Tons of details emerge about Rock Band 2

In the past few days lots of confirmed (and some not quite confirmed but it's looking good) info has come out about Rock Band 2, Harmonix and MTV Games' follow-up to last year's smash hit music game Rock Band.

According to a press release by Harmonix, Rock Band 2 is going to be completely backward compatible with the peripherals and downloaded songs from Rock Band. Which is good news for people like those of us in the Knight household who have been purchasing dozens of new tracks through Xbox Live Marketplace (speaking of which, Lisa and I have gotten pretty good at Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville").

And speaking of instruments, Ars Technica has word that Rock Band 2 is going to boast much improved hardware, like a wireless drum set (with metal-reinforced pedal) and a far better guitar - also wireless - than the one that came packaged with Rock Band. I've been using the controller from Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock since my birthday: hopefully the strum bar on the Rock Band 2 guitar has been made sturdier than the original. I'm hearing mixed word about whether the microphone will be wireless but most likely it'll still connect via USB cable (so don't go too wild, unless you want to tear apart your entertainment center :-) There's also going to be a Drum Trainer mode that is being touted as something that can teach a person how to play the real thing.

The most-requested feature since Rock Band came out has been a World Tour mode that lets you play with friends in remote locations. Folks, Harmonix listened and Harmonix responded: Rock Band 2 will feature Online World Tour that lets you form a band with friends no matter how far away (so long as they're on Earth 'course) and challenge other groups to a virtual battle of the bands.

Here's a cool feature: player-created characters will now be able to play on more than just one kind of instrument. And... word is that you will be able to both play an instrument and sing at the same time! Time to get a mike stand (provided Harmonix doesn't pack one in the Rock Band 2 box, which it wouldn't surprise me if they did). There will also be pre-packaged characters, for those who want to jump in the game right out of the box... although as much fun as we have with our on-screen avatars in The Knight Shift (yeah that's the name of our band) I'm betting the desire to stay with the pre-configs will be fleeting. There will also be a lot more clothing, accessories, hairstyles and tattoos that you can deck your 'toon out with. Stuff.tv is also reporting that you'll be able to print up posters and other goodies of your band characters through the Rock Band website.

And then there are the songs. In addition to all the downloadable tracks from Rock Band (and I'm hearing that future tracks will be compatible with both Rock Band and Rock Band 2, not to mention the rumor going around that Harmonix is going to offer the entire tracklist from the original Rock Band disc as a free download) there will be more than 80 tracks - all master recordings - on the Rock Band 2 disc. The ones confirmed so far include "Give It Away" by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello (a performer that a lot of Rock Band players have wanted to be represented), "Anyway You Want It" by Journey, and a bunch others. And Harmonix is saying that plenty more tracks will be on the way via download.

Can't wait to get this! Rock Band is the most-played game at our place, and every time we have guests visiting the guitars and drums inevitably get brought out for a jam session, sometimes lasting for hours! I think that Harmonix is definitely evolving the Rock Band brand in the right direction: not so much as a "franchise" but more of a platform on which to keep building and getting better. Hopefully by the time we have kids old enough, Rock Band 7 will be out :-)

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Robot beating humans at air hockey

EETimes.com has an article about a robot that plays air hockey against humans... and is playing it very well.

Here's video of the robot in action...

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Chuck Baldwin: Today's Christians have no real faith

In his latest essay, Chuck Baldwin - pastor and the Constitution Party's candidate for President - presents a very strong case that in spite of their words, most of today's Christians... do not truly place their faith in God at all, but rather put their faith in their own understanding and the schemes of this world.

Writes Baldwin...

Most everyone, including Christian people, realize that our country is in a mess. They readily agree that a divine healing is needed. They even use the great stories and examples of the Bible to teach our boys and girls how to obey and trust God. They extol the examples of Daniel, the three Hebrew children, Simon Peter and the Apostles, etc. They use these stories to illustrate the importance of putting obedience to God and God's principles above the machinations and demands of men.

