::Friday, June 14, 2002::

WOO IS ME - John Woo has stolen my idea! Today, Windtalkers, opens nationwide, however I wrote a movie dealing with the exact same subject two years ago. Whomever said Hollywood was a cutthroat business was damn right. I've been robbed. And I blaim you John Woo (mostly for MI:2 though) and you Nic Cage (well not really, you were great in Leaving Las Vegas, excellent in The Rock and haunting in Bringing Out the Dead so I think I can forgive you).

In all seriousness I did write a small documentary on The Code Talkers two years ago. The screenplay was the for the now defunct game Virtual Producer. The theme of the game was that you owned your own movie studio and got to cast, write, and produce your own movies. You picked the actors and directors and released the film in the "virtual theaters" where it made money at the Box Office. The Code Talkers was the last movie I ever wrote for VP back in June of 2000.

So before you go out and see John Woo's version of what the Navajo did in WWII read the real story. Or at least what my research told me when writing the short documentary, "The Code Talkers".
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 7:28:04 PM| Link This ::

THE WINGS WIN IT ALL - Late last night the Detriot Red Wings capped one of the single greatest seasons in NHL history and won their third Stanley Cup in six years. It was the ninth such cup for 68 year-old coach Scotty Bowman who after the game told CBC that was retiring. Not a bad way to out. He might have just coached the greatest team in NHL history. Farewell Scotty, thanks for the memories.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 7:22:07 PM| Link This ::

21ST GENERATION PRIRACY - The BB Spot alerts us to the fact that copies of Spider-Man 2 (are) Available on the Web. Oh man how do you get one? Let's hope it doesn't stink as much as the first one. I'm going to Kazaa now to get it...are you?
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 3:36:33 AM| Link This ::

HOUSTON ASTOS MYSTERY - It's a slow day around Major League Baseball. There isn't a game scheduled, save for a make up game between Baltimore and Cleveland (that's not much fun). So why not take a glance around the Major Leagues? If you look at the standings of MLB you'll notice one strange occurence. The Houston Astros are 8 games below .500 despite the fact that they have socred 14 more runs then they have allowed. Normally this would result in a much better record. A few years ago Bill James came up with a formula to figure out a teams record based on their runs scored and runs allowed (You can find out more about it here - it's at the bottom). Using this formula the Astros should have a record of 33-31 and be just a few games out of first place in the National League Central. Let's look at Houston's standings so far:

RECORDS W L PCT GB 1-RUN EXTRA HOME ROAD RS RA ExW-L ExWP
ASTROS 28 36 .438 8 4-12 1-4 17-14 11-22 294 281 33-31 .523

Here are Houston's biggest wins so far this year:

Wed. April 3 Milwaukee 15-2
Sun. May 5 New York 12-1
Mon. May 13 Philadelphia 17-3

...and their worst losses,

Fri. April 26 at Atlanta 9-0
Fri. May 3 New York 11-3

Add that all up and you get a +19 in runs scored for Houston. Houston's difference in RS and RA is +15. This just about explains the reason for the difference between Houston's actual and expected records. These games are the outlayers, the few cases that make the overall appereance that Houston has played better then their record indicates. Considering that four of those five games have been played at Sunkist, formely Enron, Feild the Astros have only their own home ballpark to blaim. Throw in the fact that the Astros are only 4-12 in one run games and you have a complete explanation of why there record is so poor despite their runs scored and runs allowed. Can't you tell it's a slow day for baseball?
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 11:38:57 PM| Link This ::

NEW LINKS FOR THE COMRADES - I've been awfully sick lately. The nose is running and I'm sneazing left and right, so instead of trying to offer some insight or commentary on things going on in the greater world I'm going to make some more generic posts. I've been meaning at a few things on the site anyways.

