"If you're hungry, try a piece of your friend"
I wanted to see this movie for 2 reasons. 1 - The trailer looked action-packed, and 2 - Malcolm McDowell, whom I loved in Clockwork Orange, was in it, and also Bob Hoskins, who was great in Unleashed.
I've seen this movie twice. Once in the theater and once at home. I have to say I liked it better the first time. There's alot of action scenes, along with multiple decapitations, blown off limbs, and plenty of gore/blood. Yet I felt that what was portrayed in this movie copied several previous movie themes; Mad Max, 28 Days Later, and Resident Evil, to name a few. However, it was entertaining and held my attention.
The female lead, played by Rhonda Mitra, was well cast. I've seen her in the TV show, Nip-Tuck, and she was able to pull off the emotionally scarred heroine who has a childhood past linked to the "Hot Zone".
Sadly, Malcolm McDowell does not appear until close to the end (but does the narration, too). Bob Hoskins could have been in it more, too.
The visuals were good, however, in some scenes there is so much going on the screen at once that you can't catch it all.
Overall, I liked the movie. Could have been a tad bit shorter, at least to me. A great flick if you're in the mood for lots of blood and action.
I loved this movie, still love it. I'm a big fan of Rhona Mitra. My only knock is that Malcolm McDowell wasn't in the movie for much longer than he was. Hoskins was great,so your saying I should see Unleashed then, that sounds like a Jet Lee film.
Source: http://www.movieweb.com/review/REmpXvpnK3g1pq
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Cloris Leachman spares Bob Saget
Cloris Leachman spares Bob Saget little dignity in her feisty appearance at his Comedy Central roast.
In a video snippet of the taped event, set to air Sunday night, the award-winning actress snipes, "Can't believe I shaved for this. I mean, what am I even doing here? Who cares about Bob Saget?"
Low blow. But Saget laps it up, laughing large at the award-winning actress's routine. When asked why the cable channel singled him out to be roasted, he says with mock humility, "I don't know. You know, I guess a few other people turned it down. It's always how I look at it."
That shtick isn't fooling anyone, though. The actor-comedian is a bona-fide cultural icon, thanks to his role as squeaky clean single dad Danny Tanner on "Full House," the addictively cheesy ABC sitcom that launched the phenomenon known as the Olsen twins, who were barely out of diapers when the show debuted in 1987.
An entire generation will always know Saget by his "Full House" alter ego. But it was his scene-stealing cameo in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats" - in which 100 comics riffed on the world's dirtiest joke - that revealed his notoriously filthy sense of humour.
Saget kept things fairly clean, though, as he talked to The Associated Press about twin tycoons Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, who would play him in a "Full House" movie and why he wants good friend-roastmaster John Stamos to run for public office.
AP: How many Olsen jokes were cracked during the roast?
Saget: Too many, and that's why editing is so great. I'm a big fan of editing. There were a lot of jokes at their expense, more jokes at my expense.
AP: How many times a day does someone ask you about the twins?
Saget: It gets old. ... It can get a little bit exhausting. It's really not about anything. It kind of makes me really just want to go and read the news ... and then go to a movie. Or do some cardio.
AP: Do you ever have the urge to sit down with your TV daughters and give them a feel-good lecture?
Saget: It's not like that. Because I know Ashley and Mary-Kate since they're nine months old or six months old; I know Jodie (Sweetin) since she's four and Candace (Cameron) since she's nine. And I never talked to them like they were little kids ... because I just don't talk to kids like that. ... A lot of the conversations I have with Ashley and Mary-Kate have been (them saying), "No, I really like her, she's a really good girlfriend" or, "You should try that, I think that'd be good for you." That's the truth. So it's kind of reversed.
AP: What kind of music would you like to have in the background if you did do a heart-to-heart?
Saget: I guess something by Journey with Steve Perry because they had the synthesizers all down really well. It was all about the synth.
AP: What would Danny Tanner say about you on the roasting panel?
Saget: Danny Tanner would probably not say anything. The first thing he would probably do before he spoke is just spray Windex on the podium, and just clean it up because of all the disgusting hands that have touched it.
AP: In honour of Danny - if you could be a cleaning product, which cleaning product would you be?
Saget: Purell. You get used all day long. People rub their hands all over you.
AP: If there was a "Full House" movie, who would play you?
Saget: Let me think about this very carefully. It's a very important question. ... I'm actually looking up something because I have a couple thoughts on this, because I actually wrote this down once.
AP: Really?
