So called best movies of the year…

broderic on December 23, 2004

… As determined by me.

So 2005 draws closer, and to say good bye to 2004, I turn to the tired cliche of a year end list. This list is a list of the highest ranking movies that I saw (and blogged about) from this year. It is incomplete for the year because I had started this blog back in May. My ranking system was n number of stars out of 5, so to compile a best-of list, I chose those movies with 4 or 5 stars. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here they are.

  • The Day After Tomorrow – Admittedly, this doesn’t deserve the high ranking I gave it, but I’m just going to post it by the numbers. I originally gave it 4 stars, but believe that it should be demoted to 3. As the year wore on, my taste got better. I promise.

  • Spiderman 2 — The best of the summer blockbusters. Hands down.

  • Hero — Kung fu theatre was never as gorgeous as this.

  • The Incredibles — The best movie this year. I loved the design of everything in this movie. I am slowly getting to be a sucker for mid-century modern.

  • Sideways — A critical darling of the traditional movie critics. Good. Not that great, but I can appreciate the finer things in life.

  • Catwoman — Panned by everyone except me. 5 of 5 stars! It was so bad it was good. This movie will be the Showgirls of 2004.

  • Wicker Park — Underappreciated by many. It got mixed reviews. I loved it.

There you have 7 movies that I rated 4 or 5 out of 5 stars. I would’ve liked to keep this as a top 5 list, but I didn’t want to shortchange any of my reviews.

A Festivus for the rest of us

broderic on December 22, 2004

The NY Times writes a story on Festivus, that make believe holiday from the classic Seinfeld episode. December 23 is the actual date. Circle the date on your calendar. Add a reminder in your iCal. It shall go down, along with Talk Like A Pirate Day, September 19, as one of the greatest of fake holidays. Celebrate the day.

Put it in “H”

broderic on December 22, 2004

Why’d CBS think people want to see a show on culture rather than the Amazing Race? Thank god I got a season pass. This leg finds the racers going to Budapest. That trebi car is cool. It reminded me of the Simpsons episode with Mr. Plow. “Put it in H.” “What country is this from?” This episode ends in a cliffhanger, but I think those are the last we see of Bolo. Damn, that team grows on you.

Christmas Time is Here.

broderic on December 18, 2004

It is December and Christmas. One of my favorite times of the year. When it gets cold, which it hasn’t been until the past week, and when it gets dark at 4:30, then it is time for some fun. Christmas! I haven’t appreciated it, but it is good, the shopping not withstanding. So for everyone, enjoy and Season’s Greetings!

Live blogging the Amazing Race

broderic on December 15, 2004

I am blogging the latest episode of the Amazing Race, so that I can post my witticisms here instead of shouting at the screen. Ready? Then let’s go.

20:59 — If you haven’t yet check out the hilarious recaps and caplets over at Television without Pity. They also host the TARCon.

21:01 — Who will be eliminated? My bet’s on Don and Mary Jean, the old couple.

21:05 — Where will they get the money in poor Africa? They need to hit up the dumb tourists! Alliances? Go Johnathon and Victoria. Victory for bickering couples everywhere and assholes in particular. Is it me or are the teams so unrecognizable. When the hotties have been eliminated no one is left to root for, because every one seems to be interchangeable. “A reason to leave?” Was that a really insensitive remark?

21:09 — A single rose. A little history lesson? A reminder that the history of the world has a lot of evil episodes in it. Beautiful. Can we also start the racing now?

21:11 — Berlin, Germany! Begging from the other competitors, genuis! I knew it was going to be tough to ask the poor people of Senegal.

21:14 — Kendra is just a wretched human being. It’s not like the Senegalese wanted to be born there. Appreciate your luck in life, biotch!

21:16 — Bolo, just break them off a little something something. Suplex! This is hard. I can’t watch and type at the same time. It makes watching the show a lot less enjoyable.

21:20 — What happened? The drama turned out to be undramatical! Bolo! More following. That’s part of the game. When you end up not following, then you’re losing. I am rooting against Kendra. Biotch! Gundzumteit!

21:26 — “We humans are capable of so much horror!” Beer! Beer! Beer! Beer! Brats! Brats! Brats! Jonathon == I love Lucy!! “If she [Lucy] can do it I can do it.” Now that’s a motto to live by.

21:31 — Don and Mary Jean are not disappointing me, except they should read the fsking clue.

21:39 — Dad is a lush. That is funny. I think my father would have done the same.

21: 41 — Unfortunately, you old fools, you are last. Noooo. Not Bolo! Always take a taxi. That is rule #1 of the Amazing Race.

21:48 — This using other people in the city, sucks. They should not be allowed to do it. Unless you’re the hotties.

21:51 — Fsck. The biotches! Fsck! Did he just hit her? Damn. That guys an asshole. When will they be eliminated? Damn. Fsking biotch! Why the biotch!

21:54 — Did I call it? Or what? Mary Jean is a cutie for an old lady. I’ll miss their “will do” spirit. Bolo, you’re next!

