Yea, so Lord of the Rings needs to die

I just read about this again last night and realized that Lord of the Rings needs to die. If you click on the link, you’ll see release information for the THIRD set of Lord of the Rings DVDs to be released on August 29. Each movie will be released in a separate two disc set with Disc One containing both the theatrical and extended versions of the movies and Disc Two containing a BRAND SPANKING NEW FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY!!!! Whoop-de-fucking-do-me-in-the-ass-do!

While it’s cool to package both the regular and extended versions on one disc, why the hell do you do it now? Both of the past sets have set sales records and HD-DVD versions of the films have already been announced. Compressing the Extended Versions down to one disc requires tons of compression that will result in the loss of all commentary and DTS sound tracks and a crappier picture. I imagine the only people who really want to see another 6 hours of behind the scenes LOTR footage are the fans who’ve already shelled out for the 20 hours of bonus footage already available on the Extended Editions and Regular editions. To throw further salt on the wound, each set has an MSRP of $28.98, and while you may be able to find each set for $20, this is hardly a bargain. Maybe New Line is releasing these films because Peter Jackson wouldn’t let them screw him out of $100mil.

In other “needs to die” news, I’m silently boycotting IGN.com’s DVD site because they are posting a crazy amount of Star Wars features to celebrate Lucasfilm’s release of the original films. You already know how I feel about these sets and to add insult to injury, the films will not even be presented in a widescreen TV friendly anamorphic transfer.

-Burned Bob

Read Fell #1 for free!

Fell is an Image Comics produced gritty crime story in the noir tradition. What’s really cool about it is that each issue tells a self contained story in 16 pages and only costs $1.99. Most comics these days run around $2.99 and have about 22 pages of comic. Most of these comics are also very padded out with stories being written for the future trade paperback collection. So you usually need to buy 6 comics at 3 bucks a pop to get a full story – not cool.

So if you ever had an interest in comics, noir, or well written stories, I highly suggest you check out Fell. Best of all, you can read the first issue absolutely free! Check it out here on Newsarama (a comics website) and let me know what you thought.
-Snowtown Bob

Thursday full o’ knowledge

I believe to be successful, one must constantly learn new things. Because I would one day like to be successful, I try to learn something new each and every day. Some days I don’t learn much of anything and other days I learn lots. In no particular order of importance, here’s what I learned today:

1) Rotten watermelon is very stinky.

2) It takes approximately 20 minutes to force said watermelon down the tiny holes in my sink drain.

3) Labview is really kind of stupid.

4) Fell #6, released yesterday, is a kickass comic book and is already really hard to find (You should buy a copy for the low, low price of $1.99 – it will be worth much more very soon ).

5) You can spend $2500 on a new wafer probe and get it really fast. When you need said wafer probe repaired for a measely $100, you must constantly bother your group leader to approve the purchase order or else the probe will never be repaired.

6) I miss my wife! She went home to Iowa yesterday and won’t be back until next Tuesday. Aahh!!

7) When you play volleyball in your work clothes at your group picnic and dive for a ball, you will get sand in your pants.

You will also get sand in your pants pockets.

9) When taking your pants off, sand will fall out of your pockets onto the floor.

10) Dirt Devils kick ass!

So what did you learn today?

-Learnd’ed Bob

Why I don’t care about 9/11 films

“It’s about Americans doing their jobs. It’s about Americans seeing each other only as Americans. It’s about the real promise of America, fulfilled.”
-Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger review of “World Trade Center.”

This quote is why I don’t care about the two fictional 9/11 films released so far and don’t expect to be interested in any future movies on the subject. Because of the tragic nature of the event, 9/11 storytelling possibilities are essentially limited to “creating a moving picture of how normal people rise to the level of heroes in the midst of horror.” *Yawn* There are many, many films that already show the glory of being Joe 6 Pack, and I really don’t feel like spending $9 to have Hollywood pick at my 9/11 feelings to give me the same old melodrama.

“For all its crude effectiveness as a true-life melodrama of survival, World Trade Center doesn’t do much with 9/11, except to sentimentalize it for popular consumption.”
-Dana Stevens, Slate review of Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center”

Because it’s been so soon, I guess we’re stuck with these melodramatic movies that the average movie goer may well enjoy. But I’d like to see something a little more innovative, something that generally makes me think. How about telling the story of a firefighter who was too afraid to go into the towers as they fell? How would a character grieve with that human failing and how would his future actions be different? I’m guessing will see such a movie in a few years and critics will rave at how refreshing it is to see something new done with 9/11. Look back at their reviews of the current 9/11 movies, and I bet they’ll be big praises of showcasing the human spirit and blah blah blah.

-Bob

Boston Heat Wave

Boston is in the middle of a smoking hot heat wave causing all the little boys and girls to run around screaming “It’s hot, it’s hot!” This morning for the first time in the 1+ years I’ve been here an announcement came on the intercomm at Lincoln. It said because of energy required to keep us cool in the heatwave we should turn off any unneccesary power consuming devices. All the lights in the hallways were promptly shut off… all of them except the stairways which happen to have a full wall of windows. Oh yeah, and the air conditioning was set down to what felt like 65. Gotta love your government funds at work!

-Governating Efficiency Bob