I liked it. Then again, I really liked the original comic, and I think they did a good job of translating the source material to the big screen.
The ending, though, was not quite what I wanted/expected. In my mind, it was a major deviation from the comic, but it was well done, regardless.
So, I give it 8/10.
These are coming out this year, the last two… next year and the year after.
Watchmen
Star Trek
Terminator: Salvation
Love the Beast
Crank: High Voltage
Earth
X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian
Up
Moon
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Bruno
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
G.I. Joe: the Rise of Cobra
Inglourious Basterds
World War Z
Tron 2.0
… and they have NO idea what I wrote to them. (Please refer to the post before this one.) These guys are just assuming that everyone who used their form letter agrees with their position.
Dear J,
You and other NAACP supporters sent more than 20,000 e-mails to billionaire publisher Rupert Murdoch. You demanded that he fire the people responsible for this racist cartoon in one of the papers he owns, the New York Post. Yesterday Mr. Murdoch personally apologized in the paper (though he needs to do a lot more).
When you make your voice heard, we are powerful.
I’m writing to ask you to take another step for change — make a donation to the NAACP to help support our campaign to force Mr. Murdoch to make the changes that will clean up the racism at the New York Post and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Your tax-deductible gift of $25, $50, $100 — whatever you can — will help us continue our media and grassroots organizing campaign from New York to LA, Cincinnati to Birmingham. Later this week, NAACP members will be demonstrating across the country, demanding meetings with their local Fox affiliates.
Your tax-deductible donation to the NAACP will help keep this protest on TV, radio, and newspapers across the country… and help get a commitment from Mr. Murdoch to hire diversity in his newsrooms.
We’ve got an African American president, but a major New York newspaper runs a racist cartoon that seems like an invitation to assassination. You know what that means — you and I and the NAACP still have a lot of work to do. Your donation will help make it happen.
Sincerely,
Benjamin Todd Jealous
President and CEO
NAACP
… and they have a canned email you can send to Rupert Murdoch. Of course it bitches and bitches about the”racist” NY Post cartoon. It was written by someone who really, really wants to be stuck in the past.
Below is the “personalized” (pffft, whatever) message on the NAACP site you can simply sign your name to:
http://org2.democracyinaction.org/o/2446/t/4676/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=1086
I want a REAL apology
I am writing you today to let you know I will not tolerate racist images and caricatures in your newspaper. I ask you to take immediate action to renounce the racist cartoon published in your paper on Wednesday showing two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. This blatant exhibit of racism, comparing our commander in chief (also featured signing the stimulus bill on the issue’s facing page) to a dead chimpanzee is unacceptable, given the historic racist stereotypes of African-Americans as being synonymous with monkeys. I strongly urge the immediate firing of the Editor-in-Chief and all those involved in the decision to print the image. I also demand that the New York Post publish a full, unequivocal apology for the misguided decision to print the cartoon.
Your publication sadly reminded me of the reality that even in 2009, when an African American man holds the highest post in the nation, racism is alive and well in the United States, and that we have a long way to go to ensure civil and human rights of all people. There is no room for this kind of insensitivity and divisiveness – they only distract us from the real work that we need to do to foster an era of change, collaboration, and acceptance of all people.
As a supporter of the NAACP, and as citizen committed to ending racism and promoting civil rights for all people, I ask you to do better.
… and here is how I modified the message and sent it off:
I demand that NO apology be given by the NY Post
I am writing you today to let you know I will continue to expect cleverly satirical cartoons in your newspaper. I ask you to take immediate action to continue to defend the completely non-racist cartoon published in your paper on Wednesday showing two police officers, one with a smoking gun, standing over the body of a bullet-riddled chimp. This blatant exhibit of satire, comparing the authors of the Stimulus Bill to a dead chimpanzee is perfectly acceptable, given the historic joke about “infinite monkeys typing away”. I strongly urge the Editor-in-Chief and all those involved in the decision to print the image to go about their business. I also demand that the New York Post publish a full, unequivocal explanation of why the decision to print the cartoon should not be considered “controversial.”
