No, this isn't a repost of the RoboCop item, it's just serendipity.

AN 81-year-old Gold Coast man built, and yesterday used, an intricate suicide machine to remotely shoot himself, after downloading the plans from the internet.

The Burleigh Heads man, who lived alone, left notes of his plans and thoughts as he struggled to come to terms with demands by interstate relatives that he move out his home and into care.

He spent hours searching the internet for a way to kill himself, downloaded what he needed and then built a complex machine that would remotely fire a gun.

He set the device up in his driveway about 7am yesterday, placed himself in front of it and set it in motion.

His notes explained that he chose the driveway as he knew there were tradesmen working next door who would find his body. The plan worked as the workmen heard the gunshots and ran to investigate.

The Gold Coast Bulletin will not reveal how the machine worked, but it was attached to a .22 semi-automatic pistol loaded with four bullets.

It was able to fire multiple shots into the man's head after he activated it.

"Somebody call a goddamn paramedic!"

Thanks to AndyCanuck.

Posted by: Ace at 05:40 AM | Comments (30)
Post contains 213 words, total size 1 kb.

Another '80s film franchise is getting a reboot.

After the relative critical failure of Robocop 2, and the disastrous box-office failure of Robocop 3, a new addition to the franchise was the last thing anyone was expecting.

Information is scarce at the moment, but many are conjecturing that the new addition may well be a remake of the classic original. Remaking a film like that, which even philosophers have written articles on, may well be a hard task, but if its done well it could be a real smasher. WeÂ’ll keep you posted on that one.

I've heard the original was so blood-drenched it's considered art. Think they can do it again? And which actor plays the title role? Is America ready for a woman Robocop?

The X-Rated... [ace] Version of Robocop. Robocop was originally given an X-rating for the bloodiness of the scene (almost exclusively). They trimmed it back, considerably, to get the R-rating.

I remember Siskel and Ebert complaining about the ratings system, and that this was a good movie, and it's an artistic choice, etc., and so the shouldn't be forced to cut the scene just to get the R (or else face financial ruin).

So, since I was a youngish teen, I've wanted to see the uncut scene.

Behold, the magic of the Intertubes.

Strong Graphic, Verging On the Comically Excessive, Violence Warning.

PS: As this clip is not noted as "the X-rated version," it occurs to me it probably just runs on the current DVD, so it's not really anything special.

But who owns Robocop on DVD?

Awesome people do, of course. But I'm not awesome.

And no one argue that this is the theatrical version. I've seen Robocop six thousand times. There's a 0.01% chance I'm wrong, but I don't remember the overhead shot of him being pulped, and the third and fourth shots of him being disassembed by bullets go on for a half-second longer than I remember.

I know this movie. I love this movie.

"What's your name?"

-- "Murphy."

I still cry.

Also, this might have been one of those filmed-to-be-cut scenes. When producers want to go really violent, they'll sometimes film a scene designed to be cut out by demand of the MPAA, so the MPAA will let them slide on other stuff.

In this movie, the torture/dismemberment/murder of Alex Murphy is a really crucial without-this-there's-barely-a-movie scene, so they might have gone overboard with this Pythonesque meaningless killing to get the MPAA to let them do Murphy's awful death as graphically as possible.

Got an X-Rating 11 Times: This making of segment tells the tale. I was wrong; it wasn't just that one scene. Every scene was much more graphic than what was ultimately shown.

If you watch the earlier segments, you'll see that yeah, this movie was as deliberately left-wing as ghengis complained below.

But I didn't mind it all that much. I guess because every action picture of that era (and comic books too -- Dark Knight Returns, Watchmen) was a subversive parody of the Reagan years. It became so much wallpaper. Yes, evil corporate guys, people are dumb and believe what's on tv, yadda yadda yadda. Yes yes, very witty, very sly. Now where are my guns, blood, and killer robots?

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 08:26 PM | Comments (71)
Post contains 555 words, total size 4 kb.

Go ahead and give it a whirl.

A daughter of Atlanta's mayor has been sentenced to three years of probation for laundering money for her ex-husband's drug operation...

...Franklin apologized in federal court. She was accompanied by her mother, Atlanta mayor Shirley Franklin...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:03 PM | Comments (22)
Post contains 56 words, total size 1 kb.

Huh. What the hell has gotten into Allah? Besides beer, I mean.

Better watch that hate, son. One day all that hate's gonna burn you up.

Posted by: Ace at 06:15 PM | Comments (70)
Post contains 42 words, total size 1 kb.

