Hurin

Hey man! Go get CoD: United Offensive! It has all the "more realistic" combat of Call of Duty. . . but the expansion adds vehicles. And they are authentic vehicles. T-34 and Sherman tanks. . . light trucks and jeeps. Tiger heavy tanks. It's a blast. Cruising around in a jeep with two other passengers (one manning the MG and the other mounting his own light deployable MG from the passenger seat) is a helluva good time. And, then of course, you and I could shoot each other. . . figuratively. H

Got it. Played it. Wasn't impressed. Went back to Call of Duty: United Offensive and I'm waiting for Rome: Total War later this week. I'm not going to rag on the game. I'm sure some people will love it. I never liked BF1942, so I'm not sure why I thought I might like this one. I'm more into FPS games that require squad tactics and precise aiming (Call of Duty, Soldier of Fortune II). But, to each their own. But, to answer some of the questions: The PC version does both (true) 1st person and 3rd person views. I didn't notice a 20fps lock. That would truly be odd. Yes, you can pilot X-Wings (and snowspeeders on Hoth!). I'll probably end up giving it a try when I get bored of all the other great games with which we're suddenly being deluged. H

No, Max. That was more directed at Uxi. We've got history with this topic. And, yes, VHS sucks. Have you compared the quality recently? I can't watch VHS on my 53" TV. It just looks like ass. Worse than a bad cable signal. Actually, I don't even have a VCR anymore. H

Blaine. You don't understand dude. Lucas is just exploring his "vision." And it's his "right" to do so. So, really, if we engage in any criticizm regarding the questionable choices he has made both creatively and in distributing his once-classic films, we're just engaging in whining. HANDS OFF GEORGE LUCAS! Just go buy a LaserDisc machine dude or watch your crappy VHS tapes. . . but just stop bitching already. You see how cool it is over on this side of things? Just state that you don't care (repeatedly). . . and remember that anyone who takes the time to point out any mis-steps on the part of Lucas is just a whiner who can't get past his childhood. But --and I can't stress this enough-- the most important thing to continually mention is that you don't care. Make sure that you state this repeatedly every time the issue comes up. Because, it's very important to prove that you are above it all while the nerds get all upset about their silly little movies. Got it? H

Boston Globe says it all regarding Lucas and the obliteration of the original films. H

It's not that we feel "entitled" (as we've discussed before). It's that we think he's being stupid to not provide the original cuts of the film along with the new junk. It may be his "right". . . but that doesn't make it a good decision. In fact, it's a bad decision for innumerable reasons. H

Amen. And, to be honest, it's just as annoying to hear the "other side" talk about how Lucas has "every right" to do what he is doing. Of course he has the right to do it. But, to quote Chris Rock, That doesn't mean it's to be done. Yes, he has the right to have Greedo fire first, add Boba Fett into the first movie as a lame bodyguard who mugs the camera, etc. But, that doesn't mean they are good decisions. So, yeah, he's got the right to do it. And we have the right to point out that they are misguided, idiotic, and/or poorly implemented. H

That's fine. But do you really believe that Lucas's "vision" of Han Solo wasn't actually captured in his first attempt? Sure, go back and do things that you were not technically able to do. But don't go back and fundabmentally alter characters that you established 20 years ago to fit your current sensibilities. The whole "Greedo firing first" thing is so annoying because he's going back and inflicting his touch-feely 90s sentimentality and PC morality on a character from the 70s. To me, the Greedo firing first scene is much more objectionable than adding Jabba to ANH, since he always wanted Jabba there. But you can't seriously believe that he always wanted Greedo to fire first. It's just revisionism and PC BS run amok in the same way Spielberg mangled ET and removed all of the guns from the FBI agents in order to more properly align with his new, more enlightened political beliefs. H

I was afraid someone would mention that. Of course, I was referring to human jedis.

Okay. . . let's try this again. Here is exactly what Lucas says in the commentary: "as he joins the force he is able to retain his original identity. It's because of Obi-Wan and Yoda who learn how to do that. How to join the force at will and then retain your identity. But it was his identity as it was when he died, as Anakin Skywalker." He could just as easily be referring to his death at the end of Return of the Jedi. Not his (totally conjectural) "death" at the end of a movie we haven't even seen yet. To Lucas, I would think that the young Anakin is the quintessential Anakin. That is most likely why the young one appears. But, let's not all pretend that we know the thermo-dynamic physics of how people appear when they "join with the force." Puh-leaze. For all we know, in Lucas's mind, you can "choose" how you appear. In that fanciful case, Yoda and Obi-Wan probably chose to appear to Luke as he knew them so that he will, ya know, actually know who the hell they are. If I were Anakin, who probably spent his entire time as Vader wishing to be free from the wretchedly mangled body in which I was imprisoned, you'd better believe that I'd choose to appear to my son as the young handsome man I was. . . the last vision of myself that I had before I was mangled. But, it's getting pretty annoying to have that commentary from Lucas paraphrased so much, misrepresented, and then presented as though it can only have on interpretation. H P.S. Late thought: To put it succinctly. . . according to this "You appear as you were when you died" theory: That would really suck for a jedi who lived to be 120. I mean, you'd spend the rest of eternity looking like ass!

