Star Trek IRL

I remember about 10 years ago thinking that the technology of startrek would be real 'one day', little did I know that it would be within my lifetime and so soon. Some trek technologies are still in their infancy, some have reached a point that seems to exceed the sci-fi imaginings of a just a few short decades ago.

With news today from NASA:

NASA starts to develop warp drive

This opens up the possibility of travelling a relative 10c (10 times the speed of light), I thought it might be a good time to dust of my blog and complete a post i was working on back in May when MIT nailed the Hypo-spray.


So here are a few things that have come to pass over the last few years.

Automatic doors

one of the earliest innovations to become a reality was the automatic sliding doors. Admittedly some people had thought of them before star trek but the popular usage in supermarkets arose afterwards and became the big thing that people pointed at as being 'the only thing we have from star trek'.

Youtube: Men Behaving Badly - Star Trek Doors

Communicators

This is the official startrek communicator app for the iphone. We equaled the flip up communicator from the original series by the 90s and have since moved beyond it, but not in the way trek-tech went (to make it into a tiny badge), but rather to include a camera and a computer and a media center. Smartphones are becoming a combo of communicator and tri-corder all in one. and with SIRI we have an early incarnation of the ship's voice controlled computer.

The PADD

C'mon, This one is a massive leap towards trek-tech. So much so that I don't really need to tell you what the real device that is like it is, It's almost got the same name. iPad / PADD it's right there, and already in 2012 we have a better device than what was imagined for the 24th century, people had to take PADDs to the captain, why aren't they all wirelessly connected through the ships computer?

Phasers

Whilst not compact enough to fit in the palm of your hand, laser weapons are more and more being used by the military  as defense against missile attacks. And if Moores Law holds for big-ass lasers as it does for so much other technology... set phasers to stunned.

Youtube: Laser Weapons

Replicators

Another very recent technology is 3D printers, Makerbot Industries has called their latest iteration "The Replicator" Whilst a good step towards putting manufacturing in the hands of the consumer, it does still only print objects out of lego plastic. No "tea. earl-grey. hot" just yet.

Youtube: Makerbot Replicator

Hyposprays

This is the article that originally made me start this post, my friend Laura is terrified of needles and she is somewhat justified in that. The new technology from MIT is an almost perfect defintion of the term hypo-spray as it literally sprays drugs through the skin without making a puncture. 

MIT invents hypospray

And not to mention Microsoft patenting something very holo-deck esque for it's next generation (no pun intended) kinect.

Now all we need is transporters that can convert matter to energy and transport it from one place to another, likely a while off in our future for that one. Science, get on it!

Related Thing - Scientists successfully transport matter

Touche Science.

Distractions!

I know, I know, it's been a while. I have a tendency to loose interest in creative projects like blogging after a while. I need a push to keep going.


It's been a hectic few weeks, we've looked at some houses, I've kicked my eBaying up a notch, Bamm! :) my college course is coming to a head with my final exam this Friday. So lots of distractions to use as excuses for not doing anything creative. Oh and I also drastically reduced my caffeine intake this month, so napping is my new favorite pass time.


It also doesn't help my procrastination that there is more music, video, blogs, facebook updates, twitter posts, news, games, comedy and movies made every day than it is possible to ever watch! If they ever invent that 'head-jack' thing from the matrix, we won't be learning how to fight or fly helicopters or speak norwegian, we'll use it to catch up on box sets. I long for the day when I can download every episode of the sopranos directly into my brain.


So heres how it goes; I get enthusiasticly into a creative thing, then loose interest once I have solved the 'puzzle' of how it works. It's kinda obsessive compulsive attention deficit disorder. I loathe the kind of 'self-motivation' crap that people buy into to solve this kind of creative procrastination, I think it just needs the right person to tell you to snap out of it, whether a friend or family member, if that person is yourself that's cool too. 


On a side note 'self-help' is the most annoying term in the world to me. If you could help yourself, why would you need a book/dvd/seminar? I'll try to keep at this with some old fashioned other person help. Thanks for the push Laura :) x

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Fantasy Vs Sci-Fi

I'm a sci-fi guy, I've never really gotten the fantasy genre. It all seems too easy. 'Magic' explains everything away. In sci-fi there is of course made up stuff but it's internal logic seems to make sense. In sci-fi if someone has a superpower, it's because of gamma rays or a spider bite, in fantasy they are just 'magic' or 'chosen'. It's really hard to suspend my critical thinking and accept 'curses' and 'energy' or 'spirits'.


