April Fools in September?

Universal has set July 1, 2011, for the release of "Battleship," confirming Peter Berg as helmer of the live-action pic based on Hasbro's naval combat board game.

Deal is part of a two-picture pic pact Berg has made with U, where he'll follow "Battleship" with an Afghan war drama "Lone Survivor."

Universal's date declaration positions "Battleship" to become the second film release from the studio's multiyear deal with Hasbro to turn its classic games into features. The studio previously set an April 11, 2011, release date for "Stretch Armstrong," with Steve Oedekerk about to deliver a script.

You'd think Hollywood studios would realize they could make a movie about a fleet of ships, in whatever time and war they like, without paying Hasbro a dime. They could even throw in the "C-6, you sunk my battleship!" as an in-joke. It's not like GI Joe, which has actual established characters and continuity, making all those kids who watched the cartoons in the 1980's more likely to watch a GI Joe movie than Randomly Named Squad of Tech-Laden Heroes Fights Randomly Named Squad of Supervillains.

And in the meantime, dozens of Hasbro properties that could be developed into interesting movies will go undeveloped. I understand that more people have played Battleship than have played Dungeons and Dragons or Magic: the Gathering, but those latter properties have actual worlds, with histories, conflicts, personalities....

That's not to say I trust Hollywood to create a watchable movie off even the best property, as evidenced by the first movie to bear the Dungeons and Dragons name.

So true...

Yes, we all make such an impact with our blogging!



(From the Web comic Precocious, by Christopher Paulson.)

Good riddance, Van Jones

Communist and 9/11 Truther Van Jones "resigned" from the useless but potentially dangerous "green jobs czar" position. I saw this news flashed on CNN while in the airport in Atlanta. The tagline at the bottom of the screen mentioned a "vicious smear campaign of lies and distortion."

It's telling to see what the Left considers a "vicious smear campaign of lies and distortion": reporting the person's actual words and actions, wholly in context. Van Jones was a leader in a Marxist organization. He was a Truther. He is immortalized on CD as anti-Israel. All of these are true. If you want an example of a vicious smear campaign, and one that's timely given recent news, look at Ted Kennedy's speech on Robert Bork's America.

Now, just because you supported some bad causes in the past, it shouldn't ruin you. You can just admit you were wrong. For example, when it was revealed that Barack Obama was recorded saying he supported a single payer health care system, he could have responded, "When I made that statement, I hadn't studied the issue much, mostly relying on the opinions of one side. In my time in the Senate and running for the presidency, I studied the issue further, and have concluded that the single payer system will not work for America." Now, I wouldn't have believed him, but if you don't describe how and why your opinions have changed, it is very sensible to assume they haven't changed.

At the link, Robert Stacy McCain discusses the media impact, and has a number of interesting links.

Rethinking redistricting

Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita is promoting sensible redistricting for 2010, focusing on more compact districts that keep communities intact and does not reflect political data. In addition, he suggests state House districts should not be split across multiple state Senate districts. I support this plan. Follow the link and look at how state and Congressional districts might have looked had this plan been in force then.