I haven't read a negative review of "Spiderman 2" yet. I haven't even seen a mediocre one. I'm sure I could find one if I tried, but why bother. Roger Ebert has given the film four stars in his review, calling it "the best superhero film ever made". That's all I need to hear.
It's going to be fucking amazing!
So we've got a minority government, and it's Liberal. I'm not sure which is worse, a Liberal minority cooperating with the NDP, or a Conservative minority cooperating with the Bloc. I ended up voting for the Action Party, simply because there weren't any other parties on the ballot that I could vote for. For me, voting Action was a way of voting without voting, which turned out to be my only choice. At least I can bitch freely now, having not voted for any of the parties that matter.
I find the idea of our system of government ridiculous some times. The thought of a party with 20 seats holding any kind of sway over a party with over 130 seats is insane to me, but that's what we're going to end up with. With our new left of left-centre government, look for taxes to rise, social spending to rise, the debt to rise, and the military to shrink.
With any luck, it won't last. With any luck, nothing will get done in parliament. With any luck, we'll be back to the polls within a year.
If there's one thing I can't stand, it's ignorance. I'm frequently guilty of it myself, but would like to think that I make an effort to know a little bit about what I discuss. I remember seeing an article concerning the federal election recently which had to do with military spending. Martin was accusing Harper of wanting in on the American "Star Wars" program.
Ummm, Mr. Martin, "Star Wars" was a program involving orbital weapons platforms made up of laser and microwave guns designed to defend against Cold War nuclear attack. The current missile defense shield project uses ground based interceptor missiles controlled by radar. Normal, every day, run of the mill missiles. The Americans aren't even suggesting that we scrap our fighter jets this time, they just figured that with Norad and all, we might want to share the umbrella that they are building. With ballistic missile treaties quickly becoming Cold War history, I don't really have a problem with that. Better safe than sorry I say, and unlike terrorism security, you don't have to violate any civil liberties to do it.
Of course, that would mean that Canada would have some form of military defense, which is against the Liberal Party of Canada's philosophy. Never mind.
With Spaceship One reaching the edge of space on Monday, privately funded space craft have become a reality. Still, it is important to keep the achievement in perspective. NASA and other government funded space programs are needed more than ever before. Spaceship One might be able to take a pilot and two passengers just beyond the atmosphere, but it's going to be a hell of a long time before you see privately funded launch vehicles lifting tens of thousands of pounds of humans and cargo into orbit and beyond. We barely see that with NASA these days.
For now, private space flight will serve as an interest booster for NASA. People with money and a sense of adventure will pay huge sums to take a sub-orbital vacation. It will impress them, leave them speechless, and increase the chances that they'll support government space funding. There don't seem to be too many private investors willing to fund multi-billion dollar missions these days. In contrast to NASA's spending, which probably isn't the most efficient in the world, the twenty million dollar price tag for Spaceship One is tiny.
The entire thing is almost pointless to consider anyhow. Until we find a better way of protecting our ships from the heat of reentry, Human space flight will be incredibly dangerous. Private craft will be sticking to sub-orbital for a long time, and NASA should dump a bunch of money into looking for a new heat shield material.
Can I really vote liberal? I don't want to. It's completely obvious at this point that the Liberals need to be out of power. Being at the helm for over a decade has left nearly all of them corrupt and irresponsible. The problem is that there isn't a better choice.
The Conservatives? I'd like to be able to vote for them, but their close ties to religion and backward social views simply can't be overlooked. The Conservative candidate in my own riding is an evangelical Christian, and is quoted as saying "God has given me a vision of a better Canada". I don't want anyone in my government basing their decisions on visions from God. I'm ideologically opposed to the Conservatives on too many levels to vote for them, aren't I? Same-sex marriage, abortion rights, the budget. It's hard to believe there are any politicians left who actually want less government, Conservative or no. That leaves two basic things I do agree with them on; the military, and lower taxes. I just don't know if it's enough.
The NDP? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!! Aaaaaaaahahahahahahahahahaha!!! Haha!! Ha! Hahahaha! Ha....ha....whew!!! Excuse me, just have to catch my breath.
As usual, there are only two choices. Which will it be? I still can't say, they're both so horrible!
Canada's federal election is quickly approaching and I'm still not sure who to vote for. I don't want to vote for anyone, quite frankly, but I do still have to vote. I don't want to see a Canada where less than half of the voters show up; this isn't Europe, after all.
One of my main problems is that I'm just not interested in paying attention. I don't want to watch the news in order to stay in touch. I can only read so many online articles about Canadian politics before I can start to feel my intelligence slipping away. It's so boring. Pointless squabbling over non-issues that other countries don't have time to deal with because they've got a war, are being bombed by terrorists, or have a psychopathic president.
The only thing I do know at this point is that I'm not voting NDP, but really, I don't even consider that a choice to be made. It's simply a universal law of physics.
Note to self: make more time for website posts. Gotta get going!
