Movie Review: Herbie, Fully Loaded

broderic on June 26, 2005

I was first in line for Herbie: Fully Loaded, because I am a fan of Lindsay Lohan. And that goes way back to when she did The Parent Trap and Life Size. She’s a much better actor than the other teen divas her age. She also so over.

As much as I wanted to love Herbie, it was a terrible movie. It got good reviews in the NY Times an Baltimore Sun, but I think those were written by people who brought their kids.

NASCAR ruined Herbie. I just could not believe that a VW bug can compete in that race. Plus the wacked out hijinks of Herbie do not make sense in a race that goes around in circles. Climbing up buildings or flying through the air is perfect in a rally race. Wall riding the fence at a NASCAR race not so much. Lame. Damn you NASCAR why did you kill the soul of Herbie.

Lindsay was okay in it. Catch it for that, but don’t think too much of it.

2 of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Batman Begins

broderic on June 21, 2005

I was never a big Batman reader when I was actively reading comics. Perhaps, it was because I was a Marvel guy and always thought of DC Comics as the home of the SuperFriends cheese. I never even read Crisis on Infinite Earths until the late 90s.

Well, I caught Batman Begins last Wednesday. Let me tell you, I don’t even know what issue was this story line from. It certainly is from the post Frank Miller/Dark Knight Batman. Was this Detective Comics? Or Batman proper? Or maybe it is Year One? Am I getting this right you Batman fans?

Anyway, I liked the movie. Less campy than Tim Burton’s version. More dark and realistic which gave it a different tone.

Problems occured when the action was filmed too close. I could not understand what was going on. Also, Katie Holmes should stick with being Dawson’s girlfriend. She was too light and unserious for this film.

3 of 5 stars.

Movie Review: Mr. and Mrs. Smith

broderic on June 17, 2005

Let me just say right off the bat, the reason you should see this is (if you’re male or as a female into this type of thing) that Angelina Jolie is real hot in this. For me, I never really found her hot. I mean she is very smoking, but she was never my type of woman. Plus, the weirdness with her brother and being Billy Bob Thorton’s ex was a turn off. Except seeing her in this. She was hot. I think it was the fact that her cover was some sort of IT/helpdesk worker. Where are these hotties in x1861? Anyway when she wears office wear, smoking!!

The movie overall was not bad. I am giving it a high rating because 1) Angelina Jolie 2) Doug Liman, the director. I am a fan of Doug Liman. Swingers. Bourne Identity. I definitely noticed his style throughout this flick.

I originally wrote this movie off. The trailers and television commercials seemed to show the entire thing. Married couple with a mediocre marriage are hired to kill each other. The try, they fail, they gang up on those who want them dead, and fall in love all over again. Yes and no. I was pleasantly surprised on where the story went. Taking twists I wasn’t expecting. I like that it challenged my original idea and made me like the story.

4 of 5 stars.

“A computer for the rest of us.”

broderic on June 10, 2005

Ars Technica continues their reporting on what the switch to Intel chips mean for Apple and it’s future. Very insightful as it lays out a strategy for Apple’s transitioning of its computers.

The article also discusses the PPC mythology inherent in Macs today. I don’t have to tell you that I bought into that myth also. I think it is true that I am geeky enough to recognize the elegance in the PPC architecture. It, like a Mac, is well thought out.

It also touches upon Apple’s future. One that I am worried about. I have always wanted to write Mac programs. If there is no Macintosh left in the future what would I do when I retire? Apple is changing as a company. The personal computer industry is changing. Switching to Intel is just the start of it. In the upcoming years, I think Apple will no longer be the computer company it is now. It is the beginning of the end and the end of the beginning.

Intel Inside. Fuck.

broderic on June 9, 2005

On monday, Steve Jobs turned my world upside down. He announced that Apple is intending to switch to using intel processors. So long PowerPC. Hello x86.

It has been rumored for a long time now that Apple always had a build of OS X which compiled on x86 chips. Monday saw confirmation of that rumor and a bold new direction for Apple.

It has taken me days to figure out how I want to blog about this. I am an Apple loyalist. My family has owned an Apple since the early 80s. I know where my Apple ][e is. I had an original Powerbook 140. It became the ultimate Civ machine for my brother. I bought the last of the Powerbook 190s. Imagine a world of 8 bit graphics. Nothing but shades of grey when the world was going color. I write this on my 1GHz TiBook, the one before the Aluminum ones. I love Apple. Always rooted for them.

It was more than Apple being not Microsoft. It was also about not being Intel. Remember Wintel is an insult in Mac circles. Now Apple has embraced the dark side. As if the megahertz war would not been won “not by a PPC chip.”

As software engineer and comp sci student, I have been exposed to x86 instruction set. It sucks compared to PPC. It is halfass backwards and inelegant. It also has to support a lot of older instructions from the 80s. The PPC chip was RISC. Gorgeous and nice instruction set.

I am mourning the loss of the chip more than I can imagine. Strange. Being an Apple loyalist means that you understand that Apple is more than just the computer, the OS, the box, the chip, but is a lifestyle brand. But to me the PPC chip is also part of the brand. Can I support Apple? Is Apple still Apple with Intel Inside?

Ars Technica sums up my feelings of the loss of the PowerPC chip. John Gruber is a good read to understand what needs to happen for Apple.

Audio book of Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation

broderic on June 6, 2005

The Daily Show’s blog on Live Journal discusses the audio book version of Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation. The post discusses Jon Stewart’s involvement with the audio version. He plays President Garfield. And very funny at that. His was the funniest part of the entire audio book. I found the book to be funny, but every time Jon Stewart read a line I was cracking up. Now, I listened to it in the car stuck in traffic, and it must have been a site to see: me laughing with tears in my eyes alone in the car banging the steering wheel with glee. You should try to catch Sarah Vowell’s appearance on the Daily Show when she was shilling her book. I have it tivoed if you need it.(I think I have blogged about this already.)

Books of May 2005

broderic on June 6, 2005

Besides finishing up The Shadow of the Wind, I read completely The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. This was the first book in his Dark Materials trilogy. Do I feel like reading the next two? Yes, but I don’t want to do it just this month. No, and it wouldn’t be a tragedy not finishing the trilogy. The book was alright, but it was not as compelling a fantasy realm as other places I have read about. I may finish the trilogy sometime later.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. C+

Summertime weekly movie review. 2 for the non-price of one!

broderic on June 4, 2005

Last weekend was Memorial Day weekend signifying the beginning of summer. And that means the steady ramping up of movie watching. I love the summer movie block buster season. It’s like a whole new sport and every week a different game is on to watch.

First up this summer (not counting Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith) was Madagascar. Boring. I have seen lots of movies and this was the first one that bored me. Not very funny. Story was “ho-hum.” Animation was mediocre. After watching the Incredibles, this movie has sent the CG animated movies back a generation. It was nothing special. I can only recommend the penguin scenes and the monkeys.

2 of 5 stars.

Tonight. I caught The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. It felt awkward to be in a theatre with teenie boppers, and I usually don’t considering I have seen She’s All That and Mean Girls in the theatres, alone in a crowd of very young girls. Why have a movie entitled traveling pants and not have the four protagonists wear them all the time? I expected the girls to have their story told while each one wore the pants. Not so. Early on the eponymous pants were brief in their appearance. Later they started playing a more prominent role, but by then I was disappointed. The movie was a tear jerker. The women and girls in the audience were crying. I was laughing. If I was more girly, I might have found it good. I am too much of a guy to have liked this movie.

2 of 5 stars for making me feel creepy.