Notes and Thoughts in a Virtual World

Just a quick little note. A book idea came to me over lunch, a book that I'd be interested in reading (if anyone knows of a book, let me know). The book falls into the "What If" category, the Alternate History genre. Booth killed Lincoln (died April 15, 1865, the morning after), and there is talk that the VP was also marked for assassination. What might have happened if both Lincoln and Johnson had been assassinated?

"[T]he possibility of peace with magnanimity died" with Lincoln. VP Andrew Johnson was a Southern Democrat added to a modified Republican party, the Republican National Union Party, to "balance" the ticket, to make it more of a party for all the US. So, how could having Johnson as President caused the "possibility of peace with magnanimity died" with Lincoln? Because, though Johnson moved quickly, while Congress wasn't in session, to try to reconstruct the former Confederate States on "good" terms (going by the biography of Johnson on the White House website, Johnson's reconstruction program would have been good for the former Southern Leaders, and bad for the former slaves; it died because the Radical Republicans did not want to let the South off the hook, while Lincoln was more interested in reforming the USA, apparently, and not vengeance and Lincoln had some pull with Congress, apparently). The Radical Republicans of Congress came back in session and started undoing Johnson's actions, and eventually almost impeached him (articles of impeachment passed in the House but not the Senate).

Well, I'm not sure how the succession would have gone in 1865 (but this website notes that the Senate President Pro Tempore was 3rd in line, then the Speaker of the House, with no one beyond the Speaker), but with President Johnson marginalized, I guess history would have been similar with a Radial Republican as President of the USA in 1865. I suppose the better book would be one where Lincoln wasn't assassinated, and the "peace with magnanimity" had a chance to play out ("Grade 5-8" book (or here, same book) where Lincoln didn't die; black man saves Lincoln, a play; Lincoln survives the attempt on his life; haven't read any of these, not sure if any are good).

Conspiracy Theories
Alternate History website (divergences around Civil War time period)
A Guide to Alternate History (I; II)

Technorati Tags: Movies James Bond 007

Some more stories have been written about the actor to be Bond search.

4/28/05: Something called WENN mentions that the producers are remaining quiet. (IMDb's news articles on the next James Bond).

4/27/05: BBC notes that the Bond producers refuses to confirm or deny the rumors, like they have been saying all along.

4/27/05: This Is London notes that Dame Judi Dench says that Brosnan will return (though I believe I've heard that before).

4/25/05: USA Today's take on the search.

4/17/05:
According to the UK Guardian website (which is, apparently, publishing a 4/17/05 "Observer" article), there are 70 Bond contenders and the producers are no closer to finding a new Bond. The article reminded me that I had left off Julian McMahon from my Bond list (mostly because I thought he was out of the running). Those in the US might have seen McMahon on NBC's Another World, NBC's Profiler, WB's Charmed, or FX's Nip/Tuck (and those around the world might have seen him on one of those shows, or the Australian shows The Power, The Passion & Home and Away). And those fearing that an American might win the job should be happy to learn that McMahon is from Australia. Getting back to that article on the Guardian website, it mentions that Fleming wanted David Niven or Patrick McGoohan (known for the tv series Danger Man and The Prisoner) to play Bond. Before Connery got the job, Cary Grant was offered the job, and the producer who edged out Fleming looked at Adam West (Batman), James Brolin ("Mr. Streisand"), and others.

Casino Royale has a youngish Bond, so if the next movie really uses that book as its template (instead of just using the title like so many of the Bond movies did), then Brosnan would be too old now to play the role (unless he was handing over the 007 designation to a new Bond in the movie or something along those lines, which I believe was done or shown as possible in the original 1967 Casino Royale movie).

The websites are not listing the same movies as opening today. All the sites I've checked list the two wide release movies (XXX: State of the Union; and The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), but have different limited release movies listed.

