Category Archives: Entertainment

Movie sequels that completely miss the point

Posted on August 18, 2011 by

The recent release of the prequel “Rise of the Planet of the Apes” got me thinking about the very odd sequels to the original 1968 “Planet of the Apes” and about sequels in general.  Sequels are common in both literature … Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment | 5 Comments

“The Wicker Tree?” (Updated)

Posted on February 23, 2010 by

This one was an immediate WTF moment for me: Robin Hardy, the writer/director of the original version of the film The Wicker Man (1973), is “reimagining” his film as The Wicker Tree, slated for release sometime this year: For those … Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment, Horror, Robert E. Howard | 2 Comments

Captain America has a tradition of social commentary

Posted on February 13, 2010 by

If you haven’t seen it yet, the most recent issue of the Marvel Comics series  Captain America has drawn the ire of teabaggers because of its negative portrayal of them.  Via Yahoo news, Since 1941, Captain America has been one … Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment, Politics | 2 Comments

Mythbusters were scooped — by 130 years! (Finger in the barrel)

Posted on January 10, 2010 by

During my first evening in San Antonio, I sequestered myself in my hotel room to polish up my presentation.  Fortunately, there was a Mythbusters marathon on the Discovery Channel at that time, so I was able to keep myself marginally … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, History of science, Physics | 5 Comments

Happy birthday to Bill Nighy!

Posted on December 12, 2009 by

Even as busy as I am, I can’t resist taking a moment to wish happy birthday to one of the coolest actors out there, in my humble opinion: Bill Nighy! Nighy has been acting since the late 1970s, though he … Continue reading →

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Richard Garriott on Ultima V

Posted on December 4, 2009 by

(I’m still working hard on my book!  I’ll throw a few posts out here and there as I find the time.) As a follow-up to my post on “videogames as art“, I decided to buy “The Official Book of Ultima“, … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, role-playing games | 2 Comments

Video games as art: My favorite games that are more than just ‘point and shoot’

Posted on November 25, 2009 by

The other night, I stayed up way past my bedtime playing the finale of the video game DragonAge: Origins, the recently released fantasy role-playing game (RPG) by BioWare.  Though the game had a lot of technical limitations that drove me … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, role-playing games | 13 Comments

Horror writers on horror films, from Focus Features

Posted on November 3, 2009 by

A few days ago, I got a nice email from FilminFocus.com, the film culture website of film company Focus Features (A Serious Man, Brokeback Mountain, Coraline).  For Halloween, they asked five horror writers to each list their five favorite horror … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Horror | 3 Comments

The movie 2012… stoopid before it even comes out

Posted on November 2, 2009 by

You know, I’m not in principle against a film based on the premise that the world will end in 2012 as prophesized by the ancient Mayans, even though the idea is complete bunk.  What does bug me is that the … Continue reading →

Posted in ... the Hell?, Entertainment | 10 Comments

The Linkin’ Log, video edition: October 8, 2009

Posted on October 8, 2009 by

Over the past couple of weeks, a few videos caught my eye, for various reasons.  I thought that it was a good time for a collection of links: Via Steven Benen at Political Animal, a video has been found which … Continue reading →

Posted in Entertainment, Politics | Leave a comment