When it comes to voting for and supporting candidates who have proven themselves to be unfaithful to the fundamental principles of liberty and good government, however, these same Christians suddenly become enamored with "the lesser of two evils," and pragmatism. Doing right gives way to being "practical," and standing for principle gives way to "not throwing my vote away."

Had Daniel been "practical," he would have stopped praying for a few weeks and stayed out of the lions' den. Had the three Hebrew children been "pragmatic," they would have given a symbolic bow to the statue of Nebuchadnezzar. And I can just hear Christians living in the First Century talking about how they would vote for Nero over Caligula, as he would be "the lesser of two evils."

There's more at the above link. It's a damning article. It should be a damning article! It's something that should be read by every professing follower of Christ throughout America especially, since too many of us do opt to "vote for the lesser of two evils" instead of embracing and using the freedom that God has given us.

As a friend of mine said awhile back, "No real Christian given completely to God could vote for Obama, or McCain, or Clinton, and no real Christian could ever have voted for George W. Bush."

I agree.

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Coming soon...

The investigative report that will scare the hell out of darn near everybody.

Why are some people in this area now packing heat?

Stay tuned.

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NASA unveils final Space Shuttle flight schedule

There are ten more missions for the Space Shuttle fleet, as NASA has revealed the final slate of missions before the system is retired, after what will be 29 years of service. Endeavour is set to be the last one that will launch, with a mission scheduled for May 31, 2010 to bring spare parts to the International Space Station.

After Endeavour lands, NASA plans to begin using the new Ares launch vehicle (currently in preparation for testing), which will be carrying the Orion crew module. In the meantime, the station will be serviced by Japanese, ESA and Russian craft for supplies. Including the Soyuz, which it's safe to say has gained far more respect in recent years than it ever had before in its long and admirable history... which predates the American-made Space Shuttle by fifteen years!

I've got mixed feelings about seeing the Space Shuttle program retired. On one hand, it fulfilled the role that it was meant to play. But then, I wonder if maybe we came to rely on the Space Shuttle too much, and got lulled into complacency with it. It's like this: sending men and women into low-Earth orbit is always going to be a thrilling albeit risky venture. But it's not real manned space exploration. The last time we could say that we did that was Apollo 17 in 1972: the last time man walked on the Moon.

Maybe going back to the basics with Ares and Orion will be a better thing than we yet realize.

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My wife, the political activist and teachers advocate

A few months ago my wife Lisa shared on her own blog her thoughts and experiences about the problems with the federal government's teacher loan forgiveness. She's received quite a bit of correspondence since then from teachers all over the country who have experienced similar frustrations.

Well, now Lisa is taking it an extra mile further by directly petitioning not only her own senators and governor, but some of those who created the legislation that led to this. You can read the full text of the letter she has sent out here.

Wouldn't it be neat if we wound up seeing Lisa testifying on live television before a congressional committee in Washington D.C.? :-)

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Video tribute to Uga VI

Uga VI was laid to rest at Sanford Stadium on the campus of University of Georgia last week. Uga VII has been picked already and will be revealed later this summer. Don't worry though: word is that the next to the throne is a pup sired by Uga VI, so the line that stretches all the way back to Uga I will continue.

In the meantime, there have been many tribute videos to Uga VI that I've found on YouTube. Here's one of them, accompanied by some classic Ray Charles music...

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Happy 10th anniversary to TheForce.net!

It was ten years ago today - on July 8th, 1998 - that TheForce.net, considered by many to be the best and most-visited Star Wars fan-operated website on the Internet, was born.

(Okay, if we're going to get technical it was actually spawned in 1996 as the "Star Wars Site At Texas A & M" by roomies Scott Chitwood and Darin Smith. But TheForce.net became its very own "fully armed and operational battle station" ten years ago today.)

I spent more than two years as an active staff member of TheForce.net, from winter of 2000 on through a little after getting married in 2002. That was the time when Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones was in production. And if I tried sharing all the crazy "war stories" that I saw happen in that time, it would become the biggest post in the entire 5-some year history of this blog. To have been part of TheForce.net staff during production of a Star Wars movie was almost like being involved in a very wacky world of political intrigue, deep-cover espionage and the occasional threat of litigation... all regarding a science-fiction film franchise! And most of that stuff I'm still keeping to a vow of secrecy on.

