Star Wars: The Last Jedi: A Fan's Opinion

Rey confronting the sorrowful shadow
of days gone by.

I finally got to watch Star Wars: The Last Jedi today, and I've got some conflicting feelings about it. To begin with, it's a departure from the original Star Wars story line, wherein the Dark Side/Galactic Empire is portrayed as a well-oiled and efficient death machine, run by a fearsome, mysterious warrior-dictator, while the Light side/Jedi are portrayed by freedom fighters struggling for justice and peace.

Got OSN? There's An App For That Too!

It seems that Orbit Showtime is (finally) jumping onto the advanced tech bandwagon. By sheer luck, I managed to find out that they've developed an App for iPhone & iPad devices through which they channel their services. I downloaded it from the App store (UK) and tried it. A bit buggy, but it's got some nice features that made me just barely keep it in my phone.

Fringe: Season Finale

Here it is, so good I had to share it! Shame, the series had some really mind-boggling concepts and theories that would have made at least two or three more seasons at least! Take the Cow, for example! And those observers, or watchers, or whatever, who are in each and every episode of the series, like 'Futhooli' in the Arabic children's magazine, "Majid"

Joining The World Of Net TV

I download quite a lot of movies & TV shows off torrents, and with good reason, too. I refuse to be a slave to pay-per-view ripoff schemes, courtesy of OSN, and pay for a season-old TV series, or a 6-month old movie hit. I'm one who prefers to be entertained 'in time', which means that I'm able to watch the latest episode of "The Event" or "Stargate Universe" within 3-5 hours of it being aired in the USA. My main issues was that my viewing happens wherever my Desktop is placed, due to a very restrictive home network setup.

Good Games Don't Die!

I used to be addicted to online games, until i realized that I was spending more time trying to beat online strangers that enjoying the game itself, so I'm much better now. But yesterday, as I was looking for some PC stuff, I came across one of my favorite games, Battlefield 2142, by Electronic Arts. They're the same people that just released Battlefield Bad Company 2, and it's latest addition, BC2 Vietnam, and all the other great EA titles like Simcity and the Sims. But Battlefield 2142 is something else completely!

Apple TV VS Mac Mini

2010 AppleTV

Ever since the Mac Mini was released I've been in conflict with it's usefulness as a desktop machine, or even a desktop replacement. Then I read about Ford using Mac Mini's to monitor some of their production lines, and it got me into thinking that this new standalone box has something else to revere and admire besides it's great looks.

Learning about Apple TV, I initially dismissed it as a Big Boy's toy that only US-based users would really benefit from. I was glad to  have been proven wrong when I found that it works just as well anywhere, as long as it's pumped up with the right currency! Pay-per-View was redefined with Apple TV, so much so that even the regional Sat TV companies are beginning to notice.

Star Trek to Show in Kuwait on May 7th

According to IMDB, Star Trek will be released in Kuwait on the 7th of May, that means tomorrow!

HOOYAA!!

I tried to pre-book on cincescape earlier this morning, but the online schedule only gives me Wednesday´s timetable. I suppose theyŕe gearing up for next week´s schedule.

I´ve been waiting for this movie to be released since August 2007, and man what a wait it´s been! Back then, it was slated for release by December 2008. If i´m able to make it tomorrow, it´ll be a great change of mood from all the dullness and economic insecurities that are happening in Kuwait these days!

SciFi Fans Rejoice: Neuromancer is coming!

For those of you who are not really into SciFi here's an introduction: Remember "The Matrix Trilogy"? Well, this is the story that made a direct influence over the story. IMHO, I would consider this to be the 'Grandfather' of Neo's adventures in the world of the Matrix. Some would say that it was a prequel to the story behind the Matrix.

Written by William Gibson, the story talks about a burned out Hacker who gets recruited by some shady characters in order to apply his skills towards stealing stored human consciousness, among other things. This is the surface of a much more and deeper plot. All in all, a terrific (and puzzling) read, if you like this sort of thing, that is.

