Posts by David Hamilton
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Wow, thats low.
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if there is one thing PA System is crying out for, it's reader recipes. Go to it, I say.
Hear hear.
On my way round the south island earlier this year I was introduced to many great NZ craft beers, so for a recent party I wanted to get some of them to share with my friends. Hillcrest Fine Wines delivered. We had Emersons (bookbinder is basically my favourite beer), Renaissance, Dux, Tuatara, Moa, Epic and probably a few others, my memory is hazy. Founders (try the long black) had to be sourced from somewhere else but otherwise the selection is great.
The owner was in a lather about DB suing Green Man over the use of the word "Radler", which they inexplicably have the trademark for in NZ. That and the practice of forcing bars into exclusive supply deals just makes me more determined to enjoy superior beer from the little guys.
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oh, right, it's the laws fault that you're breaking the law.
Yes! Finally we agree.
The law has been there all along, it's just been unenforced.
Seriously though I do think that copyright laws are a good thing, I've said it before but I feel oddly compelled to reiterate (maybe its the gravitational pull of this giant thread):
1) The laws are unenforcable without hamstringing technology to a point that the market wont tolerate.
2) It's not necessary to enforce them, it's only necessary to improve the usability, accessibility, quality and added value of pay systems.Some of the stats quoted in this thread seems to back this up.
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Apart from all the obvious, a standout for me was the 1976 Doctor Who 6-episode story The Seeds of Doom wherein various people became infected with a virus (or something) that gradually turned them into plant-creatures.
That was great, freaked me out as a kid too. The most genuinely frightening experiences for me have been while pc gaming. There is an old Amiga game called Waxworks in which you have to search through various times in history to kill your evil (twin) brothers. In one level you emerge into a grimy, foggy, dark London to find a recently murdered prostitute courtesy of your brother, Jack the Ripper. Of course you are immediately mistaken for him - trying to escape the angry, torch wielding mob that lurks around every corner is heart pounding.
System Shock 2 is very atmospheric and as unsettling as they come - best horror game ever. And finally there isn't much more pants wetting than playing Aliens vs Predator late at night alone in a dark room as the marine.
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So the Communist threat of the Bodysnatchers became the consumer-culture zombies of Dawn of the Dead which became the anger-fuelled hordes in 28 Days Later which became (for some reason) CGI vampires trying to kill Will Smith.
It should be noted that I Am Legend in various forms predates the crappy Will Smith version by quite a bit. I've only seen The Last Man On Earth with Vincent Price but it was much, much better.
Saw The Shining the other night, it had some genuinely creepy parts, mainly because of Kubrick's wonderfully unsettling sense of timing.
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There is boundless pleasure in not knowing about some social phenomenon. I too know nothing of Watchmen, other than it is a comic book which is has been made into a film. I know also that people who like this sort of thing take it very seriously. So I shall revel in my ignorance.
It's "graphic novel". </shameless fanboyism>
But seriously, it is a legitimately great literary experience (one of Time's top 100 books of all time).
Is the version shown at midnight better and more interesting that the one that will be shown for the following month?
Nope, but it's less of an event. If you love movies and the stories/characters/universe there is something cool about seeing it in a theatre packed full of like minded individuals. One of the coolest things I did in LA was go to an absolutely full showing of Attack of the Clones at Mann's Chinese Theatre. Arguably an average movie, but the cheer of the audience when Yoda got out his lightsaber was deafening. Very cool.
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Sorry for the threadjack, but I need some advice: How pathetically geeky is someone going to see 'Watchmen' at 12.01am?
I see absolutely nothing pathetic or geeky about this, sounds like a great idea! Though clearly the correct time to schedule the first showing is five minutes to midnight.
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(try getting rid of that accidentally visited pron site glaring at the first person that fires up Chrome in the morning)
I realise I'm going to sound totally dodgy but Chrome has a great incognito mode (Ctrl-Shift-N to open a new window) which doesn't save any browser/search history and doesn't leave cookies on the computer after the window is closed. Useful for lots beyond the obvious, particularly for public or shared computers.
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Just to push things along a bit, who finds themselves compelled to use actual sentences with proper grammar and spelling when mobile texting?
The iPhone has helped me a lot in this ...I can't bear to write in text speak. With decent predictive algorithms and web2txt it seems almost easier to write in flowing english too, though I frequently double up on text messages. On a related topic, I've never figured out - besides greedy corporate monopolies - why texts aren't essentially free.
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Vigilants combat boy racers with... foam.
But who watches the Foammen.