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Thursday, July 29, 2004

Auburn Picked For 2nd in SEC West 

Full Story

AUBURN - Media members attending the Southeastern Conference Football Media Days in Birmingham this week voted Auburn to place second in the Western Division this season, it was announced Thursday.

Auburn received 197 total votes, including 14 first-place ballots. Auburn trails only LSU, which received 71 first-place votes and 108 overall.

Auburn also received one vote by members of the media to win the 2004 SEC Championship. Georgia, which was selected to win the Eastern Division, was also voted to win the SEC Championship with 61 votes.

Ole Miss (304 points), Alabama (331), Arkansas (418) and Mississippi State (490) were selected to finish in slots No. 3-6 in the Western Division.

Following Georgia in the Eastern Division is Florida (186), Tennessee (278), South Carolina (375), Vanderbilt (419) and Kentucky (490).

Additionally, the first- and second-team All-SEC squads were voted on by the media. Auburn earned three first-place nominations and three second-team selections.

Junior tight end Cooper Wallace, who caught 16 passes for 209 yards and one touchdown last season, was voted a first-team All-SEC member. Wallace, a Nashville native, was voted first-team All-SEC by Athlon Sports in the spring.

Senior running back Carnell Williams was also honored by the media with a first-team All-SEC selection. Williams needs just 10 touchdowns to tie Bo Jackson for the most in a career at Auburn.

Senior defensive back Carlos Rogers was named a first-team All-SEC selection by the media, joining Georgia's Thomas Davis, and LSU's Corey Webster and Travis Daniels in the defensive backfield. Rogers was named to the Jim Thorpe Award pre-season "watch list" earlier this week. The award is given to the nation's top defensive back toward the end of the season.

Junior offensive lineman Marcus McNeill and senior defensive back Junior Rosegreen were honored with second-team All-SEC selections, as was junior running back Tre Smith, who was honored for his return capabilities on special teams.

Auburn opens the 2004 season on Sept. 4 against Louisiana-Monroe at Jordan-Hare Stadium.


If Cooper Wallace is an All-SEC TE, then I'm a yankees fan. I'm not sure if he'd make the All-Special Bus team.

Other than that wonderful piece of fantasy, it looks like we may be in good shape for a place in the SEC title game. Alabama's still struggling with sanctions, Arkansas has apparently suffered greatly from graduations on defense, Ole Miss is Manningless, Mississippi State still cares more about baseball, and LSU fans still can't spell "go".



Tuesday, July 27, 2004

Return of the Jedi. 

I know that, with this post, I run the risk of going too far with the Star Wars news here at the Broun Blog. I am most sincere in my attempts to hold back, to limit myself to Star Wars posts that are truly newsworthy.

This is one such post.

As you may well know, the original Star Wars trilogy is finally being released on DVD September 21. The four-disc set will resemble the Indiana Jones trilogy set in its format -- one film (with commentary) per disc with a fourth disc of bonus features -- and the individual cases resemble the DVD releases for the first two prequels.



Even the DVD menus will apparently provide some continuity with the prequel DVD's, offering three different locations for disc navigation.

But the big question has been, which version will be released? The original theatrical versions from 1977-1983? The Special Edition trilogy from 1997? Some "Archival Edition" that will henceforth remain untouched?

The answer is, none of these. There's no indication that this is a final version, but the discs have apparently made their way to some enterprising individuals, and there have been a few changes. The picture and sound quality is, apparently, astounding. Some (though not all) technical details have been fixed, including a few lightsaber effects and the appearance of a few matte paintings and Jabba's Rancor.

And there have been a few significant changes.

In A New Hope, Greedo still shoots first, but Han's reaction is supposedly more realistic. Hopefully, it's at least a good compromise between the original version and the Special Edition, though I would still love to see the scruffy-looking nerf herder shoot that Rodian punk before being fired upon.

Later, Han encounters a new Jabba the Hutt, not the CG creation from the Special Edition but (from what I can tell) a CG version based off what we saw in The Phantom Menace.



In The Empire Strikes Back, the original holographic Emperor has been replaced by Ian McDiarmid, who has played Palpatine in Return of the Jedi and every subsequent film. While that's not too surprising, I'm genuinely surprised to hear that the dialogue's been changed slightly. You can hear the new dialogue here, and compare it to a transcript of the original dialogue here. After comparing, I think it's not too bad a change. Still don't know what to make of the visual, though...



If there's the familiar tracking lines, that'll help, but you can't tell that from a single image.

The actor who played Jango Fett in Attack of the Clones has apparently redubbed Boba Fett's dialogue, and perhaps even the stormtroopers' dialogue. Follow the link for a sample of Fett's dialogue.

Jason should appreciate this one: apparently, also in Empire, the injured Luke doesn't scream as he leaps from the Cloud City precipice.

I repeat. Luke doesn't scream.

In Return of the Jedi, when Vader's helmet is removed, we see Anakin without eyebrows and with his eyes colored to match the prequels.

The Special Edition celebration is extended, once again, to include Naboo.



And there's this....



Video is, again, available here, with plenty of images here and here.

Update: There's also a rumor that The Phantom Menace will be re-released on DVD, with the barely adequate puppet Yoda replaced with the CG Yoda from Attack of the Clones. Take that rumor with a grain of salt.

Update #2: And I'm not sure, but I think this image is a fake:


Sunday, July 25, 2004

REVENGE OF THE SITH. 

It's official.



Revenge of the Sith. May 19, 2005. That's all you need to know.

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