Hypatia

Why, thank you for the invitation, SandChigger. What a shame it isn't really open to everybody... ::)

This is even more petty than shutting down the Spanish fan film. At least with that they had some legitimate concern over lost revenues. But this... just mean, in both senses of the word. :(

That scene seems intended for a "big screen" moment. Just visualize it -- a small, intimate, private family ceremony meant to evoke quiet emotions... suddenly shattered by a noisy, special-effects type ornithopter accompanied with who knows how much other CGI crap could be crammed into it... Ick. :P

I don't remember hearing or reading about him ever talking Canadian politics. But remember that in Canada you can't run directly for Prime Minister. You have to gain the leadership of a political party, and that party has to win a Federal election with at least a manageable minority of seats (like what happened in the last couple of elections here). I just can't imagine William Shatner as leader of either the Liberals or the Alliance in Tory clothing. Yes, we have other federal parties, but they have sadly unrealistic chances of winning an election any time soon... :(

Even Denny Crane would be better than what we have now. :P

Are you referring to Justin? The talk of him going into politics started about 10 seconds after he finished speaking his father's eulogy at the funeral. But he's smart enough to know that he needs to start at the bottom and pay his dues like every other backbench MP. William Shatner couldn't be PM even if he really wanted to. He took out U.S. citizenship, which I suspect he wouldn't be willing to give up for the sake of a political job in Canada. And if public pressure forced Mme Jean to give up her French citizenship when she became Governor-General, it's a sure bet that the public wouldn't accept a dual-citizenship Prime Minister, either.

No, they're not bad books. They're TERRIBLE books. :P

Okay, then... what you need to do is make an appointment to talk to this instructor about your grades. Say you want to review your grades and progress in the class and ask him directly what he thinks you need to do to improve them. Don't accept vague answers. Tell him you would like specifics. Some institutions have this as a right for the students, to talk to the instructor one-on-one like this. And it should tell you if he's biased, or merely picky. If he's picky, you're going to have to grit your teeth and do the references.

You're right, my mistake. :-[ I thought that looked odd as I typed it, but it's 6 a.m. here and way past time to get a bit of sleep... :(

The weirdest Scandinavian name I ever heard of was that of the first European documented to have been born in North America over 1000 years ago. The father's name was Thorfinn Karlsefni. The kid's first name was Snorri. By the Viking naming practices, the kid's name would be Snorri Karlsefnisson. I doubt your RL name is any odder than that. ;) The name I use here was taken from the historical Hypatia of Alexandria, who was a scholar, researcher, and teacher in Alexandria. She was a martyr to the cause of Reason when the religious fanatics destroyed the Library, its contents, and murdered as many of the scholars and workers there as they could.

Yes, that's the scene. It does look strange, but after all, it's supposed to. I realize we've all been brought up to be familiar with the concept of FTL and most of us just mentally gloss over that when we read or watch science fiction. But the Dune foldspace technology scene is attempting to show in two dimensions what theoretically takes several more dimensions to achieve. It's going to be weird. Mind you, I'm not saying I actually liked the way the Navigators seemed like they were coughing up planets, but without resorting to diagrams and using technology that didn't exist in 1984, how else would you do it? I'm glad your dad was impressed. :)

I don't think I saw a listing for The Making of Dune by Ed Naha. It's the behind-the-scenes story of how the Lynch movie was made, and an excellent read!

Teachers aren't automatically right. I've called out my teachers in junior high, high school, and college when I've caught them making errors in either grading or what they taught. And I made sure to have proof of what I said, or if they made a stupid decision that they should have realized was wrong, I made sure to correct them privately and politely, instead of embarrassing them in front of the class. However, in the case of incorrect formatting in an essay, the teacher was correct to mark you down. I can't count how many times I had to explain to my clients (college students for whom I typed essays and term papers) the importance of references and footnotes. Even though something may be common knowledge, it's still using someone else's work to not acknowledge where you got a fact. Yes, this instance seems ungodly picky. But it will help you to remember to reference your points in the rest of your essays when it counts much more.

I was 21 when I saw the movie (in the theatre, the way it was meant to be seen). I'd already read the book, and was greatly anticipating the movie. I was also looking forward to seeing Patrick Stewart, although not because of his popularity as Picard -- ST:TNG was three years in the future at the time! I first saw Stewart in I, Claudius, where he played the evil Lucius Aelius Sejanus, and was curious to see how he'd play Gurney Halleck... I guess we'll never know, since the character of Gurney in the movie was not much like the character of Gurney in the book -- and he had that stupid pug dog with him for YEARS' worth of story-time! Why wouldn't the Fremen have taken that mutt's water long before the end of the movie?! I'll get my least favorite scenes out of the way now. I hated the characterization of the Baron. There are scenes that still turn my stomach, and I've seen this movie more times than I can remember. I also hate the bit at the end where Paul makes it rain. That right there is the worst scene in the movie, period. It effectively cancels the previous two hours and 39 minutes the audience has just sat through. As for what I liked... when I sat there and watched the people in Castle Caladan, the palace in Arrakeen, and Sietch Tabr, they looked like real places that real people could live and work in. In other words, they didn't scream "movie set!" to me. The amount of detail that went into the sets is beyond amazing. The music is another part I love about the movie. A lot of fans mock the Guild Navigator scene, but how many of them have sat in a theatre and experienced the sense of total relaxation the music brings? When I was watching the movie, there was a lot of muttering from people who hadn't read the book and couldn't figure out what was going on. But the muttering stopped completely during that scene -- you could have heard a pin drop, the audience was so silent. I've had involved arguments/debates with people over the years about the costuming. I think they got the Fremen entirely wrong. Rubber stillsuits? Especially black rubber stillsuits? It just about killed some of the actors; I can't imagine anybody living an everyday life wearing those things. However... Lynch and the costume designers got the Emperor and the other Imperial characters' costumes exactly right. The people who had to look grungy, did. The aristocracy had fancy, impractical outfits that suit people who don't have to do practical things on a day-to-day basis. Imagine Princess Irulan (the movie character, not the one in the silly butterfly dress from the miniseries, although my point remains the same for that version, too)... going about her daily routine in the lacy, wide-skirted, uncomfortable-looking getup she had on. Sure, I would have bought the Imperial folks' having less elaborate costumes, but as I said... they could afford to be frivolous and elaborate. They weren't the people scrubbing the floors and doing the other work. The scenes I liked... well, I noticed someone here mocking Sting's shower scene. I guess you have to be female to appreciate that scene. ;) I loved the desert vistas, and pretty much any scene with Jurgen Prochnow (yeah, even the one with the dumb pug dog). It's too bad that people will never again be able to see this movie on the big screen, as it was meant to be seen. It's an experience that's completely unlike merely watching it on TV. Me, too. There's the sense that things happen off-camera, as well as on, that there's more to the story than just what we see and hear. Shh.. KJA might hear you! :O Rabban was played by Paul Smith. Jack Nance played Nefud.

I saw Terminator. It wasn't bad, but it's confusing because I missed a few first season episodes. However... there's going to be a Terminator marathon this coming weekend -- the ENTIRE FIRST SEASON! ;D So I'll be able to get caught up with no trouble at all! :)