21:57 — Kendra, biotch, is down and sick. Good.

Okay, the show’s over. That was fun, but it took away from enjoying the show. Plus it made it go by so much quicker. Next time, I think I’ll just watch. One final reminder to read the recaplets at Television without Pity.

Two Movie Reviews

broderic on December 12, 2004

It is getting harder to write a post when I know my writing skills are lacking. Is anyone really reading? I’ll continue on, because I am trying to better my writing skills. In this post, I will share my thoughts on two recent films, Closer and Ocean’s 12. I am remiss that I didn’t share my thoughts on Closer the past week, because I saw it last weekend. Ocean’s 12 I saw yesterday.

Closer. This was originally a play and it felt like one. Lots of dialogue and witty reparte between the characters. Each of them, I did not like. Yet, the movie kept me interested because I wanted to find out what happens to each. Who ends up with whom? The breakthrought performance was turned in by Clive Owen, but his character was a schmuck. Unlikeable and arrogant, his character ends up being the only winner. Julia Roberts has got some acting chops and it is likely that she has gained some fans for her acting rather than her supposed looks. Jude Law is Jude Law, a pretty boy. I did not understand his character’s motivation in sleeping around. It was as if the writer meant for the audience to not root for him. In the end his redemption was never to be because of Natalie Portman’s character. Was the audience supposed to find her attractive? I hated her in this. Many will write about the graphic portrayal of sex amonst adults that this film was about, and it was the most frank depiction of sex outside of a porno. This film could be thought of as an intellectual porno for the mind without the graphic display of nude bodies fucking.

Ocean’s 12. What was the heist in this? There wasn’t one, because the main heist was used as a backdrop to a contest between thieves. I found it rediculouse with its plot twists around plot twists. I still don’t understand what happened. In the first Ocean’s flick, it was about the thieves. In this one, the band of thieves is giving short play and it is about the skullduggery and back stabbing of the bad guys. Is there no honor amongst thieves? Frankly, there are huge holes in the plot. Why, for instance, do they continue with the job when they already know the outcome. This was a mediocre sequel to an already mediocre remake.

In summary: Closer – 3 of 5 stars. Ocean’s 12 – 2 of 5 stars.

Check in later as soon I shall write my end of year lists.

Another great episode of the Amazing Race

broderic on December 8, 2004

Tues. 9:00 PM. CBS. The Amazing Race. It always has me on the edge of my seat. I am glad that this leg was a non-elimination leg. The elderly couple, Don and MJ stave off elimination for another day. Close call for Gus and Hera. These people have bad strategies. Choosing the slower detour is rather risky.

This leg occured in Dakar, Senegal. I liked when someone said that it sucks. I replied to the TV that they haven’t seen India yet.

Adam is an emo-boy. What a wuss. He’s damaged goods for Rebecca. I can’t wait for there elimination to see what each says and to see them on the CBS morning show. Will they still be seeing each other?

Wanted: A lightbulb

broderic on December 3, 2004

The NY Times publishes an article about Icelanders’ability to cope with the long dark winters of their native land. The article tries to state that for Icelanders during time of year the dark does not bother them so much. Of course if your people lived there for a thousand years, you would adapt and get used to it.

Software Design: Dependency Inversion Priciple

broderic on December 2, 2004

Robert Martin introduced the Dependency Inversion Principle as one of ten best practice object-oriented design principles in his seminal article, “Design Principles and Design Patterns.” In the article, Martin categorizes the Dependency Inversion Principle, along with the Open/Closed Principle, the Liskov Substitution Principle, and the Interface Segregation Principle, as a standard for well designed object-oriented classes. Besides these class based design principles, he also lists architecture of package design as a parameter to good design practices, which I won’t focus on here.

The Dependency Inversion Principle supports one of the main tenets of object-oriented design, abstraction. This principle inverts the logical dependency structure of an object-oriented program; concrete classes depend on abstract classes rather than abstract classes end depending on concrete, instantiated classes. Rather than high level modules specifically dependent on the implementation found in lower level modules, they rely on an abstract interface.

The Dependency Inversion Principle allows for flexible, robust designs. If the concrete classes only depend upon an abstract interface, then by swapping out different instantiated class objects, the concrete class can do act differently. Also relying on a minimal set of public methods provided by the abstract class, the fan-in and fan-out metrics will be minimized, and fat interfaces will not be too much of a problem. Relying on abstract classes also contributes to a more cohesive design, because many classes would be of the same type that they form a tighter logically cohesive package. Finally, relying on abstract classes produces a less coupled system. The number of dependencies is lower if concrete classes rely on only a few abstract classes. The concrete classes don’t have to physically include several instances of derived concrete classes, but just one dependency to an abstract classes.

Finally, the Dependency Inversion Principle is realized in the idea of component design. It is reflected in the motifs found in CORBA (Common Object Request Broker Architecture) and COM (Common Object Model). These specifications provide an interface to allow different objects or entities to communicate amongst themselves. They provide an interface, an abstract interface, for the programmer to write her program.