Trump's Gonna Want Proof

You know it's true.

A death certificate.

The beard.

Something.

Just sayin'.

On a serious note, congratulations to the military personnel involved. Great work, and we are proud of you. I really hope we get a detailed story on how all this went down. It sounds fascinating. Although, I wonder if we'll ever know the identities of the soldiers involved, or if that will be kept a secret for their protection.

Anyway, hat's off to you guys.

We Don't Make Commercials Like This....

Check out this fantastic British commercial titled The Story of Johnnie Walker featuring Robert Carlyle (Ravenous, 28 Weeks Later and many others). It clocks in at a little over five minutes, but it's one straight take. Supposedly, it took 40 takes to film this and they got it right on the last one. We don't make commercials like this in the U.S., and it's not just because of the length. We don't make commercials this clever. Well, maybe one in a thousand. We used to see great commercials during the Super Bowl, but even those aren't very good anymore. This is just a very well-made, interesting and entertaining commercial. You don't mind watching it for five minutes. I'm curious if it ran at full length in England.

Anyway, check it out.

Your Opinion Is Wrong

I visit RottenTomatoes.com quite a bit. It’s one of my favorite sites for movie—and other strange—information. As you would expect with a movie site, there is considerable debating and critiquing of movies. In those debates, it’s common that a member says that another member’s or critic’s opinion is wrong. This is followed by the inevitable reply: “It’s an opinion, and it can’t be wrong.”

When the hell did this attitude start? It reeks of that touchy-feely, Kumbaya-singing, politically correct mentality that we seem to be teaching these days. The same mentality behind the current trend of all kids on sports teams getting some sort of award at the end of the season—even the ones who did absolutely nothing.

“Hey, Bobby, here’s your trophy. No one….kept the bench…warmer…than you this season.”

“Thanks, Coach,” Bobby says as he drops the trophy, then trips over his own feet leaving the stage.

No, your opinion can most certainly be wrong. Let’s look at this in terms of movie reviews. I have to be honest. Many of the critics you find on Rotten Tomatoes are just not that bright. This is a problem caused by the Internet. I remember when we had real movie critics who wrote long, thoughtful reviews in the newspapers. “What’s a newspaper?,” you might be thinking. Google it.

Now, anyone can be a movie critic simply because they like movies. They have no experience or education in film, but they can create a blog, and that’s all you need these days. There is no real barrier to entry. There’s nothing wrong with enthusiasm and a love of movies, but you need more than that. Lack of experience leads to misinterpreting—or just not understanding—symbolism, missing references to other movies, periods in history, etc., or maybe the critic just doesn’t have the mental horsepower to process what he or she is seeing and hearing. All these things will affect the reviewer’s opinion; which could make that opinion…wait for it…

Wrong!

But this doesn’t just apply to movie reviews. Your opinion can be wrong in the business world, the political world, in your dating life, and in your financial decisions. It’s an opinion, not an Infallible Statement of Truth. Anyone who says they don’t look back on one of their past opinions and think “wow, was that wrong,” is a liar.

Your opinion is easily influenced by your age, education, lack of experience or maturity. Any—or all—of these can lead you to making horribly wrong decisions. How many times have you heard a story about a drunk driver leaving a bar at 2:00 am only to kill an innocent person on his way home? In his opinion, he was OK to drive. He was wrong. Oh, it’s your opinion that you should trust that nice Nigerian man who sent you that e-mail regarding the $43 million just waiting for you. Of course you’ll forward your bank account information ASAP! You will be wrong. Very, very wrong.

Still not convinced? How about one more example? How about something on a more global scale? It was Bush’s opinion that we should invade Iraq and, well…look at how that turned out.

But as Dennis Miller (remember when it was ABC’s opinion that he would be a good addition to Monday Night Football?) used to say: Of course, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong.

Best Trailer Ever?

A trailer for a new game, titled Dead Island, recently surfaced. OK, it might be a bit of hyperbole to call it the greatest trailer ever—for a game or movie—but this is seriously impressive. Now, I know what you’re thinking: more zombies? Are we close to saturating the market on the undead? I don’t know, really. As long as something is done well, I’m not sure if overkill still applies. I think the real question here is if this trailer is setting the bar impossibly high for this game. How can it possibly live up to this? I’ve already read some stories that, based on some footage seen at recent conventions, game play is quite a bit different. Only time will tell, I guess. But until the actual game comes out, I’m going to enjoy watching this trailer.

(You might want to go to YouTube and view this at a larger resolution....)

Testing!

So, this is an experiment. I'm writing this blog post using only my voice with Dragon Naturally Speaking software by Nuance. I hope to use this software to write more in the future, but I need to use it more often. I'm having a hard time getting used to this. Very different.

However, this is pretty cool. I can see using this in all sorts of nefarious...I mean...cool ways. Yeah...

I also have to say I'm pretty impressed that it recognized the word "nefarious." I'll need to do a serious test some time to determine what sort of vocabulary the software really has.

Discombobulate!

Very impressive.

1/6: Custom Figure Stands

I've been playing around with custom items lately and created these stands to sell. First time I've created something solely for the purpose of selling. Both have paper currency in various denominations, jewels, gold bars, and spent shell casings.

Kinda like how these look. Might need to make one for myself.

Bank Robbery Gone Wrong: U.S. Version





Bank Robbery Gone Wrong: Euro Version

The Dead...They're Walking

If you missed the premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead last Sunday...well, what the hell were you thinking? The series got off to a great start with the pilot episode. It was very faithful to the source material, while fleshing (no pun intended) out the story and characters a bit more. Dialogue was better than in the comic, and there were some nice emotional touches that lifted this above the regular slate of movies you find on the SyFy channel.

But that's not what this post is about.

Whenever something zombie-related comes out, a serious debate resumes. A debate as old and serious as Batman vs. The Punisher, a Star Destroyer vs. the Enterprise, and R2D2 vs. Data.

And here it is: Can zombies run?

This is currently being debated on a few boards I visit. People will point to 28 Days Later and say: "They're not true zombies; they're just infected with something." Others refer to the "undead" argument. "They're actually dead. They're bodies are falling apart. How can they possibly run?" This is also a factor in the Undead Nightmare DLC for Red Dead Redemption. The zombies in the game will run at you. Others scramble on all fours after you like rabid animals. I'm here to tell you that it seriously freaks me out. Perhaps you heard me screaming and swearing the other night while I was playing.

Simon Pegg of Shaun of the Dead—who is a serious geek himself—has also weighed in on the issue. I won't use the entire quote here, just the part that really matters:

"I know it is absurd to debate the rules of a reality that does not exist, but this genuinely irks me. You cannot kill a vampire with an MDF stake; werewolves can't fly; zombies do not run. It's a misconception, a bastardisation that diminishes a classic movie monster."

Here is a fantastic example of precisely how absurd it is to debate these things. In the novel, Dracula can move around in daylight (although he is weaker) and is ultimately killed by being stabbed through the heart with a Bowie knife. And that's from the man himself, Bram Stoker.

So while we geeks will continue to debate these things because it's what we do—it's how we roll; it makes us what we are—we shouldn't get bogged down in these details. Just calm down, sit back, and enjoy a good story. Remember, until the inevitable zombie apocalypse actually occurs, we don't know what the hell they're gonna do. So be prepared either way.

[/geek rant]