Robocop @ MindSay

I had a very strange experience whilst watching tv the other day, one of those rare occurances which makes on doubt one's own senses: was watching a documentary on the History Channel about Roman Engineering (so far, so good).  You know how they interperse talking heads throughout the whole show (John Doe, Harvard University, for instance). Well, halfway through the show Peter Weller pops us, & it said Peter Weller, Syracuse University. Yes.  Robocop himself.  Or as I prefer to remember him, Buckeroo Banzai.  At the next commercial break, I googled him.  Apparently, he really is a professor at Syracuse & an expert on Roman society.  And his classes are extremely popular there.  Talked with a friend of mine--a PhD candidate in history,  expert in the Civil War--that it would be nice if someone like Jennifer Aniston took an interest in his field, & kind of sexed it up, too.

 

 

So yeah, Play.com delivered Judge Dredd, Starship Troopers and the Robocop Trilogy boxset today. Only got around to watching the Robocop Trilogy, so here's my thoughts on them:

Robocop: I agree with the majority who say that the first one is the best. It still holds up today, 19 years later, as a brilliant film, and even the CG isn't that glaringly obvious (something that, bizarrely, only started happening in the mid-90s). OK, so you can tell it's there, but it's not as bad as, say, Alien³. I watched the special edition Director's Cut of Robocop, and didn't really notice any differences between that and the theatrical version, though I must admit it's been a while since I saw it last.

Robocop 2: Good, but it definately falls in the "substandard sequel" catagory. The actual premise of stopping a drug lord who's created the perfect drug (NUKE) is alright, but it's obviously not enough to carry the film. Enter Robocop II, the obligatory bad guy-robot who Robocop has to face off against. It's not as dull as the brief ED-209 battle from the first movie, but it's still a letdown as the actual robot itself hasn't got anything going for it. It's not an alternative to Robocop like ED-209 was, it's a replacement. A replacement for something which already was working fine, despite not how they had planned it to be.

Robocop 3: Hmm. The obligatory bad guy-robot this time is a Japanese ninja, who just happens to be in triplicate. Robocop also gets given a jetpack. It's never really explained as to why the jetpack was made in the first place, yet it ironically serves some purpose in the film. The lack of some characters isn't really explained either (The Old Man, for example. He owns OCP in Robocop and Robocop 2, yet he's replaced in the first one. We assume he dies, but we're never told directly). The CG is also very awful, which stays consistent with what I said about Robocop (Number 3 was made in 1993, so says the DVD).

Overall, I'm not that disappointed in it. I didn't really find the other two films in the trilogy that bad, but the first one is definately the best. Worth £14.99, in my opinion.

So, right now I'm chatting with Mena on webcam, and..I've got work in the morning. Glee ¬_¬ Still no word from WHSmith either, so it's safe to assume that I've not got the job, cos the advertisement apparently came out of the window today. Ah well, back to the drawing board. Again. No doubt something'll come up.

Just as yesterday was boring, I think today was as well. Course, I didn't really tell you that yesterday was boring, because I was reflecting on how 2005 had panned out.

Moving back onto today, and I've spent most of today watching the Alien Quadrilogy boxset. Those not in the know, that's Alien, Aliens, Alien³ and Alien Resurrection. Much to my dismay, I hadn't actually seen Alien Resurrection. I remember it being on Channel 4 a few years back, but I must've missed it, because I've just finished watching it now and I can't remember half of it, whereas I can remember the other three, and they were on Sky Cinema ages ago (the fact that it was called Sky Cinema, and not what it's called now, should give fellow UKers a clue as to how long ago it was since I last saw them).

I also ordered a few DVDs off of Play.com, namely Robocop Trilogy, Judge Dredd, The Mask and Starship Troopers, so they should occupy a nice day off, depending on when they get delivered.

Let's see..continuing the boring tone of this entry, I've forgotten when I'm working tomorrow. I did think that I started at 10, but I was talking to Kym earlier and apparently she starts at 10, which is now making me think that I probably start at 11. I'll have to ring up tomorrow and double check. I usually write my hours down weekly, but I've lost track of time so frequently in the past week that I forgot to write this weeks hours down, and subsequently, I've forgotten them. Still, I'm only working Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week, so it's not all that bad. I'll more than likely be working Sunday as well though, so I've got no weekend :(

I meet Mena in London on the 12th now. It was the 10th, but she had to cancel because of a religious celebration. To be honest, I'm not all that fussed. She gave me plenty of notice about it, which is appreciated, and we've only delayed it by 2 days, so it's not all that major. It just means that I'll have missed out on whatever Sale stock is sold in them two days :P But seriously, I don't mind having to wait an extra two days.

Whilst on the topic of me and Mena, Tuesday is unofficially our 6 months together :D I know she hates me saying that it's "x months" when it isn't, but it's the unofficial 6 monther, so I'm going to make sure that I'm happy on that day :)

And finally - Mena seemed to disagree with me that Hours by Funeral For A Friend was the Worst Album of 2005. I told her that I was only going by what I owned, or else it would've been some shitty pop album by some shitty pop "artist". Anyways, with hindsight, I'd like to make it a Joint Award, as I remembered that In Your Honour by Foo Fighters was equally as poor. So there, that's settled :D

Hope you enjoyed your New Years. Till tomorrow
-=Gav=-