Fact vs. Artistic License: An All-too Frequent Problem

This is more a reason for me to gush about how ultimate Wired Magazine is, but I began to think more deeply about what I read in a column in the December issue. Scott Brown, the author, writes about the more-frequent appearances of "Eco-Disaster" films at movie theaters the last few years. Specifically, he cites the newest, The Day the Earth Stood Still, as one of the most glaringly preachy.  Keanu Reeves is an angry alien determined to punish the human race for raping the Earth and exhausting its natural resources.  Totally plausible, right?  It's only natural for Hollywood to latch onto certain issues of our time. Before Eco-disasters it was terrorism (and still is in some ways), before that it was governmental issues, like drug control and oil politics, and before that it was...well, I don't remember. Maybe end-of-the-world scenarios like Armageddon or Deep Impact. 

Hollywood likes to be trendy, and obviously global warming is the issue of choice for a lot of actors, producers and directors, but is the point to offer a message or just entertain the droves of movie-goers looking for an often-politically-incorrect story to make them not have to think for two hours?

The real issue here is something that I as a holder of a history degree have a problem with: artistic license to original source material. When filmmakers deliberately change source material so that it's updated or correlates more to something that's current. Case-in-point: Casino Royale is not about stopping a terrorist financier; Actual story: Bond must face Le Chiffre in a game of Baccharat (the game he plays in Goldeneye) to get the secret Soviet Agency SMERSH to take out Le Chiffre for blowing money they entrusted to him on investments in brothels in France, not Montenegro. The producers completely raped the original storyline that connects perfectly to the James Bond we see in Dr. No, in the interest of making a film about terrorism. Terrorism + James Bond = $$$ for Columbia Tristar. When Syriana was made, Stephen Gagan took the basic premise of Robert Baer's superb book See No Evil about the terrible abuses of power by the NSA and CIA in the Middle East in the 1970s and 1980s, and turned it into a film about the government's ties to MidEast oil conglomerates that led to the assasination of a Saudi Prince to push a pro-American brother of his into the throne of his ill father. Quantum of Solace was morphed into a slight commentary on the state of the world's water supply, but an emotion-driven story that doesn't even feature James Bond as the central character. The governor of the Bahamas tells him a story of his revenge on his unfaithful wife and how it left him with little to hold onto in terms of emotional baggage and his ability to put his sorrow behind him. 

With The Day the Earth Stood Still, the source material and title refers to what the world would look like had a nuclear war taken place, leaving the planet devoid of life. Keanu Reeve's character is meant to be the one that warns the world's leaders of the dangers of nuclear war. Not disregard for the environment. 

I have hope for two important films that open on Christmas Day, though. Ron Howard has already publicly said that Frost/Nixon uses every line of actual dialogue found in the transcripts to the Frost interview of President Nixon. For Valkyrie, there is a lot of material to pull from, as there is a book written by Hans Bernd Gisevious, and some mystery as to which of the German officers in Wermacht Heer was the point man for the operation. Tom Cruise plays Claus von Stauffenburg, but some maintain that General Friedrich Fromm was the only man who could have carried out the final attempt on Hitler's life on 20 July 1944 that would have allowed the German officers to arrest the SS and seize power from Hitler. It will be interesting to see which angle this movie takes, and if it's as accurate as it needs to be.

Why filmmakers feel the need to alter source material that provides all the details to an event is beyond me, but it sure is annoying when they alter something that is recorded fact in the interest of selling a few more tickets. I will be thoroughly ashamed if Valkyrie just places von Stauffenburg at the center of the film and ignores the intricacies of the plan that they had to achieve in order to make their move on Hitler. American filmmakers have already screwed up enough of our own historical events (Pearl Harbor *SIGH*, U-571, the list goes on and on), so I suppose it's time to start screwing up other nations' history.

The Winner Is...

Was there ever any doubt ?

Runners-Up included: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, French Prime Minister Nikolas Sarkozy, Governor Sarah Palin, and Zhang Yimou (who is he you ask? he's the man that designed all those amazing productions seen at the opening ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics).

I think it was a given that President-Elect Obama would be the person of the year here in America, but...the world? I think Mr. Zhang would have been an interesting choice, given the times we live in (internationally, that is) -- coincidentally, I finished Thomas Friedman's latest book, and he devotes an entire section of the book to China, and it just seems like China is the most up-and-coming place on the globe right now -- why not pick a man that was tasked with presenting "the good side of China" to the world?

