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| | [Yohimbe] ARS 1.1 NOW LIVE | Date:Sat Jul 15 17:09:21 2000 |
| Numerous changes. Please email me direct if you spot any bugs. To quote Linus Torvalds, "This release is certified "Bug Free(TM)" so if you hear of any, you will know they are just evil lies" Heh. Seriously, there is now FINALLY a preview feature. (Yay!). We have added some more behind the scene features, some additional preferences, and a separate "Viewable Email" separate from the "Private Email". Mucho work went into this from me, Wildcard, Rit, WebD, Kethryvis and a cast of thousands. Enjoy...
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| [Illiad] NO-SPOILER MOVIE REVIEW: X-MEN | Date:Sat Jul 15 15:41:44 2000 |
| I'll kick this off with a mention that I've been an X-Men fan for nearly twenty years now. I used to actively collect the comics (and in fact managed to save quite a few) and I have X-Men fridge magnets. But that's about the extent of my insanity, although I'd probably start wibbling to myself if I met Rogue or Kitty Pryde in person, in my own little universe. The movie has what I call a "seeder" plot: it lays the foundation for other stories in later movies, and it does a fine job of conveying the relationships between the characters. The movie is rife with conflicts that carry the rest of the story of course, although I admit that at one point in the first third of the movie I wondered when things were going to get going. My concerns were taken care of shortly after, so it's all good there. It seemed that the character that got the most screen time was Wolverine, eminently played by Hugh Jackman, a fine Aussie actor who has the Wolverine "angry frown" down pat, as well as the omnipresent quiet menace in Wolvie's voice. Anna Paquin (GEEEZ has she ever grown up) made an adequate Rogue, and I really admired Ian McKellen in his role as the vengeful Magneto. Other than these and Patrick Stewart (who really is a consummate actor with that rich, modulated voice of his) as Dr. Xavier, I felt the other characters/actors didn't have enough screen time to really develop enough to feel for them. It helped that I had been reading the comic books for nigh two decades, so I could fill in a lot of stuff on my own. It made me wonder if the other viewers were enjoying the movie as much as I was. From the point of view of someone who really really wanted this movie to be faithful to the source material (I'm a casualty of the atrocity committed by David Lynch when he brought Dune to the big screen), I was mostly pleased. Some of the scenes were positively stunning, and the F/X never seemed overdone. The only real downer I felt this movie had was a mild disconnect that caused some interference with suspension of disbelief. I think it could have helped if we saw more of the social effects of mutants in the near-future society that this movie was set in. However, this is a minor downer in a movie that was more-or-less faithful to the comic. Ultimately, IMO this is a movie worth watching on the big screen, at full price. Four out of five in my book. X-Men forever! :)
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| [Iambe] GEEKS & NETIZENS UNITE IN PROTEST AGAINST CENSORSHIP! UFIES TAKE THE LEAD | Date:Thu Jul 13 22:26:18 2000 |
As you may already know, the Attorney General of British Columbia, Andrew Petter, alongside the Film Classification Board, recently announced that the video game "Soldier Of Fortune" (Vancouver Sun)was to be classified as an 'adult movie' and, therefore, not distributable through current retail or rental channels. As a result of a single complaint about the game's content, the Film Classification Board, for the first time in its history, reviewed a video game for classification status. This complaint, according to the BC Film Classification Board Director Mary-Louise McCausland's Decision Document, dated July 11, 2000, was made *prior* to the game's release, based on screenshots on the creators'website. Though the violence depicted in "Soldier Of Fortune" is graphic in computer animated format, it is no more so than many popular feature films, such as "Saving Private Ryan", "8mm", "Stigmata", or one of a handful of movies found in the Classification archives. Though many of us would choose not to purchase the game, we do not believe the Attorney General and Film Classification Board should have the right to restrict its sale. Furthermore, we believe this action on the part of the Attorney General and Film Classification Board sets a dangerous and wide reaching precedent towards our freedoms of reasonable choice and expression.CONTINUATION...
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| [Illiad] GEEKRAVE VIDEO FOOTAGE: "CODE NAKED!" | Date:Wed Jul 12 11:01:31 2000 |
| The fine folks over at slackertv were at the GeekRave last Friday and did some on-the-spot interviewing and filming of a gathering of about a thousand geeks in my hometown of Vancouver, B.C. The streaming/downloadable footage is available here under Geeks Just Wanna Have Fun. You'll note that UF slaves Yohimbe, Lurch and san|ty get some spotlight time, as well as ufies.org king Arcterex and our star columnist Iambe. I'd also like to add that I rightfully didn't participate in the hullabaloo about coding naked. I always wear saran wrap when using Visual Basic.
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| [Kethryvis] MEET THE DUST PUPPY AND OUR OWN ARCTEREX! | Date:Tue Jul 11 11:56:07 2000 |
If you're headed to the Toronto Comdex this week (it starts July 12 and runs through Friday) you can see our big Dust Puppy at the Netmaster booth. Also, you can meet Illiad's own "Ripe Tomato" (and the uberUFie behind ufies.org) Arcterex at that same booth! He's also looking for UFies to hang with in Toronto, so stop by the booth to meet him and maybe get an impromptu UFie meet goin'!
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| [Iambe] FROM THE GOLDEN GATE TO THE GOLDEN PAGODA | Date:Mon Jul 10 20:24:38 2000 |
| Wow! I just had to share this letter with every romantic hopeful UFie out there. It would seem that not only has Peer2Peer brought two more happy UFies together, it has done so spanning the Pacific. Congratulations to Nikita and her love! As for the rest of you, don't give up hope! Dear Iambe This is to say thank you for allowing me to find my perfect match... (I have been told to specify at this point that I am a language geek and not a computer one, although my paramour is both) :) This the story so far... Despairing in the usual way about the lack of people I could relate to in the world, let alone consider as a partner, I decided to overcome my prejudices and place an ad on P2P. For a short while, silence, and then a small stream (a rivulet?) of replies. Of which one was His. After exchange of emails and photos, phone calls, etc., He flew from San Francisco to Japan (where I live now) to meet me, and we just spent four wonderful days together. A while ago on the site someone wrote that they couldn't believe they had found someone so similar to themselves. Well, it's corny but it's true :) This would never have happened without the efforts of you and your team. Thank you all so much, and I owe you one ;) -Nikita
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| [Kethryvis] CHARACTER OF THE MONTH - MIRANDA | Date:Mon Jul 10 11:30:53 2000 |
 That's right, our first featured character will be Miranda! To start things off, we want to know what you want to know about Miranda. Post your questions to the ARS comment area (ya'll know how to do it, right? :)). We'll pick out 10 questions and have Miranda answers for you in a week or so (she's a busy girl yanno). When the answers go up, there will also be some new never-before-seen pictures of Miranda (fully clothed guys) going up as well. So get your questions in! The deadline for questions is Sunday night. Update! And see this lovely picture we just added? This is just one of the never-before-seen shots of Miranda that will be gracing the Miranda Character Gallery in upcoming days. Keep your eyes peeled for more new stuff!
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