forgetfoo

are you going to see it this weekend? despite some of the initial reviews, like this one – star trek into dumbness – i'm still looking forward to seeing it this weekend.

'Star Trek Into Darkness': The Secret Behind The Sounds

Legendary sound designer Ben Burtt has worked on all the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" movies, not to mention "Lincoln," "Wall-E," "E.T.," "Willow" and many more. And although he was a passionate fan of the original "Star Trek" series, Burtt had never ventured professionally into the "Trek" universe — until J.J. Abrams came calling. [...]

Since then, Burtt has reteamed with Abrams for "Super 8" as well as his latest effort, "Star Trek Into Darkness." For the "Trek" films, Burtt has endeavored to combine the old and the new. "I've tried to use technology and technique from the '60s in making the sounds, in the hopes that what I make will resemble in some way the style of the original show," he said.

Case in point: the ever-present transporter, used to beam characters up and down from the U.S.S. Enterprise. Burtt explained that the current transporter sound has three elements. "There's some chimes, which are heavily echoed, and they're in the same pitch and register as what you might have heard in the original show," he said.

one of the things i loved about the first Star Trek movie reboot from 2009 was the sound effects – man, they really did an awesome job on it and it makes such a difference... kinda fun to geek out on the sound effects, and on MTV of all places.

p.s. two more days!

Star Trek's History of Progressive Values — And Why It Faltered on LGBT Crew Members

In 2009, director J.J. Abrams transformed Star Trek into a true mainstream hit with his blockbuster movie reboot, earning $385 in worldwide box office and shattered the opening weekend IMAX record; with Star Trek Into Darkness about to hit theaters this Friday, he seems poised to do it again.

But long before the 47-year-old franchise was breaking box office records, it was breaking ground as one of the most forward-thinking franchises in television and film history. Thanks largely to the (at the time) radical philosophy of creator Gene Roddenberry, the show attracted audiences with its adventure stories, but it kept them with its utopian optimism: the idea that the raging intolerance of the day would someday become a thing of the past, and anyone could explore the stars if they wanted.

In the future, Roddenberry envisioned race and gender as non-issues. He put Japanese-American George Takei, as Lt. Hikaru Sulu, at the helm; African-American Nichelle Nichols, as Lt. Nyota Uhura, in the communications chair; and even attempted to make the Enterprise's first officer a woman (studio executives rejected that unsavory idea, so the alien Spock took the job). The equality on the U.S.S. Enterprise's bridge was a watershed moment, both in television history and in Americans' understanding of social equality.

This heritage makes it all the more unfortunate that the progressive values of the original series seem to have faltered – and even begun trailing the mainstream – with the increasingly pointed absence of LGBT members in later iterations of the franchise, and their failure to treat sexual orientation like the same sort of non-issue that Roddenberry once envisioned for race and gender on the bridge of the Enterprise.

seems to me that if "Roddenberry envisioned race and gender as non-issues", then why would there be some kind of pandering or emphasis given to LGBT? seems like this author is the one with the agenda and is projecting it onto a kick ass movie like Star Trek... but maybe that's just me. *shrugs*

to be honest, i always thought of Star Trek as being rather sexy and racy, especially in the context of when it first aired back in the late 60's... if anything, a new more modern version of it should be even more so, with lots of hot naked alien chicks and captain kirk walking around with a permanent stiffy.

either way, i can't wait to see the new Star Trek movie this weekend.

went to the midnight showing of Iron Man 3 lastnight with jeff and jim, after finishing up with the redesign of the "Quiet Room" @addthis as our little hackathon project – also helped out with some frontend design work on a couple other projects, but not really going to get into that.

anywho, here's some initial impressions from the movie without dropping too many spoilers or anything.

to start off with, i liked it – definitely better than the second one if you ask me, but they definitely went in a different direction with this one... more personal and centered all around Tony Stark, which is cool because he's the only superhero (only Avenger, at least) without any super powers... he's just a guy, even if he's a really intelligent charismatic billionaire... but he doesn't have super-human strength, or can fly around without his armor, etc... so it's cool to see him as such, a guy with some issues just like the rest of us.

felt like there were some things i kinda missed, though... but hard to throw it out there without dropping spoilers... but can say i thought the ending was a little disappointing, the credits at the end were a bit strange and a little out-of-place for me... and if you sat in the theater for an extra 10 minutes at three o'clock in the morning to see the additional clip at the end, then you might find yourself scratching your head like i did.

weak, very fucking weak.

Everything Wrong With 'Iron Man 2' in 6 Minutes

i absolutely loved the first Iron Man movie and have watched it many times... and though i liked the second one, there was just something about it that wasn't quite the same, and i think i've only seen it twice.

i've probably watched The Avengers a dozen times by now... because it's still fucking awesome.

p.s. one week until Iron Man 3 comes out!

Geek Movies: The Top 10 Most Inspirational Films For Techies

What is a geek, anyway? Someone who loves math and science and computers? Sure, but that's only part of it. As counter-terrorism expert Richard Clark once told Stephen Colbert (around the 3:40 mark): "Geeks get it done."

That nails it.

Geeks Get It Done - GGID. Geeks imagine, then build. Geeks envision, then destroy. Geeks remake the old world and create new worlds. Sometimes just for fun, sometimes because the fate of all humanity hangs in the balance.

That's why geeks get inspired by movies that remind them to revel in their obsessiveness – because it ultimately leads to the way you "get it done."

Which movies do the best job of providing that awesome inspiration? You can't go wrong with these 10 classics. continue...

oh man, i love every single one of these movies on the list... and if that makes me a "geek", then i'm totally okay with that.

now if this list was about the top 10 geek/scifi movies of all time, then i might have an issue or two... as much as i love The Matrix, i'm not sure that would be my personal #1 scifi movie of all time.

hmmmmm....

in case you missed it – which of course, none of you did – but here's the third superman trailer they released earlier.

already watched it a few times... holy shit, i'm so ready.

p.s. iron man 3 in two weeks!

seems like there's only a handfoo of movies i'm looking forward to – only a few more weeks until the new Iron Man and Star Trek movies – but this one's definitely on my radar.

on a sidenote, the last season of dexter starts up this summer.

love the show, and this last season was effin awesome.

first trailer for the new wolverine movie... looks pretty good, though i'm still a bit skeptical – first one was okay, but wasn't great y'know? the wolverine is such a badass character, so i'm hoping they do it justice.

on a sidenote, went to the dentist this morning to finish up getting my teeth cleaned... gums always feel a bit sore after a cleaning, and i had this german lady doing it this last time... she sure did work me over good. g'damn.

going to the dentist is definitely not one of my favs.

the new trailer looks pretty sick... i just wish they'd stop releasing trailers and teasers so far in advance of the movies release, feels like i've already seen it by this point.

"daddy, what's martial law?" – indeed.

p.s. the last episode of Walking Dead was pretty awesome... poor merle.

50 Quotes From The Indiana Jones Movies, In Order Of Awesomeness

"Fortune and glory, kid. Fortune and glory."

awesome.

there was an email thread going on the other day about going to one of the upcoming movies as a team thing, with two big ones coming out in may... the new Star Trek 'Into Darkness" movie, and of course Iron Man 3.

if you could only go to one of 'em, which would you choose?

p.s. this was a tough one, mang.