gdp's Comments

Big Hollywood : 'Hunger Games' Book Trilogy Celebrates Freedom, Smaller Government

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 20:34:26 +0000

At least one publisher is notorious in SF circles as "that bunch of right wing militaristic wackos" - Baen. Despite the fact that they have a self-professed (and damned smart) Trotskyite on board as one of their main authors. Despite the fact that they are the only publisher that seems serious about giving out free samples (entire books!! Unencumbered by DRM!) - though oddly they do it because it makes them money.

Big Hollywood : Barack the Vote: MTV Comes to Obama's Rescue with Renewed Youth Vote Push

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:22:37 +0000

I remember the last election, even people who weren't paying attention to the MTV stuff, but were young enough to have seen earlier rock the vote campaigns, were talking about "Ba-rock"ing the vote. Meh. While we're making "rock" puns, let's refer to an obscure animated movie from the 80's, and ask if perhaps our current president, if he stays in, will "Ba-Rock and Rule?"

Big Hollywood : Frank Miller's Occupy Critique Breaks Ranks with Comic Book Nation

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:03:34 +0000

FWIW - the uplift and Brightness Reef stories, his involvement in the foundation prequels with Bear and Benford, and even the Postman were fantastic stories (don't get me started with the movie... ugh) His analysis of what was wrong with Star Wars I and II are also worth reading. The guys position on anything politically related is not subject to the same intellectual rigor he applies elsewhere. Effectively the opposite.

Big Hollywood : Frank Miller's Occupy Critique Breaks Ranks with Comic Book Nation

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 02:01:05 +0000

Actually - there ARE real criminals on Wall street who cozied up to power for special favors. The Tea Party hated them as well. That's why in some ways OWS and the TP are two sides of the same coin. One side supports more government intervention and control of lives and money, the other side wants a decentralized power structure that is incapable of feeding big business what it wants - special favor. But of course, those people wearing funny old-period clothing, waving flags, NOT defecating on police cars, and often leaving the place cleaner than they found it were the REAL crazies.

Big Hollywood : 'L.A. Times': Hollywood Prepares for Inevitable Post-DVD Era

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:22:06 +0000

I agree with you as to why Netflix is being squeezed. That said, the genie is out of the bottle. Lastly, as "cheap" as bandwidth is, even given our rural and geographic issues, it should be a hell of a lot cheaper, for a lot more of it.

Big Hollywood : 'L.A. Times': Hollywood Prepares for Inevitable Post-DVD Era

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:20:16 +0000

Take a look at star command, the fan-made "star wreck", or even the freddiew youtube channel for just what you can do on almost no budget and a lot of sweat... http://www.starwreck.com/ http://www.starcommandseries.com/ http://www.youtube.com/user/freddiew

Big Hollywood : 'L.A. Times': Hollywood Prepares for Inevitable Post-DVD Era

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 14:14:32 +0000

But in a lot of cases, commentary is now being left out of the DVD versions unless you pony up even more for the "special editions." I like the commentary on most, but it's still enough of a crapshoot as far as actually _adding_ to the film that I'm hesitant to spend more for that.

Big Hollywood : The Death of Coherent Action Scenes

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:19:26 +0000

BHD is definitely an example of shaky-chaos done right. So, for that matter, is District B13. Go find the opening free running scene around and through and over the buildings.

Big Hollywood : The Death of Coherent Action Scenes

Thu, 25 Aug 2011 02:14:38 +0000

I'll say that I utterly agree with the overall thrust of the video essay, BUT... I don't think the "chaos" was overdone in the Dark Knight, in Inception, or in Blackhawk Down. If anything, the movie made it easier to track who was doing what where than the books... and the treatment, while letting you know both what was going on, AND how the people involved felt, was brilliant. Transformers left me numb. It's not the frenetic cuts, it's the fact that the cuts are all visual noise and don't tell you what's actually going on that's the problem. Well, that and the shaky camera work on black swan literally made me nauseous - and I'm not normally susceptible to shaky cam.