Even in my favorite type of movies, zombies, I can only enjoy it if there is either no explanation of the plague or an infection. A voodoo curse or punishment from god and I'm out, can't enjoy it.


So given that, this is a massive leap I'm taking. I have decided to try, try, try to enjoy fantasy. I'm slowly easing my way in to the genre. Ok I have slightly been pulled in to it by a friend, she's bringing me over to the dark side show by show...  :-). 'Dark side' a star wars reference there, what would be the fantasy equivalent? Probably the same now I think about it. So there is some common ground at least, after all in bookshops there is very often only a forward slash separating the two.


I'm into game of thrones which is set in a fantasy world but is largely just people killing and humping each other, but it does have dragons this season. 


Lost girl is amazing, which is very much a fantasy show but it takes place in a modern setting which tempers it a little for me I think. 


Now I've just watched the first few eps of 'Once upon a time'. It's about a town full of people who are really fairytale characters but have forgotten because of an evil witches curse. That's the core premise.... it's testing my resolve slightly.


Oh! and how can I forget that I've been watching 'the guild' for 5 seasons, but that's about gamers, who happen to play a fantasy MMORPG. But this has in turn lead me, via my second favourite redhead geekette (Felicia Day) into the world of fantasy gaming and books and Larp culture (only as an observer though, I have no urge to run around the woods in tights or develop a WoW addiction). 


But the genre is quite addicting, it's like I'm getting into harder and harder drugs. If I end up quoting lord of the rings and harry potter It'll be like I've hit the crack pipe.


Although, Looking at the number of the top 50 movies on IMDB that I have watched, watching the LOTR trilogy would push my score up 3 notches. I already watched 12 angry men to increase my score (great film btw) so I might watch the whole trilogy just once. In fact I might watch it as a marathon with my first favorite redhead geekette, and the person who got me hooked in the first place, Laura. 


*sparks up metaphorical crack pipe*

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Geek and Sundry (Felicia Day's new Youtube network)

I Know Art, I Know What I Like.... Posters

This M. C. Escher inspired limited edition poster for Joss Wheedon's new film 'The Cabin in the Woods' Is such a beautiful image. It's clever and funny and brimming over with nerdyness. All the things I loved about the film when I saw it last night.

This last week I've been trying to think of things to fill the few walls I have that are not covered in DVDs. So far I've got a framed set of firefly posters near my computer and a blown up page from the walking dead comic book on my wardrobe door. I'm finding it hard to decide what to put over my bed though.

I have such roving and varied geek-obsessions It's hard to pin down one thing that I like soooo much that I want to put it so prominently over the place where I sleep. I have a shelf full of robot arms with a space above it in the corner, A Robo-themed image would go there nicely (I'm thinking something 1950s "Robots From Space!!!" -ish), but that space above my slumbering head, I can't decide what I'd like there.

I have the same problem with my desktop wallpaper, I see dozens of cool geeky images a day online, any number of which would make excellent wallpapers or posters for my wall. But I keep the same simple abstract wallpaper I chose when I first installed windows and my bedroom walls remain bare.

I suppose the the difference between 'Art' and a cool image is; Art you can stand to look at every day, whereas you want a NEW cool image every day, finding a cool image that works in the same way as art is tricky. I'm sure I'll know it when I see it. Also it shows your tastes off to people, which as I said for me are varied, so picking just a few is hard work. Maybe I just need more walls.

Related Thing

www.geek-art.net

Domo Arigato Mr Roboto

I totally want to be a cyborg. Despite watching two series of 'The Sarah Connere Chronicles' this week, I'm still psyched to see the emergence of the augmented human. This week has been a little hectic, but several stories have still caught my attention. I do read several tech and gadget blogs, so I see cool emerging techologies in various stages of development.


It's interesting to see devices go from concept to prototype to kickstarter then to a product announcement at CES or the like. For example the google glasses concept excites me, there is definite potential for that to be the first stage in true augmented reality. Combined with the iOptik contact lenses DARPA has just invested in, the AR device could become almost invisible.

