons.  With every thing Tigh has been though, hes shown to be the most human "person" in the fleet. There has been some loose writing and obvious plot devices throughout this series but the growth and development of Col. Tigh has been incredible.  Major props to the writers how theyve pulled that off! And, Finally after every thing, Lee Adama has grown a set!  He was such a eunich during the whole Lee luvs Starbuck crap that I thought he would never regain his man card but throw him in the pressure cooker of the presidency and proves to be da man!  The nuclear wasteland Earth was actually not a suprise to me.  I figured there was no way they would go with an Earth in today's timeline, too old school BSG.  A future, thriving Earth as mankinds salvation would have been too "deus ex machina"  When they had the big celebration sequence in the fleet, I knew that the had a really mean curveball coming at us and my 1st thought was either nuke wasteland or major skinjob cylon world. Im glad they went with Wasteland.
 I hate Sci-fi and their frakking WTF series scheduling.  What are they gonna do, stretch the "final season" out over 2 years?  I mean seriously, mankind could nuke themselves back to Stonehenge before the rest of this airs and then instead of getting a great series ending we get another frakking self fulfilling prophecy!

Ive vacationed in the Grand Traverse area many times during the summer.  The Cherry festival is great for the nite life.  I dont know much about hiking but I can attest that theres a great pub crawl in Travese City.  The Grand Traverse bay area is absolutely beautiful in the summer and its an awesome area for boating.

Anyway,  back on topic :    for those who know what a real dessert is I give you Key Lime Pie!

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (6-8 "Key Limes" or 3 to 4 common limes)
4 teaspoons grated lime zest
4 egg yolks
1 - 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
11 graham crackers
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
PREP WORK It's easier to remove the lime zest from whole limes so I would start with that. Then I would cut the limes in half and squeeze out the juice being careful not to include any pits.

Process the graham crackers in a food processor or blender and then melt the butter and have it at the ready.

1. Whisk the egg yolks and lime zest together in a bowl until tinted light green. This takes about 2 minutes

2. Beat in milk, then juice and set aside at room temperature till it thickens.

3. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

4. Mix graham cracker crumbs and sugar in another bowl.

5. Add butter and stir with a fork until well blended.

6. Pour this mixture into a 9-inch pie pan and press over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Try using the bottom of a measuring cup to make sure the graham cracker mixture forms a firm crust on the bottom of the pie pan.

7. Bake on the center rack for about 15 minutes until the crust is lightly brown, remove and let cool to room temperature.

8. Pour the lime filling into crust, spread evenly, and then bake for 15 minutes until the center sets, but still wiggles when shaken.

9. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.

10. Refrigerate for at least three hours until well chilled.

Some of you might like to serve it with a whipped cream topping or a meringue topping.  I use whipping cream, whipped to a frosting like consistency, topped with a touch of lime zest.  If the pie seems to be sticking to the pan when serving, try dipping the pan into a bowl of warm water to loosen it.
You can also cut the work down by using a pre-made graham cracker crust but I included the homemade crust for you purists.

edited to clarify lime usage.

Dexter, season 1,

Damn  Im watching that series.   I thought this was movies scene spoilers, not current tv series.  You might want to spoiler tag that one. 

Tattoos on B00bS!!!  Instant marketing success!

Excellent news,  the Overlords are pleased!

ps: thanks for the update Rip!

Come on... nuthing beats Al Pachino's death scene in Scar Face!

I don't doubt this for a minute.  Ive believed refs have been intentionally affecting games outcomes since the Jordan era.  I don't doubt for a minute that the Spurs were doomed this year, especially when the Celtics got past the Pistons.  I love the rationalization that they didn't call the foul on the three pointer because they don't want to affect the games outcome.  What BS, by not calling the obvious foul, they completely affected the outcome of the game.  The NBA (Stern) wanted a Celtics-Lakers finals and I believe there was a mandate to make sure it happened.  They have built the hype up for the series and knew that they would reap untold millions more from this series than any other.  In a world were people are killed for their basketball shoes, I find it easy to believe that the NBA would "alter" games for millions.  I actually find it hard to believe otherwise.  I'm sure Donahey will be labeled as a vengeance seeker and NBA will pile as much dirt on him as they can.  Still, if they can find the smallest amount of evidence or get anyone to cooborate his claims, the NBA will become the new WWE.
 Oh and the ESPN comment that a Lakers-Celtics series is generationally invalid,  thats bull.  ESPN has hyped and spoon fed us this rivalry all season.  Kids all over wear retro Celtics and Lakers jerseys. Today you have two of the games biggest (most hyped) stars, Rapeboy Kobe and Garnett.  The only difference is that in the Magic/Bird era, players actually decided the games.  Watch some of the old basketball games sometime and then tell me todays game is more physical.  Flagrant foul?  Hah!  Pick your pansy ass up off the floor and play, ya sissy!

Dude, that's pathetic.  Do you really think the Spurs lost this year because of the officiating?  Did the officiating really cause Ginobli to disapear?  Why are mistakes on the last call of the game considered so much more significant than mistakes made before half time (Duncan's blatant travel in the lane) or second-to-last play of the game (failing to reset the clock when Fisher's shot came off the rim, which made the Spurs last possession possible)?  Both teams were beating the crap out of each other all game.  Fisher fouled Barry, but a lot of those types of fouls weren't called during the course of the game.

