My vote for best film I saw this year was Dredd. Proof you can make an engaging, exciting action film which makes sense and has a strong protagonist without it being three hours long.

In the year I decided to return to the cinema I rarely saw anything that was really exciting or elevating. But I was surprised how dull and bloated some of the blockbusters turned out. Prometheus followed by Dark Knight were my main disappointments.

I saw some older films. Salt with Angelina Jolie was surprisingly fun. The Proposition with Guy Pearce is an outstanding Aussie Western which does bring me back to Django - it probably isn't as funny but I'll bet it's more powerful. It even survives having Ray Winstone.

>> ^Kofi:

What does he mean by "back to the private sector"? I thought he was against picking winners and losers.
He doesn't seem to understand the idea of government as providing that which the private sector cannot provide because it necessarily has to run at a loss, you know, like emergency services etc. If there's a dollar to be made you can be sure the private sector is already there unless legislation prohibits it.

I think the idea is that you buy insurance against natural disaster.


Of course if you have any pre-existing conditions, say your house is built near a fault line, next to the sea or in hurricane alley then your premiums are probably going to be extortionate.

To be fair. He didn't quite say that federal disaster relief should be privatised, just that it should be moved to the state level - and then you could argue he went off on a tangent about how you should privatise as much as possible and that large federal spending was "immoral". I think whats interesting is what he considers to be a waste of federal money, and what isn't - say a bloated defence budget. Maybe if you build enough tanks you can shoot the next Katrina to pieces?

They eat deer? Disgusting!!

I'll stick with my baby sheep, baby cows, bloated chicken, salted swine and fish gloop thank you very much.

*brief Short, but great.

This truly is one of the most amazing CME or Filament eruptions I've ever seen. I personally think this is, literally, the BEST I've witnessed. It's mesmerizing and AMAZING to watch... Truly an amazing dance of high energy Physics with extremely powerful forces of Physics also at play, making this little dance all come together; much like the beautiful loops of plasma formed over sunspots as the plasma flows from the negative flow sunspot it's positive brother. This flow between these two areas create magnificent loops of plasma above the Sun's surface sometimes stable for awhile until there is a magnetic reconnection, which in turn creates the stunning filament that was created in the southeastern area (which now has rotated towards us and is more central southern area) of the Sun and then shooting off into space in many directions. All thanks to NASA's SDO satellite that took this amazing video (and photos; there is also a FAR bigger array of things that the little satellite got: scientific readings at several time increments, photos in every energy frequency you want basically, same with video, and other assorted stuff--it REALLY IS the little satellite that CAN do, it has shown time and time again that NASA knew what they were doing when they made it and they have lived up to their reputation of exceeding the standard of excellence that is expected of them--JUST LIKE the now infamous Curiosity rover; GO NASA).

P.S.- This is off-topic, but here it goes anyway... There is a great need for us to overhaul our education system, there have been so many examples lately that show the need for more science/engineering students from/in the United Sates. Which right now just isn't happening. The U.S. superiority complex is losing to ITSELF, mostly thanks to idiotic Bible-thumping Republicans/Tea-Party members. Just look at what NASA has done in the last 10 years with the small and ridiculous budget they have--the same people that once put men on the Moon and created a HUGE amount of new devices (like the MRI, just for a quick example; there's a huge list somewhere--NASA happens to be one of the only government agencies that uses its money, files patents, and then the U.S. creates a consumer version that makes quite a bit of money...). NASA has a PERFECT Curiosity landing, a landing that was extremely complicated and...well, awesome. A team like that would make use of EVERY PENNY, better than a bank could. Sadly our government is delusional along with the citizens who almost believe sometimes that NASA should just be zeroed out. BUT, I think NASA of course deserves 20 or 30 times the money it receives. We, in HOW we treat our own REMARKABLE, admired, and talked of world wide Space Program, make ourselves look like the idiots we are (atleast the ones that deserve that statement). If Obama wants to do something interesting he should raise NASA's budget by quite a bit, as Mitt has made it clear that he plans to just raise the military's already bloated beyond definition ("We're a hyperpower...") budget and to possibly engage in two wars, plus a second and brand-new Cold War with Putin's Russia.

If you retrieve the embed code through the "embed" button within the player itself, you'll get unsupported code. However, the sharethis.com panel on the lower right corner of the player's frame should give you bloated, but working code.

I found that 95 was a great idea, but 98 did it better, and for me, it was more stable. I skipped ME for XP, then skipped Vista for 7, and will definitely be skipping 8, so the pattern holds for me.>> ^HugeJerk:

>> ^Xaielao:
Is it just me or is every other major windows release utter crap. 95 was a huge leap for its time. 98 while improved in some ways, was about as stable as a drunk stilt walker. XP was of course so good, folks still refuse to use anything else. Vista was a bloated bag of design flaws, and 7 is perhaps their best software yet. Here comes windows 8.. you get me?

You forgot Windows ME was between 98 and XP.

>> ^Xaielao:

Is it just me or is every other major windows release utter crap. 95 was a huge leap for its time. 98 while improved in some ways, was about as stable as a drunk stilt walker. XP was of course so good, folks still refuse to use anything else. Vista was a bloated bag of design flaws, and 7 is perhaps their best software yet. Here comes windows 8.. you get me?

You forgot Windows ME was between 98 and XP.

Is it just me or is every other major windows release utter crap. 95 was a huge leap for its time. 98 while improved in some ways, was about as stable as a drunk stilt walker. XP was of course so good, folks still refuse to use anything else. Vista was a bloated bag of design flaws, and 7 is perhaps their best software yet. Here comes windows 8.. you get me?

It's like every other major release they let the guys who spend their days in the backroom drinking coffee and mopping the floors design their software for them.