Well, according to this thread, yep. H

Howdy, Here you go. But there are better around. Scroll down for better pictures. There's some decent ones of the Max 1J with Takatoys stickers applied. H

We've been through this before. Which is why I was brief. But, there is a difference between something that is "fun for all ages" and something that is written soley with children in mind. If you don't think there's any difference in tone between the first two movies and everything since. . . there's not much to be said. We'll just have to agree to disagree. Personally, I notice a distinct difference in tone and intended audience between the first two Star Wars and those after. I also notice a distinct difference in tone and intended audience between the first Indiana Jones movie and those after. Or, to put it another way, there is a difference between the types of movies he made (or produced) before he had a child (American Grafitti, THX, ANH, ESB, Raiders), and those he made (or produced) after he became a parent (RotJ, Temple of Doom, Last Crusade, Willow, etc.). He went from being a guy who related to teenagers (fast cars, cool stuff, sarcazm), to being a guy who solely wanted to make his little girl smile. Hence the gags, fuzzy characters, and other BS that appeared in every movie since he became a parent. But, as I've said, we've all been through this many times before. And one time, it got pretty ugly. So, if at this point you still don't think there's any difference between the pre-parenthood Lucas movies and the post-parenthood ones. . . there's really not much left to be said. And I don't want to end up killing this thread with the same old tired debate.

Not money. Children. He had a daughter between Empire and RotJ. Which, to me, explains why the target audience changed. ANH and ESB could be enjoyed by children, but teenagers and young adults also loved them. But, after he decided to make movies "for the children". . . we suddenly had things more 8-year-old-centric. And, of course, the humor went from subtle to. . . ewoks, burping, prat-falls, and other lame gags. But I've ranted about this before. Sorry. Can't help myself. H

Is this feature built into Invision Powerboard? If not, I wouldn't hold my breathe. We can't even get a skin designed! Just do what ewilen says. H

Well, that's confirmation. He truly is evil. H

I provided and addressed the relevant quote from the commentary here. For those too lazy to click: I'm not sure how you can say that this points to Vader actually being dead and resurrected. But. . . to each their own. H

My Takas and Bandai's were spring-loaded. . . except for the early-90s re-release of the Super 1S. I think (though I'm not certain) that it had landing gear that just pulled out. Or am I now on crack? I sold all my Bandais and Takas a while back. So I can't even check for myself!

Seriously. . . lock now would be merciful to all involved. Mac vs PC is as bad (and piontless) as politics. But, that's not to say that I can stop myself from getting involved. H

decided to PM instead.

So, I own the Laserdiscs from which these bittorrent files are ripped. Am I within my rights both legally and morally to download these? Obviously, those who think that it's perfectly moral to download copyrighted material don't need to answer since it's not even a question for you. Just curious. H

I think this whole "Vader actually dies" in Ep III thing is getting out of hand. What is the ultimate source for this other than fanboy conjecture?

Hmmm, I crossed 1000 posts w/out noticing. Now I'm Global's Pipe Holder. Never gave it much thought. . . but now that I have this title, I must ask: Is this some sorta sexual thing? Like is it supposed to be in my pooper or something? Or am I just a lackey standing there holding it in my hand? Inquiring minds want to know! H P.S. Before anyone tells me that I'm thinking about this too hard or taking it too seriously. . . note the smilies.

Well, I wasn't going to actually address the video editing stuff because it's really so. . . trivial. . . but here goes. . . My guess is that most video editing and imaging professionals still use Macs simply because they always have. Over the last decade or so, everyone just knew that if you wanted to do professional video and imaging, you needed a Mac. So what do we have now? A lot of video editing professionals who love Macintosh. It's what they've always used. What do we have in the schools teaching video editing and multimedia? A lot of teachers who love Macintosh because it's all they ever used. So, now that PC software has (arguably) caught up to Macs where video and image editing is concerned, we've still just got this entrenched user base still spouting the old conventional wisdom: "If you want to do video editing, you need a Mac." Yet there is very little (if anything) that a Mac can do nowadays that a PC can't do just as well. H

True. There were several reports of this. Velcro is a good indicator. But not definitive. Headrest is the way to go. H