Today's her first day at massage school.
Wish her luck, you lot!
Hopefully she doesn't end up like fellow massage hopefull Tony Blundetto.
Sunday, April 30, 2006
Saturday, April 29, 2006
one more Batman complaint
This is nit picking, but there's no fucking way a butler would have Michael Caine's thoroughly working-class accent. Every time he spoke it rudely un-suspended my disbelief.
r/e torrent client
this one looks pretty good.
The only thing I don't like about Azureus is that it's a fat, wallowing resource hog.
Unfortunately, it's got the cleanest, most transparent torrent managing interface going...but this one looks decent from the screenshots.
I'll check it out and report back.
The only thing I don't like about Azureus is that it's a fat, wallowing resource hog.
Unfortunately, it's got the cleanest, most transparent torrent managing interface going...but this one looks decent from the screenshots.
I'll check it out and report back.
movies : another nail in Bobo's taste-coffin
So I finally got around to checking out the much-hyped Batman Begins, a flick I was predisposed toward because of Christopher Nolan's involvement. Memento is a Hollywood post-noir milestone, and Nolan seemed a perfect fit for a 'serious' take on Bats.
Unfortunately, a big budget these days guarantees corporate meddling, and a committee of suits is death to the kind of maverick creativity displayed in Nolan's previous films.
There were some bright spots, but it was mostly typical H-town formula regurgitated on schedule. Katie Holmes was an embarrassment (and she also looked really weird in some shots...she's definitely one of those people who needs a flattering DP)- she delivered more than her share of dead-fish lines in a movie well stocked with them. And I generally like Bale, but what the hell was he thinking with that "Batman Voice" he cooked up? It sounded like he had a porcupine stuck in his throat...it's the director's responsibility to shoot down these sorts of method gone awry notions.
But the thing that turned me sour from the opening shot was horrible fake facial hair. It was bad enough it looked like they made their own from cotton wool, but there was SO MUCH of it. I know 80 million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to, but c'mon now!
The first shot of Bale had him looking like someone hit his face with a misdirected blast of hair in a can. Then comes Liam Neeson, who looked like got his chin stuck in a mangy possum's ass.
And while it's quite atestament to Gary Oldman's Herculean acting chops that he was able to conquer the comically huge porn 'stache they saddled him with...why should he have to?
Oh, and that obnoxious plastic-faced twerp they cast as 'young Bruce Wayne' made me want to kick the television in every time he showed up...who let the producer's bastard child in front of the camera? >:(
Overall, watchable but fatally flawed. The best bits were stolen from far superior movies (most obviously Bladerunner). Only the dude who played the Scarecrow escaped with his dignity intact (because even Oldman's chops couldn't save the line "I gotta get me one of those!" after Bale peels out in his odd crypto-military "batmobile"....give me Burton's crypto-phallic version any day of the week).
It could have been really good if only the screenplay had escaped corporate "improvements" and all of the casting was up to the level of the Scarecrow and Jim Gordon. Instead it looked like both were determined two-face style, by flipping coins (heads, a good decision....tails, a bad one.)
Worth a rental for the Scarecrow and some cool production design, but not much else.
Unfortunately, a big budget these days guarantees corporate meddling, and a committee of suits is death to the kind of maverick creativity displayed in Nolan's previous films.
There were some bright spots, but it was mostly typical H-town formula regurgitated on schedule. Katie Holmes was an embarrassment (and she also looked really weird in some shots...she's definitely one of those people who needs a flattering DP)- she delivered more than her share of dead-fish lines in a movie well stocked with them. And I generally like Bale, but what the hell was he thinking with that "Batman Voice" he cooked up? It sounded like he had a porcupine stuck in his throat...it's the director's responsibility to shoot down these sorts of method gone awry notions.
But the thing that turned me sour from the opening shot was horrible fake facial hair. It was bad enough it looked like they made their own from cotton wool, but there was SO MUCH of it. I know 80 million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to, but c'mon now!
The first shot of Bale had him looking like someone hit his face with a misdirected blast of hair in a can. Then comes Liam Neeson, who looked like got his chin stuck in a mangy possum's ass.
And while it's quite atestament to Gary Oldman's Herculean acting chops that he was able to conquer the comically huge porn 'stache they saddled him with...why should he have to?
Oh, and that obnoxious plastic-faced twerp they cast as 'young Bruce Wayne' made me want to kick the television in every time he showed up...who let the producer's bastard child in front of the camera? >:(
Overall, watchable but fatally flawed. The best bits were stolen from far superior movies (most obviously Bladerunner). Only the dude who played the Scarecrow escaped with his dignity intact (because even Oldman's chops couldn't save the line "I gotta get me one of those!" after Bale peels out in his odd crypto-military "batmobile"....give me Burton's crypto-phallic version any day of the week).
