That got me thinking about which other trailers were, in my opinion, equally awesome? I could only think of two recent examples: Inception and Watchmen.

Here are all three for your viewing (and listening) pleasure:

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)

Inception (2010)

Watchmen (2009)

After years of wanting a large screen HDTV, on Friday I finally went out and bought one. And boy was it worth it!

Sitting on the sofa in our living room, this is what our old 32” CRT TV looked like:

And this is what our new 50” Plasma TV looks like:

The larger screen makes a big difference, doesn’t it? :)

What Did You Get?

For those who are interested, I ended up getting the Samsung PS50C7000, which is a 50” (127cm) Series 7 (i.e. 2010) Plasma TV:

I did quite a lot of research before selecting this model and reviews like this from CNET were very encouraging:

The Samsung PS50C7000 is one of the best plasmas on the market and boasts one of the most complete feature sets available. Not quite deserving of full marks, though. [CNET Australia]

As well as this one from PC World:

The Samsung Series 7 (PS50C7000) plasma is very nearly the best television we’ve tested. It’s got an excellent design and generally great picture quality, only falling short in overall black levels. 3D is handled well but there are still a few aberrations; it is fine for occasional casual viewing. The Series 7 (PS50C7000) does a great job on Internet connectivity as well, making it an excellent all-round performer we’d happily recommend. [PC World]

My main research source was CHOICE, though, and they recommended this as one of the best 127-132cm TVs to buy (Note: Report viewable by members only):

CHOICE also named Samsung the ‘Best Television Brand’ in its 2011 Choice Awards. Panasonic and Sony were the other two TV brands that received the highest overall performance and CHOICE member customer satisfaction scores.

This TV also met all of my basic requirements:

• 40-50”, Full HD (i.e. 1080p), LCD or Plasma
• HDMI, Component, Composite, USB, and Audio In/Out connectivity
• HD tuner built-in
• RGA port included (i.e. it can be used as a computer monitor)
• LAN/wireless connector
• DLNA certified (i.e. works with streaming media players/servers on your network)

Basically, this was last year’s top end Plasma model from Samsung so it had everything I wanted and even a few things that I didn’t want (like 3D capabilities).

Timing is Everything

The best part is that, in the annual consumer electronics cycle, April is when most new TV models hit the market. So, if you’re happy to buy the previous year’s model, March and April are when you get the best discounts(assuming the TV you want is still in stock). As it happens, I got this TV for about half its market launch price :)

LCD vs Plasma

In the choice between LCD and Plasma, I’m an audiophile and videophile so the superior picture quality of Plasmas has always appealed to me.

Also, in our price range of “just over A$1,000”, I had a choice of getting:

• a cheaper brand LCD,
• a better brand LCD from 2-3 years ago,
• a more recent model of a better brand LCD that had a smaller screen (e.g. 32-40”), or
• a better brand plasma from last year.

When you look at it that way, the choice of getting the plasma was obvious (assuming your aim was to get the largest screen size appropriate to your TV/living room).

Which Store?

I ended up getting our TV from RetraVision, which has one of the best range of Samsung TVs.

I got there at about 8pm on Friday night and, fifteen minutes later, I was done. The TV got delivered the next morning and I spent much of yesterday (Saturday) setting it up.

Yes, this has been a fun weekend :)

What Next?

Now that we have an HDTV, we need high definition content to watch.

We already get some HD stuff from our free-to-air digital channels but my next step is to upgrade our Foxtel set top box to the iQHD and our subscription package to include HD channels (21 of them).

After that, we’ll think about getting a Blu-Ray player and some Blu-Ray discs. And, once we do that, we’ll think about getting a home theatre audio system. None of this will be any time soon, though. Certainly not till next year.

Fortunately, this is only the start of our life in HD so there’s a long way to go, yet. Let the fun begin! :)

I highly recommend you read them; particularly the third one because Ellen Ripley is my favourite action hero.

The Fantasy of Girl World: Lady Nerds and Utopias

When we see the word “nerd,” we don’t think of women. We almost can’t. All of that geeky energy, that willingness to dive totally into your own anti-social obsessions, is diametrically opposed to our idea of what girls are for. There’s science involved, for one thing. And for another, girls aren’t sorted into cool or uncool; they’re sorted into likable and unlikable.