Yahoo.com's list.
Washingtonpost.com list and reviews: Death of a Dynasty (Editor's pick; and if you live within 20 miles of the 22153 zip code, the movie is playing at Mount Vernon and Potomac Yards); Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (Cinema Arts, Landmark's E Street Cinema, and Landmark's Bethesda Row Cinema); Hitchhiker's Guide (Editor's pick; wide release); Palindromes (Editor's pick; Shirlington; E Street; Bethesda Row); Up and Down (Editor's Pick; Avalon Theatre); XXX: State of the Union (Not Recommended; wide release).
Washingtontimes.com's brief run down of the opening movies.
IMDb.com's list.
The Moviefone website.
RopeofSilicon.com Release Dates.
Movies.com list.
Zap2It.com website.
Amazon.com's Now Playing.
For no particular reason: Movies opening in Buffalo (The Buffalo News)
Movies opening in San Franciso (SFGate.com)
Movies opening in Hawaii (Honolulu Advertiser.com)
Movies opening in Hampton Roads Virginia (PilotOnline.com)
NY Daily News website.

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

15% Yankee

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Dixie

0% Midwestern

An interesting website was found while strolling through several blog directory websites (I didn't find this website directly but through a blog). Not sure what this is supposed to mean, nor could I answer at least one question (question asked which term would I use, and I do not use any of the terms, no way to indicate that fact). Fun little diversion.

Two new movies are opening wide on Friday and four movies are opening in selected theaters (according to Yahoo.com).

Opening Wide:
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
The movie is directed by Garth Jennings, and stars Martin Freeman as Arthur Dent, Mos Def as Ford Perfect, Stephen Fry as the Narrator, Zooey Deshanel as Trillian, and Warwick Davis as Marvin.
Showtimes (actually, this brings you to my settings, just put in your own zip code to change the settings)
Based on the Douglas Adams BBC radio program, mini-series and Adams' books.
The BBC's guide to this particular subject. Apparently, there is a new series based on this work on BBC radio (last three of Adams books are the basis for three series with most of the original radio cast).
Official movie site.
Douglas Adams website continues, after the 2001 death of Adams (BBC's Service of Celebration).
IMDB's Hitchhiker page.
Critics reactions (BBC; Hollywood Reporter; here's one from Australia; here's one from Israel; Rotten Tomatoes take (based on 17 reviews); Others; more others).

xXx: State of the Union
Directed by Lee Tamahori and starring Ice Cube as Darius Stone, Willem Dafoe as George Deckert, Samuel L. Jackson as Agent Augustus Gibbons and Xzibit as Zeke.
This movie is the sequel to XXX staring Vin Diesel. The movie is about Jackson recruiting another renegade, this time to battle against an attempted military coup in the US lead by Willem Dafoe's character.
Showtimes.
Official movie site.
IMDb's page.
Critics reactions (the majors have not reviewed this film yet; here's one from something called "metacritic.com" - actually, this leads to a review from the Chicago Tribune, so my search engine is defective; here's a Dutch review; here's a review from something British called "Shadows on the Wall"; Rotten Tomatoes take on the film (based on 6 reviews).

Opening in Selected Theaters:
3-Iron aka Bin-jip
About. Homeless man, Tae-suk, attempts to survive by breaking into empty houses (owners on vacation or the like) and he runs across a battered woman, Sun-hwa.
Official Site.
IMDb's page
Critics.
Showtimes:
NY; California

Death of a Dynasty
Journalist investigates a music mogul.
Apparently already released in 2003. IMDb; Yahoo. 1 review found, by metacritic.com.
Official site.

The Holy Girl aka La Nina Santa
Teenager living in an Argentinan hotel becomes involved with a guest.
IMDb; Yahoo; Reviews: IMDb's list of reviewers; Rotten Tomatoes rating based on a collection of reviews.
Official site (I can't enter).
Might only be available in NYC.

The Man Who Copied aka O Homen Que Copiava
A copy machine clerk attempts to help a girl he fancies, a Brazilian film.
IMDb; Yahoo; Reviews: IMDb's list of reviewers.
Official Site (a Brazilian site that I can't enter).
Might only be available in NYC.

My future ramblings on baseball will be posted on a new blog (Nationals Baseball Fan), and will not intrude into this blog in the future.

