Monthly Archives: December 2010

Feeling Better

Well, the headaches from Sunday night have passed away and I am feeling better. Sadly it still meant that there was no Sunday Night Movie this week, but what the hell it’s a holiday week anyway.

My boxed set of Federation Commander: Klingon Boarder arrived Friday at work, but as we did not work friday I did not get it until yesterday. Federation Commander is a board game of starship combat in the Star Trek universe. It is very similar and can be compared to a cut down and simplified Starfleet Battles.

To comare the two look at one stat, Starfleet Battles has a rule book that is 400 pages longs, while Federation Commander has a rule book that is 60 pages long.

I used to play Starfleet Battles quite a lot, before it grew to the monstrous size it is now. It was a game that brought lots of enjoyment before the session stretched to teach its players the meaning of infinity. Serious it would take hours to resolve a single turn of combat, and trust me a single turn did not decide a game. Eventually me and my friends stopped playing and I disposed of all my material.

There was a brief flirtation Babylon 5 Wars, a board game of ship combat in the Babylon 5 universe, but I did not enjoy that game as much as I did SFB.

Federation Commander promises a return to the ship combat I truly did enjoy. I will find out for certain on Saturday. I have arranged a small game, 4 ships, 2 on each side fighting for possession of a planet.

We shall see, we shall see.

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brief post

Had dinner tonight out with my sweetie-wife to celebrate her birthday and our anniversary. Sadly the gravy at the pub we went to was a mushroom gravy so I had to steer clear of the steak, but it was a good meal all the same.

We exchanged gifts, and then watched bonus material from Inception.

good night all

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Bad weather and bad head

Well, it has been raining for several days straight here in San Diego. This is not something that couthern Californioa drivers handle well. Not at all.

In addition to that my head has been pounding today. It did not progress to a  full migraine but man it threatened to do just that. However I still managed nearly a thousand words on Cawdor so I feel pretty good about that.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow as it is both my Sweetie-wife Birthday and our wedding anniversary.

Three happy years.

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Sunday Night Movie:The Caine Mutiny

Yesterday when I was bumming around town and playing videos games with my pal Bear he asked me what was my Sunday Night Movie feature going to be and I replied that I was thinking of re-watching Robocop.

After my sweetie-wife went to bed and it was time to start up a feature I realized that I was in the mood for something meatier that Robocop. I wanted a dramatic film, not a genre piece. I scanned my collection and my eyes fell on The Cain Mutiny.

I can’t remember the first time I saw The Cain Mutiny. I know it was television during the 80s’, before the dreaded infomercials had pushed movies out as the low-budget local tv station fare. I remember tripping across the film fairly close to the start and I was pulled in at once by the riveting writing, characters, and performances.

If you only know Humphrey Bogart as the cool always in control detective then this film is one you really should see. It’s a film he did after he escaped the studio system and could be in the kind of roles that would stretch him as an actor.

The central character of the film is Willis Seward Keith, a young 90-day wonder of an Ensign. Willie has problems, mainly he’s too attached to his mother still and has not learned to be his own man. He’s got an on-again/off-again relations with a lovely signer, May Wynn, and has been assigned to a worn out, rusted hulk of a ship, the DMS Caine. Willie saw himself making an important contribution to the war effort, (the setting is WWII), but instead he’s on an ‘outcast ship, manned by outcasts, and named after the greatest outcast of them all.’ Or so Communications officer Lt. Keefer informs him.  Things seem to take a turn for the better when a new captain is assigned to the Caine, Lt. Commander Phillip Francis Queeg. Queeg is old navy, a life-long naval officer and a by the book man. When the new captain makes it clear that the Caine is going to become a new ship and taunt ship Willie couldn’t be more pleased.

However, Queeg has his own demons  and the drama of the story is rich with loyalty, betrayal, and cowardice.

This is a movie that every time it came on TV and I caught even a portion I stopped and I would always end up watching it to the end. I eventually copied off the air on a VHS tape, and then later got it on laserdisc. Now it’s one of my favorite DVDs. When it comes out on blu-ray I will replace it without qualms or any need for additional bonus material.

I tracked down a library copy of the Pulitzer prize winning novel a  few years ago. This film is a pretty good adaptation of half the novel. I don’t begrudge them that they only told half the story. Even at that the running time was 2 hours 5 minutes. There is little that is in the film that was’t in the book. Contrary to popular myth, Bogart did not invent the bit with Queeg and the ball-bearings, that was in the book.

If you get a chance see this movie and read the book.

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Mini-review Tron: Legacy

This weekend saw the release of TRON: Legacy, a sequel the the cult film TRON from 1982.

TRON did not become the blockbuster hit that Disney had hoped for in 1982 and so the film was relegated to home video when that appeared in the market. There TRON found a following and has become something of a cult hit.

Now twenty-eight years later Disney has released a big-budget sequel to the sleeper cult hit. There are those who have called this a remake but that is simply and categorically wrong. TRON: Legacy builds on the story laid down in the TRON. Surprisingly you do not need to have seen TRON to understand the story of TRON: Legacy. The screenwriters and filmmakers have done a pretty decent job of crafting a story that can be followed by people new the TRON universe and one that can be enjoyed by the fans of the original TRON.

There are those who would consider this film a science-fiction film, but I approach it as a fantasy. Anyone with even a passing knowledge of computers can see that the terabytes and terabytes of data and processing that would be required for such a real-time environment is simply beyond anything close to existing in our world. So if you are a computer literate person I would suggest that you leave your specialized knowledge in the lobby and accept TRON as fantasy and allegory.

This story is simple. Sam Flynn, orphaned at a young age, discovers a clue that his father may not have died or abandoned him. He seeks out this clue and ends up in a  realm of fantastic imagery and dangers, both for Sam and for our world at large. Sam must learn to navigate this new and threatening world with a bewildering array of allies and enemies. During the course of the adventure Sam learns about forgiveness and the dangers of arrogance.

My friend Bear and I saw this film during the matinee show this morning and we both enjoyed ourselves. The story moved along, the characters were convincing, and once the ground rules were established the world of the story behaved in a consistent and logical fashion. The 3-D effect was well used to portray the world of the computer-grid and the director resisted the temptation top thrust items repeatedly at the audience. (Though I will say that this film will play perfectly fine in2-D.)

Bear commented on what appeared to be fairly obvious Christian symbology in the film, and his argument for it is not a weak one. However, I think it could be taken too far. I cannot discuss the weakness and the Christian allegory without giving out too many spoilers. What is central to Christian theology, the sacrifice to wash away another’s sins is missing and so I do not think this was a direct Christian allegory.

This is a movie worth watching in the theaters, particularly if you were a fan of the first film.

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Excellant News

The United States Senate has passed a bill repealing the odious policy enacted by the Clinton Administration known as ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.’

Before President Clinton’s DADT policy gays were banned from serving in the military, but it was a policy that could have been over turned by executive action only, just like President Truman overturned President Wilson’s segregation of the military. Because Bill Clinton singed into law DADT it really required an act of Congress to undo it and now they finally have done just that.

The prohibition on homosexual persons serving in our nations armed forces was a senseless relic from less enlightened time and I rejoice at this repeal.

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