Three things that I'll share here that I remember from my time there. The first was when the reports got out that boy band 'N Sync had filmed a cameo appearance (reputedly as Jedi Knights fighting in the arena battle) for Star Wars Episode II. I was the editor of the TheForce.net's Humor section at the time. In one day, Humor's e-mail address got slammed with more than five hundred 'N Sync-related jokes... to say nothing of all the artwork that came flooding in! I still have it and everything else pertaining to my time on TheForce.net backed up on spare hard drives. Someday I'll show it to the kiddies :-)

The second was, of course, when I used TheForce.net to propose to my wife Lisa (the original picture went missing from the site during an upgrade, but I've still got it).

And the third was what I have come to regard as TheForce.net's finest hour. The day when the staff and readers of the site became more than fans or friends: we became family. It began one Tuesday morning in September, 2001. In the hours and days following the 9/11 attacks, TheForce.net's message board became a rallying point for those with loved ones in New York City and Washington. People used the forum to make sure that others that they knew were okay. I wish I could say that everyone was accounted for... but that wasn't to be. Among TheForce.net's readers were people trapped in the World Trade Center and some of the firefighters and other rescue workers who died trying to save lives that day. Still others relayed eyewitness accounts of what happened: one friend from the site was walking on the street right below the first tower that was hit, and she had to run for cover in a nearby subway entrance to escape the falling debris.

It was one of those moments that either sadly or fortunately are all too few, when you realize that what you do on the Internet really does go out to a larger world. That there are people out there who are trying to be as happy with their lives as you are. That those others that you work with and read your words, they are just as precious in God's eyes as you or anyone else.

Sobering stuff. Who'da thought that a Star Wars website could evoke so much thought? But that's always been a hallmark of TheForce.net.

Looking back, I think that TheForce.net became a very unique and wonderful part of my growth experience. Admittedly not all of it was fun: there were some times that it was a lot of hard work and frustration. There were even times when words were said among some, the kind of which that in retrospect you wish that you could take back. But through it all, there was a love and devotion to a very special mythology that, I like to think anyway, we were all trying to share an appreciation for toward others. And in our own way, this was how we tried to make the world a little better place than we found it. The time I spent with TheForce.net produced some of the best work that I ever did. I'll always be proud of that... and even more proud of the people that I got to work with.

So to Scott, Darin, Josh, Anthony, Dustin, Roderick, Helen, Carter, Jeff, Nicole, Philip, and everyone else who's worked on TheForce.net over the years, and to all the faithful readers... happy anniversary! :-)

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Quote of the day

"How can you call yourself a real camper if you don't know what a latrine is?"

-- Me, to someone who shall remain anonymous (on penalty of severe injury)

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Disney has new business: munitions!

Walt Disney World has declared that its employees will be exempt from a new Florida law allowing citizens of that state to keep personal firearms locked in their cars while at work.

And how exactly does a company like Disney - which is Florida's largest single-site employer - get around law like that?

By taking advantage of a loophole that was added to the bill just as it was approved as legislation that "creates an exception for companies whose primary business is to manufacture, use, store or transport explosives regulated under federal law."

Since Walt Disney World has a permit for the vast arsenal of fireworks it keeps on its grounds for its famous pyrotechnics shows, the company is construing that this exception can apply to them and is thus legally declaring their company to be a munitions dealer!

Maybe Disney can transfer John Locke from its Buena Vista division to oversee its new operations. After all, "You never know when a little C4 might come in handy." :-P

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Party Über Alles: Republican leadership will shaft conservative activists again

MSNBC has an article about conservative-leaning members of the Republican Party who are trying to de-rail what they see as John McCain's extreme policies regarding immigration, the environment and several other issues. Lots of the Republican "grassroots" don't want McCain's views to be implemented in the party's official platform when they have their upcoming national convention.