The great thing about it is that this is the first of a trilogy of stories, called 'The Sprawl Trilogy', all inter-connected, and written by Gibson, and all portray a completely unorthodox view of futurism and I, for one, hope that this movie lives up to the author's written representation.

In the meantime, I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Star Trek Movie, due out on May 8th 2009, and not as I previously mentioned in my earlier post. And let's not forget the upcoming Terminator: Salvation....just click on this link and see for yourself!

Not only idiots can act like fools!

The realm of Fiction takes on a whole new life of it's own with this article about a group of jewel thieves dubbed by European Police as the Pink Panthers.

The best line I found, when reporters asked why, when nearly all the gang members seem to be as intelligent, suave and brilliant people, would they resort to living like bandits, one lawyer answered:

"It is not necessary to be an idiot to act like a fool"

You have to admit....it's as catchy as much as it's true!

Trip To 360 Mall

Part of my duties at work is to visit potential sites around Kuwait in order to drive the business of the company that I work for (enough vagueness for you??), and yesterday I had the opportunity to visit the 360 Mall in Al Zahra Area.

Owned and operated by the Tamdeen Group it's quite a stark addition to Kuwait's skyline and a welcome addition to Kuwait's portfolio of high-end shopping malls and entertainment facilities. Of all the facilities that it will contain, the biggest ones to catch my attention while I was being guided through it were the 20-lane Bowling Alley, a full Marks & Spencer outlet, a 19-screen Cinema complex (with 1 IMAX and 2 VIP theaters thrown in for good measure) and a large Atrium in the center that will include 'only' high-end Cafes like Fauchon (spelling?)

Parking won't be a problem, since the complex will include an attached 3-storey shaded parking lot that directs right into the heart of the mall, also a bank branch (BKME) and 10 strategically-situated ATM machines.

The mall is just off the 6th Ring Road, heading towards Jahra, with excellent visibility and access all around it, plus it's near the upcoming Golf Course, so there's never going to be any more boredom around that area at least!

The Tamdeen Group envision that it will start opening it's doors by March 2009. Personally speaking, this mall's got all the others shaking in their shoes!

Righteous Kill: My Dream Come True!

They finally got together for a full movie this time! DeNiro & Pacino star in the upcoming movie, "Righteous Kill" due to be released in September this year. Apparently it's not a dark movie like "Heat", but more of a crime thriller, with some smart one-liner undertones.

It's first release will be in Russia, by September 11th, so hopefully we'll get to see pirated copies circling around the torrents sites, or Shisha places around Kuwait soon afterwards.

Battlestar Galactica Season 4 Premiers April 4th

Not many shows produced fathom the depth and complexity of Battlestar Galactica these days, a remake of a 1970's Science Fiction series, wrapped in the mysticism and theological interpretations of Greek Mythology, Persian Zoroastrianism and Nordic theology among other faiths and religions, and presented in a CGI-enhanced storyline that rivals the best of SciFi series ever produced.

Now, before anyone jumps and says, "Another bunch of yarns about long interstellar spaceflight and ridiculous beaming technology, and more dumb tales and fables", just take a look at the awards and nominations that this series has received to date. It's so good, in fact, that a spin-off has been announced, just before the beginning of it's fourth season, called 'Caprica'

This season, sadly, would be the final season carrying the BSG storyline, albeit stretched across two years, but since there's a gigantic hole in the plot, everyone would know how it all began, and what caused the storyline to end the way it did. Mind-probing and intensive in it's twist of Human Mythology, BSG has created a new genre in TV.

Iron Man is realized!

Iron Man, Marvel Comics' latest addition to it's comic-to-movie adventures, is due to be released in Theaters on May 2nd, 2008. Although the movie hints at terrorism, and the main character's role in combating the Taliban (HO-HUM!), the Special Effects and soundtrack seem to be amazing. Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" is featured in the movie, how appropriate! I'm sure Ozzy Osborne would be thrilled-if he had enough working brain cells, that is :)

Here's the trailer..

