Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
You're in Huntsville George A - Original Message - From: Ronn!Blankenship [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 12:15 AM Subject: Re: Two Towers Extended DVD At 07:37 PM 12/1/03 +0900, G. D. Akin wrote: BTW: my wife and I leave for the States on the 18th to visit the daughter and folks. Due to a little thing called the date line, we get to Atlanta 25 minutes before we leave (but I'm betting we'll be pretty tired). Due to time zones, it takes me four hours to drive to Atlanta but only two hours to drive back. Hitting I-285 At Rush Hour Adds Another Three Hours Maru -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Gift help
I have a new brother-in-law; my sister just re-married and we will meet him over the holidays. My sister told me he recently got a new telescope and that a nice gift might be a good Astronomy photo book. Any suggestions? George A ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Gift help
George asked I have a new brother-in-law; my sister just re-married and we will meet him over the holidays. My sister told me he recently got a new telescope and that a nice gift might be a good Astronomy photo book. Any suggestions? Actually, if you look on eBay, there are quite a few telescope accessories that you could buy him for more than reasonable prices. My personal favorite is the blinking LED lights that attach to the bottom of telescope legs so you don't trip over them in the dark. eBay - blinking LED lights for telescope legs... http://makeashorterlink.com/?K6A5521B6 Or http://makeashorterlink.com/?O3C5551B6 eBay telescopes accessories http://makeashorterlink.com/?D575121B6 Happy hunting! Gary ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: christian dreams of murder...
On Sat, 15 Nov 2003, Gautam Mukunda [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote, I would also point out that half of Washington has known Valerie Plame was a CIA agent for years, ... This may be true, although I have heard specific rebuttals to this claim. I hope you are wrong, because if it is true, then the US is in worse shape than previously thought. The punishment for whomever made the most recent disclosure will have to be tougher, in order to discourage `ordinary' traitors. Suppose that Valerie Plame was an undercover agent gathering information about Pakistani nuclear weapons development in the late 1980s. (We know she was spying on countries involved with weapons of mass destruction; I do not know which countries.) When Valerie Plame's identity as an undercover agent became known, pro-Talaban members of the Pakistani counter-intelligence agency will have tracked all the people with whom she had contact. If some of them were suspected of having provided her with information, then the agency is likely to have tried to turn them. One technique is to torture a child to death as a warning and inducement. Even if the agent does not care about his child, he is likely to fear his own torture. And even if an agent is not working with Valerie Plame, he must consider that if he works with any other US spy, that spy's identity may be revealed and he discovered. (Or she discovered.) If Valerie Plame's identity was disclosed a long time ago, then US spying has been weakened for longer. Clearly, no one in the US wants to be a target of a radiological, nuclear, chemical, or biological weapon. People who disclose the identity of undercover US spies are dangerous. As former US President George H. W. Bush said, such people are the most insidious of traitors. If you are right, and traitors betrayed the US a long time ago, then a powerful way to stop future betrayals is to send a high ranking administration official to prison for a long time -- the point being that influence and position are no help. The laws will be enforced. Novak claims he was told Valerie Plame's identity by an `administration official'. (He may even have said a `senior administration official'; I cannot remember for sure.) Perhaps Novak is lying. I do not know. In any event, the first step is for the Administration to conduct a vigorous and well publicized search for traitors, starting at the top. Only if you are wrong could some claim that a quiet investigation is warranted; and I do not think so. Not in war. Valerie Plame was trying to guard you and John (as people living in prime target areas) and other Americans, and people outside the US. No one she or someone like her might recruit should ever fear that he or she, or his or her family, might suffer because of a failure of tradecraft on the American side. No one should be discouraged from helping save lives. -- Robert J. Chassell Rattlesnake Enterprises http://www.rattlesnake.com GnuPG Key ID: 004B4AC8 http://www.teak.cc [EMAIL PROTECTED] ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
You know I find it ironic after reading Doug's rant that if I did the same thing for a historical movie I might be labled as being pedantic... Damon. = Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: __ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
On Tue, Dec 02, 2003 at 07:32:50AM -0800, Damon Agretto wrote: You know I find it ironic after reading Doug's rant that if I did the same thing for a historical movie I might be labled as being pedantic... Pre-emptive whining? Now I've seen everything... -- Erik Reuter http://www.erikreuter.net/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
SCOUTED: Fwd: The Word Spy for 12/02/2003 -- neuromarketing