Six percent.

Yeah, as the liberals say about the academy: That's because conservatives don't want to go into these jobs; they all go into business and/or ethnic genocide.

Right. There are no conservative writers. No verbally-oriented conservatives. Conservatives just work for think tanks instead of the media or at the academy because we just always had a hard-on to meet Grover Norquist.

Posted by: Ace at 03:29 PM | Comments (193)
Post contains 98 words, total size 1 kb.

"Bullshit."

Posted by: Ace at 03:23 PM | Comments (40)
Post contains 15 words, total size 1 kb.

Just tipped by Alice H.

2008: A Space Eulogy.

I always thought he was pretty damn cool.

I have no idea why he was in Sri Lanka. I mean, I know he lived there most of his life. I always liked to think he just decided, hey, this is a cool place, I'll move here. And did.

Hm... I was looking for a real clip... but...

You've all seen this scene anyway. Might as well have some dumb fun with it.

Pizza In Space? Whatev's, sorta related.

Okay... Some Clarke vids. Here's Arthur C. Clarke narrating a Britdoc about crystal skulls, which I just link for the Indy IV tie-in.

And here he is reflecting on his 90th birthday. His last one, this past December.

Update [Dave in Texas]: Have some dumb fun with it? Don't mind if I do. The same scene, if interpreted by David Mamet.

Posted by: Ace at 02:03 PM | Comments (54)
Post contains 154 words, total size 2 kb.

I gotta tell ya -- I'm starting to have serious doubts that this guy is really Jesus.

(PS I hope that doesn't make me racist.)

Piling On: Allah.

Geraghty, on the question everyone except those in the media asks: If Obama disagreed so vehemnetly with the racist, anti-semitic, anti-American crackpottery spewing out of this strutting peacock of a toad's mouth: Why did he continue bringing his young daughters to be schooled in Uncle Jerry's Happy House of Hatred?

Ah, well, Jim, I've got your answer already: He could no more shield his daughters from this man than he could cut them off from their racist grandmama.

Dummy.

How the hell do you justify your paycheck?

Does National Review have some kind of diversity program for retards?

Thanks to cuffy meigs for the vid tip.

BONUS QUOTE:

"He didn't just cross the line," Obama said. "He fed into some of the worst stereotypes that my two young daughters are having to deal with today in America. The notions that as young African-American women -- who I hope will be athletes -- that that somehow makes them less beautiful or less important. It was a degrading comment. It's one that I'm not interested in supporting."

Yeah, meanwhile your uncle is telling his parishioners that white people created AIDS to exterminate them.

That's kind of harsh stereotype too, huh?

In fact, I'd guess that sort of notion would make it sort of easier to do harm to someone of another race. Hate speech can impel hateful acts, right? Dehumanization? Depersonalization? This ringing any bells, jagoff?

Fucker.

More at Holland Studios.

Posted by: Ace at 01:16 PM | Comments (62)
Post contains 310 words, total size 3 kb.

At RightWingNews, where the next women profiled include MKH, LaShawn, and Five Feet of Fury.

She, by the way, quotes LaShawn and MKH on the gender war we just so thoroughly enjoyed.

On the other hand, Kathy also posts the following picture (Not quite safe for work: Serious cheesecake warning). more...

Posted by: Ace at 12:44 PM | Comments (61)
Post contains 232 words, total size 2 kb.

Uh, we are talking about the same Dalai Lama here, right? Little dude, generally preaches non-violence? There's not two of them, or something like in Superman III where he splits into a good half and an evil half?

Whatever.

Premier Wen Jiabao accused the Dalai Lama and his supporters of orchestrating violent clashes to taint the Beijing Olympics, saying Tuesday that they were provoking violence to promote Tibetan independence.

The Dalai Lama urged his followers to remain peaceful, saying he would resign as head of Tibet's government-in-exile if the situation spun out of control. But he also suggested the Chinese may have fomented the protests in Tibet and neighboring provinces in order to discredit him.

In China's highest-level response to the unrest, Wen underscored the Communist leadership's determination to regain control of Tibet and nearby parts of China and reassure the world it is fit to host the Games.

Except that China is not an appropriate place to hold the Olympic Games. It got the spot because the Committee thinks that if we treat the Chinese like a model member of the global community, they might actually become a model member of the global community. Just as the U.N. shouldn't be playing cater-waiter to third world despots, the Olympic Committe should not be doing favors for the blood-drenched Chinese regime.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 12:01 PM | Comments (30)
Post contains 232 words, total size 2 kb.