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Just perusing the Boutell site for information on the GD library. GD supports GIF, JPEG and PNG file formats. Adsense listing included adventure tours to Papua New Guinea.

Came across this a while ago. Obviously another example why we need sub-editors.

Last night I learnt that directors and actors and such like use the general psedonym Alan Smithee to avoid putting their own names to productions in situations where control has been lost or overthrown. I guess its an example of standardisation. If this is an Alan Smithee movie then there has been dissent among the ranks at the directorial level!

I Googled the name and got this nice little bio from IMDb - “Born in 1967, the same year he directed his first picture, Death of a Gunfighter (1969)” - that’s a child prodigy!

Wikipedia has a great entry and defines it very deftly as a contractual arrangement with the Association of Motion Picture and Television Producers. When you think about, that makes sense. You couldn’t pick just any name to use as a pseudonym - it would have to be registered for all sorts of legal reasons, income tax being one of them.

I just got to looking at a second-hand book that I had last seen some time in the 1960s. It is one of those popularly produced books for kids - very popular at Christmas. I glanced at the section on the moon and noticed the caption on this picture:

What I’d like to know is, what’s with the pistol? Even in the 50s what danger could possibly be expected that required the use of a pistol?

Came across this little item in today’s paper. What I don’t understand is … why has it taken so long for us to find this out?

I’ve taken to buying cheap videos. Boxed set of ten on four DVDs. Some could be worth having - the Alfred Hitchcock set consist mainly of his 1930 work. But they look as if they have been recorded from a projection on a bed sheet. The production values of the DVD leave a lot to be desired. Some of the sets are simply awful. It’s a way for movies that lost at the box office to at least make a small return.

Last night I watched “Crash Dive 2″. A Russian nuclear powered submarine is hijacked by Russian terrorists. What makes the situation dangerous is that the sub is carrying a nuclear missile which did not do too well in its trials. The warhead is unstable.

Time to call in a washed up Navy medical officer (ex Navy Seal) and his beautiful sidekick who gets onto the sub somehow (I must have drifted into a stupor at that stage). I’m not going to describe the whole film. I’ll just relate the main character the corkscrew.

Turns out the corkscrew is the only weapon available and just happens to be in our good guy’s pocket. When the good guy gets shot in the leg he uses the corkscrew to extract the bullet. He heats it up with a cigarette lighter, carefully puts the lighter away, screws up his face in anticipation, takes three deep breaths, braces himself, takes careful aim and thrusts the corksrew into his leg. After a bit of huffing and puffing and wincing the corkscrew is removed from the leg with the bullet neatly impaled on its tip. Oh, please!

Bern

I couldn’t resist this purchase - I didn’t need it. The mind ponders the powers within.

Bern