I just received an e-mail from TV Shows on DVD.com noting that the 3rd season of Sliders has a confirmed release date (July 19, 2005). After searching, I do not see the DVD offered anywhere, yet, for pre-order. All websites checked still only have the first DVD released (seasons 1 and 2).

I was never able to see the show when it first aired, though, I had seen some of the reruns on ScFi. The first two seasons were good enough to want to keep watching the series, though that $59.98 price for the third season of Sliders DVD of 25 episodes seems a little to much to spend.

Technorati Tags: Movies Movie Review Kung Fu Hustle Stephen Chow Hong Kong Martial Arts Comedy Action

Kung Fu Hustle is from the same person, Stephen Chow, behind Shaolin Soccer. You all remember Shaolin Soccer, right? Oh right, it was cut to pieces by its American distributor and then never widely released in the USA (if it was released at all on the screen).

Shaolin Soccer was about this ex-soccer player (football to all you non-US Americans) that was very good, missed a goal, and was brutally beaten by a mob. That ex-player became a flunky to one of his former soccer teammates, until he leaves and eventually forms a soccer team with some bums he finds in the streets (not all bums). The team ends up entering a competition and the final game is against Team Evil, the team owned by that former teammate. There is something of a coherent plot in Shaolin Soccer (as long as you watch the uncut verison). Kung Fu Hustle is a lot more disjointed.

Kung Fu Hustle is filled with many actors, so much so that it becomes hard to tell which actor, or set of actors we should care about. Hustle is about crime-filled 1920s or 1930s Shanghai, where gangs run rampant, except in the poorest areas. One gang has, apparently, come to dominate most of Shanghai. That gang is the "Axe Head Gang" (or something like that). The movie opens with that gang "fighting" the head of a rival gang. The leader of the Axe gang likes dancing around during fights and afterwards.

Later, two con men visit one of those poor areas, Pig Sty Alley (I believe that is the name of the alley). They claim to be members of the Axe gang and demand money, but are disbelieved by the poor citizens of this alley (actually somewhat humorous scene where chief con man, Stephen Chow, keeps picking people out of the audience to fight, only to find out that he keeps choosing some tough looking people). Eventually the real Axe gang turns up, some Kung Fu masters spring up out of the poor mass of the Alley and . . . don't want to give everything away.

The movie can be surprisingly funny at times, but is a lot more violent and bloody than you might expect from a "comedy." I would probably give this film 4.22 stars out of 5.

The main actors are: Hisao Liang (leader of the Axe Gang); Stephen Chow (Sing); Wah Yuen (Landlord); Qiu Yuen (Landlady); Xing Yu (coolie; more of a supporting part); Siu Lung Leung (The Beast); Dong Zhi Hua (Donut); Kwok Kuen Chan (Brother Sum); Chiu Chi Ling (Tailor) and etc.

Technorati Tags: Movies Movie Review Sahara

Originally first posted, by me, on Amazon.com on April 12, 2005

Sahara: Not as good as National Treasure

Why National Treasure? Both Sahara and National Treasure are somewhat similar movies about treasure hunters (or "preservers" or whatever Nicholas Cage was pretending to be) and both movies have segments of US history included into the plot (National Treasure - some of those debt-ridden Founding Fathers actually had access to all the gold that has been stolen/captured/gathered throughout history - and there is a scene set in early US history; Sahara - Rebel Ironclad carrying huge amounts of rebel gold, sails away from Richmond as it is attacked (the boat and the city)). Both treasure hunters track the gold (though the Sahara fellow is tracking the Ironclad filled with gold, didn't realize it had gold in it).

Matthew McConaughey plays Dirk Pitt from the Clive Cussler book series. Steve Zahn plays his sidekick and William H. Macy plays the ex-Admiral that runs NUMA (which Pitt and partner are members of). Penelope Cruz and unknown actor (Glynn Turman) are doctors with the World Health Organization. Pitt and partner search for the Texas (the Ironclad) in Africa after they finish a mission off the coast of Africa. Cruz and fellow doctor are following a plague out-break that seems to be coming out of Mali (nice, one of the few true republics in Africa is shown as in the grips of a evil dictatorship). Lambert Wilson plays the French bad-guy and Lennie James plays the Mali dictator.

