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The Good..The Bad...And the REAL UGLY!!

8-06-2006

Was The Descent decent? 

Coming straight from Sci -Fi Mr. Marshall (making of Dog Soldiers) works out some issues with the creators of C.H.U.D. So again we deal with things that look like a cross between bats and that monster rat in Night Shift. I can't say I wasn't completely unsatisfied but when someone states that a movie is the best horror flick since Alien they better have some kind of a clue. First of all I STILL watch Alien...25 years later people know when you say "DUDE!! remember when that little baby alien burst out that guys chest?" you know what they are talking about. I doubt the same is true for if someone came to you in 25 years and said "DUDE!! Remember when that chick got her guts eaten by that cave dwelling humanoid?"

OKAY..Now that I got that out of the way I will hand it to Mr. Marshall...He made me never want to go into a cave...EVER!! The sense of claustrophobia was amazing and as stated by many others the absence of 3D effects is not noticed. I was glad to see that we are still capable of being scared by latex and corn syrup. The monsters are good. Well adapted to living underground.

Marshall

does a good job at creating that bond between the women before they are eaten for lunch. From what I have read there are 2 endings. I will have to see them both to make up my mind about how I feel overall but for the most part this was a great B horror flick and a average A ticket.

What it lacked in substance (How many more poles through the head must I endure?) for creating mood in the beginning it more than made up for 20 min into the movie.

Mr. Dan rating 3.5 out of 5

 

Google warns users of Spyware

8-10-2006

Guess I am not the only one tired of spyware-

Search engine Google has launched a service that warns users when their search results could lead them to websites that carry spyware and other malicious codes.

When users click on a link from Google to a page that has been reported to host malware, a warning pop up window will appear.

The service utilises technology from StopBadware.org, an organization set up in January this year to encourage web users to report any spyware that they came across while surfing the net.

Rather than restrict access to the suspicious sites, Google will display a warning message, which reads: "The website you attempted to visit has been reported to StopBadware.org as a site that hosts or distributes badware".

Google on MySpace

8-10-2006

Looks like MySpace is finally going corporate

Google has secured a deal with MySpace to provide search and contextual advertising on the social networking site, and other Fox internet properties.

The deal, worth $900m  will start in October this year and will mean MySpace users will see ads targeted to specific search terms.

MySpace vistors will be able to use Google to search for groups of friends. Google will then provide adverts based on these keywords.

MySpace.com is owned by Fox International Media, a division of News Corporation, which bought MySpace in July 2005 for around $950m.

Eric Schmidt, Google chief executive, said: “MySpace is a widely acknowledged leader in user-generated content and incorporating search and advertising furthers our mission of making the world’s information universally accessible and useful.”

The Google ad deal will cover a number of other Fox properties, including Fox’s interactive gaming sites, the movie site rottentomatoes.com and men’s lifestyle pages askmen.com.

Peter Chernin, News Corp's chief operating officer, said: "While this is a deal that largely covers searching on our sites, we look forward to expanding this relationship to cover other areas of our business."

Max & Maya

08-02-2006

The new and improved Max and Maya

  Just about every year at this time the gods at the Digital media software companies announce their newest ideas. This year though is different. This year Autodesk(makers of 3DSMax) is announcing the new release of Max 9 AND Maya 8. Why you ask? Because Autodesk bought out Alias's Maya laster year..scary right?

  Want to talk about a jaugernaught..this is gonna be crazy. A few tidbits of info on the release

Maya Complete is now $2000 and Unlimited is $7000
Max is $3400

As of 3ds Max 9, Hair is now integrated into the 3ds Max interface. Artists can create, manipulate, and style hair directly in the viewports using standard navigation and selection tools. The highly interactive display lets artists visualize the flow of the hair as the object moves in the scene.
http://www.highend3d.com/news/software/172.html

Maya's big change is the Transfer Polygon Attributes feature enables modelers to transfer UVs, color per vertex (CPV), and vertex position information between surface meshes of differing topologies. This is particularly useful when working with two different versions of an object or character, e.g. one that is high-resolution and one that is low-resolution. In addition, new and improved workflows and tools such as Polygon Bridge, multiple edge loop insertion and enhanced UV layout help maximize productivity for the most common tasks.

Return of the Turtles

08-02-2006

  Well not that I really want to see these guys again but...

So the new TMNT movie is coming and I am going to get my underoos out of storage for this one. Fully CG and more dark than the cartoon (more akin to Batman Returns) this movie will kill at the box office. All those kids back in the 80's are now in the late 20's and are lookin for some nestalgia.

I am sure more than one fight is going to break out over how they all got their names. Don't ask me I dont know..Anyway check out the trailer and make up your own mind-

http://www.apple.com/trailers/wb/teenagemutantninjaturtles/hd/

HURRAHH for the 3.5" Display!!

7-28-2006

I don't know about you but I am so tired of that little 2" display on my iPod. This new toy from Vivatar has a 20gig hd and 2.0 USB..Oh and did I mention a 3.5" screen?

Video playback: MPEG4(mp4), Motion JPEG(avi), MPEG1(mpg, dat) TBD: Divx 5.x (avi)

Image playback: JPEG, BMP(TBD), TIFF(TBD), RAW(TBD), image rotate function

Check it out at- http://www.vivitar.co.uk/products/dmd/