Joseph Mallozzi's Weblog

December 12, 2012: News of note!

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Damn.  What do you have to do to get your blog featured on wordpress?  Yesterday’s entry, December 11, 2012: An Apocalypse Primer!, was perfect Freshly Pressed material!

Heads up!  http://gizmodo.com/5968007/north-korea-satellite-out-of-control-why-this-is-very-bad-news

Planning a vacation?  Don’t know where to go?  Here, let me help by offering you a list of places NOT to go:  http://allwomenstalk.com/top-dangerous-places-to-go-on-vacation/.  So much for that summer getaway in Liberia.

In memory of those (video game characters) we lost in 2012:

“30 years ago one could buy a pass for lifelong, unlimited first-class travel with American Airlines.  Now American Airlines is suing people who did”.  And other tricks busineses use to rip you off: http://www.omg-facts.com/lists/12/17-Tricks-Businesses-Use-to-Secretly-Rip-You-Off/1?fromTP

This (Report: Google Maps Is Coming Back to iOS Tonight!) is not at all surprising after this (4 nightmare scenarios involving Apple Maps).

Well now, this looks interesting:

Maybe after he’s done hosting our Superhero Movie of the Week Club (sometime in late 2013), Cookie Monster can move on to a Superflop of the Week Club: http://thefw.com/john-carter-and-15-of-the-biggest-movie-flops-of-all-time/?utm_source=zergnet.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=zergnet_27318. There was a 134 million dollar movie called Stealth?  What’s a Delgo?

Just in time for your winter cleaning: http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/33-meticulous-cleaning-tricks-for-the-ocd-person-i

And my former assistant passed on my suggestion to name his newborn Spearmint: 2012’s Definitive List Of Unusual Baby Names Will Destroy Your Soul

 

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20 responses

  1. baterista9 Avatar
    baterista9

    Thanks for the heads up about iOS and map applications. Husband & I are ready to upgrade our iPhones, but I’ll check out that article first.

    Reply
  2. Joan001 Avatar
    Joan001

    Well, bah-humbug, Joe! Wat-up? Missing football (and hockey) put you in a non-Christmas mood?

    That said, I’m going to look up some of those sites…

    Reply
  3. Tim Gaffney Avatar
    Tim Gaffney

    The Best-Lock Stargate construction sets are in stock at ThinkGeek.com
    http://www.thinkgeek.com/brain/whereisit.cgi?t=stargate&x=24&y=14

    Reply
  4. Roger Hågensen Avatar
    Roger Hågensen

    Wow! Pacific Rim looks great.
    I wonder if this movie will do well in Japan or not.

    Someone in the youtube comments called it Evangelion vs Godzilla, I have to agree. Also. Any animated or live action Mecha is awesome.
    Also the robot/computer voice, was that a GladOS cameo from the Portal games?

    The only other live action “mecha” I can recall that looked ok was G-Savior (Gundam live action movie) , so the nerd in me is getting excited about Pacific Rim indeed. It’s like one of the commenters on youtube said: “so guillermo del toro is making a movie about dudes in giant mech suits fighting cthulhu monsters, starring GLaDoS. it’s like someone was playing nerd mad libs and accidentally green-lit it.”

    Reply
  5. Randomness Avatar
    Randomness

    Pacific Rim looks more like Godzilla vs Giant Mech Robots, except swapping the Godzilla thing for a giant alien thing.

    Gave me that kinda vibe anyway. Looks like a good movie, mech robots are the big thing in Japan.

    Reply
  6. Randomness Avatar
    Randomness

    Oh by the way that Youtube Sun video I posted on your other entry, turned out to be Mercury orbiting the Sun, absolutely amazing to see to be honest, very few people think about whats above them, in the vastness of space, although I had a feeling it was Mercury, part of me wanted to see something well different lol

    Reply
  7. Joanie Avatar
    Joanie

    Shame…I really fancied Libera. Oh well, I have my days activities sorted – checking out these sites. The housework will have to wait…

    Reply
  8. Susan (Tartan Turtle) Avatar
    Susan (Tartan Turtle)

    This is the story of Loca the Pug – I think it is funny and sweet.

    Reply
  9. DP Avatar
    DP

    I don’t know what getting your blog featured on WordPress means. Do you registered people get access to something I’m not seeing?

    —

    As far as getting linked goes, I see some features in the titles you linked to that might be a clue. The headlines themselves don’t just promise to be informative, there’s a little punchy twist (or at least the appearance of it) to them or a promise to be distracted-person friendly, DPF for short.

    North Korean Satellite Out of Control and Why This is Very Bad News – The twist wasn’t even real there, of course it’s bad news, but it’s just so standard in titles now they did it anyway. At least it promises a boundaried topic, so it’s DPF.

    Top Dangerous Places to Go – Promises to be in list form – DPF.

    17 Tricks Businesses Used to Secretly Rip You Off – 17 items is a HUGE amount of information, but the promise of being in list form softens the blow. And “secretly”, there’s the false twist again. See, you don’t NEED a twist, just fake it.

    4 nightmare scenarios involving Apple Apps. – “Nightmare” just pisses me off because I already assume they’re going to address the most extreme scenarios and they are insulting my intelligence. I’ll still read it because 4 items is so short, and holy crap, nightmare! I dare not ignore that.

    John Carter and the 15 Biggest Movie Flops of All Time – A numbered list again, I’m listening, “of all time” sounds like it’s dated. BAM! John Carter! Problem solved. (Extremely distracted people don’t always read words in order when scanning.)

