Honor Flights

www.honorflightthemovie.com

This is a documentary that comes out on Dec. 7 that follows four WWII vets as they visit the WWII Memorial in D.C. Head over and check out the site and if you know a WWII vet you might want to take them to see it.

"Battleship" Prize Pack, Part II

If you'll recall, last week I posted info on a "Battleship" prize pack, to coincide with the release of the movie, which consists of a "Battleship" Hat, T-shirt, Backpack and Water Bottle. If you'd like to win it all you have to do is email me your name, address and phone number. Don't worry, I'm the only one who see your info so there's no threat of anything getting out. The only requirement is that you must be a resident of the continental United States. Sorry Hawaii and Alaska. I'll stop taking emails on Friday, May 18th, at 5pm Central time, you can figure out your time zone, at which point I will pick a random winner and inform them. This is being crossposted with Hooah Wife so good luck.

You Sank My Battleship

As you probably already know, the movie "Battleship", which looks awesome by the way, based on the classic game, is scheduled to be released next Friday, the 18th, and they're giving away a prize pack which includes:
- Battleship Hat
- Battleship T-shirt
- Battleship Backpack
- Battleship Water Bottle

Details on how to win this prize pack will be released soon. In the mean time, you can visit their Facebook and Twitter pages and play an online game. Which, sadly, I'm unable to play because of the dial up :( And if you could, if you talk the movie on FB or Twitter, use the #Battleship and @BattlehipMovie tags.

Are You Gay Or Something?

I was watching a show on BBC yesterday about actor John Borrowman trying to find out why he's gay. Why no one else in his family is but him. In it he went all over the world to find factors as to why and as the show goes on he's finding different scientific methods and stats that may determine why someone might be gay or straight. Every one of these methods and facts, except one, say he shouldn't be gay but he is. And these factors and stats they listed say, scientifically, that I should be but I'm not. Keep in mind that these are just theories and haven't been proven but I found it kind of fascinating. If you believe that it's a choice rather than how you're born then you probably won't like it but if you get BBC America you should check it out. It's called The Making Of Me: John Borrowman.

Star Trek In Todays World II

Now, just bare with me here. I'm going to talk about Trek a bit but it applies to the world we live in today. I've been watching my favorite Trek series, Enterprise, and I'm on season 4. More specifically the Vulcan storyline. In it the Vulcan's have lost their way over the years from the teachings of Surak. His original writing have been lost for centuries and all that remain are what's been passed down, and those are open to interpretation. They've been corrupted by the High Command, their government. It's kind of like what's going on in the country today. Our government, and it's citizens, have lost their way from what our founders intended this country to be. We have their writings but they're not followed and some are being interpreted incorrectly. In the storyline they find Surok's original writings and they change their entire culture back to the way it was intended. One of the episodes is called "Awakening". This country's going through it's own awakening with people finally realizing that our government is corrupt and things need to change before we destroy ourselves.

If you have Netflix check out the disks of season 4 with the episodes "The Forge", "Awakening" & "Kir'Shara" and see how closely they match with what's going on today.

Star Trek In Todays World

I wrote this post back in 2008 talking about some of the things in our lives that have been influence by Star Trek. I've been watching Enterprise the past week or so and I noticed something else we have today that seems to have been influenced by Trek. Take a look at the PADDS they use. Do they remind you of the Kindle or iPad maybe?

A Nightmare On Elm Street

One, two, Freddy's coming for you.
Three, four, better lock your door.
Five, six, grab your Crucifix.
Seven, eight, better stay up late.
Nine, ten, never sleep again.

And The Award Goes To...

So the Academy Awards take place tonight. Big whoop. A bunch of self-congratulating morons patting each other on the back and kissing each others asses. I hope none of you are going to watch. Anyway, since the Oscars are so pointless I thought I would do my own award ceremony and nominate movies and actors that I fell really deserve to be congratulated. Now, I haven't seen many movies that came out in 2009 so I'm limited in what can win. Let's get started.

Best Writing - Original Screenplay: Moon. I haven't seen it yet, but it looks really good and very interesting.

Best Writing - Adapted Screenplay: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. A more grown up story compared to the previous films. But I haven't read the book so I'm not sure how close the movie is to it. But who cares.

Best Visual Effects: Star Trek. It's Trek. Nothing tops Trek.