neuromarketing (new.roh.MAR.kuh.ting) n. The neurological study of a person's mental state and reactions while being exposed to marketing messages. Also: neuro-marketing. --neuromarketer n. - Example Citations - When we reached the M.R.I. control room, Clint Kilts, the scientific director of the BrightHouse Institute, was fiddling away at a computer keyboard. A professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Emory, Kilts began working with Meaux in 2001. Meaux had learned that Kilts and a group of marketers were founding the BrightHouse Institute, and she joined their team, becoming perhaps the world's first full-time neuromarketer. Kilts is confident that there will soon be room for other full-time careers in neuromarketing. You will actually see this being part of the decision-making process, up and down the company, he predicted. You are going to see more large companies that will have neuroscience divisions. --Clive Thompson, There's a Sucker Born in Every Medial Prefrontal Cortex, The New York Times, October 26, 2003 KELLY: Marketers have used everything from focus groups and dream therapy to skin tests. Using science to map the unconscious mind of consumers is the latest trick, and it has some Ivy League backing. Neuromarketing was born here at Harvard University. In the late 1990's, marketing professor Gerry Zaltman and his associate began scanning people's brains for corporations. He's stopped that work now, and he's concentrating on another method [ ZMET] to probe the subconscious mind of consumers. ... KELLY: Companies didn't want to talk to us about ZMET, and it remains a secret who's using neuromarketing. That doesn't surprise Allan Middleton. MIDDLETON: Some of these techniques are controversial because they are trying to get at people's less than totally conscious and less than totally rational response. And in a way, in a lot of people's minds, that sends up signals of subliminal communication and manipulation. --Margo Kelly, The science of shopping, Marketplace (CBC TV), December 3, 2002 - Earliest Citation - The founders of the BrightHouse Institute for Thought Sciences in Atlanta believe the future of marketing research lies in something they call neuromarketing, a technique that combines science and business. BrightHouse Institute has begun using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technology traditionally used in health care to create images of activity within the brain, to reveal how people feel about things, such as products and commercials, more accurately than those people can explain their feelings in focus groups and surveys. --'Neuromarketing' firm launched by Atlanta ad veteran, Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 14, 2002 - On the Web - http://www.wordspy.com/words/neuromarketing.asp - See Also - neurobabble: http://www.wordspy.com/words/neurobabble.asp retail anthropology: http://www.wordspy.com/words/retailanthropology.asp secret shopper: http://www.wordspy.com/words/secretshopper.asp undercover marketing: http://www.wordspy.com/words/undercovermarketing.asp - Subject Category - Business - Marketing: http://www.wordspy.com/index/Business-Marketing.asp - Top 10 Words (Most Web Site Hits) - 1. metrosexual: http://www.wordspy.com/words/metrosexual.asp 2. pomosexual: http://www.wordspy.com/words/pomosexual.asp 3. tomacco: http://www.wordspy.com/words/tomacco.asp 4. bluejacking: http://www.wordspy.com/words/bluejacking.asp 5. warm-chair attrition: http://www.wordspy.com/words/warm-chairattrition.asp 6. manscaping: http://www.wordspy.com/words/manscaping.asp 7. flash mob: http://www.wordspy.com/words/flashmob.asp 8. man breasts: http://www.wordspy.com/words/manbreasts.asp 9. speed-cubing: http://www.wordspy.com/words/speed-cubing.asp 10. irritable male syndrome: http://www.wordspy.com/words/irritablemalesyndrome.asp - Words About Words - 'Tis strange -- but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction --Lord Byron, British poet, _Don Juan_, 1819 - Word Spy Links - Home: http://www.wordspy.com/ Joining the List: http://www.wordspy.com/subscribe.asp Index: http://www.wordspy.com/index/index.asp Top 100: http://www.wordspy.com/topwords.asp Feedback: http://www.wordspy.com/contact.asp Copyright (c) 2003 Paul McFedries and Logophilia Limited ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Two Towers Extended DVD
-Original Message- From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:00 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Two Towers Extended DVD Reggie wrote: Quite possibly, but it depends on why that person nearly walked out. Reggie Bautista Details? Maru You asked for it 8^). Deploy rant mode It's been almost a year since I've seen it, so I can't remember everything, but several things stuck in my mind. The Warg battle was not in the book, not necessary to develop the story and didn't add anything to it other than another action sequence. Likewise with Aragorn falling in the river. Gimli as comic relief didn't work for me at all. I thought that the Ents were going to be cool when Pipin and Merry first met up with Treebeard, but the Entmoot was poorly done (were there more than six Ents in attendance?) And it took more than a few hours as portrayed. and the result was contrary (and far inferior) to the book. I'll interject here and say I was disappointed in the way they portrayed the search party finding Gandalf in the forest. Eomer's story was inexplicably altered for the worse. Theodin's awakening was overdone as was his reaction to his son's death at the funeral mounds. All the stuff with Elrond and Arwen was overdone and stupid. True.. All one really has to know is that Arwen gave up immortality for Aragon, and Elrond was pissed. They could have illustrated why Aragon wandered for 20+ years as a Ranger. This is more interesting to me. However, these facts were in the appendixes of the book, and not part of the story directly. It does not add much to the story. The best part of the movie was the Frodo/Sam/Gollum thread, but they managed to screw that up at the end by changing the story again. The ending was in the wrong place and completely ruined the story for me. If the movie was too long to end it in the right place, they should have just gotten rid of all the crap they made up and ended it in the right place. True, they spend far too much time building up the drama of the impending Helm's deep war. The whole scene with Aragon and the young boy was stupid. The place to end is that Frodo is dead, Sam is lost, orcs everywhere, and Gollem on the loose. I mean, what a cliffhanger! Instead, Frodo will be dead for only a few minutes screen time in the final movie. The frustrating thing is that all the elements