Geek, nerd, goddess of links and what-have-you

I love those astronauts.

Space shuttle Endeavour crew launch their own Star Trek poster

And look at all the others!
More NASA mission posters at the Christian Science Monitor
(Armaggedon, meh. But Reservoir Dogs in space? Hahahahaha!)

Continuing my late-to-the-party tendencies, I caught up with season six of Doctor Who. Not sure whether my husband's sudden increased interest in the show is due to my enthusiasm or that of his academic advisor. Heh. Yeah, probably mine. I'm just that infectious.

Also I recently mainlined all of The Guild, which wasn't hard as most of the eps are 2-10 minutes long. If you want to watch it, it's all on Youtube and/or their website. C'mon! Gaming! Or if you're not into that, you can learn about gaming! Sort of. Felicia Day! A hilarious cast! Guest-starring Wil Wheaton! Oh yeah! Ahem. Links:

Youtube link
The Guild's site

And that's enough linking for today.

Hee

As seen on today's Postsecret:

Yes, Legolas, there is a diversion!

In lieu of my promised comfort food post (from which my composing is continually and inevitably sidetracked by the need to leave the computer and make/eat my freshly typed-out subject) here's some distraction.



Apparently this came out last year - I'm not sure if it's been released in the US yet. (A. and I just watched Blood Simple. I'd never seen it before - nor had I seen Dan Hedaya with that much hair. I adored it.) I will probably see this eventually. But style changes, questions of remakes and Yimou fans/detractors aside, what I like about this is the way it specifically references Blood Simple in the trailer, with the Hammett quote, and with the critic's' praise. A. and I got into a discussion about this: how many American remakes of foreign films tout or hat-tip the original in the same way? Did The Departed mention Infernal Affairs in the opening credits? I feel like I remember that - does anyone else? Vanilla Sky paid tribute, I assume, by casting Penelope Cruz. (I'm a little shaky on that, as I haven't seen Abre los ojos.) I didn't see The Uninvited, and I probably won't - A Tale of Two Sisters satisfied me plenty. But I didn't know TU was a remake of ATOTS until I read it in a magazine; the trailer I saw gave no indication. Considering the attention that Let the Right One In got, Let Me In, with its close title and close proximity of remake/release to the original, can't escape its connection to the source. How about Insomnia and Insomnia?

What about Wings of Desire and City of Angels? Let's pretend I didn't type that. Blech.

So what's a good hat tip when it comes to remakes, and what is a slight? Do Hollywood studios attempt to appropriate their remakes without tribute to the originals? (Studios, I say, or whoever does the marketing; not necessarily the directors.) Do they have the right to do so, when they create something fresh from the source - and not when it's just a white/blond-haired/English-speaking version of a superior film?* Or should a good remake acknowledge its source throughout, with tribute within? This, I suppose, would only be helpful to the source film if a viewer had seen the original - an inside joke.

OR: do you think remakes are the devil and should burn in hell? I'm open to all interpretations.


My final thought on the Blood Simple remake matter: M. Emmett Walsh is really necessary for my wholehearted endorsement, but I'm biased. Sometimes there's a man; sometimes, there's a man...



^{*Of the ones I mention above, I'm only qualified to judge City of Angels as such, since I haven't seen some of the others. Again, bleeeech.}

Cataloging woes

The blog will be on temporary hiatus (read: through Wednesday) as I scramble to finish the Peppery Bitesoffmorethanshecanchew Cataloging Side Project by Wednesday. If only Sunday had not been lost to the mists! If only I didn't have a real job! If only...wait, the U.C. has been surprisingly quiet. This means something...but what?
Link