SOCThe Dark Knight
An absolute must see. It does live up to the hype. Way, way up, above and beyond your expected summertime superhero blockbuster sequel.
It was far better than the Batman Begins, but that didn’t take much if you ask me. I don’t buy Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. Batman yes, but not Wayne for some reason. The rest of it was very well cast for once (no Katie Holmes errors of casting judgement, or the guy from Lord Of The Rings whose name I forget), including Ledger as the Joker. No Oscar for him though. He was nearly as good as Johnny Depp in the first Pirates movie (ok all three of them), one of the best acted roles of all time if you ask me, and if Depp can’t win one then Ledger doesn’t deserve one either.
Still prefer Tim Burton’s Batman to this though.
The Director’s Cut only added the “Mumsy” side to Ripley.
Oh no it doesn’t! The scenes testing the smart guns in the corridors, the scene with Hudson’s “We got knives” speech, the bit with all of the colonists on LV-426 pre-Alienization, the bit with Newt’s family finding the derelict ship from the first movie…all of that was re-inserted into the Director’s Cut. The Director’s Cut is FAR superior to the theatrical version if you ask me, if only because it fleshes out a lot more of the backstory.
I think Alien3 finished up the saga nicely, although the film is still vastly underrated in my opinion. It’s a fine second sequel, but adds a much darker tone to the franchise.
This is one where you have to get the extended version to really appreciate the film. They add around an hour of footage and change the beginning a bit and end up with a much more interesting and different film than what was released in theaters. Hell, this one might be the best of the four. It certainly had the best soundtrack, it’s my favorite movie soundtrack.
Resurrection, however, was just another attempt to squeeze some money out of the popular franchise. Really, it was unnecessary, and rather a daft premise. They should have left Lt. Ellen Ripley in the vast depths of the molten lead at the end of No.3. In fact, they could quite easily have made this an Alien movie without Ripley. Adding the character simply did nothing to elevate the film beyond B-grade sci-fi…
Resurrection was alright. It is my least favorite of the four, but it’s not too bad. The effects are great and the visual style really suited the franchise. Plus it has Ron Perlman, who is awesome 😀
…and yet there are rumours of a fifth film in the running!
More like seventh, with the two AVP movies sort of interjecting themselves as Alien Zero parts one and two.
Anyway they need to release the four Alien movies on Blu-Ray so I can buy a sixth box set of the films :rolleyes: 😀
SOCIt is not very helthy to underestimate MiG-25, as one F-18 pilot in Iraq has learned in a hard way.
It is not very healthy to underestimate the F-14, as many Iraqi pilots learned the hard way.
SOCCharcoal all the way. My grilling skillset has improved to the point where I can’t eat steak at a restaurant anymore. I’d much rather get a 24 ounce porterhouse and cook it myself. I’ve got a basic Weber kettle grill, I can fit two gigantoid porterhouses or four big New York strips on it with ease. I could fit more meat on there, but then you are not taking proper advantage of the indirect heating method! We grill once a week almost year-round. As long as the temperature is at least 40 degrees F, I’ll fire it up and cook.
I’ve got one of the Weber lighting tubes but I haven’t tried it yet. I find that it might mess up my direct/indirect cooking concept I have going on. I like a little bit of flame still coming off the coals when I start the steak on direct heat to sear the meat, then by the time the steak gets transferred to the indirect heat the coals are just fine.
So far I’ve managed to grill sausage, steak, chicken, and shrimp. My next project is to grill Alaskan King Crab legs. If I can get it sorted out right, my intention is to be able to grill steak and crab for the same meal. I’ve got this weird idea of getting a syringe and injecting the crab with drawn butter and lemon before grilling as well to see what it does 😀
SOCCharcoal all the way. My grilling skillset has improved to the point where I can’t eat steak at a restaurant anymore. I’d much rather get a 24 ounce porterhouse and cook it myself. I’ve got a basic Weber kettle grill, I can fit two gigantoid porterhouses or four big New York strips on it with ease. I could fit more meat on there, but then you are not taking proper advantage of the indirect heating method! We grill once a week almost year-round. As long as the temperature is at least 40 degrees F, I’ll fire it up and cook.
I’ve got one of the Weber lighting tubes but I haven’t tried it yet. I find that it might mess up my direct/indirect cooking concept I have going on. I like a little bit of flame still coming off the coals when I start the steak on direct heat to sear the meat, then by the time the steak gets transferred to the indirect heat the coals are just fine.
So far I’ve managed to grill sausage, steak, chicken, and shrimp. My next project is to grill Alaskan King Crab legs. If I can get it sorted out right, my intention is to be able to grill steak and crab for the same meal. I’ve got this weird idea of getting a syringe and injecting the crab with drawn butter and lemon before grilling as well to see what it does 😀
SOC[color=red]Let’s leave the Pakistan bashing out of this thread. If you want to talk about how ISI supports terrorism or about Pakistani incursions into India, create a new thread for it, but don’t derail this one (again).[/color]
SOCWhy can’t they just upgrade the old like the US? Building two types of ICBMs (SS-27 & RS-24(?) ) compared to just upgrading 30 year old missiles DOES seem like a buildup. All of these ICBMs they’re retiring are newer than the MMIIIs.
