One of the things that I looked for immediately after watching Transformers was the soundtrack CD. I was disappointed that there was only Transformers: The Album released which had, you know – a bunch of songs. The Linkin Park song What I’ve Done wasn’t too bad. So were the songs from Goo Goo Dolls and Smashing Pumpkins. But there was not one track released that had the movie’s orchestral score as composed by Steve Jablonsky. In fact there was no score soundtrack album at all. I’ve been monitoring the online news about the status of the score soundtrack. On or off? There was an online petition, but would it work? Sifting through a ton of information in the internet I found only an mp3 of Jablonsky’s Decepticon theme on the web. And there was nothing on Amazon.com… until last month or so. And as of last week, it’s been released. […]
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Sunburn Is The Least Of Your Worries: A Sunshine Review
[[image:sunshine01.jpg:The shieldship with the bomb:left:0]]I just saw this movie on a THX screen and it was quite a ride. I liked it very much. Absolutely no spoilers ahead. Danny Boyle directs this movie and what he did was create an atmosphere that doesn’t not really accentuate claustrophobia or xenophobia. What Sunshine has instead is a layer of despair and hopelessness which barely registers but hangs over the proceedings like a thin film. You can almost feel the despair being radiated by the characters and the situation mounting as the movie progresses. Sunshine gets right to the point with Cilian Murphy’s voiceover. It’s 50 years in the future and the sun is dying, and with it the slowly-freezing Earth. The crew of the Icarus II (a shieldship right out of the pages of Dark Force Rising, heh!) has been tasked with the delivery of a Manhattan Island-massed bomb which would theoretically […]
Continue readingIrfan Wants To Be A Doctor…
[[image:who01.jpg:Who’s being displayed onscreen here?:center:0]]… but it’s not that kind of doctor. Now, when he’s got shampoo in his hair, he fancies himself as the Gallifreyan Time Lord, known as the Doctor from BBC’s Doctor Who series. Specifically he wants to be the Tenth Doctor, played by David Tennant. He keeps going on and on about travelling about in a TARDIS, having his own K9 and enjoys the fact that every week the Doctor (along with anyone in his vicinity) has to run from something chasing them – be it disease-ravaged human constructs, werewolves, Judoon policemen, or Cybermen, or Daleks. If the Doctor has to flee for his life, Irfan digs it a lot. Not too bad, really, cause I haven’t seen Doctor Who since the Tom Baker’s Fourth Doctor and I still thought BBC’s production of the series is constrained by a lack of budget. When I first saw […]
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The Grey Armour Looks Pretty Good
And here we have it, the first image online of the first Iron Man armour, the one Tony Stark had to build in captivity in Vietnam (original comic) / China (animated movie) / Afghanistan (upcoming movie). No one ever, ever gets captured by bad guys in, say Decatur, Illinois… why?!? I think it looks pretty good. It really does look like Iron Man and it even has what seems to be a flamethrower that was used in the comic story back in the old Tales of Suspense #39. But the eyes appear to be larger than usual. I can’t wait for him to move on to the more famous red-and-gold armour in the course of the movie (as designed by Adi Granov, no less). Or the War Machine armour even! Before we go on to the movie image, here is the picture of the grey armour, and Iron Man’s debut […]
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Straight From The Bear’s Mouth
Bear McCreary has become my favourite composer for soundtracks. I love what he did throughout Battlestar Galactica. The music isn’t a traditional symphonic orchestral score, although it is in some places. I can’t quite categorize listening to the score as a whole. It has string quartet, Japanese tako drums, Armenian duduk, bagpipes, gamelan, erhu…. a hodge-podge of traditional instruments being used to make the music of the Battlestar Galactica universe. Lyrics are sung in languages like Latin, Sinhalese, Sanskrit and Italian. Modern earth music even make their way into the episodes as source music, such as Philip Glass’ “Metamorphosis Five” (played by Starbuck at her Caprica apartment) and the super spoiler full-blown music which rocks the closing scenes of the recent third season finale, which broke my mind in half. Anyway, Bear McCreary’s website has a blog and the blog has entries pertaining to his work on Galactica, which also […]
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Tron – A Look Back at a Reindeer Flotilla