Saget: Somebody was talking about (a movie). Who knows? It's a crazy little world we're living in, isn't it? ... Josh Radnor (CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," narrated in voice-over by Saget). I don't think he'd do it. He's too talented, but he would have to play Danny Tanner. I don't know if anyone should want to fill those shoes. But it'd be hilarious because I'm playing him as an older man. I'm his voice. I'm the discombobulated "Charlie's Angels" voice. Who else could be Danny Tanner? Let me think. ... Jason Biggs ("American Pie"), and maybe Danny gets caught in the kitchen with a pie.
AP: Or maybe you could play Danny ... again.
Saget: I don't know. Unless I can play him intoxicated, which I don't think they'll go for.
AP: You've hosted "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "1 vs. 100." Who would win in a host-off: you, Howie Mandel or Ryan Seacrest?
Saget: I would have to say Howie, because Howie doesn't let people touch him. Which I think is the answer. ... I would never put myself in the hosting-off. It sounds like you're doing something dirty, anyway, if you're "hosting off." But Howie, actually, I've known also since he was a young comic. He's a dear friend. Really great guy. And I think he's made more of a show (NBC's "Deal or No Deal") that didn't have that much to it.
AP: You directed the "March of the Penguins" straight-to-DVD spoof, "Farce of the Penguins." What do you have against penguins?
Saget: I love penguins, but I found out just what nasty little creatures they are just by watching documentary footage. I mean, we didn't do it what the real filmmakers of the real movie did. They're the real deal. I'm a penguin thief, basically.
AP: On a political note, who would make a celebrity running mate for Obama and McCain?
Saget: I think, after the roast, I would say Cloris Leachman ("Young Frankenstein," TV's "Malcolm in the Middle"). She'd be good for McCain because she would keep him looking younger. And I think for Obama the best running mate would be - god, this is trying to promote my roast - I'd say John Stamos because then I'd totally be hooked up at the White House.
Source: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5IxvgF5WowlKL6fQTZwOzXZoJig
In a video snippet of the taped event, set to air Sunday night, the award-winning actress snipes, "Can't believe I shaved for this. I mean, what am I even doing here? Who cares about Bob Saget?"
Low blow. But Saget laps it up, laughing large at the award-winning actress's routine. When asked why the cable channel singled him out to be roasted, he says with mock humility, "I don't know. You know, I guess a few other people turned it down. It's always how I look at it."
That shtick isn't fooling anyone, though. The actor-comedian is a bona-fide cultural icon, thanks to his role as squeaky clean single dad Danny Tanner on "Full House," the addictively cheesy ABC sitcom that launched the phenomenon known as the Olsen twins, who were barely out of diapers when the show debuted in 1987.
An entire generation will always know Saget by his "Full House" alter ego. But it was his scene-stealing cameo in the 2005 documentary "The Aristocrats" - in which 100 comics riffed on the world's dirtiest joke - that revealed his notoriously filthy sense of humour.
Saget kept things fairly clean, though, as he talked to The Associated Press about twin tycoons Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen, who would play him in a "Full House" movie and why he wants good friend-roastmaster John Stamos to run for public office.
AP: How many Olsen jokes were cracked during the roast?
Saget: Too many, and that's why editing is so great. I'm a big fan of editing. There were a lot of jokes at their expense, more jokes at my expense.
AP: How many times a day does someone ask you about the twins?
Saget: It gets old. ... It can get a little bit exhausting. It's really not about anything. It kind of makes me really just want to go and read the news ... and then go to a movie. Or do some cardio.
AP: Do you ever have the urge to sit down with your TV daughters and give them a feel-good lecture?
Saget: It's not like that. Because I know Ashley and Mary-Kate since they're nine months old or six months old; I know Jodie (Sweetin) since she's four and Candace (Cameron) since she's nine. And I never talked to them like they were little kids ... because I just don't talk to kids like that. ... A lot of the conversations I have with Ashley and Mary-Kate have been (them saying), "No, I really like her, she's a really good girlfriend" or, "You should try that, I think that'd be good for you." That's the truth. So it's kind of reversed.
AP: What kind of music would you like to have in the background if you did do a heart-to-heart?
Saget: I guess something by Journey with Steve Perry because they had the synthesizers all down really well. It was all about the synth.
AP: What would Danny Tanner say about you on the roasting panel?
Saget: Danny Tanner would probably not say anything. The first thing he would probably do before he spoke is just spray Windex on the podium, and just clean it up because of all the disgusting hands that have touched it.
AP: In honour of Danny - if you could be a cleaning product, which cleaning product would you be?