Lots of person of the year-related content up on Time.com now so hop over there to check it out...can't exactly argue with slapping Obama on the cover of a magazine for the 32485437078623th time, but that's why I like that they put that excellent illustration on it instead...he's a symbol of the greener pastures that lie in waiting for us Americans. When Franklin Roosevelt accpeted the Democratic nomination in 1932, he said, 

"Throughout the nation men and women, forgotten in the political philosophy of the Government, look to us here for guidance and for more equitable opportunity to share in the distribution of national wealth... I pledge you, I pledge myself to a new deal for the American people... This is more than a political campaign. It is a call to arms."

Obama's the guy to call us to arms...roll up his sleeves and take it in the gut for a year or maybe two of his term as President, and I'm guessing that's why he is TIME's Person of the Year.

Job's Done. The Bitch is Dead.

I'm tremendously proud of our Senate here as the clock strikes 11:30 pm on Thursday December 12th, 2008. It is on this day that the immient implosion of the U.S. automobile industry may become a reality. I truly hope this is the last time I ever have to write about this crap, other than when it's reported that Detroit has been sold to Canada or something.

Approximately thirty minutes ago, I was flipping channels waiting for Jon Stewart to come on, and all the cable news channels were at commercial breaks. Until I flipped across Fox News, and noticed the text on the screen had nothing to do with the rerun of Bill O'Reilly's show that was on. It said:

"Alert; Auto Bailout Loan Dies in Senate, 57-32"

After I was done giggling, imagining the three auto CEO's being awoken in their beds by a phone call from some assistant, saying that this happened, I thought, "Wow, this government actually allowed this thing to fail." And then I thought about Speaker Pelosi fainting in her living room. And then I envisioned President-Elect Obama spouting profanities. Haha

By the way, notice that the vote does not total 100 members? Who were the eleven senators that didn't even vote I wonder??

It appears the big issue that caused such a lopsided vote, was the UAW. The NY Times explains:

The automakers would also have been required to cut wages and benefits to match the average hourly wage and benefits of Nissan, Toyota and Honda employees in the United States.

It was over this proposal that the talks ultimately deadlocked with Republicans demanding that the automakers meet that goal by a certain date in 2009 and Democrats and the union urging a deadline in 2011 when the U.A.W. contract expires.

I didn't even know that the U.S. automakers paid more than the two big Japanese companies. How could they afford to do that if they were on the edge of bankruptcy? And why would the damn union come out and say "Yea, you know how we were willing to do anything to save these jobs? Well, we'll do anything but that." It just breeds a climate of distrust, and there already was quite a bit of distrust leading up to the vote on this bill...and now the average American can look at UAW Chief Ron Gettlefinger, and lump him in the same breath as Wagoner, Mullaley, and Nardelli.

Thomas Friedman once again rails against the bailout in his Wednesday column

Here's what each company submitted as their reformed plans for the second testifying session:

General Motors:  Request $18 in loans, reduce its $60 billion debt by half, explore selling Saab, Ponitac, and Saturn, break even in 2012

Ford: $9 billion in reserve loans, launch hybrid and electric cars in 2010, convert truck plants to small car ones, become profitable in 2011

Chrysler: $7 billion in loans at low interest (just to make it through 2009), cut work force and health care benefits, CEO Nardelli will take a salary of $1 (Ha !)

This has turned (wrongly) turned into a political battle, with people in Detroit trying to point fingers at the GOP for killing the industry -- just because Mitt Romney writes a blunt editorial a month ago -- and the fact that no one in Detroit batted an eye when the White House decided to pull the proposed funds from legislation marked for making more fuel efficient technology! And watching Gettlefinger this morning, he is dodging the question coming from a smart reporter. The reporter is repeatedly asking him, "So, are wage cuts an option?" and Gettelfinger just spouts off something about how they're working hard and they love their country.

If the only casualty in this mess is that the UAW is dissolved (fat chance) I would dance in the street. But don't worry, the all-powerful Henry Paulson will step in and just hand these guys a check because Bush told him to.

What Universe am I In?!?!?

Raise your hand if you thought by mid-December Michigan basketball would have beaten two top-five schools and likely be playing better basketball than Michigan State right now???

Yeaaa, didn't think so.

