Technically, yesterday was this website’s sixth anniversary. I felt like I should comment on this occasion.
I don’t know what the future is for the Temple of Andrex but I know I will keep supporting it for at least another year. After that, I can’t say. I’m in a bit of a lull right now regarding my excitement for this place, but it always comes and goes. We’ll see how things shake out. At the very least, in the following year I want to add the rest of the previous versions to the “Entries by Version” part of Archives. I think once I do that, I might be able to finally let this site rest in peace.
Geist said…
They seem to have made something even worse than the ipad, which already worthless to begin with. I don’t understand anyone who buy deliberately crippled devices that cost the same or more than real computers.
The “crippled” devices offer features their “real” cousins can’t.
For example, security in Chrome OS is virtually impenetrable. It’s Linux (the most malware- and virus-free desktop OS, with a security-conscious modular kernel) plus Chrome (the most malware and virus-free browser, surviving three consecutive Pwn2Owns even when Google has offered $20k for serious exploits and is the third most-used browser worldwide (compared to Safari, which is always pwned and is in fourth place.))
Chrome OS devices boot in less than eight seconds (in fact I’ve seen videos of them booting in 4 to 5!) That is not possible with a full BIOS and traditional Windows-like kernel. Many operating systems fake this with a hibernate mode, but it will never come close to what Chrome OS does because they’re simply not designed for it.
By being so “limited,” Chrome OS devices become the apex of usability. No more blinking notifications yelling at you to update Java, or Adobe Acrobat, or Adobe Flash. All web apps are always up to date by default and installed Chrome apps are updated without user interference in the background, just like Chrome and Chrome OS itself.
Because there is only one program, and that program has gotten better over time, Chromebooks will be the reverse of Windows PCs: they’ll get much faster over time, instead of getting slower. This is a big deal to me and many others. If you don’t mind wiping your hard drive or replacing it every few years, this isn’t a bonus, but for 99% of computer users it will be.
Every Chrome OS device so far has a 3G option that gives you 100 MB of data free every month. Few Windows PCs even come with a 3G antennae built-in, and none that I know of give you free data.
These are the benefits to Chrome OS. It’s not for everyone, but I think people overplay the one downside (no native apps) without even stating the upsides (everything above.)
I watched this about a week ago, as I got the Blu-ray for $10 from Amazon (which is a fantastic deal, by the way.) As has been mentioned over and over, the visuals and music were ascendant. Truly magical stuff.
I think the 2500 plotline was real, for me there’s too many bits and pieces that point to it being real I can’t just wave my hands and say it was a metaphor. Tommy cured the monkey’s tumor and accelerated his brain functions, so I think he was at least on the right track if not very close to curing death altogether. And his tattoos in the future and “pulled me through time” stuff, hinted that it was real. To be fair, the way the story is interspersed with the modern-day one is done very cleverly, perhaps even to give the appearance of it being a metaphor, but I cannot call it such.
I really did like the movie, I was expecting to be thrown off by the trailers and boy, was I ever. Like most people I thought the movie was about a couple who found the tree of life and shows them in three different time periods, I’m glad the movie wasn’t so linear and predictable.
As for the downsides, I have to say that I didn’t think Weisz did that great a job here. I dunno. I know she’s a great actress, and I’ve seen her do better, so maybe it was just the character of Izzy. But I found her profoundly unlikeable and unrelatable. Jackman was of course the saving grace of this movie. Another downside is that, yes, it’s trying to be artsy and profound and pompous and the editing is really jumpy. And I can’t myself wave my hands at that and say it was “all about the message, man.” But I think the good of the movie outweighs the bad. It’s almost a one-of-a-kind movie, in terms of the themes it deals with and how it deals with them.
I just got this on Blu-ray. I thought it was entertaining but the 97% RottenTomatoes score is completely surprising to me. A lot of the movie could and probably should have been cut. The Winklevoss subplot never goes anywhere, and was such a big distraction from the real/best part of the movie, Eduardo and Mark’s relationship, I can’t really give it an unwavering recommendation.
Besides that, I appreciate that a movie was made about Facebook, even if some or most of it was fictionalized. I think it’s good that this generation has its own Pirates of Silicon Valley, but personally, I think Pirates was much better. Not only was it much more accurate, but the film squarely focused on its two key players (Gates and Jobs), like this movie should have. The best moment in this film was when Eduardo slams Mark’s laptop onto the floor, and that’s because it’s the scene that most channels Pirates. Pirates didn’t have as good production values as The Social Network, but other than that aspect, I’d recommend it over The Social Network on most occasions.
Not only that I was kinda let down by the music. I’d heard In the Hall of the Mountain King on YouTube and it’s great, but the rest of the soundtrack was… good, but not great. In my opinion, Tron Legacy’s soundtrack slaughters it handily. Oddly enough I also like the first draft of In the Hall of the Mountain King more than the final draft. It’s a bit more techno-ey and sinister.
I liked it overall, but think it could have been a lot better.
Even with all I said I can’t stop rewatching this movie. Something about the story, characters, cinematography, music, and plotting is addictive. I’ve already watched both commentary tracks and will have my fourth rewatch later today (my second watch without commentary.) I’m glad to have this movie in my small but growing Blu-ray library.
I’m also reading the screenplay which was posted on the official site. Despite my misgivings I can’t get enough of this movie.
A new year! Here are the games I am anticipating buying this year:
Pokemon White
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Star Wars: The Old Republic (maybe)
Of course, there are about a kajillion Nintendo 3DS games I want this year but I don’t think I’ll be getting that this year. Oh well. This will allow me to focus on getting my backlog down, and maybe checking out some older games I don’t have. I know Pokemon White will consume my spring and summer completely, and then there are those E3 games that we don’t know about yet.
Oh well. This will allow me to focus on getting my backlog down, and maybe checking out some older games I don’t have. I know Pokemon White will consume my spring and summer completely, and then there are those E3 games that we don’t know about yet.