Saturday, January 28, 2006
More Geekery
For my untergeek pals (nice one, Battlepanda), the essentials of what I use in free, spiffy software here in the Lifehacker Pack. The Foxit pdf reader alone is worth the look. Do you hate how Adobe takes thrity seconds grinding into gear like a choking '67 Ford when you try to open a pdf? Yeah, so do I, especially as I buy almost all my gaming books in pdf format. Go get the good stuff.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
nextwave
Almost forgot.Warren Ellis' nextwave is the finest piece of comic-based entertainment ever placed on paper. Go to your local comic establishment and purchase it.
That is all. Move along.
Fafblog's Kung Fu
... is the sort of kung fu taught by immortal Atlantean Tigers living in Buddhist Monasteries for three centuries, working in a dojo staffed by robots with laser eyes and hands that suddenly transmogrify into spinning razor blades just when they offer to "Shake, good game, good game."
It is that strong:
Q. ... Now some crazy people say the president broke some silly old laws like FISA and the National Security Act and the Fourth Amendment. Are these crazy people crazy?
A. They sure are! Maybe those laws worked back in 1978 back when Leonid Brezhnev was snortin coke with Ayatollah Khomeini and groovin' to the hits of the Bee Gees, but in today's dark and dangerous times they just aren't enough.
Q. Things sure have changed since the innocent days of mutually assured destruction! But is it legal for the president to ignore the law?
A. Maybe not according to plain ol stupid ol regular law, but we're at war! You don't go to war with regular laws, which are made outta red tape and bureaucracy and Neville Chamberlain. You go to war with great big strapping War Laws made outta tanks and cold hard steel and the American Fightin Man and WAR, KABOOOOOOM!
Q. How does a War Bill become a War Law?
A. It all begins with the president, who submits a bill to the president. If a majority of both the president and the president approve the bill, then it passes on to the president, who may veto it or sign it into law. And even then the president can override himself with a two-thirds vote.
Q. See it's the checks and balances that make all the difference in our democratic system.
It is that strong:
Q. ... Now some crazy people say the president broke some silly old laws like FISA and the National Security Act and the Fourth Amendment. Are these crazy people crazy?
A. They sure are! Maybe those laws worked back in 1978 back when Leonid Brezhnev was snortin coke with Ayatollah Khomeini and groovin' to the hits of the Bee Gees, but in today's dark and dangerous times they just aren't enough.
Q. Things sure have changed since the innocent days of mutually assured destruction! But is it legal for the president to ignore the law?
A. Maybe not according to plain ol stupid ol regular law, but we're at war! You don't go to war with regular laws, which are made outta red tape and bureaucracy and Neville Chamberlain. You go to war with great big strapping War Laws made outta tanks and cold hard steel and the American Fightin Man and WAR, KABOOOOOOM!
Q. How does a War Bill become a War Law?
A. It all begins with the president, who submits a bill to the president. If a majority of both the president and the president approve the bill, then it passes on to the president, who may veto it or sign it into law. And even then the president can override himself with a two-thirds vote.
Q. See it's the checks and balances that make all the difference in our democratic system.
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Catwoman Notes
We're moving offices, so my assistant just gave me a stack of files to sort before tossing them. Hey, these are all my old studio notes on my projects!
Ah, the memo where the Disney exec on Mage gets angry because he doesn't understand how magic works, and wants me to explain it. "You can't explain it," I remember saying. "That's why it's called magic. Magic you can explain is called science." Yes, that was fun ...
Holy --two years worth of Catwoman notes. And right on top, the mission statement I sent to them when I took over the script. Dated 2/6/01. What's typed, literally in 24 pt boldfaced Arial and underlined, I shit you not, right there on the front page?
Wow. That went exactly as planned. Oh, look there's the section where I talk about how the suit should be functional for her thievery, and she should wear lug boots. Yes, yes, it all fell into place. Hmm, let me count these ...
... 169 pages. Most single spaced. About an inch of notes, and I know this isn't all of them. I have another set, the later ones, in my home office. So all in all, two inches of Catwoman notes.
Just goes to show you, the old saying is true. It's no easier to make a bad movie than a good one. Sometimes, it's even harder.
Ah, the memo where the Disney exec on Mage gets angry because he doesn't understand how magic works, and wants me to explain it. "You can't explain it," I remember saying. "That's why it's called magic. Magic you can explain is called science." Yes, that was fun ...
Holy --two years worth of Catwoman notes. And right on top, the mission statement I sent to them when I took over the script. Dated 2/6/01. What's typed, literally in 24 pt boldfaced Arial and underlined, I shit you not, right there on the front page?
"No hyper-reality pop crap."
Wow. That went exactly as planned. Oh, look there's the section where I talk about how the suit should be functional for her thievery, and she should wear lug boots. Yes, yes, it all fell into place. Hmm, let me count these ...
... 169 pages. Most single spaced. About an inch of notes, and I know this isn't all of them. I have another set, the later ones, in my home office. So all in all, two inches of Catwoman notes.
Just goes to show you, the old saying is true. It's no easier to make a bad movie than a good one. Sometimes, it's even harder.
WB/UPN/The CW
According to reports this morning, rumors I've heard kicking about are true: the WB and UPN networks are going to merge into one network called The CW this fall. Thirty hours of programming a week -- basically welding two networks with half-week scheds into one.
That's right people. The WB didn't pick up Global Frequency, so I killed it. With my mind.
I actually like this for a couple reasons. I like that the network-to-studio branding will be broken to some small degree. I like that people are realizing it's more important just to get the shows out there than to bind them inexorably to a single corporate identity. Now, instead of two networks producing shows with near-crippling small development budgets, they can step up and do the shows they dig right.
But, again ... With. My. Mind. So watch yourselves.
That's right people. The WB didn't pick up Global Frequency, so I killed it. With my mind.
I actually like this for a couple reasons. I like that the network-to-studio branding will be broken to some small degree. I like that people are realizing it's more important just to get the shows out there than to bind them inexorably to a single corporate identity. Now, instead of two networks producing shows with near-crippling small development budgets, they can step up and do the shows they dig right.
But, again ... With. My. Mind. So watch yourselves.
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