I felt enormously left out that I hadn't found a ticket to the Duke game, but as amazing as seeing that flood of maize rush the field - er - floor (have to remember this is M Basketball), I enjoyed watching it on national television almost as much...the last few times Michigan was on ESPN nationwide, Dickie V was in the house and they blew chances to win. But it was more satisfying knowing Bilas was sitting there with his shoe in his mouth. 

Michigan also has an ace-in-the-hole come Christmas time...a gift from Santy Claus really:

Laval Lucas-Perry will be eligible to play on December 20^th

Lucas-Perry is this guy. He left AZ when Lute Olsen bailed, and Beilen raves about his shooting skills. Only a three star recruit, but look what Beilein is doing with his current guys! Zack Novak, the kid who nailed all those clutch three-pointers is only a three-star guy, and a Scouts, Inc. ranking of 40. Huh!? Kid looked like freakin' White Glen Rice or something! Deshawn Sims, on the other hand, is a beast, and it only made me opine for Ekpe Udoh even more, because this team would be unstoppable with him in the paint and Sims nailing jump shots and backdoors. 

And Kelvin Grady learned how to pass! OMG! 

And looky what I found:

Men's Basketball - Michigan Wolverines (2008-2009)

RPI Rank: 11    SOS Rank: 5     Record: 6-2 (0-0)

Anyone who thought Michigan was going to have to wait until 2010 to break the NCAA Tourney streak, me included, has obviously underestimated how good a coach Beilein is. So long, NIT !

Random sidenote: Brandon Graham was on the floor with everyone jumping up and down. Haha

!#&%$#@!^$#%@#$!

For the past 48 hours, I have been having the most ridiculous problems trying to play that game up there ^^^, Crysis. I happened to be in Gamestop asking if they were hiring, and they had a big sale going on, and Crysis was sitting there with a big, red "Save $30" sticker on it, so I couldn't resist, and I figured since I have a pretty powerful computer finally, I'd be able to run it pretty well. My Vista machine contains the following:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+  2.2 GHz

2 GB OCZ Dual Channel RAM

Nvidia 8600 GTS 256MB

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 Value card (finally got it to get along with Vista)

Shockingly, the framerate is pretty good, but there's a different issue with this one: The SOUND!!! Oh my lord it sounds terrible. This is similar to what I experience on my system, and during the entire time I play, not just in spots:

Horrible, god-awful to listen to right? Yea, and guess what? There's no way to fix it!

I have scoured the internet for solutions to this for people that are having this same problem, and there is nothing from Crytek, nothing from Microsoft, and nothing from EA.

The inCrysis Forum has a 19-page discussion that has been open for over a year, with people coming up with all kinds of solutions, the most viable being (1) changing the paging file of the RAM, (2) checking driver versions, etc., and other things. Also, another forum called nVnews has a clue in a discussion that says basically:

Microsoft didn't implement hardware use with DirectX10, so it instead uses software and can't process as much.

Normally, this would be fixed in some sort of patch or hotfix, but Crytek no longer makes patches for Crysis because an expansion has been released since the most recent patch. Great.

The last clue is the particular sound hardware that Crytek used for Crysis, called FMOD. It's extremely advanced and uses a TON of channels, but, in their forums, the version of the software that Crysis uses is specifically mentioned as being HORRIBLY out of date (version 4.07.23)! And in order to upgrade the software within Crysis, there needs to be a patch!

I went directly to fmod.org, and downloaded a new version of the software, and it installed, then I ran Crysis again, and opened the console, and saw that the FMOD version had not changed...

Basically this amounts to (1) Microsoft not having the proper compatibility for advanced sound hardware and allowing different options for output, and (2) Crytek being too lazy to see that there's an issue with their game and not upgrading a simple piece of software to improve performance on the types of machines that most of their customers have (i.e. yours truly).

Game Developer 101, folks: FIX YOUR G#&DAMN SOFTWARE when thousands of people say on the internet, "Help, we need a fix for this so we can play your flippin' game!"

Will the national champion please stand up ??

I for one welcome our new BCS computer overlords !

First, let me wish all fellow sports fans a Happy Jimmy V Week!  Always some great college basketball to be had during this week, especially the Big Ten-ACC Challenge. Michigan gets Maryland tonight and the Dukies on Saturday. Go Blue!