Read the whole thing here: ‘The Fantasy of Girl World: Lady Nerds and Utopias’

Lady Robots: The Shape of Things to Come On

She’s perfect. She’s perfect because we made her perfect; because everything about her is entirely within our control. She’s your long-lost love, your new and improved wife; she’s the girl you never got over, or the girl you could never have. And now, she loves you. She has no choice; loving you is what she’s for. Until, one day, she gets too smart. She starts thinking in ways she’s not allowed to think. She gets political. And that’s the point at which she decides to kill you with her giant metal fists.

Read the whole thing here: ‘Lady Robots: The Shape of Things to Come On’

Ellen Ripley Saved My Life

At a certain point, you have to ask yourself why certain stories are so important to you. Why they become, not just entertainment, but myth: Something you use to explain yourself to yourself, or to explain the world.

…

But for me, it’s always been about the girls. Specifically, the Strong Woman Action Heroines: Scully and Buffy, Starbuck in the "Battlestar Galactica" reboot, Ripley and Vasquez and, hell, even Tasha Yar. I love this; I need this; I eat it up. And yet, my relationship with the Strong Woman Action Heroine is… complicated? Let’s say complicated. And let me take a minute, or several, to explain how.

Read the whole thing here: ‘Ellen Ripley Saved My Life’

#MooreandMe

Going off-topic for a minute: The awesome Doyle who, last year, wrote a great article in The Guardian called ‘Unforgivable Roman Polanski’ is currently calling out people who are happier to blindly support Julian Assange than the two women he is accused of raping.

Specifically, she is calling out filmmaker Michael Moore:

A man has been accused of rape by two separate women. He fled the country in which he was accused. He is fighting extradition, so that he won’t have to go back to that country and face charges — even though there are spectacularly low rates of conviction for accused rapists, he just doesn’t think that he should have to go through the system, for whatever reason. And you know who’s posting bail for him?

Fucking progressives. That’s who. Including one man who has, for some years now, served as one of the most prominent and recognizable faces of the American left, filmmaker/rabble-rouser/all-around champion of the Truth and the Little Guy, Michael Moore. He’s put $20,000 hard, cashy dollars on the line, so that Julian Assange, white male left-wing darling, will be able to get out on bail despite posing a substantial and acknowledged flight risk, and despite the fact that he evidently is working to avoid facing the charges of his accusers.

You can read more about this here: ‘#MooreandMe: On Progressives, Rape Apologism, and the Little Guy’; follow the rest on Tiger Beatdown; and lend your support on Twitter.

The Cinematic Experience

I liked it because it was entertaining, immersive, and beautifully shot. I loved the 3-D effects and did, eventually, get used to wearing the 3-D glasses for that long a time (once I figured out how best to place them on my nose in relation to the glasses that I already wear).

I also liked the way in which future technology and space travel were depicted. Though, funnily enough, future bulldozers make the same beeping noises that present-day ones do :)

Of course, Pandora was gorgeous and I really appreciated the depth of detail that Weta Digital and ILM went into when creating that world.

The Story

The story was pretty good, too. Though, as you would expect, it had issues.

Speaking of those issues, there are a number of lenses you can use to analyze both the basic plot and actual storyline of the film. And lots of people have, indeed, reviewed and analyzed the film extensively (see links to my favourite reviews/discussions at the end). The lenses they have used include race, colonialism, gender, the role of the military/militia in broader society, military strategy, the role of scientists/sociologists in broader society, capitalism/anti-corporatism, and disability.

What’s particularly interesting about these reviews is that everyone comes at the story from a different point of view. For example, I’ve found that many American reviewers and bloggers see parallels between the film’s story and what happened to the indigenous peoples of North America during European colonization. Non-Americans, meanwhile, talk about that as well as other colonialist movements from around the world.

I think that’s a testament to the screenwriters (and Dr Paul Frommer, who created the Na’vi language) because the situation presented in the film can reference any number of real situations from human history from around the world.

That said, the basic plot itself isn’t very original. And if you read ‘The Evolution of ‘Avatar’’ on the Reappropriate blog you’ll see how this film’s plot is somewhat similar to the plots of ‘Dances with Wolves’ and ‘The Last Samurai’.

Still, it’s an important story to tell and I think it was told quite well. For more, read the reviews I’ve linked-to below.

