Star Wars Episodes VII - IX, fact or fiction?

I read this article in the Houston Chronicle yesterday, and I really don't know what to think about it. The article is mostly about the opinions of Gary Kurtz, producer of Star Wars (AKA Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope) and The Empire Strikes Back. He says, "There's enough material for three trilogies... It wasn't that nine films were going to be made. It was to give you an idea of how much material was there." Kurtz also mentions in the article that there was "talk" of expanding the story and doing 12 chapters. Now, obviously his views differ from those of George Lucas - in fact, Kurtz ended his association with Lucas after Empire, partially because he was displeased with revisions like incorporating what would have been the climax of Episode IX, a showdown between Luke and Emperor Palpatine, into Return of the Jedi. "The idea was that the Emperor would be hinted at and maybe seen occasionally but there wouldn't be a final confrontation with him until the ninth story," says Kurtz. So there you have it. Lucas is on record now as saying that he never intended to do sequels, and only did the last 3 movies in the saga first because he never thought anything would come of Star Wars, and he wanted to be sure to get that part of the story told in case he never got to do the rest.
Anthony C. Ferrante, editor in chief of Cinescape, believes that the movies will continue, saying "I would lay money down that his heirs 20 years from now decide to continue the saga". Who knows - I guess it could happen.

The Force is strong with this one...

It's not an official tally, but the estimated take for midnight showings of Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is $16.5 million. Just for the midnight shows. Once the full first day tally is in, it stands a good chance of beating the current single day box office record holder, Shrek 2 ($44.8 million - on it's fourth day of release, which was a Saturday). We should know the official first day take by Monday at the latest.

What a surprise - Star Wars - Episode III has been leaked to file sharing networks

Well, this ought to surprise just about no one - you can download Episode III via BitTorrent. And no, that's not a link to actually download the movie (that would be illegal), it's a link to a CNN story about it. Apparently copies were being distributed via file sharing before the movie even opened, and the copy of the movie has a time-stamp - which suggests that it may have come from inside the movie industry versus some dude with a camcorder shooting it. If for no other reason, check that article out for the "Test your Star Wars Knowledge" link near the bottom. I got 10 out of 10, it's pretty easy though.

Thoughts I had after seeing Episode III

1. FINALLY - a good prequel!
2. Damn, Anakin - killing younglings is NOT cool!!
3. It's almost 9pm, I have an hour drive home and I have to be at work at 6am tomorrow - but I want to stay here and watch it AGAIN!!!
4. No, seriously - FINALLY one of the prequels is good, and I'm happy!

That's just a few of the thoughts I had after seeing the movie, but suffice it to say that it was as good as I'd hoped it would be, and I will definitely be seeing it again. A lot goes on in this movie, and I need another viewing (or 12) to take it all in. It's certainly not perfect, for example the dialogue between Anakin and Padme is still not very well written (but is MUCH better than some of the dialogue between them in Episode II (like the I hate sand... speech)), and there are still some things that need some explaining (like, for instance, how come R2D2 never tells Luke that Vader is his dad - or shows any hint of recognition toward Yoda?). But, that said, it's a satisfying end to the prequels. Very dark and definitely not for young children (although there were quite a few at the show my wife and I saw last night), I can wholeheartedly recommend this to fans of Star Wars - it's the movie we've been waiting for, boys and girls - go see it!

Arrested Development renewed for next season

Well, here's a bit of really good news - Arrested Development will return for another season. I'm really glad, it was looking pretty grim when this season got cut down from 22 episodes to 18, and then no one was saying anything about whether or not it would be picked up. So this was very welcome news!

Episode III - I'll be seeing it in only 10 and a half hours!

And I'll admit, I'm excited to see it. Now if only I could make time move much MUCH more quickly... I'll be posting tomorrow with my thoughts on the movie. Here's hoping it's not another disappointment!

Short (unfortunately) update

Work really sucks, and it's kicking my ass - I really wish I could find a better job. Unfortunately, nothing better has presented itself - the search will go on. So anyway, that's enough whining - here's an article with updates about the new next generation consoles from Microsoft (Xbox 360), Sony (PlayStation 3), and Nintendo (Nintendo Revolution) direct from E! Online's coverage of E3 in Los Angeles - and by clicking the other links I created too.

iPod go boom!

Well, I guess this story goes to show that iPods + water + screwdriver = trouble - Australian teenager tries to repair iPod after it goes through wash. So, if you get your iPod wet - DON'T try to fix it yourself, for god's sake!!

Microsoft to offer PC maintenance service

Microsoft has announced that it will soon offer a new PC maintenance service, Microsoft OneCare. Dennis Bonsall, group product manager, says "[OneCare] really is targeted at those consumers who don't have a solution to take care of their PC today". The expected product will incorporate both security and maintenance software with the security features of the service to include anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall protection. Maintenance services would include disk cleanup, file repair and hard-drive defragmentation. The product is also expected to offer a data backup utility. OneCare will first be tested by Microsoft employees, then a larger test will be run using 25,000 consumers over the summer. So basically it's a competitor for software like Norton SystemWorks and other products like it. I suppose it's at least something that would help get people thinking about using something like this on their PC, even if they don't use Microsoft's. And that would be a good thing in my opinion.

Happy Birthday, Pac Man!

