The Aliens Rap

Following up on the epic 10 minute rap summary of Robocop, the same team has released Aliens:


open at youtube.com

Watching this reminds me what a great film Aliens turned out to be and how Avatar (by the same director) pales in comparison. It’s not that Avatar was terrible but nobody is going to be making 10 minute rap songs about it in 25 years.

quick update: Hey, they’ve done Terminator 2 as well!

The Phantom Menace Was Not a Very Good Movie

I own all of the Star Wars DVDs except for one – The Phantom Menace. Even the weakest of the others have a certain charm, but TPM was stupid through and through. Even the title is stupid! I have yet to work out exactly what the titular menace actually was. Although the story includes several menaces, none of them seem particularly phantomastical. Unless the menace was supposed to be Palpatine’s amazingly convoluted plan, but that plot point doesn’t really bear fruit until the second film.

Anyway, I haven’t given The Phantom Menace much thought since it first came out but this guy certainly has:




Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7

Even if you ignore the affectations of the reviewer, he has some pretty insightful points about how TPM fails as a movie.

Tiny Change We Can Believe In

It has irked me for a long time that although the President of the United States wields great power over the rest of the world, only US citizens get to vote. To be brutally honest it irked me a lot more when Bush II was in power, but I approve of the way our USAian cousins have voted this time. Obama seems exactly what the US and the rest of the world needs – someone thoughtful, honest and willing surround himself with actual experts instead of cronies. That fact that he can string two words together without stumbling is an added bonus.

And its not just me. The action figure industry thinks Obama is pretty cool. This Obama figure is way more bad-ass than the old George W Bush doll.

Rachmaninov had big Hands

I was talking with a co-worker a few days ago about Rachmaninov’s Prelude in C-sharp minor – everybody’s favourite piece of overwrought classical piano. I am no piano player, but looking at the sheet music it seems almost impossible to play.

These guys have found a solution: