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If you're like me - and I know I am - then when you take photos, sometimes you need to make changes to them. It could cropping out something (an ex of some sort, or some random stranger in the background of a photo), or you might need to make some kind of tweak - adding some text to label something, for example. I present a "web 2.0 tool" that not only allows you to do these, but some other cool stuff beyond that: Picnik. Capable of working with files on your computer, from the internet (directly, via a websearch or from several photo sharing services) or even from your webcam, Picnik lets you have your way with the photos.

Say you have a photo of some Easter Eggs that you've decorated based on a popular kids program - maybe something like Sesame Street. You could post that photo online, but what if someone isn't familiar with the characters? BAM! Instant titles.

Before		After

You could also do something like take a photo of a picnic basket (a la the photo for this post, from "The Queen of Subtle," via flickr), crop it, tweak the colors a bit, resize it, and then save it online. In this case, it was pulled right from the flickr page, edited, then saved back into my own flickr page. (By attributing the original author, I'm able to use the photo and adhere to the Creative Commons license).

Picnik also offers a paid version, which allows you to do some more interesting things - but the free account is plenty to get you started!

So, I just finished watching the "scrubs" musical episode, and I have to say that I'm very happy. Aside from the "Guy Love" song, which I had downloaded (for free!) from iTunes and instantly loved, there were more than a few other instant classics.

Aside from managing to get tons of medical jargon into the songs, they managed to do parodies of "Pirates of Penzance" and "Grease", but I'm sure that there were a few others in there that I've heard before but couldn't exactly place. Regardless. Awesome.

I don't know what it is about musicals, but they just make me happy. I don't know if I've mentioned this in the blog at all - or ever - but it's my opinion that there just aren't enough musicals in the world. They used to have tons of them back in the day (the 50's, 60's, 70's), but they just don't make them as much any more. Why? I don't know. I do know that Disney had a hit with their "High School Musical" thing - so apparently musicals are popular, at least with the so called "tweeners".

Where was I? Oh yeah, "scrubs" musical. I'm glad I taped it - I have to make Jen watch it about 10 times.

If you haven't see Shaun of the Dead yet, buy/rent it and watch it now. I'll wait. (And if you get the urge to buy the Shaun of the Dead 12-Inch Talking Action Figure while you're watching it, then I can't really stop you, can I?)

Simon Pegg teams up with Nick Frost (among others) to bring us Hot Fuzz, another brilliant comedy. How brilliant? The tagline says it all: Big Cops. Small Town. Moderate Violence.

As usual, there's more than a bit of tounge-in-cheek joking, lots of action, and I'm sure just as many references to other movies that will miss if you're not paying attention. If you want to watch a trailer (which includes an extra mustache joke, just for US viewers!) check it out at Yahoo!.

Woody from Dateline Hollywood managed to get into the media lineup for the "Snakes on a Plane" premiere. The results? They boggle the mind:

All Your Snakes are Belong to Us

YouTube - The Pipettes "Pull Shapes"

When I first got this link, I figured it would be usual YouTube fare. And it was.

But the video, which at first seems to just be a movie clip they stuck in for the video, actually seems to be the video for the song - so it's either from some movie in the 60's or a well done spoof video. Either way, it's kind of enjoyable. The song is kinda "pop"-y, and spunky to boot.

Having just received confirmation that it's an actual group and this is them having some fun. Nice.

Ironic Sans: The Google Maps Guide to Ghostbusters

Take Google Maps, add in the info about Ghostbusters (along with screen captures), and you have the Ghostbusting Google Map Mashup (which, by the way, is a mouthful!).

This dovetails nicely with something I've been meaning to write about - Ghostbusters. The kids LOVE it.

Sure, there's a few parts that are a little scary, and some language that they shouldn't hear - but to be honest, while I'm no longshoreman, I can't always refrain from swearing, no matter how much I try. But the idea of the movie is appealing to the youngsters, what with the ghosts and the sliming and let's not forget the Stay-Puft Marshmallow man. Mmmmm.

On "Stargate: SG-1" tonight, there was some discussion about what movie to watch for their "movie night". Teal'c was thinking of choosing "Old School," but at the end of the show, Cam suggested "Starship Troopers."
Teal'c: "Is it funny?"
Cam: "You betcha!"

Considering they'd just dealt with "bugs" of another sort during the episode, and considering the campiness of "Troopers"... Yeah, it's funny. This episode was a nice change, in some ways, from the more "we have to fight these people" episodes of late, mostly because they tried to tie in some of the political infighting that they've been bringing more to the fore of late. It was a nice plot device, and added some relief to the overwhelming-ness of the "Ori" story line - at least when the System Lords were the main bad guys, they'd switch things up every now and then and try to keep it interesting with some new villan of the week, on occasion. Or bring up the Asgard and their Replicator problems - little changes to bring on some variety.

"Stargate: Atlantis" was... well, not funny in that way. It was, however, funny in another way - I saw this episode about 2 weeks ago, when I got it on a CD from a friend who got it online. I guess the UK version of the show is airing ahead of the US version again, so he must have got it online. That internet thing is cool - I should check it out sometime. I hear Al Gore invented it....

"Battlestar Galactica" was frakking good, as usual. I must say that I appreciate any show that introduces a new "swear" word into my vocabulary. There was "frell" in Farscape, and now "frak" in BSG. Can't go wrong, I always say - especially since it gives me a word to say in front of the kids when I'd would really rather use some slightly more choice words... Anyway, I have been enjoying this season, but I have to say that some of the major plot points I saw coming a mile away:
Pegasus jumping into a trap? Yeah, of course.
Roslyn appeasing her largest voting block? Yeah.
Lee Adama getting command of Pegasus (aka The Beast)? Saw that two miles away.
Baltar flipping on Roslyn so he could try to become President himself? Well, that's been coming for a while.

All in all, I'd say that SciFi has a good thing going with their SciFi Friday lineup - SG-1 is the old hand, drawing in the regular fans. Atlantis keeps them around, since it's similar to SG-1 in some ways, but wildly different in others. And BSG is getting rave reviews from all over the place, and it's become quite a hot little item. As long as they don't frak it up, like they did by cancelling some of their best works (aka "Invisible Man" or "Farscape"), or they don't jump the shark in some way, we should be enjoying these shows for at least a couple of years.

So, yeah, it's Christmas time once again. Many things were bought for the kids, and let's just say that the mess in the living room rivaled years past. But it's all good. I've got some photos that I'm going to be posting online at some point, but I wanted to mention how much fun certain things were - like, for example, how much more complicated Transformer toys are these days.

When I was a kid, it was in the box as a robot, then you turned it into a vehicle, and then it was back to a robot again. Simple. Occasionally there was a "super" robot that took a couple robots and turned them into a big robot. That was it.

:noah: got some kind of super-omni-mega robot - it came with two trucks (a firetruck and a car carrier), which individually turn from robot to vehicle and back. But then you can also take some of their "extra" bits and make them mega-robots. Or.... Take the two, and their extras, and make a super-omni-mega robot. Or something. Two tabloid sized pages (that's two 8.5" x 11" pages side by side) with instructions on both sides - approximately 500 total steps for all the things you can do. With just one set. Awesome. Just awesome.

Next up was the MegaBlocks G.I. Joe armored vehicle thing. It came with a part that was semi-melted (it still worked, but....) and several of the pieces don't stay in place - one of my sticking points with MegaBlocks. Lego or nothing, I say.

We got the kids two DVD's for Christmas: The Polar Express about a week before for a Christmas party with some friends and then Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the big day. We saw Polar Express in the theaters and loved it, but Charlie was something that the kids but not parents had seen. I got a chance to watch it today, and was quite pleased with the movie.

Like many people, I've seen the original movie (Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) more than a few times, so I had some pre-conceived notions about how the movie should play out. I'm pleased to say that for the most part, it was just as I expected. I particularly liked some of the casting choices - Johnny Depp once again proved his acting abilities, and the kids did quite a good job acting like their previous incarnations. Overall, a very good re-make.

:abby: got a "My Little Pony" Butterfly Island set, and it was quite a sight to behold - all colorful, with sound effects and music for the full audio/visual overload experience.

:ethan: got some new toys and a new "Baby Mozart" DVD, which we hope will keep him entertained a bit - he seems to like the others so far, so this will only add to his enjoyment - and lead to another kid addicted to tv, no doubt.

:emma:, who's supposed to be reading at a level 30 by the end of this school year, is currently at level 32 now. When pressed for book suggestions (Grisham, Clancy, King?), her teacher suggested the "Lemony Snicket" series - always a good choice, I gather. We also got her a nice set of jammies.

Serenity is now - well, in a few hours - available on DVD. From what I've read (below and elsewhere on the internet) it's a great movie - details that we never learned on the show, and new and fun information. I hear that some people died during the course of the story - very sad, and I wish I didn't know about it - but sometimes these things happen and are just the way things have to be.

A write up of the DVD: UGO.com Film/TV - Serenity DVD Review - UGO Blasts Off with Serenity

So, go buy a copy of the DVD - they didn't do extremely well in the theaters, so lets help them make up for it with this DVD release.

"The Man Who Walked Between The Towers" (Mordicai Gerstein)
Mordicai Gerstein has written and illustrated some beautiful books (including "Beauty and the Beast", which has also been adapted to a movie of sorts, which we have along with the book). He waited what he felt was a decent interval after the events of 9/11/01, but wanted to commemerate the Towers themselves - not for what happened on 9/11, but for something positive. He picked the events of August, 1974, when Philippe Petit crossed a cable between the two towers.

It's a great story, but since Gerstein is a realist, he mentions that the towers are gone. I know that the pages are coming, and that it's going to once again hit me like a ton of bricks, but every single time, it just stops me cold. There's only one page after that, but it's hard to read when you're all choked up like that. Even so, I recommend this book to anyone - it's a great story, and it's nice to think of the towers in another way.

FX is currently showing "Smallpox," an original movie that's played out more like a documentary after the fact - It reviews the alleged events of April 2002, when a smallpox outbreak "occurred" and killed something like 60 million people. They put a very clear warning at the beginning of the movie that it was a movie, not fact, and that it was NOT based on actual events - I guess trying to prevent a "War of the Worlds" type reaction. No offense, but I think that they should have repeated the warning more often - it's some pretty realistic and scary looking stuff.

I was going to tape it and watch it later, if I thought the first few minutes of the movie were good, but it just sucked me right in - a good sign. It looks like some of the logic behind how such an attack could happen is pretty sound - i.e. people stealing samples of Smallpox from various locations - notably, in this example, Russia and the former Soviet Republic - and then the spread of the disease once it's out in the public.

Ok, it's back on, more later when I've seen the whole thing.

Sphere, by Michael Crichton.

A psycologist is taken by the US Navy to the middle of the ocean and joined by several people he knows - people he picked out for a government team to deal with an "ULF" - unidentified life form. Things get weirder when they are told that there is a spacecraft at the bottom of the ocean. When they start to piece together where the craft came from, things get even weirder. Accidents start to occur in their deep-sea habitat, and people start to die.

The characters don't get too developed, but that's ok - most of them get killed off very soon. The plot is reasonable, but there are a few leaps that require a bit too much suspension of disbelief. And if you've already seen the movie when you read this, well, it's not going to leave you too happy - the movie adaptation takes the usual liberties, and it's just not the same.

The Stand: Complete and Uncut, by Stephen King.

When I saw this in the library, I decided to take it out, partly 'cause I wanted to see how the book was, and partly because I never got to see the whole mini-series when it was on TV.

What I got was the "Complete and Uncut" version of the book - which is substantially longer than the originally released version, I understand. The note from King at the beginning of the book indicates that he originally needed to cut a lot for various reasons (including business reasons, apparently), but this new release was more in line with what he wanted to put out the first time - so it's a bit like a "directors cut" of a movie.

If you're not familiar with the story of the book, the premise is that a super-secret US Army base is experimenting with various biological agents and one of them, a shifting antigen variant of the flu, manages to get out. It kills everyone in the underground labs, and a guard at the front gate of the same labs manages to get out before he's locked into his guard shack. He knows what goes on underground, and before he left, he could see that they were all dead - so he grabs his wife and child, throws them in the car and starts to haul ass, thinking that he's not sick now, he won't get sick, and they'll get away from it all. He couldn't be more wrong.

After spreading this new super-flu across the country, the guard ends up crashing into a gas station in rural Texas. The locals call the police, and when he dies en route to the hospital, people start to wonder just what's going on. The CDC gets involved - and the Army starts it's cover up.

The flu spreads like wildfire, taking the life of most of the population of the world (the Army, while attempting their cover up, decides to set some of the flu loose in various other parts of the world, so it won't seem like it was just a problem in the US - bad move).

