Amped

Holy shite! Thanks for the heads-up... been meaning to mess around with this program for some time... but now that its FREE, there's really no longer any excuse not to! BTW, wasn't this recently retailing for liek nearly $800 (USD)?!? How the heck are they managing to offer it free???

Yeppers, The Tea Party do indeed rock! http://www.teaparty.com/ Edges of Twighlight is my fav album of theirs. Their newest one... not so much. And Edges of Twighlight earned its place in Rock-n-Roll Valhalla for the song Raven Skies alone... I'm always surprised that they haven't made it bigger in the U.S... I know they are well received in Australia and, of course, in their native Canada.. but they are plenty good enuff to blow the doors offa most bands that get airplay nowadays. As for the comparisons that are always made to Zep and the Doors... WTF? ... people say that like that's a bad thing?!? Well, yeah they have those influences... but they are definately their own band. Hell, if anything their are even more adventuresome with their use of exotic instruments... as opposed to just exotic tunings... I'm fortunate living in the Detroit area, with Windsor, Canada being right across the river, as I've seen them live 4 or 5 times since '94. They're a sight to behold. For a trio to reproduce such 'complex' music in a live setting without tons of samples playing in the background is just stunning. I believe damn near ever song requires a different guitar tuning... Anyhow, The Tea Party and my finacee are proof that good things come outta Canada. Oh, and Labatts... and Donairs... and *cough* the nudie strip clubs... BTW, they will be at the Windsor Bluesfest on July 17... well worth a trip for anyone in the Chicago/Detroit/Toledo (Ohio)/Windsor/ Toronto area, IMO... http://www.thebluesfest.com/Windsor/ And also, from their news section.. So now you Canadians can check out Def Lep AND The Tea Party at one show! *in Napoleon Dynamite voice* Luuuuucky!!! (Which reminds me of a funny story... one time at Red Wings hockey game, the announcer - who was used to having to pronounce French Canadian hockey player names - was listing upcoming events and he announced Def Leppard with an accented 'E' so it sounded like dEf lEHpAHRD... LOL ...funniest thing ever! Well, OK maybe you have to be a metalhead and a hockey fan, but it was F'in funny I tell ya!!!) (BTW, the new Audioslave album is more of the good stuff too!)

I work in a design department that has both Macs and PCs... primarily because our graphic designers are a buncha whiney b*tches that simply must have a Mac in order to create (Nevermind the fact that my PC has the exact same programs PLUS my 3D modeling software... but I digress.) Anyhow, I was chattin' with one of the Mac-philes and he was all a-twitter about this news. Tho, he did come across the link below. Ah, now this move by Apple makes sense... its all about kissin' up to the movie studios so that iFlix can become a reality... http://www.wired.com/news/mac/0,2125,67749,00.html

Well, I saw it finally and wasn't moved. Ya know... I have similar feelings to this Episode III, the prequel Trilogy in general... as I do to Frank Miller's Dark Knight Returns sequel. Here you have an obviously talented individual that manged to generate... something... which just stuns me in its capacity to underwhelm me... whatever. At least its all done now. I hope. That's all I got to say. Godspeed to all those who dug it, but I think this link says it all rather nicely... http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=episode3

I can't imagine a studio being willing to pony up for the cost of a 'name' director like him for something like X-Men. Besides , much like Whedon & Wonder Woman... I'd rather Cameron spent his time making Battle Angel the amazing frikkin' thing he claims its gonna be...

Yeah, I was bummed when I heard about this.... I was really looking forward to seeing what Vaughn would do with the X-Men franchise, as I had quite unexpectedly and thoroughly enjoyed Layer Cake. As for the cult of Whedon... yes Joss is good, but damn I get tired of folks wanting to attach him (or re-attach him as it were) to every hot new project. Surely there is other directorial talent out there? Let Joss concentrate on making Wonder Woman not suck. Then again, depending on who they cast, that might just be worth the price of admission... But I digress...