Man, the '80's still rock!

2nd X-Files movie due in July 2008

Finally, production will start on the second X-Files movie. Filming will begin on December 10th, and the release is due on 25th July 2008.

Yes, I'm one of those people who'd collected all the Season's DVD's and read all the conspiracy theories associated with the series, and blah blah blah...it's fun....bite me!


Starwars is also due for a series introduction...I'm still looking at the details, but it won't be about the same heroes, although it'll be within the same universe...stay tuned.

Science Meets Science Fiction: Human-Animal Hybrids are possible!

Sounds something from the X-Files, doesn't it?! But it's true. Read on...

Not many people enjoy-or even want to tolerate-Science Fiction works. To each his own, I guess. I'm a big SciFi fan myself, as previously blogged. I enjoy how Scifi reflects the borderline between human imagination and scientific achievements. If you think about it, many avenues of technology we consume and use in our daily lives are either offshoots of science fiction or a result of it. Scientists like Einstein, Oppenheimer, Heisenberg,

For example, Jules Verne , H.G. Wells , and my favorite Scifi author, Isaac Asimov, have all been termed the "Fathers of Science Fiction" in one time or another. Their novels have inspired scientists and inventors to come one step closer to such Human achievements like Space Exploration, the Appolo moon landings, the Skylab project, the Hubble Space Telescope, underground dwelling concepts as a deterrent to Nuclear wars, Undersea dwellings for research, even the creation of Robotics, Bio-mechanics and Quantum Physics as new fields of science, to name a few examples.

Another example, take the Star Trek Teleportation Devices, where people are 'beamed' from the spaceship to another with the kind assistance of Scotty!! Research has shown that at some point in quantum mechanics, it had actually been created in a lab, using sub-atomic particles of light, but nevertheless, it's proved the theory!

Again, taking a Star Trek adaptation, Warp Speed. New research based on previous research has proven-in theory-that Warp speed, or FTL (faster-than-light) travel may be possible, and that it's simply a matter of enough energy generated to enact this in fact, and the invention of 'exotic matter' to build the engines...not far off, but one step closer!

Another popular SciFi literature, Buck Rogers, utilized Einsteins paper 'On the Quantum Theory of Radiation' initiated - albeit loosely - the concept of the Ray Gun, or the Laser, which is being used in different ways, even right now on our CD/DVD devices.

My point is, with imagination and creativity, science can re-create science fiction. But what this report shows is sheer imagination in practice!! Imagine humans cross-bred with animals, and you'll see what I mean. The Ethical problems alone outweigh any Religious decisions to begin with, but it's research drawn from a creative community of scientists, inspired by Creative works like Science Fiction.

Of course, the scientists discuss the research as a tool to find out how Stem Cells can be manipulated more efficiently to suite humanity. Again, drawing from Science Fiction, and more closely, Star Trek's "Eugenics Wars". (I just HAD to put that in there!!)

Dream on...maybe we can find someone that can alter the weather so it'll be a standar 23 degrees celsuis all year :)

Movies this Year

Some of the upcoming movies this year;
Shrek The Third,
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End,
Ocean's Thirteen,
Die Hard 4.0: Live Free or Die Hard,
The Bourne Ultimatum,

These are just a few of the great movies coming this year. Shame we live in a place where censorship is still going on.

Away in Dubai, Continued

WHOOPS!!!!

I realized that all the posts I wrote while on Dubai weren't published! Thanks to my limited-but-increasing-knowledge of -Mac OSX!! Anyway, here is they are. WARNING: Long Post!