were there to make a great movie - the Orcs, Orthanic, Helms Deep, Edoras, Minas Turith, the Gates of Mordor, the Marshes of the Dead, Fangorn, etc. etc., and the actors were all excellent. What about the ending of the Helm's deep conflict. Gandalf arrives, they rush down the hill and the orcs lose. Why deviate from the real story? I would have rather seen the interpetation of the Ent's nighttime wholesale killing of the Orc army, piling up the bodies and lighting them on fire Instead, one gets the feeling that orcs are easily defeated if you take them by a surprise flanking attack, instead of everyone thinking, damn, if it wasn't for a bunch of pissed off trees, the humans would be all be dead already. God help the humans when they meet up with the orcs again! All they had to do was tell the story, but they f**ked it up. It was that much more disappointing after how well they followed the story in TFotR. I agree. I left the theater mad. There was no real good reason for any of the changes they made. The story is so much better than what they did portray. Now they've got to spend a good bit of time finishing book two in movie three and I'm sure they'll have to axe a bunch of stuff out of that to make it short enough. No Scouring of the Shire, I'll bet, or if it's there it will be severely truncated. I feel there is just too much in the last book to do in 120 minutes, especially since they have the last part of Two Towers to complete. While critics are praising the movie already, I suspect I will be disappointed. Nerd From Hell If I had the patience to watch it again I could probably write a much longer and more specific rant, but you get the idea. Stow rant mode... -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Pre-emptive whining? Now I've seen everything... More like an observation... Damon. = Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: __ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Two Towers Extended DVD
From: Chad Cooper [EMAIL PROTECTED] From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] It's been almost a year since I've seen it, so I can't remember everything, but several things stuck in my mind. The Warg battle was not in the book, not necessary to develop the story and didn't add anything to it other than another action sequence. Likewise with Aragorn falling in the river. Gimli as comic relief didn't work for me at all. I thought that the Ents were going to be cool when Pipin and Merry first met up with Treebeard, but the Entmoot was poorly done (were there more than six Ents in attendance?) And it took more than a few hours as portrayed. Best part about the Ent scenes: -they looked fantastic. Worst parts: - They used John Rhys-Davies for Treebeard's voice. I'm thinking Hey - it's Tree-Gimli! Surely they could have found some other top voice talent who didn't already have a major role in the movie. - The change to make Merry Pippin trick Treebeard into going to Isengard, getting mad, and attacking. How would Pippin know that Isengard had pillaged all the surrounding trees, when obviously even the Ents didn't? and the result was contrary (and far inferior) to the book. I'll interject here and say I was disappointed in the way they portrayed the search party finding Gandalf in the forest. That didn't bug me. I didn't miss the stuff about them seeing Saruman earlier and the spooked horses, etc. at all. Eomer's story was inexplicably altered for the worse. Theodin's awakening was overdone as was his reaction to his son's death at the funeral mounds. All the stuff with Elrond and Arwen was overdone and stupid. True.. All one really has to know is that Arwen gave up immortality for Aragon, and Elrond was pissed. They could have illustrated why Aragon wandered for 20+ years as a Ranger. This is more interesting to me. However, these facts were in the appendixes of the book, and not part of the story directly. It does not add much to the story. I don't really mind the Arwen/Aragorn changes, for the most part. LOTR is rather short on female roles. I remember when my mom (not a fantasy buff) read it, her first comment was There are almost no women in these books. I don't blame Peter Jackson for wanting to broaden the movie appeal beoynd the geek base some by expanding the small bits of romance that are in the novels. Fortunately Liv Tyler couldn't handle swordplay, so they canned their plans to stick Arwen in assorted battles. The best part of the movie was the Frodo/Sam/Gollum thread, but they managed to screw that up at the end by changing the story again. The ending was in the wrong place and completely ruined the story for me. If the movie was too long to end it in the right place, they should have just gotten rid of all the crap they made up and ended it in the right place. True, they spend far too much time building up the drama of the impending Helm's deep war. The whole scene with Aragon and the young boy was stupid. The place to end is that Frodo is dead, Sam is lost, orcs everywhere, and Gollem on the loose. I mean, what a cliffhanger! Instead, Frodo will be dead for only a few minutes screen time in the final movie. That would have definitely been a better ending. I think the reason they saved Shelob for ROTK is that there is very little story left for Sam and Frodo after Shelob. (Mostly the dreary march through the desert, and the goofy part of the book where Sam and Frodo are mistaken for Orcs and march along with them.) The frustrating thing is that all the elements were there to make a great movie - the Orcs, Orthanic, Helms Deep, Edoras, Minas Turith, the Gates of Mordor, the Marshes of the Dead, Fangorn, etc. etc., and the actors were all excellent. What about the ending of the Helm's deep conflict. Gandalf arrives, they rush down the hill and the orcs lose. Why deviate from the real story? I would have rather seen the interpetation of the Ent's nighttime wholesale killing of the Orc army, piling up the bodies and lighting them on fire Well, they drive the Orcs into the mystery huorn Orc Motel - Orcs check in - but the don't check out forest. Or was that only in the extended edition? Instead, one gets the feeling that orcs are easily defeated if you take them by a surprise flanking attack, instead of everyone thinking, damn, if it wasn't for a bunch of pissed off trees, the humans would be all be dead already. God help the humans when they meet up with the orcs again! I never quite had that feeling from the book. IIRC, when Gandalf shows up, the tide starts to turn, and the Ents are the coup de grace, rather than sole saviors of humanity. All they had to do was tell the story, but they f**ked it up. It was that much more disappointing after how well they followed the story in TFotR. I agree. I left the theater mad. There was no real good reason for any of the changes they made. The story is so much better than
