Thenthtive Thursday

1. If, by sacrificing your life, you could contribute so much to the world that you would be honored in all nations … (a) would you be willing to do so? (b) would you be willing to do so if someone else you thoroughly despise would get all the credit while you went unrecognized?

This doesn’t make me a good person, but (a) probably not, but maybe and (b) hell no. At least I know this about myself. I’ll work my ass off for a project, but by god I want the work acknowledged (if not directly, then by witnessing the enjoyment of those who benefit, that is truly thanks enough).

Doing all the work and letting someone else take the credit? (Especially someone I didn’t like?) Thanks but no.

2. You discover, unexpectedly, that a former friend (who you no longer like) has given your name as a character reference for a job application. The ex-friend is qualified for the job, but do you give them an honest thumbs-up?

Liking doesn’t come into it. Are they qualified for the position? I will withhold my personal reservations and supply the facts (“He is a good tech, and very focused on tasks. She works quickly.”)

Hopefully, they won’t ask if I like (or trust) them, or why.

3. If you could write a sequel to any movie you wanted, what movie would it be?

Hmm, there’s a couple.

Tremors. Great movie, horrible sequels. I had this whole plot worked out in college set in a major city before there were sequels.

Oh, how about this one?

Willow, the trilogy that Lucas never finished.

The Shadow: really fun movie, successfully captured the feel of the original material, ripe for multiple stories.

The Phantom: see above, although they sort of wrapped up a lot of story elements in that one, so, like the Mummy sequel, you’d end up with a much less interesting husband/wife team. (There’s a reason the original pulps (and adventure fiction in general) didn’t have husband/wife teams.)

Alien - Aliens.

Good first two, craptastic followups. The Comics were doing good to a point, then they got dumb as a sack of rocks.

I'd like to see the Clancy books Sum of All Fears, Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games done right. Those three films were cludgy bastardizations so as not to offend the IRA, the Army and the Arabs. Bah. The books were so much better.

My problem is that I liked all the Alien movies.

Yeah, all of em. Didn't like the end of the fourth one, but neither did the guy who wrote the script. (The producers/director changed it drastically, because in the happy world of movies, screenwriters are lower than the guy who freshens the coffee at the catering table.)

The Shadow. Damn, how did I forget that one?

Of course, I'd be more than happy to see a sequel to Howard the Duck, so what do I know?

I *love* Tremors! Such a great movie!

And the sequels sucked, oh yes they did. But it's one of my favorites.

Willow would be cool. I've not read the other two books in the trilogy, but Lou has and he enjoyed them. I don't know if he's ever read the Willow book itself, though. But that's a great choice.

I liked them when I saw them.

But then upon further review, my like of them turned into...Wow, they could have done so much more with the storyline.

I think the problem with 3 and 4 was the reliance upon the Ripley character when they should have started fresh, like Predator 2 did.

I'd like to see another Predator film. But what I would REALLY REALLY like is a new version of Microprose or Fraxis Pirates!

I want to be a Pirate off the coast of Africa, Dutch East Indies, west coast of South America, East Africa, from 1560-1700.

That's the sequal I want.