Ghost in the Shell

The Ghost in the Shell movie was pretty awesome, and is certainly one of my favorite movies. I tend to like near-future sci-fi movies (Minority Report, Blade Runner, Total Recall). I also like noir films. GitS has it all. It's noir, sci-fi, deep, artsy, with kick ass action. What's not to love?

So when my first disc of Star Trek: TNG came, and I finally opened it I found it was broken right in half. Since my Star Trek marathon had been interrupted, I decided to take a break from it. I have been wanting to watch Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex ever since it came to Netflix Instant Watch. So I've started watching them, with six episodes down and 20 to go. While the TV show isn't as good as the movie, it is still pretty cool so far. I'll write a review when I finish the season. There's also a season 2, but I'll wait and see what I think of this one first.

Week 17

"Hello, Computer!" - Scotty

So for week 17 I watched the remainder of the original cast films, 3-6. I also saw the new film, but I will post separately about that once I've seen it a second time.

The odd-numbered movies do suck, the curse was true. I think part of it is whom they allowed to direct. Nimoy directed III and Shatner directed V. III had some redeeming qualities, such as storyline and setup for future movie plots, but the directing, action, and writing were over all poor.

The Voyage Home was a comical break from traditional Trek. The idea is not foreign to TOS, so I feel like it was appropriate. And finally, The Undiscovered Country was a good note to finish on for the entire crew. The plot was great, the directing good, better writing, and the story is very timely where it reflects on a changing world with aging actors. It was a good way to go out and say farewell.

103. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock •••
     
104. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home ••••
     
105. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier ••
     
106. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country •••••

Count 106 of 737

Two More Arcade Sticks

So I did two more arcade sticks that I just finished last weekend. I made one for Darklord as a wedding gift, and while I was at it, I offered to make one for Admiral if he paid me for the parts. It was a lot of work doing two at once, but they really came out great. I didn't want to part with them once I had them finished. They are way nicer than mine. They're small, a more reasonable size, and I modified the design after playing mine for a while. I moved the joystick about 1" further from the edge because my hand kept rubbing the plexi. Also, the headset plug I used for these is much nicer. I also love the 45 degree chamfer I used on Darklord's. I think his is my favorite.

See more pics here.

Arcade Stick Building Info

Admiral Nelson asked me to send him all my info I have collected during the course of my arcade stick production. So here it is.

Links for design ideas:
http://www.joystickvault.com/index.php
http://byrdo.org/arcade_joysticks.htm
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=115479&page=4

Shoryken's Essential Joystick FAQ
http://forums.shoryuken.com/showthread.php?t=132452

Button Layout templates:
http://www.joystickvault.com/showgallery.php?cat=506

Frame Construction Example (my frame design was very similar):
http://omgbbq.com/tfight360.htm

Joystick Mounting Options:
http://www.slagcoin.com/joystick/mounting_layering.html

Xbox Modifications at Xbox Scene (tons of controller info, including PCB maps for all editions):
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=471958

If you remove the analog pots for the analog sticks, you need to replace them with resistors:
http://forums.xbox-scene.com/index.php?showtopic=581799&st=30&p=4153934&#entry4153934

The analog triggers (RT/LT) require a small circuit to make them behave as digital buttons. This is the diagram, except I found I also needed a small resistor between the base and the button:
http://www.joystickvault.com/showphoto.php?photo=415&cat=507

I ordered all of my arcade parts from Lizardick.com. I recommend them. They have a great selection.

General Tips:

1. Use stranded wire, not solid. Stranded is more flexible and will put less stress on your solder points.
2. There are two styles of wireless controller, Matrix and CG. The Matrix style needs two wires per button, but the CG is common ground, so there is much less soldering required. See this post to determine which is which without having to rip the controller apart. I just went around town to all the Gamestops looking at the used controllers until I found the right style.
3. Radioshack has everything you need electronincally; resistors, PNP transistors, mini-PCBs, etc.
4. If your soldering iron didn't come with a holder, buy one. It is well worth the $8. It will keep you from accidentally melting shit, including your hand.
5. Soldering flux is a good idea, especially when soldering to the PCBs. It helps clean the contact to make sure the solder sticks well.
6. Tin the wire ends (melt the solder into it) before soldering to the board. Makes it easier so you don't need three hands.
7. Cutting plexi: Sandwich the plexi between two sheets of scrap wood or MDF and cut through the whole thing. Plexi is notorious for cracking and chipping. But it only cracks and chips when it flexes too much, so if you keep it steady between some scrap wood (and use lots of clamps), then it will cut beautifully. I used a jig saw and hole saw with no problems. Also, do NOT use spades to drill holes in plexi. A lot of idiots try to use spades because they are cheap and hole saws are expensive. The hole saws are worth the extra money.
8. Be very careful when desoldering the PCBs. You can rip out the rings and break the contact. Don't force it, just be patient and make sure you remove all of the solder and it will come right out.
9. Clean the contact pads on the controller PCB with a wire brush rotatary bit. The CG boards are more difficult to solder the digital directions, but you can do it. Just wire brush it to clean off the top coating, use flux, solder it, and then use hot glue on top of it to help secure it

Week 16

This week I've finished TAS and started on the movies. I figure I will watch I - VI of the movies because they are all TOS era. Technically, I will be watching them out of order since I have been following release dates, not chronological time. But I want to have all the movies watched before the new film is out next week.