But this quote by a McCain spokesperson says it all...

"We are confident that this process will produce a platform that all Republicans will enthusiastically support," said Joe Pounder, a McCain spokesman. "Our party is united, and will continue to work together to elect John McCain in November."

This is by and large the line by the Republican National Committee as well.

Once again, as has happened too many times from "the party of principle", the Republicans are going to throw out all principle just for sake of getting "an electable candidate".

And you wouldn't believe the stuff that I'm seeing on the Free Republic site these days so far as getting McCain to win goes. It's... well, downright Clintonian how they're thinking. Rush Limbaugh used to quip that the motto of the Clinton Administration was "How can we fool them today?" For too many of the "Party Über Alles" Republican die-hards, that's now become their own mindset as well.

Back to the topic at hand: there are still plenty of true-believers in the Republican rank and file who sincerely care about issues like stopping illegal immigration and abortion. But it's now well past time for them to leave the Republican Party. Because the Republican leadership does not give a damn about such things. The fact that it has fought tooth and nail against its own candidates who are sincerely interested in such matters, and that it has now produced someone like John McCain to be its standard-bearer, screams more about what's wrong with it than I could possibly devote the time to writing about here.

Hell, this is the same party leadership that forced George W. Bush on us... 'nuff said.

Although I do not call myself a conservative (or any other label), I do profess that my own leanings are very much toward what would be defined as "conservative" in the traditional sense. And I'm saying once again: real conservatives have no place, and are not welcome, in the Republican Party by its leadership. And it is foolish to continue putting any measure of faith in that party at all.

No, I'm not voting for Obama either. I'm not voting for either one of the two clowns from "the major parties" for President. As things stand now it'll be either a vote for Ron Paul (as I've already indicated I'll probably do) or Chuck Baldwin.

But McCain or Obama? If I was forced to choose either from among those two or be on the receiving end of a Coca-Cola enema, I'll pick the enema.

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Sex in space "inevitable" says experts

A Japanese firm is offering weddings in space beginning next year, and now officials with both state-sponsored space agencies and private corporations are beginning to openly concede that sexual intercourse beyond the confines of the Earth is going to happen... if it hasn't already (NASA is tight-lipped about whether it's taken place on the International Space Station or a shuttle flight).

Of especially great concern is what will happen on a long-term mission, like the ones now in the planning stages for a manned flight to Mars, or even an extended stay on something as relatively close by as the Moon. Space experts agree that humans are, by nature, beings who require sexual activity and expression in order to remain both emotionally and physically healthy. In more than forty years of forays into space, we've learned how to deal with just about every other human physiological need... and now we're going to have to confront the final frontier if we are to consider going any further.

It all sounds funny. But it's not.

Think about it: if we are bent on being an extra-planetary species, then what's going to happen to children who are conceived, and then grow up, in either a micro-gravity environment, or on a world with two-thirds or less of Earth's gravity? The movie WALL-E had some fun with that idea. But in reality, someone who matured in such an environment might very well die if he or she came to Earth, from failure of the body to acclimate to the higher gravity.

(And on a geeky note, the failed ABC pilot movie Plymouth back in 1991 took a very serious and engaging approach to this notion. It was yet another idea for a television series that was way ahead of its time...)

Of course, it would be remiss if one did not note that at least this would bring a whole new meaning to the term "panspermia"...

Okay, I'm stopping now.

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New sport: Chess Boxing!

19-year old Russian math student Nikolai Sazhin has won the title of world chess boxing champion. Chess boxing is a new "sport" that was inspired by a French cartoon back in the Nineties. Competitors like Italy's Gianluca Sirc (shown in the photo) meet in the center of a boxing ring and play chess for 4 minutes. Then the board is cleared away and the contestants duke it out for 3 minutes in a regulation boxing match. A chess boxing match consists of 6 rounds of chess and 5 rounds of boxing. The winner is decided by checkmate, knockout, or points.

