Phantom editorials

I heard that George Lucas is planning to convert Star Wars 1 into 3D and I could tell where this is going. I hope he saw the Phantom Edits (which have scenes cut out and some have Jar Jar's silly talking voiced over and subtitled) and knows what to cut out of the final product. He said when he first saw the screening of the film, "I think I might have overdone it in a few places," and continued to overdo it in those places in the following films. Some scenes could benefit from 3D but the story and dialogue certainly won't.

Facebooked

When I go onto Facebook every now and then, I sometimes find myself getting invitations from friend and of events I was never aware of.  In fact, I am getting more invitations than I can attend.

Why I look for graphics in film

I am very fond of 3D computer graphics because I used 3D CAD and animation software in school and own five different copies of 3D graphics programs.  Here is the list of the programs I have at home:
Solidworks Student Version: A Computer-Aided Design (CAD) Program that I learned how to use in school.
Blender: An open-source 3D animation and sculpting program which is becoming more like Maya.
Messiah Studio: Used in a Harry Potter film and is difficult to find modeling tutorials of.  Dad bought it for $40 from Messiah studio as part of a promotion (They must be getting desperate).  It has a built-in stereoscopic rendering feature but everything it can do Blender can do.
Sculptris: A free Sculpting program and is the sister product of ZBrush, used to make the Na'vi in Avatar.

At school we use 3DS Max from Autodesk to make video games and animated videos and we use Solidworks.

Because I know so much about 3D graphics and CGI in modern films, I devote much attention to it.  When I find some CGI in a film it could either ruin the authenticity of the scene, just look cool, or advance the story.  In new films and TV, CGI is so commonplace that no one bothers to spend a cent on storytelling, which I also look for.

Sweepsteaks

One favorite recipe of mine is cola-marinated steak which I make for cookouts.  It is quite flavorful and tastes better with two tablespoons of Louisiana hot sauce.  One of my sisters thought that it packed a punch when others thought it was just good-tasting.  There is no accounting for taste, then.

I made a double batch today because tomorrow we will celebrate a family friend's birthday.  I used up all the hot sauce bottles; I can't wait to taste the steak.

By the way, the cola makes a great tenderizer.

Four to my Four to Doomsday review

My brother and I enjoy watching Doctor Who episodes in our spare time and the last one I saw was called "Four to Doomsday."  It is a fifth Doctor episode and made up of four separately aired episodes that aren't seamlessly reconstructed, which adds four minutes to viewing.  It also had no CGI since it was from the late 1970s-early 1980s, making it harder to watch for a guy like me who used five 3D graphics software and knows the names and features of no less than ten other ones.  It also had a lot to be desired, though I liked most of it.  I will not spoil anything important, but the ending was my favorite part. 

The first part opens with the Tardis, a disappearing Port-A-John* that is bigger on the inside than the outside, popping up on a strange ship with advanced technology that is mostly outdated by now.  The air is unbreathable and the air helmets that the Tardis has look rudimentary even by scuba gear standards (They head no faceplate that might reflect the camera).  The Doctor and his three companions prepare to leave the Tardis and the three companions disobey the Doctor and bicker.  After a long wait and everyone following every opening door, our heroes meet Monarch, Enlightenment, and Persuasion who are strong beings who are ugly until you hand Enlightenment and Persuasion a picture-then it gets creepy.  Later on, the Doctor discovers immortal "humans" that remain immortal as long as components last and an evil plan to travel faster than light and conquer the world. 

The episode is slow at first and gets better as you wait; albeit you would get bored in the process of waiting.  It is quickly apparent throughout the whole episode that characterization and characters' judgment were not the writer(s)' strong points.  Adric, a companion of the Doctor's, is incredibly stupid in this episode.  For example, he does not always know when a story told by Monarch is full of holes (Especially since Adric looks to be older than 21) and sides with him. 
Apart from that, there is a "poison" that merely shrinks a person to smaller than a grain of sand that should really be called a "Reducing Agent."  How do the frogs that secrete it resist it?  That way it can be countered.

The ship itself is lavishly detailed and the acting was exceptionally good, especially in the recreational performances.  There is a space scene in part four that looks more like a man swimming in space.  It was so bad it was funny and for that reason I love part four.  I liked some of the other effects creators were able to muster, like the Doctor reversing magnetic fields and spinning floating eyes in their places.  I also liked the live frogs that were obviously tree frogs and not poison dart frog (from Earth, of course) and Monarch's advanced technology being thwarted by the Tardis' own.  Because of a boring beginning of the show, as well as the poor judgment and characterization in the first three episodes, I am giving Doctor Who: Four to Doomsday as a whole 4 out of 10 stars, proportional to my favorite part of the episode, episode four, which is worth 8.4 stars.

*Police box, really.