Russellmania.com

1 movie from the 70s, 1 movie from the 80s

05.19.2011

I managed an odd themed double feature this week: Michael Crichton written & directed movies. Chricton is best known, these days, as the writer of Jurassic Park and the creator of E/R. I know him better as the writer of The Andromeda Strain. Jerry also knows him beter as this, since Jerry had a copy of the book that was missing a chunk (I can't remember if it was 50 pages or 3 chapters - they just weren't included in the book). It seems Mr. Chricton also wrote and directed a couple of movies of which I have fond memories. Although now that I've seen them recently, maybe that's had fond memories :)

Westworld (1973) : This was a movie that got a lot of play on the early days of cable and TBS. Young me thought this was pure science fiction - an amusement park that you were immersed in the era you were visiting. The Wild West, Ancient Rome, Medieval Europe. Androids that couldn't be told from real people were the players there for your amusement. It was all so cool!

Oh, that reminds me, if you're a big nerd like I claim to be and haven't read it, go read Dream Park (1981).

Back to Westworld. Now when I watched Westworld, it was a little more cheesy than I remember, even for a movie on the verge of 40 years old. First, I completely forgot Richard Benjamin was in it. I'll always remember him as Quark. Second, James Brolin was in it, and whenever I see him I'm amazed how much his son Josh looks like him. And the blood F/X. Oh they're bad. Just bad. Red model paint bad. But I did manage to watch all of the movie, albeit likely for the last time.

Looker (1981) : I had no misconceptions about Looker. My memories of this movie stem from Showtime, and how (I'm pretty sure) this was the first movie I saw boobs. Not just random boobs, but boobs of someone I had seen on TV before, those of the Partridge Family's Susan Dey. Back before the internet, this was important stuff to a 12 year old. There was a plot I didn't remember, but there were boobs.

43 year old me noticed that there was a plot, a plot which unfolded neatly and pointed to whodunnit within the first 15 minutes. The boobs weren't was prevalent as I remember, more than likely thanks to that damn internet and the prevalence of boobs it gives. About halfway through the movie I gave up watching - between knowing where it was going and the late-70's acting it was just too painful.

All's not lost though. Looker still has a theme song that get stuck in my head. Go 80's female power ballads!

Permalink movies/tv/dvd

Google Analytics

05.17.2011

I often forget I have Google Analytics set up on the site. Maybe twice a year I remember and have fun looking at the things people have searched for that bring them to my little pocket of the interweb. Most of the time it's "russellmania" or "russell mania" with the occasional "russellmania 27" for people who forget it's Wrestlemania. And then there's the search shown above. I would type it out here, but I don't have those keys on my keyboard.

Once upon a time I would get a random search in Chinese, but now Arabic (I'm guessing) is the new foreign search language of choice.

I wonder what the above translates to? Probably "russell mania" in Arabic.

Permalink random

The Idea That Won't Die

05.12.2011

Back in 2008 I had an idea for a medication calendar aimed at those in Hospice care. The idea has stayed in my head, bouncing to the forefront on occasion. Lately the idea has lent itself to how best to help groups of caregivers that may be spread out (i.e. not living in the same house). While researching this I cam across Lotsa Helping Hands, primarily an online calendar for scheduling caregivers along with some other nice features.

I really like this idea - plus they've been providing this service (free of charge!) since 2004. I wish I had known about it when Mom was sick. It's a beautiful concept and wonderful tool for those that need it, and for those that don't know they need it yet.

My idea is still bouncing around. Lotsa Helping Hands has a lot of what I want my idea to become, but there's still a couple of holes that need to be filled.

Permalink mom random

I Survived Fine, Thanks For Asking

05.08.2011

April 27, 2011 was the (1) the 2nd worse tornado outbreak in the Tennessee Valley (outdoing both the '74 and '89 tornadoes) and (2) the closest I've knowingly been to a tornado, albeit after the fact.

That Wednesday morning I had an ominous feeling about the weather. The severe, tornado inducing storms usually stay to the south of me, but the storms that were being tracked were going north more than normal. We were all checking the radar from work, and there were a couple times that I noticed the red blobs were going more toward my neck of the woods than I would like. The first wave of storms hit while I was out to lunch. Being part psychic, I decided to go straight home after lunch and avoid sitting in the halls of work, hunkered down for tornado warnings. On the way home the rain and wind had died down, but ½ mile from the house a tree had fallen across eastbound Hwy 72 and a couple of houses on the north side of 72 had been uprooted and felled.

