20 September 2005

Hawking strikes again

From an email I got from Amazon: "In the 17 years since the publication of "A Brief History of Time," new data from particle physics and observational astronomy have shed light on efforts to find a Grand Unified Theory of Everything that Hawking and Mlodinow use to enhance and update their answers to basic questions about the universe: where it's going and how it began." Spiffy, eh? Not so sure on the title, though--"A Briefer History of Time"? Moderately clever, I suppose. It's due out on the 27th. If you preorder, you can save 34% (no, I don't work for Amazon, I just want my readers to save a cool 850 pennies).

New trig?

There's a new math in town! I know, I know...there's always a new math in town. But this one could actually be useful for you and me. And unlike other new maths, this one's actually easier than the old one. Trig without a calculator? Sign me up. Click here for a sample chapter (PDF alert).
Thanks to Slashdot for the info.

04 September 2005

Labor Day weekend? More like Warhammer weekend...

Yes, I'm aware of my silliness.
We're in Lawrence! We ate at 75th St. Brewery (or somesuch number) earlier with Newgen and Andrea, and it was quite good. Now we're at Silent K's apartment getting ready to play some Warhammer. I'll let you know how that goes...

03 September 2005

I decree it!

/decree no more football games during the hottest part of the freaking day!

Best bad movie ever? Mayhap...

So I signed up for Netflix the other day, and what's the first movie I got?  Why, the 1979 classic The Warriors, of course.  It’s a street-gang movie, and the guys who came up with Necromunda must have had this movie in mind.  The setting is entirely different (this takes place in NYC) but the variety and…um… flamboyance of the gangs in the game has to have been inspired by this movie.  I can’t believe I haven’t seen it until now.

The basic premise is this: there’s a huge meeting of all the major gangs in the city, and everyone comes unarmed.  Someone, of course, sneaks a gun in and kills Cyrus, the leader who called the meeting to unite the gangs, and a small gang called The Warriors is blamed.  They then have to fight their way home through enemy territory.  Not a terribly complex plot, I know, and the acting is Terrible (yes, the capital T is called for), but it’s very entertaining.  I have to recommend it.

And here’s some more Warriors info.  There’s a game based on the movie coming out around the end of the year (by Rockstar, so it should be good), and MTV is supposedly working on a remake.  Now that I’m an official fan of the original movie, I’m worried about MTV being involved with it, since they produce crap.  (And yes, there is a difference between ‘70s B-movie crap and modern MTV crap.)  But really, they’re probably the only ones who’d ever do it anyway, so go for it MTV.  You gave me Napoleon Dynamite, a movie that shouldn’t be funny but is.  Maybe you can give me a ‘modernized’, politically correct remake that I should hate but won’t.  You’ll get my $7 either way, because if you make it, I can’t not see it.