The folks that are left, scattered around the US, start to have dreams. Some dream of a kindly old woman, some of a scary man who's face is never revealed. People start to travel to whomever appeals to them more, and this is where it becomes clear that there is going to be a final stand off, good versus evil, and the survivors will be the ones making the final stand.

The writing is very well done. King knows how to write, and he does it well - a little too well, since in this case, it took me quite some time to finish this tome (it's frickin' long!).

Some of the scenes are very well done, and the whole concept of the book makes you wonder just whats going on, both with any real "super-powers" and in our own backyards - and in todays climate of terror everywhere, who knows what's going on. The fact that various intelligence community reports say that certain terrorist organizations have access to chemical/biological warfare agents makes it all a little too real, and just a wee bit too scary.

It's definately worth a read, and if you're so inclined, make sure you read the book before the movie - they always drop little bits out of the movies, and you don't want to miss some of the gems hidden in the pages.

The kids wanted to watch 101 Dalmations last night while at my folks, so I let them. Was that a bad move?

Glenn Close is absolutley evil. Well, actually, I guess she's more like De Vil. Cruella De Vil. Fashion queen Cruella has the lovely Anita (Joely Richardson) in her employ. Anita owns a Dalmation (Perdita), which is where she draws her inspiration. Cruella, of course, loves her designs. The fact that she also loves wearing animals (and has a rare Siberian Tiger killed and skinned so she can wear it) is a little disturbing at first, but don't worry - it gets worse.

Roger (Jeff Daniels) is a happy go lucker video game designer, who also owns a Dalmation (Pongo). His is trained to get him up in the morning, as well as start the shower, fetch the paper, and turn on his computer.

Anita and Roger both ride their bikes and take their dogs with them to the park. One day, Pongo gets a look (or is it a whiff?) of Perdita and starts dragging Roger through the park, the a shopping mall, through traffic, and into a pond, trying to get his way to Perdita and her master. Once he meets Anita and Perdita and gets Pongo back, they part ways - until Perdita pulls the same stunt and Roger and Anita end up warming up by the fire in Rogers home. They get married, of course.

Anyway, Pongo and Perdita end up having puppies, and Cruella wants them. Badly. When she is refused the chance to buy the puppies, she goes crazy with rage, and hires two bumbling idiots to dognap them. Then you have the ensuing chase scenes to get them back.

What really stood out in this movie was Glenn Close as the insance Cruella. She cackles easily, dresses the part, and has just a hint of that insane gleam in her eye through the whole movie. If she had never appeared in any other movie, I'd probably come away from this movie wondering about her sanity - actress or not, she obviously put a lot of work into this role.

A little scary for younger kids, there is mostly just comedic violence, but the undertones for the scarier stuff are there, and some pretty bad stuff is just implied - meaning that it might be worth watching WITH your older kids, to make sure they understand it all in the right context.

A Beautiful Mind is the story of John Nash, mathmatician, husband, father and paranoid schizophrenic.

Jennifer Connelly does a good job as Nash's wife; Ed Harris, given his typical small role, really did a great job with his part, as did the others. But Russell Crowe does a pretty damn good job as John Nash. His West Virginian accent was realistic throught the movie, and he really put himself into the role - one wonders if he had trouble stopping being Nash when the movie was done shooting.

Definately worth watching.

The Prometheus Deception (hard cover or paperback) by Robert Ludlum, needs to be read. Written just two years ago, it reflects some current events and actions. Nick Bryson is an operative for "The Directorate," a covert intelligence agency that other agencies don't even know about. After being wounded during an operation, Nick is essentially forced to retire after recouperating from his wounds and from the loss of his wife - she left while he was on assigment. Even though he's retired, Nick's instincts stay with him, and he is suddenly drawn back into the web of intrigue that was his old life. He is told by the Deputy Director of the CIA that the Directorate was actually a Russian setup, and they had been working against the US government all along. Many of his co-workers hadn't had a clue, and Nick had been used all along by them. Nick sets off to investigate the claims and find out for himself what is going on. Along the way he realizes that perhaps his wife, who also worked for the Directorate, though in a less "wet" capacity, may have been a setup from the start, and he starts to question his entire life. Add to this story a growing number of unclaimed terrorist actions, toss in a Microsoft like entity that has it's hands in every facet of business, industry and government, and mix in a growing call for a lack of personal privacy, and you have quite a read on your hands. Nothing is what you expect, every corner brings a new twist, and the ultimate enemy that Nick is up against turns out to be even worse than it appears.

