Random House-sitting stuff.

[drcuriosity]

So, I'm currently house-sitting for my parents who're away in Fiji. My mother's got a school reunion to go to, so they're taking a week back in the country she was born, and having a bit of fun and relaxation. The cat is loud and needy at semi-random intervals, but at least he seems to be eating relatively well. He's certainly getting rather old and skinnier than he was, though. I brought one of my duvets down, and he's spend a lot of time curled up on it in front of the heater (when not yelling at me, wondering where his Dad is).

I was to be sharing these duties with my sister, but last I heard she'd headed up to the North Island to be supportive of her fiance's sudden family bereavement - so I may be here until next Tuesday. In order to keep myself busy I've been listening to some music, watching (as best I can) some DVDs, and slowly churning my way through Deus Ex 2 (which ties into a game with three different endings remarkably well). So, you get some brief movie reviews, too:

The Two Towers and The Return of the King: Finally got around to seeing them. Much as I'd expected they'd be. Some good stuff. I didn't really notice a lot of time spent putting on armour. Only real let-down for me was a particular sound effect: It seems there is only one "person screaming while falling off something" effect in their sound library, and it's used three times. It wouldn't be so bad if it wasn't originally from Return of the Jedi as a "falling into the Sarlaac pit" effect. There were definitely a fairly liberal number of Shortland Street actors peppered through the cast, but given New Zealand that's hardly surprising.

Alexander: While authenticity mavens would probably have a field day, I thought it wasn't too bad. Even if a couple of the Macedonians sounded a bit closer to Caledonian. Angelina Jolie strikes me as a good casting choice for Olympias. Good scar makeup, and generally fairly decent battle scenes. I'd have liked to have seen Granicus or the Siege at Tyre, but they probably would have been a bitch to film. All in all, not too bad, and a decent reminder of 7th Form Classical Studies (and by an extension of Nikki Broome, a teacher and friend well-remembered).

Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation: Surprisingly not bad, given a 26-day shoot and a three million dollar budget on a sci-fi/action film (c.f. Tron, which cost a million back in the '80s). Not the same mainstream appeal, but it has geek cred enough. Interesting cast, including Richard "The Sentinel" Burgi (aka Susan's ex-husband Karl on Desperate Housewives) and Kelly Carlson (Kimber Henry on Nip/Tuck). One of the battle rifles has "The Bug Stops Here" scrawled across the stock. I wonder if someone on the crew had played Bloodnet (where the Renfield character has that on a T-shirt). Wouldn't be at all surprised if the writer and/or director had read Shadowrun's Bug City sourcebook, either.

Now to find something else to watch, as it's nearly 4am and I still can't sleep. And the cat is sitting in front of the monitors, so I couldn't read this even if I could focus :-) Okay, time to feed the ginger monster, then find something else to watch...

Comments

[drcuriosity]

I later watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, and was amused that within short minutes of the film starting, it was used as a "crushed underfoot by a giant robot" sound effect. I laughed so much it hurt, which perhaps wasn't the kind of response they were hoping to evoke :-)

I wonder if there's a website somewhere which catalogues where it's been used throughout the years...

[codym.livejournal.com]

It's commonly refered to as the "Wilhelm Scream", and was one of those things that geeks used to get a kick out of when they recognized it (I'm pretty sure it is in all six Star Wars films, and all of the Indiana Jones films as well). It's become far too common now, almost to the point of parody (such as Return of the King,)so there should be numerous websites devoted to it. It is also often listed in the trivia section of the IMDB.Com

BTW, since you've seen Alexander on video/dvd, how much of his bisexuality remains, as it was long rumored that it was to be edited out of the "Director's Cut."

[drcuriosity]

I don't think I was watching the that cut, then. While no snogging or anything quite so blatant, there were certainly plenty of long doe-eyed looks, hugging and maybe kissing on the cheek, expressions of closeness and mutual affection, the "he is Alexander too" quote, etc. There's also some suggestion of a relationship between Alexander and Bagoas the eunuch - one probably less emotionally based than his "Achilles and Patroclus"-style companionship with Hephaestion.

All in all, I think it was clearly there for those who wished to see it, but not (at least to my mind) too offensive for those who did not. Certainly nothing there that wasn't supported by the histories written at/near the time.

On an unrelated note, I'm sorry they missed out the Gordian Knot. I think it's an important thing in understanding both his character, and why some were dubious about following him. Ah well.