Saget: Purell. You get used all day long. People rub their hands all over you.
AP: If there was a "Full House" movie, who would play you?
Saget: Let me think about this very carefully. It's a very important question. ... I'm actually looking up something because I have a couple thoughts on this, because I actually wrote this down once.
AP: Really?
Saget: Somebody was talking about (a movie). Who knows? It's a crazy little world we're living in, isn't it? ... Josh Radnor (CBS' "How I Met Your Mother," narrated in voice-over by Saget). I don't think he'd do it. He's too talented, but he would have to play Danny Tanner. I don't know if anyone should want to fill those shoes. But it'd be hilarious because I'm playing him as an older man. I'm his voice. I'm the discombobulated "Charlie's Angels" voice. Who else could be Danny Tanner? Let me think. ... Jason Biggs ("American Pie"), and maybe Danny gets caught in the kitchen with a pie.
AP: Or maybe you could play Danny ... again.
Saget: I don't know. Unless I can play him intoxicated, which I don't think they'll go for.
AP: You've hosted "America's Funniest Home Videos" and "1 vs. 100." Who would win in a host-off: you, Howie Mandel or Ryan Seacrest?
Saget: I would have to say Howie, because Howie doesn't let people touch him. Which I think is the answer. ... I would never put myself in the hosting-off. It sounds like you're doing something dirty, anyway, if you're "hosting off." But Howie, actually, I've known also since he was a young comic. He's a dear friend. Really great guy. And I think he's made more of a show (NBC's "Deal or No Deal") that didn't have that much to it.
AP: You directed the "March of the Penguins" straight-to-DVD spoof, "Farce of the Penguins." What do you have against penguins?
Saget: I love penguins, but I found out just what nasty little creatures they are just by watching documentary footage. I mean, we didn't do it what the real filmmakers of the real movie did. They're the real deal. I'm a penguin thief, basically.
AP: On a political note, who would make a celebrity running mate for Obama and McCain?
Saget: I think, after the roast, I would say Cloris Leachman ("Young Frankenstein," TV's "Malcolm in the Middle"). She'd be good for McCain because she would keep him looking younger. And I think for Obama the best running mate would be - god, this is trying to promote my roast - I'd say John Stamos because then I'd totally be hooked up at the White House.
Source: http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5i5IxvgF5WowlKL6fQTZwOzXZoJig
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Donkey Test
We had a little moment of hilarity tonight at dinner when photographer Tom Fox, perusing a thick, white menu, quite seriously posed the question: "What tastes better - the duck or the donkey?"
Much, much, much to my surprise, the donkey - which came out in a steaming stew with dove eggs - wasn't at all bad. Honestly, it was kinda good.
I've gone back-and-forth in my willingness to be adventurous with the food here in Beijing, though the opportunities are certainly endless. I ordered the sashimi, which wasn't as daring, but we'll be here three more weeks.
In other news, we've discovered getting around in a taxi cab isn't as easy as we thought it would be, even with these handy-dandy taxi cards we bought that spell out destinations in Chinese and English.
Also, though the skies were a good, impressive-for-Beijing blue this morning, the smog of pollution became evident as the day wore on. We hear it my be get worse in the next couple days.
Real Donkey Test
What is it??
This poker skill test is the first and only of its kind. Our unique scoring system measures your overall poker skill level and assesses performance in 13 sub categories, revealing key strengths and weaknesses. Developed by poker professionals, this test is for no limit Hold'em cash games and tournaments (MTTs and SNGs).
History of Intelligence Testing
Among the first to investigate individual differences in mental ability was a British scientist, Sir Frances Galton, who compared people based on their awards and accomplishments. This research convinced him that intelligence was inherited and led to further studies which involved evaluating individual differences in reaction time and range and specificity of the senses, which have since been shown to correlate with academic success.
A French psychologist, Alfred Binet, developed a test to accurately predict academic success when the French government asked him to help them determine which children in the public schools would have difficulty with formal education. He, and his colleague, Theodore Simon, found that tests of practical knowledge, memory, reasoning, vocabulary, and problem solving were better predictors of school success than the sensory tests used by Galton. Subjects were asked to perform simple commands and gestures, repeat spoken numbers, name objects in pictures, define common words, tell how two objects are different, and define abstract terms. Similar items are used in today�s intelligence tests.
Assuming that children all follow the same pattern of development but develop at different rates, Binet and Simon created the concept of mental age, whereby, for example, a child of any age who scored as well as an average twelve-year-old was said to have a mental age of twelve.