    Meticulous Cleaning Tricks for the OCD Person – not just any old boring cleaning tips, OCD ones! You might not have heard these so listen up! And if you don’t want to do it, you’re just gawking at the weirdo OCD people, so informative or fun, it’ll deliver on one of those.

    —

    Pacific Rim – Cancelling the Apocalypse! I’m so on board with that. That’s my new motto. Move over apocalypse movies, hello cancelling the apocalypse movies.

    Reply
  10. JimFromJersey Avatar
    JimFromJersey

    Wow! Pacific Rim looks great! Although I am soooo over 3D.

    I’m a bit surprised by the flop of “John Carter”. It was visually stunning, and pretty unterrible, compared to a lot of the crap out there. It’s a shame, really.

    And even though I hate to defend it due to its ties to Scientology, as much as it is universally loathed, Battlefield Earth is actually pretty watchable. I’m just glad Xenu was not a prominent feature.

    Reply
  11. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    1. Handsome Jack wasn’t all that handsome…but Alex Mercer…mmmmm! 😉

    2. When did Hollywood start making Japanese movies?

    3. Who doesn’t know to dust first, then vacuum?

    4. News of note: Geminid meteor shower tonight!! WOO!! *prays for a clear sky and a calm night*

    Have a good day, Joey. 🙂

    das

    Reply
  12. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    That whole thing with Apple maps astounds me. My hubby works for a competition company and he is surprised also. Our first thought was sabotage. Hubby wasn’t surprised when they fired the team leader for the project. He was actually surprised they didn’t clean sweep the whole team.
    Apple is a good company and I’m sure they will get it straightened out. I’m again surprised it’s taking this long to do so. My hubby’s company test their products for months to a year and I’m assuming Apple is the same way. I don’t know why they didn’t see such glaring problems before it was released. So it was either sabotage or an incompetent business type wanted the product released and pressured(bullied) the team . Some of the business managers don’t understand the complexity of computer programs and they think by pushing products into production-they will iron out the problems. Again, you would think Apple managers would understand the computer side of things.
    On the other hand, who would go into the Australian outback without a “real” map? http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-57558151-37/australia-police-discourage-use-of-apple-maps-app-after-rescues/
    Do you think Steve Jobs made that big a difference in Apple?

    I’ll check out those other links later. Thanks for posting them!

    Reply
  13. Sparrow_hawk Avatar
    Sparrow_hawk

    Ooooookay… deceased videogame characters, eh? Didn’t recognize even one. But since I don’t play videogames, that is not surprising.

    Mech movie! I love a nice mech! Gundam was my first anime, so mechs and their pilots hold a special place in my heart. It will be interesting to see how del Toro brings them to the world of live action. I’ll probably go see this one on the big screen this summer.

    Reply
  14. Phillip Guyton Jr. Avatar
    Phillip Guyton Jr.

    David Hewlett just tweeted that there is something in the works for stargate next year do you know anything you can leak? plzzzzzz say we’re getting some official stargate destiny movie

    Reply
  15. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    David Hewlett tweeted this: “Sounds like I’m soon to be reunited with Stargate’s “Destiny”…2013 is going to be a good year…for me & science fiction anyway!” Anyone know what he is referring to?

    Reply
  16. dasndanger Avatar
    dasndanger

    @ JimFromJersey – I thought John Carter was terrific! The problem was the marketing – it was as if Disney was trying to kill it before it even came out. Michael Moorcock – whose own works were inspired by Burroughs’, and John Carter in particular – was delighted with the film, and I don’t think you can get a better critique than a thumbs up from a diehard fan (since most fans of a literary work will inevitably be disappointed with the film treatment). Also, it had the best movie ending, ever! 🙂

    One *problem* (though not for me) as far as the modern audience is concerned is that you had to be patient and wait for the payoff – wait for all the pieces to fall into place. Too many films today explain everything along the way, spoonfeeding the viewer, and that’s made audiences lazy, but John Carter actually put the audience to work. In some ways I felt that I was learning things as Carter was learning them; just as he wasn’t always told what things meant, neither were we – we both had to figure it out on our own. Not sure if you know what I mean. 😛

    Another movie that I absolutely loved was Battleship. Same actor, too, but I didn’t realize that at first. Battleship, in my opinion, was like the Transformers movies, but not as visually confusing, and without all the middle-school humor. I thought the movie was very easy to follow, something that isn’t always possible with these overblown modern action flicks (*see G.I. Joe). Now, I’m not a militaristic or even a patriotic sort, but I found this movie to be very inspiring. It had so many elements that I love in a film (the ne’er-do-well who has to take command, the whole underdog thing, the guy who overcomes a personal obstacle, and best of all – dusting off the old cavalry!). I found it to be an uplifting and inspiring film – I even cheered! Now, it’s not a groundbreaking film – no, it’s your standard popcornesque action flick – but for me it was an absolute hoot! In fact, I liked it even better than The Avengers. I guess I just found it more fulfilling overall.

    Okay – shutting up now. 😛

    das

    Reply
  17. Ilyes D. Vex Avatar
    Ilyes D. Vex

    Pacific Rim looks awesome, so excited, and in case you were wondering it is the voice of Ellen Mclain who also voice GLaDOS in portal games

    Reply
  18. Tam Dixon Avatar
    Tam Dixon

    Das: I liked John Carter too. It seems like the critics always trash Sci-fi.

    Reply
  19. gforce Avatar
    gforce

    Yes, there was a $134million movie called “Stealth”. It sucked.

    Reply
  20. quade1 Avatar
    quade1

    i liked john carter, and stealth…..

    Reply

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