Maybe this can be an Olympic sport someday! :-)

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Full review of "Journey's End" season finale of DOCTOR WHO

This episode seems to have honked off some people. Probably the ones who lost lots of money wagering on the outcome of the cliffhanger from "The Stolen Earth".

Yeah, it helps to unhinge your mind from common sense and real-world physics while watching "Journey's End", the finale for Season 4 (or is that 28?) of Doctor Who. But you know what? I don't care... 'cuz this was about the most perfect season finale of a television show that I've ever seen, and if this had been the very last episode of Doctor Who ever, it would be enough to let me die a satisfied man.

Okay, if you read this blog you know the drill: "thanks to our Brittish brethren across the pond" for putting it on the Internet after it premiered on the BBC last night, yaddah yaddah, cue the standard screencap and select quotes...

"Now then... where were we?"

"You can hug me if you want. No really, you can hug me."

"Exterminieren!"

"What have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick."

"Right now that wooden door... is just wood."

"You were brilliant. And you were brilliant. And you were brilliant."

"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die!"

"You're naked!"

"That's disgusting!"

"We were always heading for this."

"So cold and dark... fire is coming... the endless flames..."

"Oh that's it! The anger, the fire, the rage of at Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companion. Show her your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that, too."

"Behold the apotheosis of my genius."

"No, Davros! DAVROS YOU CAN'T! YOU CAN'T! NO!!!"

"It's not over yet sweetheart!"

"Just my luck. I climb through two miles of ventilation shaft chasing life signs on this thing, and who do I find? Mickey Mouse!"

"I don't want my name on this, given what we are about to do."

"Oh my God. He found you."

"Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls! Are you receiving me?"

"Impossible. That face. After all these years... you were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."

"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor: you take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your children of time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this. How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name? The Doctor: the man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself."

"Donna you can't even change a plug!"

"Because you two were both Time Lords!"

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now!"

"I am The Doctor!"

"Never forget Doctor: YOU DID THIS! I name you, forever, you are the DESTROYER OF WORLDS!!!"

"Affirmative, mistress!"

"You've got the biggest family on Earth."

"Anything! Brand new life! Just you watch."

"That's me, when we first met. And you made me better."

"When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it."

"I was going to be with you forever. The rest of my life. Traveling in the TARDIS."

"Oh, Donna Noble, I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best. Goodbye."

"They will never forget her..."

"But every night, Doctor, when it gets dark, and the stars come out, I'll look up, on her behalf, I'll look up at the sky and think of you."

The final scene of last week's Doctor Who left millions of fans on tenterhooks: The Doctor was regenerating after being shot by a Dalek... so what was he going to look like this time? Which actor would now play The Doctor? Without spoiling anything more, I'll just say that particular plot point gets taken care of within the first minute. Personally, I loved it!

"Journey's End" ran 65 minutes long and it was packed with not just some of the best action sequences of the story to date... but also what might be among the best dialogue in Doctor Who history. This was Russell T. Davies's final regular episode as showrunner (although he'll be producing this year's Christmas special and next season's three Doctor Who television movies also) and let's face it: the guy has drawn some flack for episodes such as "Love & Monsters" and the like. But you know what? Between "The Stolen Earth" last week, and how he did "Journey's End", I'm going to completely overlook those few low moments of his tenure. Because I would be lying through my teeth if I did not say that I screamed with horror, then screamed with joy, and had tears of both laughter and sadness and then ultimately triumph from watching "Journey's End".

This was a love letter episode not only to Davies's own work, but to all the faithful fans of Doctor Who across the years, including those who watched the original run. The scene where Davros recognizes Sarah Jane from the very first time that they met, and you gotta bear in mind that this was from "Genesis of the Daleks" all the way back in 1975, and watching Elisabeth Sladen portray genuine horror and then radiant defiance at this twisted freak just as she did over thirty years ago... I loved that! And then later on in the episode, the scene that will forever come to mind whenever I think of Doctor Who: the TARDIS, that brave little blue police box, pulling the entire planet Earth all the way across the universe back to its proper home while The Doctor and his friends operate the controls. If there was a single moment from the almost half-century of Doctor Who that symbolizes the spirit and hope of this show, then that is it.