Your publication reminded me of the reality that even in 2009, when an African American man holds the highest post in the nation, racism is alive and well in the United States, and that we have a long way to go to ensure civil and human rights of all people. The reason racism is alive and well is because of attention whores like Al Sharpton who go out of their way to find racism wherever they hope to see it, even if it’s not there. There is no room for this kind of insensitivity and divisiveness – they only distract us from the real work that we need to do to foster an era of change, collaboration, and acceptance of all people. All of this is the fault of Al Sharpton and his cronies.
As a supporter of logic and reason, and as a citizen committed to ending racism and promoting civil rights for all people, I ask you to do better. Continue to defend your cartoonist and his work, this piece in particular.
This whole thing is getting totally out of hand. I am going to fight this thing just like I fight 9/11 conspiracy theorists. I will not back down.
Fu_king wack-o liberal jerk-offs… I used to support the ideals of the NAACP.
No more.
And NO, I am NOT racist. I’m a human being, and I simply don’t see race as an issue in my life. If others still choose to hang onto the old ways, whatever. I’ve moved on.
Al Sharpton is the #1 enemy of race relations in the US.
The recent NY Post cartoon is NOT racist.
Without going into too much detail, you would have to be a bigoted idiot NOT to “get” the joke.
Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_monkey_theorem
Good god, my country is going to hell because of hypersensitive PC freaks.
One of my friends called me a racist, based on my previous post.
I disagree with this one-word assessment of me, based on what I wrote.
[Perhaps I could have written 10 pages about my 3-hour trip, but I didn't. I cooked it down to a few sentences, leaving the essence of my experience.]
To the quick: I am not a “racist.” I am a realist. Yeah, I’m white, but I never got anywhere because of it. I don’t see race as an issue in my daily life. I don’t see why anyone should, especially in the US. What I mean is… I was hoping my generation would be the first to simply move on, move forward, and deal with each other based on our merits. But folks just want to play the race card at any time they can. Good god, that game is OVER. People want to drag skeletons out of the closet that had been dealt with. Then again, that’s how I feel. Some folks just want to hold onto their pain. Well, healing will never happen if you don’t just let some things go.
Obama might do a good job (might – remains to be seen how many of his promises he will backtrack on), but a fair portion of his followers are off the deep end. Instead of unity, I am still seeing divisiveness… non-inclusiveness… but from an unexpected direction.
A lot of people voted for him for all of the wrong reasons. He’s young, he can read a prepared speech very well (but can’t wing it worth a damn), he promises “change”, and he’s not white. All of these things appealed to a large portion of the potential voters, which actually got a lot more to vote than ever before. Of course, I wonder how many people really, truly understand the issues facing our country, many of which are the result of – gasp! – Clinton.
I’m not saying people should not have voted for Obama – far from it. But if you voted for him out of a knee-jerk reaction, well, that’s just dumb.
Why is that all of a sudden people are pulling together, supporting each other, being nice to each other (at least, that’s the chrome on the plastic of reality now)? Where was all this positive energy the last… 16 years? You do remember the hoopla back in 1992, don’t you? Don’t you? Oh…. short attention spans. Got it.
If you CHOOSE to be miserable you will BE miserable. I think people made stupid financial decisions, fell into the trap of religion, and generally were self-serving pricks for the longest time, then found someone to blame. Now, there’s a new sherrif in town to clean it all up. Good. Now is the positivity going to last? Nope. People will fall into their old patterns, screw up their own lives, and want someone to make things all better – all without looking in the damn mirror.
For the past year and a half, people on the street were asked who they were going to vote for. It was disturbing that in a lot of cases, the person responded by saying something along the lines of, “Look at me. Look at my skin tone. Who do you think I’m going to vote for? What a dumb question.”
Well, that really, really cheapens Dr. King, Jr.’s ideals, if you ask me. A lot of civil rights heroes did not fight – and die – so that the pendulum would swing so far the other way for no reason other than Obama is black. Do I feel ashamed to be white and from a dysfunctional lower-middle class white family, as if I had any choice in the matter? Do I feel remorse for the crimes of whites (and blacks – never forget what the slave trade really entailed) who lived hundreds of years before me?
