In my continuing struggle against the collection of financial wealth, I have gone out and found the widescreen DVD of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and a model kit of NCC-1701 USS Enterprise as represented in her 1960s appearance.

Some time next year, I'll write my thoughts on LOEG, because that's a micro-den Beste of its own. Suffice it to say that I was favorably inclined towards the movie, and wished more had been done with it. To the model kit:

It's a snap-together model (yay!) that can be assembled and insignia-ed for seven variations. Parts are included to create Enterprise as she appeared in the first pilot, "The Cage"; the second pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", and as the regular series vessel. Deep students of the series will know more about this, but the cosmetics largely involve what you cap the warp nacelles with, and what the bridge looks like. Decals are included to also replicate USS Constellation, USS Exeter, USS Defiant, or ISS Enterprise as seen in "Mirror, Mirror".

I've got zero model-building ability (evidenced by a partially-completed Airfix 1/600 HMS Hood that's sat idle for two and a half years and a never-started 1/750 HMS King George V) but I might be able to pull this one off. If USS Constellation as seen in the 2260s ever arises, the readers will be notified.

At any rate, I found these items at the den of evil (no, not Barad-dur; I mean the greater evil in the Mid-west known as Wal-mart) for reasonable prices, and I may yet go back and get another Enterprise in order to have a couple completed ones. Hooray.

Happy New Year to all those who have read since this blog's incept date.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 03:21 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Happiness is a fully-configured Alco Century C630 for either the Norfolk & Western Railway or the Penn Central Railroad, installed in Microsoft's Train Simulator and pulling coal on the Delaware & Hudson Railroad's Susquehanna Division.

That makes sense to a handful of readers, but I got some Alco Centuries installed into Train Simulator today, and they're awfully fun to drive around. Brief historical note: Alco, the American Locomotive Company, built its last locomotive in the United States in 1969, driven from the market by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division and their proven GP/SD locomotives, and by General Electric's Universal series.

The Penn Central Railroad would go into the history books on April 1, 1976, after five years of bankruptcy. The Consolidated Rail Corporation, Conrail, would replace it. Conrail's locomotives are light blue and white, and most of the ones still around today say "CONRAIL QUALITY" on the flanks. Conrail itself was bought by Norfolk Southern and CSX in 1999.

The Norfolk & Western Railway, which has run past my house for decades, merged with the Southern Railway System in 1982 to form Norfolk Southern, the Thoroughbred of Transportation. Currently, NS locomotives form the backbone of my collection.

This has nothing to do with politics, other than that the Penn Central was widely regarded as a Republican railroad. Heh heh heh.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:19 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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As stated in yesterday's solitary (and just published today due to continued forgetfulness) post, I did see Return of the King. On with the story: OK, so I got finished with that three and a half hour movie, and I'm left cold.

This was the grand movie that had been built up for about a year? Yawn. I didn't look at my watch, but only through force of will; certainly not through focus upon the screen. ROTK carried great hopes; I'd already been disappointed if not outraged by the flop of The Matrix: Revolutions and was counting on Peter Jackson to expunge the disappointing The Two Towers and do what Andy and Larry Wachowski couldn't, i.e. conclude a trilogy with a bang, not a whimper.

Obviously, I was expecting too much. Anyways, I've got several points to make:

1. I liked the summoning of the army of the dead. That was cool, especially when Aragorn et al looked around to see an entire city of green fog emerging out of the darkness. Of course, I'm a sucker for things like that, and I wish we'd seen more of their slaughter of the orcs at Minas Tirith. Of course, I think I also would have tried to figure out a way to talk them into following me to the battle at the Black Gate, if I'd been Aragorn. However, they did earn their reward, so I wouldn't have been hopeful on retaining their services.

2. I wasn't impressed at all with the Witch King, or the nine proper at all throughout this series. These great evils, these most dangerous lieutenants of Sauron, all billed as these engines of destruction, and they're militarily worthless. All they managed to provide at Minas Tirith was some token air support and some psychological warfare operations. Peh, I bet Sauron's Department of Defense is going to get in deep trouble for spending billions on the Ringwraith program. (At the same time, the element of fear in primitive troops can be an extremely useful weapon, but I would have preferred to see them lay the smack down and earn their keep.)

