Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween everybody!

The biggest treat of all? Fox and My9 are back!

Now, sugar-high time!

Dude, Where's My TV? NewsCorp vs Cablevision

Normally I love a good conflict; the pain, the passion, the drama; but not when I'm caught in the middle.

I'm sure some of you are aware of the war going on between Cablevision and NewsCorp, who owns channels Fox and My9. NewsCorp wants over 150 million dollars from Cablevision to provide its channels to them. When Cablevision refused and offered to pay them a more fair and reasonable amount of money, NewsCorp not only pulled the plug on the channels, they even blocked Cablevision customers from viewing their free online programming!

Now, neither companies are angels, but I'm afraid I'm going to side with Cablevision in this fight, mainly because of they are the lesser of the two evils.

Let’s look at NewsCorps situation:

• They own two major channels.
• The two said channels are available to watch for FREE over the air.
• The two said FREE channels provided because NewsCorp has a FREE license from the government.
• They already receive over 70 MILLION dollars from Cablevision, and are now asking for a morbidly-obese amount of money without adding any new channels or improved programming

It seems to me that NewsCorp is acting like a schoolyard bully demanding Cablevision's lunch money. I urge Cablevision to not give into NewsCorps outrageous demands. This whole situation isn't fair to the consumers, who are already paying for a free station to begin with, and are going to dish out more because of NewsCorp's greed.

And this is especially unfair to me because I'm going to miss Fringe!! Why can't Fringe be on a more sensible station, like NBC, they never pick fights with anybody (suddenly remembers the Jay Leno/ Conan O'Brian feud) Oops, bad example

Okay, the bottom line is: Cablevision, you got to stand up to Newscorp. You never back down from a bully, even if you walk away with a black eye, at least your pride (and your customers' wallets) will be in tact.

Say NO to NewsCorp and put Fox and My9 back on the air!

Movie Review: The Borrowers (1997)

Genre: Comedy Year: 1997 Rated: PG My Opinion: View Poster IMDB Page Wikipedia Page

When I first picked this movie up, I didn't have very high hopes for it. I thought it would be mildly cute with mostly dull and stupid humor. But I was pleasantly surprised.

The movie is based on a series of books by the same name. It's about a family of Borrowers, little humanoid creatures who live within the walls of human houses and occasionally 'borrow' items for their livelihood, and the human family who owns the house. The human boy discovers the existence of the Borrowers while he and his parents are forced to move from the house, unbeknownst that their lawyer is a greedy man who wants them out so he could search the house for the deceased grandmother's hidden millions.

The special effects used in the movie are fantastic, seamless, and scaled perfectly. The humor is also executed effectively, even the one 'dog poop' scene was hilarious (and not even gross).

One interesting aspect of this movie is that even though this movie has the atmosphere of a modern-yet-retro America, there are a number of British actors staring in this film (accents and all). Some of them include Hugh Laurie (whom we all know from House) and even a very young Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy ring a bell?).

Overall, this a great family movie that both kids and adults will enjoy. I'm surprised this movie didn't do better that it did. If not for a family, watch it as a study of special effects and how they don't have to be overwhelming and overdone to be effective.

What do you think? What are some of your favorite movies that have great special effects? Comment below!

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