Babylon 5: The last, best hope for peace…

Heads up for anybody who still remembers this series, but it was one of the best shows on television at the time. (Well, at least for seasons 1-4).

The creators of Bab5 are now releasing a mini-reunion of sorts with a new story (or stories, I believe). What is strange is that B5: The Lost Tales was filmed in Hi-def, but is being released in standard widescreen. <shrug> Anyway, goes on sale tomorrow at Amazon.com: Babylon 5 – The Lost Tales: DVD: Bruce Boxleitner, Tracy Scoggins, Peter Woodward, J. Michael Straczynski.

[Lime adds: And, Xbox Live is supposed to see the simultaneous release of Lost Tales for download, according to THIS MS press release (and the E3 briefing).]

iPhone/Mac Guru Steve Jobs to Disney: Cut the Crap

Steve Jobs new iPhone is getting mostly rave reviews (check out WSJ’s Walt Mossberg’s video review HERE), and Steve Jobs’ name again gets linked with eminently good taste.

In an equally smart move, Mr. Jobs, who’s both a member of Disney’s Board of Directors and Disney’s largest shareholder, was reportedly a “decider” (or at least an “influencer”) in Disney’s wise announcement last Friday: Disney will no longer make those atrocious direct-to-DVD animated sequals.

Parents everywhere: rejoice.

Those of you who are parents know that those DVDs are enjoyed by few in the family but the little ones who are sucked in by the lure of those (erstwhile) luminous characters from the originals.

Or, as Mr. Jobs put it: “If you look at the quality of [the direct-to-DVD] sequals it’s pretty embarrassing.”

Hear hear. We save money, and Disney puts its money into more quality original fare.

Lime

Reported in Yahoo News

The Dark Knight: A Not-so-Funny Joker

The Joker in the new film The Dark Knight is not the fun-loving comical version portrayed by Jack Nicholson. Just from his looks, one can tell that this will be a very different character. The Joker will be played by Heath Ledger.

The Joker, in all his glory (aka, Heath Ledger)

Also making an appearance in this film is Harvey Dent, played by Aaron Eckhart. He even has his campaign website up and running. We only hope that Two-Face, the super-villain alter ego of Dent, is a little more civil during his political debates and avoids dropping F-Bombs, in the style of our fine senator from Arizona. The Joker has his own website that has been on and off-line as of late. Currently, the site shows “Page not found” and a number of letters H and A. To find a hidden message copy all of the text from the Joker’s site to a word document and delete all of the letters H and A. (It would be too easy to just tell you what the message is).

Yojoe

Spinal Tap Reunited: Warmer Than Hell!!!

Your and my favorite band is reuniting for the first time since 1992 in a 15-minute film directed by Rob Reiner and focusing on global warming. They’ll be playing Wembley Stadium in London as part of the Live Earth concerts scheduled on July 7, 2007.

One new song is featured: “Warmer Than Hell.” For those of you who aren’t familiar (astounding though that would be), This is Spinal Tap was a brilliant 1984 satire of rock band documentaries or “rockumentaries,” and starring Christopher Guest as guitarist Nigel Tufnel, Michael McKean as singer David St. Hubbins, and Harry Shearer as bassist Derek Smalls.

You’d be right if you recognized these names as the same comedy troupe that has entertained us huddles masses and wretched refuse in such subsequent (hilarious) films as Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, and For Your Consideration.Here’s the lowdown on what Spinal Tap has been doing since last we saw’em:

Nigel has been raising miniature horses to race, but can’t find jockeys small enough to ride them; David is now a hip-hop producer who also runs a colonic clinic; and Derek is in rehab for addiction to the Internet.

Can’t wait.

Read more here.

Lime

Harry’s Movie Review: 300

As promised, I’ve gone and done it — seen 300. And what I have to report is this: it’s a very good movie, for what it is. Not great. But very good.

As I’ve gone on at length about before, this is a movie based on a graphic novel, which in turn was based on historical events — events, mind you, from 2500 years ago. So our records are none to complete, and moreover, the first written account of the battle at the Hot Gates was approximately 50 years after the battle, by Herodotus. Fifty years is a long time, so even if the movie was based on the record of events rather than the comic book by Frank Miller, it would be a stretch to say it was entirely accurate.

So up front, my assumption is that the movie, as a movie based on the

300: The Persian Version

The Persian Version

 

Truth-loving Persians do not dwell upon
The trivial skirmish fought near Marathon.
As for the Greek theatrical tradition
Which represents that summer’s expedition
Not as a mere reconnaisance in force
By three brigades of foot and one of horse
(Their left flank covered by some obsolete
Light craft detached from the main Persian fleet)
But as a grandiose, ill-starred attempt
To conquer Greece – they treat it with contempt;
And only incidentally refute
Major Greek claims, by stressing what repute
The Persian monarch and the Persian nation
Won by this salutary demonstration:
Despite a strong defence and adverse weather
All arms combined magnificently together.

– Robert Graves

Cheers,

Harry

300 Spartans: Victor Davis Hanson’s comments on Frank Miller’s movie

Renowned classicist and historian Victor Davis Hanson has this great piece on the movie 300. Conflict of interest aside, it comes from his Introduction to a Dark Horse Comics book accompanying the movie. Despite that, anyone who’s read his op-eds, military journal pieces, and books (The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War, and others), knows that he comes with a wealth of classical knowledge and a keen mind. For those of you who don’t know the history of the Spartans and their fight at the Hot Gates:

In 480, an enormous force of more than a quarter-million Persians under their King Xerxes invaded Greece, both to enslave the free city-states, and to avenge the Persian defeat a decade earlier at Marathon. The huge force of ships and soldiers proved

Borat, Cheese, and the Extraordinarily Patient Supermarket Worker

Borat Investigates Cheese

This has got to reveal a fundamental defect in my sense of humor, but although I enjoyed the Borat movie, I found myself rolling on the floor with this clip. In one of the deleted scenes, Borat enters a supermarket and asks to be shown the store’s cheese. The store worker/manager goes on to confirm that the packages are cheese–and Borat asks for confirmation on lots of packages of cheese. Then he moves on to butter.

Just wait and see exactly how long the worker agrees to answer Borat’s inane questions. It’s unbelievable.

Lime

• UPDATE: Due to copyright claims, this video is no longer accessible. If it returns legally, I’ll be sure to make a link available.
• UPDATE: 23 Mar 07, it’s inexplicably back…
• UPDATE: 25 Mar 07, nope, it’s gone.  Clearly this is a copyright issue, and any posts you find are, well, illicit.  So I’m not searching out links any more to post here, and I just suggest that you add Borat to your Netflix or Blockbuster Online account queues.  It’s a great scene, and the movie ain’t too bad either.