Sorry to be a downer, but I would try to actually accomplish something useful for mankind. Immense wealth is just a holding hostage of a huge amount of human labour; it isn't a license to squander that labour.

That said, I would be making this post on my supercomputer; sitting on a chair made of 5-6 live, nude, female gymnasts who would work four hour shifts supporting my bloated form while lovingly tonguing and caressing my balls. Bill Gates could really have that. He could have a chair made of women.

@KnivesOut . Yes. Just as today.. living people would be a problem. Some defense against pirates would be helpful, ala Swiss Family Robinson. The island would also have to be far enough from shore that any infected half dead would turn to full zombies before arriving.. the boat ride acts as a period of quarantine.
About zombies walking along the sea floor, or floating their bloated corpses across: Don't worry, the sharks, crabs, and hagfish would get them - microorganisms are not the only decomposers out there.

I would think that zombie would go thorough some kind of life cycle as they go through the 5 stages of decomposition (Fresh, Bloat, Active Decay, Advanced Decay, and Dry Remains) I don't think a zombie outbreak would last too long, it would just be a matter of waiting it out. Unless they are the zombie like things in I Am Legend where people are just sick with a mutated measles virus. That would be a tougher situation to deal with. Of course the repeated singular goal thing might just be a residual of when they were alive, Kinda like how Sean Hannity can't say anything more then two or three exaggerated right wing ideological sentences all day.

..nothing sexier than a bloated farting gasbag of a girlfriend.

You're missing the point of this video. He never mentioned Democrats or Republicans. Reich, while he was Labor Secretary under Clinton, is currently part of Common Cause. As it slogan says, Holding Power Accountable. Similar to Lawrence Lessig and Change Congress / RootStrikers, they want to lessen the corporate influence on politics to bring it back to a government for the people. Reich is pointing out the flaws in legally allowing companies like Bain Capital to do what they do and profit excessively from it.
>> ^Winstonfield_Pennypacker:

All you really need to know is that its a Robert Reich video to know to throw it in the trash where it belongs. It is such a dumbed down, simplistic 'unnuanced' (to use a leftist term) interpretation. Aw - and he even uses cartoons.
I see a lot of pontification, and moralizing, and oh-so-much self-righteous indignation. This kind of business practice is perfectly legal, and it is engaged in by Democrats and liberals all the time, but somehow only Romney is to blame of course. :eyeroll: Typical. As usual, its an election year hit piece used to angry up the blood of the ignorant and the stupid.
You guys act like firing people is some sort of horrible thing that should never never never be done. I know leftists are blindingly ignorant and uninformed of how things are in the "real world" rather than thier fevered imaginations... But companies have to fire people all the time. In fact, if they don't fire people then they become bloated, cumbered, over-saturated dinosaurs that get annihilated by thier competitors. I notice that even the moronic Robert Reich freely admits that the process makes the business work better and more profitable. No one likes to be fired, but as the years go buy companies build up headcount, and as time goes on there are jobs that become obsolete, tasks that are redundant, and processes that are inefficient. Tightening the screws is healthy. It is how companies survive and thrive.
I myself was a casualty of a "downsizing" a few years ago. It happens. It isn't the end of the world. You brush up your resume, get out and hustle, and find a new job. Only in the tortured, idiotic mindset of a liberals does it make any sense that all jobs should be permenant and unending. Grow up people.

All you really need to know is that its a Robert Reich video to know to throw it in the trash where it belongs. It is such a dumbed down, simplistic 'unnuanced' (to use a leftist term) interpretation. Aw - and he even uses cartoons.

I see a lot of pontification, and moralizing, and oh-so-much self-righteous indignation. This kind of business practice is perfectly legal, and it is engaged in by Democrats and liberals all the time, but somehow only Romney is to blame of course. :eyeroll: Typical. As usual, its an election year hit piece used to angry up the blood of the ignorant and the stupid.

You guys act like firing people is some sort of horrible thing that should never never never be done. I know leftists are blindingly ignorant and uninformed of how things are in the "real world" rather than thier fevered imaginations... But companies have to fire people all the time. In fact, if they don't fire people then they become bloated, cumbered, over-saturated dinosaurs that get annihilated by thier competitors. I notice that even the moronic Robert Reich freely admits that the process makes the business work better and more profitable. No one likes to be fired, but as the years go buy companies build up headcount, and as time goes on there are jobs that become obsolete, tasks that are redundant, and processes that are inefficient. Tightening the screws is healthy. It is how companies survive and thrive.

I myself was a casualty of a "downsizing" a few years ago. It happens. It isn't the end of the world. You brush up your resume, get out and hustle, and find a new job. Only in the tortured, idiotic mindset of a liberals does it make any sense that all jobs should be permenant and unending. Grow up people.

>> ^Deano:
Not so sure about the ship design - doesn't seem to echo the hard sci-fi visions. I liked the Nostromo which was a floating refinery and obviously bloated, complex and required constant maintenance [edit - I know the landing ship isn't the same thing but it does look a bit too CGI and fantastic]
Added to that the upgrade in computer displays, not evident in Alien of course - maybe it's not directly a prequel, same universe and all that?
I think this has given up a fair bit of the film as trailers are wont to do. I'm sure the direction will be excellent but I'd caution against expecting greatness.


They discuss the "look" as compared to the Nostromo in the Q&A eric linked above. You can watch the replay anytime.

As far as this trailer giving up too much... I kinda thought so too. There's been so much secrecy surrounding this movies' plot since they decided not to make it another "Alien" movie (Scott addresses that in the Q&A as well). I was kinda wishing I hadn't seen the whole trailer. Then I thought, "awww, screw it", and watched it a few more times.


edit: can't spell