Kim helpfully points out that you can now watch all four trailers for the upcoming Buffy musical episode online. I have to say though, I wasn’t impressed. They all kinda sound like crap. But it’s probably worth it for the sight of Spike with a guitar.
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Overheard while watching the Star Wars Episode 1 DVD audio commentary with George Lucas tonight:
Did he just compare the Gungans to the Viet Cong???
Some other observations from the commentary:
- George Lucas deals in some pretty clinical filmmaking. Everything was about how they technically achieved this or that. Nothing about the actors, their performances, or the writing.
- Nothing about the costumes or makeup, which I was looking forward to.
- I liked the sound guy’s anecdotes. He was interesting. I liked the bit about the flute and the ’69 Cadillac power windows.
- Lucas so obviously skips over everything people ripped on while also trying to make subtle excuses. He talks about how he always planned on mentioning the “midi-chlorians”; he just never got around to it before. He also completely skips the “Why didn’t Qui-Gonn disappear?” argument in favor of pointing out the stylistic similarity between the funeral pyres that end episodes one and six.
- Not much about the light saber battles and the fantastic work Ray Park did. He must’ve pissed Lucas off.
- Nothing regarding Jake Lloyd being a little wooden puppet, only lots of vague insisting that he was supposed to be “good” and “earnest”.
Granted, there’s a whole other disc with, like, ten hours of supplemental stuff on it, so it’s possible they’ll cover all this stuff elsewhere. I’m just mad that George Lucas essentially ducked a lot of questions. I wanted him to own up to his mistakes in the film. Instead it’s just him prattling on and name dropping (he mentions just about every film he’s ever made and every director he’s ever spoken to). Lots of crap about musical structure and “cyclical themes”. Basically, unless you’re a big time Star Wars or film nerd, avoid the commentary. It’s not going to tell you anything of the stuff you want to know, and it’s crammed with crap that you never needed to know. I’ll report on the rest of the disc later.
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Halloween in Indiana
My dad sent me this picture and it just cracks me up. I’m not actually sure it was taken in Indiana, but it sure looks like it. Man, that makes me homesick. We have gray skies in London too, but not nice crisp autumn ones like this. And check out that Hoosier humor! You KNOW you’d wanna hit this house if you were trick-or-treating. 🙂(For those wondering, they don’t really do Halloween over here. It’s mostly a grown-up holiday, and nobody decorates or anything. Our house is the only one I’ve seen with a jack-o-lantern. Bonfire Night is coming up in a week or so though, so that’s when the young ‘uns get to have their fun with fireworks and candy and such.)
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The Snook and I have decided to get a kitty when we get to Australia. He will be black with white feet. His name will be Dr. Alowicious Jones. (I like the name Alowicious; he likes Dr. Jones. We combined.) Our kitty will not be evil. That is all.
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Those of you who enjoyed Microserfs might find this little article amusing. Cult of Bill, indeed. I know I found it funny to see a technical journalist berate himself for asking a personal question, salivate over Bill’s immense mental talents, and report everything the great man ingested from his dinner plate. Geez.
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Disney music
Bill brought these new Disney Limited Edition DVDs to my attention. And if, uh, Santa is listening, I wouldn’t mind having the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony ones. 🙂
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Hooray! My hot spoiler tip was again wrong, but I randomly put 10 points on Carl… so I’m not dead last anymore! Go me!
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Ever wonder where “Fighting Irish” came from? That link reminds me of the time my friend Crawford (who can usually be found leaving comments on TD’s site) brought an exchange student over to our dorm room during the middle of an away football game. We were all watching on the TV and trying to explain to this South American girl what the hell was happening. Then she asked the inevitable question about our school nickname. Undaunted, Crawford grabbed the phone and dialed the Reference Desk at the library. The little old lady couldn’t give her a definitive answer, so rather than simply let it go at that, Crawford pressed on with the conversation. “Are you watching the game? What was up with that call?” And the poor woman was forced to try to explain pass interference. It went on for some time. I believe Crawfy called her several times over the subsequent years, usually to ask about whatever game was on just then. That woman probably hated us.
Pisces buddies!!