The movie plot has huge holes in it, and some of the sequences seemed to just be there because they thought it would be fun to include (like that desert craft made out of the downed plane). The Sahara people stumble along and oops, they found some clues. The National Treasure people actually seemed to be tracking clues instead of stumbling over them (however implausible the clues might be).

Technorati Tags: Books James Rollins Map of Bones

I just received an AuthorTracker e-mail informing me that James Rollins new book, Map of Bones, has been released for sale today. I've read all six of Rollins previous books, with ratings (out of 5) ranging 4.2 (2nd book) to 4.75. At times Rollins and Matt Reilly's books have similar concepts (like when both came out with ice books at the same time (actually, Reilly's book came out in 1999 and Rollins in 2003, I just read them around the same time); Rollins: Ice Hunt; Reilly: Ice Station), but Reilly's works have steadily declined in quality while Rollins books have tended to be of a higher quality (at moment, Reilly's overall rating is 4.30, though last 2 books were below 4 stars; and Rollins is at 4.43).

Map of Bones looks like Rollins is going more in the Reilly overly violent action oriented books, though that might just be the books description. Interesting, the book involves the Vatican right after a new Pope comes to power. Just looking at the descriptions of Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code and Rollins' Map of Bones, it appears that Rollins is reacting to Brown's massive success on the best seller lists.

I will not be able to acquire the book yet, as baseball intrudes (and anyway, I have the book on hold at the library).

Technorati Tags: Baseball Washington, D.C. Nationals MLB

Notes from the Game:
RHP Zach Day (1-1, 5.09 era (I was at the game for his last start, at that game he went down from 9.09 era to 5.09 era)) pitched for the Nationals and RHP Corey Lidle (0-2, 3.86) pitched for the Phillies.

It appears that they have replaced the non-hitting Ryan Church (currently hitting .147) with Termel Sludge. Its great to finally go to a game and not see Church sitting there in the 5th slot in the batting order, and sometimes, with fellow non-hitting Guzman (.171 before last nights game) in the 2nd slot. Now they just need to find another short-stop to take over for Guzman (who is in there because of his defensive ability, but kept making defensive mistakes today).

They finally have the pitch speed posted on one of the boards/screens, of course they took it a step further and gave the pitch speed for when the pitchers were warming up. The guy that controls the side screens continues to make mistakes. At the first home game, the screen controller kept getting the strikes and balls wrong, and at one point had the Nationals batting with three outs (I believe they had just one, though they might have had two). At the 20th game of the season, the controller again still has problems getting the balls & strikes wrong, and again had 3 outs up on the screen when it was still only around 1 or 2 outs. The main board has problems sometimes, but as it is so hard to read, I rarely notice. At the 19th game, the main screen failed to keep up with the game, getting stuck in with 6 inning information, when the game was in the 8th (Tony Kornheiser's experience at RFK watching the Nationals (you might need to register to see the column).

The game was close, and it was interesting watching the pitchers earned run average change after each out (and I believe run). The Nationals ended up losing a one run game, and Nick Johnson extended his hitting streak to 15 games. Oh, and the first reliever that came in, Hector Carrasco, with an era of 0.00, and two runners on board. Carrasco allowed those two runners to score and allowed one or two batters to reach base, but he remained with an era of 0.00 as the two runners were Day's and Carrasco's runners didn't score because 6-11 (height, not win/loss record) Jon Rauch made his first appearance of the year and shut down the other team.

Tonight I'll see Nationals starter John Patterson (1-1, 0.86 ERA) vs. Phillies Jon Leiber (4-0, 2.73 ERA) in potentially horrible rainy weather. Hopefully the 10-10 4th place Nationals will go to 11-10.