As the weather worsened throughout the evening I would stick my head outside the door to have a look-see. Around 5:30 the cable went out, followed by the power sometime in the next half hour. Jer would text me weather/spotting updates. Around 7:00 I got a call from Jim. "Are you ok?" he asked. "I'm fine, power's out. It just looks bad outside", I told him. He came back with "The camera on the 48 radar just got blown away by the tornado." I've half-heartedly joked for years that as long as the channel 48 radar is working, I'll be fine since the radar is just under a mile from the house. "WHAT?" I asked. "Yeah, you better hunker down." So I went and hunkered down.

We are trained to hide in a bathtub when tornadoes come. I remember a handful of times sitting in the tub, Mom usually sitting nearby. I went and looked at my tub and how feeble it seemed, not able to withstand any type of disaster. Useless piece of fiberglass and plastic. Still, I have 1 room with no exterior walls, and it's the bathroom. I went to hunker down in the bathroom, not in the tub, but rather the floor. I'm old, so I decided I needed some comfort in my hunkering down:

Yoga mat - to give some padding between me and the floor.
Blanket - at the time for more padding between me and the floor.
Candles - not so much to set the mood, but there was no power.
About 3 pillows - to properly prop up my resting head while sprawled out on the yoga mat and blanket.
Portable DVD player - I've got to be entertained somehow. I watched Lakeview Terrace and most of the Hurt Locker before the battery died.

By 8:30 or 9:00 there was a round of "are you ok" and "it should be over" messages with Jerry and Jim. I checked in with Gina, who had power, but I wasn't sure if I could make it to her house based on how bad everything was supposed to have gotten. So Wednesday night I went to bed in the dark with no power, amazed at how quiet and dark everything could be.

Over the next 5 days I would wait for power to be restored and be amazed at the damage that had gotten within ½ mile of my house. Trees were blocking roads. Power lines were laying on the ground or wrapped around fallen trees. Houses with damage ranging from slight roof damage to being smashed by the hand of god. I stayed with Gina most of that time - using up her power, hot water, and internet. I would watch morning news conferences where the leaders of Madison County would give updates on power being returned, nightly reported burglaries, and if the dusk to dawn curfew was still in effect.

On Tuesday morning I had power back at home. It was funny, but the only thing I really missed from the lack of power was a warm shower. Had the temperature been warmer I would quickly add air conditioning, but it was relatively pleasant. Mr. I Have 1000 DVDs, Mr. Internet, Mr. Everything On A Computer, and I miss warm water. I was shocked! Granted, I enjoyed watching movies in the air conditioned house while looking up trivia on the internet, but it wasn't the necessity I thought it once was.

Permalink rambling random

Unity Beginner Tutorials

04.26.2011

So everyone should have had plenty of time to see the Wrestlemania update. There should be a Smackdown from Nashville update in roughly two weeks. But until then...

For years I've been trying to pick up and learn the Torque Game Engine as part of my goal to make my dream wrestling game. Due to a handful of circumstances at the end of last year, I found that Torque would not be feasible, which is a shame because I've spent a nice sum on the engine and assets over the years. At first I was going to go the Unreal Engine path, but thanks to 1 conversation with Joe too many I've instead opted for Unity. 2 weeks ago I finally stopped putting off opening up the IDE and grabbed my first book of tutorials and headed off into the wild blue yonder. So far, I'm enjoying it!

The book takes baby steps to get you started, and that's the way I like it. When something goes wrong, it's easy to track down to the handful of lines of code just entered. The first half of the book (I'm on page 177 out of 351 right now) focuses on 2D GUI examples. While some people scoff and complain, I think this is a fine first step. The first working game you make is the old Card Flip/Memory game. It's not a space marine running through a space ship shooting aliens, but it's a working game! There's code, there's logic, there's bits and pieces I can fiddle with, break, and put back together so I know how it works. This is great!

By the end of this book I should have a game with 3D elements, interaction, and from what I've seen a whole lot of emphasis on a clock and score keeping system. The publisher has another Unity book (which I have sitting on my shelf) that focuses on making a 3D FPS game. That book looks to be the perfect follow up for the book I'm going through now. Plus, there are tons of examples, tutorials, and videos for making FPS games in Unity.

Speaking of which, here's my follow up list of references for myself in case I delete the wrong email and have to go searching this stuff down again.

At least now you'll know what I'm doing when there's a lack of updates.

Permalink game dev