Stole from Mr. Salty...

Well, I'm into my first week in a new job and I'm enjoying it so far. I don't like to blog about my job too much as I've heard horror stories about employees at certain companies blogging about the goings on at their workplace, only to have their manager come upon their blogs and next thing ya know they're looking for a new job. So I apologize about being quite a bit vague when it comes to my profession. I very much enjoy being employed over going back to settling into the fetal position and weeping in the corner of my cold dark closet while being unemployed again.

However, I can tell you this... I've ended up working for a company that has a lot of people that I've worked with before. One such person we shall refer to, here in the Blog of Geekdom, as Mr. Salty. I met up with Mr. Salty in the break room today and he came out of the closet to me as one of the very few people who actually read this blog. He told me that if he had a blog he would write one about how Hollywood keeps attempting to remake classic horror films and how lame they end up being. Since Mr. Salty doesn't have his own blog, I'll swipe his idea and remark on this phenomenon myself.

Here's the situation... To make a lot of these really lame-assed movies about geo-political statements and gay cowboys (not that there's anything wrong with that), Hollywood has to make a profit making movies that they believe will appeal to the mass public. Since Hollywood is corporatized, no matter how left wing it tries to pretend to be, it still makes silly decisions in what films to give the green light. It appears much of its belief system revolves around the theory that films that have had previous success and a current cult following will do excellent business as a remake / reimagineering.

Now let's look at a prime example... The Fog. The original movie was simplistically shot, yet became a grand classic of the horror genre for just that reason. There was no CGI or other over the top effects. The film relied on pure fear and creepiness. There was no massive gore. Everything "gross" was done with sound effects. Everything scary was done in shadow and not CGI. To see those undead shapes of leaper pirates within the fog was sure to creep viewers out for years to come. The fog itself was manipulated with fog machines and fans. Not ILM type computer graphics. And what version is the most popular with fans? The original, John Carpenter directed version. Which one is less than a year old and has already been forgotten? The piece of dren remake.

So, I'd like to see more original ideas coming out of Hollywood when it comes to the genres of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. If they can come up with gay cowboys, they can come up with something from the netherworld to rock our worlds!

In other stuff...

I came close to finishing Half Life 2 on the Xbox, but it was due back at the rental place. The last part of the game dealt with jumping around at a very great height. I hate that. So I wasn't exactly upset that I didn't get to finish the game. But I will tell you that I enjoyed most of what I played. It was very atmospheric and some of the weaponry was pretty cool. Imagine being able to grab hold of bad guys and throwing them down reactor shafts, ala Emperor Palpatine in "Return of the Jedi". Very cool, indeed.

Right now I'm renting "Far Cry", another first person shooter which revolves around a guy who gets "shipwrecked" on a tropical island and finds himself the target of many mecenaries while also being a guinea pig for some bimolecular tests. I haven't got that far in the game, but though it's addictive, so far there is a lot of repetitiveness to it. I'll let you know how it goes. I've gotten completely stuck on Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay. It was lots of fun at first, but then got tedious when you get to a point where you have no weapons and find yourself running around in circles trying to avoid guards and robots who constantly hit you with unstoppable force. Where's the fun in that. I swear, some of these game programmers seem to have an ego trip and want the player to fail so they can feel far superior to the gamers. Must be a virility hang up or something.

It seems as though the producers at Eon productions are starting to shoot the next Bond flick, Casino Royale. It is questionable if the entire cast has been settled on yet. Now some reports are saying that actress, Rose Byrne, has not been cast as Vesper Lynd. Nor has a major villain (Le Chiffre) been cast yet. Ya know, the unceremonious firing of Peirce Brosnan has seemed to put a curse on this film. Let's hope that have a quality piece of material to deliver come next Xmas, or there will be some very disappointed Bond fans!!!

I almost forgot to mention that they have revived the BBC Sci-Fi TV show Dr. Who a year or so back and they're bringing it to the Sci-Fi Channel next month. Very cool. I remember wasting many of my Sunday afternoons while in Tech school watching Dr. Who marathons. It would start at noon and last until about 5pm. I never got fanaticle about it. In fact, a lot of it made no sense whatsoever. But it had cheesy effects, lots of eccentric characters and cuties helping the Doctor. It also has a huge geek following, which in my opinioon, is a very good thing.

Ya know, I'm going to settle back and enjoy a few Sammy A's this Friday evening. So I'm going to blow all of you and Mr. Salty off for now.

We'll talk soon. Stay tuned.

Zangz.