Categories: Review

Star Tours: The Adventure Continues

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Published on: June 10, 2011

I’m bad at writing reviews without giving some spoilers, but I don’t think I am giving you any information that you didn’t already know or see from the commercials.

As most Disney fans know: When a new ride opens up, keep clear for about a year. That would normally have stood true for me, but since my layoff I am able to do things earlier that I used to. That being said, I went to Disneyland yesterday in order to catch this new Star Tours ride. For those of you that don’t know, the original Star Tours opened in 1987 and was worse for wear by the time it was closed in late 2010. The video quality had suffered and the animatronics were looking pretty bad.

George Lucas and Disney decided to revamp it and add better effects as well as give you more than one destination. The plan at the beginning was to able to travel to different planets, but for some reason that never happened. Now you are able to travel to a random planet by way of a random location. The idea behind this is keep this ride fresh each time you ride it. I am told that there are about 50 combinations that you can experience and maybe room for more.

I showed up at 8:30am, a half hour before opening. Main Street was open for all of the people wanting to spend early. I bought a coffee as I do (free refills all day) and waited until the rope dropped. As soon as the park opened, everyone pretty much took a step and they were in line for Star Tours. The park hadn’t been open 5 minutes before they announced that there would be an hour wait. It was really about 45 minutes, but I was determined this time to do it and that was the only reason i was there. That and the coffee (free refills all day).

I tend to find things predictable, so when my Star Speeder ended up in the Pod Race scene from Star Wars Episode 1 and the space battle scene from Episode 3 I can honestly say I was disappointed. Not with the overall effects and visual, but because I didn’t enjoy those movies (Episode 3 was better than the other 2). I also remembered that the simulator ride always made me feel sick and break out in a cold sweat. I think this may have something to do with poor air movement and a room full of people breathing heavy at the same time.

Did I mention it is now in 3D? It’s okay, but it doesn’t add to any “realism” since everything is CG and the lighting feels closer to a video game than anything cinema quality.

I was more impressed with the queue than the ride, but that’s the designer in me. They did a great job updating the droids as well as paying homage to the previous Star Tour ride. The twin droids that talked to you while you were line are still there, now updated and cleaned up. I gotta say, I loved their animation before, but now they are amazing. I spoke with some employees after the ride and they asked if I caught all of the hidden stuff in the queue. I hadn’t, but that makes me want to see more.

Should you wait the 225 minutes or get a fast pass with a return time of an hour before the park closes? Hell no. It’s not THAT good. You could be the biggest Star Wars fan and maybe wait 90 minutes, but the 225 minutes I have seen posted is horrible. Wait until after the summer and all the kids are back in school.

(Reposted from My other site)

A Compendium of Notable Legal Quotations

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Published on: December 23, 2009

A Compendium of Notable Legal Quotations (ISBN 978-1432749026) by Michael Rapkine

With just over 500 passages arranged by historical era, this collection contains very little filler, essentially presenting a string of “all-star” legal quotations. This volume is a recommended read or gift for the law student, lawyer and judge – not to mention anybody interested in the legal profession. As should be said of any good read, Rapkine’s reference book accomplishes two goals – it entertains as well as educates. . .

I’ve checked out the excerpts of the book and found a few familiar names. Probably one of my favorites would have to be:

“If books and laws continue to increase as they have done for fifty years past; I am in some concern for future ages, how any man will be learned, or any man a lawyer.”

~JONATHAN SWIFT
Thoughts on Various Subjects, 1711

Review: “Avatar” or “Why Humans Suck”

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Published on: December 21, 2009

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Hawkeye and I saw Avatar last night. First off, let me say that James Cameron is full of himself. This does not appear to be the “future of how we watch movies”, however, this was the prettiest movie I have seen. WETA did an amazing job on the aliens in this film, skin that moved and had translucency as well as realistic looking teeth. They have completely topped themselves from their work on Lord of the Rings. Even clothing fell more realistically than it should have.

The story, as many of you know, is about the humans wanting to relocate the inhabitants of the planet Pandora in order to gain access to valuable ore. The scientists have created human/alien hybrid shells in order to breathe the atmosphere and try and gain the aliens trust. The people that are piloting these bodies are put into a sleep state and then transferred to the bodies. One of the scientists died before the movie starts and his brother, a crippled marine and a DNA for the body, is asked to be the new pilot. Only because making these bodies is expensive and the humans didn’t want to waste the money.

So Marine gets in the body and starts meeting locals… gets in their favor, falls out of favor, rinse and repeat a few times.

See this movie for the visuals, not for the story. The alien portion of Avatar is a very nice, warming experience that is probably not too far off from Native American tales. The human story is over the top, almost 80′s cop drama. I couldn’t help but think “Isn’t anyone in charge here?.”

As pretty as the movie is, I can’t help but see similarities that are already around. Pandora felt a bit too much like the forests from World of Warcraft and the aliens felt a bit like the Draenei. I’m not complaining though… I have been going through my quarterly “I miss WoW” moment.

Does this movie need to be in 3D? Not one bit. It was a nice touch, but not needed. It was done well and at time you wanted to swat bugs out of your face, but it didn’t support the movie as it was a polished accent to it. See this movie in the theater. The amount of detail is worth it.

Would I buy this when it comes out? Like the Planet Earth series, I wouldn’t buy this until I had a blueray player, large TV and great sound system.

What’s your take on the Prisoner on AMC?

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Published on: November 17, 2009
Number 2 and 6

Number 2 and 6

When I first heard about the remake of The Prisoner, I figured, ‘why not, everything is being remade’, I wasn’t pissed, but I wasn’t overjoyed. I was a fan of the 1960′s Prisoner starring Patrick McGoohan, but not a big fan, but I thought the show was amazing. Thanks to Angst for introducing it to me.
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This remake instead of being filmed in the amazing Village of Portmeirion in Wales, our new #6 finds himself in a vast desert. The story actually plays out in very reminiscent ways to the original. Maybe with the site gags at least… the white ball of doom, the map of the Village, but there are things that I wanted to see that were not involved. At least it looks like he doesn’t want to be there… right?
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The Penny-farthing bicycle logo, the black coats with the white trim and the consistent “Be seeing you” are non existent. There was a hint of the coat at the beginning and one or two Be Seeing You’s, but I needed more. I wanted to see the old guy with the top hat gas #6 after his resignation. More importantly, I wanted the residents of the Village to be spies and agents as they were in the original. I am only one episode in, but this what I have concluded so far. I will give it another chance, but so far I am liking V a whole lot more.

I don’t know if this version of the series has the same rewatch-ability, but I suppose only time will tell.

Now I have to wait until December 19th before my Doctor Who: Water on Mars review…

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