Plain View #12 6/16/05

http://feeds.feedburner.com/searscast

Mare's List:
No list. That's right, no list.

Matt's List:
1) International adoption - buying kids
2) Ukrainian bloodletting
3) Mad Cow
4) Near showdown at the Lonestar
5) Viewer mail - booblies
6) And the rest

I'm just taking a moment to reflect on how good this movie is. Ric and I rewatched it and were still amazed at how perfectly set up each shot is. Tarantino takes such great care with making things look.... well, cool. And the lines are all clever as well.

I love the mix of genres in this movie, including a variety of music, comedic moments, dramatic times, and, of course, action. From "Bill, it's your baby" at the beginning (or maybe even earlier), I was hooked.

I could probalbly watch it again right now and still not get tired of it.

I read this story on AICN the other day. In it, the author seems to claim that Tom Rothman (apparently a producer of some kind at FOX) has sabotaged the X-Men movie franchise for selfish reasons:

What’s really amazing is how X-MEN was something Rothman hated from the start, no matter what he says now in public. I’ve spoken to at least ten people close to the production who have provided me with laundry lists of the ways that Rothman tried to fuck up the first film. Remember when they cut the budget and moved up the release date on the first X-MEN? You know why? Rothman was cutting his losses. He really, truly anticipated that the film would come out and vanish without a trace, and he would finally be rid of what he saw as a corporate albatross. Instead, the film clicked, and on the second film, Bryan Singer and his writers and the producers were all able to muster enough muscle to get Fox to give them the room they needed to make something even better.

That must have stuck in Rothman’s craw something fierce, and that’s what led to that massive slow-down after X-MEN 2.

When I read this, I figured the author was overreacting and making wild accusations. It just doesn't make any sense to me that a producer would intentionally sabotage a successful and very popular movie franchise. Later, though, I came across this interview with Billy West, a voice actor for Futurama. The first thing the interviewer started asking him about was the cancellation of the show:

Matt had total autonomy, pretty much. They let him do what he wanted to do, and the show was becoming a success. People were finding it, and Fox kept trying to hide it because they couldn't have control over it. How are you going to explain to the media world, "It's a success, obviously, because we had nothing to do with it. We didn't put our seal of death on it."

Again, this makes absolutely no sense to me. If a network has a popular show on its hands, wouldn't they care more about that than whether or not they are directly responsible for it success? I thought that the bottom line is all that matters to them. It just doesn't add up.

Check out this article on vSkype, a third party video plugin for Skype. Looks pretty darn cool. I need to get a webcam and try it out. The article also talks about Skype's own free video features that are coming down the pipe in the future. Nice.

Here is my forum question:

Is Batman Really A Superhero?

I would strongly encourage your responses.

Apparently, NPR and PBS are at risk of losing all of their government funding, which would make them entirely dependent on donations for operating expenses, and would likely shut down broadcasting stations in the poorest regions of the country (like Kirksville!). This would be disastrous. Many people like myself depend on NPR as the last bastion of quality broadcast journalism in America. According to Free Press, attempts by government officials to discredit NPR as liberally biased actually reveal that Americans see it as an unbiased media outlet--and with good reason. While the ratings-driven media rely on sensationalism and celebrity gossip to attract viewers, NPR continues to report on important news, often providing stories that go uncovered by corporate media. America needs NPR now more than ever.

If you feel as strongly about this as I do, then sign this petition.

Last night I played some Starcraft online with Brendon and Tim. A few days before that I was playing with Brendan and Henry. If there's anyone else who want to play with us, then drop me a line and get in on the next game. We should be playing again next Tuesday if not sooner.

My brother Mike has started a podcast, which makes four that are hosted here on Brendoman.com. Here's his first episode, and here's the feed you can use to subscribe to it.

My brother Mike has started a podcast, which makes four that are hosted here on Brendoman.com. Here's his first episode, and here's the feed you can use to subscribe to it.