But it's not the effects or the little "geek" nods that made "Journey's End" one of the most astounding episodes of television in recent memory. It was the characters and how Davies used them, perhaps more poignantly than has ever been done in Doctor Who history, to show us what it means to be The Doctor. And of all the moments in "Journey's End", none more illustrates this than when Davros confronts The Doctor and forces him to realize the horrible truth: that The Doctor, for all his desire to save every life, inevitably uses those closest to him in his pursuit of good... and that they are all too often hurt and even die because of him.

It's one of the most powerful moments of Doctor Who ever, and it helps to make Julian Bleach's portrayal of Davros possibly the finest of the show's entire run. A lot of fans have argued over the years that it's Davros, and not The Master, who is The Doctor's true supreme nemesis. After Bleach's turn in the role, I think there's no doubt about that now. Davros now stands alone as the one villain who is the complete and full counter to everything The Doctor stands for... and in his own way, he's done it by showing that he and The Doctor are not very unlike at all.

Dear Lord, I've got to watch myself or I'm going to totally spill the beans about this episode to anyone who hasn't watched it yet!

The conclusion of "Journey's End" was the best ending possible, and I don't think there was anything wrong with it (though plenty enough people are saying that Davies wasted an opportunity... personally, I can't see it). This was the final chapter of one volume of The Doctor's adventures, and true to The Doctor's nature it ended as happily as could have been hoped for, albeit not without loss. And like I said earlier, had this been the final Doctor Who episode ever, this would have been a very fitting and towering conclusion...

...but also in keeping with the spirit of Doctor Who, there is always a new adventure waiting to happen.

David Tennant was terrific, as always. Catherine Tate was stupendous and for her work this season, she is always going to have a special place on my list of favorite companions. Billie Piper and John Barrowman and Noel Clarke and Camille Coduri and Freema Agyeman, and especially the ever-lovely Elisabeth Sladen: in their own way they made this such an unforgettably beautiful episode. Julian Bleach channeled Emperor Palpatine and Hannibal Lecter into his turn as Davros... and I hope we get to see him many more times in the future. Bernard Cribbins again showed why he has been one of the best things to ever happen to Doctor Who since the show returned. The whole cast was terrific... but I especially have to say that I was delighted that John Leeson got to provide his voice for a certain classic Doctor Who character ;-)

Murray Gold deserves a ton of awards for the music he has composed for this season of Doctor Who but especially for the past several episodes beginning with "Silence in the Library". The themes that he came up with for "Journey's End" are nothing short of magnificent. The CD of this season's soundtrack cannot arrive fast enough: just for the theme where the TARDIS is pulling the Earth through space, I will buy this as soon as it comes out.

All in all, "Journey's End" was not only the best way to end not just an over-the-top wonderful season of Doctor Who, but a fitting tribute to the man who brought the show back from its long hiatus. My hat's off to ya, Mr. Davies!

On my rating of Doctor Who episodes, "Journey's End" gets the full Five Sonic Screwdrivers!

Coming to the BBC on December 25th, 2008: The Doctor faces the return of the Cybermen. So if you've been following these review of new Doctor Who episodes all season long, I'll see ya again probably the day after Christmas!

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I saw MONGOL again and Phillip got to see it, too!

Last December at Butt-Numb-A-Thon 9, the annual film festival in Austin, Texas, the big breakout hit of the entire show was easily Mongol. Sergei Bodrov directed, co-wrote and co-produced, and collaborated with a crew from over forty countries to produce this vast epic about the early life of Temujin... who history would remember as Genghis Khan.

Even before I had left Texas, my good friend Phillip Arthur had expressed some envy that I got to see Mongol waaaaay before its wide release. Well, ever since then I've been keeping an eye out for that, 'cuz I vowed that I'd see Mongol again and that next time it would be with Phillip. Last week it finally came out in Greensboro (at the Grande at Friendly Center). I shot Phillip an e-mail about it and we quickly made plans to see it the next evening. That's what we did on Thursday night and now that he's posted his review of it I'll add some more thoughts about Mongol.