Speaking of DARPA, one of their main contractors Boston Dynamics is totally the REAL Cyberdyne Systems, 'Petman' is a terrifying but also fascinating glimpse at the future, they are building humanoid robots that can climb stairs and walk with such a realistic gate it astounds me. Asimo the Honda robot looks comical in comparison to how this sucker moves, adapts and strongly resembles a skinless T-101 crushing a bleached human skull underfoot. 

I've been an early adopter for as long as I can remember, I was the first person at school with a CD writer, in 1999 everyone at school had MiniDisc players, however having just gotten into napster I saved all summer and spent £200 on a very early portable MP3 player the Diamond Rio, It had a smartmedia card slot with a 32mb card that held about 15-20 songs. I'll queue up to get my neural implant chip installed, pre-order my AR contact lenses and save my wages for weeks to have a chance to get an early model cyborg arm attached. I'm sure the arm will spaz out and try to strangle me, the lenses will probably be low res and impractical at first and that the chip only hold a few phone numbers for me. But that's how new tech always is, and I love it, I want to be part of it, and I want it to be a part of me! :)

Related Thing

Future Soon - Jonathan Coultan

Top Fives

Last night at work, in an effort to stave off the boredom of a Saturday close I looked through the top 50 films on imdb by votes, and counted up how many I'd seen and compared my score (38) to my co-workers. Laura scored a respectable 31, the GM an amazing 39, (if only I'd seen Lord of The Rings I'd have beat him) and Sadie scored 7, I know right :-0 shocking!


But looking at the list there were obvious biases toward recent releases, all of the LOTR films were included, as well as Toy Story 3 and Inception. All good movies but not 'Top 50 films' in my opinion. This is a natural result of the fact that people on imdb vote on new movies more than the classics. Although a few B&W films and even a silent Chaplin picture made it.


This led to a discussion about personal favourites, and the difference between 'best films' and 'favourite movies'. It's the difference between the 'Film' that wins the Oscar and the 'Movie' that you can watch a dozen times or at any time.


That's the trouble with 'best' lists of creative works, there are too many ways to judge, by votes, by how much money it made, critical response, and you'll never please everyone anyway. Something will be left off or included that offends someone. That's why I'm not going to go there. I won't list a 'Definative Top 5' It's so hard to choose just five. Maybe a 'Top 5 by genre', still very hard. What I'll do is give you MY top 5 by genre. It won't please everyone. So please go and write your own.

Action
Speed
Die Hard
Bad Boys
Fightclub
The Dark Knight


Sci-Fi
Back to the Future
The Matrix
Aliens
Star Trek (re-boot)
Mad Max


Horror
Night of the Living Dead
Jaws
Battle Royale
Silence of the Lambs
Psycho


Comedy
Shaun of the Dead
Home Alone
Groundhog Day
50 First Dates
Liar Liar


Drama
The Shawshank Redemption
Trainspotting
Juno
Cast Away
Rain Man


Documentary
Bowling for Columbine
Supersize Me
Life After People
Trekkies
Exit Through the Giftshop




I know there are omissions, even this list was hard to pare down. I even had to leave out High Fidelity (the related thing for today) and several other worthy films. Just to be clear these are my favourite 'Movie' picks not my best 'Film' choices.

Related Thing

Battle Royale with Cheese

It's been a while since we watched it and I think I've cracked why I had the problem I had with the movie. The truth of the matter is 'The Hunger Games' books are for young adults. The movie is aimed at tweens. I still feel like a young-ish adult even though I'm in my late 20s, but a tween I am certainly not. So sadly it was never a movie meant for me, so no wonder it was a disapointment.


However I've still got Battle Royale if I want to see schoolkids killing one another for sport. It takes crazy Japanese directors like Kinji Fukasaku to do cutting edge horror properly nowadays. Hollywood has lost all originality recently. Brainless torture-porn like Saw for the over 18s,  "found footage" Paranormal Activity clones for teens and those who mistake jumpy for scary. What is worst of all  is the rise of PG-13 "horror". The hunger games could have been an epic dark horror with a strong heart if it hadn't been tailored to tweens and trimmed down for the ratings boards. but that's not profitable, so it'll never happen. So goes the hollywood mantra.


