Software Complexity
This blog post from one of the Windows Vista managers can really sum up
many software projects. Too much complexity. Too much process
overhead. I experience this everyday and my programs are in the 100K
range.
7 hours
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I just wanted to post a shot from my vacation a while back. Although most of the photos are of nothing but our hikes, it’s better than getting one of all the geeks tapping away at the keyboard.
This is while I wasted time at the airport.
Adventures from my Netflix queue: Gunslinger Girl
Gunslinger Girl is an anime DVD set in Italy with these little girls who’ve lost their previous lives and have been given cybernetic bodies and lethal skills. They are killing cyborgs. And yet they are still little girls with guns.
This anime maintains the theme that the father of all, Blade Runner, anime keeps, “Can replicants have feelings, too?” The girls have been trained and conditioned to be lethal killing machines, but they are still little girls. The cybernetic implants are slowly killing them and will they understand that their lives have a meaning outside of guns and assassinations. It is a rather sad theme. Melancholy.
The girls are teamed with an adult in a “fratello.” That is their handler. Some handlers are mean. Some are indifferent. Others are saddened by the fate the girls have been placed in. Yet they do not show love to their younger “sister” afraid at what the attachment might mean to their relationship. Will it weaken the girls’s killer instincts and place both their lives in jeopardy?
I went in thinking that this was going to be a rock ’em shoot out with little girls with guns, but it was a more moving story. I originally rated it 4 after the first disc, but the second disc dropped it to a 3 because it had too much action. I am giving it a 4 overall, because the last disc made me sad. Beethoven’s 9th and shooting stars will not be the same.
There was some action, but the languid pacing of each episode was appropriate for the theme. Do not think that this is a shoot ’em up anime or you will be disappointed. But then again, you may find the story beautiful and appreciate it for the tale it tells. I wonder what happens to them.
4 of 5 stars.
World Cup Infotainment
That was a horrendous start for the US losing 3 nil to Czech Republic. It’s like 1998 all over again.
Adventures from my Netflix queue: Shaolin Soccer
On the eve of the World Cup, I watch my latest movie from Netflix, Shaolin Soccer. How fortuitous that it arrives at just this moment. I don’t think I had tried, but it happened.
I was laughing throughout this flick. Funny. And it was about soccer. A great sport to do a film on. The best bits were the friendly with the thugs, the ET reference, the high flying girls as guys soccer duo, and the Bruce Lee goalie. That guy even wore the suit from the Game of Death! Hilarious.
4 of 5 stars.
Go Team USA!
Swimming in the dark
Another dream about I. This one quickly escaping my memory.
We meet somehow. She needs a ride home. I take her there. It’s back to her parent’s house. On the drive, I think I ask about what happened. She lightly touches my hand on the stickshift as she says she wonders about that, too.
Her parents are at home. It’s hot and I ask about the pool out back with a desire to go swimming. I follow her up stairs as she goes to ask her parents. I catch a glimpse of her mom. I do not feel comfortable. We leave the room. As we walk down the hall then down the stairs, she gets closer and closer to me shoulder to shoulder.
Next thing I know we are in her father’s office, opening desk drawers for some hidden latch. She checks the bottom right, finds a switch and presses it. The bottom left opens from which she grabs some keys. We race outside.
The pool is an above ground pool. We get in. A young kid joins us. I assume that it is her younger brother, but it turns out to be a neighbor. We swim at night. Ever slowly, we come together. We play with the neighbor. His mom calls him home, and suddenly it is just I and me swimming in the dark.
I think we embrace. I feel flushed with emotions. Do we kiss? What happened to us? The last bit I remember is that her resting her head on my shoulders and pulling me closer.
Summer Time Movie Reviewing
With Memorial Day coming and going last week, we have entered the prime summer movie season. This is what I’ve been training for. And it doesn’t seem to be a very good one.
My ratings so far, if you’re keeping score go like:
Mission Impossible 3: 2 stars
An American Haunting: 1 star
Brick: 3 stars
Poseidon: 2 stars
The Da Vinci Code: 2 stars
As you can see, my impression of this season is rather low. The highest rated was Brick and even then, I gave it a favorable rating because of its indie status. So let’s see what else I have to review.
On Memorial Day, I ponied up the cash to help X-Men III: The Last Stand make incredible box office numbers. That’s the best I can say about it. They cameoed many characters from the X-Men comics: Psylock?!, Jubilee?!, Omega Red. They were listed in the credits, but I didn’t catch them on screen. Too many mutants shown in too short a time.
That wouldn’t have been the only problem, if not for the lame story. Why did they have the Phoenix saga plotline when it was nothing like the Phoenix saga? She comes back, but is not a priordial force, just some scizophrenic part of Jean Grey. Trapped in a psychic cocoon. Please.
Sir Ian McKellan again breathes life to another limp movie as Magneto. Except the lameness of this story crushed his energy and we were left with a demagnetized Magneto.
This one stinks.
2 of 5 stars.
Tonight, I caught The Breakup. Do not read any farther if you don’t want the movie SPOILED.
It was supposedly a romantic comedy, or at least that was the impression the commercials gave off. “Come see Jennifer Anniston and Vince Vaughn fall in love. On screen. (and off)” Yet, I did not laugh in the first 25 minutes. And romance is the last thing you think of after leaving the theatre. I was prepared to give it another 2 star rating, except the ending made me bump it up. You know I am a sucker for the boy not getting the girl endings. Bittersweet. I love it. They didn’t get back together. They meet cute on the street a few months down the road and we are left with filling in the blanks of the future. I vote for not getting back together. I like it like that. So the ending surprised me and had me feeling better about the movie. It saved the day. Of course, I should’ve seen it coming.
Anyway, I didn’t laugh. I didn’t feel mushy. Yet, I liked the movie.
3 of 5 stars.
The Breakup was another movie (The Family Stone, Failure to Launch) that sounded weird. I think they hardly added any ambient noise to the soundtrack.
Nerds!
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Here’s a photo of the nerd herd at The Big Nerd Ranch. The tall one in the middle is our instructor, Aaron Hillegass. I am trying to write a review about the class (outside my experience), so expect one coming soon. I haven’t written any Cocoa code since then, but plan to as soon as I get a better schedule.
Mario and DS Lite
New Super Mario Brothers game is coming out for the Nintendo DS. I haven’t been excited about a game in a long time. And it isn’t even a new game. Or very modern. I think I am still hung up on getting to Koopa, but not defeating him, in Mario Brothers 2.
I am also really excited about the updated Nintendo DS Lite. Again it is just a glamorous GameBoy, but man I am getting one when it comes out June 11. The PSP blows it away in graphics and probably games, but this looks so totally cool. I wish I could get it in the blue color.