Did you hear it on Sunday evening, echoing across the country? Ranging from the sun-soaked hills of L.A. to the plains of Texas to the beaches of Florida? A loud, booming cry for something that...well, makes sense?

That booming echo was: P-L-A-Y-O-F-F- P-L-E-A-S-E !!!!!!!!

The current Bowl Championship Standings are as follows:

1. Alabama (0.9713 avg.)

2. Oklahoma (0.9351 avg.)

3. Texas (0.9223 avg.)

4. Florida (0.8851 avg.)

5. USC (.08076 avg.)

*per USA Today

...and so on.  These are the only numbers that really matter so late into the season, as the other BCS bowls are a pretty clear picture (Penn State to the Rose, Cincinatti to the Fiesta, Utah to the Fiesta or Orange, Boston College/Va. Tech to the Orange, Boise State to the Fiesta, Ohio State (dammit) to the Fiesta, and Oregon State/USC to the Rose).

Last week, OU and Texas were swapped. Then OU ran up the score on Oklahoma State late in the 4th quarter by way of some silly OSU mistakes to get some style points, and Texas was sitting there, idle, collectively groaning and watching their Big 12 title hopes go down the drain. But fear not, Longhorns! You are not to blame, and you still have hope!  The Big 12 is absolutely stupid for agreeing to let the higher BCS ranked team be their representatives for their conference championship. That shows a complete lack of loyalty to your own conference, and a selfish thirst for the bigger financial draw (Oklahoma likely carries more "weight" than Texas in a bowl setting, despite being humiliated two years ago and getting destroyed last year by Rich Rodriguez's players)

So the scenario is thus: On Saturday, Alabama and Florida will play for one of the BCS spots, and Oklahoma and Missouri will play for Oklahoma's ticket. What happens if Missouri wins?  A ClusterF*#k.

The BCS people might as well just throw those five teams in a hat and decide that way, because that's basically what this amounts to, is who gets lucky at the end of the year to fall into the title game.

The SOS (Strength of Schedule) rankings are as follows, with the toughest-ranked schedule being #1, and so on, but listed in the order of the current BCS standings:

79. Alabama

1. Oklahoma

4. Texas

11. Florida

54. USC

The computer rankings vary (I watched a very fascinating and alarming expose of the six guys who do the computer rankings, and I felt afraid.) but as far as I can deduce, they are as follows, based on the above SoS rankings and quality wins and other factors:

1. Oklahoma

2. Texas

3. Alabama

4. Texas Tech

5. Utah

6. Florida

7. USC

8. Penn Shhhhtate

So the computers believe that Oklahoma losing to Texas still warrants them a higher ranking, and an undefeated SEC team is ranked third.

This directly clashes with the two top 25 polls, the USA Today and AP polls. Get this: 

Coach's Poll: Alabama (58 first place votes), Oklahoma (2 first place votes) and Florida (1 first place vote).  Mack Brown didn't even vote for his own freakin' team!

AP Poll: Alabama (62 first place votes) Florida (3 first place votes), Texas (o votes)

Thus, the computers have affected Florida's chances for a title shot, the SoS rankings have screwed USC, and the two Top 25 polls have screwed Texas! All of these teams are playing extremely well right now, and who wouldn't love to see Alabama battle Texas, Oklahoma battle Florida, and USC battle Utah or Penn State in a small playoff system that gets rid of the arbitrary rankings that have way too much variability and human stupidity involved?

Lastly, here's how crazy the scenario can get after this coming Saturday's games:

-Florida beats Alabama, giving them a lock on the #2 BCS ranking

-Missouri beats Oklahoma, giving a mad scramble for #1 amongst Texas, Florida, and Alabama

-USC beats UCLA by a wide margin, yet is given a spot in the Rose Bowl over Oregon State, a team they lost to and Penn State destroyed.

If any combination of these things happen, then: Florida will be in the national title game with a team that is likely Oklahoma or USC, Oregon State will get barred from a Rose Bowl birth that they essentially earned, and Texas will be passed over by any one of these teams due to their lower BCS average, including a team they beat by ten points.

Can anyone explain to me just who in the hell is #1 and #2????

Isn't it scary that this:                                                

and this:

became this:

AAAAH IT'S HIDEOUS! LOOK AWAAAAAY!

And on a sidenote: those who hate Notre Dame got their wish as Charlie Cheesecake was allowed to stay on as head coach for at least another season!