Best Sound Mixing: Star Trek. They took the classic sound effects and updated them and it worked well.

Best Sound Editing: Star Trek. See a pattern forming?

Best Original Score: Star Trek. After you've watched the battle scenes, watch them again and listen to the music. Superb.

Best Director: J.J. Abrams. And what did he direct? That's right, Star Trek.

Best Costume Design: Star Trek. Just like sound mixing, the took the classic look of the uniforms and updated them and it worked.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Kristin Bell in Fanboys. Good movie, and a Female geek is always awesome.

Best Actress in a Leading Role: Kristin Kreuk in Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li. I don't care what anyone says, I liked this movie and I liked her in it.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Simon Pegg in Star Trek. I had my doubts when it was announced that he would play "Scotty", but he pulled it off.

Best Actor in a Leading Role: Chris Pine in Star Trek. Everyone had their doubts about him playing the iconic James T. Kirk, but he shut everyone up.

Best Picture: Star Trek. Did anyone think it would be anything else? It was hands down the best movie of 2009 I'd seen. Nothing came close.

Really?

I have a big problem with this. Not that she does it. What Jennifer Love Hewitt does to her vagina is her own business, but the fact that she felt the need to talk about it on national tv. Does anyone really need to know this? No. Can someone do me a favor? Let me know if the word "Decency' has been removed from the dictionary, because it sure has from society.

Reading Is Fun-damental

I'm going to tell you a story that you probably won't care about. But read anyway if you want. One day I decided to read Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" saga all the way through. All seven books back to back to back and so on. So I grabbed the first book, "The Gunslinger" and began reading. That was in April of 2008 and I finished the seventh, and final, book last night. That is almost two years of my life spent reading this story. Now that might not mean a whole lot to anyone else, but it does me. When I think back to all the things that have happened in the world, and my life, in the past two years, to think that in that time I've been reading this story almost blows my mind. I only read them at night before I went to sleep so it became somewhat of a night time ritual. I'm kind of sad for it to end. If you've read these books then you know just how truly great they are. And if you've never read them, I urge you to do so. Other stories get all the hype; "Twilight", "LOTR", "Harry Potter", but "The Dark Tower" tops them all. And after reading them the way I did I have a whole new appreciation for them.

The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed...

Good Movie

If you get Syfy, there's a good movie on Sunday called "Sunshine" that you might want to check out. Saw it about a year ago and really liked it. It has some of the best special effects I've seen. It looked amazing on my old SDTV, so I can't wait to see what it looks like in HD. The scene below shows when the opened the observation room up and you see the Sun fill the screen. It looks so good.

Saving Money

I recently went out and got an HDTV. 37" Vizio LCD, and it's NICE. But, because it's a budget brand the sound isn't as good as it could be and white is sometimes too bright but the picture is awesome. Anyway, got the electricity bill a few days ago and it was down almost $30. Got the tv about 2-3 weeks ago, so I don't know if that's why or not. Can they save that much? Going to have to wait until next month to see. But if it is then I urge you to go out and get an LCD TV.

P.S.
Watching nature and space shows is fan-freakin-tastic in HD. Yosemite National Park was breathtaking.

Ah, Nostalgia

Anyone here remember Mr. Wizard? I was watching a show on Science Channel yesterday called "Sci-Fi Science" with Dr. Michio Kaku and it got me to thinking about Mr. Wizard. Or more precisely "Mr. Wizard's World". I loved that show. I use to watch it every day. It still remember trying my first "scientific experiment" that I learned from him. Putting a piece of tape on a balloon and being able to push a needle into it without it popping. I just thought that was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. Apparently, Science Channel airs reruns of the show. I need to look it up and see.

Star Trek

I finally got to watch Star Trek last night. A movie that I had been waiting to see for almost two years. And I'll say it right off the bat, J.J. Abrams nailed it. He got it right. It was the best ST movie since ST IV: Save The Whales, I mean The Voyage Home. It looked so real. Like that's how the future could actually look. The massive scale of everything. Nero's ship, the Enterprise engine room, Big Red on Delta Vega. Even the bridge of the Enterprise with it's complete opposite look from the original. The first scene on the bridge, and I didn't even notice it. It looked like it just was supposed to look like that. Like that's how it always looked. The new look of the Phasers and transport effect. I don't even know how to describe how cool they were. The casting was superb. Eric Bana's Nero was the 2nd best Trek villain of all time. Khan being first, obviously. Chris Pine was the best choice to play Kirk. Brash, cocky, arrogant, strong, gung-ho. Zachary Quinto's Spock worked so well. Though, he should have lowered his voice a little. It was a little too high for me. But Karl Urban was the best. He was "Bones". There were a few times when I swore it was Deforest Kelly it was so good. Especially the first scene of him and Kirk on the shuttle.