Binet�s test was not widely used in France, but Henry Goddard, director of a school for mentally challenged students, brought it to the United States, translated it into English, and used it to test people for mental retardation. Louis Terman, another American psychologist, adapted the test for use with adults, established new standards for average ability at each age, and called it the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, because of his affiliation with Stanford University.
Terman is also responsible for the term, intelligence quotient, or IQ. He changed the way the results of the test were stated from a simple mental age to a quotient, a number which is the result of dividing one number by another. In this case, the mental age is divided by the chronological age, and the result is multiplied by 100, just to get rid of the decimal point. So, a child who is eight years old and answers the test questions as well as a twelve-year-old scores an intelligence quotient of 12/8 x 100, or 150. A twelve-year-old who answers the test questions as well as an average eight-year-old would have an IQ of 8/12 x 100, or 66.
This formula works well for comparing children, but since intelligence levels off in adulthood, it is not appropriate for adults. A thirty-year-old who answers questions as well as an average twenty-year-old would have an IQ of only 20/30 x 100, or 66.
So intelligence tests today no longer use the IQ formula. Instead, the score on a modern intelligence test compares a person�s performance with others his/her own age, while arbitrarily defining the average score as 100. By convention, most people still use the term IQ to refer to a score on an intelligence test.
Group Intelligence Tests
Before World War I, all intelligence tests were administered on a one to one basis. During the war, a group of psychologists, led by Robert M.Yerkes, developed two tests, one for English speakers, and one for non-English speakers or illiterates, which could be administered to groups of recruits to help the army determine the most effective placement of individuals. Highest scoring recruits were considered for officer training, and lowest scoring recruits were rejected from service.
Following the war, group tests were more popular. The National Intelligence Test, developed by Terman and Yerkes, was first used around 1920 to test school children. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was introduced in 1926 to help colleges and universities screen prospective students.
Today individual and group intelligence tests are widely used in education, the military, and business.
Much, much, much to my surprise, the donkey - which came out in a steaming stew with dove eggs - wasn't at all bad. Honestly, it was kinda good.
I've gone back-and-forth in my willingness to be adventurous with the food here in Beijing, though the opportunities are certainly endless. I ordered the sashimi, which wasn't as daring, but we'll be here three more weeks.
In other news, we've discovered getting around in a taxi cab isn't as easy as we thought it would be, even with these handy-dandy taxi cards we bought that spell out destinations in Chinese and English.
Also, though the skies were a good, impressive-for-Beijing blue this morning, the smog of pollution became evident as the day wore on. We hear it my be get worse in the next couple days.
Real Donkey Test
What is it??
This poker skill test is the first and only of its kind. Our unique scoring system measures your overall poker skill level and assesses performance in 13 sub categories, revealing key strengths and weaknesses. Developed by poker professionals, this test is for no limit Hold'em cash games and tournaments (MTTs and SNGs).
History of Intelligence Testing
Among the first to investigate individual differences in mental ability was a British scientist, Sir Frances Galton, who compared people based on their awards and accomplishments. This research convinced him that intelligence was inherited and led to further studies which involved evaluating individual differences in reaction time and range and specificity of the senses, which have since been shown to correlate with academic success.
A French psychologist, Alfred Binet, developed a test to accurately predict academic success when the French government asked him to help them determine which children in the public schools would have difficulty with formal education. He, and his colleague, Theodore Simon, found that tests of practical knowledge, memory, reasoning, vocabulary, and problem solving were better predictors of school success than the sensory tests used by Galton. Subjects were asked to perform simple commands and gestures, repeat spoken numbers, name objects in pictures, define common words, tell how two objects are different, and define abstract terms. Similar items are used in today�s intelligence tests.
Assuming that children all follow the same pattern of development but develop at different rates, Binet and Simon created the concept of mental age, whereby, for example, a child of any age who scored as well as an average twelve-year-old was said to have a mental age of twelve.
Binet�s test was not widely used in France, but Henry Goddard, director of a school for mentally challenged students, brought it to the United States, translated it into English, and used it to test people for mental retardation. Louis Terman, another American psychologist, adapted the test for use with adults, established new standards for average ability at each age, and called it the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale, because of his affiliation with Stanford University.
Terman is also responsible for the term, intelligence quotient, or IQ. He changed the way the results of the test were stated from a simple mental age to a quotient, a number which is the result of dividing one number by another. In this case, the mental age is divided by the chronological age, and the result is multiplied by 100, just to get rid of the decimal point. So, a child who is eight years old and answers the test questions as well as a twelve-year-old scores an intelligence quotient of 12/8 x 100, or 150. A twelve-year-old who answers the test questions as well as an average eight-year-old would have an IQ of 8/12 x 100, or 66.