RE: Two Towers Extended DVD
Best part about the Ent scenes: -they looked fantastic. Worst parts: - They used John Rhys-Davies for Treebeard's voice. I'm thinking Hey - it's Tree-Gimli! Surely they could have found some other top voice talent who didn't already have a major role in the movie. - The change to make Merry Pippin trick Treebeard into going to Isengard, getting mad, and attacking. How would Pippin know that Isengard had pillaged all the surrounding trees, when obviously even the Ents didn't? I expect something in TTT:EE to fix that That didn't bug me. I didn't miss the stuff about them seeing Saruman earlier and the spooked horses, etc. at all. I'm really not bothered by changes to the story at all. Its really rather interesting, like watching a band cover another musicians hit song. Fortunately Liv Tyler couldn't handle swordplay, so they canned their plans to stick Arwen in assorted battles. If only Tarantino had done the same for Uma Thurman in Kill Bill.. gawd, she was awful. Now they've got to spend a good bit of time finishing book two in movie three and I'm sure they'll have to axe a bunch of stuff out of that to make it short enough. No Scouring of the Shire, I'll bet, or if it's there it will be severely truncated. If you didn't read my last post: The Saruman palantir scene is now cut out, and the scouring of the shire was never filmed. YAY! Its an appendix/addendum/epilogue, anyway. I feel there is just too much in the last book to do in 120 minutes, especially since they have the last part of Two Towers to complete. While critics are praising the movie already, I suspect I will be disappointed. Well, it'll be *at least* 180 minutes. I heard rumors that it will be more like 210! That's plenty of time for the remaining material. Huzzah! -j- ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: Two Towers Extended DVD
From: Chad Cooper [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: 'Killer Bs Discussion' [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: Two Towers Extended DVD Date: Tue, 2 Dec 2003 11:20:05 -0800 -Original Message- From: Doug Pensinger [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, December 01, 2003 9:00 PM To: Killer Bs Discussion Subject: Re: Two Towers Extended DVD Reggie wrote: Quite possibly, but it depends on why that person nearly walked out. Reggie Bautista Details? Maru You asked for it 8^). Deploy rant mode It's been almost a year since I've seen it, so I can't remember everything, but several things stuck in my mind. The Warg battle was not in the book, not necessary to develop the story and didn't add anything to it other than another action sequence. Likewise with Aragorn falling in the river. Gimli as comic relief didn't work for me at all. I thought that the Ents were going to be cool when Pipin and Merry first met up with Treebeard, but the Entmoot was poorly done (were there more than six Ents in attendance?) And it took more than a few hours as portrayed. 1) I believe this is longer in the extended version. They even added back in the bit about the Ent water and mention of the Ent Wives. 2) The Gimli comic relief moments are still there, and I'm not particularly fond of that, but we also get a lot more of Gimli kicking butt. What is still missing is more of the Gimli/Legolas friendship. and the result was contrary (and far inferior) to the book. I'll interject here and say I was disappointed in the way they portrayed the search party finding Gandalf in the forest. Eomer's story was inexplicably altered for the worse. Theodin's awakening was overdone as was his reaction to his son's death at the funeral mounds. All the stuff with Elrond and Arwen was overdone and stupid. The sequence with Theodin works much better in the extended version, and his son is actually shown before the funeral mound sequence. He's shown alive but injured. And there's some other stuff added in, including more Wormtongue. The net result makes Theodin's reaction make more sense. True.. All one really has to know is that Arwen gave up immortality for Aragon, and Elrond was pissed. They could have illustrated why Aragon wandered for 20+ years as a Ranger. This is more interesting to me. However, these facts were in the appendixes of the book, and not part of the story directly. It does not add much to the story. I would have been interested in Aragorn's wanderings too, but I have no problem with bringing in The Story of Arwen and Aragorn (or is it Aragorn and Arwen?) from the appendixes (appendices?). It adds more emotional depth to their relationship, and therefore more contrast against the budding relationship between Aragorn and... oh, god, I've forgotten her name. The strength of Arwen and Aragorn's love for each other is her prime motivator and an important motivator for him. The best part of the movie was the Frodo/Sam/Gollum thread, but they managed to screw that up at the end by changing the story again. The ending was in the wrong place and completely ruined the story for me. If the movie was too long to end it in the right place, they should have just gotten rid of all the crap they made up and ended it in the right place. True, they spend far too much time building up the drama of the impending Helm's deep war. The whole scene with Aragon and the young boy was stupid. The place to end is that Frodo is dead, Sam is lost, orcs everywhere, and