Testing, testing…

This is a test post using my MDA Vario and Pocket SharpMT. With a bit of luck, this will appear as a draft, but you never know…

Edit: Indeed, you really never know. This posted as a published article, rather than a draft; worth keeping in mind. Other than that Pocket SharpMT doesn't look too bad: It certainly has everything you need to post articles from your Pocket PC based phone, even if it does feel a little bit clunky (but then to be fair, so do an awful lot of mobile apps). From what I can see though, it corners the market - I know of no other Windows Mobile blogging client.

Slug it out

The red band (ie adult) Slither trailer is now available for your viewing pleasure here. I'm really looking forward to this one - it's been a while since we had a horror film which didn't take itself too seriously. It'll make a nice change from all the recent "this is most extreme thing you've ever seen" disappointments.

Backwards compatible eh?

I noticed that Microsoft have released a new update for the backwards compatibility functionality on the Xbox 360. Despite the fact that one game I'd like to play wasn't mentioned in the update notes (Manhunt) I gave it another go.

Previously, Manhunt wouldn't run, and would report an error along the lines of "this game isn't compatible with your current resolution".  Having applied the latest update, the error is "your VGA cable doesn't support the PAL-50 mode that this game requires. Use a different cable". Thanks Microsoft, are you going to buy me a screen that supports that different cable too?

So Microsoft appear to be admitting that the VGA cable and PAL 50 games won't work in backwards compatibility mode. Which, in my book, is a poor show. 

Useful Flickr thing

I've been trying to find a way to display which of my Flickr photos aren't in sets. Well, I found one. This is a handy little php page which lists all of your set-less photos. Very nice.

Who needs snakes?

When you can have zombies?

It appears that Flight of the Dead (a film which I always thought should be called Flight of the Living Dead) is now called Plane Dead. And that's a pretty awful title, as far as I'm concerned. I do wonder how well this is going to go down after Snakes on a Plane has made an appearance - surely that will steal most of Plane Dead's in-flight thunder? Maybe they should rename Plane Dead to Zombies on a Plane? I still want to see it, despite the crappy name. Although I suspect I might have to pick the DVD up as that's probably where this one's headed first.

Fango have also posted a nice piece on some upcoming zombie movies, which I'll summarise here for your reading pleasure:

• Day of the Dead Remake - Steve Miner is directing and Jeffrey Reddick is writing. Reddick wrote the decent looking horror film Tamara. Apparently, the zombie outbreak is the result of bioterrorists.
• Children Shouldn't Play With Dead Things - Bob Clark remakes his own film, which should ensure a certain level of quality.
• Zombies - The reanimated corpses of children return. So Children of the Living Dead then, which is apparently awful.
• Zombie Town - Just as it sounds, I guess. Parasites are to blame this time.
• Zombie Island - Norman Reedus and Terence Stamp star in a reality TV take on the zombie outbreak. Apparently the plot here is humans vs zombies on an isolated island as tv entertainment.
• Raiders of the damned - Commandos enter zombie quarantine zone to rescue scientist.
• Oh! My Zombie Mermaid - Japanese, as if you needed telling with that title. Apparently, a legendary wrestler fights zombies in a castle. Could this be the best film ever? I doubt it…

The correct way…

…to approach a remake. This is exactly what I want from a remake: Don't give me a shot for shot version of the same film, give me something new based on the same concept. Cronenberg created one of the best examples of an excellent remake with his version of The Fly, and it sounds like Todd Lincoln had the right idea with his. Sadly, he signs off the Fango piece by saying that the studio would rather do a straight remake. Bad idea.