Technorati Tags: DVD Television Remington Steele Pierce Brosnan 3rd Rock from the Sun That '70s Show Quantum Leap Seinfeld Scrubs Newsradio Moonlightling

The DVD for the first season of Remington Steele, I've just noticed, will be coming out 7/26/05. I was never able to see this show when it was originally on the air, and rarely saw the syndicated airings. Remington Steele was that early 1980s private investigator show staring Pierce Brosnan, pre-James Bond.

And those Pink Panther cartoons have been collected together and will be released on DVD on 7/26/05.

3rd Rock From the Sun's first season will also see a DVD release in 2005, on the same day as Remington Steele and Pink Panther cartoons. 3rd Rock was a great little sitcom, but the powers that be kept changing the timeslot for the show, and somewhere along the way, I lost track of it.

Despite the fact that the second season of the show That '70s Show was just released, the third season's release date has already been announced, and this time not on 7/26/05. The third season is currently scheduled to be released in November 2005. I just received my copy of the second season and haven't been able to watch it yet (distracted by the 1972 The Bob Newhart Show first season that I just picked up, hadn't seen before, and 2 comments: 1) great show; 2) no woman knew how to have good hair back in the early '70s, did they? - at least if the early episodes of Bob Newhart's show is any guide).

And don't forget those DVD's being released in May: I can't wait for May 10's release of the third season of Quantum Leap. The fourth season of Seinfeld will be released on the same date as the first season of Scrubs (5/17/05). With all the syndication Seinfeld has received, I'm much more interested in acquiring Scrubs. I'm somewhat less excited about the May 24th release of the first two seasons of Newsradio, though it could turn out like Just Shoot Me (which I picked up because it was available, and then really found it enjoyable). Though it could turn out like Night Court, a show I was actually looking forward to acquiring, and then was disappointed when I did finally pick it up. Finishing up May (in terms of television show DVD's I'm interested in) is the first two seasons of Moonlighting. I really enjoyed Moonlighting when it was on, recalled it getting very weird and am now a little reluctant about picking up this DVD.

Well, that's all for now as I'm off to see the Washington Nationals play another home game.

Technorati Tags: Television TV Tome

I have just found out that a website on the internet, that I am involved with, has been sold to TV.com. TV Tome is a website that contains show guides for a large number of shows. The website allows the general public to submit information about a particular show on that show's web page. Various people act as editors to manage the show (either solo or in groups of no more than three, and sometimes there is not a listed editor). I am an editor for several of the shows on the website and I am not sure what my connection will be in the future, if any.

Technorati Tags: James Bond 007 Movies Casino Royale

The next Bond film (Bond 21, on the official list), will be based on Ian Fleming's first novel Casino Royale. The book has previously been the basis for the first Bond film (not an "official" Bond movie) and for something of a parody. The first film was a TV movie shown in the States in 1954, and had Bond as a CIA agent (and his friend Felix Leiter as an agent from the UK). The second film using Casino Royale as a basis was the 1967 film staring David Niven as Sir James Bond. Ursula Andress, the first Bond girl is in this film, and Woody Allen plays Jimmy Bond. At one point a large number of people play Bond to confuse the enemy, including Peter Sellers. Well, that's the film history the next Bond film faces. But, who will play the next James Bond?

The Welsh contenders: Christian Bale, out now that he is Batman, and Ioan Grufford. The English contenders: Colin Firth, Jeremy Northam, Orlando Bloom (they wanted him to play young Bond, and Casino Royale does have a young Bond), Clive Owen, the front runner until Craig, and Daniel Craig (the current man in-and out of the job). The Australian contender: Hugh Jackman. The Scottish contenders: Ewan McGregor, and Dougray Scott. The Irish contender? Apparently there has been some talk that Pierce Brosnan will actually return. Just for the record: Sir Sean Connery is the Scottish Bond, George Lazenby is the Australian Bond, Sir Roger Moore is the English Bond, Timothy Dalton is currently the only Welsh Bond, and Pierce Brosnan, as mentioned, is the Irish Bond. To bad there isn't a Canadian Bond contender or the like, so that this run of different regions for the Bond's could continue.