Gollem on the loose. I mean, what a cliffhanger! Instead, Frodo will be dead for only a few minutes screen time in the final movie. Having the Shelob sequence in the second movie would have been too much and would have undercut the emotional impact of the victory at Helm's Deep. To me, it would have made the movie more cumbersome. But in reading the books, I always thought the Shelob sequence would have fit better into the beginning of the third book anyway. The cliffhanger in the book did nothing for me. I'm just weird that way. The frustrating thing is that all the elements were there to make a great movie - the Orcs, Orthanic, Helms Deep, Edoras, Minas Turith, the Gates of Mordor, the Marshes of the Dead, Fangorn, etc. etc., and the actors were all excellent. What about the ending of the Helm's deep conflict. Gandalf arrives, they rush down the hill and the orcs lose. Why deviate from the real story? I would have rather seen the interpetation of the Ent's nighttime wholesale killing of the Orc army, piling up the bodies and lighting them on fire Instead, one gets the feeling that orcs are easily defeated if you take them by a surprise flanking attack, instead of everyone thinking, damn, if it wasn't for a bunch of pissed off trees, the humans would be all be dead already. God help the humans when they meet up with the orcs again! In the extended version, the
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
In a message dated 12/2/2003 12:00:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Now they've got to spend a good bit of time finishing book two in movie three and I'm sure they'll have to axe a bunch of stuff out of that to make it short enough. No Scouring of the Shire, I'll bet, or if it's there it will be severely truncated. If I had the patience to watch it again I could probably write a much longer and more specific rant, but you get the idea. Stow rant mode... I actually think that axing much of the stuff in book 3 after the ring is destroyed was poor. Almost half of the book was therefore an anti-climax. The dire things happening to the shire seemed artificial, an anti-industrial rant that made it clear to me where Tolkein's sympathies lay. I don't agree with the view that a bucolic agrarian culture is pure and an industrial culture is bad. The pre-industrial societies were long on inequality routine cruelty and short on democracy fairness and hope. Tolkien's view was a fantasy and a nasty one at that. Most of this was not overt in the books so I could ignore this but I will not be unhappy to see some of this stuff disappear from the film. I thought TT was great and the extended version even better. I am not believer in absolute fealty to the source in any case so I took the movies on their own merit ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: SCOUTED: Fwd: The Word Spy for 12/02/2003 -- neuromarketing
In a message dated 12/2/2003 1:26:42 PM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: BrightHouse Institute has begun using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technology traditionally used in health care to create images of activity within the brain, to reveal how people feel about things, such as products and commercials, more accurately than those people can explain their feelings in focus groups and surveys. --'Neuromarketing' firm launched by Atlanta ad veteran, Atlanta Business Chronicle, June 14, 2002 Functional MRI is no where near being able to reveal this stuff. Yes, you can map brain activity for pleasure disgust and other asorted changes but ironically the positive and negative look alike. In other words some things do elicit strong emotional responses (from the limbic system) but it hard to differentiate the good from the bad. Checking physiologic parameters like skin temperature, pupillary response and blood pressure are better easier and cheaper. Remember that MR scan time goes for about $3K per hour for clinical work (the amount a site gets from payers for clinical exams in that time). Research time is about $500 per hour. Functional MR studies require a fair amount of expertise to perform and interpret. I think this dog don't hunt. Bob Zimmerman - Neuroradiologist extraodinare ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
some SF/educations links
Go see: http://www.cis.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1987/2/87.02.04.x.html#top http://www.YesterdaysTomorrows.org/ http://www.museumonmainstreet.org/exhibs_yesterdays/yesterdays.htm The first of these is relevant to SF-education endeavors. The author/teacher should be invited aboard. Indeed, I'd have ranked this site as a prime candidate for my $1,000 WOW Prize, were I still giving it out. With cordial regards, David Brin www.davidbrin.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
G. D. Akin wrote: You're in Huntsville I am. Ronn's in the Birmingham area. __ Steve Sloan . Huntsville, Alabama = [EMAIL PROTECTED] Brin-L list pages .. http://www.brin-l.org Chmeee's 3D Objects http://www.sloan3d.com/chmeee 3D and Drawing Galleries .. http://www.sloansteady.com Software Science Fiction, Science, and Computer Links Science fiction scans . http://www.sloan3d.com ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
- The change to make Merry Pippin trick Treebeard into going to Isengard, getting mad, and attacking. How would Pippin know that Isengard had pillaged all the surrounding trees, when obviously even the Ents didn't? There is a scene where Pippin and Merry are riding with Treebeard where Pippin looks off and sees smoke rising from Isengard. So he knows something is burning. I thought the changes were actually for the better. The Ents may be charming on the page but they do rather slow down the movie. One of my friends told me it drove him crazy to have all the action stop while Treebeard spent five minutes saying ten words. . _ From the hottest toys to tips on keeping fit this winter, youl find a range of helpful holiday info here. http://special.msn.com/network/happyholidays.armx ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