The Chronicles of Riddick turned out to be a bit of a pleasant surprise, simply because it's not nearly as bad as I was expecting it to be. Overall, the film is at least as good as Pitch Black, which should be able to give most people a decent impression of it. Don't go into "Riddick" expecting the next great space opera, or you will be disappointed. However, the film is completely original and fresh, with fantastic production design and some excellent visual effects.
I think one of the things I like most about "Riddick" is that is doesn't look like Star Wars, or Star Trek, or any other sci-fi film. The ships look realistic and futuristic without looking either sterilized or rusted. The designs don't rely on legions of pipes and panels covering every surface in order to make things look "complicated" and "big". Ships and structures in "Riddick" look big through good animation, and excellent composition. Even the weapons' fire looks fresh and new. I'm so sick of Star Wars at this point that I'd be willing to recommend "Riddick" simply because it doesn't look like Lucas' lumbering shit barge.
Vin Diesel is fantastic. He's got to have one of the best screen presence since Schwarzenegger, and seeing Vin Diesel play Riddick is like watching Arnold play the Terminator. If the next Riddick film can be written a little better, Diesel is the type of guy who could make it one of the great sci-fi films, or at least one of the most fun. If you like sci-fi, check out The Chronicles of Riddick, because, well, it's not that bad.
I finally managed to get out and see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban last night. The film is immensely enjoyable, but doesn't feel as complete as the first two. While walking out of the theatre I realized that this is the first Harry Potter film where I've felt like things from the book were left out. I didn't get that sense at all with the first two movies. Far too much of the plot in Azkaban is revealed in a three minute sequence of screaming accusations and wand waving, where you're struggling to keep up with who is on which side, and Harry seems to trust far too easily after it's over.
The film is obviously darker than the previous two, which works well for the story they're telling. Still, you can make a film dark without turning Hogwarts into a dreary dungeon school, and without dressing Dumbledore up like a hippie who didn't get the memo about the 60s being over. Still, I would recommend seeing Azkaban; it is still an excellent film. Visual effects were great, especially Buckbeak. The black dog completely mops the floor with the wolves from The Day After Tomorrow.
Ah, one other thing I liked about this installment: we finally get to see Harry do something powerful. For two movies now we've been told about Harry's amazing power as a wizard, yet in both films he manages to escape certain death without casting a single spell, or by pure luck. This time, we get a giant pulsing energy barrier which sends away scores of dark creatures. Extra points for that one!
I've been itching to pick up one of the new Game Boy Advance NES SP systems since they came out earlier this week. I don't own a Game Boy, which feels like some kind of blasphemy considering I own every other Nintendo system, and the Game Boy does have some really good titles. The whole idea of the NES SP is that it's styled to look like an old NES console, while the inside mimics the original NES controller. I mean seriously, how can you not buy something like that? It doesn't help that I'm a complete consumer whore, but I take some comfort in thinking that I'm simply doing my part to keep the economy going strong.
I picked up "Disney on the Front Lines" this weekend, which is a DVD collection of all the propaganda and training shorts Disney produced during the second world war. I've yet to watch "Victory Through Air Power", which is a full length film explaining the strategy of the war in the pacific. The shorts are full of comedic moments featuring most of the Disney favourites, as you would expect. They're also full of stereotypes and blatantly racist dialogue, especially where the Japanese are concerned. Interesting how times have changed.
Propaganda films sure aren't made the same way today. Since people are on the lookout for it so much more, it seems to have taken a more subtle approach. They're also not released by the government, with deep voiced narrators talking about the evil Taliban. I'm not sure which is better.
I watched Shrek 2 yesterday having not gotten around to seeing it until now. It's hard to say how it compares to the first one. I don't think the story works as well, since it feels like the same basic story as last time. The jokes and parodies are better however, and I found myself laughing at Shrek 2 a lot more than I did at the first one. Antonio Banderas' character "Puss in Boots" is absolutely hilarious, especially when he turns on the "cute cat face".
Technically, there didn't seem to be too many visual improvements over the first film, which was probably on purpose. Some of the effects, as well as the hair and fur, look quite a bit better. Shrek looks the same, as does almost everything else. PDI still has a ways to go before its animation can be considered on par with Pixar's, and the same goes for their stories. When The Incredibles is released in November, people will be reminded of this.
Shrek 2 is entirely enjoyable, and I'm definitely recommending it.
Every year I check the lineup for the Abbotsford Airshow every couple of months. Until recently, the only performers listed were the Snowbirds, the CF-18, the A-10, and a few token civilian demos. Thank God they've added a whole bunch of ABSOLUTELY AWESOME SHIT since then!
This year should feature, if you're going on the Sunday, demo flights by the CF-18 Hornet, F-14 Tomcat, A-10 Thunderbolt, F/A-18 Super Hornet, and the F-15 Eagle. People attending on the Saturday will miss the F-15 demo, but will be treated to some B-2 Spirit flybys instead. Sweet! I'm actually considering going on both days this year, since you usually miss something otherwise.
In any case, it looks like we're going to get a fun show this year. Hopefully the fucking weather will cooperate this time; it's been cloudy and raining for the last two years at least. I want sun and blue sky!