Dictum Ridiculum - May 2005

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Dictum Ridiculum: May 2005

Archived rants and raves from the main page of the Colin Campbell Network.

Sunday, May 15, 2005
I Can't Wait for the Oscars, 2006
Why? Because if there's any justice in the world, we'll get to see Beyoncé performing this incredibly catchy ditty from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Of course, it's sung by dolphins in the movie... and is hilarious... but somehow, I don't think they'd be able to get that many cetaceans on stage at the Kokak Theatre. Plus, the "potential production number disaster rating" for this song on the Oscar™ telecast is off the charts. I mean, you just KNOW they'd bring out dancers in dolphin suits to scurry around the stage...
As for the film itself? Hitchhiker's Guide, in its various forms (radio, book, record, TV show), was probably one of the biggest influences on the development of my sense of humor as a kid. And yes, I've come to grips with the whole "The thing about Hitchhiker's Guide is, as true fans know, every version is different," line that's been floated around in more reviews than I care to remember. I've seen the film twice, now. I didn't really enjoy it the first time... but after realizing that there was no shame in having this film be my fifth favorite version of this story, had quite a pleasant time on my repeat visit.
What was interesting to me was the audience I saw it with the second time. My repeat viewing was at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, and came with bonus features -- prop displays, digital projection, etc. -- that seemed to make a second trip worth it. But this audience, although small, had a much, much better time at the film than did my first audience. (By way of comparison, the person I saw it the first time with slept through a good two-thirds of the film, and she was one of the more responsive audience members.) People at this second screening were laughing, applauding, getting involved... and that really makes a difference.
A final note: I certainly liked the film better than this guy, who seems to me to be exhibiting all the classic signs of burn out. Maybe time and distance will help ease the bitterness?
Because, as it turns out, the filmmaker's took one of my all-time favorite stories, and told their version of it. And it wasn't as good as the radio show, or the novel, or the TV series, or the book on tape, or even the original text-based computer game... but it was pretty damn good and funny, nonetheless.
Transmitted 02:45 PM PST | Link |

Friday, May 6, 2005
See, Here's Another
Just click and go check this out, Shockwave required.
Coolness.
Transmitted 02:53 PM PST | Link |

I'm In A Post-y Mood
I come across a lot of cool things on the 'net, and yep, I'm in post-y mood. So, while I'm trying to be better about writing for the site, I'm also going to try to post links to other fun stuff more often.
And today's entrant is a very cool Timeline of Images, featuring one result from the first page of Google Image Results from each year back to 1900. It's cool!
Oh, and I saw the story about the "time travel convention" hit the mainstream media. Digging it...
Transmitted 11:23 AM PST | Link |

Thursday, May 5, 2005
Fire Up the Delorean...
I'm not sure if it's real, or a joke, or a real joke -- physics humor can be so dense, or at least, so -- but if it's not a joke, then be sure to stop by The Time Traveler Convention at M.I.T..
And if you can't make it there this weekend, then, you know... they'll be there forever. So stop by, eventually...
Transmitted 07:50 PM PST | Link |

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