Can We Make A Star On Earth?
A quick reminder to viewers in the UK that friend of this site (*) Professor Brian Cox will be appearing on Horizon on BBC2 and BBC HD (**) tonight at 9pm (***) where he will be looking into nuclear fusion and asking the question "Can we make a star on Earth?" (****) in a northern accent that has a bizarrely-powerful soporific effect on my wife and will be just the ticket before bed (*****). If you’re outside the UK and that video doesn’t display then … … now you know how I feel every time one of you American buggers embeds something from bloody Hulu. And remember, there’s plenty more Professor Brian Cox-related information on this very site: there’s the exclusive interview with the scientist himself or the list of his early television appearances or even the secret video where he breaks down in tears and admits he’s never really understood the difference between an up and a strange quark (******). Footnotes: (*) Your definition of "friend of this site" and mine may differ. (**) See grey hairs and wrinkles like never before in glorious high definition! (***) Set your V+ to record if you’re watching Battlestar Galactica. (****) Spoiler alert: no. (*****) Assuming you’re going to bed just to sleep, wink, wink (*******). (******) Removed pending High Court ruling. (*******) We...
Common Sense And Justice
Occasionally I have a little rant; you can check my About page if you don’t believe me. I don’t believe all laws should be repealed but I do think we have rather too many of them. Many are contradictory, many are irrelevant, many are there for enforcement and power reasons rather than protection and enhancing the quality of life. But again: there are many laws. Many, many laws. Too many. The problem with having lots of laws, rules, and guides is that lots of people will follow those laws, rules, and guides without sparing a thought for them. I really, really don’t like the idea of an unthinking society. Unthinking societies are shepherded societies and breeding grounds for dangerous, debilitating "ideas." Now, I’m not an anarchist – I don’t like anarchist music or food, for example – but the legal framework of society needs to be torn down and replaced with something simpler and which requires a certain element of thought and consideration in implementing it. I advocate two primary principles of law: common sense and justice. The common sense portion of law overrides all other laws: is a company exploiting a loophole in financial reporting, not in the spirit of the law? No need for lawyers, years of work, and bribing people to get the loophole closed; just poll the general population and ask "do you think this company was acting in an underhand manner by trying to get out of its responsibilities and deserves to be punished?" Did someone just slip over on the pavement because it had recently been raining and there were leaves? And that person wants to sue the local council because there wasn’t a "leaves may be slippery when wet" sign? Yeah, tough luck. Learn. Your child fell off the cliff and you think you should be compensated because there’s no railing around its edge or giant trampoline at the bottom of the chasm? I don’t think so. You burnt your mouth on hot coffee? Which part of hot weren’t you taught in school? The justice portion of law simply makes the punishment fit the crime. Have you ever watched one of those television programmes where the police chase down a youth in a stolen car, clearly without insurance, no licence, etc.? How often is the punishment "banned from driving for a year?" This is a person who didn’t care that he had no insurance, that he had no licence, and that he had no car of his own. A year-long ban is a joke. Justice says: add up the cost of the police officers involved, petrol used in the chase, and any...
Happy Birthday Charles Darwin
Miserable-looking bugger ain’t he? And to think: his birthday’s only gone and fallen on Darwin Day too! Would it kill him to evolve a smile?
Movie Mistakes
People have been making movies longer than you or I were born. You’d think with that amount of experience to draw upon they’d make better films, wouldn’t you? Sadly, no. The vast majority of the vast majority of films are utter dross and even those films that rise up and float on the sea of crud are not without their flaws. Let’s take a look at some of the movie mistakes and bloopers in a few of my favourite films. The Outlaw Josey Wales Continuity errors are the bane of any film’s editor. Sometimes a simple error can go more-or-less unnoticed but at other times the mistake is there for everyone to see and anyone watching the film will wonder out loud: how did they not spot that before they released it? A prime example is shown below from The Outlaw Josey Wales where one of the two bounty hunters waiting in Santa Rio suddenly changes headwear after his pal is shot in the saloon. The Man Who Would Be King Sean Connery had developed an allergy to horses during his filming of Zardoz the year before which made 1975’s The Man Who Would Be King a real problem for the entire production. Stunt doubles were used extensively as were, unfortunately, pantomime horses, one of which accidentally ended up in the final cut of the film. 12 Angry Men The 1957 movie is a masterpiece of atmospheric action as twelve jurors decide the fate of a kid accused of murdering his father. For most of the movie John Fielder sports a rather nondescript tie, however, as shown below, this changes in the middle of one scene to a novelty Pacman variation. A few seconds later and it reverts back. WarGames The script to WarGames was rewritten numerous times during the actual production of the film to accommodate Dabney Coleman’s increasingly problematic addiction to moustaches. One of the effects of these rewrites was the removal of David’s (Matthew Broderick) imaginary leprechaun, the catalyst for all of his computer shenanigans. However, during the early scenes in the games arcade you can still see the phantasm present in the machine’s reflection. Krull It’s very difficult to help fund a fantasy movie by including product placement and it became clear that 1983’s Krull would have to save costs by using a large number of British actors and actresses instead (by the way, good call with Lysette Anthony, hubba hubba). The set for the Black Fortress, though, was not completely cleared of strategically-located Coca Cola vending machines and one of these can be clearly seen during the heroes’ assault towards the end of the...
Classic Slug Movie Posters
We’ve already seen some of my very favourite Vintage Slug Adverts and Classic Slug Magazine Covers and we’ve all come to realise that when it comes to slug memorabilia there’s simply no better source than this very site. Today, I’m especially pleased to showcase some of the movie posters that adorned the cinemas during the Golden Age of Slugcentric Movie-making. West Slug Story Slugnet To Kill A Mockingslug I Was A Teenage Wereslug Dial S For...
Flash Game Cyadonia
Something a little different today – not that every day isn’t something a little different around these parts – in the form of a Flash puzzle game called Cyadonia written by a friend of mine, James Newcombe, with whom I got somewhat drunk yesterday and promised that I’d promote his endeavours as it sure as hell would be a lot easier than coming up with something entertaining myself. (Click Image To Play) This game is simple enough: guide your cyad to the exit avoiding the dangers, picking up diamonds, and making use of extras on some of the levels when you find them. There are literally hundreds of levels in this game so you won’t grow bored quickly. There’s also a level editor in the works. There’s no sound for now though so you’ll need to hum along as you play the game. Historically-speaking, the game started on the Commodore 64 and evolved through to the Amiga before making its way in its current incarnation to the Flash platform. But you don’t want to hear about the history of Cyadonia; you want to play the game. So, do so. Any comments, suggestions, and so on gratefully received and passed onto the game...
Recent From Retro
-
The Women Of Kilobaud Computing Sep 26, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent From Entertainment
-
Dance Music Triple Nov 19, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent Comments