Throughout history artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers have pushed the boundaries of social norms. Sometimes they have paid a huge price for their art, but most of the time, at least in modern times, they are celebrated as visionaries and pioneers.

I watched the trailer for "Kick Ass Hit Girl" on YouTube the other day and let's just say I was rendered speechless by it.

Warning: Strong language and extreme violence.

 

As master thespian Keanu Reeves might have said, this review is "most excellent."

First things first. I really enjoyed the original Star Wars films. When the Phantom Menace was released in 1999, I saw it in the theater and I hated it. For a while I thought it was just me. Perhaps I had out grown the science fiction/fantasy genre... but I soon realized that I was not alone. Now, 10 years later, a movie fan completely deconstructs not only the Phantom Menace, but filmmaker George Lucas himself.

This clip is part 1 of 7 (hey, I used the word "epic" for a reason!).

It is the season of giving and in that spirit, the makers of Handbrake have given us something truly awesome - Handbrake 0.9.4.

A year in the making, Handbrake includes over 1,000 improvements or updates since it's last release. In addition to new presets and features like live preview and constant quality encoding, Handbrake is now 64-bit which means faster encoding for all (and who doesn't like that?).

To download Handbrake, visit their website at http://www.handbrake.fr/ (available for Mac, Windows and Linux).