Big Hollywood : Conservative-Empowering Playlist 'High Fidelity' Rob Would Be Proud Of

Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:07:14 +0000

If you're more in a dark wave mood (think crunchier Depeche Mode) without the life-sucks nihilism, check out the Cruxshadows. Citadel and Winterborn from Ethernaut (themed on the Trojan War), Sophia, and last but not least, Eye of the Storm are very conservative -themed calls to arms. To fight for what is right, nobility, never giving up, and never giving in to despair. Other recommendations by them would be Immortal and Quicksilver, but those are less overtly themed. I fully second the mention of Rush elsewhere in the thread.

Big Hollywood : Bin Laden Filmmakers Release Statement: Deny Film Is Partisan, Ignore Release Date

Wed, 10 Aug 2011 23:32:39 +0000

I don't know who said it first, but within 24 hours of the raid, given all the people saying "This will guarantee Obama winning in 2012", I heard people saying "Go figure they make a movie out of this and get it out the door in time for the election." From what I remember of standard movie schedules, this is something of a rush job. Not by that much, but still faster than normal.

Big Hollywood : Review: 'The Change-Up' Misses Its Target

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 23:57:07 +0000

I agree entirely. The first half was an uncomfortable shotgun of scenes that made little sense. The second half was a welcome surprise, even without comparison to the first half.

Big Hollywood : Morning Call Sheet: Bruce Lee, Bruce Campbell, John Malkovich, and the Fall of the Movie Soundtrack

Mon, 8 Aug 2011 17:56:08 +0000

Zimmer, Elfman, John Williams, and I love Bedelt's "Pirates of the Caribbean", as well as The Daft Punk soundtrack to Tron. Otherwise, yeah, I agree.

Big Hollywood : Sucker Punch Squad: 'The Whistleblower': Anti-Americanism & Factual Inaccuracies Plague Screenplay

Mon, 18 Jul 2011 23:11:21 +0000

Reading comprehension fail.

Big Journalism : Fourteen Clear Factual Errors in Richard Stengel’s Essay on the Constitution (And I Am Looking for

Thu, 30 Jun 2011 20:54:52 +0000

Actually, in the two sentences related to No. 13, if Time had left the second sentence off, they'd have been effectively correct - and not contradicted the immediately preceding statement in the bargain.

Big Hollywood : Jon Stewart to Chris Wallace: 'My comedy is informed by an ideological background'

Mon, 20 Jun 2011 23:07:30 +0000

Editing out the truth... like MSNBC taking a video clip of a black man at a rally with an AR across his back cropped down to a few seconds of just his shirtback with the receiver (so you can't see his skin) so they can discuss white, racist violence.

Big Hollywood : Review: Will Ferrell Shines in 'Everything Must Go'

Wed, 15 Jun 2011 03:44:08 +0000

STF is one of the few movies of his that I not only enjoyed the first time (50%) but have enjoyed more than once.

Big Hollywood : '30 Rock' Star Morgan 'Jokes' About Stabbing Gay Son to Death

Fri, 10 Jun 2011 21:18:11 +0000

Touch of a sidetrack here, but one thing in his apology actually struck me as more insipid or insulting than the joke he was apologizing for:

“I’m not a hateful person and don’t condone any kind of violence against others,”

OK. I'm not not a hateful person either but there are times I DO condone violence against others - though a gay kid would definitely NOT be one of them. Times that DO qualify: - Invading Nazi Germany - Stopping a rapist - stopping a robber - stopping someone from beating/torturing a dog/kid/etc. (gay or otherwise) and so forth.

Big Journalism : University Poll: Fox News Most Trusted News Source

Wed, 25 May 2011 21:49:46 +0000

Please tell me you failed whatever logic classes you may have taken, otherwise I'll have to make sure my kids avoid that college.

Big Journalism : Salon's Joan Walsh Hears "Food Stamps," Immediately Assumes Recipients "Black"

Mon, 16 May 2011 23:54:50 +0000

More recent source - 2009: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib56/eib56....