- The change to make Merry Pippin trick Treebeard into going to Isengard, getting mad, and attacking. How would Pippin know that Isengard had pillaged all the surrounding trees, when obviously even the Ents didn't? There is a scene where Pippin and Merry are riding with Treebeard where Pippin looks off and sees smoke rising from Isengard. So he knows something is burning. I thought the changes were actually for the better. The Ents may be charming on the page but they do rather slow down the movie. One of my friends told me it drove him crazy to have all the action stop while Treebeard spent five minutes saying ten words. . _ From the hottest toys to tips on keeping fit this winter, youl find a range of helpful holiday info here. http://special.msn.com/network/happyholidays.armx ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Killer Bs Discussion) Subject: Re: Two Towers Extended DVD Date: Tue, 02 Dec 2003 18:28:56 -0500 In a message dated 12/2/2003 12:00:21 AM Eastern Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Now they've got to spend a good bit of time finishing book two in movie three and I'm sure they'll have to axe a bunch of stuff out of that to make it short enough. No Scouring of the Shire, I'll bet, or if it's there it will be severely truncated. If I had the patience to watch it again I could probably write a much longer and more specific rant, but you get the idea. Stow rant mode... I actually think that axing much of the stuff in book 3 after the ring is destroyed was poor. Almost half of the book was therefore an anti-climax. The dire things happening to the shire seemed artificial, an anti-industrial rant that made it clear to me where Tolkein's sympathies lay. I don't agree with the view that a bucolic agrarian culture is pure and an industrial culture is bad. The pre-industrial societies were long on inequality routine cruelty and short on democracy fairness and hope. Tolkien's view was a fantasy and a nasty one at that. Most of this was not overt in the books so I could ignore this but I will not be unhappy to see some of this stuff disappear from the film. I thought TT was great and the extended version even better. I am not believer in absolute fealty to the source in any case so I took the movies on their own merit I'm really of two minds about The Scouring of the Shire being taken out. On the one hand, Tolkien uses it to show that bad things were happening already even as far away as the Shire, and uses it to show how all of the adventures the hobbits went on really changed them. It shows the consequences of their actions and their ability to apply all they learned without having Aragorn or Gandalf or anyone else around to bail them out or point them in the right direction. I guess I liked the Scouring of the Shire for the same reasons I liked the fifth season of Babylon 5. On the other hand, from a film perspective, it would have seemed tacked on, not really having the same dramatic weight as the stuff that happened before it. With a big epic movie like this, you want to end with the big victory and not with a small victory. Scouring of the Shire could have been a big letdown. Of course, a lot of people thought the fifth season of Babylon 5 was a letdown... Reggie Bautista _ Need a shot of Hank Williams or Patsy Cline? The classic country stars are always singing on MSN Radio Plus. Try one month free! http://join.msn.com/?page=offers/premiumradio ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
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Anyone here know PHP and/or MySQL and might be willing to assist me in troubleshooting a problem or at least point me in the right direction? Email me offlist please. Gary ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Reggie Bautista wrote: 2) The Gimli comic relief moments are still there, and I'm not particularly fond of that, but we also get a lot more of Gimli kicking butt. What is still missing is more of the Gimli/Legolas friendship. Maybe we should be glad he didn't: he might have introduced a homosexual love affair between the two... Alberto Monteiro ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: be verry verry quiet
At 07:32 PM 11/30/2003 -0600, you wrote: From: Kevin Tarr [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Fifty six top Warner Bros. animated shorts are now rounded up on DVD for the first time ever! I haven't had a chance to go to the site yet...so I have one quick, and very important question: does it contain What's Opera, Doc? - jmh No. Knowing: 4 discs, 56 shorts that'd be 14 for bugs, 14 for daffy. 14 for (I forget) and 14 others. I can think of 14-20 bugs cartoons that I like better than Opera. The reviewer, that said it was unedited, agrees with you that he wanted that short, more than one road runner, and a few others he thought were missing. Kevin T - VRWC Tired, very tired ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: be verry verry quiet
Kevin Tarr wrote: you wrote: does it contain What's Opera, Doc? No. Knowing: 4 discs, 56 shorts that'd be 14 for bugs, 14 for daffy. 14 for (I forget) and 14 others. I can think of 14-20 bugs cartoons that I like better than Opera. Really? I think What's Opera, Doc? is one of the very best Warner Bros. shorts. Although I can't listen to Wagner anymore without thinking Kill the wabbit! Jim ___ Join Excite! - http://www.excite.com The most personalized portal on the Web! ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
On Tue, 2 Dec 2003, Damon Agretto wrote: You know I find it ironic after reading Doug's rant that if I did the same thing for a historical movie I might be labled as being pedantic... And you think that people aren't in their minds labeling Doug as pedantic? :) Actually, if you did the same thing for a historical movie, I'd be very interested in the criticism. Probably forget the details within an hour, but for at least a little while, I'd know something I hadn't known before. (A mind is a terrible thing to have wasted. And right now, mine is somewhat wasted.) Julia ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: be verry verry quiet