Maybe I am an older young-adult because I am starting to get the urge to say that some things were better in my day. True there was terrible hair and no internet but they sure knew how to make horror in the 80s and 90s. Even the ones that failed to be scary usually did so not by being bland and aiming for safe, but by being insane and laughable (which for me is win/win). Japan seems to have picked up that torch nicely and run with it. they often fall close on either side of a fine 'awesome/insane' line. Some walk that line like a tightrope.




First the insanely awesome. 

Battle Royale

Obviously. 


Japanese schoolkids slicing each other up in a 'last kid standing' fight to the death on a wierd government run island. With buckets of blood, romance and humour. Just epic! avoid the sequel though, it's a let down.


Now for the awesomely insane. 

Machine Girl

This one is truely mental. A girl loses her arm to the Yakuza and has it replaced with a machine gun. Try pitching that plot in holywood. The effects are almost all practical as opposed to CG because of the low budget I assume (I'll save my anti-CG rant for a later date) but it allows for a much more 'messy' tangible, if not at all realistic look to the violence. I love how they clearly had fun making it and passion and fun is what a lot of hollywood lacks now I think. It's silly and funny and gorey as hell. I Love it! The director,
Noboru Iguchi also made "robo-geisha" and has a new movie coming out called "zombie ass" , That's right, and it's not one of those mis-translation things. that's a perfect title for this movie. I put the trailer is below, *Warning* can not  be un-watched. :)

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Zombie Ass - Official International Trailer

Fight the power

This image of Anon has been on my phone and wallet for months. Like many people I have become increasingly frustrated with the 1% and the way they treat the other 99%


Whilst not the placard waving, live in a tent type, I do feel the need to point out the shady horribleness that is going on with the powerful elite. The last few weeks have seen all too much of this.


Lets start with the goverment. The are destroying the NHS, messing with education, have plans to privatise the roads, cutting taxes for millionaires, spying on every uk citizen's web activities. Not to mention the plan for secret trials,  selling policy descisions for a few hundred grand, and intentionally causing panic over fuel to screw with the unions. All in the past few weeks. Shocking!


Then there is big media, in particular the Murdoch empire. First the phone hacking at multiple Murdoch papers, now little Jimmy Murdoch is quitting BskyB (i'm geussing because he knew about the NDS competitor sabotage plan). You can't really play clueless when you are the billionaire family at the head of a multinational global empire with an obvious focused agenda across all of it's parts. Money drives Murdochs; from cancelling firefly (F**K YOU FOX) as soon as the ratings dip, to changing the outcome of an election to elect a government who will help the rich and keep the poor in line.


Speaking of the rich, people are hating on the bankers. At least they are honest about thier motivations. Money! Money! Money! They are doing a job and only a few of them are the evil manipulating millionaire bastards that we think of when you say "banker".




Not sure what the solution is, some kind of revolution maybe? Political, financial, social, who knows? I do have hope that the internet is a force for change, with the Arab spring and the occupy movement, there is something brewing. Like I said i just wanted to point out the things I see.

Related Things

occupywallst.org

wearethe99percent.tumblr.com

I'm Crafty!

I'll start off this post by saying a big happy birthday to my friendgirl Laura! ( aka teasingtoplease ) seen here opening the card I hand-crafted in celebration of her suceeding in not dying for a 25th year. It's great to find a reason to do paper engineering again. Having a friend who gets your nerdiness and appreciates the passions that drive your geek pursuits is the best!

OMG!!!! A SHARK!!!!

It's been a few days since I've posted, so I'll sum up the last few days.

Friday was the 'going out night' for Laura's birthday, we went to cardiff, danced like loons for hours in a mix of smoke, sweat and pounding dance music at Pulse one of the capitols finest homosexual discothèques :-) I drank a lot of cider and yet woke up hangover-less, felt a bit cheated :-(

Saturday when we all felt up to it we caught a showing of 21 jump street. I've got to say I was very impressed, nice mix of action and comedy and very self aware too. Highly recommended for a switch off brain type trip to the cinema. That IS a compliment by the way.

Sunday I just chilled and re-watched Firefly and Serenity. BTW f**k you FOX for cancelling such an amazing thing!

