Author: Skevos Mavros

Star Wars Episode III

I just watched the trailer for the next (last?) Star Wars film. Almost the entire first half was footage and audio from the original Star Wars film (the film everyone else now calls “Episode Four”, but what most of my generation just call “Star Wars”) and the other previous films. The trailer looks great, with lots of shots that suggest some fun scenes. One shot that caught my eye was a brief one of C3PO standing in what looked like the hallway of the Tantive IV Rebel Blockade Runner, a ship we first saw in the opening shot of the first film. Interesting…

Will it be a good movie? There’s no doubt that it will be a great moment when Anakin Skywalker puts on the Darth Vader mask, breathes like Darth Vader, speaks with James Earl Jones’ voice, and is backed up with John Williams‘ Darth Vader Theme – I hope that moment is handled well. But will it be a good movie? Hmmm… It’s got Chewie in it (and a whole load of other Wookies). It’s got a big lightsaber fight between Anakin and Kenobi. Hmmm… Yes, it will rock. Yes. It will. It will (performs Jedi-mind-trick on self).

The trailer reminded me of my trip to Sydney in December 2002 where I saw the Star Wars exhibition. I took a few snaps with my 2MP digital camera of the props, costumes, and models on display. Here are some of them:

Star Wars Exhibition

(click for a larger version)

Super Nerd

I like The Onion, it’s a funny site. But when I read this short article entitled “Nerd Has Most Obscure Crush Ever” it caught my eye. The article starts:

    JACKSONVILLE, FL—The unrequited nature of area nerd June Manzo’s crush on actor Peter Tuddenham, who provides the voice of piloting computer Slave on Blake’s 7, is only slightly more agonizing than the process of explanation she must put herself through every time her media obsession is discussed.

And at this point I thought to myself, “Surely, if she had a crush on Peter Tuddenham, it wouldn’t have been for his Slave voice in particular, as that was only one of the characters he gave voice to, a character that only existed in the final fourth season. Surely she would have developed her crush because Tuddenham also, and more famously, did the voices for the original ship’s computer, Zen, in the earlier seasons, as well as the voice for the portable super-computer Orac throughout the whole series (well, except for Orac’s first episode, where the actor who played Orac’s creator did the voice).”

Then I started to wonder if the author of the piece knew of this error and only put it there to entice B7 fans out into the light. At this point I realised that thinking all this, even knowing this information, meant that I was a bigger sadder nerd than the fictional Ms Manzo, so I went to bed.

The Ladykillers

A review of the classic 1955 movie “The Ladykillers”, released on DVD.

image of Ladykillers title cardThe Ladykillers

I’ve been a big fan of The Ladykillers for a long time. My initial interest in the film was because Peter Sellers and Alec Guinness were in it, so I eventually tracked it down many years ago on late-night television. And it’s true that Guinness is terrific as Professor Marcus, and Sellers, in his first feature, showed a lot of promise – even if he was still a bit inexperienced.

image of Mrs Wilberforce
Mrs Wilberforce takes a nap – maybe for good?

But what I didn’t expect, when I first saw it, was to be so impressed with the whole cast – Herbert Lom, Cecil Parker, Danny Green, and most of all Katie Johnson as Mrs Wilberforce. This little lady, who was seventy-seven at the time, gives a quiet and almost minimalist performance that gently but firmly dominates the film, despite (or because of?) the fact that she is surrounded by the relatively over-the-top antics of the male cast. She is perfect, and this is a nearly perfect film.

I recently rediscovered and rewatched the film thanks to three things: Kareena buying me the DVD of the film (what an amazing new transfer compared to the versions I have seen!); news of a recent remake (the trailer makes it look like it could be rather bad, but if it leads people to the original, then it’s a good thing); and stumbling across a great web page that compares the locations in the film to how they look now (I’ve always found that sort of thing interesting). Here’s a review that contains no spoilers for the second half of the film.

Continue reading “The Ladykillers”

Digital Photos

Skevos shows off some of his less-awful digital photos.

I’ve rediscovered still photography thanks to my two mega-pixel Canon digital camera. The camera doesn’t really offer full manual controls, but it’s so easy to experiment with I’ve taken literally over five thousand photos with it (yes, most of which are awful).

I’ve placed some of my less-awful digital photographs on a seperate server (the deviantart service). You can view them here:

MavArt digital photos

They mostly consist of panorama images created by stitching several digital images together using several pieces of panorama software (mostly I just use the one that came with the camera).

If I Were a US Voter

Skev realises he’s part of the moron vote.

I just visited a web site called presidentmatch.com that asks you a series of policy questions, then presents you with a list of US Presidential candidates ranked in their order of compatibility with your opinions. The results were almost exactly opposite who I would actually vote for – so I suspect the quiz is flawed (or I’m woefully misinformed on some candidates’ policies). Here are my results:
Continue reading “If I Were a US Voter”

Suspended Alibi

A below average thriller that is interesting only for the glimses of a vanished England.

Title: Suspended Alibi
Where:ABC TV
When:2 February 2004 – 2:00am

As the film Suspended Alibi opens, all seems well in the household of Paul Pearson (played by a wooden Patrick Holt). Their house is large and attractive, situated in a leafy suburb that seems green even when viewed on black and white film. Lynn, his attractive if stuffy wife (played by Honor Blackman) sits on the couch wearing a starched dress and a concete hairdo.

Withing minutes of the film starting, she is screaming unconvincingly as her young son dangles a worm in front of her. I’ve seen Ms Blackman do much better in other films so I’m going to blame the script and direction for her passionless performance in this one.

But this peacefull if dull existence is not all it seems. Paul, a newspaper editor, has been having an affair with Diana, his fashion reporter (played by Naomi Chance, who manages to act around some terrible lines). So – right at the start of the film we discover that the central character, the one we are presumably meant to be cheering for, is a cheating cad. Mind you, given the bland stiffness of his wife Lynn throughout most of this film, who can blame him?

Continue reading “Suspended Alibi”

Candles, I’m Sick of Candles

Skevos realises that living under candlelight is not romantic – it’s primitive.

It’s been over twenty-four hours since the power in our place dropped from 240volts to what seems like twelve. The novelty of being without useful power is well and truly over. They say that any society is just three meals away from revolution, well this internet junky has gone two nights without web or email and if things don’t improve soon I’m going to revolt.

Calling the power company is futile, all we get is a recording, “We know there is a problem in your area. Restoration time is unknown. This message will be updated at 8:30”. Each time we call them the list of affected suburbs gets a little shorter and the next update a little later, but no change here since yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately today I told my students to email me if they had any questions or suggestions for day two of the course – but without power I can’t check emails. Bugger.