First off are some details about the new LINKS on the right of my website (that's your left). Below is plenty of info about what each site and on the person who runs them:

Senor Weird's LiveJournal - This is bascially a blog run by my friend Jorge Montes. He prefers the format offered by Live Journal. While I have to disagree with his choice of web providers his site is always interesting and humorous. Senor is addicted to those online quizzes which you've probably seen all over the web. You know those, "What muppet are you?," or "How old do you act?" Senor hunts down and links to just about every single on of those so if you like them check out his site. His other writings are much more personal, owing to the fact that the site is a journal rather then a blog. Senor is also a fellow wannabe screenwriter and you can read any number of his works through is website.

Filmjerk - This site is maintained by Ed Havens, a wonderfully smart, witty and ecentric fellow that I meet when playing the old online movie making game Virtual Producer. Ed opened opened up filmjerk over a year ago. The site deals primarily with news and rumours concerning Hollywood. Ed, or the filmjerk himself, often reviews films himself in his own unique style. Dark Savant another fellow VP'er also offers his unique often distrubing take on films (i.e. Review of A.I.). For me the the site is a daily read.

Scarlet Wolf - There are few woman with more attitude and independence on the internet then Caroline, the Scarlet Wolf. A fellow Ithaca student, though she actually just graduated last month, Caroline has been a good friend for two years now. Her site is a mix of her film reviews and her musings on the roller coaster that is life. Of particular interest is her "Wolf's Howls" which chronicles her adventures all over the globe (and trust me this girl does travel all over the globe). Additionally if you have any kind of obsession with Orlando Bloom then you'll feel right at home at Caroline's site.

Josh Schomer - I've known this quality chap for well on 8 or 9 years now. He's a throw back to the old days when I lived and went to High School in good old Herkimer, NY. Unfortunetly there isn't much to Josh's site right now, he too swamped at Pharmacy school and too busy playing Everquest to bother with it I suspect. Still he has a very funny pictures section entitled, "Venture into my mind." Be afraid, be very afraid.

Mr. Predictor - At Mr. Predictor columnists attempt to predict the Box Office and use it to help players suceed at a number of online, movie related games such as HSX and Movieboss. I met the sites creator, Chavez, through my favorite online movie game Movieboss. This site is best used as a reference guide to playing Movieboss. Chavez and comrades offer a number of helpful starter guides. If you are at all interested in playing MB, and I highly suggest you try it out, your best to check out Mr. Predictor first.

Give the above sites a look. You won't be disappointed. Be back when I feel better.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 3:40:08 AM| Link This ::

A JURASSIC MISTAKE - The first was one of the best, most successful movies ever made. The second was one of the worst movies ever made and third redeemed the series a bit. But do we really need a fourth Jurassic Park? Don't get me wrong both the novel and the movie Jurassic Park are among my all-time favorites. But now comes news that Steve Spielberg wants to do a Jurassic Park 4. I hope he knows what he's doing. The guy certainly doesn't need the money.

What need to happen that is that Spielberg and company need to remember what made the first film and most of the fourth entertaining fare. It was the dinosaurs and the idea of being trapped on an island with them. When they left that unique and mysterious environment and traveled to say San Diego the movie lost that originality. The original JP was smart and foreboding, the second crap, but the third was crafty in its adventure. Here's hoping they make this fourth installment out of the better parts of the previous films (and bring back Sam Neil as Dr. Grant). Whatever happens I will be first in line to see it and will either see it four more times, like the first one, or walk out of it, like the second one.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 2:19:00 AM| Link This ::

HARRY POTTER ARRIVES, SORTA - Warner Bros. certianly is sneaky. They announced last week that the new teaser trailer for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was going to hit the web June 11th. What has actually hit the web is a teaser of the teaser trailer. Good greif. Still we only have to wait until June 14th to see the full trailer. It will be attached to Scooby Doo which arrives in theaters this Friday.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 3:50:36 AM| Link This ::

REMEMBER, WE ARE IN A WAR - The always intrepid Derek Alexander alerts me to this reminder of the enemies of our lives.

