Sundown

FPS and videogames are not a good judges on tank cannon accuracy or "giant human body" weapon accuracy while strafing. I've researched a fair amount into military tactics and firearms handling, and done a tiny bit of real life shooting and some airsofting myself. One cannot hit anything reliably while strafing back and forth at any significant speed. The more sudden the movement, the more it jars your aim. The idea one gets about what's possible in real life from a videogame, doing the strafing-snipe dance that's possible in FPS's, is largely flawed. And it is in fact one of the number one reasons why "tactical" shooters don't play out tactically, and why real life tactics don't work... because it's possible to strafe, dodge, zig zag, and shoot at the same time in a way that it's just not possible in real life. Real world tactics fail because the real world tactics are made to deal with real life humanoids as a real life humanoid. Games simply eliminate most of the physical effects involved in real life moving and shooting, and simplify it with something that just doesn't follow any form of real world physics. A bipedal mechanical body moving at speed would also encounter the same sorts of instability that would require extremely advanced software to negotiate and eliminate. Granted, the body itself could also be designed to minimize such instability, but the technology and complexity and engineering involved is extreme. Modern tanks already have extremely complex and accurate targeting computers that compensate for moving over somewhat rough terrain. Like another poster said, targetting's a snap, and you're misjudging their capabilities. Strafing would likely be easier-- just turn your tank sideways and go forward and reverse. And it'd be infinitely smoother than some giant mechanical reproduction of a human trying to do the same thing, having to deal with all the human body's problems with shooting accuracy and stability, just over smooth terrain. A tank can knock out targets a mile away doing this. A human with a sniper rifle doing the same can't even hope to hit something beyond some tens of yards. Advanced software and advanced mechanical design can work to minimize the problem, but with limbed and sudden side to side movement, you have much more inherent instability and innacuracy to deal with... not less. As for your constrained example... some gigantic hallways... firstly, I'm not sure what military objective would have gigantic hallways constructed conveniently for robots to fight in. And secondly, if by hallways you mean urban areas, anti-tank infantry units would largely have a field day on bipedal robots with huge profiles and have got to be easy as snot to hit. Completely rocky and nearly impassable terrain's another matter, and with the technology required to create limbs able to negotiate that sort of terrain with agility, it'd probably be better just to slap such retractable limbs onto a tank, perhaps modify the turrent to allow for more extreme angles of aim, keep all the advantages of a tank, and be done with it. -Al

Replace "Robotech" with "Mospeda" and that about sums it up. This bit of silliness is one inherited, and isn't one of its own creation. If we're gonna disparage this bit, let's disparage it and put full fault on the Japanese parent anime series it actually comes from. Robotech's got plenty of other silliness that it's fully responsible for. -Al

It's called a Championship. Not some fluke single game of nil significance. And if we want to get picky with the analogies, it's like that guy that you're supposed to beat, beaten many times past, that you just beat three times in a row handedly... And then comes back to beat you four games straight to your puzzlement and embarassment before the whole chess watching world. And the only recourse is to redefine "Championship" and the significance of the game. Maybe demeaning that player for the grevious sin of actually celebrating and taking a measure of pride in the fact that he outright won. Oh yes, and of course, prattle on about "But, but, I won so many times before!" Guess what? No one cares. Except the loser. Man, and I don't even like baseball. Hey, don't hafta eat it. Just mail it to one of us. Hope it's a low-viz. -Al

Not true. We already have wheelchairs that climb stairs with a cleverly arrainged system of reasonably sized wheels. No limbs. Brought to you by the same people who made the Segway. -Al

I think he means that the style of the face clashes with the style of the body... which happens to be very realistic in porportion, detail, and style. It ends up suggesting a more womanly or realistic face to go with it, when the actual head model is a little bit simplistic and its proportions aren't realistic in comparison. So it ends up looking a little odd. The face itself also isn't very reminiscent of any of the Macross character design styles, and just doesn't quite "fit". But... take this criticism with a grain of salt... because the ill-fit is largely due to the figure being so well done. The posing is absolutely great. -Al

It looks a little Space Cruiser Yamato-ish to me. Similar bridge, similar front end... I dunno what you call those round things that protrude out underwater. -Al

I heavily recommend it. Even though it's exactly spot on historically accurate, there are many incidents and moments that occured in the real battle that made it on film. It's one of the best portrayals of modern warfare around... and as for giving a feel of what it might have been like that day, it's pretty effective. Granted, it's 18 hours of combat compressed into 3... but it does follow the flow of the day and is pretty viceral. Tactics, gear, and general look and feel is right on. It's main weakness is lack of character development, but that wasn't really its aim. -Al

Song and dance thrown in... I think Return of the Jedi would be a better comparison. -Al

I think you're confusing ridiculously goofy with ridiculously kickass. -Al

Head over to Iraq, find a raging firefight, don your best glam-rock outfit, jump in the middle of said firefight, and give it a shot. I think the goofiness will be readily apparent. -Al

I seriously doubt asian culture has a monopoly of the concept that art's a form of expression from the heart or soul. That's hardly unique. M7? I plenty get it. Well, I suppose maybe it's because I'm asian. But I still don't dig it so far, outside of some of the character interactions. Once again, from the top. Lots, maybe even most, of those who don't like M7 "get" it fine. M7 fans themselves say that the message is pretty overt and plain. It's not the message they don't get. It's not the concept they don't get. It's the kiddy-aesthetics, boobs, corn, and camp in spades that they object to in their Macross. It matters what you say as much as how you say it. As much as I personally dig the idea of love, goodness, truth, honor... if it's expressed poorly or in a way I'm not receptive to, even if I completely embrance its values and message, even if I can nod to its principles... I'm still going to call the presentation and form of expression for what it is. Something can still suck when trying to speak my language. -Al