The SS-25 had around a 20 year service life. Being a single warhead ICBM, taking them out of service to replace them with either SS-27 variant makes sense. The first missiles entered service around 1985, meaning they’re due for replacement.
Two types of ICBMs? Not really. The RT-2PM2 and RS-24 are the same missile with different warhead bus assemblies, apparently. Don’t let the designations confuse you; RT-2PM Topol has nothing to do with the RT-2P, for example. But under START I they could only develop one new missile at the itme, and that was the SS-24, so they played the numbers game again. They were really good at that!
SOCTake a look at the alarm at just the talk of China building an aircraft carrier. Take a look at the alarm at the eventuality that China will have blue water navy that will patrol the Western Pacific. The US will definitely go ape-sh*t if all of the sudden Chinese spy planes were routinely flying off the coast of the continental US with the intention of gathering intelligence like the US does off the coast of China. Americans during the Cold War turned their allies the Japanese out to be more evil than the Soviet Union. Americans will be more alarmed and be insulted if Chinese spy planes routinely flew off the coast of the US.
Hey I don’t disagree that the US government has way overhyped the China threat issue. Politicians use it to help fund various programs. There has to be a bad guy I suppose.
So why is the US so angry that China is doing the same with its embassy in Washington because of the very same fears the US has in Beijing?
Because American politicians sometimes cannot see beyond their own noses. All they see is a loss of revenue for workers in their voting districts, so they complain.
SOCChinese had full rights to bring down that spy plane..
So China has a right to intercept aircraft operating in recognized international airspace? Does the US have a right then to intercept Russian military aircraft operating in international airspace off its coast as well?
If China flew spy planes off the coast of the US over international waters, it woud be considered an act of war.
Please. The USSR used to send maritime recon planes around USN carriers all the time without a problem. Spy ships used to float around naval installations and the coast as well. No problems there. If China could get a reconnaissance aircraft near the coast of the US, they’d probably see a few USAF fighter “escorts” but that’d be about it as long as they stayed in international airspace. Far less ominous than strategic bombers, and the Russians fly those along the ADIZ all the time and nobody’s gone to war yet.
How true. If Chinese a/c even came close to US coastal waters (Not Alaska, but east cost or west cost of US), hell would break loose.
See above.
You will see the US gov. hypocrites sceaming for blood. Talk of double standards.
Well, they already do that for whatever reason, but that’s another story. Although I do agree that the China-bashing in the US government is completely irrational.
SOCIs there a reason Russia is developing brand new strategic missles and their associated systems? Rather than, lets say, upgrading their older ones?
Part of the issue is that SS-18 and SS-24 missiles are being retired (or in the case of the SS-24 are gone already). Then you have SS-25s nearing the end of their service lives. That leaves the SS-19s, expected to be around for a few more years, and the new SS-27s (both the Topol-M and RS-24). The SS-27s will replace the SS-25s and some of the older weapns removed from service. It looks like some sort of massive buildup on paper, but when you look at the proper context it is really just a revitalization of the SRF.
SOCHIGH LARK IV yes, but not the first model!
SOCDo you think it is the newer version meant for vertical launch from ships or TELARs?
Nah, what you’re seeing are the attachment points for the mid-body wings, not hinges. Last thing I saw on the new naval VLS Shtil showed a missile with a redesigned aft section and no mid-body wings anyway.
SOCWho was the first one introduced into service? 😉
The first fully LD/SD system was probably the AWG-9 in the F-14A (discounting depressed angle systems like HIGH LARK that can’t deal with ground clutter) or the APG-63, I forget who entered service first (the F-14 I think but I can’t remember).
Not that this helps you, as the AWG-9 was essentially a refined version of the AN/ASG-18.
Read carefully and you will realize the USAF never got the idea to order an interceptor of that.
Did you miss this part: “Lockheed received a contract for a production version of the YF-12A, to be designated F-12B.”
The USAF wanted the F-12B, Congress gave them the money, and McNamara killed it.
Also: “Initial missile launch tests in April 1964 were disappointing”: Wrong. Don’t know where this guy got his info but there were seven guided launches, six of them killing targets. Initial missile SEPARATION tests had issues, but they solved those. That had nothing to do with the missile or the fire control system.
SOCNothing new? the MiG-15 in 1949 was top technology, not old one as such represented the best technology available, it was one revolutionary aircraft in the world.
Get out of town. The MiG-15 was an outstanding fighter jet, but it was NOT groundbreaking. It wasn’t the first jet fighter, it wasn’t the first swept-wing jet, it had no radar…how in the world was it groundbreaking?
SOCSince the 1970ies all successful fighters aimed at the characteristics of the Phantom, while exactly zero tried to match the ill-fated YF-12.
Again, you conveniently discard the look-down/shoot-down weapon system. Nobody is doing that today, eh?
SOCTop one is a 9M96, bottom one is a 9M317. Bunch of S-300P launch canisters behind the 9M317 as well.
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