Got mine... thanks so much Cap'n! WOW! The kit is really a sight to behold! Lottsa fine details that aren't readily visible in the photos. It'll be a hoot to assemble... some day... The only thing I don't dig is the clear parts. Kinda thought they'd be made of a hard clear resin, but they're actually made of a somewhat rubbery material. Its most apparent in the half of the main pod/ cabin because the part is so thin in spots. The smaller parts aren't really affected by the material change as much. Nonetheless, detail is crisp and consistent on ALL parts, (hard) grey resin and (rubbery) clear alike. I'll be assembling it all painted anyhow, so no biggie I suppose... Still, don't misinterpret my crit... this is an amazing kit and well worth the price of admission. I'd rather see someone get ambitious with features than to just do the expected! I especially LOVE the interior details... and can't wait for the pilot option kit! Again, EXCELLENT job on this kit, John. I look forward to more of your stellar creations! In the meantime, I'll be pouring out a 40 ouncer for what coulda been (the Legioss)...

Lesee... the current (admittedly rather eclectic) mix on my MP3 player includes: God Lives Underwater Ozric Tentacles The Tea Party Nightwish Audioslave Robert Plant Joel Mabus Monster Magnet Beck Conan The Barbarian (Soundtrack) Jeff Buckley Kyuss Chris Issak Dead Can Dance Gorillaz Neil Diamond KMFDM Peter Murphy Gladiator (Soundtrack) The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly (Soundtrack) The Crow (Soundtrack) Ottmar Liebert Helios Creed

Wow, Vivian Campbell has been in the band longer than Steve Clark was?!? Man time flies...

Son, looks like you need THERMAFORM! http://squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=SQ9003 http://www.squadron.com/old/thermaform/thermaform.htm

An interesting new prototype weapon, the DREAD is catchin' some DOD folks' interest... http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7365 See movie link here... http://defensereview.com/dad/dread.mov This sounds like one of those carny airguns on crack! Seriously, tho... it addresses small arms issues like mechanical integrity, ammo saftey, & (lack of) heat signature... tho it seems to belong to the same school of fire suppression thought as the minigun... ie - send up loads of lead (or ball bearings, in this case) and watch evryone fall down go boom!!! Seems like the main concern (other than an electrical power source) would be the vast amount of ammo ya'd likely need to cart around; although that is somewhat mitigated by the fact that the ammo is simple small ball bearings...

Yeah, that Arnold impersonator they have on the Stern show is really good! I believe they had him talk with some female politico for a bit one time and they had her believing it was the real Arnlod as well... funny stuff!

Wow, the Selfridge Base Air Show (in Michigan) is in May this year??? I thought it was always in July? Hm, anyhow, I'm gonna try to make it... always wanted to go, but something always seems to come up... hopefully that won't happen this year!

WTF?!? Where the HELL have I been? Please add me to the list of folks interested in this kit... I'm definitly in... if there's still a spot available!!!

Ouch. Well, Lucas is definitly not glossin' over the world o' hurt Annie gets slapped with! Hell, after gettin' his limbs wacked off and BBQ'd, I think ol' Vader behaved in a rather composed manner when he finally meets up with Ol' Ben in SW... I think I woulda been more like: 'YOU!!! YOU old F*CK!!! I'm gonna F*CK you up somethin' fierce!!!!'

Sweet baby Jeebus... for a dude that 'don't care' about what folks think about the SW films, ya shoooo do like ta talk a lot 'bout 'em!!! I agree with your sentiment... now that everyone has said their peace and has come to agreement that nobody cares about anyone elses' opinions, let's let the discussion move forward. So, does anyone have ANYTHING spoilerish to add to the discussion at hand that hasn't yet been spoilt yet?!?