Connection. Easy. Just like boobs, I prefer my Macrosses and my Star Treks in even numbers. -Al

Negatory. Lots who dislike M7 have no problems with the message or how overt it might be. Only its presentation-- the mecha designs, the monster designs, the corniness of singing valks with boobs. In some sense and to some folks it actually cheapens its own message by portraying it with such corniness, with a format and style that seemed more focused on pushing merchandise and J-pop than peace. Let's not confuse corny, campy, and over the top with "overt". And let's not bring up the "you hate it only because you don't understand it" argument again, okay? -Al

Weird. I'd only ever listened to Dr. Demento twice, and somehow those are the two songs I remember most clearly. -Al

Band of Brothers is far and above a more compelling WWII experience than SPR. It tells real stories of real men of a real unit, with some of the actual real veterans framing each episode and putting it in perspective... and has to itself some 10 hours to tell its tale with. It's probably one of the best cinematic works dealing with WWII in authenticity, breadth, and scope. If Band of Brothers doesn't leave some sort of impact, you have no soul. -Al

Anyone else think the alien enemy reminds a little of the Invid/Inbit? They've got the same slughead look as one of the Invid's forms, and they've even got a "Regis". -Al

I'm probably the only person who does not like Amano's work. I can appreciate his brushwork and complex use of subtle colors, and I suppose he's got a certain style that stands out... but I've never really been impressed by the linework of his paintings. Now I suppose it's because he's going for the abstract, and allows things to look a little "off", but lots of it ends up simply looking... amateurish. I've seen abstract still that still screams of the artist's enormous technical skill... but Amano's stuff has always looked to me like a very skilled painter trying to paint over a sub-par art student's doodles. Blasphemous, I know. I've just never seen anything from Amano that suggests he has mastery over proportions and lines, and that he violates them with purpose for greater effect. Most of the deviations simply look arbitrary. -Al

Heck no. Last thing we need is impure thoughts about a half-nekkid someone who looks uncannily like a female version of Malcolm in the Middle. *shudders* -Al

No, this would mean that humans are still slaves. The ending is supposed to be peaceful co-existence. Only if the Trilogy ended lamely like it did. Here's what I would have done with the Matrix within a Matrix plotline: Neo somehow becomes aware that the real world is still within the Matrix. And not only that, becomes aware that he himself is actually a program. It would explain his connection to the agents, along with the abilities he displays-- that are awfully similar to the rogue programs' abilities. Neo turns out to be the Matrix's own reconstruction of a human being, in digital form-- a study by the Matrix in trying to control the systemic anomolies known as "choice" and "love"-- a subject that it can control, manipulate, and observe intimately, until it reabsorbs Neo into itself, to better the Matrix with each revision like it has the previous five times. Except this time around, the One program becomes more successful than the Matrix bargained for. It becomes fully man, fully capable of love, thought, real choice, real control. How can the created (the Matrix) create the creator (a program with the soul of a real man)? It didn't. The fragments of "code" for the human soul roamed within the Matrix ever since it's creation-- fragments of the "image" of himself man placed upon his creation in his own likeness, as the programming of all robot-kind became absorbed in the Matrix's formation in the construction of Zero-One. The Matrix simply managed to accidentally assemble the pieces that form "man". The One program transcends machinehood, and breaks beyond the only purpose the machines have-- self preservation. Thus, Neo becomes fully out of the Matrix's control-- and even while realizing that bringing down the Matrix (and the Matrix within a Matrix) would bring his own end, since he's a program, Neo sacrifices himself in order to end the prison-world of the machines. Man wakes up to build a new world, where the sun breaks through clouds, and where green is starting to grow. Yayers. This all ties into Second Rennisance and the allusions it makes a lot better than the actual movies did. Which I just can't fathom how possible. Maybe it was because Larry Wachowski was too busy dancing with S&M daddys and thinking about a sex change to come up with a sensical ending. -Al

Give suprnova.org a try. Found the torrent there. Be prepared for a toll on your soul. -Al

Odd. For me, if anything Bea Arthur's part was the only thing watchable, not counting any of the bits done by the real movie cast. Maybe just by merit of all the cantina aliens. The rest of the special looked like an episode of Married With Children gone bad, where the family all develops massive body hair problems, and Bud loses the ability to speak, only able to make noises like gurgling toothpaste. The Special was good for one thing... it showed what an absolutely fantastic actor Harrison Ford was, given crap lines and a crap show-- he was still the smug Han Solo, although his brain must have been screaming inside of embarassment and total loss of dignity. -Al

It looks like... Vexar. The old Robotech Defenders model kit. And it looked ugly then, too. -Al

And in Rainman. His problem is that all his characters seem a little too similar, and he doesn't have much range. But his performances are entertaining to watch, if you can stand him. He's no Edward Norton. -Al

I'd imagine having *something* there approximating what one's supposed to be responding to helps, but the actors in the Prequels are already hampered by such poor direction that it probably doesn't even matter. Does put some perspective on Mark Hamil's skills as an actor. While melodramatic and on the corny side, he did pull off a convincing enough performance in Empire Strikes back, acting nearly the entirety of the movie opposite a muppet and a robot. At least when disregarding any possible confusion on which of the three the muppet was. -Al

Let's not give Anderson any more ideas about franchises to piss on. -Al