The Last Airbender

So, I went to see Avatar…. I mean… The Last Airbender last night.  I was looking forward to this movie, which is never a good idea.  My partner is a huge fan of the series and I thought the concept was cool.  But when we say that M. Night Shyamalangadingdong was going to write it and direct it - we threw up.  I’m not saying M. Night Shyamapoopoopeedo’s movies are terrible, I’ve liked a few - but those types of movies don’t tell the kind of epic story that Avatar needs.

The writing was aaaaaaaa-hhhhhhhhhhhh!  It was wooden dialog, even worse then George Lucas (all hail George!), and they kept repeating themselves as if they were trying to constantly tell us what was happening.  Some of the actors are very good - I actually like Aang - but others were Twilight level actors.  Little emotion, little skill.  Oh I wait for the day when a movie will SHOW us the story instead of TELL us.

And what was with Aasif?  I couldn’t take it.  It wasn’t that he was bad, he did the best he could with poor writing.  But I’ve only ever seen him on Jon Stewart’s show and I was waiting for the punch line everytime he talked.  That’s the stigma you get when you’re really good at comedy and try to get serious.

Anyway, I enjoyed the final confrontation, thought there were several insights into how good the movie could have been, and have wanted to shoot myself for the writing.

The worse part of all of this is that I’m looking forward to the new Tron movie.  Please don’t suck.

That’s the way I see it; sorry you had to read it.

Die Potter! Die!

The new trailer for the final 2 Harry Potter films hit the interwebs yesterday (and was attached to the new Twilight movie).  Now I haven’t read any of the books, but I have seen all of the prequels and I can say this - the movies have made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever and I have no idea what the hell is going on.  I know there is this kid named Harry Potter (who I thought was a character on M*A*S*H), some girl who I couldn’t consider hot until she was 18, Gandolf the wizard, a quiz show cheater, the voice of God, and, um, a great white shark, I think.  Other than that, the rest is confusing. But one thing that I know for sure - for these movies to truly be epic, people have to die.  Not just any people; the people in the movie.  And not the actors, the characters - although…. Never mind.

Where was I? Oh yes, death to Potter! (Not you Colonel).  Now I know from reading the Wikipedia summaries (SPOILERS! SPOILERS SPOILERS! STOP HERE!) that some characters are going to die, which is cool, but unless Harry permanently kicks the bucket - I don’t believe he will achieve the true hero status.

This is a problem with most series, whether it be movies or television.  I spent seven years watching Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG for you trek geeks) and one of the largest issues with that show was no matter what happened, you knew the main characters are never going to die.  It’s a rule of TV, keep the main characters because that’s why people watch.  Would the show be the same if Jean Luc was killed?  Who could replace Worf? Or Troi?  Wait, strike that last one, she’s replaceable. But if you really want to show a hero, you need to kill them.  But it was stupid because they had a duplicate of him.  Anyway, I want to see the hero save the day by sacrificing themselves for the greater good.  Spock did it in Wrath of Khan and it was heroic, that was until the next movie when they fucked up the entire situation, and Data did the sacrifice in that last TNG movie, but again, fucked up because they had a copy of him saved on a floppy.

The TV series Angel had a great heroic moment in the first season, when, *sniff* Doyle *sniff* - I can’t talk about it, it’s too emotional.

There are only 2 instances of a TV series succeeding on the death of the characters, at least that I can think of.  Doctor Who and James Bond.  Even though we don’t see James Bond die, he is replaced constantly (which may give credence to the fact that James Bond is a title more than a real person) but Doctor Who actually dies and then regenerates.  Recently David Tennant did just that.  We witnessed his heroic effort, his sacrifice and ultimately his death, but then the regeneration took place and BAM!  Matt Smith is taking off and we follow while still mourning our previous loss.

Anyway, somewhere I got off track about this Harry Potter trailer.  The trailer was absolutely awesome and the movies look beautiful to watch - I just won’t count on them making any sense to me.  Let’s just give Harry two to the head and move on.

And yes, I do know the picture in this post has nothing to do with what I wrote.  That's just what I do.

That’s the way I see it, sorry you had to read it.

Technical Difficulties

RegisJack.com is experiencing some rather harsh database issues, causing the site to slow down to crawl, or even slower. I have been unable to resolve my issue with my hosting company yet. Until then, the site may be very sporadic and at times may not respond at all. Oh well, for now, I'll just try to leave it like it is.