Well, I saw TPM a grand total of ONE time - in a theater. I was so pissed off coming out of it that I alienated my friends for the rest of the evening as they thought I had overacted to how craptacular it was. With time, they have all come to agree that I was the only lucid one to have exited the theater... and that they had all been drunk on the childhood memories of Star Wars after a 20 year gap. I refused to go see AOTC when it debuted. That's right, I dissed it and never did see it in a theater. I did finally did cave and watched it on a sweet-ass home theater system... and promptly thanked God I didn't pay for theater tix... or the price of a rental. I laughed at the overall badness... but could not get over the frightfully bad dialogue & delivery. *paraphrasing* 'Your skin is smooth m'lady, not course and scratchy like sand' At least TPM had the Darth Maul duel at the end. IMO, ROTS will most likely be the best of the lot... which is a back-handed compliment of sorts. I haven't decided if I will see it in a theater yet. *steps on fanboy soap box* My problem with the prequels is just that the entire story arc Lucas went with seems so much less grand than I expected. Anakin was supposed to be a 'good' man that somehow succumbed to the dark side... instead we got some unsympathetic, petulant, self-absorbed teenbopper jerk that basically never 'matures' or grows up. Even the purported manner in which he 'dispatches' Padme makes him seem just plain thug-ish. The Clone Wars themselves never seemed as sinister or grand as they could've been... etc. IMO, the best thing about the Star Wars revival has been the Clone Wars cartoon.

Amen and God bless to this thought. And that's all I have to say 'bout that!

So....I'm guessing you don't know much about filming then? Just because Vader looks only a bit taller than Palps in that *PROMO PICTURE* it has nothing to do with how he'll be framed in the actual friggen film! Hell, in the last trailer he looks at least a full head taller than Palps. Or do you actually believe that actors like Tom Cruise are 6'2" because they look that way on film? You mean Tom Cruise ISN'T 8 feet tall?!? Here's a thought wise ass ... perhaps I DO understand how 'film magic' is made! What I'm saying is... is it to much to ask that - at least for the promo still pix - they get somebody that looks IMPOSING in the Vader costume (and it IS a costume, kiddies... Vader isn't *shudder* REAL! ) ?!? And I'm sorry, but the 'tiny hands' thing is readily visible in the trailer. Are they gonna CGI that out and give Vader big meaty man-stranglin' hands?!? I think not. IMO, I think that this is a legit critique.

Ewww. WTF... that picture of Sidious and... Vader... looks like crap. What the Hell ever happened to 7 feet of Black Love?!? Vader looks too... average now. Small hands... now this obvious indignity: a reduction in height. Suck. Jeezus, at this height, Vader wouldn't even be able to successfully choke hold the Rebel Captain at the start of Star Wars (F that 'New Hope' crap). Its like Palps is takin' Anakin out for the SW universe equivilant of Halloween.

Well, if it ever gets a U.S. Region 1 DVD release, I'd like to check it out. Blake's is one of those series that I've always heard about and that I've seen written up in mags like Starlog... and endured PBS-watchin', Dr. Who-lovin', Anglophile friends go on and on about... so I am actually pretty familiar with the basic premise and the characters... however, I've never actually SEEN it! It sounds pretty cool, if a touch dated. But then so is old Trek stuff, and I dig that. Sounds like the Beeb gave Blake's a decent DVD treatment for the Brits. Hmmm, in the meantime, perchance I shall see if there are some torrents of it floatin' around on the web... BTW, I see Paul Darrow (Avon in Blake's 7) was in the Rough Magik DVD (The H.P. Lovecraft Collection, Volume 2) fairly recently. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...?v=glance&s=dvd Anyone watch the DVD??? Sounds cool!!! ...but then isn't anything smacking of Delta Green just too cool?!?

Wowzers, that's a helluva lot lower number for the production of Low Viz valks than I figured!!! Still, I too was plenty happy to unload mine for a fair profit. Mechnaically, the 1/48 is a great looking piece... but the Low Viz scheme was just underwhelming to me.... it basically looked like primer grey. I also didn't much care for the rather splotchy attempt at weathering. Woo-hoo. IMO, it takes a lot of finess to pull off a Low Viz paint scheme... probably best left for modelers.

Daaaaa-ymn... the forums over at Millenniumfalcon.com pretty much lets it all hang out!

Hmmmm, I may be on crack, but I seem to recall the Juggernaut Troop Carrier originating as one of the original concept sketches for the AT-AT. I think there's a sketch of something similar in The Empire Strikes Back Sketchbook from the early 80s... I'll haveta check when I get home later today. I'll scan and post it if I find it.

Hmmm... I may haveta break down and get the second set finally. I was able to score the first set on sale for only $17 - CANADIAN, no less!!! - when I stopped by a Zeller's while over in Windsor, Ontario last fall. Wish I could find a similar sweet deal on the second one...