Can't Stop Geeking

Fox news took a page from Conan O’Brien (you don’t think they’re courting him too much, do you?). They took celebrity photos and mashed them with politicians, with some comic results. The one that got me the most was the James Bond image. While this one doesn’t use a politician, they took several actors who have played the title role and created the ultimae 007. Now, the fun part comes in figuring out who they used. There have been so many, I don’t think they were able to use a feature from every actor.

Really?

According to Newsweek, there has been a true civil war concerning the Chinese movie theaters.  Chinese officials ordered several hundred movie theaters to stop showing the Hollywood movie Avatar and screen the government sanctioned biopoc Confucius.  Chinese officials probably wanted to pull Avatar due to the unflattering comparisons people can make between the Chinese government and the military portrayed in the movie.  Film goers responded by essentially boycotting Confucius to the point where the Chinese government allowed the movie to start screeening again in some theaters.

I always thought of Avatar as an allegory of the US/Native American relations in the 1800s, but I guess this is more of a movie with applicability to a variety of situations.

Well, to show that I can see what passes for entertainment in Hollywood, I think I might need a pair of polarized sunglasses like these.

photo from tag_mclaren's at flickr.com

Avatar won for Best picture at the Golden Globes last night.  While I haven’t seen the other movies, I would have to give them the edge in terms of story.  But I guess story is secondary as long as you have CGI and 3D effects.

Sorry, but I got to rant on this one.  Good movies have gotten harder and harder to come by.  I’m not talking the art films with imagery so complex there’s no plot, I’m talking about mainstream Hollywood pawning off old stories with CGI dressing as new and exciting.  Well, for some it might be exciting; I find it boring.  Where am I going with this?

I went and saw the latest CGI lovefest Avatar.  I went to see it with my wife and a couple of friends.  This is nothing more than telling the story of Native Americans allegorically and since it’s fantasy, Cameron gets to end it the way he wants.  It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise how it does end.  At the end of the movie, my friend asked me what I thought of it and I answered with three words, “Dances with Smurfs.”  That’s all this was to me.

Now, I do wish American history concerning Native American treatment was different, but Avatar adds only two things: the CGI and the ending.  I knew how this movie was going to end 5 minutes into it and had to sit through 2 hours and 30+ minutes to get where I knew we were gonna go.  That’s not entertaining for me.  I want a movie to teach me something, a new idea or new way to look at something.  Avatar offers no new perspective, no new idea, just a lot of CGI.  CGI does not a movie make.

This year for the holidays, my wife and I decided to get ourselves a combined large present instead of a bunch of little presents.  We got ourselves a Dynex 22″ flatscreen TV with a built in DVD player for our bedroom.  We find it easier to fall asleep when there’s a DVD playing in the background.  I mounted it on the wall facing our bed, and we’ve used it every night since.

So, what was the coolest gift you received?  Does it top a mounted TV?

I saw this looking through cnet.com and immediately put it on my Christmas list for this year and next.

Not only can you load up to 32 GB of song files, it has a built in receiver for FM radio signals. Now, say what you will about including all your favorite songs, but sometimes listening to the radio is a pleasant diversion. It also supports Wi-Fi connectivity, so it can support live video streaming services from any number of sites. This truly could be the ultimate portable entertainment unit.

Well if you’re not you need to check your geek licence because it has expired. The Watchmen is the biggest anticipation for geeks for 2009 and will not be surpassed until the new X-Men movie comes out later in the year. If you are planning on seeing the movie enjoy it. The associated press has an article up stating that there will not be a sequel to the Watchmen. In my experence, money brings sequels so I’d expect to see two or three more of these movies before it’s said and done. Well, since it comes out later this week drop a line and let me know what you think of it!

Saw the trailer for this the other day and I am blown away! I thought we were done seeing the originals and now they have gone and make a prequel! I’m super excited and I will be at the movies on opening day to see this one on the big screen! Any die hard Star Trek fan should be more excited then when it was announced Vista was dead!