In a message dated 12/2/2003 7:39:43 PM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Really? I think What's Opera, Doc? is one of the very best Warner Bros. shorts. Although I can't listen to Wagner anymore without thinking Kill the wabbit! Jim rec.arts.animation had a discusion centering on the idea that they were actually saving some of the best cartoons for yet another collection. Buy this other 4 DVD set just to get What's Opera, Doc? --we know we've got you by the short hares. Vilyehm Teighlore ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
- Original Message - From: Julia Thompson [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: Killer Bs Discussion [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 8:35 PM Subject: Re: Two Towers Extended DVD (A mind is a terrible thing to have wasted. And right now, mine is somewhat wasted.) I knew there was a reason That I wanted to visit! G xponent Singular Lack Of Waste Maru rob ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
RE: be verry verry quiet
At 09:35 PM 12/2/03 -0500, Jim Sharkey wrote: Kevin Tarr wrote: you wrote: does it contain What's Opera, Doc? No. Knowing: 4 discs, 56 shorts that'd be 14 for bugs, 14 for daffy. 14 for (I forget) and 14 others. I can think of 14-20 bugs cartoons that I like better than Opera. Really? I think What's Opera, Doc? is one of the very best Warner Bros. shorts. Although I can't listen to Wagner anymore without thinking Kill the wabbit! It does add a whole dimension of insanity to the helicopter scenes in _Apocalypse Now_ . . . -- Ronn! :) ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Actually, if you did the same thing for a historical movie, I'd be very interested in the criticism. Probably forget the details within an hour, but for at least a little while, I'd know something I hadn't known before. Well one of the things that really bugs me -- mainly because its so easy to get it right -- are the costumes. With the wealth of information available on historical, especially military, costumes, I think its hard to justify getting it wrong except for the fact that the directors/writers don't care so much... Damon. = Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] Qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum. http://www.geocities.com/garrand.geo/index.html Now Building: __ Do you Yahoo!? Free Pop-Up Blocker - Get it now http://companion.yahoo.com/ ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
In a message dated 12/2/2003 8:21:55 PM US Mountain Standard Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: Well one of the things that really bugs me -- mainly because its so easy to get it right -- are the costumes. With the wealth of information available on historical, especially military, costumes, I think its hard to justify getting it wrong except for the fact that the directors/writers don't care so much... Damon. You rant about costumes. I'll rant about ordinance. Before Pirates of the Caribbean came out, there was talk about the curse of all pirate movies. Cutthroat Island failed miserably. Cutthroat Island had cannon firing bright orange fireballs. Where did they get all of these cannon that used gasoline/kerosine? And Highlander used a London pattern anvil 200 years before London pattern anvils were invented. but I'd expect 99.95% of the audience to never even know the difference between a step and a flat anvil. William Taylor -- See that star right next to the full moon? That's actually the planet Venus. ---The Glass-bottom Boat ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
On Tue, 2 Dec 2003 07:32:50 -0800 (PST), Damon Agretto [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: You know I find it ironic after reading Doug's rant that if I did the same thing for a historical movie I might be labled as being pedantic... And I would agree that my criticisms are based on my intimate knowledge of (and love for) the books and admit that if I hadn't read them or if I had read them only once or twice over the years, the movie probably would have been pretty good. But And hey, I would agree with you that historical movies should take pains to be accurate. I couldn't even finish the first half hour of that god-awful Gibson movie The Patriot. So rant on, I promise to lend a sympathetic ear. 8^) -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Chad Cooper wrote: I'll interject here and say I was disappointed in the way they portrayed the search party finding Gandalf in the forest. That part didn't really bother me that much. It was (IIRC) reasonably close to the original. The best part of the movie was the Frodo/Sam/Gollum thread, but they managed to screw that up at the end by changing the story again. The ending was in the wrong place and completely ruined the story for me. If the movie was too long to end it in the right place, they should have just gotten rid of all the crap they made up and ended it in the right place. What about the ending of the Helm's deep conflict. Gandalf arrives, they rush down the hill and the orcs lose. Why deviate from the real story? I would have rather seen the interpetation of the Ent's nighttime wholesale killing of the Orc army, piling up the bodies and lighting them on fire Yea, the whole battle just didn't come off right IMO. It is one of my favorite parts of the trilogy and they just didn't do it completely right. I agree with you that they spent too much time bu I feel there is just too much in the last book to do in 120 minutes, especially since they have the last part of Two Towers to complete. While critics are praising the movie already, I suspect I will be disappointed. Well, its actually almost 3 1/2 hours long from what I read today, so they should be able to get it right. And it sounds like it's getting rave reviews. I can only hope for the best. -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Bryon wrote: I don't really mind the Arwen/Aragorn changes, for the most part. LOTR is rather short on female roles. I remember when my mom (not a fantasy buff) read it, her first comment was There are almost no women in these books. I don't blame Peter