H E L L N O
How can I be sorry for something I didn’t do, and I certainly would not have accepted? I can only worry about my life, and moving forward. I try to be positive about the present and future, only looking back to the past to know what not to do now and in the future. I can’t mope about what was done then – I can only worry about what I’m going to do now. Reparations? How about sending a bill to Denver’s Latino community so that I can get compensated for the bike that was stolen out from under me by a punk 10 years older than me, way back in 1983? Sounds fair to me.
I am who I am. I was the only white kid in my neighborhood in Denver, so if you think I have no idea what it’s like being a minority, you can kiss my ass. It sucks, yes, but there are opportunities if you choose to seek them out and take advantage of them. And I did.
I was the first person in my immediate family (mom, aunts, uncles, grandpa, grandma, cousins) to earn a degree. That was in 1996. As of this moment, only one other person has a degree, and that’s my mom. I chose to go to school. It was not easy, but it was necessary.
I got through college by taking out student loans available to just about anyone who is able to get into college in the first place. I did not qualify for most grants (free money, a bit better than loans) becuase of my ethnic background. That kind of stung, knowing I was part of the “elite”, and yet never, EVER tasted the fruits of this so called upper crust.
Long story short, Bush isn’t responsible for every single ill this country is currently enduring. Some, but not all. There is a lot of inertia in government, and the President only has so much power. He’s a figurehead most of the time, but as an individual he is a lightning rod for criticism that should be directed at the idiots in Congress. Yeah, he got us into Iraq – not the smartest move – but there is a big picture going on here. Wow… that’s a subject for another post. Move along.
I have seen that whites are still singled out as the “evil” that has caused so much misery in this nation. Well guess what – I’ve lived my life knowing I’m a small part of a great nation, and that our nation can draw strength from its diversity IF WE CHOOSE TO.
Oops, I think this post meandered all over the place. I’m not necessarily the best communicator, especially when the ideas and concerns rolling around in my head don’t translate to a blog very well.
Then again, you didn’t have to read it. Freedom of choice, and all that.
Barack Obama is going to be crowned President in a few hours.
Yay.
Get over it already.
Please.
This whole circus is waaaaaaaay out of hand. I hear cries of, “You didn’t vote for Obama? What are you? Racist?”
I took the Amtrak from Iselin, NJ to DC on Sunday afternoon, and boy, was it a borderline racism storm.
It all started when I took my seat and a crew member asked for my ticket.
I said, “How are you doing this afternoon?”
The reply: “Oh, lordy, I am just having an Obama day.”
Ummmmmmm….
WTF?!?
I let it slide, as she was part of a particular ethnic group (that shall remain nameless) that has been having Obamagasms ever since they first heard of the guy (sometime late in ‘06 or early ‘07, I think).
But wait, there’s more.
As we were pulling in to Union Station in DC, the conductor got on the PA system and said, “Thank you for riding Amtrak, and thank you for riding the Obama train! Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”
The majority of passengers (but not all) around me were of the same ethnic background as the crew member I spoke with earlier, and boy, was everybody on board hoopin’ and hollerin’. It was like a big party on the stupid commuter train. Yay.
Again: WTF?!?
Amtrak is publicly funded through our taxes. Therefore, it is rather uncouth to use the PA on a commuter train to shout such… evangelical praises. Again, I let it slide, albeit with gritted teeth.
He is not our President YET.
He is not the “messiah” that everyone is making him out to be.
He is going to be our President. Later today. There’s this little thing called the Constitution…
I sincerely hope he is able to deliver on his promises, and to live up to the lofty expectations all those robo- I mean, conscientious voters – have heaped upon him.
I have no problem with his being elected. Actually, it sets quite the precedent that a non-WASP can get elected to the top office. Congratulations.
But jeez louise… tone it down a bit with the whole “racism” thing. It’s definitely a two-way street.
