So, yeah.
Picture this:
The special effects guy from An American Werewolf In London, (6 Oscars for Rick Baker!) the writer of Se7en, and the director of One Hour Photo, are teaming up with Benicio del Toro (1 Oscar, one nomination) to remake a movie classic.
I didn't even have to know it was Universal's 1941 classic The Wolf Man to know we're gonna buy it on DVD.
On the other hand, they're also making a live action movie of Robotech; an anime series consisting of over a hundred "episodes" as well as multiple spinoffs and several movies.
Tobey Maguire will be in it.
Although I suspect a greater recipe for suckage could not be created, there is the (admittedly, very slim,) possibility that they might simply Americanize and remake the original, classic "Super Dimension Fortress: Macross" movie, which - if they throw an absolutely HUGE budget at it, which I think as astronomically unlikely, but possible - might potentially not suck too badly.
Pardon my underwhelming enthusiasm; I grew up on Robotech, and I can only sigh and endure as another childhood memory is not just tarnished, but tarred, feathered, and run out of town on a rail by Warner Bros. Damn you in advance for killing my Protoculture addiction!
Moving right along.
You may not have heard this before, but there's a movement - not yet federal legislation, but several states have proposed state legislation - to "buy back" interstate highways from the government, so that the states can turn them into toll roads.
Yeah, you read that right.
After they were built by taxpayer dollars - as are ALL roads, even the purpose-built toll roads - they want to turn around and charge you to use them, too.
Thank goodness for Texas. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison and John Cornyn of Texas have introduced a federal bill - which I devoutly hope will pass - forbidding this kind of exploitative move by state governments, and declaring the interstates permanently duty-free.
Good for them. Good for us, too.
Of course, nothing stops the "Commonwealth" of Pennsylvania from turning their STATE roads into toll roads, except the fact that drivers will immediately find ways to get where they want to go on the interstates.
*sigh*
Abusive taxation at its finest. This joins sales tax, estate tax, and capital gains taxes as the epitome of punishment economics.