Overall, I’d give the movie a 9 out of 10 – both for its awesome cinematography & visual effects and for its timing & relevance-of-story to our present-day socio-political world. Oh, and also for Sigourney Weaver and the kick-ass character she plays in the film :)

Reviews Worth Reading

• ‘What Does Avatar Tell Us About Masculinity and Disability?‘ by Chauncey DeVega [Open Salon]
• ‘On Avatar, the Movie (Spoiler Alert)‘ by Lisa Wade [Contexts.org]
• ‘When Will White People Stop Making Movies Like “Avatar”?‘ by Annalee Newitz [io9]
• Avatar (2009 film) [Wikipedia]

It’s awesome and I can’t stop listening to it over and over again!

More about Pogo:

• On YouTube
• On MySpace
• On Last.fm (from where you can download free MP3s of his tracks)

Here are some of my favourites (out of the ones I’ve watched so far):

District 9

• ‘Vlog 8-16-09: District 9 Review’
• ‘More District 9 Thoughts’

For someone who hasn’t experienced racism and can’t quite relate to everything that’s going on in ‘District 9’, I thought Antwiler made a really good attempt to understand the politics, thoughts, and emotions behind the film. Oh, and his review was really good, too.

Transformer: Revenge of the Fallen

I really didn’t like ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’. And, though I haven’t watched the whole of this review yet, I don’t Noah liked it much either.

• ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Review’

2012

I recently watched Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster movie, ‘2012’ and quite enjoyed it. My favourite reviews thus far have been:

• ‘2012: The Greatest Review You Will Every Read’ by Rebecca Watson [Skepchick]
• ‘The Mayans Warned Us: Don’t Trespass in Yellowstone’ by Calla Cofield [Cocktail Party Physics]
• ‘Vlog 11-15-09 – 2012’ by Noah Antwiler [The Spoony Experiment]

Twilight: New Moon

Now I am considering watching the film adaptation of Stephanie Meyer’s second book from the Twilight series, ‘New Moon’.

However, these reviews are making me think twice (FYI: the second review is a lot shorter):

• ‘Vlog 11-22-09: New Moon’ by Noah Antwiler [The Spoony Experiment]
• ‘New Moon’ by by Douglas “Darien” Walker [That Guy with The Glasses]

So I’ll probably will till it comes on pay-per-view cable next year.

Speaking more generally about the Twilight books, you really should watch/read the following:

• ‘Twilight: To Read, Or Not To Read?’ by Lizz [Sister Salad]
• ‘How Books get into our Brains’ by Lizz [Sister Salad]
• ‘If I could review ‘Twilight’ (the book) in three letters, they would be “WTF”’ by A.V. Phibes
• ‘If Twilight the Book was WTF, Twilight the movie was FTW’ by A.V. Phibes
• ‘Twilight: a Different Perspective’ by Erin O’Brien

It’s a powerful and (sometimes) difficult movie to watch but it’s certainly worth the effort. And while there is lots that I can say about it, a number of others have already said it better, so I’m just going to recommend you read the following (all of which, unfortunately, have some spoilers):

• ‘An Anthropologist in District 9‘ by Eric Michael Johnson [ScienceBlogs]
• ‘Alien Apartheid? A Race-Aware Viewing Guide for District 9‘ by Adrienne Maree Brown [RaceWire]
• ‘Harry has seen DISTRICT 9 three times and I am looking forward to many more!!!‘ by Harry Knowles [Ain't It Cool News]
• ‘Capone Chats With DISTRICT 9 Star Sharlto Copley‘ by Capone [Ain't It Cool News]
• ‘Capone Sits Down With DISTRICT 9 Director/Co-Writer Neill Blomkamp!!‘ by Capone [Ain't It Cool News]

What I will say, however, is that I seriously recommend you go watch it. It’s the best movie I’ve seen all year.

Oh, and for more general information about the film, check out its:

• IMDb page
• Wikipedia page
• Rotten Tomatoes page

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As ‘Fun, Watchable’

:)

• Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
• The Bourne Ultimatum
• Traffic
• My Big Fat Greek Wedding
• Polar Express
• Rushmore
• The Matrix
• Children of Men
• The 40 Year Old Virgin
• Coraline

Connelly does admit, however, that the list is skewed towards the technical side of film-making and storytelling.

I would agree with some of the commenters, however, that the Lord of the Rings trilogy should have been included. I’d say that’s partly for the number and scale of special effects used but mainly for, for the first time, producing three films concurrently!

The discussion in the comments is quite lively, by the way, so make sure you check that out as well.