Computers Suck

broderic on December 18, 2007

Jay runs into issues with his RAID drive. The Seed running into issues
with his desktop. We already know about his issues with his laptop. I'm running into some issues with my own TiBook. Watching DVDs has now
become an adventure. I think it has to do with overheating of the
drive. When running the TiBook gets pretty hot. I usually place it in
my lap so there's no air circulation for it. It runs hotter. Play a
DVD and it'll run even hotter still. The TiBook overheats and the DVD
drive stalls. This causes a complete lockup of the machine. Reboot but
it doesn't mount my Users partition. This sucks, and it has only gotten
worse. Before it was just one every hundred DVDs. Now it seems like
every DVD would cause this. I guess I need a new MacBookPro!http://onocoffee.blogspot.com/2007/12/damn-you-raid.html

One down. One to go.

broderic on December 18, 2007

Just sent off my final for GB700 Ethics and Social Responsibility.

I think I just blew that one. Hopefully, I get a B.

Now do I want to study for my final on Thursday?

Urk.

Rip it to shreds

broderic on December 13, 2007

Would you buy a DVD with version already ripped? Interesting idea. I won’t have to fiddle with handbrake and wait hours for it to complete. But you don’t know what kind of quality it would be. My answer is maybe. Ain’t it always though?

Sellout-o-meter

broderic on December 13, 2007

The Moby Quotient is awesome. Plug in a band, their song for a commercial, and see how much of a sellout they are. Fun times, but I couldn’t think of much.

Enchanted

broderic on December 10, 2007

Marge at the FishTank has apologized for dragging the Seed and me to this flick, but there’s really nothing to be apologetic about it. If she could get the other critics to issue a personal apology to me that would be awesome. Some of these critics raved about Amy Adams. I personally couldn’t care less. I was like the old hag wanting to push her down a well. http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=6959836

Enchanted

2 of 5 stars

Speed Racer Trailer

broderic on December 8, 2007

This looks to be a mess and going to be a nightmare. I’m intrigued. Emile Hirsch looks too brooding. But, damn, Matthew Fox as Racer X. Sweet. I wonder which race they’re doiong.

Adventures From My Netflix Queue: The Baron of Arizona

broderic on December 7, 2007

The Baron of Arizona is a DVD from Criterion’s Elise line of restored minor works of some feature directors, in this case being the incredible Sam Fuller. It’s an early work of his. Written and directed by him based on a true story of the real life swindler cheat, James Reavis. He actually did try to steal the Arizona Territory from the US government

Vincent Price plays Reavis who forged phony Spanish land grants to the entire state of Arizona. He finds a foster girl and raises her up to believe that she is the heiress of the Baron de Peralta owner of the entirety of Arizona. She believes in him as she grows up and that belief turns to love.

The movie starts slow. I wasn’t engaged. It was still interesting as it documented the swindle from meeting the girl to make his plans work to forging the documents in a Spanish monastery to playing a gypsy gigolo to forge the last document in the royal halls of Madrid. Then it picks up with the Baron’s return to Arizona. The locals are riled up. He makes deals and takes their money all the while knowing it is a lie. The US government gets to him, he pleads guilty, but the lynch mobs show up. I won’t spoil the ending, but I was taught in my seat hoping for a happy one.

Fuller is a favorite. While this was an out and out B movie, Fuller is still the B movie specialist. There was the kindly Sofia de Reavis-Peralta standing by her man just as Barbara Stanwyck in 40 Guns. There was Price being all show, carrying the picture. And then there was Griff. He’s in everyone of Fuller’s movies. The heroic government agent out to prove the falsity of Reaves’s claim. He studied forgery. He knows, but can’t really prove. Yet, still the man for it all standing tall throughout.

Watching this was a pleasure. Though it is not up to par as his more acclaimed and accomplished films, it’s great to know his roots and great to know he’ll grow as a storyteller.

3 of 5 stars

No Country For Old Men

broderic on December 6, 2007

Up until this weekend, I have only seen two Coen brothers films in the theatre, Fargo and The Ladykillers. Now make it a third. No Country For Old Men has been getting tons of praise by critics. It was in the running for the Palme d’Or at Cannes. The buzz coming from there this summer was that this is a return to Coens as master filmmakers after their less than appreciated The Ladykillers and Intolerable Cruelty, their last two films.

Based off a Cormac McCarthy novel, No Country For Old Men, is a chase film. Josh Brolin is the hunted, a hunter who stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad and stumbles upon a nice tidy sum of cash. Javier Bardem is after Brolin. Like the Terminator or Jason, nothing stops him from finishing a task he’s started unless that something is a toss of coin an idea of his that fate governs us all. Tommy Lee Johns is after the both of them to recover the loot, to stop the monster, and to save the unworthy.

As with most Coen films, it’ll take me a while to figure out if I appreciated the film. I don’t think I got the gist of the film in this one sitting. Except for Blood Simple and Hudsucker Proxy, my favorites, I watched the Coen films and marvel at their droll artistry. I get that. Yet, they always leave me thinking, “there’s something more there.” After seeing this, I felt like I had watched Fargo again, and it was all a big, “Hunh?!”

There is evil in the world. You can’t stop it. It is fate that will bring it to you. These times are not for those who still have the old notions of good and bad. You may adjust, but do you want to.

3 of 5 stars.