The Witch King, billed by Gandalf in the movie as Mr. Ultimate Bad-ass, State of the Bad-ass Art, was about as effective in combat as a Frenchman: Lots of talk, not much action. Gandalf's words built up the chief wraith as some sort of killing machine that would stride through the fields of battle leaving ruin, death, and despair in his wake. Instead, it's laid to waste (after a ridiculous speech) by Eowyn and Meriadoc, in what has to be one of the most anti-climactic moments of an anti-climactic movie. Admittedly, this movie does much to cement Eowyn as my second-favorite LOTR babe. Not only does she not have Steven Tyler's genes floating around in her (nor would I have to deal with Agent Smith as an in-law) but she's handy-dandy with a sword and doesn't run away when faced by an empty-helmet monster.

My response to them is on the order of C. Montgomery Burns: "Oooh, the Ringwraiths! I'm so scared! Ooooh, the Ringwraiths!" Bloody worthless they are, for all the build-up they get. Sauron should have just tried to create a team of agents; that would've been more effective and Hugo Weaving wouldn't have had to change his hair work. "Hear that, Mr. Elessar? It is the sound of Sauron; it is the sound of your death..."

3. Was it just me, or was Gandalf not much help? He's billed as "Mithrandir", the uber-powerful back-from-the-dead magician of all power, and capable of much smacking down. Other than swing a sword and talk a little bit, what's he do? He shines a light in the eyes of the evil fell beast that's stalking the remants of the Gondor Expeditionary Force as it retreats from Osgiliath. Even that's ultimately worthless in that all the men in that retreat save Faramir probably wind up dead after Denethor's Bright Idea goes badly.

In conversations with boy of heterophobic I figured out from his advice that Gandalf is more Merlin than Palpatine. Where I expect a veritable Dark Lord of the Sith, with enhanced combat abilities and blue lightning-from-the-fingers, remote strangulation, and the ability to move things with the Force, I actually get wise counsel and the like. Boy further tells me that the role of Gandalf's race is to counsel the people of Middle Earth in the war against Sauron. Gee, so they're like Henry Kissinger? Nothing's special about being a servant of the secret fire other than intelligence? Less Maia, more Mensa, I suppose.

Anyways. Since Gandalf's effectively immortal, I found it almost laughable that he was encouraging the men of Gondor to stand their ground against a large enemy force that was coming through the door. "Stand and fight!" "Yes, I suppose that's a noble statement for someone who can't die. Bloody well sour for the rest of us, don't you think?"

All of that in the face of the fact that both Gandalf and Saruman were capable of physical magic in the first movie---did Gandalf forget something while he was away?

At any rate, I prefer Ian McKellen as Richard Gloucester or Erik Lensherr. It would have been amusing to have seen him quip, "You forces of Sauron and your swords..." right before wreaking havoc on the assembled army as they approached Minas Tirith.

4. Speaking of Faramir, did he do anything important after telling Gandalf that Frodo was still advancing? Other than that foolish charge of his (yeah, a real man would have said, "Dad, I'm not going to die just for your depression! The enemy has had time to dig in and they are superior in number. Any attack against them by our forces would be a useless gesture. There is no captain here that is stupid enough to charge them") I can't really recall him being anything other than a sack of flour for immolation. On the other hand, I was really fond of Sean Bean's Boromir. I suppose he was the character with whom I could most identify, because I would have said the same things he did about the usefulness of the Ring. "Wait, we've got this super-powerful Ring thing here and there's Ultimate Doom stirring in the East for one last big push, and we've got the weapon to stop him, and we're sitting here talking?" To steal from Arthur C. Clarke's Walter Curnow as visualized in Peter Hyams' 2010, "The ayes have it".

5. Gollum/Smeagol annoyed me. He's the Jar-Jar Binks of the LOTR movie trilogy, and just about as annoying. Yes, yes, I know he's more important to the story than a jive-talking Gungan, but I got to the point where I dreaded seeing Frodo or Sam because I knew that annoying CGI monstrosity wouldn't be far behind. I agreed with Sam real quick in wanting to kill Stinker, and I wish he'd fallen down to Minas Morgul. (Admittedly, the look of that place and Frodo's wandering towards the city as the Ring led him was cool.)