Joss Whedon is such a great writer, director, producer (all round auteur really). Hope that the few projects he has in the works live up to the epicness of his body of work. The Avengers which he's written and is also directing, and Cabin in the Woods which he's just producing (hope he's really involved and not just putting his name on it) both look like they have promise. We'll soon see.

And today we had a bite in SALT Cardiff Bay and then just hung out and talked about the various pop culture we mutually cherish (including an idea for season 2 of American Horror Story). All in all a fun-filled few days. and I think we have a few more to go. We're gonna try and make Laura's birthday week-off as awesome as possible!

Related Things

21 Jump Street Trailer

Firefly - This Land

Could I Live Without TV?

It's been a year since I stopped watching live TV. Originally it was just because I bought a new TV and didn't bother connecting the sky box to it. After a few weeks I realised I didn't need to. 90% of the programmes I watch are American so I can see them weeks earlier online on demand without adverts. So I cancelled Sky, the Freeview switch happened and I didn't notice. I download the shows I like when they air whether in the States or the UK, I can watch what I like, when I like. No adverts or repeats (unless I choose to re-watch something awesome). 


Plus I've started really enjoying web-shows, perfectly tailored to me. Stuff about hacking, modding, zombies, and all kinds of nerd culture. there are channels as well as cool one off videos. I'm going to post a few of my favourites below. Enjoy!

Vihart - cool math related doodling and ideas

thebenheckshow - guy who builds xbox laptops and stuff

Hak5Darren - Shuriken for IT Ninjas!

ZombieGoBOOM - zombie related weapon tests

watchtheguild - web comedy about MMORPG gamers

So with all these and a bunch more I have a lot to watch. If normal TV stopped tomorrow, I think I'd be OK.

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Tom Ska

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Natalie Tran

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We've Got to Stamp This Out!

Stamps are going up 14p! First class is going to hit 60p in April. Now that might not seem like a lot to an average Joe who sends maybe a dozen letters a year. I send out over 100 every week! that's £14 a week loss to me. And it's not like they are improving the service either. It often takes a week for a 1st class letter to arrive at it's destination, and don't get me started on the amount of letters and packages Royal Mail looses, at least one a week of mine doesn't reach the recipient. 

The argument they are giving for the increase is that because of email people are sending less letters so they aren't making as much money. So the response to having a smaller pool of loyal customers who use your service is to gouge them for more money because you can. That's a business model I'm sure won't backfire massively. eBay sellers like me are keeping the Royal Mail afloat, our postman has a van full of packages every day and a small sack of bills and junkmail. TNT and other carriers aren't hiking their prices by a third every year. I already use them for larger packages because Royal Mail just don't try to compete, they think they hold a monopoly by having shops everywhere. Only a matter of time before they alienate so many small businesses that they go the way of the dinosaur.

But for now Royal Mail is a T-Rex I have to deal with daily. I'm going to buy up as many stamps as I can before the rise. Saving my profit margins for a few months at least. Then who knows? Might have to change strategy.

Related Thing

BBC News - Stamp prices: First-class stamps to cost 60p

Sunshine and Rainbows

Another glorious day in South Wales today. And guess what? Me and Laura both had a day off! So to the seaside we went. We played mini golf had ice cream and Porthcawl chips, and soaked up the sun :-) . Looking out at the sea we both were rendered speechless. The vista was moving and the moment made us both truly relaxed but what to say? Laura actually voiced the thought first "I don't know what to say". And neither did I.


A religious person could comment on the wonder of God's creation. I'm a total atheist and Laura has had some issues with the church of late. Lovers would profess the pleasure of being together in the moment. Once again that doesn't apply, Laura and I are friends, good friends. Laura is gay and I myself am a celebate priest of nerdery. (Ironically given my lack of faith if I'd lived 200 years ago I'm pretty sure I would have been a priest.). Silence is good too though, not prayer, not awkward silence or a moment of zen, just a nice silence.


We eventually talked about the reason why people once believed the earth was flat. Staring out at the horizon I saw the curvature and it seemed so hard to imagine such a backward time. People resisted the change in "world shape theory". There is a story about a lady who insisted the world rested on the back of a giant turtle. When asked  what that turtle walked on, she replied "another turtle, it's turtles all the way down."