[/rant]
My friend Nick asked me to blog about the most current Western fighters, comparing/contrasting their features and capabilities. I’ll get to it in a few hours/days…
Okay, a primer: the Wikipedia page relating to fighter aircraft does a decent job of explaining the different “generations” of jet fighters -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fighter_aircraft.
You’ll notice that the Eurofighter Typhoon is a “Generation 4.5″ fighter due to its relatively conventional layout and decidedly non-stealthy intake and exhaust. These “old school” features put the Typhoon at a disadvantage when it comes to particular engagement scenarios – i.e., a long-range missile fight, or attacking targets (tankers, transports, etc.) deep inside enemy-held airspace. Don’t get me wrong – the Typhoon possesses world-class agility. However, this will not do much good at high altitude and at high speeds.
The Typhoon will rely heavily on its advanced radar and missile systems, backed up by layers of electronic jamming/spoofing, AWACS coverage, already-established air dominance (brought about by attacks on enemy air assets and SAM sites), and luck. It’s a great airplane – don’t get me wrong. It’s just too much of a SAM target.
As you can see from the Wikipedia article, Generation 4.5 fighters are those with avionics and system improvements at the expense of aerodynamics. There are a couple of other aircraft from this generation – the SAAB JAS-39 Gripen, Dassault Rafale, and the Su-27/30/35 Flanker are three (six?) very notable examples.
Now, the F-22 Raptor is a whole different ball of wax. The Lockheed Martin/Boeing YF-22 Lightning II beat the Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 Black Widow II in the ATF (Advanced Tactical Fighter) competition flyoff in August of 1991. The YF-22 was improved and rechristened F/A-22 Raptor. The “A” stood for attack, which was a bonehead move on the part of some politician (can’t remember exactly who) – this thing was designed to be the best air-to-air fighter EVER, and it was idiotic to fiddle with the designation to “compete” with the Navy’s F/A-18. Ugh. Whatever.
More info to come…
I’m tired, so I’ll finish this post later…
Okay, I’m back. Where was I. Oh yes, the F-35. Hoo boy, that’s the single largest weapon system procurement program EVER. We’re talking money on the order of $200 buh-buh-billion. TWO HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS.
Update 8-25-08: So some random dude commented on this particular entry, apparently without reading the Wikipedia article I referenced via link at the beginning of this entry. Please, whoever the hell you are, read the Wiki article before leaving an asinine comment. Thank you.
Back to the F-35… I do NOT like that plain hole at the back. Get your mind out of the gutter. What I mean is, do yourself a favor and purchase a book called “Warplanes of the Future”, written by Bill Gunston. I got it as a gift in 1985, and I have to say everything in that book is still valid right now. On every other page, Mr. Gunston bitches about non-vectoring, non-stealthy jet engine exhausts on front-line fighters. These “plain holes” are massive targets for infrared-guided missiles. “Shoot me here”.
Well, the F-35 has one of these regular ol’ holes. No thrust vectoring like on the F-22 (not that the F-22’s exhausts are very stealthy), which would have enhanced the F-35’s agility. So… I’m very disappointed in the overall design. Plus the STOVL variant has to cart around this massive lift fan that can NOT be used in forward flight. Ever heard of “viffing”? That term refers to “Vectoring In Forward Flight”, something the AV-8B can do. Basically it means you move your vectoring nozzles in flight, allowing you to (potentially) gain an advantage over a bogey that’s on your tail.
Maybe I’ll make a new entry instead of constantly updating this one… dunno… I’m new to the blogosphere, so we’ll see.
I was surprised to read a wee article in the latest issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology:
“The U.S. Air Force held a retirement ceremony for the F-117A Nighthawk at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. There were 59 production stealth aircraft built, and they have been in service for 27 years. Seven were lost, one in Serbia during combat. The survivors will be placed in recallable storage at their original base, the Tonapah airfield on the Nevada Test Ranges, by next month.”
For those who don’t know, the F-117A Nighthawk is the vaunted “stealth fighter” (a misnomer, since this aircraft is strictly an attack aircraft).
