I think what happened is that the mechanics got divorced from the keyboard.
As I mentioned above, “ER” is an insanely common english combination. It worked in the “QWERTY” layout because of the division of the hammers that actually typed the words. Same with “TH” et al.
Either way, your hands are flicking over three rows most of the time. There’s probably a slight gain with Dvorak, but it’s one of those “too little, too late” things.
When Alien came out I remember the reviews about people vomiting in the theater and/or leaving because they were so grossed out/frightened. I could NOT get anyone to go see it with me. So I went alone.
Years later I saw it again on HBO, late at night because I couldn’t sleep (third shift worker at the time) and had forgotten about the dinner scene. I was starting the movie with my dinner cooking. My meal was done about the time the dinner scene came on. So here I was with a TV tray in front of me with a plate of spaghetti and they are eating noodles…out pops the critter and I nearly launched the TV tray plate and all onto the ceiling when I jumped up. Fun times. 
Loved Geordi’s Lament! Great voice Juan, and great job on the song by all!
Alien easily ranks among my top five films. Another is Blade Runner, also a Ridley Scott film. No one else at the time was able to fill each frame with as much detail, light and smoke.
You’ll see some of the same console video created for Alien (docking clamp animation and “PURGE”) in the spinner dashboard video in Blade Runner.
Aliens is a worthy sequel, but the craft of the film-making doesn’t meet the same standard. Production was a bit rushed and even some of the script seems clumsy (“mostly come out at night…mostly”–awkward). Still, the military drop sequence was excellent, and the final battle onboard the Sulaco was spot on.
Alien3 is just a totally different take and I’ve always appreciated it for its distinctive style. The dregs of humanity come up against the monster, with Ripley’s story at the center. I like dark.
Alien Resurrection. Not a fan of this one: Some disturbing images. However, the Betty is awesome. Perlman and Weaver make it worth watching.
Thanks! Thanks to all with the kind words. It was definitely a group effort though, Audra is the real brains behind the songwriting, and Chuck pulled it all together with the recording setup (he’s like a surgeon with that mixing software). Was a blast to work with both of them, and I hope to do so again!
P.S. With this air filter off my face you’re gonna see me, baby!
P.P.S. I only caught the Real Genius reference I quite obviously missed about 72 hours after the interview… (well, I asked Chuck to explain it to me 
) revoking geek card status now… 
Put that away!
Knowledge is meant to be shared. It is the GWC way. No one loses geek cred around here.
Amen, brother.
Almost forgot this part. I think someone mentioned it in another thread. Joss has distanced himself from the movie. In essence he says that yes, it is his script but the way it was shot & edited together really doesn’t have the essence of it there. It essentially isn’t what he envisioned with the script, they didn’t change the script per se’, just how it was intended.
If there is “geek cred”, is there also “gutter cred”?
And why does that - strangely - sound like the name of some kind of Seattle-ish indie punk rock band?
Alien and Predator playing pool:
from g4 update on AVP game:
There is only one person qualified to hold gutter cred, and that is the king of the gutter…GR. I agree with you tho, Gütter Cred sounds like a steampunk rock band.
I’m a little behind in listening to the podcasts, I’ll get to them soon. But I got to see Alien in the cinema a couple of months ago. It was awesome. I’ve picked up the Quadrilogy (ugh, Tetralogy is such a better word) cheap recently, so I’ll have to watch the other three again soon. Well, maybe just Aliens
Question: Is the Alienz rewatch covering the theatrical version or the extended 2:37 director’s cut (which director-screenwriter James Cameron) says is the version he prefers?
Sounds like they’re doing the directors cut, because Chuck mentioned the scene were Ripley ran into Dallas and others captured and made into incubators.
It was interesting to see that the scene was an original part of Alien that was just re-used for Aliens…
Ok, so I finally realized where I’ve seen Veronica Cartwright aka Lambert before: Witches of Eastwick. She’s the nasty sorryBarb pastor’s wife who pukes up the cherry pits…
She has a long career which includes Leave it to Beaver, The Sound of Music and Lost in Space.
[spoiler]She’s Angela Cartwright’s sister.[/spoiler]
As I was watching Alien, I just kept seeing her face contorted with extreme rage, and I couldn’t place it. I finally remembered to imdb it today…
I always remember her as Gus Grissom’s wife from The Right Stuff using the same face to express her displeasure at receiving the same level of pomp and ceremony that Alan Shepherd did for his mission.
She also remember her as a hard nosed prosecuting attorney many years ago on LA Law.
It’s funny because I was watching the extras on the Alien DVD I rented last night and they had some pictures of her back in the day. Her distinctive features made her actually quite pretty, however you hardly know it from all the hard-edged, stressed-out characters she typically got typecast for and did so well…
To clarify: the cocooned-Dallas scene was cut from the theatrical release in Alien, but returned in Ridley Scott’s cut.
In Aliens, the theatrical release ALSO had cut the cocooned-Burke scene. It happens during Ripley’s search for Newt in the atmosphere processor, and you can tell where it would have occurred in the theatrical cut when she is methodical and relatively calm in her progress, then in one shot suddenly she is distraught and dripping with sweat. Cameron’s director’s cut restores the scene.
Oh, I guess I’m just thinking of the scene were the previous inhabitants of the colony got cocooned-up and were begging to be killed. That was in the original Aliens, correct?
Yeah, the cocooned colonist is in the original. The cocooned Burke is in the Director’s Cut.