It’s been a while since I saw Tron. I never saw it on the big screen. I believe I last saw it when it using one of the most sophisticated, technological wonder of a multimedia player at the time known as the video cassette recorder. So here I am more than twenty years later, and did it stand up the test of time? And more importantly… is there a Mickey Mouse out in the cyberscape field in the background under the solar sailer in one scene? Let’s answer the second question first: Tron was one of the factors that got me into computers back in the 80s. It also sow the seeds of my interest cyberpunk too. The Story Kevin Flynn (played by Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski), a former programmer of Encom, is trying to hack into Encom’s intranet to find evidence of his former colleague Ed Dillinger’s (played by […]
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Retro Review: Vejur Returns To Look for Dad
My first foray into the world of Star Trek consisted of a single page ad on a comic (might have been a Gold Key comic) for Star Trek The Motion Picture, back in 1980. It had a picture of the new refitted Enterprise (no bloody A, B, C, or D) with a photo line-up of the characters along the bottom. My first thought was (probably) how great it was to be part of this team, exploring the unknown in the 23rd century (it said 23rd century right there on the movie ad) in such a sleek starship. I don’t remember when I learned that the movie was based on the TV show, or if I learnt it before or after I saw the movie ad. Anyway some months later, I bought the novelisation of the movie, which I believe might be my first ever movie novelisation bought. Tok & Opah […]
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Did It or Did It Not Exist?
The stormy clouds of the gas giant were where the rag tag fugitive fleet was undergoing refuelling operations last week in Battlestar Galactica. But Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace patrolling the skies of the planet in her Viper caught a glimpse of a Cylon Heavy Raider and chased after it. Without invoking spoilers, the question would be whether she was hallucinating or not. If she wasn’t then a whole set of new variables can be introduced to the outcome of the episode, entitled “Maelstrom”. As the viewer, we saw Starbuck’s point of view of the bloodied child in the cockpit. We also saw the silhouette of the man in the room outside her cockpit as she was flying deeper into the storm. Let’s not get into the dream sequence. (I hope the paint was non-toxic.) The shots of the Heavy Raider were for the most part in her point of view… […]
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Tablets Seem Fun To Work With
Tablet PCs, used by the personnel of Stargate Command’s Atlantis Expedition (particularly Dr. Rodney McKay) seem to be cool little gadgets to work with. I wish I can buy one around here. Are there any being sold here in Kuala Lumpur at all? Perhaps the PC Fair at the KL Convention Centre coming up next weekend?
Continue readingFrack! Is Today Friday?
Cause if it is, it’s time to get back home to the starboard landing bay. It’s time to find out what happens to people left with the rag tag fugitive fleet and on the Cylon-occupied New Caprica. The last ten minutes of the previous season’s finale was quality mindfrack. Because of the total tangency to the status quo last episode, I can see this being the best season premiere or the worst season premiere ever. [[image:bsg_bay01.jpg:LSO better be doin’ his job:center:0]] The odds are certainly against it sucking. So say we all. Update Oct 09 2006: Occupation and Precipice – A Non-Spoilerific Review Those were the two most intense episodes side by side ever. Characters: One of the best ensemble cast ever, where everyone (even minor characters like Jammer and Duck) has something to do that adds dramatic tension to the storyline. There must be almost two dozen regular and […]
Continue readingA Trekkie I Was Til A Threshold I Crossed
I used to religiously catch every episode of Star Trek whenever it was on the air to watch episodes a couple of times. The Original Series. The Next Generation. Deep Space Nine. They were all my regular TV consumption. Even when I was working in the East Coast and out of the station’s broadcast area, Atok Irfan – long before he was designated Atok Irfan – taped the shows for me for my viewing when I was on my 5 days off period from work. It was during the middle of the second season of Star Trek: Voyager that I finally realised something. There were some good stories, but I discovered that I could live without watching any of the episodes. The writing on Star Trek seemed to be becoming bland, repetitive and uninsipired. Once the science fiction concepts were concise and served the stories well however hokey it might […]
