A Long Time Ago....

No this isn't a photo from yet another Star Wars Episode.

These photos were shown to me a couple of years ago. They are actually photographs taken by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii in the early 1900s. And yes, they were shooting color images then.

He basically invented the three pass system of color photography before we were doing it a dozen years later. The plates were found, scanned digitally and restored. I think some of these photos are some of the most amazing photos out there. Check out the site to learn more and see the whole collection.

Quote of the Moment

"I think a lot of people would like to have Overbay.
But they're not going to get him."

- Mark Attanasio
Chairman and Principal Owner of the Milwaukee Brewers

The Eye in the Sky

Found this website in one of my many latenight web excursions.

Many people know that google maps now features satelite images. However, they are really really blury and don't get that close. In my search for quality satelite images, I found this site.

I was amazed at the quality and the accuracy of its search engine. Granted, there are those stupid company logos all over it, but still very amusing and cool (in a nerd way).

I recently found that they also have old satelite photos as well. Very cool to see how the neighborhood evolved and see historic locations come and go.

Miller Park Now

During Construction

All Star Game, an All Time Low. (but is there new life on a larger level?)

The ratings are in and the 2005 All Star Game has the lowest in Major League history to date for an All Star game. 8.1/14 is the lowest it has ever been, infact its down 8 percent from last year.

In other Major League News. Commissioner Bud Selig will not hault baseball for Olympics. He stated this at yesterdays All-Star festivities when asked if he would consider it to add favor to the Olympic committee. Earlier that day the Olympic Committee announced they would be dropping baseball from the Olympic Games in 2012 because of its scrutiny in steroid use the past few years.

Will the World Baseball Classic bring new life to the void the Olympics made?

I believe that it will catch Americas eyes and help fill out the year by giving its fans more of what they love, Baseball. Scheduled for the begining of March, this timing puts it on the heels of the biggest sporting event of the year and the finality of the most popular professional sport around, the NFL Super Bowl (yeah, Nascar is technically more popular but I don't consider it professional when a large percent of the sports requirement is money).

Say it ain't so Kurtz, say it ain't so

Scott Kurtz is officially out of the Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge! Whats this you ask? Is this like a Lance Armstrong kind of thing? The Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge is an Online comic artist competition. 20 dollars to sign up gets you in, you have to post every day a new comic everyday (except on Sunday you rest) Last man standing takes the pot. "100 men enter, 1 man leave" It truly is the Thunderdome of online comics.

I've followed this since its conception. Scott Kurts (writer of PVP Online) was a shoe in. He has posted daily since PVPs conception with only missing like two days. Thats almost 7 years of posting. He was practically the sure bet for winning and I followed it closely.

Now he has practically given up by having a guest artist on PVP while he goes to the San Diego Con and gets some time away (granted he might get to meet Jon Herder, that would be mad awesome!). At first I felt a sense of denial that he would just kind of give up like that, then the cold hard facts set in.

This, to me, is a few levels of importance below when the Packers loose the playoffs, but a few levels higher then when I find out I don't have anything in the fridge to eat. It hurts, but I will go on.

His guest artist is quite talented and well known, and I have already found a new online comic to follow through the competition. I won't give up on Mr. Kurtz and find him extremely talented and hilarious. And the more I think about it, I realise that this competition doesn't value the things I value most about competitions. This competition is not based on artistic ability, creativity or merit. But is based on who can upload a set of drawings every day. Granted its cool that anyone with a website and a computer can enter no matter the size or power of the entity behind you, but at the same time, a monkey could compete if you shocked him at the right times throughout the day.

Just a rant with a thought. Monkeys + Daily Grind Iron Man Challenge = Matt's loaded.

The fight goes on.

Review of War of the Worlds

Summer and Spielberg. These two things are synonymous.


War of the Worlds is based on the H.G. Wells classic science fiction tale about alien occupation and extermination of the human race. Steven Spielberg tells the story from the point of view of a broken family.

Tom Cruise plays the father of two kids who are visiting for the weekend. Within the first reel we quickly see how Tom Cruise is a divorced father of two who knows very little of his kids, “smarter-then-her-age” Dakota Fanning and “rebel-son” Justin Chatwin. With no real attachment between the main characters, except for their distant past. I don’t see any true character development on the horizon except for these distant characters to come closer as individuals and as a family. In less then 18 minutes I am not interested in these characters and have no expectations for them, maybe the aliens will occupy my time. Maybe.

The alien crafts, or Tripods, were planted on earth hundreds of thousands of years ago. With the human race at its apex, the aliens decide to put an end to our smugness. They slowly begin to emerge in random cities all over the world and begin taking out all civilization in that area. Tom Cruise is luckily enough to be living in one of those cities. The aliens emerge in front of Cruise while he looks for his car that his rebellious son stole.

The choreography that Steven Spielberg and Dennis Murren puts Tom Cruise through in the first Tripod attack is not only mesmerizing to see, but to fathom how they mixed physical and special effects is amazing. With the combination of cgi effects of aliens tearing through the city and the physical effects of people running and windows exploding, you see why Spielberg is the action movie master.

As the movie progresses we see the Tripods attacking in all types of situations. Land, air and sea. During all these blood lusted attacks the human race is slapped around and destroyed, except for this family of three. During the whole movie, Tom Cruises party comes within 10 feet or less with these creatures at every encounter, only to survive. They become the luckiest trio on earth.

With these alien attacks comes a hodge podge of mass human emotion. With scenes and sets remanescent of ground zero 9/11, are however splattered with a human reaction and selfishness that was absent from those tragic events. There is too much of a zombie feel to the human race whenever they are in masses. Which hinders the character development of the main characters.

As a craft this film is hands down one of the better ones I’ve seen this summer. The sound design and mix fills the theatre and it sets the mood of the film from beginning until the end. Janusz Kaminski pilots the camera for Spielberg once again in this film. Even though I found his cinematography to be lackluster from his previous films, the authorship of Spielbergs camera style was definitely more prominent in this film and was a warm welcome.

All in all, I found this movie to be disappointing. Despite the positive things (Action, well crafted and funny hijinx) this film falls short. Though I never got bored with the film in general, I did feel disappointed and upset with the cliché actions of the characters. Though this is a Spielberg film, it is not the movie to save summer as many thought it would be. Do I recommend it, yes. Did I like it, somewhat. Will it save the summer season, no.

Add a caption!

What was Victor Santos thinking in this picture?