Now for the elephant in the room. WARNING: Spoiler Alert. Highlight To Read. They didn't fix the time line. WTF? After everything that happened in this movie it's like the events of TOS, TNG, DS9 & VOY never happened. Can we really call this movie part of ST canon? Vulcan is destroyed making the Vulcan's an endangered species, Kirk's dad dies and Cpt. Pine is fine. Although what happened to him could have happened at a later date. Maybe they'll fix it in the sequel, I don't know. Other things I have a gripe about. Enterprise had already established that cars didn't exist in the future, yet Kirk's dad had one and Kirk himself had a motorcycle. Spock and Uhura had, what appeared to be, a sexual relationship? I can't swallow that one. Sorry. Spoiler Alert Over. And there weren't enough extras on the 2 disk DVD set. Damn Blu-Ray got all of them. But all in all, it was a great movie. If you've never watched Trek, you can come into this movie and enjoy it. It's a great action movie that just happens to be set in the Trek universe. The only way it could have been better was if I had an HDTV and surround sound.

What's In A Name?

What does your name mean?

Christopher
From now on, will only respond to the names Kit or Chip.

"V" Takes On Obamamania

I posted this a few days ago talking about the eerie similarities between the original "V" and the Obama administration. Then ABC's updated version premiered on Tuesday and I was floored. 1) It was really good and 2) They took aim at Obama. They actually used his buzzwords "Hope" and "Change". And Scott Wolf's character, reporter Chad Decker, is Keith Olbermann. It wasn't until halfway through the episode that it hit me what they were doing. I honestly couldn't believe it. At the end of the episode, the FBI agent is talking to the Priest and says something to the effect of "They have the biggest weapon ever. Devotion." Only 3 more episodes then they go on hiatus until after the Olympics.

O

Been watching the original "V" on Syfy and I couldn't help but notice some of the similarities between it and the Obama administration. They came with promises of hope and a better life but some saw a hidden ulterior motive. They end up bringing in someone to help spread their propaganda (NEA & MSNBC), they go after the media when they try to expose the truth (FNC), in the show it's our leaders who give control of the media to them where as here they've just rolled over and surrendered themselves, we start to give more and more control to them, people start to be afraid to criticize them and they take advantage of a "crisis". I wonder if ABC will change these things in their updated version?

We Are The World

On July of next year, Robert Rodriguez's prequel to one of the most bad ass movies off all time, Predator, will hit theaters. It will be called Predators and here are some of the details on the characters.

Cuchillo — A Mexican enforcer from a drug cartel with uzis strapped to his back. [character will be played by Danny Trejo]
Nikolai — A frightening bear of a Russian armed with a four-barreled gas-powered rotary machine gun.
Isabelle — A French "tough as nails woman armed with a sniper rifle".
Stans — A prisoner from San Quentin with a shaved head and a scorpion tattoo on his neck and armed with a prison made knife.
Mombasa — An African member of the Sierra Leon death squad.
Hanzo — A bad-ass Japanese Yakuza enforcer.
Edwin — A small unassuming man…formerly one of the FBI’s most-wanted.

You got the Mexican drug runner the French sniper the African, Russian, Japanese and two Americans. Is it me, or does this movie sound like a bad stereotypical United Nations?

Future Me

In 2007 I sent myself an email for my 30th birthday. I got that email today. I'd actually forgotten about it. If you'd like to send your future self an email, you can do so here.

Apparently, Cohen's Only Funny When Making Fun Of Middle Americans

Some people just don't like "Bruno". I have to admit, I've never seen "Borat" and I don't plan on seeing "Bruno". Sasha Baron Cohen isn't funny. At all. Ever. I tried to watch "Ali G" but it was ignorant. I do like what John Nolte said at the end of the piece about actually being brave in his next film. But I don't think we'll be seeing anything like those ideas any time soon.