Day 3 (April 18)
1-Class review: Interesting opening lecture this morning, the recap of yesterday's subject was enough to consider yesterday's lecture as a waste of time! (10 minutes' summary was all it took!). We had an interesting speaking come in from NCR to talk about banking services & technologies & how people respond to both, yadda yadda yadda..Collected more business cards from a couple of bankers from Yemen. Apparently, in that country, people actually feel safer if they see as man with an AK47 in his hands standing outside the bank!

2-Movie review: Didn't go to the movies today, decided to stay in the room & catch up on my reading. Watched continuous coverage of the Virginia Tech shooting on CNN & BBC. Thank God they've started to ease off on the coverage. I suppose someone decided that CNN International doesn't have the same Demographics as CNN America!

3-Food Review: Burger King!!! It still rocks!

4-Reflections of the Day: To quote one of my one-liners: The difference between a dumb person and an idiot: An idiot doesn't realize that he's stupid!

Day 4 (April 18)
1-Class Review: Was physically in class, and that was it!! The afternoon session was OK, just can't remember what happened to the guy next to me, simply disappeared.

2-Movie review: I bumped into on of my cousins at the Mall, and we decided to go watch Christian Slater's The Deal. I'm always amazed at how Hollywood seems to re-invent stuff!!

3-Food review: Had McDonald's for lunch today. I've become attached to the fast-food chain, it seems, because I've become impartial to a double-cheeseburger (or a couple of them) with fries! During the evening, i went out withe a friend of mine & had a quiet shisha at the Business Bay, not more than 10 minutes away.

4-Reflections of the Day: People tend to check you out from head to toe, to size you up & see whether you fit a pre-set profile they've encapsulated within their minds from past experiences. In short, a person stands out simply from the way he dresses himself while outside his country. Proof: The next time you see some Middle-Easterners wearing Designer brand t-shirts over designer brand jeans, 9 times out of 10 they're tourists from another GCC country, and if they're wearing a baseball cap, they're almost always Kuwaiti! Try it out for yourselves the next time you're in Bahrain or Dubai.

Day 5 (April 19)
1-Class review: After a bit of arguing with the reception over my check-out time, I walked into class a 1/2 hour late. Wasn't a total loss, as there was a breing argument over the usefulness of the course and people's perceptions of it's contents upon signing up. (About time!) Towards the end of the day, we all said our goodbyes, made sure we had each others' business cards & set off on our own separate paths.

2-Movie Review: Spend a couple of hours at the closest Starbuck's at the mall, waiting for my friend to pick me up & drive to the airport. I decided to check in at the airport earlier than usual, since I had some last-minute shopping to do.

3-Food Review: Didn't have time to do much more than pack & check out. Didn't even have any meal on-board the flight. Just wasn't hungry all day. I was anticipating the home-made club sandwiches that my family's cook makes. They contain three slices of white bread, filled with cream cheese, fried eggs, chicken strips and lettuce. Simple but effective!

4-Travel review: Emirates is THE BEST! A hostess & bellboy welcomed me while I was still in the car, separate check-in lounge, smoothe-as-silk check in procedures, a couple of security checkpoints and I'm on my way shopping at the Dubai Duty-Free, all within 20 minutes of getting out of the car, and that's with other travellers in various queues before me!

5-Reflections of the Day: Nice to be back home. Ever notice that the color palates used at Kuwait Airport suspiciously include Pink?? Who else, but a complete poof would regard Pink as a viable corporate color?? Thankfully, I noticed that the logo on Kuwait Airport's Control Tower is now colored Blue...WAY much better!!

Away in Dubai, Part 2

1-Class review: Somewhat boring morning lecture. Everybody seems to be expecting something different that what is being delivered. Nice Coffee break amenities & smoker's facilities, though. The canape's were nice & juicy. I remembered that 'smoking' was a break-in for strangers with no other commonality, and witnessed it first-hand today, when a couple of delegates started talking to each other during the first & second break, more than yesterday.

