Author Archives: Karl

New Star Wars Movie From the Makers of ‘Troops’

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First, lets get this clear, Troops was and still is the best Star Wars fan film ever made. Download it. Watch it. Laugh. It’s old. But somehow, since it mashes COPS with Star Wars, it works.

Turns out the makers of Troops have started production on a new, epic fan film, and the Slashdot crowd isn’t impressed. Their criticism’s aren’t close to fair. So far, if you ask me, this rocks.

Mark Fletcher: Stealth Start-Ups Suck

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wingedpig.com – Mark Fletcher’s Blog: Stealth Start-Ups Suck:

…Here’s the thing, stealth mode for a web start-up is the kiss of death.

Stealth mode is when a company is operating in secret for some length
of time before launching their product or service. In many industries,
creating a new product or service takes significant time and effort.
During this time, being in stealth mode may make a lot of sense. But
creating a new web service is not rocket science and does not take a
lot of time or money. My rule of thumb is that it should take no more than 3 months to go from conception to launch of a new web service. And that’s being generous. I’m speaking from experience here. I developed the first version of ONElist over a period of 3 months, and that was while working a full-time job. I developed the first version of Bloglines in 3 months. By myself. It can be done. And I suck at it! Just ask all the engineers who have had to deal with my code.

Why go fast? Many reasons:

  • First mover advantage is important.

  • There is no such thing as a unique idea. I guarantee that someone else has already thought of your wonderful web service, and is probably way ahead of you. Get over yourself.

  • It forces you to focus on the key functionality of the site.

  • Being perfect at launch is an impossible (and unnecessary and even probably detrimental) goal, so don’t bother trying to achieve it. Ship early, ship often.

  • The sooner you get something out there, the sooner you’ll start getting feedback from users.

Star Blazers

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As some of you know, I have a life long love of Star Blazers, a Japanese, Americanized cartoon that ran in the late 70s/early 80s. I just wanted to share some links for reference:

The Voyager Entertainment official site.

A Frontier article from 1999 marking 20 years of Star Blazers.

totse.com fan fiction: Star Trek:TNG Enterprise vs. Star Blazers Yamato

Wikipedia: Space Battleship Yamato

MSN Groups: All Things Yamato & Star Blazers

Star Blazers/Yamato – Wave Motion Page

Yamato Mechanics.org (Japanese)

Starship schematics – Yamato

A starship comparison chart.

Related:

Neal Stephenson, NYTimes: Turn On, Tune In, Veg Out

Operation: Mindcrime

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I’m looking forward to seeing Queensrcyhe and Judas Priest tomorrow night. It’s going to be great.

Operation: Mindcrime’s lyrics resonate far too much these days. It still stands as one of my favorite albums of all time. No doubt admitting this here has probably just put me on a watch list. You folks who thumb your noses at heavy metal need to take the time to listen to this with an open mind.

Got no love for politicians
Or that crazy scene in D.C.
It’s just a power mad town
But the time is ripe for changes
There’s a growing feeling
That taking a chance on a new kind of vision is due

I used to trust the media
To tell me the truth, tell us the truth
But now I’ve seen the payoffs
Everywhere I look
Who do you trust when everyone’s a crook?

…Religion and sex are powerplays
Manipulate the people for the money they pay
Selling skin, selling God
The numbers look the same on their credit cards
Politicians say no to drugs
While we pay for wars in South America
Fighting fire with empty words
While the banks get fat
And the poor stay poor
And the rich get rich
And the cops get paid
To look away
As the one percent rules America

On Critics

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Some critics insist they aren’t authorities, yet act with authority in their dispensing opinion and analysis. They deny their impact on others.

Our words have weight and impact on others. Even the meekest of us has an impact on those around us.

When I see folks who are obviously so intelligent that I know they know this and yet actively deny it – I am left to conclude that either mental illness is at work or they are being disingenuous. And I hate disingenuous mother fuckers.

You must remember that critics are not interested in serving the public trust; they’re interested in serving themselves. You’re a critic, and you need to pay the rent: there is a sea of other critics out there in the same boat. Some people in that situation will always go against the tide, to try and stand out. Some people will focus on gushing with the popular opinion as cleverly as possible – perhaps their punchy little quote will end up in a big ad in the newspaper, and their notoriety/income will increase.

And there are, of course, intellectuals who align themselves with elitism; they are forced to have disdain for all things popular. Their inability to be objective is indication of how ironically intellectual they are not.

In the end, critics are just people. People with an agenda. You are seldom going to find well thought-out, thorough objectivity in that demographic, no matter what they’re critiquing.

But mostly, there’s the bitter, sad realization that while they can write and scream or praise and jump up and down, they will be utterly forgotten in the annals of history, where Star Wars will not. For all their words and self-important positing, they know they have made no lasting contribution, no great impact. They’ve changed no lives, and shaped no futures. They’re resigned to being wordy because they’ve done so little. Like a fat, lazy sports fan who doesn’t like how Barry Bonds is hitting this season. Beset by jealousy, and ignorance, compensatory self-importance and bluster, they sit at their keyboards, furiously typing, and turn their self-hatred outward, to the very things they long to be part of most.

millenniumfalcon.com – The Official Media Review Links Thread

I love Dennis Miller’s signoff: “It’s just my opinion, I could be wrong”. Far too often I actually hope I am.