Jackson for wanting to broaden the movie appeal beoynd the geek base some by expanding the small bits of romance that are in the novels. Fortunately Liv Tyler couldn't handle swordplay, so they canned their plans to stick Arwen in assorted battles. I kind of doubt that those parts of the movie expanded the appreciative audience very much. And when I read below that they may cut out the romance between Eowyn and Faramir... That would have definitely been a better ending. I think the reason they saved Shelob for ROTK is that there is very little story left for Sam and Frodo after Shelob. (Mostly the dreary march through the desert, and the goofy part of the book where Sam and Frodo are mistaken for Orcs and march along with them.) I heard that the reason they cut the movie off where they did was that if they had ended it in the right place, the guy that played Saruman wouldnt have had any part of the third movie. But that sounds almost too stupid to be true. Well, they drive the Orcs into the mystery huorn Orc Motel - Orcs check in - but the don't check out forest. Or was that only in the extended edition? I don't think that was in the version I saw. If they put it back in, it can't but help the story. Well, it'll be *at least* 180 minutes. I heard rumors that it will be more like 210! That's plenty of time for the remaining material. I'm trying to think what will need to be covered, given what we know is missing: - Reuniting of Merry/Pippin with Aragorn co, then splitting Merry/Pippin up - Paths of the dead - Theoden's ride to Gondor ( Dernhelm stuff) - Frodo killed by Shelob Sam's subsequent rescue. (I suspect this is going to be an extended bit of the movie covering this) - Frodo Sam's dreary march through Mordor - Frodo Sam march with the Orcs - Honkin-big battle at Gondor, with Aragorn and Theoden arriving, - Witchking/Eowyn battle, Theoden death scene - Denethor's despair, Faramir on the pyre - Faramir/Eowyn house healing stuff (IIRC, I saw a rumor this is cut out) - Aragorn's march to challenge (distract) Sauron, and the battle at the Black Gate. - Frodo/Sam/Gollum at Mount Doom, deus ex eagles - Aragorn's coronation and presumable marriage to Arwen I think that's doable in 3 - 3.5 hours without shortchanging things or making any other cuts. Overall, I'm expecting that it will be a great movie. I hope so. I'm going to keep my expectations low this time though. Hopefully I'll be pleasantly surprised. -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
Re: Two Towers Extended DVD
Reggie wrote: It adds more emotional depth to their relationship, and therefore more contrast against the budding relationship between Aragorn and... oh, god, I've forgotten her name. Eowyn Having the Shelob sequence in the second movie would have been too much and would have undercut the emotional impact of the victory at Helm's Deep. To me, it would have made the movie more cumbersome. But in reading the books, I always thought the Shelob sequence would have fit better into the beginning of the third book anyway. The cliffhanger in the book did nothing for me. I'm just weird that way. I just disagree. I think the endings of both FotR and TTT are in the perfect places. What I _can_ see is that the proper ending for TTT may have been too much of a cliffhanger for those that don't know the story. I know the ending of the first movie pissed a few people off (I have to wait a year to find out what happens!!!) but you know, when it's all said and done, it would have been better for the story to do it right. ?? They left out and/or changed a *lot* in FotR. For example the whole Tom Bombadil sequence was removed, the barrow wights were removed, instead of having several months between the birthday and Frodo's exit it seem like days at most, the entire character Fredegar Bolger was removed, The major cut - from Crickhollow to the Barrow Downs really didn't detract from the story the way the haphazard changes in TTT did, IMO. Bombadil and the Old Forrest were wonderful parts of the book, but not essential to the story. there were lots of changes during the Council of Elrond, Nothing very substantive that I recall. there were *massive* changes during the Moria sequence, They added that part with the pathway (or whatever) collapsing (which they could have cut completely IMO) but other than that there weren't any big changes that I can think of. the movie ends at a different point than the book... I may be wrong, but I thought it ended in exactly the same place. I could go on but I won't because most of those cuts and changes made sense. Pacing works entirely different for movies than it does for books, and the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy could easily have taken six long movies to adapt. The trick is to tell the emotional core of the story, not to stick slavishly to the details. Some things work really well on paper but not at all on film, and vice versa. I agree, and I think they did very well with the first movie - better than I expected. Maybe that's the biggest reasoning I was disappointed with TTT. I disagree. The changes shortened the story to manageable length, strengthened the characterization without resorting to cheesy voice-overs to show the thoughts of the characters, and worked as a very effective short-hand for the more complicated events of the book. The movie (the extended version, at least) tells the same emotional story as the book, but does it in a more succinct and more visually-oriented format. All IMHO, of course. We'll have to agree to disagree on this one - at least as it concerns the theatre version. I think the changes lengthened the movie in places where it didn't need to be, and was truncated prematurely. And I don't think any of the changes strengthened the characters with the exception of Arwen. YMMV, of course. If you're interested in giving it a chance, maybe you should consider renting or borrowing a copy of the extended version, so if you're still disappointed at least you won't be out thirty bucks. Oh, I'm sure I'll get a look at it... -- Doug ___ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
