Month: February 2007

Was “Empire Strikes Back” The Worst Star Wars Film?

I have no idea if George Lucas really said that “The Empire Strikes Back” was the worst Star Wars film. If he really believes that, clearly he hasn’t seen the last three films (which wouldn’t be surprising since they border on unwatchable).

What continues to fascinate me is how many people believe that Darth Vader says “Luke, I’m your father” in “Empire.” Of course, Vader never utters that line anywhere in the movie. Google Luke, I’m your father, however, and the line appears to be approaching Humphrey Bogart’s non-existent “Play it again, Sam” line as the most misquoted movie line.

The thing is, that “Play it again, Sam” is a clever line but “Casablanca” is filled with wonderful dialogue. “Luke, I’m your father” is easily the most memorable line from any Star Wars film other than “Use the force”, and, of course, neither Lucas nor anyone else associated with the films could actually be bothered to write such a memorable line. Its sort of a foreshadowing of the suckiness that is Episodes 1-3.

Personally, I’ve always thought “Empire” was the best of the three Star Wars films.

Sync Video to iPod Without iTunes

After Apple upgraded the firmware of the video iPod to display video at up to 640×480, I’ve been using it to view all of my video files and DVDs. There’s just one problem — iTunes sucks, especially after you get to the point where you have tens of thousands of music and video files.

I use MediaMonkey to sync audio files, but that application doesn’t handle video files. Currently I’m using Floola to copy MP4 files from my computer to the iPod so I can watch them on my TV.

Floola doesn’t have much of a user interface — you simply grab the files you want from Explorer and then drag them onto the Floola app. But performs just fine in getting the files on the iPod and, best of all, it is freeware.

Not an ideal solution, but until Apple gets around to producing a non-crap version of iTunes, it does the job.

DLO Shipping HomeDock Deluxe for the iPod

DigitalTrends.Com reports that DLO is finally shipping its HomeDock Deluxe dock for the iPod. The HomeDock Deluxe features nice-looking menus and screens on your television that make it easy to navigate and play movies and music stored on your iPod.

I’ve got the first HomeDock that DLO came out with a couple years ago and absolutely love it, but it lacks the onscreen menu features. Take an 80gb video iPod and add the HomeDock Deluxe and you’ve got a very nice multimedia center.

60th Anniversary of 228 Incident

Today is the 60th anniversary of The 228 Incident in which protests by native Taiwanese on this date in 1947 led to the wholesale execution of Taiwanese leaders by Chiang Kai-shek’s forces who occupied Taiwan after Japan’s defeat in World War II.

According to TaiwanDC.Org, in addition to those outright killed,

Thousands of others were arrested and imprisoned in the “White Terror” campaign which took place in the following decades. Many of these remained imprisoned until the early 1980s. Until the beginning of the 1990s, the events of 1947 were a taboo subject on the island. The Kuomintang did not want to be reminded of their dark past, and the Taiwanese did not dare to speak out for fear of retribution by the KMT’s secret police

Wikipedia also has a long entry about the incident and its aftermath.

Harlan Ellison Filing a Lawsuit — Must Be Wednesday

Sci-fi genius and all-around asshole Harlan Ellison has filed a lawsuit against Fantagraphics for, among other things, daring to publish a book that on its cover correctly claims that the book itself contains an interview with Ellison.

Ellison also is absurdly suing Fantagraphics for libel based on a couple anecdotes mentioned in a Fantagraphics book about Ellison’s behavior during the Michael Fleisher trial. The absurdity is that the Fleisher trial itself was a frivolous libel lawsuit brought against Ellison!

Oy.