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A Colonial Viper Pilot in d20
My friend Shane Welin is now in a d20 game with a difference. The rules might be powered by the run-of-the-mill d20 Modern / Future engine but I believe this is the first time I know of a campaign set in the world of Battlestar Galactica whose third season will be aired this next month. His player character stats is listed below, but I’ll see about getting stats for Colonial Vipers (Mark IIs and Mark VIIs), Raptors and Cylon Raiders up here as well. Anyway, here’s Shane’s Hal Rogero (still no callsign) in d20: Name: Hal Rogero Age: 18 Sex: Male Height: 5’10 Weight : 150 lbs Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Colony: Picon Classes: Smart/Fast/Viper Pilot Levels: 1/3/3 Str: 12 Dex: 16 Con: 14 Int: 16 Wis: 16 Cha: 10 HP: 51 Rep: +2 Wealth : +2 Defense 17 Fortitude Save:4 Reflex Save: 7 Willpower Save: 7 Initiative: 7 Base […]
Continue readingWe’ll Be Back October
Not “we” as in Hishgraphics. [[image:doll.jpg:Have a dolly to play with til October:left:0]]According to the press release, we have seven months to sit around, twiddle our thumbs and tap our toes to catch the third season of Battlestar Galactica. The 90-minute second season finale will be aired on Friday. I guess I can wait, watch the news or the cool, flashy ads they air on TV until then. Scott Collura of Now Playing Magazine wrote of the impending third season: “The network press release promises “even more of the drama, intrigue, and action that viewers have come to expect from the series,” which sounds like typical PR talk – until you remember that Battlestar Galactica has so far provided us with more drama, intrigue, and action than we could ever have hoped for.” Amen to that. To BB, Jo-Jo, Reilly, Beano, Dipper, Flat Top, Chuckles, Jolly, Crashdown, Sheppard, Dash, Flyboy, […]
Continue reading“I Didn’t Want To Make It Back Alive”
Spoiler Alert. This is an essay concerning the actions of Lee “Apollo” Adama of Battlestar Galactica in the episode Resurrection Ship, Part 2. If you’re adverse to spoilers it’s strongly suggested that you read no further. And if you’re local and want to catch it on TV, they’re starting to show the first season on 8TV at 10pm Sundays, the same time as Smallville on TV3. It’s been 7 hours since I saw the episode, and the decision of Apollo to resign himself to his fate has been playing again and again in my mind. It’s not something that I was expecting, like Adama’s and Cain’s respective orders to assassinate each other, or the fates of Helo and the Chief in the Pegasus’ brig, or even the outcome of Baltar’s interrogation of Pegasus’ resident Cylon prisoner Gina, who is a copy of Baltar’s yet unnamed vision, known to TV audiences […]
Continue readingStargate Atlantis on TV2 tonight
Stargate Atlantis is on TV2 Thurdsay nights at 9.00 pm. It started 2 weeks ago with the two-part pilot episode “The Rising”. Score one for sci-fi television on Malaysian TV. The last time a Stargate was on it was the fourth season of Stargate SG-1, probably 3 or 4 years ago on TV3, so I’m guessing anyone who has a passing interest in it would miss out on Daniel’s ascendancy (and back), Jonas Quinn, Anubis, alliance with the Asgard, the new Earth warship Prometheus and the X-302 fighters, and the Battle of Antartica that led to the discovery of the Zero Point Module and the DHD coordinates that enabled the Cheyenne Mountain Stargate to open a wormhole to Stargate at the Ancient city of Atlantis in the Pegasus Galaxy. Beware of Spoilers! Like the Milky Way galaxy, the Pegasus Galaxy has a network of Stargates that allow persons to travel […]
Continue readingArabic Star Names and Science Fiction
I’ve known for quite some time that major star names used in science are Arabic in origin, a testimony to the work of Muslim astronomers between the 9th and the 12th centuries, but I’ve never found an extensive list of current star names and their Arabic origin until I stumbled across the Jordanian Astronomical Society’s website with its great Arabic Star Names page. Since I read and watch a lot of science fiction, I found it interesting that some of the names have appeared in contemporary SF. Not the well-known ones like Betelgeuse or Vega or Rigel, I’m talking about the not so well known star names. Referring the the JAS list in the link above: #133 Rukbat is the star which Anne McCaffrey’s Pern revolves around. It’s known as Alpha Sagittarii, so she did her homework by referring it to be in the “Sagittarius sector” although in the wiki […]
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