"We are still at the beginning of the road," Bu Ghaith said in the statement. "The Americans have not yet suffered from us what we have suffered from them."

He said the United States had killed, directly or indirectly, thousands in Iraq, Palestinian territories, Afghanistan, Sudan, Philippines, Bosnia and Kashmir.

"So we have the right to kill four million Americans, including one million children, displace double that figure and injure and cripple hundreds of thousands," he said.

"We have the right to fight them by chemical and biological weapons so that they catch the fatal and unusual diseases that Muslims have caught due to their (U.S.) chemical and biological weapons," he said.

Wow.

It occurs to me that life has pretty much gotten back to normal. September 11th feels like it was a lifetime ago. That is the way things are in the 21st century. With the overload of information and news that we are given our short term memories have shorter then ever before. There is only so much information we can store at a time. Life moves at a faster pace now, meaning those events which happened just months ago are relegated to the back of our memories or forgotten completely. Such has been the case with the war on terror I think.

It's seductive to forget the 11th. Who wants to live in the world we lived in, in that awful week in early September? It was frightening and no one wants to live their life in fear, for themselves or there loved ones. It's only natural for one to want the fear to disappear, for things to be okay. Those who are able to remember clearly, to face that fear, rather then push it away are the ones who make the difference in this world. The others, who wish the fear away, are the ones must affected. We must face the fear of the 11th, we cannot wish it away. We need to realize there are people who wish things like is stated above. We have to realize that people wishing those disasters have shown the resolve to bring them into creation. We mush not wish their resolve away but face it with greater determination to turn it back and defeat it.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 10:49:00 PM| Link This ::

KURSTEN DUNST IN WET T-SHIRT

Considering I've gotten over 150 hits on this site for the above picture I figured it's about time I posted it. I've gotten searchs like, "Kirstin Dunst in a wet t-shirt", "Kursten dunst t-shirt", and "Kirsten Dunst's jiggling boobs". Most people have been linked to this review or this blog entry, which I wrote. I figured it was time to give the readers what they want. Even if they are random visitors from a search engine (I love you guys! Please stay awhile and come back some day). Remember it's Kirsten not Kursten.
:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 5:42:39 AM| Link This ::

CROCS RULE! - I don't know what it is but I love Steve Irwin. I watched so many of his specials, shows and interviews that I feel like I know the guy. When people talk about him I feel like they're talking about an old friend of mine. It's very strange (In case you were wondering Steve Irwin is better known as the Crocodile Hunter from the Discovery and Animal Channels). The man is a walking, talking bundle of energy and optimism. He demonstrates true joy in his profession; a characteristic we never see in this world. The man loves what he does...and it's contagious. All of it makes Steve Irwin the kind of person you want to know and certainly the kind of person you want to watch.

This summer he has a feature long movie coming out called Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course. The film at first sounded like a stupid idea. The whole idea of Steve Irwin was that he was real and so were the creatures and situation. However it appears the producers and directors of the movie have come up with a rather original idea (The new trailer demonstrates this well.) In the film Steve and his wife Terry play themselves and act as if they are being documented in their adventures just like they are all the time. However the rest of the story involves a satellite of the US Government and the agents trying to recover parts of it. The intersections of the two stories take place as if they are being filmed on Steve's regular TV show. This is great thinking. It allows Steve Irwin to keep the format that has made him popular. He talks right to the camera as in his show, his wife provides commentary and the animals are just alive as on the television show. Of course, as we see in supplementary scenes apart from Steve and Terry's TV show much else is afoot, but they have no idea. This keeps Irwin and Co. in the format that made him a success and doesn't try to make him do something beyond that. Something perhaps that would be viewed as ridiculous (See Hulk Hogan in Mr. Mom). It looks to come together in a fun and entertaining motion picture experience.

The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course opens nationwide on July the 12th, 2002.

:: Posted by Citizen Ryan | 4:43:12 AM| Link This ::

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