While TAS had some good episodes, and I recommend any TOS fan to watch them, I won't miss it as much as I am missing TOS. So the movies are a welcome change, even if everyone does look like hell. For the first movie, they redesigned the entire Enterprise to be boring and sterile. The uniforms are ridiculous; they all look like aging hippies wearing yoga outfits. And to top it all off, the entire plot of the first film was a repeat, WTF? The whole "probe from Earth evolves with outside help and corrupts it's programming before returning to endanger it's creator" was done back in TOS season two. Specifically, "The Changling" had Nomad, and the entire plot is almost exactly the same, right down to humans being imperfect and infesting the Enterprise. Not a good start. But it gets better...

KHAAAANNN!!!

The second film was far better, and arguably the best Star Trek film ever. The uniforms were reworked and actually look like uniforms, so big improvement there. The plot was more complex and involving. The themes were deep and meaningful. The conversations between Kirk, Bones, and Spock were wonderful and timely. Some of the best dialog ever written for any Star Trek characters come from this movie. Just a few examples:

• "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young, Doctor." - Kirk
  
• "Damn it, Jim; what the hell is the matter with you?! Other people have birthdays; why are we treating yours like a funeral?" - Bones
  
• "Jim, I'm your doctor and I'm also your friend. Get back your command! Get it back before you turn into part of this collection, before you really do grow old." - Bones
  
• "If I may be so bold, it was a mistake for you to accept promotion. Commanding a starship is your first, best destiny; anything else is a waste of material." - Spock
  
• "It's a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. A far better resting place that I go to than I have ever known." - Kirk, on the death of Spock.
  

It doesn't get any better than that. I only wish the writer who wrote those lines was writing for all the movies. One can only wish.

98. TAS: Albatross ••••
    
99. TAS: How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth •••
    
100. TAS: The Counter-Clock Incident ••
     
101. Star Trek: The Motion Picture •••
     
102. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn •••••
     

Count 97 of 737*
*Note, I have updated the total count to include the 11 movies. The original count was TV episodes only.

Week 15

I'm having mixed emotions about TAS. In some ways it's cool to have new episodes of TOS. But I think the animated aspect has freed the writers from budget restrictions and the result is some really wacky episodes with ridiculous aliens and premises. It seems that some episodes made use of scripts that were intended for TOS, but then at some point they ran out of those scripts and let the Scooby Doo writers come up with some shows. There were some bad ones this week. One of which was written by Walter Koenig (The Infinite Vulcan). Bad, just really bad. It even ended with Sulu looking into the camera with a smile and winking. Like a goddamn Hana Barbara cartoon.

Another thing is the opening sequence. While Shatner's voice-over is the same, the music is more like something out of The Love Boat than Star Trek.


But there is definitely some good in the series. There was even a holodeck in "The Practical Joker"! And here I always thought TNG had come up with that. Also, after seeing more Romulans in Klingon D7 battlecruisers, I finally looked up why that was so. Apparently, there was a fire at the CBS studios and the only Romulan Bird of Prey model was destroyed, so they had to use Klingon D7's for the Romulan episodes. I guess non-canon sources (books and manuals) explain the phenomenon as a trade between the empires. The Romulans gave the Klingons cloaking devices and Klingons gave Romulans some battlecruisers. Interesting factoid, or so I thought.

85. The Infinite Vulcan •
    
86. The Magicks of Megas-tu ••
    
87. Once Upon a Planet •••
    
88. Mudd's Passion •••
    
89. The Terratin Incident •••
    
90. The Time Trap •••
    
91. The Ambergris Element •••
    
92. The Slaver Weapon ••••
    
93. The Eye of the Beholder •••
    
94. The Jihad •
    
95. The Pirates of Orion ••••
    
96. Bem ••
    
97. The Practical Joker •••
    
    

Count 97 of 726

Week 14

This week, I watched several episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series. It's pretty awesome to see new Trek, especially new Trek with Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and the others. The only one missing is Chekov, but that is a small price to pay. The other main difference, aside from the animated aspect, is that the episodes are only half an hour now. And it shows. Some episodes move along at a breakneck pace, as if they took a script written for TOS and stuffed it into a half hour. The first episode also suffered from stiff voice acting. Uhura and Kirk were the biggest offenders. They sounded like they were just reading sentences from a newspaper. This improved in the next episode and finally I think they became comfortable with the voice acting in the third episode. Overall, this is true Star Trek, not to be missed by any fan of TOS.

79. Beyond the Farthest Star ••••
    
80. Yesteryear ••••
    
81. One of Our Planets is Missing ••••
    
82. The Lorelei Signal •••
    
83. More Tribbles, More Troubles •••
    
84. The Survivor •••
    

Count 84 of 726