Hopefully in the future I'll add more blogs and podcasts.

Thanks,

Regis Jack

The Podcast WILL Return Soon!

Don’t fret my regular listeners.  There will be a day I return to podcasting, but not quite yet.  Back in December 2009 I took a break from podcasting and I presented a myriad of reasons why.  Well, I missed a few.  So here is a fully updated list: (the bullets probably don't look good, but hey, I'm not an html/css expert).


•    There is a holiday like Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, Independence Day, Arbor Day, etc and I’m spending time preparing for them and spending time with the family. This includes some birthdays (significant ones, not the piddly little ones).
•    I’m on vacation in some remote location with no internet access with a beautiful woman and she demands all my attention.
•    I’m having some alone time.  Alone time means alone time. Unless there’s someone else there.
•    Sometimes it’s best to get away from the online world and live in the real one.
•    I’m in jail. Hey, shit happens.
•    Work. Any work that involves getting paid will take priority over podcasting which pays nada.
•    I’m sick, injured or dead. I might be able to podcast from beyond the grave – I’ll work on that.
•    A family member is sick, injured or dead.  I find it difficult to podcast during those times.
•    Technical difficulties. This includes computer malfunctions, software issues, internet issues, hosting issues and/or website issues.
•    Personal difficulties.  Includes painful urination, stubbed toe, need to shave (my back), or it’s too bright outside.
•    I’m attending some really cool event, con, or award ceremony where I am the center of attention.
•    There’s a naked girl.
•    There’s two naked girls.
•    Sometimes I just don’t care.

Most Recent Status

Don’t worry, I’m still here.  My life has been full of sh– I mean surprises.  Some good and some bad – but I’m not here to bore the fuck out of you by talking about my life, my work, and my inability to knit – I’m just trying to say, I’m still here and refocusing my attention to what’s actually important in life.

Oversized iPhone

While technologists everywhere are condemning the iPad because it’s not a thin, small, touchscreen MacBook, I’m excited as I see this as the start of a new era of computing.  But I didn’t start that way.  I was just like the rest of them.  And it started with the name, iPad.  I had difficulty saying it.  My brain wanted to say iPod so it came out like iPo..ad or i {long pause, heavy concentration} Pad.  Just the name had given me a stutter.  I agreed with the others that said it was just a big iPhone deluxe, I called it the MaxiPad and I laughed when a good friend of mine described it as, “Now I can experience exactly how my 18-month-old daughter must feel when she picks up my iPhone!”

But then it occurred to me, give this device a LCARS interface and I can put on my Starfleet Uniform and pretend I’m on Star Trek The Next Generation!   I also realized that this device could actually become the ultimate supplement to my existing computer system.  Half the work I do on the computer is researching topics for my blog, podcast, lunches with my boss and romantic evenings with my girlfriend.  Although once I got mixed up and planned a romantic evening with my boss - got me promoted - but he doesn’t call me anymore. Having the iPad could give me the ability to be surfing the web, reading magazines, and making notes - no matter where I am.  I know there are some people saying I could do that on the iPhone, but let’s face it, I’m no spring chicken and I need a bigger screen!  It would also be great to hold all my technical manuals (including my Star Trek Enterprise Technical Manual) so I can reference them while on my system or someone else’s.

I mentioned taking notes, but I don’t see the iPad as being my writing device.  That’s why I have Scrivener on my Mac.  Would I listen to music on it?  Maybe, but I have the 80 gig iPod for that.  I wouldn’t watch movies on it either - that’s why I have my Vizio TV and Blu-Ray player; and I wouldn’t being playing games on it - that’s why I have a PS3.  That may make me a iPad prude, but that’s fine with me.  Content, content, content - that’s my credo.

It will also be a great device for when I am out stalking my ex-girlfriend.  It's gets boring in the car all night waiting for her to leave her current boyfriends apartment.

As for no Flash support?  Don’t care.  I’m fine with that.  I’m getting tired of websites with elaborate Flash - give me good content over Flash any day.  And without Flash, I wouldn’t spend all day playing Farmville, unless there’s an app for that.

I see the iPad as an addition to my computing environment, not a replacement for anything.  And this is just the beginning.  Once people starting using this device, it’s true nature will come through - give it some time.

One more thing. I tend to drop, sit on, step on, or dump soda pop on - every device I own.  So once they make it unbreakable and waterproof - it will be prefect!

I’m so sorry you had this.