Yes it's true - Pac Man turns 25 years old this year. CNN Money's Game Over column has an article all about it, including a photo gallery of Pac Man over the years. Wow, 25 years - I'm really feeling old just thinking about it!

The force has great power over the weak minded

John Challenger, CEO of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas is quoted in this New York Post article that he believes opening weekend absenteeism due to Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith could cost employers as much as $627 million dollars. He arrived at this estimate using attendance for the first two days of Attack of the Clones (9.4 million people in 2002) and using average earnings per day of $130.60. Which seems kinda high to me - that's $16.32 an hour if you assume an eight hour day. But anyway, I'm thinking more people will see it than they are estimating, so the numbers might still work out to close to that figure. I tell you what, if I thought I could get away with it - I'd call off work. But I'm such a hopeless Star Wars fanboy, I'm afraid that I'd never be able to get away with it.

New rival for Apple's iTunes Music Store

Yet another rival online music store was announced yesterday, joining the ranks of iTunes Music Store, Napster, WalMart Music, Sony Connect, etc. - Yahoo announced the launch of Yahoo Music Unlimited yesterday. Looks like it'll be $4.99 a month for unlimited downloads ($59.88 billed annually). It's not compatible with iPod (of course), but their music player (called Yahoo Music Engine) apparently can be used with one, although right now it would be harder than using iTunes. There is one neat thing about it - you can develop plug-ins for Yahoo Music Engine, so maybe the ability to add functions to it would be a good reason to use it. Worth watching and seeing what can be done with it at least.

Jon Stewart = funny

I'm sure that's no surprise if you've seen The Daily Show, but my wife and I saw Jon Stewart live last night at the Palace Theatre. It was a great show, super funny!! If you get a chance to go see him live, do it - you'll thanks me later.

Chappelle's Show suspended, bitch!

Looks like it's a no-go for the expected May 31 premiere of season 3, Comedy Central announced Wednesday that Chappelle's Show is suspended, and production has been halted. Here's a New York Times article (subscription required) written today and an article from E! Online written Wednesday. Sad news - I was really looking forward to the third season. Dave's publicist Matt Labov denies rumors that the reason for the delay is because Dave is in rehab, and Comedy Central has no information on when (or if) new episodes will be seen. Bummer.

Successful boot of Linux kernel on a Nintendo DS

They've done it - the folks over at DSLinux.org have successfully booted a Nintendo DS to a Linux kernel, and been able to run a shell (SASH) and some text games. There is still a lot of work to do, but this is good progress!

Did you ever wonder how a lightsaber works?

Well, Howstuffworks.com can answer that question for you! Check out How Lightsabers Work for answers (sprinkled with a lot of humor, especially in the Using Your Lightsaber Around The Home section).

Kevin Smith's review of Episode III

You can read it here, but WARNING - spoilers!!! Reading this, written by a HUGE fan of Star Wars, really gets me more excited about this film. God, I'm really hoping it's as good as Kevin says!!

Episode III a "bloodbath" which deserves it's PG-13 rating, says AP writer after screening

In this article from BBC News, Associated Press writer David Germain is quoted as describing the action in Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith as "relentless", and "It includes sequences more dark and disturbing than anything previously seen in the tragic Skywalker soap opera." Germain attended an advance screening at George Lucas' Skywalker Ranch home near San Francisco on Tuesday (lucky bastard). All I have to say about this is, what did he expect? We already know from the original trilogy that the Jedi are massacred by Anakin Skywalker, who becomes Darth Vader, and it makes sense that the movie shows us how his final fall from grace and transformation from good to evil occurs. It should be a darker movie - it has to be to be any good and be true to the over-arcing storyline. As long as there's no Ewoks and little to no Jar-Jar Binks, this could be the best out of the first three episodes. I guess we'll see on May 19th...

Orson Scott Card's thoughts on the end of Star Trek

Sci-Fi author Orson Scott Card has weighed in on the pending end of Star Trek : Enterprise, which will result in there being no current Trek series on television. You can read the article here - I don't know if I agree 100% with his view that we don't need Star Trek anymore, but he's got a point about the storytelling being better on current shows like Smallville and Lost.

Movie review : Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

My wife and I saw Hitchhiker's Guide yesterday, and I'd love to be able to say it was a great movie and I loved every minute of it, but I'm afraid that I cannot. The movie began well enough, explaining that humanity was not, as it had long believed, the most intelligent species on Earth - but was in fact only the third most intelligent. The second most intelligent species, the dolphins, had long had it's attempts at communication misconstrued as elaborate tricks for our amusement. And it's final message to humanity, "So long, and thanks for all the fish", appeared to us to be an elaborate triple backflip executed to punch a ball. So far, so good - this is all lifted verbatim from the book. After the voice of the Guide has related this information to the audience, a long musical number involving dolphins doing tricks while a song called "So Long and Thanks For All the Fish" plays takes over - and that's the point I knew this movie was in trouble. Why ruin the beautifully crafted absurdist humor Douglas Adams crafted into the tale of the dolphins final message to humanity before leaving the soon to be demolished Earth by turning it into a ridiculous musical number? I asked many similar questions throughout the film. In fact - I don't remember laughing at a single joke or comical situation in the movie. I was really disappointed, and won't recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the book, unless you just need to satisfy some morbid curiosity about how far wrong the filmmakers could get Douglas' work. My wife even commented later that "We should have gone to see XXX 2 - State of the Union". I couldn't have agreed more.