Matt Damon as an action star? If Ben Affleck can do it, why not, right?

Matt does a pretty good job. The role is very physical, and it shows that he's spent some time getting ready for the role. Jason Bourne is a pretty kick-ass guy, but he doesn't know who he is or why he was found floating in the ocean with two bullet wounds and a microchip wedged under his skin. Gradually he starts to put the pieces together, making "friends" of all sorts along the way - including a US Embassy full of US Marines - and finally figuring out who he is.

Overall, Damon does a good job, and the supporting cast do well as well. The story doesn't slow down, the action is great, and the effects are great. Go check it out.

For Christmas, my brother bought the whole family The Wizard of Oz gift set. It comes in a nice box, with some movie stills and a reproduction of the script. There's a bunch of behind-the-scenes stuff on the DVD too - but I haven't seen any of that yet. :emma:, :noah: and I are watching it for the 3rd of 4th time. It's not quite as popular as some of the other movies in the house, but it's getting there...

The fifth and final book in the Hitchhikers Trilogy, Mostly Harmless, is a fun little romp in a parallel dimension or two. We re-join Arthur Dent in his quest for someplace that's just a little like Earth. Ford and Trillian join the journey, and everyone has fun - that is, until.... well, you'll just have to read it and see. Definately a good read, and the world is just a little sadder now that DNA is no longer with us.

Philip K. Dick has got to be one of the BEST sci-fi authors ever. Minority Report is a collection of short stories, including the title piece (which is also a new Steven Spielberg flick starring Tom Cruise). I picked it up at WaldenBooks at the mall while stumbling around, half-blind... I've only read the first few stories, but I really enjoyed it.

Philip K. Dick has got to be one of the BEST sci-fi authors ever. Minority Report is a collection of short stories, including the title piece (which is also a new Steven Spielberg flick starring Tom Cruise). I picked it up at WaldenBooks at the mall while stumbling around, half-blind... I've only read the first few stories, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

PKD (as a good friend of mine refers to him) was great. He's written many books that you've probably never heard of, but you've probably seen a movie adaptation of. The most well known is "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?," which you might recall better as the sci-fi epic "Blade Runner," starring Harrison Ford. Or maybe the short story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale," which I believe was the basis for "Freejack," starring Emilio Estevez and Mick Jagger. Peter Weller was in "Screamers," which was based on a great short-story called "Second Variety."

I've always liked Clans of the Alphane Moon, Valis, The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Radio Free Albemuth.

The Princess Bride is one of the best movies ever made. Now available in both regular and special edition on DVD, it's a must have movie.

What a fricking awesome movie. If you've seen The Sixth Sense then you'll like this one. Written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan (who also did The Sixth Sense), it's the story of the sole survivor of a horrible train wreck, his family, and a stranger who thinks that Willis holds the key to a secret within both of them.

Ok, so it's not technically a TV review....

This was an AMAZING CGI (computer generated imaging) based cartoon. Well known actors doing voices, great animation, strong story lines... only to be screwed up by Sony and their affiliates. Random time slots, changing time slots, warring affiliates... all bad. Fortunately Sony realized that they have a good thing - they've slowly been releasing the episodes in 5 story "arcs" on DVD and VHS. Some great stories based on a great book. Well worth checking out.

Tron - 20th Anniversary Edition has just started shipping. It's a 2 dvd set, and contains:

Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)

Color, Closed-captioned, Widescreen

All-new extensive "The Making of Tron" documentary (88 mins.)

Deleted scenes

Production photo gallery including archival photos not presented in the laser disc edition

Commentary by writer/director Steven Lisberger, producer Donald Kushner and visual effects supervisors Harrison Ellenshaw and Richard Taylor

Storyboard-to-film Comparisons

Extensive still frame galleries

Pre-production animation tests

Deleted original soundtrack music

Inspirational designs by futuristic artists Syd Mead, Peter Lloyd and Jean "Moebius" Giraud

Computer animation design and memo reels

Original publicity materials

Original theatrical trailer

Widescreen anamorphic format

Now that I already own the previous edition, I'm a little leary of buying another copy - but if I did, I think it would be worth it.