Also, I think Donaghy's specific claim about Game 6 is utter bullshit (completely apart from how good or bad one thinks the officiating was in Game 6).  I don't believe for a second that Bob Delaney, Dick Bavetta or Ted Bernhardt actually said to him that they put a fix in on a game.  Stop for a second and ponder how shockingly, utterly stupid that claim is.  If Dick Bavetta and Bob Delaney were sitting down for coffee and decide to rig Game 6 (apparently for the good of the league, according to Donaghy), do they really call up Donaghy to brag about it?  Do they really, blatantly say they're going make sure the series goes 7?  If one casually brags about that conduct, then one must assume every single series is fixed, since clearly such conduct would be de rigueur for the playoffs and it would be no big deal to brag about comitting a felony.  If you think the fraternaty of basketball refs are actually that crooked, I suggest you stop watching basketball.  I'd never watch the games if I thought they were rigged.  What would be the point?

Well, I wont start with calling you pathetic, an argument can proceed with either venom or class.  Even if I disagree with someone, I choose to respect a persons opinion because thats what it is, an opinion.  Now to answer some of you questions. First off while I dont believe the officiating was the sole reason for the Spurs losing, I certainly believe that it was a contributing factor.  I believe as well that Stern is not above suggesting that the games be reffed in a certain way and I certainly believe that Stern wanted more than anything the Lakers/Celtics matchup.  With teams at this level all it takes is a few "strange" calls or non-calls to change the game.  You ask why calls at the end of a game are more significant that calls early on?  Quite simply because at the end of a game it can completely change the outcome of a game.  If its early, then theres plenty of time to overcome it, late there is no time.  Now regarding Donahey's remarks regarding what was obviously the Lakers/Kings series,  he certainly picked one of the most infamous series altering ref screw ups to point out.  Obviously his remarks are questionable, due to his credibility but his point is valid and he isnt the 1st person to question the state of the NBA's referrees legitimacy.    It isnt suprising that the incidents discussed here both involve the Lakers.  LA is a huge money market for the NBA and the league prospers when the Lakers run late in the post season.  I am sure financially, the league stands to make tens of millions more having a Lakers/Celtics series than a Spurs/Celtics series and big money is one helluva motive for Stern to act on.  Oh and btw,  I quit watching NBA game for the very reasons I stated.  I have friends who are really in to it so I keep up on it with sportscenter but unless Im in a bar with friends Im not watching the NBA.  Now, regarding the whole "what would be the point of watching a rigged game" thing...see wrestling.

ps:  This is a shot in the dark but Im guessing youre a Lakers fan, eh?

I don't doubt this for a minute.  Ive believed refs have been intentionally affecting games outcomes since the Jordan era.  I don't doubt for a minute that the Spurs were doomed this year, especially when the Celtics got past the Pistons.  I love the rationalization that they didn't call the foul on the three pointer because they don't want to affect the games outcome.  What BS, by not calling the obvious foul, they completely affected the outcome of the game.  The NBA (Stern) wanted a Celtics-Lakers finals and I believe there was a mandate to make sure it happened.  They have built the hype up for the series and knew that they would reap untold millions more from this series than any other.  In a world were people are killed for their basketball shoes, I find it easy to believe that the NBA would "alter" games for millions.  I actually find it hard to believe otherwise.  I'm sure Donahey will be labeled as a vengeance seeker and NBA will pile as much dirt on him as they can.  Still, if they can find the smallest amount of evidence or get anyone to cooborate his claims, the NBA will become the new WWE.
 Oh and the ESPN comment that a Lakers-Celtics series is generationally invalid,  thats bull.  ESPN has hyped and spoon fed us this rivalry all season.  Kids all over wear retro Celtics and Lakers jerseys. Today you have two of the games biggest (most hyped) stars, Rapeboy Kobe and Garnett.  The only difference is that in the Magic/Bird era, players actually decided the games.  Watch some of the old basketball games sometime and then tell me todays game is more physical.  Flagrant foul?  Hah!  Pick your pansy ass up off the floor and play, ya sissy!

Light sabre?  That doesnt even qualify as a light dagger, though it maybe a light penknife. You must be a youngling.

Grats Wings!   Im almost glad the Pens won game 5, turning this into a tense series.  Interesting that the Wings won the last 4 series on the road.  I feel that the best team won but The Pens have a helluva future if they can re-sign some of the free agents they will have.  Im not sure but a friend of mine whos a Pens fan said they have like 17 expiring contracts this off season.  YIKES!   BTW does anyone know why Chelios got zero ice time in the finals?  He wasnt listed as injured, he just didnt get to play.  Kind of kharmic that after standing on his head in game 5, Fleury's ass plays an even more important role in game 6.  I hope next year, at least once, someone plays "Baby Got Back" over the intercom system when he hits the ice.  "I like big butts and I cant deny!"  Zetterburg was deserving of the Con Smythe but I was still rooting for Ozzie.  Anyway  PARTY ON FRIDAY IN MOTOWN  HOCKEYTOWN!

Love RB but WTF is up with the Who's Next album release.  That was one of the major selling points for me and after waiting more than 6 months Im finally officially pissed off!  Is this ever coming out?  What exactly is the hold up?  I need answers or someones gonna get a large plastic guitar up the side of the head, El Kabong style!

Because God made it that way.  You got a problem with that?!  Be careful he may just hit you with a bus or something.   

IMHO the only trilogy that fits the title criteria is "The Man with No Name" trilogy, commonly known as A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More and the awesomeness that was "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly"   All others seem to slip up somewhere.