Similarly, I think we already know what goes on with Gollum enough to know that he's a ruined hobbit who was corrupted by the Ring. The whole flashback sequence did nothing for me, and made me first want to look at my watch. That's never a good sign.

6. The score was nothing to write home about, and I wasn't fond of Annie Lennox's contribution. Admittedly, I remember nothing about it, or the score to The Two Towers either. On the other hand, "The Bridge at Khazad-Dum" and the music for Lothlorien are spectacular, along with the lament for the (not-so) fallen Gandalf.

7. In surfing around the blog world prior to the viewing of this movie, a distinct sense of "greatest film ever" was palpable. National Review seemed to be almost triumphant about the greatness of this film, as were several other conservatives. Not that I'm particularly susceptible to movie hype any more---The Phantom Menace cured me of that---but the standard Thompson-issue suspicion and paranoia kicks in when people keep swooning over something and I don't.

Where are the rousing speeches (Aragorn's speech fell flat because apparently Viggo Mortensen doesn't believe in what he said) that were supposed to inspire us against Islamist terror? Where was the thing speaking to our times et cetera et cetera? Sure I liked Theoden's address before the Rohirrim charged the orcs at Pelennor Field (muahaha, six thousand mounted cavalry against midget troops not smart enough to form square or to have automatic weapons, whee!) but I couldn't really see anyone delivering these remarks in the present day. They'd be laughed out of the venue. (Whether that's a good thing or not is the subject of a longer and much more morose separate post.)

Most importantly, where was Cate Blanchett? The entire sequence that took place in Lorien was enchanting. Heck, whenever she was on screen, I sat up in my seat with rapt attention, leaning forward with eyes wide open, staring in disbelief. I had great hopes for that sequence when Frodo was running from Shelob and he sees a quick vision to inspire him forward, but alas that led nowhere. Likewise, I was hopeful for her appearance at the dock with the rest of the crew in The End (Part III or IV), but she just stands there and shoots a weird glance off to the vessel. What was that glance all about, anyways? "Psst, we've got a keg on board"? Enh, the lack of substantive Galadriel really kinda dragged down this film, as it did the second one. Too much Arwen, I think...

In closing: Better than Revolutions, inferior to Jedi. Will be better than the third Star Wars prequel. That still isn't saying much, though. The Wachowskis can at least claim that one of their number was busy with a dominatrix and Lucas can claim that his last directorial success was Star Wars, but Peter Jackson's responsible for The Fellowship of the Ring, a movie which held me in thrall to its audio-visual presentation of an utterly compelling story. He follows that with these two movies?

I might buy the DVD---still don't own the Two Towers, period---and hope that repeating viewings will increase my enjoyment of this film. I am not, however, optimistic of that, unless I fast forward through all the sequences with Gollum.

UPDATE: Boy of heterophobic provided much Tolkein knowledge for the post, although he distinctly did not agree with my conclusions.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 02:10 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I've been browsing through some remarks at the Internet Movie Database in regards to this Angels in America thing that HBO has put on---haven't seen it, won't see it, don't care about homosexual theater¹---and it appears that Emma Thompson and Meryl Streep reportedly share some sort of mid-air kiss.

Well isn't that just special. I had hoped that the end of the 1990s would put an end to this radical chic thing of making grandiose statements with female homosexual expression, but I suppose that some people haven't gotten the memo about the turn of the century. Felgercarb, to steal a line from an old favorite television show.

I'd been moderately fond of Emma Thompson since seeing her as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing in high school, and had been willing to overlook her turn as the ersatz Hillary Rodham Clinton in Primary Colors. But this, yech, banishment to the blacklist. There's no commentary necessary for Meryl Streep, whose last performance of note I considered to be The River Wild.

Sigh. Enh, just another reason to dismiss another downward notch in the cultural spiral. Once upon a time, good things came out of the theater and were celebrated. Why can't we have a cheerful and positive thing like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers or something like that? Admittedly, it'd be Seven Husbands for Seven Brothers if written today, and the Pontipee brothers would all be into various things that one could have seen in Times Square before Giuliani cleaned it up. (Oklahoma with Hugh Jackman was on PBS earlier in the month, but you were too busy to notice. --Ed.)