The first thing you'll notice about Mongol is the photography. Shot in Mongolia, China and Kazakhstan, the vast steppes of twelfth-century Asia are some of the most beautiful images in modern cinema. This is the turbulent landscape that we find the young Khan - spelled "Temudjin" in the subtitles - who from the moment his father dies is beaten and forged by fate and tradition into the one who would unite the Mongols into the largest empire of world history. Indeed, the geography of Mongol is as much a character as those who dwell on it, and Bodrov is sumptuous with his treatment of the land and its climate.

Genghis Khan's name is one that to this day has provoked fear and dread. But his portrayal by Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano is perhaps one of the most noble of any recent biography. The Temudjin of Mongol is not the bloodthirsty tyrant who eventually brought despair to the frontier of Russia, but is instead an honorable and decent man. He is a loving husband and father to his children, who by birth and circumstance has had a destiny thrust upon him. Phillip and I talked after the movie about how Bodrov's treatment of Temudjin is almost like a combination of William Wallace from Braveheart and Conan the Barbarian. And then toward the end of the movie, when Temudjin sets out to impose law and discipline on a people run amok, he become very much like a Moses figure.

The battles are intense, well-choreographed and unrelentingly brutal so far as graphic depictions go. Tuomas Kantelinen's score is amazingly beautiful and haunting: I don't know if this soundtrack is available, but I'm bound and determined to find a copy somewhere. All of this and more supplements the fine acting from the cast, which at times moves the viewer to laughter and tears and everything in between. I don't know why, but I have to say that I enjoyed Mongol even more the second time than I did the first... and I loved it already the first time. It's easily among the top five new movies that I've watched this past year.

Mongol comes out on DVD this September. But if you can possibly do so, you really should watch this movie the way it deserves to be seen: on a big wide screen in a darkened theater, with hopefully lots of other people to discover the majesty of Mongol with.

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Mark Rich: WALL-E for President

Mark Rich of The New York Times has a good write-up of the new Disney/Pixar movie WALL-E, and how it might serve as a mirror of the times we live in...

The “Wall-E” crowds were primed by the track record of its creator, Pixar Animation Studios, and the ecstatic reviews. But if anything, this movie may exceed its audience’s expectations. It did mine.

As it happened, “Wall-E” opened the same summer weekend as the hot-button movie of the 2004 campaign year, Michael Moore’s “Fahrenheit 9/11.” Ah, the good old days. Oil was $38 a barrel, our fatalities in Iraq had not hit 900, and only 57 percent of Americans thought their country was on the wrong track. (Now more than 80 percent do.) “Wall-E,” a fictional film playing to a far larger audience, may touch a more universal chord in this far gloomier time.

Indeed, sitting among rapt children mostly under 12, I felt as if I’d stepped through a looking glass. This movie seemed more realistically in touch with what troubles America this year than either the substance or the players of the political food fight beyond the multiplex’s walls.

While the real-life grown-ups on TV were again rebooting Vietnam, the kids at “Wall-E” were in deep contemplation of a world in peril — and of the future that is theirs to make what they will of it. Compare any 10 minutes of the movie with 10 minutes of any cable-news channel, and you’ll soon be asking: Exactly who are the adults in our country and who are the cartoon characters?

More good thoughts from Rich at the link above. Between what he's writing here and a lot of other positive reaction to WALL-E, it reminds me a lot about when Forrest Gump came out in 1994.

Good stories, both of 'em. And a lot of others too. Maybe someday we'll start to take some of their messages to heart.

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Just watched "Journey's End", the DOCTOR WHO Season 4 finale

Now THAT was epic!

If not the best Doctor Who episode ever, "Journey's End" will certainly be among the top ten. Maybe even the top five.

I screamed, laughed and cried so many times during this.

Full review coming soon. This needs plenty of time to digest and absorb.

EDIT 07:19 p.m. EST 07/06/2008: Here's the full review!

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