When people have a fixed world view it takes a lot to change it. Laura's recent issue with her church concerns the bigoted views of the vicar there and how he abused his power to present them to the congregation. And not just as his opinion, but as the opinion of the church and of God (using carefully selected bits of the bible as an excuse of course). He included a request to sign an anti-gay marriage petition in the hymn sheet announcement leaflet thing (a old communication technology conveying an equally archaic point of view.)


The issue of gay marriages being called "marriages" seems to annoy some people a great deal. They say ''civil unions are ok" but you know they are the people who protested those when they started too. What the plackards and petitions should read if they were honest is "Say NO to CHANGE" the main currencies of religions are hope and fear. Giving hope is hard, especially when people are presented with so much hope outside of the church. But fear is easy. That's why politicians and advertisers use it so often. Fear of "the other", "the different" is engrained in our genetic code. But we are not our genes. We are not cavemen fearing other tribes that come from beyond that horizon. We have evolved. But then again the church has a bit of a problem with that too.


The further society evolves toward true social justice, the further out of touch the church seems. At a time in our past, religion was a point of light in the darkness, more loving than the cruelties of the world at large and offering promise of a brighter tomorrow. Well it's tomorrow now. It's sunny and there is a big gay rainbow on the horizon.

Related thing

image source: etsyqueers.blogspot.co.uk

Sign the Coalition FOR Equal Marriage petition Here

It's Hot In Here, Must Be Summer :)

Only a quick post today. A 17 month old baby is running everyone here ragged. The seemingly boundless energy he possesses might be the solution to ever rising fuel bills. Note to self *Baby treadmills connected to electrical generators* , It's a billion pound idea. 


Summer has arrived and the nice weather has moved us all to the garden to enjoy the sun. This massive increase in play area has thrilled baby Sam but knackered the crap out of the rest of us. He's been watering the plants, kicking a ball around, and drawing in chalk all over the patio. Oh and running, running around and around at a pace that seems impossible for his little legs.


He's so good at copying things too. He saw me lean on a wall be the window, he dropped what he was doing and did exactly the same. Better go now before he starts blogging too.




Sam say "Bye-Bye!" :-)

Without a Map Hunger Games Has Lost it's Way

We watched the movie adaptation of The Hunger Games last night. Disappointing to say the least. They have cut the horror and violence to a bare minimum (even more so in the UK cut) to make it more kid friendly, I get that but don't agree with it. But what's worse is they have cut so many little moments that develop the characters and explain their relationships. I think the actors did well with what they were given. There seems to be a lot cut out. If they did the book right it would have been a 3 hour film which I know is not feasable, they just cut it down in such a way that much of the character motivation is gone and that bummed us out.

Anyway, enough of that. Back to the books where all the effects are better, the characters more rounded and the Hunger Games feel truly horrific. A long long week ago when I read the first book, my friend Laura said it would be cool to see a map of Panem and I thought so too. So today to Google I went!

Sadly there is no official map of Panem :-(

People have different opinions of where the districts are. The one above is close but I have a few bones to pick (naturally)

District 12 is identified as being in what was once appalachia putting it in the north east of the US. Spot on there I think.

The Capitol is north of district 2 which has a large mountain with a command base under it (Norad maybe). So that fits with this map.

The other low numbered districts being near the capitol makes sense so I'll go with the placement of 1 and 3 (gold and precious stones mining in the desert states, and electronics development in California makes sense). but district 4 is in my opinion totally in the wrong place. It should be on the north west coast of the U.S, Washington, Oregon and N. California not down south. 

The other theory I have concerns Districts 5 + 6. Now although it's debated what is produced there, some people agree that 5 is power generation and 6 is transportation.

I think the person who made this map put transportaion over Michigan because Detroit is historically known for car manufacturing. 

My theory though is that it is more a central transportation hub and should be where 6 is on this map.

That would put 6 right next to 12, providing coal for the power plants makes sense to me.

Other than that I'd probably make 8 smaller and 9 bigger (grain production is going to need much more space than textile factories). 

That's just my theory, how I imagine it. That's it I suppose, the books allow for this type of theorising. You can imagine the tracker jackers being huge. or how magestic the Cornucopia looks. In a movie that is taken away.

They say never meet your heroes, maybe don't watch the movie version of a book you like either.

having said that:

Related Thing

http://litreactor.com/columns/the-top-10-book-to-film-adaptations-that-were-actually-good