2-Movie Review: I was so tired to eat anything after class, so I went straight to my room & straight to sleep. Woke up at around 6pm, showered, & was on my way walking around the Mall. Bought some mags then decided to watch a movie, which turned out to be Mr. Bean's Holiday. It was OK, some giggly scenes, nothing like the actual series, though,. Rowan Atkinson is still the greatest physical comedian in my books, so opening his mouth to say "Oui", "Non" and "Gracias" after the third time wasn't all that belly-aching!

3-Food review: After the movie, I bought some more mags & retured to my room to watch the creeping death story of the day on CNN. Decided not to go out for the evening, so I grabbed the menu & ordered a mini-feast: Chicken Caesar's Salad, Lobster Bisque and Spaghetti Bolognaise. Drowned it all down with just water...that's me for the day!!

4-Reflections of the Day: More Russian "tourists" around, and I've also noticed that there are many African employees at the shops. I wonder whether this signals the beginning of the end for Asian/Philippino salespeople. Also, ever noticed how, after asking a question, some guys listen to the answers with their index finger scratching their cheeks?? Why is that? :)

Away in Dubai, Part 1

I've had the opportunity to get sent to Dubai on a 5-day, 2-part course. Of course, Emirates Air are excellent, as usual, even though i had a nap on on the plane, I knew they served excellent food because my neighbor's stomach growled loudly at one point right before we landed, which is always a good culinary indicator.

I arrived at the Kempinski-Mall of the Emirates around 45 minutes after i touched down!! I was lucky enough to grab a free "limousine' ride from the airport to the Hotel, courtesy of Emirates Air's Business & First Class services. The driver-i imagine-must have some little pics of Michael Schumacher in his pocket because we were doing between 140 to 160KPH! I didn't, mind, i was eager to get a shower & unwind, especially after the slight turbulence we came across along the way!

I liked my hotel straight away! The Reception's ambiance was bright, modern, fresh, square motifs all over the place. I walked into my room and it was the same...square motifs, excellent layout, nice view, terrific bathroom...I had a shower almost immediately, ordered some dinner, watched TV on my 40-inch Plasma Widescreen LG TV.....but....

I tossed & turned all night! The pillows were so squashy & collapsible that my posture was never quire comfortable for sleep. Eventually all I could muster was 4 hours' sleep.

Woke up at 8am, reported to the classroom at 8:30 sharp..struggled to stay awake until the end of the fist day. Went back to my room to try & sleep some more, didn't amount to much.

Got up, dressed, walked down to the Mall, got some starbuck's to wake me up, did some window-shopping, & eventually decided to watch "Shooter" which is nothing more than crappy copy attempts from Commando, Sniper, Assassins, all wrapped together into one American-propagandized waste of time.

Point of Observation: Everywhere I look around I see non-locals as the majority, and they're all strutting to & fro, lugging sophisticated PDA's, talking to their friends, business associates or customers, or managers, always working or playing...in other words, living their lives. The locals, when they're around, are to some extent walking around, hunting for women, or sitting at coffee shops AND hunting around for women. I guess certain habits are across-the-board in the Gulf!

The Best SciFi Movies Poll

BBC just quoted SFX Magazine that "Serenity" has been voted the Number 1 Scifi Movie in terms of Special Effects! Here's the complete list:

1. Serenity (seen it)
2. Star Wars (seen it)
3. Blade Runner (seen it)
4. Planet of the Apes (seen it)
5. The Matrix (seen it)
6. Alien (seen it)
7. Forbidden Planet (seen it)
8. 2001: A Space Odyssey (seen it & read the book)
9. The Terminator (seen it)
10. Back to the Future (seen it)

My number one favorite out of this list would have to be "The Matrix", followed by "Blade Runner", and I include Sound, storyline, ingenuity as well as special effects.

And on that note, The X-Files universe is looking towards making another movie, finally!! I miss watching Mulder & Scully fighting off their attractiveness to each other as well as the evil aliens!!