CNN Uses The Word "Beam" Wrong!

This upsets me right now. Watch the video or read transcript:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/cnn-holograms-debut-with_n_141157.html

I read the comments below the story. Surely someone pointed out the incorrect use of the word "beam"? No. All the Star Wars fanatics were there to give praise to the hologram technology that finally brings the R2-D2 projection to real life. Where are the Trekkies?

Here's one. I am a Trekkie and damn proud of it. And I want to correct the usage of the word.

Beaming is a word for transporting physical mass from one location to another. So if you beam my dog from the couch next to me to where ever you are right now, you could actually touch her. This is not possible with a hologram where you get only a 3D image of the dog.

See? The real thing versus the image. There is a big difference.

And I like the original Star Wars trilogy. It's weird that Star Wars fans didn't correct it either...

Live long and prosper!

First Truly Cold Morning, Hooray!

I woke up this morning a bit after 10 am and when I looked out the window there was frost on the ground. Tempeture was one degree below zero (celsius that is, in case someone is wondering) and there was an eerie mist floating around. I have nothing against the mist and certainly nothing against dropping a few degrees under zero. It's been raining so many days that my little doggy-woggy has brought at least a ton of sand inside with her paws.

This is what my dog looks like when it's raining:


I just hope that the rain will stop for now. Snow would be something that my dog would like to have but it would soon melt away and then the ground would be all muddy again. Good thing that our agility practice continues indoors from this week on so no more running in the puddles.

Wil there be snow this winter? Dunno. Last winter was mostly crap. Very little snow and when it finally piled up it melted away almost immediately. The photo on the sidebar where Helka is sitting in the snow was taken on the same day it had snowed. The next day the snow was gone. At least she got one happy day playing with it...

Why Don't They Make Good Stephen King Movies Anymore (or almost ever)?

Well, there you have the ultimate question. I watched Misery during the weekend and it was very good. The mood, the performances (especially Kathy Bates was good).

Last good King movie that I saw was The Green Mile. And before that, the older movies like The Shining, Carrie and Shawshank Redemption. But no good movies lately. Why is it that King's books work so well when you read them, but on film they turn out to be crap? (most of them that is)

The Stand was an excellent book and the series that was made out of it was excellent too. The same thing with Langoliers, both book and series were good. The Shining worked as miniseries also.

But the movies... Needful things was so bad as a movie that it was painful to watch, It wasn't that great either and The Lawnmower Man?! Don't get me started on that!
Creepshow was a mediocre film, Children Of The Corn also (the sequels sucked though) and The Running Man was ok.

There aren't many truly superb King movies, there are those that I mentioned earlier and then there are Stand By Me, Apt Pupil and Pet Cemetary.

I want to see King's horror books turned in to good horror films! The non-horror material works well on the big screen but horror...

Well, I still haven't seen The Tommyknockers. I love the book and I've heard that the movie stinks...

This is a subject that I could go on and on. But I will spare you. For now.

These Two Oddly Look Alike... Part 2

On the left is Brains from Thunderbirds and on the right a live action version of Brains. (Ok, actually that is a meteorologist.)

I Read Darkly Dreaming Dexter

I finished reading the first Dexter book and I must say that I was very surprised of how different it was from the first season of the television series.

Like one of the characters dies in the book and in the tv series this person is still alive and kicking. In the book Deborah is not dating the ice truck killer and the relationship between Dexter and Rita is hardly there at all.

But I understand that changes had to be done to make the storyline last through the first series. And the changes work. The book is more about the things that happen in Dexter's head. In a way it was a positive thing that I read the book only after watching the first season. Normally I like reading the book beforehand.

Knowing that the tv series now has taken a step away from the books, I can keep reading without wondering why it's so different and I can keep watching and enjoying the series.