It could have been really good if only the screenplay had escaped corporate "improvements" and all of the casting was up to the level of the Scarecrow and Jim Gordon. Instead it looked like both were determined two-face style, by flipping coins (heads, a good decision....tails, a bad one.)
Worth a rental for the Scarecrow and some cool production design, but not much else.
Azureus heads toward the crapper
I don't like the sound of this.
Whenever a neat little program starts blathering on about being a "platform" the end is near (think Netscape).
Oh well...it's been a good run, and I don't begrudge the Azureus guys their corporate cash-out (this is an obvious step toward becoming a commodity to be bought out by a behemoth like MS or AOL).
So...what's your favorite bittorrent client?
It looks like I'll be in the market soon-ish. =P
“We think of it as a platform. You can do plenty of different things with it, whether you want to share content with 5 friends or family, or whether you want to share your snowboarding stunts with a community of thousands.”
Whenever a neat little program starts blathering on about being a "platform" the end is near (think Netscape).
Oh well...it's been a good run, and I don't begrudge the Azureus guys their corporate cash-out (this is an obvious step toward becoming a commodity to be bought out by a behemoth like MS or AOL).
So...what's your favorite bittorrent client?
It looks like I'll be in the market soon-ish. =P
books : new Vernor Vinge coming out
I'm not usually a fan of 'hard' SF, but I make a few exceptions- Gregory Benford, John Barnes and (obviously) Vernor Vinge.
He's the cat who basically predicted internet society in the visionary novella True Names.
He's one of the few authors in any genre who's every book I hang on. He doesn't write much, but since he hit his stride with The Peace War back in '84 every novel has been a jewel. I'm not a fan of his extremist Libretarian worldview (which is why so many right wing types rate him), but he wraps it up in such lovely, fast-flowing stories you can ignore it if you like.
Anyway, he's got a new one coming out soon- Rainbow's End. Haven't read anything about it yet, but I know it will kick ass.
I highly recommend it to all fans of speculative fiction.
He's the cat who basically predicted internet society in the visionary novella True Names.
"True Names" today reads more like a piece of reportage than speculative science fiction. William Gibson may get all the glory for defining the word "cyberspace," but Vinge actually nailed the details. "True Names" includes online gathering places identical to the MUDs (multi-user domains) that became the online rage in the late '80s. Its protagonists guard their real names from the National Security Agency and other hackers with cryptographic safeguards, just like today's cryptopunks. And they live solely to log on -- the pathology of today's Internet addiction is all-too-familiar in "True Names." So maybe we don't yet have marauding artificial intelligences or the ability to upload our consciousness into the Net; given Vinge's track record, it should only be a matter of time.
He's one of the few authors in any genre who's every book I hang on. He doesn't write much, but since he hit his stride with The Peace War back in '84 every novel has been a jewel. I'm not a fan of his extremist Libretarian worldview (which is why so many right wing types rate him), but he wraps it up in such lovely, fast-flowing stories you can ignore it if you like.
Anyway, he's got a new one coming out soon- Rainbow's End. Haven't read anything about it yet, but I know it will kick ass.
I highly recommend it to all fans of speculative fiction.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Today's Hot Links
Instead of spamming the blog with lots of new posts with nothing but a link and a pithy comment (if you're lucky) I'm just gonna edit one post throughout the day. And here it is!
A full run of Alcoholics Anonymous comic strips.
Boing Boing regulars need not click.
more reasons why the Japanese rule.
How to Host an Orgy
I don't know how helpful it is, but I laughed a few times...so it's worth clicking.
for the Mac cultists out there, a huge Newsweek advertising insert circa 1984.
Ah, the halcyon days when you had to explain how a mouse worked!
Be sure to note the testimonial from a certain young geek... =D
How to Sharpen and maintain knives.
I've been cooking a lot lately which has whetted my appetite for this sort of thing.
A full run of Alcoholics Anonymous comic strips.
Boing Boing regulars need not click.
more reasons why the Japanese rule.
How to Host an Orgy
I don't know how helpful it is, but I laughed a few times...so it's worth clicking.
for the Mac cultists out there, a huge Newsweek advertising insert circa 1984.
Ah, the halcyon days when you had to explain how a mouse worked!
Be sure to note the testimonial from a certain young geek... =D
How to Sharpen and maintain knives.
I've been cooking a lot lately which has whetted my appetite for this sort of thing.
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