loonyblog.

I’ve already pledged my undying love for Criterion over their two-disc Videodrome DVD, but now that it’s actually in my grubby hands, I have to tip my proverbial hat to them over this one…they’ve really outdone themselves. Aside from the insane special edition features that exceed even my wildest dreams, the DVD booklet clocks in at a whopping 40 pages, and it has beyond a doubt, the best box art I’ve ever seen. The two disc set is within a cardboard sleeve containing the art you’ve already seen, but the actual DVD case contains an awesome mock-VHS image that’s so well done it’s scary. Take a look:

That’s not grime on my scanner…the art is done that way intentionally to look aged. It’s a great effect.

God bless those people at Criterion. Sniff. As an added plus, over the weekend I sold my original Videodrome DVD back to GameStop to get credit towards my pre-order of Fable. Life, she is good.

(#2 in a series)

Despite the fact that it’s since become a first person shooter staple (going back as far as the original Wolf 3D), the chaingun wielded by Jesse Ventura in the original Predator was hardly practical. For one thing, it weighed so much that there were safety lines holding it upright when it was in use. But that’s just one of many problems. Another is that it turned so fast, they had to crank it down just so it would show up on film!

But probably the nicest factoid, is that it only held enough bullets for five seconds of fire. The chaingun was intended to be mounted on a jeep, not carried, as it is in the film. Because of this, it was impossible to have any serious amount of ammo. There were two guys behind Ventura with bullets for the weapon at all times. Thanks to that stupid-fast firing rate, at the end of each take, the actor was buried up to his ankles in shells.

So cool. Yet so impractical

System Shock 3 with the Doom 3 engine. ’nuff said.

Heck, even a remake of System Shock 2 with this engine would be the scariest game of all time. I honestly don’t think I could play that game. It would freak me out too much.

According to a panel of noted scientists, the best sci-fi movie of all time is…Blade Runner.

Well…duh.

Actually the rest of their list is pretty good too. I only have a few issues with it. For one thing, get The Matrix off that list. Scientists should know better. But I also take exception to the exclusion of Return of the Jedi among the Star Wars films (Ewoks and all, it’s my favorite of the lot), and I happen to be one of those people who thinks The Day the Earth Stood Still is a ridiculously overrated film. I mean, it’s not bad, but is it worth its acclaim? Heck no. Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a better film from the same era.

And I’d also take off War of the Worlds, too. It’s a great book, the radio adaptation is a landmark, and it’s a decent film, but I can’t say that really belongs on the list. Me, I’d put Planet of the Apes on there long before War of the Worlds of The Day the Earth Stood Still (to say nothing about The Matrix).

Playing Doom 3 this evening, I discovered something that’s definitely a first for a first person shooter:

Ladies and gentlemen, the barrels in this screenshot…aren’t explosive. I’m not joking. I actually shot them a few times, expecting them to explode like every previous barrel in this, or any other FPS I’ve ever played. But incredibly, these don’t seem to contain explosive material. I’d heard of such things in the Real World^TM but I never expected to see such unprecedented realism in a first person shooter. Truly groundbreaking stuff here.

Yep, I’ve seen Alien vs. Predator and lived to tell the tale. Read on for the full review, or actually just the fanboi bitchfest it turned out to be (sorry, but I’m a fan…what do you want me to do?).

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That’s literally what my pharmacy just told me as I got off the phone with them. Earlier today I went in to pick up my refilled prescriptions. I had called them in yesterday, and today I walked over there and picked them up. No problems. Or at least, not until I got home anyway. As I was taking out my pills, I noticed that there was an extra bottle in there. It took me a few moments to figure out that this was in fact someone else’s prescription that had somehow made its way into my bag.

Now, I’m no pharmacist, but even I know that this is quite possibly the worst thing that could ever happen to someone in that vocation. So I called my local Rite Aid and had a strange and somewhat amusing conversation with someone in the pharmacy there.

Needless to say, the conversation sounded a bit like slapstick comedy, with the poor woman in the pharmacy desperately hoping that I didn’t wind up with someone’s life-saving medication. Fortunately, it looks like I didn’t, and this was purely a vitamin supplement. Still, nothing puts the fear of god into a pharmacist like something like this.

Fortunately for me, it’s not like I didn’t get my own medication, and I didn’t even overpay. For reasons nobody there could seem to figure out, G**** R*****’s prescription wound up attached to my own. There will of course be an investigation I’m sure, but in the mean time I’m going to rush G**** R*****’s prescription back to Rite Aid before that person comes looking for his/her pills.

With so many great games coming out this year, I’ve been forced, like many of you I’m sure, to decide which games to buy and which games to relegate to the ol’ Wish List. Luckily for me, one of the games has already come out, and I was able to purchase with with 100% store credit from games sold back to my local GameStop. But there are still lots of games to come, and I’m planning on only picking up five more for the rest of the year (we’ll see how well I manage to stick to this). Read on for the full list.

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I just watched the Shacknews segment from this week’s Pulse on G4, and boy was it ever cool. A bit surreal perhaps, but really cool nonetheless. If you get G4, you can catch the show during one of the reruns, or if not, just go download the segment from G4 (Updated with new download URL). It’s a hoot and a half.

Was it really necessary to release the first season of Star Trek on DVD in such goofy packaging? I mean, aren’t us trekkies dorky enough as it is without having to be seen carrying around this thing?

Having said that, I don’t care how goofy the Borg Megacube is…I still want it.