I have followed the development of the Nighthawk as far back as 1986, when it was known as the “F-19″. In July of that year a mysterious aircraft crashed in Nevada. No one was quite sure what the aircraft was, and the Air Force refused to release any information, other than that the pilot was killed in the crash.
Then in December of 1986, Testors released a model of the “F-19″, which went on to become the best-selling plastic airplane model of all time. My Big Brother Bret got it for me for Christmas, and boy, was it fascinating. The building instructions contained all sorts of factoids regarding stealth characteristics (complex angles and curves, snaking engine air inlets, hidden exhaust, etc.).
My high school had a subscription to AW&ST, so I was fortunate enough to see the first issues with “spy” photos and the original fuzzy officially-released pictures of this amazing aircraft.
Oh, did I mention that the thing won’t fly AT ALL without computer intervention? It’s an extremely unstable design, due to its stealthy-but-aerodynamically-crappy features. Whatever. For all intents and purposes it was invisible to most radar systems, especially those that mattered – Russian.
To wrap this up:
The F-117A was first used in combat in 1989 during Operation Just (Be)Cause in Panama. One or two examples dropped laser-guided bombs onto an empty field near a Panamanian Army barracks in order to scare the crap out of the opposing troops.
Then it was used to great extent to defeat Iraqi command & control and air defenses during Operation Desert Storm. The damn thing became mystical at this point.
In 1999 a very enterprising Serbian SAM crew managed to shoot down an F-117A that had just completed a mission. Due to predictable return routes, the Serbs had an idea of where to point their search radar. They would ping just long enough to get a return onto which to direct their fire control radar. If they used their search radar too long, it would get fixed upon by a Wild Weasel (anti-air defense aircraft) and promptly destroyed. The SAM crew took a risky shot and tagged an F-117A as it passed overhead. I was mad that we couldn’t immediately carpet-bomb the crash site to prevent the pieces from getting into Iranian, Chinese, and Russian hands. Oh well.
The F-117A saw some combat in Operation Iraqi Freedom, but it’s a bit long in the tooth, so it’s time to hang it up.
Just another Skunk Works miracle.
Okay class, here’s the Big Bad Bear in a nutshell:
It’s a ripoff.
Yup. A ripoff. A pretty good one, at that.
You see, in the heady days of World War II, the US recognized the need for a strategic bomber that could carry a heavy bomb load over great distances.
Boeing came up with the B-29 Superfortress. Once its teething problems were taken care of, this aircraft proved its mettle.
The US and Russia were “allies”… sort of. They were getting their butts kicked in 1941/42, so we gave them food and equipment, since communism just didn’t live up to the hype. Without the Allies providing for their initial fight against the Germans, they would have fallen – and that would have been disaster. At the time, the German war machine was unstoppable.
So… here’s how the Russians stole our toys.
B-29 crews flew very long missions from Saipan, Tinian, and Guam – even China. In the event of a mechanical failure or flak hit, the crews knew they would not do too well to parachute into downtown Tokyo. Their best bet was to either try to limp back to home base, crash-land in China, or get to Russian territory. Obviously the first two choices were the more palletable.
We had an “agreement” with the Russians that they would provide safe haven for any downed aircrews. Unfortunately, crews that ended up there were “interned” – meaning, they were not treated well… more like prisoners. They were interrogated like enemies. Three particular aircraft, Ramp Tramp, General H.H. Arnold Special, and Ding How ended up in Russia (in July 1944, November 1944, and November 1944, respectively), and their crews did not make it home until January of 1945.
Their planes never made it home.
Worst of all, the Russians tore the B-29s apart, completely perverse-engineered them, and came up with the Tupolev Tu-4 “Bull”.
Without going into too much detail, the Tu-4 eventually led to improvements in powerplant, structures, and aerodynamics. Long story short, the Russians extended the fuselage, switched to a swept-back wing, and replaced the radial piston engines with turboprops.
Thus, we get the Tu-95 “Bear”.
Quick reference: http://www.ausairpower.net/Profile-Tupolev-Bear.html