This formula works well for comparing children, but since intelligence levels off in adulthood, it is not appropriate for adults. A thirty-year-old who answers questions as well as an average twenty-year-old would have an IQ of only 20/30 x 100, or 66.
So intelligence tests today no longer use the IQ formula. Instead, the score on a modern intelligence test compares a person�s performance with others his/her own age, while arbitrarily defining the average score as 100. By convention, most people still use the term IQ to refer to a score on an intelligence test.
Group Intelligence Tests
Before World War I, all intelligence tests were administered on a one to one basis. During the war, a group of psychologists, led by Robert M.Yerkes, developed two tests, one for English speakers, and one for non-English speakers or illiterates, which could be administered to groups of recruits to help the army determine the most effective placement of individuals. Highest scoring recruits were considered for officer training, and lowest scoring recruits were rejected from service.
Following the war, group tests were more popular. The National Intelligence Test, developed by Terman and Yerkes, was first used around 1920 to test school children. The Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) was introduced in 1926 to help colleges and universities screen prospective students.
Today individual and group intelligence tests are widely used in education, the military, and business.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
www.beijingticketing.com fraud Olympic Ticket
Judge shutters Web site offering Olympic tickets
A federal judge has temporarily shut down a Web site that Olympic officials say is defrauding patrons by falsely advertising tickets to the games in Beijing.
It's the second such Web site ordered closed in the last two weeks.
The judge ordered the shutdown Tuesday, pending a resolution of the U.S. Olympic Committee's lawsuit alleging the site is a scam.
USOC lawyers say http://www.beijingticketing.com cheated numerous U.S. residents out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising to deliver tickets to the games starting Friday.
The site was apparently disabled by its operators Monday, but the lawyers want the court order to keep it down permanently.
Online ticket fraud being fought at Beijing Olympics
With the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing only days away, reports have surfaced of massive amounts of online ticket fraud that has left dozens of Americans and others stuck in China without tickets to the events.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), U.S. Olympic Committee and other officials, including the Attorney General in Texas, are working feverishly to weed out scammers who are erroneously listing Olympic tickets. One of the companies in the crosshairs is Ticket City in Texas, which is being investigated by the state's Attorney General Greg Abbott, according to KXAN-TV, for allegedly reselling tickets it didn't have. The company is still listing tickets on its Web site.
Two U.S.-based Web sties that allegedly scammed customers, BeijingTicketing and Beijing-Tickets2008, were shut down after Olympic officials obtained an injunction in federal court. Dozens of other fraudulent Web sites have been traced back to a UK company, Xclusive Leisure and Hospitality, which also had a U.S. address and allegedly has a history of online ticket scams.
Ticketing has been an issue for the 2008 Games, which saw its servers crash under heightened demand for tickets.
A federal judge has temporarily shut down a Web site that Olympic officials say is defrauding patrons by falsely advertising tickets to the games in Beijing.
It's the second such Web site ordered closed in the last two weeks.
The judge ordered the shutdown Tuesday, pending a resolution of the U.S. Olympic Committee's lawsuit alleging the site is a scam.
USOC lawyers say http://www.beijingticketing.com cheated numerous U.S. residents out of thousands of dollars by falsely promising to deliver tickets to the games starting Friday.
The site was apparently disabled by its operators Monday, but the lawyers want the court order to keep it down permanently.
Online ticket fraud being fought at Beijing Olympics
With the Opening Ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics in Beijing only days away, reports have surfaced of massive amounts of online ticket fraud that has left dozens of Americans and others stuck in China without tickets to the events.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), U.S. Olympic Committee and other officials, including the Attorney General in Texas, are working feverishly to weed out scammers who are erroneously listing Olympic tickets. One of the companies in the crosshairs is Ticket City in Texas, which is being investigated by the state's Attorney General Greg Abbott, according to KXAN-TV, for allegedly reselling tickets it didn't have. The company is still listing tickets on its Web site.
Two U.S.-based Web sties that allegedly scammed customers, BeijingTicketing and Beijing-Tickets2008, were shut down after Olympic officials obtained an injunction in federal court. Dozens of other fraudulent Web sites have been traced back to a UK company, Xclusive Leisure and Hospitality, which also had a U.S. address and allegedly has a history of online ticket scams.
Ticketing has been an issue for the 2008 Games, which saw its servers crash under heightened demand for tickets.
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