Quoting Harry Turtledove's Robert E. Lee again: "Too bad! Oh, too bad!"

¹ Lemme get this straight: It's about Roy Cohn, evil Republicans, and isn't-it-awful-about-AIDS? Bah. We've already been down this road. It's the last twenty years of AIDS activist propaganda, for pete's sake, and, to steal a line from Michelle Branch, I just don't care.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Heard on a local public radio broadcast:

Winston Churchill was not fond of his Labour Party successor, Clement Atlee, who launched a massive nationalization of various sectors of the British economy. One day, Churchill entered the bathroom at the House of Commons and saw Atlee there as well. Sir Winston promptly chose the farthest position from Atlee in order to continue his business, and was addressed by Atlee: "Feeling stand-offish today?"

To this, Churchill replied, (roughly): "I do so because every time you see something big, you want to nationalize it."

Tee hee. WC's humor in the WC. Gotta love it.

This story has not, however, been independently verified.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 05:03 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Those of you who read Chris Muir's Day By Day (linked over there in the "CARTOONS" section) are probably aware of the antagonistic relationship between Damon and Jan.

With that in mind, see today's cartoon.

Now, everyone in the reading audience say, "Awwwwww" all together now, on three. Or not. Anyways, I read that and was amused. Congratulations, Jan. You've managed to perhaps drive off the object of your interest, but go figure.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:48 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I ran across this today posted here:

Resized by me.

This is probably the best use of that insipid commercial's format, for what it's worth. Tee hee hee.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 10:54 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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I stopped in at the local Borders bookstore today, and while wading through the gobs of latte-sipping bobos, I managed to find a most wonderful thing, a 25th anniversary edition of the original soundtrack to Battlestar Galactica.

This means about zilch to most of the audience, but nevertheless, I thought I'd start trying to get the word out. I own the 1999 Royal Scottish National Orchestra version; bought that several years ago, but it's not the same. For obvious reasons, the score I'm used to hearing is decidely not what's on the RSNO disc. I do, however, concur in the judgment of the Filmtracks review and suggest that you ought to pick up the RSNO release, because it is objectively a good recording.

This disc is the original Stu Phillips/Los Angeles Philharmonic recording from 1978 remastered at 96k/24-bit (whatever that means), presented with an extra track that happens to be a disco version of the Galactica main theme. Yeah, er...whatever. I can't imagine anyone in a disco doing those weird dances to such a thing, but then I had a hard time believing Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" was redone into a reasonably successful club tune in the 1990s, too.

Liner notes are from Mark Altman, co-publisher of Cinefantastique, a veteran sci-fi movie magazine; Glen A. Larson, the creator; Stu Phillips the composer; and Richard Hatch, who played Apollo on the series. Most of 'em are worth reading, so for once the liner notes aren't annoying.

Glen Larson apparently still believes the premise of the show, that "life here began out there" and that "there may yet be brothers of Man who even now fight to survive far, far away amongst the stars..." Moving back to reality, Larson also says he's negotiated the feature film rights and suggests that a movie will be around soon. Here's hoping he's a) right and b) uses as much of the 1970s look as possible, because there's something special about it; for whatever reason, the look of the show is distinct and appreciable.

I did, of course, snap this disc up without a second thought, and if you're a fan of the series or like the late 1970s sci-fi soundtrack genre in general, I'd recommend purchasing it. It's been a decent year for Galactica fans, what with the original series on DVD and the Sci-Fi remake starting tomorrow. I don't get either of them, 'cause I'm broke for the latter and don't get Sci-Fi. This is unfortunate, because I'd be watching if my lousy local provider gave me such things. I'd gladly trade Lifetime and Bravo for it, if you bums are listening.

NB: Galactica gave us two of the Holy Trinity of 1970s TV Sci-Fi Babes in the persons of Maren Jensen's Athena and Jane Seymour's Serina. The third is, of course, Erin Gray's Colonel Wilma Deering in the first season of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. [It goes without saying that Carrie Fisher's Leia Organa reigns supreme in the grand scheme of things, though.]

Posted by: Country Pundit at 11:20 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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